Chương 50: New Friends

Rowan After her outburst, Uxia's cheeks turned pink. Her voice softened, becoming even lighter and wispier than usual.

"My apologies, I didn't expect so much… company. Please introduce me, Daoist Helsing."

"My fellow sect brothers," explained Rowan, giving the other three boys a warning look to behave themselves.

"Lee Lothesby of Righteous Mountain's Lothesby Auction House, Damion Decatour, and Silvester." He quickly raised his hand to wave a waiter over.

"Order anything you want, Uxia. Decatour's paying." Damion Decatour was far too polite to protest.

"Decatour?" Uxia asked.

"As in the First Sword of the Talinn Plains, Theia Decatour?" Decatour's eyes lit up and he nodded.

"That would be one of my storied ancestors."

"Pleased to have met." Uxia dipped her head slightly at each of them.

"I am Uxia Nevernight, known as Daoist Violent Mercy, Third Disciple of the Weeping Tower at Halfmoon House. I hope you won't hold it against me when my sect wins the tournament." The four boys paused. Lee smiled good-naturedly.

"What makes you so confident, Fairy Nevernight?"

"My Senior Brother, Izar Icanthus, won the grand prize at the last tournament," said Uxia, preening.

"And he was only twenty-three then. He isn't yet thirty, so he's allowed to participate this year as well." Rowan recalled Uxia mentioning this Senior Brother of hers before. The tournament champion. Apparently, this Izar Icanthus also possessed an A-Grade Qi Sea, the only disciple at Halfmoon House with one. Rowan wondered how Izar had formed his. Pure talent? Stumbling on an opportunity, similar to how Rowan had found the bloodstone? From the other table, Zarian Zanathmas's head snapped up in Uxia's direction.

"That bastard is competing again? What happened to Halfmoon House's propriety? Winners are supposed to refrain from participating in future tournaments." Zarian paused.

"Though, if Izar's here again, he should know that I'm going to be the one putting him through the floor of the arena this time around."

"Senior Brother Izar has never lost to you and will never lose to you," Uxia shot in his direction, taking a dainty sip of tea. Zarian let out a chortle.

"Is that what he tells his junior sisters?" He looked to the other girls from Halfmoon House for confirmation. One of them nodded.

"Unbelievable. Every name worth knowing has had their moment at the top." Zarian threw back his saucer of wine.

"Even Micky here has shocked the world before. When we were your age, Violent Mercy, the score between Izar and that pig Orion was ten-zero in the favor of the Heavenly Skies. Izar took years to bloom. Then he thrashed Orion once, and now the man avoids him like the sun avoids night." Uxia looked ready to defend her Senior Brother, but pressed her lips together.

"But now it's my turn," Zarian finished with a smug grin. Mikael set down his celadon cup.

"What did you do?" There wasn't a trace of worry in Mikael's tone. No, the white-haired man was excited, in a faint, dry sort of way. It had become clear to Rowan that the best disciples of different sects were organized into their own groups of friends, and Mikael was aligned with Zarian. Possibly Izar as well, from the way Zarian had teased the Halfmoon House girls.

"I can show you," Zarian responded. The beauties gave him a bit of room. He slipped a hand into his sleeves and withdrew a thick pile of bamboo sticks bound together with a faintly glowing green string. He unfurled the scroll slightly, giving everyone in the vicinity a peek at the scripture written on it. Rowan didn't recognize any of the inked characters. The scripture seemed to be written in a foreign language.

"Cured bamboo bound in jade threading? Interesting," said Mikael.

"That looks like its from an older era."

"It does look quite old," Zarian replied. His smile grew.

"Ancient, some would say. It's been hard to translate, but I'm sure its name is Chains of Cessation. It's a scripture about boundaries… which is apt." Mikael's excitement vanished.

"What did you do?" he repeated tiredly.

"Those ponces from Ancient Dynasty Tower were getting too arrogant. Their traditions dictate that they let a few outsiders attempt their tower every year, but recently, for some reason, they forbade entry to everyone but their own disciples."

"I can't think of anyone who would be considered more of an outsider than the dao child of Soul Shear Valley," said Mikael. Rowan didn't know much about Soul Shear Valley and Ancient Dynasty Tower, aside from the fact that they were both major pillars of the Earthly Harmony Alliance and had some old rivalry. Zarian scoffed.

"For such an uptight sect, their security measures are pretty loose. I barely had to sneak in at all. Completing every floor wasn't even that hard." Mikael raised a white eyebrow.

"You completed the entire tower? I thought the last floor was broken."

"Yeah, well, turns out it isn't," bragged Zarian, putting the scroll back into his sleeve.

"You just need to have lived a brave enough life. The spirit of the tower's lofty ancestor even descended to personally hand me this scroll. Did you know the tower's trials are meant to be open to anyone? Even mortals?"

