~~~

“Xiao Shuang of the Divine Frozen Palace vs. Fan Bingbing of the Eternal Flame Clan!”

As far as the audience is concerned, this fight is already over. No attack has been thrown, yet Xiao Shuang’s Qi already dominates the space in the ring. Even a single look at the fighters tells the whole story. Xiao Shuang is by no means a tall woman, but she is still over a head taller than Fan Bingbing. The disciple of the Eternal Flame Clan is so petite she can pass for a child, and as far as many people in the arena are concerned, that is precisely what she is in this fight.

A child fighting an adult.

“What’s that girl waiting for? Why isn’t she surrendering? She cannot possibly defeat the Divine Frozen Palace’s Xiao Shuang.”

“Is she really so arrogant to think she can win?”

“Don’t you get it? If the girl gives up, that’d be two disciples of the Eternal Flame Clan that Xiao Shuang defeats without a fight. She has to think about her Sect’s reputation.”

“That poor child.”

“You should surrender,” Xiao Shuang says as the mutterings from the audience grow in volume. “I do not usually say things like this, but there is no point in you fighting me.”

Fan Bingbing raises her head to meet Xiao Shuang’s eyes through the girl’s veil. Despite the odds being overwhelmingly against her, there is no fear or hesitation in the small girl’s aura.

Earth Realm, Level Five.

“I am touched by your concern,” Fan Bingbing says, taking out her instrument from her spatial ring. “I hope you will forgive my rudeness in disregarding it.”

Xiao Shuang raises an eyebrow. The instrument in Fan Bingbing’s hands has twenty-one strings instead of seven. It is not a guqin, which is what the girl has used until now, but a guzheng.

“You switched your instrument,” Xiao Shuang notes. The air grows colder. “Do you mean to say you will use your full power here? Or is this merely a desperate measure? Nevertheless…”

A chilling cold spreads across the ring, even filtering through the barrier. Those seated on the lower levels suddenly wish they were not so close to the fight. However, what they feel is nothing compared to what Xiao Shuang’s aura subjects Fan Bingbing to. The girl trembles under the cold. Her already pale skin turns bluish, and her lips become chapped.

Even so, she remains standing.

“A-A guqin is… a quiet instrument…one made for su-subtlety…and refinement,” Fan Bingbing says, struggling to get her words out. “There will be… no need for such things…Here!”

Trembling fingers play a single note.

The cold is blown away.

Xiao Shuang blinks. Her Qi retains dominance over most of the ring. It is just the area around Fan Bingbing that is suddenly free from her control. The girl no longer trembles, and her skin gradually returns to its normal color. Her guzheng floats in front of her as if held by invisible strings. Her fingers twitch.

A sword tries to take Xiao Shuang’s head off.

It is not a weapon made of steel but a spectral projection that appears without warning. For the first time in the entire tournament, Xiao Shuang is forced to dodge. More blades appear as Fan Bingbing keeps playing, and her song fills the arena. It is fast-paced and full of energy. The sound of the spectral blades whistling through the air somehow acts as an accompaniment to it.

[To You Who Search for the Land of Dreams]

An arrow cuts through the air. Xiao Shuang dodges, but her blue eyes do not miss the three white hairs that fall before her eyes. Turning to the girl playing in the center of the ring, Xiao Shuang points a single finger at her.

The cold intensifies.

Countless cracks appear over the ring as the cold hammers Fan Bingbing without mercy. Her skin dries, and small wounds open all over her body. They fail to bleed only because the cold freezes her blood as soon as it comes into contact with the air.

Despite that, Fan Bingbing keeps playing.

Each note wreaks havoc on the ring. The spectral weapons appear one after another like the members of an orchestra. Xiao Shuang has no trouble dodging their attempts to harm her, but she does not understand how the attacks can exist in an area so clearly dominated by her Qi. She also does not understand how the guzheng’s strings have not yet snapped from the cold.

This cannot go on.

[Annihilating Frost Wave]

Xiao Shuang brings her arm down. A wave of ice erupts in front of her and speeds toward Fan Bingbing, growing in size and sharpness until it has become a looming glacier with deadly spikes.

It shatters.

The moment the ice gets within twelve feet of Fan Bingbing, it shatters like glass. Even as Xiao Shuang wills her technique to keep advancing, the ice just keeps breaking. Throughout it all, Fan Bingbing never stops playing. She has not done so since the fight began.

She has not even moved from her spot.

If the mutterings from the audience are any indication, Xiao Shuang is not the only one who has noticed that detail.

“Enough,” Xiao Shuang says. Her voice is cold, yet the barest embers of anger have begun to filter through. “I have tried to do you a kindness and hold myself back. Will you really not surrender before I am forced to rescind it?”

Fan Bingbing does not stop playing. Ice rises around Xiao Shuang to block the spectral weapons, yet she does not attack. Xiao Shuang merely stares at Fan Bingbing, waiting for her answer.

“Kindness, is it?” Fan Bingbing’s voice is small, barely audible through her song. “Or is it guilt?”

Xiao Shuang flinches.

Now that a full day has gone by, Xiao Shuang can look back on her fight against the disciple of the Eternal Flame Clan and feel uneasy. There is no denying she used more force than was necessary. When she walked into the ring today, it had been with the intent to avoid something like that happening again.

However, the level of force Xiao Shuang is using already far surpasses what she subjected Gan Nanfeng to, and this girl still won’t fall!

“Regardless of what it is, I will have to echo my earlier words,” Fan Bingbing says. “Forgive my rudeness, but I have no need for your guilt or your kindness.”

As soon as Fan Bingbing has finished talking, a gigantic ice spike falls on top of her, but much like the other attacks, the ice cracks and shatters before it can reach her.

Xiao Shuang’s hands clench into fists.

If this girl were using her Dao, she’d be able to understand. However, the use of Dao carries with it a special gravity that is impossible to miss once someone knows what to look for. None of it is present in the girl in front of her.

In other words…

“You will not trespass the territory of my soul,” Fan Bingbing says with finality.

