Reach Heaven Via Feng Shui Engineering, Drug Trade And Tax Evasion

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"Do you want to break into the Heavens and topple their thrones? That's my real question."
Ah, I see she met Maya

Maya

Mathangi "Maya" Mantra,[2] also known as Mathangi Ten Meti,[3] whose surname of "Mantra" means Murder the Gods and Topple Their Thrones,[1] is a member of the Mendicant Knights and a former general who conquered 20,000 worlds.[4][2] Realizing the non-sensical nature of her quest for power, she...
 
Chapter 72: Bow, Oh Duelist, Wrist Ready For A Slap
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"You don't look worried, for someone ready to duel." Rui Bao said.

Qian Shanyi glanced at him over the top of her book. There were bags under Rui Bao's eyes as he squinted at the light framing her face, waiting for her response. It must have shaded her face dramatically, and helped her read, which is exactly why she chose this spot to wait.

She was balancing a plain chair on its hind legs, her back to the pillar of the world edge at the central square of Glaze Ridge. Her feet were propped up on a table they brought along from the tavern, right next to a Shatranj board and an incense stick lit to measure time. It wasn't the most comfortable way to sit, but it looked impressive and kept the chakram hidden on her back from digging into her skin, which was much more important.

Underneath the table laid a long crate of cheap wood and straw, built by Wang Yonghao to her specifications. It was as tall as she was, and about two feet wide, keeping their other weapons safe and hidden from prying eyes.

"You don't look rested, for someone who sleeps all day," Qian Shanyi responded casually, going back to her book.

She was worried about the duel, of course - that was why she picked up the book, to keep her mind occupied, instead of going over her plan for the hundredth time. She was healed, rested, and trained, and arrived at the square a good half an hour in advance - all that remained was to wait, and adapt to the circumstances.

"Must you be so cold, darling?" Rui Bao sighed. "Will you not even grace me with a smile?"

"Must I be cold?" she asked rhetorically, not looking up. "No. Will I be? Yes."

Rui Bao was, undeniably, useful - if he hadn't informed Wang Yonghao that Jian Shizhe left town, they might not have figured out his plan. But that didn't mean she was particularly happy to see him, not after what he said last night.

And he could be useful whether he was happy or not.

Rui Bao pursed his lips at her, but brushed her earlier comment off easily enough. A shame. "What are you reading?" the pest asked her again.

"Gildenighter and the Eelwoven," she said, angling the book so that he could see the title. She didn't deign to explain more. It was a new book in a series of adventure novels, one she read years ago - this one about a perilous track through a condemned city infested with sentient eels. Light reading, easy on the mind.

Wang Yonghao glanced at her, a silent question if he should assist her in his eyes. She shook her head slightly. He was playing shatranj against Wang Muchen - an ordinary person they hired for the day, to help with carrying things and running messages around town. A friend of Chu Lin, fit and young - he usually helped out by bringing supplies into the restaurant in the morning, and then did odd jobs around the city during the day. That his family name was also Wang amused her greatly - even though it was one of the most common family names in the empire. Wang v Wang, winner Wang.

"I see you haven't brought a fourth chair," Rui Bao continued after an awkward pause, glancing around the table.

"Honorable immortal, if you require -" Wang Muchen said, attempting to rise out of his seat. He seemed a bit overwhelmed, honestly - meeting one cultivator in person was already a rarity, and now he was surrounded by three.

"No, no, stay," Qian Shanyi said, motioning to him with her foot. "He can find his own."

Wang Muchen looked at her, eyes uncertain. "I can -"

Qian Shanyi glanced at the shatranj board. He seemed to be losing, so perhaps that is why he wanted to flee. "I will pay you two silver yuan to ignore Rui Bao entirely," she drawled, flipping to the next page. "An ignorant dog can hardly sit at the same table as us humans, can it? Rui Bao won't be sitting on any chair of mine."

Wang Muchen immediately sat back down. For some unfathomable reason he decided to gamble money with Wang Yonghao, but thankfully, the two stuck to small bets. Two silver would just about make them even.

"Not your chair," Wang Yonghao noted automatically, moving a figure on the board.

"I paid for the tavern room," she said, waving him off. "It's the principle of the thing."

Rui Bao glared at her, eyebrows furrowed. She kept watch of him out of the corner of her eye. "A dog, huh? You really detested my advice this much?"

"That I did."

"Can you at least explain what I did wrong?"

"Does a dog deserve an explanation?" she asked rhetorically, not lifting her eyes off the book.

Rui Bao snorted angrily, and pointed at Wang Muchen. "Four yuan to give me your chair."

"Five. Keep ignoring him."

Rui Bao's left eye twitched, a crack passing through his usual nonchalant confidence. "Eight yuan."

"Ten."

"Twelve."

"Fifteen."

"Two golden yuan," Rui Bao snapped, glaring at her, too caught up in the haggling to realize he was being baited. In many ways, he was just as arrogant as Jian Shizhe. He waited a moment, but she stayed quiet, idly flipping to the next page. "Well? Nothing more to say?"

She looked at him as if he was stupid, which he was. "I have just gotten you to pay two gold yuan for a chair you could have gotten from any restaurant around here for free," she said, "what does that make you if not my dog?" She motioned to Wang Muchen, who was looking between the two of them expectantly. "Pay the good man, and take your chair. I suppose I'll give you your explanation, since you've begged for it so much."

Rui Bao's eye twitched again, a slight blush coming to his cheeks at being so blatantly tricked. He pulled his head back and laughed, concealing his embarrassment. "Quite a trick you've pulled on me," he said with a slight grin, counting out the coins, dropping them into Wang Muchen's hand without a second glance. Two days ago, she would have described it as roguish; today, it just seemed annoying.

The commoner accepted the money gratefully, grinning from ear to ear, and bowed deeply towards her. That was probably a good month of wages for him, and a paltry sum for Rui Bao. Leaning against Wang Muchen's ear, she whispered that he should find a new chair from one of the restaurants around the square - but not to hurry back. All else being equal, she preferred not to air sect laundry in front of outsiders.

"I've talked to some of the women of the Northern Scarlet Stream sect this morning," Qian Shanyi said, once Wang Muchen had left, and Rui Bao sat down, anger hidden deep within his dark eyes. "Asked them about Jian Shizhe. They told me such interesting things."

"What did they tell you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow with some concern.

She stayed quiet, letting Rui Bao stew in the possibilities, visions of the worst. Wang Yonghao gave him a judgmental glare as well, complimenting her game. She talked to him after they came back from the square, and patiently explained the situation, what everything meant and implied. She was getting a lot better at making him understand, knowing which metaphors to pick and which to avoid, which made the unpleasant talk blessedly quick.

"Nothing I did not already expect," she finally said once Rui Bao started to fidget, "he is pushy and rude, crosses boundaries. The female sect's disciples warn each other about him, avoid crossing paths, training at the same time or place - and not just because he is so quick to draw his sword." She glanced up from her book, meeting Rui Bao's eyes. "In other words, the same as a hundred other pieces of trash who think of themselves as gods."

She had a lot of experience with those. It took her two and a half years of careful work to fully clean her sect out. Fortunately, she no longer needed to be subtle.

Rui Bao frowned, his annoying little smile having been washed away as if she dumped a bucket of cold water on his head. "I have heard nothing of this."

Qian Shanyi shrugged easily, eyes falling back down to her book. She suspected it was a half-truth at best, but it was pointless to argue. "Why would you have heard of it? You are not a woman. Little point in informing you, if you did not ask yourself."

"What does that matter?" Rui Bao snapped at her, "I would have done something about it if I knew! I would -"

Qian Shanyi snorted. "Now that's a lie," she said, closing her book and putting it down on the table, focusing on Rui Bao fully. "You haven't done shit about it."

"Well if only I knew -"

"You should have already known," she cut him off. "What do you imagine happens when you leave an aggressive pest like Shizhe alone with a woman? Do you think he becomes kind and understanding, less prone to see every little thing as an insult to his honor? How do you imagine he handles rejection?" She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "You saw that armor of his. What do you think it represents, as a symbol?"

At least Rui Bao had the decency to look a bit ashamed. It took less than a week for the pieces to click together for her - but he was friends with Jian Shizhe for years, at least based on the cultivator almanac. It took a blind man to ignore the sun shining down on his face.

"And what happens when something goes wrong?" She continued, "If it's his word against hers - who will the people believe? And you must know the saying - that cowards have as much honor as women, children and mortals? Which woman except me would have dared to duel that prick, risked being killed or maimed?" She lifted her feet off the table, letting her chair slam down into the ground, momentum carrying her forward to lean towards Rui Bao. "I've seen Jian Shizhe's dueling record. He had three duels with you - and then another twenty with others. You could have made him stop - promised to take the place of anyone else he challenged. But you did nothing." She bored her gaze into his eyes, staring him down. "And that's what disgusts me about you. You stood aside and did nothing while Jian Shizhe continued to fester." She bared her teeth in a scowl. "And then you dared to ask me to apologize to that fuck?"

He broke off first, looking away into the square. She leaned backwards, picking her book up again, and sighed slightly. "Thankfully, trying to burst into my room was the worst of it by far. No aphrodisiacs, not that anyone recalled, or we would have been having a very different conversation. He is not that far gone, not yet."

