~~~

The end of another tournament round heralds the usual celebrations. People offer toasts to the Top 16, and experienced gamblers carefully weigh the odds. However, amidst all this cheer, some people have begun moving as far away from the Crimson Arena as possible. No one has missed how many times the city trembled today, nor did they fail to notice how the last battle caused people to faint and buildings to crumble.

While not unusual in the history of the tournament, it has rarely happened so early. If the Top 32 can cause so much damage, what will happen in future rounds? Those who know that neither themselves nor their possessions are strong enough to endure such strong presences have little choice but to remove themselves. Even among the rich and powerful, there are some who hastily start placing their valuables inside secure safes.

For those who lack the means to protect their treasures, the Five Blessings Group offers the use of their storage facilities at a reasonable price. The idea came from Lady Song Daiyu and has quickly made quite a hefty sum, increasing her standing in the eyes of many. It is well known that Song Daiyu is a refined lady with wisdom beyond her years and impeccable self-control.

“You! Evil! Wicked! Man!”

She is also good at throwing things.

A vial of ink. A book. A golden paperweight. The items come flying one after another. Their order is decided by how close they happen to be to Song Daiyu’s hands as she paces around the room. Liu Jin’s gaze alternates between her angry green eyes and her delicate hand as he dodges the many projectiles.

“Do you enjoy doing the things you do?!” Song Daiyu shouts. When Liu Jin opens his mouth to answer, she cuts him off. “Don’t answer! It’ll annoy me no matter what you say!”

The daughter of the Song Clan sighs and sits on her desk. There are still plenty of things in her office that she can throw at him, but they are probably too expensive for her to want to break.

“Xiao Shuang is hurting because of you,” Song Daiyu says, crossing her arms.

Liu Jin does not flinch at the accusation, but there is no hiding the sadness on his face.

“She was looking forward to the tournament. She told me all about how excited she was to be with her family again,” Song Daiyu continues, digging the knife deeper. “She had plans. Places to visit. Things to talk about. Friends she wanted to introduce you to.”

And he ruined that.

“I preferred it when you were throwing things at me,” Liu Jin says.

“And I prefer it when my actions have their intended effect,” Song Daiyu counters. “You are a cad who is making his women fight. Why should I show mercy?”

It sounds ridiculous when voiced, but Song Daiyu is not wrong. To make it to the finals, Xiao Shuang must fight Lu Mei or Su Daji in the Top Four. It should have been a friendly duel, but the pressure from their respective Sects and the gravity with which Xiao Shuang has taken recent events have changed everything. There is no telling how far they will go.

“Do you enjoy it?” Song Daiyu asks when he fails to say anything. “Is that it? Does it tickle your pride?”

“Of course not!” Liu Jin says. “I never wanted this!”

“But you knew it would happen the moment you saw the tournament bracket, and you went through with your plan anyway,” Song Daiyu counters.

“...I did,” Liu Jin says. “I never foresaw Xiao Shuang’s reaction, but I knew everyone would be under greater pressure to win.”

The moment he used [Art of the Roaming Thief], the stakes of the tournament changed. The glory of claiming first place was no longer the goal. The tournament merely became an opportunity to either kill him or capture him before anyone else could do it. He knew that would place those closest to him under scrutiny and pressure.

Of course, there is a difference between knowing and harvesting the fruits of his actions.

Undoubtedly, they are bitter.

“You!” Song Daiyu raises her hands as if to strangle him but contains herself. She huffs and turns away from him. “Why are you even here? You should be trying to reassure them!”

“We both know I cannot show myself to them right now,” Liu Jin says. “Besides, nothing I say will help.”

“Oh, please!” Song Daiyu rolls her eyes at him. “Just lie to them! To her! Whisper sweet nothings into her ears! Tell her all will be well! Lovers have done that to each other since the beginning of time! It’s not that hard!”

“In this situation, that’d be far more cruel,” Liu Jin says. “Besides, it is like you said. I knew there was a risk of something like this, and I still went through with it. I…”

Had already decided this was the only way. That, regardless of what happens, this is the only path he can take.

“Maybe I am a cad,” Liu Jin admits.

“Hpmh! Took you long enough,” Song Daiyu says. She stands up and goes behind her desk. “Here! This is what you came here for, isn’t it?”

Liu Jin blinks as Song Daiyu throws him a small stack of bound papers.

“How?” He asks as he looks over the papers. His eyebrows rise even before he’s gotten to the last page. “I didn’t tell you-”

“It was obvious,” Song Daiyu interrupts him. “Not at first, obviously. But from the moment you raised the stakes of the tournament, there was always a possibility of the Four Great Sects taking steps to raise the level of their fighters. The simplest way to accomplish that without breaking the rules is through the use of relics.”

Relics.

Items from ages gone by. The Four Great Sects have acquired many of them throughout their history. Some are barely useful trinkets. Others are considerably more. The Four Great Sects do not usually arm their disciples with relics for the tournament. This is done not out of any sense of fairness but because the consequences would be too dire. If one Sect gives their disciple a relic, the others would respond in kind, causing more powerful relics to be gifted each time.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Their disciples wouldn’t survive it.

However, Liu Jin has changed things. The sword Ruan Leji used in his fight with Shen Mi, the Sword of the Wind King according to Song Daiyu’s files, is proof of that. If the Endlessly Raging Valley has decided to arm their disciples with relics, it is only a matter of time until the others do it as well.

That is why Liu Jin has come to Song Daiyu. After all, who better to ask about the treasures of the Four Great Sects than the one who helped them acquire so many of them? While Liu Jin has done his own research ahead of time, he always planned to ask for the Five Blessing Group’s information. The only reason he has waited so long to do so is that he did not want to raise anyone’s suspicions ahead of time.

“I did not expect you to gather this information so quickly,” Liu Jin says.

“Like I said, it was not difficult. I won’t claim we know about all their relics, but the things the Five Blessings Group doesn’t know about are probably too strong to bring to this tournament.”

Liu Jin looks at Song Daiyu and inclines his head to her. “Thank you.”

“Thank me by easing her heart,” Song Daiyu tells him. “When you meet Xiao Shuang…Win or lose, please, ease her heart.”

“I never intended anything else.”

