People Who Can't Hold a Conversation

A Man Who Cannot Make Small Talk

The electronic screen's cold light flipped another page, and amid the buzzing of the waiting area, a referee's fresh shouting blended in: "Second match--Group B7, Xie Xie, versus, Li Jinglan."

Xie Xie was squatting by the edge of the steps tying his shoelace, and upon hearing his name he almost yanked the lace apart: "...Li Jinglan? Who's that?"

A nearby contestant let out a snort of laughter: "You're in luck, his soul power just passed level ten, and in yesterday's mock match he was trussed up like a zongzi by a little control-system girl using Blue Silver Grass and carried off."

Xie Xie's dyed yellow tufts of hair all stood on end as he rapped his knuckles against his knee: "Just this? I can take him with one hand."

Yun Ying leaned against her spear shaft, the spearhead still jammed unpulled in the crack of the steps. The bruise on her abdomen was faintly hot from the residual warmth of the arena. She glanced at the electronic screen, then glanced at Xie Xie: "Yellow-hair, watch yourself, don't go winning with one hand just to have people say you're bullying a mental defective."

"A mental defective?" Xie Xie stood up, spinning a dagger in a flash at his fingertips. "I call this gentlemanly grace, keeping one hand tucked in my pocket to pose like a young master." With that, he strolled saunteringly toward the check-in entrance, the cuffs of his trousers kicking up dust against the edge of the steps.

Yao sat down on the steps next to Yun Ying, unstrapping the Star Sword from her lower back to lay it horizontally across her lap, its crystal shards flashing with a pale blue morning light. Her left hand habitually gestured: "This yellow-hair friend of yours has a mouth even sharper than mine."

"Him? Sharp?" Yun Ying let out a huff. "When he gets sharp, he starts swinging after three sentences at most. When you get sharp, you can go on from the Chang'an drainage ditches all the way to the saltiness of East Sea dried fish."

"That's called having a broad knowledge base." Yao grinned, then bumped her elbow against Yun Ying's spear shaft. "Hey, you think if Xie Xie wins this with one hand, our match later on can count as a draw--"

"A draw my foot, you're the one who got slashed into the scorched iron kneeling on one knee."

"I call that tactically kneeling to observe the terrain!"

"Shut up."

"...Fine." Yao rubbed the bridge of her nose, her gaze sweeping across the arena--Xie Xie had already taken his position, while his opponent was as thin as a drying pole, the iron sword in his hand actually shaking. The referee's whistle blew, and Xie Xie truly kept her left hand shoved in his pocket while crossing his twin blades with her right. The Ghost Shadow Traceless Step unfolded, her figure flashing to Li Jinglan's flank and rear. The hilt of her dagger tapped against the other's wrist bone, and the iron sword clattered to the ground. She turned to pounce, but Xie Xie's right toe pointed at the back of Li Jinglan's knee. Before the boy even fell, Xie Xie's free left hand pulled out from his pocket and flicked his forehead with her index finger: "Go to sleep."

Li Jinglan rolled his eyes and sat down limply on the ground.

The entire audience went silent for half a second before the referee raised a hand: "Group B7, Xie Xie wins."

Scattered applause sounded in the waiting area. Xie Xie pulled her twin daggers back, thrusting her left hand back into her pocket, her dyed yellow tufts lifted high by the wind. When she sauntered back to Yun Ying's side, the corners of her mouth were pulled down to her ears: "One hand, truly boring."

Yun Ying couldn't be bothered to look at her: "I know your rich-kid young master has too much time on his hands."

Just as Xie Xie was about to retort, Yao let out a "ha" beside them: "The way the two of you interact is just like me arguing with others about who pops their ultimate first."

Yun Ying leaned against her spear shaft, the spear tassel hanging motionless, when she suddenly dropped a sentence: "Dongfang Yao."

"Hm?"

"Do you still remember, this morning you mentioned to me that Kai went to Heaven Dou City."

"That's right, Jail Kai." The crystal shards on Yao's lower back sword spun a bit. "What about it."

Yun Ying's brown ponytail slipped to her cheek. She didn't brush it away, her gaze drifting blankly to watch the next group of names scroll on the electronic screen, her voice neither high nor low: "You forgot, last time I drank some wine and went looking for Brother Kai for a solo. He beat me back with two slashes."

The natural smile at the corner of Yao's mouth instantly split wider, her shoulders trembling slightly: "Oh dear--you bring that up! That night in the Chang'an West Market, you hugged a jar of wine and said 'let's have Brother Kai see the Yun family spear technique', only for Brother Kai to parry your spear with his first slash and slice off half your spear tassel with the second. You sat on the steps hugging the broken tassel and crying your eyes out--"

"Dongfang Yao!" Yun Ying's face turned as red as beet juice down to the roots of her ears. The spear shaft she leaned against tilted backward by half an inch, and the bruise on her abdomen tightened along with it: "If you know how to chat, then chat, if not, shut your trap! You have the nerve to talk about me, who was the one-shotted in a single slash?!"

