Rising Dragons (12)

Lán sat quietly at the entrance of Mount Hua’s main temple. His master had gotten busy with other tasks and had left him as his representative, the other elders had also left to prepare for the final tournament. Leaving Lán sitting awkwardly next to Lu Han. Even when he was waiting, the general had an intense scowl as he looked silently over the horizon.

“So…” Lán began to ask

“No” Lu Han shut him down instantly.

Lán used the time to practice the techniques in the Manual of The Sixth Sense, he had gotten pretty good at noticing even the tiniest details of things. He used the silence to look around Mount Hua’s main temple and noticed a few things that bothered him.

First, there were many more members of Steel Sword than he thought, a little more than half of Mount Hua wore the patch identifying them as members. Mount Hua had a considerable fighting force but it mostly focused on taking on bandits and evil sects, the thought that they were willing to take an active position in politics was a scary idea indeed.

An hour passed before the first participant reached the summit.

“RAAAAAAHHHHH” Batu reached the top with a victorious scream, he rushed over to Lu Han and Lán.

“Am I…. the first one here?” He asked in between breaths

“You are, good job Batu” Lán congratulated him earnestly. Lán was honestly surprised, he knew Batu was a physical marvel but it seems his survival skills were just as impressive.

Lu Han managed a halfhearted nod as he gave Batu the medal that marked him as a participant of the final round of the tournament.

The sun rose and as it became midday Batu headed back to The Lake Of Seven Immortals to rest.

Lán sat in the deafening silence next to Lu Han as the next participants started arriving.

Yinying was the next person to arrive, he seemed in no rush and his mask gave Lán no leeway into his mind. He walked up to them silently and accepted the medal from Lu Han, he nodded at Lán in no apparent recognition and continued into the temple.

“I wonder if my master has told him he’s my senior” Lán thought, he let himself get lost in the idea, wondering what kinds of things he would even learn from Yinying.

Zhou Yefeng entered the main gate shortly after, sneering at Lán as he picked his medal. Lán wondered why the unnecessary aggression but he let the thought slide, he was more puzzled by the fact that Yefeng had come alone, without his usual Steel Sword posse.

More time passed, this time a group emerged from the wilderness. The Shaolin Monk Shi Xiaohui walked forward with Xu Qingfeng leaning on his shoulder. Lán smelt blood as Qingfeng limped closer, he seemed to have reopened his injury, a small dark red spot forming in the back of his clothes.

“What happened?” Lán asked Qingfeng

“A trap got the better of me and forced me to exert myself more than I expected” he responded with a weak smile.

Lu Han gave both participants their medals and Lán pulled Qingfeng aside to treat his wound.

“Saman Pa is going to be real mad you know” Lán chuckled as he closed Qingfeng’s wound and changed his bandages. Qingfeng managed a small pained laugh as Lán treated him. Luckily his wound had not opened up completely so he only required some minor first aid, though Lán wasn’t sure if Qingfeng should participate in the final round of the tournament.

After around thirty minutes Lán finished treating Qingfeng completely, he returned to the main gate to wait with Lu Han after sending Qingfeng off.

“Third time’s the charm” Lán thought.

Before he could even raise his voice to speak, Lu Han stopped him.

“Enough!” he said in a stern voice “Why must you insist on talking to me?”

The aggressiveness caught Lán off guard. He deliberated on acting surprised or evasive, but one quick look at Lu Han made him decide to be completely honest.

“Come work for the Lúse Family” Lán said earnestly “I don’t know what it was that made you fall out of favour with the courts, but I do know that you are an extremely talented person and I am in need of people like you”

Lu Han stared Lán down, his intense gaze analysing every facial expression and movement. Lán understood why he was called “Eagle Claw” when his gaze fell upon you, you felt like you were being hunted down with no chance of escape.

“Unless you can get me back what I had, what I rightfully deserve, I have no interest in anything you have to say” Lu Han responded dryly.

Lán understood and nodded respectfully, even though it frustrated him immensely, Lu Han was out of his reach for now.

Time passed in agonizing silence before it was interrupted by the rush of footsteps coming out of the mountain.

“Thunderfoot” Lei Zhentian and Fang Hu “The Tiger of the South” were in a close race to the finish line. As they moved closer they exchanged blows, trying to stop each other from reaching the finish line.

Fang Hu got the upperhand, he aimed a sweep at Thunderfoot’s legs, and as he jumped back, Fang Hu used the momentum to throw himself into a diving roll, reaching the finish line first.

Fang Hu reached for his medal eagerly while Thunderfoot looked down at the ground, shame and disappointment clearly visible on his face.

“There’s still two spots left” Lán called out

Thunderfoot looked up in surprise and went to get his medal

“The test was harder than expected, we both thought we were competing for the last spot” Fang Hu explained sheepishly.

As both martial artists descended the mountain, a sudden thought hit Lán, he realized that Wing Chun hadn't reached the summit. Lán thought that she would come in second or third as he believed she was one of the candidates to win the whole tournament.

The sun was beginning to set in the horizon before a figure emerged in front of it. It was Wing Chun, she looked tired as she was covered in small cuts and bruises. She looked up from the ground and walked through the finish line with her head held high.

“Am I still on time?” She asked

“You are, you take the last spot” Lán replied

Wing Chun sighed with relief as she picked up her metal.

Lu Han stood up and went into the temple, a minute later, a strong horn resounded through the temple and down the mountain, marking the end of the third round of the tournament.

Lán and Wing Chun waited at the entrance to the temple as the sun finished setting, waiting for a carriage to take them down the mountain.

“So, how was the test?” Lán asked earnestly

“It was hard” Wing Chun responded “There was a particularly challenging Array that took a lot of effort for me to beat”

Wing Chun explained the Array as they got into the carriage and rode back into Huayin, they continued talking all the way into the inn.

Later that night as Lán lay in his bed, thoughts filled his mind. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but there were still unanswered questions about the events leading up to the tournament, the appearance of an advanced Array in one of the tests puzzled him even more, as far as he knew, no one in Mount Hua had the ability to make something that complex.

Then there was the fact that a bandit group had been hired to target young martial artists and the emergence of Steel Sword was further complicating the whole thing. He originally thought that Steel Sword was using the tournament to gain more power inside Mount Hua and that they were potentially behind the foul play, but that theory had fallen apart today, Zhou Yefeng had been the only member of Steel Sword to pass to the final stage of the tournament and from what he saw in Mount Hua’s head temple, Steel Sword already held the majority of the faction.

He understood he was missing part of the bigger picture, but whatever it was, he was going to be ready, as no matter the plan, tomorrow was the end of the Dragon and Phoenix tournament and the powers behind the strange occurrences were bound to make their move.