Chapter 90: The Measure of a Genius
Breakfast taught Tianyu another unpleasant lesson about the Heavenly Flame Sect.
Even eating was competitive.
The disciple cafeteria was larger than several restaurants in Mistforge put together, with long rows of polished tables stretching beneath a high white ceiling crossed by golden beams. Red banners hung between enormous windows overlooking the lower mountains, and dozens of counters served different kinds of food depending upon cultivation realm, dietary requirements, species, elemental affinity and, most importantly, contribution points. Tianyu had expected ordinary rice, meat and vegetables. Instead, even the cheapest meals were made from low-ranked spirit grain, vegetables grown in Ki-rich soil and meat taken from Mortal Realm beasts. His breakfast consisted of fire-roasted mountain fowl, steamed golden rice, three kinds of vegetables and a bowl of broth whose warmth spread through his meridians before he had swallowed the second mouthful.
It was excellent.
It was also, Tianyu discovered, approximately what he had eaten at home.
He stared at the menu displayed above one of the counters. Better meals cost contribution points. Much better meals cost a great many contribution points. One particular breakfast used meat from a Fourth Stage Foundation beast and included a fruit from one of the lesser orchards beneath the Heavenly Sunfire Tree.
Tianyu looked at the price.
Then at his card.
Contribution Points: 0.
Bingya was eating beside him from an enormous stone bowl provided for bonded beasts.
Poor.
Tianyu looked at him.
"I have money."
Not sect money.
"I dislike this distinction."
Bingya continued eating.
Tianyu looked at the expensive menu again.
Something changed inside him.
Yesterday, contribution points had sounded administrative.
Today, they tasted like better food.
He suddenly felt remarkably motivated to become useful to the sect.
By seven-thirty he had finished eating, checked his identity card and followed the glowing map toward the training district.
His notification remained displayed across the surface.
SKILL EVALUATION
Arena 200
08:00
He arrived at 7:58.
That turned out to be fortunate.
Someone was already waiting.
Arena Two Hundred was considerably smaller than the grand competition arenas Tianyu had passed the previous day, though "smaller" in the Heavenly Flame Sect still meant an enclosed combat field almost a kilometer across before formations expanded it. White walls surrounded a circular floor marked with golden formation lines. Observation platforms rose on either side, though today they were empty.
A single old man stood at the center.
His robes were white and gold, the Heavenly Flame Sect's emblem displayed prominently across his back. He wore fitted black gloves instead of carrying a weapon. Long white hair fell nearly to his waist, and an equally impressive beard reached halfway down his chest.
Nothing about him appeared threatening.
Except his cultivation.
Spirit Transformation Realm.
Tianyu felt it even though the old man had suppressed almost everything.
The elder looked toward the arena clock.
Then toward Tianyu.
"Two minutes early."
Tianyu bowed.
"Shen Tianyu reporting for the Skill Evaluation."
The elder nodded.
"Good."
His name appeared on Tianyu's card when the evaluation officially registered.
Elder Qiao Mingzhen — Combat Evaluation Division.
Close Combat Specialist
Qiao Mingzhen looked toward Bingya.
"Bonded partner?"
"Yes."
"You fight together normally?"
"Always."
"Then you will be evaluated together."
Tianyu smiled.
Good.
The elder lifted one hand and pointed toward the arena floor.
"Enter."
Tianyu and Bingya stepped across the boundary.
The formation activated.
The world disappeared.
One moment Tianyu stood upon polished white stone.
The next he stood in a rocky wilderness.
Jagged formations of dark stone rose from uneven ground. Cliffs surrounded shallow ravines. Boulder fields broke lines of sight. Tall stone pillars rose in scattered clusters while narrow paths ran between them. The simulated sky above was blue and painfully realistic.
Tianyu looked around.
He could smell dust.
Feel wind.
Even the temperature had changed.
He stamped one foot against the ground.
Stone.
Not illusion.
Or, more accurately, a formation sophisticated enough that arguing about the difference was pointless.
Elder Qiao appeared two kilometers away atop a flat ridge.
His voice reached Tianyu clearly despite the distance.
