160. A Death Clad in Glory, IV

Hua Lixin's face was, as always, hard to read. His qi was once back, tightly contained within his core. There wasn't a hint of its fire spreading anywhere inside Hua Lixin's body that deviated even a little bit from its intended course.

Not quite sure what else to do, Wu Hao passed Hua Lixin the bowl of rice. The other boy nodded his thanks.

"And the Five Flavor Fish, too, please."

Hua Lixin's table manners were impeccable. Unlike Du Linglong who ate like she had been starved, Hua Lixin didn't fight for his food and instead just quietly, politely asked for things, which he was given as a matter of course.

Conversation was a little slow to restart, until people accepted that Hua Lixin wasn't here to speak any words of wisdom or issuing a challenge. They'd get no free show today. Or, Wu Hao corrected himself: not two free shows.

Finally, though, Hua Lixin had eaten enough and put his chopsticks down.

"Good food," he said indifferently.

"You don't seem upset," Du Linglong said. She'd come to sit by Wu Hao's side, since Bi Shifeng's seat was empty ever since the duel. No one seemed to mind and it made it easier to talk, in any case.

Hua Lixin turned his eyes away from his plate. The expression on his face was serious, but then it always seemed to be. A speck of rice was still stuck to his face, ruining the effect.

"My master - the Volcanic Sovereign - once said that if I was able to use the Plum Blossom Sword Art at the third-grade, I'd have no foes left in the world who could contend with me at my rank. That I was able to do so, he said, essentially guaranteed that I had the potential to become a Sovereign myself one day."

Several of the people around frowned, thinking this bordered on sounding arrogant. Wu Hao wasn't quite so sure, though. Hua Lixin's qi suggested he spoke only facts, and though Wu Hao hadn't ever really spoken to the Volcanic Sovereign he could easily imagine his own master saying words to that effect. Although he might have made them sound sarcastic.

"I've never known my master to be wrong before," Hua Lixin stated. "Everything he says is true, without a doubt. And yet I lost."

He placed his chopsticks very carefully.

"Because I do have a rival," Hua Lixin said. He fixed his eyes on Wu Hao. "You. You, too, were able to master a Heaven-tier technique. That means we are two of a kind. That is why I am not upset at all."

Wu Hao nodded, slowly, as did others.

"Brother Hua, isn't it as the old saying goes?" An Xifan said wisely. "It is lonely at the top, after all."

Hua Lixin said, simply, "Yes."

An Xifan chuckled. "Wise words. Truly, this is the belief that a true martial artist should cherish. Never rivaled for a hundred battles, yet always seeking defeat in order to improve themselves."

Wu Hao wasn't quite sure that flowery description was apt, but everyone else nodded as if they'd heard words of significant wisdom, and it wasn't like he could have said anything a tenth as poetic as that.

Caught in the moment, though, inspiration struck, and he raised his cup of fruit juice.

"To Hua Lixin," Wu Hao stated. "And to rivals."

Hua Lixin accepted this toast, and the words were echoed repeatedly by others, who nodded as if Wu Hao had been the one who said something wise. He soaked in the attention and drank deeply, putting his cup down when it was empty, then wiped his mouth.

"Honestly," he found himself saying, "I had thought you'd react more like Bi Shifeng. You don't even seem to mind."

"That's what I said," Du Linglong muttered.

Hua Lixin looked at Wu Hao as if he'd said something stupid. "Of course I mind. In a year or more, when you and I will both be second-grade martial artists, I expect we will face each other again. At that time, it will be you who shall have to explain your defeat."

Wu Hao's eyes narrowed. He extended a hand, not towards his saber, but instead to Hua Lixin, who looked at it askance.

"Deal," Wu Hao said. "Next year, then."

For the first time, Hua Lixin smiled. "It is a deal."

They shook hands, both smiling, and then Du Linglong tried to place her own hand on top of theirs.

"Don't forget me," she said. She was smiling, too, and her hand felt small but warm atop Wu Hao's. "I still want a rematch as well."

"I wouldn't mind a match myself," An Xifan said. He eyed their handshake, but there was no place for the hamhocks he called hands there. Not without trying to literally shoulder in.

