Threads 208-Opening Day 6

“I would like to know more of the Meng,” Ling Qi decided. “I have made my contacts, and maybe even an ally, but they are just too opaque to me.”

“Unsurprising. They are an old clan by any measure save for that of the Bai,” Hou Zhuang said.

“Naturally,” Ling Qi agreed.

“One key to hold to with the Meng clan is that even those you might perceive as open to change and progress do not accept the imperial way of things,” the older man advised. “Even the Luo hold a significant faction which wishes to modernize in the imperial way. The Meng do not. You will find no significant support for the imperial cult nor its philosophers there. What their more open members wish is to push revival and improvement of old practices on their own terms.”

“You believe this is the group that contacted me,” Ling Qi deduced.

“Most likely. This faction is the one most engaged with the court and outsiders. Most of the Meng fear your Duchess terribly, but this group views her as an opportunity. The Emerald Seas are in flux, the shape of its new order not yet set, and to them, this is a chance to reassert primacy of their practices, rather than hiding away and preserving them,” Hou Zhuang lectured. His words were calm and the diction clear like those from an elder.

“Their more conservative cousins no doubt see this view as a foolish risk,” Ling Qi analyzed. Their support for her made sense then. The arguments she had used to support her endeavor fit with their narrative of the past informing the present.

“Just so,” Hou Zhuang said. “I’ve added the dossier to your ring. Time is up. Perceptions of time may only be stretched so far.”

And like that, the color returned to the world, and the noise in the stadium once again filled her ears, along with the voices of her companions.

“You have grown quiet, Baroness,” Meizhen said, glancing her way.

“Just lost in thought,” Ling Qi deflected. “I was contemplating how the matches might be arranged.”

Her vision flickered, a wisp hidden in her hair glancing back. Hou Zhuang was still there, the picture of an exhausted man in a light doze.

“It is not good to wander so. You nearly missed the actual announcements,” Meizhen said.

“Apologies, Lady Bai,” Ling Qi said with a hint of amusement.

She looked down over the field where the sixteen preliminary winners now stood. Above, the air flickered with illusion, the characters of the contestants’ names spelled out in flashing silver. She blinked as she looked over the names and realized something.

“I hadn’t recognized Chu Song,” Ling Qi said, startled.

“Who?” Xia Anxi asked, raising an eyebrow.

“My first opponent from last year,” Ling Qi said absently, scanning those present. They fell on the muscular girl she had noticed before. Chu Song had changed: her hair was cropped short, and she wore heavy flanged armor rather than the lighter sort she had used last year. She’d picked up a few scars as well. “I hadn’t realized she was participating.”

“Ah, that girl,” Bai Meizhen said with distaste. “I hope she has learned to control her tongue, for her own sake at least.”

Xia Anxi glanced at them with mild interest, but the names in the air were moving to arrange themselves into brackets.

The first match would be Gun Jun facing down a young man Ling Qi did not recognize. The second featured Lu Feng facing one of the three second realms who had squeaked through. The third match had Gan Guangli facing another of them. The fourth was Chu Song and another new face she didn’t recognize.

Han Jian was the first in the fifth match, facing another of the yellows. An apology for his hard match the year before? Shen Hu’s face briefly came to her mind.

Ling Qi continued to scan the brackets. Ma Jun was in the next one, and she would be facing Fan Yu. The seventh match was Xiao Fen and some poor unfortunate, and the eighth held Han Fang and the boy with the boar spirit.

It seemed, even more than last year, that most of the first round of matches were going to be one-sided. She suspected that one way or another, the Sect would be quietly promoting many older disciples after this year, now that the Duchess’ tests were done. They would need to, if they wanted the Outer Sect to maintain any kind of equilibrium.

“Many easy matches there,” Lao Keung concluded.

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“True. It is more even than last year though,” Ling Qi said. “Most are at least in the third realm.”

“The Baroness has high standards.” Xia Anxi chuckled. “Not a bad thing.”

Ling Qi coughed into her hand, realizing that she had forgotten how matches usually were for these initial duels. She was right though. Even those whose names she didn’t know were still talented by any measure; they were still people who had attained the right to a barony by their cultivation. It was just… They were facing terrible competition this year.

She would at least keep an ear out for the results of Ma Jun’s match. Ling Qi thought she had the advantage, but Xiulan had shown her what someone desperate enough with only a partial breakthrough could do.

… She had trouble picturing Fan Yu with such passion fueling him though.

“A good showing for the Argent Peak Sect and the Emerald Seas as a whole.” The voice of the Bai ambassador quieted them as she spoke up beyond quiet conversation with Cai Renxiang. “The youth of this province will carry your people well in the future.”

“You are most generous, Ambassador,” Cai Renxiang replied. “I am proud to know that we have impressed the eyes of the mighty Bai clan, if only a little.”