The Night of the Finals
On the night before the finals, Long Tian did not train too late.
He sat cross-legged on his bed, three Soul Rings revolving slowly in his dantian. After letting Light and Dark Qi rub against each other back and forth at the edges of his body for about half an hour, he ended his cultivation. He could feel that his meridian walls had grown much wider and tougher than when he first arrived in Spirit City. The pain when his Soul Power converged had changed from a sharp, knife-like agony to a dull ache and swelling. Slow, but it was certainly getting better. He closed the diagrams and lay down, gazing at the blurry halo of streetlight on the ceiling. His heart was much calmer than it had been on the previous few nights.
The rustle of Chen Hao turning pages came from the next room, occasionally mingled with Zhao Xiaopang's murmured sleep talk. Amid those faint sounds, Long Tian closed his eyes and slept without dreaming.
On the day of the finals, the stands were even more crowded than they had been for the semifinals. People even lay atop the walls around the Martial Arts Square. Several children crouched there, craning their necks to see into the arena, and only reluctantly jumped down after patrolling guards shouted at them twice. Long Tian sat in the waiting area, the seat across from him empty. His opponent in the final had yet to arrive. He had only seen the man's name the previous night: Zhang Yueming, whose Martial Soul was the Mysterious Light Mirror, with Soul Power at level sixteen. He was a student at a local academy in Spirit City. He had lost to Gu Yan in the semifinals, then fought his way up through the losers' bracket. His final match there had lasted a full incense stick's time, and he had relied on the Mysterious Light Mirror's reflection ability to wear his opponent down completely.
Zhao Xiaopang crouched beside Long Tian and lowered his voice. "I asked around. Zhang Yueming's Mysterious Light Mirror can reflect ranged Soul Skills. Light Bullet is useless against him, and his mirror can reveal Shadow Stealth too. If you want to fight him, you have to get close and fight hand to hand, but he has a way to cut people with his mirror at close range too. He's really troublesome."
Long Tian nodded, his gaze passing through the crowd to the stands opposite. The man in gray had not appeared. His absence from a match as important as the final was worth pondering. Did he feel he had already seen through everything Long Tian had and there was no need to watch again, or was he tied up with other important business?
As he was thinking, the referee stepped onto the stage. At the other end of the waiting area, a stocky youth strode over in the silver-white uniform of Spirit City Academy. He held a palm-sized bronze mirror, its surface shimmering with a warm luster. Zhang Yueming looked broader than Long Tian, but his steps were steady. Reflections from the mirror shone in his pupils, and his whole face gleamed faintly in the sunlight. He sat down opposite Long Tian. The two exchanged a glance across the waiting-area railing, but neither spoke.
The first match was the final for the thirteen-year-old group. Chen Hao stepped onto the stage from the other side, facing a tall, slender youth whose Martial Soul was the Ice Serpent. With Soul Power at level eighteen, he was the top seed in Spirit City Academy's thirteen-year-old group. Cheers rose from below the stage when Chen Hao's three Soul Rings lit up, but three rings also lit up beneath the feet of the youth with the serpent Martial Soul. Their colors were deeper, and the last ring glimmered faintly with dark purple light.
Long Tian sat up straight in the stands.
Chen Hao fought harder than expected. The Ironback Wolf's advantage in speed gave him little benefit against the Ice Serpent. Every sweep of his opponent's palm sent frost spreading over the ground, hindering Chen Hao's footwork again and again. But Chen Hao used the explosive power of his Second Soul Skill to charge three times in succession. On the third attempt, he finally tore a crack in the ice wall and forced the youth with the serpent Martial Soul back half a step. Unfortunately, half a step was his limit. The Ice Serpent's Third Soul Skill, Frost Explosion, detonated at close range. Chen Hao was swept off the stage in a cloud of ice shards. He landed on one knee, bracing himself with his short staff to keep from falling, but he was already outside the bounds of the arena.
When the referee declared his defeat, Chen Hao looked up at the stands, his gaze meeting Long Tian's across the distance. He neither smiled nor gritted his teeth. He simply stood, brushed the ice chips from his knee, and walked back to the waiting area. He made a quick gesture toward Long Tian, jabbing his thumb down before flipping it up, meaning, "Don't lose like I did. Seize your chance to turn things around."
Long Tian stood and stepped onto the stone platform for the final.
Zhang Yueming took his place opposite him, the bronze mirror turning slowly in his palm and reflecting the sky and the shifting figures in the stands. When his first Soul Ring lit up, ripples like waves spread across the mirror. His second ring lit up immediately afterward, and the mirror no longer reflected its surroundings. Instead, it showed a chaotic mass of light and shadow, as though light had been shattered and pieced back together.
At the referee's signal, Long Tian moved first. He did not test his opponent from a distance with Light Bullet. He had learned about the Mysterious Light Mirror's ability to reflect attacks beforehand; using a ranged Soul Skill would be like smashing his fist against its surface. He spread his wings and closed in, golden light gathering in his right palm as he struck straight at Zhang Yueming's shoulder! Zhang Yueming turned sideways and blocked with the bronze mirror. Bang! The palm strike landed on the mirror without hurting his opponent in the slightest. Instead, Long Tian felt an equal force rebound from its surface, numbing the web between his thumb and forefinger.
What a powerful rebound! He used the returning force to pull half a step back, then swept his left wing of shadow and circled to Zhang Yueming's side, silently striking out with dark mist in his left palm. Zhang Yueming reacted with lightning speed, turning the bronze mirror to block his flank. The dark mist struck the mirror and bounced back, forcing Long Tian to twist away. It swept past his ear and struck the stone platform, leaving a patch of white frost.
