Chapter 166: Death at the Summits, I

Sister Wuling led Wu Hao to a rickety bridge.

"Mind your step," Sister Wuling said, then paused to smile in a way that might have dazed a lesser man. "We haven't had a fatal fall in a few years now, of course."

Wu Hao nodded. The planks were all made of rotting wood, spaced enough far apart that there were occasional gaps between one solid step and the next. If the bridge swayed with the wind then that made it possible to be pushed off the bridge altogether, leaving the victim to plummet to the solid ground or equally solid rivers below with nothing there to save them.

That was how it had looked, at least. Now that he was closer he could see - and sense - the arrays that had been carved into every single plank which would cause it to shiver and tremble but, all the same, kept it rigidly locked into place. He could see, too, the arrays that had been hidden beneath the rocks that looked ready to tumble.

"I wouldn't fall anyway," Wu Hao said. "I can see the arrays, you know. Like that one over there."

Sister Wuling's polite smile faltered and she coughed.

"Forgive me," Sister Wuling said. "It's an old joke of the sect. A force of habit, really. My apologies if I offended."

Offense, for what? For being told about a possible danger? If people had told Wu Hao about possible dangers whenever they could, then his total tally of deaths wouldn't be as high as it now was.

"It's fine," Wu Hao said. He let qi flood into his feet and then set a confident step on the nearest plank to the solid ground, before pushing himself further along the bridge in a series of smooth, blurring steps. The wind whistled in his ears as he passed between the two mountains and then vanished again, turning to swirl around the mountainsides.

He touched down on the opposite side of the bridge, not having doubted a single step. And not having touched the arrays where he knew his step was certain, either. He wouldn't have usually showed off like this but he had felt like it.

"Very well done," Sister Wuling called. She flashed over in a step that left a flare of petals at her feet, which vanished back into nothingness as soon as she'd reappeared. She was holding her hands behind her back. "Come along, please. We're nearly at the training grounds. We started training just a little later when he heard of your arrival."

Which meant that some sort of demonstration or sparring had always been planned. That was fine by Wu Hao: this, at least, he knew how to do, and he knew how to do it well.

Another bridge followed, this time visibly more secure. No arrays required here to keep it up, though Wu Hao kept his steps cautious just in case.

In the distance, as they neared, he could see a large courtyard atop a flattened mountaintop, which had been carefully cleared of all snow and frost. Large braziers stood at each of the four directions, each lit. It wasn't yet late enough that the night would have begun to fall, so this was for warmth more than anything. A small part of the courtyard was taken up by a large plum blossom tree, now bare due to the winter, but which would probably bloom beautifully throughout the warmer months.

On the courtyard proper, tiled beautifully so as to form the Emei Sect emblem, stood a group of disciples, at least fifty strong. Forty of them were third-grade martial artists, solid fighters in their own right judging by their qi alone, but the remaining ten were a cut above, hovering at the edge between third and second-grade.

All of them were girls or women, all of them wore the robes of the Emei Sect, and all of them looked just a few years older than him. On their chests they bore three stripes, elegantly painted below the Emei Sect emblem, showing that they were third-grade martial artists.

Mostly, though, Wu Hao's attention was on the two girls who stood at the front of the pack. Hanzi's large, murky-cloud eyes were staring at him, her lips curving into a smile, before she ran forward and broke away from the rest of the group, heading directly towards him.

Wu Hao stepped aside as quickly as he could, wary of attack, but Sister Wuling reached out before she reached him and pulled on Hanzi's collar, hauling her off her feet with an iron grip and a polite smile.

"Junior sister," Sister Wuling said. "That's not how you were taught to greet guests, is it?"

Hanzi pouted, wriggling her legs a little. "No, senior sister. Sorry, senior sister."

She was set down on the ground, spared a moment for a quick bow, and was then ogling Wu Hao again, her eyes drinking him in. Wu Hao shifted uncomfortably on his feet.

"Your karma's been more entangled slightly," she said, tilting his head. "But in a good way."

"What does that mean?" Wu Hao asked.

"You've made new relationships," Hanzi said wisely. "Good relationships, though. One is growing slightly thicker, a tree having been planted and fed with water."

She nodded as if that made any sense whatsoever. Her qi swirled with confidence that she had made the right prediction.

Wu Hao looked past her, looking at Huifei, whose lips were pursed slightly. Her mountain-breeze qi surged with a bit of annoyance, but she noticed him notice her, and the expression vanished as she too bowed.

