Author note: NEW YEARS! WOOO! Party like it's 1999 or something. Anyways stayed an hour after work finishing this up so hope you enjoy! I should realize by now that I can't get through things as quickly as I think I can. I had planned to end with a cliff about what the quest would be(hint: flower picking!), but ended with this cliff instead. Not that this chapter ends in a cliff or anything. >.>
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Sun Jiao spread his fusion light of ki and Will to cover his whole body. It would reduce the effect, but he felt that Doll Po was only a bit more faster and stronger. Doll Po wasn't using it's ki and instead relied on the superior body as a second layer to completely outclass first layer Sun Jiao.
That Sun Jiao could avoid attacks from a second layer, even one that was only relying on its body, showed how well the body was trained in martial arts.
Before the previous Sun Jiao's mother died she was relentless in drilling martial arts into him and seemed love tormenting him with training. After her death Sun Jiao, who had hated his mother for driving him so hard; no longer had a mother to hate and began to hate the thing she had loved most.
The current Sun Jiao though was beginning to enjoy fighting so when he jumped forward to face Doll Po a smile flickered across his face.
Though Sun Jiao took the initiative to rush forward the doll attacked first with a right punch. Sun Jiao had noticed it favored starting with the right so he leaned back and kicked Doll Po's stomach making it slide back a distance, but not lose balance.
Doll Po rushed forward and threw a middle kick towards Sun Jiao's right. Sun Jiao tightened his guard and blocked it with his arm. The force of the attack didn't send him tumbling this time instead causing him to slide four steps to his left. He immediately blocked a follow up kick and then returned it with a punch.
Doll Po ducked under the punch, gripped the arm, and then used Sun Jiao's punch to throw him into the ground causing cracks to appear along the floor.
With excitement Sun Jiao realized this was the first time the doll resorted to throwing. He was starting to make it get serious! Before he had only been able to avoid attacks that the doll was throwing out casually, but now Doll Po was actually fighting with him.
As Doll Po's foot came down Sun Jiao decided he wouldn't run. Without thinking Sun Jiao condensed the ki into both his arms and caught the doll's falling foot.
This shocked Xiaobo. Sun Jiao had split his Will in order to move the ki to two different places even though he had just learned how to move ki a moment ago. It usually took much longer for a cultivator to split his Will and use it to divide the ki into two places. Sun Jiao was able to learn the martial arts the original Sun Jiao had learned because it was muscle memory that the body had learned. Splitting the soul was different though so even though the original Sun Jiao was able to do it that didn't mean the current Sun Jiao could.
It wasn't as surprising as when Sun Jiao learned ki sense though though so Xiaobo wasn't as impressed. He figured it was an insight gained from combat which proved that he was an amazing teacher not that Sun Jiao was a good student.
The foot smashed into the hands and the force drove Sun Jiao into the ground even further. Even though his arms were strengthened the attack's force simply traveled through his arms and damaged the unprotected back and shoulders. If Sun Jiao had attacked the foot with both of his hands instead of choosing to catch and block it then he wouldn't have taken any damage.
Xiaobo noticed this and would tell him that later...after he got his ass kicked of course.
Coughing up blood Sun Jiao lost control of his ki. He was still holding the foot though and he wasn't going to let that go to waste.
Holding it tightly he grabbed more ki from the dantian, covered his body, and then threw the doll as hard as he could against the wall. Before the doll hit the wall though he sensed it use a bit of ki to defend itself.
Standing up, in a much worse condition than he had been at the start, Sun Jiao spit out the blood that was still in his mouth and wiped it away on his sleeve with a grin.
"Let's go fucker. I ain't your punching bag anymore."
The next day.
The fights between Sun Jiao and Doll Po were getting longer and longer which meant the time spent cultivating Will each day was shorter and shorter. Xiaobo had taken this into account when he said Sun Jiao could reach the second layer, but he didn't take into account how fast Sun Jiao was learning.
'At this pace he'll need an extra day or two to hit the second layer. I better put a stop to this.' thought Xiaobo to Xiaobo and then to Sun Jiao;
"Xiaobo says stop"
'Xiaobo says stop. Command received.' thought Doll Po to itself and then to Sun Jiao;
"Affirmative. Releasing ki restraint."
'Wait what?' Though Sun Jiao to Sun Jiao and then to Xiaobo;
'Attack with right punch' thought Doll Po to itself and then to Sun Jiao;
Ki enforced fist to the face.
Another day later.
Sun Jiao was unable to stand up to the second layer Doll Po that was using it's ki and had lost every fight in under ten breaths. Thankfully for Sun Jiao, Doll Po was only using the ki for defense and increasing its speed and held back it's attacks so that they wouldn't cause permanent damage. There was no way Sun Jiao could match a second layer cultivator with only the strength at the first layer.
As he was cultivating his Will he would spend time trying to think of a way to win, but was unable to find a solution. He was getting close to breaking through and was at the very peak of the first layer. Xiaobo estimated it he would break through in half a day.
