~~~
Though he would vehemently disagree with the assertion, Bei Hong’s luck proves much better than Pan Qiu’s. He faces someone not of the Four Great Sects and achieves a quick and decisive victory. While Bei Hong could have done it without revealing his cultivation, the idea of not going all out never once crossed his mind. Everyone now knows he is in the Sixth Level of the Earth Realm.
Four matches later, Feng Zhi prevails over a disciple of the Infinite Mountain Sect. From start to finish, not a single person doubts his dominance. His flames dazzle the audience and overwhelm his foe with ease. Best of all, he does it without revealing his cultivation. That will serve him well in future rounds.
And yet, he cannot help but wonder if maybe he should have used the Eternal Flame like Lu Mei did to make a stronger impression.
“That’s Lord Feng Gui’s son,” the people say after he’s declared the winner.
“They say he will one day inherit the Eternal Flame Clan!”
“No, haven’t you heard?! It’s the younger brother who is the favorite!”
“It was a fantastic fight, but it can’t compare to Chen Guo from the Infinite Mountain Sect or Xiao Shuang from the Divine Frozen Palace!”
People will say what they want to say, Feng Zhi tells himself as he walks out of the arena. They have been doing that all his life, and it’d be foolish to expect that to change. He cannot even say they’re wrong.
If he were to fight Chen Guo right now…“Huh, Yi Jiao was right. It is actually really easy to tell when you’re thinking about something depressing. I used to think that was just the face you made when looking down on people.”
Feng Zhi’s face goes flat.
“What are you doing here?” He asks Huang Shing. The buffoon is standing in the middle of the hallway. “Shouldn’t you be in the waiting room with the others?”
“My fight is the one after this one,” Huang Shing says as the audience’s cheers echo throughout the walls. “I thought I should be alone to focus better.”
Feng Zhi snorts. “Focus? You?”
“See? That’s more like you,” Huang Shing says. “It suits you better than being all pathetic.”
Feng Zhi’s eyebrow twitches. Sparks shine in his hands.
“Your tongue has grown far too bold.”
“Nah, my tongue is as bold as usual,” Huang Shing says, shrugging. “The stress from the tournament is getting to you. It makes me look bad.”
“You?!” Feng Zhi echoes incredulously. “What do you have to do with this?!”
“You stole my childhood friend, and I chased you halfway across the Empire just to beat your face. What does it say about me that I did all that over some mopey guy?” Huang Shing asks. His finger alternates between pointing at Feng Zhi and at his own face. “Think of my image!”
“...Your empathy is overwhelming,” Feng Zhi says sarcastically.
“It’s because of the knife, right?” Huang Shing asks.
Feng Zhi reflexively tenses up. His first thought is that he is not sure if he likes that Yi Jiao and the oaf are on cordial terms again. Not because he doubts Yi Jiao, but because it gives the buffoon far more avenues of buffoonery.
His second thought is that his father would surely disapprove of his reaction. He would also surely disapprove that all he could find in the Realm of the Crimson Cloud was a small knife.
But does that matter to him anymore?
Hasn’t he already come to terms with his father’s disapproval? Is he going to change now only because it is happening on a much bigger stage than usual?
More importantly, is he okay with being so obviously bothered that even the oaf is showing concern for him?
“Ridiculous,” Feng Zhi says, shaking his head and chuckling. “I have fallen really low if someone like you is pitying me.”
“Now, that’s more like how a proper Young Master should be,” Huang Shing says.
“Shut up, oaf,” Feng Zhi says, “Worry about your own fight.”
“Don’t you worry, Young Master Feng Zhi,” Huang Shing says, grinning and offering him a mock salute. “This Huang Shing will win and win once more, so he can defeat you in the Top 16. Count on it.”
~~~
“Huang Shing of the Eternal Flame Clan vs. Xie Jun of the Infinite Mountain Sect!”
Like many people in the Infinite Mountain Sect, Xie Jun is pretty tall. Not tall for a woman, just tall. Unlike Chen Guo, she is not a mountain of muscle. Instead, her body is noticeably slender despite her bulky robes. Her brown hair is tied in a long braid that reaches the back of her knees.
She has been glaring at Huang Shing from the moment she laid eyes on him.
While it is normal for there to be some hostility between foes at the tournament, the fierceness with which Xie Jun looks at him goes well beyond the professional and strictly into the personal. Huang Shing racks his brain fiercely to figure out what he could have possibly done to offend someone he has never met.
It takes him an embarrassingly long time to figure out the answer.
“You… you know, don’t you?” He asks at last.
Her glare grows angrier.
