“Name and Affiliation?”

“Master Panheu of Dragon Academy.”

The officious looking bureaucrat’s pencil mustache dipped in a frown as he took in Elder Panheu’s plain if spotless sparring gi, so different from most of the contenders wearing robes that radiated enchantments or full sets of custom made lamellar armor of steel, beast hide, or more exotic components, all but crackling with spiritual energy so thick that only the most elite Bronze tier attacks had any hope of breaking through, let alone anything to be found on a mundane battlefield. Truly the gear of clan favorites, nobility, even the occasional royal scion that dared to make their way through the Gate of Rulers, on this, the first day of the official trials, surprisingly crowded countless scores of elites funneled in from what much have been not only QuiJing province but the vast swaths of ZhengTu kingdom and its neighbor besides, thanks to the High Roads, allowing any worthy cultivator to travel a thousand miles in a single day.

All of them had learned much during their reconnaissance turned shopping trip within an extremely busy Baidushi that now seemed the farthest thing from an about-to-be annexed provincial capital. Much to Alex’s surprise, they had met nothing but cheerful shopkeepers, tailors, and assistants, more than happy to kit up the blushing pair of girls under Lady Jidihu’s care. Everyone assumed the fashion trip was inspired by parents eager to win the eye of prospective cultivator husbands for their daughters with the most tasteful yet eye-catching qipaos imaginable. Skillful alterations amidst awed whispers full of admiration for the striking, sensual pair of beauties no mortal attire could quite measure up to made it clear that Jidihu’s contacts served her well even in this endeavor, as clearly experienced seamstresses had both girls looking ready to put their best foot forward a surprisingly short period of time, whether in court or martial competition, making it very clear just how exclusive the tailors’ clientele was. They even accepted spirit pearls, and didn’t bat an eye when asked to put together a wardrobe for Alex as well, who was now wearing cultivator’s robes that he was assured were all the rage among YanTu nobility, and even Alex was surprised by how striking he looked. Almost as surprised as the clearly mixed blood noble being fitted next to him, who looked like a second generation offspring of Golden Realms and Ruidian bloodlines but was, of course, yet another visiting noble from YanTu.

“Good luck in the competition,” the hard eyed young man had said, giving Alex the tiniest of nods. “Perhaps we will have a chance to exchange pointers.”

Alex had dipped his head. “May you do your clan proud,” Alex replied, his dialect a perfect match for the coolly smiling noble as the man patted his sheathed jian, dipping his head ever so slightly before leaving the shop, his own purchases finished.

Alex had smiled at the curious look Jidihu and Hao Chan had given him, flashing a reply in handsign. “It appears that YanTu nobles bear a striking resemblance to Yidushian mixed-bloods, but no one dares say so allowed, and everyone who is anyone is attending the games for prestige, or to win Jade tier treaures.”

Jidihu had smirked. “And you speak their tongue flawlessly. Any further secrets you care to share, sun-in-law?”

Alex had smirked, catching a final striking glance of his appearance in the mirror, wearing silk-dragon embroidered cultivator’s robes over a black-silk changshan shirt and cultivator’s pants that fit his once more enlarged 6’3 frame perfectly. Of course, it wasn’t the attire, or gaining 2 more inches and muscles that popped all the more since he had last dared those steps that was the most striking transformation in his appearance. “No, and with my eyes and hair now as transformed as your daughters...”

“No one will suspect who you really are.”

It was having hair that now shimmered like sliver fire, and irises that matched. Much like Yinzi and Hao Chan both.

Alex was brought back into the moment by the scent of sweat, perfume made of spirit herbs and the impatient cough of nobles clearly tired of waiting their turn. At present, they stood before the exalted ruler’s entrance to Royal Phoenix Academy, which had effectively been turned into an entrance funnel for the most elite contenders imaginable, countless soberly robed men and women quietly offered spirit-herb infused teas and hot drinks to the countless nobles waiting their turn in one of half a dozen lines.

Alex felt the first twinge of anxiety with the delay as the cold-eyed bureaucrat radiating a Bronze’s strength and the sharp red-iron tang of a man oathbound to Dongfang Hong, gazed a bit too intently at Elder Panheu. Fortunately, Alex spotted nothing infernal, but that a man loyal to a foreign power was being permitted to act as a gatekeeper of sorts to Royal Phoenix Academy was an extremely troubling sign. At least to Alex. And the way the man was now looking at the glittering talisman Alex had fought so bitterly to obtain so that he too could participate in the trials without revealing any more of himself than he had to had his stomach twisting in knots.

Alex’s breaths became slow and deep, doing his best to control his nerves and refusing even to look a nervous Hao Chan’s way as Jidihu tightly squeezed the girl’s wrist.

