Sect Year 1 · third month · day 11 · Azure Stream Sect, Outer Court
The final was called in the early afternoon, when the sun had cleared the east wall and the sand had been raked so smooth that every footprint showed.
The Sect Master had come down from the Inner Court for it. He hadn’t troubled himself with any other bout in the tournament, and the servants moved quickly to make room. He carried a cedar-wood canopy from the store and set it over the centre of the terrace where the green oilcloth had been pulled back. Gao Tingjun sat beneath it, grey-haired and unrushed, with Elder Xu on his left and Gao Shun on his right. Gao Shun had his hands folded in his sleeves and his eyes on the sand, and he looked, Lin thought, like a man waiting to receive a delivery he had already paid for.
“The final,” said Hou Meng from the ring’s edge. He had put his cuffs in order for the occasion, and the bell-rod stood upright beside him like a second, shorter Deacon. “Gao Wen, of the Inner Court, as guest seed. Cang, entered by the Elder’s clerk. Both to stand clean. Both to stop when I say stop.”
