Chương 36: Chapter 35: OF TRUMP CARDS

Jieyuan had taken Daojue by surprise. There was no contesting that. Not when Daojue's eyes widened. Just a fraction, sure, but this was Daojue. A slight flare of his eyes roughly translated to a gasp, a dropped jaw, and a saucer-wide stare rolled into one, by anyone else's standards. Problem was, this was Daojue. Surprising him wasn't the same as stumping him. The former was hard; the latter might as well be impossible.

In a show of speed and instinct, without so much as a backward glance, Daojue thrust the butt of Gleaming End backward into the blade of the airborne Shifting Sister, perfectly throwing off the strike. Without pause, Daojue followed up by driving Gleaming End forward, stopping Jieyuan's frontal attack. Jieyuan gritted his teeth as he and Daojue fell into another standstill, Sapphire locked with Gleaming End.

Even with a two-handed grip, his entire body behind it, and the weight of Sapphire amplified, he barely managed to keep Daojue from disarming him a second time. The way his attention was split didn't help any, either. On one side there was his own body and the effort of holding Daojue at bay; on the other was the floating Shifting Sister, and the delicate, precise control required to maneuver it back into position after Daojue had thrown it aside earlier.

Soulforce's biggest limitation was that it could only be used on something you'd bonded, and only within the range of your soulsenses. There was also a weight limit, one that rose together with your step—though as long as something was within that range, you could accelerate it up to a set top speed, which also scaled with your step. Be it a boulder or a blade of grass, if you could lift it, you could accelerate it equally fast, regardless of weight.

This meant you got more mileage out of your soulforce by moving heavier things. But it wasn't all gold and gems; the closer the object's weight was to your limit, the greater the concentration required to control it. Jieyuan had reduced Ruby's weight as much as possible through its spiritskill, Ephemeral Weight Shift. That put it at only a tenth of its normal weight, so it was well within his soulforce weight limit. That was something he had Xianjun to thank for.

It was his remote use of his bondskill, yesterday, that had given Jieyuan (or, rather, his subconscious) the idea. But even then, he still had to steer Ruby, mentally sketch out its course and move the weapon through it until it was right back behind Daojue and ready to strike again. It was like growing a new limb and being told to duel with it half a day later.

Jieyuan had gotten all the practice with soulforce he could squeeze into yesterday night and this morning—intense, nonstop practice—but there was only so much you could cram into twelve hours, even with Absolute Will Command's simulations. Daojue leaned further into Gleaming End, and the pressure pressing against Sapphire went from overwhelming to unbearable. Thinking fast, Jieyuan flicked his wrist, angling Sapphire's blade a fraction to the left, and let Daojue's momentum do the rest.

Gleaming End shot past him, deflected to the side. Daojue reacted instantly, reengaging. Jieyuan tightened his hold on his weapon, ignoring the flare of pain in his arms and hands as he met the blow with one of his own. If Jieyuan had counted on his surprise attack with Ruby succeeding—if he had been betting on Daojue failing to react in time—then he'd already be on the floor, hearing Sovereign Aoxin announce the end of the duel.

He had hoped at least one of his simultaneous strikes would land, but hope and expectation were two different things. You could hope to win the lottery, but you didn't bank on such a long shot, much less stake everything on it. Jieyuan hadn't intended the double-fronted attack as his finishing move. Not when Xianjun's sneak attack yesterday had been much the same and produced no results. No. That had just been the opening move. The setup. In sync with Jieyuan's movements, Ruby struck at Daojue again from behind.

This time, guiding it barely required thought: a trick he'd figured out yesterday, and the one that made all of this possible. He wouldn't have been able to move the weapon mid-fight like this otherwise; not if he wanted to do anything else with his body at the same time. But he'd found he could bind his soulforce to the movement of his arms, linking the Shifting Sisters together.

