I underestimated exactly how many disciples are in the sect.

  The tournament is being held in the inner sect, us outer disciples given temporary access to this specific portion for the arena grounds. Said grounds take a decent chunk of the inner sect near a wall of the valley we’re in that can hold a thousand people spaced out easily.

  That’s what it’s doing right now as I look across the sea of disciples waiting in uniform lines that we were ordered into. The nervousness and excitement died down after the first hour we were stuck waiting for the elders to start, now we’re approaching the second hour, and most are dead on their feet in boredom, I included.

  Not all disciples decide to attend the tournament every time it’s held, once or twice when they first join, once they’re at the peak of Body Tempering, or feel like they plateaued and wish to show they can still advance to not get kicked out.

  Even with it held bi-annually, this is still a pretty significant event with most of the sect coming to watch every time, mainly because the inner disciples have their own tournament alongside us.

  So the way the sect lets at least ten thousand people watch in a place with limited space is by just cutting floors and seats in the valley wall. The more important people, elders and core disciples, get to sit in the stands made opposite of the wall with a perfect view of those fighting, which is why while gazing across the unfamiliar people sitting there, I notice them all stand.

  “Bow and pay your respects to the glorious leader of the Azure Tempest Sect, Sect Leader Li Qingxuan!” A voice booms out, seemingly from every direction.

  I bow as soon as I register his words, others following right with me but a few stagger from the suddenness of it. I stay in the bow for at least a minute before the same elder bids us to rise.

  Straightening, I lay my eyes on the Sect Leader for the first time since I entered the sect and I have to say, he’s exactly what I expected such a high-level cultivator and leader of the sect to look like.

  Middle-aged with fine features and silky hair in a high ponytail, wearing the finest robes I’ve seen, likely made from beasts far beyond my strength, fitted over his lean figure.

  Oh, and a copious amount of gold and jade layered in his robes and fitted in jewelry.

  He doesn’t say anything, sitting in the ornate throne at the forefront of the stand, elders, likely core ones, sitting directly behind him.

  “Disciples! You shall be divided into four groups. The last twenty that remain standing will move onto the tournament,” the same voice explains, and I still can’t find where or who it is.

  Inner disciples walk between the rows of disciples and send us to different areas of the grounds, I myself get sent to one close to the walls and I shuffle a bit nervously as I look up and see hundreds of eyes watching.

  Looking around the quadrant I was sent to, my eyes land on Xue Xu on the complete other end of where I am, the girl excitedly jumping in place and seemingly not aware of me.

  I take a step towards her before I catch sight of someone I half hoped I wouldn’t meet. Biu.

  It’s good that he’s here, bad because I see that he has three others surrounding him, one that I recognize as one of his close friends also at the eighth stage with the other two likely their lackeys at the sixth or seventh stage.

  And based off the glares they’re sending my way, it seems they noticed me as well.

  I don’t think separating us is as random as I thought it was.

  “Begin in three!”

  There’s not much distance between me and Biu’s group, and from the looks of it, they’ll be heading straight for me, no matter the dozen disciples between us.

  “Two!”

  Xue Xu is even farther, no chance for me to get close and have her deter them. Guess I’ll have to stick with the original plan.

  “One!”

  Slipping my spear into my grip, I glance around and find a disciple’s eyes already locked onto me, and I turn to face her as I tense my legs.

  “Begin!”

  I rocket towards the girl and thrust my spear as I eat up the distance between us.

  She’s ready for it though as she dashes to the side and throws a knife at me that I quickly raise my gauntlet to block. I curse as my arm blocks my view of her, should have just taken it on my new armour but habits are hard to lose in a week, so I blindly backpedal and just dodge the slice of her bladed fan she sends towards me.

  She follows me close behind, her weapon needing her to stay close, close enough to prevent me from bringing my spear to bear as she slices diagonally up towards me with a glint in her eye.

  She’s at least the same stage given her speed, but it still exceeds mine so I can’t react in time as it meets my torso in a screech of metal. Tilting my head back, I see the glint of the fan go past my vision and snap my free hand forwards to grip her wrist at the peak of her swing.

  Her eyes widen as she tries yanking her arm from my grip, but I don’t relent, she may be faster, but she’s weaker in pure strength.

  “Let go of me you-! Eyaah!”

