Chapter 71 | Proof Under the Bell

The next bout had barely begun when Xu turned away from the west lane.

Steel rang behind him. The crowd answered a heartbeat later, loud enough to follow him beneath the stone arch.

He didn’t stop at the recovery benches.

His left ribs still ached where the spear shaft had struck him. A quiet warmth moved beneath the bruise as Regeneration kept working. The fight hadn’t left him winded, and his stride hadn’t slowed.

The qi in his dantian was another matter. The hard binds had taken their share, and waiting for it to settle would cost more time than he had.

The sheath stayed settled at Xu’s left hip as he headed for the tournament office. The folded objection notice remained inside his robe.

The lower road showed briefly between the buildings.

It was still empty.

He kept walking.

’Be there when the proof arrives.’

The tournament workroom was busier than it had been that morning, but the mood had changed. Finished slips were being stacked. Brushes had been washed and set beside the inkstones. A clerk near the wall was tying a cord around a bundle of papers while arena calls drifted in through the open corridor.

The same clerk from the morning looked up from the middle desk.

His eyes went to Xu, then toward the doorway behind him.

"No book?"

"Not yet."

The clerk leaned back and scrubbed a thumb across his brow. "You’re cutting it close."

"I noticed."

That got the faintest twitch from the man’s mouth.

"Good. Saves me explaining it again."

Xu stopped in front of the desk.

The clerk looked past him once more. "You planning to stand there until it arrives?"

"Yes."

"Fine by me. Just don’t block the line."

Xu shifted aside.

The clerk returned to his papers.

There was nothing useful to ask. The man had already told him what proof mattered. Xu could leave and search the road, or he could stay where the ruling would happen.

He stayed.

Another bout was called outside.

Then another.

People crossed the corridor with stamped slips and weapon tags. A disciple argued at a side desk until the clerk there pointed him toward another office. Someone laughed too loudly near the outer arch. The sound vanished when a senior disciple snapped at him to move.

Xu ignored all of it.

His ribs gave a dull pull when he shifted his weight. The warmth beneath the bruise remained steady. Not gone. Better.

The clerk closed a small ledger and glanced toward the corridor.

"If your people are coming," he said, "now would help."

Footsteps answered him.

Not hurried enough to be running. Fast enough that no one had stopped for conversation.

Lin came through the doorway first.

Shun followed her.

Behind them walked the middle-aged registrar from the lower gate, carrying a thick guest-entry book against his chest with both hands. He looked no happier to be away from his desk than Xu remembered.

The tournament clerk straightened.

Lin’s eyes found Xu immediately.

"We have it."

Xu looked at the registrar and the book. "Good."

"Trouble?" Xu asked.

Shun glanced at the registrar. "Finding the book? No. Getting it out of the gate office--"

"No one was carrying that book away from my desk," the registrar cut in.

Lin’s expression stayed composed. "So I asked him to come with us."

The registrar looked at her. "Asked."

"You came."

A quiet breath escaped Shun’s nose. He covered it with a cough.

The tournament clerk held out his hand toward the desk. "Then let’s use the time we have."

The registrar exhaled through his nose. "I told your wife nobody walks away with this book."

Lin turned her head slightly. "No one did."

He looked at her.

"You brought it yourself," she said.

Shun lowered his gaze, but not before Xu caught the beginning of a smile.

The registrar muttered something under his breath and carried the book to the desk.

The tournament clerk pushed aside the papers in front of him. "Here."

"You look," the registrar said. "Then I’m taking it back."

"That’s the plan."

The book landed heavily on the desk.

The registrar kept a hand on the cover as he opened it. He turned through the pages, stopped, then rotated the book toward the tournament clerk.

"There."

The clerk bent over the entry.

Xu didn’t crowd the desk. Lin took her place at his side. Someone squeezed past behind them, brushing her sleeve against his arm.

The clerk’s finger moved down the page.

"Xu Tianlong," he said. "Elder Ming’s token verified."

His finger moved again.

