Shun contemplated the contest rules. No magic nullification skills, for obvious reasons. The first five strikes must be basic swordplay. If both opponents were still uninjured after that, they could call on higher level cultivation skills such as spirit binding or the like.
Up until now, the only skill Shun had needed had been Leifeng Sect's basic sword skills; combining attribute and element into one weapon, its mutable shape defined by the wielder's will. In a way, it was the spiritual equivalent of Priest Housu's living metal blade, except that its substance was based entirely on the wielder's bases.
Shun's bases being Lake and fire meant his sword was formed of steam. It'd taken him years to balance his bases, to get the shape just right. Summoning more than one weapon and shifting their shapes mid-fight had taken more years but had been worth it. Determined to overcome his antithetical bases, he'd practiced and practiced.
He knew he was good. Could see just how good Liang Ren was, too. The other boy might seem flighty and foolish, but he'd fought his way to this round with startling ease. Under other circumstances Shun might have suspected a cheat, but he'd watched those fights. Liang Ren's opponents weren't throwing the game in his favor and he wasn't using magic. He was just that fast and that well-cultivated.
The only one of Liang Ren's opponents who'd lasted long enough to reach the fifth round had been Tong Si and he'd faltered at the very end, overwhelmed by the boy's speed and energetic performance. Shun visualized the fight, slowing the motions down in his head to see how Liang Ren's acrobatics set him careening across the arena. He'd spun, tumbled and dodged, evading Tong Si's rapid blade with ease.
Noticing fake Shirong still watching him worriedly, Shun tapped his Shidi on the forehead. "Stop acting like I'm going to die. Even if I fail, the spell will protect me."
"Even so...."
"Even so, trust me. I can do this." At least he hoped he could. "You bet on me, after all. Do you think I'm going to waste that much money?" Fake Shirong might not know just how much he'd set down, but just the fact that he was confident Shun would win was heartening. Not to mention there was a certain pleasure in the thought of overcoming the arena's expectations and wiping the floor with that aggravating boy.
Which, no doubt, was exactly how Liang Ren felt about him.
#
At last the time came to fight and Liang Ren was obviously in a particularly excited mood. He leapt up onto the stage without bothering with the stairs and bounced on his toes as he took up his position. "Hey, hey! You're a pretty one. Wanna go out later?"
Shun raised a brow. "Just so you know, I am a man."
"So? Got something against doubling up?" The boy paused, glanced past Shun, and added, "Or are you already reserved?"
Shun kept his eyes on his opponent, keeping his expression as cold as he possibly could. He had no doubt who Liang was looking at, nor what he implied. He also had no intention of letting the boy's teasing get to him. Later he'd have to have a few words with fake Shirong, because his Shidi's habit of looking like a lovelorn puppy was likely to cause them trouble later.
"What I am is ready to fight. I trust you are as well?"
A bright grin crossed Liang Ren's humorous features. "Oh, I was born ready to fight." He glanced up at the box where his father sat. Waved brightly and confidently. As the announcer came up onto the platform to check them, he added, "Hope you are, too."
A few seconds later the fight began, Liang Ren cutting past Shun at high speed. His daggers sliced the air and would have cut straight through Shun's sword arm if he'd not evaded rapidly. First exchange, no injuries. Shun stabbed and missed as Liang Ren passed, using his secondary blade as a block at the same time. Second exchange, no injuries.
Now Shun rolled, twisting out of the way of Liang Ren's next strike, returning the blow as he leapt into the air. Third exchange, no injuries. Two more to go. Liang Ren dropped upside down to the ground, spinning on one hand while cutting with the other. Shun brought his own blade down, blocking Liang Ren's blade while dodging the other boy's kicks. Fourth exchange, no injuries.
"Going to do Tong Si one better?" Liang Ren asked humorously. "Think you can?"
Shun didn't bother answering. He'd watched the boy's last fight carefully but hadn't bothered memorizing anything. Any fighter with sense wasn't going to use the exact same move so soon after the last time. As Liang Ren bounded into the air, though, he wondered if the boy had any sense. It certainly looked like the same move.
