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-/-
The tournament continued, Jin staying just long enough to watch Xin Erwa face off against the treacherous disciple with the three scythes, whom she absolutely obliterated by setting fire to the whole arena.
The scythe user had been evasive and precise, but didn't have very high defensive capabilities.
It turned out that the platform the Blazing Fire Sect had selected for the one-on-one fights benefited those who could use large-scale fire attacks, especially since fire heated up the stone to the point it was unbearable to walk on it after a while.
Shocking.
Jin was silently brought back to the house the Illusion Room Sect had rented during the break.
"Xin Erwa, she's going to be problematic," he muttered as Elder Flower brought him to a private room and sat him down while pouring out some tea.
He was just about to start spinning a wild tale about how his fight with Tian had exhausted him, how he didn't really have a chance, how it would be better to surrender before he ruined the reputation of their sect further, before Elder Flower told him something he'd never expected to hear from her in his life.
"You'll lose the next fight," she said with a sad look on her face.
Jin blinked in surprise. "Well, probably true to be honest," he muttered, not knowing if it stung that someone actually agreed with him for once.
"No, you don't understand," Elder Flower said with a strained voice, ageing several years in a second. "You will lose…"
"Ah," Jin suddenly realised in surprise and raised an eyebrow. "I see."
The Elder nodded mutely.
Finally, an order that Jin could 100% get behind. He put on a hurt expression, and a silent tear rolled down his face. "I could have fought, I would have bled, I would have tried…" he said in a broken voice with a tremble to his timbre.
Elder Flower gently laid a hand on his shoulder. "I know you would have," she said quietly.
"The sect leader was shocked that we even advanced far enough to require her attendance," she explained. "You did well," she paused, "albeit with questionable tactics."
"Why? Why!?" Jin shouted in fake despair.
Elder Flower sighed and leaned back, taking a sip of her tea.
"Your fights, you defeated all your opponents while humiliating yourself, but more importantly, them," she slowly explained. "The first Blazing Fire disciple you beat in a straightforward manner. The imperial soldier you tricked with an illusion. Sure, some may be referring to you as Scumbag Jin, but that match also put a slight damper on the imperial army's reputation, after all, being defeated due to a simple illusion puts doubt on one's competencies. The third fight…" she trailed off with a faraway look in her eyes. "That was your best one yet," she admitted, before cringing. "But the fact that you ended up being caught trying to end your opponent while he was done was a bit…"
Jin opened his mouth, closed it again. No use in explaining.
"The fourth again, you fought with trickery; every cultivator in the stands noticed that your so-called puppeetering technique was a bluff, in an inverse manner that scared them more, since they don't know how you won. Your opponent seemed passionate. Why suddenly give up?" She looked at him questioningly.
Jin realised she was asking him. He awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
"Well, it was the simple illusion technique you taught me and the fact that the fight was being broadcast on a large scale to many people. Tian, well, the purple cloud sect had it out for us because of the… incident," he explained lightly.
Elder Flower's face pulled itself together in a grimace. "Pangziii," she hissed vitriolically.
The disciple nodded. "He was going to kill me, I had no choice."
"What did you do?" the Elder asked awkwardly.
Jin coughed into his hand. Looked around the barren wooden room while trying not to meet his mentor's green eyes with his brown.
"I, ah, I threatened to use the illusion technique you taught me to show the entire audience why exactly the Purple Cloud Sect has a grudge with the Illusion Room Sect," he muttered.
Elder Flower blanched. "If you're ever in that situation again," she started, "please just die…"
"Wow, thanks," Jin muttered sarcastically.
The woman shook her head. "How did you even know about the… event?"
"Rumour," Jin explained, "I filled in the blanks."
A hand dragged itself down the woman's face, her own. "Don't go around telling anyone that the Purple Cloud Sect Leader has a preference for homosexual encounters of the beastly kind," she warned him.
Jin perked up, shocked. "What?"
Elder Flower looked at him, confused. "What?"
"A preference?" Jin asked. "I thought Elder Pangzi sent him that Illusion Room by mistake."
