The First Round

The first night went well enough. The guests from all the other six major sects were treated to a banquet. We were invited to some gigantic dining hall that could host hundreds of disciples and several select elders. Food and drinks flowed freely, with bustling waiters and waitresses ferrying trays brimming with plates and cups.

I was helping myself to some fried chicken when Jian Shen swaggered over to me.

"Give up your seat," he commanded. "I'll be sitting here."

I was tempted to tell him that he forgot the magic word, but I was too lazy to argue with him. Besides, it didn't matter to me where I sat as long as I could indulge in a free meal. Free food was more important than "face" or whatever. So I nodded, my mouth still full, and rose from my chair to look for another seat. Naturally, Lan Bei Er accompanied me, but Jian Shen was startled by it.

"Junior Bei Er, where are you going?"

"Following my husband, of course," she replied coldly. "Where he goes, I follow."

"Why?!" Jian Shen roared. "Just divorce this trash already! He's not worthy of you! Either you marry me or Senior Cang Qiong! Stop tainting yourself with trash like him!"

His drama attracted a lot of stares from the other tables. Disciples from the seven major sects all turned to watch.

"He's not trash," Lan Bei Er snapped. "Stop calling my husband trash."

"Stop deluding yourself! I don't know how he deceived you, but…"

"Oh, shut up!" One of the other disciples from a neighboring table yelled. "You're trash! Your whole family is trash!"

"What did you say!?" Jian Shen snarled, turning on the disciple, who was dressed in the golden robes from Dragon Phoenix Sect. "Who are you calling trash?"

"You, of course. You are the deluded one." The Dragon Phoenix Sect disciple retorted. "We all heard about how brother Hei Ye brought back not just the blood of the Red Python, but also the horn of a Ruby Rhino to gain the approval of the White Herb Sect. Yet you didn't even dare to brave the Crimson Forest to obtain the Red Python's blood to help save the father of the girl you proclaim to love. And you dare call other people trash?"

"That's right!" Another disciple, this time from the red and golden robes of Golden Thunder Sect, added. "We also heard that the magistrate actually put out an arrest warrant for you because you hired thugs to beat Sir Hei Ye up. Only for him to kick those thugs' asses and send them after you, and you ran away with our tail between your legs! Who's the real trash here, huh?"

"That's all fake news!" Jian Shen shouted angrily. "Don't believe them! They are lies spread by this fraud here! He's deceiving all of you!"

"Utterly deluded," another disciple, dressed in the blue and silver robes of Astral Star Sect, muttered with a shake of his head. "Weren't you the one who reneged on your bet and refused to give up your Ghost Iron Ore after insulting brother Hei Ye? What was it you said…that he was trash and had the lowest potential, only for him to have the highest black potential? Trash who dares to bet, but refuses to admit defeat."

"You…!" Jian Shen spluttered, and turned toward me. "This is all your fault! How dare you humiliate me?! I'll teach you what it means to offend someone you can't afford to offend!"

"Dude," the Dragon Phoenix Sect member snapped irritably. "You're the one provoking and insulting brother Hei Ye here. You're the one disrupting the mood and ruining the atmosphere. And you accuse other people of humiliating you? How does that even make sense?"

"Also, why haven't you given up the Ghost Iron Ore yet?" The disciple from Golden Thunder Sect asked. "Yet you want to claim the moral ground? Are you really that thick skinned?"

"That trash can only blame himself for being weak and useless!" Jian Shen declared. "This is the law of the world! Only the strong survive and can do whatever they want! The weak will be trampled upon and can only be bullied by others!"

"Stop it," a dark-skinned disciple from Elemental Mountain Sect with close cropped hair said, his expression full of pity. "Get some help."

Jian Shen let out a strangled howl of fury and lunged at me, only for one of the Azure Water Sect elders to seize him by his neck and yank him back.

"Enough!" He bellowed and hurled Jian Shen out of the dining hall. "Fighting is not permitted in here! If you want to fight, wat until the tournament tomorrow! Someone lock this fool up!"

"You'll regret this!" Jian Shen hollered as he was dragged away by Azure Water Sect disciples, thrashing wildly as he was chained and manacled. "I'll see you tomorrow, Hei Ye! Make sure you wash your neck and ready yourself for death!"

"Deluded," the disciple from Astral Star Sect repeated, sighing. The Azure Water Sect elder cleared his throat and waved at everybody.

"Sorry for the commotion, everyone. Please return to dining. I hope the idiot didn't ruin the mood."

Fortunately, I was so distracted by eating that I forgot all about Jian Shen and his deluded threats until the next day.

"The first round of the intersect tournament will begin!" Cheng Kun declared after delivering some longwinded speech about honor, sportsmanship and fair play. I couldn't remember a single word, being so bored out of my mind that I drifted off after his first sentence. I only returned to the present at the last sentence, which was accompanied by one of the Azure Water Sect disciples slamming a log against a gigantic bell to signal the start of the tournament.

The disciples gathered, and the first match, predictably enough, was between Bai Ning Shuang of the Azure Water Sect and Long Ao Di from the Dragon Phoenix Sect. Don't ask me why, I think someone was running out of names.

"How long do you think Long Ao Di will last against Bai Ning Shuang?"

"No idea. Maybe three rounds?"

