We decided to have breakfast as a group, in the master bedroom belonging to Yu Jie and I.

We sat on the floor in a circle, Yu Jie sitting on my lap as she held me around my neck lovingly. “You should eat,” I muttered with a smile. “As much as I love this, I also love your health.”

“Anyone want some brew?” Wei Chow said, holding up a bottle with a lavish label.

“It’s too early,” Leng dismissed off-handedly.

“I’ll have some,” I said. I made to stand up, but Yu Jie got up first, walking to grab a bottle. Bai Guo raised a glass and was promptly poured a finger. Nobody else accepted aside from herself and me, both pouring our drinks into each other’s mouths as we laughed at our antics.

It was serene, our relationship.

After finishing his food, Bai Guo raised a hand for everyone’s attention. “I am participating in a tournament for Jianghu practitioners.”

We all took a moment to assimilate that fact. “Wait, what?” Lin Leng asked.

We all turned to him, curiosity mounting. “Yes,” he said.

That explained nothing. “Where did you find this tournament?” I asked.

“A blacksmith was willing to trade a spear for my participation in the tournament,” he said. “I’ve won every battle, now, with two remaining. Once I win those, I’m the champion of the quarterly Tournament.”

“Okay,” I said. “Have you… learned anything new?”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “Most Jianghu warriors are so… large. Yet, I beat them so easily.” He turned to look at me, eyes intense. “I want to be big like them, as well.”

Yu Jie looked at him flatly. “I think she meant what new things have you learned to progress your Martial Path.”

More petulantly, he repeated. “I want to be big!”

“Group,” Deng Ming said as he finished his breakfast with the mannerism of an aristocrat. “I have plotted a course for us.” He turned to me. “Winter is yet upon us, so I suggest we move tomorrow morning.”

I nodded, hugging around my Yu Jie a little tighter. “Good idea,” I said. “It’s only gonna get colder up in Kunlun, so the faster we move, the better,” I turned to the rest of the group. “I hope you still have some money left from yesterday.”

Bai Guo looked away. “I bet all my money on my victory.”

I exhaled incredulously. “Well, then you better hope you win.”

“Still got some left,” Wei Chow said.

“I haven’t spent it,” Lin Leng said.

“I gave it all to an orphanage,” the Monk beamed.

What a lovable idiot.

As for Yu Jie and I… we actually spent a surprisingly low amount of money for the budget I had given everyone else.

I turned to Bai Guo. “Yu Jie and I are free today. Where and when does your Tournament take place?”

“At high noon,” he said. “The semi-finals will begin. I will use my Guan Dao to non-lethally cut down my enemy, and then in the finals, I will kill my opponent.”

“Eh-Mi-Tuo-Fuo,” the Monk said, disturbed to the core. “Is that not an extreme course of action, Bai Guo?”

“Warriors live and die by the edge of their blades,” Bai Guo argued.

“Yes, but… is it really necessary to?”

“I don’t see what you’re getting at.”

I tuned out their prattle in favor of turning to Yu Jie. “You think we’ll ever argue like that?”

“Like old ladies?” She asked. “Hardly. Men like to argue, seeing battle after battle where there is none. Let them have their verbal spars, and we will have our love.”

“You say that, yet your words weaken my knees like a physical blow,” I said. “How do you reconcile that?”

“All is fair in love and war,” she grinned, and I giggled, bringing her closer to me for a kiss.

We still had all of noon to prepare before going out to see Bai Guo fight. Before then, we could do whatever the hell we want.

000

The city was a beautiful sight to see, with the river running across it, boats floating about almost aimlessly, following unseen eddies and currents while some took charge by rowing.

Chengdu was a beautiful sight to see, and definitely one which I would return to in good time, once the whole business with Tian Mo was solved.

It was all so strange that I no longer felt that ever-present need to force my way through the Martial Path, almost as if there was something ephemeral which I had grasped, something I could not really name.

But of course, someone came to ruin the moment.

“Ah, beautiful ladies,” a man came up to us and said. He was average looking at best, but seemed to try and make up for that by dressing up as garishly as possible. “Rejoice, for the little Magistrate has deemed you both beautiful enough to catch my fancy.”

