37 Mid Orange Realm

Following their training session with Venh, Boneroot and his team fell into a routine of intense training. Hana joined their efficiency checks, but found little help there, due to the well-crafted foundation of the Kasumi clan’s cultivation art. A week later, those sessions were abandoned altogether, as Guang and Iris no longer required Boneroot’s help to meditate efficiently.

This freed up Boneroot’s time to focus on cultivating and preparing to break into mid Orange realm. As the second competition among first-year disciples of the Outer Sect approached, Boneroot spent most of his time in meditation, or practicing his abilities to shape ambient essence. He had found out from Song Zeide that classes like Ki, or Qi Training didn’t actually demand attendance after the first month in the sect. That was a ploy to identify levels of strength, seriousness, and discipline among the new cultivators.

That didn’t stop Guang and Iris from attending consistently, albeit tardily in Iris’ case. Even with Expert Chih Yuto’s class, the two of them continued to attend until, to their great relief, the fastidious man deemed their cultivation passable. According to Guang, the Ki Training class for Metal had been reduced to a little more than half of its original attendance.

With Hana ostracized from her previous social circle and, by proxy, even the nobles outside of the Zhen’s sphere of influence, Boneroot’s team relied on Venh, or Song for information about the goings on in the sect. Both individuals were all-too willing to revel in that power dynamic, but they had to put up with it.

According to Song, the second competition was a time trial for a variety of challenges. Each team worked to complete a task, fight a spirit beast, or reach a certain location as quickly as possible. The slowest teams were eliminated and the quickest moved on to the next round. In the top three this time were Jota’s team, Amina’s team, and Jiang Asa’s team. While nobody was particularly surprised with Jota’s second consecutive win, the Asa’s team performance was notable. Hana was gleeful to hear of the other Hana’s fourth place finish, especially once Song confirmed for her that the girl was furious about it. 

Song Zeide and Hana Kasumi, Boneroot had come to find, didn’t actually get along very well. Hana placed a number of expectations on Song, who came from a noble clan like hers, which the boy refused to meet. On the other hand, he saw in her many of the qualities that he was so loathe to deal with in his other peers. Fortunately, the two rarely came together outside of combat practice. 

In the week after the second competition, things were quiet once more. Each member of Boneroot’s team continued to work on the techniques Venh had shown them. Of the four of them, Iris had made the most progress, though even she readily admitted her movement technique was the simplest of the bunch. 

Hana and Boneroot tried a few times to practice their ki shaping together at Venh’s suggestion, but this idea was quickly nixed. Despite the obvious similarities between Spatial ki and Hana’s domain, the girl had been operating under the assumption that her fine control of ki was superior to Boneroot’s. Even after he described the intense training he had done over the last year to develop that skill, she took the revelation poorly. Later on, she begrudgingly admitted that was arrogant of her, but their dual training came to an end nonetheless. Boneroot had learned a while ago to not hold Hana’s presumptions against her.

Biku and Kuroki continued their adventures into the forest. A few times a week, the team met for sparring and strategy sessions, which Song liked to join every now and again. Boneroot was particularly grateful for the practice against someone on his own level. Ever since Song made it to mid Orange realm, he bested Boneroot more times than not. It was excellent practice in fighting someone stronger than him, something Boneroot was lacking in the past.

After one of those sessions, Venh cryptically informed them that an increased number Orange-realm, or higher spirit beasts were being found dangerously close to the Outer Sect. As usual, he refused to answer their questions of why. Subsequently, Boneroot and Iris had to relay their encounter with the Wei bear to Hana, who was outraged that such a threat wasn’t preemptively handled by the sect. She relented once Venh assured her that the issue was being investigated. He immediately undid any good will that earned him by complimenting Boneroot’s advancements in ki shaping and then disappearing.

At the end of that week, Boneroot secluded himself with a few gallons of water in his cultivation chamber. Kuroki was given free reign to come and go as he pleased, but, otherwise, he was not to be disturbed. He started as he would any other day. He cycled his energies, beginning with qi and gradually bringing other streams into the fold. The primary difference this time, though, was speed. That is, he cultivated with a distinct lack of it.

Over hours and then days, Boneroot kept meditating while only assimilating the tiniest bit of ambient essence at a time. He had been surprised to learn spirit stones were of no help in this specific kind of cultivation. Venh had assured him, however, that their potency just wasn’t needed in the drawn-out process required to safely cross the midpoint of the Orange realm without any complications.

Boneroot was actually going even slower than was strictly necessary. He wanted to take extra care to observe every detail in the process, since he knew he would be doing it all over again when it came time to break into the Yellow realm and then mid Yellow and so on. After the first few days, he was starting to see why rushing through this advancement could be disastrous to someone’s cultivation if they weren’t properly prepared.

It was clearer than ever that the essence he was taking in needed to be shepherded carefully. He was reaching the limit of energy his body could currently hold, leaving no room for errors in allocation, or gaps in his cycle. Once he accumulated enough to touch the benchmark of mid Orange, he could sense the fullness of his body. 

Then, he added a bit more. And a little more after that. Finally, he pulled in the last bit of essence and felt his ki stores expand by necessity. A rush of energy coursed through his body, which he had to fight to control. When he tamed the raging cycle of qi and ki, the increased capacity his body had to hold the two was obvious. He had broken through.

Aside from the sense of his expanded limits, Boneroot did not feel much different from when he’d entered into seclusion a week ago. Despite that, he knew he would be feeling the boost to his strength once it came time to start fighting again. He sent a mental nudge to Kuroki, who he sensed to be about a mile away.

Before he was ready to return to the action of the Outer Sect, Boneroot took ten minutes to stretch out his weary limbs and check for any knots in his muscles, or ache in his joints. Finally, he emerged from his home tired and not-so-figuratively starving. 

“Your hair’s longer. Maybe shinier, too? Anyway, How’d it go?”

Boneroot was surprised to find Iris already waiting for him outside his door. She noticed his reaction and quickly clarified.

“Kuroki was with Biku and Biku told me. I wasn’t just sitting here counting the minutes, OK?”

Boneroot graciously decided not to tease her for that fact.

“It went well, thanks. Harder than I expected, though. I didn’t have to do anything like that in the Red realm.”

Intrigued, Iris pressed him.

“How so? Whenever people talk about going into seclusion, or whatever, they never actually say what they’re doing. Do I need to do that when it’s time to move up to the Orange realm?”

“I don’t think so,” he reassured her. “Ask someone more knowledgeable, but I didn’t need to do anything special when I broke through to low Orange. As for seclusion, it was just a lot of careful cultivation. I meditated for hours, taking in a lot less outside essence than usual, just to make sure there were no hiccups in my cycling, or flaws in my foundation. It’s sort of like making a cup out of twine and leaves. You only add a little bit of water at a time, just in case there are any holes anywhere. OK, so that’s not the best analogy, but it’s the only thing I could come up with.”

Iris returned his sheepish grin.

“Fine, fine. I’m afraid that doesn’t put you ahead of the pack, though. Song came to help me and Guang out while you were holed up in there. He said Amina Zafi and Hana Shio also hit mid Orange some time earlier in the week. Also, Hana’s in high Red now. She’s not gloating, which is, in its own way, gloating. It’s unnerving.”

Boneroot laughed and they continued on. As the two walked toward the canteen, Iris asked more about the changes to his appearance, or, rather, the lack thereof.  

“It’s not supposed to be as noticeable as going up to a different realm,” he told her with a shrug. “Still, it was like this when I broke into the Orange realm, too. I got a bit more muscle and my hair got a bit longer. Kroshieshi said I looked older, too, but, other than that, I was mostly the same.”

Iris rolled her eyes.

“I guess you’re just perfect as is. I didn’t change all that much when I hit the Red realm, except for my eyes. And the white in my hair. OK, so maybe that’s a lot. You think my hair’s going to go completely white eventually?”

Boneroot shrugged again.

“I couldn’t tell you. It probably depends on how you think you should look. Maybe you’ll lose an eye, like Yun, instead.”

Iris scowled after a moment of panicked worry. 

“I don’t need to stand out any more than I already do, thanks. Not until I’m actually strong, at least. I only stayed in the Capital for a few weeks after I reached the Red realm, but believe me when I say the life of a street urchin is not welcoming to all this.

Iris motioned to the unique physical quirks on her face and hair. Boneroot was still largely uninformed on Iris’ life prior to attending the Brightmoon Sect, but it was fairly clear that she was not living in the lap of luxury. If Venh’s errant comments were anything to go by, the person who taught her to cultivate was particularly unsavory, as well. When Iris didn’t elaborate on her conditions in the Capital, Boneroot changed the subject.

“How have the rest of you progressed while I was secluded? Anything significant?”

Iris gave a flippant wave of her hand and told him, “Nothing too noteworthy. I’m still fine-tuning my movement technique and Guang’s is still a mess, but it’s actually a functional mess now, so that’s an improvement. As for Hana, fuck if I know. She and I don’t really talk outside of trading barbs.”

“Sounds healthy.”

“In a manner of speaking,” Iris said with a smirk. An even wider smirk bloomed on her face soon after. “There was one other thing that happened, though. Do you want to know what it was? Hmm? Do you? I could tell you, you know. Wouldn’t even charge you anything. Wanna know?”

Much to the girl’s chagrin, Boneroot didn’t humor her. The two walked in excruciating silence for a minute before she caved.

“Fine be that way. It wouldn’t be the worst thing if some of Sect Expert Danh rubbed off on you, you know… Scratch that. Dumbest thing I’ve ever said.”

Boneroot was relieved to hear her roll that suggestion back. Iris stopped to look around. Rather than continue on to the canteen, she steered them toward the outskirts of the Outer Sect, where nobody else was in sight. Her motivation was equal parts privacy-obtaining and suspense-building.

“Sorry, but we can’t have any eavesdroppers. it’s privileged information.” The girl’s voice delighted in those words. “Song finally put his set of the Zhen clan robes to use.”

Excitement was clear on Boneroot’s face and Iris capitalized.

“You remember his feud with Feng Ji, right? The one with the rod up his— yeah, exactly. Well, allegedly Song broke into the boy’s mansion wearing those robes and stole a few minor enchantment manuals. He probably already told you, but the Ji clan has strong ties to the Zhen. Metalworking, enchanting, all that shit. What would happen if the Zhen wanted to cut out that middle man and do the enchanting themselves? Because that’s what the Ji clan is thinking now that one of the ‘Zhens’ made off with their secrets.”

Boneroot was in awe at the scale of the mischief Song had so casually eluded to when they met in his home. At worst, he thought the Zeide boy would stir up some minor drama between two disciples. This, however, sounded like drama between two entire clans. Iris pumped her hands out in front of her, but she didn’t stop grinning.

“Now, they were pretty low-grade manuals, admittedly. Apparently, Feng is only at the beginner’s level when it comes to the actual act of enchantment. Despite that, Song is learning quite a bit from his loot. All the while, the Zhen and Ji clans are having a surprisingly heated feud over the theft. Even better, some of our least favorite people are in hot water because of it: Zhi, Wei, and Feng. Last I heard, they were at each other’s throats. Add that on top of Wei’s many defeats thus far…”

It took Boneroot a few moments to fully collect his thoughts. Iris nodded along with his unspoken admiration.

As they began to walk back toward the canteen, Boneroot’s face split in a wide smirk and he said, “I need to see Song, then. This is a work of pure madness. And genius. I need to commend him in person. Maybe he wants one of the disposable talismans.”

“Buy him a drink, at least.”

“Why? Can he not get water on his own? Is he in seclusion? Did he not bring any? That’s unlikely. He was the one who told me to stock up beforehand, after all.”

Iris looked at her friend, dumbfounded. She received the same look back. Even after knowing him for a bit over two months now, she was still finding bizarre, often infuriating gaps in his general knowledge. Once she explained the practice, his curiosity was far from sated.

“I don’t understand. You poison yourself? For fun? Isn’t cultivating about cleansing yourself of impurities? Also, a cultivator in the Orange realm, like Song, should be completely immune to the type of minor poison you’re describing. Is it some sort of game? Ah, I see. It’s to simulate and practice subterfuge in a safe environment, right? Also—”

Iris cut him off and rubbed at her temples.

“Forget I said anything. It’s something mortals do for fun. I was just using it as an expression. If you want to know more, ask Guang. Soldiers are bigger drinkers than the rest of the Empire combined.”

Boneroot resolved to do exactly that before he changed the topic. Even he could tell when Iris was sick of entertaining his questions. To be fair to him, though, the Empire was a strange place with no limit to its number of strange customs. He still had yet to figure out the allure of trading gold coins to one another, for one. At least spirit stones made sense.

The boy was left to ponder the mystery of the substance called ‘alcohol’ on his own some other time. By the time they reached the canteen, their conversation had bounced between the results of recent duels and Hana’s sporadic presence over the last week.

By the time they acquired any food, Boneroot was practically salivating. He demanded they take the closest available seat. He didn’t have the patience for anymore walking. Naturally, the moment they sat down was the moment Kuroki projected urgency over their spiritual connection. The look on Iris’ face suggested Biku had sent something similar her way.

As they sprinted out of the canteen, Boneroot had the presence of mind to scarf down two handfuls of rice. Luckly, he was already used to ignoring the looks the nobles gave him, so he left with his dignity in tact. 

He and Iris ran toward the source of the distress signal, only to find a flock of people running in the opposite direction. Boneroot circulated qi through his newly-strengthened body, leaving Iris a few paces behind. He was surprised to see her keeping up with him, though, Lightning ki streaking in a trail behind her. 

A number of Outer Sect disciples were fleeing the entrance to the forest that Biku and Kuroki usually took to wherever they went on their adventures. At the same time, a smaller number of people were moving to inspect the commotion. Among them included Boneroot, Iris, Feng Ji, Song Zeide, and Hana Shio. 

As they ran and more disciples took up the cause of investigation, they were left in the dust by the arrival of two much more powerful individuals. Sect Experts Yun, Kang, and Hong Vo In left a sizeable crater upon landing at the copse of trees that was Boneroot’s and Iris’ destination. They wasted no time. Kang and Yun shot forward, nearly invisible at their speed, while Hong Vo In hung back. 

The man was massive. He moved with as much grace as either of the cultivators sprinting into the forest ahead of him, but his form eclipsed any other Sect Expert in sheer size, be it width, or height. His robes, billowing, seamless folds of obsidian black, did little to diminish that fact.

Even from a distance, Boneroot could see the round man’s shadow surged out from beneath his feet, creeping through the forest in a wave. Inky black covered the ground through the entire visible entrance to the woods. Boneroot was somehow still unable to make contact with Kuroki, even though he should have been in range. The consternation must have shown on his face because Hong Vo In didn’t stop him, or Iris as they dove straight into the rapidly darkening mass of trees and brush.

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36 New Techniques

“Iris, mid Red realm, nice to meet you.”