~~~

In the waiting room of the Endlessly Raging Valley, Su Daji blinks.

“Oh? Well, that’s interesting.”

“What is?” Ding Yan asks. She has her eyes fixed on the viewing screen. Like many, she thought it would be a quick fight, and having her expectations overturned has dramatically increased her interest. “Did you figure out her Dao?”

“There isn’t one,” Su Daji says. She sounds so completely certain Ding Yan turns to stare at her.

“Impossible,” Ding Yan says. “That monster might not have shown her full cultivation, but there are hints of her Dao at play. No matter how talented the girl from the Eternal Flame Clan is, someone in the Fifth Level of the Earth Realm should not even be standing right now unless her Dao was compensating for that gap.”

“It’s her soul,” Su Daji explains. “She’s using her music as a medium to project her soul outward. Instead of imposing change on the world like one would do when expressing a Dao, the girl is simply using her soul to mark the difference between herself and the rest of the world. That is how she is denying Xiao Shuang’s influence.”

“That sounds convenient,” Ding Yan says, stroking her chin thoughtfully. “Why haven’t I seen it done before?”

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“Control is one barrier. The soul is not easy to manipulate. Beyond that…” Su Daji grimaces. “That’s her soul out there. While there is power in wielding one’s soul so openly, it is impossible for it to be more exposed.”

~~~

“Why?” Xiao Shuang shouts as she brings down ice and frost on Fan Bingbing, making the whole arena tremble. “Why are you going this far?!”

“Put simply, you’re dangerous,” Fan Bingbing answers. “Do you think your restraint today makes you more virtuous than yesterday? Know better. It is merely a sign of your instability. Your mind is so shaken you cannot decide on the right amount of force to use. Uncontrolled power like that is a threat that cannot go unanswered.”

The song changes.

[Trust Engraved in the Heart]

A hail of arrows cuts through the air.

Ice rises in front of Xiao Shuang to block them, but the arrows do not stop. Xiao Shuang can see it through the ice. It is no longer mere weapons appearing in the air. A spectral army has manifested around Fan Bingbing, dozens of ghostly figures clad in armor and riding on horseback.

They charge.

[The Path to the Frozen Hells]

Ice spikes burst all over the ring, instantly skewering the army. Even so, they do not stop.

The song does not stop.

Xiao Shuang’s Qi rises, and the spikes surge by the hundreds. A lone specter armed with a spear manages to get within range. Xiao Shuang snatches the spear out of his hand and stabs him through the head. The next specter freezes and shatters before it can get within ten feet of her.

She starts walking.

The ice melts away from her path, leaving the way to Fan Bingbing clear. The girl’s spectral army soon fills the pathway to attack Xiao Shuang, but she destroys them one after another without breaking her stride. Most would have panicked upon seeing their technique fail so completely, but there is no unease on Fan Bingbing’s face, no note she fails to hit.

Why do people insist on making things hard for her?

Even as the thought forms, Xiao Shuang realizes how childish it is. However, there is no point to this fight. If it was Lu Mei, she would understand. But this unknown girl?

Why is she getting in her way?

“You call me dangerous, yet you are the one risking your soul! You are only standing because of my restraint!” Xiao Shuang says as she continues to advance. “What right do you have to cast judgment on me?!”

A mere twelve feet separate the two girls. Xiao Shuang can feel the very edge of Fan Bingbing’s territory in front of her, the manifested boundary of her soul that has been making this farce run for so long.

She brings her fist against it.