  I pull her up slightly, getting her unbalanced enough that I can sweep her feet and shove her face first to the ground. Pressing down on her back with a knee, I tighten the grip on her wrist and wrench her arm behind her back and keep twisting as she screeches until she yields.

  Standing, I leave the girl to scramble to her feet as I look around for my next opponent.

  “How dare you! You dare grab me as I-!”

  I ignore her incessant screams and walk towards an older man just finishing up his own fight. Possibly a stage lower than me.

  I pause in surprise as he disarms his opponent, sending their sword flying and just stops his other gou from slicing through the man’s neck who quickly surrenders.

  He sees me approaching soon enough and gets in a stance, both hook-swords prepared and ready to disarm me, something I don’t doubt he can do quickly given my less than stellar spear work.

  That’s why I do what he expects and charge, telegraphing the slash that I reel my arm back for which he’s ready for. Slashing at him, he blocks the strike with one of his gou but grunts in effort and surprise at my strength, but it doesn’t stop him.

  The other hook comes around and locks onto the shaft of my spear tightly, seemingly controlling my only weapon.

  His focus on it and his victory doesn’t give him a chance to prepare as I just let go and leap at him.

  “Oof!”

  I knock the breath of him as we slam into the ground, probably bruising him too as I used Adamantine Crash to put all my momentum into that tackle. He’s still coughing once my muscles loosen and I’m able to maneuver myself above him and raise a fist to slam into his face.

  I feel a hand grip my wrist.

  “It’s over, continue.”

  The grip and owner of the voice disappears before I can turn and see who it is but its apparently enough for my opponent, who was going to brace for the hit, to groan and drop his head.

  Standing, I give a nod to the man who returns it morosely and although I feel bad, I put it out of mind and grab my spear off the ground.

  Now who-

  I twist my torso as a blunt force hits my shoulder from my blind spot, sliding my foot around in a spin to follow the attack even as I grit my teeth from the bruising force that I couldn’t redirect.

  But the force I absorb is enough to snap out a kick towards my attacker who cries in pain as my metal clad shin meets flesh.

  My sole foot slips on the loose dirt and I curse as I topple over but quickly recover by slamming my hand down to shove myself back to my feet in a burst of dirt. I get in guard once I notice my spear missing, flown from my grip after the hit, one arm forward with an open palm to redirect blows and the other near my chest half-opened to either redirect or attack.

  That’s when I see my attacker is one of Biu’s lackeys, apparently hitting the man hard enough to drop the tie jian he hit me with, thankfully the mace is one without spikes. The man himself is scrambling to his feet with a wince.

  He’s gingerly using his left arm where my kick landed. Good, we exchanged equal blows.

  A quick glance to my surroundings shows the other three thugs in fights of their own, Biu helping his other lackey to defeat another disciple at the eighth, while his friend takes care of one at the seventh based off the speed they’re going at. I don’t have long to take care of this one.

  I step forwards to prevent him from going for his dropped weapon, something that makes him snarl and change tracks to throw a punch at me.

  Solid, but basic.

  Leading palm easily redirects it to the side; his fist surging past my face and I watch as his eyes widen in panic as he tries to correct his overreach, but it leaves his torso wide open.

  My uppercut finds his chin in a resounding crack.

  I feel a glimmer of amusement through my focus as my strength lifts the man off his feet, throwing him back a few meters and is unconscious before he hits the ground.

  “ZHAN!”

  My head snaps to Biu, the man I’ve spoken to only once looking at me with a malicious grin on his face.

  The other two flank him, almost surrounding me on both sides and I grimace as I see that other combatants are avoiding us, none wishing to face the team.

  “All you had to do was hand over your part and you could have come under my protection you rat! But no, you denied my generosity! You dared to even cripple my junior brother! You lost me face! Honour!”

  I can’t help but roll my eyes at him as I reach down to grab the discarded mace, “Giving you my hard-earned coin for something as worthless as your ‘protection’ doesn’t sound like a good deal. Must mean your honour is as worthless then doesn’t it?”

  That makes him go an interesting shade of red, “You court death! Kill him!”

  His lackey and friend charge at me, both using more standard weapons of a spear and sword respectively.

  With a heave, I throw the heavy mace at his friend that makes him slow down to dodge the heavy weapon and giving me the chance to dash towards the lackey, meeting him halfway who reacts by thrusting his spear.

  I have to lean fully to the side to dodge the whistling weapon and snap my hand forward to grab the shaft.

