Chương 135: Death in the Arena, II

After that, Wu Hao was taken not-all-that gently by the arm and dragged towards the side, where the officials gathered. The more junior of them occasionally threw glances at the crowd, who had by and large worked their way down from the stands and were consoling fallen friends and family. Wu Hao felt annoyed at references being dropped to him being some sort of cheating scumbag who had probably won because so much money had been invested into his fancy spear, but he told himself to let it go.

"Congratulations," the main official told him in a gruff voice.

"You are the winner. You're aware that the real matches begin in a week, at another location?"

"Yeah," Wu Hao said. The official glared at him, his qi spiking in response to Wu Hao's perceived disrespect. There was a thin thread of qi that could have wormed its way to the man's throat, but it wasn't more than a spasm of anger, and it dissipated quickly.

"Don't be arrogant. Address me as sir."

"I'm not arrogant," Wu Hao responded. That got him another spike of anger. The arm that had held his own clamped tighter, the strength in the official's fingers reinforced with his second-grade qi.

"Which clan's son are you?" the official asked, his voice low. Wu Hao blinked, confused.

"None that I know of."

"Don't lie to me. Who sent you, boy? Who gave you your training? Hao Wu - I've never heard of a Hao clan that fights with spears."

"No one sent me. I'm here for myself." Wu Hao refused to acknowledge the man's pudgy fingers digging into his skin. Instead he met the man's eyes until the official scoffed and let go.

"Whatever you're trying won't work," the official said.

"I don't rightfully know who sent you, or what the play they're trying to make is, but I know this. It won't end well for you. You'll get beaten to shit like all the other public contestants. It's a waste of our time to let you compete. If I had the choice..."

"But you don't," Wu Hao said, earning him another glare. He leaned in close to the man, feeling his angry breath against his skin.

"So give me my prize and fuck off." Qi built up in the official's core, screaming to get out. Wu Hao tasted something acidic, something bitter that lingered on the wind, something he could taste in the back of his throat. Not blood, he knew because he'd choked on it more than often enough, but something different entirely. He had no name for it, though. Still standing inches away, the official whispered back.

"We will find out who you are," he promised.

"We will find out why someone of your talent is here, and I will arrange to have it stopped. Entirely in the matches, so don't even begin to try and complain we're being 'unfair'."

"Right," Wu Hao said.

"Have fun. I'll be going now." And, wrenching himself away from the group of officials who were staring, wide-eyed, at his conversation with the main official, Wu Hao marched off, feeling very much pleased with himself. At least until he remembered he had a week of work left before the main event. That sucked. The next morning, he was woken up one of the arrays chimed with a loud bell. Wu Hao's eyes cracked open, and he gathered himself up again, rising to his feet unsteadily.

Wang Bin had called, and he supposed he ought to answer. He didn't always bother and Wang Bin hadn't made much of a fuss about it - as long as Wu Hao completed his work and was available most days of the week, then they could go a few days without seeing each other. Perhaps that wasn't the ideal student-teacher relationship, but then again, Wu Hao was fine with that. He didn't need a teacher. Death was his teacher in life, he figured. Besides, every authority figure that he'd ever had wanted something from him.

Wang Bin's nonchalance was honestly refreshing. Best to get on with it, though. Wu Hao checked his clothes just in case, but he'd washed them carefully after yesterday so that he wouldn't stink of sweat or blood, using the arrays that had been put into his room to clean them. He'd cleaned himself, too, just to be certain. Checks complete, he took hold of his pile of finished array designs and wandered up the basement stairs just as footsteps disappeared into the distance.

Bai Yiju, he thought, summoned at the same time as Wu Hao had been, for the same reason: to tell Wang Bin what they'd done and show their work. Wu Hao followed the other boy's footsteps. He'd travelled past the display room and the hallways often enough that he could tear his eyes away easily, although there was always something that invited him to have a deeper look, to try and understand how each of the arrays worked.

He arrived in front of Wang Bin's room without further distractions, though, and let himself in after knocking once. Bai Yiju was already standing there, as expected, having handed Wang Bin a sample of his work. Elegant, curving lines filled a piece of paper, which Wang Bin had put down on his desk and was looking at. Unlike with Wu Hao, he made no show of leting his finger trail down a particular line after looking the entire thing over.