Yao raised both hands with a cheeky grin: "Who told him his parry is so strong. I unleashed a whole set of skills, and yet it dealt zero damage, what could I do? My starry power was maxed out when I opened my ultimate, and he didn't even let me pull off a single counter-slash with his backhand--"

"Then shut up!"

The morning light in the waiting area was pale blue, and the humming of the soul guide barrier blended with the distant shouts of the referee. Seeing that this girl's spear shaft was starting to emit a faint Phantom Crystal glow, and that two more sentences would result in a spearhead poking down his throat, Yao tactically made a "tsk" sound. She swung the Star Sword behind her back and shifted her backside away from the step beside Yun Ying. Yellow-haired Xie Xie was still standing there with his hands in his pockets acting cool, so Yao crossed over in a few strides, acting as familiar as if they had known each other for eight lifetimes:

"Brother Xie Xie!"

Xie Xie's yellow hair jerked: "...What."

"That hand you used earlier was pretty." Yao stood beside her, her lower back sword bumping against Xie Xie's dagger scabbard, "Let me tell you, I was just talking to Yun Ying about Brother Kai. Do you know Kai? The kind where opening his ultimate is super handsome--"

Xie Xie raised an eyebrow: "Don't know him. But from what you're implying, you got one-shotted by him in a single slash?"

"...That was a tactical retreat." Yao gestured with her fingers. "His parry is outrageously strong. He didn't even bother looking at me when I dashed past, and my Sky-Rending Slash didn't even spark when I hacked at his demonic armor--"

"Then you're even more pathetic than Yun Ying." Xie Xie said bluntly, "Yun Ying at least took two slashes."

"What do you know, I call that probing his damage." Yao nudged Xie Xie's elbow.

For once, Xie Xie didn't snap back, instead tapping her knuckles against her trouser seam: "That Star Sword of yours is quite flashy."

"Flashy? This is a section of the Milky Way lopped off and tied to my waist." Yao lifted the hem of her tunic to reveal the crystal shards on the hilt. "Yesterday the old man at the outer street herbal tea stall even said this sword looks like scrapings falling off the night sky."

"Scrapings." Xie Xie repeated the two words, her dyed yellow tufts blown askew by the wind. "You're just like Yun Ying, motor-mouthed."

"Being motor-mouthed is having a broad knowledge base." Yao smiled, her gaze drifting past Xie Xie's shoulder to look at the drawing machine in the distance. Tang Wulin was holding a slip of paper and walking back, his dark hair neat in the barrier wind. "Hey, Tang Wulin--"

Tang Wulin raised his eyes: "...Who are you."

"Dongfang Yao." Yao waved a hand. "Didn't you watch the match earlier where I tied with her? Even the star-fallen iron arena cracked."

Tang Wulin paused his steps and looked at Yun Ying. Yun Ying was still leaning against her spear shaft, her face still flushed bright red without fading, the spearhead jammed in the crack unmoving. She merely raised her eyelids to glare at Yao's back: "Yellow-hair, keep your overly familiar friend in check."

Xie Xie spread her hands: "I can't keep him in check, he can talk even more than me."

Yao had already sidled up next to Tang Wulin, chattering away as she walked: "Who did you draw? My match is over and I've got nothing to do, we can chat about how that Gu Yue girl punched Yun Ying into a barrel--let me tell you--, how's your strength? I sense a bit of dragon aura from you, and things like dragons should be quite common on our continent--"

Tang Wulin: "...Take a breath first."

"I won't breathe." Yao gestured with her fingers. "I'm telling you, Zhao Huaizhen came too, and when Yun Ying heard the name she almost slid right off her spear shaft onto the ground. Guess what kind of relationship she has with Zhao Huaizhen? Back in Chang'an she went to visit him every day when he was recovering from his illness, everyone knows her--"

Yun Ying roared back from afar: "Dongfang Yao, if you mention Zhao Huaizhen's name again, I'll shove this spearhead straight down your throat!"

"Look at that, she's flustered." Yao chuckled, turning her head to continue pestering Tang Wulin. "When you were lining up at the drawing machine just now, the referee said there's a strong-attack system female with purple eyes in Group C for the next match, is that the Gu Yue you guys were talking about? Yun Ying got punched by her--"

Tang Wulin let out an "hn", his gaze falling back to the slip of paper in his hand.

Xie Xie followed behind with her hands in her pockets, her dyed yellow tufts refusing to stay down no matter how she pressed them, muttering: "This guy can talk even more than me."

Yun Ying leaned against her spear shaft, Yao's voice drifting further and further away by her ear, blending with Tang Wulin's occasional brief replies. The morning light in the waiting area remained as pale blue as before, the Phantom Crystal patterns on the spear shaft dim, yet after the name Zhao Huaizhen thundered through her mind, it somewhat diluted the suffocating annoyance of Gu Yue's purple-eyed punch. She raised her head and watched Yao jabbering away as she walked with Tang Wulin toward the other side of the drawing machine, Xie Xie's yellow hair standing out like an incompatible drying pole between the two of them.

" Chatterbox," Yun Ying cursed, yet the corners of her mouth inexplicably hooked upward by half a millimeter. The spear spun against the steps, its Phantom Crystal micro-glow flashing once and instantly vanishing.