  My muscles tense to pull him, but I’m forced to let go and backpedal as an axe cuts through where my head was a moment ago. I leap to the side as Biu rushes towards me, barreling through my spear in his way, and yells as he slams the large axe down.

  Rolling on the ground, I’m barely on my knees when I have to get my gauntlets up to deflect a slash of a sword and wince at the much harsher sound from the attack of a higher staged opponent.

  He kicks my braced arms and I’m suddenly rolling back, feeling the kick through my now dented armour.

  Clawing at the ground with a hand, I grind to a halt and use my grip to throw myself out the small dust cloud and to the side, just in time as Biu comes crashing down axe first with a laugh.

  My eyes land on the spear wielding lackey again, running to catch up to where I was kicked and I sprint at him. He slashes his spear to keep me back, but I don’t dodge as he expects and barrel through it, letting the head hit with a resounding thud on my breastplate. I wince at the force but the metal holds with a small dent.

  My arm wraps around the spear again, and I see out of the corner of my eye Biu’s friend dashing to us, a glint in his eyes as he reels his arm back for a thrust.

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  I feel the man’s efforts of pulling the spear from my grip, but of course it doesn’t budge, even more so when I grip his spear with both hands and heave.

  “AAAH!”

  The man goes flying, grip not leaving his spear and I spin him around and straight into his senior’s path who’s forced to lower his sword less he cuts his man and go crashing to the ground.

  “Bastard!”

  I duck in time as Biu’s axe cuts above my head, a few strands of hair caught in the swing, and I tense my legs and jump as I throw a punch to his gut.

  He’s fast though, enough to react and take a step back even as he recovers his swing and makes my powerful punch turn into a tap to his gut. I panic as he powers through his recovery and swings his axe the other way, the damn thing being dual headed.

  The next few seconds are a blur as I barely dodge his swings, a few scraping across my body despite retreating at every chance as slashes start landing with his speed, thankfully my breastplate takes them, but I can’t even roll or deflect the heavy cleaves.

  The uneven stalemate’s broken when I feel a sword slash at my waist from behind, cutting through the thinner plating there to bite into my flesh.

  My heart’s beating in my ears as I react with a punch that Biu’s friend dodges easily and I tilt my head as his blade pierces towards my head, cutting into my cheek.

  I don’t see but hear the attack as air is displaced from the cleave Biu no doubly sends towards my turned back.

  Maybe an elder can interfere in time, maybe the strike’s too fast, I don’t know.

  I brace for the pain.

  Clang

  “Hey! Who said you can gang up my junior brother!” A familiar childish voice says in annoyance.

  I let out a breath as I see Xue Xu, halberd effortlessly blocking Biu’s axe.

  The duo scramble away from the little girl and look at her with pale faces, Xue Xu’s reputation apparently precedes her.

  “Thanks for the save Xu.”

  She gives me a big grin, “No problem Zhan! These meanies need to learn some fighting manners. Three on one isn’t fun at all!”

  Thank the heavens, “So why don’t we teach them some hm?”

  A little pit opens in my gut as I see her grin turn mischievous, “Three on one isn’t fun, but two on one is!”

  …

  What.

  I barely open my mouth to protest before she blurs and smacks Biu’s friend with the butt of her weapon, sending the man flying back with a cry of pain.

  “Let’s play!” I hear her voice fade away as she dashes after the flying man.

  Biu’s mouth is wide open, surprised at what exactly happened.

  …Well don’t mind if I take advantage of this little distraction.

  I spin around and rush towards the lackey with the spear who looks as stunned as Biu, eyes widening as he sees me coming at him for the third time.

  This is going to be the last time.

  I hear Biu’s exclamation behind me but he’s far enough for me to take care of his lackey. Slapping the spear half-raised to the side, I close in as the man’s eyes widen in fear.

  “Aaah- huh?”

  His cry cuts off as he feels my hands not go for his face, but his robes, gripping him by his lapels.

  With a smirk, I spin and throw him. Again.

  “AAAAH- oof!”

  I leave the man between a pair of disciples in the middle of their duel, now irritated at the interruption and charge towards said disruption who shrieks in fear, and turn to face Biu. The man himself is huffing in anger as he charges me and I brace-

  “BULLION-!”

  My eyes widen as his axe drags across the ground, breaking through the earth, leaving a trail of destruction as he pounds to me.

