When Su Xiang swung her sword in a final strike to end the life of the defeated San, Wu Ling didn't need to watch to know that the duel had ended. Instead, he grabbed hold of Yu Jinqi's jade-colored robes and tugged the young alchemist in the direction of the stairs leading to the arena stage.
When they reached the stage, the crowd had already grown restless. Several people booed, others shouted for someone to finish the job, trying to encourage another fighter to take up the cause of killing the woman from the Shining Blade Hall.
Su Xiang, however, ignored the crowd. She'd taken a seat on the cold stone floor of the stage and clutched tightly at something hanging from her neck. Moments later, dull red energy flowed from the totem gripped tightly in her hands, manifesting in a faint phantom Red Mist Wolf.
For a moment, both Wu Ling and Yu Jinqi hesitated as the phantom wolf licked carefully at each of Su Xiang's wounds. The totem Wu Ling had gifted her wasn't nearly strong enough for the wolf to heal her wounds in an instant, but each time it licked, the pain wracking Su Xiang's body faded a bit, and the bleeding slowed.
If things were dire and she had nothing else, simply spending a day supplying the totem with her energy would allow the wolf to nurse her slowly back to health. More serious wounds would take longer but as long as Su Xiang could cling to life and there was nothing making her injuries worse, the totem wolf could resolve most common injuries.
Neither Wu Ling nor Yu Jinqi were inclined to wait that long, however. Once they realized the limits of the totem wolf's abilities, they quickly rushed to her side as Yu Jinqi began pulling out medicinal paste and bandages.
"Sister Hua is already taking care of me," Su Xiang said softly, opening her hands enough to reveal the glowing bone totem. Once Yu Jinqi began to help, she stopped supplying the totem with energy and allowed the totem wolf to evaporate like the morning mist. Still, she clutched the totem tightly as proof of her brother's love and care for her.
"I stopped him," she said, lifting her sapphire eyes to meet Wu Ling's silver gaze. "He won't trouble you, ever again."
"I know," Wu Ling said gently, reaching out to move a strand of hair out of her face and caressing her cheek. "Elder sister is cleaning up my mess for me. You shouldn't have to. I'm sorry," he whispered.
Their moment didn't last long, however, before it was interrupted by the loud, slow, meaty clapping of Gao the Glutton.
"'Ow touchin'," the rotund man sneered. "Sistas, leapin out fer each udder. Yer a hard 'oman ta find, Sista Vixen," he continued, his beady eyes staring at Wu Ling hatefully from underneath the rolls of flesh on his brow. "Mao, challenge 'er. Kill 'er."
"With pleasure," Bullheaded Mao said, stepping in front of Gao and looking down at Wu Ling from the first row of seats. "Hua Qianhu, Sister Vixen or whatever you're calling yourself," he said loudly enough for his voice to reach all corners of the arena.
"You don't need to hide behind that mask anymore," the veteran bandit sneered. "You fooled me with a disguise once, you won't fool me again. I know who you are and I challenge you to a duel!"
Instantly the crowd murmured with excitement. Those who were dissatisfied they couldn't see someone challenge Su Xiang grew eager to see someone take on the hateful woman's sister. Clearly, there was bad blood between these sisters and the Mountain's Bones gang. While some people were curious enough to ask their neighbors if they knew anything, most didn't care as long as there was a good show.
"You?" Wu Ling purred, pulling off the fox mask and revealing his elegant features to the crowd of onlookers. "You're not qualified to challenge me," he said loudly. "Brother Yu," he added quietly. "I'll leave Sister Xiang in your care, take her away while I deal with this."
"No, Sister Hua," Su Xiang said weakly. "I can still fight, just give me a moment for Brother Yu's medicine to help and…"
"And nothing," Yu Jinqi said firmly. "When my medicine takes effect, you'll soon fall asleep. Come, while you can still walk a bit, let's get out of the way. Sister Hua will handle matters."
Su Xiang made a feeble attempt to protest again but once she tried to stand she realized how much the combination of her injuries and her breakthrough had drained the strength of her body. The world tilted slightly when she stood and the wound on the back of her head throbbed giving her a sharp reminder of how hard San had slammed her into the ground. Walking with Yu Jinqi to rejoin the others would be difficult enough, fighting was out of the question.
"How am I not qualified to challenge you," Bullheaded Mao shouted from the stands. "You think an Aesthete is a match for a Brawler? You're not foolish enough to think I won't fight you because you're a woman, are you? This is Bufa City," he roared. "No one cares!"
"I said you're not qualified because you're weak," Wu Ling taunted the bullish Brawler. "It's true, I was an Aesthete when last we met," Wu Ling continued, holding up a delicate hand marked with two spindle-shaped dots. "But I'm an Understudy now. Do you really think yourself qualified to step into the ring with me?"
"You can't challenge 'im," Gao the Glutton said around a mouthful of succulent fruit. "But 'e can challenge you. Thems tha rules."
"Is that what you want, Gao?" Wu Ling purred coyly, tossing the rotund man a flirty wink. "I didn't know you had betrayed your gang! You're going to feed your men to me, one by one, until I've done to you what I did to Nalan Jiang's men," he teased. "You naughty boy, betraying your boss by sacrificing your men in this arena."
As soon as Wu Ling spoke, Bullheaded Mao's eyes went wide in shock. She hadn't just accused Gao the Glutton of betraying the Mountain's Bones Gang… Had she? Was she mad?