He couldn't sense Jin Qilong's qi outside. It wasn't him, then.
Wu Hao's insides suddenly felt like a giant hand of ice were gripping them tightly. Of course he had been recognized. He'd unmasked on a moment's impulse, thinking to himself that if he won it wouldn't matter. That if he won he'd be too important to take, or simply able to pay off whatever debt they now insisted that he owe.
It'd seemed so simple. So certain. Take the tournament, win every round, eat the Jade Orchid. If necessary he'd be ready to run for his life again. What was one more time, after all?
That certainty had fled at this point, though.
"Little friend Wu," Deng Xuan asked, his tone surprisingly gentle. "What is wrong?"
"Nothing," Wu Hao said quickly. "I, er."
Words wouldn't come. Deng Xuan raised an eyebrow, but after casting a glance at master Shu who looked equally nonplussed, a wordless discussion followed, conducted entirely via eyebrows and small shifts in body language and subtle movements of qi. When this was concluded, Deng Xuan rose smoothly to his feet with an apologetic look on his face.
"I believe we have perhaps overstayed our welcome, disciple Ye."
"Really, patriarch? I had more questions."
Deng Xuan shook his head. "Another time. We must also begin our preparations, both for tonight's Gathering of Young Heroes as for tomorrow's event. We will return to our own lodgings, fellow daoists. If there is some manner of trouble with which we can assist, however, please let us know."
His hand plunged inside his voluminous robe; with the tiniest possible shift of qi, almost too quick to detect, he was holding a piece of paper that he passed to master Shu. "Our address, should you require anything."
Wu Hao only paid half attention, but when master Shu got out of his chair, Wu Hao followed half-heartedly. Again, Deng Xuan made as if to bow, only for master Shu to stop him with a hand on his shoulder.
Master Shu shook his head. "Never mind the formalities."
Deng Xuan chuckled and Wu Hao imagined he could feel the floor vibrate. "Formalities are to be observed. This, I am wholly convinced of. Until next time we meet, Absent Sovereign. Young hero Wu, enjoy your victory feast tonight."
He squeezed out of the door, Ye Yue trailing after him with a new pep in his step, though not before bowing to Wu Hao again. The other disciple had said nothing but didn't seem to mind, following in his patriarch's wake.
Master Shu said nothing, but he gave Wu Hao a considering look. All the while, they waited out the small, muttered discussion outside. More of the formalities Deng Xuan liked to observe, Wu Hao guessed. He held on to the vague hope that maybe the Jin would leave.
They didn't. After no more than a few words, Jin Youshu walked in with two men in his entourage.
Zunxin, the third-grade challenger who had lost in his first round against Hua Lixin, was still heavily bandaged, but his hand was on his saber and his gaze intent. At least he wore purple now, like Wu Hao was used to him doing.
The other man was unfamiliar. Wu Hao had half expected to see the same guard as he'd seen in the future - Shizhen, if he remembered the name right. That man was seemingly absent. Perhaps he was off doing something else, or perhaps he simply hadn't met the man he'd wind up guarding yet.
Jin Youshu still looked like a smaller version of his father, which meant he didn't much look like Jin Qilong. At this point, though, Wu Hao had seen Jin Murong both from a distance and from nearby, and there was a certain ruggedness to his face that his sons lacked. Perhaps it would come with age; Wu Hao had trouble imagining Jin Qilong ever looking rugged, though.
"Congratulations," Jin Youshu said. He had turned first to master Shu. "Your ascension is a credit to the Alliance, Sovereign."
Master Shu grunted. Wu Hao felt a wave of dizziness run through him. Either Jin Youshu didn't realize or didn't care about master Shu's rudeness. He now turned to Wu Hao and spoke once more.
"Congratulations on your victories," he said. He very much didn't bow this time, but instead he studied Wu Hao with a little smirk on his face. "As a fellow wielder of the saber, I was much impressed by your victories. Even my father acknowledged your technique."
Wu Hao nodded stiffly. The effect of the compliment was lost for the simple reason that it didn't have the slightest ring of honesty.
"Unfortunately, that is not all we have come for," Jin Youshu said, a gleeful little smirk on his face. "You are, after all, a refugee from the Jin."
Master Shu raised an eyebrow. He made no other movement, though, neither showing surprise nor anger at this declaration. Zunxin's grip on his saber tightened regardless, and Wu Hao closed his eyes as Jin Youshu spoke.
"Therefore we humbly request that the Sovereign hand you over to us."
There was a long beat of silence. Master Shu closed his eyes, exhaled, then opened his eyes again.
"And why should I?" he said.
The smile remained on Jin Youshu's face, though it turned a little brittle at those words.
"Because we of the Jin Clan request -"
"Do you?" master Shu interrupted. "All I see is one whelp trying to borrow his father's things, boy."
Jin Youshu registered the obvious insult, and though his qi spiked with anger, he reined it in. He exhaled and spoke again.
"We will of course compensate you for this, Sovereign. Rest assured that the Jin will owe you a favor, as well as paying you richly for handing in the bounty on this one's head. Forgive me for my presumption, but you will require resources for establishing yourself as a new Sovereign, or so I've been told. We would like to -"
Master Shu harrumphed. "This is what you think to offer me? Wealth?"
"Wealth," Jin Youshu said, "and a favor of the Jin clan. Our personal gratitude for taking care of this little embarassing incident as well. I promise you -"
There was a sudden pall cast over the room. Wu Hao glanced around, finding that despite it being a bright winter day with no clouds in the sky, there was a sense that something was drawing away, as if the world was holding its breath.