He still thought Jidihu’s proposed plan of just brazening their way into the competitions as opposed to trying to sneak inside was perfectly solid. Especially as Dongfang Hong had broken with all tradition, and Royal Phoenix Academy was now holding open competitions to the entirety of Baidushi’s gifted and desperate youth with even a shred of talent, without any need to dare the sacred steps at all, which made his talisman all but redundant. Even if pretrials were being held in the city, no one in Panheu’s entourage was lacking for power, even the bureaucrat should have been able to sense that, and Silvers were allowed to compete in the elimination matches being held on the first and second day of the trials, which made the present delay all the more unusual.

And worrisome.

Alex grew increasingly certain that the shrew-faced bureaucrat was just looking for some reason to cause them trouble, even having no idea of who they truly were at all. Fortunately, enough savvy people were attending the competitions that the deliberate delay did not go unnoticed.

The bureaucrat flinched at the angry whisper behind Alex. “He clearly has a sigil, let him through and move the line!”

And it was true. Panheu most definitely did. And if it seemed odd that a clearly middle-aged cultivator had earned a sigil claimed by either the most elite and promising of students, or staff, there was little the man could say. The sticking point seemed to be Alex and his disciples.

“And the young masters?”

“Members of my team, and brilliant students of the way,” Panheu said without batting an eye. Because as they had found out with very little digging, Donfang Hong had taken the precedent of elimination matches and open invitation to new heights, allowing entire teams of Silver and Gold to compete for what were promised to be some of the grandest prizes anyone not blessed by wealth, circumstances, or the most fortuitous of encounters could hope for, including mast quantities of spirit pearls, magical treasures, and highly prized cultivation tomes including several dual cultivation Gold. Though the true prize, an actual Jade tier tome, was so far, only a rumor. And though larger teams only meant increasignly divvied spoils for those eager for prizes, for competitors hungry for knowledge, the tomes being offered was reason enough to bring as large a stable of elite competitors as possible, as every one of them could benefit from the cultivation tomes being offered.

Indeed, a quick glance made it clear to Alex that Panheu wasn’t the only cultivator attempting to slip through multiple competitors under his so-called banner, and if Alex and his disciples looked more exotic than most, bureaucrats to either side of pencil-lip were letting in groups of half a dozen or more team-linked competitors without batting an eye. Even if the talisman Alex had surrendered to Panheu denoted martial triumph, not the prestige of birth, either should earn them all admittance, just the same.

The gatekeeper grit his teeth, before being forced to bow his head as a distinguished looking woman wearing similar servitor’s robes frowned at the man, whispering curtly to him.

“Very well. Welcome to the annual trials. This token serves as your number, your official fights will be arranged, and you may give additional challenges, or accept, as you like. Note that by crossing the boundary you are giving your oath not to cause trouble except during matches, and to show respect to the headmaster.”

Alex frowned at such a sloppily worded binding before glancing up at the grand archway above their head that the man casually pointed to.

All who enter this academy give their oath to cause no deliberate harm to Headmaster or Academy. Challenges supersede all other oaths. You are free to leave at any time.

Alex flashed a cold smile as Jidihu froze in alarm, speaking distinctly yet audibly. “I agree to the oath as scribed upon the arch above us, so long as it’s understood that scuffing the ground as I walk, damaging the arena as we compete, eyeing my surroundings, acts of self-defense or speaking with others does not count as violating my oath.”

Surprisingly, Alex’s careful words earned only a disdainful smile or two, and an unexpected mocking whisper. “He speaks like he thinks he’s in a cultivator’s tale, about to be trapped in the fox’s bindings. As if we can be bound so easily to ancient scriptures,” said a nasally voice behind him.

“Careful, sister. He has the look of a YanTu noble. They are a touchy lot.”

The bureaucrat just blinked once Alex’s way, before shrugging his shoulders. “That’s fine. Now please enter, others are waiting.”

Alex exchanged looks with a smirking Jidihu, the only one who seemed to have caught the hushed whisper, Yinzi outright hopping on her feet as they made their way down a grand, marble-faced corridor before emerging to behold the wonders of Baidushi Academy as they strode along a walkway beside a field of lush green grass, magnificent soaring pagodas standing like ancient sentinels against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains marching in the distance, the air alive with currents of spiritual energy and rich with the scents of countless blossoming flowers from the gardens nearby.

