Inhale, focus, exhale.

Alex was sitting in the lotus position on a comfortable woolen rug in a quiet little wood-lined meditation room on the floor just above their secured sleeping quarters, doing his best to visualize a great forest vibrant with rich fecund life. Becoming one with an ecosystem representing the resilience and strength of countless trees both competing and supporting one another in an interwoven network of arboreal life that covered not just a few acres, but the majority of an entire world vast beyond comprehension. He was surprised and humbled to find his mind absolutely filling with a visceral sense of vastness that had once been just a concept to him, but was now so much more, with his own pacts forged with the great forest.

To add to that visualization a sense of that forest getting nurtured by pristine waters was an easy enough step. Yet he found himself stumbling at Earth, seen as so fundamentally connected directly to the forest in every western paradigm of nature magic or Druidism. But here, it was so often placed in conflict with Wood. And Metal… how to appropriately visualize metal? It was no lumberjack’s axe, striking vicious blows to trunks bleeding their life-sap before crashing over with an agonized groan before the remains were then ravaged by Fire.

Alex winced, sensing his Shield of the Grove immediately wink out of existence.

“What are you doing, Alex?”

Alex smiled a sleepy Hao Chan’s way, waking up early just as he had. His heart soared as he gazed upon exquisite features still heavy with sleep as golden shafts of morning light caressed her face from windows overlooking a carefully tended garden in the middle of the red light compound Jidihu had somehow managed to make her own in a shockingly short period of time. Considering that she was the power formerly behind Yidhushi’s JiangHu sect, Alex knew he shouldn’t be surprised, and when she had assured him that they were, in fact, in the safest area of the city, Alex had believed her. Even if he had taken extra precautions, quickly dismantlement at first light.

“Alex?”

“Sorry. I woke up just a short while ago, and for the first time in a long time, I’m not racing to someone’s rescue or fighting for my life. And after spending so much time forging a Gold tier art with Master Panheu, I found myself thinking back to all the elemental disciplines I had just begun to learn at Royal Phoenix Academy.” He gave a rueful chuckle. “And I’ve hardly practiced any of it. Forgoing it all to better channel the power of the sea’s currents, the storm’s fury, learning to master the flow of an ocean’s worth Spiritual Energy as a whole.”

Hao Chan nodded, quietly seating herself in a lotus position on a mat across from Alex. “I know. We’ve spent so long meditating through dance and battle, fusing an entire art to our very soul, that we’ve acted like there’s nothing else. When really, we’ve only scratched the very surface of what it means to cultivate Spiritual Energy.”

She tilted her head curiously, gazing upon the rotating disc of wood Alex summoned forth yet again. “What are you doing now?”

Alex grinned. “When a student at Royal Phoenix, my fellow disciples and I learned a number of techniques for forming elemental shields and infusing our fists with the power of the five major elements all schools seem to recognize: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. Long before things came to such a violent head at the school, I had been hit with something of an epiphany regarding how to combine the elements into a unified whole. But I never had a chance to follow up on that, to channel those ideas into a true breakthrough.”

Hao Chan’s eyes widened. “A five element punch? If you could somehow hold onto all five conflicting Elements in a destructive cycle and unleash them all to erupt in your opponent’s face in battle. That would be devastating!”

Alex blinked. “Wow, I hadn’t even thought of that. That would be damn pretty powerful, if you could successfully channel it without it blowing up in your face.”

“True.” Hao Chan grinned. “And you’re one of the very few people who actually has access to all of those elements.”

“Actually, I was thinking of using it more like a shield.”

Hao Chan frowned. “But… how?”

“That’s a very good question,” Alex admitted. “I know it seems hopeless, with the way we were taught to look at the Elements, Fire eager to incinerate Wood, Metal eager to chop it down, and Wood eager to pierce Earth with a thousand roots and crumble strong stone foundations to dust.”

“Precisely,” said none other than an elegantly dressed Jidihu, looking exquisite in a silken Qipao the color of seafoam that that didn’t hinder her movements in the least, hair done up with pins of ivory and silver, the touch of makeup so light upon her features that it seemed little more than a cultivator’s glow, for all that her forest green eyes popped with an unearthly vibrancy and Alex felt his cheeks blush when her smile grew, realizing he had been staring at her for several moments as she artfully stretched and flashed him a teasing smile. “Is our wayward disciple who has managed little more than a semester’s worth of classical study in the elements just now coming to appreciate the conflicts and complexities of mastering different flows of spiritual energy?”