“When I saw the bracket, I thanked the Heavens that I would be able to face Senior Brother Chen’s enemy. He should not have to sully his hands with the likes of you. As the matches have gone by, I have come to realize the rumors surrounding the Eternal Flame Clan are all true. You are a nest of vipers. All except the brave disciple called Pan Qiu, who met Senior Brother Chen honorably on the battlefield.”
Huang Shing blinks repeatedly.
Someone from the Infinite Mountain Sect being angry with him over what happened with Chen Guo, he can understand. Chen Guo does not seem like the communicative sort, so his silence might have made people assume worse things than what actually happened, which was pretty bad to begin with.
However, why would Xie Jun feel the need to bring the entire Eternal Flame Clan into this? Sister Gan won her fight decisively. Sister Fan did the same, though her usual lack of expressions might have caused the audience to see her as cold. Sister Mei… might have been a bit too showy, but that’s normal for the tournament. Brother Hong went all out from the start. Some might have seen that as bullying because his opponent never merited that much power, but that is simply how Brother Hong does things.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
And Feng Zhi… had been wearing his usual look, the one that made it seem like he was looking down at everyone.
Huh.
Not one thing he listed is particularly damning, but when viewed by someone who already has a bad impression of the Eternal Flame Clan, it is probably pretty bad.
“It’s probably pointless to say this, but we are not a nest of vipers,” Huang Shing says. “Only some people in the Eternal Flame Clan are! Brother Jin probably has actual vipers somewhere under his sleeves, but he’s the best!”
~~~
In the waiting room, Liu Jin’s palm meets his forehead.
~~~
“You’d even defend the dreaded Young Dragon, whose fearsome reputation is known far and wide! That’s too much!” Xie Jun shouts. Her qi rises with enough strength to make her robes billow.
Earth Realm, Level Five.
“Enough talk! We fight!”
She dashes at him, and Huang Shing almost lets her get a free hit when he misjudges the time it would take her to reach him. However, he leans back just in time and unleashes his attack.
[Fourth Dragon Slaying Palm - Blooming Lotus]
His technique strikes true, sending Xie Jun flying across the ring and slamming into the barrier. It shimmers blue momentarily before becoming invisible to the eye again. Even if he uses his full power, Huang Shing doubts he can break it. In past tournaments, people in the Heaven Realm have been able to fight inside it, and Huang Shing is not there yet.
His power is also not enough to knock out Xie Jun in one blow.
She stands up, still glaring at him, but this time for far more personal reasons. It is a pity since she’s pretty. Obviously not as beautiful as someone like Sister Mei or even Yi Jiao. Still, Huang Shing does not like having a pretty girl angry at him.
Xie Jun slams her hand into the ground. Crystals, clear like ice and sharp like blades, rise under Huang Shing’s feet, seeking to impale his body. Thanks to the speed given to him by the elixir, Huang Shing has little trouble dodging. Even as more crystals rise across the ring, none of them come close to touching Huang Shing.
However, the ring is suddenly a little too full of crystals.
Huang Shing realizes it before it happens, but it is already too late. Xie Jun brings her hands together.
[Shining Storm]
The stalagmites explode all at once, sending countless sharp crystals flying at Huang Shing from all directions. There is nowhere for him to run. Xie Jun must have thought of this strategy before the match began to make up for the disparity in natural speed.
Huang Shing takes a deep breath.
[Fifth Dragon Slaying Palm - A Hundred Blooming Lotuses]
His fists blur, and countless pink explosions go off around him as he punches every single incoming projectile until there are none left.
That is when the blade comes down.
Sharp and made of crystal, Xie Jun holds the sword between her hands as she brings it down over his head. Huang Shing leans back in time, but the blade leaves a cut on his cheek. Xie Jun turns her sword and shifts her stance slightly.
[Dance of the Shining Star]
Her body glows white as she attacks him. Her slices are sharp, and her aim is deadly. Huang Shing’s fists glow green with Qi as he does his best to parry and punch her blade. However, there is something almost passive about his movements, and Xie Jun does not fail to notice it.
“Stop looking down on me!” she roars as her Qi soars around her.
[Light of the Shining Star]
A brilliant wave of Qi emerges from her crystal blade and rushes towards Huang Shing. The attack engulfs him and slams into the barrier, creating a powerful explosion that fills the ring with smoke for a moment. The audience’s whispers rise as they wait to see what happens next.
“I am sorry,” Huang Shing says as he steps out from the smoke. His robes are torn, and there are few wounds on his body. “It is not that I am looking down on you. It’s just…I have never been on this side of things before. You are angry with me because of what happened with Chen Guo, and you’re not wrong to feel that way. It started over a misunderstanding, but I did not act properly back then.”