Yu Jie turned to me, mirth in her eyes. I shook my head barely imperceptibly, and something in her grin told me she would have as much fun as I was going to have. “Uh, who are you again?” I asked.

“Travelers, then?” He said, oh so magnanimously looking past the barb. “I am the Magistrate of Chengdu’s son, Wang Song. You are forgiven for your ignorance.”

Was this honestly how expected to pick up women? “Has that… ever worked for you?” I asked. “You come here and insult us, and we’re, what, supposed to fall on your feet?”

“I bet he tried that out in front of a mirror a bunch of times,” Yu Jie needled. “And then probably did the same to some courtesans he had already paid off.”

“You use courtesans?” I said. “Well, it figures. You don’t have much else going for you but money.”

“You dare?!” He almost screamed. “I will have your tongues for that!”

I grinned and pulled myself towards Yu Jie before performing a wet tongue-kiss right in front of him, probably unsightly for anyone watching, but interesting for the both of us. Then I turned back to him, his face completely ashen. “That’s not all we can do with our tongues, so no, you can’t have them.”

“But I’ll be magnanimous,” I said. “You can have a finger which I can shove up your bum and then wiggle around. Who knows? Maybe it’ll awaken something in you?”

“Oh, are you scared?” She cooed, leaning towards the horrified man. “Don’t be. We don’t bite.”

I shoved her playfully. “Liar.”

She turned to me. “Hah, got me.”

That was the last straw, it seemed. The aristocrat turned tail, still utterly horrified, and fled away, running like he had just learned how to. Then again, nobles wouldn’t have much of a reason to run, would they, always being carted with their fat asses all across town.

I was surprised this one hadn’t even brought out a twelve-man honor guard, but who would dare hurt him in his own city?

I turned to Yu Jie and smiled. “That went well.”

“Okay, but,” she giggled. “Don’t hold this against me, but…”

“Say it,” I said. “We will never judge each other, remember?”

“I kinda liked it,” she said. “Making out in front of him.”

I blushed almost furiously, looking down. “Oh my god, Yu Jie.”

“I know, right?!” She laughed and threw an arm around my shoulder as I hid my face. Still, she could make me blush like a child half as young as I was. “Still,” she said. “There’s so much more in this city to see, so don’t you mind what some perverted young master has to say about our love.”

I knew it was important to her, being able to reveal ourselves so blatantly. Most traditionalists, which happened to be a vast majority of people, would look at us with disgust, but it was the freedom of it that mattered, not the ‘doing it in front of other people’, but maybe Yu Jie really liked doing it in front of people?

I slowly recovered enough to walk with her, my cheeks still hot from her casual proclamation, and the fact that…

“…I kinda liked it, too.”

“Let’s do it again.”

And we did, unheeding of what anyone had to say about it.

000

“It’s right here,” Bai Guo said, leading us the rest of us, bar the Monk and Deng Ming, into a smithy with a dizzying array of weapons. The big man inside, I assumed was the shopkeeper.

“Brought your friends?” The man smiled. “Good. Follow me.”

We did, following him through the narrow tunnels, all the way until we were inside Chengdu Underground, where we took our seats. Apparently, we didn’t have to buy tickets because we entered in a secret doorway, which could only be done if you had contacts on the inside.

We took one of the better seats soon before the gates opened, in one of the best seats in the house without any pillars or people blocking the view inside.

Lin Leng pulled a long jade pipe from his sack and put it in his mouth before scraping some sparks into it with a pair of rocks, taking a drag from it, all while I watched dubiously. “You smoke, now?”

He just shrugged. When he exhaled, I decided that that was not tobacco.

“Ugh, leaf,” Yu Jie muttered. “You know it makes you all sluggish and slow, right?”

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I’ve got something to learn from leaf. It’s my Martial Path.”

“Drugs are your Martial Path?” She asked dubiously.

“That tends to be the case,” Wei Chow said. “Sects tend to shell out a lot so the kids can have all the most powerful pills out there. It’s not exactly a secret, even.”

“Besides,” he smiled mildly. “I play better when I’m high.”

“You know,” Wei Chow said irritably. It was almost like Lin Leng was the only human in the world who could ever actually irritate him. “I’ve tried to make you drink with me for years. What the hell made you take up smoking leaf, anyway?”