Now Rui Bao looked appropriately contrite. Perhaps not a completely lost case. "It's already noon," he said, clearly trying to pivot away from the topic. She let him: she said her part. "Jian Shizhe should have already been here."

"Fifteen minutes before noon, actually," she said, gesturing to the smoldering incense stick at the edge of the table. "He will show."

"Unless he is dead," Wang Yonghao chimed in.

"Dead?" Rui Bao exclaimed, looking between the two of them in worry. "Why would he be dead?"

"All sorts of things happen on the path of cultivation," Qian Shanyi said neutrally, "but I do not think he is dead. For all his other faults, little Shizhe is a fairly competent cultivator."

Rui Bao sighed, and rose, beginning to pace, worry plain on his face. Minutes passed. The noon came and went.

Jian Shizhe did not appear.

"Why is he still not here?" Rui Bao asked, leaning on the table, twenty minutes after noon. There was a small depression on his lip, where he bit it too hard a minute ago.

"He will show," Qian Shanyi repeated neutrally. Asking questions she had no way of knowing right before her duel was flatly rude, but the earlier discussion already annoyed her enough that this barely registered. She wasn't the type to be unbalanced by something like that.

As she glanced over the square again, her eyes caught a spot in the distance, flying through the air, one that soon resolved into a short cultivator standing on top of a flying sword. Building foundation, almost surely - though dressed strangely, in neither robes nor a cloak, a strange, long dark brown garment flapping all around him in the wind. She could see many pockets, and from the glint of metal, could tell that half of the buttons on the front were surely missing. He didn't look like a cultivator, frankly - oily hair, a bit of a stubble. If she passed him on the street, she would not have turned a second eye.

He was also looking directly at her. Their eyes crossed. From this far away, it was hard to tell - but she thought she caught a smile.

"Do you know who that is?" she cautiously asked Rui Bao, gesturing to the strange cultivator as he landed on the square. It was a bit more crowded today than usual, cultivators and ordinary people gathering at the edges for a good show, brought about by the rumors Wang Yonghao spread, but the people parted for the new cultivator. Despite their shared look, the newcomer did not approach, and instead headed directly into one of the restaurants, taking a table with a good view of the square.

"Never seen him before," Rui Bao said, after he realized who she was gesturing at. "Just a loose cultivator, probably."

"Loose building foundation cultivator?" She asked incredulously, glancing back at Rui Bao. "One that looks like a bum? Not to say it couldn't happen, but…"

Wang Yonghao tensed, hearing them speak, and turned to look as well. She caught his eyes, willing him to be calm, and he shook his head, shrugging slightly. Not someone he recognised either, then.

This could be Wang Yonghao's luck again, or it could be nothing. She wasn't even entirely sure that the cultivator was looking at her - from that far away, it could have been any one of them, as they were the most notable group on the square. Surely it was unrelated.

And yet, she felt her skin crawl on the back of her head.

"I could ask, if you want?" Rui Bao said, giving her a pleading look. Trying to make up for his earlier misstep? One could only hope.

"No," she said dismissively after a short pause. "Perhaps he is simply here to watch the duel. Let him be."

She couldn't call off a duel based on a vague suspicion. After they were done - there would be time enough to find out more. And with the crowd of cultivators at the square, perhaps the rumor mill would already do most of the work for them.

It still gnawed at her. Her plan was already stretched to the very limits - any unexpected factors could drive it off course entirely.

Just as she went back to her book, hoping to restore her calm, they all felt a slight tremor pass through the ground. Shatranj figures on the board shook slightly, Wang Muchen grabbing the table to keep it stable.

"What was that?" Rui Bao asked, looking around warily.

"That," Qian Shanyi said, closing her book with a sigh and putting it down on the table. Just her luck. "I think, would be Jian Shizhe."

"Sweet heavenbreakers, what did he do?" Rui Bao whispered in shock, looking out over the long thoroughfare.

Qian Shanyi's guess about where Jian Shizhe would appear was misplaced, and they had to walk a quarter of the way around the central column to see him approach. Rui Bao walked at her side while Wang Yonghao followed a bit behind, bringing their crate along. Wang Muchen stayed behind, told to pack up their table and chairs and move them away from the action.

Far in the distance, a rainbow sun walked above the city skyline on slender legs of light. If Qian Shanyi tuned out the glare, it looked somewhat like a cross between a crab and a porcupine - clawed arms as long as its legs, and a comparatively smaller body, covered in long, razor-sharp spikes of glass, each a good meter long. It stalked closer, the small figure of Jian Shizhe barely visible on its back, moving deceptively slowly and quietly - though sometimes, when he sent it into a run, the earth shook with its sheer mass.

They did not hear any screams, which boded well.

"Brought one of his demon beasts, it seems," Qian Shanyi noted, studying the glass shambler. It was larger than what they expected… but not so much she couldn't slaughter it.

"That is not one of theirs -" Rui Bao snapped at her, before stopping, and drawing a shaky breath. "I've been through their stables. It's freshly caught."

"So it is," she said neutrally, and then turned to Wang Yonghao with a light grin. "Well, Yonghao, how lucky are you feeling today? Leg or stomach?"

"Oh go talk to an Illihveli, Shanyi," he scowled at her joke. She laughed at the insult, and he sighed, turning back to study the demon beast. "I still think it should be the stomach," he said after a moment. "Leg is too risky for you, harder to hit, especially with the glare."

"Stomach is risky too. The scales there are thicker, no?"

Rui Bao glanced between the two of them, face full of slowly dawning terror. "You still want to fight him?"

"Of course," Qian Shanyi said as if it was self-evident. Which it was. "We have a duel scheduled."

"You can't do the duel!" Rui Bao said angrily. "That thing is a danger to everyone!"

The crowd filling the rooftops and edges of the square finally started to notice the creature as well. It churned, like water in a pot of noodles about to boil over, people moving to and fro. Some of them - the smarter ones - have started to leave, or at least move towards easier escape routes. Idiots moved closer.

Even if Qian Shanyi knew she could swiftly kill the creature - the bystanders didn't. And even she wasn't entirely sure she could avoid all collateral damage. But people expected a spectacle, and not catastrophe. They expected things to be under control up until it all went south. At least some of the cultivators were already trying to convince the ordinary people to leave, led by disciples of the Northern Scarlet Stream sect. She didn't have to deal with that problem, on top of everything else.

"Hm." Qian Shanyi smirked at Rui Bao. "I am sure you are mistaken. I was told Jian Shizhe is harmless. Surely he wouldn't bring an untrained demon beast into the middle of town."

The wounded look he gave her almost made up for the annoyance of having to listen to him defend Jian Shizhe. Almost.

"Besides, how will you stop the duel?" she continued in a sober tone, "Claim it is too dangerous? Until it breaks out of control, it is your word against his - and even if you question him, what then? Another duel? You can't put out a fire with more fire." She shook her head. "The only one who could order him to stop is Jian Wei, and I know he still has not returned. At least we have a lot of cultivators here, to put it down quickly if it proves necessary."

She left a letter for Jian Wei when she went to the sect in the morning, describing the broad terms of her deal, and requesting a meeting. He promised to be back today, after all - and Liu Yufei, the disciple who handled his mail, said he should be back about an hour after noon.

Rui Bao's eyes dimmed the longer she talked. Conceding the point. "Do you even have anything that could go through the glass spines?" He asked in dismay. "They are hardened, tough as stone. If you can't climb up, you would have to kill it from the ground."

"I have my ways," she said neutrally. Legal gray zone: best to say as little as she could.

Rui Bao paused, then stepped back from her, looking at her in suspicion. "You knew about this?"

"Suspected." She snorted. "If I knew, I would have told the empire."

Rui Bao bit his lip, glancing back at the glass shambler. It was closing in quickly. "Brain," he said, "I do not know how - but if you want to kill it, you go through the brain. It's under the jaws."

"Aren't shamblers always killed by evisceration?" Wang Yonghao said curiously. "That's what they told me, at least."

"When hunting, the brain is too valuable. But if you eviscerate it here, it will go on a rampage," Rui Bao said, already heading towards the incoming glass shambler. "I'll talk to Shizhe, try to convince him to stop."

"Convince him?" Qian Shanyi laughed. "You are fooling yourself."

"Come now darling, don't underestimate me!" he said, turning back to send her another smile. "And at least it will buy some time for the people to get away from the square."

"Well, thank you for your help," Qian Shanyi called after him, shaking her head slightly. "and for your advice." Turning around, she snapped her fingers at Wang Yonghao. "I'll need more power. Box, two shots instead of three. Let's get them ready."

Rui Bao came to Glass Ridge to have fun, and now his entire morning was ruined. As usual, none of it was his fault. He really wished other people knew how to relax as well as he did.

A little voice in the back of his head whispered that Qian Shanyi was right, that he did ignore Jian Shizhe far too much - but she was not here, and thus easy to put out of his mind. She seemed like a lost cause, anyways - after that look she gave him, he didn't think they had any future.

