Alex smiled when he felt Hao Chan’s arms wrap tightly around him. “I saw them disappear. We all did. You saved them, didn’t you?”

Alex squeezed his eyes tightly shut, wiping away the sting as he forced a nod. “I think… I hope… yeah.” He opened his eyes, flashing a fierce grin at a concerned looking Jidihu and solemn Panheu. “Dong Xiao promises to do what he can. Both are still bright with the embers of life, even if one was just seconds from going out for eternity.” Alex shivered at the thought, forced to wonder about the fate of Xian Hong, Liu Li, his kung fu brother as well.

The three people he cared most about, save for the ones watching the fights below in horrified fascination by his side. All of them still missing, all of them at the mercy of the monster gazing down at them all from his throne-like seat with imperious contempt.

Alex mentally added Lord and Lady Xu to the ever growing list of people that monster had tormented or outright executed in his bitter cruel quest for power.

“You against me, pretender,” Alex said with a cold snarl. “It’s coming sooner than you think.”

Alex shivered when Dongfang Hong’s furrowed countenance suddenly locked upon his own, Alex finally recognizing where he had seen those features before.

“Alex!” Jidihu hissed as he forced himself to look away, the prince’s orders breaking off in mid rant, before the man shook his head as if waking up from a dream, and called the next match.

“Don’t be an idiot!” She snapped. “It’s hard enough fogging multiple eyes and minds without you glaring with killing intent at YanTu’s king!”

“He’s no king. He’s a bastard prince who’s done everything he can to destroy the true rightful heir of YanTu nation,” Alex snapped.

“And now’s not the time or place to be saying or even thinking such things, Alex!” Jidihu hissed, the room chilling with her words. “Not when we are still in the heart of his power with so many fools already sworn to him. Not when we are still competing for prizes still up for the claiming by only the weakest of pretexts. Not if we want to alley his suspicions until it’s time to strike, which your latest display of power just might make impossible!” She snapped.

Yinzi glared at her mother. “You don’t seriously think Alex should have let that poor couple burn to death at the hands of that madman, mother!?”

“Of course not, dear,” Jidihu conceded with a tired sigh. “But Alex glaring his killing hate at a man that everyone else either worships or rightly fears is the height of foolishness.”

“True,” Yinzi conceded with a smirk Alex’s way. “But what else would you expect from my father’s favorite disciple?” She laughed at Panheu’s expression. “Or perhaps I should say, both my fathers’ favorite disciple?”

Long anxious minutes passed, Jidihu softly muttering about fools under her breath, though twice she paled before giving a sight of relief as the crowd quieted. Dongfang Hong exchanged nods with one of the administrators present, and the next match was called.

Alex noted that Panheu was smiling with a certain amount of satisfaction, despite the challenges that had been attempted executions. He then turned to meet Alex’s gaze.

“The winds make it clear that something has changed, and it is in our favor. What can you tell me, disciple?”

Alex smirked. “The flag-wielding wujen that tainted the earlier fights should no longer be a problem, master. I would have handled it even sooner, but they kept themselves hidden until Lady Xu tried to save her partner. Then it was an all out effort to constrain her abilities, weaken her shield, and pin her within the arena.”

Panheu gave a satisfied grin. “Such a carefully laid trap, pulling Dongfang Hong’s number one killers off the front lines to assure it’s execution, and we still managed to slip our pieces through. Well done, Alex.” He chuckled softly. “And the look on Dongfang Hong’s face, like he swallowed a bitter prune after having lost 500 of his Silvers and so many of his wujen in a single day’s time. As much as the last few matches were ugly affairs, he too has bled for his efforts.”

“Elder Panheu versus Liang Song!” Declared the arena cryer from far below, just as soon as a handful of Silver tier wujen managed to quench the deadly heat below, the formerly combed sands now a swampy mass.

Panheu smirked. “As expected. Well, it looks like that fool in the seats has finally gotten tired of holding back. The next mach is mine. Best watch closely, disciples. Wife?”

He turned to Jidihu who flashed a foxy smile. “The bets are already placed, love.”

“Excellent!” His bemused smile turned hard and feral. “It will soon be time for the next stage of our plan. Understood, Alex?”

Alex quickly flowed into a bow. “It will be as you say, master.”

Alex and his companions gazed breathlessly down at the arena sands, the flash-dried hard caked surface cracking under the weight of an armor clad warrior kitted in full plate harness of silvery alloy radiating a fiery collage of protective energies, obsidian eyes glaring at a coolly smiling Panheu through a barbute helm.

