Before the fight began, Wu Hao took a last proper look at his opponent. Shan Kong was sweating slightly under the summer sun, but he didn't seem winded, just warmed up. In his hand he wielded a different kind of saber than the one Wu Hao was wielding. His was moderately curved and far thinner than Wu Hao's, roughly halfway between a sword and a knife. It was more fanciful, too, with a collar at the blade's throat, but not so fanciful that it sacrificed functionality.

  Wu Hao still wasn't convinced that the rings on the back of his own blade actually served a purpose, but he supposed that he'd have to make do, one way or another.

  There was a blur of qi that made Wu Hao almost flinch back. He forced himself not to take the instinctive step away, but his saber did come up in the only move of the Five Saber Art that he knew. The rings almost tinkled like bells as the saber in his hands swayed.

  But it was only the teacher. He'd roused himself from whatever trance he must have been in and stood between both of them. Yu Xiong was his name, if Wu Hao remembered correctly.

  To his credit, he did make a show of inspecting both of them.

  "You're new here," he told Wu Hao. "You are aware of the risks, yes?"

  "He's not," Jin Qilong protested from the side, but Wu Hao just nodded.

  Yu Xiong scratched the back of his head, risked a look at Shan Kong, but then nodded.

  "Alright," he said, clearly having weighed his options and deciding to just get on with it. "Sabers at the ready?"

  Wu Hao raised his arms, sliding his foot back slightly to sink slightly lower. He twisted his hips, presenting a smaller profile, leaving the saber to hover next to his face, ready to block and cut with equal speed. The damned thing was unwieldy but at least it could block blows, he hoped.

  "Ready," he said.

  Shan Kong sneered, but settled into his own stance. It was wider than Wu Hao's own, both hands on his saber, holding it low in front of him, its tip aimed at the ground and ready to flick up and carve into his opponent. He looked calm, with his eyes locked on Wu Hao's own.

  And his qi announced itself. It was a qi that felt heavy, with the metallic tang of oil and with the salty sense of seawater, but it lacked a certain solidity. To Wu Hao's senses, it felt like something raw, unfinished as of yet.

  "Ready," Shan Kong said.

  Yu Xiong looked around again, then stepped back. "Go!"

  Wu Hao burst into motion first. The first of the Five Sabers was essentially just a heavy thrust, meant to incapacitate the opponent with a single strike, which would then be followed with one of the other four. Wu Hao didn't have those yet, and he was hoping that he wouldn't be acquiring them soon, either. Anything more advanced would require qi, and he hadn't been able to cultivate yet in this life.

  The edge of his saber flicked out in a cut at the same time as Wu Hao took a step forward, launching himself at Shan Kong.

  With a simple flick of his wrist, Shan Kong deflected it easily, putting his own saber in front of Wu Hao's. The shriek of steel slamming into steel rang out, the rings of Wu Hao's saber shifted, and then Shan Kong poured his fluid qi into his muscles and launched an attack of his own. His attacks were smoother, faster and heavier than Wu Hao's, owing to his familiarity with his saber and his qi.

  Jerking his body to the side, Wu Hao felt the saber whisper through the air next to his chest. He attempted a counterattack but again Shan Kong's saber interposed itself like a living thing where Wu Hao's saber was aiming at and he forced Wu Hao back with simple brute force.

  But Wu Hao let himself fall back, let his saber swing to the side as his hand was pushed away, and then stepped to the side, borrowing the force of the reaction to spin. The bandit's saber lashed out, cutting through the air with a rinkling wail, and left a jagged cut along the hem of Shan Kong's robes.

  Then a palm slammed into Wu Hao's chest, punching him back on staggering feet.

  "Is that all?" Shan Kong asked, contempt clear in his voice. "Cutting my robes is all you can manage? That's even more pathetic than I thought."

  Wu Hao breathed out, then in. He breathed out again and in that same instant he sprang forward, saber raising itself up in another attempt at the first of the Five Sabers.

  But this time after Shan Kong blocked the attack, his hand snaked out with qi-enhanced speed and he slammed the side of his saber into Wu Hao's wrist. Then, with his other hand, he grabbed Wu Hao's hand with the saber and twisted.

  The bandit's saber clattered to the ground, wrenched from Wu Hao's hands easily by Shan Kong's qi-enhanced strength.

  "Pathetic," Shan Kong sneered. He lowered his own saber. "A disgrace to that saber, and that's saying something considering -"

  Wu Hao's fist smashed into Shan Kong's face with a satisfying crack. The Heavy Fist continued to serve him well, Wu Hao thought, even without qi. He kept his right arm raised. He stared at Shan Kong over the edge of his fist as the other boy staggered back. His knuckles were filled with a bone-deep ache, so he shook his left hand once and then raised it into a fist again.

  Whatever Shan Kong had wanted to say, it seemed that Wu Hao's reply had served to rob him of his momentum.

  Again, Wu Hao raised his fists.

  "Come on," he said quietly, and then decided that maybe he could indulge, if just for a moment. "Bitch."

  Shan Kong stilled, hatred flickering across his face, and rushed forward. His saber raised high, his qi gathered, and then he was on Wu Hao, releasing a warcry.

  His qi pulsed and burned a trail through the air, the saber cutting at Wu Hao's arm faster than he could react.

