There’s no easy way to break down Cultivators into levels or groupings of strength outside of the general Realms. How one develops their Qi and Domain directly feeds into how their strength develops, and mapping that out to neat, concise levels is near impossible.

Some people choose to hyperfocus on one thing and hone that skill to impossible levels while ignoring all else, leaving them incredibly strong in certain ways but weak in others. Other people choose to expand their abilities with multiple options, but losing depth in the process. With as many available options as there are ideas, accurately gauging a Cultivator's skill or power level within a given Realm is near impossible.

The Frozen Mountain Sect held an exhibition tournament every three years. It was well known throughout the area around their mountain home as an event for aspiring Cultivators in the Earth Realm to test their strength against one another. Most combatants in this tournament were of middling strength, with a few that would be considered just above average.

I was, I think, either twenty or twenty-one at the time. Probably twenty. I had been out hunting demonic Cultivators for a while by then, and had been tracking a group of them outside the Frozen Mountain’s territory. When I heard that the tournament was going to be held, I figured it’d be a good opportunity to see if any of the same demonic Cultivators had secretly joined the Frozen Mountain, or were maybe just testing their skill there.

So, I joined up as a wandering fighter with no backing. The tournament was well known, so there was a lengthy day of preliminaries before the actual tournament began. And when I tell you it was boring as sin, I mean it. The fights during the preliminaries were almost unilaterally one-sided beatdowns, ringouts, and surrenders. I was even bored watching.

Worst of all, most of the competent fighters didn’t show any of their Qi related skills or abilities on day one, winning with raw martial arts alone; which meant that I needed to stick around for day two to see if any demons were in attendance.

Day two and the first actual round of the tournament was more interesting, but still tame. The first few rounds were, actually. It wasn’t until day three, and the beginning of the top 8 that things got interesting.

Day three consisted of the top 8 bracket, one bout at a time throughout the day, until the finals at sunset. The first two fights of the quarter-finals were okay matches, with all four fighters showing off Qi based abilities, though both matches were still one-sided. The third match was much better balanced, pitting a fire-focused Cultivator against one of the many Frozen Mountain ice-focused ones. The fight was flashy, but neither were as strong as the winners from bout one or two. The Frozen Mountain fighter won that fight, if I recall.

Fight four was mine. I was up against another Frozen Mountain Cultivator, one Avuri Axies. She hadn’t used any Qi in her fights yet, so beyond expecting the typical Frozen Mountain techniques, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

As the third match finally wrapped up, I prepared myself for what I was hoping would be a good fight. I checked all my knife sheaths to be sure they were occupied. This would be their first appearance. I stretched. Moved through some light warm ups. If I really was up against an ice user, warming up my body first would be even more useful.

Someone I imagined was a Frozen Mountain Sect Elder was standing center stage, announcing the fights. He was also likely there to try to reduce the chance of death among fighters, though no fight had been that dangerous as of yet. As he was congratulating the previous two fighters, I approached the stage.

“And now, for the last quarter-final bout.” He said, using Qi to amplify his voice throughout the stands. “Fighting as a wandering Cultivator, representing no sect. We haven’t seen all that much from her, beyond some fancy foot and knife work - but we’re likely to this time! Emery Vale!”

I hopped up onto the large, white stone platform that served as the stage and arena, landing lightly on my feet. There were some scattered cheers, but I ignored them and rolled my shoulders to stay limber.

“Her opponent, from our own Frozen Mountain. While she hasn’t gotten a chance to show her techniques yet either, she’s sure to please the crowd this time! Avuri Axies!”

The other woman landed gracefully in the arena opposite me. Her combat attire was an almost blindingly bright white and silver set of robes. They looked like they were made of a soft silk, which matched her long, silky silver hair, which was tied up behind her. She didn’t appear to carry any weapons, but that wasn’t unusual for a Cultivator. As we each took fighting stances, her’s appeared graceful, while mine was more aggressive.

Then a loud gong signaled the start of the match.

We both immediately began with different techniques. Avuri clapped, and her Qi immediately rushed out from her, encompassing most of the arena. The temperature immediately dropped below freezing. Snow began to dance about in the air, lightly fluttering to the ground seemingly from nowhere. Some kind of Spiritual Array I hadn’t noticed before kept everything trapped within the arena, which was comforting.

I also let my Qi loose, directing it toward my knives. All ten rose from their sheathes and began to hover around me, ready for direction. Then I directed my Qi into my right hand, forming a long, thin blade as I rushed Avuri.

Avuri began moving her hands, directing blasts of cold air and snow around the battlefield. As I danced around each flurry during my approach, I could hear the crashes of ice hitting the ground behind me. Seeing how easily I was avoiding the direct blasts of cold, Avuri swept a hand out, motioning at the ground. Some of Avuri’s Qi condensed from the air onto the ground which froze over with a slick layer of ice. As my footing was no longer secure, I slid to a stop, still fifteen or so paces from the woman.

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With a thought, I sent my knives after her. The ten blades took almost zero conscious effort from me to direct, as they danced around Avuri, causing exactly the distraction I needed to finish closing the gap. I slipped within reach of my blade and went on the offensive. Between the ten dancing knives and my own blade, I had expected Avuri to crumble rather quickly - elementalist types were rarely good at close combat - but she persisted.

Floating snowflakes seemed to coalesce around her and harden, acting as makeshift shields to block the floating knives at every turn. Meanwhile, she expertly fended off my own attacks with a staff quickly crafted of ice Qi.