This wasn't a chromal technique, or anything fancy like that; rather, it was a mental trick he and Maeva had come up with, a sort of self-hypnosis. And through it, he could fight while using his soulforce. No concentration required. Like with the first time, as though he had eyes on the back of his head—but was probably just an inhuman awareness of his soulsenses—Daojue didn't take his eyes off Jieyuan for even a second as the two attacks came at him. First he fended off Ruby with a precise backward thrust.

Then he stabbed Gleaming End forward to intercept the other attack. Huax— He didn't even get to finish the thought before Huaxin sent him a sequence. PARRY-ADVANCE-SWING-PARRY. About three seconds, compressed into a perfectly clear instant. This time, Jieyuan had to bite back a smile as he got a glimpse of what was to come. Now they were back in familiar ground.

He threw himself into the future—already bracing himself for Daojue's parry even as he carried out the swing, then weathering the ringing in his arm as Daojue managed to bat away both Shifting Sisters at almost the same time. Unhindered, Jieyuan stepped into the gap he'd just opened in Daojue's defense even as Ruby drew closer from the opposite side, and swung his arms upward. Across from him, Ruby swung at Daojue from behind in perfect parallel.

Each and every time so far, Daojue had always dealt with Ruby first—but this time he broke the pattern and started with the frontal attack. That could've easily caught Jieyuan off-guard, made him fumble the offensive—and against someone like Daojue, that was just about as good as admitting defeat. But it didn't, because he had the future playing on his side.

Jieyuan side-stepped the counterstrike, pitching his arms to the side and angling his body out of Gleaming End's path—before driving Sapphire into Daojue's side. Daojue whirled on his feet and reoriented Gleaming End in a half-spin to catch the strike. But there was still the attack coming from the back. Ruby bit into the fabric of Daojue's robes just as Daojue jerked back, throwing himself out of the way.

From the feedback of his soulforce, Jieyuan could feel Ruby cutting a line into Daojue's robes, but that was as far as it went; Daojue managed to move in time before it could tear skin. But that didn't matter. He had Daojue on the back foot. What Huaxin did was pick the most advantageous future possible for Jieyuan. Jieyuan didn't quite know how that worked, but that's what it did.

Earlier in the duel, Huaxin hadn't been able to come up with any particularly good sequences—because Jieyuan himself wasn't good enough to gain the upper hand in a fight with Daojue, no matter what he did. All it could manage was allow Jieyuan to hold on. But now, wielding Ruby with soulforce? Now that he could attack from two opposite directions at the same time? Now Huaxin had a little more to work with. Daojue's feet had barely touched the ground again as Huaxin followed up with the next sequence.

ADVANCE-STRIKE-DODGE-TWIST-TURN-STEP-PARRY. He lunged at Daojue, swinging his arms out as he moved, Ruby likewise coming in swinging behind Daojue. And it was proof that Daojue had really been thrown off his game, because instead of ramming Gleaming End into Ruby like every time so far, he dodged, sharply swerving aside. And Daojue never dodged if he could help it. Even as he dodged, Daojue came at him, thrusting Gleaming End at Jieyuan's chest.

The moment Daojue's spear whipped out, Jieyuan ducked to the side, slipping out of the spearhead's way, then dropped even lower, sweeping his weapon at Daojue's midsection—while Ruby followed suit from behind. Again Daojue had no choice but to break off, retreating. Jieyuan had probably never seen something more beautiful. And he reckoned he was about to see an even greater sight. It was time for the finisher.

"See Maeva," he whispered. A smidgen of chroma vanished from his soulprism. Another presence appeared in his mind. There was a shift inside him. Ruby twitched. Jieyuan made sure to keep his gaze firmly fixed on Daojue. Huaxin sent him another sequence. And as the next few seconds flashed past him, glorious and brilliant—well, Jieyuan really couldn't help his grin now. Now we're talking. Jieyuan charged at Daojue again as Ruby repositioned itself.

He swung at Daojue, and the other Shifting Sister swung with him, mirroring his movements. Daojue parried both attacks, then swept Gleaming End forward. Jieyuan had no choice but to meet the strike with his weapon, blocking it. The impact almost sent Jieyuan back. Daojue looked about the same, violet eyes intent, face expressionless, but he must be pissed now. Good. Jieyuan had no doubt whatsoever Daojue had already figured out how exactly he was using soulforce to control his other weapon.