“Who, me? I’m Iris, a mid Red-realm cultivator.”

“Low Red realm? An esteemed personage such as myself? You must be mistaken.”

Iris was practicing her greetings while they waited for Venh to show up. A week had passed since the conclusion of the sect’s first competition and Iris had not let it go to waste. The clarity she gained from her technique with Guang was apparently a huge boon to her cultivation. Now, when the three of them practiced efficiency, she was on par with Guang. 

Boneroot felt they wouldn’t need his supervision after another week, or two. This was particularly important because he was going to need to seclude himself to break into the middle of Orange realm at some point in the near future. Supposedly, Jota had done the same thing soon after he won the competition.

Iris was not reveling in her achievement elegantly. Hana had grown tired of it the moment after Iris announced her advancement. Boneroot was initially thrilled for her. He knew how hard she had been working toward this, after all. It took around five minutes for him to get sick of it. That left only Guang to humor the girl’s Kuroki-esque boasting.

“If I act like this upon reaching any milestone,” Hana grouched, “you have my express permission to euthanize me immediately.”

Boneroot nodded gravely, accepting the lofty responsibility. He felt a twinge of regret that Kuroki wasn’t here to commit to the bit with him. Iris took the barb in good spirits, however.

“No need to be jealous, Hana. I’m sure you’ll see some progress eventually. Sadly, not all of us are graced with such beauty and talent.”

Iris knew her breakthrough had not yet put her on the same level as Hana and Hana knew she knew. That was the only thing keeping the girl from flying into a rage. That and the promise of personal training from a Sect Expert.

“Sorry, he’s later than usual,” Boneroot tried to reassure her.

“He’s just waiting for the right moment to make a grand entrance,” Iris added.

All four looked around, expecting that line to draw the elusive man out of hiding. Unfortunately, they found nothing out of place on the training field they had reserved. In the distance, many of the other training fields were booked up. The competition had lit a spark under a number of disciples, Boneroot’s team included. 

“Don’t try to summon him,” Boneroot said. “He’d rather let us sit here all day than become predictable. Anyway, have you figured out where Biku and Kuroki keep running off to?”

Iris shook her head.

“He still won’t tell me and I’m not going to press him on it as long as they’re staying safe.”

“What’s this about? Where are your betters off to?”

New to the group, at least in a social sense, Hana wasn’t aware of the spirit beasts’ mysterious adventures. She had, however, quickly grown much fonder of the two creatures than their human counterparts, or so she claimed.

“The two of them go off into the forest when we have classes, or cultivation to do,” Boneroot explained. “If I had to guess, Kuroki’s trying to teach him how to hunt, or something.”

“Wrong.”

All heads whipped around to the source of Venh’s voice. The brown-eyed man stood directly behind Guang, who, impressively, didn’t flinch. 

“Do you want to know where the two little rascals are always sneaking off to?”

Immediately, Boneroot, Iris, and Hana voiced conflicting opinions.

“Oh, relax,” Venh said with a wave of his hand. “I wasn’t going to tell you anyway. Are you ready for training?”

Hana wasted no time shifting gears.

“Of course, Sect Expert Danh. I would just like to take this moment to thank you once again for agreeing to aid us. I understand maneuvering sect politics can be a burdensome task, even for someone such as yourself.”

Venh looked at the girl’s politely inclined head, digested her carefully chosen words, and promptly ignored her. To her credit, Hana only flushed slightly this time.

“Rather than address your individual, or collective mistakes during the competition, I’d prefer to provide you with a clear path forward. Each of you is lacking in just about every area, but I’ll focus on techniques. Specifically, I’m going to recommend one for each of you to learn.”

“I assume you’ll be wanting to name those techniques, too?” Boneroot asked, thinking of the CHAOS YARN Venh had been gracious enough to share with him before they left for the sect.

“No,” Venh responded with a smirk. “I would never do something so petty.”

The others were too enraptured by anticipation pick up on the slight. He had no doubt they would get around to mocking him for it later.

“Let’s not waste any time, then. Iris and Guang, your primary issue is the same. You lack movement techniques. While I understand you’re both leaning towards large-scale, area-denial techniques, a movement skill is integral to any cultivator’s arsenal. Only after you master one should you focus more on your specialty.”

Neither of the two disciples even nodded, spellbound as they were. 

“Fortunately, not cultivating a clan art makes you blank slates of a sort. It won’t be all that difficult to guide the development of your own techniques. As for you, Hana, it’s a bit trickier. Your biggest weakness at the moment is stopping power. While your elusiveness and agility are admirable, they are only worth so much if you can’t actually put your opponent down with the advantage they grant you.”

Hana was paying close attention to his words.

“I’m not all that familiar with your clan’s art. There only a handful of others with a similar Mist attunement, so my guidance will be more reliant on how techniques are generally crafted among all ki types, rather than specifically yours. Can I assume the Fang of the Mist has a rather grandiose technique that collects all of your mist and converts it into one powerful attack?”

The girl’s eyebrows raised.

“You are correct, Sect Expert. I hesitate to elaborate, of course, due to the secrecy of—”

She was cut off by Venh’s waving hand.

“Most arts that use a domain technique, like the mist you effuse, have a trump card for turning it into a more bluntly powerful weapon. I hate to disappoint any of you, but cultivation arts below the Blue realm are rarely so different from one another. There are a number of reasons for that, but I personally blame lack of creativity.”

“Anyway,” Venh hastily moved on. “I don’t want to assist in creating a mockery of a technique already within your cultivation art, but we can certainly develop something that is less all-or-nothing, but still packs a punch.”

The gleeful smile on the girl’s face as she agreed to Venh’s plan was a hard departure from the demeanor she usually adopted. Soon afterward, she steeled her expression back to the standard, faux serenity.

“As for you, Boneroot. Where are you most lacking right now?”

He probably should have expected Venh wouldn’t make it quite so easy on him, but the question caught him off guard nonetheless and he offered a lame response.

“Is it also stopping power?”

“Versatility,” Venh corrected him. “The moment your techniques are disadvantaged, you’re forced to take unnecessary risks. When an opponent can resist your Radiant Claw and your Light beams, you’re almost always forced into fighting with your qi. That’s why you’re going to focus on manipulating your Spatial ki. Instead of a claw, make a fist. Then, a blade, or a shield, or a spear. Anything. Part of advancing through the Orange and Yellow realms is developing a freer mastery of your ki. Go down to that end of the training field and practice with your Spatial ki until you can take out a training dummy with blunt, rather than edged, force.”

“That’s it?”

Boneroot was grateful for the assessment, but surprised by the unceremonial send-off. The man’s raised eyebrow was all the answer he was going to get. Boneroot suppressed a sigh and dutifully trotted to the opposite end of the training field.

His training started out relatively futile. He had grown so accustomed to shaping his Spatial ki in the form of the claw that he had to completely undo the habit. It was fairly similar to the muscle memory of swinging a sword, or taking off at a sprint, but with his ki. Additionally complicating the issue was the improvement Boneroot had been working on for his Radiant Claw over the last month. Making use of ambient essence in his technique, as he’d been trying to implement, was hard enough without experimenting with different forms.

Still, he recognized the opportunity for tremendous growth when he saw it. Freely shaping ambient Spatial ki was so obviously powerful, he almost didn’t believe it was something he could do. Images flashed through his mind of Jota falling to a translucent onslaught of different ranged techniques before his paper even came into play. He wasted only a moment on the fantasy, though, and then he was focused on the task at hand.

At the other end of the training field, Venh was describing to Iris and Guang the basics of a movement technique, while Hana waited patiently and absorbed any bits of ki theory of which she already wasn’t aware.

“Let’s start with Lightning ki. There are a few different ways that movement skills function for cultivators in the lower realms in your attunement. I’m just going to focus on one of them, though. Specifically, you’re going to learn how to propel yourself forward in short bursts by discharging Lightning ki behind you. This won’t be as fast, or as efficient as a technique from one of the clan arts. Not right away, at least. What it will do is teach you a vital means of manipulating your ki and provide a malleable technique that you can easily improve, or even replace as you get stronger.”

Venh led the excited girl to the middle of the training field, where he spent roughly ten minutes instructing Iris in timing the burst of ki with her movement, regulating the amount of ki used, and controlling the resulting speed. He left her to practice on her own with a promise to return and check on her progress after he finished with the others.

“Guang, you’re next,” he said to one of the two remaining disciples awaiting his advice. “As you might have guessed by watching either of those Zhen kids, the Metal attunement does not naturally lend itself to speed, or agility. While some choose to rely on their qi cultivation to shore up those gaps, I’m of the opinion that’s a mistake. As I understand it, the art your father passed on to you is focused on magnetism, correct?”

Guang had been nodding along, but froze up at the final question. He cast a concerned glance over to Hana, who had the tact to pretend like she’d heard nothing out of the ordinary.

“Don’t give me that look. It’s not a foreign concept among circles of scholarly research. There are also a number of tribes and individuals to the south of the Empire that dabble in the field. I’m guessing that’s where your father got the idea. Regardless, the relative lack of information about magnetism might be an obstacle for you in the future as you seek to advance your understanding of your abilities. For now, though, it’s to your benefit. You should be able to use a movement technique that other Metal cultivators would have a hard time reproducing.”

Hana watched the average-looking man inspect different pieces of metal Guang materialized. The metals seemed to have a barrier of force repelling them from one another. Soon, the Sect Expert was instructing him in some manner of propelling himself off the metals. While Hana found the display fairly intriguing, she was content to wait for him to fully develop the technique to interrogate its mechanics.

No, her focus was on the teacher. She hadn’t thought much of Expert Danh prior to reconciling with her team, other than a vague envy of the attention Boneroot received from him. As he was explaining the intricacies of a concept of which Hana had been previously unaware, she began to wonder about the Sect Expert. The way he spoke, the bits of his experience that slipped into conversation, and the breadth of his knowledge all reminded her of a clan elder, rather than a mere Blue-realm cultivator. Hana had almost certainly met more cultivators around that level than her teammates and Danh just didn’t strike her as the same.

Eventually, Guang seemed to understand the basics of the technique he was trying to learn and Sect Expert Danh was free to finish his initial teachings. As he walked over to Hana, she put all suspicions out of her mind to fully focus on learning the technique he had to offer. No matter who Danh was, or was not, the opportunity to get stronger was not one to take lightly.

“Spread out your mist, please.”

The man’s voice was pleasant, but his expression serious. Hana allowed her domain to spread out from her body. Mist poured over the grass around the two of them, creating a ring roughly ten feet in radius. She watched as Danh inspected the technique.

“Impressive potency for someone of your cultivation. I assume your clan’s art puts a heavy emphasis on forming a strong foundation of domain control?”

“For the women, yes.”

“Ah. Well, I think you’ll find that to be in your favor, regardless. Particularly once you reach the Orange realm, that base will be more useful than a handful of offensive techniques. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, but a domain skill like that can be molded into any number of things according to your needs. Show me your primary offensive technique.”

Hana performed her Mist Blade for the Sect Expert. She knew better than to expect to impress him, so his frown didn’t come as a shock.

“You’re manifesting more ki, rather than taking it from your domain. While that can be an effective way to conjure up more raw power, it is a crutch in this case. Before we can work on developing a domain-collapse technique, you’ll need to be able to do your Mist Blade without drawing on any extra ki.”

Hana bit her lip as she listened to the man’s assessment. She had been taught to do that in order to not disrupt the efficacy of her domain. When she explained this to Danh, though, she was rebuffed.

“That is a worthy concern when considering the dissemination of a technique to a large number of disciples not expected to advance past the Orange, or Yellow realm. For your individual strength, however, the benefits of learning to freely shape your domain far outweigh whatever stability drawing on extra ki offers. Unless you intend to stop at serving a supporting role for your clan’s stronger members?”

The girl was speechless for a moment. Somehow, she had never considered that line of reasoning. When none of the male disciples her age showed her same aptitude, the disappointment of the clan elders was obvious. While they didn’t come out and say it, it was clear in their language. They spoke of bettering the clan and how she could aid that effort. They spoke of regaining the strength of the cultivators they had in Kazemura. They never mentioned Hana being among them.

When the girl still didn’t say anything after a moment, Venh left her with a final bit of advice before moving on.

“If you’re having trouble, talk to Boneroot. In many ways, Spatial ki resembles a domain like yours. His insights into his own Radiant Claw can likely guide the development of your Mist Blade technique. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to check on the others.”

Hana wasted no time in experimenting with the manipulation of her mist. She remained silent and Venh walked off. He made a handful of corrections in Iris’ and Guang’s fledgeling techniques before heading to the other end of the training field where Boneroot was still ironing out the basics of shaping ambient essence into different forms. 

“How’s it going?”

“Not bad,” the boy told him. “I wish I hadn’t stopped working on this to focus on the competition, to be honest. Feels like I set myself back.”

Venh laughed.

“By what? A week? Two? Consider your teammates, Boneroot. Each of them was set down a path in error by one fool, or another. Miss Kasumi less than the other two, but still misguided in her own way. You’ll have to take my word for it that Kroshieshi was a far, far better mentor than Guang’s father, or Iris’ disgraced master.”

“How much exactly did you look into their backgrounds?” Boneroot asked, his curiosity piqued.

“I didn’t really need to do much. The sect keeps pretty extensive files on anyone they let into their grounds. Regardless, they’re slowly finding their way. I don’t foresee any of the three languishing in the lower realms. The question is whether you can match their progress.”

Boneroot grinned and attempted to answer the man’s challenge without words. The fist of Spatial ki, however, dissipated before it reached Venh. 

“Point proven,” the boy admitted. “I think the others will agree that the next month has to be training and nothing else. Hey, can we skip the next competition? As we are, there’s just no chance of us getting anything out of it.”

Venh smiled again.

“You’re slow on the uptake, frankly. I imagine a few others will sit it out as well, but most of them have to compete just to represent their clans. Can’t show any weakness and all that. Talk it over with your team, but I think it’s the right move.”

Boneroot was pleased with the idea. Since coming to the sect, he hadn’t quite had the same chance to focus solely on bettering his techniques that he had in Felindei’s Grove. A brief conversation with his teammates later, it was decided that the next six weeks would be dedicated to cultivation and working on the techniques Venh showed them. Though Hana hesitated to agree at first, she decided to prioritize her own development over her clan’s reputation for once. 

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35 Reflection

In the immediate aftermath of Jota’s victory over both Amina Zafi’s and Hana Shio’s teams, the onlookers huddled around Master Chang’s construction of Light ki were silent. Each of the disciples watching the end of their first competition at the Brightmoon Sect needed a moment to process. Then, they shouted.

Some of the shouting was excited. Some of it was outraged. Most of it was gibberish. It would be a few minutes before the frantic energy in the air dissipated and small groups broke off to discuss what they’d just seen. In that time, Boneroot reflected more on the enigma that was Jota Guling. He saw in the other boy, first and foremost, genius. His power was far above any of the other Orange realm disciples at the sect and Boneroot had to wonder if that was really so anomalous.