With each of our flying weapons fully engaged, we danced. For a moment, we had each forgotten the fight, and traded blows, finally happy to find an even match. It lasted for fifteen or twenty seconds, but the blows came and were turned aside quickly, with neither of us able to make any headway.

In an effort to break the stalemate, I forced some of my Qi into my blade, willing it sharper and denser. It shattered one end of her staff as they met. I pushed the attack to take advantage of what I was sure would be an opening. Instead, as I thrust the blade forward, I felt a solid punch to my stomach, leaving my attack to barely graze the woman’s cheek. The shot to my midsection forced us apart; she had used the back half of the staff for a well concealed gut shot that was hidden by some snow flurries when I had made my attack.

My ten knives flew back to hover around me, as her snowflakes became less defined, and fluttered to the ground like so much snow. We each took a breath.

I readied my blade once more, as I reinforced it further with more Qi. I connected thin strands of Qi to my knives to empower them as well. Avuri was flexing a hand that was quickly becoming coated in frost. She had let her staff melt away, but appeared to be actively controlling the wind and snow around her, whipping it up into a flurry.

As I took my first step to get back within striking distance, she threw her hand forward. The storm of snow rocketed forward in a stream of air that looked almost like a dragon made of snow and wind surging through the air. When there was less than a step between me and the storm, I ducked to the left to slip past it, but continued my approach. Passing by so close, I could feel the intense cold brush against me, and cause a layer of frost to cover my right side.

With my final step to close the distance, I thrust my blade forward. All ten knives flew forward with the thrust, to make a solid eleven point attack. As before, snowflakes solidified in the air to block each strike. However, with my blades all reinforced with extra Qi, they sliced through the defensive formation. The ten flying knives were immediately stopped dead in the air, encased solidly in a large wall of ice. Even my blade was embedded deep enough into the ice that pulling it out was futile. Worse, I could feel the dragon-storm turning around to assault my back.

Discarding the blade, I stepped quickly to make my way around the wall of ice. I could feel through my Qi that Avuri was gathering her own for another technique behind the wall. I swept my hands in an arc, conjuring ten more flying knives purely from Qi. With a second sweep, I sent them flying around the wall to interfere with Avuri as best they could. Then I conjured a much heavier sword into my hand, and spun to face the dragon-storm.

I raised a hand to conjure a floating shield between myself and the dragon-storm. The Qi-made metal plate covered more than half my body size, and was slightly wedge shaped, to hopefully disperse the Qi that was driving the storm technique. As the dragon-storm slammed into the shield, it split apart as I had hoped, flying out in all directions around the shield. However, the technique seemed to be refocusing as it passed, instead of dispersing.

With no good way to deter the technique, I gave up on dealing with it directly and decided to pursue Avuri directly. I threw the sword as hard as I could, parallel to the wall. It curved around the corner to attack Avuri on its own, joining my knives. I wasn’t far behind it, conjuring a second sword for myself.

As I turned the corner of the wall, I saw Avuri’s snowflakes fending off the flying weapons as she flung a blast of icy-cold air and snow at my face. I dropped to my knees, suddenly thankful the floor was icy at this point, and slid underneath the attack. I spun back to my feet within striking distance of Avuri, and immediately began pressuring her.

Until now, throughout the previous rounds, I had used only a slimmer blade, with a dance-like, graceful, flowing style. Now, with the heavier sword in my hands, I used a heavy, wild striking style that seemed to catch Avuri off guard. The Qi-reinforced heavy sword shattered through a defensive ice technique on my first swing. The return swing struck right through a second, much closer layer of ice, and I stopped my blade right at her neck, just shy of drawing blood.

I could feel the dragon of ice and wind stopped directly behind me, as though its breath were on my back. With a sigh, I let my sword drop from the woman’s neck and straightened up. She did the same, and the dragon behind me puffed away into the air.

“A draw? Is that allowed?” Avuri turned to the Elder-turned-referee to ask.

I shook my head and bowed. “Don’t worry about it. I concede this match to you, Miss Axies.”

The crowd, which I had all but forgotten about entirely during the match, made a loud mix of cheers and jeers in response. The Elder waved a hand, and they all quieted down again. Then he turned toward me.

“Are you positive you wish to forfeit, Miss Vale?” He looked almost taken aback, but covered it well. There was some judgment in his eyes as well; I could tell he was - well, disgusted may be too strong a word, but certainly unhappy with me for giving up the fight. Avuri just looked shell-shocked, standing there with her mouth hanging half-open.

“I’m quite sure, thank you.” I said, once again with a bow. After all, I wasn’t here to win the tournament anyhow. I bowed once more to Avuri before turning and walking off the stage. As I was leaving, I heard more people from stands shouting insults and the like, but I just kept walking. I had seen all the fighters remaining in the tournament, and I was satisfied none were demons.

The Elder announced Avuri as the winner, which got applause. As I left the fighting arena and entered the small room designated as a prep area, I heard quick, light steps moving after me. No surprise there.

I turned to see Avuri as she stepped into the room as well. She looked bewildered, but also concerned.

“Is everything alright, Miss Vale? You seemed like a very strong fighter in the ring - to just forfeit like that -”

“I’m quite alright, thank you.” I said, keeping up a distinctly formal tone. I bowed again, just to be sure. I was terrible at being polite, and had a habit of over-correcting when I tried to be sure.

Avuri narrowed her eyes, but said nothing more. She looked a little angry, but turned and left the building in a bit of a huff. I sighed as I gathered up my stuff to leave as well. I hadn’t intended to put anyone off, but I really didn’t need to continue in the tournament anymore. So I just left.