Jieyuan hadn't made any efforts to mask how Ruby only attacked when he attacked and always in the exact same way. Daojue might not have figured out the specifics of what he was doing, but he'd have long since cottoned on to the correlation. Jieyuan broke off, jumping back; Daojue surged at him, taking advantage of his retreat. And that was when Ruby blurred forward, striking at Daojue's back—even as Jieyuan was busy retreating.

Daojue's eyes went wide—proper wide this time, normal-person wide—and it was testament to his absurd reaction speed that he suddenly stepped out, twisting his body. Of course, Jieyuan wasn't about to let him. He lunged forward at the exact moment Daojue reacted and struck at Gleaming End with Sapphire. His arms shook under the effort, and his footing was an absolute mess—if he had stopped his own retreat too early, Daojue might have noticed something was off, so he'd had to rush it in the very last moment.

If Daojue turned on him now, he'd be done for. But that didn't matter, because Ruby, having adjusted its course as Daojue twisted his body, continued on. And struck home against Daojue's back. And this time around, cloth wasn't the only thing it cut. Jieyuan's grin could've split his face in half. The fire in him sung, roaring to the Heavens—blazing, triumphant, unstoppable. First blood, baby. He looked up, not at Daojue but across him—locking his eyes with Maeva's bright blue ones.

Maeva, who stood behind Daojue, glorious in the brightgold glow, in her yellow sundress and stark white lab coat, grinning back at him. Maeva, who was holding Ruby. Jieyuan had only ever seen Daojue bleed once before. In the Gleamstone Valley, fighting Dajinzhi Qingshi. Now he'd made Daojue bleed, something no one else had managed since Qingshi. He couldn't see the wound, couldn't see blood on the blade; but he'd felt it, felt the impact through his soulforce, felt the blade tear into flesh.

If Jieyuan needed any proof he'd made the right call, this was it. Trump cards weren't something you'd normally use right at the get-go of a fight; they were your best shot at winning, so you saved them for the perfect moment. The moment they were most likely to work, the moment they'd have the greatest effect. The thing about trump cards, though, is that most people only really had one of them.

So after you pulled out something as major as wielding your weapon with soulforce, which should've been impossible for a fourth-step Redsoul, then nobody really expected you to have something else up your sleeve. But fighting Daojue wasn't like fighting anyone else. In a normal fight, once you managed to gain the upper hand, your advantage only grew bigger, the gap between you and your opponent only widening.

But against Daojue, it was the opposite; given enough time, Daojue would whittle down whatever lead Jieyuan had on him, sure as chisel on crystal. Jieyuan had learned his lesson from Xianjun's duel yesterday. The idea to summon Maeva and have her take control of his soulforce had come first; it was the idea Maeva had opened with, in fact. It was later that Jieyuan had decided he wanted to make the most of it, stack his odds as high as possible and really catch Daojue by surprise.

That was when he'd come up with the idea to use a limited version of soulforce weapon-fighting to lull Daojue into a false sense of security. It had worked like a dream. And now Jieyuan meant to take it all the way. Daojue's reaction came in a blur of movement. He disengaged, jumping back—away from both Jieyuan and Maeva. Jieyuan wasn't about to allow Daojue any respite, though. The less time he gave Daojue to adapt, the better.

He flexed his legs, making to give chase, already counting on Huaxin's follow-up sequence— DANGER. Huaxin's warning came immediately, blaring. There was no specific image accompanying, no outlined future of what would happen if he charged at Daojue now—just an overwhelmingly ominous feeling, a chill so cold it might as well have skipped the warning and just stopped his heart outright. Jieyuan forced himself to stay put, lunge wholly aborted. Blood thumped in his ears, his heart hammering in his chest.

