Lin Xuan ran into the narrow corridors of the contestants’ wing without bothering to slow down for protocol. The stone underfoot was cool, the lantern light yellow against the gray walls, and the air still carried the faint trace of morning incense from the staff shift.

He cut between two passages, scanning for the figure in gray. A handful of secondary bracket contestants stood by the side benches, talking, lacing their robes back up after their fights. A few of them turned when they heard his steps. None of them got in his way. The Skyedge crest at his chest was reason enough to stand aside.

Behind them, further down a parallel corridor, another figure had drawn surprised looks from the same contestants. An elder of a regional sect walking through the contestants’ wing was a sight none of the boys here had expected today. Lin Xuan caught the small flicker of attention out of the corner of his vision and kept moving.

He turned the last corner.

Wei Tianming was halfway down the corridor, walking toward the service door at the far end with the calm pace of a man with nowhere urgent to be. He had his sword in one hand and his free hand on the hilt strap, adjusting the buckle while he walked.

Lin Xuan covered the last stretch in three quick steps.

He tilted his head back over his shoulder before he reached out. At the far end of the corridor he had just left, an old man in a pale blue and white robe was strolling forward at the unhurried pace of a man who had decided he had all the time in the world.

The poor elder. He had no idea his prize was about to be lifted out from under his nose, and that he was going to walk straight past the open door without realizing it.

Lin Xuan caught Wei Tianming by the shoulder.

The boy startled at the contact, the buckle slipping out of his fingers. He turned with the reflex of someone who had already mapped two ways out of the corridor before his head finished rotating. When his gaze found Lin Xuan, the recognition arrived in his eyes inside half a second.

Wei Tianming’s first thought was simple, and showed on his face before he could control it.

’No. He is here because of his brother. I went too hard...’

Lin Xuan had not meant to look threatening. The grin that had arrived on his face during the corridor sprint had not faded yet, and from where Wei Tianming stood, that grin lined up with everything he had been afraid of.

"Wei Tianming."

It came out flat. Wei Tianming swallowed once and answered with the careful cadence of a young man who had grown up being polite to people with more authority than him.

"Yes. Did you need something, Young Master Lin Xuan of Skyedge Sword Sect."

"To talk. In private."

Lin Xuan glanced past him toward the service door, then back along the corridor toward the alley that opened off the outer yard. The alley was empty. He gestured with his chin.

"Come. Follow me."

Wei Tianming followed.

The two of them passed through the doorway into the small yard, turned right, and slipped into the alley along the Arena wall. Lin Xuan put his back against the cool stone and tilted his head out around the corner just enough to watch the corridor he had come from.

Down at the far end, the pale blue and white robe of the elder of Frostmoon Ridge passed the open service door without slowing, hands tucked into sleeves, the unhurried gait of a hunter who had not realized the hare had already been pocketed by someone else. The robe disappeared down the next bend.

Lin Xuan let out a small, satisfied breath through his nose.

He pulled his head back into the alley and turned to face Wei Tianming.

What he was greeted with was not what he had been expecting.

Wei Tianming was standing in his underwear.

His gray robe was folded neatly to the side, sword laid carefully on top of the bundle. Both his hands were raised, palms out, in the posture of a man surrendering everything he owned in advance.

"Please. I have nothing else. I do not want to die."

His voice cracked on the last word.

Lin Xuan stood there with the grin frozen on his face and the small post-success satisfaction draining out of him in real time.

’...Did I look like I was going to kill him?’

Mira’s voice arrived at the edge of his head with the kind of slow, delighted enjoyment she reserved for the rare moments when her host had brought a situation entirely on himself.

[ Xuan. You walked into the contestants’ wing with the smile of a young master who has just decided to commit a public murder, sprinted down two corridors, dragged him into an alley, and looked back over your shoulder as if you were checking for witnesses. I am not surprised. I am just sad you did not bring an executioner’s robe. ]

’Mira.’

[ The pleading is poetic. He folded the robe first. He stripped before he begged for his life. That is a respectful young man. ]

’Mira, you are not helping.’

Lin Xuan cleared his throat once and held up his free hand in the universal gesture of please stop.

"Get dressed. There has been a misunderstanding. We will talk once you have your robe back on. It is about another matter."

Wei Tianming blinked. Tears that had already gathered along his lashes spilled over without permission, and he wiped at them with the back of one wrist while the other reached for the folded robe.

"...I am being spared. Thank you. Heavens, thank you."

"You were not in danger. Get dressed, Wei Tianming."

He pulled the robe back over his shoulders with hands that were still shaking slightly. The sash took two attempts to tie. Lin Xuan waited with a level of patience he did not actually feel.

When Wei Tianming finally had the sword back at his belt and the buckle properly fastened, he straightened, stood at a respectful angle, and waited for whatever was coming.

Lin Xuan took a breath.

"I want to recruit you for my sect."

A pause.

Wei Tianming’s mouth opened a little. He blinked twice.

"...I am sorry. Could you repeat that, please. For a moment I thought you said you wanted me in your sect."

"You are not deaf, Wei Tianming. That is exactly what I said."

Wei Tianming stood very still for the count of one breath. Two. By the third, his chest had risen, the corners of his mouth had pulled in opposite directions trying to decide between a laugh and a sob, and the second wave of tears had broken before he had any chance to hide them.

He puffed his chest out anyway.

"Yes. Please. You are the first person to ever offer me anything like this. I will be loyal to you for the rest of my life, Young Master."

His voice cracked again on the word life, and the hand he raised to wipe his eyes was as unsteady as the first time.

Lin Xuan watched him for a beat. Then the corner of his own mouth moved.

’Mira. He is going to be a handful.’

[ He folded his robe before he begged you for his life, host. He has already proved he is going to be a handful. The good news is that under the dramatics he is sharp. He read your stepbrother’s combat in two exchanges. The dramatics are decoration. ]

’I will take that.’

A small chime arrived in the back of his vision, soft and gold-edged in the way the system reserved for results it considered earned.

═══════════════════════════════

[ HIDDEN MISSION COMPLETED ]

═══════════════════════════════

[ "First Allegiance" ]

[ ]

[ Recruit your first sworn ally outside of the existing sect structure. ]

[ ]

[ Reward: ]

[ ▸ +1,000 Origin Points ]

[ ]

[ Origin Points: 4,150 → 5,150 ]

═══════════════════════════════

Lin Xuan let the panel fade and turned back to the boy standing in front of him in the alley.

"Stand up straight. Wipe your face. We are walking back to the residence and you are going to meet a few people. Keep up."

"Yes, Young Master. Yes."

He started walking out of the alley. Wei Tianming fell in half a step behind him and stayed there, the sword tapping faintly against his thigh with each pace.

The avenue at the end of the alley was full of mortals heading home from the day’s matches.

Lin Xuan led him into the crowd without looking back.