I’m An All Stars System - Chapter 29 2.14 Star Painter

She also started to gather her soul strength and directed it at her summons, giving them ample strength to attack the summons that was starting to come out of her opponent’s painting. When she completed her move, she immediately commanded it to pounce on the lions that the young miss from the Shi clan summoned.

Right when their summons contacted each other, glows of golden and purple intersected, the forces and strength that came out from their impacts caused her clothes and hair to wildly flutter in the air. She kept her concentration on fighting the four purple glowing lions, making sure that she provided the correct amount of soul strength to each of her summons. If only one of her summons received less soul strength from her, her opponent would be able to use that opening to push forwards and she would lose the momentum of the battle.

Once Zhang Li felt her summoned Lions’ attack contact Tian He’s summons, she grew astounded. How could this be?! It wasn’t too long ago that tfhis Xiu Ying girl was only at the mid-level, but now, facing the force from their summons attack against each other, she realized she was almost at advanced level.

This was impossible! Although she was also in the midlevel of soul strength, she was still a bit away from advanced level, to be able to level up her soul strength in such a short amount time, her heart couldn’t help but become even more jealous of her.

Why?! She was the legitimate daughter of the Shi clan and this wretched girl was only an orphan that was just lucky to get adopted into the Wang clan, how could she have such talent and also gain the love of the Wang clan’s leader?

It wasn’t fair!

She immediately redoubled her efforts and inputted more soul strength into her summoned Lions.

“Roar!” The Lions that received the command of their painter began to glow a brighter purple before pouncing on their opponent with renewed strength.

Seeing this, Tian He immediately inputted more soul strength in her summons, causing their golden glow to glow brighter before it too also renewed its power and attacked the Lions in front of them.

“Boom!” Waves after waves of soul strength that came out from their point of interaction began to rapidly flow out of the area of their summons’ fight.

It even caused some of the stands that were nearby to wobble, it looked like they were starting to become unstable from the constant force it was exposed to. By now, she noticed that the guards that came with her and the forces from the Qi and Shi clan were also battling against each other, even though she only a bought a few guards with her, they were able to fight to a draw against their opponents that was doubled their number.

“As expected of elder brother’s elite guards.” Tian He refocused her attention on the battle with this young miss from the Shi clan, she just needed to display enough of her skills for that hidden judge to come out.

With that in mind, she renewed her efforts and gathered more of her soul strength and directed it at her summons, when she finished, she rapidly sprinted forwards, going past their summons’ battle and reaching the position where her opponent stood.

Zhang Li was surprised that this Xiu Ying girl actually left her position and came to her, did she think that she didn’t know martial arts and was easy to take advantage of?

“An adopted daughter will always be an adopted daughter.” Although the first years were only taught the basics of martial arts, as the young miss of the Shi clan, she had long been practicing since a young age, if this Xiu Ying girl thinks she’ll be able to defeat her in hand to hand combat, she couldn’t be anymore wrong.

She immediately got ready her stance and prepared to intercept her attacks.

When Tian He saw that her opponent calmly readied her battle stance to brace for her attacks, she chuckled in amusement, how could she not know that any clans’ offspring were all well-versed in martial arts, especially in this world where strength speaks the truth. However, how could this young miss from the Shi clan rival her martial skills that she learned as the Princess of the Ancient Wang Empire. Their imperial family didn’t survive for hundreds of years for nothing.

Just a few feet before she reached her opponent, she rapidly changed her foot movements from a charge and to a side-step so that she quickly appeared on the right side of her, without giving her the chance to breathe, she spun around, and roundhouse kicked towards her opponent’s head.

Zhang Li lost sight of Tian He the second she changed her charging position, however; it didn’t take long before she knew where she went when she heard a strong whooshing sound of the wind come from her right side. Immediately, she bent her back backwards to dodge the attack, however; she underestimated the speed of the kick and her forehead was slightly grazed. She didn’t even have the time to react when her eyes became wide as she saw the kick suddenly change direction and rapidly came down towards her face.

Her heart pounded madly at the closeness of it, her body could only try to roll over to her side to avoid the harsh blow that it would do to her face. Unfortunately, she didn’t make it in time and was hit by her kick on her back. She couldn’t help but cough painfully by the strong force that impacted her back because of that kick, she even felt that some blood was coughed out of her due to the damage she received.