"Hmm," Wang Bin hummed.

"Why these particular strokes, Bai Yiju?"

"I read in the Brushstroke Manual that backup channels should use heavier strokes and more ink," Bai Yiju said. His usual arrogance was gone; in front of Wang Bin he was always as meek as a lamb.

"These backup channels are easier to disrupt, and in fact that's probably what someone will try to do. Making them thicker reduces the chance that they're targeted." They blathered at each other some more. Wu Hao could follow most of the conversation now, but that didn't mean he wanted to.

"I'm participating in the Winter Solstice Tournament," Wu Hao said, interrupting the dragging conversation before it could bore him any more than it was already doing. Wang Bin blinked, thrown by the sudden change in topic, if his qi was any judge. That mint swirl pulled back slightly where it usually kept around Wang Bin's body.

"Yes?"

"I'm participating in the Winter Solstice - ""The Tournament, yes, we heard you," Bai Yiju said, tone annoyed. Afraid that he wouldn't get the limelight back after it was stolen from him, Wu Hao thought. It didn't seem to occur to Bai Yiju that Wu Hao didn't care about whatever his deal was.

"Do you really think you can get in?"

"I did," Wu Hao said.

"Here's proof." He showed them the scroll, enjoying the sour look on Bai Yiju's face when he realized that Wu Hao hadn't lied at all.

"Hao Wu," Wang Bin said softly.

"A fake name?"

"It seemed prudent." Wang Bin nodded, while Bai Yiju seemed angrily puzzled.

"Which clan let you in?" he asked instead.

"What kind of sorry grouping had to let you, of all people -""None of them," Wang Bin said, studying Wu Hao.

"Isn't that right?"

"None of them?" Bai Yiju repeated, though in a questioning tone.

"Right," Wu Hao said.

"I entered yesterday through the public tournament."

"You won, then?" Wang Bin asked. He leaned back.

"Was it difficult? I've never seen one of the public matches." Wu Hao shrugged.

"It was doable. I didn't have too much trouble." Wang Bin nodded.

"I see. Well, that matches up with what I assumed." Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

"You just said you hadn't seen those matches," Wu Hao pointed out.

"I saw them face off against the heirs of the great clans," Wang Bin explained.

"Suffice to say that the difference was very clearly visible. You've perhaps heard that there haven't been any participants in the public matches that have made it to the end of the tournament?"

"Except the Sword Sovereign."

"Yes," Wang Bin said, more slowly this time.

"Except him."

"But - but the public tournaments are held during the day," Bai Yiju said, returning to his senses. A faint sense of satisfaction grew in his murky qi as he realized that he must have found something to get one over on Wu Hao with.

"You went out when you're not supposed to!"

"There's no rule that says he must stay within the estate," Wang Bin said drily and the swell of righteous vindication that Bai Yiju had enjoyed seemed to puncture like a wave crashing on an unfeeling shore.

"What?" Bai Yiju asked.

"But - but I stay in all the time! I thought I had to..." Wang Bin shrugged.

"So do most of us. I believe I've said before that we are, by and large, indoor people. Is it so surprising that we stay within this fortress we've built ourselves? It's no hard rule, though it is something most mentors advise their students to do."

"So.... I could have gone out the entire time?" Bai Yiju asked. Some desperation took hold of him, then.

"You said that the arrays would kill me if I tried to get past them!"

"I did," Wang Bin admitted.

"If you'd just asked to leave, though, it would have been fine. I can deactivate them to let you out. How do you think I leave in the evening?" Bai Yiju pointed a finger at Wu Hao, his face turning the dark red of embarassment.

"He asked?"

"No," Wu Hao said simply.

"Then how?"

"I evaded the arrays," he said, enjoying the other boy's sputtering in response.

"We will need to talk about that," Wang Bin added. He studied Wu Hao.

"How glaring is the fault, exactly? I'm curious as to your perspective." Wu Hao shrugged in response.

"It's not a big hole. It was already there, though." Several words came out of Bai Yiju's mouth, none of them coherent, until finally he let his head hang and muttered to himself, his voice so low that Wu Hao couldn't make out much of what he had said. Wang Bin could with his second-grade senses, though, and let out a surprised laugh. Mint whirled through the room like a fresh breeze.