Alex chuckled. “Something like that.”

Jidihu sighed and shook her head. “There’s so much you still have to learn, Alex. Years worth of courses you never got around to taking and probably never will, that serve as the foundation of any wujen’s path, or a body cultivator who can actually channel the elements to aid his attacks and defenses, just as you do.” She gave Hao Chan a pointed look. “You and your disciples both. And that you were able to use your understanding of Silver Swan and White Crane to so readily master the flow of Spiritual Energy as a whole… having the temerity to forge an actual Gold tier art by my husband’s side, is something that astounds me to this day.”

“Even if my actual ability to use the five elements outside of Silver Swan and manipulating the flow of Qi itself...”

“Is extremely limited,” Jidihu said, shaking her head. “So I would advise that you take full advantage of this morning to rest and focus on your strengths. Not spend hours struggling against Qi currents you have limited formal...” her husky voice abruptly cut off as Hao Chan gave an excited gasp, the pair of them now intently staring at the pulsating disk in Alex’s left hand.

“What did you just do?”

Alex shook away their words, desperate to hold on to the insight that had flooded his soul when he noted the way the golden shafts of light caressed Jidihu’s exquisite features, much like it did Hao Chan’s own. A light that a now Shadowless Yinzi could do little to hide from as she slipped inside the room, wrapping herself in her bemused mother’s arm.

The brilliant morning sunlight that nurtured countless billions of rustling forest leaves as hungry roots caressed the loamy soil. And far from being a destructive force, those root networks held the soil in their firm embrace, assuring that summer storms wouldn’t wash that precious, mineral rich Earth away.

“Alex, it’s glowing!”

Alex ignored the growing sense of hushed expectation filling the chamber as he focused only on his epiphany, finally feeling the connection of earth soaked in mineral rich water nurturing and entire forest’s worth of roots as their leafy branches drank in the brilliant light of the sun.

For just a moment, he smiled at the sweet harmony of a miniature forest set up in an infinite spiral upon his arm. Five swirling currents of spiritual energy, tasting the most glorious of epiphanies, just a single revelation away.

“Alex.”

He winced at the warning in Jidihu’s voice, hard and cold.

Before sighing, closing his eyes, and allowing the revelation to fade away.

“Why did you stop?” Hao Chan’s voice was heavy with dismay.

“Because he’s not a complete fool,” Jidihu said with a sigh.

“Mother?” asked a confused Yinzi.

Her mother shook her head. “He was on the cusp of an insight even I could feel. A fusion of five arts in yet another fit of glorious impossibility. But we all the know cost of embracing a sage’s insights, especially right now.”

“Wait, Alex? I don’t understand!”

Alex gently clasped Hao Chan’s hand. “What are we doing in just a couple hour’s time?”

Her perplexed look turned to understanding. “The final rounds of the competition, where we’re actually going to be fighting, well...”

Alex nodded. “Golds. And the last thing I need to be is in some sort of post revelatory fugue.” He flashed Jidihu a rueful smile. “Truly, this is the worst time to be having any breakthrough. On the battlefield is one thing, or if the fights were tomorrow. But right now...”

“Right now you should meditate, Alex, and make sure you’re fully refreshed. The girls and I will warm up in the garden, but the one I’m really worried about is you.”

Alex solemnly bowed his head and followed her counsel, emptying his mind of all thoughts and concerns, focused only on sensing the gentle flow of spiritual energy all around him even as he heard the far off singing of Hao Chan and Yinzi’s cores spinning like pulsars, and the dull vibrating hum of his own massive super cable of countless interwoven strands. Yet still, even as he found peace in his own path forward, he could taste the memory of how it felt to hold all five primary elements in perfect harmony.

It was a harmony he strove for with all his might when the first pangs of anxiety resonated through him with the gongs proceeding the first match of the day, the proceeding three hours having slipped away in what seemed the blink of an eye when Panheu’s intense gaze locked with his own as he approached the entrance leading to the arena sands.

“Are you ready, disciple?”

Alex, kitted in his enchanted stone armor once more, with razor sharp fangtian ji in hand, forced himself to nod.

“Good.” Panheu flashed a bleak smile. “Remember the stakes, disciple. After last night, Dongfang Hong will do whatever it takes to weaken the position of any opposing faction.”

Alex forced a grim nod. “My disciples were forced off the lists, now marked as ‘entertainers’ permitted only to dance. Not that it would have mattered either way, because he’s decided that all Silvers are to compete in one battle royal for the right to challenge the Golds.”

