Morning came early.

Lian let herself into the pavilion before the first bell of the kitchen wing had stopped ringing, basket on her hip, message tucked under the basket. She slid the bedroom door open and stopped dead in the threshold.

Lin Xuan was asleep upside down.

His head hung off the edge of the mattress at an angle no neck should hold. One leg was up against the wall, foot pressed flat as if he had been climbing it in his sleep and given up halfway. His robe had wrapped twice around his shoulders the wrong way. His left arm dangled toward the floor with two fingers brushing the wood, and his mouth was moving.

"Oh, great Mira... benevolent Mira... giver of all riches..."

Lian pressed her lips together very hard and did not say a word.

"...goddess of two hundred and fifty thousand points... you are too kind to this unworthy disciple..."

She set the basket down on the side table.

"Lin Xuan."

He kept muttering.

"Lin Xuan."

"Mm. Mira. Five more minutes."

"It is not Mira. It is me. There is a message."

His eyes opened. He took stock of his position on the mattress without moving from it. He did not seem alarmed.

"Lian. Why am I upside down."

"I do not know, Lin Xuan."

"...All right. Why are you here this early."

She held the message out. "You have been summoned to the Council. The matter is the regional tournament. They wish to revisit the Patriarch’s designation."

Lin Xuan looked at the ceiling for a count.

"...Of course they do."

He swung his leg down off the wall, rolled the right way up, and sat on the edge of the bed with his hair pointing in three directions. Lian did not let herself smile.

"Help me prepare, Lian."

"Yes."

She laid out the formal robe, set breakfast on the table, and slipped out toward the laundry without another word.

When her steps had faded down the path, the panel unfurled at the edge of his vision.

[ Good morning, Xuan. Did you sleep well? You did not stop talking the whole night. ]

’Did I really? I hope I did not say anything strange.’

[ Only how much you loved me. ]

’...Oh.’

A silence stretched between them. Mira did not seem to know what to add.

Lin Xuan reached for his chopsticks. ’Right. Council time.’

He started eating.

’Mira. Are you finally going to give me something good for my daily reward? The last few have all been recovery pills. Which I appreciated. I was training. But, you know. A man would like to be spoiled occasionally.’

[ Hm. I will think about it. (¬‿¬) For now, be careful at the Council. You walk into a room with a lot of people lined up against you. ]

’I am aware.’

Lin Xuan arrived at the Council Hall alone.

The room received him in silence.

The Patriarch on the dais. Senior Elders Ren and Tao to either side. Eight Active Elders in a U around the floor. Three wives to the right of the dais on a raised bench: Madam Mei in pale blue, Madam Yu in pale green, Madam Lin Hua in white and green. Three Hall Masters in the second row. Lin Kai at the far extreme of the U, robe formal, jaw set.

Lin Xuan walked the length of the floor, inclined his head to the dais, and took his seat.

He waited.

Lin Zhen opened.

"Council convened at the request of the First Wife, supported by Elder Bao. The matter under review is the Patriarch’s designation of the principal representative of the Lin clan to the Six Sects Regional Tournament. Madam Mei. Present."

Madam Mei rose. Her voice came out educated, soft, controlled.

"Patriarch. Husband. Council. My concern is practical, not familial. The Young Master Lin Xuan is still far from sitting at the peak of Qi Refining. The regional tournament hosts cultivators who tend to gather around the upper end of that path. To send a principal representative four stages below the median of the field is to expose the Lin clan to public humiliation. Despite the duel of yesterday, I suggest we reconsider this designation."

Three Elders inclined their heads. Bao. Shan. Wu.

Lin Xuan did not move. He waited.

"Young Master Lin Xuan. Do you wish to respond."

"With permission, Patriarch."

He stood.

"Madam Mei is correct on her numbers. But my dear brother Lin Kai, despite being some stages above me, could not defeat me yesterday in the duel."

Lin Kai’s chair shifted.

"That was because I was not prepared!"

The patriarch raised one finger. Lin Kai closed his mouth.

Lin Xuan continued without a glance at his brother.

"As one can see, raw power is not everything. I will be at a disadvantage in that regard, yes. But I believe I demonstrated my abilities in the duel to a satisfactory degree. I also believe I displayed the techniques of the sect well, despite the fact that they are at a level above mine."

The Elder gallery went still.

Lin Xuan watched the moment work its way through the room.

The forms he had run on that platform were restricted teaching. They were not supposed to be possible at his level. Every Elder present had spent the last three days asking the same question to themselves, and the question had a single word for an answer.

