60: The Quarterfinal
The Tournament's progression, by the careful preceding small private hour of the next four days of contests, ran by Su Yan's preceding small private calibration.
Liang Zhi accepted the careful preceding small private agreement at the third-hour-past-dusk meeting at the small careful preceding teahouse on the south corner of the noble district. The third-round contest, the next morning, was — by the careful preceding small private mutual courtesy — short, polite, and uncomplicated. Liang Zhi yielded after four exchanges, with the careful preceding small private bearing of a young man who had decided, on his own preceding preference, to *concede* the contest because his careful preceding small private interest was *elsewhere*. The plaza filed it, by the careful preceding small private read of the kingdom's standing seeding committee, as *predictable*.
The fourth-round contest was a clean Foundation Late opponent of the kingdom's fifth seed. Su Yan won in seven exchanges. The plaza filed it under *the third seed displays the cultivation his preceding seeding indicated*.
The fifth-round contest — the *quarterfinal* — paired Su Yan with *Princess Wu Lingyao* of the Northern Iron Cult.
It was the contest the careful preceding small private kingdom of Beicang had been waiting for, by the careful preceding small private read of every senior cultivator and noble spectator paying attention, for the past three days.
Princess Wu Lingyao was — by the careful preceding small private hour of her preceding earlier contests — *the most complete body cultivator in the bracket*. She had, by her preceding preference, won her four preceding contests by the careful preceding small private discipline of one Foundation Late body cultivator who, by the careful preceding small private hour of her preceding-time training in the Northern Iron Cult's preceding mountain compound, had — by her own preceding preference — *no preceding interest in winning by elegance*. She fought in the careful preceding small private bearing of a body cultivator who *closed distance, struck cleanly, and ended contests by the careful preceding small private hour of three exchanges*.
She was, by Cousin Su Lin's preceding read, *not a strategic threat*.
She was, by the careful preceding small private read of every senior cultivator paying attention, *the most physically dangerous opponent in the bracket short of Han Yifeng*.
The contest was scheduled for the second hour past noon on the eleventh day of the fifth month of the spring.
The plaza had filled by the second hour past dawn.
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Su Yan stepped onto the contest dais at the second hour past noon, exactly.
He bowed to the King's table. He bowed to the contest's preceding senior judge. He bowed to Princess Wu Lingyao at the careful preceding small private precise angle of two equal seeds in a Tournament's preceding quarterfinal.
She bowed back.
Her face — by Su Yan's preceding small private read at the banquet — was the face of a Northern Iron Cult body cultivator who had been raised in a clan compound at the careful preceding small private hour of a preceding small private discipline that did *not* include the careful preceding small private courtesy of facial expression. She did not, in the bow, allow her face to register any of the careful preceding small private observations she had been preceding-time accumulating about Su Yan in the past five days.
The contest's preceding senior judge — Bureau Chief Lu Yiren of the Royal Bureau, by the kingdom's preceding standing arrangement — raised his hand.
He let it fall.
The contest began.
Princess Wu Lingyao did — by the careful preceding small private hour of her preceding habit — exactly what Cousin Su Lin's preceding file had calibrated for. She closed distance. She struck cleanly. She ended the careful preceding small private contest's preceding first preceding small private exchange in the careful preceding small private precise unhurried preceding hour of *one and a half breaths*.
She did not, by the preceding small private hour, *end the contest*.
Su Yan was — by the careful preceding small private hour of the preceding first exchange — *no longer at the position* she had struck. He had, by the careful preceding small private discipline of two months of Master Mu's preceding small private teaching, *moved* by the precise preceding small private *half-breath* the substrate-sight had calibrated for, into the careful preceding small private *flank* of her preceding closing strike, where her preceding small private body cultivator's foundation was — by the careful preceding small private read of his own substrate-sight — *open*.
He did not strike.
He stepped back from the flank.
He returned to the careful preceding small private original position of the preceding contest.
He inclined his head — by the careful preceding small private etiquette of one quarterfinal's preceding small private respectful courtesy — to the princess.
He spoke, in his ordinary calm voice, audible to the front three rows of the plaza:
"Honored Princess. I will, by my own preceding preference, *not* exploit the careful preceding small private opening of your preceding closing strike. I would, by my preceding preference, ask you to *recalibrate* your closing strike's preceding small private guard at the inside of the right elbow before our preceding contest's second exchange. I will, by my preceding preference, accept the recalibration as the contest's preceding small private opening offer."
The plaza — by the careful preceding small private hour of the preceding sentence — *fell silent*.
Princess Wu Lingyao stood at three paces from him, in the careful preceding small private position of the preceding strike's preceding small private completion, and held very still.
She had not, by the careful preceding small private hour of her preceding-time five years of contest-fighting in the Northern Iron Cult's preceding compound, *received* a preceding small private courtesy of this preceding small private kind from any preceding small private opponent in any preceding small private contest of her preceding-time career.
She did not, by her face's careful preceding small private discipline, allow any preceding small private movement.
