This is just what I need. Another jealous idiot.

It had been a while since he had to deal with someone who didn’t know their place. The last time he really needed to beat some arrogant young master who coveted one of his women was… when was it? He paused, tilted his head, and thought for a moment. It must have been back when he was a kid. Ming Shen was the eldest son of the Ming Family. He often tried to get Wu Meiying to marry him and had even tried pressuring the Wu Clan. That wasn’t the last time someone had gone after a woman who was interested in him, but it was the last time he really had to deal with it.

“Jian Wu?Jian Wu! Come up or forfeit your right to compete!”

“Jian Wu, it’s your turn,” Hou Jingshu said, gently elbowing him in the side.

“Right…”

Shaking his head, Wu Jian walked forward. Several people talked as he passed them by. He heard what they said thanks to his enhanced hearing.

“The heck? Why is he wearing a mask?”

“Maybe he’s really ugly underneath that mask?”

“Definitely. Why wear a mask unless you’re ugly as sin.”

“Doesn’t that mean you should wear a mask too?”

“Oh, fuck you!”

He soon reached the testing stone and even managed to withhold his sigh. People could be so dumb, but he didn’t blame them. He looked up at the testing stone, which was much bigger than any he had seen so far, then placed his hand on it. Chi flowed from his hand into the stone. He didn’t bother showing off right now. His results would do that for him.

“S-sixteen years old… Ninth Subrealm of the Asura Realm?!”

The elder’s shocking announcement caused even more of a stir than when Húndàn Wang’s cultivation was revealed. After all, a twenty-four year old at the First Subrealm of the Human Limit Realm was rare but not unheard of. A sixteen year old at the peak of the Asura Realm was. Only the top geniuses of the Three Celestial Sects and the Xia Dynasty had a cultivation like that. What made it even more shocking to the crowd was that Wu Jian was an unknown entity to them.

Wu Jian locked eyes with Húndàn Wang and smiled, even though he knew the older man couldn’t see it. The look on the swordsman’s face was priceless. His cheek was twitching and he looked like someone had forced him to swallow shit. It was a look Wu Jian would never forget so long as he lived.

He walked down and stood beside Hou Jingshu and Yu Qiang. They both smiled at him as the elder began calling up more names. Hushed whispers continued unabated as people walked up, but all of them were on Wu Jian’s shocking cultivation. It looked like he had managed to awe the crowd. This was exactly what Hou Jingshu wanted.

“Xian Fen.”

One of the Three Ice Fairies went up. Wu Jian judged her to be the oldest of the group. She had long hair that was an icy blue. It reached down to her ankles and a long braid traveled down the middle. Her eyes were the same icy color as her hair, her skin was pale like snow, and her lips were blue. Whatever cultivation method those women used was very advanced. Few methods changed a person’s appearance so starkly.

The woman pressed her hand against the testing stone.

“Twenty-five years old. Ninth Subrealm of the Asura Realm.”

Her cultivation was good, but it did not stun the crowd. There were many people at the peak of the Asura Realm in the Shang Kingdom.

“Xun Xi.”

Another of the fairies went up. She was younger than the first one, though Wu Jian couldn’t guess her age. Her hair was shorter than the other woman’s. However, it wasn’t as icy. The area near her roots was black and the color gradiated into blue further down. Only the tips contained the same icy hue, proving that her cultivation wasn’t as high.

“Twenty years old. Eighth Subrealm of the Asura Realm.”

“Those women are pretty powerful,” Wu Jian muttered.

Hou Jingshu nodded. “Members of the Ice Phoenix Sect are all very powerful cultivators. Most of them are even stronger than both the Burning Hand Sect and Saintly Sword Sect. The only reason they aren’t the strongest among the three is because they lack numbers.”

“Is that because they only accept women?” asked Wu Jian.

“That’s certainly part of it, but I’ve heard that even among women, very few people are capable of cultivating using their unique cultivation method,” Hou Jingshu said.

Wu Jian nodded. He knew enough about cultivation methods to understand that not everyone could learn them. Some required unique constitutions, while others required specific affinities. The Ice Phoenix Sect’s cultivation method obviously had something to do with the ice element, which was a pure yin element. How many people were capable of learning such a method? Not many, he believed.

