Alex was pleasantly surprised to find that the former JiangHu assassin who had been in Dongfang Hong’s employ was the height of courtesy the moment he slipped into their Shadow-warded boxed seats that were more like an apartment with a view than anything else. Liang Song placed palm against fist as he bowed before Alex and his disciples at the same 30 degree angle as one would for any newly met kung fu sibling, before bowing solemnly and low before a beaming Jidihu.

“It has been a long time, little mother.”

“Indeed it has, Little Liang. How are Su Lin and the children?”

“They are well. Cloaked in Shadow, and out of the eyes of any unexpected foe.”

Jidihu flashed a relieved smile. “I am glad to hear it.”

He quirked an odd half-grin. “Even though I had never thought it would come to this… my former employer having been everything I could have hoped for until everything changed so drastically these last few years… I always took your advise to heart. If you fall in love, let it be a quiet love that blossoms in shadow where none can see. Love safely tucked away, so your greatest strength never becomes your biggest weakness.”

Jidihu gave the now unarmored man’s shoulder a warm squeeze as he kneeled respectfully before her. “I am glad to see that you remembered what’s most important, from both your former masters.”

“This wayward student thanks you for your council. In truth, I wasn’t expecting to see you today. I had hoped...”

“That we would have successfully gotten your message and known to flee?” Jidihu’s eyes twinkled with mischief as she handed him a carafe of wine. “Of course we did, darling. But where would the fun be in that?”

Lian Song smirked, and Alex had to admit he cut a handsome figure in leather leggings and a shirt of finest silk, a thin dao that looked more like a European saber sheathed at his hip, that both Jidihu and Panheu didn’t take offense to in the slightest. If anything, they nodded in approval.

“You achieved a storage ring for your more powerful treasures and have learned the art of removing and storing them far quicker than most. This is good,” Jidihu commended, earning a soft chuckle from Liang Song.

“Indeed I did. In truth, it was the enticement of just such a treasure, a treasure I twice checked to make sure was free of any bindings or infernal enchantments, that had me fighting under the Red Prince’s banner in the first place.”

He glared down at the sands. “To think he would be so petty and foolish as to strike at me then and there...”

“It was a curse, one that would have showed no visible effect at all, besides suppressing your cultivation base to lethal effect for the next 24 hours. More than enough time for any determined Silver, perhaps even a skilled Bronze, to kill you at Dongfang Hong’s pleasure,” Jidihu softly remonstrated, earning a blanch from Liang before she flashed a cheeky grin.

“The shadowy smoke was mine. And poor Dongfang Hong looked rightly confused and dismayed to see that his trap for any elite that would leave his service now appeared as a far more blatant attack than it was. Since he is, in fact, guilty of having all of his elite’s helms trapped in the first place, I suspect he will condemn his artificer, as opposed to recognize the work of an outside provocateur. Either way, if he was hoping to cultivate a cultured air and a veil of plausible deniability, well, we have made sure that illusion was pierced multiple times today. Have we not, disciples?” Alex smirked at that. “With any luck, a few more Golds will consider the benefits of breaking ties with our host, sans any gifted helmets, of course.”

Alex clenched his jaw, dipping his head. “The smoke helped, but the crowd already knows he’s a petty, vindictive monster. My goading the Silvers and forcing their collusion out in the open and the smoking helmet might have been us flipping over a few of his cards. But the way he let his lackeys absolutely savage honorable Golds desperate only to leave the field of batte? Forcing Lady Xu to fight when she wanted only to rescue her husband? He will forever be remembered for that ugly brutality. And if he thinks that ugly secret can be kept from being shared by proud Silvers and Golds just as soon as they can discretely leave his area of influence, then he truly is a fool. Even more so than me.”

The words earned a bemused nod of agreement from the kitsune and a thoughtful look from Liang Song, who dipped his head respectfully Alex’s way once more. “Greetings, first disciple of my former master. This former disciple greets his kung fu brother.”