"And if I do not?" master Shu asked, his tone very much polite.
"I - I do not recommend it," Jin Youshu said. He must have picked up on the same thing that Wu Hao had.
And suddenly there was nothing in the entire room except a stifling, overbearing presence that swallowed everything in its wake. Color bled out of the room entirely, although "bleeding" wasn't the right word. It was more like all color was simply ripped away from the world around them until nothing but black and white remained.
"Here is what I think," master Shu said, who suddenly loomed immensely huge over the room despite not having moved an inch. The sheer presence that emanated from him was enough to suffocate. That same aura of black and white stopped at the balustrade, and went not an inch further. "I think you do not have the approval or the knowledge of your father to be making these kinds of 'offers', whelp."
Master Shu stood, hands behind his back. Wu Hao was the only one not forced to his knees by the sudden blast of pure power that rampaged through the world, even though it had no clearly visible source. Even then the eddies of force made his legs shake.
"I think you forget that I am now a Sovereign in my own right," master Shu said. "I think you forget that I am not merely a Sovereign but an array grandmaster, one of a kind across the entire world. The coffers of the Jin pale in comparison to what I could marshal if I even sold but a tenth of my work, let alone my personal service. Understand this clearly - I do not owe anyone a favor. Favors are owed to me. When your grandfather was growing up he heard tales of the things I did in the War."
Black crushed down on Jin Youshu, who had gone utterly white with a few spots of black left on him. From collapsing onto his knees he had now bent entirely double, until his nose was touching the ground none too gently. Some blood dribbled onto the floor, black like ink.
"Yes, Sovereign," Jin Youshu said. "I - I apologize."
This last he hissed through clenched teeth. Wu Hao could only barely feel the other boy's qi, but he could easily identify the sheer shame that radiated from Jin Youshu at having to apologize. Perhaps it was the first time he'd ever done so.
"What was that?" Master Shu asked. "I didn't hear you there, boy. In my dotage I've grown both deaf and cranky, you understand."
He glanced at Wu Hao, then grinned, safe in the knowledge Youshu wouldn't be able to see it.
But before he could speak again, his attention shifted to one side of the room, where there was a loud screech of something being ripped through with a deep bass thrumming. Wu Hao blinked.
A saber cut through the entirety of the black and white, allowing color to suddenly flood back into that small part of the world. Not just the normal colors, though - impossible colors, shades of things that bent the mind to even look at, were rippling out from the edges of the cut. Behind that saber, Jin Murong stood, an unreadable expression on his face. One of his wives stood there, looking very much shaken.
He had just cut through something Wu Hao couldn't even have put a name to, and he didn't even look slightly out of breath. He still retained his color, as if he didn't belong here, and he didn't seem to even feel the rejection.
"You were correct," he said. "My son has gone behind my back. We will have to discuss this in more detail, Youshu."
He clasped his hands in a salute and bowed lightly. "It is good to see you've already mastered the art of the domain, Absent Sovereign."
Master Shu clicked his tongue. Suddenly the tide of black-and-white receded, color washing slowly back into the world.
"Take him," he said, and turned. "It would be better that he learn to think before he speaks."
"Your advice is noted," Jin Murong said coolly. He reached out, took a hold of Youshu's collar, and then yanked him back through the gap that he'd made into the world just as color began to fade back into the area of the cut. Both of them disappeared even as the world sowed itself back up.
There was a very long moment of silence while everyone except master Shu caught their breaths.
Zunxin and the other man looked very much uncomfortable. Several of Zunxin's wounds had opened again, whereas the other man had sweat pouring off him. The latter at least had the presence of mind to clasp his hands in a salute, though.
"Begging pardon to the Sovereign," he mumbled. "We shall leave."
"Yes," master Shu said. "Do so."
They did as commanded. Wu Hao saw them out, needing to get himself out of that room before anything else happened.
And then, of course, he noticed the faint scent of peaches still lingering in the hallway, and a flash of messy brown hair disappearing behind a corridor. Wu Hao stared, overwhelmed by today to the point where he had no clue how to feel about it all, turned around, and returned to the room.
Master Shu had sunk back into his chair and didn't raise his eyes from the spectacle in the ring, where the first-grade match was finally starting. It was between Mo Chen of the Zhongnan Sect and Zhu Tian of the Mount Hua Sect. Wu Hao noted idly the thought that it was the second time that someone from the Hua Sect had appeared on the stage for the final round, but he didn't dwell on it. He had other things to worry about, like the main question that he'd been thinking about ever since he'd won.
"Why?" Wu Hao asked softly.
"Why what?" master Shu asked. From his tone, though, it was clear what he knew the question was.
"Why take me as your disciple? Why go so far against the Jin?" Wu Hao asked. He raised qi up to his head, preparing to kill himself if the answer was any way something that set off warning bells. It would be regrettable to undo the victory he'd won, but he knew now that it was possible, so -
A sigh interrupted his thoughts.
"So be it," master Shu murmured. "I'll tell you, boy. Sit down, though. I'm not craning my neck up to look at you."
With the flick of a finger a chair was dragged over before Wu Hao could sit on the cushion that'd been forgotten nearby.
"You awoke me from my contemplation," master Shu explained. A flash of awkwardness crossed his expression. "I'd have gotten through myself, of course. But you sped that process along and I suppose I'm not ungrateful for that."
Wu Hao waited for more to follow, but nothing did. The qi ebbed away as he sat there, dumbfounded.
"That's it?"
"Yes," the master said, with a tone of finality. "It is."