Several others chimed in, all promising that they'd be there as well. Someone made a joke that there weren't enough treasures in the world to make someone else a second-grade when he'd lost in the first bout of the tournament, laughter broke out at their ensuing scuffle, and then rest of the evening proceeded apace.

Later, when the food was gone, a servant came in. He bowed and announced, in a voice that resounded through the room: "The fireworks are about to begin. Young sirs, young ladies, we will now activate the viewing arrays. Young hero Wu, if you would?"

Wu Hao rose to his feet, not quite sure what was going on. The servant brought him to a particular section of wall, where he recognized the glimmer of a dozen different arrays, all near-masterworks in quality. They'd clearly paid a pretty penny for those.

"Sir," the waiter said. "Activate the arrays, please."

Quashing the urge to ask why, he did so. The tiger's roar in his ears was nothing but a distant, satisfied purr as he fed qi into the array's reservoir points, and then he watched as the qi coursed through the entirety of the wall. Qi had already been provided; all he needed to do was provide a catalyst.

In the next instant, the wall seemed almost to fall away. There was no physical shift of brick, though - the wall had just become utterly transparent, while not leaking any heat. When Wu Hao touched the wall, he still felt the wall underneath his fingertips.

But what he saw was the night sky outside. A dozen lights lit up the city, an enormous amount of houses lit up with beautiful lights in several colors, each announcing allegiance or support for a particular sect or family.

Everyone scrambled to join Wu Hao, gathering into a small throng that stared at the night sky.

Moments later, an arrow launched from a distant point in the city, sizzling with light. Wu Hao couldn't make out the qi signature at this distance and not through the brick, but he tensed nonetheless - were they under attack?

Then the firework exploded, the sparks of fire forming into the symbol of the Martial Arts Alliance: the character for "Martial".

There were small, appreciative murmurs from the rest of the audience. Wu Hao still wasn't sure what had gone on. Was this an emergency signal, maybe? Was the Alliance under attack? He very vaguely recalled something like that, maybe, but he could have been completely mistaken.

But other fireworks followed, launched on arrows or rockets that must have been sizzling and burning with qi. Several symbols like the Jin's enormous saber even were animated, the sparks flying around on unnatural paths to form the image of the saber chopping down onto mid-air.

On and on it went. Symbols of every Sect Wu Hao knew appeared in mid-air, some animated but most not. The sea of the Qingcheng Sect was impressive as it crested, and Wu Hao was struck by the thought that when he'd seen Su Biao enter the room earlier she'd avoided his gaze very carefully. But then another firework exploded into the black-and-white of the Wudang Sect and Wu Hao's attention was drawn elsewhere.

When all the main sects and families had been shown off, the second part of the fireworks ceremony began. More minor sects fired off fireworks of their own, including the Placid Lake Sect detonating a firework that showed the characters of Ao Ying's name in a show of support that made Wu Hao smile. An Xifan pointed out several of the messages as best he could, but when even his knowledge failed others were quick to point out who and what the messages sent and what they were in support of.

Then there were other messages: merchants trying to advertise their wares using volleys of rockets, blasting apart other merchants' fireworks displays as if a war was going on. All of the dying sparks fell back down to the earth.

"The fireworks are made with arrays, you know," An Xifan said. He still hadn't tired of talking. "Young hero Wu, is it true you are an apprentice array master?"

"I am," Wu Hao said. Several of the people around him, those who were able to tear their attention away from the spectacle, made appreciative sounds.

And then, close by, Wu Hao felt another source of qi gather itself, before a rocket was launched from a nearby patch. It tore straight through the air in front of their transparent wall, which several of them flinched away from, thinking it might explode in their faces.

Carried on silent wings, though, it rose high into the air, and when it exploded it spelled out not one or two but four entire characters.

"Wu Hao, Victory!"

It was an innocuous message. Several people nodded when they saw it and their gazes went to Wu Hao, who didn't know what expression he was showing at that moment.

Because Wu Hao had caught just a hint of the qi that made up that particular firework, and he'd recognized its scent. That dark, shadow-like, muddy signature - he would recognize it anywhere, no matter how much his senses might have been dulled.

It was the shadow qi that he'd seen in the crown, except now it carried a mocking hint of mint.

"He's taunting me," Wu Hao said, his breath catching. "Wang Bin is taunting me. He knew I'd be here and he knew I'd recognize his qi signature. That - that rat bastard."

