Chương 101: 100. The Shallow River Reverses Its Flow

Han Kuang's expression hardens.

"I was willing to make this quick," he says.

"Now you will pay for every word, boy." Wei Chen grins at him. Before Village Head Guo can begin the match, Ling'er's voice reaches me through sound transmission.

'It was not Master's fault.' I look toward her. She remains beside Mei Lin with her back partly turned to the platform. One hand rests near Mei Lin's injured shoulder while another disciple binds the raw skin along her arm.' Mei Lin was the best choice against Deng Rui,' Ling'er continues.' She understood that the match would be difficult. The technique he revealed was not something we could have predicted from the disciples we encountered before.'

I watch Shen Qiao kneeling nearby, holding a jar of medicine with both hands.' Could anyone else have beaten him?' I ask. Ling'er is silent for a moment.

'I could.' That does not help as much as she intends. The guilt remains. Knowing that I made the most reasonable choice does not change the sight of Mei Lin bleeding because of it. I turn my attention back toward the platform.

'What about Wei Chen?'

'He is weaker than Mei Lin. But… He has something she does not.' Village Head Guo raises his hand between the fighters.

'Trust the disciples, Master.' His hand falls.

"Begin!" Han Kuang moves first. The platform shifts beneath Wei Chen before he can advance. Stone walls rise closer together than those Deng Rui used, leaving no broad lanes or room to build speed. Han Kuang does not intend to guide Wei Chen gradually into close combat. He means to force the exchange immediately. Han Kuang enters through the remaining opening with earth already gathering across his forearms. His mouth twists into a satisfied smile. Wei Chen draws a breath. A thin stream of flame leaves his mouth.

Han Kuang jerks his head backward. The fire passes close enough to singe the hair along his temple. Wei Chen laughs.

"You thought I was trapped?" He plants one foot against the wall behind him and launches upward. Mountain Breaking Blade clears its sheath as he rises. He turns at the height of the jump and brings the weapon down with both hands, using his weight, momentum, and the blade's unnatural heaviness in a single descending strike. Han Kuang raises both reinforced forearms. The impact shakes the platform. Stone fractures across his armor.

The blade does not cut through to flesh, but it sinks deep enough into the earthen armor that Han Kuang's knees bend beneath the force. His attention remains fixed above him as he struggles to keep Mountain Breaking Blade from driving farther down. Wei Chen kicks him between the legs. The crowd reacts as one. Han Kuang's eyes widen. His mouth opens, but no sound emerges at first. His grip loosens, and he staggers backward with both knees drawing inward. Wei Chen lands in front of him.

"No more dual cultivation for you." Several of the younger disciples gasp. Someone in the crowd laughs before immediately pretending not to. Han Kuang's face turns red.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" The platform erupts. Walls rise around Wei Chen from every direction, thicker and more numerous than before. Han Kuang forces himself upright and charges into the enclosed space with none of the measured control Stone River displayed during the first match.' Is that what he has that Mei Lin does not?' I ask Ling'er. She lowers her gaze and becomes suddenly occupied with checking Mei Lin's bandage. Han Kuang drives Wei Chen backward through the narrow corridor.

Mountain Breaking Blade meets one reinforced fist, then the other. Each collision forces Wei Chen to give ground. Han Kuang's constitution anchors him to the platform, allowing him to transfer the full weight of his body through every blow. Wei Chen swings toward his shoulder. Han Kuang parries the blade aside. The movement leaves Wei Chen's chest exposed. Han Kuang strikes immediately, but Wei Chen does not retreat. His stance lowers.

His shoulders tighten, and a controlled breath leaves him as qi gathers across his chest and abdomen. The fist lands. Wei Chen's body folds around it. Blood leaves his mouth, but he doesn't move from where he stands. Han Kuang stares in shock. Wei Chen looks up through bloodied teeth.

"Is that all?" Then he swings Mountain Breaking Blade from below. Han Kuang steps back to avoid the edge. Wei Chen follows and drives his forehead into the bridge of his nose. The crack is audible from where I stand. Both men stagger away from the exchange.' He thrives under conflict,' Ling'er says. I glance at her. She watches Wei Chen now, her brows drawn together as she searches for the right explanation.' Every cultivator must struggle,'she continues.' But Wei Chen…' Her voice trails off.

