Chapter 51: A BAD HAND

CHAPTER

51

A BAD HAND

JIEYUAN

—∞—

Jieyuan only really got a proper sense for the size of the stages as he stepped out into the arena floor. The raised platforms were much taller than he’d thought—taller than his chest—and as he stared across the floor, all the way over to the opposite side, all he could tell about the Radiant Gold Sect disciple stepping out was the color of their robes—those of a core disciple of the sect—and that it was probably a man that he was looking at.

There were ongoing duels in three of the stages, and the sounds of clashing steel rang out constantly, drowning out all other noises. As he crossed the floor, Jieyuan did his best to ignore it all, focusing on his opponent instead, recalling all the times he’d seen a Radiant Gold Sect disciple fight so far.

He had a pretty good idea of what to expect. All Radiant Gold Sect disciples so far had had the same realmskill, Radiant Gold Ascension. The sect’s only other signature realmskill, Radiant Gold Transmutation, had no use in combat, even if it was arguably the more important of the two. His opponent shouldn’t be any different.

Radiant Gold Ascension’s first form was Radiant Gold Strike, and it transformed its user’s arms into brightgold while increasing their strength. You couldn’t see the transformation, given everyone wore fullgauntlets, but you could tell when it was being used based on how the Radiant Gold Sect disciple would start overwhelming their opponent all of a sudden.

There was a downside to knowing your opponent’s realmskill so easily, though. Precisely because everyone already knew what realmskill the Radiant Gold Sect disciples had—and one with a use that was straightforward as it got, at that—Radiant Gold Sect disciples had no reason to hold back on using it.

When he was about halfway to the stage, the distance shrank enough for Jieyuan to see his opponent in a little more detail. It was indeed a man, and by his waist was a sheathe that Jieyuan would bet on holding a sword. From what he’d seen, the Radiant Gold Palace’s swordsmanship style was fairly balanced between offense and defense, though it favored the former more. It was a pretty rigid style, too, reminding him a little of the way Daojue fought, though not nearly to the same extent.

Something else he could count on was the core disciple’s weapon being a prime artifact. One that should be roughly comparable to the offerings from the Radiant Light Atelier. Because if there was one thing the Radiant Gold Sect had, it was money. Radiant Gold Transmutation and its ability to permanently convert things into brightgold had made them unreasonably rich.

Jieyuan could perfectly recall all the lessons he’d gotten on brightgold economics. Brightgold was far less valuable than mundane gold. Mundane gold was the best inscript vessel—very few inscripts wouldn’t take to it—whereas brightgold wasn’t compatible with any known inscript. Brightgold couldn’t be refined, either.

Rather, what made brightgold special was that, despite looking like unusually shiny gold, it was actually closer to steel when it came to the properties that really mattered—hardness, strength, durability, toughness—making it just about perfect for weapons. And it could be easily mass-produced. The user of Radiant Gold Transmutation just had to expend a little bit of chroma to transmute any material into brightgold at the same soulsign as their own.

So what the Radiant Gold Sect did was mass-produce brightgold weapons on the cheap. Brightgold artifacts lacked the convenient properties traditional artifact weapons had, like blade-sharpening, but they often cost as little as a third of a plain gear weapon at the same soulsign.

Reaching the raised platform in the smack center of the floor, Jieyuan vaulted himself onto it. Just beats later, the Radiant Gold Sect core disciple did the same on the opposite side. Jieyuan was too far away to tell the man’s soulsign, but it’d probably be fifth-sign—or at least Jieyuan hoped so.

The match-ups had supposedly been collectively agreed upon by the upper echelons of all four cabals the previous day. According to Yongyi, in these first few rounds, it was standard practice for cabals to volunteer their weakest fifth-signs to fight the sixth-signs of the other cabals, to ensure that their own sixth-signs would only face fifth-signs in the beginning and get a high a rank as possible. Unless they were really confident in their own sixth-sign and wanted to get rid of the competition right off the bat.

Jieyuan reckoned putting up one of your top talents—even if one low in soulsign—as a sacrificial lamb might be a bad look, though. So as long as the Gleaming Stone Sect hadn’t shafted him something fierce, he wouldn’t be facing a sixth-sign for his first match.