Alex bowed his head with equal grace. “This one greets his kung fu brother, and commends a stunning martial performance on the sands below. One performed with grace and honor, free of the vindictive malice that taints so many of Dongfang Hong’s lackeys.” He grinned down at the sands below. “If you ask me, you couldn’t have left your employer at a better time.”

Something in Alex’s gaze, perhaps. But the man was no fool, and had served Panheu and Jidihu as far more than a student for what Alex guessed was a lot longer than he himself had.

Liang Song abruptly paled, gazing Panheu’s way. “Master?”

Panhue chuckled, eyes twinkling. “All in good time, former disciple. All in good time.” He then looked toward the stands. “And I do believe the next match has been called. Alex, you’re up. How about you show your kung fu brother the worth of the art that you and I forged together?”

Alex grinned at that, before noting the intensity of Liang Song’s gaze. “Be careful, kung fu brother. My former employer has been studying your matches with unusual intensity. Whatever weaknesses your techniques might have, he will have spotted, and any special techniques you’ve used up to now, he will do his best to counter.”

Alex’s playful smile froze, all battlefield humor fading to bitter hard focus. He did his best to ignore the flood of anxiety pouring into him, sensing by the electric intensity of the crowd, appreciating anew just how precarious his situation truly was.

His mentor’s smile turned bleak and hard. “In any other competition, fatal accidents would hold the gravest of sanctions.”

Alex nodded. “Because no true Gold worthy of his title would be easily killed by mock combat. Not unless killing blows were what was intended.”

Panheu smirked. “I see you understand this game already, disciple.” And much to his surprise, his mentor sighed and shook his head. “Alex, as grave as the stakes are… the wisest commander knows when to lead his soldiers to victory, and when to avoid unfavorable engagements entirely.”

Liang Song nodded his agreement. “I know three separate exits out of here, one of which my former men are still completely unaware of. With Jidihu and her daughter providing cover, we can leave the grounds and be free of the city in less than half a glass. I’m also aware of all patrols and search protocols, so we can safely lose ourselves in the Deepwood farther than any but Dongfang Hong’s most elite troops would dare enter. From there, we can be in SanDushi in less than a month’s time, access High Roads that don’t force us to deal with Dongfang Hong’s interception points in CuiJing Province or within the borders of YanTu nation, and arrive at the imperial capital in less than two month’s time.”

“Sorry, I’d love to see the empire in all it’s glory, but no cloaking abilities for me,” Yinzi quickly said with the slightest trace of wistfulness which inspired a pang of guilt in Alex, before she flashed a brilliant smile. “But I think you would be surprised by how well this cub fights, elder brother!” Yinzi declared with a smile that earned a look of wide-eyed appraisal from Liang Song.

“Your daughter crackles with power, Lady Jidihu. Truly, she walks a potent path!”

“I know,” Jidihu said with obvious mixed feelings, her glare Alex’s way tempered by obvious affection, and worry.

But Alex tuned all of it out, fixated on Panheu’s words. “Wait… after all we’ve been through together, after all the craziness at Dragon Academy, you’re giving me a free pass not to risk my life like a complete fool in his quest for ascension while yanking the beard of our enemies?”

His mentor chuckled softly. “Well, we will then all be on the run, but the choice is yours, Alex. As it always has been.” His gaze hardened. “But Liang Song’s warning carries weight. Now we know for a fact that Fate Card or no, Dongfang Hong definitely has you in his sights, and your opponent would be a speed cultivator, Alex, rare as they are. Rank 1 Gold, I am certain of it. You know exactly what that means.”

Alex swallowed, but forced himself to nod. “I do.”

“Good. If you need to concede...”