"Household... 7 people. Lin Yueyao listed as wife."

Lin’s expression didn’t change.

The clerk kept reading.

"Personal weapons declared. Temporary guest entry. Lower guest grounds."

He went still.

Xu saw the change before the man spoke.

The clerk leaned closer to the page.

"What’s this mark?"

The registrar looked down. "Lower-gate side seal."

"It’s barely on the line."

"It’s on the line."

"Barely any of it is."

The registrar’s face tightened. "You asked for the original book. That’s the original book."

"I said I’d rule from the page." The clerk tapped beside the weapons entry. "The main record is clear. This isn’t."

Lin spoke before the registrar could answer.

"What do you need?"

The clerk looked at her. "I need to know that seal belongs to this entry, not the line above it or the line below it."

"It belongs to this one," the registrar said.

Lin looked at Xu. "I saw how faint it was before we left the gate. That’s why he came with us."

The clerk turned back to the registrar. "You remember that?"

"I wrote the entry."

"You write a lot of entries."

The registrar stared at him for a moment.

Then he pointed at the page.

"Elder Ming’s token. Covered wagon. 2 horses. I sent the wagon and horses to the guest service yard because they couldn’t stay in the lower guest court. There were 7 in the household, all coming in under the same guest entry, and they declared their weapons at my desk."

He tapped the faint mark once.

"That seal is mine. That entry is theirs."

The clerk looked from him to the book.

Lin didn’t fill the silence.

Neither did Xu.

The clerk checked the page again. His finger traced the weapons line, stopped at the faint seal, then moved back to the household entry above it.

Finally, he sat down.

"All right."

He pulled the review ledger toward himself.

"That’s enough." His brush touched ink. "Weapons declared at the gate. Seal confirmed by the registrar who made the entry."

He wrote a short line, pressed a small office seal beside it, and set the brush down.

"Objection rejected. You stay on the bracket."

The registrar immediately started closing the guest book.

GONG!

The bell rolled through the office complex.

For a moment, clerks around the room looked up at once.

Then the room moved again.

The tournament clerk glanced toward the corridor and blew out a breath. "That’s it. Review’s closed."

The registrar shut the book completely. "Fine. I’m going back to my desk."

Shun stepped away from the wall. "I’ll walk back with you."

The registrar gave him a flat look, then grunted and tucked the book closer to his chest.

Lin finally looked at Xu.

The tension in her shoulders had eased. Only a little, but he saw it.

Xu said, "Good work."

Her eyes softened.

"You told me to bring the record."

"You brought the right man with it."

Lin glanced at the registrar as he gathered the book against his chest again. "The seal was faint. I wasn’t making the whole trip again because of it."

"You were right."

A small smile touched her mouth.

Then the system spoke.

[Ding!]

[Personal Amplification Increased: Lin Yueyao]

[Personal Amplification: +0 → +1]

[Base Amplification: x2]

[Effective Amplification: x3]

Xu read the lines once.

The panel faded.

His gaze stayed on Lin for a beat.

She caught it. "What?"

"Nothing." Xu turned toward the corridor. "Come on."

A faint smile returned to her mouth as she stepped beside him.

The tournament clerk was already reaching for another stack of slips.

"If you’re done," he said, "bracket side. They’re posting the next pairings."

Xu nodded once.

He and Lin left the workroom together.

The corridor outside was still active despite the bell. Runners crossed between offices. Weapon inspection continued at the side tables. Farther toward the staging lanes, another burst of cheering rose from the platforms.

Shun and the registrar turned the other way with the guest book.

A fresh strip of paper had been fixed to the bracket board by the time Xu reached it.

~Xu Tianlong~

~Zhou Qiren~

An attendant at the inspection desk lifted a formation plate from beside a weapon case.

"Zhou Qiren’s," he told the clerk beside him. "Already declared."

The clerk checked the mark on the accompanying slip and waved him through.

Xu looked at the plate only long enough to recognize what it was.

The attendant carried Zhou Qiren’s formation plate toward the staging lanes.