Chapter 187: Death & Sunset, VII

The first part of the plan had been fairly easy to decide on, really. It was easy enough to provoke Ke Shuang and to start a duel with him. All that was necessary was snapping back with some sass, and then Ke Shuang was happy to be led by the nose.

There were several advantages to doing it this way, rather than letting it happen as it had last time. The Moonlight Sovereign was never all that far here in the Diancang Sect, but like this it would be harder for him to intervene. Which meant that maybe Wu Hao could draw out that scent of ash that clung to Ke Shuang and actually have that serve as evidence of Ke Shuang being up to something. With that evidence, then hopefully Ke Taiqi would be a lot less likely to come down on the side of Ke Jiaming. Plus it would be harder for Ke Jiaming to get his hands on Wu Hao's blood this way.

There were other reasons. This was another opportunity to feel out Ke Shuang, another opportunity to see what kind of support Ke Shuang actually had among his fellow students. He might even see if Ke Taiqi would remark about the duel later, at the banquet. Plus - as Master Shu had said - a duel had been a part of his plan, anyway, so there couldn't be any harm in accelerating that just a little bit.

But the main reason was that Wu Hao still felt faint stirrings of ash in his lungs every time Ke Shuang smirked at someone, still remembered the pain that Ke Shuang had inflicted on him years from now.

So, to make a long story short, he really just wanted to beat the shit out of Ke Shuang.

"Er," Lu Bowin said, retreating swiftly to the side. "Senior Brother Shuang. Shouldn't we... get someone to officiate?"

"Shut up," Ke Shuang said.

"I am here to officiate," Master Shu said, folding his arms over each other. "I advise you to rethink that statement, lest you imply I am incompetent or that you do not trust my judgement to be fair and impartial?"

Lu Bowin paled. "Yes, sir. I mean, no, sir. I don't doubt you in the slightest. My apologies. Er."

Honestly, Wu Hao pitied Lu Bowin. The man really was caught between two snarling tigers.

"We will head to a training ground," Master Shu declared. "I trust there's something suitable?"

Lu Bowin cast a glance at Ke Shuang, who cast a dark look back.

"Of course," Lu Bowin said, with a strained smile. "This way, sirs..."

He didn't bother with the scenic route this time. Instead they pushed through the bends in the road and rushed through paths meant for martial artists in a hurry, finally landing at a training ground. Some snow had been cleared from its innermost circle, but otherwise the surroundings were quiet and cold and snowed-over.

The arena proper was circular, with a stone tribunal where viewers might sit that covered one side. The other was left open. The entire thing was made of stone and large, but there wasn't much of anything in the way of obstacles, hindrances, or tools to take note of during the fight.

Putting on a fake smile, Wu Hao pulled the staff from his storage. It felt light in his hands for now. The thought struck him that maybe it shouldn't be - that he ought to really feel it in his hands. Maybe that could help him further understand the concept of "weight".

"You use a staff?" Ke Shuang asked. "I was told you use a saber. Even that you have a Heaven-grade technique for a saber. Was I lied to, then?"

Honestly, Wu Hao could have used his saber, right now. It wasn't like Master Shu had ever told him to use only the staff, after he'd become the man's disciple. It would be probably easier to win, with the saber and the Sky-Severing Saber Art.

The problem was, the saber was a weapon that promoted aggression. Cut first or be cut down. It was a military weapon, a soldier's weapon, a butcher's weapon. Meant for killing men, no matter the injuries you took in return.

But now he couldn't allow himself to get hurt. He would need to survive this duel without so much as a scratch, or otherwise he feared that the Moonlight Sovereign might rip his blood away again, and then he would wind up in the same situation.

Besides, he had a point to prove.

"No," Wu Hao said. "I'll take out the saber when I have to. Before that, it'll be the staff. Prove yourself first, senior brother."

Ke Shuang's qi bristled so hard that almost a full half of his hair went blonde immediately, the gold rippling through his dark hair like a field of golden wheat being scythed down in reverse.

"You want to me see me mad?" Ke Shuang demanded, his voice low. He was speaking quietly to Wu Hao, his voice buzzing slightly in what Wu Hao recognized was a directed whisper. "Because it's working for you, boy. But there's no way you're prepared to pay the price for it. I will rip your eyes out, you cocky little fuck. I'll -"

"You'll start the fight," Wu Hao said loudly. "Or else I'll simply walk away."

Ke Shuang's teeth ground together.

"Let's not stall this any longer so that the tour can resume," Master Shu said. He lifted his hand. "Let's simply begin."

The hand came down, and Wu Hao didn't sprint forward as he usually might have. Instead he gave Ke Shuang time to gather himself and pull his qi together into the loops of his Sky-tier martial art. The spear's tip ignited as if burning oil had been spilled on top of it, a sudden fire taking shape in its center that expanded rapidly until it engulfed the entirety of the spearhead.

Not the Heaven-grade art yet, then. Wu Hao exhaled and activated the Weasel's Tail again.

The staff's butt smashed against the raging spear from the side, pushing it up to instead release a blast of light into empty air. Wu Hao felt the qi buffet him, but he had felt far worse than this.