"Your ranged light and dark attacks can't get through, and even if you strike the mirror up close, they'll be reflected right back," Zhang Yueming said at an even pace, standing with the mirror in hand. "For every punch you throw, you'll take one yourself. If this drags on, you'll be the one to run out of strength."
Long Tian did not answer. He stared at the mirror. The patterns of light flowing across its surface kept a steady rhythm, and it could reflect attacks of both light and dark attributes. That meant the Mysterious Light Mirror's reflection mechanism made no distinction between attributes-it simply sent whatever Soul Power struck it back the way it came, whether light or darkness. But what if what struck it wasn't pure light or pure darkness to begin with?
He stepped back three paces and planted his feet, bringing his palms together. All three Soul Rings in his dantian shook at once, and he threw the first and second gates completely open in a single motion! Light and Dark Qi mingled violently in his dantian, and chaotic-colored light pumped through his meridians and surged into his arms. A ball of chaotic light gathered in his right palm, gold and black flowing across its surface, while the shadow in his left palm was wrapped in a chaotic edge. He thrust both palms forward at once. The chaotic light ball and chaotic shadow, one bright and one dark, attacked Zhang Yueming from two directions, one aimed at his front and the other at his feet!
Zhang Yueming raised the bronze mirror before him, the patterns of light on its surface working at full force. The instant the chaotic light ball struck the mirror, it did not bounce cleanly back like the earlier attacks. The chaotic power burst against the surface and opened a mottled crack! Intertwined gold and black light seeped through the crack into the mirror itself. Zhang Yueming's expression changed, and the luster on the bronze mirror dimmed instantly. At the same time, the chaotic shadow on the ground slipped quietly behind his feet, then surged upward and coiled around his lower legs.
Ice and fire spread across his mirror at the same time. The bronze mirror itself seemed unable to handle two opposing forces fused into one. Zhang Yueming gritted his teeth and activated his Second Soul Skill, trying to repair the crack, but the lingering force of chaos still sizzled across the surface. It was breaking faster than he could repair it.
The dull pain in Long Tian's dantian was growing worse. He had maintained the chaotic state beyond his usual limit, and the mingled forces stretched his meridian walls until they ached and swelled. If this dragged on any longer, he would not be able to bear it. He gave Zhang Yueming no time to catch his breath. His wings snapped shut and then flared open, and he shot forward like a cannonball wrapped in streaming gold and black light! He concentrated the power of chaos in his right palm to its limit and struck the deepest part of the crack in the mirror!
Crack!
The bronze mirror shattered into several metal fragments that clattered to the ground. With his Martial Soul no longer supporting him, Zhang Yueming staggered backward several steps under the remaining force. Shadow still bound his ankles, and he finally lost his balance and landed sitting at the edge of the stone platform. He looked down at the mirror fragments in his palm, then looked up at Long Tian. His lips moved, but in the end he put the fragments away and raised his hand to signal his surrender to the referee.
Long Tian stood on the platform, panting. The power of chaos had already dispersed, and the dull pain in his dantian was slowly subsiding. He looked down at his palm. A faint halo of intertwined gold and black floated between its lines, closer than ever before to a uniform, unified color of chaos. It lasted for about three breaths before fading completely, nearly twice as long as before.
Zhao Xiaopang leaped high into the air in the stands, not even noticing that he had flung his tea tray away. A volunteer staff member beside him caught it for him. Chen Hao stood in the waiting area with his arms crossed, finally unable to suppress the curve of his lips.
Long Tian's steps were a little unsteady as he walked off the stage, but his back remained straight. He made his way through the crowd toward the waiting area, only to be stopped along the way by a middle-aged woman in a silver-white uniform. She wore a Spirit City Academy lecturer's badge on her chest. Her features were dignified, and her tone was polite. "Are you Long Tian from Bluestone Town? You fought well in the final. Would you be interested in coming to our academy for further study? Your Martial Soul aptitude is excellent, and our academy has far better resources than the local academies."
Long Tian stopped. He looked up at the woman, then glanced around. Many people nearby were watching him, some curious, some assessing and analyzing him, and others with looks he could not quite make out. He thought for a moment, then said, "I'll think about it and give you an answer later."
The woman nodded, handed him a calling card, and turned to leave. Long Tian tucked the card into his robe and continued toward the waiting area. Zhao Xiaopang had already rushed down from the stands. He flung himself at Long Tian and hung from his neck, shouting, "Champion, champion! Did you hear? The whole crowd is shouting your name!" Chen Hao stood a few steps away, watching them. He did not come over to join the commotion, but he did not look away either.
Zhao Xiaopang had his arms so tight around Long Tian that he could barely breathe. Long Tian reached up and patted his back. His gaze passed over Zhao Xiaopang's shoulder toward the stands in the northwest corner. The man in gray still had not come. But in another spot, he saw a vaguely familiar figure. The candied-hawthorn vendor from the alley near Old Chen's Blacksmith Shop was sitting in a corner of the stands, holding an untouched skewer of candied hawthorns and staring straight at Long Tian.
Their eyes met for a moment. The vendor put the skewer back in his basket, stood up, and squeezed into the crowd, disappearing from sight.
Long Tian looked away and reached down to feel the stack of things against his chest: the diagrams, the token, the jade pendant, and the calling card. The rough paper and cold iron token pressed against his heartbeat.
He had won the final, but this was only the first move in a game of chess. It was far from time to close out the game.