CHAPTER
66
WHAT SHE WARNS
JIEYUAN
—∞—
Caoluan was waiting for him on the seventh step down, leaning with her back against the wall. She had her head down, not looking at him. The stairwell had no dedicated lights, but it was evenly, perfectly lit all ...
2025-04-29 04:39:08 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
65
A HELD BREATH
JIEYUAN
—∞—
Gleaming End drove deep into Xianjun’s throat.
Xianjun’s body jerked, blood spewing from his lips. His face flushed crimson, his body sagging, limp from the neck—or what was left of it, with the blade l...
2025-04-29 04:38:41 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
64
DARE TO KILL
JIEYUAN
—∞—
Or it should have been.
Daojue was quick. He had hardly finished the swing that knocked off Xianjun’s halberd, before he redirected Gleaming End and charged at the now-unarmed Xianjun.
But Xianjun was ...
2025-04-29 04:37:59 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
63
TO GIVE UP
JIEYUAN
—∞—
As the call echoed throughout the venue, the proctor got off the stage in a blur of movement.
Daojue broke into a run, Gleaming End held straight to the side, flat against the length of his right arm. Across the...
2025-04-29 04:37:09 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
62
TO PRELUDE
JIEYUAN
—∞—
Jieyuan leaned against the brightgold balustrade, arms folded over the guardrail, staring down at the arena floor. Waiting.
Hours had passed since his duel with Meiyao, but the thrill of victory still lingered...
2025-04-29 04:36:26 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
61
TO PREDICT
JIEYUAN
—∞—
It was Jieyuan’s seventh time on the arena floor—and if he had his way, he’d be back again tomorrow.
He was on the center stage, standing on one end of it. His opponent had already taken up position all th...
2024-12-04 13:19:03 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
60
TRUST YOUR BLOOD
JIEYUAN
—∞—
Meiyao’s duel against Yongyi was the last one of the day. All that was left was for the delegations to leave. Some elders would be hanging behind to arrange the next day’s matches and whatever else it was th...
2024-11-29 14:42:01 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
59
DISABUSE
JIEYUAN
—∞—
This should be interesting. Jieyuan followed Xianjun’s approach.
The Xiyunfeng Clan’s scion might have won his match, but he hadn’t gotten out of it entirely unscathed. His robes, much like Jieyuan’s own, ...
2024-11-29 14:41:01 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
58
NOT MUNDANE
JIEYUAN
—∞—
“What is it with you,” Meiyao said, as Jieyuan reached her side on the viewing floor, “and throwing yourself into stab attacks?”
Jieyuan leaned against the railing. The stage below was empty. There’d ...
2024-11-29 14:40:01 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
57
LET HIM DOWN
JIEYUAN
—∞—
Jieyuan didn’t hesitate, didn’t pause to consider it. As Yongyi came at him again, still sandbagging, he didn’t parry but went for a riskier dodge. Yongyi’s blade cut into him—another line across his ribs ...
2024-11-29 14:39:01 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
56
NOT TO WASTE
JIEYUAN
—∞—
For once, Jieyuan neither rushed out nor stood his ground against an incoming rush. Rather, after the proctor called the duel and got off the stage, he began walking toward the center, in no particular hurry. And as...
2024-11-29 14:38:01 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
55
TO MATCH-UP
JIEYUAN
—∞—
Jieyuan poked at the rough, jagged line to the left of his stomach. He was sitting on a large, white bed, his back against the wall. He’d undone the upper half of his robes—he’d woken in a new set of inner disc...
2024-11-29 14:37:00 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
54
A CLEAN WIN
JIEYUAN
—∞—
“BEGIN!” the proctor announced before getting off the stage.
Jieyuan set off running forward. Caoluan similarly bounded forward, long legs eating up the distance in swallowing strides, pushing her fifth-sig...
2024-11-29 14:36:01 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
53
THE FIFTH DAY
JIEYUAN
—∞—
For how set the Gleaming Nobles had been on killing him, they seemed to have laid off altogether since the tournament began. Or at least put their business with him on hold.
Four days had passed since his fi...
2024-11-29 14:35:01 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
52
DRIVE AWAY
JIEYUAN
—∞—
Jieyuan froze at the sight of the pair. Before he even knew it he was closing his palms around the shafts of the Shifting Feathers, starting to draw them, and he stopped himself before he could pull them out, killing ...