Specifically, he wanted to know how many Jota Gulings were waiting in the higher realms of cultivation and how many similarly talented individuals he might have to fight in the future. Boneroot had only been at the sect for a little over a month, but he was starting to get a much clearer idea of what the Empire held. He had heard from Iris of destitution in the Capital. He had heard from Guang of horrible border incursions in the military. He had seen in Zhi Zhen a ruling class devoid of conscience.

Boneroot began his journey on the path of cultivation with a simple goal. He wanted to find out what happened to his village. So far on that path, he’d met an immortal and several who may one day shirk mortality themselves. He’d travelled hundreds of miles to befriend people from hundreds of miles farther. He’d learned to fight. He’d learned about power.

In the wake of Jota’s display of power, that concept was all Boneroot could think about. His mind was consumed with the difference in power between them. He thought on the difference between himself and Hana Kasumi, or even Iris. He considered the unimaginable power of Felindei, Venh, or Emperor Li Doa. He juxtaposed that to the mortals walking about Mountain’s Rest.

Though his fledgeling understanding of the world outside the Sentoru Forest was still developing, his village was still missing, and he didn’t know what his future might hold, Boneroot did know that he would need need power regardless. More than anything, he needed the power to protect the ones close to him, or to find the ones that once were.

So, in the final moments before Iris, Guang, and Hana dragged him off to talk about what they’d seen in the illusion, Boneroot resolved to talk to Venh. This time, though, he would be respectful. The boy remembered how Venh had seemed in their first meeting. An exceptionally powerful stranger offered to show him a technique. He’d bowed and begged and come out of it with new technique.

Even if Venh had proven to be a truly prolific pain in the ass since then, he was still a means of acquiring power. For Boneroot, he could be an invaluable resource and an irreplaceable pipeline to power of his own. He just needed to abandon his ego. Funnily, he didn’t remember gaining one. Yet, there was an undeniable arrogance that had colored his recent behavior. As the full extent of his folly revealed itself to Boneroot, he didn’t know whether to laugh, or cry. Despite all his friends reminding him exactly how fortunate he was to have the relationship with Venh that he did, he had taken it for granted.

Now, though, Boneroot had a better sense of his position. The next time Venh popped up unannounced, there was going to be groveling. 

Boneroot joined his teammates back at their original position looking out over the forest. Iris was the most enthralled by the conclusion to the competition, so it was she who began the conversation.

“Is he seriously that much stronger than everyone else? I mean, what was that? He just strolled in and took out two other teams. Two of the strongest teams!”

“Hold on,” Hana urged. “He is certainly the strongest of the Outer Sect disciples. There’s no denying that at this point. However, both Hana Shio’s team, as well as Amina Zafi’s were weakened and exhausted from fighting each other. Were he to engage either at their full strength, this may have ended quite differently.”

Guang said, “He was alone, though. At least when he beat us, Shun Yu was with him.”

Boneroot’s own contributions to the conversation were minimal. He was still withdrawn into his head, regretting getting full of himself just because he was ahead of a few others. Kuroki had elected to take a nap instead of watching ‘a bunch of fuzzy lights fight’ and his friends were too wrapped up in their own argument, so he was free to mentally discipline himself to his heart’s content.

He was eventually pulled out of this stupor by the arrival of some of the eliminated disciples. Jiang and Meiling Asa led the way, looking proud of their placing in the competition, while Zhi brought up the rear, looking downright triumphant. 

Though Boneroot and his team were all on the same wavelength about studying the trails of dust on the ground, or the number of leaves on distant treetops, their reunion with Zhi was inevitable. Though she bore no obvious wounds, or bruises, Zhi’s manicured look had a disheveled note to it. Splotches of dirt marred her robes and her usually neat bun was loosened, spilling hair over her face.  Boneroot couldn’t help but suspect she’d fostered the look on purpose.

“Nobody is going to see your mussed up hair and think you’ve actually accomplished anything, Zhi,” Hana said, breathing life into Boneroot’s theory. “I know for a fact your robes are enchanted with repellents and you had to actively try to make them dirty.”

Her former friend’s words did nothing to deflate Zhi.

“How uncouth, Miss Kasumi,” she sneered. “Just because all four of you failed to hold a candle to my own performance, you needn’t vent your rage in public. I don’t claim to know the inner workings of the lesser clans, but, surely, you’ve been taught to conduct yourself with grace, yes?”

While Hana balked, Iris snorted.

“Not all of us are the hiding type. We had to actually fight people. You know, like your brother?”

For a moment, the expression on Zhi’s face flickered. Immediately, though, it turned into glee. 

“Well, it’s certainly refreshing to prove myself the worthier disciple between the two of us. As to your accusation, perhaps use your head, child. What fool would I be to rush headfirst into combat? You need to reflect on your own failures, rather than project them onto me. I admit, your victory over my brother’s team is a boon. Undoubtedly, my clan will need to revise the allocation of resources between us. Perhaps I should thank you for laying bare my superiority. I won’t, though.”

While Boneroot, Iris, and Guang tried to comprehend the sheer, mind-boggling arrogance on display, Hana was positively irate.

“How dare you purport yourself to be my better?! You attacked your teammate! From behind! Have you no honor?”

Zhi chuckled softly while shaking her head.

“Dear, I recommend reading up on your own clan’s history. Betrayal is all part of the game. With the stakes so low, it’s utterly embarrassing to be taking such offense.”

There was a tense moment where the two who had once banded together stared each other down. Soon, Hana suppressed her rage, donning a mask of indifference.

“I would promise to ruin you, but there’s no need. You’ll accomplish that on your own more spectacularly than I ever could. Good riddance.”

Zhi rolled her eyes.

“Yes, yes, I’m sure. Naturally, you may consider this my formal resignation from the pathetic group of malcontents you call a team. If you haven’t figured it out by now, the truly talented have no need for the pittance of resources these cute, little games offer. Farewell.”

At that, Zhi turned and walked away toward the opposite corner of the stage, where Wei Zhen was sulking. 

“I get to fight her,” Iris informed the group. “Whenever the opportunity comes up, I get to do it. I call it. Back off, the rest of you!”

Hana’s voice cracked slightly as she objected.

“Absolutely not! There is not an individual alive with more reason to lay that contemptible wench low than myself. Besides, you need to get stronger first. No matter how staggering her hubris, Zhi is still in the middle of the Red realm.”

“And I will be too,” Iris said with a wide smile. “Thanks to Guang here, I know how to cultivate. How to really cultivate now. I’ll be at her level in a month at the latest.”

Hana considered the girl for a moment. Her own lip quirked up a bit.

“I can certainly respect the conviction. The fact remains, however, that I will be the one to put that girl in her place. Should you deprive me of that opportunity, I will bring down the full might of my clan upon you.”

Hana rattled off a few more empty threats, though it was more for entertainment. The team fantasized for a while longer about Zhi’s inevitable downfall. Remembering that they had, in fact, defeated Wei’s team was a boost to morale. Boneroot informing them that Song Zeide was in possession of one of the sets of Zhen clan robes was another such boost. 

Eventually, the last of the disciples were shepharded into the observation area. While Jota Guling’s team looked ecstatic, the boy, himself, was as nonplussed as ever. Hana Shio and Amina Zafi looked torn between their hatred for each other and their hatred for the individual who’d defeated both of them.

Given Amina Zafi’s past defeat at Jota’s hands, Boneroot had no illusions about for whom she harbored more rancor. He watched intently as the three teams split from each other to brood and revel respectively. Likely due to the manner in which the final fight ended, only a couple of those disciples needed medical attention. Even Amina and Hana, who’d taken significant wounds, bore no sign of injury.

It only took fifteen minutes for the last of those cultivators to be treated by the medical attendants, upon which Grand Master Yan appeared in the same spot that Master Chang’s illusion had occupied earlier. Before she spoke, Boneroot noticed the sun beginning to set over the valley’s opposite edge. 

“How exciting!”

Her voice echoed across the stage, grabbing everyone’s attention. Boneroot briefly wondered if there was some sort of ki trick to it.

“I’m sure we would all agree that this competition had a thrilling conclusion. You will all be wanting to return to your homes, but there is more business to attend yet. Without further ado, let’s reward the top performers. In third place, I am pleased to announce the team of Hana Shio, Ryo Raiyun, Lu Giang, Ning Zong, and Ai Wang.”

A murmur permeated the crowd. In the chaos of the final fight, nobody had been able to see which of Amina’s and Hana’s teams went down first. If anyone did know, they certainly hadn’t informed Hana Shio, herself, because the girl was livid. Her crossed arms were squeezed tight, her teeth gritted even tighter. The effort she was putting into keeping her expression neutral had the opposite effect. Hana Kasumi’s silent glee in observing this did not go unnoticed.

“In second place, we have the team from Hamagari, comprised of Amina Zafi, Juji Yashi, Yalwa Haske, Monafiki Teku, and Bilal Hadari.”

While Amina didn’t look happy to have lost to Jota once more, she seemed pleased with her placing over Hana Shio. The rest of her team was smiling, but they didn’t interact much with one another.

“Finally, we come to the winners of this year’s first competition, the team of Jota Guling, Shun Yu, Da Gunbang, Na Khei, and Bao Tiankaiji.”

A cheer went up from Shun Yu and her teammates, but Jota did not so much as smile. Bao, for some reason, was scowling, but that was nothing out of the ordinary for him. The remaining disciples who hadn’t placed in the top three teams looked on with a mix of envy and excitement

Grand Master Yan resumed speaking.

“Members of the winning teams may pick up their additional spirit stones at Central. The final matter for this evening concerns the prize for standout individual performance. I suppose none of you will be surprised to hear that Jota Guling will be receiving the personal tutoring from a Sect Master of his choice.”

Sparse applause followed the announcement. Jota gave a curt nod, but remained largely unenthused. Bao’s scowl deepened.

“Now, I think it is about time we all return to the sect proper. You will have one day to yourselves before you’re expected back at your normal obligations and classes. I hope this experience has given you the motivation to redouble your efforts and surpass your limits. Please follow Sect Expert Danh at the back of the hall, over there. He will transport you out of the Valley of the Xiatian.”

This time, when Grand Master Yan disappeared, nobody batted an eye. Instead, all the first-year disciples ambled toward end of the viewing area, where Venh was waiting for them. The Sect Expert didn’t command the same immediacy, even if he was ostensibly deserving of it. That didn’t seem to bother the man, however. His easy smile never slipped as the young cultivators chatted among themselves on their lazy march.

As Boneroot got closer, he noticed an array on the floor, much larger than the one used to manipulate Master Chang’s illusion. This perplexed him, though, because he hadn’t seen anything similar on the stone floor of Fen’s Arena, from where they were originally teleported. 

Once all of the cultivators were huddled into the confines of the array, Boneroot found out why. Rather than an instantaneous change in location, the etchings on the ground emitted a soft glow. The light coming up from below increased in luminosity over the course of half a minute until the enchantment was ready. 

As the lights began to consume Boneroot’s vision, he felt the Spatial ki at work. With Felindei’s technique, or the one that originally brought them into the valley, the ki was unnoticeable, at least for someone of Boneroot’s calibre. With this array, however, the technique that enveloped all of the cultivators was obvious to the point of being tangible. For all it lacked in subtlety, it was a much smoother transition.

The one hundred Outer Sect disciples, as well as Venh, regained sight and sense in a cleared-out grove. Standard forest scenery greeted them, but with the addition of a few cultivators Boneroot didn’t recognize. Venh nodded to a group of young men and women posted up around the area before he led his charges to the exit. 

As they walked out, Boneroot inspected the robes each of these sentries wore. They closely resembled the sect robes, but with a few different sigils and sashes than the standard kit.

Once they were a ways away from that expressionless bunch, Guang gave his speculation.

“I reckon they were from the sect’s Martial Defense Force. Can’t have anyone wander into the reception area, yeah?”

Hana agreed.

“My clan takes similar precautions concerning certain arrays and artifacts. Though the odds of any unfortunate soul occupying that space at the precise time the teleportation was activated are low, the results would be gruesome. Were that disciple someone important, the fallout could be even messier than the inciting incident.”

The smile Hana allowed herself was unsettling. Boneroot fixed her with a look, trying to parse the girl’s need to lecture from her potentially morbid sense of humor. Iris did the same, but they shrugged it off soon enough.

Venh led all of them on a confusing path through one of the wooded areas adjacent to the main plateau of the Outer Sect. At no point did Boneroot recognize any specifics in the surroundings, but that made more sense when they eventually returned to the sect from one of the northern paths he had yet to explore. A sleepy, lumpish consciousness hiding in the boy’s shadow suggested this route wasn’t as fun as the others. 

The group of disciples dispersed immediately upon returning, with most of the winning teams’ members heading directly for Central. The rest trudged toward their respective residential districts. Boneroot, however, hung around. He bid farewell to his teammates, who all seemed to understand and approve of his intention.

“What’ve you got for me, Boneroot?”

Venh, of course, had noticed the boy’s isolation.

“Nothing, but my undying gratitude and, uh, graceful reverence for your supreme existence.”

“Well, well, well,” Venh said in an airy cadence. “Seems like I can only speak to this agreeable version of Boneroot when he needs something of me.”

Boneroot winced, despite expecting that. The man’s expression, however, seemed to hold no resentment.

“I’ve been arrogant. I need to get stronger and I need— er, want your help. I got off to a good start, but that’s not enough, not if I want to surpass these scions and geniuses. Please teach me. Please. My team, too, if you’re willing. Please.”

The boy swung his head down in a deep bow, just like he had soon after their first meeting back in Felindei’s grove. 

“So you admit it? That’s promising. I wouldn’t want to have to make an unfavorable report back to our mutual acquaintance.”

Sweat rolled down Boneroot’s back, but Venh only kept him on the hook for a few moments.

“Relax. I don’t actually report back to her. Or do I? Either way, I’m willing to help. It’s a better use of my time than entertaining any of these other daft ‘Experts’. You would think such powerful, travelled cultivators would make for interesting conversationalists, but you’d be wrong. It’s like living in Ogonse all over again.”

Boneroot filed that away in his mind, rather than broach the topic immediately.

“And my team? Please?”

“I don’t know,” Venh teased, drawing his words out. “Technically, I’m barred from showing any favoritism like that.”

The boy raised his head.

“So?”

“An excellent point.”

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34 The Winner

It took a little over ten minutes to get from the valley’s illusionary exit to the viewing stage. The Inner Sect disciple in the lead guided Boneroot and Iris through winding tunnels and steep staircases until they arrived at a large, open space cut into the side of a mountain face overlooking the valley. 

Scattered around the room were sparse collections of furniture, as well as groups of fellow Outer Sect disciples, either being treated by the medical staff, cultivating, or just lounging about. Once they confirmed their teammates’ injuries were being cared for, Iris and Boneroot posted up near the edge of the stage, away from most of their peers, where they could look out over the forest.

