Chapter 212 | Midnight Brackets

Chapter 212: 212 | Midnight Brackets

Outside Lin Tian’s secluded side chamber, the red maple leaves rustled softly in the wind, and the stone path connecting the three upper private pavilions lay completely deserted. Down in the eastern and western wings, the representatives and support disciples had long since extinguished their lamps to rest before the tournament’s opening ceremony at dawn.

Inside the side chamber, Lin Tian sat cross-legged.

His eyes were closed as he slowly circulated the Primordial Yin-Yang Imperial Sutra, letting the dense, golden sea of his cultivation settle into absolute stillness.

Suddenly, his ears twitched.

Light, measured footsteps approached along the stone walkway from the direction of the Western Private Pavilion.

The footsteps stopped outside his door.

For three full breaths, there was only silence. Then came two crisp, controlled knocks against the spirit-wood frame.

Lin Tian opened his golden eyes, stood up smoothly in his dark inner robe, and pulled the door open.

Standing beneath the dim glow of the eaves lantern was Instructor Qing.

She still wore her formal crimson martial uniform, buckled all the way to her throat, with her long black hair tied in its neat, severe ponytail. In her right hand, she held a freshly sealed silver jade slip bearing the stamp of the Sky-Pillar City Magistrates.

To an ordinary disciple, she looked every bit the cold, tireless Head Referee delivering late orders.

To Lin Tian, the truth was written across every inch of her posture.

Beneath the cool midnight air, a feverish, unstable heat radiated from the lower half of her body. Her breathing was slightly shallower than normal.

Two days ago on the ship, his palm massage in the Conduct Chamber had driven sixty percent of her Lethal Fire-Poison out of her upper meridians.

Now, under the pressure of the upcoming tournament and the cold night air of the mountain plateau, the remaining forty percent coiled deep around her lower Dantian had woken up—and because the upper pathways were still sealed by his residual Yang, the poison was pressing downward with twice its usual ferocity.

"Instructor Qing," Lin Tian said calmly, stepping back half a pace to open the doorway wider. "You’re still awake at this hour?"

"The Colosseum magistrates just finalized the first-round tournament brackets," Qing said, her voice tight and clipped as she stared straight past his shoulder rather than meeting his eyes. "As the fifth representative, you need to review your draw and the sect’s opening matchups before the morning assembly."

"Out here in the wind?" Lin Tian glanced down the empty stone path. "Come inside, Instructor. If the wind carries your voice, it will wake the eastern wing."

Qing’s fingers tightened around the silver jade slip.

Every instinct in her mind screamed at her to hand the slip through the doorway, turn around, and march straight back to her pavilion.

Yet the moment Lin Tian opened the door, the warm, grounding wave of his Irresistible Yang Scent drifted out of the chamber and wrapped around her senses. The tearing, scorching ache that had been twisting beneath her navel for the last three hours eased by a fraction simply from standing two paces away from him.

Her boots seemed to move on their own.

"One minute," Qing said stiffly, stepping across the threshold into the warm outer room of his side chamber. "Review the slip, and I will return to my quarters."

Lin Tian closed the wooden door behind her. With a flick of his finger, he activated the chamber’s privacy array, sending a soft golden ripple across the walls and windows.

At the sound of the array locking into place, Qing’s shoulders stiffened visibly. The memory of the locked Conduct Chamber on the ship flashed through her mind, sending a sudden, traitorous heat up the back of her neck.

"Here," she said quickly, holding out the silver jade slip at arm’s length to keep a safe distance between them.

Lin Tian stepped forward to take it.

Instead of merely pinching the end of the jade slip, his warm, calloused fingers brushed deliberately across the back of her trembling hand and lingered for a heartbeat against her knuckles.

Buzz—

A tiny spark of pure Primordial Yang passed from his fingertips into her skin.

Qing’s breath hitched sharply in her throat. She snatched her hand back as if the jade had caught fire, tucking her fingers behind her back while her heart gave a heavy, erratic thud against her ribs.

