Chương 132: A Death in Winter, III

He'd gotten back late last night. Qi meant he needed less sleep, but maybe he'd overdone it, because he still felt somewhat bleary. It didn't help that Wang Bin seemed to be something of a morning person - he insisted on them meeting the moment that Wang Bin had arrived at his personalized room, at which point he always sent Wu Hao a short notification using the arrays that crossed through the house. He was as regular in his habits as a cock crowing at dawn.

Wu Hao rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked at Wang Bin, who was leaning back in the chair in his artificer's room and studying Wu Hao's work from the day before. Considering this usually took longer, Wu Hao took another moment to rest his eyes and looked around the room. Unlike all the masters that Wu Hao had seen, Wang Bin's room was extremely organized.

Every bit of paper, every finished array had been neatly stacked into little wooden shelves, which themselves had been shifted into a bookcase that took up most of a wall. Brushes were hung from a rack to dry, the inkpots were lined up neatly and even labelled. There wasn't even a drop of ink out of place anywhere. Considering that most masters' desks were more inkblot than visible wood, that made Wang Bin very much stand out.

Wu Hao didn't quite get the filing system and he certainly didn't live that way himself - as long as he knew where to find everything he needed, wasn't that fine? No one else needed to get his stuff. All the better that they didn't, even.

"Why this stroke here?" Wang Bin asked, his finger tracing the line that Wu Hao had drawn. It wasn't Wu Hao's best work - he'd abandoned it midway through yesterday evening and woken up early to finish it this morning, but his thoughts had been elsewhere and it was clearly visible in the quality.

"Extra feed to make sure that the power gets where it needs to," Wu Hao said.

"You said two days ago that I still kept thinking of the best outcome too much, instead of preparing for the array to get torn."

"Right," Wang Bin said.

"Why is it so close, then?" Wu Hao frowned, took another look at the paper. He spotted the problem now that Wang Bin had pointed it out. The backup line for the qi - the alternate channel that he'd added to make sure that the array could still function even if part of it was destroyed or nonfunctional - was too close to the regular channel. Wang Bin let his hand hover over the paper, covering both lines, as a demonstration.

"You see?" Wang Bin said.

"One strike will rip both of them apart. Remake it. Think about what ruggedness actually means." Right. Wu Hao didn't sigh but it was close. Redrawing it would be more work, on top of the illumination arrays that he was supposed to be working on and his own practice in trying to make something of those arrays that had been used in the Array Dolls that he hadn't told anyone about. It'd be a pain in the ass. He glared at the paper.

"Anything else?" Wu Hao asked. Wang Bin chuckled.

"One problem at a time, no?"

"No," Wu Hao said.

"Just tell me everything."

"Where would be the fun in that?" Wu Hao really didn't want to like Wang Bin. There was an easy charm to him that Wu Hao didn't trust at all, the same charm that presumably saw him invited to those dinners and lunch meetings and whatnot that he kept going to. Some weeks the man was out of the estate more often than Wu Hao himself was.

"Have you heard anything about the crown, by the way?" Wu Hao asked, switching to another topic.

"Still being investigated by Senior Journeyman Lu." Damnit. All these months and the damned thing still hadn't found its way over to him. He saw it in his dreams sometimes: half the time it was as an inert thing, as if his mind was trying to reconstruct the patterns that he'd seen, while the other half it looked almost alive, writhing with that dark, shadowy qi that was stretching out at him with dark tendrils like a grasping hand.

He'd thought about stealing the goddamned thing but the one time he'd tried, he'd gotten absolutely obliterated before he'd even managed to step inside the room where it was held at the time. Elder Guo of the Beggar's Sect hadn't lied to him about that.

"When will he finish?"

"When he's back from his travels," Wang Bin said.

"A week or two from now, maybe. After that, it'll be my turn."

"And mine," Wu Hao said. Wang Bin shrugged.

"If you insist. Maybe focus on your studies before we receive it, though. You're making progress, but at this rate you'll be able to understand less than half of what we know about it, let alone trying to actually contribute something new." Wu Hao gnashed his teeth.

"Right," he said, and nearly walked out of the room before he remembered what he'd come for.

