Chương 35: Amber, Lapis, Jade

A master of the sword. Peerless, it was said. The jian became his best friend. His only friend. His last friend. — He who calls himself Chi You, The Completed Works by He Shulin, foremost scholar of the Outer Realms A few fights later, it was Shuhua's turn. She was paired with a boy with broad shoulders and hands like shovels. Despite his apparent strength, he still moved with grace. The fight was an interesting one. Shuhua had not appeared to be nervous, and she clearly had not had a reason.

Her moves were precise, efficient. She had clearly been well trained in the Fivefold Spear Art, and she translated her energetic personality into an aggressive approach to sparring. But her opponent had the advantage of reach, strength, and, while clearly not being as well trained as her, was no slouch. It was one of the longer fights so far, and only after Shuhua had landed three full hits to the one of her opponent did the bout end. For the first time, Jianyi did not agree with the decision of the elder.

While he thought it clearly justified that Shuhua had been elevated to the Jade group, he thought that her opponent would have deserved that as well. The elder thought differently, though Jianyi thought he noticed the briefest of hesitations before he announced the boy to be part of the Lapis group. To her credit, Shuhua did bow not just to the elder but also to her opponent and exchanged a few words with him as they replaced their weapons on the rack.

She smiled as she returned to her seat, and he congratulated her on her fight.

"Thank you! My mother, who was the first cultivator in our family, only got into Amber, and all my childhood, she told me how much she resented it. I am grateful that she invested in teachers who helped me learn the foundations of the Art." She had clearly learned more than just the foundations. This was what Minghao and Elder Sun had meant when they had said that his competitors would have a lifetime of advantages. After having seen quite a few spars, Jianyi had a much better idea of where he stood.

His talent for the spear, he thought, hoping that it was not arrogance talking, was among the top third, maybe even fifth, of those he had seen so far. He also sensed that some of those who had clearly been trained by the best teachers were sloppy. They knew the forms, but they had not practiced them to a degree that one could talk of excellence. But… there clearly were those who had it all, dedication, talent, teachers, and there were quite a few of those around.

Even if he was at his best, he would struggle to compete with them. Two feelings warred in his chest. For one, the clear knowledge that he was not even remotely at his best, which would prevent him from showing what he had learned so far. But on the other hand, there was an unshakable conviction that he had the discipline to make the best out of his talent and that he could close the distance to the top, given time.

Lost in those thoughts, he almost missed his own fight and was only made aware of it by Shuhua wishing him good luck. He got up to walk down the steps to the weapon rack and saw his opponent. The boy was of a similar build to him. Athletic, but not heavily muscled. Of above average height, but not exceptionally tall. He did not, however, exude an overtly strong presence. Instead, he had an open smile and nodded to Jianyi as they met at the rack.

Jianyi returned the nod, quickly checked the different spears with a glance, came to the conclusion that they were all of equal quality, and selected one at random. The sun was still low in the sky, but it stood behind the elder, so that it did not favor either side of the ring. As he took his position, Jianyi felt the eyes of the elder on him. No matter. He thought about his strategy for the fight. He had discussed it with Minghao as well.

If this was a fight to the death and he was as handicapped as he still felt, his best chance would be to risk it all in one or two attacks. But this was an assessment. It had not been made explicit what exactly was assessed. Was it a killer instinct? Was it effort? Was it talent? Was it technique? Jianyi did not know, and Minghao had not said, but he felt that displaying his technique, the movements and forms he had learned, would serve him best.

But of course not as a pure display as if he was performing a kata, no, it had to be technique to land the blow, winning the fight. This was the point to get nervous—but Jianyi felt his strengthened will suffuse him, embrace him, empower him. He had trained hard; he would give his best. There was no room for anxiety. With that thought, Jianyi took the Rooted Stance, ready for every form, ready for the fight to begin.

"Begin!" shouted the inner disciple. The boy across from him held the spear with purpose, but his form was lacking. Instead of gliding across the rough earthen floor, he strode ahead as if he were delivering goods on a market square. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Jianyi did not attack directly. His spear was at the ready to react to any move of his opponent. There.

The boy pushed for an attack, but he was too slow and opened himself up to a Flowing Current, utilized to sweep the other spear away and flow into a Blazing Arc that crashed into the disciple's shoulder. A bit slower than he would like, but Jianyi returned to the Rooted Stance and awaited his opponent's return to the starting position. The boy, however, rubbed his shoulder vigorously and took his time. Jianyi took deep breaths and remained focused.

The elder had not yet called the fight, despite his successful hit, and his opponent clearly being out of his depth. He could not afford to think about what that meant. One deep breath after the other. The inner disciple officiating the spar called for his opponent to return to his mark. This time, Jianyi went on the offensive. Rise. Advance. Close. Retreat. The by now familiar sequence of movements that made up the Piercing Fang. It wasn't as smooth as he would have liked.

Not as smooth as he could do it if he were at his best. Not as smooth as a few of the other disciples had demonstrated, but it was cleanly executed, and, most importantly, it connected. Despite the blunted tip of the spear, his opponent cried out as he hit his abdominal muscles, clearly not used to the pain that came with any martial arts exercise. Jianyi looked towards the elder, expecting him to call it, but Elder Fang's face remained impassive. Rooted Stance. Thoughts flying. Anything he should do differently?

