Tales of the Teal Mountain Sect

Year 663 of the Stable Era,

Fifteenth day of the eleventh month

Three tables from the 6th course of Blade Banquet being fully served

Bone cracked as Hu Anglei's blood spurted across the barrier's invisible walls. In moments it fizzled away, qi-rich liquid dissolving into ephemeral powder as the barrier absorbed its energy into itself. Jianzhu Bo raised his saber, the Scored Blade contracting into its true scarred form.

"You done?" he asked, his blade tracing a thin line across Hu Anglei's neck as he med it to rest against his collar. With a sweep, he raised his arm, feinting a strike a few times before he made to bring it down a final time.

"I yield," Anglei coughed, blood staining his robe a darker shade of red. Bo stopped his blade mid-swing, sweeping it to the side to treat the arena's barrier to a second spray of blood before he brought his blade one last time.

Lan Yun let her qi relax as he severed Anglei's scabbard from his belt, claiming the Imperial Blade Scholar's jeweled jian with a dismissive flick of his hand. As the blade floated over to its new owner, dripping crimson drops of its former over the polished wood, she allowed herself the luxury of an internal sigh.

All in all, it could have gone worse.

While certainly not the most…gracious winner, Jianzhu Bo at least understood enough social graces to refrain from directly courting death via the act of publicly executing an Imperial Cultivator. Instead, he was playing the romantic. Sending her several letters of longing anticipation through a courier. One who, if not before, was certainly now plotting how he could speed up the two's inevitable meeting.

It was rather astounding that he was truly the Wandering Dao's apprentice.

Yun had met him once, at a banquet centuries ago. He'd been a well-spoken cultivator. Humble, but through temperament rather than environment. Unlike so many loose cultivators, whose hollow pride caved to local powerhouses, he refused to be bowed by size or status. The only thing that moved him was conviction and righteousness—an uncommon combination inspired by a wanderer's words to a wayward ward.

At the time, it had seemed destined to send him to an early grave for rather the opposite reasons as his apprentice. The Passing-Through Benefactor's example was a hard one to follow even before he achieved Immortality, but it would seem that the benevolent path had a certain karma to it for those that truly followed it.

It was just a shame that his apprentice hadn't inherited a scrap of his character. Then she wouldn't have been caught up in this sort of situation.

But at least she wasn't bearing the brunt of this diplomatic disaster alone. She did have a reliable senior far more experienced in these sorts of affairs to count on.

"Well, that was certainly an interesting display," Instructor Lin Fang laughed, the sound like a crystal's peal. The Edge's Blade's envoy's silver nails clinked contemplatively against her cup as she watched Jianzhu Bo dramatically bow to the crowd, saber glinting in his hand with each flourish. "I can't say that I expected to see such a novel showing tonight. That An Xihong's certainly raising a lively one."

"His apprentice is certainly an exuberant fellow," Vice-Head Ma Shan laughed, offering her cup a refill. When she accepted the horse guai filled her to the rim, before moving on to the other guest of the head table, smoothly releasing the barrier protecting the rest of the tables from the fight's fallout as he did.

"Though I would have to say that he's much more reasonable than the popular accounts led me to expect. It would have been a shame to end the start of the evening with unpleasantness, as the attempt sours the mood far more than anything else. Wouldn't you agree, Elder Scholar Du?" He gave the envoy a long-toothed smile as he did, his genial grin the perfect balance between sincerity and flattery.

The envoy of the Imperial Scholars nodded grudgingly. His gaze remained fixed on the Imperial Blade Scholars seated to the side of the pagoda, his fingers subtly twitching against the table as he glared at them. Which, in Yun's opinion, was a rather impressive feat, as his severe expression had already intensified twice; once when Hu Anglei had issued his challenge, and then again once he began to lose.

"One could say that it often takes very little to spoil such an occasion," Du Huang replied, idly waving his chopsticks as he spoke. The Scholar of the Sixth Layer's qi was unreadable, not even the faintest breath of his emotion leaking despite his naked aggravation. Those Imperial Scholars were certainly well disciplined. And well trained too.