  His eyes bulge from his head, veins popping from his exposed body as he quickly closes the distance and stomps a foot in front of me.

  “-CHARGE!”

  I throw myself back as far as I can as he heaves his axe up with devastating power, air howling around the blade

  The technique is fast, but he telegraphed the attack so badly that even with the speed behind it, it gives me a fair good warning that it misses.

  By a lot.

  The main problem though is the enormous amount of earth that he dragged up in his strike which is now peppering my form. I grunt as rocks the size of my head whistle through the air and disintegrate into dust against me, no doubt leaving bruises wherever I’m not armoured.

  The veritable explosion peters out once my feet touch and grind against the ground to a stop. Lowering my arms, I see through narrow eyes Biu’s shadowy figure through the cloud of dust from the wake of his attack.

  Hands clawing into the ground, I throw myself forwards, feet barely grabbing ground under me as I rocket towards him.

  My first punch digs deep into Biu’s gut, interrupting his deep breaths as I force the air from his lungs. The next his elbow to break his grip on his axe. Then the other to completely drop it and keep him open.

  I don’t stop.

  A foot drives into his thigh, buckling his stance. My shoulder crashes into his chest, forcing him back a step.

  Each blow feeds the next.

  Another fist lashes out, then another, each strike heavier than the last, a symphony of hits that builds to a crescendo.

  Each hit gathers strength in my body.

  The half-hearted guard he put up after a few hits’ falters, already ragged from using a Mortal technique, and I feel the momentum coil within me.

  With a final surge, I twist my waist and channel every ounce of force into one strike. I feel all the gathered momentum flow up from my toes all the way to my arm. A single, crushing blow aimed at his exposed torso.

  “ADAMANTINE CRASH!”

  My fist makes waves in the air, landing on his chest and I see in slow motion as his robes blow out, chest deforming as my fist just keeps going.

  Bang

  Time catches up to me as the air explodes, whipping against my face and blowing dust into the air, Biu disappearing into the cloud in an instant.

  My body locks up, muscles stiffer than they’ve ever been from the aftermath of using my technique and I can’t move when something parts through the cloud and I see-

  ---

  Cracking my eyes open, I shut them at the piercing light that hits my eyes. I take a moment before slowly cracking them open and see a wooden ceiling.

  Twitching my body, I slowly push myself up in the bed I find myself in with numb limbs that shake under me as I barely get myself sitting up.

  Beds around me in two rows of beds, nearly all of them filled with other disciples, some unconscious and others awake with nurses moving between beds.

  Looks like I lost.

  “Pupils are fine. Mobility is within expectations,” a voice speaks beside my bed.

  I flinch, turning to see a familiar man in green robes, the same medicinal smell wafting off him as the last time I met him as he examines my form, “Ah?”

  “Articulation is present. No further injuries diagnosed,” the man ignores me and flicks a pill into my open mouth too fast for me to react.

  It dissolves in my mouth, and I swallow the Cool Spring pill as it gets to work, clearing the numbness and remaining lethargy.

  “You are clear to leave. Note that you tore most of the muscles in your body with using a Mortal technique without sufficient training. They have been mended but you will be sore for the foreseeable future,” the man says and goes to step away.

  “Apologies Elder,” I ask him before he can leave, “this one thanks you for the treatment but, Mortal technique? I have not had the opportunity of learning one yet.”

  “My diagnosis is never wrong disciple,” he says with some annoyance which I flinch back at. “That means you evolved a technique from your Martial Art to a Mortal technique, congratulations,” he congratulates blandly before abruptly leaving, not even glancing back at my bowed form.

  A Mortal technique! I feel my face stretch into a grin at that.

  I was not expecting to have the so quick to have a Mortal technique, I was expecting at least another or two of saving before I could have a chance to pursue the inner library. But evolving? That was a goal but not even a real consideration.

  Mortal techniques are rare, signature moves coalesced from the understanding of a user’s combat style, no two techniques are the same even if originating from the same art as both users have their own understanding of the move, their own Dao.

  It takes years of use and practice to evolve even the simplest of techniques though! And I did it just a few months!

  …

  I’m not going to look a gift horse in the face.

  Face? Or did Chen Yun say mouth? Eh, forget it.

  Shuffling off the bed, I finally notice all the bandages wrapped around my arms and torso as I shrug on a spare robe that someone thankfully left on my bedside before heading out.