"Another question," Wu Hao said.

"Not about arrays?" Wang Bin raised an eyebrow.

"You're a busy little bee today, aren't you? Usually I have to ask the questions."

"I heard there's a winter solstice festival," Wu Hao said, ignoring the jab. So what if he wasn't the best student?

"That's right. Most of the masters have left to return to their original sects. I'll be spectating myself only the last day. You and Bai Yiju have that day off as well. But I told you all that, a few days in advance."

"Right," Wu Hao said, though at the time he hadn't really cared about the festival at all. He'd been more looking forward to the day off.

"You did. But I heard yesterday that there'll be a tournament."

"That's true," Wang Bin said.

"It's not really been discussed here, however. Most of us aren't that interested in combat. I've heard Array Master Jie say that combat is a waste of qi and nothing more." Wu Hao squinted at the other man's smile, wondering if it was anything more than a hint that Wang Bin disagreed with Array Master Jie.

He still hadn't found out what weapon Wang Bin used and he hadn't attempted to provoke him into a fight either, so beyond that Wang Bin was in the second-grade and that his qi smelled of mint there was nothing else he knew about his capabilities as a martial artist. He hadn't even found out which sect Wang Bin was originally from.

For example, Bai Yiju was the son of a concubine of an elder of the Zhuge clan, he knew from the other boy's boasting, while Master Jie had been part of the North Sea Ice Palace and the grandmaster residing in the attic, Master Shu, was a rare example of a first-grade martial artist who had climbed up the ranks without belonging to any particular sect. But Wang Bin was a mystery.

It was one of the reasons that Wu Hao had slipped out so often, but he hadn't been able to find out even the basic facts of Wang Bin's life except that he had arrived seven years ago. The Beggar's Union was as clueless as himself was, or maybe he just hadn't paid enough.

"I heard about the prize," Wu Hao said, letting his thoughts fade away. He would find out more about Wang Bin, though. One way or another.

"Really?" Wang Bin said.

"I haven't. Do tell."

"They say it's a Jade Orchid for the third-grade competition," Wu Hao stated.

"A treasured flower grown by the Flower Sovereign herself for a decade. It's supposed to contain so much qi that it could push a third-grade martial artist to the second-grade." This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. That was why he was asking after the tournament, obviously. He wanted - needed - to get stronger.

Wang Bin had explained to him a few of the steps necessary to become a second-grade martial artist when Wu Hao had decided just to ask, but he had explained that this was the sort of thing larger sects usually kept within their own ranks. Step one involved gathering a high quantity of high-quality qi. There was more to it than that and a few steps that Wang Bin had shrugged his shoulders at, but it'd been a good first step, at least.

The problem was, he'd need a lot more qi than he currently had, and he didn't have any desire to gather it the "proper" way over several years. Especially not if a shortcut existed.

"My," Wang Bin said.

"That's quite the prize. You bring it up because you want it, I'm imagining."

"Right," Wu Hao said.

"I want it. I could win." Wang Bin smiled, but then shook his head.

"Maybe next year," he said. What the hell did that mean?

"I'm strong," Wu Hao said.

"Strong enough to kill a second-grade martial artist."

"Is that a threat?" Wang Bin asked, but from the smile on his face it seemed that he didn't seem at all worried. It seemed as though he could draw from an endless well of confidence, it felt like. All the same Wu Hao hadn't seen the man ever not breeze his way through any difficulties.

"It isn't," Wu Hao said.

"I'm just saying, I would win the tournament."

"I'm not sure," Wang Bin said.

"Why?"

"Participation is very exclusive, like I said. There are four rounds and a total of sixteen participants, of which two are drawn from an open competition. The others are candidates handpicked from the Nine Sects and the great clans, by the aforementioned sects and clans. Heirs, the most talented disciples of the sects, that sort of thing. The cream of the crop from the strongest sects in their grade." Wu Hao snorted. If these heirs were like Jin Qilong...

Or hell, even if they weren't, he had full confidence that he was basically invincible within his grade. Sure, maybe they had strong techniques and powerful backing, but he had struggled for every single bit of power that he had. He had fought life-and-death-battles across lifetimes, while they had probably at best sparred against other students before. That, and he had his resurrections to take advantage of, if they did wind up defeating him somehow.

