"Our Patriarch wishes to see you," a voice came.
Wu Hao opened his eyes and turned to the speaker, who was a boy in bright blue robes and a sour expression on his face. He had taken a spear with him which was slung across his back, in much the same outfit as Su Biao had just worn.
"Qingcheng Sect?" Wu Hao asked, and got a nod in return.
He sighed.
When he had been catastrophizing earlier about the possible outcomes of the tournament, he had figured the most likely outcomes. One of them was that he would simply not be allowed to win on his own terms. He knew well enough that he had now become the nail that stood out.
And in a place like this, there were no shortage of people who fancied themselves hammers.
Wu Hao stood up.
"Let's go."
The boy led Wu Hao through small passages in the wood, each with a guard at every crossing and every opening. These looked attentive and well-trained, which meant they were probably expensive.
He'd never quite understood why people with enough power that they could kill the entire stadium's audience with a few snaps of their fingers would resort to having others guard them - others weaker than them, at that. Presumably the point was to lord it over them.
He walked up the small wooden passageway, where the boy oriented himself for one particular door, managing not to get his spear caught on any particular beams. Wu Hao didn't have as much luck, so after butting against the first of the pillars he simply took his spear in hand. Maybe it would get misinterpreted. Maybe it wouldn't.
He would have to see.
In any case, when he went through the door he emerged into a view of the arena, though higher up than he had seen from his own perch. He was in the Qingcheng Sect's area; next to him similar doors probably lead to the Jin and the other sects and families.
It was larger on the inside. Carpets had been laid carefully across the wooden floor, and comfortable seats had been placed on these carpets. Thin tables stood with food laden atop them, several bowls already looking somewhat emptied.
The food looked good. Wu Hao was suddenly aware of the fact that he hadn't really bothered with much of a breakfast and it was coming up on the time for lunch. He was thirsty, too, and the pitchers of cold water seemed inviting.
He ignored his own discomfort and turned back to the arena.
Two new contestants had made their way up to the stone steps. The wood of the beams that had surrounded him earlier had meant that Tai Buzhou's booming voice had been distorted before it had a chance to arrive nearby, but all the same he didn't need the introduction to know who they were.
The first fighter wore the black-and-white clothing of the Wudang Sect. They were all about the Taiji, Wu Hao recalled, a concept he'd heard but never quite been taught about before he'd gotten lessons from Wang Bin. The martial artists from the Wudang were supposedly defensive specialists, though. The boy himself had a confident gait, and he was of average height and build. His face was slightly handsome.
Wu Hao had expected that the core of someone that obsessed with duality would also be fascinating, but unfortunately, he just had the same kind of qi as other martial artists did. There was no complicated structure there like being split in half, or having two types of energy.
His opponent was one of the Peng clan. He was a pretty sort of boy - kind of androgynous, really. He had rouge dabbed at the corners of his eyes and a pale face, but as a result he didn't seem all that martially capable, despite wielding a sword as if he was used to doing so.
"Studying your opponents?" a gruff voice asked from next to him. Wu Hao had sensed him approach - it was very difficult not to.
In fact, the sheer sense of power that the Patriarch of the Qingcheng Sect emitted wasn't just hard to ignore, it made it difficult to truly sense anything else.
He demanded attention.
Up close, the Sect Master of the Qingcheng Sect didn't look like the other masters Wu Hao had seen. They had all been very well put together, in beautiful clothing that they wouldn't allow so much as a stain near. No matter how old - or how relatively young - they had carried themselves with a sense of decorum.
Su Yi just looked like the rougher type of man of which Wu Hao had seen thousands now. Broad shoulders filled out a robe with heavy furs draped around them - a concession to the season which none of the other masters had seemed to need to bother with. It was more fashion than anything else, though, because not even the second-grade martial artist sitting nearby and observing the match bothered to hide their absolute disregard for the cold.
Blue hair hung in thin fringes across shining blue eyes, which studied Wu Hao intently even as he studied the man in turn. There was something of Su Biao in him, really.