She had no time to lose and immediately tried to get up from the floor, but to her dismay what awaited her was another kick but this time, she didn’t even have the time to respond so she was hit squarely on the chest with the full force of her kick.

“Ah!” Spurts of blood was coming out of her mouth from the huge strength that impacted her chest.

Tian He saw that the young miss from the Shi clan suffer her full force kick and was flung back a couple of feet away from her. Not unexpected with this result, she calmly turned away from the fainted her and looked at her summons’ battle, since the Lions lost connection with their painter that summoned them, she heard them loudly roar in unwillingness before they were ripped apart by her summons and her battle finally concluded.

She walked back towards her summons’ area while crossing her hands in front of her in a bit of annoyance.

“This body is really on the weaker side, although I’ve improved it since I came here, it still falls short from my original body.” She could feel that her breath was coming out a bit faster than usual just from this short bout of exercise.

She looked at her summoned tiger and swan in front of her and couldn’t help but feel thankful that she got to know how to be a good painter that could summon such lifelike beings from her painting. It was a good sense of accomplishment and fulfillment that she really liked feeling after every time she completely mastered a certain skill.

“I can’t deny that this is one of the good things that came out from being forcefully kidnapped to complete tasks in these other worlds.” She smiled a bit and stretched out her hands to pet her summoned tiger and swan.

“Clap, clap.” Suddenly, she heard the sounds of loud clapping near her and couldn’t help but look up in curiosity.

Before she could say anything, the person that clapped began speaking, “That was a great battle to watch amongst first year students. I give you approval for closing in on your opponent while your summons attacked hers, even though I could feel that you were slightly stronger than her in soul strength, you didn’t waste your soul strength in a battle of attrition and immediately chose to strike at the other painter.” He was really surprised by the amazing sense of battle skills this young first year student had.

Tian He watched him calmly walk towards her, and finally noticed the judges badge on his front shirt. She also noticed that the battle between her guards and the forces from the Qi and Shi clan were still in a heated confrontation, but this judge looked like he didn’t care about it at all and was just standing there watching her with a calm smile on his face.

She was surprised that he wasn’t affected by the aftermath of their battle, the clashes of forces between her guards and the forces from their opponents could rival that of person who neared the mastery level in soul strength.

She was curious, just what is the depth of soul strength of this judge standing in front of her?

However, before she could ask about his identity, she heard her name being shouted out from a far distance away. When she turned to see who called her, her pupils shrank in shock and a bit of fear.

How could he be here?!

She was really taken aback by her elder brother’s appearance here. Since she knew that the Qi and Shi clan forces were going to battle the Wang clan’s forces, she would have thought that this half-brother of hers would join them in battle but now looking at his figure that was rapidly closing in on her, she couldn’t prevent her expression from faltering.

This was not part of her plan!

If her elder brother is here, then there’s no doubt that he’ll want to immediately take her back but that would also mean the Qi and Shi clan forces are pummeling the Wang clan’s forces right now about now because they lacked her elder brother who was in the mastery level of soul strength to fight with them. Since she was sure that the Qi and Shi clan were aware of her elder brother’s level in soul strength, she highly doubted they would be stupid enough not to send out a mastery level expert to deal with her elder brother.

However, after seeing him right now, she grew really mad at herself and her elder brother’s choice, she had no intention of weakening her elder brother’s forces like this.

Damn it! Even if she was captured by the Qi and Shi clan, she had confidence that her elder brother would rescue the original owner, and although her elder brother might suffer a bit under the tactics of the Qi clan with the original owner as leverage, she was sure that her intellectual elder brother of hers would have some plans to counter that since he wasn’t the exalted young clan leader of the Wang clan for nothing.

But it was totally different now that she saw him here. His appearance could only mean that he abandoned his forces, sacrificing them in battle, this would not only weaken the number of forces under him but also decrease the reputation he had as the leader of the Wang clan. Once people find out about his reckless actions, wouldn’t they think twice before declaring their loyalty to him as guards of the Wang clan?

She was really furious yet helpless with his actions, I know I was reckless in leaving the Wang clan’s mansion, but this is not the way!

She really wanted to confront him on this but judging by the furious expression he was donning while charging this way, she knew that she needed to speed things up with the judge and leave here.