“Submission match between Lord Liang Song and Elder Panheu will now commence! The fight will continue until one concedes or can fight no longer!” Roared the announcer, once more safely stepping out of the ring as protective wards abruptly snapped into place. Wards Alex could easily sense would protect against miss-cast spells of Bronze of Silver tier, so long as they weren’t aimed directly at targets in the stands, but that now utterly lacked the power to trap any Gold contenders who wanted to flee from attempted execution under the pretext of a valid martial trial.

Alex still found it remarkable that no one had yet left this murderous farce of a trial, but perhaps he shouldn’t. Less experienced viewers would think it nothing but a gloriously violent display of cultivator’s powers, not fully appreciating how precious were considered the lives of both Silver and most especially Gold. And the truly experienced would understand Dongfang Hong’s hidden messages, and the last thing they would want to do would be to stand out or show any sign of disapproval against the warlord who had effectively taken over QuiJing Province and crushed all resistance, and arguably done it at the cost of only the tiniest fraction of lives and property damage that all out war would have engendered, no matter that YanTu nation had been a neighbor and ally of this Province for literal centuries, and they all existed under the umbrella of the same empire.

Alex already knew there were countless rules and codes of conduct both mortals and cultivators here lived by that were nothing like those he recalled in his first life. He supposed the rules of conquest, warfare, and tribute were also alien to the historical norms of his own world as well. Yet none of that changed the fact that Dongfang Hong was a ruthless bastard who had subjected Alex’s friends and allies to the most hideous of torments, and he wouldn’t rest until that bastards was six feet under. Especially since he now had a sense, better than ever, of that man’s true origins.

“Alex, the fight’s about to begin!” Yinzi hissed, immediately drawing him back into the moment, more worried than he wanted to admit that his master, facing a man with enchanted armor and a massive guandao fit to cleave any lesser man in half, was wearing nothing more than his snow-white cultivator’s robes, a topknot for his hair, and the same mundane looking spear Alex had seen him practice with since he had first entered Panheu’s compound as the most humble of students far more suited to cultivating the man’s garden than cultivating himself.

The sense of Panheu’s opponent’s power was palpable, and his words, for whatever reason, carried to Alex’s ears surprisingly well, even if he doubted much of anyone else could hear their words over the crowd.

“You were never stupid, Panheu. You saw what happened to the others who dared to side against us, and I know your fighting style as well as anyone. Why not just concede and join Dongfang Hong’s table? He’s not opposed to any of you surviving, and we could use some talented JiangHu assassins that know this region as well as you and your wives do, for what’s to come.” The steel-clad killer cracked his neck. “He’ll even let your Ruidian pet leave with his head, should you make it worth his while.”

Panheu gave a negligent shrug. “Of course that would be the expected path, old friend. But where would the fun be in that? I’d far rather hone myself against earnest foes in a crucible where my opponents can actually test me. Besides,” he said with a lazy smile. “I’ve made a few tiny refinements to my technique that I think you’ll appreciate.”

Liang Song laughed. “You’d been struggling to achieve Gold for so damned long that I didn’t think you’d ever be a worthy challenge again. And here it seems you’ve finally broke through. Very well, ‘old master,’ show me what you’ve picked up since the last time I bested you in Dragon Academy’s courtyard!”

With those words and infinitesimal nods exchanged, both of them blandly tuning out the announcer and the crowds, they began their dance. And what a dance it was, Alex thought, as casual probing thrusts of spear and lazy wheeling strikes of guandao slowly transformed to faster and faster exchanges of probing strikes, graceful evasions, and fearsomely fast rebuttals, until the weapons became a blur as the two men’s bemused smiles turned to the fiersome expressions of feral predators and hardened killers, fighting with absolute killing intent.

Fighting for their lives.

Alex felt a twinge in his gut when he sensed the subtle shift in what had been an exquisitely even exchange between the pair, Panheu now slowly giving ground, step by step.

He sensed a hard squeeze, his Kitsune disciple’s hand now firmly clenching his own, turning to catch a glimpse of fear in features normally free of worry or concern.

Alex didn’t sully the air with empty platitudes, instead giving Yinzi’s hand a squeeze of reassurance. Panheu was her father, after all. Or at least, one of them. Alex’s eyes once more locked on the battle before him, anxiety slowly turning to a tight hard grin. Because no matter that his master had lost the Vor and that his opponent was a whirlwind of devastating slashes, striking at Panheu from all angles, somehow his master’s spear was always exactly where it needed to be to deflect his opponent’s crackling blade.