Oh well. A single sword does not a refiner make, as they say. He felt his usual smile return to his face - light, but confident, like a ray of sunshine through the clouds. Women loved that smile, and he loved his women. Perhaps if he showed off, stopped this duel - he could find another cute disciple for the night. Just something to amuse himself with.

Like this glass shambler Jian Shizhe found. It shone like a lighthouse of doom and slaughter - though not his, of course. Even with this, Jian Shizhe could never hope to beat him.

He hummed a tune as he strolled towards it - at speed, but not so quickly to be rushing. He never rushed. Usually other people would handle things by the time he arrived, which suited the young master of the Flowing Scarlet River sect just fine.

Seeing it in the middle of town had… surprised him for a minute, the prospect of civilian deaths throwing him off his game - but really? They weren't his responsibility in the first place. They were Jian Shizhe's, and that of the Northern Scarlet Stream. Which meant he could once again enjoy himself and not worry too much about it.

"Shizhe! What a beautiful shambler you have there." He called out once he was close, grinning in just the right way he knew put Jian Shizhe on edge. "A new one?"

The glass shambler didn't even slow down. "Out of my way, Rui Bao."

"Is that a way to speak to your friend?" His grin grew. Close up, with a trained eye, he could see a way to climb along one of the legs - there was a trick to it, to not get cut on the glass. He could take it down alone if need be.

In response, Jian Shizhe did something - a twist of the chains, a shouted command - and his glass shambler swiped at Rui Bao with a claw. His sword was out of its scabbard with a single thought, blocking the strike if not the momentum, and he flipped over his head to bleed it off, pirouetting down the street.

"Woah, come on," he said, making a mocking bow with his sword. "If you are here for the duel, then at least talk to your second?"

The danger, the speed - it all gave him such a good rush. Almost like when he dated that building foundation lass, traveling from the Frozen Wastes Mountain, and they made out on top of her flying sword. What was her name again?

The glass shambler stopped, pulling him out of his pleasant memories. "I don't need a second," Jian Shizhe called down from up high.

"Of course you need a second." Rui Bao scoffed. "Are you a duelist or a wet blanket?"

He could feel the disdain, even from this far out - but little Shizhe could never refuse a bait like that. "Fine," Jian Shizhe said, and set the shambler in motion again. "Follow after."

"Come now, at least bring me up?"

A claw came down, slower this time, and Rui Bao hopped on top. It carried him up, above the rooftops, and onto the shambler's back. He hopped off, grabbing onto one of the long black chains encircling the shambler to steady himself. They were all but invisible from down below, beyond the glare of the refracted sun.

As he looked around, he saw dozens of talismans plastered onto the shambler's back, for pacification and control, half of them already burned through. No wonder it was so docile after less than a week of training: not truly tamed, just contained.

He stepped carefully down the length of the demon beast, easily keeping his footing, and came up to stand next to Jian Shizhe. He was secured down, a safety chain around his waist and a pair of control chains in his hands, pulling and twisting them, switching to other chains for other commands.

His robes were clean in the way that a skirt left to hang out in the rain was clean - no stains or smells, but creased, fabric drying in whatever shape it pleased. His eyes were red from the wind and rain, with thick bags under them.

"You look exhausted," Rui Bao said, suppressing an errant yawn of his own. "Sleep well?"

"I will sleep when we are done here," Jian Shizhe ground out, teeth clenched.

Did he sleep at all?

"Mhm. What's your plan for Shanyi?" he said, looking carefully into Jian Shizhe's face.

He was met with a defiant scoff. Was that bloodthirst in his eyes? Jian Shizhe had never killed anyone, but Rui Bao never saw him go this far before either.

"How long have you trained this one?" Rui Bao said, moving to a different question. "Three days?"

"Enough," Jian Shizhe suddenly snapped. His lips twitched unnaturally, face twisting into a grimace. Stimulant overuse, if he ever saw one. "It obeys. That's all that matters."

Rui Bao raised his hands defensively. Jeez, he was never this bad before. Like a dog that was beaten with a stick until flesh and bone gave way to pure snarling fury. He briefly debated if he should push - it wasn't really his job - but it really would be a bad look to let all those civilians die. "And if it breaks free?" he asked.

"It won't," Jian Shizhe gestured to a bag, tied down to one of the chains. The shambler below their feet stepped out into the square, long legs easily avoiding the crowd. "I have two submission seals left if I need them. Now get off, and do your job, second."

Rui Bao sighed. Yeah, trying to talk him down really was a lost cause. He hopped onto a claw again, letting it carry him down to the ground, and looked over the talismans on the sides of the demon beast as he passed.

He never cared for rearing demon beasts - needing to deal with manure and fodder and grooming them always seemed so... outer disciple to him. It still seemed like there were just barely enough talismans for a beast of this size. If it rampaged, would two submission seals stop it? He doubted it, but he was not an expert.

Then again, if he got to kill it and heroically save the audience all around the square, would he not be all the better for it?

He stepped off the claw, and headed towards Qian Shanyi. Whatever preparations she and Wang Yonghao had made, he couldn't see them - she was simply leaning against the pillar of the edge of the world at the center of the square, her leather cloak draped carelessly over her right shoulder, left hand resting casually on the pommel of her sword. Wang Yonghao stood just to her right.

The unimpressed look she gave him as he approached was like a stab straight through the heart - as if he truly was just a stray dog coming over to beg for scraps. His grin faltered, turning into a scowl, before he pulled himself back together.

"Jian Shizhe had granted me the honor of being his second for this duel," he announced, bowing before her and projecting his voice to be heard all across the square. "Who is yours, honorable cultivator Qian Shanyi?"

Her look grew colder still. "Couldn't convince him, huh?" she said quietly. "This is a waste of time."

"It gives people time to leave," he said, equally quietly.

Qian Shanyi glanced around the square, then shrugged. "Everyone who wanted to go had already left. Those who remain think it is safe, because you look ever so confident. No, what it really does is give the demon beast more time to break free, and for the idiots to get their courage back and return."

He couldn't help but glance around just like she did. He felt his confidence falter ever so slightly, before it sprung right back. She wasn't wrong - but then again, he'd need a bit of an audience for his inevitable heroic rescue.

"But very well," Qian Shanyi continued, raising her voice to be heard across the square as well. "Yonghao."

"Yes?"

"Wasn't a question," she said, lowering her voice back down and angling her head in his direction. "You are my second. Just follow Rui Bao's lead, you'll be fine."

Rui Bao nodded in satisfaction, and exchanged bows with Wang Yonghao. More time in the spotlight for him. "Before we begin, would the duelists like to investigate the field?" he called out.

"A waste of time." Jian Shizhe's voice, from high above. Rui Bao shot him an annoyed glare, though he could barely see him beyond the light reflected off the glass shambler. He all but said Rui Bao was wasting his time. Perhaps once Qian Shanyi lost her duel, he'd duel him right after.

Qian Shanyi's lips twitched in disdain. "If cultivator Jian Shizhe does not wish to do so, I won't either," she cut back, letting the whole crowd hear. "In fact," she continued, and Rui Bao suddenly got a terrible feeling. "Cultivator Jian Shizhe," she said with a mocking bow. "Fellow cultivator Rui Bao had advised me last night that we should end this with an apology, and avoid the fight altogether." She paused for emphasis. "So if you would fall down on your knees, kowtow to me and apologize, I will forget all about this duel."

Rui Bao winced, and looked at her, feeling betrayed. That is not what he meant!

All he got in response was a light shrug of one elegant shoulder.

"Is there -" he began, desperately hoping to stall more.

"Enough," Jian Shizhe cut him off, his voice just short of a rage-filled scream. "It is time. Cultivator Shanyi! I am the righteous cultivator Jian Shizhe, of the Northern Scarlet Stream sect! I am the uncontested sword saint of the Dancing Sunlight sword art! I have slaughtered the Four Dragons of the Jagged Canyon, ones that have terrorized the countryside for many months! The glass shambler beneath my feet is the largest one in the history of our sect, chained by my hands alone! All know my name and the weight of my words and deeds! You have offended my honor, and for your insult, you will pay in blood!"

Rui Bao breathed out some tension he held, while he and Wang Yonghao retreated a distance away. That was a very traditional opening to the duel, to exaggerate one's achievements. It let their opponent show more courage, by deciding to proceed with the challenge even if the techniques sounded like they could topple mountains. And it let them save face if they lost - after all, their opponent was so mighty.

If Jian Shizhe bothered to do this - that meant he still wanted to give Qian Shanyi an out, slim as it was.

"Cultivator Jian," Qian Shanyi replied coldly, staring up at the glass shambler. "I am one Qian Shanyi, of the Sky Void Temple sect. I am but a humble seamstress and an immortal chef, with no notable techniques to my name besides those of every obedient and virtuous housewife."

Rui Bao winced again, much harder this time. This was a slap to the face. Was she so tired of living that she sought her own death?

Qian Shanyi bowed deeply. "To slaughter or surrender," she finished.

"To slaughter or surrender!" Jian Shizhe cried out above.

