"That's enough." An elder appeared between the two contestants, his fingers tightly gripping the edge of the saber to prevent it from slitting Yuan Jia's throat. Fu Zhiheng nodded and the elder released his grip, allowing him to sheathe his weapon. "The winner of the 8th Distant Lands Martial Arts Tournament is Fu Zhiheng of Falling Stars Sect," announced the elder.
As waves of applause rang out from the surrounding crowd, Fu Zhiheng turned to the deadly pale Yuan Jia.
"You're very strong," said the man in an admiring tone, his fighting spirit apparently extinguished. A genuine smile lighted up his features, and the ferocious aura displayed during the fight had already disappeared. "Can I fight you someday in the future?"
Upon hearing these words, Yuan Jia, who was trying to endure the hard-to-swallow taste of defeat, his pride as an invincible genius mercilessly trampled upon, smashed his teeth in anger at what he perceived to be a mockery of his sorry state. He was on the verge of harshly retaliating when Yuan Jia saw his opponents' clear, unblemished pair of eyes that were utterly devoid of scorn or ridicule. Suddenly feeling exhausted, his indignation dissipated like a blown-out candle and he simply nodded coldly in response.
On the grandstand, five seats next to Jiang Shiqin, a disciple in his later teens was scoffing.
"This is Harmony Sect's third loss to Falling Stars sect already."
"Harmony Sect's people must be fuming to death right now."
Somebody snorted. "In terms of fighting, their disciples always get defeated by those from Falling Stars; in terms of talent, the so-called cultured education that they are so conceited about is a total farce - they lost out to the other sects in terms of the four arts, for heaven's sake; in terms of appearance, their uniform is always ranked below Falling Stars' during the voting for the most beautiful attire among the sects. The only area they win in is their pretentiousness! Looking as elegant as immortals yet scoffing their noses down at us every single time - serve them right today." The majority of people around this person had looks of agreement on their faces.
Jiang Shiqin slightly raised his eyebrows. It seemed that Harmony Sect wasn't particularly popular among the younger generation.
A few cultivators were leaving the field. The prizes for the top ten, which consisted of some treasures and top-notch Xiantian weapons, had been announced beforehand, so those remaining were simply waiting to see the impressive lineup of these talented youths - the Distant Lands' future.
Starting from the tenth-ranked, the participant would face the grandstand and bow three times to the elders, and servants would give him or her the corresponding awards. A flurry of youthful faces with a mixture of expressions came and went, some proud and some wholly indifferent to the affair.
The top rankings, as expected, were dominanted by the golden geniuses within the five great sects. Three disciples out of the honoured ten wore the light blue robe of Falling Stars Sect, the highest among the sects in this year's competition. Nonetheless, from Jiang Shiqin's understanding, the results of this once-every-four-years martial arts tournament were heavily dependent on the distribution of disciples within the age and cultivation limit among the sects. In other words, someone like Su Dai who was twenty-four this year would have already participated in the tournament four years ago. Thus, this didn't mean that Falling Stars Sect was infinitely stronger than the rest.
The final person to went up and the overall champion of the tournament, Fu Zhiheng, had a perfunctorily respectful attitude, but his slightly drooped eyelids showed his lack of interest in this glorious but empty ceremony. Most likely, he was a person whose only interest was fighting and disregarded materialistic things. Mentally, Jiang Shiqin nodded in approval. This pure devotion to the sword, if real, was indeed extremely precious in the mortal world full of dirt and filth.
On his way back to the area where Falling Stars Sect disciples had gathered with wide smiles in exhilaration, Fu Zhiheng abruptly turned to look at the grandstand where Jiang Shiqin was seated. Their eyes met.
Even when that heroic figure had disappeared into the sea of blue, Jiang Shiqin was still in a confusion. Why had Fu Zhiheng frowned at him? To his knowledge, they had never encountered each other before, nor had he done anything detrimental to the people around him. Well, not yet, anyway.
What Jiang Shiqin didn't know was that Fu Zhiheng was the same person who had criticized him for what appeared to be cowardness when facing the arrogant young master Lei, and that this courageous and forthright young man despised those he thought of as "slimy snakes who only know how to flatter people to win their favor." Neither was he aware that there was another person observing him in secret - Fu Guanting, ranked 8th in the competition and Fu Zhiheng's junior martial brother.
"My father wants to meet you," Su Dai abruptly spoke.
At the same time, Jiang Shiqin spotted a man in an exquisite purple robe decorated with gold-lined lotuses from afar. He was watching him silently without any expression.
He turned to the slightly tense Su Dai with a well-mannered smile. "Sister Dai, may I trouble you to bring me to where Sect Master Su wants to meet? "
"Of course," said the girl, her usual casual attitude notably absent.
They left the field side-by-side, their outstanding appearances drawing quite a few heated glances from the retreating crowd. Su Dai's features were rigid, however, and the waves of nervousness radiating from her body stiffled the originally bustling atmosphere.
In Jiang Shiqin's mind, he was reviewing the stack of notes that his liege had given him before he embarked on his journey to the Distant Lands.
"The Sect Master of Thousand Blooming Lotus Sect is stern and dislikes raucous behaviors. He is also man of few words, and it is advisable to keep the conversation concise and to the point. When he was younger, he left his sect to serve under my father for ten years, but after an argument, the cause of which remains unknown, returned to the Distant Lands and advanced to the position of Sect Master a few years later. He has a daughter by the name of Su Dai with one of the court ladies under my mother, and according to my intelligence, is quite indulgent of her behaviours despite contradicting rumours. Sect Master Su is well-acquainted with my mother and has been one of my trusted allies for years."
Jiang Shiqin glanced at the supposedly indulged daughter of that man, and saw a young girl anxious about meeting her strict and somber father instead.
"Sister Dai, do you wish to stop for a breath before continuing?"
Su Dai looked up to see a pair of eyes full of concern, and her features softened. "No, I'm fine, let's continue. If we're late, my father will be displeased."
A high-pitched scream unexpectedly sounded, followed by loud wailing and chaotic calls for a healer to come. The two turned back in a synchronized motion.
There was a motionless body lying in the midde of the streets. Two girls in maid attire kneeled beside him, sobbing and begging the still figure to wake up. As Jiang Shiqin and Su Dai approached the ruckus, he spotted a familiar jade piece.
It was young master Lei.