Huang Shing scratches the side of his cheek in an awkward way.
“Well, Chen Guo did almost kill me after that, so if you think about it, it all evens out a little. I was the one who had to jump off that cliff,” he adds. “Anyway, if you can pass this message along to him, it would be good.”
“What message?!” Xie Jun shouts at him. “I didn’t even understand half of what you were saying!”
“Yeah, I’m not that good with words,” Huang Shing admits. “Action suits me better. If you think I am looking down on you, I’ll just have to show you how loudly my soul can howl.”
His Qi rises.
His bracelet breaks.
Earth Realm, Level Seven.
With his full speed, Huang Shing is in front of Xie Jun before she can react. Her eyes grow wide. She knows her body will be too slow to dodge what is coming, so she summons crystal around her body to protect herself.
[Shining Armor]
[Fourth Dragon Slaying Palm - Blooming Lotus]
No matter how tough the crystal might be, it is simply earth in another shape, and the Dragon Slaying Palm was made to destroy the hides of dragons. Huang Shing’s technique roars as his fist makes contact and shatters Xie Jun’s armor like glass. His soul rams into her, expressing the feelings that his tongue is too clumsy to articulate.
Xie Jun looks at him with dazed eyes.
“I…see…”
She falls backward as her eyes roll into the back of her head.
“The Winner! Huang Shing of the Eternal Flame Clan!”
Huang Shing raises his fist.
The crowd cheers.
~~~
“A marvelous strike! The Eternal Flame Clan’s delegation is so talented this time around!”
“Even so, did he really need to use so much power?”
“Of course he did! The Eternal Flame Clan is here to make up for their poor performance last time! They want to make sure everyone knows they are not their match!”
~~~
“Some people are so stupid,” Meng Yue says, looking at the crowd. “Still, that was a good fist.”
“It was needlessly loud,” Bai Lianshi counters, rubbing her temples. “Far too brutish.”
“Like I said, a good fist,” Meng Yue says. “People are often deaf, so the language of fists must loudly articulate its points.”
“Don’t even try to pretend this is something profound!”
~~~
One match later, Shen Mi of the Divine Frozen Palace dazzles the audience with ice and snow. Her opponent, a member of the Infinite Mountain Sect, never stood a chance. Ruan Leji of Endlessly Raging Valley follows after her with an equally dominating performance against the heir of the Purple Rain Sect.
Just like that, only two matches remain.
“Ruan Dafeng of the Xiao Sect vs. Xiao Fang of the True Xiao Sect!”
Two contestants step into the ring. Xiao Fang is dressed in the classical blue robes with white accents of the Xiao Sect, which he had made for this occasion. Unsurprisingly, Ruan Dafeng’s outfit is almost identical. That, along with the names called out by the announcer, causes no end of speculation among the audience.
“Xiao Sect and True Xiao Sect? Did I hear that right?”
“Oh? Haven’t you heard? The one called Xiao Fang is the disgraced heir! He left the Sect after his father’s death and is seeking to reclaim it!”
“No, more importantly, the announcer said Ruan, didn’t he? The disciple of the Xiao Sect is a mirror image of Ruan Leji of the Endlessly Raging Valley! He’s obviously a member of the Ruan Clan!”
“Well, that’s natural! The Endlessly Raging Valley is supporting the Xiao Sect’s new Matriarch.”
“Weren’t the Ruan twins fighting the Xiao Sect’s heir and a member of the Divine Frozen Palace in the second round?”
“Isn’t this just a proxy battle between the Divine Frozen Palace and the Endlessly Raging Valley?”
“People do love to talk, don’t they?” Ruan Dafeng says, smiling as the chatter around them grows. “I can relate. There is an elegance to words that is not found in fists, wouldn’t you say so, Former Young Master?”
“I am going to break you in front of all these people,” Xiao Fang says.
Ruan Dafeng’s smile grows amused.
“The girl from the Divine Frozen Palace cannot protect you here,” he says. “You did well to reach this far, Former Young Master. However, all you have done is secure a very public place for your defeat.”
“I should be the one saying those words,” Xiao Fang says, his Qi rising. “You have a twin brother, yet you are the one fighting in the name of my Sect. If I had to guess, I’d say that makes you the spare twin, doesn’t it?”
The smile falls off Ruan Dafeng’s face.
“Careful,” he warns. “You do not want to make this worse on yourself.”
“I have risen from desolation,” Xiao Fang says, bringing his fists together. “There is not a thing you can do to me that is worse than what I have gone through. You stand in front of me and try to look down on me, but allow me to say this: You are nothing to me.”
The fight is on.
~~~