But not because of the sudden fright. Despite it. A Firesoul's fire was something fierce; even now it still edged him forward, to give chase. It'd gotten a taste of bloodshed and now it wanted the full course, never mind warnings of certain death. Jieyuan took a deep breath. He reached out to Huaxin again. What's going— Stolen story; please report. UP, Huaxin immediately sent back. Jieyuan blinked, then whipped his neck up. Hovering on empty air, above the stage, was Envoy Guodan. Oh. Jieyuan swallowed.

The sight of her failed where Huaxin's warning couldn't. It got through to the fire in him, dampening it, sure as a shock of ice-cold water. A vague even if urgent warning was one thing; an Orangesoul on the prowl was another. That … That'd do it. It'd never struck him as clearly as it struck him now just what it meant to be near an Orangesoul. Being in the presence of someone who could kill you with a look wasn't much different from being in their mercy.

Just by being there, they had full control over your life and death, and there wasn't anything you could do about it. The envoy said nothing, just stood mid-air, looking down at him and Daojue.

"Leave." It'd been so long since he'd last heard Daojue speak that Jieyuan almost didn't recognize his voice. He looked back down and saw that Daojue was looking up, gaze fixed on the envoy. Daojue's eyes were slightly narrowed, his brow just the tiniest bit furrowed. That, Jieyuan knew, was about as close as Daojue came to frowning. Jieyuan couldn't clearly see Envoy Guodan's expression (neither the distance nor the overhead brightgold lighting helped), but he had the impression she was frowning too.

"Daojue…" she began. Her tone almost gave Jieyuan whiplash. Gentle, borderline entreating.

"Leave," Daojue said again, cold and sharp as steel, cutting off the woman powerful enough to kill everyone in the room in the blink of an eye. This was Jieyuan's first time hearing Daojue repeating himself. Usually, after saying something, Daojue would just stare you down until you got the message. Daojue sure had picked the moment to break the pattern. The envoy fell silent again. There was a pause that seemed to last an eternity.

Then Envoy Guodan softly shook her head before slowly floating back to the viewing platform. She settled back into her usual position on the Radiant Gold Sect's side of the floor. But the woman's eyes never left the stage. Heavens be good. It was the woman's clear desire for Daojue that had made her intervene; and it was that same desire that let Daojue talk back to her and get her to back off. Talk about a double-edged dagger. Jieyuan could've laughed.

He turned back to Daojue and saw that the man hadn't even been looking at the envoy anymore; instead, Daojue staring straight back at him, dark violet eyes boring into his own. Jieyuan took another deep breath, steadying, releasing the tension in his muscles—before he drew on his fire, letting it fill him again. Envoy Guodan's interruption had wrecked his momentum, sure, but there wasn't any use crying over dropped gold. He'd just have to do his best to recoup his losses.

Though let's keep the wounds to a minimum, maybe. Daojue might have managed to make Envoy Guodan fall back this time, but Jieyuan wasn't taking his chances. Out of the corner of his eye, Jieyuan saw Maeva shoot him an uncertain look, head cocked. He made sure not to look back, keeping his eyes fixed on Daojue. She seemed to get the message and reoriented to face Daojue, the Shifting Sister in her hands held in front of her, ready.

There was no point pressing an advantage he didn't have anymore, so Jieyuan took the brief respite for what it was worth, centering himself. Daojue kept on watching him back, unmoving. Jieyuan had no way of telling what was going on in Daojue's head—but he had something of an idea of what it might be. The cut Maeva had landed now didn't go much further than skin deep. This was a duel, not a fight to the death, no matter what Envoy Guodan might think.

Even a mundane could've soldiered through it, let alone a cultivator. Back when Qingshi stabbed Daojue, Daojue had immediately put some distance between them. He'd then spent a while just staring warily at Qingshi, clearly reassessing the situation. Not a long while—and immediately afterward he'd shot back at Qingshi fiercer than ever. The stab wound then hadn't been any worse than the cut now. That meant that the wound, then and now, wasn't the issue. The problem was probably that Daojue had been wounded, period.

