In the box, Sect Master Lan drew up alongside Weiheng Wu. “I’m surprised to see you here for the tournament. You usually refuse any invitations.”

“Mmm. I wasn’t invited this time,” Weiheng Wu replied.

“Is that why you came…?” Sect Master Lan asked quietly, befuddled. I didn’t invite you because you never come, invitation or no, not because I didn’t want you present.

Weiheng Wu shook his head. “Though crashing events might become a habit, at this rate.”

“Eh?”

“Ah! Are you the one who kicked my Peak Lord out of his seat at the Bai Clan’s banquet?” the wild woman in blue asked, walking up on Weiheng Wu’s other side.

Weiheng Wu nodded slightly.

Sect Master Lan stared. “You… what?”

She laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “Brawl me sometime. If you could suppress him so easily, I’d love to exchange pointers with you.”

“Give me a year or so to cultivate to your level, first,” Weiheng Wu replied humbly.

The wild woman laughed. “What a joker. I like this Peak Lord of yours, Lan.”

I’m worried that he isn’t joking. Sect Master Lan glanced aside at Weiheng Wu. “It’s a pity your disciple wasn’t able to join the tournament, after you finally picked a disciple.”

Weiheng Wu shook his head.

“I suppose you enlisted one of the grandmasters to break him out of seclusion, since you couldn’t have done it yourself, as a mere fifth stage cultivator? Are you hiding him in one of your immortal caves, where you can disguise his aura, or in some secret realm? Well, no matter. You must understand I was punishing him for a reason. Ultimately, he must return to his punishment,” Sect Master Lan said.

“No,” Weiheng Wu said simply.

“No? This is your first disciple, so let me be clear. One cannot spare the rod when raising a disciple. It only leads them to worse and worse paths, until they leave the righteous path entirely,” Sect Master Lan lectured.

“Speaking from experience?” Weiheng Wu asked quietly.

Sect Master Lan fell silent. From the corner of his eye, he watched Weiheng Wu.

Weiheng Wu’s face remained blank.

The Sect Master snorted. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“Mmm, there seems to be a deficit of comprehension skills in this sect lately. I’m trying to repair it with my own disciple, but it’s an uphill battle,” Weiheng Wu replied sagely.

Sect Master Lan blinked and turned away, pretending to understand what Weiheng Wu meant. I never know how to handle this man. On one hand, I’m glad to have such an unparalleled genius in the sect, but he takes it as license to do whatever he likes. I could try to cage him or punish him, but he’s genius enough to break out, and any other sect would be just as happy to have a genius like him among their numbers.

Ah, it really is true. When one rides a tiger, it’s hard to get off!

At least he doesn’t do anything too blatant. Breaking his disciple out of forced seclusion is as far as he’ll go.

He took a deep breath and cast a magical technique on his voice. “Welcome, sects of the Great Four alliance, to the Grand Tournament! Today we hold our first matches. Our opening lineup! First, the unstoppable Gao Trio versus the glittering Wen Tiantian!”

Below, the three-on-three matchup waved to the crowd. Sect Master Lan smiled as the two sects’ crowds cheered and booed, glad to hear their own cultivator’s names.

“Next, the vicious Chen Gue versus Ding Bo!”

The roar from the Azure Fang section of the crowd was louder than the previous two cheers combined. Su Yan raised a fist to the crowd, and the cheers grew louder.

“That’s my Ding Bo. You’ll be surprised at his strength,” Sect Master Mu said from beside Sect Master Lan. He adjusted his glasses and smiled.

Nepotism from the Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect again. Is this the third or the fourth time Sect Master Mu has chosen his favorite disciple for the contest, regardless of skill? Sect Master Lan thought to himself, noting the lack of cheers for Ding Bo’s name. He cleared his throat and continued.

“In the next ring we have Huaren Zhou versus our very own Li Xiang!”

The Silk Heart cultivators cheered, but their cheers were outdone by the almost religious screaming and chanting from the Starbound Sect crowd. Li Xiang grinned and spun, waving at the crowd.

In the next arena over, a cultivator cloaked in black robes quaked and almost fell over.

“And finally, Shen Xe versus—”

The Sect Master’s voice died in his throat. He turned to Weiheng Wu, flabbergasted. “How in the heavens did you—”

Weiheng Wu looked at him, not a single hint of shame or embarrassment in his expression. “Go on.”

“Sh-shen Xe versus… Weiheng Hui,” he finished unenthusiastically.

Down below, the dark robe-draped cultivator threw off his dark robe. A handsome young man grinned up at the crowd, his arms raised high, the ribbon in his dark hair streaming in the wind. His aura rushed out of nowhere, suddenly obvious to the Sect Master. A few cheers rang out, but most of the Starbound Sect cultivators sat in stunned silence.

Murmurs took the place of silence.

“Him?”

“The duck-eater?”

“No way, the guy who stole our herbs? But wait, when did he hit third stage?”

“Ah! He’s the one who sullied our idol by stealing her robes! Booo!”

Down in the arena, Hui smiled, but internally, his heart quaked. Li Xiang is the girl in pink? She’s an inheriting disciple? Not just any inheriting disciple, but—but Lan Taijian’s disciple?

Ah! It all falls into place! No wonder she thought Master was a bad person! No wonder her master told her not to trust us!

I should’ve seen it much earlier. How could I be so blind?

No, no, Hui, it’s—you weren’t looking for it. Why would you look for… for Starbound Peak’s idol to… also be its inheriting disciple…

Ah! I really blew it this time. This Hui isn’t living up to his name at all. Hui shook his head at himself, embarrassed.

“Look, Zhenmao. He’s quaking in his boots. He can talk a big game, but he’s really scared of you,” Shen Xe said boldly.

“Scared of you?” Hui straightened himself up, swallowing the surprise of Li Xiang’s identity. “Scared of your little pussycat? Never. Mm, look, Zhubi, this Shen Xe is so scared of us that he’s trying to convince himself I’m scared of him!”

“That’s what you’re doing!” Shen Xe accused him, indignant.

“Dropping to the level of playground insults? What’s next, whatever I say bounces off you and sticks to me? Hmph! I deign not dirty myself by arguing with you!” Hui replied.

“That’s my line,” Shen Xe snapped.

“Ah, look, his poor little beast-cultivator brain can’t even come up with good comebacks, so he’s stealing my lines. How pathetic, how pathetic,” Hui mocked.

Shen Xe gritted his teeth. “I’m going to snap your sword in half and show you just how useless sword cultivators truly are.”

“This grandmaster invites you to try,” Hui said pompously. Aha, it’s working! The angrier he gets, the less likely he is to use tactics or planning. If he attacks straight-forwardly, it’s my victory!

…as long as he doesn’t oneshot me with his first attack.

That wouldn’t be a very interesting matchup… but then, I’m not the one who was supposed to fight Shen Xe, was I?

Mmm, then… I’ll have to make sure I’m not the one who takes the first attack.

He picked up the dark robes, gave them a quick dust-off, and stowed them back inside his ring. Leaning his head down, he murmured quiet instructions to Zhubi, who nodded back.

Overhead, the Sect Master’s voice echoed over the arena. “Let the tournament… begin!”