Chapter 14 - Three Minutes to Win
The referee was Iron Lotus.
So were six guards around the arena.
The crowd thought it was part of the show.
For the first thirty seconds, that helped.
Jace broke his second chain.
I used Meridian Bite on the ward controlling the arena gates.
Heaven's Debt climbed to fourteen.
Thunder answered somewhere far away.
"You really need to stop doing that," Mira shouted from the railing.
"Noted!"
The gates opened.
We had three minutes before city enforcers arrived.
Rook threw a smoke bomb.
It exploded into pink butterflies.
"I hate your shop!" I yelled.
"No refunds!"
We ran through the confusion.
Jace grabbed my shoulder.
"Kai. Veyr moved the execution list. You're not the only one."
"How many?"
"Forty-seven disciples. All low-rank roots."
Mira stopped.
"When?"
"Tomorrow night. During the sect's Furnace Ceremony."
The mystery got bigger.
My empty jar was not about me.
It was part of a harvest.
Auntie Rook led us into a cellar beneath her shop.
"You have one day," she said. "And if Veyr is using a Blood Furnace, you need Foundation strength to break it."
I was Body Tempering 3.
The system opened a new quest.
[IMPOSSIBLE QUEST]
[Reach Body Tempering 9 before midnight.]
[Reward: Foundation Seed]
[Failure: permanent meridian collapse.]
Jace read my face.
"Bad news?"
May you like
"Depends how attached I am to my internal organs."
