Rising Music, Deepening Hunger
It was a comforting silence that permeated Zeqing's house. The morning meal was done, the next meal had already been caught, and there was precious little for Zeqing to do as she gazed out across the frozen stillness that was her home. Hanyi was outside playing, as was her wont, but for Zeqing herself, there was precious little to do before the tournament started proper.
Crystal water reflected the rising sun in a kaleidoscope of colors, shifting and dazzling every moment. A cup of impossibly cold liquid lay in Zeqing's hands, as she contemplated the tasks ahead of her in the day. Watching the tournament would be a nice break from tedious repetition, and then a wonderful capstone to the day would be practicing some melodies with her daughter.
The watchstone that Xin had given her began to glow with white light, but Zeqing ignored it for now. The Elders always had an exhibition match first, and this year should be no different. Zeqing had no desire to watch the Sect Elders demonstrate their strength, she knew full well the heights that they had reached.
No, Zeqing's interest lay in the students of the Sect, and in her student in particular. It would be interesting to see how her student compared to the more accomplished students of the Sect. The preliminary match had been interesting to watch, but with Ling Qi's peer fleeing from her, it did not appear to have been an extremely challenging match.
With the preliminaries finally over, hopefully Ling Qi would encounter some real challenges, and Zeqing could see how her student stacked up with others in the Sect who were at a similar point in their cultivation. It would be delightful to see a duel between Ling Qi and one of her peers.
With the dimming of the watchstone, Zeqing knew that the elder's exhibition match had finished. Now the real tournament would begin.
"Hanyi," Zeqing called, "Ling Qi's tournament is about to begin, come so that we can watch it together."
Zeqing walked towards one of the doors, her house shifting to bring the shallow pool room to where she wanted it to be. Shortly before she entered the room, she could hear the pitter-patter of Hanyi's feet as Hanyi entered the house and rushed to where Zeqing was.
"I'm here Mother!"
The bench formed in the room and Zeqing sat down, motioning for Hanyi to join. With Hanyi clambering up onto Zeqing's lap, Zeqing had the time to activate the watchstone and gently tossed it into the pool.
The watchstone projected the tournament area onto the mirror smooth water, showing the Sect Head serenely standing next to the edge of one of the tournament stages. In front of him was a selection of sixteen children, the group that had succeeded in passing the preliminary round of the tournament.
Amongst those sixteen stood Ling Qi, tall and stoic. It was a sight to see, and difficult to reconcile that weak child she had met all those months ago with the confident and poised lady she was today, standing in front of some of the most powerful people in the province ready to display her skills and talents.
The bracket for the tournament was written in fire and lightning, clear for all to see. It seems that Ling Qi's match was third, apparently against an individual by the name of Chu Song. Hopefully, they would provide somewhat of a challenge to Ling Qi, after all, if Ling Qi failed here then Ling Qi
could be her's forever,
and no.
Ling Qi was not Zeqing's, and it was better for Ling Qi to progress and grow in strength than to remain and stagnate here in the Outer Sect. Although, it would be a joy to see Ling Qi pushed to show more of what she had learned.
Delightfully, the first match was called. Unfortunately, it seemed to be the Demon against a poor sacrifice by the name of Hei Boquin. Why the Sect thought that this would produce an interesting match was beyond Zeqing, but it probably had to do with human games of dominance.
"Mother?"
"Yes, Hanyi?"
"Why is the ground golden like that?"
It was disheartening being reminded that most of what Hanyi had experienced was the mountains of the Argent Sect. A crucial reminder that Hanyi did not have much breadth of knowledge of the wider world. Perhaps it would be safer to
consume/devour/absorb Hanyi no.
"It is called a desert Hanyi, where the wind has driven so much sand together that it creates hills and valleys."
"Oh. Are there any… deserts near us? Those hills look like they might be fun to roll down!"
"No child, there are no true deserts near us for quite some distance, ... and it appears the first match is already over."
There was no drama or challenge in the match, just a simple execution. Really, what was the sect thinking?
The next match was much more enjoyable, even with the clear differences in cultivation. The Han Jian fellow lasted for a while longer than the previous contender and had a spirit companion at the green realm to assist him, which was decidedly unusual for a yellow.
Even so, with his clear advantage in equipment, he fell and the mud child proceeded to the inner sect.
But really, the most interesting match was just about to begin. A match between Ling Qi, and the girl Chu Song. Zeqing smiled in slight anticipation. There was no one weaker to strengthen Ling Qi, nothing but a peer to contest and to best.
While it was unclear exactly what Ling Qi had said to Chu Song before the match had begun, it clearly infuriated the girl for the match began with a thundering boom and howling wind from Chu Song.
But Ling Qi just drifted upwards, and began playing, seemingly ignoring the raging girl below her. And when the wind thundered and howled against Ling Qi, when it strove to blow the mists away, Zeqing smiled. A cruel, vindictive, prideful smile.
Ling Qi had learned well, and such tactics could no longer deter her music from affecting the world. Zeqing's own teachings had seen to that. It was… wonderful, to see the trials that Zeqing had forced Ling Qi to undertake providing the source of Ling Qi's absolute mastery of the match.
"See Hanyi? See how the wind howls and roars, but Ling Qi's music does not cease to affect the world? How despite Chu Song's bests efforts, the song will not stop? Keep practicing Hanyi, and you too will reach this level of mastery, and go even further beyond."
"I'm going to reach that mama, just you wait. I'm going to be better than Elder Sister!"
"I'm sure you will, and it will be a proud day when you reach this level."
After Ling Qi's song reached its finale, it appeared that she finally decided to grace Chu Song with her presence, descending from on high in all of her splendor. Hanyi began cheering for Zhengui as he fought Chu Song's spirit companion, but Zeqing had other priorities.
Zeqing watched with pride as Ling Qi began to feed on the qi around her, and within Chu Song. Never quite where Chu Song thought she was, Ling Qi danced amongst the mists, displaying her talent for the Frozen Soul Serenade and totally enveloping Chu Song in the mists, until Chu Song was lost, confused, and desperate.
Ling Qi had learned well from Zeqing. That much was obvious. But it was also clear that Zeqing had chosen her student well, a student who would go far in the sect, and then even further outside of it. Zeqing watched as the match eventually ended, with Chu Song lying on the ground, covered in frost and exhausted of all qi. Ling Qi had succeeded, and Zeqing felt a cold, dark, bittersweet pride as Ling Qi walked off the stage.
A/N: This is a sequel to "Through the Looking Glass" and continues the story of Zeqing watching Ling Qi dominating her matches of the tournament. As always, enjoy the read, and criticisms and critiques are welcomed! I'm not sure how much Hanyi knows about the outside world, but it always seemed to me that Hanyi has had most of her experiences in the Outer Sect of the Argent Peak. And without readily available means of showing pictures/videos of far off places, Hanyi might never have seen a dune of sand before. The Argent Peak certainly doesn't seem like it has a lot of deserts around it.
Well, I hope you enjoy the read.
@yrsillar another omake!
