The boy was only twelve.
Yet he had a bureaucratic manner entirely unfitting for his age. He often said overly mature pleasantries, and always seemed to innocently poke at people's wounds.
You had to marvel at his talent, though sometimes you could not help finding him annoying.
Young people never liked peers who were "too polished." At an age when they were still clear and unspoiled, they instinctively rejected greasy people and things.
During these days in the [Sun Chamber], every one of his Heavenly Palace classmates had been bombarded by Bao Xuanjing's private messages—he often asked for advice, but lacked a sense of boundaries, casually asking what he should and should not ask. Whenever he annoyed someone, he would simply say, "Sorry, brother/sister. I'm young and didn't know about these things. You won't be angry with me, right?"
At every holiday, he would send greetings that were obviously copied from somewhere. He did not even include a form of address; everyone received the exact same message.
But these were only small faults—perhaps not faults at all. What could be wrong with a polite little child? He was merely a child who had just begun to grow up, with too many imaginings and imitations of how adults behaved. Some people could not quite accept it; others probably considered it maturity.
When Heaven created a person, it could not possibly make them perfect.
At this moment, twelve-year-old Bao Xuanjing left his seat and stood before the transparent mirrored wall, looking down from above upon the Martial Practice Platform. He curled a finger and lightly tapped against it.
Only then did everyone suddenly realize—
He had come to River Viewing Terrace on behalf of the Great Qi Empire to participate in the Assembly of Prodigies. And he now represented the Great Qi