Chapter 15 #10
Princess Sunlay’s gaze flattened. “If you’ll recall, Lord Guo, the terms of the duel were quite clear.
Any duels or disputes settled within these chambers will go no further than these chambers.
No blood debts will be incurred, and the outcome will not be used as a pretext to violate treaties or oaths of nonaggression.
” She crossed her arms. “These were the terms you yourself agreed to, just minutes ago. And I’m afraid surrendering the champion of said duel to your custody after your disciple perished to a single counterpunch, the only one Tong threw while enduring over a dozen cuts delivered by your own fallen champion who was armed with enchanted steel, whereas our guest was not, would most definitely be violating the terms of the duel in the most egregious way possible. ”
The crown prince’s calm demeanor gave nothing away, but Alex sensed that he was pleased with his daughter’s words. Though his brow furrowed as his daughter spoke on.
“And that you would even suggest such a betrayal of our trust, after doing absolutely nothing to curb your disciple from initiating the duel with live steel before our guest, honor bound to bring no weapons into court, even had a chance to arm himself properly, leaves us all wondering just how fairly you would truck with us in the weeks and months to come. How badly would the odds be stacked against us if we actually became the protectorate of your—”
Her words were instantly silenced when her father rapped the armrest of his throne. She froze, before bowing her head. “The court sees the just and honorable duel as resolved.”
Lord Guo looked ready to protest before he stiffened to instant silence when one of the coldly smiling courtiers before him gently touched his shoulder.
And in that instant, everything changed.
Alex noted how the emissaries and sycophants shifted in deference to the sleekly muscled man wearing a bemused half-smile upon flawless classical Han features.
Though the man wore no cultivator’s robes and was, in fact, kitted in changshan jacket, linen pants and silken slippers, they were clearly form-fitting and didn’t hinder his movements in the least. Yet what was most striking besides the probing eyes that Alex felt as keenly as a scalpel, eyes that reminded him so much of his former fellow kitsune nightwatchmen who had taught him the killing arts what now felt like a lifetime ago, was the sheer power that the man radiated.
Alex felt both exhilaration and a warning chill of apprehension, sensing a Silver so deep he was on the cusp of transcendence.
On the cusp of Gold.
Yet for some reason, when the man flashed Alex a hungry smile, his sense of foreboding turned into exhilaration, his grin mirroring the man’s own.
The man chuckled in odd approval, nodding even as a pair of men dressed in gray robes with crimson sigils cleaned up the remains of Xun Lan within seconds, soon departing with a stretcher wrapped in blood-stained sheets and leaving nothing but spotless marble in their wake.
The man gave a bemused nod. “I see a man who dares to follow his own path, dares to channel conflicting elements in ways that risk Qi deviation… and dares to walk the Path of Peril.”
Alex smiled but said nothing. Because really, there was nothing for him to say.
Not only because he was playing at being mute.
There was no way in hell he would give his opponents a deliberate clue as to how his paradigm worked.
Or even admit to himself that not even he was sure how Earth had sprung so naturally from Water…
which were normally in direct opposition.
Yet it wasn’t Earth so much as sharp stony rocks in a stormy sea bitter with the salty tears of more hardship and peril than most could endure, let alone understand.
And perhaps that was the answer, right there.
For a placid clear lake would forever hide the pebbles upon its bottom.
But a wild and stormy sea, crackling with lightning and the iodine tang of metallic salts, would most definitely wash all and sundry upon the rocky shoals of oblivion.
For Metal was a bridge between those opposing elements of Water and Earth, and Wind and Lightning both played roles in facilitating connections between the five classic elements that few understood or appreciated.
But mostly Alex said nothing because nothing needed to be said. Regardless of the court’s intentions, both parties knew what was to come. As inevitable as the moon’s tides and the stormy seas.
“You may call me Xien Su.”
Alex dipped his head.
The man chuckled, whipping free his jian and plunging it so fast that even Alex felt a chill of apprehension when it tore into the far stone wall to the hilt, the loud resounding crack freezing the entire court.
And that was with the blade still in its sheath.
Making it clear that Alex was definitely dealing with a monster of one sort or another.