The proctor—a middle-aged woman, Jieyuan realized, now that he was paying attention to her—was standing in the middle of the stage. Jieyuan could feel the hundreds of gazes boring down on him from above, from all directions. Those were overshadowed, though, by the glare of the brightgold all around.

It was like the people who built the palace had taken a walk in the Gleamstone Valley and gotten the idea to replicate that while putting their spin on it. He’d have certainly liked to have a word with them, because glowing building materials were very much so not a good idea, even more so for interior work.

It didn’t escape him, either, that this might have been intentional, meant to give Radiant Gold Sect disciples, who should be used to it, an edge over everyone else. At least it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been, since he’d taken more than a couple of walks in the Gleamstone Valley himself, and was no stranger to fighting while being assaulted by lights from all directions.

As the elder began reciting the rules of engagement—nothing Jieyuan didn’t already know—he forced himself to focus. He unsheathed the Shifting Feathers, gear-shrouds fully wrapped around both half-glaives, and adjusted his grip to around the middle of their shafts, the position he’d found to work best for him. He’d be keeping them in pair-form, at least for the time being, as that was the form he’d gotten the most practice with.

On the other side of the stage, his opponent drew out a sword. Gear-shrouded, of course, though Jieyuan had little doubt that he’d find gold underneath it. Inscribed gold, not brightgold.

What exactly was he was looking at here? An opponent at least one soulsign above him, with a realmskill he wouldn’t hesitate to use, plus a prime skill held in reserve just in case.

All right. What about me?

He had Shifting Feather. An unusual weapon with a nifty prime skill, sure, but one that he was far from mastering. He’d gotten in as much practice as he could against Meiyao and Yongyi the last few days, and spent a significant time running simulations for it with Absolute Will Command, but he was nowhere near as skilled at wielding it as he was with a spear. He’d been focusing mostly on pair-form, and so far he was treating it mostly as dual-wielding a pair of sabers. He knew that wasn’t quite the intended use for the weapon—far from it—but it was the best he could manage in such short notice.

His armor—fullgreaves and gauntlets both—had also been traded up for a tenth-sign set, courtesy of Wanxin, but he wasn’t about to count that as an advantage. His opponent was likely to be kitted out in gear just as good, being a core disciple of the Radiant Gold Sect.

What else? Absolute Will Command. Except he couldn’t use it. Not even in a subtle way. He doubted he’d be able to get anything past the dozens of tenth-sign redsouls watching down from above, let alone the tenth-sign orangesoul. Not to mention how his opponent would know he’d done something to them and would realize he had a realmskill.

As for the Fatebloom Heart… It was just as bad. Two of its three prime skills wouldn’t be of any use. Not only did he not know how to use Fatebloom Intuition, he also wasn’t clear on what Fatebloom Sacrifice did, meaning it was also a no-go.

Fatebloom Regeneration was the only one of its powers he could use, but if he got wounded others would notice his abnormal regeneration, and that’d lead to questions. Thankfully he’d managed to figure out a way to disable it—he hadn’t forgotten Meiyao’s warning, about keeping his regeneration to himself, and after some trial and error, he’d managed to get the Fatebloom Heart to stop healing him temporarily. But that meant he couldn’t rely on it, either.

Jieyuan smiled ruefully. All in all, that added up to as stacked a deck as Jieyuan had played with. Stacked against him.

But it wasn’t hopeless. Being dealt a bad hand wasn’t necessarily game over. He did have Shifting Feather’s prime skill, Ephemeral Weight Shift, which his opponent shouldn’t be aware of. The core disciple would also be probably underestimating him. Though Jieyuan didn’t know his opponent’s soulsign for sure, the reverse couldn’t be said. He reckoned everyone knew the basics about him, Yongyi, Meiyao, and Daojue, given their importance to the envoy. So he could probably count on being underestimated because of his lower soulsign.

And if Jieyuan did have one edge, it was that he was no slouch at fighting. He wasn’t on Meiyao’s level, let alone Daojue’s, but he’d say he was a step above Yongyi in terms of pure skill. Yongyi, who’d just soundly beaten another sixth-sign redsoul and made it look easy. And even though Jieyuan was still getting the hang of the amphis, he’d managed to eke out a couple of wins his last few spars against Yongyi with their soulsigns equalized, and had come close even with Yongyi a soulsign higher.

