“Shao Qing! Get out here!” A muscular man holding a monstrous warhammer screamed threats and obscenities as his eyes swept the fog surrounding him. This standoff had lasted for at least 10 minutes, and he was tired of it. Why couldn’t that bastard come out and fight like a man? He’d been trying to destroy this fog the entire time, but every time he dispersed part of it the fog would rapidly bounce back, as if it was unaffected. He knew maintaining this fog couldn’t have been easy on his opponent’s qi reserves, so the question still stood: Why waste time like this?

As Kang Ling pondered his predicament, he saw a figure begin to slink out of the fog. Its facial features were hidden, and it seemed to be clothed only in mist, but it was definitely a human. It slowly advanced towards Kang Ling, not aware that he’d noticed it. Looked like Shao Qing slipped up. Kang Ling struggled to stop the joy in his heart from showing on his face as he pretended not to notice the mistake. He’d wait for Shao Qing to inch closer and then launch an all-out attack when he was too close to retreat. Once that happened Kang Ling would finally be rid of his rival in love and cultivation.

Kang Ling stood there, war hammer in hand, as the figure inched closer, barely visible. He counted down the distance in his head as it did so. “8 feet… 6 feet… 4 feet… now!” Kang Ling suddenly stepped backwards and grabbed the warhammer with both hands, ramming it into the ground. The blackstone tiles beneath him cracked open as the impact spread out, and despite its best efforts to dodge the foggy figure was engulfed in the aftershock. Kang Ling chuckled at the scene, but as he saw the humanoid figure collapse into wisps of fog the smile instantly disappeared from his face. Looked like things wouldn’t be that easy.

Moments later a dozen more figures jumped out of the fog nearby. A casual swipe with the war hammer destroyed half of them, but the other half managed to draw in closer. Foggy paint brushes appeared in each of their hands as they thrust them towards Kang Ling’s chest. No visible damage appeared on his armor, but Kang Ling could feel the blows hit him like a chorus of hammers slamming against a gong. Each hit wasn’t much individually, but he couldn’t let this go on. Kang Ling caught his breath and moved to eliminate the remaining six. ...Only to see more appear out of the fog, all attempting to disable him.

This siege continued on for several waves. Kang Ling wasn’t seriously injured by any of them, but he’d be lying if he said he was happy with the situation. He was burning qi on nothing more than imposters, and minor wounds were continuing to build up near vital spots despite his armor. If he didn’t act fast then he might be disabled or run out of qi before he had the chance to do anything. Kang Ling let out a roar as he swung his warhammer in a circle, sweeping away the fog surrounding him. As he did so, another small troop of figures were revealed. Kang Ling used the fog's retreat as an opportunity to examine the figures. All seemed identically fog-covered and nondescript… except one. As the wisps of fog around it were torn away, instead of revealing a human body devoid of details, he actually caught sight of a face- Shao Qing’s face! The fog wrapped in around Shao Qing a bit faster than normal, like a child trying to clumsily hide their mistake, but Kang Ling still managed to catch sight of him before then. It looked like Kang Ling had finally found it. The real body.

A vicious look appeared on Kang Ling’s face as he dashed in the direction he’d seen the real body in. Qi flooded his legs as he increased his speed. Foggy figures attempted to block his way, but he forcefully pushed past them, paying no mind to defense as he did so. He could take a few minor hits- the important thing was that he took out the main body. As he dashed through the fog, he began to catch sight of a figure in the distance, running away from him. That’s the one! Kang Ling let out a wild laugh as he jumped forwards, closing the gap between them and slamming his hammer downwards with monstrous force. As he did so the figure slowed down, realizing that retreat was futile. The fog around it dissipated. Shao Qing stared up at him, a desperate look in his eyes, as he held his paintbrush up. It’s unknown which one of them yelled first as they mustered their qi for their final attacks.

