Chương 27: Chapter 26: SUMMIT START

A sprawl of seven-story-tall spires surrounding a hulking slab of a building. Blocky, almost like a square pyramid, upper floors progressively smaller, blocks placed on top of each other. All sharp edges and angles. All brightgold. Under the glare of the midday sun, the palace as a whole—spires and main palace all—glowed harshly, just shy of blinding. It didn't manage to hold Jieyuan's attention for long, though.

Rather, he found his eyes drawn to the crowd gathered in front of it. It was the twentieth of Yellowlack, the first day of the Summit. The day the tournament was set to begin. And for the first time, the disciples would be part of the Gleaming Stone Sect's delegation for the summit. They'd left their palace shortly before midday, numbering eighty in all (sixty-four disciples, plus sixteen elders) and entered the First City not long ago, making for the Radiant Gold Palace.

Just ahead of their group was one of the palace's grandest, largest entrances; one Jieyuan had never been allowed through before, as a mundane kid, tagging along with his father. A large, open yard, its entrance framed by tall, hefty pillars. The bright, neatly trimmed green grass couldn't have stood out more in this landscape of glowing gold. Lining the edges of the yard were bushes with flowers the colors of copper, silver, and gold.

Over on the other end was a massive set of golden doors, leading into the palace. Already in the courtyard were three separate groups: one in golden robes, another in bright green, and the third in black. The yard was big enough that though each group was the same size as the Gleaming Stone Palace's delegation, eighty men strong, they were comfortably spread out throughout the yard, with plenty of space left over, enough for several more groups of the same size.

Heads turned as the Gleaming Stone Sect's delegation stepped past the tall pillars framing the entrance to the yard. Jieyuan, for his part, quickly ran his eyes over the people gathered there. He was familiar with the dress code of all the province's sects. He'd learned it all as a child. Pretty much everyone in Radiant Gold City did, heir to a merchant house or not. You'd have a hard time surviving long as a mundane if you couldn't tell how to properly address a cultivator by sight.

The province's other sects weren't as obvious about their dress codes as the Gleaming Stone Sect, what with how it assigned a different color for each court, but as long as you knew what to look for, it was easy to tell each person's rank in their sect. What Jieyuan was looking for, though, was an outfit he didn't recognize. And as he focused on the Radiant Gold Sect's side of the yard, he saw a small group detach itself and head their way. Among them, he found the one he was looking for.

At the back, trailing behind, was a woman in deep blue, purplish robes. Average height, black hair tied in a tight bun, narrow eyes, and thin lips set in a square, handsome face. Didn't seem a day older than twenty. In different robes, she could've easily passed for another one of the disciples participating in the tournament. But the robes she wore meant she could only be one person. The Howling Lightning Sect envoy. A tenth-step Orangesoul.

The one whom, if everything went right, he'd be leaving with after the end of the Summit. The tight grip of tension seized him. He'd never been so close to a cultivator at a higher realm. Five days ago, his sighting of the woman in gray was the first time he'd ever even seen one. And even though the envoy shouldn't have any cause to wish him harm, that didn't change the fact that the woman heading his way could have him dead faster than he could blink if she wanted to. Her apparent age was of little consequence.

Orangesouls would look that young well into their seventies. Only in their eighties would their body age past twenty. It also certainly didn't help that before they left the palace, Elder Yiming had warned him and the others to be careful of her. The Howling Lightning Sect sent a different envoy every Summit, and according to the palace head, this woman—Houleifang Guodan—was among the worst ones yet. Cold, uncaring, and seeming entirely uninterested in any of the palace's matters.

The palace head's theory was Envoy Guodan was here against her will, as some sort of punishment. The Houleifang Clan was the Howling Lightning Sect's royal clan, and according to Elder Yiming, the position of envoy was far from prestigious. More often than not, it was a mundane-born inner elder who was assigned the role and sent over. Jieyuan looked over the rest of the group. Leading it was another woman, this one in the golden robes of the Radiant Gold Sect.

She was on the taller side (considerably taller than Envoy Guodan) and had on such an extravagant assortment of jewelry that she would've fit right in with the Liangshibai. Mature-looking, in her mid-thirties or thereabouts, at least appearance-wise. She wore a white coat with elaborate golden patterns, and though some of the other members of the Radiant Gold Sect heading their way also wore coats, none were patterned like the woman's. That'd be the sovereign protector of the Radiant Gold Sect, then.