The instant she does, a tremendous force tries to repel her. It is the same force that has been repelling every single one of her attacks since the fight began. Despite Fan Bingbing’s outward calm, her soul lashes out in a wild frenzy, damaging Xiao Shuang’s robes and leaving cuts on her face.

For the first time in the entire tournament, Xiao Shuang bleeds.

“Y-You!” Xiao Shuang’s voice trembles with anger, but not because she has been cut. Now that she is making direct contact with Fan Bingbing’s soul, she can feel what the girl’s outward demeanor and calm aura had perfectly hidden until now. She can feel the real motive behind her actions.

Anger.

“How shameless can you be?!” Xiao Shuang yells, pushing back against Fan Bingbing’s soul. Snow and frost rage around her. “If spite is your only motive, get out of my way!”

“Spite?”

For the first time, Fan Bingbing misplays. It costs her. A string snaps, and one of her fingers freezes and falls off. Fan Bingbing compensates for the losses immediately, but the damage has been done.

“Spite?” she repeats, her song growing louder even as blood flows from her mouth. Xiao Shuang feels the music reverberating against her ice as her soul clashes with Fan Bingbing’s. “You dare accuse me of that while your soul drips with uncontrolled emotion?”

Frost and sound clash in the center of the ring. Snow falls, and ice shatters. A perfect snowstorm prevents the audience from seeing what is happening. The two girls stand in the center of it all, neither one willing to budge.

“Give up already!” Xiao Shuang yells, her presence rising over Fan Bingbing’s.

“No!” Fan Bingbing shouts back. “You all do this! You act in an uncontrolled manner and make things harder for him because of it! I will not have it! I am tired of you irrational people making trouble for him!”

[I Behold Not Destiny But Miracle]

Fan Bingbing’s soul surges. Two mighty warriors with multiple arms and faces like demons rise behind her. They are so tall their heads scrape against the barrier’s ceiling, and they bring down their mighty fists on Xiao Shuang. Without a doubt, it is an attack with her full soul behind it.

It is exactly what Xiao Shuang needed.

[Opening of the Blue Lotus]

Pure white overpowers all. The giants freeze and shatter. The song stops. The guzheng breaks and falls from Fan Bingbing’s frozen hands. The girl’s body has been completely frozen.

Xiao Shuang breathes a sigh of relief.

In that single instant of open emotion, Fan Bingbing’s soul became too focused on imposing a result instead of maintaining her territory. That is why Xiao Shuang could finally overwhelm her without needing to reveal her Qi.

Even so…

Xiao Shuang looks at the frozen girl. Despite her impassioned words at the end, her face is impassive. A subtle, silent judgment can be seen in those eyes.

Xiao Shuang really doesn’t like her.

“The Winner! Xiao Shuang of the Divine Frozen Palace!”

~~~

“I must confess I thought you would be in the Crimson Arena.”

Most would not sound nearly so calm after finding the Emperor of the Storm Dragon Empire in their room. However, Shao Zhilan’s husband, Tei Leji, is clearly a man used to the unexpected.

“You and everyone else,” Liu Jin says. “That is exactly why there is no better time for me to be here.”

With the Three Fairies of the Divine Frozen Palace focused on Xiao Shuang’s match, the odds of them noticing his presence are minimal. Even if Shao Zhilan somehow notices him, she cannot get here before Liu Jin disappears.

“I see.” Tei Leji frowns. “Are you here to kill me?”

Liu Jin neither laughs nor cries at the question. He has become far too used to reactions like that to take offense.

“A Heaven Realm cultivator such as yourself has little to fear from me,” Liu Jin points out. “Besides, I am fairly sure you do not need my help to die. Or am I wrong?”

Tei Leji flinches.

“You noticed.”

“Despite my reputation and growing number of titles, I am a doctor first and foremost,” Liu Jin says. “I know a sick man when I see one.”

