It was only later that day, after Alex and Hao Chan won their next two bouts without issue, the crowd absolutely loving seeing such a winning streak, that it finally dawned on him, just how close he had come to peril.

Panheu was gazing at him with something close to dismay. “Don’t you understand, Alex? For all your vaunted accomplishments, everything you’ve already achieved, all it takes is one mistake for it all to mean nothing.”

Alex winced at the man’s coldly practical words.

“You faced someone who has learned to embrace internal Qi techniques, just like you. If that Adderstrike had hit the Alex I knew just a month ago… he would have perished.”

Hao Chan paled at those words, as Panheu’s gaze turned thoughtful. “Or at the very least, been so utterly incapacitated that his self-recovery would have been remarkable enough to be remarked upon by everyone, and that’s assuming Hao Chan or I could have gotten to you and guarded you from unseen enemies who I have no doubt are lying in wait, even now.”

Alex winced at those words.

Panheu sighed and shook his head. “You know the perils of not striking hard and furious with everything you have better than anyone. How else would a Silver manage to slip free of the condescending grasp of a Jade that could have obliterated you instantly, had he not been toying with his food?”

“He toyed to gain what insights he can, because that’s probably the only way he has left to refine himself,” Hao Chan waspishly noted. “Just like you were refining yourself pummeling Alex for weeks on end, trying to forge your combined art.”

“Correct!” Panheu said with a smile. “An art that has allowed you and my daughter to skirt the horizon between ascension and oblivion as the most powerful Silvers imaginable! An art that has instilled my disciple with a Strength I suspect is at Gold tier.”

Alex smiled but said nothing. His mentor chuckled. “And yes, it’s good that you did not charge in like a monster with the second and third pair of opponents sent to face you.” He gave a quiet nod in the direction of the seating belonging to those of privileged but modest rank; guild heads, town administrators, wealthy merchants and the like, Alex catching sight of one beaming young man with a build much like his own of half a year ago. A youth who had just broken through to Bronze, knew Golden Realms, and would have been absolutely destroyed, had Alex used any fraction of his power against him at all.

Fortunately, he had sensed the youth’s vulnerability right off, and had turned it into an impromptu sparring session, helping Sinong perfect his angle kicks and shin checks and keep his balance, earning many a painful wince but eyes lit with genuine appreciation when he felt his soul hone against the wetstone of killing intent. When Alex had abruptly flipped Sinong on his back with a wink, reminding him of the importance of keeping his balance and properly rotating his hips with his kicks, the youth had reverentially bowed before Alex and thanked his sifu for the lesson, retreating from the ring with his head held high, honor intact, smiling up at his anxious-looking family, the pair having effectively turned what would have been a slaughter into a training session.

Surprisingly, the third fight had been much the same, and if the crowd was a bit restless and the announcer looked the slightest bit displeased, Alex couldn’t give two fucks, happy to glory in the sight of his belove Hao Chan dancing about the battlefield, absolutely obliterating her foes with a frightful storm of whipping, tripping and bone cracking kicks, sending Silver Giant after Silver Giant crashing to the ground with groans and whimpers and earning the cheers and roars of the crowd.

The perfect whetstone against which she could hone her art while looking absolutely glorious with her acrobatic combat style while doing so. Just as his own fight couldn’t have been set up better if someone wanted him dead. And the second and third? Just taking out what someone considered trash.

“You understand, don’t you, Alex?” Jidihu had said once she had gathered him after their fights and led him to the private box seats that was to be their own.

Alex couldn’t help but smirk. “I know what you’re going to say. That first fight was a setup to see me killed, and if that didn’t work, the latter two opponents were so easy that a single powerful blow with my strength might have killed them. But I think there’s another explanation.”

Jidihu said nothing, merely quirked a carefully manicured brow. “Pray tell, son-in-law.”

Alex shrugged. “I took out someone’s prodigy, and the follow up chumps were there to give him a good showing, even if he and his clan knew better than to take any matches beyond this first day.”

A comfortably seated Panheu chuckled. “I suspect either is equally likely, disciple, so long as you realize that none of these matches are by chance, or at least such was the case before you and your disciple broke the script.”

Alex nodded. “So, what next?”

Jidihu’s eyes twinkled. “Now we pick up Hao Chan who just finished her final fight of the day before any admiring fool or nefarious bastard can intercept her, then we go mingle with the other elites who actually claim Gold among their number, as champions or patrons, at a gala being held in the headmaster’s own tower. A feat to the true elites, while those of lesser status will be retiring in town or in the aspirants quarters for the night, while those who came as spectators return to their lodgings in town.”

Alex gazed at Jidihu for long moments, his heart skipping a beat somewhere between exhilaration and dread. “What’s our play?”