Wujinyao Aoxin. It was Jieyuan's first time seeing the woman, but he knew plenty of her. More than he knew about most members of the Radiant Gold Sect, at any rate. The Haoyujin were directly subordinated to her, after all. Sovereign Aoxin belonged to the same generation as Meiyao's father, Chief Junjie. She'd assumed the role about three decades ago. No spouses or children. Well-liked by the palace's servants, much like the nephew she was rumored to dote on.

At the front of the Gleaming Stone Sect's delegation were the high protectors, as well as Protector Wanxin, Chief Junjie, and Elder Yiming, with Sovereign Zhaoyong at the lead. Coming to a stop in front of the sovereign protector, Sovereign Aoxin exchanged brief greetings with the man, and then with the other elders beside him. The other Radiant Gold Sect elders that had come with Sovereign Aoxin spread out around her. Judging by their attires, they were all protectors of the sect, except for one man.

The head of the Radiant Gold Palace, an older man with graying hair that Jieyuan had met a couple of times before while accompanying his father. A Wujinyao, Sovereign Aoxin's cousin. Together with Sovereign Aoxin, the head of the Radiant Gold Palace greeted the Gleaming Stone Sect's elders.

Some of the other Radiant Gold Sect elders also took part in the pleasantries, but there were also a number of them sending searching looks toward the middle of the Gleaming Stone Palace's delegation, where Jieyuan and the other disciples were. None were quite so obvious as the Howling Lightning Sect envoy, though. She remained at the back of the group, and as Jieyuan looked over to her, their eyes met.

But it was a brief thing, and Envoy Guodan barely seemed to notice him as she shifted to inspect the other disciples in turn. Her gaze lingered a little longer on Meiyao. And then it stopped, dead, on Daojue. The envoy blinked, then narrowed her eyes. Before Jieyuan could puzzle out what that meant, the woman stepped forward, and everyone focused on her, the greetings between the upper echelons of the two sects coming to an abrupt halt.

"Zhaoyong," Envoy Guodan said, without preamble.

"I'd like to see the four."

"Of course, Envoy." Sovereign Zhaoyong, who so far had commanded absolute obedience in the Gleaming Stone Sect, sounded deferential now. Not to the point of coming across as ingratiating, but clearly obeisant.

"Disciples Yongyi, Meiyao, Daojue, and Jieyuan, step forward." The other elders and disciples around them immediately parted, making way. Jieyuan had already been standing near his former teammates and Yongyi, and upon the command they walked over together, all the way to the front, stopping in front of the envoy. Jieyuan fought back the urge to reach for Shifting Sisters. The splitfangs were hanging on either side of his waist, sheathed, just like he used to carry his spears in the past.

They wouldn't do him any good against the envoy, but logic didn't really factor into the urge to reach for your weapons when faced with a threat. And though he didn't think the envoy wished him harm, it was hard—and unwise—not to think of someone that much more powerful than you as anything other than dangerous.

"Hmmm." Envoy Guodan had her arms crossed as she looked them over. For a bizarre moment, Jieyuan imagined this was what cattle felt like at a fair, eyed by prospective buyers. Indignation sparked inside him, biting but ultimately impotent. That uncomfortable feeling vanished as the envoy smiled, a touch of warmth replacing the coldness in her expression.

"Well met, the four of you," Envoy Guodan said, and something about the way she said it rang genuine. Jieyuan caught, out of the corner of his eye, just the barest hint of surprise in the faces of the surrounding elders. The envoy reached forward and shook hands with Yongyi, who was the first one to their left, then with Meiyao.

Jieyuan's turn was next, and her grip was strong, solid, but far from the crushing she should be capable of, and the envoy gave him a firm nod and a rather pensive look as she clasped his hand. And then it was Daojue's turn, and there was no mistaking how the envoy stepped closer to him than she had with the others.

"Daojue, is it? Tianzijun Daojue?" Envoy Guodan said, staring up at Daojue's face—even Meiyao and Yunzhu, tall as they were, had to look up at Daojue, let alone a woman of middling height like the envoy—as the smile on her face widened. The way she looked at Daojue was intense, meaningful. Envoy Guodan wasn't the first woman to stare intensely at Daojue. That was just about Yunzhu's favorite pastime, best as Jieyuan could tell.