Yet Xien Su only smiled, calmly lifting his bare hands, his challenging smile freezing words even upon the crown prince’s lips, Sunlay and Nili both looking on with wide-eyed dismay as he tilted his head Alex’s way.
“I fear that the least of my former companions failed to give you a challenge worthy of your stature. Perhaps you would be willing to trade pointers with me in his stead?”
Alex could sense Rachel’s sudden surge of panic. “No, my husband does not—”
Her words were cut off with a little gasp of dismay when Alex held out his clenched fist, turning to glare her way, before softening it with a headshake and a sympathetic smile.
He then turned back to Xien Su, stepped back, slammed fist against palm, and nodded his assent.
Xien Su’s eyes twinkled with savage delight, a sharp contrast to the melodious laughter that would have done any youling bard proud. “Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful! Same terms as before… Your Grace?”
The last he said with a polite smile and dip of his head toward the crown prince. Who, being no fool, sensed both that the man was giving him much-needed face and, after radiating such a potent killing aura, that there was no doubt at all that he could have bathed the entire stunned court in blood.
The crown prince nodded. “So long as both parties agree, you may fight for our pleasure.”
Xien Su had the gall to wink Alex’s way. “Shall we?”
Alex’s smile said all that needed saying.
He sensed both the grave peril before him, and an opportunity like no other.
The chance to truly hone himself in the crucible of peril, without having to hold back.
A chance to grow, or perish, in conflict far more fulfilling than simply applying overwhelming force or the lightning-fast blitzkrieg strikes of actual war.
Unlike the first fight, Xien Su waited until the prince’s seneschal had rung the bronze gong he held.
And unlike the first fight, Alex was pushed to his absolute limit.
One instant Xien Su was smiling hungrily. And the next it was all Alex could do to survive the absolute barrage of furious strikes being sent his way.
Snapping kicks that could shatter stone pillars. Spear-hand strikes that tore into his desperately dodging flesh like a white-hot knife through butter. Sweeping blows that sliced through Alex’s skin like a saber, for all that only the fingertips made contact.
Alex’s interface blared with warning messages as the ocean’s waters began to froth and boil.
Storm Wing FAILS to counter Steel Flame technique! You have suffered one Medium Wound! You save versus Crippling Blow!
Draconic bloodlines mitigate crippling burns to one additional Lesser Wound.
Enhanced Wind Qi Deflection FAILS to counter Steel Fan technique! You have suffered one additional Light Wound!
The pain jolted Alex into the moment, as the combination of blazing-hot yet bitter-sharp steel burned the last of what he now realized was arrogant overconfidence to the ether, where it belonged.
He refused to feel chagrin or despair, realizing just how overconfidently stupid he had been to assume that every opponent he faced would be the equal of those he had met until now, when the very nature of his foe had been his clue.
Because Dongfang Hong didn’t have a mere handful of a desert caldera’s worth of Silvers at his disposal, where just one Silver per generation per hundred thousand would normally be found, which could explain the handful Alex had faced before now.
No. His enemy might or might not be possessed by the most malicious and bloodthirsty tactician it had ever been Alex’s displeasure to face, and had faced, over countless lifetimes, but one thing that was damn certain was that, before his exile, the Red Prince had enjoyed access to not just a handful of modest caldera cities to draw his forces from, but every sacred city within every province that made up his entire kingdom.
A kingdom that had once covered a surface area equal to the landmass of the planet of Alex’s birth.
A kingdom with a population of well over a billion people, not even including the countless hundreds of millions in myriad woodland communities and trade towns that served to feed those impossibly vast sacred cities.
And even if Dongfang Hong had had access to only a tiny fraction of that before being formally exiled, that could still amount to a dozen Gold-tier opponents, easy.
Men and women perhaps bound so tightly to Dongfang Hong, by dint of loyalty or the blackest of soul-bindings, that they would serve their master even here.
And with powerful cultivators living as long as they did, it didn’t matter if Dongfang Hong might have been exiled here centuries ago.
He could still have access to a dozen Golds and perhaps hundreds of truly elite Silvers who would absolutely destroy the average Rank 1 Silver Strength cultivator who had just broken through.