Li Qinghua stood on the riverbank, watching the boats go by. Her brother stood next to her, his robes wrinkled. The river here was wide and long, the cliffsides seemed to rise from the corner, and peak across the sky.

  There was a mist here that came with the seasons, rising from the river, and into the mountains. There were at least twenty of them in all, the smallest number in recent years, but most were young disciples that hadn't yet seen the world.

  Li Qingshan stood by her side. The current head of the Wudang Sect, Zhang Yuanming, was already an old man by now in his sixties and was looking to pass the mantle onto the newer generation. At his side, the True Yang sword, hung deftly in his hands.

  "Remember to keep your head up high. You are representing not just all of us. But all of our history. Be strong. Stand tall."

  The rest of them simply chatted on the way, picking topics like they all did. What's the weather? How did the food taste?

  Li Qinghua fidgeted, remaining restless on the boat. Li Qingshan, her brother had yet to take on the title of master, but even of all the younger disciples. He held the most promise.

  "Don't worry about them," he said. "They won't even know it's you."

  "That's what I'm afraid of the most. You shouldn't have even put me here. They'll think it's stupid."

  "Then let them. They have to deal with their own feelings," he laughed.

  They started at the bottom of the river and started their long walk up the mountain.

  "Did you hear the latest joke?" said Li Changfeng, walking besides them. "Who was the stiffest of them all? The Emei girls. Flat as a board and as firm as stick."

  Li Qingshan laughed.

  They passed Shaolin on the way up. They were in groups of seven, with saffron robes, and sandals on their feet.

  "Hey! Bald Monkeys! Don't forget to rub more incense oil, your heads aren't shiny enough!"

  One of them turned around, before laughing.

  "So, it is you Dairen, haha, who else but you would call me a bald monkey."

  "Well, what else can I do? Sometimes, the sun shines, and I can't tell if it's the moon or buddha's light coming from your head. Huiming."

  "Haha, well, I remember incidentally, there was a time you stole some wine the last time you were here. It so happens it was supposed to be given to your Sect Leader. I wonder what he would do if he found out it was you."

  "Aye, you can't do that. What is this blackmail? Doesn't that go against your principles?"

  "Sometimes a willow must be bent to administer justice."

  Li Qingshan laughed, "Just make sure you don't bend all the way or you'll end up crooked."

  "Your words are just," laughed Huiming, coming back into a prayer.

  "I heard your sister will be fighting now?"

  "Shush! How did you hear that?"

  "Well, someone did loudly proclaim while drunk, my sister is the best, she'll beat all you old fogey's, and then something about cursing your ancestors for ten generations…"

  "Aye, danm you truthsayer, you really are out to get me today."

  They all laughed together as they passed the steps a group of men in long flowing robes were there. A young man passed by, waving as they came up.

  "Li Qingshan!"

  "Tang Bomin? How did you get here? Did the clan elders finally let you go or did you sneak off again?"

  "This guy, always bringing up my black history."

  "Dairen, does have a way with words."

  "Huiming. Good to see you again. And you must be Li Qinghua?"

  "As you were," said Li Qinghua, courteously.

  "They say that a proper woman has good virtue, speech and appearance. Li Qinghua from what I heard I didn't expect you to be so feminine."

  "Oh? Did you think I was some brute? I can always accommodate that view as well," said Li Qinghua, rolling up her sleeves.

  "Haha, a tiger all the same, I feel bad for whoever will be your husband. I'm afraid he'll be hen-pecked day and night."

  Tang Bomin, rolled his sleeves.

  "Hey! You want to see something? I was practicing my flying daggers and I found out something cool, watch my skill."

  A long dagger flipped out of his hand and struck a tree a few feet away.

  "They say the weakness of a flying weapon is that you can't retrieve it. But look at this!"

  He threw another dagger, this one curved in mid-flight, striking the other dagger, and both flew back to his hand.

  Both Li Qingshan and Huiming looked surprised before looking back at Tang Bomin.

  "Good skill!"

  "Great technique!"

  "Haha, praise me more. Also, add more words like Supreme Master. Ultimate Master to it too."

  "Don't get full of yourself," laughed Li Qingshan, shaking his head. "Maybe, if someone could bring back their legendary thirteen flying daggers, then I'd have something to say about it."

  "Ah, that's legend," laughed Tang Bomin. "Nowadays, the more weapons you use the less skilled you are in the Clan."

  His hand flicked up once, a dagger sharper than the rest, came out.

