Aoyan and Kai ran, the sounds of battle fading behind them. They pushed through dense thickets until they reached a familiar cluster of moss-covered boulders—one of the predetermined rally points. They stopped, chests heaving, trying to orient themselves in the sudden, eerie quiet.
"Ah, good. I was getting a little lost. It's good I found you two."
The voice was calm, almost pleasant. It froze them in place.
A boy with bluish hair stepped from behind a broad tree trunk, brushing a leaf from his shoulder. Yu looked at them with a polite, inquiring smile. "Mind telling me where Li is? I've been looking for him for a while now." His eyes flicked over their disheveled, bloodied states. "But before that... you two don't look too good. Were you in a battle? I assume Li was with you, so it's fair to say you two ran while he continued fighting." The smile remained, but his gaze sharpened. "Well, since we're a team, how about you tell me where he is so I can go and help him."
Aoyan's face hardened. "No."
Kai stood silently beside her, his body tense.
Yu's smile didn't waver. "Come on, you guys don't believe me?"
Kai spoke up, his voice flat. "He's on that side." He pointed off into the dense woods, not toward the battle, but on a diagonal tangent away from it.
"Kai, what are you doing?" Aoyan hissed, pushing him. She shifted her stance, cyan light flickering at her fingertips, ready to fight.
"Listen, Aoyan," Kai said, his voice low and urgent, just for her. "Li is in danger. Yu isn't going to try and kill him; he's likely just going to 'help' him, maybe force Li to admit defeat. We have no choice. We need to send Yu to aid him."
Aoyan's protest died in her throat as she caught the subtle shift in Kai's eyes and where exactly his hand pointed to. He wasn't betraying them; he was buying time. She played along, her face twisting in feigned betrayal. She grabbed Kai by the collar. "Damn you!"
Yu watched the little drama with an amused smile. He began to move in the direction Kai had indicated. As he passed, Aoyan spun, trying to block his path. Yu chuckled. "So predictable."
Light, pure and blinding, flashed from his body without warning. Aoyan cried out, shielding her eyes. When her vision cleared a second later, Yu was gone, vanished into the forest in the false direction.
Kai let out a shaky breath. "That should buy Li some time. It's only a matter of time before Yu finds out we lied. He'll probably find the real fight sooner or later because of the commotion Li's techniques make. But we should go. Hope for the best for now."
Aoyan stared back in the direction of the distant, muffled booms. Her expression was troubled as if she was battling something"I don't want to meet Su again but Li, he might be in danger"she thought her worry overpowering her fear for a moment. "I... I don't think we should listen to Li this once. I think we should go back. At least to make sure he's safe, or to save him later if he's losing."
Kai shook his head. "You saw how strong Li is. It's impossible he'd lose to just them. And with the time Yu will waste, Li will be healed again. If you didn't know, Li only uses his qi for his armor and those golden eyes. He uses the Crucible to fuel the white flames. That thing is basically a bottomless well. He'll always have the power to kill them as long as he can stall. He went against Su's Quasi-Rank 2 technique and won. He destroyed her artifacts which are the only reason she's still alive. We should listen to him and get to safety."
"Don't you think the noise will bring others?" Aoyan countered, her voice rising. "What if everyone has been paid off by Su? What if they all swarm him? And that's not all—Li has a mountain of points now. They'll kill him for those alone. We have to go back. I don't care if you don't want to, Kai, but I need to help him."
Kai sighed, feeling the ache of his half-healed injuries and his still-depleted qi reserves. The best he could manage now were disruptive blasts, not sustained combat. "Fine. But we're not fighting directly. We stay hidden and watch. If he's ever in real risk, then we intervene. Is that clear, Aoyan? If you don't agree, I'll have to knock you out and take you away. Li told me to do that if you ever refused an order."
A faint, tired smile touched Aoyan's lips. "Funny. He told me the same thing about you."
Kai managed a weak grin. "Alright then. Let's go help our friend, even though I'm sure he's going to be pissed we came back."
---
Back in the arena, the mood in Yanqi's section had shifted. He watched, a fraction of the earlier tension gone from his shoulders. Lin Shu had faced Su and her siblings, shattered her artifacts, and, most importantly, had gotten Aoyan to safety. The boy was doing the job.
"He'll need to disengage soon, before the area gets swarmed," Tianhun observed, his tone more analytical than worried. "His qi must be running low. He likely can't sustain those techniques much longer."
Kuang Baotu grunted. "Your disciple is quite the warrior, Yanqi. To fight this long against so many opponents—none of whom are anything less than elite—is no small feat."