“I know.” He would immediately send a surge of warning to Hao Chan and Yinzi, who would immediately signal to Panheu to roar for the fight to be stopped. It would probably be far too late, no matter how wonderfully quick his girls had become, but it was something, at least. A shred of hope as he dared absolute madness, heart pounding a mile a minute as he gave Hao Chan and Yinzi both a heartfelt hug, earning a considering look from their newest and completely unexpected ally, before Jidihu clasped his hand and gently led him back to the arena gates, her gifts assuring that no one saw him coming or going. Not until he seemed to pop up larger than life before everyone, holding his challenge talisman high and grinning at both the excitedly cheering crowd and the glaring announcer who had seemed about to call the fight forfeit.

“I’m here! Ready to fight!” Alex called out bold as brass, so there could be no mistaking his intentions as he took his first steps on those sands and felt the roar of the crowd shivering through his soul.

For some reason a manic grin was pressing Alex’s lips wide as he gazed across the sands into the cold grey eyes of a man wearing a half-helm over exotic mail that glittered like diamonds. Alex’s opponent was saluting the crowd with a long-hilted jian he spun through the air with a speed and grace Alex found absolutely chilling.

Alex’s eyes narrowed, immediately sensing the deadly Metal Qi radiating from the tip of the narrow straight blade.

The man flashed a cold smile, and Alex immediately felt the deadly killing aura of a Gold.

“Welcome esteemed and honored guests of Prince Dongfang Hong and Royal Phoenix Academy, to the final rounds!” declared the shameless announcer. Alex couldn’t help glaring up at the elevated box seats holding a coldly smiling Dongfang Hong and a handful of cold-eyed cronies. “Our champions have all come far these last three days, magnificent battles that have inspired any number of future Golds to greatness, we can be sure!” He flashed a smile that didn’t reach his eyes as he bowed before Alex and the smirking speed cultivator both.

“But of course, you’ll find treacherous rats and freakish chance affecting the outcomes of what should have been the most honorable of battles. Sometimes even pathetic murdering excuses for cultivators make it surprisingly far along their own crooked paths, until fate and righteous cultivators send the unworthy tumbling down to their proper places once more.”

Alex couldn’t hold back a smirk at the hot-eyed announcer glaring daggers of hate Alex’s way for the simple crime of surviving his enemy’s schemes until now, such that a little slander was both par for the course and utterly unworthy of notice, save for being almost soothing in it’s spiteful familiarity. And much to Alex’s surprise and pleasure, almost as many people were jeering the announcer as Alex, though no one was so foolish as to mock Dongfang Hong directly as he glared down upon them all from his throne. Or at least, not so loud that anyone lacking Spirit Qi or a kitsune’s gifts could possibly make out what they were saying.

“And now for the righteous match we’ve long been waiting for! Lord Kuai Su, the famed fencer of Shidushi, versus Alex Hammer, the murderous Ruidian who dares ascend so far above his station that a fall can only mean his well deserved death! Once justice has been rightly served, the inevitable winner of this match will soon be a mere two rounds away from competing for the grandest of this years prizes of all, their pick of priceless heirlooms, including one of the most prized artifacts in the library’s collection, a priceless tome of Jade!”

Alex blinked, actually surprised that no one in the crowd was screaming for his head yet, after learning his name. Of course, most of the original inhabitants of this school had either perished or fled for his world seed. And Fog of War seemed to do a bit more than just cloak him from the gods and their chosen lackeys. His name, it seemed, enjoyed a fresh reset after every major incident. Probably the only reason why assassins hadn’t hunted him down. Not that a few hadn’t tried already, of course.

“As we already know with our earlier glorious matches, all limitations are superceded! You may freely challenge with talismans for any stakes! No deaths will be penalized if permitted by talisman! Be warned, however, for those of you using heritage talismans, that the greater the stakes, the stronger the draw, and the wisest contenders seek to make allies of fallen opponents.”

