Black-Clad Yue Bing

At noon the next day, the middle-aged maid who always silently withdrew after setting down the food came in and softly said, "Third Young Master, Madam asks you to come out."

Yue Yang followed her into the outer residence's main hall and found the beautiful woman holding a black-clad young woman as she continuously wiped away tears.

The little girl, usually mischievous and troublesome, put on an "I'm being good" act as she sat at the table eating. Her little hand clutched her chopsticks, taking a bite here and there, scattering grains of rice everywhere and smearing her little mouth. Yue Yang looked again at the black-clad young woman and saw that she was not very old either, around fourteen or fifteen. She resembled the beautiful woman somewhat, though her little face was more youthful and tender.

Her eyes were faintly red, and tear stains still lingered on her jade-like face.

The moment she saw Yue Yang emerge, she immediately wiped them away and pulled the black veil that had fallen to her neck back over her face.

"..." Yue Yang sighed inwardly.

On the Dragon Soaring Continent, if a woman covered her face with a black veil, then aside from the exceedingly rare female bandits, there was only one other kind of person: a widow.

This black-clad young woman should be the beautiful woman's eldest daughter, Yue Bing.

She ranked seventh among the Yue Family's nine juniors, above only her younger sister Shuang'er and Yue Feng, the youngest ninth child from the second branch. She was a genius among the Yue Family juniors, successfully contracting a Codex at eight and a half. Unfortunately, the Dragon Soaring Continent favored men over women. Women were considered fit mainly for marriages between great clans or selection as imperial consorts, bound to marry into another family sooner or later. Although she had been carefully nurtured, the importance placed on her was far below that given to Yue Tian, the eldest son and direct-line grandson, and even below that given to several other men in the family. Besides, there really were rather too many geniuses in this generation of the Yue Family. Yue Tian, the eldest son of the first branch, contracted a Codex at ten, with both outstanding talent and a formidable battle beast; Yue Yan, the fourth son, successfully contracted one at eleven; and Yue Bao, the sixth son, did the same at twelve.

The slightly weaker ones were Yue Yu, the second-ranked daughter, and Yue Ting, the fifth son. Both successfully contracted a Codex at fifteen.

Therefore, Yue Bing of the fourth branch did not stand out all that much by comparison. Furthermore, both her talent and battle beast belonged to the plant type, which people looked down upon greatly. Of the four great sects, only Spirit Immortal Pavilion, which accepted only female disciples, had sent someone to take a look and express interest in observing her. The other three sects showed no reaction at all.

It was precisely because the Yue Family's younger generation brimmed with geniuses that the tragic fellow—whose parents from the third branch had both died, and who had later been adopted into the fourth branch as a son—could not avoid becoming worthless when he still had failed to contract a Codex at nineteen... Yue Yang thought. No wonder the Xue Family's young lady had proposed breaking off the engagement. If she married into a family crawling with geniuses, only to end up wed to such a lousy husband, how could she bear it?

When people were compared to people, it could drive one mad. Deeply devastated after having his engagement broken off, the tragic fellow threw himself into a river.

Yet Yue Bing, who was equally unfortunate, had not!

Of course, it was not because someone had broken off her engagement. Rather, her childhood betrothed—the talented young man of the Wind Clan, foremost among the four great families—had been instantly killed three years ago during a trial by a wandering Golden King Beast that happened to pass by. Before she had even married into his family, she had become a young widow.

The people of the Dragon Soaring Continent were highly superstitious and generally believed that this girl had an ill-fated life, one that brought death to her husband.

Thus, although the Yue Family was one of the four great families, no one was willing to propose marriage again. Every family treasured its sons like gold, and no one wanted to curry favor with a great family only to lose a son for nothing.

"Third Brother, congratulations," black-clad Yue Bing said softly. Gently breaking free from her mother's embrace, she prepared to return to her room.

"Your Third Brother isn't an outsider, Bing'er. There's no need to return to your room to eat. We're family; it's nothing for us to eat together." The beautiful woman pressed black-clad Yue Bing back into her seat.

"Yes." Black-clad Yue Bing hesitated slightly, then finally lowered her black veil. Taking up her bowl and chopsticks, she counted grains of rice into her mouth one by one. Suddenly, she asked Yue Yang, "Third Brother, what type of battle beast is the Life Guardian Beast you obtained?"

"An elemental-type mist." Yue Yang discovered that ever since transmigrating, he had not spoken a single word of truth.