"My cultivation will be restricted to the Second Stage of Foundation Establishment."
Tianyu's expression sharpened.
The same stage as him.
"I will not use Spirit Foundation strength, perception or raw Ki capacity beyond the parameters allowed by this test. What remains is my experience, comprehension and technique."
The elder flexed his gloved hands.
Small flames appeared across his knuckles.
"Do not hold back."
Tianyu's blood began to heat.
"What counts as defeat?"
"If you cannot continue, surrender, receive what the formation considers a lethal attack, or I decide the evaluation has gathered sufficient information."
Qiao smiled faintly.
"Try not to worry about winning."
That was precisely the wrong thing to say to Tianyu.
Bingya felt it immediately.
Do not become stupid.
"I wasn't planning to."
You smiled.
"That means nothing."
It means many things.
The elder raised one hand.
"Ready?"
Tianyu's body changed.
Frost erupted.
White-blue fur spread across his arms and shoulders. His hands lengthened into powerful clawed gauntlets of flesh and bloodline energy. Frost markings appeared across his face, and crystalline structures formed along his body as the Heavenly Frost Wolf bloodline surged into its combat state.
Beside him, Bingya transformed as well.
The already enormous Frost Wolf grew larger. Crystal horns extended backward from his skull, armor-like frost spread across his shoulders, and ancient sigils glowed beneath his fur.
Cold rolled outward.
The rocky ground whitened.
Frost Aura.
Within seconds, snow began falling in a battlefield that had been warm moments earlier.
Elder Qiao's smile widened.
"Begin."
The sky caught fire.
Tianyu had expected the elder to approach.
Qiao Mingzhen was supposed to be a close-range fighter.
Instead, thirty points of light appeared above Tianyu.
His danger sense screamed.
"MOVE!"
He and Bingya separated.
Fire fell.
The first explosion tore apart the place where Tianyu had stood.
Then the second.
Then ten more.
The bombardment did not fall randomly. Each blast landed where Tianyu was most likely to move after avoiding the previous one. The elder was shaping his escape route.
Tianyu kicked off the ground.
Air Step.
A platform of Ki formed beneath his foot.
He changed direction in midair.
A fireball passed beneath him.
Another was already waiting above.
Tianyu twisted sideways.
It exploded against his shoulder.
His Frost Aura absorbed part of the heat, but the force hurled him toward a stone pillar.
Bingya roared.
A frost barrier rose in front of Tianyu.
He struck it, slid down and landed.
"Annoying."
Bingya landed beside him.
He hasn't moved.
Tianyu looked across the battlefield.
Qiao Mingzhen still stood two kilometers away.
So much for the close-range specialist.
"Together."
Bingya understood.
Both inhaled.
Frost gathered.
The temperature collapsed around them.
Tianyu thrust both palms forward at the same moment Bingya opened his jaws.
Two streams of frost merged.
Heavenly Frost Convergence Beam.
A massive blue-white beam crossed the battlefield.
Stone froze as it passed.
Qiao watched it approach.
Then stepped sideways.
That was all.
The beam passed beside him and struck the ridge behind, covering hundreds of meters in ice.
Tianyu smiled.
He had never expected it to hit.
The battlefield was colder now.
Frost Aura thickened.
Their environment improved.
Qiao looked down at the ice spreading beneath his feet.
"Good."
Then he vanished.
Tianyu's danger sense exploded.
He crossed his arms.
A flaming fist struck them.
BOOM!
Tianyu flew backward.
He recovered in midair.
Qiao was already there.
Fire burned beneath the elder's feet, propelling him through the air.
Tianyu ducked beneath a hook.
The elder rotated.
His heel came toward Tianyu's head.
Tianyu raised one forearm.
The kick broke his guard anyway.
Pain flashed through his shoulder.
Tianyu grabbed the elder's ankle.
Now.
He pulled.
His knee rose.
A vicious Muay Thai-style strike drove toward Qiao's ribs.
The elder rotated with the pull rather than resisting it.
Tianyu's knee missed.
Qiao landed one palm against Tianyu's chest.
Fire exploded.
Tianyu crashed through a boulder.