On the platform, Han Kuang slams one fist against the flat of Mountain Breaking Blade. Wei Chen catches the impact, rolls his shoulder around the weapon, and answers with a punch to the ribs.' He has the necessary…' Ling'er hesitates again.' Craziness?' I suggest. She considers it, then nods. Wei Chen takes another strike across the side of his face and immediately attempts to bite Han Kuang's wrist. Perhaps there is no better word. In pure strength, Han Kuang remains superior.

His cultivation is four stages higher. His constitution allows him to root himself through impacts that would stagger an ordinary disciple, and every direct collision favors him. But when Han Kuang expects Mountain Breaking Blade to block, Wei Chen twists his body and lets the strike pass across a reinforced shoulder, reducing the impact enough to counter before his opponent recovers. When Han Kuang expects him to evade, Wei Chen hardens his stance and forces his way inward.

When a wall rises to cut off his approach, he uses it to change direction or brace a heavier swing. The aggression remains, but the waste has been removed from it.' He spent much of our training learning how to receive attacks,' Ling'er says.' He cannot help fighting this way. I only taught him how to survive it longer.' Wei Chen's breathing is already rough. Blood stains his teeth and the front of his robes. One eye has begun swelling, and every deep breath pulls slightly at his right side.

The toll on Han Kuang is greater. The Stone River disciple entered the match expecting to dominate a weaker cultivator. Instead, every exchange costs him something. A cut across the forearm. A fist beneath the ribs. A headbutt to the face.

A kick he will remember for a very long time. Worse, Wei Chen appears to enjoy the kind of fight Han Kuang believed belonged to him. Han Kuang begins creating distance. A wall rises between them. Wei Chen breaks through it. Another emerges at an angle, forcing him to move left. Han Kuang retreats along the open path and strikes whenever Wei Chen follows, using smaller ridges and barriers to interrupt his footing. For the first time, the strategy begins to work. Wei Chen chases too aggressively.

Each wall slows him enough for Han Kuang to land another blow before withdrawing. Mountain Breaking Blade chips through stone, but the repeated obstacles drain his momentum and prevent him from forcing another sustained exchange. Han Kuang's composure returns. He gives ground deliberately, arranging each wall so that Wei Chen must follow the route he has chosen. Then Wei Chen stops. I instantly see the picture the terrain paints. Han Kuang has retreated into the corner formed by his own technique.

Walls surround him on three sides. The path in front remains open only because he expected Wei Chen to continue charging through it. Wei Chen plants Mountain Breaking Blade against the platform and inhales. FWOOM! This is not the narrow stream from the beginning of the match. The flame continues, spreading across the confined space before Han Kuang can raise another barrier. The walls meant to control Wei Chen now trap the heat around their creator. Han Kuang screams.

Earth armor forms across his body, but it offers little protection from the air burning around him. Wei Chen grabs Mountain Breaking Blade. He strikes the nearest wall at its weakened base. Stone cracks. A second blow brings the wall down. Wei Chen turns and destroys the next support before Han Kuang can escape. The surrounding structures collapse inward, burying the burning disciple beneath broken earth and rubble. The flames disappear. For several breaths, nothing moves. Then the pile explodes outward.

Han Kuang emerges covered in dust and blood. The fire has been extinguished, but burns mark his face and neck. His earth armor has broken apart, and one leg drags behind him as he tries to regain his stance. Wei Chen is waiting. He steps inside Han Kuang's reach and strikes him across the mouth with the pommel of Mountain Breaking Blade. Several teeth scatter across the platform, and Han Kuang falls. Wei Chen stands over him, chest heaving.

"That was for Mei Lin." The square remains silent. Village Head Guo looks toward Han Kuang, waiting for movement that does not come. Then the Coiling Dragon disciples begin shouting. The sound spreads into the crowd. Merchants and townspeople rise from their seats, some cheering because they supported us, others because the fight was too brutal and strange not to reward. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Guo Jian's expression has gone rigid.

The stone beneath one of his feet cracks as Stone River's disciples hurry forward to retrieve Han Kuang. Village Head Guo raises his voice over them.

"Han Kuang is unable to continue. The second match is awarded to the Coiling Dragon Sect!" Wei Chen returns Mountain Breaking Blade to its sheath. He walks away from the platform with his back straight and his chin raised, accepting the noise as though he had expected nothing less. Jun meets him near the edge. Wei Chen leans toward him without allowing his expression to change.