Half of the reason for Lan Yun's nerves was because of her inability to communicate with her companions, as it was well known that Imperial envoys were trained to intercept most sound transmission techniques, and even many forms of mental communication. It really made her realize how used to such things she'd gotten over the years. Maybe she should have followed Yeung Lin's suggestion to develop a code after all. It would have given her something to use other than pointed stares.

"On the behalf of my foolish subordinate, I must apologize for almost causing such an act. It is a poor repayment to the hospitality of such a gracious ally as the Teal Mountain Sect."

A very mild reaction, Yun thought to herself as she helped herself to a bit more of the seared bladefish. Although, it was rare that the Empire was the one to instigate such an event so directly, so she supposed that there was a first time for everything. Had the circumstances been reversed, this would be a far more difficult situation for the sect to deal with. As Jianzhu Bo was a guest of their choosing, they would have had to bear the responsibility of his actions, tipping the balance between the Teal Mountain Sect and the Xan Empire one more favor in the latter's favor.

"Your apology is unnecessary," Ma Shan replied, smoothly pouring him a drought of wine. "Such things are simply part of the exuberance of youth. The Teal Mountain Sect understands that they are a natural part of a cultivator's journey, which is why we remain diligent to ensure that such passions do not turn to hardships. After all, I am sure that that is none amongst us who can say that they have a truly unblemished past." He laughed at his own remark, following it up with a jovial tale of his own wayward youth involving a giraffe, a river dragon, and a wagonload of crabs.

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Lan Yun made sure to chuckle as she nodded along with Instructor Lin Fang and Minzhe, who had been making himself scarce at the far end of the table. Her fellow Instructor had procured a personal teapot from somewhere and had been going through a staggering amount of the stuff as he worriedly scanned the room. He was usually a source of levity at these sorts of events, but she supposed that the evening's circumstances had put him on edge even before the spontaneous duel.

Apparently, a mistake with the guest list had gone unnoticed and he'd had been forced to scramble to fix it at the last minute.

"I suppose there is some wisdom to your words," Du Huang replied, thick brows loosening a fraction above golden pupils. "It is up to each generation to make their own mistakes, and the previous to teach them the proper lessons to learn from them."

"Indeed," Shan replied, finally filling his own cup, "and the Blade Banquet is a celebration of that spirit. Just as a sword cannot be swung in combat in solitude, there are many lessons that cannot be learned alone. A toast then; to the lessons that we can only learn through cooperation! And that our sects may grow together towards a more prosperous tomorrow!"

"Here here!" Lan Yun added, raising her cup as she glared at Minzhe to join them. If their Vice-Head was proposing a toast to solidarity, the least he could do was show it. Less than a moment later her fellow Instructor extended his arm, the rest of the table joining in as they clinked cups.

"Ganbei!"

***

Imperial Prefect Sun Haoran sighed as she drummed an irregular beat on the pommel of her jian, confirming that she'd received her superior's message. Du Huang's right eye glinted a final time as he traced another idle pattern with his chopsticks, the gesture designed to conceal his true message.

Don't.

Mess.

This.

Up.

Gah! Leave it to fucking Anglei to mess up enjoying good food and wine.

She'd been assured that he would be kept as far away from Jianzhu as possible by the organizers of the event, but it would seem that even the entire length of the pagoda wasn't enough distance for him. She'd expected better from the rest of the delegation, but apparently they'd been paying too little attention to stop him before he'd made an embarrassment of himself.

She'd herself had been busy making the rounds to properly greet her various peers when it had happened, diligently following her responsibilities as an Imperial Prefect. As a Scholar of the Fifth Layer she was responsible for leading her generation, so it was crucial that she cultivate good relationships with those that would be the next leaders of the Empire's allied sects.

Peers that she would now need to smooth the evening over with later.

Another task that Anglei's fuckup had piled onto her already enormous list of responsibilities. Things were already tumultuous enough the way the Lutai situation was heading, and the last thing they needed was alliances loosening at this crucial moment. An Imperial Blade Scholar acting imperiously only fed into the narrative of Imperial arrogance that was being seeded, and his loss only watered it further. It showed weakness at a time where certainty in strength was crucial, resulting in a loss of faith more critical than a loss of face could ever be.