But whereas Jieyuan had no clue whatsoever what was up with Yunzhu's disturbing fixation with the man, Envoy Guodan's gaze was one much easier to decipher. The slight flush in her cheeks made it very obvious. That was desire, plain and simple. As clear a case of lust at first sight as there ever was. Jieyuan tensed even further. He wasn't surprised, though. Not at all. Daojue looked as handsome as Meiyao was beautiful. Which was to say, inhumanly so.

The only reason Daojue didn't go around catching eyes and stealing hearts left and right was because Daojue didn't go around at all, spending almost all of his time locked up training or cultivating or whatever it was that he got around to in private. The question, then, was what to make of this. Whether this would work in their favor, or end up leading to yet another mess. Given their track record, Jieyuan was afraid the latter was the likely option.

"I've never heard of a Tianzijun Clan," Envoy Guodan went on to say. She was still holding onto Daojue's hand, even if she wasn't shaking it anymore.

"Are you mundane-born, then?" Daojue stared down at the woman. Expressionless, in typical Daojue fashion.

"No," Daojue said. And nothing else. Jieyuan fought back a cringe. Never mind that Daojue was faced with a tenth-step Orangesoul, who could massacre him and everyone else in the courtyard in literally under a second. The odds of this turning out badly for them had just shot up by about tenfold. What made this worse was that this probably was Daojue playing nice. Jieyuan reckoned Daojue wouldn't have answered at all if the woman hadn't been at Orangerealm.

As far as Jieyuan knew, up to this point Daojue had never dignified any questions about his background with an answer. Not even a one-syllable one. Envoy Guodan, clearly unaccustomed to Daojue's unique approach to human interaction, kept on looking at him expectantly, waiting for an answer. When it became awkwardly, painfully clear that one wasn't forthcoming, though, her smile slipped a fraction. But then she nodded, and said, pleasantly, "I see." Huh.

There and then, Jieyuan decided that it was a good thing that the envoy was so attracted to Daojue if it meant she'd overlook his slights like that. Of course, this was hardly a matter of just good looks. There was no doubt that if Daojue hadn't had fourth-order heavenly affinity, none of this would be happening. Or at least not this way. Talent and beauty, though? Now that was as golden a pair as there ever was.

Letting go of Daojue's hand, Envoy Guodan looked to the side, to where the protectors of both sects had been discreetly watching them. Though some of them managed to keep their faces level, Jieyuan caught the tension in many of their expressions. It was abundantly clear that the envoy was taken with Daojue. And it was just as clear that Daojue couldn't care less. Individually, both the envoy's attraction and Daojue's disregard would've been cause enough to be wary. But the two together?

Jieyuan could only hope that the envoy's favor would continue to survive Daojue's attitude.

"Aoxin." Envoy Guodan nodded to the woman.

"Start the Summit."

"As you wish, Envoy," Sovereign Aoxin said readily.

"Will you be joining us?"

"Once the duels begin." She paused.

"You will have the first ones underway within the hour."

"Of course, Envoy."

"Good," Envoy Guodan said. She looked back to Daojue, and seemed as if she was about to say something else, but then closed her mouth and gave him a nod instead. And then she blurred away, shooting upward. Jieyuan could barely catch a dark blue shape speeding through the air, toward one of the upper levels of the palace, before it was gone. If the elders were at all surprised by the envoy's abrupt departure, they showed no signs of it.

Sovereign Aoxin looked as if it were business as usual as she bid a brief farewell to the Gleaming Stone Sect elders and then made her way back to the rest of the Radiant Gold Sect delegation together with the other members of her sect. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Well, that was… interesting," Elder Yiming murmured. Jieyuan glanced to his left, where the palace head was standing, and saw him eyeing Daojue.

"Who'd have thought the frigid—""Palace Head," the sovereign protector ground out, the warning clear in his tone. Elder Yiming put up his hands.

"My bad, my bad." Though there was a smile on his face, there was something ponderous, calculating about the way he regarded Daojue.

"So, I guess we're just pretending none of that happened just now?" Protector Wanxin snickered, biting back a smile. Out of the elders, it seemed like it was only her and her brother who found the situation amusing, though. Chief Junjie was frowning, hard. The high protectors wore similarly serious expressions. Sovereign Zhaoyong gave a long-suffering groan, a pained look on his face, the wrinkles on it hardening, growing more apparent.

