When Heavens Call

Chapter 37

When Heavens Call

Leo gasped for breath, sitting down, soaked in sweat and exhausted.

"Haah," he exhaled rather somberly, taking the last few sips of the fruit juice that he'd brought. 

Facing forward, he felt a bit of pride surge in his heart before it all bottomed out rather rapidly. He'd managed to cut precisely 23 trees in the last eight hours that he was here, gathering staggering 438 pieces of timber (or, well, raw wood yet to be processed). It was all lying neatly to the side, and not only was not even halfway through the requirement, it also seemed like he'd have to carry the logs back to the camp. Even if the logs didn't weigh that much, it would still be impossible to carry more than four or five at a time just because they were cumbersome. 

Luckily, neither Poky nor Hoot left him--even if they didn't help, they still cheered silently from the side, which was more than enough. Seeing that the sun was slowly descending past the horizon and that he'd completely run out of food and drinks, Leo decided to call it a day. 

After recovering a little bit, he stood up, walked over to the stack of logs and picked up as many as he could carry--which turned out to be four, two beneath both arms. They weren't particularly heavy (but they weren't featherweight either), though, as he suspected, they made navigating in-between the trees extremely cumbersome. On the way back, he often had to pause, shuffle about, and go step by step just to barely fit through the gaps between the trees. 

By the time he returned to the camp, he was more mentally exhausted than physically. Quickly dropping the logs onto the wooden platform, he watched them flash in a brilliant light for a moment before they became processed pieces of timber. Sighing at the oddness of it all, he shuffled around and began swiftly making dinner. There were quite a few animals gathered around, and however happy Leo was that they befriended him as a cook, he worried a bit that they might turn on him if he didn't continue providing them with food (or, well, processed sort of food).

He found solace in cooking once again, restoring his mental exhaustion however little. Even if getting timber was tiresome, at least he knew where and how to get it. On the other hand, he had no clue where to even begin to look for quarries or an iron mine. As far as the stone went, he saw quite a few pieces sprawled about the forest floor, but it wouldn't be nearly enough. 

The animals scattered soon enough, leaving behind the usual suspects who retreated into their corners and began sleeping. Leo remained by the campfire for a long while, trying to map out the future in his head. Didn't quite work, as he just grew angrier over time, eventually letting go of the rancid breath and retreating into the mud hut. 

There was no need to rush--in fact, there was also the option of waiting for Yue to return so she could stuff the logs into the ring and bring them all back quickly. For now, he'd simply allocate some of the free time he had every day to either gathering wooden logs or searching for other materials. Life, once again, would become busy.

**

The Heavenspan Tournament usually lasted a week, though it dragged for an extra two days this time around because of the sheer number of participants and the limited number of arenas that the Holy Blade Sect had. 

Nonetheless, the fanfare by the last day hardly died down--if anything, it was even greater. It was evident by the sheer number of people in attendance on the last day. 

Three squared arenas stood side by side toward the western end of the valley, surrounded by roughly fifteen thousand people. Not only were those who'd already lost there, as rumors spread outside the Sect, more and more people flooded in after the fact. In fact, Holy Blade Sect had to start turning people away as there were simply too many.

Even if there were a few surprises along the way--namely the rise of Song and Lye, as well as a masked cultivator called 'Dawn'--the remaining six participants were precisely the ones everyone expected. Three were from the Bloodmoon Sect, one from the Iron Mountain Sect, one from the Golden Crane Sect, and one from the Holy Blade Sect.

Qui Mei stood silently by the side of one of the arenas, her gaze aloof and distant, as though none of the surrounding fanfare had anything to do with her. The air around her chilled with frost, making her appear entirely unapproachable. And though a few youths tried to do precisely that over the course of the tournament, they were rebuffed with walled silence that never thawed. 

A lithe sword gently rocked back and forth at her waist, her short, silver hair still and unmoving. 

"Don't worry about anything," a familiar voice of the Sect Master drifted into her ears. She knew that nobody else could hear him. "Just do your best, win or lose."