As the two hit each other, a small hole appeared in Kang Ling’s armor. His chest was pierced all the way through- he was able to redirect the blow from anything vital, but he wasn’t able to avoid it completely. At the same time, the warhammer slammed into Shao Qing’s side, tearing through it and staining the fog around him with red. As the warhammer continued to slam into him Shao Qing let out a pained grunt and… collapsed into a puddle of multicolored paint. Kang Ling stared at him, mouth agape, before he felt a sharp burst of pain from something tearing into his upper chest. Shao Qing had appeared behind him.

Shao Qing pulled back, a smug expression on his face, as he allowed the remaining illusions to dissipate. He’d used up a lot of qi, but with Kang Ling’s lung pierced through, he should’ve won the match. Now he just had to wait out his ‘death throes’, so to speak. Shao Qing stared down at the defeated Kang Ling, watching him stumble to his feet… with a blood-red glow in his eyes.

Oh gods.

That wasn’t good.

Shao Fu slammed his fist against the table in front of him, causing it to split in two. The woman sitting next to him took out a paint brush and lightly flicked it, mending the broken table as she did so. “I didn’t expect the Kang family lad to have mastered their bloodline to that extent already. Impressive.” “Oh, I’m impressed alright. Impressed enough to hold a little exchange of techniques and wreath their manor in savage beast qi substantiations for a week or two…”

After a moment Shao Fu trailed off. “Anyways- our top genius of this generation is going to lose within the next minute, and when he does he’ll be subject to a 100 year soul contract. Any ideas?” Shao Fu shot a glance at the group of people sitting behind him- the Shao Clan’s Grand Elders. An uneasy silence filled the room before a man spoke up. “I suppose anything that would risk war with the Kang Clan isn’t an option?” Shao Fu took a second to think. “No.” Silence prevailed once more.

38 seconds after activating his bloodline, Kang Ling exhausted Shao Qing’s remaining qi reserves, forcing him to forfeit. Shao Fu shot to his feet at the same time. “Prepare to leave the venue. If they don’t sign the soul contract before Shao Qing leaves the arena we’re taking him and hiding him away. We can always say he’s away on a mission or unavailable when they ask. After a decade or two they’ll forget about the matter.” One of the Grand Elders spoke up. “And if they try to sign it now?” “Then send an envoy to begin the negotiations.”

He’d lost. His perfect plan, his pride, and his future were all crushed. Why did he make that stupid bet. No rivalry was worth this- 100 years was an enormous period of time. He’d barely lived 30 so far. If he lost that much time his potential would be completely wasted. As thoughts like these filled Shao Qing’s head, he forced himself to calm down for a moment. It being an enormous period of time was the crux of the matter. It was too long- way too long. No, maybe they wouldn’t go through with it. The Shao Clan and the Kang Clan were both major clans in the region, and neither of them would want a conflict with each other. Maybe they’d work something else out- sure, there would be some losses, but nothing big. Yeah, that’s right, there’s no way they’d let juniors like them make such a bet. It was all just a show… a farce and nothing else. If he let go of his face and admitted that Kang Ling was the superior one, then they’d have to let everything go. Just as Shao Qing began to feel that he was safe, an old man with a white mustache appeared in his vision: Kang Qun, the head of the Kang Clan. “What a great match that was! A good effort on both sides, but unfortunately you lost. Now, this is just a formality but… well, we have to tie up loose ends.”

As he said this he placed his hand to Shao Qing’s forehead. With his dantian completely empty, Shao Qing had no room to resist. An overwhelming force invaded his mind as his skull throbbed in pain. The flood of energy continued onwards, breaking past his thoughts and brushing against his soul. Ungodly pain filled Shao Qing’s brain, like a fire coming from his very core, as a simple contract was branded onto his soul.

“For the next 100 years Shao Qing will serve as a loyal, diligent servant of the Kang Clan. During that period he will not attempt to sever this soul contract.”

Shao Qing released a guttural scream as he crumpled to the floor of the arena.