Talent.

Innate talent. The kind that, despite a weaker realm, could grasp techniques meant for cultivators many stages above and execute them clean.

Madam Mei could not hold the line on that point. She let it pass and changed angle.

"Let’s accept that this may be the case. The Young Master Lin Xuan was adopted. The Young Master Lin Kai is the Patriarch’s son of blood and legitimate heir, and mine as well. What will the people say when the principal representative of the sect and the Lin family is not Lin Kai. The rumors that will spread. The traditions of formal tournaments hold that the principal must be the biological heir, when one exists and is apt."

"Madam Mei cites the traditions of the great regional families. Allow me to be specific, Madam. To which great regional families do you refer."

A pause.

"Because the traditions of the Lin clan, according to the family code signed by my father’s great-grandfather and held in the archives of Elder Min, establish that the principal representative in any formal tournament shall be designated by the family duel between the Patriarch’s sons, without distinction of biological or adoptive origin."

He turned toward the Elder bench.

"Elder Min. Could you confirm to the Council Clause Three of the Lin family code."

Elder Min, without rising, read from a paper he had ready.

"Clause Three. The principal representative of the Lin clan in any formal tournament shall be the victor of the family duel convened to that effect, without distinction of origin. The blood of the Lin clan is not determined by birth. It is determined by the edge of the sword."

Silence.

"I won that duel. So Madam Mei, are you against me being the representative despite this?"

"The duel was won by platform exit, not by clean cut. It is a technical victory, not a swordsman’s victory. The Six Sects Regional Tournament demands a representative with a more, let us say, demonstrative combat profile."

Lin Xuan did not pause.

"Hall Master Liang. Were you present at the duel."

Master Liang stood from the second row. "I was, Young Master."

"How many forms of the Seven Dragon Sword Art did you identify in the combat."

"Three, Young Master. Awakening Dragon. Coiling Dragon. And a Piercing Dragon broken into a feint."

"What is the realm officially required for the transmission of the Seven Dragon Sword Art in this sect, Hall Master."

"Qi Refining Stage 9 Peak."

"I am at Stage 2 officially. Madam Mei describes my victory as technical. Master Liang has just described three restricted forms executed seven stages below requirement. Madam, does that strike you as technical, or as demonstrative."

Madam Mei’s teeth pressed together a fraction visible only to those who knew her.

Madam Lin Hua, the third wife, let escape a small smile that nobody saw except Lin Xuan and Mira.

Madam Mei tried one final angle. Health. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"The Young Master has only just emerged from a curse of two years. His body is not tested under the sustained stress of a three-week tournament. If he collapses mid-tournament, the humiliation of the clan will exceed any partial victory."

"Master Fu. When was my last health evaluation completed."

"A few days ago, Young Master."

"What was the result."

"Fit for sustained combat. No detectable residue of the curse and all meridian system clean."

"Thank you, Master."

Lin Xuan turned to Madam Mei. His voice did not rise. It cooled a degree.

"Madam. You have raised four objections in this Council. Outdated realm, lineage, form of victory, health. Each has been answered with a verifiable record of this sect. If you have a fifth, I respectfully invite you to present it. If you do not, I respectfully request that you withdraw the convocation and permit the Patriarch to confirm the designation."

Madam Mei opened her mouth.

She closed it.

Lin Zhen spoke for the first time since the opening.

"Council. Does any Elder present wish to add an objection that has not been answered with verifiable record."

Silence.

Bao did not raise his hand. Shan looked at the floor. Wu studied the ceiling.

"Designation confirmed. Lin Xuan at the championship rounds. Lin Kai at the secondary brackets. Council adjourned."

Madam Mei rose first. She did not look at Lin Xuan as she passed his seat. The corners of her mouth had set in a line nobody in the room missed.

Madam Yu followed her, neutral, no expression.

Madam Lin Hua passed last. As she walked by Lin Xuan she spoke very quietly.

"Well played, Young Master."

"Thank you, Madam."

She continued without waiting for more.

Lin Kai left without looking at his brother.

In the corridor, Senior Elder Ren fell into step beside Lin Xuan.

"You have closed your stepmother’s mouth in front of twelve Elders, Young Master. That does not get forgotten."

"I was not aiming to be forgotten, Elder."

The old man let a small breath out through his nose that was almost a laugh.

[ You aimed to kill, Xuan. (¬‿¬) ]

’I aimed to silence, Mira. Which is worse.’