His master flashed a grim smile. “I’m sure I don’t need to explain to someone as savvy as you how the fight with a full half-dozen Silvers is going to go.”

Alex chuckled bitterly. “Of course not. I have absolutely no doubt that some or all of them have been enticed by sweet promises or dire threats that I am to be taken off the board at all costs. Perhaps they will fight in earnest after that, but only once I’m already a bleeding corpse on the ground.”

Panheu flashed a brilliant smile that didn’t touch his eyes in the least. “It always pleases me to see how willing you are to accept life’s bitter truths for what they are, Alex.”

Alex grinned. “Damn right I do. Because only if you accept the monster in sheep’s clothing can you have your blade ready to rip out his goddamned throat when he comes too close, pretending to bleat.”

Panheu smirked, his fingertip rapping the razor sharp half-moon axe heads and spear tip of Alex’s fangtian ji. “Infused with such potency that it will never chip or dull, or lose a single iota of its killing edge, even when swung with your fearsome strength. Well done, disciple. One wonders just how far you could have gone, had the path of peril had not swept you so utterly off the artificer’s path.”

Alex smirked. “This is total repression right here. If my twisted path allowed me to spend the night in the arms of...” He blushed, realizing where he was and who he was talking to. “Anyway, there are benefits to being forced to be chaste all the way to Gold.”

Panheu snorted. “Indeed there are, if your chosen tools match the resiliency you yourself have shown.” He gave an approving nod, clapping Alex’s shoulder. “And now it is for you to show all who dare to bear witness the true glory of our art!”

Alex smirked. “No pressure,” he quipped, as he entered the ring to the roar of the crowd, quickly catching sight of half a dozen hard-eyed men and women all glaring at him from alternately spaced corners of the grand arena. And no matter the smell of hot sands and spilled blood, or the roar of the crowd bubbling through his blood, the shared smiles of killing intent in the half dozen Silvers now present was unmistakable. As were the fact that they were all kitted in the fine steel armaments of Dongfang Hong’s own elite troops.

Alex’s blood ran cold.

Because his foe wasn’t even trying to hide it. These cultivator’s weren’t kitted to show off their mastery of cultivation or martial arts in individualistic duels. They were armed like a military unit determined to take out specific targets as a group, with three longer spears to injure, pierce, and keep their foe at bay, and three guandao to chop their up with fierce, brutal savagery before anything like quarter could be asked for or offered, all of them equipped with backup dao and daggers at their hips for brutal close-quarters fighting as well.

Alex turned to gaze up at the arena seats, eyes locking on the grand open box seat that was more a throne than anything else upon which a coldly smiling Dongfang Hong sat with his pencil thin mustache and goatee, saturnine features curving in the slightest of smiles as he gazed down Alex’s way.

The man, surrounded by whispering silk-robed advisers and bald-pated functionaries, lifted a gem studded chalice in mock salute.

Alex’s flashed a fierce grin that was all teeth. Promising so much with his smile, savoring the look of hate flashing in his enemy’s eyes as the announcer spoke to the crowd.

“Honored cultivators and guests! Our Silver tier contestants will face each other in a battle royal for the right to ascend! The rules for this next match are as ruthless as they are simple. The last one standing is allowed to proceed! As everyone knows, strategy, tactics, and alliances are important for all Silvers to foster, and the wisest will form whatever alliances suit them best in their own quest to overcome opposition and winnow the competition! Though accidents are regrettable and fatalities are to be avoided if at all possible, no penalties shall accrue, should any cultivator fall on this day. For the path to Gold is treacherous indeed, and any who would dare such a steep ascent must be prepared to give it their all, or accept their lot in life, free of complaint.”

The announcer effected a look of magnanimity. “Of course, not everyone chooses to embrace the Perils of Gold, and any cultivator is free to take a gentler path. Should any of our contestants deem the stakes too high, they are as of this very moment free to leave.”

As if on cue, all the arena gates abruptly opened.

Alex flashed a bemused smile. He’d give his enemies points for style, at least. This way, none could claim that Dongfang Hong was trying to have him killed, since Alex was so clearly being offered a graceful exit that might see him out of the competition and thus unable to claim prizes Alex damn well knew his enemy clearly intended for others.

But at least he was free to leave with his life.

And Alex damn well knew he wasn’t imagining it when the announcer smirked Alex’s way, the moment the gates closed once more. “It appears that all of our contenders are willing to risk it all on their paths to ascension. Wonderful! May you all garner glorious insights and breakthroughs as you’re pushed to the limits in the crucible of combat.