"I thought the trials tested your cultivation," Mikael said thinly. Zarian wagged the jug of rice wine at him before refilling his saucer." Qi isn't the only thing worth cultivating, young man. You must also govern your character," he said, adopting a raspy voice. Mikael slid his empty cup aside and grabbed the jug, drinking straight from it.

"The spirit said that?" Rowan couldn't help but think of Ostra. The immortal would say something like that.

"Of course not," said Zarian.

"And yes, the tower did test my cultivation. A mortal would have died on the first floor." He shrugged.

"And now those second-rate scholars are jealous that their fat sons and ugly daughters can't inherit this new legacy of mine. As if the tower was ever going to give it to them."

"And what are those scholars going to do about it, Zorthicus?" asked Mikael.

"Cause a bunch of trouble when they're here, no doubt," said Zarian.

"I apologize in advance for the state they'll leave your little city in, Micky. But know that it won't really be my fault." Mikael didn't react, but that in itself was telling. He didn't twitch, or reach for his cup, or even blink. There was something stone-like about his countenance. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"I'll never start it. Promise." The waiters started to bring out plates of food. Mikael didn't move his legs, which were propped up on the table, so they set the dishes around his limbs. Plates were also set down on Uxia's table.

"Baby suckling pig in eight ways," explained Decatour with a relish, as though to wash away Mikael's aura of palpable displeasure.

"A delicacy of Righteous Mountain. Triple Mushrooms, Day and Night, to represent the nature of Yin and Yang. And, my favorite, Morning Dew Stalks preserved in a savory Goldpine Needle jelly. They're aged for at least twelve years in a cool, dry cavern. And, of course, Five-Root Soup for everyone." Rowan, despite himself, appreciated the distraction. Even though the last thing he wanted was Zarian bringing more trouble to his city's doorstep, the presence of someone as powerful as Mikael being upset was…

Rowan felt it in his chest like a boulder. Rowan began to dig into his plate, ravenous. He hadn't had such a good meal in a long time. Since Deepwhale Pier, probably. Lee immediately went for the crackling skin of the suckling pig, and crunched on it merrily. Silvester looked afraid to even try anything.

"You're in the fourth layer of Qi Condensation, so you'll be competing in the mid-stage bracket, right?" Rowan asked Uxia, who was helping herself to a Morning Dew Stalk. She nodded delicately, dipping her soup spoon into her bowl.

"You and your sect brothers will be in the early-stage bracket, I assume. It's a pity we won't be matched against one another."

"Unless we make it to the unified stage," said Rowan.

"No. I would forfeit immediately. Our opponents could be one of those two," she said, pointing at Zarian and Mikael, who were now laughing about something that must have been very, very funny. Rowan nodded. He wasn't ashamed to agree with her logic.

"Do you know who the biggest competition is for the early-stage bracket?"

"Hm…" Uxia thought for a moment.

"Ranna, from Red Lotus Hall. They say she's half-phoenix, or at least has the blessing of one. She could probably beat mid-stage disciples, but for some reason, she hasn't been able to break through past layer two of Qi Condensation." Another moment of thought.

"Erseus, from Heavenly Skies Sect. He has qi tattoos all over his body, each one with different abilities. Disciples from other sects seem to end up dead around him pretty often." Nothing Rowan had heard about the Heavenly Skies seemed like good news.

"And, of course, from my own Halfmoon House, there's Apollon. He's only seven years old, but he'll do well." Her voice was quiet.

"Soul Shear Valley has a lot of talented body cultivators. I wouldn't underestimate them either." Decatour inserted himself into the conversation.

"What about Myriad Winds Manor, or Waterflame Sect? I've heard they are rising in the world." Uxia shook her head.

"Myriad Winds Manor has a girl that practices beast summoning. She's quite good, but would probably lose to the others I've mentioned. Waterflame Sect has a very dangerous core disciple on their roster, but that's a problem for our Senior Brothers." Rowan quietly considered the information. The main issue with the early-stage bracket was the wild cards. Rising stars like Rowan who hadn't had the chance to prove themselves on the wider stage. Uxia wouldn't know their names.

But there was also a second hallmark that separated the early-stage bracket from the rest. The higher brackets would be dominated by disciples from the ten sects, as smaller cultivation schools and local temples couldn't afford to rear mid-stage and late-stage Qi Condensation disciples. But the early-stage bracket? They drew in everyone - reclusive clans, remote monasteries, independent cultivators, and even cults from the many isles along the peninsula's coasts, all hoping for a shot at the prizes.

