Heavenly Opposers

"Stop,"

As soon as the words were heard, both of Xiao's and Valencia's powers stopped, as if a great hand had descended down, their Qi and abilities were completely suppressed. Xiao's eyes twinkled as he heard the voice, a blurry image of a woman appeared behind Valencia. No matter how hard Xiao tried, he was unable to see her face. The only thing he could tell was that she was a woman.

'Adria Decebel.'

Looking at the once-powerful woman, Xiao reeled in his powers. Even though she didn't have even 1% of her peak power, the current her was still more than enough to crush him. A feeling of pity arose when he saw that her figure was obscured. This was the price she had to pay to escape sure death. Her face would never again be seen, and no power or gifts could change that.

"Who are you?" Xiao suspiciously asked as he made sure that Xuanyin was safely at his back.

"Master! You can't come out! What if they feel your presence?" Valencia shouted, but Adria just shook her head as her calm voice echoed.

"Don't worry, I have set up a barrier. At least for the next few minutes, we are safe. I had to do this, or you would have destroyed your life. Who told you to start going all out?" Adria spoke as she looked deeply at Xiao, while Valencia shut up as she understood her fault. She had lost control when she heard that her secrets might be laid bare, something she couldn't allow no matter what. After all, everything she had was too tempting. Once her thoughts reached this point, her bloodlust started to rise.

"Are both of you done?"

Just then, Xiao spoke, taking the attention of both the ladies. Seeing this, Xiao nodded his head. Looking at Adria first, he cupped his hands and gave a respectful bow.

"My respects to a warrior of such level."

Adria wasn't surprised by Xiao's words as she nodded her head.

"At ease."

Xiao didn't stand on formality as he stood straight. Looking at Valencia, he spoke.

"It seems that we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Xiao, and I don't care who you are."

"You!" Xiao's words hit a nerve as Valencia looked at him with narrowed eyes, but he didn't let her continue as he raised his hands to stop her from speaking.

"Wait, let me finish. Again, I don't care what you do or what you are, but I think we can reach a middle ground here."

After Xiao finished speaking, there was silence as Valencia kept thinking. A few seconds later, she spoke.

"Speak."

"Well, it would seem that here we both know each other's secrets, so why don't we just promise to keep our mouths shut? You have the higher ground as you seem to have a higher status than me, so you could cause more trouble for me."

As Xiao finished speaking, there was silence. Valencia kept thinking, and a few seconds later, she spoke.

"Fine, how do you want to do it?"

Valencia relented. In the end, she knew that it was not worth it. Both of them held each other's secrets, which was the best leverage there was. In truth, she wanted to kill him, but from the earlier display of power, she knew that killing him with her current power might not be easy. Plus, he didn't seem like the lustful or idiotic type.

Right now, her options are closed. Perhaps in the future, when she grows more powerful, she could kill him. But for now, she plans on going along with Xiao.

"Good, then it's simple. We keep quiet."

"That's it? Don't you want to get a physical representation of the promise?"

Valencia asked, confused. She had thought that he would ask for a Heaven's oath, a death contract, or a Qi pact, but nothing. Xiao wanted to keep things on a verbal promise. Meanwhile, Xiao just smiled, looking at her as if she were an idiot as he spoke.

"Wait, could it be that the disciple of such a master is a person who can't keep her word? Or maybe you don't trust yourself?"

"Fine! Be it your way."

Saying so, Valencia didn't even stay for an extra second as she turned around and stormed off. Seeing it, Xiao sighed as he relaxed his shoulders.

'Mission accomplished!'

Indeed, Xiao didn't start a fight with Valencia for no reason. While he was pissed off by her desire to make Xuanyin owe her a favor, he was not stupid to just start a fight for it. His main objective was to make Valencia and himself reveal each other's 'secrets.' Xiao knew one day she might find out about it.

Even though right now he's hiding his fate, it doesn't mean that she couldn't connect the dots and find out the truth herself. She's just that smart, and that's why Xiao took action now to get rid of the growing issue. This way, he could determine when his secret will be out.

Xiao is growing stronger not so that he could hide himself. Why should he fear that girl and act cautiously? It's already stuffy now, and he has no intention of hiding his abilities from her. Let her see all she wanted, what can she do? All she could do was watch.

Plus, there's the added bonus of her not coming to him later on. Xiao doesn't want anything to do with that crazy girl. It was then that he felt a pull at his side. Looking downwards, he could see his sister looking at him with her cold eyes.

"..."

"Yes, I'm fine. She couldn't hurt your big brother."

Saying so, he flexed his muscles, which made Xuanyin nod her head. Patting her head, he spoke.

"Ready for sword practice?"

Xuanyin nodded vigorously.

"Good, let's begin."

Saying so, they began their night sword practice. Xiao taught with a relaxed heart, knowing that Valencia would not talk to him anymore and that he wouldn't have to see her too.

An hour later...

'What's she doing here?!'

Xiao mentally screamed as he saw Valencia sitting before him at the dining table. Beside her sat her mother, who was smiling at him. Other than that, there was his mother and sister at the table. His mother seemed to be in a good mood as she was talking happily with Raena as if they were some sort of long-lost friends.

"Mo-Mother? What's going on?"

Xiao asked, completely confused. Looking at Valencia, he could tell that she was equally bewildered. His question caused both the ladies to stop talking as they replied at the same time.

"Oh, both of us just became sworn sisters!"

'What the heck?'

That's all Xiao could think of in response to this twisted change. Dazedly looking at his smiling mother, his thoughts were, 'Is this the so-called butterfly effect?'