As if on cue, Kuai Su held up his golden talisman. “I challenge you, Ruidian, to a fight to the death! The stakes are everything you own, including every heritage manual you possess, the property you claim, and the women you keep!” He said the last with a hungry smile and Alex recognized him as both one of the guests who had been captivated by his disciple’s performance at Dongfang Hong’s little get-together last night. A part of him couldn’t help glancing up and smirking at Dongfang Hong, wondering how the man was feeling with five hundred of his elite troops and now three of his elite wujen now vanished. Four, if he counted the one from the night before. Even if he had directly killed none of those Golds, that was now four of them, along with half a thousand Silver that had found themselves treading water a thousand miles past Yidushi’s shores, assuming they hadn’t immediately expired after a mile-high fall from the clouds. As to whether the four Golds might have survived or not was anyone’s guess. Certainly they were out of action for the short term, at the very least.

Yet a single instant’s distraction as he glared up at the Red Prince, and the smirk he saw on his enemy’s features made it clear he had just played the fool. Even if the intent was for Alex to look in outrage, not mockery, the distraction had served it’s purpose.

It didn’t matter that talisman’s hadn’t touched, or that Alex hadn’t yet accepted the match, or made it clear that his disciples were no man’s property.

Such things were only pretext and distraction.

Outrageous declarations were nothing more than a tool, Alex realized the very instant that his guts screamed with sudden pain as his foe plunged his jian into Alex’s side, slipping effortlessly between stone armor plates, and the nowhere near as indestructible as he had once thought enchanted mail just underneath.

Alex cried out and stumbled back. Desperately keeping the tip of his fangtian ji between himself and a coldly chuckling Kuai Su.

“How sad,” the man said with a mocking smile, smiling at the crimson spray now covering his blade. “A single moment’s distraction, and all your years of struggle and hardship are about to come to a bitter end.”

You have been critically struck by Enchanted Jian! Armor has been pierced. Liver Struck!

You have taken one Critical Wound (Mitigated to Serious Wound)

You are now suffering from Internal Bleeding!

Power Healing Engaged.

Alex forced himself to smile through the pain, shifting his fangtian ji to a high hanging guard, determined to take full advantage of his weapon’s longer reach as the smirking swordsman continued to circle him.

His opponent sneered and spat. “How long do you think you’ll be able to hold up that over-weighted clumsy excuse for a weapon, fool? Already you’ve begun to weep tears of blood. Your armor is worthless before my blade!” The man’s foot jerked, spraying the air with sand before he disappeared in a seeming blur of movement and killing intent.

Alex hissed and step-slid back, before crying out in sudden pain as his forearm blazed with fire.

You have been struck by enchanted jian.

Slash cuts open right forearm!

Vitality check made. You have avoided crippling injury!

The Gold laughed mockingly as Alex spun around, lashing out with his fangtian ji just to force distance between them. A maneuver that his opponent easily avoided, already out of range.

“Too slow, Ruidian. Far, far too slow.”

Alex grit his jaw, doing his best to ignore the bright shock of pain as far worse than steel shavings entered his blood as growing uncertainty hollowed his stomach. He stopped worrying about so many hostile glares weighing down upon him, or about any additional Wujen that might or might not be squirreled away in nearby rooms, ready to use flag formations to hinder him. Because as telling as his strikes had been last night and today, Dongfang Hong had an entire nation’s resources, at least a hundred sacred cities, to use as he saw fit. On the other hand, what need was there for formation flags when Alex was forced to fight a Gold moving at speeds that no Silver could hope to match?

Shaking away pain as a worthless distraction, Alex poured all his focus onto his opponent, feeling all his senses come alive as sight and spiritual Qi Perception both locked onto the man so subtly shifting his stance and balance as he continued to mock and taunt and circle.

Alex ignored the mocking laughter and the roar of the crowd. Ignored countless distractions as he did his best to read shifts in his opponent’s balance, posture, and intention. Sensing the cues given by the rising of his shoulders, the look in his eyes, desperate to spot whatever weaknesses he could. Before a fresh jolt of fire had him hiss and lurch back, and now it was his left forearm that was burning with awful pain. A momentary weakness left Alex dizzy for just a heartbeat as his opponent’s smile grew. Before he tapped into the tiniest portion of his own excess potency, and what should have been a crippling injury was instead reduced to a superficial bloody mess, crimson drops from his ruptured armor spilling to the ground.