Though it wasn’t clear at first, the opening in the stone was another illusion. Boneroot sighed in relief when he realized he hadn’t failed to notice the wide swathe missing from the side of the mountain. Though he sensed that the illusion was a construction of Light ki, he couldn’t even begin to fathom how it was created.

“sneaky super sneak SURPRISE PUNISHMENT!”

Kuroki’s furry forehead rammed into the back of Boneroot’s knee. He was so taken with the complex projection that he didn’t notice the tsovar’s approach. 

“You lost! Why didn’t you win?! You’re not a loser!”

Before Boneroot could address the genuine dejection in his companion’s soundless voice, a second presence approached.

“He’s not the only one you’ve disappointed tremendously,” Venh called out. “Not you Iris.”

“Expert Danh.”

“Thank you for the heartfelt consolation, dearest Sect Expert Danh. You’re not wrong, though. I was completely outclassed and it’s frustrating. I’m doubling my sparring time after this.”

Venh cracked a smile.

“Decent answer. I can show you a thing, or two about dealing with those pesky geniuses. As it stands, though, that one in particular is on the fast track to the Inner Sect.”

Boneroot returned the grin as he said, “Not if I can help it.”

Kuroki seemed pleased with that proclamation and he was distracted entirely from his fury by the materialization of Biku. The two trotted off to their own corner of the viewing stage. 

“I really didn’t expect Jota to be that strong,” Iris announced. “Guang and I couldn’t do anything the moment that paper came down on us, our techniques did nothing. Biku’s still upset about it. I hope Kuroki can cheer him up.”

“He better not be too critical,” Boneroot said. The two spirit beasts had moved out of the range at which he could hear their conversation.

Iris wasn’t concerned.

“It hasn’t been an issue before, so I wouldn’t worry about it. Biku’s never had so much as a single bad thing to say about that goofy cat. More importantly, Expert Danh, how did you watch the fighting from up here? I can’t see much without cycling qi to my eyes.”

“Much like the illusion right in front of you, the sect provides a Light-ki projection of any battles that pop up. It’s quiet at the moment, but it shouldn’t be too long before you can see for yourself.”

Boneroot’s eyebrows shot up.

“Are you the one making the illusions?”

“No, no,” Venh waved him off. “Those are courtesy of Master Chang. It’s impressive work for someone who’s not specialized in the field.”

Iris and Boneroot locked onto the same question.

“There are people who do that?”

“Not many,” Venh told them. “There’s plenty who use similar illusions in combat, but those who focus exclusively on the art of projection are few and far between. Also they’re weird. Also you should never lend them any money or your second-favorite set of enchanted robes. You won’t get either back.”

As the suddenly grouchy Sect Expert stomped off, Boneroot couldn’t tell whether his irritation was genuine. He gave Iris a shrug.

“Are you starting to understand why I insist he’s more annoying than helpful?”

“Nope. He’s still an Expert who’s willing to help you personally. You’re telling me everything he says about beating geniuses, too.”

Boneroot’s head drooped.

“Fair. I’ll see if he’s willing to instruct our team together.”

That went a surprisingly long way toward lifting up Iris’ spirits. They managed to avoid the topic of their disappointing performance up until Guang rejoined them. The bruise that had taken up most of his face not an hour earlier was mostly healed, leaving only a few discolored marks along one of his cheekbones. Their defeat didn’t affect the boy’s stalwart cheer, however.

“We got our asses kicked, huh?”

Guang’s laughter was infectious and his teammates couldn’t help but join in.

“Maybe you did,” Boneroot retorted. “I gracefully bowed out of the fight following your defeat.”

“Oh did you?”

“Nah, Jota dropped me off that tower like a lump of raw meat.”

The levity in the air around them faded when Iris brought up one of their remaining teammates.

“Did you see what was going on with Hana, Guang? She must have fallen on her arm or something because it looked mangled.”

“I saw her go down,” Boneroot interrupted. “Shun Yu might have cracked Hana’s skull even before the fall.”

Guang grimaced, but tried to reassure them.

“There were a couple of the medical attendants looking after her. I’m sure they can get her sorted. She turned out to be a real teammate, though, yeah?”

Even Iris had to admit that.

“I’m not convinced we’re going to see eye to eye, but it’s definitely better than before.”

“Guang was right,” Boneroot agreed. “She’s not so bad, just motivated. Kind of a snob, to be fair, but we get along well enough.”

“Definitely preferable to Zhi,” Guang agreed.

“Speaking of,” Iris scanned the room around them. “Where the fuck is Zhi?”

Venh’s distant laughter did not instill confidence. 

“There’s no way, right?”

As he spoke, Boneroot’s head swiveled about even faster.

“Guang, did you see her with the medical attendants?”

“Nope. Is she with her brother, Iris?”

“Nope. Is she dead, Boneroot? Please say she’s dead.”

He didn’t respond.

“Because if she’s not dead and she’s not here,” Iris continued, her tone growing frantic, “then she might still be down there.”

Iris wiggled her arms in the direction of the valley while Boneroot and Guang avoided eye contact. The arm wiggling and emphatic gesturing continued in uncomfortable silence. Boneroot inspected the illusions some more. Guang fiddled with the axes on his belt. Iris wiggled with increasing intensity. Venh’s disembodied laughter echoed across the open stage.

Hana returned.

“Could you at least try to accept the loss with dignity. I understand the frustration, perhaps even more than the rest of you, but it is simply unbecoming.”

The other parties shared a look.

“She doesn’t know.”

“You tell her.”

“You do it.”

“No way.”

“Did you all fall on your heads? Is this some elaborate joke? I don’t see the humor.”

Finally, Guang cracked.

“Zhi’s not here.”

Hana’s default condescension wavered after a moment.

“What exactly is your… oh. Damn.”

“Yup.”

Iris returned to wiggling, which at least elicited some laughter from her two friends, though Hana’s scowl only deepened. However, even that could no longer distract from the devastating revelation that Zhi Zhen, wholly unexceptional of mind, body, and spirit, outlasted the rest of their team in the competition.

Boneroot asked the group, “How did this happen? I thought the proctors were trying to flush out anyone hiding. There’s no way she actually got into any fights. How did she last the night, let alone all of today? How?”

Hana chewed on her lip for a moment before deciding she was the foremost expert on Zhi’s abilities, or lack thereof.

“It’s possible she knows one of the proctors. The Zhen clan is exceptionally well-connected in every corner of the Empire. That may even be how Wei’s team found us. It’s also possible that she has some sort of stealth technique, or talisman she never told me about, though I doubt it. The most likely explanation is that she simply got lucky.”

“Luck,” Iris repeated, jaw slack.

Hana nodded and looked out over the forest, as if expecting to see Zhi stumbling around. Her teammates joined her in a forlorn stare across the horizon. With solemn dignity and somber grace, her head bowed and her face severe, Iris wiggled her arms once more. Hana still didn’t laugh.

After another uncomfortable silence, Boneroot brought them back around to their performance in the competition. 

“Given the stuff that happened with Zhi, I still think we did alright. We took down two other teams and going up against Jota’s team with only four people is tough no matter what.”

“That’s true,” Iris added. “You think they’re going to win the whole thing?”

“I’d be surprised if they didn’t.”

Hana, however, wasn’t fully convinced.

“You’re underestimating Hana Shio’s team, as well as Jiang Asa’s. The latter doesn’t have an Orange realm disciple, but their collective strength is quite high. I could see any of those three taking victory.”

Boneroot refuted her.

“I’ve fought Hana Shio. She’s stronger than me, but not by much. Jota’s different. If I had to fight him again right now, I don’t know how I could actually beat him. Unless Hana’s planned something for that, I just don’t see her winning.”

“She always has a plan,” Hana muttered.

The assessment of the other teams died down, so Boneroot returned to an earlier topic.

“Regardless, Danh said he’d help teach me how to deal with people like Jota. I’m going to try to convince him to make it a team session, or something. No promises, since he’s a finicky man, but—”

“Am not.”

Boneroot’s head whirled about, but he still didn’t see Venh anywhere.

“As I was saying, Danh may be the most annoying human in this entire Empire…”

The pause Boneroot left went unfilled. He flushed a bit.

“But I’ll try to convince him to—”

“Sure, I’m not busy.”

Boneroot squatted down, head in his hands. Though Iris and Guang looked sympathetic, Hana was simply baffled.

“Excuse me, Sect Expert Danh, we would be exceptionally grateful for the opportunity. Do you have any preference as to the time frame?”

Her question went unanswered. She flushed, too.

“I suppose we can—”

“I don’t wanna do it anymore.”

“I’m so sorry! Is there anything I can do—” Hana nearly fell over herself trying to appease the still disembodied voice. 

“Just kidding.”

Hana joined Boneroot in head-cradling position. The two stayed like that until Biku and Kuroki rejoined them. The tsovar came over to poke at Boneroot with his head. When that didn’t incite any reaction, he bowled the boy over completely. Apparently, Kuroki enjoyed that so much he did it to Hana, too.

“Ah, you beast! You literal beast!”

Hana had to hold back the more severe insult she was about to dish out. The spirit beast was in the Yellow realm, after all. Instead, she chose to be taken in by his soft fur and adorably fuzzy ears. 

“Well, I suppose you’re more tolerable than your contemptuous master, aren’t you?”

“He’s not my master! We’re friends!”

The mental speech caused Hana to reel back slightly. Kuroki addressed Boneroot, next.

“Why’s she all nice now?”

With a shrug, Boneroot told his feline companion, “She was lonely is all.”

Kuroki offered the girl a knowing nod, though she ignored it.

“Stop saying that! I am a highly sought-after presence at even the most regal gatherings of our peers. The list of suitors I’ve rebuffed is longer than that of the people you’ve ever met!”

Hana didn’t need a connection with the spirit beast to know that Kuroki and Boneroot were mentally assessing her loneliness. In a huff, she rose to address their other teammates, only to find they’d walked off. 

When Kuroki rested a paw on her shin, as one might a hand on a shoulder, she nearly imploded. Hana began to walk away, but stopped to look around the room. Likely due to her fallout with Zhi netting her few alternative conversation options, she elected to stay put. Then, Boneroot and Kuroki gave her another look of pity and she reversed her decision. Then, she failed to see anyone else with whom she could speak. Finally, she was bailed out of her impossible situation by a construct of Light ki brightening the entire area.

Most of the disciples converged on the illusion, which was hovering a few feet off the ground in the middle of a discreet array on the stone floor. Boneroot cast a look across the valley to the other peaks before he followed suit. Six of the braziers were still lit. Whether his own team counted among their number, he didn’t know.

He and Hana joined Iris and Guang a dozen feet away from the illusion. The working of Light ki was at least twenty square Kurokis large, though the intricate portrayal of the terrain shifted constantly to stay focused on a group of cultivators at its center. Five figures the size of Boneroot’s forearm were moving through the projected forest.

The illusion followed the disciples of Hamagari. Boneroot watched Amina Zafi direct her teammates over the landscape, but, soon enough, a sixth figure came into view. Immediately, Hana groaned.

In no time at all, Zhi Zhen’s illusionary form hit the ground like a dead bird. Boneroot wasn’t sure whether to be relieved, or disappointed. Either way, the projection didn’t stop there. It continued to follow the team from Hamagari as they moved through the forest, stopping at a ring of boulders surrounding a stone tower not dissimilar from the one Boneroot’s team had tried to defend. 

As the disciples in the illusion prepared themselves to assault the position ahead, Boneroot spared a glance over his shoulder. In the distance, the number of lit braziers had gone down to four. He nudged Hana to point that out.

The girl tallied off the possibilities on her fingers.

“Amina Zafi’s team, clearly. Jota Guling’s, certainly. Hana Shio’s is all but guaranteed, as well. I assume the fourth would be the Asa’s. They’re the strongest team without an Orange realm cultivator and no others are present.”

Guang nodded.

“Sounds right. Who’ve you got, Iris?”

“Jota’s team,” the girl said immediately. “Nobody can beat him.”

Hana was about to give her own assessment once more, but action in the projection cut her off. Amina Zafi led the charge out of the rocky outcropping and toward the tower. Though the observers couldn’t yet see who was on the defense, a barrage of fire and metal projectiles assailed their approach.

To open their side of the engagement, Amina Zafi wreathed her team in a veil of fire, incinerating most of the ranged attacks. Behind her, Yalwa Haske fired off a volley of Solar beams. Boneroot immediately noticed her application of the improvements she had been working on in their Ki Training classes.

Two of the Hamagarian disciples that Boneroot didn’t recognize assumed positions on the outskirts of their team’s formation. As Amina collapsed her defensive technique, they took up the mantle of providing cover for their teammates. While a barrage of water jets was shot upward, Juji Yashi took the opportunity ascend the tower. With Amina Zafi in tow, he brought them to the top of the tower on a wave of sand. Meanwhile, Yalwa Haske sent a slow-moving orb of Solar ki up behind them.

As they reached the apex, the illusion shifted with them, revealing the other team to be Hana Shio’s. Upon landing on the stone platform at the top of the tower, the two disciples from Hamagari were immediately attacked by the trident-wielding girl. Hana Shio’s initial assault was rebuffed by Amina’s bulwark of fire. While the two Orange realm cultivators fought, Juji dispersed a sea of sand across their rocky arena. Hana’s teammates struggled to back her up while wading through the disruptive area-wide technique. Soon after one of those teammates fell to Yalwa Haske’s tracking orb, the rest of the Hamagari team began their ascent of the tower.

Boneroot quickly checked over his shoulder once more, discovering only three lit braziers on the distant mountain peaks. He didn’t point this out to his teammates, as the fight in Master Chang’s illusion was reaching its climax. Hana Shio’s offensive was relentless, but unable to break through Amina’s defense. Every spear thrust was dodged and every Water technique evaporated. Behind her, Hana’s team was already outmatched. With the rest of the Hamagarian team halfway up the tower, Hana’s opportunity to even the scales was slipping. 

Iris was the first to notice Jota Guling approach the opposite side of the tower. At her frantic pointing, all eyes on the projection shifted to the boy who was beginning his own ascent. He made short work of the obstacles impeding his climb and Shun Yu hit the base of the tower soon after. At the same time, Hana Shio finally made headway in her fight with Amina. The girl’s jeweled trident raked across her opponent’s gut, soaking the surrounding sand with blood. Immediately, she capitalized. The next strike took Amina in the shoulder. The one after that was disrupted by an explosion of sand at her side. The diverted attention, however, allowed Hana’s team to enter the fray in seriousness.

Yalwa Haske and the other two disciples from Hamagari rejoined their teammates at the top of the tower just as Hana was recovering. The clash that ensued was a chaotic, messy brawl. Half-aimed projectiles were flung about in numbers. Bodies collided, weapons found flesh, bones broke. Hana was unable to fend off the full attention of Juji and Amina and she quickly found herself stuck in a pit of sand, taking blazing punches to the chest. The Hamagarian team was taking only slightly less damage in the throng of bodies as the fight reached a fever pitch.