Rising high, spinning around, Liang Ren's laughter pealed through the room. In the last fight, Tong Si had thought he'd spotted an opening and stayed where he was, striking for that one chance, only to have Liang Ren fling one of his blades straight down. Focused on his attack, Tong Si had left himself open as well, taking the blade straight into his face.
If this was the exact same move, Shun's best response would be to dodge and escape. He shifted his weight as Liang Ren came down at him. He'd been driven to a corner of the arena, with only one direction to go. Rapidly, he dropped to one knee, as if ready to roll forward, only to lift his secondary blade, shifting its position as he moved.
Two blades struck, one in the direction he would have had to roll, the other straight for Shun's current position. The first drove deep into the stone, proof of its quality. The second struck Shun's arm, or would have if his secondary blade weren't in the way. With a quick motion, Shun knocked the blade out of the arena and came up, meeting Liang Ren's unprotected body with his primary blade.
Wait. Unprotected? The faint glow of their shields had faded. If Shun's blade struck him the way it was now, it'd kill. Recognizing the danger, Shun shifted his blade's shape just as it it Liang Ren's chest, flattening it so the impact was spread out. It was still a powerful blow, powerful enough to send its victim flying backwards.
"AHHH!" Liang Ren rolled back across the arena, sprawling just inches from the edge. He lay still a moment, then sat up and glared ruefully at Shun. His protection spell flickered back into being, glowing bright red at its center. "Damnit, I never get to use my special attack!"
Shun didn't bother answering, still shocked at the near-accident. The noise from the stands and the way everyone was staring made him realize something was wrong behind him. A chill swept over him, a sense of danger. That blade, the one he'd knocked away. Shouldn't it have been stopped by the protective barrier surrounding the arena?
He turned. Stared. Sighed. The blade should have been stopped, certainly, but it hadn't been. Instead it'd gone flying straight past the barrier and into the stands behind. Straight past and straight for the Priest Housu. But for one thing, she'd have been skewered.
Inevitably, unsurprisingly and only mildly infuriatingly, that one thing was fake Shirong. He'd caught the blade as it passed, just inches before it'd hit its unintended target.
Shun sighed. Leave it to Shirong, fake or not, to take his moment of triumph and turn everybody's attention away. At least the fake had the grace to blush. The original certainly wouldn't.
#
Once the audience got over their shock at the escaped weapon and the boy who'd caught it so easily, the announcer declared Shun the winner. The excitement over the near accident turned to applause and if it wasn't quite as loud or congratulatory as he might have liked, it was mostly satisfactory.
Satisfactory, that was, until someone demanded, "How'd he knock that knife out of the ring?"
"Did he cheat?"
"Those Leifeng disciples got strange skills, you know. Was he using magic?"
Shun felt a sharp surge of disappointment in life. These people didn't even know him and already they were implicating him in this accident. Yet another unfair reaction to something he'd no control over.
Noticing fake Shirong standing up, about to come to his defense, Shun made a sharp gesture at him. He might need help but he didn't need it from his Shidi. No, correction, he didn't want it from his Shidi. It was annoying enough to have to depend on the boy's good fortune to offset his bad.
"Hey!" Liang Ren shouted suddenly. "You're just mad cause none of you thought he could win." The boy clapped Shun on the back so hard it nearly knocked him over. Ignoring his glare, Liang Ren continued, "Hey, Baba? Any words of wisdom?"
A voice drifted down from the box-seats where Liang Xie Rao sat. "Aside from my having raised an incredibly rude and unfilial child who earned that loss?"
"Baba, he's better then me. You said it yourself. No fault losing to a better opponent."
Amusement suffused the voice. "Given he was able to soften his last blow at a moment when you were both defenseless, I must admit you're correct, for once." Liang Xie Rao stepped into view, thick dark brows drawn together in mock annoyance. "Come up to my chambers, young master Shun. You've more than earned your reward. Not to mention my thanks for not killing my fool of a son."