He rolled out the other side.
Bingya attacked immediately.
Heavenly Wolf Rend!
Frost-covered claws tore downward.
Qiao stepped between them.
One hand touched Bingya's wrist.
The other struck the wolf beneath the ribs.
A compact burst of flame exploded from Qiao's palm.
Bingya was lifted off his feet.
Tianyu appeared behind the elder.
His own martial art unfolded.
Frostfang Eightfold Combat Art.
It was a martial system developed around the Shen Clan's transformations: claw strikes, elbows and knees; explosive kicks and spinning attacks; grappling and throws designed around transformed strength; and predatory movements copied from wolves.
Tianyu opened with a claw feint.
Qiao read it.
Tianyu changed to an elbow.
Blocked.
Low kick.
Checked.
Clinch.
Qiao allowed it.
That was Tianyu's mistake.
The old man's head came forward.
Tianyu barely twisted enough to prevent the forehead strike from breaking his nose.
Then Qiao's hand hooked behind Tianyu's arm.
His hip turned.
Tianyu saw the throw coming.
He still could not stop it.
The world flipped.
He hit the ground.
Qiao stamped.
Tianyu rolled.
Fire erupted where his chest had been.
He swept one leg toward the elder's ankles.
Qiao jumped.
Tianyu grinned.
Bingya's tail struck him in midair.
The elder finally moved in a way that looked uncontrolled.
He flew sideways.
Tianyu and Bingya attacked simultaneously.
"Now!"
Heavenly Wolf Pursuit.
Six wolves formed from compressed snow and frost.
They rushed Qiao from different directions.
At the same time Tianyu projected his voice from behind a distant rock.
"Left!"
Qiao's head moved a fraction.
Tianyu came from the right.
His claws reached the elder's throat.
Then passed through him.
Light.
The figure shattered into golden particles.
Tianyu's eyes widened.
"Clone."
Danger.
Behind.
He turned.
Too late.
A laser-thin beam of concentrated light struck his side.
His transformed hide burned.
Tianyu hissed.
Another beam came from the opposite ridge.
Then another.
Three Qiao Mingzhens stood at different positions.
Bingya's danger sense moved frantically between them.
All feel real.
"Light clones."
The elder's voice came from everywhere.
"Correct."
One clone vanished.
The real elder was above them.
His eyes glowed gold.
Tianyu threw himself away.
Two lasers carved through the rock.
"That's ridiculous!"
"It's a First Grade light technique."
"That doesn't make it less annoying!"
Qiao laughed.
Then vanished completely.
Tianyu stopped.
Not speed.
Actually vanished.
Invisibility through light manipulation.
The battlefield became silent.
Tianyu and Bingya moved back-to-back.
Frost mist began pouring outward.
If they could not see him—
Make sight useless for everyone.
Within seconds, dense white mist consumed the valley.
Tianyu closed his eyes.
Danger sense.
Bingya's smell.
Vibrations.
Ki.
Nothing.
Then Tianyu felt it.
Above.
"DOWN!"
Both dropped.
Flame passed over them.
Bingya spun and released an icicle shower.
Hundreds of frozen spikes tore through the mist.
Several struck something.
A figure appeared.
Tianyu attacked.
Heavenly Wolf Drill!
Frost spiraled around his body.
He launched himself forward like a rotating spear.
The attack ripped apart Qiao.
Light scattered.
Another clone.
Then fire pillars erupted from the ground.
One.
Three.
Eight.
Tianyu flew.
Literally flew.
Frost formed around his transformed body as he pushed Ki outward, allowing himself to remain airborne rather than rely entirely on Air Steps.
Bingya followed with Air Steps.
The entire floor below became flame.
"Close-range specialist!" Tianyu shouted.
Qiao's voice came from above.
"I am."
Tianyu looked up.
The elder dropped from the sky.
Tianyu blocked.
Their fists collided.
The air exploded.
This time Tianyu held.
He smiled.
Finally.
Qiao threw a straight punch.
Tianyu slipped outside it.
Elbow.
Qiao caught it.
Tianyu grabbed his wrist.
Knee.
Blocked.