That probably had him rethinking his approach. Daojue was an aggressive, relentless fighter—but Jieyuan had an inkling he was also the analytical type. Though the circumstances were very different from those back in the Gleamstone Valley, Jieyuan reckoned that the situation should play out much the same. Daojue was all about offense—once he had his thoughts back in order, he'd jump straight back into the fray. Just as Jieyuan was about to check in with Huaxin, Daojue's posture shifted.

Dropping lower, leaning forward. Jieyuan immediately followed suit, tension coiling in his muscles. Daojue gave him a sharp nod. There was a beat—in which, in a moment of odd clarity, it occurred to Jieyuan that he'd never really seen Daojue nod before. Then Daojue launched himself at him, and all other thoughts except for the here and now vanished from Jieyuan's head. Daojue had barely moved when Huaxin hit Jieyuan with the next sequence.

In the instant it took Jieyuan to absorb that glimpse into the future, he noticed that though the sequence didn't cover any more ground than the earlier ones did, it was way more complex. Because it wasn't just himself and Daojue that were factored in now. But that was just one of two things Jieyuan had noticed. The second was that he still had a shot at winning after all. He threw himself into Daojue's charge; but Maeva was even faster, sweeping past him, Ruby in hand.

His soulforce could accelerate things faster than he could run, and Maeva's own speed—or the illusion of it, at any rate—had been adjusted to match that. She arrived at Daojue first, her Shifting Sister striking in a hard swing. Daojue parried the attack—just as Jieyuan drew close enough to deliver a strike of his own, and drove Sapphire into Daojue's unprotected side. Daojue whirled on his feet, turning his body and Gleaming End to block his attack—and Maeva struck at Daojue again.

Daojue pushed hard enough against Jieyuan to make him stagger back and moved to defend against Maeva's new strike; but Jieyuan had known the push was coming and braced himself, only pretending to stumble, and as Daojue turned around he dropped low and delivered a sweeping kick at Daojue's legs. Daojue got his feet out of the way just at the last moment in a short, quick jump. And that was when Maeva slammed Ruby into Gleaming End. Still in the air, Daojue took the blow and got launched back.

But even then he leaned his body forward, adjusting his weight to preempt his landing. He drove Gleaming End down, as if to use it as an anchor. Jieyuan didn't let him, rising to his feet and using the movement to bring Shifting Sister up with him in an upswing. Gleaming End had just hit the floor, Daojue still mid-air, when the attack reached him. In an inhuman show of agility, Daojue leaned his weight against Gleaming End—momentum still carrying him backward, and kicked out at Jieyuan's Shifting Sister.

Jieyuan staggered back. But Maeva took over. And she was merciless. Huaxin had included, in the sequence, a brief moment in which he just stood there, watching—which was fair enough, because Jieyuan could hardly imagine a future where that didn't happen. It was surreal, seeing Maeva—his sister, Amyas's sister—take on Daojue. They didn't even look like they belonged to the same world (and they in fact didn't). But here she was (though only he could see it), coming at Daojue with a flurry of attack.

Maeva didn't know the first thing about martial arts. She probably didn't even know how to throw a proper punch. But this wasn't the real Maeva; rather, it was his subconscious, wearing Maeva's face and clothes. And so she could tap into his own combat experience and put it into action. She'd been the one who insisted on helping him in his match against Daojue, rather than having him call up a copy of himself.

He'd simulated a few fights with her yesterday, to be safe; and as it turned out, when she tapped into his own abilities, she managed to be better than him. Jieyuan didn't really follow a specific martial art. He'd started off with an assortment of moves and techniques he'd cobbled together from all the combat tutors his old man had gotten for him. Then, since becoming a cultivator he kept building upon it, taking for himself any moves or tricks he found interesting when he saw somebody else fight.

He'd gotten much from Meiyao, Daojue, and Yongyi, as well from all the other competitors so far. But even so, he had a hard time seeing himself in Maeva as she moved. She'd explained it away that she had the full breadth of his memories, could replicate virtually any style he'd seen since she didn't have a real body and had just picked the moves that would suit her best and put together a style of her own. But he didn't see it. He was even tempted to ask her for some lessons.

