They approached a city of dark stone that sprawled up and down and even into the mountain; vast swathes of the Kunlun Goddess Peak had been carved out to accommodate more districts, the hollowed out crescents plunging the streets within into lantern-lit darkness.
"Welcome to the Kunlun Sect." Master Tan Huan said, proudly waving his hand over the city. "We have invited many esteemed individuals to observe the contests to come. Even if you come up short, who knows what other opportunities might lie in wait for you? Impress the right man, and you might still get to make a living from martial arts."
Tan Huan led them on a brief tour of the sect. The bottom and inner areas housed the lower ranking disciples and the sect's guests, as well as the many establishments required to appease them. He then took them higher up the mountain to a circular, open-air arena, where the master told them they would be fighting. Bai Guo estimated that it could seat somewhere around a thousand people.
"Your opponent will be announced on the morning of the tournament. Those of you participating in the tournament of the sword must arrive here at noon." Tan Huan explained. Several disciples distributed square tokens of dark iron to the participants, the master's family name engraved in red upon each one. "You cannot remain in our sect without permission. Carry these tokens on your person at all times and produce them at the demand of any disciple. You are also not permitted to go any higher up this mountain."
Tan Huan crossed his hands behind his back. "This is where we part ways. Those of you who need them, may follow the disciples to your temporary accommodations. I expect to see you again in three days, demonstrating your true skills in that arena."
Of the nearly two dozen competitors, only two remained to be led away, Bai Guo and Chun De.
"I guess it's not surprising that only the rich kids have made it this far." Bai Guo thought to himself and smiled. "I doubt I would have gotten in without a bribe either..."
On the way out, he glimpsed at Tan Huan's departing figure. He found the giant Zhu Da walking beside the master, following him up the mountain.
The Kunlun disciples brought them to a boarding house, and the scarce demand meant that both of them got themselves a small, private room of their own. It was equipped with nothing more than a bed and a small table, but they were promised three meals a day.
Bai Guo had finally gotten the opportunity to properly examine his evaluation. He unrolled the scroll. There was a brief explanation about the one to ten grading, and then the scores were listed.
"Endurance - ten. 'Not even some of our full-blown disciples can scale the Kunlun Goddess Peak with as much leisure as this contestant,' it says." As he read along, Bai Guo felt a strange, unfamiliar type of excitement blossoming in his chest. Something about the numbers was riling him up. "Strength - nine. 'Shifting the third stone is a sign of profound strength or cultivation for someone this young.' I wonder why it's only a nine. Not like there was a bigger rock out there to move. Just what exactly are you supposed to do for a perfect score?"
Bai Guo's face soured with embarrassment as he read the next lines. "Sword skills - three. 'The technical aptitude of this contestant is extremely lacking.' Fist skills - one out of ten. There's no explanation at all next to that one... Sword power and fist power - nine! Nine again... Even though I've done something so absurd, they still docked me a point for something."
Before the final stamps of approval, Tan Huan wrote down his own thoughts. "Brute strength is not a substitute for skill - contestant Bai should keep this in mind and approach his battles with great care. This one suggests he proceed with a defensive, measured style. The key to victory lies in seeking out the right moment to display his power!"
Bai Guo felt inspired by the passage. "What he says makes sense! I wonder if master would agree..."
With his evaluation fully examined, Bai Guo decided to kill some time with a walk around the sect. Tucking the scroll away into his robe - it was safer with him than left behind in this room - Bai Guo stepped out into the hallway. The bald headed monk-or-nun rooming next to him had also stepped out at the same time. The mood took an immediate turn for the awkward.
The young man turned sharply and tried to briskly walk away. Chun De halted him by grabbing his sleeve. After catching his attention, Chun De warily glanced around the empty hall.
"You noticed..." Chun De's hoarse voice had never sounded less convincing. With her next words, she had surrendered on the pretense entirely. "You noticed, haven't you?"
Her frantic but finally unstrained, melodic voice was far more pleasant to the ear and left Bai Guo with no doubts. He wanted to smack himself for acting so obvious and giving away the fact that he had caught on. He never expected her to confront him head on about it, and was stuck wondering what to say.
During his lull, Chun De's bald head began to glow red. She dragged him back into his room. Chun De presented him a scroll - her own evaluation from the trials. "If you promise not to tell anyone, you can look."
"I'm not going to tell anyone." Bai Guo finally spurred himself into speech. "...And besides, I've already seen it..."
"You have?!" Chun De thought back on that scene, realizing all too late that she had given him plenty of opportunities. She suddenly looked disappointed; in the next moment, she glared at him with suspicion.
"I'm not going to tell anyone." Bai Guo repeated himself with more conviction, but his words seemed to fall on deaf ears. The young man attempted to make his case. "Just think about it logically - if I was the kind of person who'd try to blackmail you over something like this, would it have been in character for me to have helped you during the trials?"
Chun De finally let go of his sleeve. She seemed to find the argument convincing. And yet her guard was still up. "You still looked at my scroll without permission..."
"You're really going to hold a grudge over that?" Bai Guo asked.