She rapidly turned her attention to this seemingly still calm judge in front of her. Now that she looked a bit closer, she could see some hidden wrinkles and gray hair hidden within the blacks, at first, she thought he was middle-aged, but now looking at him, he looked a bit older than that. Whatever the case, she needed this judge to cast his final verdict on her painting and give a score so that she could leave.

“First-year student Xiu Ying greets this Judge.” She politely curtsied to him and not letting him reply yet, she continued. “Respected Judge, please give Xiu Ying the score for my painting and summons for this time’s Arts contest. As you can see, Xiu Ying is in a bit of a hurry and I hope respected Judge can accommodate Xiu Ying in her sudden request.”

She knew that this judge wanted to speak with her more judging by how he spoke to her in the beginning about her battle but her elder brother was rapidly approaching, and she did not want to be here to face his fury.

Also, there was the fact that once she sees him, her emotions that she kept bottled down inside her heart might erupt and she really wouldn’t be able to stop herself from embracing him and feeling his warmth. For these past two days, she’s been deliberately trying to avoid his touch and presence to reinforce her thoughts so that her greedy self won’t take over. If she lets her elder brother hug her, she might want to stay longer and her greediness for more of his warmth and love will probably counter her reasoning and she would be in big trouble then.

The judge that spoke earlier was slightly taken aback by this first-year student’s request, normally, after the students meet him, they wouldn’t be able to suppress their excitement and talk to him a bit more to get to know him better so that he’ll recruit them into their organization. However, this student looked like she couldn’t wait for him to finish talking to her. He was bewildered by her attitude but since she had caught his eye, he’ll fulfill her simple request.

Suddenly, just when he was about to speak, he sensed a presence rapidly approach from behind her and when he realized that person’s objective, he immediately rushed forwards so that he’ll meet with that person’s attack.

When Advisor Wu saw that this judge went forwards to block him from capturing his target, he couldn’t help but curse his bad luck and renewed his strength to meet with his attack.

Tian He was caught off guard when the judge that was about to speak to her suddenly blurred and before she knew it, she heard the sounds of battle behind her. She immediately turned her head around to see what happened and was taken aback by the scene. Although they weren’t using their summons to battle, she could still feel the level of soul strength emitted out from them.

“What the heck?!” She was too surprised. Mastery level! They were both in mastery level of soul strength!

Their fast movements of their attacks caused only after images to appear with each move, she really couldn’t distinguish their figures and what moves they were displaying but judging by the sounds, the number of impacts in these few seconds has already reached over a hundred. Their speed and strength used against each other was incredible, she realized that if she were to face against either of them, she’ll be defeated before being able to move single a bit.

“Bang! Bang! Boom!” Their fight looked like it was escalating since she heard their sounds of impact against each other become louder. After moving a bit away from the fighting scene, she observed their battle and found out that although they were both in the mastery level, the one that had wanted to attack her from behind seemed to be falling in leeway against the judge that helped her intercept his attack.

“This attacker of mine seems to be only in the beginning stages of mastery level.” She already knew that people who reached mastery level in soul strength was rare but seeing three of them in such a short amount of time couldn’t help but make her flabbergasted.

Suddenly, she could feel a stronger wave of force coming out from the judge and it was pressing down promptly against his opponent, almost completely overpowering him soon. Tian He grew excited at that and immediately thanked her luck for having such a powerful judge help her fend off this person. Although this attacker was wearing a disguise, she knew that since he wanted to capture her just then and coupled with the fact that his soul strength is in the mastery level, he is definitely one of the Qi clan forces that was sent out to abduct her.

With the unexpected help from this judge, she relaxed a bit and sighed in relief. Although she didn’t mind getting captured since she has resolved herself when she snuck out of the mansion, but now that there was free help, she wouldn’t have to worry that the original owner might suffer from being captured.

As for her life being in danger, she had full confidence in her half-brother for recusing the original owner if she was captured, besides now that she took care of that annoying young miss from the Shi clan, she wouldn’t have to be worried that she’ll try anything.

Now all that’s left is to wait for this judge to finish his battle to give her a score on her painting. Since this judge is obviously stronger than his opponent, she could also count on him to protect her from the other Qi and Shi clan forces that want to abduct the original owner once she leaves. Everything is falling in place perfectly.