  I look at the various disciples laying in bed, those awake ignoring me and the few asleep not doing anything about… it…

  I stop and look down at Biu, the man unconscious and shallowly breathing under the layers of gauze wrapped around his chest. His face is pale like the moon, well, the half that’s not swollen and bruised black, and I can smell the heavy poultices applied to him.

  I notice a sheet attached to the foot of his bed that I read. Some torn muscles from Mortal technique pushed to dangerous levels, heavy bruising throughout the upper body- shattered ribcage!

  My eyes snap at Biu in surprise, back down at the sheet, and back up.

  Damn.

  I mean I know that tearing all the muscles in my body for a single strike would make it really strong, but a shattered ribcage? A high-level Body Tempering cultivator’s body is not flimsy, something a single punch shouldn’t be able to break. But it’s a fact that I can, and that thought makes me giddy.

  I swear I don’t have a little hop in my step as I forget about the man and make my way out the infirmary.

  Wait, where’s my armour?

  ---

  Those heaven damned bastards ruined everything! My breastplate damaged beyond repair! The gauntlet I used my technique with shattered into pieces! They found my spear after the fights finished up and I got it back bent! Again!

  The only thing that survived, if barely, were my greaves and even then, I’ll have to send it in to get the dents and scratches out of them.

  I ignore the two uncomfortably shifting on either side of me as I slouch further down into my seat with a growl at all the coin I lost for nothing.

  Well… for nothing is an overexaggeration. I did get a Mortal technique out of it, and the armour did its job protecting me. But it’s the principle that matters!

  With Biu and his friends hopefully getting kicked out, I’ll need a way to get payment out of the remaining bastards. They could afford Mortal techniques from the inner library so surely they’ll be willing to donate some of their wealth to me.

  I don’t notice as the two sitting beside me get up and change seats after they catch sight of my sinister grin.

  “The first round of the Outer Sect brackets shall now begin!”

  I perk up and sit up at the announcement and rake my gaze across the grounds filled with those that passed the initial free-for-all.

  I unfortunately missed the inner disciples going at it in a free-for-all like we did, and from what I heard it was real crazy with even a few Spirit techniques being shown off by prospective core disciples. Sucks I missed it but I’ll get to see their duels tomorrow.

  After leaving the infirmary, I was able to find a seat carved into the cliffside, closer to the arena, that’s saved for those that participated but lost.

  And I’m the only one here! Everyone in our group passed on, even Lan Yue, so I’m here on my lonesome. Well, bar Tie Feng considering he never participated, but I’m not going to even try looking for him among so many people spread across the cliff.

  I’m only able to pick out Wang Xie and Xue Xu before the matches start, the former fighting closer to the cliff face and the latter just standing out due to her miniature size.

  I cheer when Xue Xu is instantly on her opponent, sending a flurry of slashes that he tries to block with his sword but it’s not surprising that he gets pushed down to his knees from the deceptively heavy strike. I’ve been at the end of her halberd enough to know that you don’t want to be there, ever.

  Her uncle I found spoils her a lot with resources, and he’s rich.

  My eyes move to Wang Xie and see him running away from his opponent, but I already know he’s going to win as the girl chasing him starts slowing, heaving hard before suddenly slumping to her knees. I never do like sparring him, even his weaker poisons are a pain to push through, and I’ve been stuck in a restroom far too many times after annoying him once too many in a spar.

  A familiar figure flits to the side, and I grin as I see Lan Yue desperately weaving through thrusts from a spear of all things. She’s on the backhand, her opponent older and looking to be at the ninth stage given the speed and strength he shows, but she’s faced me often enough to know how to face a spear user.

  Even if said spear user is mediocre.

  “Yeah Yue!” I cheer as she finds an opportunity and thrusts, the man tilting his head but still landing a cut on his cheek.

  But that just annoys her opponent who decides to end it, mouth opening as he moves his spear in an odd stance.

  “Dodge!” I’d be surprised if she could hear me from this distance but she’s nevertheless able to recognize what he’s about to do and desperately changes from charging to a dodge to the side.

  He’s fast, enough to react to her dodge and as the downward slash of his Mortal technique lands just a few centimeters off from her retreating leg, but he blurs once the technique ends and slams the shaft against her leg.

  I wince at the strike that sends her rolling along the ground, though it seems its not too bad as she’s able to claw a hand down to stop her roll but the man’s too fast, his spear poised at her throat by the time she recovers.

