“Sister, don’t go! It will make your injuries worse.”

“What choice do we have? You are the one who knows best how much debt our father piled on.”

Ku Lo wanted to leave them alone at first, but as the two didn’t seem to progress in any direction, he cut in. “Uhm, how about I go?”

Gingge’s face, that had been in a permanent state of worry, lit up at his suggestion. “That’s right! Lo’er can go! He’s strong.”

“Not strong enough to beat anyone from the big three.”

“You want to challenge them?!?”

“How else are we supposed to get the money to settle the payments?”

“I know you don’t like him, but please let him go. I’m sure he can find a way.”

Qingling clutched her armrest until it started crunching under the pressure. “I’m the clan head. This is my responsibility, so stay out of it.”

“B-but he can join you, right? That way we win another one!”

“I suppose.”

… 

On the short way back to their quarters, Ku Lo finally got to ask the question that he wanted to voice the entire time, but never found the right time for. “How does the tournament work in the first place?”

Gingge froze up, then burst out. “I’m sorry!”

“It’s… alright. Just tell me.”

“Of course! So… “

Just from listening to their argument for the half morning, he had an understanding of some aspects, but the actual tournament rules stumped him, for they were not exactly what he had imagined from the word itself.

Viable for nomination were all closer relatives of a clan head below the age of twenty-five. 

The clans could send as many people as they liked, so long as they could offer up a mine for each, which limited even most of those that did participate to one contestant each. 

The Ingen and Za however sent as many as they could to be able to take more of the other’s. 

In the first round, participants hunted demonic beasts in an area. The goal was to obtain their cores, which served as points.

Most of the prey consisted of local wildlife that had absorbed some Qi to obtain a tempered physique. Dreadful for any mortal, but easy targets for even the weakest cultivators.

But if sought in the deeper regions, challengers could walk upon more powerful beasts. Their cores, in turn, would be worth more.

After a set time had passed, their score would be assessed and the second round started.

A member of the sword sect drew lots. The one who had their name come up could challenge someone else for half their points.

When everyone had been drawn, the mines were auctioned for earned points.

With the end of Gingge’s explanation, they entered the hallway connecting to their chamber, only to find someone waiting in front of it.

It was the Huang elder that had spoken during the audience with the messenger. “Lady Gingge, this one is aware of his guilt of pestering your esteemed self, but I must once again beg you to fight for the sake of our family.”

“This is-”

The aged man got on his knees. “This old fool knows that such matters are below you, but I implore you to aid us.”

“Lady Gingge?” Into the oppressive silence, he once again called out.

“n-No, it’s not that, but…”

It would have been almost comical to see two people turn more and more distressed as they talked to each other, were it not for the issue of discovery. 

Like this elder, the Huang family members still thought of the assessment as accurate to some extent, believing that Gingge was far stronger. While it might have been nothing more than a straw to grasp in their otherwise helpless situation for them, for the sisters and him, this misunderstanding was life insurance as it had so far prevented any opportunist who would otherwise have challenged the bedridden Qingling.

He’d just leave, but her injuries made it impossible to travel. 

“If you have grudges, please take them out on this old man!”

“Enough! I’ll do it, so raise your head, uncle Qing!”

“Lady Gingge! You have my deepest gratitude.” He got up, cupped his hands for yet another bow and hastily left.

Ku Lo pulled her into the room and slammed the door shut. “What was that?”

“What do you mean?”

“You are going to expose your weakness! Why?”

“They doubt me already, it’s only a matter of time! With this, we are safe until the tournament at least and can come up with something.”

… 

Ku Lo sat alone in their quarters. The tournament was still a few days off, but he didn’t know how to spend his time until then.

Gingge was busy most of the time, so even if they cultivated as often as possible, he still had huge gaps in his day. In addition, there was a subtly awkward air between them ever since his outburst.

While he didn’t know of anything productive he could do, he also felt too restless to laze around. As such, he had picked up training with his Sword of the Swordless again, though alone this time.

The atmosphere between the sisters, and by extension him, had been strained. 

He pushed his Qi out of his palm and watched as the black blade grew away from him. The lacking weight of this visually massive weapon still felt off, but he couldn’t afford to waste focus on such matters.

Not that it would make much of a difference, as the Qi dissipated even if he put his all into keeping it assembled. 

Like countless before it, the sword shattered the moment he tried to swing it. 

Even the miniscule alteration in his grip sent the pieces flying everywhere. 

In their last training sessions, Qingling had shown herself to be far more cooperative than before, even trying to teach him the actual technique. But while he did gain a few insights and reduce some wasteful Qi usage, the sword itself remained unchangeable and made itself near impossible to wield from basic drain alone.

There was absolutely no way he could master the sword by the time of the competition, and with the most important second round happening under the watchful eyes of sword sect members, it would be nearly useless even if he did. 

But there was a reason he was doing this instead of the Yin Paw. The sword used immense amounts of Qi. Which was its main flaw on one hand, but opened its potential as a training method on the other. 

Even without actually breaking through outside the sect, his Qi channels had improved by a substantial amount and carried out transport with less delay. 

But while he could rapidly drain his reserves, filling them was an arduous task. Without someone to cultivate with, he had to rely on drawing in Qi from his surroundings.

The process was incredibly slow to an extent that made him wonder how there were normal cultivators above the Spirit Foundation realm.

Yet another thing he had consulted Qingling about, but also yet another unsolved mystery. 

For her, absorption went a great deal faster despite doing the exact same thing — or at least similar enough for them not to notice any differences from description alone. Still far below dual cultivation, but according to Meifen’s lessons, her craft was a high risk high return game with the looming threat of becoming a fiend.

There was so much he didn’t know about cultivation and his to date only teacher was miles off. 

But while it was inviting to indulge himself in longing, he had yet to come up with any solid plan to cover up Gingge.