She swore that she was even going to hum a small tune for having her task almost be completed, but she stopped herself when she felt like she was somehow forgetting something.

“What am I forgetting” When she turned head away from the amazing battle scene in front of her, she saw the ever-close elder brother of hers.

Her face cramped, “Ahnow I remember.” She looked at the fuming expression on her elder brother’s face that was growing with each step he took closer to her and couldn’t help but don a guilty face.

Cheng Da finally reached his Xiu Ying’s position, but what he saw made him even more mad, she was actually donning a free and relaxed expression, like her actions of leaving the Wang clan and endangering herself meant nothing.

He really needed to properly teach this younger sister of his to rein in her attitude, or else he felt like there was no where to vent the current steam that was building up inside of him.

“Xiu Ying.” He calmly called her name while waving his hand outwards so that the guards that followed him would join her guards in fighting back the Qi and Shi clan forces.

Tian He looked at her elder brother and lover but couldn’t meet eyes with him, with just a glance, she saw hurt, pain, worry, and fear. She knew that he must have been rushing here anxiously judging by how out of breath he was, and as a mastery level expert in soul strength, this was no small feat.

However, she didn’t get to brood on this longer because she heard him approach her, instinctively she took a step back and called out.

“Don’t come any closer!” Her head was still lowered to avoid his gaze and her hands were clenched to hold back the turmoil inside her heart. She really didn’t want to see him right now, she couldn’t let the hard resolve that she built up to crumble now, she just couldn’t.

Cheng Da was taken aback by her fierce avoidance of him. He couldn’t help but think that something must have happened for her change in attitude towards him. Now that he thought about it, she’s been avoiding him ever since two days ago. He was so busy with his work that he didn’t notice, or he just thought that she was giving him space to work on his clan matters, but now looking at her stance, he knew that there must be something that’s bothering her.

He slowed his steps and didn’t approach her any further. He was worried about the troubled expression she was making and didn’t want to push her any further.

“Xiu Ying, elder brother is confused. Why did you leave the safety of the mansion? Why are so adamant in attending this contest? I know that you’re a quick individual and understand what I mean by these words, please Xiu Ying, tell me what has been bothering you lately.” He didn’t like how she’s trying to avoid him and the troubled yet weary expression she had on was causing him some distress.

Tian He just wanted to cover her ears and ignore her lover’s gentle words towards her. She began biting her lips to try to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill out.

Her heart felt the pain full force now that she heard his voice.

Oh god, why is he so good towards her? Even after she has put his clan forces’ in danger by leaving the mansion at a time like this, he didn’t even yell at her and was actually asking if something was troubling her. She was full of guilt, she really didn’t deserve such a great and selfless love from him.

No, she couldn’t falter now, she needed to get that judge to score her painting and finish her task, she had to distract her elder brother for now.

She tried to calm her heart and slowly looked up from the ground at her elder brother in front of her.

“Elder brother, Xiu Ying has to trouble you with something, after you help me, I’ll answer whatever elder brother wants to know.” She didn’t wait for him to reply or take notice of her almost faltering smile and pointed to the battle between the mastery level experts behind her.

“The person that the judge is currently fighting is someone from the Qi clan that wanted to capture me, it was thanks to the judge who stopped his advances in time that I’m still safe. But their battle has been going on for a few minutes now, I hope elder brother could help distract that person because I need to say something to the judge.”

She knew that her request sounded strange, but she couldn’t think of anything else to get him to stop looking and speaking to her in such a gentle manner. Besides, this would help her complete the task and help her avoid facing her elder brother when she leaves, it was the best path for her now.

Cheng Da was really bewildered now. Why is she in such a hurry to talk to the judge now? Judging by the soul strength of this judge, he could tell that he was stronger than his opponent and it would probably only take a few more minutes for him to finish the battle, and then she could naturally talk to him, why does she need him to battle that person? It’s almost like she’s trying to deliberately avoid talking and seeing him right now.

But why? He really couldn’t understand her thoughts right now; did he do something that made her want to avoid him?

Tian He saw that he still didn’t answer and grew a bit anxious, she knew that it would be hard to fool her elder brother but she was hoping to count on the remaining trust he had for her to listen to her abrupt request.

