~~~
The Bei Clan is one of the major powers within the Golden Fist Sect, which is one of the strongest Sect in the Crimson Cloud Empire. As such, every single one of its members enjoys considerable luxuries.
All over two hundred of them.
Bei Duyi and Bei Hong learned the Way of the Golden Fist just as every member of the Bei Clan does. Their grandfather carried them on his shoulders to show them how it feels to fly just as he does for every child born into the Bei Clan. That does not make them special. Their many cousins, uncles, and aunts all enjoyed those privileges as well.
Neither Bei Hong nor Bei Duyi comes from the main branch of the Bei Clan. Their grandfather is an Elder of the Golden Fist Sect, but he’s hardly the only Elder who belongs to the Bei Clan. Bei Hong and Bei Duyi have lived their lives knowing they have to bow their heads to the main family at every opportunity.
At least, Bei Duyi did.
“Do you realize how foolish you look right now, cousin?” Bei Duyi asks as he divests himself of his upper garments in preparation for their fight.
The two are standing in the temple’s courtyard. A small crowd of disciples has come to watch. They all make sure to give the fighters a wide berth to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. Liu Jin, Lu Mei, and Fan Bingbing sit on an elevated platform, looking down on them from above.
“Foolish?” Bei Hong echoes, mimicking his actions. Of course, in Bei Hong’s case, his robes are so filthy they are the ones dirtying the ground by making contact with it. “You have been making trouble for me since I joined the Eternal Flame Clan and running from me at every turn! I finally have you in front of me! I should be thanking the Heavens at the top of my lungs! This time, it won’t be like it was in the Sparring Hall! There will be no interruptions!”
“You are surrounded by hostile fighters,” Bei Duyi points out. Slowly. As if speaking to a child. Something that Bei Hong forces him to do quite often. “Do you honestly expect a fair match?”
“Of course I do! Qing Jin is a fair man,” Bei Hong replies as if that should be obvious, looking at Bei Duyi like he was the slow one.
And on this one thing—and only on this one thing!—Bei Hong might be right. Qing Jin offered Bei Hong a fight without interruptions. There is no reason to think he will renege on that, not that Bei Duyi ever had any thoughts of relying on external aid to win.
However!
“That’s not the point, idiot! Think, Bei Hong! For once in your life, think! Do you ever pay attention to the conditions of the fights you agree to! If you lose here, you will have to surrender.”
“I know that,” Bei Hong says with rising impatience. “And I intend to keep my word.”
“And I know that! And Qing Jin knows that. What do you get by winning?”
Bei Hong opens his mouth.
He closes it.
He does this two more times until at last a thoughtful frown appears on his face.
“Huh.” He turns to Qing Jin with reluctant approval. “You bastard. Well played.”
Bei Duyi’s eyebrow twitches.
“Is that all you have to say?” He shouts, stomping his foot on the ground. “Well played?”
“What point is there in getting angry?” Bei Hong asks. “I was the one who accepted the conditions.”
“Be angry at yourself!” Bei Duyi says, shaking his fist at him. “If you will not be angry at anyone else, at least have the decency to be angry at yourself! Even in the unlikely event of your victory, there is no future for you! Do you honestly expect to take on everyone here and win through nothing but sheer grit?”
“Foolish cousin! I expected to do that from the start!” Bei Hong shouts. Gold coats his fist as he bangs it against his chest. “This just makes things easier.”
Bei Duyi takes a deep breath.
[Goldforged Body]
And socks Bei Hong in the jaw.
“Foolish, indeed!” Bei Duyi says as Bei Hong’s body goes flying. Gold quickly grows all over Bei Duyi’s body. “Why did I ever think my words should be wasted on you? I should have just hit you from the start!”
“Now, you’re speaking sense!” Bei Hong says he rises from the ground. Gold rises over his face and across his chest. Golden teeth glint under the sun as a savage grin appears on Bei Hong’s face. “Let’s go!”
The golden fighters collide in the center of the courtyard with a sound not unlike several gongs being struck simultaneously. Ferocious punches fly one after another. Their feet dig deeper and deeper into the ground as their exchange continues, neither one willing to concede even an inch.
For as long as Bei Duyi can remember, it has always been this way.