And it was all suppressed by a wall of paper. 

Sheets of white fell upon the combatants of the melee in a familiar show of individual force. In the chaos of the two teams fighting, neither was able to counteract the sudden onset of Jota’s technique. The boy himself rushed in right behind the fibrous tide, targeting the strongest remaining cultivators with close-range qi techniques. As his paper began to take down the weaker disciples remaining in the competition, Jota finished off Hana Shio with heavy kick to the head. Amina was the next to fall, her ki too depleted to burn away the paper. Over the course of a few minutes, Jota put down the remaining, weakened cultivators until he was the only one standing. 

By the time Shun Yu reached the top of the tower, the fight was over and the audience was speechless.

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33 Tower Assault

When Iris and Guang came out of cultivation, they were greeted by the surprisingly amicable duo of Boneroot and Hana Kasumi.

“Here’s what you missed,” Boneroot told them. “There’s definitely no one up in that tower and also we’re pals now.”

When he gestured toward Hana, the girl scoffed.

“Is your bar for friendship truly so low? Just because we are no longer actively opposed to one another does not mean there is any real camaraderie between us.”

“She’s very lonely, you see.”

“As if you’re one to talk.”

Iris and Guang shared a look and immediately skipped over the confusing, interpersonal mess presented to them.

“So… the tower?”

“Right,” Boneroot said. “We did some very discreet scouting work—”

Hana interjected, “That is to say you made so much noise that no team could have possibly failed to notice.”

“Actually, that was a high-level technique,” Boneroot began. “You wouldn’t understand because you’re not in the Orange realm, like myself.”

“I pity that poor cat you’ve bound. Can you truly not refrain from turning every mistake into some half-formed boast?”

“You’ve clearly never spoken to Kuroki.”

Iris and Guang shared another look. With a sigh, they trudged toward the tower. Boneroot and Hana followed behind them, continuing to bicker in a manner that completely obfuscated whether they actually got along.

The spiraling path up to the top of the mushroom-laden spire was a trek in and of itself. Reminiscent of the original climb up to the Brightmoon Sect, Boneroot found himself summiting awkward geometry and a shifting array of platforms and handholds.

He couldn’t tell whether the changes to the tower were somehow a natural phenomenon, or the doing of one of the competition’s proctors. Were it the latter option, he felt they might run into trouble trying to settle into the location.

At the top, the team was treated to a spacious, circular platform with what looked like furniture sprouting out of the ground at neat intervals. Additionally, the edges of the wooden floor were boxed in by a number of irregular, colorful mushrooms turned onto their sides. If the climb up wasn’t suspicious enough, the deliberate shaping of the tower’s apex left no ambiguity about the structure’s nature.

“The question is,” Iris said. “Were we steered toward here, or away from here?”

Immediately, Hana voiced her opinion.

“I imagine we will be forced out before nightfall. The unnatural treachery of the ascent was a clear indicator.”

Guang didn’t quite seem to agree.

“If that were the case, though, why would the tower be set up to be so defensible? There’s even furniture!”

“Maybe to lure people in,” Boneroot suggested.

“There’s probably a whole bunch places just like it in this forest,” Iris added with a shrug. “Even if they’re trying to test how well we set up and siege defenses, they can just herd the remaining teams toward whichever defensive position they feel like.”

Guang still wasn’t convinced, though. 

“I’m just not sure we should abandon a strong position because we might get pushed out of it eventually.”

He and Hana debated the point with surprising heat, given Guang’s disposition, until Iris interrupted them to point out a worrying complication.

“If the proctors aren’t forcing us out of the tower, though, doesn’t that suggest another team is headed this way?”

The others took a moment to fully mull over the implications of Iris’ observation. Hana spoke first.

“I… didn’t consider that. You may have a point.”

Boneroot winced as he conceded the same. The four cultivators ultimately decided to stay put until the first definitive sign that they wouldn’t be allowed to stay. After the decision was made, the conversation turned to how they were actually going to defend the tower.

“Me and Guang should post up somewhere along the path to the top, right?”

Iris asked the group and Hana nodded.

“If you are able to replicate the joint technique utilized in our fight with Wei Zhen, that would severely hamper any team’s ability to reach the top. The climb is difficult enough without the addition of lightning and weaponry. My own techniques would also benefit such a strategy, as well.”

Guang grinned at the roundabout praise and added his own suggestion.

“If the three of us are watching the tower’s… I guess you’d call it a stalk, what should Boneroot do? I don’t know if he’d be better off scouting from the top of the tower, or lurking at the base trying to thin any attacking team’s numbers.”

“I’m not sure,” said the boy in question. “I’m pretty good when it comes to fighting from treetops and the like, so I don’t think I’d be less effective up here. Plus, I can back you three up much easier than from the ground.”

“Let’s not rule anything out, though. Can your movement technique reach the ground from up top? If you see an opening down there, I wouldn’t want you to stick around here for our sake.”

Iris’ question was a good one, but Boneroot just shook his head.

“I’ve never had to use it to go that far. Even if I got all the way to the ground, it’d take too much ki. If we need someone to flank, I’d be better off jumping down on someone halfway up.”

As Boneroot imagined just how terribly that might go, the others went over the minutiae over their defensive formations. He was surprised to see his three teammates quickly settle on their positioning with little disagreement between them.

With their strategy ironed out, the team spread out atop the botanical platform to scout the surrounding areas in a ring. Fortunately, the overturned mushrooms at the edges provided great cover from any distant eyes looking upward.

They didn’t have to wait very long to learn why they weren’t ousted from the tower by the proctors. A couple hours after their initial climb, Boneroot spotted a flash of blue and white moving toward them. A quiet alert to his teammates had them all in position to see their opponents break into the clearing.

Though they took cover almost immediately upon coming into the tower’s range of vision, their entrance was still impossible not to notice. Boneroot, Iris, Guang, and Hana huddled around one edge of the platform to visually confirm the other team was actually going to attempt to climb up toward them.

If they had come to the same realizations as his own team, the group below should know they were intended to either clash with a team in the tower, or take it for themselves. Boneroot expected they would be waiting a while longer before the others decided to make their move.

Surprisingly, though, they made the decision almost immediately. As soon as he saw the five cultivators darting across the clearing toward the base of the tower, he realized why. Leading them was Jota Guling. He looked as casual as ever, book clutched to his chest even while sprinting.

At a glance, Boneroot wasn’t sure of his team’s chances. Though Jota’s team had a full five members and Jota, himself, was stronger than Boneroot, they lacked the positional advantage, as well as the informational. They didn’t know who they were up against, or when they might be hit.

Boneroot and his teammates went over the people they knew to be on Jota’s team. The first to spring to mind was Bao Tiankaiji, the noblest living boy in the sect. If Guang’s experience with him at the Combat Class was anything to go by, he wasn’t much of a threat. However, he would likely have his bow with him, which might prove troublesome depending on how well he could aim through Hana’s mist.

After that was Shun Yu, the portly Jade cultivator he had heard about mostly in passing. Hana whispered to them her own assessment of the girl.

“She was nothing special when she arrived, but she’s since made impressive strides in cultivation. Supposedly she’s nearly reached High red and is a formidable combatant.”

Boneroot shared his own assessment, but this time of the Spacial cultivator Na Khei. The girl’s specialty in close-range techniques would be ill-suited to fighting from such a disadvantaged position. That she had yet to produce a serviceable beam of Light ki in their Ki training class with Venh was another relief. 

Finally, Guang told them about his fellow military recruit, Da Gunbang. 

“Strong qi techniques. Probably nothing special at range. Tenacious, though. He won’t give up until he loses consciousness.”

At that, Biku materialized to join Hana, Iris, and Guang as they left to take up their positions just above the middle of the tower’s stalk, leaving Boneroot to decide how best he could help his team. The most glaring problem they faced was Jota. Though Boneroot wanted to see how well he matched up against the arrogant prodigy, the success of his team was first in his mind. If they were going to deal with Jota, they would need to be isolate him from his own team. 

As the time for Boneroot to formulate his plan was drawing to a close, he realized he had a talisman that could do exactly that. If he could use the mysterious, cyclone-producing talisman in his void ring to encircle only his team and Jota, Boneroot was confident they could take the boy down. 

Though he wasn’t sure how he was going to accomplish that, it was their best shot at beating Jota’s team. Boneroot hurried to catch up to his teammates’ positions, though he wanted to hang back out of sight at first. Hopefully, Jota would charge in, doing the work of isolating himself all on his own.

Boneroot was disabused of this notion when he arrived at the site of the coming battle. From his vantage point near the top of the tower’s upward climb, he looked down to see Iris and Guang setting up their defenses. Farther below, Bao Tiankaiji and two others were struggling to get past a few of the obstacles built into the spire. Between the two groups, Jota was rapidly ascending. Surprisingly, Shun Yu was only a step behind him. Her large frame moved with exceptional grace across the pitfalls and traps barring her way.

By the time Boneroot noticed how far up the two were, they were already attacking. He took off toward the action, keeping his eyes on his teammates. Pages flew from Jota’s book, soon joined by plant fibre stripped from the tower itself. A storm of white sheets engulfed Iris’ and Guang’s position. Hana’s mist appeared to do nothing to obfuscate their location. There was no hesitation in Jota’s technique as it swept over the flying axes and streaks of lightning. As the paper began to latch onto Guang, Hana emerged from the fog in an attempt to take down Shun Yu.

The girl barrelled into Hana, leading with a pauldron of jade. Shun Yu’s armored shoulder collided against Hana’s forehead with a resounding crack. Boneroot saw the technique fade out of existence soon after, but Hana was already out of the fight. Her mist dissipated and she plummeted toward the forest floor. Boneroot knew a cultivator in the Red-realm wouldn’t die from a fall, even if they landed wrong, but his stomach lurched nonetheless.

Boneroot fired off a few Mini Mega Beams in an attempt to suppress Jota until he was close enough to use his Sunless Stride without exhausting too much ki. Though the beams of Light ki tore through the paper in its way, none of them hit their mark amidst the flurry of Jota’s technique. Finally, Boneroot channeled his void ki and entered the fray.

He wanted to use his talisman immediately, but he couldn’t see where Guang and Iris were. Fearing they would be caught in the talisman’s violent squall, he instead focused on Shun Yu, who had pivoted from climbing higher to attack him. The girl’s Jade ki encompassed her fists this time and she drew them up close to her face as she approached. It didn’t stop Boneroot’s qi-enhanced fist from slipping through her guard. Her nose broke, but she continued forward. Before she could even swing at Boneroot once, though, a Radiant claw raked across her chest. Just as he moved forward to finish her off, the mass of paper converged on him.

Without the kind of Fire technique Amina Zafi had used to burn the paper off her, Boneroot was forced to try to move through the blanket of Wood ki. Even cycling qi through his body wasn’t enough to ease the burden of the paper attaching to him in droves. As soon as each strip clung to his body, they seemed to get heavier.

Boneroot lurched toward the source of the technique. He was nearly blind in his stumbling attempt to locate Jota, but the fight was about to be over if he couldn’t find the other cultivator. That desperate search became more and more difficult as more of the paper and plant fiber weighed down his body. 

He attempted to burn the paper away with Light ki, but his technique was too precise to get even a fraction of the mass enveloping him. In a last ditch attempt, he pulled the Tailwind talisman out of his void ring and activated it. He felt his burden ease and energy course through the air around him. Even with the speed boost, though, he made it only a few paces before Shun Yu’s jade-wrapped fist connected with the back of his head. A moment later, Jota kicked him in the chest. Boneroot flew back off the tower and lost consciousness on the way down to the ground.

~

Boneroot woke up. An unfamiliar palette of bright colors and foreign images swirled in his hazy vision. He tried in spite of his grogginess to figure out where he’d been taken. A host of possible locations and scenarios ran through his mind. He tried to sense Kuroki. He tried to look for Venh. Finally, his vision cleared. He was still on his back beneath that damn fungal tower. Apparently, the medical attendants hadn’t even gotten to them yet.

With a groan, Boneroot tried to get up. His wounds weren’t bad enough that he needed to be carried off. He was shocked to realize, however, that he couldn’t actually move. In a panic, he cycled his energies, desperately checking for some grievous injury he’d overlooked. His search turned up nothing, but his wits soon came back to him. Boneroot realized it must be a function of the competition.

In a real battle, their loss would have been death. They couldn’t be allowed to get back up right afterward and attempt to take vengeance. Still, the boy wondered at the source of the effect. He didn’t know if the proctors were strong enough to suppress people in such a manner, presumably at a distance, or if it was actually Grand Master Yan, herself, doing it. Then again, it could be a large-scale enchantment of some kind. It certainly wouldn’t be the strangest part of the Valley of the Xiatian.

So, Boneroot lay on his back, staring up at the spire that spelled doom for his team. He wondered if Jota’s group was attempting to set up camp at the top of it, or if they were just moving on. After that overwhelming show of strength, he didn’t see much reason for them to be concerned with maintaining a defensible position. He doubted even Hana Shio’s team would be a match for them.

Though Boneroot couldn’t get off the ground, he could move his head around. He craned his neck looking for his teammates. It seemed Guang and Iris had avoided falling to the ground, as he was only able to see Hana from his position. She, however, wasn’t in any shape to be looking about. Her arm jutted out unnaturally from her crumpled form. For her sake, Boneroot hoped she would still be unconscious when it came time to heal that. Though he wasn’t certain, Boneroot guessed that he had been shielded from a similar fate by the insulating mass of paper that clung to his body as he fell.

Eventually, four medical attendants found their way to the base of the tower, accompanied by the same Inner Sect disciple who had led them to their starting point at the beginning of the competition. Each of the four separated to see to one of the downed disciples, meaning two of them had to summit the tower to find Guang and Iris. Boneroot watched all the traps and obstacles deactivate, making their trip up more of a light exercise than a harrowing stunt.

After a quick inspection, Boneroot was cleared to get up of his own volition. The attendant who saw to him left to help transport Hana. Soon enough, the final two came down from the tower with the rest of Boneroot’s team in tow. Iris returned on her own feet, but Guang was still unconscious and with a nasty bruise blooming across one cheek. 

“How’d it go —”

Boneroot’s question for Iris was cut short by the Inner Sect disciple. He signalled for them to follow as the group trudged toward the edge of the valley in silence. They were already near the outskirts, so it took only twenty minutes to reach the base of the mountainous border.

The bald disciple led them to an inconspicuous boulder set into the dirt and surprised the two conscious Outer Sect disciples when he walked straight through it. Iris and Boneroot hurriedly followed through the illusion with the medical attendants at their backs. 

Once in the tunnel, the disciple in the lead spoke.