As soon as the last word was spoken, Qian Shanyi's sword burst out of its scabbard, cutting through the air and into the glass shambler's belly. Rui Bao only had a moment to catch sight of some small bundle tied to the sword's handle. The sword buried itself deep into the glass spikes, sending out sparks, jets of spiritual energy fighting against the strength of the glass - and failing. Qian Shanyi frowned, fingers of her left hand folded in a gesture, directing the sword.

Jian Shizhe laughed uproariously. "Pathetic! You expect your trash technique to pierce through my glass shambler? Its scales are as strong as steel! You might as well be asking -"

Rui Bao saw Qian Shanyi twitch her left hand ever so slightly, fingers folded together. He braced himself, but in all the wrong ways.

The explosion tore through all of his senses, as if the entire world shattered and then put itself back together. The body of the shambler jerked upwards, like a ball kicked up by an invisible giant. Jian Shizhe was sent to his knees, barely managing to hold on to the chains around him, as the shambler thrashed in agony.

Ichor and shattered glass spilled out in equal measure, showering the ground beneath in glittering blackness. The blast left behind an enormous gash, a crater in the shambler's body. The shambler stumbled, jerked sideways, its jaws open wide in a scream - silent, for Rui Bao's ears were already ringing deaf.

Still alive. She missed the brain.

With wide eyes, he stared at Qian Shanyi. That was no technique. That was a crystal bomb, and a potent one at that. Where did she get it?

In one smooth movement, Qian Shanyi tossed her leather cloak aside, revealing two more swords she hid beneath it, and sprung into motion, dancing around the shambler's clumsy, agonized strikes. She moved as if she had practiced this exact fight a dozen times already, with a wide, maniacal smile playing out on her face. She clipped one of her swords to her side, the other flashing out of its scabbard, blade parrying claw and pincer.

Where did she get three swords?

There was a second bundle, tied to the handle of the sword clipped to her side. Another crystal bomb?

With damning realization, he thought back on what she said. Sky Void Temple? What sect was that? She never mentioned it before.

Who in the Netherworld's name was this woman?
 
"You don't look worried, for someone ready to duel." Rui Bao said.

[...]

She was worried about the duel, of course - that was why she picked up the book, to keep her mind occupied, instead of going over her plan for the hundredth time.
Don't you hate when people judge you for not reacting to a certain emotional stressor the way they think people should? "You don't look X, which is suspicious, so I'm going to bother you until you explain why you aren't X, or maybe just make a bunch of assumptions about you without letting you get a word in. kthxby"

Wang Muchen looked at her, eyes uncertain. "I can -"

Qian Shanyi glanced at the shatranj board. He seemed to be losing, so perhaps that is why he wanted to flee. "I will pay you two silver yuan to ignore Rui Bao entirely," she drawled, flipping to the next page. "An ignorant dog can hardly sit at the same table as us humans, can it? Rui Bao won't be sitting on any chair of mine."
Here, Shanyi simultaneously displays her respect for non-cultivators and her eagerness to fuck with people who annoy her.

Rui Bao snorted angrily, and pointed at Wang Muchen. "Four yuan to give me your chair."

"Five. Keep ignoring him."

Rui Bao's left eye twitched, a crack passing through his usual nonchalant confidence. "Eight yuan."

"Ten."

"Twelve."

"Fifteen."

"Two golden yuan," Rui Bao snapped, glaring at her, too caught up in the haggling to realize he was being baited. In many ways, he was just as arrogant as Jian Shizhe. He waited a moment, but she stayed quiet, idly flipping to the next page. "Well? Nothing more to say?"

She looked at him as if he was stupid, which he was. "I have just gotten you to pay two gold yuan for a chair you could have gotten from any restaurant around here for free," she said, "what does that make you if not my dog?"
This is, like, one wrong turn from Rabbit Season/Duck Season.
The big difference is that Shanyi does it for pride and/or in service to larger goals, while Bugs does it for love of the game.

At least Rui Bao had the decency to look a bit ashamed. It took less than a week for the pieces to click together for her - but he was friends with Jian Shizhe for years, at least based on the cultivator almanac. It took a blind man to ignore the sun shining down on his face.
It's easy to be blind when everyone tells you the sun is cold. Unless you're one of the people who...gets sunburn...because the blind people...

Okay, this metaphor is actually terrible for the point I'm trying to get at. It sucks that so many men encourage each other to be blind. I'll leave it there.

"I'll talk to Shizhe, try to convince him to stop."

"Convince him?" Qian Shanyi laughed. "You are fooling yourself."

"Come now darling, don't underestimate me!" he said, turning back to send her another smile.
Read the room. When Shanyi calls you a dog, she doesn't mean a golden retriever. She means "by Allah you people are dogs".

"Is that a way to speak to your friend?" His grin grew.

In response, Jian Shizhe did something - a twist of the chains, a shouted command - and his glass shambler swiped at Rui Bao with a claw. His sword was out of its scabbard with a single thought, blocking the strike if not the momentum, and he flipped over his head to bleed it off, pirouetting down the street.
Okay, that seems like a red flag. Either Shize is unusually confident that Bao can defend himself from the beast, or he's not thinking about that risk.

"Now get off, and do your job, second."

Rui Bao sighed. Yeah, trying to talk him down really was a lost cause.
I wonder what Bao thinks about Shanyi knowing his buddy better than he does.

"Fellow cultivator Rui Bao had advised me last night that we should end this with an apology, and avoid the fight altogether." She paused for emphasis. "So if you would fall down on your knees, kowtow to me and apologize, I will forget all about this duel."

Rui Bao winced, and looked at her, feeling betrayed. That is not what he meant!
I assure you, Shanyi knows. Some day, Bao may learn what the secret art of provocation looks like.

That was a very traditional opening to the duel, to exaggerate one's achievements. It let their opponent show more courage, by deciding to proceed with the challenge even if the techniques sounded like they could topple mountains. And it let them save face if they lost - after all, their opponent was so mighty.

If Jian Shizhe bothered to do this - that meant he still wanted to give Qian Shanyi an out, slim as it was.

"Cultivator Jian," Qian Shanyi replied coldly, staring up at the glass shambler. "I am one Qian Shanyi, of the Sky Void Temple sect. I am but a humble seamstress and an immortal chef, with no notable techniques to my name besides those of every obedient and virtuous housewife."

Rui Bao winced again, much harder this time. This was a slap to the face. Was she so tired of living that she sought her own death?
No. She just has a plan and abuses an unhealthy secret art (provocation).

Where did she get three swords?
Stole them from a very lost green-haired question.

The less-stupid question, with a less-stupid answer, is "Why is she carrying three swords?" The answer may surprise you! (Unless, perhaps, you remember some of Shanyi's experiments roundabout chapter 36.)
 
Assuming she wins this duel, which seems likely, it isn't a fake sect. And won't be unless someone challenges her word and defeats her in the subsequent duel.
Which, if she has just defeated Jian Shizhe riding a giant barely controlled landmonster with scales like steel by repeatedly hitting it, him, or both with flying sword-based antitank munitions, will probably not happen for a while.

Unless, of course, idiot duelists are truly common (I gather they are not that much so), in which case she risks running up against 'Fastest Gun In The West' syndrome.

If you want a quiet life, you don't want a reputation as the fastest gun in the West. You want a reputation as the fourth fastest gun in the West. :p
 
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I think the specific techniques Shanyi uses will discourage "Fastest Gun Syndrome". If you show up to claymore duels with the mine, nobody wants to swordfight with you.

Now, if there are enough people who like such "unconventional" dueling techniques, you might find ones who want to prove they can technically-not-cheat better than anyone else. If those people exist, Shanyi is gonna deal with FGS sooner or later.
 
I think the specific techniques Shanyi uses will discourage "Fastest Gun Syndrome". If you show up to claymore duels with the mine, nobody wants to swordfight with you.

Now, if there are enough people who like such "unconventional" dueling techniques, you might find ones who want to prove they can technically-not-cheat better than anyone else. If those people exist, Shanyi is gonna deal with FGS sooner or later.
Eh. The thing is that I'm pretty sure that for cultivators, weird shenanigan techniques aren't always objectively better than just being good at the fundamentals and wary for tricks. Being the warrior who defeated Strong Guy through shenanigans may not register in people's minds as being categorically different from just being the warrior who defeated Strong Guy through strength.
 
Eh. The thing is that I'm pretty sure that for cultivators, weird shenanigan techniques aren't always objectively better than just being good at the fundamentals and wary for tricks. Being the warrior who defeated Strong Guy through shenanigans may not register in people's minds as being categorically different from just being the warrior who defeated Strong Guy through strength.

I'd say it entirely depends on the details. I don't think that shanyi's done anything notably weird yet though. Using a crystal bomb might be extreme, but prepping the arena seems to be well understood by the cultivation population considering that there's a standard offer to examine what's going on. People she duels in the future likely won't let her get away with that unless she's a total unknown (which this fight is about avoiding lmao).

As she glanced over the square again, her eyes caught a spot in the distance, flying through the air, one that soon resolved into a short cultivator standing on top of a flying sword. Building foundation, almost surely - though dressed strangely, in neither robes nor a cloak, a strange, long dark brown garment flapping all around him in the wind. She could see many pockets, and from the glint of metal, could tell that half of the buttons on the front were surely missing. He didn't look like a cultivator, frankly - oily hair, a bit of a stubble. If she passed him on the street, she would not have turned a second eye.