So if he came in hard, struck fast, and caught his opponent flat-footed… It wasn’t a strategy he’d be able to repeat as successfully in the next few rounds, but it might just be enough to secure him a win here. He could worry about the next duels after he got this one down.

He didn’t need to win. He had no real stake in this. He’d be getting scouted regardless, and that was all that really mattered. But that was just the thing—he didn’t want to get ahead just because of his heavenly affinity, something that had been beyond his control. A matter of luck. He wanted to be more than that—to prove he was more than his heavenly affinity. To everyone else and to himself.

And at the end of the day, as far as he was concerned, victory was its own reward.

“… do your cabals proud,” the proctor said, nodding to the two of them, before raising her arm. “BEGIN!”

She jumped off the stage.

Immediately, Jieyuan broke into a run, his aura augmenting his legs as he pushed off against the ground. His opponent remained in place, both hands holding his sword in front of him in a defensive stance.

Nearing the core disciple, close enough to reach him with his soulsense, Jieyuan confirmed that the man was indeed at fifth-sign Redsoul. And that he had a considerable height advantage over his opponent.

Then there was no more distance between them, and Jieyuan whipped both arms out, over his head and then downward, the Shifting Feathers singing as they cut through the air, coming down on his opponent’s shoulders from above.

The core disciple slammed his sword against both incoming blades—even as Jieyuan used Ephemeral Weight Shift on both half-glaives, tripling their weight.

The three blades met, and the core disciple grimaced, eyes slightly widened in surprise, as he shifted his weight back to steady himself, overwhelmed despite his higher soulsign.

Jieyuan wasn’t faring that much better himself, his arms straining as he made sure to redirect the increased weight toward his opponent’s sword. He could handle the Shifting Feathers just fine at their normal weight, but that required him to fully tap into his aura. They were made of gold, and gold wasn’t exactly known for its lightness.

Not about to give up the initiative, Jieyuan increased the weight of the right-hand Shifting Feather even further, sextupling it, while pulling back his left hand before sweeping the other Shifting Feather sideways at his opponent’s shoulder.

Even faster, though, was the fifth-sign. Suddenly the force pressing up against the Shifting Feather locked with the sword increased, explosively, pushing it back.

Radiant Gold Strike, Jieyuan realized.

At the same instant, the core disciple released his right hand from the handle of his sword and flung his arm out to the side.

Jieyuan’s left-hand Shifting Feather struck the core disciple’s fullgauntleted right forearm. There was no give, the half-glaive coming to an abrupt halt. Jieyuan’s left-hand Shifting Feather, stalemated with the sword, fared even worse. Though he was only wielding the sword with one hand now, Jieyuan felt another explosive burst in strength coming from the sword, and his left-hand Shifting Feather was thrown back.

And then the core disciple was thrusting his sword at him, at his right side, and Jieyuan only just barely managed to twist his body to the side, evading the strike.

Before his opponent could draw his sword back, Jieyuan pulled both his arms away, bringing both half-glaives back for balance, and then stepped in with his left leg, before bending his right leg up and pushing it out, slamming the sole of his fullgreave against the core disciple’s stomach.

The core disciple stumbled back.

There! Jieyuan pressed on. Even as his foot returned to the ground he was whipping both his arms down and forward again, both Shifting Feather cutting downward at the man’s shoulders.

Unlike the first time, the core disciple wasn’t ready for it, his sword to the side, his balance destabilized by Jieyuan’s kick.

This was the strike that’d end the fight.

Or it would’ve been—if both Shifting Feathers didn’t veer wildly off course halfway to their target, moving as if by their own will as they dragged Jieyuan’s arms down to the right and away from the core disciple’s body, before crashing onto the core disciple’s sword.

Instinctively, still processing what had just happened, Jieyuan tried to pull the Shifting Feathers back, but met resistance, as if they were stuck to the core disciple’s sword. And then Jieyuan’s gaze landed on his opponent’s grim but pleased expression, and realization struck.

The next moment, the force acting on the Shifting Feathers disappeared, and Jieyuan immediately pulled back. But now it was the core disciple bearing down on him, attacking unceasingly, with Jieyuan straining to defend himself, all the while thinking furiously.