"..." she didn't reply, feeling indignant. Though she knew that her Master was simply trying to calm her, it did the opposite; there was seldom a soul watching that had faith in her winning. It was as though everyone already knew that she'd either come in the sixth or, at best, in the fifth place. 

And yet, she couldn't very well deny it. 

She knew her limitations better than anyone, which was why it was all so frustrating. Nothing has changed in the past four years since the last Heavenspan Tournament. Though she was still just barely keeping up with her peers, she also trained day and night, with a desperation of a dying man, to do so. 

There was no point to frustration, ultimately, so she let it go. It was what it was-the heavens decreed some chosen and some just shy of that crown. She was among the latter, given hope when young that she, too, might become a part of the gilded myths, only to have it ripped from her grasp so cruelly. 

As her Master said, she would go on the stage and give it her all, as she had done countless times before. And if her best wasn't good enough... 

Hearing her name called out, she stepped forth and jumped onto one of the arenas at the same time as her opponent. It was the Direct Disciple of the Golden Crane Sect, Tong-something-or-else, she couldn't quite bother remembering, and though she didn't want to admit it, she sighed inwardly in relief. Not because she was certain of victory, but because the man standing some fifty yards away from her was objectively the only one she had even the thinnest of chances against.

He, too, seemed to have been experiencing the same flux of emotions, but the weight was different; after all, he was a Direct Disciple of a Tier III Sect, while she was a Direct Disciple of a Tier IV Sect. Her loss would be a humiliation not just to her, but to the entire Sect. Even if it was 'known' that her Master was the only reason their Sect stood as high as it did, she didn't want to live beneath that shield forever. 

Soon after the two of them jumped onto the stage, the four other Disciples did so as well on the remaining two stages. Qui Mei, however, didn't have the luxury of paying attention to them. 

Taking a deep breath, she drew out her sword--thin but sharp, Sky-Tier gift from her Master when she reached Core Formation. Her opponent, on the other hand, didn't draw a weapon. 

"Fight!" the word echoed throughout all three arenas, and under the disrupting roars of the audience. Qui Mei dashed forward. 

Her entire body began to glow golden, shimmering at the edges as though fading in and out rapidly, and she crossed the distance between the two in the blink of an eye. She thrust forward, aiming for the person only to hit a wall made out of earth that appeared from nowhere. Rebuffed, she executed her footwork technique and rapidly circumvented it, throwing out stabs repeatedly and quickly, aiming to end the fight as soon as possible.

The main trait of Earth Root was an abundance of Qi, and as they were both at Mid Core Formation, she knew she'd lose handily in the battle of attrition. 

Earthen walls kept appearing around the man as he began to slide backward, riding a protruding stone, while summoning spear-tipped rocks and flinging them at her. She deflected the best she could, but ultimately decided to forgo proper defense in order to catch up. As such, a few of the rocks managed to glance against her skin, opening it and causing some red to appear.

She ignored the pangs of pain, however, pushing even more Qi into her feet until the golden light turned into corporeal, golden flame. Her feet left an indentation in the stone below as she kicked off, accelerating to twice her speed and surprising the man who'd just barely managed to summon an earthen shield in time. However, as it was hastily put together, she managed to shatter it and finally get a hit in. 

Blood sprayed out as the man grunted in pain, his left thigh quickly dyeing the robes golden. Just as Qui Mei was about to follow up with another attack, his lips parted into a rather indignant "I surrender!". 

She quickly stopped, and though it hurt a bit to suddenly pull back the gathered Qi, she took the victory and sighed in relief. In a way, it may have even appeared to be the overwhelming sort to the unknowing eye.

Bowing toward her opponent, she went to leave the stage when something began to feel amiss. It was an eerie feeling, one that she couldn't back up by any of her skills. Almost at the same time, the world quaked ever so briefly before the sky above first grew a shade darker and then became wholly red. 

She felt her Master's aura explode like a kettle left too long on the fire, and witnessed a pillar of golden light ascend toward the red canopy... only to fail to break through.

"ENEMY IS HERE!!" it was her Master's voice, but gone was the usual calm--there was even a trace of shock, something she seldom saw in him. "PREPARE TO FIGHT!"