Indistinct chatter revealing both shock and excitement reached his ears. He didn’t know whether it just started or the adrenaline had blocked it out before like the pain.

His arms burned now, his muddy consciousness slowing the healing process.  

The sudden loss of tension had sent his body into shock. Fortunately, his strengthened body and supplementary Qi allowed him to recover somewhat.

Leaning onto his sword, he got up and faced his surroundings. 

Then came the announcer’s words. “Huang wins, Ku Lo obtains thirteen points.”

“TRASH SON!” Under the Ingen banner stood a raging man who screamed into the arena. People around him seemed to attempt to calm him down, but he continued unhindered. “Unfilial mut that begs me to participate, then runs to challenge a mountain!”

Ku Lo’s gaze returned to his beaten enemy. The insults were undoubtedly directed at him, yet he gave no response, kneeling in silence. Did he mean to prove himself somehow? But even then, why me?

The people belonging to Wuu by coat of arms observed in pronounced indifference while those gathered under the banner of the frenzied wolf seemed to be unable to contain their gloating as two of Sho’s helpers carried him back.

Despite the heated atmosphere, the officials from the sword sect resumed their work. Another name got drawn, but everyone present, including the woman chosen, appeared too startled to care. 

When the duel began, even fewer paid attention, instead throwing glances at the three groups, expressing anything from worry to visible fear.

The fight ended with a premature surrender of the one challenged, but even the following five duels gathered little attention.

“The Za may now pick their fighter and target.” 

With a grim expression on her face, Za Huan stepped up and pointed her sword at the Ingen group. “I challenge Ingen Zhen!”

The addressed pulled his spear from the ground and returned the gesture. “I accept.”

Arriving in the middle of the arena, the two immediately lunged at each other. Za Huan’s body bent out of the spears path while Ingen Zhen sidestepped her blade that cracked the stone ground with its Qi coating.

They separated, then clashed again, forcing a collision of weapons this time. 

Ingen Zhan and Za Huan continued to tear at each other in an attempt to throw their opponent off balance. A task made difficult by their far-reaching, but slow weaponry.

He thrust his spear at her torso, which she swatted aside with her blade. But before her sword reached his initial position, he had already retreated two steps.

Za Huan followed and dragged her weapon from her side to perform a diagonal sweep. 

Her opponent ducked beneath it and rammed his spear forward. The metal tip approached her open stomach and drilled into it.

Unlike Ku Lo’s weightless Qi equivalent of the weapon, Za Huan’s was terribly inert. He saw her look down and attempt to reel back in the last moment, but her greatsword even pulled her further into the spear. She hissed in pain and removed one hand from the handle to bash her adversary’s face.

He staggered away from her, but dark blood already began drenching the cloth on her hip.

From what  Ku Lo was able to tell, the wound was a lot more grave than those he had sustained and she would begin to lose strength soon. All her opponent needed to do now was to use his spear to keep her at bay.

Clenching her teeth with a pained expression, she charged at him with an overhead cleave.

Still in daze from being punched in the face, Ingen Zhen could not dodge in time and had to block with his spear. Following the weapons’ clash, his knees bent under the force while the shaft curved slightly.

Za Huan pulled back, but immediately attacked again, this time with a horizontal sweep.

The way she attacked reminded Ku Lo of her fight with the rock grizzly, bringing down strike after strike.

She seemed to put little priority on evasion, though, which allowed Ingen Zhan to place a few light pokes. The bloody spot on her stomach had grown to reach halfway down her spine and Ku Lo noticed her becoming ever so slightly slower.

Suddenly, Ingen Zhan slipped and before he could regain his balance, her cleave closed in on him.

The Qi coated blade crashed into the shaft of his spear. At first it simply bent and it seemed as though her momentum had been insufficient.

But the spear tore the next moment with audible snapping noises. Her sword carried on and ripped a shallow cut into Ingen Zhen’s chest.

It didn’t seem to hinder his movements much, but without a weapon, he had no choice but to surrender.