  "They say more is better, but if you toss them all out without thought, they get stuck just like this."

  He struck out, and the dagger dug into the tree. It merely stuck out, a few centimeters deep.

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  "But our Clan has always believed that we build upon each other. That our father's improve our skills for our children, and their children bring better changes for them."

  Another dagger came out, and then another. Each one striking the first one deeper. The last dagger flew out of his hand, each dagger building on each other until the last stuck out from the other side of the tree.

  "Until skill surpasses imagination. That it can surpass fate and change your destiny. How silly would it be if you couldn't kill in a single instant? I think if there is someone who would toss a bunch of weapons so haphazardly and say they used hidden weapons. They would be ashamed to call themselves Tang in the future."

  "Haha, when did you become a scholar? If I didn't know better, I'd think you got smarter. But my question is this. How are you going to get all of your daggers out of that tree?"

  Tang Bomin's face turned red.

  "Danm, Li Qingshan. Can't you just let me look cool in front of your sister. Tsk. Can't a man show off a little."

  They all laughed. Li Qinghua shook her head. Was there even anything to look at. This goofs, always doing dumb things again.

  The sun set and the next day started.

  The Dragon and Phoenix Conference used to be grand back when it first started in the Yuan Dynasty. A way for everyone to bring back and share their skills for a better and prosperous world.

  Still, it wasn't if it had all disappeared.

  The crowd cheered, the Great Sects stood seated under the shade of their banners, each Sect Master chatted about the match, and the future.

  "Next!"

  A modest looking disciple came forward, wearing plain robes. There was nothing remarkable about his appearance, but his temperament held a great serenity as if he had been looking forward to this moment for a while.

  "My name is Chen Zhiyuan. Kongtong Sect. I ask for guidance from whoever will take me."

  Li Qinghua stood for a moment, remembering the lessons that her brother had taught while back at the temple.

  The Kongtong Mountains are in the eastern part of Gansu, near Pingliang city, which is actually much greener and more temperate than the desert imagery most people associate with Gansu.

  The western half of Gansu is the Hexi Corridor, the famous Silk Road stretch with Gobi Desert to the north and Qilian Mountains to the south. But the Kongtong Mountains sits in the eastern part, where Gansu borders Shaanxi. Rolling yellow-brown hills carved by wind and water into terraces, ravines, and flat-topped ridges. Dusty in summer, bitter cold in winter. The soil is fine and powdery, almost like flour. When it rains, everything turns to mud. When it's dry, the wind picks it up and the sky goes yellow.

  The Kongtong Mountains themselves rise out of this landscape like something from a painting. Pine and cypress forests, limestone cliffs, Taoist temples built into the rock faces going back over a thousand years. The Jinghe River runs through. It's genuinely beautiful in a way the surrounding plateau is not, which is probably why Taoists settled there in the first place. The Yellow Emperor supposedly came here to study with the sage Guangchengzi.

  "I come forward!" said Li Qinghua, coming up to the stage. She made a bow and a salute. "My name is Li Qinghua. Please!"

  "I accept," He smiled, saluting back. "Please!"

  He took a stance, his arms moved back with two fists.

  "The Seven Harms Fists! Beware of my moves!"

  They exchanged a dozen moves before the dust settled, and Li Qinghua's brow began to sweat.

  "I was born in a poor province. Gansu, doesn't have much of anything," said Chen Zhiyuan. "My mother gave me up to the temple when I was just six. I've worked hard all my life."

  He stomped his feet, and his fists struck Li Qinghua in the chest, sending her backwards.

  "The world is cruel, it's hard. When I work hard, I can forget that all of it for a while, but that's not why I'm here."

  He brought his hands up.

  "I'm here for myself. I'm here to prove I deserve to exist, that I aspire to be great! My humble beginnings do not define me. The only one that can do that is me!"

  He blocked her counters and flourished into seven strikes.

  "It'd be easy to fall, to blame the world for what's wrong. But a real man doesn't blame the world. He gets better."

  He made movements, his feet moving in a blur, switching directions in perplexing patterns.

  "He gets stronger. He becomes more than he was yesterday and everyday till he gets to where he wants to be. I want to be remembered. I want to lay a path, so others don't have to suffer from the same misfortune. The world puts me down and my fists are my answer."

  He drew back into his stance.

  "To harm others is to harm yourself. The Seven Harms Fists. What say you Li Qinghua? What do your fists stand for?"

  Li Qinghua smiled.

  "The world is cruel. I know that too. I am a woman! Men look down upon me. The world puts me in a cage called society and tells me what to do. But the world can change."