"I say he'll only last one round. She only needs a single move to defeat him."

"Are you sure? Long Ao Di isn't a pushover. He's one of the top disciples of Dragon Phoenix Sect."

"But his opponent is the genius with the Divine Spirit Body. He stands no chance."

As always, we had the peanut gallery offering their well-informed commentary. I tried not to pay too much attention to them and instead focused on the stage. Both combatants stood some distance apart from each other, bowing their heads and cupping their hands respectfully. Then the elder in charge of refereeing the match swung his hand to signal the start of the match.

Long Ao Di immediately drew his dragon saber from his spatial pouch and charged forward. Flames wreathed his body, taking the form of a dragon, and he hurtled forward with a determined yell. In contrast, Bai Ning Shuang remained composed.

To my utter surprise, she sat down calmly. Whipping out a zither, she laid it on the ground and brushed her fingers across the strings. Then she began playing for real, the musical notes drifting across the arena. At first softly, and then with strength and purpose.

Before Long Ao Di could reach her, he suddenly braked to a halt, his dragon saber falling by his side. The spectators watched, unable to bear the tension…but nothing happened.

"Huh? What's going on?"

"Why did Long Ao Di stop?"

"No, look! His expression!"

Long Ao Di was staring blankly into space, his mouth ajar and almost drooling. We watched him, fascinated, and then understood what had just happened.

"The Divine Melody! She went straight for a soul attack! There's almost no defense against such a technique!"

"Long Ao Di has lost!"

Bai Ning Shuang paused in her playing to glance at the referee. He checked Long Ao D's condition for a moment before nodding.

"Long Ao Di is no longer able to battle. Bai Ning Shuang is the winner!"

Keeping her zither back in her spatial pouch, Bai Ning Shuang stood up and snapped her fingers. Long Ao Di blinked and returned to his senses. Falling to his knees, he heaved and perspired profusely. Raising his head, he breathed a sigh.

"It's my loss. I admit defeat."

He shuddered and needed to be help off. The spectators murmured amongst themselves, several in wonder and others in disappointment.

"Couldn't even last one round."

"How is anyone supposed to defeat the Divine Spirit Body? She's practically invincible. There's no way to guard against her soul attacks."

"I guess this year's championship will go to her."

Above the murmurs and gossip, Cheng Kun placed his hands on his hips and laughed loudly.

"How is it?" He asked the rest of the major sect leaders. "Our Bai Ning Shuang is the most promising disciple of this generation. I don't mean to brag, but we believe that she's the most likely to win this intersect tournament."

None of the other sect leaders refuted him. They remained silent. Cheng Kun chuckled arrogantly and waved at the referee.

"Don't waste time, start the next match immediately!"

The next few matches passed by quickly, and I saw Chi Yan among them. He won his match handily, incinerating his opponent from Golden Thunder Sect after several moves. I applauded, but he didn't seem to take notice of me. A few of the other disciples appeared interesting, like a disciple from Astral Star Sect who demonstrated his aptitude for formations and overwhelming his Azure Water Sect opponent in magic circles and spirit arrays.

Then it was finally my turn.

"Oho." Cheng Kun chuckled and turned to Bai Yao Cai. "I hear that your White Herb Sect is only sending out one representative this year, old Bai. How many rounds do you think he'll be able to last? I hope he doesn't get eliminated too early, otherwise the White Herb Sect will end up spending most of the intersect tournament as passive spectators."

"You don't have to worry about my sect's disciples," Bai Yao Cai said lightly.

To my complete lack of surprise, Jian Shen was my opponent. He swaggered up to the stage and pointed his thumb down, a sneer on his face.

"If you kowtow to me now and beg me for mercy, I might consider sparing your life," he declared. I sighed at the cliché threat. No doubt the moron arranged for me to fight him in the first round, utterly confident that he could win and humiliate me in front of everyone. Maybe he bribed an official or found some way to rig the draw.

Whatever. His loss.

Ignoring him, I glanced at the referee. He nodded when he saw that we were both ready and gestured for us to begin.

"Refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit!" Jian Shen yelled and sprang toward me, drawing his sword. Silver qi wreathed his blade and multiple swords materialized all around him. "I gave you a path to live, but you choose to walk down the road to hell yourself!"

Why the fuck did these morons love spouting these inane cliché lines? Did they rip them off from some cultivation villain handbook or something? They really had no class, just copying each other. I could imagine these cultivation antagonists being rolled off the conveyor belt, mass produced clones supplied to unimaginative authors too lazy to think up of anything beyond a one-dimensional villain.

Shaking my head, I stood my ground and waited for Jian Shen to reach me. He thrust his glowing sword forward to stab my chest, but I twisted around and allowed his blade to hurtle past harmlessly. Then I slapped him.

Jian Shen was flung across the arena, crashing into the ground with such force that he left a furrow in the stone, finally skidding to a stop when he tumbled out of the stage and onto the ground or technical area outside. He lay there amidst a pile of rubble, his body unmoving and his neck bent at an unnatural angle. His tongue lolled out of his mouth, blood spilling nonstop from within.

The referee hurried over to check on him, placing a hand on his pulse. Then, with a shaky breath, he raised his head and shook it.

"Jian Shen is dead," he announced. "The winner is Hei Ye!"