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  Worse, Wu Hao could see the way that Shan Kong's qi was turning. It was burning itself into more shapes as the other boy controlled it with all his concentration into another attack, one meant to chase Wu Hao after he'd tried to dodge. It would cut him if he didn't dodge, and it would cut him if he did.

  So he didn't bother to dodge the entire attack. Instead he let the saber carve through the skin of his arm, feeling its tip slash a red-hot line of pain all along his lower arm and only dipping away on reaching his elbow. As his arm moved away he could feel blood begin to burst out of him, felt skin tear. His senses had slowed, allowing him to feel it in so much more detail, but he moved past the pain.

  And in return, he was in an excellent position to watch the look on Shan Kong's eyes widen in realization as he turned to face where Wu Hao ought to have been but wasn't. Wu Hao's fist raised itself, and then he used something that he'd been saving up the entire fight.

  When he'd been dripfed that last peach, all that energy had had to go somewhere. It still rested inside his meridians, like oil ready to ignite. Most of it had been wasted by now on replacing his vital qi, but there were a few dregs left.

  He pulled every single one of those dregs out of his body and poured them into his fist, forcing every single mote of that qi to burn brightly into a single blow that exploded onto Shan Kong's body and hit him like a thunderbolt.

  Shan Kong didn't stagger back this time, but he flew, flying head over ass as he turned in the air and slammed back down onto the ground heavily.

  A stunned silence followed.

  Wu Hao panted a few times, and then he began to walk forward. His saber - the bandit's saber - still lay on the ground somewhere, forgotten.

  Another blur of qi and Wu Hao raised his fists instinctively, lashing out quickly with his left fist at whoever wanted to interrupt, but his fist was caught and he was spun around like a top.

  "Stop!" Yu Xiong yelled, and threw Wu Hao backward.

  Flying through the air, Wu Hao managed to control his descent just enough to where he turned in the air and landed on his feet, skidding backwards until his feet hung over the edge of the ring. Even so his feet ached from the strain, and he shook his head to clear it of the aftershocks of the flip through the air. His head spun with the force of the sudden tumble.

  "Shan Kong's down," Yu Xiong said, staring Wu Hao down. "Let him get back to his feet."

  Wu Hao panted a few ragged breaths, then let his fist fall.

  "Where was this courtesy when the Young Master was down?" Yi Wei shouted from the sidelines.

  Yu Xiong grimaced. Anger and shame spiked through his qi in equal measure, but he said nothing as Wu Hao walked closer.

  Wu Hao picked up his saber, rose again, and spoke.

  "Thank you for the match," he said to Shan Kong, whose eyes narrowed. Wu Hao shook his saber once, listening to the shaking of its rings, and pursed his lips.

  "You should probably spare a moment to think on when a match is actually over," he said. "Just a quick tip."

  Shan Kong's eyes went wide with rage, and Wu Hao felt a small smile creep onto his face. Still smiling softly, he slung his saber over his shoulder before he walked off the stage.

  "Sheathe, please," he asked Yi Wei, who was staring at him with a furrowed brow.

  She handed it to him, still looking at him like he was some sort of puzzle, but Jin Qilong spoke before she could.

  "I can't believe you took a giant risk like that," Jin Qilong said, his eyes wide. "Did you plan all that?"

  No, Wu Hao thought. Taking a wound like that, just to win a spar? If he'd planned for that, he'd have been an even bigger idiot than he thought he was.

  "Maybe," Wu Hao said, but then nearly ruined the effect by swaying on his feet. He raised his hand, watching more blood drip from the wound, and then glanced at Jin Qilong, about to ask where the bandages were, or failing that a match to burn the wound closed.

  "I'll get you a few bandages," Jin Qilong said, and rushed off to the side, disappearing behind a corner. Qi lingered behind him, so he must have used a movement technique of some kind.

  A pang of jealousy hit him, but he ignored it.

  "You didn't plan that at all, did you?" Yi Wei accused him.

  "Does it matter?" Wu Hao said. He felt an urge to sag back, but he didn't let himself do so. He didn't trust anyone here, he reminded himself.

  Yi Wei chewed her lip. "I suppose it doesn't? Still, you beat Shan Kong."

  Her eyes flicked over to the stone ring. Shan Kong was still staring daggers at them. "You're good at making enemies, aren't you? He's not going to forget that humiliation."

  "Yeah," Wu Hao said. He wanted to stretch, but that would only irritate the wound further. "I know. What comes after training?"

  "Are you an idiot," she asked him, "or do you just not care about Shan Kong? The entire faction that you just made enemies out of?"

  Wu Hao considered the question carefully.

  "I don't care," he said truthfully.

  Yi Wei sighed.

  "You're an idiot either way," she told him.

  Wu Hao shrugged, then sat down on the stone. He dabbed at the wound on his arm.

  "Now what?" he asked.

  "Now the training's probably over," she said. "I don't know what Jin Qilong gets up to after this. Lessons with a private tutor, I think. I'll be doing other things for Lady Jin."

  Her nose raised, as if she considered this a matter of pride.

  "Do you think that this'll impress Lady Jin?" he asked when the thought occurred to him.

  A snort was her only answer, and he nodded.

  No, he should've thought it wouldn't be that easy.