He was also looking directly at her. Their eyes crossed. From this far away, it was hard to tell - but she thought she caught a smile.

"Do you know who that is?" she cautiously asked Rui Bao, gesturing to the strange cultivator as he landed on the square. It was a bit more crowded today than usual, cultivators and ordinary people gathering at the edges for a good show, brought about by the rumors Wang Yonghao spread, but the people parted for the new cultivator. Despite their shared look, the newcomer did not approach, and instead headed directly into one of the restaurants, taking a table with a good view of the square.

Why hello bounty hunter, fancy seeing you here! I wonder how shanyi's gonna wriggle out of his grasp now that he's confirmed her presence.
 
"I saw a man and a woman go into this room. Where's the woman?"
"...chimney?"
"Oh come on, why would she scurry up the chimney?"
"Because you wouldn't expect her to do that."
 
Chapter 73: Speak With Their Tongue, Cleansed Of All Fury
Author Note: Want to read ahead? You can find FOUR patreon-exclusive posts, as well as SEVEN more chapters, over on my patreon, for a low price of 3$, as well as a FREE article where characters discuss questions asked by the readers.
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The central square of Glass Ridge was an open and bustling place, one of commerce and gourmet dining, of deals struck and romances broken. On good mornings, before the center of the square got too hot, peddlers of goods and trinkets would set their stalls around the central column, their cries mixing with the clink of gold and glasses of wine, and on occasion, when a festival descended on the town, even music and dancing. There was plenty of space for everything in this hundred meter-wide circle of sand.

Most days, that is. Today, no peddler dared set their stall in the square, chased off by the rumors of a duel between two cultivators. Today, crowds gathered around the square, standing on rooftops and balconies, in restaurants and filling the streets. Ordinary people mixed together with cultivators, all having come to watch the duel of Jian Shizhe and this secretive woman who had appeared out of nowhere.

Today, the square was filled with chaos. The dry, hissing roar of a glass shambler bounced off the buildings, silencing the shocked murmurs of the crowds, but not the enraged screams of Jian Shizhe, trying to bring his beast to heel. Stomps of spear-sharp legs shook the ground, and the acrid stink of ichor wafted through the air.

Qian Shanyi dived under a swipe of the glass shamber's claw, her fingernails digging into the rough sand below. She slammed herself to a stop just short of one leg that came down from the sky, and then rolled to the side to dodge another. It crashed into the ground, stabbing blindly, again and again, and she leapt up onto her feet, eyes darting around for other danger.

The damnable glare all around the creature made it seem as if all the suns joined forces and came down from the Heavens to hunt her down. The beast was trying to trample her, mad with the pain. But it could not look down, and was simply stabbing blind. It should have been child's play to dance around its strikes.

Should have.

Six enormous legs, two claws - all thrashing with little plan or direction, each as large as a tree tossed away by a hurricane. She could not let her attention slip - even a single mistake in the dance would mean her death.

She needed two seconds. Two seconds of focus, to aim and guide the sword in, to kill this beast for good.

She couldn't get two seconds.

Both claws came after Qian Shanyi - one from the front, one from the back, sweeping low to the ground. She cursed, tossing out one of her ropes, and hooked it on a piece of glass high up on the shambler's leg.

She swung up over one claw and immediately dived below the other, kissing the ground just inches away from the pool of ichor dripping down from up high. The claw passed close enough to ruffle her hair. The other groped around where her rope touched - the creature could feel its own spikes, it seemed.

The brain was small, and this fucking glare made it hard to see the jaws. She already missed once, and she only had the one shot left.

She really needed those two damn seconds.

She spun around, leaping up on her feet again, spitting the sand out. It was time to change her approach, before Jian Shizhe got back his control of the beast. She could faintly hear him still cursing above her, though she had no mind to focus on what he said.

Plan B then.

She sprinted away to one of the legs, and slapped it with her sword to attract the creature's attention. It came for her, claw open wide, and she sprinted away, eyeing it as it closed in.

At the last moment she leaped, turning around in mid air, pushing away from the pincer with one foot and her sword pressed against the glass. The speed of it tossed her away as if by the hand of a giant, and she flew across the square, just where she aimed.

In the air, she spun her flying sword technique around her sword, and sent it down into the ground, her rope trailing behind it. It lodged into the earth like an anchor, and she swung around, bringing her behind the column of the world's edge at the center of the square.

She had gotten there just in time. The glass shambler reared up, and spit a hundred glass shards towards her, each as long and as sharp as a spear. Some shattered against the impenetrable edge of the world, while others embedded themselves in the ground, like stalks of bamboo.

One caught her in the back just as she vanished behind the column, her spiritual shield almost shattering from the impact. If she was still out in the open, she would have been skewered for sure.

She called her sword back to her hand, and tied the rope back around her waist, leaning against the edge of the world to draw a steadying breath. Hiding beneath the creature was meant to keep her safe from the glass spears, but she almost got trampled for her trouble. Talk about being stuck between two tribulations.

She heard the beast lumber after her, screeching in rage, and started to jog in the opposite direction, keeping one shoulder against the world edge. As she ran, she put her hand on the pommel of her second sword - the one with the crystal bomb - and started to channel spiritual energy into it, weaving the flying sword technique anew. She'd need it to kill this thing.

Perhaps on open ground it would have been a challenge to run away - but they were not on open ground. The column was ten meters wide, roughly circular, and the glass shambler was too large to hug its surface. It had to walk a much longer path than her, and it was easy to keep out of its sight, all the way on the opposite side of the column.

Her second sword flew up and ahead of her, circling behind the shambler. With any luck, neither it nor Jian Shizhe could see it.

"You coward!" Jian Shizhe screeched from out of view. "Come out and fight like a true cultivator!"

Ah, did he regain control?

"A coward is one who brings a demon beast to a sword fight!" she called back. She raised her hand, using her first sword as a mirror, to look behind her and around the surface of the column. She caught a glance of Jian Shizhe, his face bright red, teeth bared. Like a beautiful white cloud against a sunset.

Perhaps he thought it was rude of her to interrupt his little speech? Well, everyone made mistakes. She could always let him finish. She needed him livid, so that rage would cloud all his thinking, make him stupid and predictable, but you couldn't rush bringing someone over the edge of all rationality. This was a slow and careful process, like steaming a very fatty dumpling.

"What was it you were saying before, little Shizhe?" she drawled, projecting her voice to carry all across the square. "My trash technique couldn't hope to pierce through those scales?"

Disappointingly, Jian Shizhe did not scream. He did send the glass shambler into a run, and she had to scramble to keep ahead of it. The glass shambler was still bleeding, though slower - all she had to do was wait for it to lose enough ichor that it would stop moving, and then she could easily finish it off.

Or for Jian Shizhe to lose control. Ironically enough, the safest thing might have been if the beast went after the audience. They were a good fifty meters away, and even at a gallop, it'd take it at least four seconds to reach them. Without having to worry about being skewered, aiming calmly, she could easily kill it in two.

They circled the column once, twice, her swift feet easily keeping ahead of the glass shambler, kicking errant glass shards away from the column. She kept her second sword flying behind it, waiting for an opening.

"Perhaps I will feed you to my shambler when I catch you," Jian Shizhe called after her, "then your cowardly bones will at least serve a purpose -"

The glass shambler stumbled, then stopped, screaming again. Its body shook from side to side, like a dog that came out of the water, as it tried to shake its rider off.

"Move, you stupid beast!" Jian Shizhe shouted again. He was trying to do something - pulling on chains, perhaps using talismans, though she could not see clearly - and then she saw glass shambler's claws rise.

Did it break free, decide to kill Jian Shizhe? Or did he plan this?

Trap or opening?

Only a moment to decide.

Little Shizhe, trap? He could not set one up even if I wrote him a manual on how to do it.

She stopped, turned back, stepping closer to the glass shambler. All her attention narrowed down to a point, to the mirror of the sword in her hand. Maneuvering the other sword by its reflection was difficult - but she had trained for this exact contingency with Wang Yonghao.

Her sword flew swift as an eagle and quiet as an owl. The first time, she only had a brief moment to aim. If Jian Shizhe made the glass shambler spit those glass spikes while she was still out in the open, she would have died on the spot - but he predictably wanted to bluster instead. This time, she could take her time.

This time, she didn't miss.

The second explosion was so strong that for a moment, she felt that the world froze, before it clicked back into action. The shambler's scream abruptly ceased, as its entire "face" vanished in a cloud of ichor and glass, the sharp crack of air dampened by her strengthened spiritual shield before it reached her ears. The sheer pressure still whipped her hair behind her.

Jian Shizhe was kicked up, high into the air, only secured down by a chain, and for the first time since she knew him, she saw raw panic on his face.

All strength vanished from the glass shambler's legs, and it collapsed, yanking Jian Shizhe after it by his own restraints. It slammed against the ground like a third crystal bomb, sending clouds of sand and dust up into the air, shaking the ground. She stumbled, but kept her footing.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the glass shambler's jaws skip off the sand and lodge themselves into the wall of a restaurant, just above the door, before the sand reached her, and then she only saw three feet ahead.