"I am not skilled with elemental types. I am a fringe student at the academy and only specialize in the plant type among battle beasts. I know nothing at all about elemental types." Black-clad Yue Bing held her bowl in silence for a while, then softly added, "How about I give you a Saliva-Spitting Thorn Flower, the lowest-ranked and easiest-to-summon kind? But that would waste one-tenth of a page in Third Brother's Summoning Codex."

"It's fine." Yue Yang knew exactly what he was made of. He had a Phantom that could exist for ten days, as well as Innate Formless Body-Breaking Sword Aura. The number of pages in his Bronze Codex and the number of battle beasts were not the most important things.

Still, since the girl wanted to teach him, he might as well learn a little from her.

First, to put the beautiful woman's mind at ease; second, to familiarize himself with the various basic techniques of summoning. Perhaps they would come in handy in battle someday.

Black-clad Yue Bing was not a talkative person. She nodded gently, then silently finished the rice in her bowl. The little girl stood up on her chair and stretched her chopsticks toward the smoked fish farthest away. Seeing her brace one hand against the table while reaching forward with the other, Yue Yang broke into a cold sweat for the little thing, thinking, Please don't fall. The beautiful woman lightly smacked her and scolded her for having no manners, for eating without any proper table etiquette. The little girl trembled in fright, but she still successfully picked up a large piece of smoked fish. When she straightened up, her little face was full of pride as she made a face at Yue Yang beside her to show off.

Who would have thought that, in her triumph, she would forget herself? The chair wobbled, and her two little legs failed to find their footing. With an "Ah!" she toppled toward the floor.

Yue Yang tossed aside his bowl and, before the little girl could hit the ground, dove like a basketball player making a flying save, catching her little head and little bottom in both hands.

The impact was too great, and his body shot backward across the floor for over two meters.

Luckily, his hands remained steady, and he did not let the little girl slip free and fall to the ground.

"Little Third Brother is amazing!" The little girl's face first turned pale with fright, but after recovering, she immediately forgot everything else. She jumped down, pounced onto Yue Yang, wrapped her arms around him, and laughed with delight.

When the beautiful woman came to her senses, she rose furiously, ready to teach that little rascal a lesson.

But the little girl knew better than to suffer an immediate loss and promptly turned tail and ran.

"Third, you weren't hurt in the fall, were you?" The beautiful woman reached out anxiously, wanting to pull Yue Yang to his feet.

"N-No, I'm fine." How could Yue Yang show weakness before her? He immediately sprang up from the ground... In truth, he had not been hurt at all. He had sat there dazed for several seconds because he was shocked by his own agility. When had his scrawny shut-in body become so nimble? Could this be the effect of cultivating Innate Formless Body-Breaking Sword Aura? He had only cultivated it for a few days!

This Innate Formless Body-Breaking Sword Aura was truly badass!

Yue Yang was wildly excited inside, but outwardly he acted as though nothing had happened. He returned to the table and continued eating.

Holding her small bowl, black-clad Yue Bing looked at Yue Yang with slight surprise. After a long while, she finally said, "Third Brother usually cultivates combat techniques? I occasionally cultivate combat techniques as well, but I still could not react in time just now. If Third Brother can find a way to contract an enhancement-type battle beast in the future, then combine it with elemental-type 'mist,' your combat strength will definitely improve greatly. It seems that 'mist,' which has no offensive ability, truly is the most suitable for Third Brother's growth."

Hearing this, the beautiful woman felt some joy at her third son's diligence, earnestness, and determination to improve himself, but she felt even more worry.

Because in her mind, combat techniques were mercenary skills. Summoning was what truly had a future!

She picked up a delicious, juicy rib for Yue Yang. "Third, you kept us in the dark so thoroughly. Secretly cultivating combat techniques is not bad. Before, when you did not have a Codex, there was nothing else you could do. Now that you have a Summoning Codex, your focus must still be on developing your summoning. Combat techniques can be cultivated as a supplement, but do not delay your future by focusing mainly on them."

The one who had secretly practiced combat techniques before was the tragic fellow, not me... Yue Yang did not say this aloud. He merely nodded and accepted the beautiful woman's words.

He also knew that, in the minds of the people of the Dragon Soaring Continent, cultivating combat techniques and cultivating summoning could not be mentioned in the same breath.

People who cultivated combat techniques were like migrant workers who went to the city to work without even finishing middle school; those who cultivated summoning were like university graduates from prestigious schools. Even if the two entered the same company and did the same work, the treatment they received would be completely different!

After lunch, black-clad Yue Bing followed Yue Yang back to the small courtyard where he lived.

She was preparing to pass on the knowledge she had learned at the academy to Yue Yang, her counterfeit Third Brother...