“That’s three hits, Ruidian. Three strikes to your flesh, before you can even blink!”

Alex dipped his head, conceding the point. Because his foe had been so quick he hadn’t just struck him with steel, he had actually managed to poison his blade at least once while doing so. Slight of hand performed in the blink of an eye, caught by no one and nothing, save Alex’s interface.

Eternal Fox Pristine Form counters 75 damage per second from Deathroot Poison!

You now have 30% immunity to Deathroot Poison.

You now have 60% immunity to Deathroot Poison.

Power healing complete.

Kuai Su’s gaze narrowed. “You’re remarkably resilient, Ruidian. Like a mindless bull that doesn’t know when the fight’s already lost.” Inhumanly handsome features flashed a cruel smile. “Let’s give our audience a show, shall we? First I will hamstring your left leg. Then your right.”

As soon as he said the words he kicked another foot-full of sand and the air exploded with a fine metallic mist.

Alex’s heart hammered in sudden alarm. Because it hadn’t been sand that had been kicked up but an explosion of metallic splinters, the true distraction in the attack. Instead of backing away, Alex raced into the cloud before spinning around to face a surprised-looking Gold, not expecting the metal shrapnel to flow around Alex like water washing past a brook as it flowed downstream.

Qi Deflection skillcheck successful.

Dark Qi Projection in effect. You have covered your arms and legs in Dark Qi!

You sense your foe’s weakness!

The man glared and leaped back as Alex offset the man’s furious lunge with the shaft of his ji before lashing out with the quickest counterblow his foe would think him capable of, without enhancing it with Qi at all.

This earned a sneer. “Far too slow, Ruidian. You were a fool to use such a heavy weapon in a duel. And that foolishness will cost you your life!” With those words Kuai Su struck like a man possessed, a furious onslaught of crosscuts and flicking slashes delivered at such speed that the air was ringing with the sound of enchanted steel piercing Alex’s stone gauntlets half a dozen times in the blink of an eye, Alex’s massive reach advantage and the indestructible nature of his polearm was the only thing keeping his foe from cleaving right through the wooden shaft before slashing open his throat with equal ease.

Alex hissed once as his foe darted away, limping with a fresh cut slicing open his right thigh soaking his now shredded stone armor.

That injury he didn’t have to fake at all.

“Alex!” He winced at the panic in Hao Chan’s voice, wishing he could explain.

But he couldn’t.

Not now, limbs stinging with pain, even if far less than they should be. Not with the weight of dozens of potential opponents now fixated so intently upon him. Because every trick he showed now would be one that too many people would understand later. And his internal Qi techniques worked so well only because they were unexpected.

No. Let the crowd think he was a talented body cultivator, or perhaps a fool, with little ability to lash out with Qi directly, as was the case for so many strength cultivators, even powerful ones.

He was determined to get through this match showing as few of his cards as possible.

And it was clear that more was showing than he wanted already.

Kuai Su glared at Alex for long moments. “You should be on the ground screaming, your forearms cut to the bone. Yet still you stand.”

Alex said nothing, focused only on keeping his fangtian ji between himself and his foe, the only thing keeping the Gold back.

Kuai Su laughed. “Good. Good! Make this an interesting fight for me, Ruidian. Let me at least earn the prizes I will tear free from your corpse!”

Alex found his mind flashing back to a dozen sparring matches with his friends and opponents at both schools as he countered and weaved past his opponent's blows, trying to force his opponent in the bind, to lever aside his foe’s weapon before striking in turn.

Yet all he earned was Juai Su’s mocking smile, for the life of him unable to read his intentions, no matter how hard he tried.

Advanced Soul Sight skill check failed! Save for sensing lives lived that were both bitter and sweet, you are unable to sense the flow of Qi through your opponent!