"Help me walk," he whispers.

"I think some of my ribs are cracked." Jun catches Wei Chen beneath one arm before his posture can collapse. Together, they make their way back toward the rest of the sect. Wei Chen maintains the same proud expression until he reaches the benches beside Mei Lin. Then he lowers himself carefully. The movement is slow enough to confirm that his estimate about the ribs was probably correct. Ling'er kneels in front of him. She places two fingers against his side.

"Three ribs are cracked," she says.

"Yes, Senior Sister."

"You missed the opening after his fourth retreat." Wei Chen's confidence fades. Ling'er begins examining the bruising across his chest.

"If you had stepped through with your left foot instead of breaking the wall immediately, Mountain Breaking Blade would have reached his shoulder before he completed the next technique. The match would have ended ten exchanges earlier." Wei Chen's shoulders lower slightly. Ling'er presses medicine against the worst of the swelling. He winces but does not complain.

"If you had used the opening," she continues, "you would not have allowed him to strike your ribs." Wei Chen looks as though victory has somehow become another training lecture.

"I still won."

"Yes. You did well." The sulking disappears almost immediately. I step closer.

"You will be rewarded when we return to the sect." Wei Chen rises as much as his injuries allow and bows from where he sits.

"Thank you, Sect Leader." The solemnity lasts until he looks toward Mei Lin. She is conscious now, her injured arm bound and supported across her body. She watched the entire match without speaking. Wei Chen grins at her. Mei Lin studies his swollen face, cracked ribs, and the blood still drying beneath his nose.

"... Stupid." There is no heat behind the word. Village Head Guo calls for the third representatives before he can answer. Jun steps away from us. Across the square, Mu Zhen is already approaching the platform. He does not look toward Wei Chen or Mei Lin. His attention remains fixed on Jun, but the rigid set of his jaw tells me enough. Guo Jian is displeased. Losing the second match was bad enough.

Losing it through broken teeth, scorched walls, and a disciple being buried beneath his own terrain has made the result humiliating. The crowd has noticed. Merchants and townspeople are still pointing toward Wei Chen. The nearby cultivators speak quietly among themselves, revising whatever expectations they carried into the square. Mu Zhen gives no answer, threat, or boast. He steps onto the restored platform and raises his fists. Jun draws Seeking Edge Sword. Village Head Guo looks between them.

"Begin." Neither disciple rushes forward. They circle at a distance. Jun tests the range with a shallow step and a quick thrust. Mu Zhen shifts outside the point without committing to a counter. When his opponent advances, Jun withdraws just far enough to keep Seeking Edge between them. The match proceeds slowly. After Mei Lin's flowing swordwork and Wei Chen's violence, the opening exchanges appear almost uneventful. No walls rise. No streams of water cross the platform.

Mu Zhen is refusing to reveal the terrain before he understands Jun's response. Jun attempts another thrust. The angle is poor. Mu Zhen catches the flat of the sword with one palm and redirects it outward. His other fist drives toward Jun's chest. He brings Seeking Edge back in time to block and the impact throws him off balance. A spike of hardened earth rises behind him. It strikes between his shoulders and sends him forward. Mu Zhen follows with an uppercut.

Jun ducks beneath it, rolls across one shoulder, and comes up behind him with the sword already extending toward his back. Earth spreads over Mu Zhen's torso before the point lands. Seeking Edge scrapes across the armor and leaves only a narrow line. Jun retreats before the counter reaches him. Compared to the first two matches, it must look boring to the crowd. To me, it feels suffocating. Mu Zhen does not grow angry when Jun avoids him. He does not overextend or chase recklessly.

He tests each response, closes another portion of the platform, and waits for Jun to make a mistake. Jun avoids most of the blows, but the ones he cannot avoid, he deflects with his sword. His breathing grows heavier. His steps shorten. The cultivation gap forces him to spend more qi and physical strength on every exchange while Mu Zhen remains patient. Mei Lin possesses natural control over water. Wei Chen can produce flame and reinforce his body through methods that suit his instincts. Jun has neither advantage.

His mixed root gives him access to several elements in theory and little affinity with any of them in practice. Techniques that another disciple might learn in months could demand a year from him, only to produce weaker results. He has compensated through swordsmanship and tactics. Against a cautious opponent, even those advantages are beginning to disappear. Mu Zhen notices the same thing. He abandons the earth armor around his torso.