Ke Shuang snarled something under his breath. With a twist of his arms, he pulled back the spear rapidly and tried again. The spear ripped through the air, the speed of its movement making it look like a billowing flame.

It might have struck Wu Hao's ribs, had he still been standing there. Instead he'd blurred from one place to the next, his steps leaving large smushes in the snow, and in the short breaths between Ke Shuang realizing he had missed and pivoting rapidly to turn for another attack, Wu Hao struck. With the staff already held high above his head, he pulled it down with all his force, activating the arrays around the staff's body to increase the weight.

But that, too, met nothingness. A small cloud of snow erupted from where he struck and where Ke Shuang had been standing, mingling with the shining light that meant Ke Shuang had just used his own movement technique.

Wu Hao closed his eyes to focus and leapt backward on instinct, trusting the sudden sense of heat that he felt at his side.

Fire erupted from the spear's tip in a blast of power that made the earth vibrate. Vapor hissed as snow was flash-fried into nothingness.

NovelPhoenix publishes the author's chapter for readers, while this version was reproduced without their permission.

"What's he doing?" he heard Lu Bowin ask, on the sidelines. "Neither of them are actually hitting each other."

Lu Bowin might have had a point. It was a strange dance, this. Normally Wu Hao fought without caring one bit about how hurt he was at the end of a fight, but now he had to care. Pain he could bear, but not loss.

He pulled the staff up again, whirling it around as he glared, eyes narrowed, through the thin cloud of steam. Ke Shuang clearly knew some sort of stealth technique, but those were never perfect, especially not at their rank. So. Where...

Thin footsteps crunched softly into the snow, catching Wu Hao's eye immediately. The staff whistled through the air as he pulled a loop together, the jewel in his chest spinning to provide him with dark yin qi to counteract the effect of the light.

The staff accelerated, bending slightly under the sudden drag of its heavy butt and the speed with which Wu Hao ripped it through the air. He spun around near where the footsteps stood and then, building his qi up further, kept going.

Instead he spun around again, turning on a single foot, and smashed the staff straight into the side of the blur of qi that was approaching him just beside the supposed footsteps.

There was a loud crack, but Ke Shuang had gotten the spear up in time to block, holding on to it with both hands. Even so the impact must have raced up his spine, his feet sliding for purchase in the snow.

He'd cast some sort of technique that did something with the light. If Wu Hao had simply believed his eyes then he would have attacked empty space. It was only his qi senses that managed to read the situation accurately.

Ke Shuang slid to a stop, his hands trembling before he could stop them by clenching his spear in white knuckles. He stared at Wu Hao.

"How did he figure out the Mirage Stealth Art?" Lu Bowin asked. "Is he a sensor or something?"

Wu Hao whirled the staff around. He felt something settle on his shoulders - a faint impression of something. He dove deeper, trying to think deeper if this was just an idle thought, or whether these were the first signs of a new connection beginning to form out for a new Heaven-grade martial art.

But then flames gathered around the spear again as Ke Shuang bent down lower and disappeared into an eye-searing smear of light. Wu Hao flickered too, off to the side as the wisp of light rushed past, the arena's snow melting underneath its path. Even as Wu Hao began to prepare his own attack, though, Ke Shuang pivoted with a grunt of effort, turning sharply and spinning around, spear extended.

The staff art was good, but it was far slower than anything else Wu Hao had used, and that - combined with the fact that he had no Heaven-grade art to rely on - meant that he was being pushed back in little bits, not able to retaliate.

Maybe fighting someone with a metaphorical hand tied behind his back hadn't been the best idea he'd ever had, in retrospect.

He would have juked past normally and gone on the offensive, but instead he grit his teeth and stood his ground. The staff smashed against the side of the spear again, this time not pushing it all the way off-center but delaying it enough that Wu Hao had managed to hunker down against the blast of qi that released afterwards. Eye-searing light erupted from the spearhead and would have left him nearly blind.

Another attempted strike by Ke Shuang, which Wu Hao did his best to parry. A thin slice got through and ran up the sides of his left arm, though, and while he couldn't feel it bleed with his concentration elsewhere, he was sure that it probably would be bleeding. But at least the block could be put down as just being lucky, somehow.

Breathing in, Wu Hao lifted the staff high into the air and gathered his qi.

The butt of his staff crashed into the stone and ruptured it from the force of impact. With a loud crack the stone broke, though Wu Hao had really been aiming for Ke Shuang who had tried to use his momentary blinding to stab him again.

But even as Wu Hao blinked the spots out of his eyes, he could see that Ke Shuang had changed his plans.

Ke Shuang pulled back. He raised the spear and poured qi into it relentlessly, the ornate patterns carved all across the spear's length lighting up with the deep red glow of fire until it looked like the entire spear was carved from living flame.

But he didn't throw the spear at Wu Hao, as he had last time. Instead, as the tip of the spear went cherry-red, Ke Shuang settled into a low spearman's stance, spear held tightly in his hands.

"Golden Crow Spear Art," he declared. "Spring Grow!"