"You will, if you value your life." Then the sovereign protector focused on Daojue, saying nothing. Daojue turned his head to face the aging man, staring right back. Not in a challenging way, though; all Daojue did was meet the sovereign protector's gaze, evenly, and hold it. Moments passed, and then Zhaoyong sighed.

"Tread carefully." Daojue remained silent. After a few seconds, he looked away, as naturally as if the conversation had ended. Movement up ahead drew Jieyuan's attention, and he saw the throng of Radiant Gold Sect members draw up to the end of the courtyard, to the massive pair of golden doors. Smoothly, without a sound, the massive doors began to open, inward. At the front of the Radiant Gold Sect's group was Sovereign Aoxin.

"My fellow cultivators," she said, her voice filling the yard, "if you'll follow me?" The sovereign protector then turned around. The Radiant Gold Sect members made way for her as she stepped through, into the palace, before filing in after her. As the Gleaming Stone Palace's delegation got moving, Jieyuan felt the niggling, pointed sensation of someone looking his way. Casting his eyes around the yard, he immediately pinpointed the source.

Pretty much the entire delegation from the Viridian Death Cult had their heads turned in their direction. All eighty of the green-robed lunatics. What in the Heavens? Following their gazes, Jieyuan found that they had their eyes on one person, in specific. Meiyao. Jieyuan recalled Protector Wanxin mentioning, days ago, that Meiyao was connected to the Viridian Death Cult in some way. That she supposedly had some pull with them.

"Meiyao," he murmured, giving her a nudge.

"Hmmm?" She looked at him questioningly. He gave a subtle nod in the Viridian Death Cult's direction, and she turned that way. Pretty much as one, most of the cultists looked away, in an unsettling showing of synchrony. All but one of them. An old man—among the oldest cultivators he had seen so far, with a wrinkled face and a head full of silvery white hair—with robes a deeper, more vibrant shade than everyone else's.

Jieyuan wasn't all that clear on the Cult's dress code as he was on that of the province's other sects, what with how secretive the cult was, but he was fairly sure that was the sovereign protector. Who, in the cult, went by the title of high priest. He was also the only cultist Jieyuan knew by name. Baisenzhou Tangqiao. He knew little of the cult's internal structure, but he did know that the Baisenzhou was a rather prominent clan in it; a high clan, if not the royal clan.

"Oh. Right. Them." She seemed remarkably unruffled for someone who had the attention of eighty cultists on them.

"Don't worry about it. I'll tell you later." The high priest kept on staring at Meiyao, even as he led the Viridian Death Cult delegation headed into the palace. —∞— Now, Jieyuan loved gold as much as the next man. He was a merchant's son. In fact, he'd even say gold was the color he liked the most. But as he stepped inside the Radiant Gold Palace, he was reminded both that you could have too much of a good thing, and that just because you could do something, that didn't mean you should.

The outside of the Radiant Gold Palace was already bad enough, but the inside was arguably worse. It was all brightgold. Glaring and glowing. No matter where you looked. Walls, floor, ceiling—everything. It'd been years since he'd been inside the Radiant Gold Palace, and he'd forgotten how bad it was. And now that he was a cultivator, his sharpened senses only made the experience worse.

He'd just crossed the massive pair of doors at the end of the yard into the room, together with the rest of the Gleaming Stone Palace's delegation. He'd wondered what he'd find on the other side, and though he was already very much used to cultivators and their approach to scale, he was still taken aback. He was in an amphitheater of sorts, on the higher level. The room was a massive thing, several dozen times the size of the already expansive training chamber back in Gleaming Stone Palace.

Further ahead was a railing—a good fifty paces away, if not more—and beyond it, the view of the lower level, where several separate raised square platforms that could only be dueling stages were spread out. A total of five of them, with four of them arranged around a bigger one in the middle. Like how it was in the Gleaming Stone Palace, except these stages were several times bigger. The balcony they were on stretched throughout all four walls of the hall, overlooking the fighting stages below.

The different delegations spread themselves out throughout this upper level, organizing themselves. And as Sovereign Zhaoyong led their group, a black-robed party made their way over. Jieyuan and the others had retreated deeper into the group after Envoy Guodan had left and their delegation had entered the palace, but they were still much closer to the front than they'd been before, just behind the line of high protectors. Because of this, Jieyuan had a clear view of the incoming party.