“Met some guys,” he responded lazily. “Went to a brothel. It was fun.”

Him? A brothel? I almost couldn’t believe it.

But that’s when I saw it. The shine. He looked much more alive than usual, and he had been that way since morning. I hadn’t noticed it because I wasn’t looking, but now that I did, the effects were obvious. “If it works for you,” I said. Then a fat man came on stage. “Oh, the competition is beginning!”

“Ladies and gentlemen. Martial Warriors and mortals alike! Welcome to the final Two-Day Tournament of this quarter year! This time, we finally decide upon the sixteen semi-finalists that will be given a spot on the Grand Tournament, as well as the four champions that will be given a reward for their skills if they win this event!”

The man prattled on, raising the ante as he talked about the two finalists.

“Bai Guo, the furious combatant with a knack for decisive hits and smooth movement! And to think he is not even a fist-fighter by trade! He fights with a tool of war, the Guan Dao!” The crowd cheered. “His pole arm will grant him superior reach, and we all know how powerful he is when he wants to be, so can there be any victory for his opponent and fellow semi-finalist, Yangchen? Fleet-footed and dangerous, she can slice a man’s throat and teach them one-thousand symbols before they keel over, dead! The odds are stacked in her favor, but can she truly get close enough with a two and a half meter long pole arm constantly keeping her at arm’s length? Find out!”

Bai Guo raised his Guan Dao with one hand, looking down as he accepted the jubilation stoically, no doubt squealing like a little child deep inside. His opponent, Yangchen, was a narrow woman taut with muscle, a sharp chin and sharp eyes, as if the heavens purposefully made her more streamlined so she could practice movement techniques.

“Rules! No killing! That’s it! Ready! Begin!”

They shot towards each other. The moment she tried to press the advantage, a sharp dagger in one hand, Bai Guo swiped his Guan Dao fast, forcing her to jump over him, appearing right behind him, but he was ready, looking back with more than enough time before fending off a backwards strike. Had she made a chi platform to jump from, she would have been upon him, revealing a fatal weakness that he could take advantage of; she was decidedly good for nothing but speed.

Bai Guo was a dumbass, but never let it be said that he was also a dumbass while fighting. Long before she could even tire herself out, he closed his eyes and gripped the Guan Dao hard, somehow managing to swipe through the place that the girl had dashed downwards, earning her a partial disembowelment. She shoved her organs into the furrow that Bai Guo had dug, but refused to move a muscle, focusing all of her attention in saving her own life.

I couldn’t relate.

Well, I could. Once upon a time. Now I couldn’t.

Yu Jie smiled at me and said “You can’t relate to that anymore.”

I laughed. “Are you reading my mind or something?”

The referee called the match and carted Yangchen off to the medics so she wouldn’t die. Since the wound did not kill her immediately, she would be fine, the match counted as one where Bai Guo had been within the rules. He won cleanly, raising the bloodied ringed Guan Dao into the sky, receiving outstanding adulation.

“Good job!” Lin Leng shouted flatly. “Hopefully when he starts to sing of his accolades like some warrior-poet, you’d have taught him a thing or two, Chow.”

“You dare doubt Great Teacher Chow?” Chow scoffed. “I will have him singing better than me before we even get to Kunlun.”

“Hah,” Yu Jie laughed doubtfully. “You’re better off attaining immortality on the spot.”

“And why should that be beyond me, too?”

“Come off it,” Yu Jie scoffed.

“This Great Teacher is magnanimous,” Chow said. “But you really should not doubt his prowess. Did he not teach himself the Blessing of the Forceful Earth?”

“Pipe it down,” Lin Leng said with a half-smile. “You’re liable to knock me out of my high.”

“Was that not an impressive battle?” He asked everyone. “Here is to hoping that the next two can impress.” He introduced the other two combatants. Though one of them was not nearly as interesting as Yangchen or Bai Guo, the other one was, with the uncanny ability to release blasts of pure energy from his fists.

He only required one punch to defeat his lackluster opponent, and like that, he was pitted against Bai Guo.

