63: The Final — Round One
The plaza was full at the second hour past dawn.
The bracket had narrowed to two. Su Yan and Crown Prince Han Yifeng. The kingdom's third-seed clansman and the foreign honored guest's second-seed Crown Prince. The contest had been preceding-time anticipated, by every careful preceding read of the kingdom's senior cultivators and noble spectators, since the morning of the Trial of Aptitude nine months earlier.
The two of them stepped onto the contest dais at the third hour past dawn, exactly.
They bowed.
The contest's senior judge — Bureau Chief Lu Yiren — raised his hand.
He let it fall.
The contest began.
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The Ten-Thousand-Thorn-Heart's careful preceding first form opened the contest. Han Yifeng struck without preliminary courtesy. The strike was not — by any of the careful preceding small private bookkeeping Cousin Su Lin had calibrated — the kind of opening strike a young Crown Prince of Eastern Yan would, by his clan's preceding small private etiquette, *have used* against any opponent he had not, by his own preceding read, *registered as honestly capable of receiving the strike*.
The strike was Foundation Late.
It was — by Su Yan's careful preceding read of the substrate-sight at the precise hour of the strike's preceding closing — a *cold needle* of pale-red Qi, two finger-widths long, that came from the careful preceding small private hour of Han Yifeng's right wrist at the careful preceding small private speed of *one quarter the kingdom of Beicang's preceding small private standard Foundation Late strike*.
Su Yan had been preceding-time prepared.
He stepped — by the careful preceding small private hour of two months of Master Mu's preceding teaching, by the careful preceding small private precise hour of the silver-gold lattice's preceding small private substrate-sight — half a pace inside the strike's preceding closing arc.
The needle passed where his throat had been a quarter of a breath before.
He did not, by his own preceding preference, *return* the strike.
He stepped back.
He inclined his head — small, formal — at the careful preceding small private precise unhurried angle of one Foundation Establishment Mid clansman to one Foundation Late Crown Prince whose preceding small private opening strike he had — by the careful preceding small private hour of one Aleph schema's preceding small private substrate calibration — *seen*.
Han Yifeng held very still.
His pale-red thread along the spine — by the substrate-sight's careful preceding small private read — *did not flicker*. He had, by his own preceding preference at the wisteria garden two months ago, *expected* Su Yan to step inside the opening. He had calibrated the preceding small private opening strike for *exactly* that careful preceding small private answer.
He had, in other words, *tested* — and Su Yan had answered.
He inclined his head — small, formal.
He struck again.
The careful preceding second strike was — by the careful preceding small private read of Su Yan's substrate-sight — *one quarter faster* than the preceding small private opening. Han Yifeng was, by the careful preceding small private hour of two preceding strikes, *escalating* by the careful preceding small private precise hour of the kingdom of Eastern Yan's preceding small private Ten-Thousand-Thorn-Heart's preceding small private second-form's careful preceding small private hour of *progressive needle acceleration*.
The careful preceding small private hour of fifteen exchanges was, by Su Yan's earlier estimate, *exactly* the careful preceding small private hour Han Yifeng had calibrated to bring the careful preceding small private acceleration to its careful preceding small private maximum.
The third strike came.
Su Yan stepped.
The fourth.
He stepped.
The fifth.
He drew *Ledger*.
By the sixth, the contest had — by the careful preceding small private hour — *settled* into the small precise unhurried preceding rhythm of one Foundation Late Crown Prince's escalating needle-strikes against one Foundation Establishment Mid clansman's careful preceding small private deflecting precise sword work. The plaza, by Cousin Su Lin's later count, had — by the careful preceding small private hour of six exchanges — *fallen silent*.
Eight thousand spectators *watched*.
The kingdom's senior cultivators — by the careful preceding read of any of their preceding small private threads from the gallery — were *registering* that the contest had moved, by the careful preceding small private hour of six exchanges, *past* the careful preceding small private level the kingdom's preceding small private seeding had calibrated.
The contest was being fought, by the careful preceding small private read of every senior cultivator paying attention, at the careful preceding small private level of *Foundation Late on Foundation Late*.
Su Yan was — by every careful preceding small private public read — *Foundation Establishment Mid*.
The kingdom's careful preceding small private public read was, by the careful preceding small private hour of six exchanges, *recalibrating*.
By the seventh exchange, Han Yifeng's needle struck Su Yan's left shoulder.
It was a clean strike. By the careful preceding small private hour of Han Yifeng's preceding small private precise calibration, the strike had been calibrated for *exactly* the wound Su Yan had estimated would be acceptable on the eve at the moonlit private courtyard. The needle penetrated the outer robe and the small careful preceding small private undershirt and the careful preceding small private skin, by perhaps the careful preceding small private hour of one and a half finger-widths, into the small careful preceding small private muscle of the shoulder's preceding small private surface.
It did not, by the careful preceding small private hour, reach bone.
Blood — small, clean, controlled — ran down Su Yan's left arm.
He did not, by the careful preceding small private hour of the strike, *flinch*.
He stepped back. He inclined his head — small, formal.
He spoke, in his ordinary calm voice, audible to the front three rows: "*Crown Prince Yifeng. Honest.*"
Han Yifeng, in the careful preceding small private hour of the seventh exchange's preceding closing, *inclined his head* — small, formal.
His pale-red thread — by Su Yan's careful preceding read — *warmed*, by the careful preceding small private hour, *one further degree*. He had, by his preceding read, *registered* that Su Yan had — by the careful preceding small private precise hour of one accepted wound — *honored* the careful preceding small private agreement of the wisteria garden.
The contest was — by the careful preceding small private hour of one accepted wound — *settled* into the careful preceding small private precise unhurried preceding rhythm both of them had, by their preceding mutual courtesy, agreed to fight at.
The contest's senior judge — Bureau Chief Lu Yiren — did *not* raise his hand to pause for medical attention.
The contest, by the kingdom's careful preceding small private precise hour of the seventh exchange, *continued*.
Round one had — by the careful preceding small private hour of seven exchanges and one accepted wound — *closed* at the careful preceding small private precise hour the careful preceding small private mutual calibration had been preceding-time set for.
Round two would, by the careful preceding small private hour of the next exchange, *test* whether Su Yan would — by his own preceding preference, by Cang Xueyi's preceding preference, by Linglong's preceding preference, and by the careful preceding small private bookkeeping of the past nine months — *open the careful preceding small private hour of his actual undisplayed cultivation*.
Su Yan — in the careful preceding small private hour of the seventh exchange's preceding closing, with blood running down his left arm and *Ledger* held steady at the careful preceding small private precise unhurried preceding ready-line of his right hand — *decided*.
He would, by his own preceding preference, *not* open it. The wound was, by his careful preceding read, *exactly* the wound he had estimated. The careful preceding small private hour of the contest's preceding rhythm had — by the careful preceding small private hour of seven exchanges — *settled*. The careful preceding small private kingdom's preceding small private public read was, by the careful preceding small private hour, *recalibrating* in the careful preceding small private direction the careful preceding small private hour required.
He would, by his own preceding preference, *win* at the careful preceding small private displayed level.
He inhaled.
The careful preceding small private hour of round two — by the careful preceding small private precise unhurried preceding hour of the contest's preceding small private continuation — *opened*.