~~~

Liu Jin does not immediately return to the Imperial Palace.

It is not that he doesn’t completely trust Emperor Xiang and Granny Zhao. It is just that…He does not completely trust Emperor Xiang and Granny Zhao. Being in the Emperor’s place of power while in perfect condition is already enough of a risk, one he only takes because of his Master’s memories. There is no need to show himself while still injured.

The wounds he suffered against Xiao Fang have not fully healed. They were made through Xiao Fang’s Dao, and by failing to properly reject his Dao, Liu Jin gave them an unnecessary amount of permanence on his body. He has already applied the correct treatment, and his draconic traits ensure his body will always return to its proper form. In a few hours, most of the damage should be gone. By tomorrow, he’ll be in perfect shape.

However, there are things he needs to take care of before that.

Liu Jin is hiding in a dark alley about ten miles away from the Divine Frozen Palace’s estate. Though [Art of the Roaming Thief] hides his presence and the many Emperors in the city make it even harder to locate him, this is as close as he dares to get. Testing three of the Five Fairies of the Divine Frozen Palace would be far too reckless.

Closing his eyes, Liu Jin allows his senses to reach out. If the people within the Divine Frozen Palace’s luxurious mansion were normal, Liu Jin would not be able to sense them so accurately from such a long distance. However, save for the servants, every one of them is an exemplary cultivator. It allows Liu Jin to analyze them without needing to take risks.

Several minutes pass by in silence. No one notices his presence, and no one passing through the streets even thinks to look at the alley. When Liu Jin is done, he sighs and looks away. It seems things are as he feared, but he cannot do anything right now. He will need to finish this when the Three Fairies are elsewhere. Then there is…

Xiao Shuang…

Even from so far away, he can sense the coldness of her aura. He wants to reach out and talk to her. Try to ease the worries in her mind.

He can’t. Not yet.