Jian Shizhe's fate was obscured from her vision entirely.

Her ears were not so fortunate. A scream of incoherent rage rebounded across the square, silencing the sudden cheers of their audience.

Qian Shanyi barely held herself from laughing. She saw how proud he was of that glass shambler. He must have come here expecting an easy fight, just to show off in front of the ordinary people. No such luck - and now she literally slammed his face into the ground.

He did manage to give the people a good show, so there was that. But she wanted to make it a great one. She was going to take him apart, piece by little piece.

Qian Shanyi bravely strolled straight through the billowing clouds of dust and sand, Hui Yin's technique keeping sand out of her eyes. It was a shame nobody else could see her. "You've brought a pile of meat to a duel with an immortal chef?" she taunted. This steamed dumpling was just about ready, but he needed that final push. "Can't say I see the strategy!"

"YOU DARE?!" Jian Shizhe roared back at her. Delicious. "Death! Death upon you! Death upon your parents and grandparents, your children and grandchildren, death upon your siblings and cousins, your aunts and uncles, and ESPECIALLY DEATH UPON THAT WORM WANG YONGHAO!!!"

Qian Shanyi felt Jian Shizhe's spiritual energy far before she saw him, and slowed down, coming close to the glass shambler's massive flank. They both stopped just on the edge of each other's vision in the cloud of sand, circling around, studying each other, Qian Shanyi with a playful smirk and Jian Shizhe with the fury of a beaten, cornered animal that just last night thought itself a king of its little forest. Resentment dripped out of his eyes like bloody tears.

Could she manage to give him a qi deviation in a single duel? Hm.

He looked as if he was passed through a grinder - cuts all across his arms and face from when he fell down onto his own shambler, blood staining the front of his robes. Seems his spiritual shield was not quite strong enough to withstand a sudden fall from ten meters up onto razor-sharp glass. The sand grains sparkled around him, pushed away by the spiritual energy as he reconstituted it.

His steps were jerky, uneven. A sprained ankle, on top of his prosthetic, or did he simply spend no time adjusting to it, busy with his shambler? The cuts were healing - but slowly. A weak pill, whatever he had brought along with him.

But it was his face that was the most telling. From up close, she could see the signs, the little twitches, the glint in the eyes, thick bags under them. Familiar, from when she almost did this to herself, preparing for her tribulation. A stimulant overdose - though even she never went this far. He must have not slept at all since she challenged him.

No surprise there, if he wanted to train this shambler in time - but all the better for her. Ivory of the Rampaging Divine Ape got less and less effective the longer it was taken, needing a detoxification period to return back to full effectiveness - which she had done, and he had clearly not. For all that both of them have taken some, he'd be slower.

"Any more tricks," Jian Shizhe spat, first to break the silence. That scream of his was like the flow of beef stew out of a pot that had simmered for hours, finally boiling over, leaving behind the most delicious demiglace of fury, thick and viscous. "Crystal bombs, hidden weapons? Go on then, you dishonorable wretch, bring them out!"

"Of course I have more," Qian Shanyi said, giving him a confident glance, but deliberately stiffening her expression, eyes darting around. Like she was a terrible liar. Easy bait, when Jian Shizhe had not known how good her lies were, not yet. "You best surrender before I blow your head up!"

She gestured with her sword, pushing on the edge of her sleeve with her spiritual energy to obscure the handle. As if she was very badly hiding yet another crystal bomb.

Jian Shizhe stared at her for three long seconds, before he started to laugh. "No," he said, confidence slowly returning to his voice. "You have nothing. This is all you had!"

He stepped closer to her, unsheathing his enormous sword from his back, and she raised her own to match.

"I'm warning you for the final time, Jian Shizhe," she said with a serious tone, "you best surrender while your pride is still mostly intact!"

His laughter bubbled over into hysteria. Fully cooked. "Surrender and die quietly, like the dog you are!" he roared, and sprung at her.

She kept her distance, deflecting his strikes, and led him deeper into the clouds of dust. Even with both his feet in bad shape, he was easily keeping up.

She kept her expression tense, as if her ruse had been broken - but in her heart of hearts, she cheered.

Come on, you little dumpling. Leap right into the jaws of doom.

How do you win against an opponent that outclasses you? One you cannot kill, lest their sect take revenge, but that can easily kill you?

You build your victory like a tower, block by block, within their own mind. You paint a false reality, a bridge of smoke and shadow. One that only looks like a bridge - but can bear no weight.

And then you invite them to walk across.

Because in a fight between cultivators, even a single wrong move spells defeat.

Steel clashed against steel, sand swirling, spiritual energy roiling. Death and slaughter filled the air as two cultivators fought for their life.

For all that Jian Shizhe was injured, exhausted, and squinting against the sand in his eyes - he was still a master with his sword. Qian Shanyi could barely even get close.

He swung his sword wide, blade sending out glass shards where it crashed into the tall spikes of glass spat out by the glass shambler, and she stepped back, shielding her face with her sleeve. Her sword touched the tip of his, pushing it past her, before she closed in, stepping left.

His prosthetic foot was still stiff, leaving a big opening she had trained for. Her sword met his flank for the briefest moment, and his spiritual energy shield flared, blocking the strike perfectly, with barely even a whiff of energy wasted.

And then his sword was there again, and she had to scramble back before he took her head off.

Like fighting a tree in a furious storm. Even if you could get past the whirling branches, a score on the bark meant little. Glancing strikes, never enough space to go for a kill.

Left, left, lunge, right, left, left, strike, left, right…

Jian Shizhe's face grew stern as he fought, fury seeping away to reveal a mask of focus, but she could still feel it bubbling underneath. It must have stung, to know that his fighting style was now marred, imperfect, because of a foot he lost saving her. With any hope, it'd teach him a bit of humility.

No real chance of that, but one could still hope.

"Stop dodging!" Jian Shizhe snarled as she stepped left once again.

"Stop missing," she replied coldly.

He snarled, going for a vertical strike, and when she stepped to the left, he pivoted on his foot, the other coming for her face. She stumbled back from the spin-kick, her spiritual shield flickering slightly. The slimy fucker was quick to adapt, if nothing else.

Instead of following up on his strike, Jian Shizhe lept back, and raised his sword above his head, beginning to spin it in a figure-eight pattern, faster and faster.

Qian Shanyi circled around him. Very, very dangerous. She wasn't sure if she could withstand even a single strike from that, and if she got close, it would be far from a single strike. He'd take her head off for sure - but that sort of technique was tiring. He'd have to attack or stop soon.

"What, scared?" Jian Shizhe grinned maliciously. The sand had mostly settled down around them, even if dust had not. She could see some of the audience now, far away, on roofs and balconies. "Your death is certain. I will avenge my honor."

"You dishonored yourself," she scoffed. "If you want vengeance, seek it in a mirror."

"I am Jian Shizhe, son of Jian Zhexuan, young master of the Northern Scarlet Stream sect!" Jian Shizhe spoke, projecting his voice over the square. No longer addressing her. "Your pathetic tricks will be no match for our Dancing Sunlight sword art! Even crossing swords with me is a privilege you frankly do not deserve."

He was playing to the crowd. Was this duel about something more for him, just as it was for her? What was his goal? To stake a claim for being the true heir to his sect, gather allies, disciples, or to make her out to be an enemy of all his people?

Too many possibilities, and no time to think through them. If he wanted to cross swords of rhetoric as well as steel, she would just have to destroy him twice over.

"Behold," Jian Shizhe said, his sword melting into a blur, air screaming as it struggled to get out of the way. "This is the essence of all sword styles, of all cultivation!"

He sprung at her, his sword still spinning, too fast to dodge. She Cursed, and he angled a pass of his sword to slice the technique in half - but she wasn't aiming at him. Her technique hit the sand beneath his feet, and the explosion of sand into his eyes made him flinch.

Even blind, he still struck at her neck, following her spiritual energy - but she already had her sword up. Steel pushed against steel, and she used his own momentum to close into his range and kick him in the balls.

He could sense her spiritual energy, but he couldn't sense a blade of metal that held none.

"How arrogant of you, to think you can speak for all cultivators," she sneered, stabbing him in the stomach while he blinked sand out of his eyes. His spiritual shield held, and she had to dance back before he could retaliate. "To cultivate is to rebel against the Heavens, and what rebellion do you offer? To be tied to your belt, following your every beck and call like a pathetic dog? Your cultivation is weak, and your mind is even weaker."

"Arrogance is the right of a cultivator," he snarled, spinning his sword up again, "Not of a dog like you, biting at the heels of humans."

He sprung at her again, and she Cursed at his feet, but this time, he angled his sword to parry the sand itself, a burst of spiritual energy from his forehead scattering the rest. A trick could only fully work once.

She tried to block, but his strike tore her sword out of her grip, and then the second swing slammed into her side, sending her flying away. Her spiritual shield shattered entirely when she hit the ground, rolling away. She wheezed, coughing up blood on the sand, her left hand coming up to cradle her ribs. She crawled away, eyes darting around for her sword.