“Mei Xilan.”

Several people went up while they were speaking, and soon, the last among the Three Ice Fairies was asked to come on stage.

The crowd went dead silent as she walked forward with a cold elegance that belied her obviously young age. She couldn’t have been much older than Wu Jian himself. Her hair was the color of ice and her irises were almost white. She looked like frost covered her, and she radiated a cold beauty that differed vastly from the two women who went up before her. Something about her seemed otherworldly. She reminded him of Hua Xue in that regard.

Mei Xilan stopped before the testing stone, then looked back at the crowd. Her eyes locked with Wu Jian. He didn’t know why, and he would continue to wonder as the girl turned back around and finally placed her hand on the stone.

“W-what the heck?! This must be a mistake?!” the elder shouted in shock.

No one in the crowd spoke. They couldn’t. Everyone was frozen stiff. Their eyes were bulging and several jaws had dropped; even Wu Jian struggled to pick his jaw up off the floor.

The testing stone had revealed the woman’s age and cultivation.

Seventeen Years old. First Subrealm of the Human Limit Realm.

***

“I almost can’t believe there’s someone that strong at such a young age,” Wu Jian muttered.

The expression on Hou Jingshu’s face as she looked at him all but said she thought he was an idiot. “I don’t think you have any right to say something like that. You’re only sixteen and you’ve already reached the peak of the Asura Realm. I’m pretty sure you’ll reach the Human Limit Realm before you turn seventeen.”

Wu Jian rubbed the back of his head. “I have no rebuttal.”

“The fact that you’re both talking about reaching the Human Limit Realm before you turn seventeen boggles my mind,” Yu Qiang confessed. “Are you two even human?”

“Of course,” said Hou Jingshu.

“What else would we be?” asked Wu Jian.

“Right. Silly me. Forget I asked. Of course, you two aren’t monsters disguised as humans,” Yu Qiang muttered.

Wu Jian and Hou Jingshu decided to ignore the bitter young man beside them and instead looked at where the elders and sect master of the Saintly Sword Sect were conferring with each other. The testing was done, but the preliminary matches hadn’t started up yet. From their wide gesticulations and the fierce expressions on their faces, it seemed they were arguing with each other about something, though he had no idea what that might be.

Several minutes passed before the sect master addressed the audience.

“Ahem. Due to some complications, we have rearranged the brackets for each fight. Because there are over five thousand participants, the matches will be hosted over the course of two weeks. We will have one hundred blocks with fifty people competing over the next fourteen days, with three hundred and fifty seven matches happening each day. These ten platforms are where you will perform your matches.”

An older man with white hair, brown eyes, and the longest beard Wu Jian had ever seen stepped forward. He didn’t look very strong at first glance, but he radiated power. The way he held himself was strong and sturdy like the trunk of a massive tree. Wu Jian glanced at the sword strapped to his waist. The sheath was decorated with golden leaf patterns but was otherwise unadorned.

“My name is Teng Qigang. I am the head elder of the Saintly Sword Sect. Allow me to show you the brackets for each block.”

The man removed his sword from its sheath and sliced the air. Wu Jian wondered what he was doing, but then wide gashes appeared in the sky, or so he thought at first. They were actually drawings made from chi. He whistled. It was an oddly impressive sight. He didn’t even know it was possible to write in the air like that.

What appeared in the air before the old man was a bracket listing how the matches would proceed. Bracket 1 as it was called would be taking place on platforms A and B, which were the two platforms on the leftmost side. Wu Jian did not see his or Hou Jingshu’s name, but he did see Yu Qiang’s down on the lower right. It looked like he would be one of the last people fighting.

The man made several dozen more slashes in the sky, creating chi drawings with his sword for brackets two through one hundred.

“This is bracket one. Be sure to memorize where you are in these brackets,” the head elder said.

“I’m in bracket six,” said Wu Jian. “I hope that means I’ll be able to finish all my matches tomorrow.”