"Pardon?" An Xifan said next to him. "Who do you mean, young hero Wu?"

Wu Hao exhaled. "Someone I'll have to hunt down," he said. "A villain."

An Xifan's eyebrows furrowed but he said nothing else.

He wasn't in a mood to appreciate the rest of the fireworks, after all that. Despite his feelings they went on, for half an hour, filing the skies with a riot of colors and a cheer that hung in the air. Some people went and brought a little more food from the tables, little snacks and drinks for watching the fireworks show. All of it tasted like ashes in Wu Hao's mouth.

The final firework, the most elaborate of all, was an entire message, not just a few characters.

"The Alliance congratulates the new Sovereign, Master Shu Renqing!"

When all the fireworks had gone and the night had returned to calm, a servant appeared again at Wu Hao's side. The wall began to fade slowly back into its normal, visible nature, which meant the sky was no longer visible. He sat there, brooding for a long while, occasionally entering any conversation that tried its best to pull him into its orbit but never fully paying the attention he ought to.

"Young hero," the servant said, barely more than a whisper. "Your master the Absent Sovereign has asked for your presence."

Wu Hao rose to his feet. Around him, several others had already left. The ones that remained were mostly a year or two older than him, anyway.

"Young hero Wu, you're leaving?" one of them asked. A quiet, unassuming young man from the Zhuge, who hadn't spoken much to anyone except Mo Ritian about the book the other boy had been reading. Wu Hao nodded in response.

"Master asked me," he said.

"Far be it from us to gainsay a Sovereign's wishes," the Zhuge clan member said. Wu Hao cupped his hands a little awkwardly in response and left, his feet lingering almost on every stair.

Master Shu stood at the edge of the restaurant's entrance. Away from the food and the drink and the lights and the all-encompassing warmth, it felt like there was only a thin shroud that lingered around Wu Hao now. Otherwise, all was quiet and dark and cold. None of it had felt entirely real.

"Do you want to return home?" the master asked.

Wu Hao offered his shoulder this time. The master's hand felt warm through his robes, and then they suddenly reappeared at the edge of the mansion, just beyond the area where the arrays could detect. They stood atop the snow, at least until master Shu let go of Wu Hao's shoulder and he plunged ankle deep into a patch of frozen, snow-covered grass.

Wu Hao bit back a curse and glared up at master Shu, who grinned.

"So?" master Shu asked, raising an eyebrow. "How'd you like the Gathering of Young Heroes?"

How'd he like it? He had eaten well, drank well, talked to people who had seemed to care what he thought. They'd looked at him with respect in their eyes, which was a novel experience. He had felt on top of the world. Invincible, even.

But he was also, it had to be said, as tired as he'd ever felt. It wasn't exhaustion of the body, but despite having drank more than usual his throat felt parched and constricted, his head felt fuzzy, and if he'd been pressed to, he wasn't sure he could've remembered any of the conversations that he'd had tonight or most of the people he'd met. It'd been dizzying. The duel had been the only standout but even then it had been over too quickly. It hadn't been a challenge.

If this was a fraction of what it felt like to be a Sovereign or to have his own sect, then he could easily see how that feeling could make men act as if they were drunk.

And then there had been Wang Bin's message. That had made him feel almost ill, sick with anger over being taunted like this. This was why he chased power, so that he was more than a pawn in someone else's game, but after winning the tournament he was still caught on strings.

He had to hurry up and finish thinking, though, because even as a martial artist it felt awful to be standing in the cold in wet socks.

"Well?" master Shu asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Good," Wu Hao said, but when this didn't seem convincing enough, he added: "Tiring."

"Tiring," master Shu said. "I could see that, yes. We'll have to do it all again tomorrow, of course."

Wu Hao froze, and the master chuckled to himself.

"I don't have to go, do I?" Wu Hao asked.

"You do," the master said, without any trace of sympathy in his face. All the same Wu Hao would have guessed that master Shu was holding back another snort.

He patted Wu Hao on the shoulder. Together they began to trudge their way through the snow. The master could have taken himself inside without a second thought, but instead he apparently felt compelled to walk the short path up to the mansion together, past the fence. Wu Hao appreciated it for reasons he couldn't quite put a name to.