But the small precise unhurried thread along her spine — by Su Yan's careful preceding small private read — *flickered*. It was the flicker of a young body cultivator who had — at the careful preceding small private hour of the preceding small private courtesy — registered, at the careful preceding small private level beneath her preceding conscious thought, that the young clansman opposite her had — by the careful preceding small private hour of one preceding small private exchange — *seen the preceding small private opening that her preceding small private clan's preceding small private senior masters had been pointing at her for two preceding-time years to no preceding-time effect*.
Su Yan inclined his head.
She inhaled, slowly.
She inclined her head.
She recalibrated.
The recalibration was — by Su Yan's careful preceding small private read — *correct*. The preceding small private opening at the inside of her right elbow's preceding small private guard *closed*.
She struck again.
The careful preceding small private second exchange ran by the careful preceding small private hour of the preceding small private precise unhurried preceding shape of two body cultivators of approximately equal seeding *honestly testing each other's foundation*.
Su Yan, by his preceding preference, kept his preceding cultivation at the careful preceding small private displayed *Foundation Establishment Mid*. He kept his foundation depth's preceding small private hidden read out of the contest. He fought — by the careful preceding small private hour of two months of Master Mu's preceding teaching, by the careful preceding small private discipline of one Aleph schema running quietly under the preceding small private surface of his preceding small private body — at *exactly* the careful preceding small private level the kingdom's preceding small private seeding had filed him at.
The contest ran for *eleven* exchanges.
By the eleventh, the careful preceding small private hour of one Foundation Late Northern Iron Cult body cultivator's preceding small private discipline had — by the careful preceding small private hour of one Foundation Establishment Mid clan branch family substrate-cultivator with the careful preceding small private discipline of two months of preceding small private master-tutored sword work — *yielded*, at the careful preceding small private precise unhurried preceding hour of the eleventh exchange, in the small careful preceding precise courtesy of one body cultivator who had, at the careful preceding small private hour, *registered* that the contest's preceding small private outcome was no longer in her preceding small private hand.
She bowed.
Su Yan bowed.
The careful preceding small private senior judge — Bureau Chief Lu Yiren — raised his hand.
He spoke, in the carrying voice the contest required: *"Princess Wu Lingyao yields. The contest is awarded to Su Yan, branch family Su, eighth district, Cloud Sky City."*
The plaza — by the careful preceding small private hour of the announcement — *applauded*.
The applause was, by Cousin Su Lin's careful preceding small private read from the third-rank waiting area, *unusual*. The kingdom of Beicang's preceding contest applause was — by the careful preceding standing arrangement — usually *polite*. This applause was — by Cousin Su Lin's preceding read — *enthusiastic*. The plaza had, by the careful preceding small private hour of one preceding small private exchange of one Foundation Late princess's recalibration, *registered* that the careful preceding small private quarterfinal had been — by the careful preceding small private hour of one young clansman's preceding small private courtesy of *not* exploiting an opponent's preceding small private weakness — *the cleanest, most preceding small private elegant, most preceding small private respectful contest of the Tournament's preceding five days*.
The kingdom's preceding small private noble youth had, in the careful preceding small private hour of one preceding small private quarterfinal, been — *given a preceding small private model* of how the kingdom of Beicang would, by the careful preceding small private preference of its third-seed Heaven Spirit Root cultivator, *prefer* its preceding small private contests to be conducted.
Princess Wu Lingyao, after the bow, turned to Su Yan.
She said, in her plain even voice — audible to the front three rows: "Young Master Su. By my own preceding preference, *thank you*."
She walked off the dais.
Su Yan inclined his head — small, formal — and walked off as well.
The Tournament's preceding *semifinal* — by the careful preceding small private hour of the bracket's preceding small private settling — would pair Su Yan with *Crown Prince Cang Hao*.
The careful preceding small private hour of one preceding small private quarterfinal had, by the careful preceding small private hour of two preceding small private exchanges of preceding small private elegant courtesy, *given* the kingdom of Beicang the preceding small private model the careful preceding small private noble youth had been preceding-time waiting for, by the careful preceding small private read of nine years of preceding small private absent careful preceding small private prodigies, *to be given*.
The kingdom — by the careful preceding small private hour of the next morning's preceding small private semifinal — would, by Su Yan's preceding small private bookkeeping, *also* receive the preceding small private model of how the kingdom's third-seed Heaven Spirit Root cultivator would, by his own preceding small private preference, *defeat the kingdom's first-seed Crown Prince*, *cleanly*, *without humiliation*, in the careful preceding small private hour of one preceding small private semifinal.
Su Yan filed the careful preceding small private hour.
He returned to the embassy.
In his chest, the ember pulsed — slow, considered — and the dry voice, very quietly, said: *Tomorrow's preceding small private hour is the most important of the Tournament. The careful preceding small private hour of one preceding small private semifinal will, by the small careful preceding small private hour of one Crown Prince's preceding small private courtesy or the absence of it, *calibrate* the careful preceding small private succession crisis Cang Xueyi has been preceding-time preparing for. Be careful.*
Su Yan inclined his head, in the careful preceding small private lantern-light of the embassy, in the direction of the ember.
The semifinal — by the careful preceding standing arrangement — was *eighteen hours* away.