She glanced behind herself. She was just about halfway between the column at the center of the square and where Wang Yonghao and Rui Bao stood, following after the duel, but not interfering. Wang Yonghao gave her a pitying look, and she gave him a slight grin, before turning back towards her opponent. Jian Shizhe couldn't have seen her expression.

"Beg for your death, dog," Jian Shizhe sneered, strolling towards her unhurriedly. "And I will make it quick. Or forswear your honor and surrender, like the coward that you are."

"You were right," she said, ignoring his posturing. She chuckled grimly, supporting herself with one shaky hand. "Arrogance is the right of every cultivator, or how could we rebel against the Heavens? But that arrogance has only one response!"

Jian Shizhe saw her other hand reach behind her back, but did not stop. He already knew what was there: a knife, a feeble, last attempt at resistance. He saw her use them in the tribulation, how she carried them on her back, in that exact spot. He knew she was an immortal chef, and she brought it up, again and again, keeping it in his thoughts. He knew she had no more tricks left, that this was it, her sword too far away, defenseless, injured, spiritual shield weakened, and now, finally, Qian Shanyi's head will roll and he will be rid of this pest upon his life because she will DIE -

She did not draw a knife. She drew a chakram.

"So behold," she hissed as it flared in a flash of electric sparks, instantly drawing an entire liter of blood straight out of her body to power itself. "Tribulation!"

The panic in Jian Shizhe's eyes glowed far brighter than the reflected flash of light. He tried to defend, to block, abort his swing, but his sword was too far off the line, swung overhead with all his might. For all his skill, even he could not move faster than lightning.

The bolt of current slammed into his chest, and he was sent flying, crashing into the pillar of the edge of the world with his back. He slid down to the ground, his spiritual shield shattered entirely, too dazed to move. Somehow, he still kept a hand on his sword.

Qian Shanyi got up on her feet, her weakness mostly feigned. A trick could only properly work once - it was his mistake to use the same technique twice in a row. She judged the strength of his strike the first time, and took the hit willingly, knowing where she would fall. In his rage, he didn't even notice her leading him to this exact spot - let alone how strange her decisions have been.

The sudden blood loss from the chakram made her dizzy, and she forced the blood vessels in her arms and legs to squeeze tighter, pushing more blood into her head. She had tried using the chakram several times during her training, to learn how to aim the lightning, but this was the most blood she had ever given it by far. Hitting the right balance between power and not passing out was tricky. Without Wang Yonghao's help… she didn't think she could have managed it.

She stumbled over to a patch of the ground, and pushed her hand through the sand, grabbing the rope she left there a night ago, pushing her spiritual energy into it, weaving her rope control technique, linking it to her gloves.

Twin lassos of rope forced themselves out of the sand exactly where Jian Shizhe fell, tightening around his feet and pulling them apart. He scrambled, raising his sword to cut the ropes, still dazed and clumsy. His spiritual shield flickered, just barely reconstituted before the ropes closed in around his skin.

"Stop," she spoke, and he did, for a brief moment. She unbound her lasso from her waist, swishing it in the air and sending it flying while she slowly walked closer. "Drop your sword."

If he was not dazed, if he was in full health, if he was standing instead of half-lying on the ground, feet pulled apart into a full split, he could have dodged, or cut her curse technique out of the air. It was easy to sense, and for someone of his skill, barely a threat. There was a reason she did not even try aiming it at him while they fought.

If, if, if… If only. He wasn't. It hit him in the face.

He still resisted it, not dropping the sword, but his grip slackened. Her lasso caught his sword, and with a twist of her feet and a pull of her shoulders she yanked it away. It sailed through the air and she caught it with one hand, freeing her lasso, her lips split in triumph.

"Thank you for this gift, Jian Shizhe," she said, grinning wider still as she examined his sword. "An excellent make, though a bit too long for my style."

Jian Shizhe's eyes were glued to his sword, teeth clenched. She expected him to say something inane about returning it, but perhaps he was too proud to admit he even truly lost it. Instead, he tried to stretch over to his foot, pulling at the rope - but without anything to cut with, even his own nails flat and trimmed, it was fruitless. She kicked any errant glass shards away from that spot while they were running around the column.

Her plan worked, and it felt wonderful. She couldn't resist, doing a little spin where she stood. This duel was over, even if he didn't realize it yet.

If she wanted to kill him now, it would have been child's play. But she couldn't kill him, or Jian Wei would bury her alive. And he would never surrender. So she had to create a third option.

"Come now, this is no time to get distracted," she chided him, hefting his sword on her shoulder and swirling her lasso in the air with her other hand. "we are in a duel! Raise your hands."

The Curse sped off towards him, a barest blur in the air. Just before it reached him, Jian Shizhe reared back and punched it, smashing the technique into bits, his fist glowing with spiritual energy. His lips were split in a snarl, staring her down.

Qian Shanyi raised an eyebrow at him. She knew for a fact that he was not a body fundamentalist - for him, a punch like that must have been a huge waste of his reserves. All the better for her.

Best to be careful. Tied down or not, it would be foolish to discount Jian Shizhe. He would never surrender, never concede defeat, not while he was still so full of rage and hatred that he seemed to have lost any ability to speak. But she could afford to be methodical now. Pick a safe approach.

She quickly picked up her own sword off the ground, sliding it back into its scabbard, before approaching Jian Shizhe, hefting his own massive sword in her hands. She swung it overhead, not putting any spiritual energy into strengthening her swing. The blade struck Jian Shizhe on the shoulder, but bounced off his spiritual energy shield.

He snarled at her triumphantly, still trying to pull at the rope around his foot. He had nothing to fear from a weak strike like that.

So she struck him again.

And again.

And again.

The spiritual shield was a tricky technique. On the one hand, it granted cultivators an almost perfect level of protection. But on the other - blocking each strike still used up your spiritual energy reserves. With skill, this was only a relatively small amount, only strengthening the part of the shield that was struck… but she was not wasting any energy on striking him.

Chip by little chip, like carving away at a mountain.

His blustering glare turned to confusion, then to worry, then to apprehension. He pulled harder on his ropes, but they were solid. She tested them with Linghui Mei - even after an entire hour, the kitsune couldn't pull those knots apart without her claws.

She heard the crowds murmur behind her, some in confusion, others in shock. Jian Shizhe, down on the ground, being beaten with a stick like a petulant disciple. With his own sword. But if he thought this was the lowest he'd fall today…

"You still don't seem to understand, little Shizhe," she said coldly. "There is only one way this ends. Surrender."

"Shut your mouth, you honorless whore," he snarled, panic once again rising up in his eyes.

"Shizhe," Rui Bao called out from somewhere behind her, "she is right. You've lost."

Jian Shizhe did not respond. She sighed, simply continuing her monotonous work.

To slaughter or surrender they swore, but she could neither kill him nor force him to surrender. So she had to go with a third option. To destroy him so thoroughly it would leave no doubt in anyone's mind she could have slaughtered him like a pig, and chose not to. An even graver insult to his honor, a dire humiliation, to not even bother killing him - one that could mean a second, fully justified duel - but she had a different solution in mind for that.

It took four minutes of her hammering at his spiritual shield for his reserves to run out. His spiritual energy shield buckled on one side, bent, and finally broke, dissolving into nothing. Jian Shizhe looked exhausted, his muscles sagging, no longer having any spiritual energy to support them. Even the flow of spiritual energy through his pores and around his body shuddered, slowing down to a crawl.

Qian Shanyi stepped back and stuck his sword in the ground. Time for the final step.

"I told you that you should have fallen down on your knees and apologized, did I not?" She asked coldly, pulling out a long spool of thread out of her pocket, and a crude cloth puppet, with a much shorter thread wrapped around it. "You should have listened."

She let the thread unfold, pouring spiritual energy into it, linking it to the thread around the puppet. She made the long thread crawl along the ground, hook around Jian Shizhe's foot, and then begin to spiral around his leg, slowly crawling upwards along his body beneath his robes.

He tried to fight it, to rip it away from his skin - but by now, he was too tired to manage even that. It only slowed her down a fraction.

The thread encircled his waist, his chest, and passed onto his arms, locking them in place through the force of her spiritual energy, parts of the thread linked to the puppet, parts to her gloves. Soon, it wound all around his body, from his feet up to his fingers and his neck. The only things Jian Shizhe could still freely move were his eyes and tongue.

Controlling him like this was a chore, but she had some practice - once again with Linghui Mei - and with Jian Shizhe, she didn't feel like being careful. If he hurt, he hurt. She released the ropes holding his feet - no need for them anymore - and twisted the cloth puppet's legs, forcing him to sit down, kneel, back bowed low to the ground, arms stretched forwards.

A humble petitioner before an empress. He snarled at her, spitting and sputtering. Completely helpless.

When she explained what she was going to do to Wang Yonghao, he said it was too much. She told him to swallow it. Slugs like Jian Shizhe did not learn at all until they had no pride left to cling to.

Moving his body was easy enough with only her hands, but that was not enough for the next part. She took out a third piece of thread, and put it into her mouth, making it curl all the way around her tongue, lips and teeth. Long thread on Jian Shizhe's body did much the same.

"Look at me, Jian Shizhe," she said coldly, forcing his neck to bend back so that he would do as instructed with a flick of her fingers. His muscles strained against the thread, but it was useless. "An apology is in order."