"Greetings," she said. "Congratulations on your victory at the Winter Solstice Tournament."

"Thank you," Wu Hao said. "I looked for you in the crowd, but you weren't there. I thought you'd have come to cheer on sister Wuling."

"Our training at the sect took precedence," Huifei explained. "We celebrated when we heard that Sister Wuling had made it through the first two rounds, but in the semifinals she was unfortunately unable to proceed."

"It is not unfortunate," Sister Wuling said. "I was able to cross swords with the eventual winner of the tournament. There's no shame in that."

The girls nodded, although Wu Hao could detect some regret there.

"Your karma with Zhu Tian is very entangled," Hanzi said, still trying to maintain that sage tone, and Sister Wuling froze. Her flower petal qi stilled for a moment, a pink tint running through it as a few of the petals turned to plum blossoms. A few giggles broke out among the girls, for reasons that Wu Hao couldn't quite understand. Sister Wuling turned to them with hands on her hips.

"Your words are noted," she told Hanzi sweetly. "Be that as it may, we haven't come here to talk about karma. Our guest wishes to see us train."

Huifei nodded, although she glanced at someone next to her, who stepped forward.

The new girl had short-cropped hair, especially for a woman. It made her look almost boyish, but more than that it looked like a prelude to the complete baldness of an actual nun. She was a year or two older than Wu Hao himself, and her grip on the sword was stable and her stance was free of doubt. Wu Hao recognized her, and it didn't take long to remember from where: she'd participated in the tournament as well. Had she lost in the first round or the second? He couldn't quite recall.

Her qi was beautiful in its own way. Not quite the flowers of sister Wuling, not quite the stalwart mountain of Huifei, but a sort of... softness. He got an impression of butterflies, fluttering, their colorful wings shimmering in the sunlight. If he remembered On the Basics right and had interpreted the signs correctly, this was a qi that mainly focused on redirection, maneuvring the opponent where you wanted them to go, quick attacks.

"This is sister Pei Biqian," sister Wuling said. "One of the promising disciples of our sect. She participated in the Winter Solstice Tournament."

"Greetings," Pei Biqian said primly. "A pleasure to meet you, brother Hao."

"I'm not a brother," Wu Hao pointed out. He scratched the back of his neck. "Just call me Wu Hao, please."

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"My apologies," Pei Biqian said. "I'm not used to speaking to men. Thank you for introducing me, sister Wuling."

What did that have anything to do with what he'd said? It was as if she'd rather talk to Wu Hao through an intermediary. She didn't quite seem to know where to look.

Sister Wuling nodded. "You have a question, junior sister?"

"I would like to request a spar," Pei Biqian said. "We didn't get to face each other in the matches of the tournament. I want to see how wide of a gap it is, if you will allow me."

Her smile lessening slightly, sister Wuling turned to Wu Hao. "Please don't feel that you're required to accept, junior brother Wu. If you don't want to -"

"It's fine," Wu Hao interrupted. He nodded to sister Wuling. "I'll spar with her."

After a bit of thought, sister Wuling nodded. "I see. One moment, please. Can everyone make space?"

The girls nodded with some excitement, chattering and whispering to each other as they spread across the training ground, leaving enough of a space for a duel. Someone handed Pei Biqian a practice sword, which had clearly been made dull at the edges and at the tip.

Not a duel, Wu Hao reminded himself. A spar.

The difference was important. No killing, no attempting to kill, and no attempting to seriously wound. That meant several of his options were already out, like using the exploding knives or the One-Shot Kill Spear Art. He could use the saber and he would eventually, but not in this life. If he lost then he'd use the saber and accept whatever consequences came of that, but in the meantime, he'd use the staff.

Time to use what master Shu had been teaching him.

"What is this?" Pei Biqian asked, surprise clear on her face, as he pulled the staff out of his spatial storage and gave it a quick twirl just to set its balance in his mind.

"My staff," Wu Hao said.

"In the duels I watched, you used either spear or saber."

Wu Hao shook his head. "My master is teaching me the staff," he said, and let them draw their own conclusions from that.

The girls shared a look. There was some more chatter.

Raising his staff, Wu Hao said, "If you could start the match, sister Wuling."

Sister Wuling didn't hesitate.

"Begin!" she said, her figure flashing back not to get caught in the crossfire.

Wu Hao's first thought was this: the book he'd read had been right. Her first strike was a sword strike that came almost entirely from the wrist flick, the tip of her thin sword angling out towards him in an almost cautious way.