Taking a deep breath to renew her confidence, “Elder brother, I know my request might seem strange right now, but Xiu Ying promises that everything will become clear once I’ve finished talking to the judge.”

She tried her best to look calmly at him briefly, since she wasn’t telling any lies about how things will clear up regarding her strange behavior, her elder brother won’t be able to catch her pain and unwillingness hidden within her eyes. After all, once she leaves, the original owner will take over and the whole reason behind her request will become clear.

Although Cheng Da was still skeptical about her request, he still decided that he’ll listen to it after seeing the hint of anxiety within her eyes, there must be some troubling reason behind all this and he was determined to find out. Once he’s done with fighting that person from the Qi clan, he could naturally count on her promise to clear everything up with him.

He briefly nodded to her in agreement to her request before moving towards the battle behind her.

With the addition of another mastery level expert against him, Adviser Wu was starting to get strained in battle, he was already at a disadvantage with this judge but now that the Wang clan’s leader, who was supposed to be fighting with his forces against the Qi and Shi clan’s, was unexpectedly here, he definitely won’t be able to escape getting defeated, or worse, killed.

However, he could only continue to battle since one wrong move will lead to serious repercussions, and his end would be even closer. He could only drag this battle on and wait for reinforcements, since this Wang clan’s leader was here, his forces won’t be able last long against the Qi and Shi clan’s, once that happens, he’ll have the upper hand.

However, just when he was about to harden his resolve and conserve his strength for a prolonged battle against two mastery level experts, he saw that this Wang clan’s leader spoke something to the judge and surprisingly, that caused him to stop his attacks against him. He was taken aback, but before he could comprehend why he left the battle, the Wang clan’s leader’s attack came towards him.

“Bang!” His heart secretly thought that was a close call. Alright, since this was working towards him anyways, he won’t think about it any further and focus on fending off this Wang clan’s leader attacks.

When Tian He finally saw the judge approach her, she immediately stated her request to let him review her painting. By now, since the time she ended the battle with the still fainted young miss from Shi clan over there, her summons had already been recalled but because the judge has already seen her summons’ battle, she didn’t need to call it again for him to judge her painting.

Although the judge was confused by this first-year student’s rushed attitude and couldn’t help but wonder if that’s just her personality but since he has already decided he’ll agree to her request, he won’t back down now. He looked seriously at her canvas painting for a moment, then turned his attention to her who was in front of him.

“I have to say, this student, in all of my years as a judge for the Arts contest, your painting is one of the most unique I have ever seen, especially the title you used, ‘The Start of Our Beginning’. I could assume by the expressions of the figures inside the painting that this ‘start’ you are referring to has to be related to a beginning of some form of relationship. Although I can’t tell if it’s one of love or just sibling love, I can tell that you’ve displayed it very well in the painting.” He looked questioningly at her for a second before continuing.

“If I were to give it a score based on the painter’s skills in painting and use of soul strength, there’s no doubt that you can’t match those well advanced or mastery level painters out there, but your concept and meaning behind the painting is something to be worth praising. So, my verdict is that your painting will most likely win the title of ‘Most Thoughtful and Unique’ in this year’s Arts Contest.” He finished his speech with an appreciated and confident smile.

When Tian He finally heard him give his verdict, she relaxed her hanging heart and couldn’t help but turn her head a bit to look at her lover that was still fighting his opponent.

Her eyes suddenly became a bit moist and she couldn’t help herself from thinking about all the times they’ve interacted with each other. Her heart remembered everything, the first time he battled against her, the first time he saw her feelings for him, and above all, their first time together as lovers. All these scenes were rapidly flashing by and her now moist eyes were getting buried by the tears that she wasn’t able to hold back any longer from spilling.

She softly spoke to him in her heart, “I’ll always love you, Cheng Da elder brother.”

Her cries were now coming out uncontrollably and she had to use her hands to cover her mouth to prevent them escaping. She didn’t remember how she called out Little Stars to take her away but before she knew it, she was already floating in the air as a soul still looking at her lover while he ran towards her falling body. She couldn’t bear to look at this scene and immediately stretched her hands out for Little Stars to take her away.

