“That was an exciting match! The Dao versus the Elements!” Di Ti’s voice rang out, brimming with energy. “Next, we have Bing Hou versus Li Xue! But first, a question for our recent winner—Jin Shu.”

She gestured to him as he stood nearby.

“Everyone’s been wondering—even some of the elders—what are those strange weapons you’ve been using?”

Jin Shu scratched his ear thoughtfully. How much should I say? After a beat, he decided. I guess it won’t hurt…

“I dare say these weapons are unique in that only I can make and use them,” he said. “I won’t lie and claim to have invented them, but I’d wager there isn’t another person in this world who knows of them… probably.”

He drew one of his holstered pellet guns.

“They go by a few names—gun, firearm, pistol, rifle—and come in many forms. These ones are pellet guns, modeled after a pistol called a 1911.”

He scanned the crowd. “If anyone here recognizes these weapons, I’d love to know where—and how—you learned of them.”

A small hope stirred in him. Maybe someone else knows of Earth. Gold would want to know how the world fared after his death.

But no one spoke. The silence that followed said enough.

“It seems your weapons really are unique,” Di Ti said with a grin. “Well, thank you for sharing! Now, let’s welcome our next two combatants—Bing Hou and Li Xue!”

As her voice faded, Bing Hou rose from the participants’ area. At the same moment, Li Xue launched herself from the elders’ platform. A light breeze formed beneath her feet as she descended, her wind qi cushioning her landing.

Li Xue gave him a bright smile and a wave. He shook his head, walking past her toward the edge of the stage.

Bing Hou ascended the stage steps with an icy calmness, just as Jin Shu stepped off.

As he neared Bing Hou, he muttered, “Would you mind beating some sense into that girl for me?”

She met his gaze with cool, piercing blue eyes. “If you can’t, what makes you think I can?”

“Fair point. I guess she’ll stay senseless forever.” Jin Shu gave a resigned nod and stepped aside, letting her pass.

As he made his way up to the elders’ platform, he caught the start of their banter.

“So,” Li Xue said, glancing at Bing Hou, “what did she say to you? If she asked you back to her place, don’t fall for it—she already has three girls.”

Jin Shu nearly tripped on the stairs. He spun around, glaring.

Li Xue grinned cheekily.

Bing Hou shook her head. “She didn’t ask me back to her place, and I wouldn’t go even if she did. I already have a husband… or I will, once I find him. No—she asked me to beat you senseless.”

Jin Shu did a double take. That’s… not what I said. Not exactly wrong either, though.

“Oh!” Li Xue beamed. “What a coincidence! I also have a husband. But I bet mine’s better than yours!”

“I wouldn’t know,” Bing Hou replied evenly. “I’ve yet to meet him. But when my mother divined my fate, she told me he would be a great warrior from distant lands.”

“Well, it just so happens that my husband was a leader of great warriors from distant lands,” Li Xue shot back, puffing her chest.

Before they could go any further, the judge cut in. “If you two are quite finished, we do have a tournament to run…”

“Oh… yeah.”

“Yes.”

“Then—begin!”

The moment the qi barriers rose, Li Xue burst into action, sprinting across the short distance between them. But as she neared Bing Hou, a creeping cold spread through the air, slowing her steps.

The floor beneath Bing Hou frosted over with a thin, glassy layer of ice. Li Xue’s feet slipped and skidded.

“Whoa!” she shouted, flailing her arms to catch her balance. “Slippery!”

But a little ice wasn't enough to stop her. With a laugh, she pirouetted like a figure skater, twirling across the frozen floor.

Yet as she drew closer, the chill deepened. Frost began forming along her clothes and limbs, gradually sapping her speed.

With a blast of wind qi, she shrugged off the growing ice and pressed forward, swinging her sword overhead.

“Hiya!”

Crash!

Her blade slammed into a shimmering wall of ice. It slowed her—but only for a moment. The wind qi surrounding her sword shredded the frozen barrier into glittering shards, revealing Bing Hou standing calmly behind it, her face as composed as still water.

In Bing Hou’s palm flickered a small blue flame, radiating an intense, bone-deep cold. With a flick of her wrist, she sent it bounding toward Li Xue’s face.