"No..." Chun De shook her head. "You saved my life. Compared to that, it's not a big deal. Now you say you're going to keep my secret too... I was really worried that you would ask me to give up so that you could advance, but by revealing my secret you could have taken me out without even having to go through the trouble. But you didn't. So could it be... that you really want to fight me?"
Something resembling hope lit up her big eyes. Bai Guo wondered how that ended up being her next guess, or why that seemed to be something she regarded in positive light.
"I don't want to fight you." Bai Guo's words had instantly extinguished whatever emotions were surging through her.
Chun De seemed upset again. "So then why are you just letting me be? It makes no sense."
"Is the concept of fair play really that foreign to you?" Bai Guo quirked an eyebrow.
"So you are doing it for the sake of the competition." Her enthusiasm redoubled. Her tone was mercilessly insistent. "It's because you want a fair fight against me, like I said."
Bai Guo felt like he was losing the plot. The nun seemed desperate to put a certain spin on his words. It took him a moment to regain his wits. "I have no particular desire to fight you or anyone else, but since we must fight, I'd rather do it fairly."
Chun De seemed disappointed. "I'm a bit surprised, brother Guo. You displayed so much strength during the trials, and yet you're so unenthusiastic about putting it to use."
"I'm surprised you're this enthusiastic about it. This could very well be a fight to the death."
"They said they wouldn't let it go that far." Chun De seemed unconcerned.
"That's not what they said at all...!" Bai Guo was taken aback.
"Is that why you're acting this way?" Chun De smiled. "You really do want to fight, but you can't keep pretending to be a gentleman if you were honest with yourself."
"Sister De really has her mind set on this!" Bai Guo exclaimed.
"Don't call me that." She suddenly frowned. "If you make a habit of it and slip up in public, I'm doomed."
"Speaking of which, may I ask why you're pretending to be a monk?" Bai Guo pounced on the opportunity to change the subject.
"You can force me to talk about it because of my debt to you, but I would rather not..." Chun De spoke coyly, fiddling with her thumbs.
Though she spoke of her reluctance, Bai Guo felt suspiciously little resistance. Chun De's meekness was entirely unconvincing. He decided to test the waters. "And if I were to invoke my debt to force you to concede the match to me instead?"
Immediately Chun De's temper flared, her fists clenched, her eyes seethed with hatred.
Bai Guo exploded. "Fighting really is all you care about! Who has ever heard of such a bloodthirsty monk?!"
"You lied!" She accused. "You said you wouldn't make me do that!"
"I didn't lie! Stay in the contest if it pleases you. But don't try to goad me into cashing in your debt on something you don't really care about! Just what was that?!"
"I wasn't!" Chun De blushed to her ears. "Okay, I'll tell you free of charge!"
"I don't want to hear it anymore!" Bai Guo turned up his nose. "What's this 'free of charge' nonsense? I thought nothing of it when I helped you, but if you're planning to hold it over my head like this, keeping track of every word we exchange like we're bargaining over fish on the market, I'd rather the two of us just stay away from each other! I'm never going to ask you to return the favor, so don't you worry about that."
Bai Guo made to leave. Chun De grabbed Bai Guo's sleeve again "I didn't mean it! It was just a joke!" She exclaimed. Though she looked frustrated, Bai Guo thought he saw a hint of guilt in her eyes. "I won't do it again."
As he stared into her big eyes, Bai Guo found himself unable to hold a grudge.
Their tempers gradually cooled.
The young man said, "I'm going out. Would you like to come along?"
"I can't..." Chun De muttered, letting go. "I have a private matter to take care of."
"Then I'll see you around."
They parted somewhat reluctantly. As Bai Guo had finally stepped out onto the snowy mountain, he sighed again.
"I want to fight you?" He thought back on their odd exchange. "You're the person I want to fight the least! That short girl has a ten in the skill-based categories of all three weapons, in both power and technique! I could very well get done in by my own good deed."
He walked around the busy streets, unable to relax as his mind kept wandering.
"That girl may have a gift for martial arts, but she's lacking in other areas. She's naturally suspicious of people, but not smart enough to foresee how they might actually scheme against her." Bai Guo contemplated. "This tournament has people who were signed on as replacements for the primary contestants. If I was planning to put her into the position she was describing, I wouldn't do it right now, like she expects me to. I would have made her withdraw during our match to prevent her spot from being filled by someone else. She's more than a little strange, but she doesn't seem like a bad person. I'm kind of worried for her. Someone like Shao Luli could really give her trouble."
Immersed in his thoughts, Bai Guo had at first failed to notice the strangeness around him. As people passed him by, their necks were craned up, staring wide-eyed at something above them. When Bai Guo tracked their gazes, he nearly screamed.
Sitting up on the balcony of an inn was a tall, blonde haired woman. She sipped her tea with a small smile, her golden eyes staring down at none other than him.
"Why is she here?! Should I just ignore her?" Bai Guo was in a panic. "Yeah, right, as if she could be ignored! No, it's going to be even more suspicious if I did that! And she'll probably do something even more drastic if I tried it..."
After some reluctance, Bai Guo resigned to his fate. He stepped into the establishment.