The added weight was slowing him, and Jun has not shown enough force to make the protection necessary. His palms strike the platform. Earth rises in a circle around them. The walls curve inward as they climb, joining overhead to form a rapidly closing dome. Jun moves toward the final opening. It seals before he reaches it, and the two disciples disappear from sight. A murmur passes through the square.

The dome is thin enough that the combatants will not suffocate, but thick enough to prevent Jun from retreating or using the platform's full width. Mu Zhen has removed the only advantage Jun was still preserving; distance. I extend my senses toward the structure. Earth blocks much of the detail. I can locate the two concentrations of qi within, but little more. Footsteps scrape across stone. Seeking Edge strikes something hard. A second impact follows. Then a third. The dome trembles.

I cannot tell who is landing the blows. The next collision cracks the outer wall. My hand tightens. Another strike shakes the dome as a section bursts outward. Someone tumbles through the opening. Mu Zhen hits the platform and rolls twice before stopping. Blood runs from the corner of his mouth. His face carries the same confusion that appeared on Deng Rui's when Mei Lin first disrupted his walls. Jun follows through the opening.

His robes are scuffed and dust covers one side of his face, but he has taken far less damage than I expected. Mu Zhen begins to rise as Jun drives Seeking Edge downward. The blade passes through the top of his foot and bites into the platform beneath it. Mu Zhen screams, and earth spikes erupt around Jun. He releases the sword, retreats beyond their reach, then pulls the weapon free as Mu Zhen tears his injured foot away.' What happened inside?' I ask through sound transmission.

Ling'er keeps one hand against Wei Chen's ribs while looking toward Jun.

'Among the disciples, Jun has one of the weakest inclinations toward any element.' I know that much. His root resembles mine, though his cultivation is still too low for him to compensate through multiple developed methods. Mu Zhen forces himself upright. Earth armor begins forming across his torso again.

'So I adapted his training to focus outside of elemental techniques.' The armor settles. Jun's eyes sharpen. Mu Zhen stomps his uninjured foot and roots himself against the platform. Jun moves. His rear foot plants. His hips rotate while his shoulders remain loose. Qi gathers along the line of his body, compressed more tightly with each movement until it reaches the hand holding Seeking Edge. Then he thrusts. I recognize the principle immediately.

'Fa Jin!' The sword point is only the place of contact. The true attack is the focused release behind it. Mu Zhen turns at the final moment. Seeking Edge misses the center of his chest and enters his shoulder instead. The strike does not stop at the armor. Force passes through the outer layer, into the flesh beneath it, and through the structure of his body. Mu Zhen spins away as though struck by someone several stages stronger. Blood runs from the new wound.

More stains the robes around his abdomen, revealing another puncture that must have occurred inside the dome. His injured foot leaves a red mark each time it touches the platform. Jun does not pursue. He drops to one knee and drives Seeking Edge into the stone to support himself. His breath comes in short, ragged pulls. That is the answer he found. He cannot produce enough elemental force to overwhelm a superior cultivator. Instead, he compresses what qi he possesses and directs it through a single point.

The result can bridge the difference; the cost is a significant portion of his reserve. Everything before this moment takes on a different shape with this realization.

'Jun did not get trapped inside the dome. He encouraged Mu Zhen to create it.' A smaller space reduced the directions his opponent could evade. The armor that protected Mu Zhen's torso also gave Jun a firm surface through which to transmit the force. The puncture in his abdomen must have been the first use. The shoulder was the second.

'He cannot practice the technique safely against the other disciples,' Ling'er says.

'He has been using contribution points to train it against me. The progress is slow, but it will become a powerful technique for him.' Mu Zhen pushes himself upright. Humiliation twists his expression. He has been wounded repeatedly by a cultivator four stages below him in front of his sect leader and half of Greenstone. Guo Jian's voice cuts across the square.

"Is this the showing of a Stone River disciple?" Mu Zhen flinches. The rebuke has the intended effect, and he attacks. Jun pulls Seeking Edge free of the platform and retreats. There is no grace left in his movement. He throws himself aside from one strike, rolls beneath another, and barely avoids the earth spikes that follow. Dust covers his robes. His sword drags once against the platform before he manages to lift it again.

