Grandmaster

Moyan burst through the door; it was clear what she wanted to say.

"Grandmaster, we have a problem," Moyan stated, her voice frantic.

"Is it because of the challenge?"

"Yes. The Ghost Shadow Sect has replied with the Tournament of Masters."

Mingyao leaned back, easing out of her meditative posture. "I thought so," she said calmly. "It looks like the royal court will intervene in this. How much time do we have to prepare?"

"I'm not sure yet, Grandmaster. It's an encrypted challenge placed by a grandmaster."

"I see. It requires the response of another grandmaster to take form."

"Yes..."

"Quite the setup. If we don't answer, it implies we don't have a grandmaster. But if we do, it will lead to a calamity duel between two grandmasters, establishing a new hierarchy."

"What do you suggest we do, Grandmaster?"

"I am making progress with my cultivation, but I still haven't reclaimed my previous abilities. This is bad... but we will have to answer the challenge."

"How?"

"Using this," Mingyao replied, her jade token swinging around her thin fingers.

"But you don't have your abilities. Can you place your grandmaster signature with such low cultivation?"

"We won't know until we try. Besides, my grandmaster token hasn't rejected me or disintegrated, which means it still recognizes me as its master."

"Maybe it just doesn't want to be lonely."

"Maybe," Mingyao said, chuckling. "Okay, what about the bank situation? Any luck?"

"I have plenty of information. Which part do you want to hear first?"

"Does it have any illegal activity? And if it does, is it connected to the Chen family?"

"The bank... how do I put this? On the surface, it's like any other bank, but it has very deep ties to corrupt associations. As for its connection to the Chens, it runs incredibly deep. In fact, they have such a symbiotic relationship that they essentially function as the same organization. The Chen family's businesses gain immense wealth from the arrangement, and the bank maintains a monopoly in the area."

"I see. This means the bank is the key to the Chens."

"Do you have a plan?"

"I do, but... were you able to steal any information, like ledgers detailing all their activities?"

"It wasn't easy," Moyan said, retrieving a ledger from her sleeve, "but I managed to copy most of the details inside this."

Moyan handed the copied ledger to Mingyao. Mingyao took it and began skimming through its contents.

"The audacity this bank has. Moyan, is this the real ledger or the one for public display?"

"You tell me. As I said, it wasn't easy to get my hands on that."

"Their crimes run deep: debt bondage, land grabbing, smuggling. They really aren't afraid of the law, are they? But this is also good; it makes them that much easier to deal with."

"What's our move?"

"For now, let's deal with the Tournament of Masters first. We can put the plan into motion right after. All right, let's go."

Mingyao and Moyan descended the stairs, their destination obvious. Just as they were about to leave, Mingyao caught a glimpse of Chen Xiao waiting outside.

"Why is he still here?" Mingyao asked, avoiding his gaze.

"Looks like your plan worked too well. He's smitten with you."

"I don't need this right now. Let's move and leave through the back."

"Right away, Grandmaster."

Mingyao and Moyan slipped out through the back entrance, which opened up to the Dongxi River. They walked through the crowded streets. Unlike that morning, they now knew why the far street was gathered with such a crowd. Who wouldn't be drawn to such an amazing sight—a swirling mass of lightning energy floating next to Yue Ying's challenge?

Moyan and Mingyao moved through the crowd, trying to make their way to the encrypted challenge. But just as they were walking, an old man fell in front of them, blocking their path.

They helped him up.

He was short and leaned on a wooden stick for support. Though his legs seemed fine, his eyes did not. The stick was likely to help him navigate his surroundings.

"Excuse me, miss. Would you like a reading?" the man asked, turning his head toward Moyan. Moyan, still in her male form, was baffled but chalked it up to a mistake by a blind man.

"Not right now," she answered. "We're in a hurry."

"What about you, sir? Would you like a reading?" He turned his unblinking eyes, slightly off their mark, toward Mingyao.

"No, not currently, sir. We're in a bit of a hurry," Mingyao replied, her voice calm and feminine.

"Don't be so quick to dismiss this old man's talents. You may be searching for something that seems well-hidden yet is right in front of you," the man said cryptically.

"I don't understand what you mean, sir. We really must go, so if you'll excuse us."