Three men and two women, all of them in the trim, sleek black robes of the Xiyunfeng Clan. By the clothes he wore, Jieyuan identified the tall, austere middle-aged man leading that group as the sovereign protector of the clan, Xiyunfeng Zhihao. The slightly taller young man by his side wore the attire of a core disciple of the Xiyunfeng Clan, and Jieyuan had an inkling of who it was, given who he was walking beside and how he was the only core disciple in the incoming party.

Xiyunfeng Xianjun, Sovereign Zhihao's son and apprentice. The Xiyunfeng Clan was an unbound clan, unlike the Liangshibai Clan and the other clans Jieyuan was more familiar with, which were subordinated to the Gleaming Stone Sect, and as such, considered adjunct clans. The Xiyunfeng Clan was a sect in its own right, and the only way to become a member was to be adopted into it. In practice, though, there wasn't that much difference between it and a sect.

Most sects had a royal clan, usually one formed by the sect's founder, and if you wanted to occupy one of the more prestigious positions in the organization, being adopted was often a prerequisite. As had been the case with Chief Junjie. Jieyuan didn't know much about the father and son pair. Or about the Xiyunfeng Clan as a whole, really.

Most of what he'd known about cultivators, prior to becoming one himself, had been about the Radiant Gold Sect because of his family's ties to it, and after he became a cultivator, he'd already had his hands full with the Gleaming Stone Sect and its matters. As a whole, though, the Xiyunfeng Clan had a fairly neutral reputation. They were the youngest of the province's sects, as well as the smallest and the weakest. He didn't know much else about them. They were a fairly secretive bunch.

Not nearly to the same extent as the Viridian Death Cult, but still enough that all Jieyuan knew about them was that they were a fairly ambitious bunch and weren't exactly fond of their place at the bottom of the province's food chain. But that was hardly a surprise. If there was something cultivators didn't lack, it was ambition. It took a special kind of mentality to subject yourself to mind-breaking pain on a regular basis in exchange for power.

Sovereign Zhihao and the Xiyunfeng elders with him briefly greeted the Gleaming Stone Sect's elders. They were all courteous about it, but Jieyuan was paying attention, so he noticed that when it came Sovereign Zhihao and Chief Junjie's turn, there was no hand-shaking, and all that came out of it were two shallow nods from both parties, both men's expressions dipping briefly into unfriendly, if not outright hostile, territory. Jieyuan wasn't surprised, though.

Chief Junjie's resting face was already on the somber end of the spectrum (to put it nicely) and though this was Jieyuan's first time seeing Sovereign Zhihao, he got the impression the man was coined in the same mint as Meiyao's father. After the brief round of introductions, Sovereign Zhihao motioned for the core disciple he'd brought along to come forward.

"I thought it'd be a good idea for our children to get to know each other. This is my son and apprentice, Xianjun." Xianjun had his father's austere lines and severe eyes, but unlike Sovereign Zhihao, the core disciple wore a smile that could've passed for friendly as he greeted the upper echelons of the Gleaming Stone Sect. He was close enough for Jieyuan to sense his soul. A sixth-step Redrealm, much like Yongyi.

What really drew Jieyuan's attention, though, was the sheath Xianjun carried on either side of his waist. Long sheathes, those meant to carry split polearms. The left sheath had an open-ended design, revealing a long, broad, spearhead-like blade, with a curved blade like that of a great axe extending from one side of it, and a smaller, hooked spike jutting out from the other. A halberd. A rather unusual weapon for a cultivator. Chief Junjie barely gave the younger Xiyunfeng a glance.

Then, turning his head back, he nodded to Yongyi, who readily stepped forward, placing himself directly across Xianjun.

"This is my son, Yongyi." Sovereign Zhihao gave Yongyi a considering look.

"Indeed. I remember you, from the last Summit. Even back then, as a second-step Redrealm, you availed yourself rather well. And those yellow eyes of yours—there's no forgetting those. A third-order heavenly affinity is quite the rarity." Not giving Yongyi an opportunity to respond, Sovereign Zhihao looked back to Chief Junjie.

"But that's not all, is it? I believe you have another child. A daughter—one with even higher heavenly affinity." The way Zhihao said that—and this whole situation, really—set Jieyuan on edge. There was something more to this little meeting, beyond even the veiled words and charged looks. And there was definitely something going on between Sovereign Zhihao and Chief Junjie.