Tianyu changed the knee into a foot hook around Qiao's ankle and pulled while striking his chest with one palm.
Qiao shifted his weight before the sweep completed.
His shoulder slammed into Tianyu.
Tianyu absorbed it.
Clawed fingers hooked around Qiao's sleeve.
Grapple.
Tianyu twisted.
For the first time, he actually threw the elder.
Qiao hit the ground.
Tianyu followed.
Elbow descending toward his chest.
Qiao disappeared beneath him.
Precognition.
The elder had moved before Tianyu committed.
Tianyu's elbow shattered rock.
Qiao appeared at his flank.
Palm.
Tianyu blocked.
Flame detonated against his forearms.
Another punch.
Tianyu parried.
Kick.
He checked it.
Elbow.
Tianyu ducked.
He was keeping up.
For five seconds.
Those five seconds were glorious.
Then Qiao changed rhythm.
Tianyu never understood what happened.
The elder's left hand moved.
Tianyu reacted.
Feint.
Right palm struck his liver.
Tianyu folded.
Qiao's knee hit his chest.
A hand caught the back of his neck.
Tianyu expected another knee and defended downward.
Qiao instead spun him sideways and threw him into Bingya.
Both crashed across the ground.
Tianyu coughed.
"What was that?"
"Experience."
"I don't like it."
"Most people don't."
Floating spheres of fire appeared around them.
Tianyu counted twelve.
They began moving.
Not firing.
Moving.
Slowly orbiting.
Bingya growled.
Trap.
Tianyu knew.
The bombs were creating boundaries.
He charged Qiao before they finished.
The elder retreated.
Tianyu accelerated.
Frost Pursuit!
Snow exploded beneath his feet.
He appeared beside Qiao.
Claw.
Miss.
Spinning kick.
Qiao leaned backward.
Tianyu projected his voice behind the elder.
"NOW!"
Qiao's danger sense shifted.
Bingya came from the opposite side.
Ice Prison!
Frost walls erupted.
Qiao was trapped between them.
Tianyu attacked from above.
Bingya from below.
The fire bombs exploded.
Not inward.
Outward.
The blast destroyed the Ice Prison before it completed.
Qiao emerged through the flames.
One hand drew backward.
Tianyu saw the posture.
Flame gathered around the fist, not as a projectile but as an extension of movement.
Punch.
Flame followed.
Tianyu blocked.
The punch stopped.
The flame did not.
It curled around his guard and struck his side.
Qiao pivoted.
Another flame followed his elbow.
Tianyu ducked.
The elder's heel touched the ground.
A wave of fire traveled through the rock.
Tianyu jumped.
Exactly as Qiao intended.
A rising punch caught him beneath the ribs.
Tianyu left the ground.
Qiao followed with Fire Flight.
Punch.
Elbow.
Kick.
Palm.
Every physical strike carried an elemental continuation. Flame did not replace the martial art.
It extended it.
Tianyu blocked the fist and was struck by the flame.
Dodged the flame and met the elbow.
Avoided the elbow and landed where a fire pillar was already forming.
He was not fighting a martial artist who used fire.
He was fighting someone whose martial art and element had become the same thing.
Tianyu finally broke away.
Breathing heavily.
Bingya landed beside him.
Both were burned.
Both were angry.
Both were enjoying themselves far too much.
Tianyu wiped blood from his lip.
"We need to change."
Obviously.
The elder approached.
Not quickly.
Tianyu understood the insult.
Or lesson.
Probably both.
He and Bingya released everything.
Frost Aura surged.
The temperature collapsed.
Mist became snow.
Heavenly Wolf Roar!
The combined roar struck Qiao.
The elder's movement faltered.
Tianyu followed.
Heavenly Wolf Pursuit!
Dozens of snow wolves formed this time.
Bingya released an Icicle Shower behind them.
Tianyu disappeared into the mist.
Voice Projection scattered his presence.
"Right!"
"Above!"
"Behind you!"
"Bingya, now!"
Some commands were real.
Some false.
The snow wolves attacked continuously, forcing Qiao to move while icicles restricted his escape routes.
This was Tianyu's strength.
Setup.
