Sky Pride

“Big Bro Wang, is it really okay to operate a gambling table?”

“It will only be a problem if I lose, Little Mei. Besides, I’m backing my sectmates to the limit. What could be wrong with that?”

“At ten to one though?” She looked concerned. Tian, who was observing from the corner of his eye, had to admit “concerned” looked adorable on Daoist Mei. Why she didn’t give him the itchy feeling that the other woman from the Five Elements Sect had, he didn’t know.

“You two are pretty cocky!” Another young man stepped forward angrily. “Fighting without martial honor, yet acting as though you are the ones wronged!”

Tian and Hong shared a look of naked confusion. “Sorry, fellow daoist, but what are you talking about? We were both challenged, we both let the other party make the first move, and both stopped when they weren’t able to keep on fighting.” Tian explained. He was very reasonable.

“Yeah, and it’s not like we are winning and running off either. We are giving you a chance to fight back. So… really, what are you talking about? Are you stupid, or just dumb?” Hong’s voice was equally reasonable.

“Don’t be so quick to judge, Sister. It could be brain damage. I have a treatment for that which I have been eager to practice.” Tian smiled as he rubbed his hands together.

“You two! Just how far do you intend to take your bullying?!” The young man cried.

“Shut up or square up.” Hong was quite done with extending the benefit of the doubt.

“Big Bro Wang, do you always carry canvas and paint with you?”

“Oh yes, you never know when you need to make some signs or banners, and I have yet to meet anyone else who thinks of carrying such basic supplies. Four hundred gallons of spirit wine, sure. Nine hundred and ninety nine magic arrows, each dipped in a different venom? These days, who would even leave their cell without them? A small selection of paint, a few dozen yards of canvass and a variety of sturdy poles of different lengths? Not a single soul thinks of it. And yet, see how useful it is?”

“Oooh! Now everyone knows where to place their bets!” Mei clapped and bounced on her toes. She was, Tian noticed, a bouncy sort of person.

“Very well then! I, Mao-”

“No, sorry, I know what I said earlier, and I was wrong.” Hong cut him off, shaking her head. “Just pick who you want to fight. This will be endless if you all introduce yourselves.”

“Wench, there won’t be any more, because I alone am enough to crush both of you! Come at me together, so people can’t say I bullied you with my cultivation level!” His robes fluttered with the sudden release of his vital energy. The might of a furious level eight circulated around him, and the pointed stars on his robe seemed to blaze with authority.

Hong and Tian shared a look and shrugged.

“When you are ready, Fellow Daoist.” Tian cupped his hands and bowed.

“Ooh, it’s not solo. How are you going to take bets now, Big Bro Wang?”

“Easy. TWENTY TO ONE ANCIENT CRANE WINS WITHIN TEN MOVES! TEN TO ONE WITHIN FIVE!”

“What? You fool, I’ll gladly take your stones! Fifty spirit stones on Brother Mao, if you dare take the bet!”

“Why wouldn’t I? Hell, double it, Daddy Wang will play with you to the end. Within ten moves, or five?”

“Hmf! Double it is. And ten moves, who knows how many life saving tricks the two of them have?”

“Heh, I want to bet too, but I don’t know if you have the stones for a truly heavy wager?” This from a nasal voiced young woman. Brother Wang laughed arrogantly and slapped a heavy hand on his table, then wiped it from right to left. Where his hand passed, stacks of spirit stones were left behind.

“I dare you to try and empty my purse! This Daddy heard you lot had some sort of dogshit luck and picked up some money. But all he sees are third rate losers with short arms that can’t even reach into their barren pockets! Weak skills, weak hearts, no guts at the gambling table, has this Daddy wasted his time!?”

The fighters had paused, turning to watch the scene at Brother Wang’s booth.

“I knew I should have gone into logistics. They make all the money. Even if I sold myself I couldn’t cover one bet.” Tian touched the near void in his purse.

“Brother Zihao, you would be eaten alive in logistics. There wouldn’t even be bones left of you. I thought we were nasty enough in the disciplinary squad, but we have nothing on the quartermasters. Those monsters could squeeze a spirit stone out of empty air, and then hand it a bill for a hundred more for the extra labor.”

Tian and Liren sighed together. Tian looked over at the bewildered and increasingly furious Daoist from the Five Elements Courtyard. “I apologize. It’s not that we don’t take you seriously. It’s just that we don’t want to spoil our Brother’s good business. I promise we will wrap this up in just a few moments once all bets are in.”

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“Yes, Brother Mao, let us get our bets in! Then you just have to last more than ten moves for us to empty this fatty’s pockets!” One of the daoists from The Five Elements Courtyard shouted from outside the sparring ground.

Tian hadn’t bothered moving off the Wood symbol painted on the flagstones. If they hadn’t figured out his little trick yet, good. If they had, then it wouldn’t matter where he was standing. Either way, he had complete confidence in winning. There was something off about this daoist. Not cursed, just… incorrect. Not itchy like the others, but still off.

He wracked his brains for what it could be, and couldn’t figure it out.

“Sister Liren, does he feel…” He murmured.

“Yeah. I’m having a hard time putting my finger on what it is, though. When things kick off, I’ll rush him. Can you do whatever it is you did to the last guy?”