Sovereign Zhihao's equal here—the one he should have been addressing—was Sovereign Zhaoyong, but apart from his initial greeting, the Xiyunfeng sovereign barely looked at the Gleaming Stone Sect's sovereign protector, dealing instead with the chief elder. Chief Junjie said nothing for several moments. When he did speak, his voice was hard, and he didn't turn around, not looking away from Sovereign Zhihao.

"Meiyao," he said, curtly, like he was forcing the word out of his throat and through his lips. Meiyao was to Jieyuan's left, and he watched out of the corner of his eye as she frowned, lingering in place for a beat, then two, before she let out a small sigh and moved to stand beside her half-brother.

"Elders," she said, stiffly, with a look that made it clear that she wasn't happy about any of this. Both Sovereign Zhihao and his son focused on her, and Jieyuan paid close attention to their reactions. Xianjun looked taken aback for a moment, before stealing a quick glance at his father. And while that was curious, Sovereign Zhihao's reaction was even more so. He stared, transfixed, at Meiyao, before murmuring, "Lianhua." It was barely more than a whisper, so soft that Jieyuan almost didn't catch it.

Chief Junjie stiffened, and so did many of the Liangshibai present. Meiyao, for her part, frowned up at the man.

"Did you know my mother, Sovereign?" Sovereign Zhihao seemed to be at a loss for words." Know her? I…" He trailed off.

"Yes. Yes, I did. You look just like she did at your age, did you know? You sound like her, too. You two even have the same heavenly affinity, if what I've heard is true." The man leaned forward, and Jieyuan got the feeling that the man wasn't thinking all that straight right now, that he wasn't all that cognizant of where he was.

"Tell me, Meiyao, do you intend to take Envoy Guodan's offer—""Sovereign Zhihao," Chief Junjie cut in with all the subtlety of a lightning strike, "that is a matter of the Gleaming Stone Sect."

"Ah." Immediately, Sovereign Zhihao gathered himself, standing up straighter.

"Indeed." The man shifted his gaze back to the chief elder. And if the way he looked at Meiyao's father was hard before, now it was sharp, cutting.

"My apologies. I forget myself. It's just… it's been years, but Lianhua's sudden… disappearance still weighs heavily on my mind and soul. I only hope that should her daughter remain in the Gleaming Stone Sect as she did, the same… fate won't befall her." Chief Junjie stepped forward, his stony expression giving way to something dark and dangerous.

"Are you insinuating that—""Junjie! Zhihao!" Both men whipped their heads in the direction of the voice, as did everyone else. Walking over to them was Sovereign Aoxin, beside her a young man, one Jieyuan had only seen once, from afar, but still recognized. He resembled the sovereign, with his tall stature, wide jaw, and prominent brow, even if unlike the woman he didn't really have much in the way of jewelry on him. Sovereign Aoxin's nephew and apprentice, Wujinyao Dayang. Meiyao's supposed betrothed.

"What's this?" Sovereign Aoxin said, inserting herself between the two men, smiling wryly.

"Bickering already? Haven't the two of you had enough of that the past few days? Come, now. You're in front of your disciples, your children. At least pretend to have some semblance of decorum." Sovereign Zhihao snorted, and Chief Junjie remained where he was, not taking his eyes off the Xiyunfeng sovereign, his gaze still dark and warning. Sovereign Aoxin shook her head in a very convincing impression of a mother exasperated with her unruly children's antics. Jieyuan found himself rather taken aback by all of it.

The three of them—Chief Junjie, Sovereign Zhihao, and Sovereign Aoxin—were from the same generation, as far as Jieyuan knew, and he expected they'd know each other, but this was a level of familiarity he hadn't thought would exist between members of different sects. Before he joined the Gleaming Stone Sect, he'd been under the impression that cultivators as a whole were rather isolationist, and up to this point he hadn't been given reason to think otherwise. Clearly he'd been wrong.

Having smothered the conflict between Sovereign Zhihao and Chief Junjie (or, at the very least, put it on hold, because both men still looked like they'd be more than willing to head down to one of the stages on the ground floor and fight it out to the death), Aoxin focused her attention on Meiyao. The older woman's wry, mock smile turned into a proper one, softening, warming.

