The Sand Arena was cleared of its defeated and wounded. The air, still thick with the scent of ozone, sweat, and blood, now hummed with a different kind of tension. The four victors—Chu Ling, Niu, Su Wan, and Wang Xia—stood facing the Ancestor's balcony, their bodies bearing the marks of the first trial.
The Ancestor's voice, laced with amusement, cascaded down from above. "A brutish display. Entertaining, but lacking... finesse. True power lies not in the fist, but in the unseen hand that guides destiny. The next trial will measure this."
The scene around them shimmered. The spatial artists of the court, under Luo Ying's forced direction, reconfigured the arena. The sand solidified and reshaped into a stunning replica of a royal banquet hall, complete with a long table set with exquisite (illusionary) delicacies, glowing spirit lamps, and opulent tapestries. Seated at the table were life-like humanoid constructs, their faces blank slates, representing rival nobles, ambassadors, and court officials.
"Your stage," the Ancestor declared. "A diplomatic banquet. Your goal: sabotage. Each of you must eliminate a specific target construct without being discovered by the others or the 'guests'. The methods are your own. The first to succeed, or the last to be exposed, prevails."
Four scrolls materialized before them, each bearing the name of their target and a faint description. The rules were clear: direct assault was an automatic failure. This was a game of shadows.
· Chu Ling's Target: "Ambassador Fo," a construct representing a notoriously lecherous envoy from a neighboring region.
· Su Wan's Target: "General Ironwood," a construct symbolizing a proud, unyielding military leader.
· Wang Xia's Target: "Lady Whisper," a construct mimicking a sly, information-brokering courtier.
· Niu's Target: "Master Brewer," a construct depicting the provider of the banquet's wine.
The gong sounded. The constructs sprang to life, beginning a silent pantomime of conversation and feasting.
The four women melted into the periphery of the hall, their approaches as different as their natures.
Wang Xia (The Sovereign of Silent Ends) moved first. She didn't approach her target, Lady Whisper. Instead, she glided to a potted, illusory Gloomblossom plant near the head of the table. With a whisper and a pass of her hand, she coaxed a cloud of nearly invisible pollen from its flowers, guiding it on a gentle air current towards Lady Whisper's seat. The pollen was a specialized neuro-agent that would induce a sudden, catastrophic aneurism, mimicking a natural stroke. She then retreated into the shadows, her task complete in seconds. A perfect, untraceable elimination.
Chu Ling (The Sadistic Minister) observed her target, Ambassador Fo. She noted his construct's programmed tendency to leer at the serving constructs. She snatched a tray of spirit-wine from a passing server-construct and, with a deft motion, coated the rim of a specific glass with a clear, viscous oil from a hidden vial. The oil was not a poison, but a potent aphrodisiac combined with a paralytic. When the Ambassador drank, he would be overcome with uncontrollable, embarrassing passion and then collapse, his reputation in tatters. A social assassination.
Su Wan (The Phoenix Empress) stared at her target, General Ironwood, with frustration. Subtlety was not her art. She could not simply vaporize him. Thinking with a surprising spark of cunning, she focused her Phoenix energy not on him, but on the air around him. She began to subtly superheat the metal of his ceremonial armor. Slowly, precisely. The constructs around him began to fan themselves, feeling a sudden wave of heat. The General's construct started to sweat, then gasp, then claw at his collar as his own armor became an oven. It was a brute force method disguised as a tragic accident—heatstroke at a banquet.
Niu (The Hucow) was baffled. She understood her target: the Master Brewer. But the concept of sabotage was beyond her conditioned mind. Her instruction was to "eliminate" the target. She saw the wine barrels at the side of the hall. With a simple, direct purpose, she walked over to them. Ignoring the constructs, she began to methodically upturn each barrel, flooding the polished floor with expensive illusory wine. She wasn't sabotaging the brewer; she was eliminating the wine. It was a literal-minded solution that caused chaotic, comedic disruption as constructs slipped and fell in the expanding puddle.
The Ancestor watched, his laughter echoing softly. Wang Xia's poison was artistry. Chu Ling's ploy was deliciously cruel. Su Wan's solution was hilariously blunt. Niu's was pure, beautiful absurdity.
It was Chu Ling who noticed first. As her target, the Ambassador, reached for the tainted glass, she saw Wang Xia standing serenely in the shadows, her target already slumping forward, "dead." She's already finished. A spike of competitive fury shot through Chu Ling. She couldn't let the poisoner win.
In a split-second decision, she abandoned her own subtle plan. As the Ambassador's fingers touched the glass, Chu Ling flicked her wrist. A needle, thin as a hair, shot from her sleeve. It didn't strike the Ambassador. It struck the elbow of a server-construct behind him. The construct jolted, spilling a entire tureen of scalding soup down the Ambassador's back.
The Ambassador construct screamed (a pre-programmed sound of distress) and leapt up, flailing. He crashed into the table, directly into General Ironwood, who was already overheating. The General's construct, overstimulated and now physically assaulted, triggered its "combat response" protocol. It drew its illusory sword and decapitated the Ambassador construct.
Chaos erupted. Constructs scrambled away. Su Wan, distracted, lost control of her heating technique, causing the General's armor to glow red-hot and him to burst into (illusionary) flames. Niu, seeing the fighting, lowed in alarm and began charging at the flaming General, intending to "help" by trampling the problem.
The banquet hall descended into a hilarious, catastrophic melee of malfunctioning constructs.
The gong sounded, sharp and final.
The Ancestor's voice was thick with glee. "A triumph of unintended consequences! The Minister, in her haste to thwart the Lily, has exposed herself and ruined her own plot. The Phoenix's brute force method sparked the chaos. The Ox... well, the Ox was magnificently consistent. Only the Sovereign of Silent Ends achieved her goal with flawless subtlety."
The shimmering banquet hall faded away, leaving the four women back in the sand.
"Wang Xia is victorious in this round," the Ancestor announced. "The final trial awaits. A hunt in my personal labyrinth. Prepare yourselves. The most valuable prize of all lies within."
He looked down at them, his green eyes glowing with anticipation. The competition had laid bare their strengths and flaws. Now, he would pit them against his most clever designs. The hunt would be the greatest test yet.