The diversity of teachings on display would be wider. Stranger. Florimond had told him this, once, during the parade when they had little else to do but chat about every topic. The early-stage bracket was the most unpredictable. The mid-stage bracket was the most deadly. The late-stage bracket was the most important. The alliance watched every performance in that bracket carefully, weighing and measuring, deciding which sects were worth investing in.

Though everyone wanted Rowan to perform well, the pressure was likely nothing compared to what Mikael felt. Lee stroked his chin.

"Blackscale Sect will also be attending. Do you know much about them, Rowan?"

"My cousin Ash is in Blackscale Sect and he will certainly be competing," said Damion.

"He is a formidable talent, as a Decatour should be." Rowan scowled. Damion and Ash's mothers were indeed sisters, but Ash was a Helsing. And the scripture he cultivated had belonged to Rowan's father. Pyrus Helsing.

"Do they possess any mid-stage disciples of note?" Uxia asked, looking down at her soup as she idly stirred it.

"Deepwhale Pier is nearly as far from Three Color Gorge as Righteous Mountain."

"Not that I know of, but I would be careful," said Rowan.

"Blackscale Sect has deep foundations." Quentin, one of Cavern Lady Dawnshard's other disciples, had claimed his family had three Foundation Establishment elders fighting demons in the Southern Continent. Silvester tilted his plate to slurp at the last of his Goldpine jelly, then looked up at Damion with an earnest expression.

"Maybe the Decatour Teahouse has more information about Blackscale Sect?" It seemed the merit student had mistaken Uxia's polite interest for genuine worry, and Rowan's vagueness for ignorance. Damion ignored Silvester entirely, twisting noodles onto his soup spoon.

"The biggest competition in every bracket is always Heavenly Skies Sect. Their sect master is a Core Formation Dao Lord. They have far more disciples than the other sects, and even poach talent from beyond the peninsula." Uxia looked displeased.

"Even though the Heavenly Skies are known to be more… enthusiastic than most, every sect pursues promising disciples." She paused, looking towards nothing and no one in particular, but her cheeks went a bit pink.

"My master, Archbishop Vilhalo, frequently says that the Weeping Tower is always in need of more talent." Rowan didn't like the way his sectmates carefully looked away from one another. Did they all believe they would be approached by larger sects during the tournament? Were they hoping for an offer? Uxia, sensing the shift in atmosphere, swiftly changed the subject.

"Is the name Barrett Fross familiar to any of you four?" Rowan coughed as the bit of pork he was chewing went down the wrong way. Lee slapped him vigorously on the back.

"He's an esteemed inner disciple of our sect," explained Decatour, glaring at Rowan.

"Why?"

"Well…" Uxia played with the ends of her long silver hair, coiling it around her finger.

"He came to our camp asking to purchase one of our steeds. They are Irid Crescent Fillies." She emphasized the breed, although Rowan had never heard of them in his life.

"When one of our disciples politely tried turning him away, he made a big fuss, demanding to speak to our sect leader…" Florimond Sutter's prediction had come true. The mad dog was starting to bite at everyone's ankles. Uxia continued, "We weren't sure of his status, so we tried to be as amenable as possible. But we would like to know who he is, and how to treat him."

"There's no need for that," said Lee.

"Fross challenged Rowan to an official duel. Our boy will make quick work of him!" Uxia leaned back in shock. The table jostled at the motion, several dishes rattling." Quick work? Rowan, Mister Fross is at the fourth layer! Throwing away your life–""It does appear that the sun is setting," said Mikael from the table over, his chair screeching back as he stood.

"Only fools stick around Soul Shear Valley or Halfmoon House when the nightly hours arrive. It was good to meet on the road again, Zelonius."

"That's not my name!" Zarian said cheerfully as he waved him away. He tilted his chin down, immediately returning his attention to the women and drink surrounding him. As Rowan and his teammates followed Mikael out of the restaurant, his mind spun with thoughts of Barrett and the upcoming duel. The mad dog that needed to be put down. Rowan had been so confident, vowing to duel the man once his qi sword had been forged. What on earth had possessed him to say that?

Not only was Barrett in the fourth layer, but he had a decade's worth of experience over him. There was no room for regret now. It was too late. But Rowan couldn't help but curse himself for letting his emotions get the better of him. As they approached the Eastern Gate, a pigeon landed on Rowan's shoulder with a message. He unscrolled the small slip of parchment.

"What is it? New girl?" asked Lee.

"Even better." Rowan's stomach flipped inside of him in a sick rhythm. The Fates loved to laugh at his expense, didn't they? Barrett Fross's intelligence had been spot-on.

"Forgemaster Luzon is almost done with my sword. He just needs my help with the finishing touches." His sword was ready now. Decatour raised a sharp eyebrow.

"Needs your help? Whatever for?" Rowan forced a smirk at Decatour from over his shoulder as he jogged back into the city.

"I'm a man of many talents, Decatoid."