She smirked. “Our play is to blend in, have a good time, sign or swear to absolutely nothing and be careful what you eat or drink.” She signed back, her sultry whisper taking in a smiling Hao Chan and Alex both. “Fortunately, we have the perfect attire for both of you to put your best foot forward while discussing your growth as cultivators. Seeing your performance as Panheu’s proteges has definitely peaked the interest of another of influential princes or their closest representatives. It’s clear they would love for their own offspring to savor a transcendent emergence like you appear to enjoy.”

Alex raised a curious eyebrow. “After just that handful of fights?”

Jidihu snorted. “Alex, besides having so utterly mastered Bronze disciples that they were grateful to consider your sound thrashing the lessons of a future family mentor, you took out 4 Silvers between the pair of you.” She quirked her brow. “All without breaking a sweat.”

Her hands flashed once more. “And you laughed off killing blows that should have been the near instant death of any cultivator not following the strongest body cultivation techniques, blows you used to cripple so many when you were just a Basic or newly awakened Bronze, and he a Silver!” She shook her head in wonder. “And not only did you shrug it off, you allowed him to pummel you with Adderstrikes repeatedly. You were using his attempted assassination as an exercise in refining your techniques!”

Jidihu chuckled softly. “Oh, the humiliation he must feel, and the fear as well.” Her smile hardened. “We won’t even talk about your now monstrous Vitality, or how your bones now surge with Vitality that my poor Ning Jing would have killed for… did, in fact, kill for, before surrendering it upon the steps that promised her a second chance at ascension.”

Alex winced. “I don’t think it was the same technique.”

“I would hope not,” she sighed. “In any event, expect at least a few questions. And expected to be tested like nothing you could imagine on the morrow.” Her gaze hardened. “Do you understand? Deepest Silver, perhaps even Gold, honed with the deadliest techniques not under a royal prince’s bindings.”

Alex felt a certain chill with those words. “So they’re going to go from congratulating me to arranging for my death?”

“Nothing so dramatic,” Jidihu said with a snort. “But they certainly will do their utmost to see just how capable your cultivation path truly is.”

Alex groaned as Hao Chan rubbed his neck, squeezing his hand, still glowing with the adoration of the audience that had crowded them until Panheu finally unveiled his killing glare. “It’s alright, Alex. We’ll get through it. Just a battle of a different sort. Right, Lady Jidihu?”

The kitsune nodded absently, all her attention now focused on the final match of the day, a roaring monster of a cultivator swearing dire threats at a wild-eyed girl effortlessly tumbling past massive fists, snap kicks and foot stomps.

Yet no matter how he snarled, roared, and charged about their ring, a laughing Yinzi was content to dance about her opponent, effortlessly slipping past all his blows, enjoying the mocking laughter of the crowd as a fearsome Silver that could slaughter thousands on the battlefield was made to look like a fool.

“You will pay for that, mongrel! Think you can defy me, misbegotten bastard offspring of the fox? After this fight I’ll be putting a collar around your neck and then you’ll--”

Whatever else the man was going to say was abruptly cut off when Yinzi’s mischevious smile hardened to a killing intent so pristine Alex could feel it even from Panheu’s boxed seats. The lumbering cultivator had time only to blink once and stumble back, as if realizing only at that moment that his opponent had been harmlessly toying with him… but no more.

Yinzi struck so fast even Alex was left breathless, as the screaming man collapsed on shattered legs, Yinzi then striking so quickly that the broken body cultivator hadn’t even finished falling to the sands before a darting Yinzi shattered elbows and ribs just a heartbeat later. Her killing intent was so fierce that even the announcer was left speechless, stumbling back as his words of protest instantly died in his throat when she glared his way.

The entire crowd was breathless. Then Yinzi’s hostile gaze faded into a pleased smile as she waved at her howling opponent, screaming for a healer.

“I guess that means I win then!” She declared with a too bright smile as Jidihu disappeared before Alex’s eyes only to return a few minutes later, now clucking like a mother hen over her happily humming daughter, Yinzi’s eyes lit with fierce excitement, early killing fury having already faded as fast as it had come.

“Did you see that fight, Alex? I totally destroyed him, using all the joint-breaking tricks you showed me!” She crowed.

Alex chuckled awkwardly at the looks this earned, turning his gaze a bemused Panheu’s way. “So I guess that’s the end of today’s matches. What’s say we leave before we're penned in by the crowds?”

This earned a handful of nods, all of them happy to use their talents to exit the arena stands far quicker than most, enjoying the envious looks their movement techniques earned them as they left the crowds and made their way to the headmaster’s building, which already had a small crowd of it’s own, though primarily made up of the true elites that had chosen to attend.