“Honored cultivators and guests, the match begins… now!”

With that the entire arena seemed to vibrate with the gong of a bell, and all six steel-covered cultivators immediately sprang into formation, not one radiating the slightest bit of hesitancy, fear, or uncertainty as they flowed through a choreographed formation they had clearly practiced many times before, three spears held in high grips, points aimed right for Alex’s eyes, three evenly spaced guandao raised high overhead, perfectly positioned to windmill down with helmet-splitting force the instant Alex was in range.

Qi Perception check made!

That was when he sensed the shimmer of Metal and Wood Qi radiating from all of the guandao and spears. In the squad who didn’t even bother hiding their cold smiles or killing intent as they approached in perfect lockstep, their smiles only widening at the sound of more than a few audience-member’s displeasure, even they having a hard time stomaching such a blatant setup.

Alex’s cold smile matched their own as the middle guandao user barked a command and the three spearmen abruptly darted forward, their feet seeming to glide over the sands as they attempted to pin him with their weapons while the guandao users roared and struck as one. All of their Qi signatures flared brightly as spears thrust forward with the might of the forest, while razor sharp guandao seemed to make the very air bleed with the scream of their passage.

More than one guest cried out in dismay when the arena sands exploded with grit, absorbing the force and fury of those powerful guandao blows. Yet a half dozen pairs of mercenary eyes could only glare at the smiling Silver-haired youth who had weaved past the closest pair of spears radiating Wood Qi that had been so set on spearing him in place.

“What the hell?” One of the pair was actually cursing, glaring at the shaft of his weapon as it warped in his hands. The more he infused it with Wood Qi, the worse it got, the Silver too foolish to realize what such entailed. The spearman next to him was gazing at Alex with wide, disbelieving eyes after he thrust for the kill, only to find his spear trapped between the axe blade and spearhead of Alex’s Fangtian ji, the weapon moving so fluidly against his opponent’s weapon shaft that it was as if they had deliberately rehearsed the move. Then, with a single wrench and twist, the spear was sent flying out of the dismayed Silver’s hands.

“Attack!” Roared the clear commander of the unit, no longer bothering with pretext at all, merely glaring his hate at the Ruidian who dared mock them with his smile as he weaved past multiple desperate lunges and cleaving blows, multiple roaring soldiers finding their cleaving tools of death missing their smirking opponent by a hair as Alex seemed to effortlessly slip past their vicious slashes, his focused smile growing wide as he got the message he had been after.

Soul Sight skill check made. You now sense the flow of spiritual energy through multiple opponents!

You understand their movements at least as well as they do themselves!

“Kill that mocking bastard!” Roared the clear sergeant of the group as Alex continued to toy with what would normally be the dreaded elites that would crack through all opposing resistance, the deadly vanguard of any military campaign. Expertly trained warriors skilled with both spiritual attacks and polearms could only snarl in frustration when Alex treated them as the training tools they were. Savoring long moments of dancing with peril, where any wrong move could spell disaster, honing the edge of his martial prowess with every winding parry and disarming twist he executed.

Even the commander of that elite unit found his face flushing with shame when a single yank containing such explosive power few would expect from even a well-put together Ruidian nevertheless sent the man’s guandao weapon whirling in the air.

Only to be caught and handed to him a heartbeat later.

“You dropped this,” Alex said. He then dared to wink. “I think I’ve honed myself against newly forged Silvers about as well as I can. I think maybe it’s time to call it. Don’t you agree?”

The entire crowd was gazing down at the sight of six heaving Silvers in the Red Prince’s colors, all of their Qi reserves clearly spent, and their opponent smiling at them all, the only one not nursing wrenched wrists, sore shoulders, or completely lacking any weapon altogether.

The squad commander glared at Alex for long moments before gazing once at the box holding their ultimate commander, and blanching at what he saw, panic in his eyes as he desperately reclaimed his guandao.

“No more games! Strike him dead at all costs! That’s an ord—“

BLACK SWAN!

The remaining soldiers stumbled back with a cry when their commander’s head exploded in the blink of an eye, spattering them all with bone, brain, and pieces of formerly enchanted steel, the headless body collapsing to the ground in a shower of blood.

Alex’s gaze turned hard and cold as he flicked the gore off of his fangtian ji, the surviving Silvers crying out when they were spattered with yet more of their commander’s brain as Alex glared up at Dongfang Hong, ignoring the startled cries and gasps.

“Feel like wasting any more of your men?”