Because she didn't just seem better than him; she was practically driving Daojue back all on her own. She did have some advantages Jieyuan didn't: she moved at soulforce speed, and being technically an illusion, wasn't bothered by pesky things such as biological or mechanical limitations; moreover, Daojue couldn't see her because she wasn't actually there, so he couldn't properly react to her like he would against a human opponent. But still.

Jieyuan didn't think he'd have done as good a job in her place, and she was supposed to be a part of him. Apparently, all he needed to do to make Daojue sweat was link up his hallucination of his sister to his soulforce, then stand back and watch the show. This wasn't the kind of show that'd last long, though. Both keeping Maeva up and using the Shifting Sisters' spiritskill to reduce their weight required chroma. Individually, neither used up much, but together, over time? The numbers added up.

And though Maeva was driving Daojue back, she wasn't getting any closer to winning on her own. She was getting further, in fact, as Daojue improved. He needed to act. Huaxin sent him another sequence then. Jieyuan paused. The pause was part of the sequence. Like with everything else, Huaxin had accounted for it. Because there was no way he wouldn't have paused. Not when he saw himself winning the duel at the end of it. Jieyuan didn't let himself think on it further, didn't let himself dawdle.

Victory was on the line. He still had to make it real. He moved, lunging at Daojue, joining up with Maeva on her assault. And he started translating the future into the present. Daojue immediately struck at him. He dodged. Maeva struck. Daojue blocked. Jieyuan swung. Daojue dodged. Maeva went for an overhead swing— Huaxin gave a pained wince. Daojue should've blocked Maeva's swing and then backstepped to dodge Jieyuan's follow-up. That was what the sequence dictated.

Instead, Daojue leaned to the side, dodging the swing, and brought Gleaming End down at Jieyuan. In normal circumstances, in the absence of foresight, Jieyuan would've been able to react in time. Daojue gave almost no visual cues, so you had to be ready for anything when fighting him. If you weren't on full alert against Daojue, you'd find yourself on the ground before you knew it. But Huaxin had never made a mistake before. The idea that it could be wrong hadn't even crossed Jieyuan's mind. Until now.

Maeva veered her weapon's trajectory and blocked Daojue's attack. If she hadn't, Jieyuan would've been very well struck down there and then—when just earlier Huaxin had very clearly shown him winning the duel. Jieyuan blinked, steadying himself as Maeva went all-out against Daojue, drawing him away. He stared at them, uncomprehending. And he noticed that Daojue was frowning again. Frowning even harder than he had at Envoy Guodan earlier.

A proper frown, like the one you wore when you were fully concentrating on something. He hadn't even known Daojue was capable of that kind of look. Huaxin? What just ha— SWING-THRUST-BLOCK-DODGE-STRIKE-DODGE-TWIST. The sequence slammed into Jieyuan like a physical blow. This time the glimpse of the future was painfully sharp, surreally so. But Jieyuan didn't have the luxury of flinching, let alone dwelling on it. His chroma would run out soon, and the sequence needed him to act now. He charged at Daojue again.

He swung Sapphire, and Daojue thrust Gleaming End back at him. Maeva stepped in, blocking Daojue's attack, and Jieyuan's continued on. Just as he was about to land the blow, Daojue broke off from Maeva and snapped Gleaming End at Jieyuan just in time to parry the strike, before twisting aside to avoid a sweep from Maeva. Jieyuan struck again, and Daojue leaned out of the way. Everything played out perfectly, all according to the sequence. Until Huaxin gave another pained wince.

Daojue, in the midst of dodging Jieyuan's attack, his body still leaning back as the splitfang swept past him, suddenly whipped his right hand out, leaving only his left hand holding Gleaming End, and took hold of Ruby's shaft. His hand overlapped with Maeva's illusory ones. Then Daojue stepped back, spreading his feet on the ground, and jerked his arm back. Jieyuan felt Maeva pull into his soulforce, fighting the pull, but Daojue's strength counteracted it, and the weapon was wrenched out of Maeva's grip.

