Standing around the mats, wearing white robes and clasping their hands behind their backs, were the current New Order warriors.
One warrior stepped forward, and the flames from the torches lit up his face with an eerie glow. I tightened my grip around Jinyu’s jiàn and squared my shoulders.
“Welcome, warriors,” said Xiong, “to the Ninety-Sixth Duels, and the first of this century.”
CHAPTER
7
Xiong read from a thick black rule book with weathered yellowed pages, his voice echoing against the walls.
No matter how many contenders there were for the Ninety-Sixth Duels, only three would go on the quest, as Erlang Shen had stated in his shī. We’d fight each other one-on-one in as many rounds as necessary until only three warriors were left standing. Each duel would last ten minutes or until one warrior felled the other.
“Although death isn’t against the rules,” Xiong said, “I urge you all to see one another as you are—as comrades—and aim to injure, not maim.”
This was sounding less and less appealing by the moment.
“Every New Order warrior must be prepared to sacrifice anything for the honor of undertaking the quest. Duty above all else. So it was hundreds of years ago, and so it is now.” Xiong spoke with an unmistakable note of finality. He closed the book. The sound echoed in the open space. “Now, before we begin, each young warrior will prove their lineage and worth.”
Warriors stepped forward, including Jordan, Ashley, and me, forming a smaller circle on the black mats. I cast my gaze around and locked eyes with someone standing outside the small circle—Ren. For a moment, I was confused, but then I remembered the three rules for entry that Xiong had mentioned earlier. Of course, Ren didn’t meet the requirements for those rules, so he wouldn’t be able to take part in the Duels. I’d assumed we’d just do everything together—like how Alex and I had done everything together up until six months ago. Knowing Ren wouldn’t be entering with me gave me an uneasy feeling.
Ba hung back in the shadows, away from the others. Just seeing my father looking on made me nervous.
Among the participating warriors, I counted twenty heads in total. Many looked like they were about our age, the youngest around eleven or twelve, the oldest maybe eighteen.
“Why are the adults hanging back?” I whispered to Jordan.
“Most of them are parents,” he said. “Once a warrior turns eighteen, they come of age. Their duty is to family—to raise their children into an even better generation of warriors.”
“That’s … so beautiful.”
Jordan shrugged. “That’s what they say, but mostly, I think it’s ’cause they’re kinda out of shape.”
That had been the case back in the Jade Society, too. I guess people aren’t really up for fighting demons anymore when they’re busy dropping off their kids at day care or having their midlife crises.
Several sobbing mothers pulled out handkerchiefs. On the other hand, the kids outside the circle of participants—their friends—hooted and shouted out encouragement.
Somehow, I couldn’t picture the Jade Society adults—Mr. Yang, Mr. Zhao, or even Mao—letting their kids duel for the right to embark on a dangerous quest. Duty to the gods above all. The New Order really took that seriously.
The first warrior knelt down before Xiong.
“Wen,” Xiong barked out.
“Zài,” the warrior said. Here.
A blue flame burst up from the floor and engulfed the warrior’s outline. Some gasped. A middle-aged woman behind the boy who could only be his mother cried out in shock. But the warrior didn’t seem to be in pain and stood up to make room for the next.
One by one, the young warriors knelt down before Xiong and stated their name and family. Zheng. Qiao. Chu. Wan. One by one, the blue flames burst up and consumed their outlines. Ah Qiao’s older brother, Ah Zhu, stepped up, and a sulky Ah Qiao stayed behind. I guessed he was too young.
Ashley and Jordan knelt down in unison when it was their turn. There were no crying parents in the space behind them.
“Wait,” cried one of the Elders, just before Xiong raised his hand above the Liao siblings. The master of the New Order paused and turned his head slowly toward the Elder. “Are you sure it’s safe for these two to participate in the Duels?”
“I believe them to be quite capable warriors, yes,” Xiong said mildly. Yet his sharp eyes reflected some coldness that told me there was more to this conversation beneath the surface.
The Elder drew himself to his full height. I could practically feel the energy crackling between them in the air. “You know what I mean. I’m not talking about their safety. I’m talking about everyone else’s.”
Nods and worried murmuring followed his statement.
“He’s right,” someone called from the crowd.
Ashley’s neck turned red, and Jordan hung his head. Sympathy twinged in my chest. I didn’t know what everyone was talking about, but I knew exactly what it was like to be in the siblings’ shoes. Alex and I had endured years of being outcasts in the Jade Society.
“We will proceed with the ceremony,” Xiong boomed. “There will be no more interruptions.”
This time, no one dared talk back.
When he was finished with Ashley and Jordan, Xiong fixed me with a cold stare. My heart pounded madly.
“Xiong,” he said.
It was strange answering to a family name that wasn’t my own, but I steadied my voice as much as possible. “Zài.”
Murmurs of confusion rose from the onlookers. This wasn’t going to work. Of course it wouldn’t. I wasn’t a member of this society, much less of Xiong’s family. What was I thinking, trying to take Jinyu’s place?
But after several moments, a cooling, tickling sensation rose from my toes all the way up to the roots of my hair. More gasps. I looked down. Flames. Not blue ones, but purple flames enveloped me.
Even though we were indoors, a gentle breeze wrapped around my body. I heard a whisper, the words too faint for me to catch.
“Did you say something?” I asked Jordan, who was closest to me.
But he was too busy gawking at me with his jaw hung wide open. “You’re … purple!”
“Thanks.” I sighed. “I hadn’t noticed.”
I wasn’t sure how this worked, now that I’d entered the Ninety-Sixth Duels in Jinyu’s place. I mean, were we sure this was even legal if no adoption papers had been signed?
I shook the doubt from my head. All that mattered now was that I was about to duel for the right to embark on this quest. I wouldn’t go down without a fight. If Xiong’s word was true, then I didn’t have a choice.
As Xiong lined us up on the mats across from our first opponents, my palms grew slick with sweat. The loud, low beating of large drums sounded.
“Drummers, silence!” Xiong yelled. The drummers lowered their sticks to their sides, and heavy quiet filled the room.
I faced my first opponent, a girl a little taller and older than I was, maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore her sleek black hair in a chin-length bob and glared at me like she was picturing me skewered at the end of her sword. Her glare was so intense that her eyebrows looked like they’d been stolen off a cartoon character’s face. I couldn’t remember her first name, but I was pretty sure Angry Eyebrows’s family name was Chu.