~~~
Every moment holds a myriad of possibilities.
That does not mean one should try to take all of them into account when making a choice. Possibilities are possibilities, not certainties. Most of the time, there are only three or four truly probable outcomes. Indeed, one who tries to take everything into account might find themselves paralyzed by indecision.
The idea of all the bracelets in the Sparring Hall shutting down simultaneously was never one Liu Jin entertained seriously. It was too blunt. Too obvious. Too risky. The attack on Senior Brother Luo hinted at a far more stealthy operation.
And yet, as everyone in the Sparring Hall looks at their bracelets with confusion, Liu Jin can only conclude he greatly underestimated Bu Jing’s grudge against him.
This cannot be as simple as Bu Jing being angry because he lost the pill-making contest during the feast. Bu Jing’s words when he tried to challenge him in the Medical Pavilion seem to have more truth in them than Liu Jin imagined. Bu Jing really hates Liu Jin for helping depose Elder Cheung. Enough to discard all manner of carefully laid plans and do away with all pretenses of subtlety. A foolish move under most circumstances, yet it is Liu Jin who is now in trouble because of it.
The bracelets are inert, unresponsive to any sort of Qi. As long as that remains true, no rule-breaking will be recorded in this room.
Right now, anything can happen in the Sparring Hall. People can fight to their heart’s content without having to consider the rules. Pan Qiu is not safe here. Nobody is safe here.
No matter what happens, it will be the victors who decide what story to tell.
Liu Jin’s mind processes all this in less than a second, yet it feels much longer than that. It is an implosion that sucks away all sound and color from the room, leaving nothing more than perfect stillness in its wake. The calm before the coming storm.
Bu Jing attacks.
His fist comes hard and fast. Liu Jin barely has any time to raise his arms to block.
Bu Jing is not a physically imposing man. Though older than Liu Jin by a few years, their builds are not dissimilar. He is not like Senior Brother Guo or even Bei Hong. Bu Jing is tall, but also lean and pale, sickly-looking even.
The ring cracks under his strength.
Pain explodes in Liu Jin’s arms. The punch hammers his body into the ring all the way up to his knees. Deep cracks like spider webs spread over the surface of the ring, threatening to shatter it entirely.
The second blow comes.
Bu Jing’s hand slashes down at Liu Jin, the edge of it glowing with Qi laced with menacing intent. Memories of the Eastern Port City Tournament, of Yun Han and his Severing Palm, flash through Liu Jin’s mind.
He reacts in much the same way as he did back then.
[Art of the Roaming Thief]
In one step, Liu Jin has moved into Bu Jing’s blind spot. In three, he’s directly behind him. Bu Jing’s slash cuts deep into the ring, yet the damage does not travel far. The length of the cut created is barely inches longer than Bu Jing’s hand.
Not quite Yun Han’s Severing Palm then.
Bu Jing’s attack is obviously far stronger than Yun Han’s ever was on account of his higher cultivation level. However, it is also not an offensive technique at all.
It is a medical technique.
A scalpel.
Despite its lethality, the basis of the technique is a scalpel. That cannot be hidden from someone as experienced with the medical arts as Liu Jin. Bu Jing, it seems, is a disciple of the Medical Pavilion through and through.
Three needles appear between Liu Jin’s fingers.
Bu Jing pivots on his heel, his hand slicing through the air. Liu Jin snatches his wrist and drives three needles into Bu Jing’s arm with pinpoint accuracy, rendering the limb inert.
[Ground Contraction]
Liu Jin vanishes from Bu Jing’s range before the latter can counter, his Qi already working to heal the damage done by Bu Jing’s first hit. Now that he is in the Fifth Level of the Spirit Realm, his regenerative capabilities have greatly improved. In fact, rather than calling it regeneration, Liu Jin is starting to realize it is more akin to his soul dictating which shape his body should have.
Still, Bu Jing will be his first real test. That first hit had done more damage than all the other sparring matches Liu Jin has had since leaving isolation other than the one against Huang Shing. It isn’t just a matter of brute strength. Back then, Liu Jin had felt Bu Jing’s soul clash against his.
Wrath. Hurt. Loneliness.
An Inner Disciple goes flying over Liu Jin’s head. Another one craters next to him. Out of the corner of his eyes, Liu Jin sees Bei Hong and Bei Duyi fighting one another, their fists and kicks clanging against their golden bodies. A duet of maddened bells.
Maybe Bu Jing had thrown the first punch. Maybe someone else had. It does not matter. The entire room has fallen prey to the chaos.
