---
The dawn came in layers of soft light, brushing the tournament arena in gold. Clouds drifted lazily above the high pavilions, as though they hadn't watched blood stain the stones just the day before.
Kai Jin stood alone at the edge of the Dawning Blades' viewing platform, hands still wrapped, robes freshly changed. Beneath the silence of the morning wind, he could feel the pulse of energy—thousands of cultivators already seated, their whispers buzzing like a hive.
He wasn't looking at the arena. His gaze drifted higher, to the mountains in the distance. The sun hadn't fully risen there yet. Shadows still clung to the slopes. Maybe that's what he felt in himself too—shadows that hadn't lifted, no matter how bright the fire inside him burned.
"You didn't sleep."
Yue's voice came softly. She stood behind him, hair braided, her own robes tightened at the waist for easier movement. There was no judgment in her tone. Just observation.
Kai glanced over his shoulder. "I tried."
She stepped beside him, following his gaze. "You always seem calm, but I think your mind runs more than most."
He didn't reply. But her words sat with him.
"I saw the match schedule," she said, after a moment. "You're not until late afternoon."
"That means more time for whispers."
"They're scared of you."
"They should be."
Yue looked at him, her brows knitting, then reached out and adjusted one of the wraps on his hand. "Don't become someone I won't recognize," she said, voice low. "You're colder lately."
Kai's eyes softened for a moment. "I don't know what I'm becoming. I just know what I've survived."
They stood like that, quiet and still, until a deep gong echoed from below—the first match of the day.
---
By midday, the arena had become a coliseum of roaring voices. Every sect sent out its best and boldest. There were fire lances, shadow steps, even one boy who summoned stone lions from the ground with nothing but a punch.
But what caught Kai's attention wasn't flashy.
It was a girl—barefoot, her robe simple, face smudged with dirt. She moved like a leaf on the wind, dodging and parrying without anger or force. Her opponent—a muscle-bound disciple from the Southern Blood Hand Sect—struck like a bull. He roared, spit, broke tiles beneath his feet.
But she never let him touch her.
Kai leaned forward slightly, eyes narrowing.
She reminded him of someone. Of himself, maybe. Before the pain. Before the voices. Before the weight.
When she won—by redirecting his punch so forcefully he broke his own shoulder—the crowd was silent. Then, slowly, they clapped. Then louder.
And something shifted again in the air.
Yue touched Kai's arm. "You saw it too?"
He nodded.
"She's from the lower peaks," Yue said. "They say she cultivates in silence. Refuses sect teachings."
Kai said nothing. But something stirred in his chest. Not curiosity. Not even admiration.
It was hunger.
---
As the sun dipped lower in the sky, casting long shadows across the arena, an elder stepped forward. His voice boomed through the platform, infused with Qi.
"Final match of the day: Kai Jin of the Dawning Blades—prepare to enter the arena!"
A hush fell. Even the wind seemed to stop.
Kai exhaled.
He stood.
From across the way, Lin Su watched with a smirk she didn't mean. Yue's hand lingered near her blade. The elders whispered. Rivals held their breath.
Kai stepped into the stone ring. The floor still bore cracks from battles past.
He rolled his shoulders once. The wraps on his hands barely held firm.
The crowd leaned in.
And far above, cloaked in black robes and masked in gold, a figure from the Imperial Pavilion leaned forward, lips curving.
"There you are," the voice murmured. "Let's see if the stars are telling the truth."
The bell rang.
His opponent stepped into the ring—older, taller, draped in golden fire.
And Kai smiled