Once the battlefield became his, everything connected.
Frost slowed movement.
Mist removed sight.
Projected voices created uncertainty.
Pursuit wolves maintained pressure.
Bingya attacked whenever Qiao avoided Tianyu.
Tianyu attacked whenever Qiao turned toward Bingya.
Ice Prison formed around likely escape points.
Qiao stopped smiling.
Not because he was losing.
Because Tianyu had finally given him something worth evaluating seriously.
The elder inhaled.
Then breathed fire.
Not a narrow stream.
A sea.
Flame erupted across the frost field.
Snow became steam.
The mist vanished beneath heat.
Pursuit wolves evaporated.
Tianyu immediately reinforced the Frost Aura.
Qiao raised both hands.
Light clones appeared.
One.
Five.
Twenty.
Tianyu stared.
"Oh, come on."
All twenty moved.
Bingya's danger sense screamed in every direction.
The first clone attacked.
Fake.
Second.
Fake.
Third—
Real.
Tianyu barely blocked.
Qiao's glove pressed against his guard.
"Found you."
A flame bomb, which Tianyu had forgotten entirely, floated behind him.
It detonated.
Tianyu flew through two stone pillars.
He hit the ground.
Hard.
His transformed body tried to rise.
Bingya roared and charged.
Qiao vanished.
Bingya turned toward danger.
Too slow.
Qiao landed on his back.
One palm touched the base of Bingya's neck.
A controlled flame burst penetrated his Frost Armor.
Bingya collapsed.
Not unconscious.
Unable to move for several seconds.
Tianyu pushed himself upright.
"Bingya!"
I'm alive.
Good.
Tianyu stood.
Qiao was fifty meters away.
Tianyu's body hurt everywhere.
His Frost Aura had weakened.
He had burns across both arms.
His right leg was beginning to shake.
He smiled.
Qiao raised an eyebrow.
"Still?"
"Obviously."
Tianyu launched himself forward.
No setup.
No mist.
No tricks.
Just speed.
Qiao sighed.
Tianyu's danger sense screamed.
He changed direction.
A laser passed beside him.
Air Step.
Left.
Flame pillar.
Jump.
Right.
Bomb.
Duck.
He closed twenty meters.
Ten.
Five.
Qiao disappeared.
Tianyu turned before the danger sense finished warning him.
His claw met Qiao's glove.
For an instant—
Perfect.
Tianyu had predicted him.
Then Qiao smiled.
Tianyu realized something.
The elder had predicted that Tianyu would predict him.
A gloved hand touched Tianyu's chest.
Very gently.
The formation flashed red.
LETHAL STRIKE REGISTERED.
Everything stopped.
The rocky wilderness vanished.
Tianyu stood once more upon the ordinary arena floor.
His transformation faded.
Bingya shrank back to normal combat size beside him.
Both stared at Elder Qiao.
Tianyu looked down at the place where the elder's hand had touched his chest.
Then at Qiao.
"That was terrible."
The elder smiled.
"For you?"
"Yes."
"For me, it was informative."
Tianyu sat down on the arena floor.
Bingya collapsed beside him.
We lost badly.
"I noticed."
Very badly.
"I noticed that too."
Qiao walked toward them while a glowing evaluation tablet appeared beside him.
"Your close-range combat is excellent for your age and realm."
Tianyu immediately felt better.
"Your defense is poor."
That ended quickly.
Qiao began writing.
"Your movement is good. Very good, actually. Your transitions between Air Steps, flight and grounded acceleration are natural."
Another note.
"Your cooperation with Bingya is one of your strongest qualities. You do not fight as cultivator and beast. You fight as a pair."
Bingya raised his head proudly.
"Your battlefield setup is also good. Frost Aura, mist, projected voice, Pursuit Wolves and Ice Prison all interact effectively."
Tianyu nodded.
Then Qiao looked at him.
"Your long-range combat is inadequate."
"I have the beam."
"You have a beam."
"Icicle Shower."
"Bingya has Icicle Shower."
Tianyu opened his mouth.
Closed it.
"Your ranged attacks are mostly tools to force an enemy close."
"Yes."