Elder Flower blanched before awkwardly coughing into a hand. "Well, I guess it won't matter since you already know bits and parts." She paused, seemingly embarrassed. "Elder Pangzi isn't being punished because he sent the wrong Illusion Room," she explained and looked at her disciple expectantly.
Jin shook his head. "I don't get it."
"Elder Pangzi is being punished for getting too drunk during a conference and telling everyone exactly what kind of Illusion Room the Purple Cloud Sect commissioned," Elder Flower explained further with a pained voice.
Jin's mouth formed a shocked O. His brain stopped functioning for a few seconds.
"Ah, I see, a fellow man of culture," he eventually couldn't help but mumble.
"Never speak of this to anyone, I'll kill you myself if I have to," Elder Flower warned.
Jin mimicked locking his mouth and swallowing the key. The woman sitting opposite him had a pained expression on her face.
"Can you show me what you… showed the outer disciple to convince him of your… ability to fulfil your threat?" she gently asked.
Jin looked at Elder Flower awkwardly.
Was she, was she asking him to show her some homosexual bestiality porn?
"I need to know, in case anyone…"
Jin slowly extended his hands, cupped, a small hole revealing a scene better not described again.
Elder Flower looked inside his cupped hands, her face got even paler, and she became, not a jade-like beauty, but a marble-like beauty.
A hand went to her mouth, she looked away, retched, as if she was trying not to puke.
"Your technique. Improved. Very quickly," she eventually said in a shaky voice.
"It's all thanks to Elder's guidance," Jin replied awkwardly.
Elder Flower drew a shaky breath and seemed to gather herself.
"Regardless, you won two matches through strength and two through trickery. It probably won't surprise you to know that the sect hosting the tournament always lines up things in a way that they end up winning," she looked at him expectantly, as if thinking he'd be shocked.
Jin returned a blank look. "It was a bit hard not to notice," he eventually answered.
"Well, let's just say that in the history of the tournament, the sect hosting it has usually been the winner. In fact, so much so that not being so is considered a bit of a shame. That, in addition to the fact that through your matches you have shown a propensity for humiliating both yourself and your enemy, has led to them rather paying us off rather than risking personal and international embarrassment. It doesn't help that we are a non-martial sect; the loss of face would be immense. Sect Leader Chun has decided it was more wise to agree to their offer than to risk offending anyone." A pause. "I reluctantly agree with her, reaching the finals is enough. I couldn't have hoped for a better result. Had you lost during the second round, I would have been satisfied." A shadow flashed over her face. "Especially considering the… unconventional tactics you employed to go beyond that."
"So what, I surrender?" Jin asked, not wanting to dwell on the conversation. It had been one of the most awkward moments in his life.
Elder Flower shook her head. "Get burned a bit, then jump off the platform," she told him, as if she was asking him to take a shower and boil some eggs.
Jin struggled to not pull a face.
He didn't want to get burned…
"You'll be rewarded," Elder Flower told him. "More spirit stones for losing than from winning from the sect. You fought like someone with nothing to lose in this tournament. I see a warrior's spirit in you. I know it hurts to even think about throwing a match, and I'm sorry that the sect is asking something like that of you. Additionally, once we return home, you will receive additional resources to reach the core formation stage, which will then lead to advancement to core discipleship. Your scenarios aren't at the level yet, although they might be in a few years, but I've convinced the sect leader that combat contributions should also be valued to a certain extent." She looked at him expectantly. "Can you do it?" she asked. "Lose convincingly?"
Jin put on a face of patriotic fervour and slammed his fist to his chest. "Glory to the sect!" he exclaimed loudly. "You can rely on me for anything, anywhere, anytime. I am but a tool for you to command as you wish."
Elder Flower looked at him before slowly shaking her head.
"You are by far the oddest cultivator I have ever heard of," she muttered.
Jin perked up. "Ah, but you have heard of me!"
"..."
-/-
The roar of the arena had, if anything, grown worse during the intermission.
Jin stood on the participant's platform with a face made from stone as the crowd threw verbal abuse at him.
The narrative structure was perfect.
He was Scumbag Jin. He'd gotten into the finals with deceit, dishonour and had elicited widespread distaste in doing so. The crowd likely thought there were at least two outer disciples who deserved to be here more than him. Maybe a thousand.