A servitor bowed before the group of twenty or so spectators and would-be contenders that Alex and his companions found themselves walking beside. “Welcome to Royal Phoenix Academy, esteemed guests. Please allow me to escort you all to the competition area.” The man quickly ushered them to a magnificent coliseum-like arena that glittered like ivory in the light of the morning sun, and Alex found himself smiling with unexpected joy at the festive sound of hawkers in the distance as they made their way past impromptu food stalls selling all sorts of pastries, rice wine, and fried meats to the competitors and spectators steadily making their way to the arena proper.

They walked at a fast clip, giving themselves some distance from those gazing about with awe and wonder they couldn’t quite hide as they inhaled air so rich in spiritual energy, no matter their noble origins.

“Well done, disciples,” Panheu said with a grin. “You all know the plan.”

Jidihu smirked, her hands flashing in handsign. “The organizers assistant is now up a handful of gold, and our girls will find themselves slotted to perform before the nobility of two nations between the bouts, as the formerly scheduled entertainers have come down with a bad case of silver coins and will be unable to attend.”

Alex and Hao Chan exchanged a smirk as Yinzi’s mother spoke on. “With the performance you two demonstrated yesterday, I have absolutely no doubt that you will catch any number of eyes, and as we know that challenges are open to absolutely anyone, and that young scions of inherited gold talismans are especially fond of challenges… I suspect you two will find yourself slotted into the competitions before you know it.”

Yinzi and Hao Chan smirked and exchanged grins.

Jidihu frowned Alex’s way. “Your entrance might be a bit trickier, I’m afraid, considering that we had no opportunity to formally slot you in any of the matches, if we’re not going to waste our time waiting for you to compete in the wildcard free-for-all at the end of the day,” she said as they rapidly approached the arena entrance.

Alex cracked a bemused smile as his eyes quickly scanned the small crowd about to enter the arena, carefully noting those heading off as spectators, like Jidihu and the girls, for the moment, and the would-be competitors, catching the hungry avaricious eyes of not one but several powerfully built men men outright glaring at each other, cracking knuckles or radiating killing intent, showing themselves to be just the sort of hot blooded fools that were certainly powerful enough to intimidate weaker family servants and common-born men, solidifying their own sense of importance, but still foolish enough to waste their energy against men they might not even be slotted to fight against, before the contests had even begun.

Of course Alex might be being completely unfair, and it could be nothing but giddy nerves before the first fights of the first day of the competition, he acknowledged while gently squeezing Hao Chan’s hand and hurrying towards the entrance as if he had a right to be there, deliberately bumping in to the largest of the Bronze cultivators present. None of them were wearing arms or armor save for dao or jian at their hips, all of them looking more wealthy enough to own storage rings or pouches no doubt storing the armaments they would use for those bouts where armor and weaponry would be in play.

Much like Alex himself was, though he could only hope things would work as he intended… as he was technically not scheduled to fight at all.

“Watch it, Ruidian!” Hissed the scowling cultivator Alex had bumped into. Almost exactly his height and radiating the same intensity of spiritual energy as the Deep Bronze Adepts that had once served as trainers here at Royal Phoenix Academy, and for all Alex knew, were students of the same. Still, he could tell by the concerned glares a pair sent one of the powerful looking Silvers nearby who were completely ignoring them, that the Bronze body cultivators were perhaps feeling a bit outmatched, perhaps for the first time in their privileged lives, and channeling their own insecurities with aggression.

Alex flinched and chuckled nervously, deliberately hiding his own potency and lowering his gaze. “My apologies, honored cultivator. There is a matter I must attend to.”

The two other Bronze that had been glaring at the competition beside the first snorted their contempt. Any thoughts that Alex might be one of the odd foreign nobles quickly faded when Alex took on a meek, somewhat cowed demeanor, now giving off the vibes of a servant or bodyguard well out of his element.

“Are you daft? You’re entering the wrong section!” Hao Chan snapped. “Use your head!” she crossed her arms, glaring at Alex like he was a fool.

Her sultry voice and hot demeanor immediately turned the heads of all the nearby cultivators, and a handful of spectators besides, all of them now truly getting a look at the striking woman Alex was accompanying, both voluptuous and long legged with an absolutely captivating countenance. Absolutely flawless features and wide almond eyes were enhanced by high cheekbones and ruby red lips, her striking beauty turning her odd silvery irises and hair into an exotic asset as opposed to a discomfiting oddity. Alex’s own Silver hair was hidden at the moment, thanks to Jidihu’s efforts, but few things could disguise his Ruidian heritage if he wasn’t playing at being a YanTu noble.

That Hao Chan was beyond striking Alex knew better than anyone, and his heart swelled with pride and joy whenever he earned her smile. So much so that her hot words and sudden disdain made him flinch inside, even if he knew it was a play. And the looks that the men around her were now giving her, like wolves before the most luscious prey imaginable, was enough to make him see red.