If nothing else, there was at least no attempt yet to crush him with qi pressure. That would've been bad.
Because it would've worked. If Su Yi had wanted him dead there would have been absolutely nothing Wu Hao could have done to stop him. Perhaps he would have been allowed the luxury of a single final breath, but then the pressure alone would have snapped his bones and left him shattered in a million pieces.
And that was without even considering the spear that Su Yi had to wield, which was nowhere to be found. As the Sect Master, he would have wielded a spear that could have bought the entire Red Dawn several times over.
Such was the privilege of Master-rank cultivators.
"The Wudang Sect boy is going to win," Su Yi said. "Ye Yue, I think his name is."
Wu Hao glanced at the stone square. Only moments had passed, but already Tai Buzhou was leaping back, his hand swinging down to announce the start of the match.
"Why?"
Su Yi chuckled. "He's got the makings of greatness. Look at how he stands: confident, self-aware, but not arrogant. His opponent doesn't."
Wu Hao watched the fight, such as it was.
The opponent - name unknown - kept a steady upper hand, or at least that was how it looked. Consistent, flowing strikes struck Ye Yue's sword, but every single one had been blocked with time to spare. As his movements started to slow, attempting to aim for heavy hits rather than rapid hits attempting to find weak spots, the Wudang Sect boy's guard started being mixed with steady, consistent offensive stabs and thrusts. With every swing of his sword he cut more incisively, more decisively. He was improving with every strike that cut through the air.
Finally, though, there was a glaring weak spot, and Ye Yue managed to draw a red line all across his opponent's guard, which could easily have been a lethal blow.
It wasn't as flashy as the way that Mo Ritian had dismantled Ao Ying or the way that Wu Hao himself had won, but all the same there was never any real doubt in Wu Hao's mind that Su Yi had been right. This was rather annoying, though Wu Hao couldn't have said why.
"Why did you call me here?" he asked instead, as Tai Buzhou's voice roared approval in his ear about the brilliant defensive tactics on display.
Su Yi looked Wu Hao square in the eyes, the match below forgotten.
"I have just one question," Su Yi said, his tone heavy.
Wu Hao made note of the fact that Su Yi didn't bother telling Wu Hao that he was free to leave afterwards. He didn't seem in the mood for bullshit, a sentiment that Wu Hao appreciated. If he would die, then he'd die.
"Ask."
"The pendant," Su Yi said, and he stretched out a hand to reveal it where he'd picked it up somewhere. It was very pretty, and it must have cost a lot of money. The pendant had been worked into a wave captured mid-collapse, with the edges carefully rounded so it couldn't cut into the skin as it swung while moving. Arrays had been carved into every available surface, and it was a mark of its quality that Wu Hao was unable to make much heads or tails of how it worked. It was Su Biao's, because the characters of her name were displayed prominently.
It was also unblemished. Wu Hao's one-shot kill blow hadn't managed to do so much as leave a mark on the gleaming silver. It was mostly depleted, though.
"Did you know this was there?" Su Yi asked, his eyes narrowing slightly. His blue eyes bore down on Wu Hao like they could see through him, and maybe they could. "When you struck out with that spear art of yours - did you know that she would be able to deflect it, or did you try with all of your heart to kill her, then and there?"
Wu Hao looked the man in his eyes. Again, not a single drop of qi had spilled outside the man's core, but nonetheless he could see the absolute power that was contained within Su Yi's calm tones.
"Yes," he said. "I knew."
Su Yi grunted softly, his hand closing over the pendant again.
"I see."
The conversation could have been over there, but somehow it didn't feel like it was.
In the time between them speaking again, another fight was announced. Tai Buzhou's voice announced the participants with what Wu Hao was coming to recognize as a characteristic trill, sounding like he himself had just won a fight. He was that excited, that over-the-moon.
It was all fake, obviously, but Wu Hao watched the entire match, trying to ignore the silence of the man next to him.