“And I’m in bracket eighty,” muttered Hou Jingshu. She looked put out. “Guess I won’t be competing for a few days.”

“That’s okay. It means we can cheer each other on,” Wu Jian placed a hand on her arm. “I remember that was one of your complaints during the last tournament we were in.”

“I can’t believe you remember that. It happened so long ago.”

Wu Jian was, of course, talking about the Three Clans Tournament in Zahn City that had been hosted by the Zhou Clan. That was the first and only tournament they competed in together. Hou Jingshu had fought Ming Shen and been defeated. Wu Jian had not even seen their battle because he was competing in his own fight.

“Blocks One through Ten are competing right now. Everyone not in those blocks, go up to the stands.”

It was already pretty late. Testing everyone’s age and cultivation had taken almost half a day, but it looked like the elders and sect master didn’t want to waste any time. He understood all too well. They had over five thousand competitors. That was way too many for a tournament meant to showcase only the best that the Shang Kingdom had to offer.

These tournaments were more than just a way to gain fame and glory. Sects who performed well would gain recognition from the aristocracy and acquire more jobs from both commoners and nobles alike.

A sect’s income came from four sources: donations, nobles, selling resources, and jobs. Wealthy families who had a member in a sect would often send monthly or yearly donations. There were also the noble families who belonged to a sect. Their income was often used to further fund and grow the sect. Then there was the gathering and selling of resources, which included more than just cultivation resources, though those did sell the best. The last source came from jobs. Anyone could post a job at a sect. Disciples would perform the jobs in question and earn points that could be spent at the library, medicine hall, etc. for techniques and alchemy pills. This was all fairly standard for sects.

Wu Jian was in block six, which meant he would be fighting on Platform F.

“I’ll be watching you from the stands. Good luck,” Hou Jingshu said.

Wu Jian grinned behind his mask. “Thanks!”

Hou Jingshu hesitated before pressing her lips to his mask. He cursed. It sucked so hard that he had to wear this blasted thing. Wu Jian would have loved to feel her lips against his cheek.

Her actions earned Wu Jian several glares, but he cared little for the looks of jealousy by this point. How many times had this happened to him already? He had lost track after the hundredth time.

Wu Jian walked over to his platform as Hou Jingshu joined Zhou Lihua and Yu Mao. Two people were already battling, but neither was very strong, and their match was over quickly. Then another pair took their place. Like that, time passed until it was his turn.

“Jian Wu and Sun Tao, you’re up!” said the elder managing this block.

Wu Jian leapt onto the platform at roughly the same time as someone else--a young man with surprisingly bright blond hair. That was a rare color in this country. Heck, it was rare in most countries. It was also a sign that his hair color was probably a result of whatever cultivation method he used, though Wu Jian couldn’t figure out what kind of cultivator he was from just his hair color. Maybe he cultivated a lightning method? He was interested to find out.

“You are the heathen who engaged in such unscrupulous actions toward our nation’s princess!” the man accused, pointing a finger.

Wu Jian was suitably confused. “… Excuse me?”

“Do not attempt to talk your way out of this! I saw what happened. I don’t know how a frog like you convinced a swan like Hou Jingshu to act without an ounce of shame, but I won’t allow you to do anything else to her! I’ll teach you a lesson you’ll never forget!”

The man was so loud and brash. Did it look like Hou Jingshu had been blackmailed or something? No, it didn’t. Anyone with a brain could see she had kissed his cheek--mask willingly. This man was just an idiot.

“Been awhile since I’ve seen a man with eyes who cannot see the forest for the trees,” Wu Jian muttered as he shifted his feet against the ground.

His opponent summoned a pair of nunchaku, which he twirled around his body while making strange noises.

“Will you not summon your weapon?” asked the man.

“I don’t need it for you,” Wu Jian said.

Sun Tao narrowed his eyes. “I see you are courting death. That arrogance shall be the end of you if you’re not careful.”

Wu Jian shrugged. He didn’t think he was being arrogant. Just honest.

“Are both opponents ready?” asked the head elder. He received a nod in turn. “Very well. On the count of three, two, one… fight!”