Alex cried out and gasped when a hot sting took him completely off guard, his foe using the one moment Alex tried to focus exclusively on the man’s spiritual energy flows to smash aside fangtian ji and plunge his jian into Alex’s chest, and Alex cursed himself for a fool even as the man’s eyes widened, Alex finally allowing himself to stumble to one knee after leaping back in a spray of blood.

Silver Wing fails to parry blow. You’re far too slow!

Quickness Check made. You have narrowly avoided a pierced heart! You are now suffering extensive internal bleeding.

Power Healing engaged!

“Alex, please, he almost killed you! I’m calling it!”

“No!”

Alex ignored Hao Chan’s desperate mental cry, hot angry eyes locked on the smirking cultivator before him. Finally understanding the nature of his foe. Impossibly quick, incredibly deadly, and hardly using any Qi attacks at all. Because such strikes took time. Even Golden Swan, with its mastery over the sea of spiritual energy itself, an echo of the raging rivers and stormy oceans that Silver Swan was so adept at channeling, took a heartbeat longer to embrace than nothing at all. Even if it was the secret to slipping past the deadliest waves of spiritual energy or piercing the most fearsome wards.

A perfect example was his Silver Wing parry, now resonating so strongly with Golden Swan that space itself could be bent to redirect the most devastating attacks, was still too slow to parry the mongoose-like quickness of a light fencing jian enchanted by fearsome cutting magics slicing right for his heart, when the Gold’s movements were otherwise utterly free of any spiritual energy at all, save for that naturally contained within his frame.

He had managed to encounter an enemy who had turned his own weakness into a considerable strength. All the man had needed was a sponsor able to equip him with a damn powerful weapon, a gold tier treasure that was both exquisitely light and as sharp and quick in the hand as a vorpal blade.

And why the hell should Alex be surprised? Alex smirked at his own expense as he stumbled back to his feet, the air filled with his opponent’s mocking laughter as he twirled the Gold tier weapon in his hand now covered in Alex’s own blood before bowing to the crowd, not fearing a groaning Alex, presently dripping his life fluids onto the hot arena sand, in the least.

Dongfang Hong had had multiple days to study Alex’s fighting style in exquisite detail. To sense its strengths, piercing both formations and wards, slipping past the deadliest of assaults.

Perhaps the famed general understood its weakness as well.

Just as Alex at last understood his opponent’s.

The cocky arrogance that comes from always coming out on top.

Speed the perfect crutch to make up for any flaw in perception, tactics, or impulse.

Alex flinched a glance Panheu’s way, only to catch his mentor’s furious head-shake and dismayed gaze. Because of course his foe would sense the moment Alex was distracted and choose that moment to—

You have countered killing blow!

Your opponent has successfully pierced your heart!

Your opponent twists the blade!

The crowd gasped and roared.

For Kuai Su’s timing and execution had been flawless.

Sensing just the moment to lunge and strike, slamming aside the Ruidian’s fangtian ji that wasn’t even being held properly before plunging his blade deep into the stiffening fool.

Just as he had done multiple times before.

Only this time, his opponent was clearly dazed and suffering blood loss. The perfect time to strike with glory and pinache. To twist the blade and smile coldly into the Ruidian’s face before yanking his jian free and planting his foot on the foolish boy’s head as the crowd’s adulation washed over him.

Or such were the thoughts that seemed to flicker over Kuai Su’s features before glancing down at his own wrist in confusion.

Why couldn’t he budge his hand?

How the hell was the Ruidian gripping his wrist? His hands had been halfway up the polearm that had been knocked aside so easily.

Or had that been a trick of Shadow? Had his opponent already let go?

Kuai Su’s eyes widened in alarmed disbelief. As if unable to comprehend that he had been trapped.