It happened when Liu Jin visited with Xiao Shuang for dinner. Shao Zhilan’s husband was a perfect host except for a single moment of weakness.

Most would have dismissed it. Liu Jin did not.

“What is it that you want to do with that knowledge, Emperor Qing Jin?” Tei Leji asks him.

While Tei Leji does not look at him with trust, Liu Jin considers it a victory that the older man has not tried to attack him. Liu Jin would have to flee if he did, and by tomorrow, the security measures would have increased. There’d be no point in attempting something like this again.

“I wish to heal you. Consider it a whim of mine,” Liu Jin says, knowing that if he says that he wants to heal Tei Leji for no reason whatsoever, he will be instantly distrusted. “It is not often that I get to act as a doctor, and Blood Blackening Disease is so very rare. I have never had the opportunity to treat it before.”

“What? H-how?” Tei Leji asks in shock. “How could-”

“The room smells like blood,” Liu Jin cuts him off. “It is faint. You tried your best, but removing the scent of blood is not so easy, especially black blood. Your skin is much paler than it was mere days ago, which means you must have bled yourself recently. That is probably why you haven’t tried anything reckless yet. You fear you are too weak to fight me.”

Tei Leji stays silent.

“I’d like to examine you,” Liu Jin says, casting a glance in the direction of the arena. Fan Bingbing is lasting much longer than he expected her to, but she cannot last forever. “We do not have much time.”

“You and Little Shuang… neither one of you is nearly as docile as you present yourselves as,” the older man says as he sits on his bed.

“I am as docile as the world requires me to be. It is a sign of my immaturity,” Liu Jin says, immediately seizing the unspoken permission. He moves behind Tei Leji and places his hands on his back, allowing his Qi to travel through the man’s meridians and blood vessels. The diagnosis becomes clear almost immediately.

It really is Blood Blackening Disease.

The extremely rare disease causes the blood to turn dark and foul until the blackened veins and arteries become visible on a person’s skin. However, that’s not the worst of it. The black blood damages a person’s internal organs and meridians, causing immense pain. By the time the black blood has become visible, it is far too late. The body is already ravaged.

A Heaven Realm cultivator like Tei Leji can completely regenerate even if his body has been reduced to ashes, but that will not make the disease disappear. His soul will just manifest the disease again. The only way to temporarily alleviate the symptoms is through regular bleedings, letting the black blood escape the body until only the red one is left.

However, the black blood always returns, faster and stronger every time. Tei Leji’s case is particularly advanced. A lesser cultivator would have already died, but Tei Leji still has a few years left.

A few very painful years left.

“Interesting,” Liu Jin says.

Tei Leji chuckles.

“That’s an odd way to describe a dying man.”

There are many things Liu Jin can say to that, but they would all take valuable time. Instead, Liu Jin decides to let his needles answer for him. Seventeen of them pierce various acupoints on Tie Leji’s body in a single instant.

The older man immediately stands up and backhands him into the wall.

“What is the meaning-?” He stops talking, suddenly putting a hand over his mouth. However, he cannot stop himself from vomiting. His body heaves as black blood flows from his mouth and pours all over the floor.

“A cautious man such as yourself would have taken too long to agree.” Liu Jin explains while he rubs his jaw. There is no trace of apology in his words. It would be easy to get angry, but Tei Leji can only stare at the black blood on the floor.

“There’s so much,” Tei Leji says in stunned stupor. “I bled myself, yet there was already so much.”

“If it makes you feel better, a lot of that blood is probably old blood that your bleedings failed to purge. Black blood can be stubborn,” Liu Jin says. “That’s why it was so important to fully remove it from your body before the treatment can begin.”

Tei Leji’s head whips towards Liu Jin.

“Treatment?”

Liu Jin holds a small flask full of pills.

“Take one now and once every full moon for the following year. Always at night,” he says, throwing the flask to the older man, who catches it with ease. “That should take care of it.”

There is an easier way to treat him, but it would require Liu Jin to spend a little too much time here.

“You…You expect me to believe you already had those pills?” Tei Leji asks disbelievingly. “We have seen dozens of healers…I thought…You… so easily?”

“I have been studying your aura from afar,” Liu Jin says. “I had a pretty good idea of your condition, so I came prepared.”

Tei Leji stares at him.

“You will always die before Lady Shao Zhilan. There is nothing I can do about that,” Liu Jin admits. “However, this way, you will have more than just a few years with her.”

~~~