"The House of Nine Pleasures?" he asked.

"My. You've got expensive tastes, don't you?" Bai Yiju flushed so red that his neck must have felt like a volcano spurting fire through his veins and then he fled the room, his footsteps racing down the stairs. For once he didn't wait to be dismissed. Wang Bin chuckled to himself, and Wu Hao wondered what constituted the full list of nine. He knew a couple, he was sure - music was one, dancing was another, presumably "partnership" was a third, but what were all the others?

"So," Wang Bin said, when his laughter had died down.

"You've got a reason you're bringing this up, I'm sure."

"I'll be leaving the estate again," Wu Hao said bluntly.

"For the main tournament. I need the treasure that's being offered as a prize." Wang Bin nodded.

"If you get your work done, I have no complaints."

"No problem. I finished the array you asked me for."

"Show me," Wang Bin said, extending a hand. Wu Hao placed the array that he'd spent yesterday evening drawing, for once finding himself on solid footing as far as concentration went now that he had something to actually look forward to. He'd spent extra time on the array - not just on drawing it properly, but also in thinking through its construction in every aspect, not just starting with a basic design and trying to fix its obvious flaws. He was pretty proud of it, in a way.

It still had flaws - he'd drawn a few of the lines with a slightly too harsh hand, and he hadn't found a good solution for the problems of the backup channels needing to be sufficiently robust. It was just that those flaws weren't as obvious as those of his first versions.

"Hmmm," Wang Bin said. He traced his finger across the patterns, thinking as he did. Surprise seemed to flit through his qi, but it was pleased surprise - the surprise of Wu Hao having done better than expected.

"Good work," Wang Bin finally said. He handed it back.

"Another question, then. What kind of array is this, exactly?"

"A metal manipulation array," Wu Hao said. He didn't like those sorts of questions much, though - they had the feeling of trick questions, traps in which he found it very easy to fall. But what he said was true, obviously. The array manipulated metal and was often used by smiths and the like, to be able to rearrange things into shapes which made for easier forging. By the same token, though, arrays like these were often very crude in their work, which was why they hadn't replaced smiths entirely.

Some exquisite arrays could take a block of steel and produce a decent sword, but this one would simply twist whatever was laid on it into a pile of scrap.

"Correct," Wang Bin said. He took up one of his brushes, studied it absently, twisted it around in his fingers with a few flourishes.

"What do you think this specific version is used for?"

"A trap," Wu Hao said. The fact that it twisted steel into scrap wasn't a side-effect, it was the intended purpose. This, along with several other arrays, were cornerstones of several array schemes commonly used for locks and the like.

"Correct again. Do you know why I asked you to make it?" Wu Hao frowned. He stared at his own array.

"To learn?" he hazarded.

"There is that too, but there's another reason as well," Wang Bin said.

"Care to guess?" In the end, after trying to think it through for a few more beats, Wu Hao couldn't come up with anything.

"This and several of the other arrays that I've had you make in the last few weeks, they all share something in common," Wang Bin explained.

"Vastly more complicated versions of them were included in the crown that you're here to study. Understand the principles by which the simple versions operate and you may have a clue to the working of their cousins." Wu Hao just nodded.

"Don't forget what you're here for," Wang Bin said softly.

"More than any fight, the gains we could make from the crown are substantial. If you understand its principles, then you could be promoted to a senior apprentice on the basis of that understanding alone." Wu Hao grunted.

"We don't have the crown, though. It's stuck with Senior Journeyman Lu."

"All things in due time," Wang Bin said.

"Including becoming stronger. Give what I said some thought, will you? Try to produce this quality of work more often. Perhaps the crown will be here quicker than you expect."

"And give up on the tournament?" Wu Hao asked.

"I didn't say that," Wang Bin said.

"Although, perhaps. It would be a pity if you focus all your efforts on a tournament you're honestly unlikely to win. It's not too late to back out and focus on your work here."

"No," Wu Hao said simply.

"It isn't. But I'm still going to go for it." And, that having been said, he left Wang Bin's room.