Then Daojue snapped his right arm out, launching Ruby away. Not even a second later, it left Jieyuan's soulsenses range. Daojue didn't stand there and watch it go, didn't so much as spare a glance after it. The moment Ruby left his hand, he reached back for Gleaming End's shaft, spun the weapon around, and drove it towards Jieyuan's head, reversed. And this time, weaponless, Maeva could do nothing to help him.

Jieyuan tried to step back, instinctively bringing Sapphire in for a counter-attack—but he was too out of it to put up a proper defense, his thoughts too much of a mess, and Daojue easily got Gleaming End through his guard. And slammed its butt onto Jieyuan's forehead, hard. Jieyuan dropped to the ground, head ringing, vision swimming. Maeva was saying something to him, but he couldn't listen. Through their connection, Huaxin sent a throbbing, searing ache, as if it was experiencing some monstrous headache.

Though in Huaxin's case, heartache might be more apt. Jieyuan felt something sharp and cold press against his throat. His vision cleared up some, and he focused on Daojue, standing over him, holding the blade of Gleaming End, now in the right orientation, to his neck.

"I'm sorry," Maeva said quietly. Jieyuan closed his eyes. He dismissed Absolute Will Command. Maeva's presence disappeared. There was a little rush as full awareness over his soulsenses and soulforce, previously lent to Maeva, returned to him. He breathed in deeply. Too much had happened just now. He couldn't even start wrapping his head around it all. But he did know one thing.

"I've lost." He had no intention to pull a Xianjun. There was a soft rush of air. Then Sovereign Aoxin's voice rang from close by, "Winner, Tianzijun Daojue, of the Gleaming Stone Sect." Jieyuan felt the pressure on his throat disappear. He opened his eyes, and saw a gauntleted hand held out toward him. Open, outstretched. He blinked up, followed the hand up to the arm it was connected to, then to the body, then to the face. Daojue's face—no longer frowning, but impassive again.

That same unreadable mask he always wore, though now with a fine sheen of sweat on his forehead. But something was different about it. Something he couldn't name. Like a different gleam on a metal edge. Jieyuan took Daojue's hand. Daojue pulled him up to his feet, then released him, stepping back.

"Well fought," Daojue said. If Jieyuan hadn't already been so terribly stunned by everything that had just happened, Daojue's words would have really sealed the deal. Jieyuan could hardly believe his ears. He'd been sure Daojue's relationship with praise began and ended with receiving it. Daojue turned around and began walking away. Jieyuan stared after him, blankly. He felt something cold and watery drop on his cheeks, and raised his hands up to brush it. Just sweat, pooling on his forehead and dripping down.

He looked down at his robes. He was practically soaked in it.

"Jieyuan?" Sovereign Aoxin said. He turned to her; she was standing just a few feet away, giving him a look he couldn't quite decipher. That snapped him out of it. He let out a little laugh. He couldn't help it. He'd thrown almost everything he had at him— everything, save for Fatebloom Incarnation—and it hadn't been enough. And he'd been so close. He smiled ruefully. So close he could've tasted it. Heavens, he had seen it.

Seen himself winning, seen himself and Maeva holding their blades, together, to Daojue's throat. He gathered all such thoughts, then let them go with his next breath. The fire in him guttered. It flared once, as if in protest, but he pushed it back down with another deep exhale. And it went cold, dead. Jieyuan sheathed Sapphire, then nodded to the sovereign protector, who was still giving him that odd look. He ignored it and forced his legs and feet to move in the same direction Daojue had left.

Tapping into his soulforce, he pulled Ruby back to him and sheathed it too. A pulse of his all-cleanser later, and he was all cleaned up. Over ahead, Daojue jumped off the edge of the stage, and continued on across the arena floor back to their entrance. Thoughts swam through Jieyuan's head: vague, erratic, like currents in muddy, stormy waters. There was a lot to unpack; too much, really, and the thump Daojue had just given him didn't help any, either. But first… Huaxin? he prodded.