  She drew back and made a Baguazhang. The Eight Trigram Palm.

  "The Yijing says that the world's changes can be described by nature."

  She drew back and her hands smashed into his fist.

  "Heaven and earth."

  Her hands moved inwards and diverted his attacks one by one.

  "The lightest water and the heaviest fire. The tallest mountain and the deepest lake."

  She pushed him lightly and sent him back.

  "The softest thunder, the loudest wind."

  She settled back into her stance.

  "I am all of these things. I am the change that rolls through the world. I am the proof that nature is not defined by your birth. Fight against fate. Fight against the impossible. When the world defines me, I define the world."

  Chen Zhiyuan stood stunned, recovering his balance, and then smiled and then bowed.

  "I spent my life trying to define myself to meet the expectations of the world. But you, define the world. I said I aspired to be great, yet I find someone with even more ambition than me. Good words. I admit my defeat."

  Li Qinghua smiled.

  "Your aspirations. I'll remember them."

  She went back down and sat by her brother who smiled at her.

  "Next!"

  One by one. Men and women came, each with their own stories, sharing their own tales. The sun lit bright, and the last match came to a close.

  Li Qinghua sweated, consecutive matches were hard, but she prepared for the last six months. She couldn't give up now. One more, and she'd be acknowledged.

  Women. Can be more.

  A young man came up. Mount Hua Sect. He had bright eyes, and a playful look.

  "Swords? May I ask if this is allowed?"

  "Too dangerous," mumbled the Diancang Sect Leader, Duan Qingfeng. "Everyone should try their best not to harm the harmony. If you have a big temper, you can go to the devil's way to show off your power."

  "Hold on brother," said Jing Yulan, the Sect Leader of Emei. She wrapped her tassel around her shoulder. "These two are the brightest of their generation. If we don't trust them to uphold righteousness in their heart, can we really be at peace when they take over a generation later? Let them fight. If there are truly dark intentions, we can correct it now, rather than roll in our graves."

  She looked at the young man.

  "Still, if there are any ill intentions. Know that I shall be the first to cut off your path to fatherhood."

  The young man gulped. "There are no ill intentions. I just feel as a disciple of Huashan, while our fists are good. It'd be a shame not to showcase our swordplay, which we are known for."

  There was a short debate, before Diancang relented, waving his hand off.

  Two goose-feather sabers were brought to her. The young boy held a single sword, the crescent of a peach blossom on its hilt.

  "My name is Yue Jianhong," he bowed. "Please!"

  "Li Qinghua. Please!"

  His sword flashed, as elegant as the wind, as brilliant as a blooming flower.

  "They say Taoism is the imitation of nature," said Yue Jianhong, spinning his sword. "And martial skill is an expression of this truth!"

  He swayed his sword, catching her blade from afar.

  "Whether a roaring wave, a firm tree, or the soft moonlight on the lake."

  Blades spiraled inward, then spread across him as if a ray of light.

  "We seek one truth! To see beyond human limitations. To see things as they are!"

  He deflected, as she did a flourish towards his face.

  "But Mount Hua has one dream! It does not seek the truth. It doesn't wish to be number one. Nor rise highest in the heaven!"

  He gripped his sword,

  "We wish to make the flowers bloom."

  His sword came up and blocked her counter.

  "Hao Datong the founder of our sect, said this. The brightest moment doesn't last forever. It fades like the season, dims in the lowest light, and blooms like the brightest sun."

  He swirled his sword, as if gathering his strength.

  "A scene to last a lifetime. A moment captured in an instant, to last an eternity."

  She came at him again, and in the exchange, he flung his sword in the air and Li Qinghua moved back, apprehensively.

  His sword pierced the sky.

  And for a moment, everyone there could see it as it arched in the air. It struck a tree, shattering the leaves as if the blooming of a flower.

  He then kneeled before Li Qinghua.

  "Li Qinghua. Will you marry me?"

  "Eh?" said Li Qinghua, her face turning red. "What?"

  All the Sect Leaders looked embarrassed. And even Li Qingshan started laughing on the sidelines.

  "Li Qingshan!"

  She didn't remember what happened afterwards, only that it involved a lot of heads getting beaten, and almost throwing her brother off a cliff, but the night waned.

  The drinking lasted another full hour before they proclaimed her the winner by default.

  She looked at the horizon, at the tree he struck, split into two.

  All of them together. For the last time.

  A time before the world faded away and the sun set.

  Jianghu.