Xin Erwa, on the other hand, was a paragon of virtue, a paragon of unyielding strength, explosive firepower. She'd flashily won all her fights to the cheers of the crowd and had stoically accepted the adoration without a change of expression.
She would cleanse the rot of Scumbag Jin from the world.
Jin had set himself up as the perfect villain, and as everyone knew, the greater the villain, the greater the hero when they inevitably emerged victorious.
A minute passed. The announcer said some gibberish to hype the crowd up further.
A minute later, Xin Erwa stood opposite him in the arena with a blank look on her usually excited face.
Jin refrained from saying anything, knowing it would simply be broadcast to the crowd and misinterpreted against him.
Xin Erwa didn't share his opinion.
"I was looking forward to fighting you," she said calmly, her voice reverberating throughout the arena.
"You were looking forward to defeating me," Jin corrected her.
The girl shook her head.
"No, to fight you, fairly and without outside interference," she said before looking around. At the Elders. At the crowd. At the referee.
The crowd quietened; they didn't know what to make of her claim.
"You said something during your last fight," Xin Erwa continued. "That you were weaker, less skilled and ultimately more pathetic than Tian, the prodigy of the Purple Cloud Sect." She shook her head. "Yet you stand before me, not him." She tapped a finger to her temple. "Everyone tends to forget that intelligence is one of the core factors that determine the outcome of a fight. You tricked your enemies? Perhaps we should blame your enemies for getting tricked rather than blaming you for leveraging your strengths."
Jin stared at the girl and, for the first time, actually saw her. Young, black hair, red eyes, a battle junkie.
"Thanks for that," he said sincerely.
Xin Erwa shook her head. "I wanted to fight with you, fist for fist, technique for technique, wit for wit. If I lost because I got tricked? I wouldn't have blamed you. That's me." She shrugged. "Unfortunately, my sect bribed yours to let me win."
Silence.
Silence.
Silence.
Silence.
Silence.
It was one of those perfect moments in which the narrative of reality had been interrupted by an unexpected event, an unexpected decision.
Xin Erwa shrugged again as the world around her finally unwound, the referee shooting towards her to block her mouth, the Elders behind her opening their mouths in absurd Os, several jumping from their seats. The crowd screamed.
"I surrender!" Xin Erwa shouted angrily as the referee slammed into her and shut her mouth a second too late.
The girl fought the referee as he wrestled her into a choke-hold and initiated a fire-technique that propelled him out of the arena and down into the volcano.
Regardless of her abrupt disappearance, she had kept eye contact with Jin the entire time. There was something feral in those red eyes of hers. Something ancient. Something that did not suffer any disrespect from anyone.
Jin stood there, shocked, as Elder Flower hopped to his side and dragged him away by his collar while the arena erupted in absolute pandemonium.
In a world of face, Jin had finally met someone with principles.
-/-
As the flying boat of the Illusion Room Sect left Koncho worse than they'd found it, Jin was simply leaning on the railing and looking at the broiling city below.
"Can't believe that's how the tournament ended," Hashimi said next to him while shaking her head.
"What tournament?" Jin asked, turning away from the view to look at the blue sky instead.
He felt Hashimi's glare bore into his cheek.
"Yeah, maybe it's for the best. What tournament indeed," she said with a sigh.
A silly grin spread itself across Jin's face as he thought about the finalist who had surrendered.
"What are you laughing at?" his friend muttered.
"Nothing," Jin replied. "I just think… that, well, maybe I'm in love."
Hashimi laughed uproariously. "I pity the fool," she eventually responded with a roll of her eyes before leaving him be. "Come find me when you're ready to continue working on Skyrim, lover boy."
The trip back was meteorologically pleasant and narratively uneventful, just how Jin liked it. He hoped that Xin Erwa was fine and that the Blazing Fire Sect wasn't in the habit of killing their disciples for gross misconduct.
That way, they'd be able to meet again.
Under different circumstances, perhaps.
That would be nice.
-/-
AN: Alright, arc over, future generations will look back on it kindly and history will vindicate my genius. Now on to Skyrim. If you want to read ahead or support the project then hop on over to Patreon :)