Li Xue leapt aside with a spin, narrowly dodging the flame—but the maneuver threw off her attack, forcing her onto the defensive.

The cold flame chased her relentlessly across the stage. She dodged to and fro, her movements light and nimble. Now and then she lashed out with her sword, sending thin, near-invisible blades of wind slicing toward Bing Hou.

Each time, Bing Hou raised shimmering walls of ice to intercept the attacks, unharmed and unshaken. She continued to guide the cold flame with calm precision, forcing Li Xue into a frantic dance across the arena.

Gradually, Li Xue closed the distance between them, weaving through the icy assault.

“Could you just come fight me already?!” she cried out, half frantic, half laughing. “I'm getting tired of running in circles here!”

Despite her words, she showed no real signs of slowing down.

Giggling all the while, Li Xue struck at Bing Hou with a wide sweep of her sword, sending multiple layers of wind blades stacked atop one another in a single slash.

An ice wall surged up to intercept the attack, but this blade was much stronger than the previous ones. The wall shattered almost instantly, and the layered wind blades continued tearing forward.

For the first time since the match began, Bing Hou’s cold expression cracked, revealing a flicker of surprise. Hurriedly, she summoned a second wall—much thicker than the first. It held, just barely, stopping the attack.

However, a shard of ice, razor-sharp and fast, slipped through the aftermath. It grazed her cheek, leaving a thin, crimson line that ran all the way to her ear before shattering against the snowflake-shaped earring she wore.

Slowly, Bing Hou reached up, touching two fingers to her cheek. She pulled them back to stare at the blood staining her fingertips—bright red against her pale skin.

Her gaze lifted to meet Li Xue’s.

The blue flame that had been chasing Li Xue across the stage abruptly reversed, flying back to Bing Hou’s hand.

Li Xue, sensing the shift in the air, stopped in her tracks and stared warily at Bing Hou’s bleeding face.

“This is the first time I've bled in years,” Bing Hou said quietly.

“Uh… I didn't mean to do that… sorry…?” Li Xue offered, flashing a weak smile.

“It’s fine. I'm not mad…” Bing Hou’s voice remained even, but an icy edge laced her tone. “But you will have to bleed in return.”

Without taking her eyes off Li Xue, Bing Hou reached into the heart of her cold flame and slowly drew out a sword—pure, glistening ice, its surface sparkling under the sunlight.

Li Xue blinked at the sharp blade, then shot a panicked glance at the judge beyond the qi barriers.

“That can't be legal… right?”

The judge shrugged. “It is technically not a weapon, but an extension of her technique. Like your sharp wind blades. As long as she doesn’t inflict fatal injuries, it’s within the rules.”

“Haha…” Li Xue laughed weakly. “We can talk about this, you know? No need for swords…”

Bing Hou gave no answer. Instead, she pressed the blue flame into the blade of her ice sword. The flame melded into the weapon, suffusing it with a brilliant, mystical glow. Waves of freezing air rolled off the blade, warping the air around it.

Gulp.

Li Xue swallowed audibly.

Taking a subtle step backward, Li Xue raised her hands. "Seriously, we can talk it out. Like, that technically wasn't me that cut you, right? It was your own ice... so, shouldn't you be mad at yourself?"

Bing Hou shook her head, voice steady. "Like I said, I'm not mad. But you still need to bleed."

"No, no, no! You are definitely mad—I can see it in your eyes! They've been calm this entire time, but now there's this fierceness to them, ya'know?"

"I don't. I can't see my own eyes."

Bing Hou stepped forward, one step at a time, utterly unhurried.

Li Xue retreated, matching each step with a backward one. "Wait, wait!"

Bing Hou didn’t pause, didn't blink.

Gritting her teeth, Li Xue planted her feet. "Fine, we'll do it your way!"

She burst forward, sword raised high.

They clashed mid-stage, weapons meeting with a sharp ring that cut through the stadium’s noise. Frost and wind exploded outward from their collision, scattering across the floor like shattered stars.

Breaking away after the first exchange, Li Xue’s robes glittered with fine ice crystals. She shivered, a violent tremor racking her body, but her grip tightened instead of loosening.

With a defiant grin, she launched herself back into the fray.