However, just when she was about to touch Little Stars’ hand, she heard him call out her name with so much anguish that she couldn’t help but take a glance, however; after seeing that scene, her pupils instantly shrunk in shock, his dark brown eyes that were now brimming with dark flames within them was currently looking directly at her! Before she could dwell on the reason, her hands finally touched Little Stars’ and her soul was rapidly brought away.

..

After the original owner woke up and received only the memories that Tian He didn’t have Little Stars erase, she was confused but at the same time, she felt joyful that her early death in a jail cell was just a dream. When she looked next to her, she saw her half-brother standing there while staring up into the sky like he was searching for something.

When Cheng Da heard the movements beside him, he immediately turned to the figure that was sitting on the ground and grabbed her shoulders while looking directly into her eyes, but even after scanning attentively for a while with his strong soul strength, he didn’t find the usual clear brightness within those eyes of hers, there was nothing resembling those eyes he first saw on that day he fell in love with her. Suddenly, he let go of her and couldn’t help but manically laugh towards the skies.

“Haha, you lied Xiu Ying! You tricked me, how could you? You promised not to leave me! You lied!” That soul that flew away was actually you, how could this happen?! What exactly is going on?!

“Haha, no wonder I suddenly fell in love with you, you originally weren’t her.” He didn’t know whether he was angry or sad, his heart just felt like it was being torn into pieces.

When the original owner saw her half-brother’s angry yet painful expression, she braved herself to call out, “Elder brother”

“Shut up! Don’t call me that, you’re not her, you don’t deserve it.” His cold expression met hers while glaring at her with eyes that almost contain hostility.

He ignored the frightened her and steeled his almost insane expression, “Since you’ve left me, then I’ll just have to find you.” Once I find you, you won’t be able to get away from me ever again.

..

For many years to come, in the major territory that was ruled by the exalted Wang clan and the other territories across the world, paintings of a young girl that was supposably declared as the powerful Wang clan’s leader long-lost lover spread out and disseminated in every place possible. However, even though these paintings occupied the majority of the land, and the forces and influence underneath the Wang clan’s leader grew to such a huge height that even other major territories owners were fearful of, the girl in the painting was never found.

In a large mansion that housed that exactly powerful Wang clan’s leader, a middle-aged man sat on his study’s desk with his eyes staring at a painting of a young girl he just completed. His rough hands that now had some wrinkles on them touched the face of the young girl ever so gently.

“My Xiu Ying, just exactly where are you hiding? Why won’t you come out to meet your elder brother? Don’t you know that I miss you? Why do you continue to be so mischievous?” His now tired eyes and mind could only look her like this.

“Xiu Ying, ah. Did you know that after you’ve left, elder brother has become a bit better at controlling himself, if you come back, I promise I won’t punish you for hiding from me. You can trust in elder brother’s promise, so please my Xiu Ying, come back to me.” His long weary self didn’t have enough strength to cry out anymore, his emotions have long gone cold from trying to hold back the pain in his heart.

Suddenly, he felt extremely exhausted and couldn’t help but place his head on his desk to rest for a moment while still holding the painting he just completed, “My Xiu Ying, elder brother is a bit tired right now, I’ll only rest for a moment then I’ll resume playing with you. You really are mischievous in playing this hiding game with elder brother for so long. Once I find you, I’ll properly teach you to not be so naughty anymore.” He held the painting firmly with his hands while his vision started turning blurry.

His eyelids were immensely heavy now, and he couldn’t keep himself awake any longer. He closed his eyes and reluctantly let himself sleep, once I’m awake, I’ll make sure to find you, wait for me, my Xiu Ying.

…..

Once the death of the Wang clan’s leader was confirmed, his younger sister, Xiu Ying, was named leader but it had come with two bizarre conditions, the girl could only obtain the position if she still remained unmarried and kept the painting she ‘supposedly’ used to enter the Arts contest all those years ago, or else she would be immediately expelled from the Wang clan.

The original owner finally obeyed these conditions and became the leader-in-name for the Wang clan while she let Adviser Lin and the other Wang clan members rule the clan.

Since she felt grateful for her half-brother in letting an adopted daughter such as her become the leader, even if only in name, she still had the paintings of the young girl her elder brother had wished to find spread out around the many territories, although it was highly possible that this girl could never be found, she felt that it was something her elder brother would have wanted to keep doing.
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