Fueled by his excitement for the coming day, He Yu woke up earlier than usual on the morning of the tournament. It had been hard falling asleep with his imagination buzzing from the possibilities he now saw for his future. If he felt tired, that was subsumed by anticipation. Or anxiety. It had become increasingly difficult to untangle the two as the tournament drew near. The tournament had come to dominate his every thought over the past few days, and now it represented a tremendous opportunity that he couldn’t bear to pass up.
After a light breakfast and some time meditating just outside Shulin’s boundary stones, He Yu made his way towards the square at the center of town. Shulin wasn’t a large town, at least not by the standards of anyone who had traveled more than a few days north. It was, however, a good measure bigger than the other villages that hugged the forest edge. It normally hosted a market in the central square, but over the past few days that square had transformed into the arena for Dong Wei’s tournament. Upon seeing it that morning, it looked like something out of the stories he’d fed his imagination on for years.
Formation stones had been set up at each of the square’s corners, and streamers bearing more formation script had been strung between them. They were beyond anything He Yu had ever seen in town before, and he’d no doubt Zhang Lifen had assisted with their construction. Three sides of the square had also been bounded by hastily constructed wooded seats for the spectators and the fourth side was now home to a pavilion, presumably for Dong Wei and Zhang Lifen. At the center of the square was the tournament stage, a simple wooden platform raised several feet above the flagstones of the square itself.
Off to one side sat a table for the participants to register, with a line of entrants already waiting. One of Dong Wei’s students tended it, and standing a few feet away was Dong Wei himself, speaking to a very bored-looking Zhang Lifen. When He Yu approached, Dong Wei turned to him with a scowl.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
“Registering for the tournament,” He Yu said, pressing a fist into his palm and giving a slight bow. He desperately hoped he didn’t sound as though the question had ignited a storm of uncertainty and doubt. He knew full well that Dong Wei thought him unfit for cultivation, but he’d simply assumed that if he could prove himself with the tournament, that wouldn’t matter anymore. For the first time since hearing of his father’s history, it dawned on him that Dong Wei’s animosity towards him might be of another sort altogether.
“You think I would let a weakling like you compete with my students?” Dong Wei asked, every word oozing disdain. “Even allowing you to set foot in the same arena as them would bring dishonor upon both my students and my school.”
That caught He Yu off guard. Compete with Dong Wei’s students? The competition was supposed to determine the school’s new students. At least that’s what Zhang Lifen had said when she’d come up with the whole story about the tournament in the first place. That the Shrouded Peaks Sect disciple had placed the blame for the tournament at his feet—something he’d not been expecting Dong Wei to forgive—was now the least of his concerns. How could he expect to win if he was forced to compete with students Dong Wei had been teaching all this time?
“Oh, I don’t see any harm in it,” Zhang Lifen said with a disinterested air. “If he’s such a weakling, why wouldn’t you allow him to compete? He certainly couldn’t threaten anyone that mattered.” As she spoke the last part, she fixed He Yu with a look that turned her words into a direct challenge.
Dong Wei hardly could have noticed, however. The instant she’d started speaking he’d turned back to her and bowed deeply. “Of course,” he said once it was painfully clear she was done speaking. “If you think he ought to compete, I’ll not gainsay you.”
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The sect disciple gave a slight shake of her head. “I expect the tournament will be sufficiently impressive regardless,” she said, still not turning fully back to Dong Wei. He Yu squirmed under her gaze. Whether it was some technique of hers or simply the weight of expectation, he couldn’t say.
Zhang Lifen’s parting words when they’d last spoken came to him then, and he gave her a brief nod. He would acquit himself as well as he was able. The rest would simply be the will of heaven. The Shrouded Peaks disciple responded with a quick, small smile. Finally, she returned her attention to Dong Wei. It seemed his father had been right, and she’d taken some sort of interest in him. He wasn’t sure if he should be excited or terrified of that. Either way, he’d resolved to fight as best he could.
Making his way to the competitors’ area, he forced himself to focus on the contest ahead. The matches would be fought until either one side yielded or was forced out of the ring. No weapons would be allowed, hand-to-hand strikes only. Advancement in the tournament was determined by elimination-style brackets, with the winner proceeding to the next round. It was a fairly standard affair, all things considered—so long as he ignored the fact that the whole tournament was the fabrication of Zhang Lifen in the first place. And the fact that he was likely going to shoulder the blame for it.
It was still early, which allowed him to watch as the other competitors began to arrive. They were mostly town youth about his own age, with fifteen being the youngest permitted to enter. While any serious cultivation was frowned upon for youth younger than that, the youngest entrants would have at least awakened to the First Realm. They would likely have had the benefit of some formal training, something that He Yu was very aware he lacked. At least that thought eased any apprehension He Yu felt at beating up children two years his junior—even if those “children” were probably larger and stronger than he was.
Finally, the students from Dong Wei’s school began to arrive. Each one circled the outside of the arena with heads high and shoulders back. Wearing the crisp uniform of the school, and looking all the more impressive for it, seeing them sent a spike of apprehension through He Yu. Every one of them would be much further along in their cultivation than he was. He didn’t think any would be too close to the peak of Qi Gathering yet. The oldest didn’t look more than a year or so older than he was, and everyone knew cultivation was a process that took more time the higher one climbed. If He Yu was still in the low First Realm, as Zhang Lifen had said, it was hard to imagine that Dong Wei’s students would be that much more advanced.
He Yu sat and stewed in his own mix of excitement and worry as contestants and spectators alike filtered in. Waves of uncertainty crashed over him as he waited for the tournament to start. Dong Wei’s students were real cultivators. At least compared to him. They’d proper training, they were more advanced than he was, and even without those advantages, they were just simply bigger and stronger. There was no way he’d be able to truly compete.
But did that truly matter? The great cultivators of legend—like Tan Zihao of the Jade Kingdom, or Gao Huiliang the Magnificent—would they back down from such a challenge? Surely not. They strode towards certain death in all the stories, yet emerged victorious time and again. If He Yu wanted to match their deeds one day, how could he do so if he balked now? Their example would guide him through this tournament, and like them, he would emerge victorious.
Finally, Dong Wei stood and called for silence. They were about to begin. “This year’s tournament comes with an auspicious visitor,” Dong Wei began. He’d decided to take Zhang Lifen’s story about the tournament in stride, and simply pretend that everything about it was just a regular thing that people did in Shulin. “The esteemed Lady Zhang has traveled from the great Shrouded Peaks Sect to observe our humble tournament, and will select from among the participants recruits to join the sect as prospective outer disciples.”
A soft murmur of surprise ran through the crowd, a parallel to He Yu’s reaction to the news. The nerves that he’d been struggling to contain all morning now threatened to boil over out of his control, and the resolve he’d found only moments ago buckled. It hadn’t ever crossed his mind that Zhang Lifen would be looking to recruit people for the Shrouded Peaks Sect. At least the news explained why Dong Wei’s students were now allowed to compete. That realization did not, however, provide He Yu with any sense of comfort. If anything, it only meant that the competition would be all the more fierce.