"Oh, my dear girl, you don't know how good it is to see you again. I—" Sovereign Aoxin stopped herself short, blinking, as Meiyao leveled her with a glare, the biting, icy sort that in Jieyuan's experience was usually reserved for her father.

"Meiyao?" Sovereign Aoxin asked.

"Is something wrong, dear?" Deliberately, Meiyao glanced over at Dayang, then at her father, and then back to the sovereign. She did so in a drawn-out way, so that anyone looking at her could perfectly track where her gaze fell.

"No, Sovereign," she said, the frost in her voice matching the one in her eyes.

"Oh." Sovereign Aoxin's face soured. Just beside the woman, Dayang reached forward, putting a hand on his aunt's shoulder. The Wujinyao scion's eyes were on Meiyao, his expression determined, and he looked as if he was about to speak when Meiyao shifted her glare to him, stumping him. Before he could get any words out, Meiyao turned around, abruptly, and marched back into the body of the Gleaming Stone Sect's delegation, coming to a stop a little further behind Jieyuan.

The disciples near her didn't seem to know whether they were supposed to draw away or stay still. And then Jieyuan found himself staring straight at Dayang; not because Dayang had turned to look at him, but because Jieyuan had moved slightly to the side and forward, blocking Meiyao from view. Dayang narrowed his eyes at him. Not in a threatening or malicious manner; rather, it was more like he was taking his measure.

Jieyuan stared back, similarly assessing, all the while well aware that the core disciple from the Radiant Gold Sect was hardly the only one looking at him now. Dayang was now just at the edge of his soulsenses, and Jieyuan found that he was another sixth-step Redrealm, like Yongyi and Xianjun. He'd expected about as much. It was unlikely that any of the disciples here would be higher than that.

According to Elder Yiming, out of the two-hundred and fifty-six disciples participating in the Summit, only about two dozen or so were usually at sixth-step. Under normal circumstances, the remaining ones would be at fifth-step, barring any exceptions. Exceptions like himself, Meiyao, and Daojue. The oldest disciple taking part in the Summit would be twenty-three. The Summit happened every five years, and only disciples who joined their sect in a Summit year got to participate twice.

Yongyi himself had only just turned twenty-three, and Jieyuan was fairly sure Xianjun and Dayang were around the same age, maybe younger by a couple of months. They're proper cultivators, Jieyuan decided. He'd heard that this Summit, he, Meiyao, Daojue and Yongyi were the only ones with heavenly affinity above second-order. Dayang and Xianjun could have second-order affinity at the most, so they'd have to suffer quite a bit more than Yongyi to reach the same step.

"Sovereign Aoxin," Chief Junjie said, drawing the others' attention to him, "are the preparations ready?"

"Nearly." Sovereign Aoxin looked over to the left, toward the railing, and Jieyuan followed her gaze down to the lower level, where men in golden robes were approaching the stages.

"I came to inform you that the envoy… requested some adjustments to the order of the matches, although not to the match-ups themselves. Besides that, we're proceeding as planned."

"Very well," Chief Junjie said.

"If you'll excuse us, then? We'd like to impart some words upon our disciples before the matches begin."

"Of course." Sovereign Aoxin nodded.

"I plan on doing much the same."

"We'll be taking our leave as well, then," Sovereign Zhihao said. And as both the parties from the Radiant Gold Sect and the Xiyunfeng Clan left, Jieyuan, still standing in front of Meiyao, caught, probably better than anyone else, the way both Dayang and Sovereign Zhihao sent lingering looks Meiyao's way before finally turning around. And as the two parties moved away, Jieyuan noticed another pair of eyes, from across the floor, where the Viridian Death Cult delegation had settled themselves.

The high priest, Baisenzhou Tangqiao, eyes a piercing black beneath a bushy set of white eyebrows. And Jieyuan knew, then, that much as the events of the Gleamstone Hunt had mostly concerned Daojue, what with being Qingshi's main target, it looked as if Meiyao was now the root the troubles were stemming from, and whatever was going on now, it was set to be far, far worse, given the esteemed personage involved.

And as if that wasn't enough, their troubles from within the Gleaming Stone Sect weren't quite resolved yet, either, if the assassination attempts on the Gleaming Stone Palace were any indication. Jieyuan took a steadying breath as their delegation got moving again. He'd tossed the coin all those months ago, and now all that was left was to survive long enough to see which way it'd land. In for copper, in for gold.