Liu Jin disappears from the alley as though he was never there.

~~~

Fan Bingbing plays a soft melody.

Sister Gan and Brother Ten are recovering. Since they aren’t in grave danger, the Eternal Flame Clan has not given them as much attention as it could, choosing to prioritize the fighters who won instead. They need to be in perfect shape by tomorrow.

Bei Hong is meditating once more. His fight will be one of the hardest. Meanwhile, Young Master Feng Zhi and Brother Huang Shing have retreated to opposite sides of the mansion, each preparing for their battle in their own way. By contrast, Sister Lu Mei and Sister Yi Jiao are both in the common room, though Fan Bingbing doubts there is much relaxation happening there.

As for herself…

She merely keeps playing.

~~~

Someone is playing beautiful music, but that does not make Feng Hao feel any less confused.

Such is not an unusual state of affairs for the young child. Though he is a prodigy the likes of which the Eternal Flame Clan has never seen before—something his many tutors are keen on reminding him—he is still a child. His gold eyes are wide and innocent, and his cheeks are pinchable and as soft as a baby’s bottom. The number of things too complex for him can fill several libraries.

However, things are always uniquely confusing when Elder Brother Jin is involved, and the Crimson Cloud Tournament is proving no different in that regard.

At first, Feng Hao was a little annoyed that he wasn’t going to participate, especially because people weaker than him would. But no. It would be too dangerous, his mother said. He lacked experience. Everyone would be targeting him. All his tutors agreed with her. Even his father did, so that was that.

Sometimes, Feng Hao likes to imagine that Elder Brother Jin would have supported him if he wasn’t busy with his Empire, but deep down, he knows better. Elder Brother Jin nearly always sides with his mother’s overprotectiveness, which is weird since he never thinks twice about putting himself in even more dangerous situations.

Like the tournament.

Feng Hao is not sure what happened, but he knows Elder Brother Jin did something that has everyone running around nervous. Many of the fights he saw today were surprising in their intensity. He hasn’t seen something like them since the Dead Plains.

Feng Hao wishes there was someone who could explain things to him. Unfortunately, his father is too busy, and his mother would never tell him the whole truth. His brother has been meditating since he came back. Feng Zhou is not nearly as busy, but his mother doesn’t like it when he talks to him. Cousin Lu Mei is even more out of the question for similar reasons.

Feng Hao sighs and scratches his neck. There is a paper talisman attached to it. It is one of nearly two dozen placed on various parts of his body, all of which fulfill the same purpose.

Stop him from progressing in cultivation.

It is, in Feng Hao’s opinion, a bit ridiculous. He has been praised for his genius since he was born, but suddenly, it is in his best interests to be held back. Usually, he’d think it was his mother being protective, but even his father spoke to him about the necessity of the talismans.

“Son, to be a cultivator is to master yourself. You are a brilliant child, but a child still. If we let you advance right now, you’d be doing so with a primitive understanding of yourself. In some ways, you’d be little different from a newborn demon, but without any of their advantages. That could greatly limit your future growth. The talismans will stay until you have matured.”

Even now, Feng Hao cannot say he fully understands his father’s words, but Lord Feng Gui looked serious when he said them, so Feng Hao has to accept them as true.

It is all very inconvenient.

Xiao Fang scratches his neck again. The talismans have itchier ever since the tournament began. Ever since they arrived in Imperial Cloud City, really. That is another reason he wishes he could talk to his brother. Something has been feeling…off.

It is not an uncomfortable feeling, but it has grown lately. It seems the more people fight in the tournament, the stronger it gets. Something about the Crimson Arena is making the Eternal Flame within him active.

Happy.

~~~

“You’re late,” Granny Zhao says.

“The city is quite beautiful, and there were many things I had to do,” Liu Jin says. The old lady is seated atop one of the palace walls. Her gaze is fixed on the floating stadium.

“You’re prudent at the oddest times,” Granny Zhao says. “It’s far too late for any sort of prudence, child.”

Liu Jin frowns and follows her gaze.

“It is…Has it…” He trails off, not quite sure how to broach the subject. It is not something Granny Zhao revealed to him. He only knows because of Old Jiang’s memory jades.

“Oh, it spoke,” Granny Zhao says. “It has made its choice, it seems. Something tells me that you will know who it is if I ask you.”

“Someone far too young,” Liu Jin says, making the old woman cackle.

“Not so amusing when you’re on the other side, is it?”

It really isn’t.

~~~