“Do you think this will work against me?” Bu Jing asks. Qi carries his voice directly to Liu Jin over the noise of all the fights happening around them. “I am not a reprobate like those you have faced before.”
Green Qi surrounds Bu Jing’s injured limb. His veins bulge against his skin, and the needles Liu Jin placed pop out and fall to the floor. The limb, which had been useless moments ago, rises and points at Liu Jin.
“Today, you face a true doctor.”
Bu Jing’s Qi shines around him, his intent as clear as day. At the Third Level of the True Realm, Bu Jing is a Core Disciple for all intents and purposes.
His soul roars like a lion at Liu Jin.
It is so clear to him now that Liu Jin wonders how he could have ever missed it. Bu Jing’s soul is wrapped around his body like armor. His strength is not just physical. Each of his attacks carries the weight of his soul in them.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“Today, I shall take revenge for Elder Cheung.”
“Brother Bu, your words do not make any sense.”
Liu Jin keeps his eyes on Bu Jing, but his mind does its best to identify every single Qi in the room through the chaos of battle. Pan Qiu, Liu Jin detects with some relief, is still alive and unharmed. Fan Bingbing and the two guards are keeping him safe.
Liu Jin needs to get to them quickly.
“How could a true doctor possibly want to take revenge for someone who tried to harvest people’s dantian?”
Bu Jing does not react in rage. His pale eyes are empty pools, unmarred by a single disturbance.
In the blink of an eye, he vanishes.
Accelerated by a movement technique, Bu Jing reaches Liu Jin in a fraction of a second. His hands glow with Qi as he slashes away at Liu Jin.
[Art of the Roaming Thief - Third Step]
Bu Jing’s hand reaches Liu Jin. A victorious gleam shines in his cold eyes as his limb cuts into the younger disciple’s chest. It fades a moment later, replaced by outrage, when Liu Jin’s body vanishes into wispy nothingness.
The first step of Art of the Roaming Thief reads the opponent’s Qi to step into their blind spot. The second one blends into the environment.
The third one leaves behind a mirage.
It is not merely a trick of speed. Rather, Liu Jin leaves behind an imprint of his Qi while simultaneously blending his Qi with the environment. This confuses his foes into seeing an image that is not there.
By the time Bu Jing realizes what has happened, Liu Jin is already running away, seeking to lose him within the massive melee.
He does not go unnoticed.
“You will not escape!”
“We will support you, Senior Brother!”
Two members of the Internal Force appear in Liu Jin’s path. One swings a sword down at him. The other attacks with fire in his hands.
Spirit Realm, Level Three
Spirit Realm, Level Four.
[Ground Contraction]
In a thousand of a second, Liu Jin steps between them. The two are sent flying to opposite ends of the room.
Bu Jing is already behind him.
“Villain, you will not touch Brother Qing!”
“Dog of Feng Shang, die!”
The roles reverse themselves. It is Liu Jin who finds unexpected support as two disciples rush to attack Bu Jing. Much like those who attacked Liu Jin, these disciples do not even last a second. Bu Jing slices through their tendons with the slightest of touches and tosses them aside like trash. Their bodies have not even touched the ground before Bu Jing resumes his attack on Liu Jin. His Qi glows and expands around his arm and shoulder, bulging as he brings his arm down.
A thousand scalpels shoot towards Liu Jin.
They are not weapons made of steel or bone. Much like Liu Jin’s snakes, they are projections formed from Bu Jing’s Qi. Each one sharp enough to slice through bones and muscles.
Liu Jin jumps over the first wave, dearly wishing he had taken up Senior Brother Guo’s offer to take one of his weapons while his spear was being forged.
The second barrage is launched.
Using mid-air Ground Contraction, Liu Jin zig-zags over to Bu Jing while dodging the scalpels. Lightning roars to life around Liu Jin as he appears in front of Bu Jing. Punches and kicks fly as the two disciples blur across the room. Qi warring against Qi. Soul clashing against soul.
Rage. Admiration. Doubt.
A disciple comes at him from the side. Liu Jin sidesteps a slice from Bu Jing, grabs the disciple, electrifies him, and tosses him at Bu Jing. The older disciple jumps over him. A slice of Bu Jing’s hand creates multiple Qi scalpels, aiming to turn Liu Jin into a pincushion.
[Art of the Roaming Thief - Third Step]
The Qi scalpel goes right through a mirage. Lightning crackles around Liu Jin’s body as his fist seeks Bu Jing’s chest, but Bu Jing grabs a nearby disciple and uses him as a shield. Liu Jin’s lightning burns and shocks the unfortunate disciple, and at that moment, Bu Jing makes his move. His Qi works its way through the disciple, taking the shape of string, and binds itself around Liu Jin’s hand.