Relieved that the master of this arena wasn't going to blame him for whatever happened to the shield spell, Shun bowed. "This Leifeng Sect disciple obeys."
Liang Xie Rao turned his attention on the woman running the arena. "And while I'm discussing this young man's award I trust you'll be investigating just how both the protective shield around the arena and the ones around these two youngsters managed to cut out at the most dangerous moment possible."
#
Master Liang's chamber walls were covered in tapestries marked with odd geometrical patterns. Ones Shun thought he'd seen once, a long time ago, in his grandfather's library. Something describing the tribes of the northern grasslands, back before those lands had been overtaken by forest.
The style of furniture resembled some nomadic tribe's as well. Cushions scattered across the floor, surrounding a fire pipe, with curtains concealing the back half of the room. The smell of something hot and smoky and savory came from a pot hanging from the chimney, steam rising into the pipe itself.
"Sit. I don't drink myself, but would you care for some Goddess Breath wine?"
Shun had never touched alcohol in his life and didn't think this was a good time to start. "Thank you, but this disciple prefers tea, if it will not trouble Master Liang."
Within seconds Liang Ren came bouncing over with an elegant little teacup filled with fragrant jasmine tea. Despite his spins and jumps, not a drop spilled, testimony to his skill in acrobatics. "Here you are. Want some deer blood soup? Baba hunted it down himself just this morning, so its nice and fresh."
"I... no...." Despite, or perhaps because of, his snake-demon ancestry, Shun avoided blood dishes. He and his grandfather weren't sure what it'd do to him. "Thank you."
Master Liang sprawled among the biggest and best cushions. "You and your young friend have complicated things for me."
No surprise. Whether it was Shun's poor or fake Shirong's fantastic luck, whatever they did towards finding the Revered Predecessor was likely to drop them into the cookpot with the soup still boiling. Still, he didn't see a reason to be sorry. "I'm devastated."
Instead of being angry, Master Liang laughed. "Just like your mother, you are." He grinned at Shun's expression. "All sharp words and impatience."
"Respect, Master Liang, but this disciple doesn't see a point to playing word games." Shun wasn't surprised the arena's master knew who his mother was. He could taste demon-beast scent in the air; faint and unidentifiable, it made Master Liang's ancestry quite clear. "What is it you need from me? If it's for me to relinquish my win, my answer will depend on what you offer in return."
Instead of answering the question, Master Liang asked in return, "I was told, by one who I know you respect, that you would not be returning to the arena. So what is it you seek that's so important you'd break your word to you're grandfather, young serpent-spawn."
Though he wished Master Liang would stop referencing his mother's blood in him, Shun simply said, "I and my Shidi seek Master Zhan Kui. We hoped you could help us."
"Master Zhan Kui has been missing for almost a year now, youngling."
The news made Shun falter. He hadn't known the Revered Predecessor was missing. "All the more reason to find him."
"You and many others feel the same." Thoughtfully, Master Liang added, "Your best path is to seek his wife, making this win all the more useful to you. Yet the Flame Lotus is of use to my overly active son over there. How many is in your party?"
A little startled at the sudden subject switch, Shun answered, "Three, including myself."
"Then this is my offer. The prize for this competition is a pass for five to Tang City's Grand Auction. You have won it fairly and I keep my word. However, I ask you to include my darling fool of a child in your party and refrain from bidding for the Flame Lotus when the time comes. The Sorcerer Feng Xi is offering more than just that item at this auction. There's sure to be something else you'll find as or more useful."
Shun hesitated. He wasn't at all sure he wanted to travel a day with Liang Ren, much less the two weeks it'd take to get to Tang City. "I...."
"To sweeten the deal, I will double your... Shidi's, was it?... winnings."
Double fake Shirong's winnings were forty strands of gold bells. Even Shun, raised to austerity and simplicity, recognized the value of the offer. Helplessly, aware he might simply be digging himself deeper and faster towards his fate, he spread his hands. "What can I do but agree?"