There was barely a moment to register the words fight when a sharp blade lodged itself right into the neck of one of the other applicants close to him. Blood shot out of the wound and splattered right onto Yin. It happened so quickly that Yin nearly went into shock, but the battlefield was erupting as violence began and he had no time to just stay still.

  The sound of someone coming right at him from the other side quickly refocused him and he turned to face his attacker. The man was bearing down on him with a yell swinging down a knife.

  Fuck.

  Was the only word Yin could think of and jumped back as best he could from his attacker as the other man stabbed down and hit air. The man missed and Yin dove in before he could recover and snapped out a punch right at the other mans face.

  A sickening squelch permeated his ears as the spikes stabbed into the soft parts of the eyes and metal plates crunched the nose underneath. A scream of pain erupted from his former attacker and the man dropped to the ground blood pooling out of his eyes.

  The victory was rather short lived as another attacker came rushing in from the side and stabbed forward with a spear. Yin’s eyes widened as he twisted to the side, the tip slicing open the front of his shirt as the blade cut across his stomach leaving a shallow line of blood.

  Pain lanced through the wound and Yin stumbled backwards giving his attacker another opportunity to keep the attack. The man retracted his spear and turned to face Yin. There was just pure determination and murder in those eyes.

  The man rushed forward, ready to strike out with his blade but lost his footing as lead leg slipped on the wet blood that coated the ground. Yin almost let out a deep breath of relief if it wasn’t for the axe that suddenly buried itself right into the man’s back.

  Just like that, all the determination in his former attackers’ eyes were snuffed out like that under the crunch of an axe. Yin looked up to see a bloody Wei smiling right towards him with a cold smile. How he had gotten through so many people so quickly, Yin didn’t know but he did know that he was in trouble.

  No words spoken and even with all the screaming and dying happening around Yin, it felt dead quiet as he was face to face with someone who had a lot of money riding on killing him.

  The axe was gripped and yanked right out of the body it was buried in, some blood and bone coming out. Without stopping to think for another moment Yin rushed Wei as the axe came out of the body. Trying to close the distance before Wei could react and it seemed to work as the man looked a bit shocked.

  The shock didn’t last long as the axe came up, and he swung it quickly at Yin. Yin had gambled and dove down and right into Wei’s stomach tackling him. There was a loud grunt, and both went down to the ground with a hard thud with Yin landing right on top of the other man.

  Yin’ quickly sat up and threw a punch down, looking to end this right here and now, but he really underestimated how tough or strong Wei was. The man twisted and just tossed Yin from his position before he knew what was happening and went rolling across the bloody floor.

  Yin came to a stop, his stomach on fire from the cut earlier and the constant movement was making blood ooze out. He went to get up as a shadow came right over him. A woman stood above him and stabbed her blade forward. It stabbed right into his left shoulder, and he screamed in pain as it pierced through him.

  The cold metal scraping through and bone, the woman hissed at apparently missing her mark when she stabbed him. Yanking the blade out of his shoulder earned another sharp cry of pain as his left arm felt useless now.

  “I’ll get it right this time!”

  She screamed and raised her sword to hack him before her head seemed to crunch and split under the weight of the axe burying into the top of it. Then her body just dropped like a sack of potatoes and Win stood there.

  “I don’t think I get paid if I don’t kill you.”

  Wei kicked the body to the side like it weighed nothing and stepped forward gripping his axe, Yin knowing that he was going to do die…But he wasn’t going to make it that easy to kill him.

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  With Wei above him feeling like he won he let his ego get the best of him for a moment. Not ready for when Yin pulled his leg back to his chest suddenly and shot his foot forward right between the man’s legs and smashed in with resounding force.

  He watched as Wei couldn’t even scream, just stumble backwards in shock and disbelief at such a tactic. Somehow the man stayed standing, but Yin had enough space and time to scramble to his face. His left arm dangled and blood ran down it but he still had a right to fight with.

  “Finished!”

  The words snapped through the air and Yin blinked looking around seeing that at least half of the fighters, if not more, were dead. He had done it; he had survived the trial. Barely and he had been extremely lucky, but luck was just as important as anything else, wasn’t it?

  “I’ll kill you.”