Not enough to stop the weapon cold. Instead his power was just enough to deflect it, to force it aside a single inch as an increasingly frustrated Liang Song made up for it by fighting with ever greater furious intensity, getting ever closer to breaking through Panheu’s guard that came so close to crumbling, but nonetheless always managed to send his opponent’s guandao corkscrewing away.

“Enough of this!” Liang Song roared, seeming to grow with a sudden surge of spiritual energy as he lashed out with a fearsome series of crosscuts that Alex didn’t think even he could parry without suffering at least one grevious fight-ending wound.

Yet by some miracle, the dozen furious blows unleashed in little more than a second did nothing more but slice open Panheu’s robe. An act which actually earned a solemn nod from Panheu.

“Well done.”

“Don’t mock me, old man!” Liang Song roared, now lunging with his weapon as he glowed with a fierce surge of Earth Qi, almost an internal technique as much as elemental, so subtle that Alex could just barely perceive the sudden surge of Strength as being anything but natural as he charged forward, the shaft of his wickedly sharp guandao kissing Panheu’s own, as Panheu twirled his spear with an effortless-seeming flick, sending the crackling Guandao cartwheeling through the air.

The thick-armored cultivator stumbled forward a step, gazing with momentary disbelief at his own empty hands before crashing to the sands when two devastatingly powerful spear thrusts slammed into the back of both of his knees, Panheu’s razor sharp spear point plunged into the man’s eye-slit… before stopping cold.

The crowd froze in breathless wonder, Panheu having been so thoroughly hounded, worn down, and bested until suddenly he wasn’t, the tension so thick that Alex felt it twist in his gut, just waiting for his cold-eyed master’s face to twist in a snarl of barely repressed fury before plunging his impossibly sharp spear deep into vulnerable flesh and spraying the arena sands in a fountain of blood.

Liang Song chuckled softly. “You actually did it, Master. A Gold tier technique. You!”

Panheu gazed at the man before him for long moments, shaking his head sadly. “I told you to have faith in me, Liang Song. With you by my side, I could have forged this technique decades ago.”

The man bowed his head. “Perhaps, master. But leaving was something I had to do.”

“I know. Had our roles been reversed… I would have done exactly the same,” Panheu said, hard eyes warmed into a gentle smile, before helping his former student back to his feet.

“What is the meaning of this?” roared a contempt-laden voice echoing its arrogance through the arena halls.

Liang Song bowed. “I, Liang Song, formally concede the match to my better, Elder Panheu of Dragon Academy!”

Alex couldn’t help but smirk at the furious glare Dongfang Hong sent down to the warrior on the sands as the man removed his barbute helm and cast it aside in a single fluid gesture. It burst into thick black tainted smoke even as it hurtled through the air.

Liang Song’s tone was light, though his eyes spoke of sudden desperation. “I don’t suppose you’d allow this ronin to travel by your side once more?”

Panheu snorted, looking at the smoking helmet. “Considering that Dongfang Hong won’t be satisfied with anything less than your head, after failing to kill at his command like a good little lapdog, by all means, join us.” He flashed a bemused smile. “But you’ll have to put your old Yidushian prejudices aside, and treat my first disciple with the same respect you would do for me.”

The surprisingly young-looking Gold blanched, hard eyes widening. “Don’t tell me he is the one… by WiFu’s whiskers, only you would dare to use him as you whetstone!” He stiffened at Panheu’s smirk, before bowing his head as the crowd’s murmurs grew. “It will be as you say, Master Panheu.” He glared at his helmet. “Your wife was right. It is just as bad as you thought.”

Panheu’s gaze turned fatherly. “I pray you left behind no...”

“My wife’s the same race as your own, no matter the dozen concubines Hong tried to entice me with, over the years, and my family’s safely hidden in the Imperial Capital. Has been since Fate made it clear that our paths would cross once more, and my life would change forever, even if I had no idea how.” The youthful looking cultivator glared up at his former employer in the stands. “Come, best we leave, while the pretext of an actual competition is still in effect.”

Panheu nodded and the pair of men turned to stare coldly at the announcer.

“Call it,” Liang Song demanded, words no longer hidden by the motherly Kitsune squeezing Yinzi’s shoulder, glaring with exasperation at both men in the ring.

The pale-faced announcer blanched and did as he was told. “Lord… former Lord Liang Song has conceded the match. Elder Panheu has been declared winner!”

Liang Song flashed a bitter smile as he reclaimed his enchanted guandao, pointedly ignoring the cursed helmet. “Well, that was an interesting thirty years. Where to now, master?”