Chapter 4: Challenge at Dusk

Hua Boyan wore jade rings on both thumbs and smiled.

He rode in through the Weeping Gate on a red mule, with forty Scarlet Lotus elders and a bodyguard the size of a door.

He slid down in front of Luo's lodge and bowed with both hands raised.

"Master," he said warmly. "We were so worried."

"You look worried," said Luo.

"The whole sect is. Your seat, you see."

Hua's bald head shone in the afternoon light.

"The Founder's Law, the Fourth Rule. A master who binds himself to a righteous blade has broken faith with the Lotus."

"I haven't bound myself to anyone."

"You were seen carrying him into your bed."

Jinghan stood in the doorway with his arms crossed and his face carefully empty.

"I was carried," he said. "There was a crisis. Your master was very brave about it."

A few of the red robes made noises into their sleeves.

Hua's smile turned on Jinghan, bright and nasty, and the jade on his thumbs clicked.

"Sword Immortal Fang. Such a pretty sword. I hear Cloudpeak is curious how long it will stay unbroken."

"It has never been broken once."

"A good start," said Hua. "Master Luo, the Law says you may keep your seat if you defeat a challenger in the Lotus Trial."

"Three days from now, at dusk, at this Gate."

Luo's face did not change.

"Who is the challenger?"

"My champion. Our sect's finest."

Hua gestured at the door-sized man behind him, who had not blinked since he arrived.

"And since you are so tangled up with a foreign blade, the Law says no outside hand may touch the fight."

"No outside hand."

"Not a finger, not a word. If Sword Immortal Fang interferes, the Trial is forfeit, and so is your seat."

He bowed again, gracious as a snake, and led his forty elders down the slope to their camp.

Jinghan watched them go.

"That man wants you dead," he said.

"He wants me small," said Luo. "It's different. It lasts longer."

"Can you beat his champion?"

"Maybe."

Luo rubbed his chest over the lotus.

"My qi has been cut in half since the Gate broke. The thing took a lot with it, and I can't tell what's mine anymore."

"Then we train."

Luo blinked. "We?"

"You can't be touched in the Trial. But I can touch you right now."

Jinghan heard how that sounded a moment too late.

Luo heard it first, and his ears went red.

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