Lin Tian acted as if he hadn’t noticed her reaction at all. He sent a thread of spiritual sense into the silver jade slip, scanning the glowing names arranged across the tournament brackets.

"Zhou Kai drew the fourth match on Stage Two tomorrow morning," Lin Tian noted, his brow lifting slightly. "Against Zhao Lie, second-ranked Core Disciple of the Black-Sun Sect."

"Yes," Qing forced her voice to stay level, focusing desperately on the official business to ignore the lingering tingle on her hand. "And your opening match is in the afternoon session against Iron-Peak Sect’s Lei Zhen. The Black-Sun Sect clearly pushed their influence with the city stewards—three of our five opening draws are against heavy martial sects."

Lin Tian lowered the jade slip and set it neatly on the low wooden table beside them.

Then he turned his head and looked directly at her.

Crimson runes flickered faintly deep within his golden pupils as his Insight Eye swept past her stiff crimson uniform.

Just as he had guessed, the remaining forty percent of the five-year-old Lethal Fire-Poison had condensed into a dense ring around the bottom of her Dantian, spreading out into the meridian junctions of her lower abdomen, her hips, and the upper channels of her inner thighs.

Every time she shifted her weight on the floor, those lower meridians spasmed with scorching friction.

"The matchups are clear enough," Lin Tian said, his low baritone quiet in the sealed room. "Though a junior steward at breakfast—could have delivered this jade slip."

He took a slow step closer to her.

Qing’s eyes widened slightly. She tried to step back, only for the back of her boot to touch the edge of the low tea table, trapping her in place.

"I am the Head Referee of our delegation," Qing said, lifting her chin defensively even as a bead of cold sweat slipped down her temple. "Delivering the brackets personally ensures no one tampers with the order."

"Is that so?"

Lin Tian stopped less than a foot in front of her, his tall body casting a shadow over her flushed face. Without asking permission, he raised her right hand and pressed the back of his fingers lightly against the side of her neck, right over her racing pulse.

Her skin was burning hot.

"Then tell me, Instructor Qing," Lin Tian murmured, a faint, knowing smirk touching his lips as he looked down into her flustered eyes. "Did you walk here at midnight for this piece of jade... or because the Fire-Poison in your lower abdomen decided it couldn’t wait until morning?"

Qing froze.

The direct warmth of his fingers against her neck sent a violent shiver straight down her spine, making her knees weaken beneath her crimson trousers.

"I—"

She opened her mouth to issue a cold denial, to reprimand him for his boldness, just as she always did with unruly disciples.

Right at that moment, the compressed poison around her lower Dantian lashed out against her hip meridians like a heated iron spike.

"Nngh...!"

Her breath broke mid-word. Her hand flew down to press hard against her lower stomach, her tall frame doubling forward slightly before Lin Tian’s strong arm caught her around the waist and steadied her against his chest.

Held flush against his warm robe, breathing in the thick, intoxicating scent of his Yang aura, the iron discipline that had carried her across the courtyard finally cracked.

"On the ship... you pushed the poison down from my back," Qing whispered raggedly against his shoulder, her face burning with humiliation and pain as her fingers clutched the dark fabric at his elbow. "Tonight, when the mountain frost settled in... the remaining poison sank into my lower pathways. I tried to meditate for four hours, and it only burned worse."

She bit her lower lip until it turned white, refusing to look up at him.

"Tomorrow I have to sit on the judges’ platform in front of twelve sects," she breathed out, each word costing her another piece of her martial pride. "If poison broke out in the colosseum... Crimson Nimbus Sect will become a laughingstock. Just... suppress it like you did on the ship, and I will leave at once."

Lin Tian looked down at the proud martial master trembling in his hold.

"The ship was only a temporary measure because you were standing at a table in full uniform, Instructor," Lin Tian said softly, his hand sliding down her waist to rest near the aching curve of her hip. "The poison has retreated into your lower abdomen and thigh meridians now. Standing up won’t fix this."

He glanced toward the open archway leading to his inner sleeping chamber.

"If you want to walk onto that platform tomorrow without trembling, get on the bed."?