The largest of the Bronze Ogres snorted, ignoring the pair of ushers gazing pointedly at them as they led the spectators through the grand arched entrance of the arena.

“You’re beauty is worthy of the bards, my lady. If you need help finding your seat, please allow this one to lead you to the spectator’s row.” The Bronze that had been glaring at Alex now flashed an admittedly handsome smile, Alex hating him instantly. “This one is known as Zeng, and would be happy to be of service, and perhaps earn the favor of the most striking beauty in all of Baidushi.”

Hao Chan gave the sultry laugh of a woman experienced in the ways of the world, her lips curving in a hungry grin that immediately gave her the air of a woman well used to delivering paradise to the most worthy of clientele. She tapped her lips thoughtfully with carefully manicured fingertips that a surprised beautician had actually needed enchanted scissors to trim. “Perhaps I will let you earn my favor, Zeng. I could certainly use a champion who understands how to treat a lady better than my servant, who failed even to get a spot to fight for my amusement!”

She pouted with mock sorrow. “And if this fool can’t even find me a seat, what good is he at all?”

Alex flushed, bowing his head. “I would be honored to fight for you, Lady Chan. I need only the opportunity to prove myself!”

The three Bronze Ogres exchanged smirks, several other would-be contenders chuckling in the background, muttering about idiots and fools to blind to appreciate the treasures before them.

“Well then, little Ruidian, if you would like the opportunity to fight for the sake of your mistress, perhaps I can avail you of that opportunity!” Zeng said with false bonhomie.

Alex’s eyes lit up with joy. “Really? You could arrange a fight for me that would allow me to compete? This one would be truly grateful!”

Zeng snorted, before easing his face into a smile for Hao Chan’s benefit, before flashing a Silver talisman with two golden bars at the end. “This marks my clan as one of the elite. Should you actually manage to best me… I will grant you my combat token, as you’re clearly unable to form a soul talisman of your own.”

The smirking Bronze gazed the way of an obvious Wujen who bore similar features to Zeng, who sighed and shook his head. “Sure, Zeng. Play with the help.” The man flashed Alex a pitying smile. “It’s perfectly legal, you can compete for almost anything at this school. Even Copper tier servants could earn the right to fight Bronzes or better, no matter how foolish such an act would be.” The man’s smile hardened. “I’ll give you some advice, Ruidian. Concede the fight after the first blow, and go back home. This world is not for you, and it would be poor karma for Zeng to kill before the competition even begins.”

Zeng chuckled. “My brother’s a bit dramatic, isn’t he?” The man then waved a massive hand at a clearing by the grand arena that Alex was amused to see had a pair of basic cultivators fighting even as they approached, with a miniature crowd around them, as if they were enjoying a pre bout match before the main event began.

Hao Chan’s chest swelled with feigned excitement, her glorious assets pressing tightly against strained fabric that had more than one pair of eyes popping, for all that the seamstress had used actual spirit silk as strong as a quality shirt of steel mail armor, which had cost a pretty penny and would save his darling’s life against any mundane or basic cultivator’s blow. Of course, that hadn’t been the reason for the purchase, strong and resilient as Hao Chan and Yinzi both now were. Because it would also keep her exquisite treasures firmly in place, even as a Silver giant about to embrace the most thrilling performance of her life.

“That sounds delightful! You can prove yourself to me here and now, Alex.” She flashed a full-lipped smile Zeng’s way, both of them also testing the waters in other ways as well.

Alex couldn’t quite hold back his smirk, seeing his name had elicited absolutely no reaction at all, forced to wonder anew at just how powerful the fate cards now tied to his soul truly were. Of course, with hair and irises Shadow-cloaked by Jidihu, wearing attire quite different from what he had worn when this school was filled with people long since fled, he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised.

Hao Chan favored them all with a smile as brilliant as the gorgeous sun now peaking from behind the glorious snow capped mountains in the distance. “Whoever wins will be competing in the trials, and will be competing for my affections as well!”

Alex hurriedly nodded with wide puppy-dog eyes. “I agree, my eternal lady.” He turned to a smirking Zeng. “Do you accept those terms?”

The Ogre class Bronze gazed at Alex for long moments before breaking out in a baritone chuckle. “I do indeed, little man!” His smile turned pitying. “I will try not to hurt you too badly. You may cry yield at any time. Of course, if you are incapacitated, you forfeit the match.”

Alex couldn’t quite hide the hunger in his smile. “Agreed.”

And if Zeng’s wujen brother was now gazing at Alex a bit oddly, it hardly mattered. For the instant one of the nearby Silver Giants nearby rang the convenient copper bell he had on him, their match began.