No. Making a spectacle out of a fight against a clearly weaker opponent would be undignified. Ending it quickly was the only valid option. Given how the disciple was now hunched over and barely raised the spear, the next exchange was even shorter. But this time, Jianyi pulled his strike and only lightly touched his opponent in the chest, who looked at him gratefully with watery eyes.

"Disappointing." For the first time, Elder Fang uttered a word beyond the gems identifying the group names. Jianyi looked at him, eyes wide open, not sure whether he had imagined the word, but given the murmuring from the disciples watching the assessment, he wasn't the only one who had heard it.

"From a student of Elder Sun, I would have expected better." It felt like a slap in the face despite being uttered in an even tone without any emotion or facial expression.

"Amber." The elder pointed at the obviously devastated disciple. A moment of hesitation.

"Lapis." Elder Fang pointed at Jianyi. He wasn't even surprised at the outcome. But the way it had been delivered shocked Jianyi. What had he done to deserve this? He took a deep breath. Nothing. He had done nothing. But there had to be some history between Elders Fang and Sun. Stiffly, he bowed to the elder and his opponent and left the ring to return his weapon. He felt the eyes of many of his fellow disciples on him as he returned to his seat. Some curious, some envious, some compassionate.

Deng Shuhua smiled at him.

"Congratulations on your fight. It must have been hard to show all that you could, given your opponent." He nodded with a weak smile.

"Thank you."

"We must spar together, don't you agree?" Jianyi looked at her, confused. She seemed to have missed the elder's comments and the outcome of his assessment.

"I am Lapis, you are Jade."

"Yes, but I am sure there will be more training to be done beyond the groups, don't you?" He shrugged.

"Not sure we will have time for that. But I thank you for the offer." With that, he turned back to observe the fights, or at least pretend to. His thoughts stayed with his own spar and the group he had been assigned to. Given what he had seen, it and his own shape, it was probably a fair assessment. In the end, he could not change it now, but would do all he could to change it in six months. He could arrange himself with that prospect.

What was more unpleasant was the attention he had received from the elder and, in turn, from his fellow disciples. It was not what he wanted. It was the opposite of what he wanted. But after a few minutes, he calmed down. There was nothing to be done but learn all he could, work hard, and trust in Elder Sun to help him navigate everything else. Tang Miyao, the girl who had led the mountain race, performed admirably during the assessment as well.

Jianyi had to admit that he was a bit curious about the disciple's background. She seemed extremely well prepared for life as a cultivator in the sect. After she quickly landed two hits on her opponent, the Elder put her in the Jade group without hesitation. Both of the Liu cousins showed solid, if uninspired, fights. They were strong, fast, and had a basic understanding of the spear, but their grouping into Amber did not seem to surprise them and was probably fair in Jianyi's mind.

It took almost three hours, but in the end, Jianyi felt like he had a much better understanding of his fellow disciples. His initial assessment of where he ranked was largely confirmed. He took it as motivation, unnecessary though it was. Less than two dozen disciples had been placed into the Jade group, more than twice that were in Lapis, and the rest, about half of all outer disciples in their intake, were in Amber.

If the assessment in six months was one of relative strength, Jianyi expected a lot of competition and rivalry. After the last bout ended, the Elder stepped back into the center of the ring, his gaze slowly gliding over the assembled youths.

"Not a single one of you is a master of the spear. None. All of you could become one. This is what we do here. As good as any other sect in the Empire. We are the Fivefold Spear Sect. We know how to fight, and we know how to teach you to fight. But make no mistake, whether you learn and ascend is up to you. I have no interest in wasting my time on people who don't give it their all. Every single day. Again, and again." There was utter silence on the training field.

Meanwhile, the seven inner sect disciples who had accompanied the elder to the assessment had assembled into three groups as well. Cai Fangyin was a one-person group, then there was Ruolan, together with the disciple that had officiated the spars, and four more formed the last group.

"I have selected a number of talented disciples who have agreed to take some of their valuable time to assist me in teaching you. I expect you to show them the respect they deserve. Rest assured that, even though I will only directly engage with the Jade group," he pointed at Fangyin, "I will hear about the proceedings in Lapis," he pointed at the duo with Ruolan, "and Amber." He waved to the group of four disciples.

"It is up to you whether you attend the offered lessons, but don't expect any compassion from me if you don't live up to expectations in six months if you haven't. In fairness, you won't get compassion from me either way, but I hope none of you is too thick to understand my meaning." His smile lacked any warmth.

"Those in Jade will receive ten merit points, Lapis five. More points can be gained throughout the course and during the next assessment. You will find your schedules in the Administration Hall. May your path be long and fruitful." Jianyi caught the gaze of Fangyin and nodded to her with a smile, which she reciprocated, but he sensed pity in her expression, which might have been just him projecting his feelings about being in a group led by Ruolan, who so far had not left a pleasant impression on Jianyi.

Yet again, something that he could not change, so he just nodded to Shuhua and left the training field. He did not have time to worry about leaderboards right now. There was more to do. Always.