“A fitting end to a battle containing an opponent as lofty as Mao Hai, disciple to the Chief of the Butcher’s Den, a group of cut-throat mercenaries based around the area! Will he, however, fare better against the ruthless Guan Dao wielder, Bai Guo, the ‘Solitary Soldier’?” Wait, what? He had a nickname?

Well… that happens when you put your name out there. On that account, I had been… slacking. I hadn’t even claimed credit for assisting killing the Dragon of the East.

If I had tried, I would be known by so many names by now.

“Mao Hai had decided not to use his weapon in his battle against Long Jie, but now, the Steel Gauntlets have come out!” Mao Hai, the unwashed bastard, made a real show of putting on his steel gloves, leering threateningly at the audience before turning to Bai Guo, like a predator hungry for a meal.

“In this round, killing is allowed!” He shouted. “But if you are willing to leave your downed opponent alive, that is fine, too! Mercy is not for the weak!”

“Oh, wow,” Yu Jie said. “Here’s to hoping that he actually does leave the poor guy alive so we don’t have to tangle with the ‘Butcher’s Den’.”

“Ready! Begin!”

At least, Bai Guo had learned one thing in his battles.

Always start with your finishing move.

He had stabbed right through his opponent’s stomach after besting him in only three exchanges, all of which would be too brief for the average person to see, but I couldn’t help but marvel at the artistry of it all. He may have gotten lucky, or his skill had just risen that much more. Either way, it felt good to see a teammate of mine progress in the martial path.

He wrenched his Guan Dao out as the man fell on his back. The referee had come in, along with a group of medics, rushing him away to save his life, probably on their way to succeeding as well, all the while as Bai Guo took in the mixed reactions of utter hatred and undiluted love. His existence must have been quite the headache to the bookkeepers, all doing their best to scam as many people by telling them to vote against Bai Guo, only for Bai Guo to actually win.

The fat man entered the ring swiftly, an expert so it seemed. “Bai Guo, a complete unknown, did not just enter and win this tournament, but he did so with relative ease in all of his bouts, clearly a rising dragon too big for this lake! As you all know, he will now be given an official recommendation to join the Grand Tournament which will be held in the Mountains of Kunlun!”

What?

Okay…

“And now, for your reward!” He pulled out a lockbox from thin air and revealed a tiny ball to everyone watching. “This is a Metal-Crushing Pill! It is very useful to people who cultivate their bodies, and will provide the consumer with more mass and power! With this pill, our rising dragon Bai Guo, previously an entirely unknown entity, may soar through the skies and become a legendary warrior!”

The crowd cheered for him as he accepted the lockbox and was told a few words by the man privately, probably telling him how to eat the pill or whatever.

The man gave Bai Guo a token, as well, and with that, he was off, and we followed him.

I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him towards me. “You didn’t say anything about this tournament taking you to Kunlun.”

“I didn’t know,” he responded, unfrightened. “I only joined because I wanted to fight. I didn’t even know what prize I would get.”

I let him go. “Okay,” I said. “Okay, okay. Whatever. When is this tournament beginning?”

“In a month,” he said.

Deng Ming wasn’t with us, but he had told me a little something about when we would arrive. “We’re due for Kunlun in three weeks at most. We’ll make it with a week to spare. While we’re there, we will join that tournament too, recommendation or no.” I turned to the Yu Jie, Lin Leng and Wei Chow. “We’ll be ready to leave first thing tomorrow morning. Once Deng Ming has all our things, we will be set for travel.

I turned to the Fat Man who was walking up the stairs to a room as the rest of the audience filed out after the prompt victory of Bai Guo. I ran towards him before he could properly escape. “Hey!” I said. He turned around, contempt easing into a lax smile as he saw me. “Is this the only way to enter the Kunlun Tournament?”

He shook his head. “Oh, no, there are more ways than that,” he smiled. “Each year, four different cities hold Quarter-Year tournaments to send their candidates into a grand double-bracket tournament. Those who are not recommended need only participate in the mass qualifier, a free-for-all battle royale. Are you thinking of entering?”

The rest had slowly shuffled behind me. “Yes,” I said, then nodded at him. “Thank you for the information.”

“Anything for a lovely girl like you.”

Not sure of what to do about that awkward praise, I turned to leave. We would have to prepare, soon.