Lu Zhenhai gave a measured nod. "He is impressive. He might even be as talented as my nephew, Han Lei."
Tianhun considered it. "That might be true. His offensive output can reach Quasi-Rank 2, and so can his defense. Han Lei has similar offensive abilities, but his speed is what places him in that tier."
Lanyue, ever eager to stir the pot, turned to Lu Zhenhai. "Well, that's what you'd expect from an inner disciple of the Stormbreak Sect. Which elder did he come with?"
"Elder Zha, I believe," Lu Zhenhai replied.
Tianhun's eyes slid to Yanqi. "Didn't you and Elder Zha have a... history?"
Yanqi's expression didn't change. "Yeah. We did."
"Wait, you fought him?" Lanyue interjected, leaning forward with renewed interest. "How come you never told me? And how are you alive? Isn't he close to breaking through to the Ember Wake stage?"
Yanqi slowly turned his head to look at her. "You think I'm weak or something, Lanyue?"
"Well," she said, a sly smile on her lips, "it hasn't been that long since you lost terribly to me, has it?"
Yanqi looked genuinely confused for a moment. "Lanyue, that was twenty years ago. The last time we fought, I left you hanging by your feet from a tree."
Lanyue's smile froze. "That never happened."
"Then how about the time six months ago," Yanqi continued, his voice deadpan, "when I hung you by your collar on my robe hanger? You didn't even get a technique off."
Lanyue's expression shifted from sly to imperious denial. "That also never happened. I can't believe you have to lie to save face."
Tianhun, stroking his beard, seemed to be searching his memory. "Wait, which hanging are you talking about? There are too many for me to remember. That does seem to be how your spats with her usually end, Yanqi."
Yanqi allowed himself a small, triumphant smirk, glancing at Lanyue as if to say, See? A witness.
Lanyue recovered instantly, her tone dripping with false sympathy. "Yes, I did hear that when people get old, they tend to lose their memories. I didn't think it had caught up to you so badly, General, that you'd imagine such things."
Tianhun didn't rise to the bait. He simply sighed. "Yeah, she's trying to get a reaction out of you again, Yanqi. Just ignore her."
Yanqi gave a curt nod, the urge to physically eject her from the upper stadium momentarily warring with his dignity.
Lanyue, disappointed her barb hadn't landed, turned her attention back to the cube. Her eyes widened slightly. "Wait. Isn't that Han Lei?"
Lu Zhenhai leaned forward. On the projection, his nephew's familiar, confident form was moving swiftly through the forest, a fierce grin on his face. "It's him. I guess a fight is about to start soon. Who is he going against?"
The view shifted, panning away from Han Lei to show Lin Shu, alone, still trading blows with Chi Su and her two remaining siblings, Ran and Yue.
Tianhun shot Yanqi a look of genuine pity. Yanqi silently cursed.
"Well, look on the bright side," Tianhun offered. "Han Lei is a good kid. If Li can convince him, he might let him rest for a clean fight later. Of course, that's if Han Lei listens. He might just see an opportunity."
Yanqi couldn't help the torrent of internal curses. "Is that boy cursed? Why does he keep attracting every major player in this damned forest?"
Just when he thought it couldn't get worse, Lanyue smiled sweetly at him. "You might want to check the other side of the projection, Yanqi. Because Han Lei isn't the only one heading there."
The view split. On one side, Han Lei advanced. On the other, a savage-looking young man with wild hair and intense eyes led three others through the trees. Xie Lang.
Tianhun's earlier pity deepened. "Your disciple's luck truly isn't the best today, Yanqi, I'll admit that. But don't worry. Xie Lang won't fight him unless he's in top condition. I'm sure of that."
On the cube, they watched as Lin Shu, a moving fortress of cracked ivory and renewed steel, expertly thrashed Ran and Yue with brutal, efficient strikes, keeping Su on the defensive with the threat of another white-flame counter.
Tianhun reconsidered, his voice grave. "Actually... I don't think they're going to give him a chance. If he still looks that powerful after all these fights—if his armor is intact and he can still use that flame—they might not even notice he's been fighting for hours. They'll just see a prime target. I take back my words, Yanqi. Your disciple is in serious trouble."
Kuang Baotu, who had been watching the escalating drama with growing relish, finally boomed with laughter. "Why are you all worrying? Let's just enjoy the fight! It's going to be a thrill to see all your precious disciples clash! So forget about that. It's not like any of them are going to die."
His words did nothing to ease the coiled tension in Yanqi's seat. The old man's eyes were glued to the cube, watching as the closing jaws of the trap began to tighten around his ruthless, pragmatic, and suddenly very besieged investment.