  Those words quickly brought Yin’s attention back to Wei who stood there, pure hatred in his eyes now. His hand gripped the axe tightly as he moved to step forward. Yin knew he couldn’t stop the man as the axe began to rise.

  Within a heartbeat another man appeared and placed a hand on Wei’s wrist. “It is wise to not continue Young Master or you will be disobeying the rules.” The retainer spoke calmy and Wei looked like he wanted to argue but looked to Zǐ Xīn who seemed to be waiting he relented.

  Wei looked at Yin once more, a cold fury emanating from those eyes. “You didn’t win and I didn’t either. It’s a draw. Next time, I’ll castrate you.” With that Wei turned and walked off the stage, letting Yin breathe out a deep sigh of relief. It would be a problem for another day, but for now he just wanted to lie down.

  Walking off the stage as well, he was sure he got a few looks from the guys and couldn’t blame them, he would have felt bad for that kick if Wei wasn’t trying to kill him. He felt woozy as he got off the stage and realized he was bleeding a good bit and as his adrenaline dumped, he was feeling the pain increasingly. Swaying some before a hand steadied him.

  “You’ll need healing, come on.”

  The hand guided him, so he followed, his vision a little too blurry to tell who was leading him but he was too tired and weak to argue. He was soon laying down, and a pill was placed into his mouth and he drunk it down with some water. From the sounds around him, it seemed like he wasn’t the only one getting treatment.

  His eyes closed and off he drifted, though not into a sleep but into the sea of his soul. Standing there he looked at the bud in the ground and smiled. It was comforting in a way to see that he would still grow.

  It didn’t last long and he was soon drifting out of his soul into actual sleep and dreams, none that he could remember but he was sure many had to do with the System. He woke with a start from the last one, having broken out in a cold sweat.

  He groaned and moved to sit up; he winced from some soreness but noticed that he already felt a lot better from after the fight. Glancing around, he realized he was in a area in the pavilion that had been set up for people who needed longer rest to heal and he wasn’t the only one surrounded by plenty of others.

  Also, night had settled across the sky, and the pavilion was being illuminated by torches now and the fights were still going on. Well, only one it seemed from what he could see. As he watched the endings of the fight a woman in purple robes came over. Looking at him as he sat up before walking over.

  “Already moving?”

  It was a question, but it felt more like a statement. He nodded his head and she leaned down reaching out pulling his shirt open checking his stomach and then shoulder. He would have felt awkward if she didn’t seem so clinical about it all.

  “Wood aspect?”

  She asked and he nodded his head at her, wondering how she could have known that from checking his wounds.

  “Makes sense. You will heal a bit quicker than others when resting. The pill stimulated most of the healing, but your aspect pushes you just a bit farther along. At your level it won’t heal you quickly, bad wounds will still kill you and you’ll need rest time, but you can move around. Your body will be drained so eat and drink plenty.”

  “Thank you for the information.” Yin said with a smile and a slight bow as his stomach still smarted from the cut. She merely nodded and walked off. He stood up with a small grunt and groaned as he made it to his feet. His top mostly left in tatters; there was nothing to be done for it as he walked down the pavilion.

  The fight had finished and a few of those who made it were being led to the medical set up to rest. Making his way down to where most of the group was gathered, he got down there just in time to see Zǐ Xīn and the other five Envoys all move up and take center stage once more.

  “With that, the group combat is over, and the numbers have been cut down to an acceptable number.”

  Yin internally winced, that was a very deliberate choice of words from the man. It wasn’t wrong, but as he stood there still splattered in blood, he wasn’t sure he felt good about it. Yet, to some extent he did because that meant he had survived and moved forward.

  “That is the conclusion for tonight. You will all stay and sleep within the Pavilion. For tomorrow there will be one more announcement for those here. Consider all that you have went through today before tomorrow comes.”

  Zǐ Xīn didn’t elaborate after that before turning and with the over Envoys all seemed to step on the air and go up high in the sky. The door to the manor of the king opened and in they entered. Everyone watched with some form of awe and envy at that sight.

  As they left Yin realized how hungry and tired he really was after it all. He was ready to lay down again and drift off to dreamland. Unfortunately for him he didn’t realize his night wasn’t over just quite yet.