2024-11-29 14:34:00 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
51
A BAD HAND
JIEYUAN
—∞—
Jieyuan only really got a proper sense for the size of the stages as he stepped out into the arena floor. The raised platforms were much taller than he’d thought—taller than his chest—and as he stared across the...
2024-11-29 14:33:00 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
50
FOUNDING CLAN
JIEYUAN
—∞—
From the second floor, Jieyuan watched the first couple of duels closely. Watched how the competitors fought, what powers they used. Each cabal had its own schools of martial arts for each weapon, as well as its ow...
2024-11-29 14:32:01 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
49
IN FOR GOLD
JIEYUAN
—∞—
Now, Jieyuan loved gold as much as the next man. He was a merchant’s son. In fact, he’d even say gold was the color he liked the most.
But as he stepped inside the Radiant Gold Palace, he was ...
2024-11-29 14:31:00 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
48
SUMMIT START
JIEYUAN
—∞—
The Radiant Gold Palace was an impressive sight. A sprawl of seven-story-tall spires surrounding a hulking slab of a building. Blocky, almost like a square pyramid, upper floors progressively smaller, blocks placed ...
2024-11-29 14:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
47
FEATHER SHIFT
JIEYUAN
—∞—
“And here we are,” Wanxin said, coming to a stop in four wide, squat, building three stories tall.
It was an angular, blocky constructions Blocky, in the style favored by the Radiant Gold Palace, but ther...
2024-11-06 14:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
46
SIGHT IN GRAY
JIEYUAN
—∞—
Jieyuan opened his eyes, blinking wildly, his body jerking back. He desperately drew for breath. And as the cool air flew in through his nose and settled in his lungs, filling it, he came into awareness.
He w...
2024-11-05 12:46:33 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
45
AND SHE BITES
JIEYUAN
—∞—
Meiyao gave a sigh. A deep, long exhale of air, as profound as any Jieyuan had ever heard. “Ten years ago… Ten years ago, my mother mysteriously disappeared in a mission outside the sect.” Meiyao had her...
CHAPTER
44
SO HE BAITS
JIEYUAN
—∞—
Jieyuan’s feet were moving, making the decision to go after Meiyao even before he got around to thinking whether to stay or follow. He was still caught up with this latest little revelation. The ...
CHAPTER
43
TO ENGAGE
MEIYAO
—∞—
Meiyao was in a mood for murder. She’d already killed two today, and she felt like adding to the tally.
Meeting her father’s gaze, she stifled the urge to reach for her saber. She’d just stepped inside the p...
2024-10-25 01:55:31 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
42
THROUGH THE HEART
JIEYUAN
—∞—
“And you’re dead.” The smugness in Meiyao’s voice was just short of palpable.
The tip of Meiyao’s saber hung just in front of Jieyuan’s right eye, like a blurry little dot. Close enough that i...
2024-10-21 02:36:04 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
41
HAVE A DEAL
JIEYUAN
—∞—
Yongyi and Yiming fought in the middle stage. Both, it turned out, were swordsmen—and skilled ones, at that.
Jieyuan stood some ways off the stage, looking up, watching the two. The palace’s training room w...
2024-10-16 02:50:38 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
40
BETTING MAN
JIEYUAN
—∞—
Jieyuan’s house back in the Outer Court was small and devoid of everything beyond the barest basics. The same couldn’t be said for the suite he was assigned in the Gleaming Stone Palace. It was on t...
2024-10-11 23:30:12 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
39
PALACE HEAD
JIEYUAN
—∞—
Chief Protector Zhaoyong was the first to step off the cloud. Sect Leader Junjie was just behind him, flanked by the amethyst-robed high protectors.
“We’re perfectly on schedule, Yiming,” Junjie said. He ...
2024-10-09 02:57:28 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
38
TO FORBODE
JIEYUAN
—∞—
Radiant Gold City. You’d be hard-pressed to miss it, what with the massive, hundred-foot-tall wall of gold that enclosed it.
Jieyuan was high in the sky, on a composite cloudcraft, one much smaller than the on...
2024-10-09 02:56:44 +0000 UTC View PostCHAPTER
37
TO BE RID
JIEYUAN
—∞—
Early the following morning, Jieyuan got an alert from the inscribed field around his residence of the presence of three people nearby and getting nearer.
The next thing he knew, Daojue was batting his thrust asi...
2024-10-07 02:58:47 +0000 UTC View Post