Attraction. That, or some variation of magnetism. That’s what his opponent’s sword’s prime skill was based on. It was only the Shifting Feathers that had been pulled toward it, though, so the prime skill either targeted only weapons, or could be used to attract a specific target.

Tricky. But nothing Jieyuan couldn’t work around. And now that the core disciple had used it once, he’d be using it again. Even as he endured the onslaught, an idea came to Jieyuan, the semblance of a plan.

Jieyuan was no adept at defense, but he’d faced Meiyao and Yongyi enough times to learn a few tricks and pick up on some bits and pieces of the Liangshibai style of martial arts. Blades clashing, aura fully engaged, Jieyuan kept on defending, searching for an opening.

It came as the core disciple suddenly broke rhythm to go for a thrust, possibly to catch Jieyuan off-guard, but having the opposite effect. Jieyuan dodged with a side-step and a sideway lean, and as the sword went past the left side of his waist harmlessly, brushing the cloth of his robe, Jieyuan snapped both Shifting Feathers forward again.

He’d barely begun the swing when he felt both half-glaives be pulled down and behind him, toward where the core disciple’s sword was. Unfortunately for the core disciple, that was exactly what Jieyuan had been waiting for.

He increased both his weapons’ weight by tenfold and let go of them. The pair of them flew out, slamming down against the side of the sword so hard the core disciple lost his grip on it, and all three weapons were sent flying, spinning out in a flurry of shrouded metal.

The core disciple tried to pull back and steady himself, but he hadn’t been expecting this—whereas Jieyuan had planned it. And so Jieyuan got inside his guard, punching out with his right arm.

His fullgauntleted fist struck the core disciple’s face straight in the middle, metal meeting flesh, and Jieyuan felt the crunch as the man’s nose was crushed. The core disciple staggered back, but Jieyuan stepped in again, slamming his left fist into the disciple’s stomach.

Even as the man was doubling over, Jieyuan grabbed onto his opponent’s lowered head with both hands, bringing it down even as he kicked his metal-clad knee up, smashing it against the man’s jaw.

Jieyuan let go of the core disciple’s head then, and the man’s entire body dropped to the ground, limp, like dead weight. Knocked out cold.

Better that than dead. Which was what would’ve happened if Jieyuan hadn’t limited the chromal weight of his gauntlets and greaves. Given his opponent was only at fifth-sign, they’d have gone right through his head.

Breathing heavily, in part from the exertion but mostly from the rush, Jieyuan stared down at his opponent’s slumped form.

The fire in him roared triumphantly, gloriously, and Jieyuan gave himself away to it for a moment, basking in it. He looked up at the viewing floor, but with the blood thumping in his ears and the glare of the brightgold he couldn’t make out anything clearly. Then he caught movement out of the corner of his vision, and he snapped out of it.

The proctor was back on the stage. She reached them in instants, rushing over like a golden blur, and knelt down beside the fallen disciple. She held that position for only a few seconds before she stood back up and gave Jieyuan a curt nod, looking perfectly neutral, before looking out to the second floor.

“Winner, Haoyujin Jieyuan, of the Gleaming Stone Sect,” she announced, her voice resounding now, augmented.

Jieyuan glanced back down at his fallen opponent. He was still riding the high, but coming down from it. He took a few deep breaths, steadying himself.

The man would be fine. A concussion, a crushed nose, and a shattered jaw were nothing the right pills couldn’t easily fix.

Seeing a Radiant Gold Sect elder appear on the other end of the arena floor, looking like a little golden blotch but quickly growing closer, Jieyuan turned around, and walked away, picking up the Gleaming Feathers as he went and sliding them back into their sheathes. Reaching the end of the stage, he hopped down, and continued on his way to the end of the arena floor.

On the wall of the arena was a large entranceway, leading to a corridor, at the end of which was the stairway leading to the upper floor. And as he stepped into the corridor, leaving the arena floor, he saw a pair appear on the opposite side, climbing down the stairway.

A woman in golden robes with a white-and-golden lightcoat over it. And a man in the golden robes of a core disciple of the Radiant Gold Sect.

Sovereign Aoxin and her nephew, Dayang.