"That is not the same as possessing a genuine ranged fighting method."
Qiao continued.
"You have almost no traps."
"Ice Prison."
"Battlefield restraint."
"Pursuit Wolves."
"Pressure technique."
"Floating—"
"You do not have floating fire bombs."
Tianyu frowned.
"I know."
"You were about to claim mine because you liked them."
Tianyu looked genuinely offended.
"I was not."
Qiao ignored him.
"Your direct defense relies too heavily on toughness, frost reinforcement and evasion. Against someone who can consistently hit you, that becomes a serious weakness."
Tianyu remembered the elder's martial combinations.
Fair.
"What should I learn?"
Qiao stopped writing.
"That will not be my decision."
"Suggestions?"
The elder considered him.
"Three concepts interest me."
He raised one finger.
"Fate."
Tianyu frowned.
"My danger sense?"
"Exactly. Your bloodline gives you an unusually strong instinct for danger. At present it warns you shortly before something happens."
Qiao pointed toward him.
"You react to a future possibility without truly perceiving it."
"If you study Fate principles, that instinct could develop into actual precognition."
Tianyu's interest sharpened.
"How far?"
"At your level? Perhaps fractions of a second."
"That doesn't sound like much."
Qiao smiled.
"You just lost because I knew what you were about to do slightly before you did it."
Tianyu became quiet.
Good point.
"Eventually," Qiao continued, "Fate comprehension becomes far stranger. Probability. Causality. fortunate paths. Misfortune. But you are nowhere near needing to think about those."
Second finger.
"Light."
Tianyu remembered the clones.
And invisibility.
And lasers.
"Speed?"
"Among other things. Light techniques could improve your movement, perception, deception and ranged options. You favor aggressive mobility. Light fits that tendency."
Third finger.
"Fire."
Tianyu stared.
"I use frost."
"I noticed."
"Then why fire?"
Qiao sat down across from him.
"Because you understand frost only from the side of cold."
Tianyu frowned.
The elder held up one hand.
A flame appeared.
"Fire and frost are not enemies merely because one is hot and one is cold. They concern the same fundamental problem."
"Temperature."
"Energy transfer."
The flame disappeared.
"To understand cold better, study heat. Learn how energy enters matter, how it leaves, what happens when temperature changes rapidly, and how different materials respond."
Tianyu thought about it.
"If I understand fire…"
"You may understand exactly what your frost is removing, suppressing or transforming."
Qiao nodded.
"A cultivator who studies only the thing he likes eventually reaches the boundary of his own perspective."
Tianyu looked toward Bingya.
The Frost Wolf was listening too.
"So what classes am I taking?"
Qiao laughed.
"None that I decide."
Tianyu's shoulders dropped.
"Then why tell me all that?"
"Because you asked."
The elder finished the evaluation.
"Your comprehension test remains."
"When?"
"This afternoon."
Tianyu looked at his identity card.
Sure enough, another notification had appeared.
COMPREHENSION EVALUATION — 14:00
Qiao stood.
"Once both results are completed, the appropriate elders and instructors will review them together. Then they will determine what instruction best suits you."
"Do I get any say?"
"Of course."
That reassured Tianyu.
"You may reject recommendations."
"Good."
"You may also choose inferior classes and waste several years discovering that the elders were right."
Tianyu stared at him.
Qiao smiled beneath his long white beard.
"Freedom is important."
Bingya stood.
I like him.
"I don't."
Qiao clearly heard that.
"Excellent. Dislike is memorable."
Tianyu rose, stretching his aching shoulder.
He had come into the arena expecting to show the Heavenly Flame Sect how strong he was.
Instead, someone restricted to exactly his cultivation stage had dismantled almost every part of his fighting style, exposed weaknesses he had barely considered, and casually suggested three completely new directions for his cultivation.
Tianyu should have been irritated.
He was.
He was also thrilled.
Back in Mistforge, being exceptional had meant finding fewer and fewer people capable of showing him something new.
Here, he had been inside the sect for one day.
And already someone had shown him how much he did not know.
Tianyu smiled.
The Heavenly Flame Sect was going to be fun.