“If he tries more or less the same thing as the other guy, sure. If not, I’ll back you up if you need it. I don’t think you will, though.”

Brother Wang waved up from his booth. Nobody else was placing bets.

“Thank you for your patience, Daoist Mao. I implore those watching to remember that DAOIST MAO, THIS GUY RIGHT HERE, is your good brother, and is definitely not working with us to scam your spirit stones.” Hong’s voice was strong and carrying. “Are you ready?”

“What? WHAT DID YOU SAY?” Daoist Mao’s eyebrows seemed to try and fly away with the force of his rage. He ripped a long, yellow talisman from his sleeve. The black brushstrokes on it seemed to writhe in the illusion light, like they were trying to escape their paper prison.

“Here I come!” Sister Hong charged in, not bothering to draw her spear.

“Arrogant fool!” The talisman smashed towards Hong, transforming into a translucent gold sword. Tian was watching Daoist Mao carefully- as soon as the talisman was thrown, his hands came together holding a wide triangular bit of wood several inches thick. He kept the device by his waist, his eyes flicking up and down from watching Hong and doing whatever he was doing. Tian watched Daoist Mao’s thumbs flicker over the top of it, even as his fingertips slid around the bottom.

No immediate spike of energy- either what he was doing took more time to set up, or the wood elemental energy wasn’t needed. Metal talisman… Tian looked around and activated his light body art. By the time he reached the earth elemental node, Hong had smashed aside the talisman with her fist and reached Daoist Mao. Her second fist was stopped by a floating shield that seemed to leap up from inside the array master’s robe.

“HAH! There it is- Brother Mao’s famous Thrice Refined Iron Tortoise Shell! Let’s see how their little tricks can manage against that!”

Tian stiffened, the hovering shield looked like nothing he had ever seen an Earthly Realm person use. He wracked his brains, trying to think how it was possible. A bare second later, Tian had to restrain himself from smacking his forehead. Ancient Crane Monastery didn’t have many enchanted weapons, but that doesn’t mean others don’t have them.

“Hah! Now pay for your arrogance in daring to fight an array master!” Daoist Mao’s eyes were wide and fixated on Hong. Spittle was flying out of his mouth as boasted. His body language didn’t look quite so proud. Tian felt the pulse of energy reach for the Metal node. It was quite strong compared to the previous cultivator.

Tian repeated his trick of overloading the energy. It was harder with earth qi, but not much harder. He could feel the energy turn chaotic. The little bit of extra oomph was enough to send the energy tumbling back into the array, building in speed and crashing into the metal node with uncontrolled force. Earth generates metal.

The resulting explosion nearly tore Daoist Mao in half.

“It’s the metal qi. All that piercing and tearing. Should I administer first aid? But what the hell would first aid be for something like this?”

An elder appeared next to the gutted array master. His hands flashed with green light as spinning disks hovered around the bleeding man. Potions were poured over and into the wounds, even as a pill was lightly crushed and forced into the young man’s mouth.

“How vicious! Is this how Ancient Crane Monastery treats its allies?” Tian didn’t recognize the elder, it wasn’t the one who escorted them earlier.

Tian fought down the urge to answer “Yes,” as it probably wasn’t a question the elder really wanted answered.

“Well? Speak up!”

Oh. He was wrong. Talking was, once again, proven to be a treacherous, unrewarding activity.

“He lost control of his magical tool and it exploded, Elder, which makes me wonder just what he was going to do with all that metal qi.” Hong’s voice was quite polite. Mild, even.

“Evil girl, do you dare deny your companion deliberately interfered with the array formation?”

She looked over at Tian in mild surprise. “Is that what you did?”

“Yes. The nodes of elemental qi buried under the elemental symbols on the sparring ring are rather obvious tools to let earthly realm cultivators make use of qi in their arrays, instead of relying on their own vital energy. How they do it, I don’t know.” Tian shrugged.

“So you admit it!”

“Elder, respectfully, these are your sparring rings. They are designed to give array masters an unfair advantage. He still lost. Also, and forgive me if this is rude, but are your disciples so incompetent that none of them know how to prevent array formations from being disrupted? Is this truly something that they are not trained to deal with? Because that would be insanely irresponsible.”

“Oh. That was actually rude. Oh well.”

Tian didn’t know why he was in such a foul mood, but he had been pissy since they arrived. Everything just seemed so tiresome, these people were aggressively irritating, and it seemed like every other person he met had been kicked in the head. About the only person here who was kind-of okay was the spy they stuck onto Brother Wang.

“You have quite the tongue on you, boy. Careful I don’t rip it out!” Tian felt the pressure of the elder’s attention come crashing down on him. Unpleasant, but not unendurable.

“I will be careful, Elder. May we return to the feast, or will we have more challenges to face?” Tian cupped his hands and bowed. “I trust no one else will be so foolish as to rely on the hidden qi sources for their so-called strategy, so there is no chance my little trick will work again.”

He looked around the dueling square, making hard eye contact whenever he could. “I would hate for anyone to feel cheated of a chance to prove their abilities. And I dare to guarantee it will be a learning experience for all of us.”