And now it was her responsibility to sweep this whole mess up.

Someone close to the same level of Anglei's opponent, to limit the scope of the fallout to that of tension between the youth. Just a small clash between early Golden Core cultivators, nothing more, nothing less. Certainly not something that would merit concern about the future of the empire.

Haoran's qi shivered as she stepped over Anglei's blood, parting the red liquid as she crouched down to inspect her junior. She could have just felt his condition with her senses, but the gesture mattered more than what it told her about his condition. His breathing was ragged, and he'd lost quite a bit of blood, but he'd pull through. The true worry was his dao heart, and whether it would bear the burden of another loss to Jianzhu Bo.

The tap of two fingers to his chest told her that at the very least there was no disturbance to it yet, but such things tended to take more than a moment to mature. She stood, gesturing for Jun to take care of him as she reached into a storage ring.

"Take Scholar Anglei to the ship for treatment," she said, tossing a plain wooden pill-container to him. "I want him in one piece to face his punishment." She turned, approaching the table crowded into the back of the pagoda, carrying the attention of two-hundred-and-fifty-one eyes with her.

"I apologize for my junior's recklessness," she said, addressing the lounging loose cultivator, bowing courteously to convey her sincerity. With a step, she placed the other container in her hand on the table. "Please accept this as a token of the Xan Empire's sincerity. It would be a shame for the first disciple of the Wandering Dao to lose precious time recovering from such a scuffle."

Jianzhu considered the ornate jade box with a disinterested expression, before flicking it open to reveal the Twin Bloods Revitalization Pill inside. The prized medicine twinkled in the pale light of the pagoda, the black and crimson of its patina swirling languidly beneath the shallow pattern carved into its shell. A few spectators 'oohed' over the quality of her offering, impressed by the immensity of the Empire's magnanimity.

"How very generous," he drawled, pushing the pill aside as he reached for a battered bronze decanter. "I suppose that's at least one thing you Imperials are good for. Maybe next time you could be the one to offer me some pointers. I'm sure that there's plenty that we could teach each other."

"Perhaps," Haoran replied, ignoring his naked provocation. In his condition, a victory would cost the same as a defeat. "I would wish you a speedy recovery in that case. Unlike my junior, I would prefer to fight you at your peak. I look forward to meeting you again, once you've recovered from your tournament injuries. Unless, of course, you were to insist on another spar so soon after the last."

Jianzhu twitched at her open revelation of his condition. He'd no doubt been trying to keep it concealed to exaggerate his own prowess, but she'd seen enough of his fights to know that his core had taken some damage. It would take him a few months of the Teal Mountain Sect's hospitality to recover, even without the medicine she'd so graciously granted him.

Until then it would be dangerous for him to leave the peak, as he would have to contend with the challenges of every wandering cultivator looking to make a name for themselves. Jianzhu Bo had made quite a name for himself from his brash attitude, and his approach of challenging so many for their swords meant that he could do quite little to refuse others doing the same to him.

He could try and push the issue now, but even if she suppressed her cultivation to his level Haoran had no doubts that she would have little difficulty wiping the floor with him at the moment. The only danger was injuring him too badly, since that risked angering his master.

The Wandering Dao's name carried far greater weight than his apprentice's, and there was simply too much danger involved in drawing the ire of such a well-liked Spirit Formation cultivator.

"Perhaps another time," Jianzhu ground out, pocketing the pill.

"Very well," Haoran replied, bowing again. "Now, if there is nothing else that remains to be said, I will take my leave. I believe that the next course is supposed to be quite the delicacy—a salad with spirit herds harvested from The Brushstroke—and I believe we would all appreciate some time to enjoy it before the demonstrations begin." She turned to leave, but she only managed to make it one step closer to her table before a voice stopped her in her tracks.

"If you're looking to trade pointers, I'm more than game for a little exercise."