He could still feel Huaxin's aching through their bond, though it was somewhat muted now. He didn't know what to make of it. Of anything, really. A beat. Then, CONFUSION—EXHAUSTION. Huaxin sent both emotions back almost simultaneously. Bone-deep confusion, bone-weary exhaustion. The latter wasn't all that unfamiliar; Huaxin had also tired out in their battle against Meiyao, but this seemed to run way deeper than that. That had been just fatigue; this was full-blown exhaustion. The kind you'd need days to sleep off.

His heart rate dropped, slowing down to a crawl so fast he almost stumbled. And then he felt their connection grow completely silent. His heart kicked back to life, racing for a moment, like a drowning man gasping for air, then falling to a steadier pace. But Jieyuan's connection with Huaxin was still dead; Jieyuan prodded at their bond over and over, but got no response. He'd grown too used to Huaxin's presence, to their connection. Without it, he couldn't shrug off the feeling that something was missing.

It was like he had a normal heart now, and that wasn't normal at all to him anymore. Jieyuan chuckled, then sighed again. His day just kept getting better. Just perfect. Golden. As if losing the duel hadn't been bad enough. Now he had no access to Fatebloom Instinct at all. Granted, losing Fatebloom Instinct didn't feel as bad now as it'd have been, say, just a few minutes ago, back when he still thought it was infallible. He knew better now.

Knew that relying on it wasn't nearly as much of a done deal as he'd first thought. Worst of all, Jieyuan didn't know why the sequences had gone wrong. He frowned. Maybe Huaxin had pushed too far, burned itself out and started making mistakes. But Daojue's look of concentration and Huaxin's pained winces whenever Daojue defied prediction painted a different picture. No, it didn't seem like the problem was Huaxin making a mistake, but Daojue somehow getting around Fatebloom Instinct.

Which, if Jieyuan wasn't wrong, might mean that Daojue could somehow change the future. As if Daojue hadn't been special enough already. The Heavens sure knew how to play favorites. Jieyuan soon reached the stairwell. Daojue was already well out of sight. He trudged up the stairs, taking his time, in no particular hurry. The sound of his greaves on the brightgold steps echoed throughout the stairwell, filling up the silence. By the time he neared the top, he felt better. Fresher.

A cultivator's stamina was really something else. Everything else aside, having a bit more energy in him helped. Jieyuan stepped out onto the upper floor, then out of the stairwell and into the open. He stood there for a moment. All over, heads turned his way. He ignored it, his eyes drawn, invariably, to where Daojue was standing. By the railing, isolated, back to him. Jieyuan stared, thinking back to their duel. To his defeat. Protector Yuyan's words from yesterday crossed his thoughts.

A quarry that would never run out, she'd said. An ever-moving goal-post. That sounded about right. But it was also wrong. He'd lost, sure, but that didn't mean he hadn't improved. And clearly he still had further to go. Much further. Protector Yuyan had told him not to give up. To keep trying to beat Daojue, no matter how impossible it seemed. But in a way, she herself had given up; she'd done so the moment she'd accepted that Wanxin was impossible to surpass.

She might have decided to keep at it anyway, but it was despite Wanxin's talent rather than because of it. Jieyuan clenched his hands. The fire in him sparked again. Daojue could be surpassed. He had no doubt about that. He couldn't doubt that. He didn't know yet what Daojue's limits were. But he did know he had yet to reach his own. How could he, when he didn't have limits? The fire roared back to life. Time seemed to still completely; Daojue's back to him, distant, vast, immovable. Like a mountain.

But mountains didn't scare Jieyuan. They were just something to be overcome. To be conquered. It wasn't over. That wasn't how this worked. It was only over when he called it quits. And there was no way he was doing it while Daojue was in the lead. One thing Protector Yuyan said was true, though. A cultivator had no use for peace. Only power mattered. Daojue turned his head back. Their eyes met. Jieyuan grinned.

And it might have been a trick of the light, but he could've sworn he saw the corner of Daojue's lips quirk up. Bring it on.