He gave a furious yank and snarled, all his focus now on tearing both hand and weapon free, a weapon still lodged in the Ruidian’s chest. Yet his efforts only earned him agony as the impossibly tight grip turned to an abrupt squeeze, savage in its intensity, snapping Kuai Su’s wrist like brittle twigs and bringing the now screaming cultivator to his knees.

And perhaps he would have said something then, if a massive fist covered in obsidian darkness and a dragon’s fury hadn’t begun furiously slamming into the speed cultivator’s skull like a sledgehammer wielded by a madman.

Kuai Su collapsed in a dazed heap, only gaining a moment’s agonized clarity when he his left shoulder and wrist were abruptly twisted and forced behind his back before a furious explosion of agony made it clear that his opponent had just shattered his elbow.

All thoughts of tactics and diplomacy left the man as he began to howl like a mindless animal. At least until his opponent grabbed him by the ankle, twirled him about like a ragdoll, and began slamming him onto the sands. Repeatedly.

“Unless you’d like me to shatter your legs like I did your arms, I think you know what you need to say,” Alex said some moments later, biting back his own desperate urge to scream, smiling coldly at the now roaring crowd.

“I yield! I yield!” Kuai Su groaned between desperate wheezing gasps, choking back sobs and tears of blood.

Alex smirked, drawing his dao and placing the impossibly sharp shark teeth against the trembling man’s throat. “Oh wait, I forgot. You had declared ours a death match, right?”

The Gold gazed up at him with horror.

Alex smirked. “But you made sure to charge me before our talisman’s ever touched. Because it really was a setup from the start, wasn’t it?” His words had fallen to a soft, deadly pitch, for the trembling Gold’s ears alone. “Because if I kill you, that asshole above will declare it foul play and penalize me, because our talisman’s didn’t actually touch. Whereas if you killed me, nothing but smiles and congratulations would be in order. Am I right? Don’t bother answering that. We both know I am.”

Alex glared down at the trembling man, as he spared a single glance Jidihu’s way, feeling the weight of her shadow’s instantly as he pulled out his talisman.

If his opponent had been going pale with shock and pain before, he was now chalk white.

“I will have your Cultivator’s Oath that in return for sparing your life, all your material possessions are forfeit, and you swear never to cause me or mine intentional harm, whether directly, indirectly, or by proxy.”

Kuai Su glared at Alex for long moments as the crowd’s tension honed like a knife, the referee choosing that moment to approach.

Alex slowly shook his head. “Sorry, no last minute saves. You tried to kill me. Either you swear the oath, or I take your head. And who the hell cares what Dongfang Hong the asswipe does then? Because the last thing you’ll see is my hungry grin before your head tumbles into the River of Souls. Waters so cold that a soul as weak as your own will flash-freeze in the blink of an eye.”

He flashed a wolfish grin. “Trust me, I would know.”

His opponent blanched, before bowing his head.

Kaui Su’s eyes widened with dismay when his golden talisman, instantly manifest in his mangled fist, abruptly pulsed, signifying there was no sliding out of that oath, even if no words had actually been said.

The referee’s eyes crackled with outrage. “You will put down your blade now!”

Alex smirked, calmly resheathing his sharktooth dao, using his movements to disguise another action which made him groan only once, power healing and Gold tier Vitality washing away the pain within seconds.

You have successfully claimed Heirloom Jian. Heirloom Jian has been placed in storage pouch!

The jian that had, in fact, nicked his heart, was now gone as if it had never been. Fast enough some might think it sleight-of-hand or a Qi ability Alex had used. Far better that than anyone actually seeing him pull out the blade from his chest as casually as lint from his belly.

No matter how much pain he was in.

And if his wrist lock had been just a heartbeat slower, had Kaui Su actually managed to tear his blade free, turning a relatively tiny entrance wound into a gaping gusher that could have sawed his heart in half…

Alex shuddered. The awful thought didn’t bear thinking about.

So instead he glared at the referee. “I think you know what you need to do.”

To his credit, the man’s face showed not a flicker of emotion as he raised the blue flag, signifying Alex’s win.