  “Good job Yue!” I clap, at some point standing from my seat and I notice that some people are sending me glares but I just shrug and sit back down.

  She’s escorted off the grounds, not too injured from the fight, and I see that the other two finished their matches as well, Xue Xu beating her opponent black and blue while I see Wang Xie’s going off in a stretcher.

  It’s about twenty minutes later, watching Chen Yun and Wang Xie fight in the next round when Lan Yue appears and slumps into the seat beside me.

  “Congrats on getting to the tournament phase,” I say, taking a glance at her and seeing her usual primness nowhere to be seen with her exhaustion.

  “Thanks,” she says simply and I let her recover.

  I clap when Chen Yun breaks through the trap Wang Xie was setting up for him, dodging the poisoned blades thrown at him and forces him to surrender.

  “So who’s still in the fight?” She asks as she finally straightens in her seat with the last few fights finishing up.

  “Well Sister Ruyin’s over there, she’s struggling but her opponent seems like one of the more skilled ones,” I keep going as she hums, “Senior Brother Yun beat Senior Brother Xie, and I didn’t see Xu’s fight but saw her walking off quite smugly a bit ago so she likely won.”

  I stay quiet as we watch Mei Ruyin win a victory from a gamble, charging at her opponent as if to meet him head on before somersaulting over him and pressing her sword against his neck. If the man was the slightest faster, she would have been assaulted midair, but she wasn’t and luck is a big factor in a fight.

  “Didn’t expect you to lose so quickly Zhan,” she unsubtly questions as I lean back in my seat and she turns to watch me.

  “Well, I didn’t think I’d meet Biu and his buddies so quickly,” I say with a laugh before launching into an explanation of what happened.

  I chuckle at her gobsmacked expression when I tell her of my technique’s evolution.

  “You lucky bastard.”

  I gasp dramatically, “Yue! Your first curse! I’m so proud!”

  She rolls her eyes with a huff.

  “What about you, how’d your fights end up?”

  Her retelling is more mundane than mine, having ended up with Chen Yun and Mei Ruyin in her quadrant and they kept away anyone at a higher level than her. Well bar a single eighth stage disciple that went straight for her while the other two were occupied near the end, but she was able to run from her long enough for enough disciples to be eliminated.

  “I swear that brat has too much fun making me suffer,” I don’t grumble after hearing about how our generous our seniors are, bar said brat.

  “There there,” she pats my hand consolingly, though the amusement in her voice says otherwise.

  The tournament takes the rest of the evening to finish up with Mei Ruyin and Xue Xu ending up fighting in the semi-finals, and it’s one of the longest considering how well the two know each other but Xue Xu ends up coming out on top. I chuckle as she laughs victoriously over Mei Ruyin’s prone form, the girl dead tired from the relentless assault she faced.

  The last fight is, of course, between Chen Yun and Xue Xu. The eldest and most experienced versus the youngest but most talented.

  Their fight is the most spectacular I’ve seen, the two have never gone all out in spars before, so it’s the first time I get to see them let loose.

  Counting the number of techniques they use as the fight progresses, I have to ask, how in the hell did Chen Yun learn five Mortal techniques!? Even Xue Xu shown only three and that’s still crazy!

  I’m happy I’ve never faced them at their best. Yet.

  Chen Yun executes a technique that has him flashing towards her with a storm of fast, but weak, slashes that forces her to defend herself and back away from.

  He keeps going at it, until he suddenly backs off, visibly heaving with sweat glistening across his forehead and Xue Xu is like a shark smelling blood as she charges at him.

  Everyone knows Xue Xu is impatient, which is why he’s able to easily spring the trap he made as he uses a new technique, the sixth he’s shown now, and his arm blurs.

  I blink as I see Xue Xu’s halberd flying across the training ground, leaving the girl dumbly standing with nothing in hand as she stops right in front of Chen Yun, the man’s sword calmly raised after the disarmament.

  She doesn’t let her lack of a weapon stop her as she takes something from my book and lunges at Chen Yun.

  If nothing else, no one can deny she has spirit.

  But it’s an abysmal attempt, telegraphed so badly that even I can see it, and so can Chen Yun who just snatches her from the midair like an unruly cat and holds his sword against her.

  My hand slip from under Yue’s as I stand and enthusiastically join the cheers.