She linked the thread in her mouth to the one in his, and twisted all fingers in his hands beyond their limits. Not to break, but to hurt.

"Aa-I-apohl-oghizze!" she spoke with his mouth, his pained groan giving voice to her own words, letting them carry all across the square. The despairing fury in his eyes was grimly satisfying, a strange contrast to her earlier jubilation at her plan working.

"Apology accepted," she pronounced with a smile, switching the linked thread in his mouth to her gloves. No reason to let him speak more. With a twist of her fingers, she made the thread around his throat tighten, cutting off his circulation, until he fell unconscious. Bending down, she pulled out her sword, and carefully cut a line around his throat: superficial, barely a papercut across the skin. The point was in the message.

I could have slaughtered you, and chose not to.

She turned around, picked up his sword and hefted it onto her shoulder. Her trophy, now. She'd need it. She breathed out, her mind already clearing up. This duel was done.

"Did you… have to be this vicious?" Rui Bao said, coming over. He whistled slightly. The crowds behind him were growing raucous, shocked whispers spreading of what they all saw.

She arched an eyebrow at him. "Falling off his own glass shambler wounded him far more than anything I did," she said dismissively, "He'd recover in a day."

"I wasn't talking about the wounds," he whispered.

"The man wished death upon my family," she threw back, strolling past him. "I am already treating him with the softest gloves I have, and only out of my respect for his sect."

Winning the duel was the easy part. Now it was time for the hard part: the consequences. Making sure that winning it would still let her see tomorrow.

It was time to talk to Jian Wei.
 
The bounty hunter strikes me as the kind of guy observant enough to know her utter destruction of Jian Shizhe isn't the kind of thing she can repeat at will.

He also strikes me as the kind of guy who realizes what kind of utter shitstorm he'd be dropping on his client's head if he dragged her back right now. This is a really bad moment to be claiming responsibility for Qian Shanyi's actions.
 
"You coward!" Jian Shizhe screeched from out of view. "Come out and fight like a true cultivator!"

Ah, did he regain control?

"A coward is one who brings a demon beast to a sword fight!" she called back.
I know demon beast taming is an honorable form of cultivation, but I think Shanyi has a point.

The glass shambler stumbled, then stopped, screaming again. Its body shook from side to side, like a dog that came out of the water, as it tried to shake its rider off.

"Move, you stupid beast!" Jian Shizhe shouted again. He was trying to do something - pulling on chains, perhaps using talismans, though she could not see clearly - and then she saw glass shambler's claws rise.
Actually, "taming" might be too honorable a word for what Shizhe's done.

He did manage to give the people a good show, so there was that. But she wanted to make it a great one. She was going to take him apart, piece by little piece.

Qian Shanyi bravely strolled straight through the billowing clouds of dust and sand, Hui Yin's technique keeping sand out of her eyes. It was a shame nobody else could see her. "You've brought a pile of meat to a duel with an immortal chef?" she taunted. This steamed dumpling was just about ready, but he needed that final push. "Can't say I see the strategy!"

"YOU DARE?!" Jian Shizhe roared back at her. Delicious.
Shanyi definitely knows what she's doing. I'd want to applaud if there weren't people trying to sleep a few rooms away.

She did not draw a knife. She drew a chakram.

"So behold," she hissed as it flared in a flash of electric sparks, instantly drawing an entire liter of blood straight out of her body to power itself. "Tribulation!"
Damn. A finisher that takes a full fifth of Shanyi's blood? Maybe closer to a quarter—Shanyi's spiritual shield protected her from most blows, but she's bled a bit.

The thread encircled his waist, his chest, and passed onto his arms, locking them in place through the force of her spiritual energy, parts of the thread linked to the puppet, parts to her gloves. Soon, it wound all around his body, from his feet up to his fingers and his neck. The only things Jian Shizhe could still freely move were his eyes and tongue.

Controlling him like this was a chore, but she had some practice - once again with Linghui Mei - and with Jian Shizhe, she didn't feel like being careful. If he hurt, he hurt. She released the ropes holding his feet - no need for them anymore - and twisted the cloth puppet's legs, forcing him to sit down, kneel, back bowed low to the ground, arms stretched forwards.

A humble petitioner before an empress. He snarled at her, spitting and sputtering. Completely helpless.
Yeesh. Oh geez. This is a lot. This is supervillain bullshit. A bit less so since she's doing it so she has an excuse not to kill him, but still.
 
How do you win against an opponent that outclasses you? One you cannot kill, lest their sect take revenge, but that can easily kill you?

I would think that in the context of the previous explanations of how honor culture works among cultivators, a reputation for having a sect that will take revenge against anyone you lose a duel to would be nearly as bad as a reputation for being a coward. You might as well have brought them to the fight to gang up on your opponent in the duel itself.
 
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I would think that in the context of the previous explanations of how honor culture works among cultivators, a reputation for having a sect that will take revenge against anyone you lose a duel to would be nearly as bad as a reputation for being a coward. You might as well have brought them to the fight to gang up on your opponent in the duel itself.
You misinterpret it, it's not killing in reaction to having lost a duel but swearing revenge in response to having the sect heir/young master killed.
It's quite common for something to this effect happening in the Icelandic sagas, essentially not swearing revenge dishonours the dead as well that it shows that you're unwilling to punish someone for incurring such damages upon you where they being a loose cultivator are unable to pay for the amount of damage caused with anything but their life, of course within context it's also stated to only apply to loose cultivators presumably for the fact that the winner's sect could pay the cost of the incurred damages.
 
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You misinterpret it, it's not killing in reaction to having lost a duel but swearing revenge in response to having the sect heir/young master killed.

Someone whose death will be avenged should be regarded as having no right to challenge for a duel "to slaughter or surrender" then.

If anyone in the audience believed for a minute what she believed, that Jian Wei would kill her if she killed him, then that is the same thing as him having a reputation as not really putting his life on the line to defend his honor as a cultivator should.
 
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Someone whose death will be avenged should be regarded as having no right to challenge for a duel "to slaughter or surrender" then.

If anyone in the audience believed for a minute what she believed, that Jian Wei would kill her if she killed him, then that is the same thing as him having a reputation as not really putting his life on the line to defend his honor as a cultivator should.
I disagree, if she has the right to kill his nephew then he also has the right to kill her in response, just because he'll be avenged doesn't mean that honour is not lost, being avenged is necessary because he lost his honour and in being avenged his honour is restored or rather his family's.
 
I would think that in the context of the previous explanations of how honor culture works among cultivators, a reputation for having a sect that will take revenge against anyone you lose a duel to would be nearly as bad as a reputation for being a coward.
There's a big difference between "revenge against anyone who beats one of our members in a duel" and "revenge against anyone who kills one of our Young Masters, even in a duel".

Both the difference between "beat in a duel" and "kill" and the difference between "member" and "Young Master" are significant here. On one hand, this only applies to a certain class of member with special privileges. On the other hand, it only applies if that privileged member ends up dead as a doornail. In this kind of culture, governed more by honor than law, no elite clan can let members of their leading families just get murdered. They have to respond in some way, or they'll seem weak and defenseless!
 
Someone whose death will be avenged should be regarded as having no right to challenge for a duel "to slaughter or surrender" then.
Dueling is illegal, so he doesn't have that right. That leaves it as a matter of upbringing and sect discipline more than anything.

Jian Wei should have taught Shizhe to be more patient and less prickly about his honor, but he didn't. Maybe he mistook lax discipline as a sign of love. Maybe Shizhe was careful to keep his attitude in check wherever word might get back to Jian Wei. Maybe Jian Wei approved of Shizhe's dueling habit.
 
Dueling is illegal, so he doesn't have that right.
I'm talking about the cultural rules (which are well established to have a notion of a kind of challenge that can be refused without loss of honor due to being somehow illegitimate - a challenge to the death that's backed up by someone who will kill the winner for killing the challenger ought to qualify), not the laws of the Empire.

Every duel that he has won, he has won via fear of his father instead of his own merits.
 
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Every duel that he has won, he has won via fear of his father instead of his own merits.
Except that honour isn't only tied to merit but also to the sect and to his family, killing him is dishonourable because it's a statement of disrespect towards his family which must be rectified.
These kinds of cultural rules and traditions aren't as straightforward or clear cut as you seem to think because they come about incrementally due to various circumstances over centuries, fear and respect for his father is part of his honour.

To dig a little deeper: killing him whose family is of high standing and good renown is dishonourable to them and requires a response which with shanyi being a loose cultivator shall have no further consequence, doing as shanyi has however only dishonours shizhe which him losing the duel already does, her forcing him to apologise and then pass out was just salt in the wound though also necessary because he wouldn't surrender, she keeps her honour by not disrespecting his family or sect by killing him and in fact is seen to be honourable because in having won the duel and obtained her apology she has rightfully rectified the slight against herself by shizhe's dishonourable actions of trying to enter her room without permission, all while avoiding further slight to the scarlet stream sect or to shizhe's family who would have to respond in kind, shizhe issued the challenge and so long as he is alive by the end of it, no one else need be involved.
 
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