“You four have been eliminated. I will lead you to the holding area with the rest of the defeated. From there, you will be able to watch the proceedings until the competition is finished.”

With a curt nod and a brisk about-face, the straight-backed boy led them deeper into the mountain. Boneroot and Iris followed him in silence, mulling over their performance.

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32 Hana Kasumi

“Why don’t we just wait here? If a bunch of teams get offed before anyone finds us, we’ll have a better shot at winning, right?”

The question came from Iris. She and her three teammates were sitting at the entrance to the cave where they’d stayed the night, eating a light breakfast before they were to move out.

Boneroot noticed Hana mulling over whether she wanted to answer, so he did it instead.

“The proctors overseeing the competition will send in spirit beasts, or start a fire, or any number of things to get hiding teams out into the open. Danh made it clear that they don’t want to be here watching over things for a week. I was actually worried they might try to get us out of the cave last night.”

Hana added, “That is correct. I doubt we will have the same luxury if the competition extends into tonight. I propose we continue our sweep of the outskirts of the forest. While sending Boneroot in before us is certainly effective, I’d rather we were more prepared for the next fight.”

“Sounds good,” Guang said. “I wish we had somewhere to practice our formation, though. I feel like Iris and I could make some huge improvements on that thing we did against Wei.”

With an eager nod, Iris agreed, “Same! That was way stronger than it should have been! It’s a bummer we probably can’t work on it much for this contest. Once we’re done, though, we’re gonna become an unstoppable wall!”

Iris faltered a bit when she realized the embarrassing nature of her proclamations, but the two bumped fists and the team was ready to go. Boneroot led his peers through a path he’d scouted the previous night that led into a new section of the forest. As they ran, the knoll-covered fields became blackened trees and piles of cinder. They had entered the site of the strange forest fire they’d seen from atop their first vantage point.

Ash twirled about on the wind and the disciples had to run with their robes pulled up over their mouths to avoid inhaling any of it. Cultivator, or not, that could prove unpleasant at best and disastrous at worst. Though the leaves had all been burnt off the trees, the flurries of black and gray provided quick bursts of cover for the disciples to move through.

Of course, none of them were happy with Boneroot’s solution to the white and blue of their robes contrasting too conspicuously against the black landscape. After rolling about in the cinders until they were sufficiently camouflaged and miserable, they continued on. Hana Kasumi was particular upset with this state of affairs, given the difference in quality between her clothes and the sect robes. One comment about stuck-up nobles from Iris, however, had the Mist cultivator suffering in silence.

The team moved through the barren land at a relatively slow pace. The sporadic nature of the area’s sight lines forced them to move in short 

As they crouched down behind an unrecognizable, burnt-down structure and waited for the wind to pick up some ash, Hana had to ask the question that had been bugging her.

“Why must we travel through this area?” After a couple glares thrown her way, she clarified, “Not that I’m complaining! I’m just unclear on the strategic benefit.”

The same glares reaffixed on Boneroot, who was the one to originally decide on their route. The boy was in deep concentration, looking for a way to move forward without potentially attracting attention. Or so it seemed.

“Boneroot,” Iris said through gritted teeth. “You’re staring pretty hard at the same spot in the distance. Nothing’s happening over there. Why don’t you join the conversation?”

He kept his eyes forward.

“Y’know,” Guang squinted as he spoke. “If I found out we didn’t need to be covered in ash and dirt right now, I might be a bit upset.”

Finally, Hana boiled over and her indignation could not be held back any longer.

“You…” She grabbed at her hair. “You halfwitted, dog-brained, rotten imbecile!”

Boneroot bolted through the still air. He hadn’t forgotten the danger of being spotted by another team. He simply felt that was a lesser risk than standing next to his teammates. Fortunately, his superior cultivation and qi-usage allowed him to flee the consequences of his decisions with peak efficiency.

Once more, their surroundings changed as they covered ground. Ironically, their soot-covered robes made them particularly conspicuous among the bizarre, multicolored, giant mushrooms they now found themselves among. It was under one of these mushrooms, with its cap tipped to the ground, providing decent cover, that Boneroot eventually came to a stop. 

His teammates caught up in huff, but with surprising haste. Boneroot wasn’t sure whether to be impressed, or offended that Iris and Guang ran faster than he’d ever seen when they were specifically pursuing him. Hana was right behind them, sweat streaking the ash on her face.

The three took quick turns swatting at Boneroot’s shoulders and kicking at his shins. When they were done venting, the Spatial cultivator grinned at them.

“Did you see it?”

Still catching their breath, the others peeked out from around bulbous, yellow barrier of their mushroom hideout. An arboreal spire rose up from the ground, reaching above the treetops. Just like the forest around it, it was covered in colorful mushrooms, though its main body was gnarled and misshapen.

When they saw it, there was a long moment of deliberation. Each had to independently decide whether to continue to be mad at Boneroot, or to begrudgingly admit they’d taken the right path. As Iris craned her neck to look up at the spiraling, fungal tower before her, she opted for the latter. So did Guang. Hana was still furious.

“So,” Boneroot began. “Either we have a team to scout, or defenses to set up. I suggest we dig in here until we find out which.”

Eyebrows knit together, Hana said, “After the noise we just made in arriving, I can’t fathom a team in that tower not knowing we’re here.”

“True,” Boneroot admitted. “They might want to ambush us in the actual tower, though. It’s not a stretch to assume that’s where we’d go next.”

Guang weighed in next.

“Let’s take it slow. We should create a perimeter. Check for a team in the tower. Make sure nobody else tries to enter it from the other side, yeah?”

“Shouldn’t we cultivate a bit first?”

Boneroot looked at Iris, pondering the question.

“You’re probably right. You and Guang meditate. Hana, are you in good enough shape to keep watch with me?”

“Naturally,” the girl replied.

Iris raised an eyebrow, but decided not to comment on the pairing. Soon, she and Guang were meditating in the crook of the overturned mushroom that was their makeshift base of operations.

While Hana hunkered down behind the same mushroom cap, Boneroot repositioned to one nearby to get a new perspective on the tower they were scouting. The distance didn’t prevent them from speaking, though. A few minutes passed before Boneroot opened the conversation.

“What happened with Zhi?”

“That’s all? I thought you were preparing to rake me over the coals. You’re hardly subtle.”

Both because he didn’t understand the idiom and he wasn’t trying to hide his intentions in the first place, Boneroot shrugged.

“So be it,” Hana sighed. “I thought she was just being obstinate when she refused to follow you and the others. It would hardly be the first time, after all. That was how she caught me off guard. Though I am most capable of besting her in single combat, she had already fled by the time I recovered from the shock of the opening blow. It was the obvious decision to catch up with you, rather than pursue her.”

Boneroot was surprised by the brazen betrayal.

“I knew she was going to backstab our team in some way, but I didn’t take her for the type to turn on her friends.”

Rubbing at the bridge of her nose for a moment, Hana spoke as she turned her eyes back to the tower, “Nor I. However, it is not entirely without reason. She mentioned on a number of occasions the pressure her clan was putting on her to help her brother succeed.”

“I figured. That still doesn’t explain how Wei found us, though.”

“My guess would be a tracking talisman of some kind. There are any number of ways, but it hardly matters now. We were lucky to come out of the fight as advantageously as we did. Were it not for the fortuitous appearance of the copse worm, I doubt we would have been so fortunate.”

Boneroot shrugged again.

“There was some luck, sure, but you, Iris, and Guang still had to keep Wei locked up for pretty long. He might be the weakest of the Orange realm disciples, but that’s still nothing to scoff at.”

“That was primarily the other two, I must admit,” Hana said. When she noticed Boneroot’s skeptical look, she elaborated. “What? Am I really so ‘stuck-up’ that I can’t be expected to give credit where it is due?”

“Well, it’s noticeable is all. Before this competition, you gave us the same glares as Zhi. And Wei, too.”

Hana chewed on her lip.

“I was in error to side with Zhi in that petty split of our team. That is clearer now than ever before, though it was becoming obvious even prior her outright betrayal. The only thing I feel I need to say in my defense is that she is not the only one with the weight of her clan bearing down on her. If you and your friends prove to be an asset to my own advancement, I see no reason we can’t conduct ourselves cordially.”

Boneroot had to think on that. After a long pause, he grinned.

“That lonely, huh?”

Hana flushed.

“Hardly! I’m simply not a fool. That’s it. I know the difference between me and the Shio girl. And even you, for that matter. I will not surpass her without the resources that come with success in the sect.”

“What’s this about the other Hana? She’s kind of full of herself, sure, but she seems decent enough.”

Hana Kasumi rolled her eyes.

“You can only say that because you’re nearly as strong as her. That earns you the right to be treated as a person in her eyes. Anyone beneath her might as well be dirt on her sandals.”

Boneroot grinned wider.

“So… like you and Zhi a week ago, then?

A clod of dirt slid off the shoulder of his robe. Its thrower glared at him.

“You know nothing of the Shio clan. Be thankful you didn’t get sucked into her orbit. She will crush anyone that slows her down. She has no friends and no comrades. Only stepping stones.”

“Sounds like you have some history.”

“How observant,” Hana said with another roll of her eyes. “It is certainly not my job to lecture you on the basics of relations between exiled Kazemuran clans. Pick up a book if you’re so curious.”

“Wouldn’t do much good,” Boneroot chuckled. “I can barely read as it is.”

This time, Hana’s glare was more confusion than indignation.

“Truly?”

“Yup! No writing, or anything where I come from. It was pretty easy to learn, though. I guess that was because I was already in the Red realm at the time, but still!

The expression on the girl’s face sat somewhere between disgust, pity, and regret. Finally, she managed to speak without vocalizing the instincts that steered her toward derision.

“I hadn’t imagined any self-respecting corner of the Empire to be so neglected. Even those of such wild origin.”

“Well, I’m from the Sentoru Forest.”

Hana didn’t pick up on the boy’s forlorn sigh at the mention of his homeland. She was too busy thinking over the revelation.

“Yes, I am aware. That is rather interesting, though. You aren’t of the Heartwood Tribe, are you? I thought they at least had a certain level of civility…”

“Never heard of them. We just called our home The Village. There wasn’t anyone else around, so we didn’t need a fancy name.”

Finally, Hana noticed the somber note in her teammates voice. For all her upbringing may have inflated her ego, or stripped her of respect for the common folk, it did instill in her a strong sense of tact. 

“Ah, yes, well, in any case, the Shio clan has secured for themselves a much more influential position in the Empire than my own clan. Are you at least aware of the Censorate?”

Boneroot had to think for a moment.

“Song mentioned it once. Couldn’t tell you what it is, though.”

“The Zeide boy? A strange companionship, certainly. Regardless, the Censorate is a branch of the imperial government. They are primarily tasked with overseeing, or reigning in the other branches of government and particularly high-level cultivators.”

“So, their job is to be stronger than everyone else?”

Hana allowed herself a sly smile.

“An oversimplification, but not entirely incorrect. Naturally, when Emperor Li Doa appointed Kana Shio, the Clan Head, to the position, it lit a fire under my own family elders. The fools.”

Hana spat the last words. Rather than inquire as to the vitriol, Boneroot decided to change the subject.

“So, what will happen to Zhi now? It’s not like we can keep her on the team, right?”

Movement in the distance cut off Hana’s response. From behind their giant mushroom caps, the two cultivators tensed. A breathless moment ensued and lasted until the intruder revealed itself to be nothing more than a passing rabbit.

Hana picked up where she left off with a chagrined cough.

“I certainly won’t be welcoming her back. She will still be on our team, but that will be in name only. If she has even the slightest bit of decency, she will remove herself from any future competitions, practices, and the like. I would challenge her to a duel, were it worth my time. I don’t have the luxury, however.”

“Something to do with the Shio clan, then?” 

Though he’d tried to avoid the topic just a few moments prior, Boneroot was getting the sense that Hana’s rant was not to be delayed. The girl eyed her teammate for a moment before responding.

“The Shio clan and, specifically, Hana Shio, are but one thorn of many in the side of my clan. Since leaving Kazemura, we have failed to produce the powerful cultivators that we counted among our numbers prior to exile. Though the Shio clan was in a similar position, their relationship with Emperor Doa, as well as the strength of Kana Shio, herself, gives them a much sturdier foothold in the Empire.”

Boneroot nodded along with her explanation. While he wasn’t well-versed in the nuances of clan relations in the Empire, he did get the broad strokes from Kroshieshi.

“This generation has been particularly scant of talent,” Hana continued. “Rather than try to assess the root cause of such a dearth, the elders of my clan have decided instead to foist their expectations solely upon myself. Irritating as it is, I must rise to the challenge. Surpassing Hana Shio is just one milestone on that path.”

Slightly out of breath, the girl stared hard into the ground. Despite the lingering tension, Boneroot chuckled to himself. The girl was mortified.

“Excuse me!” She yelped. “Just because my family didn’t leave me on my own in the middle of the woods, does not mean my tribulations are to be mocked!”

Boneroot laughed even harder. Finally, he managed a response.

“Not that, sorry. I just can’t stop thinking about Zhi. What’s she doing right now? I’ve never met someone less capable of surviving alone in a forest.”

Hana calmed down once she realized the ridicule was directed elsewhere. She even laughed softly, herself.

“I suppose that is rather humorous. Knowing her, I would guess she attempted to prove herself capable of fighting without a team. So divorced from reality is her ego, she might even be harboring delusions of winning the competition. For now, we can only hope she was most brutally stripped of that delusion.”

“What I wouldn’t give to see that,” Boneroot sighed.

“You might not be able to mock her so if anyone in that tower heard how loudly you were laughing.”

She had him there, Boneroot admitted to himself. By now, he was fairly sure nobody was actually up there. Though he wanted to investigate, one part of their earlier conversation still tugged at his attention.

“Wait, how do you know I lived alone in the woods? I didn’t tell you that.”

Boneroot was treated to a classic Hana Kasumi eyeroll.

“When a clanless, unknown boy in the Orange realm joins a sect in tow of an equally mysterious Sect Expert, inquiries are made. In this case, however, you were overhead talking about your origins in the canteen. Many times. By many people.”

Hana hammered her point home with staccato rhythm and raised eyebrows.

“Alright,” Boneroot yielded. “I get it. I wasn’t exactly trying to hide it, or anything. My village didn’t leave me, though. Something happened and I’m going to find out what. Eventually.”

Feeling a bit guilty about implying such in her brief flash of anger, Hana used a sheepish cough to switch subjects once more.

“As I alluded to with reference to your boisterous laughter, surely there is nobody in that tower, correct?”

“Seems like it,” Boneroot agreed. “There’s not much reason to rush in, though. It hasn’t even been an hour. Let’s wait for Guang and Iris to finish up before we make any moves.”