"All right, if you don't want a reading, how about a parting gift? Soon, a change will take place—a shift, an evolution of a star. A new light. But before this light can shine brightly, it will need to incubate. When the time comes, use this to nurture it."

The man handed a strange item to Moyan.

"Think of this as a thank-you gift from this old man," he added. Moyan stared at the object in his hands, trying to make sense of it. When he looked up to return it, the old man had already disappeared.

"Moyan, we need to move," Mingyao urged, pushing through the crowd.

"There are too many people here, Grandmaster. You risk exposing your identity."

"That's why I have this veil on. No one will recognize me."

Moyan paused and studied Mingyao's face to see if it's well hidden, "Fine. Let me clear some space for you so you can approach the encrypted letter smoothly."

Moyan released a burst of qi pressure, just as she had earlier that morning, creating a path through which they could pass.

They approached the dazzling scroll surrounded by lightning energy. It was clear what Mingyao needed to do.

Everyone was mesmerized by the scroll but equally captivated by the veiled beauty who had approached it. The subtle shift of energy compelled them to make way, and they stared in awe. Who was this woman in a blue dress and veil? Was she the famous grandmaster of the Yin Lian Pavilion?

The onlookers murmured amongst themselves as Mingyao uncovered her grandmaster token.

Ignoring the whispers of the crowd, Mingyao focused entirely on the jade token in her hand. Her fingers trembled as she channeled her qi into it, but the relic resisted her, as if mocking her weakened state. Her cultivation was nothing like it had been, but she wasn't going to give up.

Nothing happened.

Mingyao's chest tightened, though she kept her face calm. Clenching the token tighter, she forced more qi into it, sweat dripping down her face. The whispers grew louder, and doubt clawed at her.

"Am I truly this powerless?"

She pushed the thought away and took a deep breath. This wasn't just about the challenge—it was about her sect, her lifeline, her identity as a grandmaster. If she failed here, everything she had built in the last decade would crumble.

She tried again, pouring every last shred of qi she had left into the token. For a long moment, there was nothing but silence, a crushing emptiness. Then, like a spark catching fire, something stirred. The jade trembled in her palm, and energy began to crackle through it, faint at first, then growing stronger.

Suddenly, the token flared to life.

Heat surged through her palm and spread across her body like wildfire. She gasped as the burning pain made her knees buckle. The token floated out of her hand, spinning in the air, its surface splintering with cracks that glowed faintly.

"Is it going to break?" Mingyao thought, panicking. "The last proof of my power... is it all about to shatter?"

The heat became unbearable, and she gritted her teeth to keep from crying out. With a sharp crack, the jade shattered.

The pieces didn't fall but hovered above her, glowing with an eerie light. The crowd gasped and stepped back as a wave of qi rippled through the air. Mingyao staggered as the burning heat suddenly turned icy cold. Her breath turned to mist, frost forming on her skin as the power surged through her—a vast, overwhelming force that felt both familiar and alien.

For a fleeting moment, she felt like her old self, the grandmaster she had once been. But... Was her body ready for it?

She felt the energy and tried to reconnect with the shimmering shards above her. Another wave of powerful qi rippled throughout the area as she channeled the energy into the scroll.

The sky suddenly darkened, blotting out the sunlight as the area became frigid, ice and snow forming on the tips of sharp objects.

The scroll finally responded to Mingyao's signature. She read the challenge. It was just as she had expected—a duel between grandmasters, worded as a martial tournament. It was clear that the Ghost Shadow Sect wanted to establish a hierarchy between the two sects.

Mingyao wasn't sure how long her current abilities would last. It was clear that the power she was feeling at the moment was only temporary. Then it happened.

Mingyao felt her strength fading as the token's shards hovered above her. The crowd around her was silent, their whispers drowned by the unnatural cold that now engulfed the square.

Her body continued to grow colder, streaks of white forming within her jet-black hair. She slowly felt her energy wane, her body losing consciousness. The energy of a grandmaster was too much for her current body. 

"Grandmaster!" Moyan's voice was distant, her face blurring as Mingyao's body grew heavy.

Just before she lost consciousness, a faint voice echoed in her mind, low and distant, like a ripple across an icy lake.

"Incubation... the star must incubate."

The last thing she saw was Moyan's panicked face and, beyond it, the mysterious object the old man had given her, glowing faintly in the frost-filled air.

"Well at least she had month." she thought, if only she could find her master soon.