He blocked it, pushing the sword out of the way with the butt of his staff as he whirled it around, then pushed qi through his meridians.

"Heavy Iron Staff Art," he said, letting the qi ripple through him. "Three Sparrows."

Lunging forward into her guard, he launched the staff forward at her belly and then, pulling back the instant that he'd felt an impact, struck again, slightly off to the side. Two dull thuds rang out as she placed her sword in a block that managed to intercept the first blow, with only a slight grunt on her part as the second one tapped against her ribcage.

He'd held back slightly, but that would probably still leave a sort of bruise. Normally he'd have taken advantage of her distraction to strike again, but instead he reset his position and waited until she'd recovered. Sparring, he reminded himself. Bruises only and, if possible, maybe not even that.

When she looked up into his eyes, she nodded, and only when he nodded back did she strike again. Quicker, this time - no more underestimating him, it seemed.

"Nine Yin Sword Art," she declared. "First Movement."

He placed his staff in a block much like the one she had tried against him, flooding his weapon with qi to ensure she didn't just cut through it. But her sword seemed almost to swim in front of his eyes in order to slip past his staff, and the tip of her sword would've tapped his ribs, too, if he hadn't jerked back.

Wu Hao turned that impulsive reaction into something more, tucking his head and sweeping outwards with the staff as he whirled it around.

"Heavy Iron Staff Art," he whispered. "Weasel's Tail."

She dodged that, and the game was on. Her Movements clashed against Wu Hao's own techniques, bending where he would've preferred they break, but unable to gain a conclusive advantage for either of them. One disadvantage of the staff was that, at least at Wu Hao's skill level, the moves were broad and sweeping and easy to read. They relied more on brute force to overwhelm, and that seemed to be the exact thing that the Emei Sect's swordplay was meant to guard against, with their emphasis on softness.

In the end, though, after she had landed a single shallow blow alongside his arms, she overextended slightly. Wu Hao seized the opportunity to push himself forward into her guard just after her sword had passed through, staring deep into her eyes as she stared back, bewildered. Confusion and a sudden hesitation broke through her qi, which had been tightly marshalled before, and the technique that she'd been preparing fizzled out at his sudden nearness.

His staff flashed forward as his hands came up, invisible to her while she was still sharing that confused eye contact with him, and swept her leg as quickly as he could, not using any qi to make it hit harder. She went down onto the stone but not without a fight, because as the eye contact broke and she realized what had happened, the sword cut past Wu Hao's cheek, which he had to crane his head to dodge.

He stepped back, taking a deep breath. There.

Silence reigned until a muffled "ooh" of pity spread through the audience. Sister Wuling cleared her throat.

"Very well done," she said. "A very good demonstration. Can any of the junior sisters attempt to explain why junior sister Biqian lost?"

"She got distracted," one of them said, to giggles. It was true, so Wu Hao didn't know what the giggling was about. He didn't understand people at the best of times, and apparently women were people too.

Sister Wuling nodded, though. "That's correct. What got you distracted, sister Biqian?"

The girl he'd just beaten dusted herself off and rose to her feet, her sword in her hand again.

"His eyes," she said, looking away into the distance. The butterfly's wings of her qi colored with a tint of embarassment. "They're really... blue."

More giggles.

"Right," Sister Wuling said, with some amusement evident. "Well. What's the lesson that we should learn from this?"

"Don't get distracted," they chorused, and Wu Hao almost cracked a smile.

"Excellent," sister Wuling said. She said some more things, but it was aimed at her junior sisters, not at him. It felt a little odd to be standing here, being talked about like this.

Wu Hao's eyes landed on Sister Wuling and for one long moment he wondered if perhaps it would be the first-grade who would trade pointers with him next. He'd need the saber for that, at least. He'd never before attempted to fight a first-grade, though. He wondered...

"I have a request," he said, during a moment of silence.

"Yes?" sister Wuling said, turning to him.

"Can't you face me?" Wu Hao asked, feeling some hope of a good match. "Or trade pointers?"

Sister Wuling blinked. "I'm not sure that that's a good idea. We can do another spar, maybe - I know Huifei has asked about maybe -"

"With all respect," Wu Hao said. "I'd rather learn from you, Sister Wuling."

A moment of silence followed, where Wu Hao held his breath. In the end, with a sigh, sister Wuling uncoiled slowly, pulling the sword from her hip, though she didn't unsheathe it.

"If you insist," she said. "Take care, please. I'll attempt to demonstrate."