Du Linglong had easily crushed her opponent, a boy who was only known as Stinky Yi. From the Beggar's Union, he figured, by the nickname alone.
He did admit to feeling a stab of vindication. He would've been a better candidate, after all. Mostly he was looking at Du Linglong, though. Another face from his future. She didn't seem to be using her Nine Suns Art yet, at least, but she was still very much more competent than she looked.
Stinky Yi was carefully assisted off, unable to stand under his own power. His minder's wrinkled nose put the truth to his nickname, at least.
"Here's the rub," Su Yi said slowly, breaking the silence. "I didn't think Su Biao had it in her, to win the entire thing. Just for the fighters I've seen today, Mo Ritian would've done her in - he could've overwhelmed her, easily. The others, too. She's still rather green."
The absurdly stupid joke that really, she was blue, shot through Wu Hao's head, but he ignored it.
Su Yi sighed.
"All else aside, she is in fact my niece, you realize. But now she's been defeated by a no-name. As some would perhaps call him."
It didn't take out a genius to work out what that meant.
"So?" Wu Hao said, his tone challenging.
"So the last time something like this happened," Su Yi said. He folded his arms over each other. "Well, it was the Sword Sovereign, yeah? And he grew to become a pillar of our world."
"Right," Wu Hao said.
"There's no shame in losing to the future Sword Sovereign," Su Yi explained. His tone still hadn't changed. "But there would be some shame in losing to someone who gets utterly destroyed in his next match. Do you understand?"
"I do," Wu Hao said bluntly. If he showed himself to be a loser, then that would "reveal" that Su Biao was even worse than him. Which would cause the Qingcheng Sect to lose face.
It was a threat, in the end.
"Then don't lose," Su Yi said. "Our face remains. We may even owe you a favor."
Wu Hao stared at the older man. Two more fighters entered the ring.
"You want me to win," he said slowly. "To do what I was already going to do, in other words."
"Exactly," Su Yi said. "Hell, kid. I like you. I'll give you another bit of advice, yeah? Now's the time where you really should be building up favors with other sects. Can't build a house on shifting ground. Take my advice, kid."
There was probably great wisdom in listening to the advice of a Master-rank cultivator. Presumably some would even kill to have gotten this much interest from one.
"I thought you were going to kill me," Wu Hao said instead.
Su Yi raised an eyebrow.
"You're a child. No one wants to see dead children."
As Wu Hao was on the verge of leaving, Su Yi spoke again. Most of his attention had returned to the match in front of him, and he didn't even bother to keep an eye on Wu Hao, but nonetheless his voice reached easily, carried on razor thin strands of qi that flowed smoothly into Wu Hao's ears without him even registering the movement.
"One more thing," Su Yi said. "When it comes to being a master, there's one thing no one prepares you for."
Wu Hao stopped, turned. What was this about, then?
"Yes?" he asked.
"Your vision shifts," Su Yi explained. "None of us see the world as you do. We see the deeper truths of the part of the Way we're aligned to."
That meant absolutely nothing.
"So?"
"So," Su Yi said. He didn't turn, but a thin smirk graced his face nonetheless. "Things like appearance-changing arrays have absolutely no effect on most of us. Dunno who you are beneath that, but figured you didn't know yet."
Wu Hao gaped.
"Just thought you might find that interesting," Su Yi said. "You may go. There's still a few good fights left to watch, and you don't want to miss them. They might be your next opponents, after all."
"Anyone in particular?" Wu Hao asked, shifting from one foot to the other.
"Watch out for the Mount Hua Sect," Su Yi said, his eyes on the ring again. He rose to his full height, putting his hands back in his pockets. "There's a couple of ringers, this year. Du Linglong, who you just saw. Mo Ritian is a contender. The core disciple of the Kunlun Sect's supposed to be quite something, as well."
"But the Hua Sect above all?"
"That's right," Su Yi said, his tone serious. "Because they've unearthed a monster."