Which was what Ku Lo thought, but he tightly grasped the tipped half of his spear and jabbed it towards Za Huan with a mad glint in his eyes.

It unerringly approached her neck, forcing her to release her sword and dodge away. 

By the time she realized her mistake, he had already gotten on his knees and picked up her discarded weapon.

Compared to its owner, he appeared somewhat awkward at wielding it, but obtaining the sword alone had reversed their positions. 

Za Huan shook her hand and the blade she had used against the rock grizzly appeared in it. 

From Ku Lo’s perspective, being broken to half its original length while maintaining most of the unhandy weight would make it subpar compared to a regular shortsword, but it was still a lot better than being unarmed.

This time, Ingen Zhan went on the offensive. Leveraging his superior reach, he went for wide sweeps that held her off and drove the visibly weakening Za Huan around the arena.

One time, she was unable to avoid them entirely and the tip of his sword scraped over her upper arm.

She flinched and Ingen Zhan took the opportunity to deliver an overhead strike.

Using her weapon as a makeshift shield, she protected her arm that was still in the path of his blade.

When it crashed down, Za Huan stepped on it. Pushing the ornamental blade to the ground, she put her broken weapon against his neck. “You shhh…  lose!”

“Za wins, Za Huan obtains twenty-eight points.” With the announcer’s voice, she retracted her blade and picked up the other one before staggering back to her clan.

“Ha ha ha! It seems that not just your second son disappoints you. Your prided successor, overcome by the deviant of my Za clan. The rock grizzlies must cringe in shame at being your heraldic animal, ha.” The woman speaking from below the Za clan banner continued laughing madly at her own joke while the present Ingen clan members tried to hold back their anger with varying success.

“Please give face to our sword sect and do not further interrupt this tournament.” Despite her clam tone, the announcer managed to silence everyone in an instant.

The sword sect member plunged his hand into the black box and drew a name. “Huang.”

“We forfei-” Ku Lo was about to reject when Gingge shouted next to him.

“I challenge the Wuu!”

He grabbed her shoulder and turned her towards him. “What are you thinking?” Despite trying to keep his voice down, even he knew that he only managed to do so minimally.

The determination in her eyes had become stronger. With an inexplicable smile, she responded. “Didn’t I tell you, Lo’er? This is my fault, so let me take care of it.”

She gave him a light push and walked into the now messy arena.

Her opponents still stood on the sidelines with indecision painted on their faces. The man looked at him, then back to Gingge before turning to his sister.

They exchanged a few words too silent for him to pick up, then the brother started moving to face Gingge. 

The chatter from the spectators died down as the two assumed their positions with their weapons raised.

Her enemy moved towards her, but Gingge stood still and lowered her head slightly.

When the man had covered about half the distance between them, a change occurred in his target.

Her hair fluttered in a gust of air and dull red light began shining beneath her robes. He could make out the illusory shapes of red swords above her head that pulsed weakly at first, but turned more opaque as time went on.

A moment later, thousands of invisible needles poked at his skin. When he twitched from the sudden pain, they pierced deeper and the intensifying pain made him cease any attempt to ignore them.

With a stiff posture and having to breathe flatly, he could only move his eyes. From what he could tell, everyone present seemed to be affected, except Gingge, who approached her trembling opponent with measured steps.

Struggle that Ku Lo interpreted as an attempt to break free caused bloody spots to appear on his robes and he finally held still with a face contorted in both suffering and frustration.

“Give up. You can talk.”

“…” 

Gingge raised her sword to his throat. “I have no qualms with your clan, so I intended to make this as peaceful as possible, but if you insist on giving me trouble, I will not be merciful.”

“ … I surrender.”

The moment his words fell, her aura returned to its former state. Swords, pressure, and glow vanished in a heartbeat. 

But the spectators remained silent, even the announcer seemed too dazed to move for a while. “H-huang wins. Huang Gingge obtains sixty-seven points.”