They could try to defeat him once or twice, but he'd end up defeating them all in the end. But he couldn't exactly tell Wang Bin that, so he settled for a rote phrase instead.

"Flowers in greenhouses," Wu Hao argued. Wang Bin laughed.

"Well, if you'd like to think you've trained harder than them, sure. You've been busy in that garden."

"So what," Wu Hao said.

"You think I can't get in? I can ask the Beggars for a slot, can't I?"

"That's why I said next year," Wang Bin said.

"You're too late. Candidates have to be selected a week before the tournament itself begins. It's publically announced, actually." Wu Hao pursed his lips. Damn. That shot down his plan. Time for plan B.

"And if I beat the candidate that the Beggars' Sect sent in?" he asked. Wang Bin laughed again.

"You'd earn the anger of everyone in the Beggars' Sect and, unless they actually consented to allow you to participate, you'd just be hunted down for hurting their chances at getting the Orchid. They wouldn't appreciate that."

"But if I show I'm a better candidate - ""You're officially not even part of the Beggars' Sect, are you?" Wang Bin said.

"It would be a tremendous humiliation." Damnit again. Time for plan C, then.

"How long ago was the open competition?" he asked. Wang Bin gave him a curious look.

"Why?" he asked, but then shrugged.

"It's a simple calculation, though. The tournament begins tomorrow, yes. All candidates were announced a week in advance. The open tournament was the last thing which happened before the announcements. A day before, let's say, because the announcements were posted at first light."

"Eight days ago?" Wu Hao muttered to himself.

"Something like that." For others, maybe that meant they would have to give up. For Wu Hao, things were a lot simpler.

"One second, though," Wang Bin called.

"We of the Array Masters don't have a free slot, the way the sects do. I've said this before. I might be able to swing you a viewing spot, though. If you wanted." Wu Hao eyed him suspiciously.

"What would it cost me?"

"Really, now," Wang Bin said, feigning hurt.

"I've met street rats less paranoid than you. Can't a mentor give his pupils a gift?" Wu Hao snorted, but realizing that he wasn't going to get anywhere with this conversation, he stood up, snatched the paper back, and made for the door.

"It's not necessary," he said. Wang Bin shrugged.

"Suit yourself. Get me that array tomorrow and we'll discuss its other problems. I'll be busy with other things in the meantime, so save your questions until then." Wu Hao nodded, but it was perfunctory at best. Before Wang Bin could dismiss him, he'd already started walking back to his room, planning out his next steps. It was simple, really. That orchid was the easiest way to get to a new level of power.

He'd consolidated his core over the previous few months, but he needed something to catalyze his growth into the second grade. Anything else would take him months if not years of effort to scrape up the necessary cash. And that was if the opportunity was even there to buy something like this. So he had to participate and win. The hard part would be the participation; the winning would follow.

"Right," Wu Hao muttered. He sat down at his desk, rolled his shoulders, set himself in his chair, and began pulling qi from his core. It purred in his ear, begging to be used, begging to let the leash off and just cut loose and cause some bloodshed. He hadn't had a proper fight in months. The pitfighting rings had been for a bit of spending money, not real fights. Then he pulled just enough qi, directing it up towards his head. He hesitated - he'd never hesitated before after the first dozen times.

His months in the Mt. Song Valley must have spoiled him. And then, with a short snap, he made that clot of qi explode in his brain. In a moment he was gone again. You have been killed by a qi overload for the one-thousand nine hundred forty-sixth time. He lay there, breathing a few times, adjusting to the feeling of his body being whole again. It hadn't hurt - it never did, not after he'd gotten better at this entire thing. For a moment, though, he'd regretted it.

That couldn't be, though - he'd come far from being a penniless orphan that was contracted to the Golden Lotus Company, sure, but he hadn't actually built up enough of a life here that he'd regret throwing it away, had he? He hadn't gone soft that quickly, surely. Wu Hao decided he couldn't have. Then he did it seven more times, just to make sure.