"AGH!" He is struck by a stone pillar rising unexpectedly behind him. His stamina is gone, and each escape appears more desperate than the last. I am worried, but I am also proud. Jun has created a technique capable of injuring someone far above his stage. He understood his limitations and chose not to imitate the strengths of the other disciples. He found a way to make what little qi he possesses matter. But he has only used it twice.

'Why does he look this exhausted?' Mu Zhen closes the remaining distance. Earth gathers over both forearms, and he hisses out a whisper for the first time in the match.

"This is for my humiliation." Jun stops retreating. The exhaustion leaves his posture. His back straightens. Both hands settle around Seeking Edge, and he exhales. Mu Zhen's eyes widen. He realizes too late that the dragging steps and desperate rolls were not only fatigue. Jun had been waiting for him to abandon caution. Mu Zhen crosses his armored forearms in front of his chest. Jun thrusts once more. Seeking Edge pierces the outer layer of stone and enters the forearm beneath it.

Force travels through armor, bone, shoulder, and chest. Mu Zhen lurches backward. Blood leaves his mouth. His legs fail beneath him, and he collapses in a heap on the platform. Jun remains standing for several breaths. Then he raises Seeking Edge. Village Head Guo steps forward.

"Mu Zhen is unable to continue. The third match is awarded to the Coiling Dragon Sect!" The square erupts after Jun's victory. Coiling Dragon's disciples shout loudly enough to drown out Village Head Guo's announcement. Merchants rise from their seats. Even the cultivators from neighboring sects, many of whom arrived expecting Stone River to win comfortably, are openly discussing what they have just witnessed. I remain where I am. Two victories in succession.

Wei Chen defeated a Ninth Stage body cultivator in the kind of close-range fight Stone River considers its strength. Jun defeated an Eighth Stage disciple despite being four stages lower and possessing no useful elemental advantage. The score is now two to one. With Ling'er fighting next, the result feels settled. For the first time since proposing the wager, I allow myself to believe the sect-leader match truly will not be necessary. Across the square, Guo Jian does not share that confidence.

He stands beside Stone River's disciples with both hands clasped behind his back, but the posture no longer looks composed. His fingers have tightened around one wrist hard enough to whiten the knuckles. Mu Zhen is being helped from the platform with his head lowered, and Guo Jian watches him without stepping forward. There is no reassurance waiting for the disciple when he returns.

Only the rigid set of his sect leader's jaw and the silence of a man who considers the loss an embarrassment that should never have occurred. Ling'er steps onto the platform and reaches Jun before his legs can give way. He has kept himself upright long enough for the result to be declared, but that appears to be the full extent of his remaining strength. Seeking Edge is serving more as a walking stick than a weapon. She takes one of his arms and guides him down from the platform.

Wei Chen studies him as they approach.

"You were holding back on us." Jun gives him a tired look.

"That is not a technique I can use lightly."

"You used it three times."

"And each use strains me. If the force is misjudged during practice, it could cause serious internal damage to whoever receives it." Wei Chen considers this. Then he grins and slaps Jun across the back.

"Well done." Jun's entire body jerks. The neutral expression he maintained through the match collapses.

"You stupid bastard!" He kicks Wei Chen in the ribs. Wei Chen yelps because those ribs are already cracked, then reaches for Jun's shoulder. Jun attempts to shove him away, and within moments the two injured victors are trying to wrestle while barely capable of standing. Mei Lin watches from the bench with exhausted contempt. I step between them before either manages to create another injury.

"That is enough." Wei Chen still has one hand twisted into Jun's sleeve. Jun is trying to drive an elbow into his side.

"Half of Greenstone is watching," I tell them. Both glance toward the stands. People are craning their necks, trying to see around the disciples who have hurriedly gathered between the crowd and our two newest embarrassments. I shift farther into the way and gesture for the others to do the same. They release each other and neither apologizes. I turn to Jun.

"The plan was well executed." His attention settles on me.

"You understood what your opponent would do, created the conditions you needed, and waited until he believed you had nothing left. You did well. I am proud of you." The anger leaves his face. He straightens as much as his depleted body allows and bows.

"Thank you, Sect Leader." Wei Chen steadies him when the movement threatens to carry him forward. Once he is seated, I turn toward Ling'er.

"It is your turn."