Bu Jing has stitched them together.
Despite the imminent danger, Liu Jin takes a moment to marvel at the skill required for the feat. As Bu Jing rushes towards him, a Qi snake rises from Liu Jin’s shoulder and bites a disciple nearby. The disciple barely has a moment to cry in pain as Liu Jin uses him to strike at Bu Jing while using his Qi to break the strings Bu Jing has tied his hand with.
Three disciples come at Liu Jin from behind.
[Rumbling Thunder God’s Cloud]
Lightning shocks everyone around Liu Jin, but four more disciples are on him as soon as the technique fades. There is no longer any semblance of rules. Four against one. Two against two. Six against five. Bu Jing and Liu Jin blur through the room as the massive melee rages on. The disciples around Liu Jin and Bu Jing become obstacles to be fought around, momentary distractions, and even improvised weapons.
He cannot escape.
The realization washes over Liu Jin, yet it does not evoke any panic. Rather, it is with relief that he welcomes it.
Trying to escape from Bu Jing to rescue Pan Qiu was the wrong choice from the start.
[Ground Contraction]
Bu Jing’s eyes widen as Liu Jin dashes away from him. Members of the Internal Force within Liu Jin’s path are shocked, punched, or pierced by needles. Liu Jin chains one Ground Contraction after another, making sure to use short steps to put as many members of the Internal Force in his path as possible.
A hail of scalpels chases after him, but Liu Jin barely manages to be a step faster as he reaches his destination.
“Brother Qing,” Fan Bingbing greets him while breaking someone’s arm. Her face never once wavers in its stoicism. She and the two men Lady Ling has given him have formed a circle around Pan Qiu. “You are leading Senior Brother Bu to us.”
“I am here to relieve you of a burden,” Liu Jin says as his Qi snake wraps around Pan Qiu. At the same time, his hand falls on Fan Bingbing’s shoulder. An entire conversation passes in an instant. The speed of words cannot be compared to pure thoughts transmitted through Qi.
“Interesting,” Fan Bingbing says. Her large brown eyes blink only once. “Very well, I will leave you to it.”
She disappears from his side. The anguished cry of a disciple follows her.
“What are you doing?” Pan Qiu yells at him, having recovered from the surprise. “Why are we not trying to leave with them? “
“I am more than enough to keep you safe,” Liu Jin replies. “Their talents are wasted focused on you.”
That is all Liu Jin gets to say before Bu Jing reaches him, sending another barrage of scalpels at him. A high-pitched scream leaves Pan Qiu’s mouth as Liu Jin dashes towards the source of the attack.
“Just hit whoever is close to you,” Liu Jin tells Pan Qiu before clashing against Bu Jing once more.
There is no other way. As long as he cannot defeat Bu Jing, Liu Jin cannot get away with Pan Qiu and the others. As long as multiple disciples keep interrupting their fight, defeating Bu Jing is too complicated. That is precisely why thinking of the situation in those terms was a mistake.
This is not a battle between him and Bu Jing. It is not even about protecting Pan Qiu.
This is a battle between Lord Feng Shang and Lord Feng Gui.
More and more disciples try to get between Liu Jin and Bu Jing. Before, Liu Jin saw them as momentary obstacles. Now he understands these disciples should have been his real goal.
Rather than trying to escape, Liu Jin should have been focused on making sure his side won. That is why he took Pan Qiu off Fan Bingbing’s hands. With Bu Jing’s attention on him, the strongest fighter on Lord Feng Shang’s side in this room cannot truly take advantage of his power. Multiple disciples attack from all sides, Liu Jin incapacitating them with pinpoint precision. Even Pan Qiu manages to make a few contributions as Liu Jin swings him around. The Qi snake wrapped around Pan Qiu, like all the ones Liu Jin has used since his isolation finished, is not made of Poison Qi, meaning its touch does not hurt Pan Qiu.
Bei Duyi and Bei Hong may be locked in a struggle. Liu Jin and Bu Jing defeat everyone in their path. However, Fan Bingbing and two guards are free to act at their leisure. Liu Jin can feel them deliberately targeting the stronger disciples to remove their influence in the field, gaining more ground each time.
With every second that passes, the balance tilts more and more to Lord Feng Gui’s side, and as Bu Jing’s attempts grow faster and fiercer, it looks like he realizes it as well.
“That is ENOUGH!”
The overpowering aura of a Heaven Realm cultivator fills the room.
At long last, Elder Bi, Overseer of the Sparring Hall, decides to interrupt.
~~~