As time passed and neither cultivator saw any sign of another team, their hushed conversation turned lighter. Either in spite of, or due to her noble roots, Hana proved herself far more capable of friendly banter and ribbing than Boneroot. To be fair, though, only Guang was actually worse than him and that was more ascribed to his exceedingly gregarious nature. So it was that Boneroot found himself verbally outmatched for the remainder of their largely ineffective scouting session.

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31 Wei and the Worm

The copse worm’s disguise was so poor, it baffled Boneroot in two ways. First, how could a creature reliant on stealth survive without blending into its surroundings in the slightest? Second, how had he failed to notice it?

While the spirit beast’s thick, brown hide could pass for the bark of a tree, its ‘leaves’ were a laughable imitation of nature. They were chitinous, jagged appendages, dangling from the worm’s ‘branches’. Instead of matching the neutral tones of the canopy, they took on a hideous, lime green. 

They also tore apart the log on which Boneroot was perched. The copse worm lifted the head back up, while it struck with one of its others. Each part of the creature was ugly and out of place in its own way. The next to swing at him, for example, was covered with a course, black fur. Despite its pitiful capacity for stealth, the worm’s attacks were powerful. Boneroot figured there must be a central body under the ground, giving each of its heads better leverage to flail about. 

Boneroot dodged each of the copse worm’s attempts at slamming him with relative ease. For all its power, it was uncreative. Once he knew where each of the heads was, it was clear from where he’d be attacked. Still, the creature pushed Boneroot back from the clearing. He darted up a tree and jumped between a couple others, intending to escape and warn his team.

The complication came when his team arrived before he got the chance. That complication was further complicated by the simultaneous arrival of Wei Zhen’s team. Wei, himself, burst into the clearing, directly behind one of the worm’s heads. The muck of the swamp clung to his legs, but it didn’t appear to slow him down. The tall boy blocked the beast’s first attack in an impressive defensive display.

In the first instant of confusion as the two teams figured out what was going on, Boneroot realized now would be the perfect chance to use his own disguise. With Zhi lagging behind, he had a chance to imitate her and get the drop on her brother. He quickly pulled his set of Zhen robes out of his void ring and threw them over his own clothes. It was hard work to not devolve into a fit of giggling. He was confident, though. Boneroot reentered the clearing, looking for an opportunity to take out one of the other cultivators.

Immediately, Wei barked an order and a bolt of lightning incinerated the ground where Boneroot was standing a moment before dodging.

He must have seen the shocked look on Boneroot’s face because he scoffed, “You’re a head taller than her, not to mention—”

The copse worm prevented Wei from extrapolating on just how terrible Boneroot’s disguise was. Suddenly, he felt a bit guilty for how harsh he’d been to the copse worm. Apparently, disguise was a deceptively difficult artform. He’d probably even feel a sense of camaraderie with the ugly worm if it didn’t take another swing at him. 

Boneroot ditched the extra robe and leapt back to regroup with his team.

“What was that?”

“What was what?” Boneroot gave Iris his best straight face.

“Did you… did you try to disguise yourself as Zhi? I know you said you had a plan for the robe, but please tell me that wasn’t it.”

Iris and Guang stared at him, already sure of the answer. Boneroot flushed a deep crimson as he defended himself.

“I thought it would work! It was a split-second decision.”

“You’re a head taller than her! Not to mention—”

Once again, rightful incredulity was cut short by the attack of one of the copse worm’s heads. Despite primarily focusing on Wei’s team, the spirit beast wasn’t ignoring them. Guang had to jump back from the clearing to dodge.

“How did they find us so quickly?” Iris shouted over the sounds of Wei’s team engaging the worm in combat. Boneroot saw spikes of Earth popping out of the ground to assail the creature.

It was Hana Kasumi, trudging through the bog water and looking furious, who responded.

“Zhi ran away! And she led them right to us! That— that bitch!”

“We’re better off for it,” Boneroot shouted. “Iris, Guang set up your techniques. Hana over here. When they push through the clearing, I want you to hit them hard. I’m going to take out their backline.”

His teammates responded without words. Biku’s horns began to spark with a crackling energy matching that of Iris’ fingers. Guang slowly materialized his ki in the form of a metal ball and unsheathed one of his axes. Hana emitted a veil of mist around the swampland in front of them. Boneroot slipped a thin paper talisman into Guang’s hands before he left.

As he ran off to the side to loop around, Boneroot caught sight of where the copse worm had been fighting. Each of its heads was put down in a different manner, though two of them bore the signs of being crushed by a warhammer.

Unsurprisingly, Wei, himself, was the first to step through into the wooded swamp where Guang, Iris, and Hana were set up. He took a moment to scan the area for Boneroot, but charged forward almost immediately after into Hana’s mist. He found himself waylaid by a metal projectile streaking past his head. On its way back, the metal ball made a dull thud as it hit the armored aura projected across Wei’s body. At the same time, the mist enveloped his legs, slowing his approach.

One of Wei’s teammates emerged from the shadows at his side. Lula Vo In sprinted forward through the mist at Guang, who was still focused on Wei. She was cut off by a current of electricity going up between Iris and Biku, positioned on opposite sides of Guang. In the moment she stepped back, a small metal ball surged toward the side of her neck. Though she managed to block at the last second, the motion left her vulnerable to Hana’s blade of mist. Lula fell to the ground with a gash in her abdomen.

In the same moment that Lula Vo In dropped and Wei got through the mist to take on Hana, Boneroot was dealing with their other team members. He had already cut down the unfortunate and unaware Yuxuan Bowen with a Radiant Claw, leaving him to deal with Liang Pao, the Thunder cultivator, and Hua Shulin, the Earth cultivator.

A flurry of shockwaves pelted the ground in a trail behind Boneroot’s elusive form. A volley of Light beams were shot in return. Circling his two targets, he decided to get rid of Liang Pao first. If he let the boy go unchecked and failed to dodge one of his techniques, it might spell the end of his chances at this competition and, consequently, his team’s.

Whenever Boneroot moved forward to attack Liang, however, he found himself rebuffed by one of Hua’s defensive techniques. Even the CHAOS YARN he opened the engagement with was quickly swallowed up by the ground on which it landed. 

Boneroot shot another Light beam, this one with the strength of five of his mini beams, but it still didn’t punch through the barriers of rock and soil that the Shulin boy kept raising. After a few more exchanges with his opponents, Boneroot knew that he had to bring this fight to a close before Wei overwhelmed his teammates. 

He decided on an untested technique. First, Boneroot feinted toward his opponents, who were hunkered down with Hua’s constructed defenses at the edge of the clearing. When he saw Hua begin to use another defensive technique, he simultaneously channeled his Void and Light kis. Boneroot used his Sunless Stride to move a dozen paces wide of his target, from where he loosed a single Mini Mega Beam. 

Just as the other cultivators reacted to his quick shift in location, Boneroot slipped back through the construction of Void ki to appear at his opponents’ position once more. Capitalizing on the confusion, he placed a quick series of punches into Hua’s face. Without his teammate’s Earth techniques to protect him, Liang Pao only lasted a handful of heartbeats longer. Soon, both of Wei’s teammates were out of the fight and Boneroot was exhausted. He hadn’t used that much Void ki in a long time. Though satisfied his gambit had worked, he wondered if it was even practical to expend that much energy into one technique.

Tired, or not, there was still Wei to deal with. Boneroot mustered the remaining dregs of his energy and broke through the edge of the swamp. The first thing he saw was lightning. The next few things he saw were also lightning. He had to squint to make out what was going on, but it quickly became clear that the fight was not going well for Wei Zhen. 

Lightning arced in a continuous loop between Iris’ fingers, Biku’s horns, and, shockingly, Guang’s axes. Every time Wei tried to advance on his opponents, he was pushed back either by an orbiting hatchet, the stream of electricity following in its wake, or Hana Kasumi striking from within her mist. It was an impressive display, particularly considering it wasn’t actually rehearsed. 

So, it was with extreme satisfaction and surprising ease that Boneroot snuck up on Wei. His teammates must have noticed because they created a lapse in their defenses. When Wei dropped his guard to take advantage, he received a quick, but deep slash across his back. The boy fell to the ground, where Hana’s mist blade put him out of the contest.

In the wake of their victory, Iris began taking in deep, shaky breaths. Guang and Hana looked to be in better shape, but their entire team was leaving the fight understrength. Still, Boneroot thought, better that than not at all.

“Let’s move before anything else,” Boneroot told his team. “I don’t want to be here if anyone comes by to pick off the weakened.”

“Like we did?” Guang asked.

“Exactly.”

Boneroot took off through the clearing where they’d just encountered Wei’s team. As he passed by the copse worm’s lifeless body, he was thankful his team hadn’t had to contend with that and Wei’s team at the same time. All things considered, their timing was perfect, however unfortunate it seemed at first.

The four cultivators regrouped at the edge of a dense thicket a few minutes away from the scene of their fight, almost at the edge of the swampy area of the forest. Though it wasn’t as far away as Boneroot would have liked, he wasn’t sure Iris would be able to get much farther without collapsing. By the time she caught up to their position, she was bathed in sweat and bleary-eyed. Biku had apparently dematerialized soon after the fight ended.

As soon as everyone was near him, Boneroot took the Vital Roots talisman out of his void ring. Immediately after channelling his ki into it, he and each of his team members were breathing easier. Boneroot noticed some of the small nicks and scrapes on his hands start to heal themselves, as well.

“Thanks, Boneroot,” Iris gasped.

Guang flexed his hands and added, “That’s more effective than I expected.”

Boneroot nodded as he slipped the talisman back into his ring. He noticed Hana peaking at the inscription on the wooden slip. 

“I suppose that’s Vital Roots, rather than Revitalizing Aura?” Hana posited. “Yes, I believe Zhi had one as well. It’s appreciated.”

Boneroot shared a look with Iris. It was clear she also wanted to comment on Hana’s unexpectedly friendly demeanor, but didn’t want to risk ruining any good will they might be building.

“How many teams do you think are left?” Boneroot asked.

Keeping with the change in character, it was Hana who told him, “If I might draw your attention to the mountains. There are still 15 torches lit.”

Boneroot was surprised he hadn’t seen it before. In a semicircle around the Vale of the Xiatian, 20 braziers were embedded into the stone of individual mountain peaks. Of those twenty, five had gone out.

“That’s more teams left than I would have wanted,” Iris grimaced. “I guess it’s barely been an hour, though.

After a thoughtful moment, Hana offered some consolation, “That’s true. However, I would surmise there are fewer teams near us, as we’ve already handled two of them. Assuming the teams were evenly dispersed throughout the valley, we should have some breathing room. I imagine the number of teams still in the running won’t dip below ten for a number of hours to come. Most will be looking to find defensible positions. Where I come from, a Royal Battle can last days.”

“Speaking of defensible positions,” Boneroot said, grateful for the smooth transition. “Let’s find one. Then, we should cultivate in shifts. I want to be as ready as possible for the next team we run into.”

The four cultivators jogged beyond the cover of their thicket and soon were grateful to be out of the swampland. As they ran, the landscape changed from muddy bogs to open fields riddled with tall knolls. Though they were glad for the dry land to run on, Boneroot and his team were hesitant to move through an area with comparatively little cover. Still, their options were limited, tired as they were, so they had to rely on the thin lines of trees between fields to block sight from anyone far off.

Darting between knolls and their shadows, the cultivators finally stopped when they made it to a large cave at the far end of the first field they ran through. The cave seemed to be nestled into the edge of the valley itself, before merging back into the Wei Mountains. While it wasn’t the most easily defensible position and it offered little to no vision of their surroundings, it was at least a shelter to last until morning.

With one last glance up at the fifteen braziers still lit on the surrounding peaks, Boneroot took refuge with his team. The cave was spacious, but fairly shallow. It only extended into the mountain a few dozen feet. Boneroot was grateful they wouldn’t need to worry about any spirit beasts crawling out of a cave system. Immediately upon arriving, most of the cultivators collapsed to the ground, exhaustion finally setting in despite the aid of the Vital Roots talisman.

“You sure we shouldn’t look for high ground?”

Guang spoke from the back of their new shelter, weariness evident in his voice.

Boneroot, still crouched at the entrance to the cave, keeping an eye out for anyone following them, shook his head.

“This is the best we could hope for given the circumstances. I wouldn’t want to approach any obvious vantage point like that while we’re all dead on our feet. The chance that another team already controls it is too high.”

“Astute,” Hana said. “I imagine we will want to divide up the task of keeping watch now.”

“Let’s eat first,” Boneroot said as he handed out the food from his void ring. It was Guang’s idea to stock up prior to the competition. They mutually agreed to stick to bread and vegetables, rather than experiment with what subspace does to meat.

“It is true that meats won’t last as long,” Hana told them in between large bites of the loaf she’d gratefully accepted. “However, that is hardly a factor in such a short time frame. Most food items can be stored in a void ring for an equivalent amount of time as they can be stored in a cooling room.”

Boneroot gave her a quizzical look. Iris was the one to answer him, though.

“Something rich folk have, Boneroot. Enchant a room to keep all your food cold so it doesn’t spoil that quickly.”

It took some time to explain to the boy the logic behind the process, but they eventually came to the task of setting a watch.

“I’ll go first. You three cultivate. I still have some energy to spare.”

Boneroot received some half-hearted pushback on his proposal, but the others knew it was the best option. It was decided, however, that Boneroot shouldn’t be left alone. So it came to be that he and Biku went on their secret mission. 

“Did you locate any, um, spacious persons?”

The little deer spoke into his mind. Boneroot and Biku had done a quick sweep of the surrounding field, though they didn’t stray far from the cave. 

“Yes. Someone very strong, too.”

Boneroot kept his voice to a whisper as he and Biku regrouped behind one of the nearby knolls.

“Really? Supe— I mean, quite strong?”

The horned deer swung his neck about, searching for whatever threat he missed.

“Yes, there is a very dangerous, quite strong perynkon right in front of me.”

Boneroot grinned at Kuroki’s friend.

“Be serious!”

In a huff, Biku trotted back to the cave to guard Iris. The spirit beast’s armored chest was certainly puffed out a bit more than usual, however. Soon enough, Boneroot joined the deer without having spotted any sign of other teams in the area.

A few hours into Boneroot’s watch, Iris sprang up with a triumphant, gleeful cry. Boneroot wasn’t sure whether to be impressed, or concerned that Guang and Hana weren’t roused from their own meditation by the sound.

Iris looked sufficiently chastened when she spoke, but that didn’t undercut the raw excitement in her voice.

“I get it now! Cultivating! It makes sense! It’s like a current, like back in that fight, right? I just need to push it around, like I pushed it around the axes, or Biku, or my fingers. It’s always moving, always bouncing…”

Iris babbled out an incoherent slew of, to Boneroot, nonsense jargon. He did glean that she’d finally figured out what was holding back her cultivation, though, so that was unambiguously great. Biku appeared to agree, though he couldn’t hear their internal conversation. 