Fuck, Wu Hao thought. So Ke Shuang's Heaven-grade martial art had multiple moves.

Ke Shuang vanished into a blur of movement before appearing, already swinging, at Wu Hao. Fire burst from the back of his spear, pushing him forward as the air behind him churned. The tip of the spear shot forward, screaming for Wu Hao's heart.

Wu Hao grit his teeth and whirled his staff around. He slammed it, butt-first, into the cold ground and activated every single array that the staff bore. The heaviness array, the array that made the staff's metal supple as if it was made of wood, the arrays that allowed it to vent energy at specific parts, even those that kept it pristine no matter the gore.

Ke Shuang's spear cut straight through it all, and the backwash of flame smashed into Wu Hao in a wave of dizzying heat and light. One of the additional arrays exploded into a flaring light as its safeties were ripped apart, and the entire staff exploded with a burst of harsh qi that smelled of destroyed metal. Before Wu Hao could so much as gape in horror he was thrown entirely clear, still holding onto the top half of his staff.

The edge had been shorn off roughly, leaving a sharp point where the cut was angled. Parts of the staff's new tip had been melted. Wu Hao stared at its broken remains, then glared up at Ke Shuang, who was breathing hard but had a smug smile.

"Well?" he purred. "How about you pull out that saber, boy? Shall I break that too?"

But that hadn't been an attack meant to destroy the weapon. That had been an attack meant to kill Wu Hao outright. Wu Hao had been the target of enough of them to know. Destroying the weapon was a consolation prize.

Taking a deep breath, Wu Hao picked up the half of the staff. It wasn't much to look at, and the balance had definitely been ruined, but he could deal with those. He felt it out carefully, licked his lips, and didn't so much as think twice before deciding that, actually, it could still serve his purposes. This was no longer a spear, but a spear broken in the right places could be a saber. Why, then, couldn't a staff become a halfspear?

"You can't mean to go on," Ke Shuang said, cocking his head. A smug smile had crept onto his face where he stood with the spear, expecting that Wu Hao would either bow his head to concede, or to pull out his saber. Either would be a humiliation, on top of the already humiliating fact that his weapon had been broken.

Fuck that.

Wu Hao gathered his qi into a loop that he hadn't used for a while, then spiked it repeatedly with more and more until his arms felt somehow full. Goosebumps raised themselves along his upper arms, but all of his focus was at Ke Shuang, who gathered his qi for another strike. Maybe he had realized that Wu Hao wasn't giving up, or maybe he had simply decided to try to kill Wu Hao while no one was intervening.

"One Strike Spear Art," Wu Hao declared. "Heart Seeker."

Then he threw the half-spear as hard as he could. It rocketed forward, carried by a blast of qi that ripped itself free of Wu Hao's arms with such violence that he felt thin wounds open underneath his robes.

With the whistling of the wind surrounding the ruined staff, it flew fast enough that it was at Ke Shuang's side even as he managed the final loop of his Golden Horizon Spear Art. His spear came up in a quick block, but it wasn't a weapon that had been made for blocking so much as it had been made for constant, brutal aggression, and the half-spear ripped through his defense.

But the poor balance let it only rip a long furrow along the side of Ke Shuang's face, from which a long drop of blood began to slowly drip, and then the broken half of the staff smashed into the far wall and buried itself there, quivering once before going still.

A long silence took hold of the arena. Ke Shuang touched the side of his face, which came away red with blood.

"That's enough!" Master Shu declared, reappearing out of nowhere.

There was a muffled thump as Ke Boyi landed, appearing from a clear sky out of nowhere.

"I concur," he said. "My apologies for not appearing earlier, Sovereign. I was attending to the Patriarch regarding last-minute arrangements for the banquet later tonight."

That was a lie. Ke Boyi could have intervened earlier. Come to think of it, so could Master Shu. Wu Hao gave the old man a side look, wondering what the master was thinking about.

"Brother," Ke Shuang said. Ke Boyi gave his half-brother a dismissive glance that promised they would be talking about this later. "Never mind that. Who won?"

Master Shu shook his head slowly.

"My apprentice has lost," he said. "We accept defeat. Wu Hao, I must ask you to apologize."

Wu Hao's mouth fell open.

"What?" he asked.

"I said," Master Shu responded, "that we accept defeat. Apologize."

Grimacing and feeling more than a little betrayed, Wu Hao stepped closer to Ke Shuang. Then he bowed.

"I apologize," he said. "I shouldn't have called you a stepping stone. That was rude."

But not untrue. Ke Shuang looked as on the edge as he ever had, and Wu Hao didn't feel good about his loss, either.

That was the problem, really. They all knew that neither of them truly had accepted this result. Neither of them had gotten what they had wanted. If this was a victory then it was a hollow victory. On the other side, if this was to be a loss, then it wasn't a convincing loss.

Twice now his fight against Ke Shuang had been stopped due to outside interference. He had underestimated Ke Shuang, and Ke Shuang had underestimated him. So far, it had been one loss and one draw.

The next time, he would finish the fight, and no one would intervene.