Xiaobo was a little upset that Sun Jiao was apparently talented and had decided to enjoy watching him get beat for the last couple of days.
Xiaobo decided to play a little trick on Sun Jiao. If he focused the ki on his feet then he wouldn't have ki for defense and would get beat even quicker. There was no way a first layer could run from a second layer just by using ki on his feet.
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'hahaha enjoy your beating idiot!' Xiaobo thought.
This time as Sun Jiao went to fight he split the ki into his feet and practiced jumping back and forth a bit before leaving the cultivation area.
Doll Po immediately rushed towards Sun Jiao at a speed just above what Sun Jiao was able to handle with his ki spread through his whole body. As the punch came Sun Jiao jumped to the side and avoided the attack. Doll Po paused for a moment and then attacked again and again and again before it then increased its speed.
'Shit.'
Sun Jiao scrambled to avoid the fast attacks as the sudden increase in speed caught him off guard.
Taking a blow to the chest Sun Jiao blew backwards and slammed into a pillar. Still in a daze Sun Jiao lost control of his ki including the strengthening path Xiaobo had taught him to maintain. Seeing Doll Po coming closer for another attack Sun Jiao didn't have time to think and could only scream at his body to move.
Pouring his Will into his dantian to grab ki to defend the incoming attack his body responded to his demand. His Will combined with the ki and before he could leave the dantian he found that a meridian was a bit wider than normal as if anticipating the ki. Deciding to trust his body Sun Jiao followed the open meridian and let his ki paths guide him.
Just as Doll Po's attack was inches away from slamming into him Sun Jiao finished executing the technique and stepped away using footwork that came naturally to him.
Appearing on the other side of the room Sun Jiao had a smile on his face.
Doll Po had taken a moment to figure out what happened. When it found Sun Jiao it rushed to attack him. Sun Jiao easily evaded it with a couple of steps.
<...>
thoughtspoke Sun Jiao as he stepped away from the doll's next attack.
Xiaobo was reluctant to admit it, but with Sun Jiao's new speed this wouldn't be much of a fight. Sun Jiao could run around until his ki ran out but that would be a waste of time so he decided to put a stop to it.
Sun Jiao put some distance between Doll Po and yelled "Xiaobo is the best in the world and is way better than me."
Doll Po's eyes lit up for a moment then came to a stop.
The day after.
Sun Jiao left the training room and seeing sunlight for the first time in a week gave him a bright smile and was incredibly happy. He had broken into the second layer just moments ago and had developed his own foot technique that he decided to call the Sun and Cloud steps.
As he arrived in the courtyard Xu Rong rushed over to greet him. Seeing his cruel smile Xu Rong was scared. He had said some kind words to her before he went into training, but the look now reminded her the rumors and that he had a torture chamber in his training room which Sun Qing had told her about. This caused her to approach timidly.
Sun Jiao saw that Xu Rong was reluctant to approach him and noticed that his sister wasn't there either despite knowing he would be finishing his training. He had been looking forward to impressing her and hearing her praise because even though she was a bit insane she was also the prettiest thing he'd ever seen. A teenage boy has a tendency to overlook quite a bit when it comes to a pretty face and with Sun Qing's face she could get away with murder. Which was lucky for her because she killed quite often.
Sun Qing's absence didn't only cause Sun Jiao to worry.
Xiaobo thoughtspoke
"Xu Rong, where is my sister?"
Xu Rong jumped and began to tremble in fear. She was afraid of answering him, but knew she had to even if the answer would displease him. 'When he hears what happened how will he take it? He'll certainly be angry and take it out on me.' she thought.
"sh-she's gone master..."
"WHAT!?"
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Something Has happened to Sun Qing!?! It must be the plot of the third prince! How could he have beaten her though? She is 3rd layer and could take on a 4th and 5th layer. Third Prince is only 1st layer! Impossible! Next chapter; The arrogant plot was successful.
Side story:
One beetle set out on a quest and now ten would complete it. Jia Cho approached the Temple of the Beetle God followed by his femme fatale bodyguards. The Temple was a large mound of dirt with a hole in the top and loomed before them as though it was a volcano waiting to erupt. Erupt it did! Not with fire and brimstone, but a type of fire none the less. FIRE ANTS!!!! The treacherous beetle god had allied with beetle kinds mortal enemy. HE DARES!?!
As the ants flowed out of the temple they surrounded those that would slay their gods, but hesitated to attack for they knew the might of BK and it was MIGHTY. BK didn't have a time to deal with these peasANTs because at that moment two large soldier ants carrying huge rocks came out of the temple and lifted the rocks over their heads. ANTILERY! Acting quickly BK rushed forward while swinging his horns left and right. The ladybugs assassins flew out in formation and began their attacks on the ants that tried to get close to their king. They swept down from the sky and left a trail of bodies in their wake, but it wasn't enough. There were too many of them. He hadn't ANTicipated this, but he would certainly fight until his last breath.
Today was their antmageddon!