He could only grin as Iris and Biku pranced about, throwing celebratory punches into the air. The tears in Iris’ eyes were just one of many signs of the frustrations she’d had to endure on her path up to this point. 

Throughout the night, Boneroot and his team switched places as they regained their strength and even got some sleep. When they emerged from the cave the following morning, the first thing each of them did was look up to the peaks of the Wei Mountains.

Guang frowned.

“Still twelve left? You weren’t kidding about this taking days, huh?”

“As I told you,” Hana muttered under her breath. If Guang’s grin was anything to go by, though, the Water cultivator was starting to ameliorate her reputation among her team.

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30 A Royal Battle

The scene at Fen’s Arena was in many ways familiar, yet entirely new. While the assembly of first-year disciples was a common sight, never before was the tension quite as high. Cultivators talked in hushed tones to their teammates, throwing cautious glances over their shoulders at their competition. 

Among that nervous bunch, Boneroot and Guang stood alone. Not by choice, but because the rest of their team had yet to show up. They half-expected that from Iris, for whom punctuality was more of a metaphysical concept, but the absence of Zhi Zhen and Hana Kasumi was surprising. Boneroot had thought they were all on the same page, at least as far as not embarrassing themselves in the upcoming battle was concerned.

So, while many of the Brightmoon Sect’s newest attendees craned their necks to size up the other teams, Boneroot and Guang did so to see if they would actually have a team. While they waited, Boneroot also kept an eye on Jota Guling and his team, who were milling about nearby. Of all the people on the stone platform where they were waiting, Jota looked the least concerned with the events to come.

The boy clutched the same nondescript book that he always had in his hand as he surveyed the others without a hint of interest in his eyes. His relaxed posture and expression seemed to even be unnerving his own team. Boneroot doubted they were one of the groups who felt the need to set up an alliance with any of the others. 

“Is the commoner girl really not here yet?” Zhi Zhen announced her presence about as pleasantly as usual. Hana Kasumi arrived with her.

“You know her name. Also, you’re hardly one to talk,” Boneroot commented with a frown.

“Obviously, we took the time to speak with the other teams. We needed to make some last minute arrangement.”

“You did?” Guang asked.

“Of course,” Zhi added with a sly grin. “Nothing you need concern yourself with.”

Boneroot looked skeptically at both the girls before him. Even if Song hadn’t warned him, even if he had never met Zhi before, that would have been suspicious. He sighed. It was bad enough their team was likely the least coordinated in the sect, now he was positive he’d have to deal with whatever scheme Zhi had cooked up. 

Grand Master Yan appeared in the air over all the cultivators, forcing them to look straight up to see her.

“I see the last disciple in the distance, so we can begin soon. Make sure you are entirely within the confines of the arena, please. When it comes time to transport you to today’s battleground, you’ll want to arrive in one piece.”

A new bout of anxiety swept over the disciples and Iris finally arrived. She hurriedly strode over to her team, an embarrassed look on her face and sweat on her brow.

“You really need to work on that, Iris.”

Guang shook his head and Zhi rolled her eyes.

“Sorry, Guang, Boneroot,” She said, slightly out of breath. “I had a good reason this time, I swear.”

Her four teammates looked at Iris expectantly.

“I was tired.”

Guang was the only to laugh. Before any of the others could properly scold Iris for the awful joke, Grand Master Yan clapped her hands, retaking the crowd’s attention. She had moved to hover above them in a different spot, distant peaks of the Wei Mountains serving as her backdrop.

“Excellent, we’re all here! First, you’ll all be transported to the battleground and then each team will be sent to their designated starting point. Exciting, isn’t it?”

Grand Master Yan let her rhetorical question hang in the air for a moment and then they were elsewhere. 

The sensation was disorienting, like tumbling head-over-heels in a strong gale. It was not nearly as smooth as Felindei’s ability to do the same, but that experience allowed Boneroot to take the location change in stride. Most of the other disciples, however, did not have such an easy time with the move. Cries of alarm went up, a handful of people fell over, and a couple even vomited. 

While his teammates recovered from the abrupt change in scenery, Boneroot had a look around. At their feet, the raised, stone platform of Fen’s Arena was gone, replaced by a soft field of grass. On all sides, the open landscape of the Outer Sect was replaced by a vibrant forest. Towering above the trees, however, Boneroot could see the peaks of the Wei Mountains extending into the sky. It was fairly easy to surmise they’d been transported to an impressively large basin contained entirely within the mountains.

“Welcome to the Vale of the Xiatian,” Grand Master Yan announced. If she was responsible for the mass teleportation, she certainly didn’t show any signs of exhaustion for it. Boneroot suspected it may have been the arena they were standing on that performed the actual technique, though.

“This is, in fact, the very same place where Fen Xiatian was brutally usurped from his position as the very first Grand Master of the Brightmoon Sect. Here, you will fight a dangerous, ever-shifting landscape, deadly spirit beasts, and, worst of all, your peers! Please take a moment to adjust and coordinate amongst yourselves and then we will start moving you to your starting points.”

“OK, so maybe Kuroki, Biku, and I were in over our heads trying to find this place,” Iris said.

Guang responded with a breathy ‘glerg’ as he fought to not join the ranks of the vomiters. Zhi looked on with disdain, but she couldn’t quite hide her own uneasiness. Her ability to keep the nausea out of her voice was admirable, however.

“I told you there was no chance of—”

Despite her best attempts to maintain composure, Zhi had to stop to suppress her gagging.

With a snort, Iris ignored her and asked, “How you holding up, Guang?”

With his legs back under him and the risk of vomiting drastically reduced, Guang fiddled with the axes at his belt. They were a new addition to his standard sect robes outfit, but he was quickly growing attached to them.

“Not too bad. That really throws you for a loop, huh?”

The team’s conversation lapsed into idle chatter, rather than discussion of strategy, or tactics. Boneroot listened with one ear, while he surveyed the disciples around them, looking for any signs on their faces as to whatever disaster was about to befall his team.

Soon, Grand Master Yan began her final address before the opening to the day’s events.

“Each team will be approached by one of the Inner Sect disciples, who will lead you to your starting area. Once you arrive, please wait until you hear the gong that signals the beginning of the competition. If and when you are incapacitated, you will be retrieved by an Inner Sect disciple, or medical attendant. Best of luck, disciples!”

At that, she disappeared once more. Boneroot didn’t need to wait long to get in motion, as a young man in the sect robes with a plain face and shaved head approached his team almost immediately after Grand Master Yan stopped speaking.

“You’re with me. Try to keep pace.”

The Inner Sect disciple took off in the opposite direction from where they’d been facing. Just as he took his first few strides to keep up with their quick guide, Boneroot realized they had been put at a slight disadvantage. Any team who wanted to target them, which was several according to Song, would now have a better idea of where to find them.

The sly smile he saw on Zhi’s face in his peripheral vision suggested this was no accident.

The Inner Sect disciple led Boneroot’s team on a winding journey through dense shrubbery and unnatural, abrupt changes in landscape. Despite running through a forest the entire time, their surroundings frequently shifted between tropical and temperate, wet and dry. So confusing was their path, Boneroot was no longer sure any other team would know where they ended up. They finally came to a stop when their guide trotted up to the ruins of what looked to be an ancient bell tower. Rust covered every inch of the bronze contraption wedged into dilapidated stonework.

“You start here. You may not leave this area until the competition begins.”

The older disciple stood at the tree line. He kept a close eye on the team as they prepared for the battle to come.

“Alright, are we all clear on the plan?” Boneroot asked.

“Run around in circles, got it,” Iris gave a curt nod.

“She might as well be right,” Zhi added.

Guang was smiling, but came to Boneroot’s defense.

“It’s a good plan. Ignore them. Do you still think it’ll work?”

“Now that I’ve seen the battleground, absolutely,” Boneroot assured him. “I spent my whole life in a place just like this. I’d be surprised if anyone in the Outer Sect is more comfortable fighting in the forest than I am.”

Hana spoke up as she looked about.

“Which direction should we go first? I don’t have a sense of where any other teams might be.”

Iris was the first to make a suggestion, though the question wasn’t directed at her.

“What about the hill with the weird rocks we passed on the way here? It looked like it went up to the edge of the valley, so it should give us a decent vantage point at least.”

“How specific,” Zhi said with a roll of her eyes.

“That’ll work, Iris,” Boneroot cut off any additional jibes. “From there, we can loop around the outskirts of the forest and hopefully catch out some of the slower teams, or those already in battle.”

As they waited, Boneroot wondered from where Kuroki was watching the competition. He could sense him in the distance, but Venh had neglected to tell him where they’d actually be. In the remaining time, the team went over a few sloppy formations they had hastily thrown together over the last week, though each member was dubious of whether they would actually pan out at all.

Finally, Guang caught sight of something rising into the air in the distance, which he pointed out to his teammates. The five of them watched as a ball of fire exploded above the forest. Timed with the display, the crack of a monstrous gong resounded across the vale.

“That’s the signal,” the Inner Sect disciple called out from the ruins. “Obviously.”

The team hadn’t waited to hear him, though. They had already taken off into the forest. Boneroot ran ahead of his team, acting as a scout for any potential fights up ahead. His comfort with the terrain was a huge boon to their plan and it was one he was eager to put into motion. 

That plan was simple, but it relied heavily on Boneroot’s abilities. Even though their team was likely far behind the others in regards to strategy and cooperation, there were only a few with a cultivator who could hold off Boneroot in single combat. If he got the drop on any but the strongest of disciples, he could even the playing field for his team before they even entered into the fight. 

He, Iris, and Guang had agreed it was the best course of action even before they saw their arena. Now that they were in Boneroot’s element, it should be even more effective. Fortunately, Hana Kasumi was willing to go along with it. They hadn’t bothered mentioning it to Zhi. Surprisingly, it seemed like Hana hadn’t either.

It only took ten minutes of moving at a brisk pace to reach their destination. Ahead of his team, Boneroot climbed the forest next to the hill Iris was talking about, not willing to risk moving in the open yet. A number of bizarrely-shaped stones, alternating between unnaturally smooth and unnaturally jagged, dotted the incline. At the top, he waited for a few minutes, trying to find any sign of others in the area. Confident there was no enemy team around, Boneroot stepped out onto the top of the hill to survey their battlefield.

The forest stretched out for miles in front of his position. He was taken aback by the length of the valley they were in. He had known it was large in the first few moments after Grand Master Yan transported them here, but he now saw just how much he’d underestimated it. It spoke to the sheer size of the Wei Mountains that this area could be hidden within them.

Iris expressed similar awe with the arena when she caught up. In the distance, they could see small thunderstorms and a localized blizzard. A spire of rock rose up at the opposite end of the valley, whereupon a massive bird was perched. One corner seemed to emulate a desert, while another area was engulfed in an impossibly-stationary forest fire. On reflection, it seemed that their team had been placed in the most normal section of the basin, despite all the different forest biomes present.

“Do you see that?” Boneroot asked his team, pointing to a spot roughly a half-mile distant from them. The trees shook and a flock of birds took flight. Guang was the first to grunt his confirmation.

“You think we should go after it?”

“Not right away. Let’s circle around and try to catch a team retreating from the fight.”

After an exchange of nods, Boneroot took off ahead of his team once more. This time, he focused more on stealth than before. With confirmation of an enemy team nearby, Boneroot was eager to join the action. He leapt between underbrush and canopy, sticking to the shadows and never making a sound, just as he’d learned from the tsovars.

As he approached the general area of the commotion, Boneroot kept to the treetops, scouting for any sign of potential enemies. Fortunately, he wasn’t kept waiting for long. The sound of hard, ragged breaths broke through the background noise of the forest.

Boneroot crept closer to the sounds, one quick jump between trees after another. His targets were scattered, which presented him with a perfect opportunity. A disciple he didn’t recognize broke through a nearby bramble and slumped down behind a tree. His sweat-soaked robes rose and fell as he tried to catch his breath. The boy peeked around the cover of his tree. Whether he was looking for his teammates, or his pursuers, it didn’t matter.

His unconscious body keeled over into the dirt with a dull thud. He never even saw the punch streaking toward his jaw.

Boneroot sprung up into the tree the boy was leaning against, silently hoping the medical attendants would be quick in finding his victim. The crack of the impact did not sound healthy. He turned his attention toward finding the unfortunate disciple’s teammates. Following a trail of broken twigs and rustled leaves perpendicular to the direction from where his first target came yielded a hushed conversation.

Two disciples were taking cover behind a massive, overturned log. The forest around them was more mud than grass. Every other patch of ground looked to be hiding a root network for one of the swamp trees nearby.

“Damn! Where’s Wen? I thought he got away.”

“I don’t know. What was that thing?”

“Some kind of spirit beast, obviously. Maybe a copse worm? If it got Wei, though, it’s just us left. What do we do?”

Perhaps a more alert pair of cultivators would have talked while eyeing their surroundings, instead of looking at each other. This pair, however, didn’t see the ball of Light ki until it was a second away from landing at their feet. The mess of heavy tentacles that sprang out at them was enough to finish off the beleaguered duo. Satisfied with the minimal energy expenditure, Boneroot started to make his way back toward his own team. 

He found them just as they arrived at the clearing where he’d taken out the first disciple. Boneroot was relieved to find out the boy was no longer there, presumably hauled off by one of the medical attendants.

“We’re in the clear,” Boneroot said, though his voice was still kept low. “It was one team, not two, and they ran into some sort of spirit beast. I cleaned up the ones who got away.”

Guang clapped him on the shoulder, grinning broadly.

“Well done!” He flushed when the others had to remind him to keep his voice down. “Any idea if the beast is nearby?”

“Haven’t looked yet. Do any of you know what a copse worm is?”

“How do you not?” Zhi seethed at him. “They have a number of heads and they stick them all out of the ground, pretending to be trees. Any buffoon with her wits about her can spot them from a mile away, though.”

“So, where is it, then?”

Iris was scanning the woods around them. At her side, Biku was trying to sense anything nearby.

Hana whispered to the group, “Zhi is correct. They’re not much of a threat if you’re prepared. I propose we hunt it down. They can be both mobile and stealthy and I’d rather not be caught off-guard. If any other teams are converging on this location, like we did, we don’t want to get caught between them and the copse worm.”

“Sounds good,” Iris nodded to her. “I don’t see anything nearby, though. Neither does Biku.”

“As if I’d trust your word,” Zhi said. “I’ll take a look.”

Boneroot, Iris, and Guang headed toward the area where the other two disciples were downed, hoping to skirt around the copse worm and maybe even leave Zhi behind. Hana dragged her friend onwards, though. Boneroot hurried ahead of his team to scout things out once more.

When he reached the fallen log that marked the retreat of the eliminated team, Boneroot was getting a strong sense that something was off. Before he had Kuroki with him at all times, he survived by paying attention to that instinct. Standing completely still, though, he still couldn’t see, or hear anything.

Then the copse worm attacked.

Then Wei Zhen’s team attacked.

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