Bei Duyi was born less than two years before Bei Hong, practically nothing from the perspective of most cultivators. Still, that small gap has made a significant impact on their lives.
Despite not belonging to the main family, Bei Duyi was born in possession of a rare amount of talent. As a result, the rest of the clan gave special attention to him. Most parents would be overjoyed by their child’s good fortune. However, his father took Bei Duyi aside one day and gave him advice that would stay with him for the rest of his life.
“Do not outshine the main family. Not for their sake, but yours.”
Talent draws admiration from one’s peers. Talent also breeds resentment. Even as a young child, Bei Duyi understood precisely what his father was trying to tell him. If he shone too brightly, the main family might grow to resent him. He needed to act within the confines of his position and never overstep those boundaries. In that way, Bei Duyi became the model of what a talented son of the Bei Clan should be. Meek, dutiful, and respectful.
If Bei Hong ever received similar advice from his parents, he has done an excellent job pretending he never heard it.
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Bei Duyi grits his teeth as a punch from Bei Hong rocks him back. Though they are using the same technique, Bei Hong’s [Goldforged Body] has always been superior to his in hardness and strength. Bei Hong’s time in the Dead Plains has only further honed those characteristics. Almost unreasonably so. Even his light jabs feel impossibly heavy now.
As soon as Bei Hong sees him stagger, he closes in to deliver a solid punch to Bei Duyi’s stomach. Three quick jabs to his throat follow before he tries to finish Bei Duyi with a punch to the face.
“You stupid idiot!” Bei Duyi yells out as he catches Bei Hong’s fist.
His golden body starts glowing.
Bei Hong screams as pure heat radiates from Bei Duyi’s body. It burns his hand and melts the earth around them. Even the air twists and turns like the inside of a furnace.
[Magnificent Molten Radiance]
Bei Hong’s defense is overwhelmed in an instant. Bei Duyi’s burning fist buries itself into Bei Hong’s stomach and sends him flying. The disciples part as Bei Hong’s body is launched out of the courtyard and crashes against a temple wall.
“Gold,” Bei Duyi says as he advances, melting the earth as he does, “is not an element of hardness.”
“And who decided that?”
Bei Hong gets up.
Of course, he does.
Even though his cousin’s body now literally has the imprint of his fist on it, he dares to stand up and look at him with an eager grin. Not a grimace or a scowl. Not even a hint of self-awareness is reflected on Bei Hong’s face. There is nothing there but the desire to continue the fight.
Life would have been much easier for everyone if Bei Hong knew how to stay down.
Normally, the Bei Clan would have celebrated the birth of two talented cultivators within such a short time from each other. Indeed, that was the case at first. The clan even made sure to pair them together as often as possible so that Bei Duyi would be a role model and protector for his younger cousin.
At least, those foolish ideas existed until it became apparent Bei Hong was cut from an entirely different cloth than Bei Duyi.
While Bei Duyi would keep his head low and make sure to avoid winning sparring matches when it would be a problem if he did so, Bei Hong never showed such restraint. Bei Hong only spoke the language of strength. It didn’t matter whether the one he was dealing with was an Outer Disciple from a poor village or the son of an influential Elder. He’d treat them according to their strength without fault.
Unfortunately for everyone, Bei Hong found his foes and allies wanting all too often. He made no secret of it either. Bei Hong loudly and bluntly told all those he defeated what he thought of their skills and talent. He was quick to insult and belittle. Bei Hong was a nail sticking out, begging for a hammer to appear.
Bei Duyi warned him. Bei Duyi yelled at him. Bei Duyi begged him.
Bei Hong would not yield.
And so, Bei Duyi became the hammer so that no one else would have to.
If Bei Hong wouldn’t keep his head down, Bei Duyi would put his head down and show everyone that Bei Hong’s arrogance had already been punished. That Bei Hong was just a young upstart not worth putting in their eyes.
Bei Hong rushes at him as if his touch hadn’t burned him just seconds ago. Full of vigor and devoid of sense. Bei Duyi smashes his molten fists on Bei Hong’s head. The force of the impact is enough to break the earth under their feet.
And yet, Bei Hong finds enough strength to keep himself up and bury his fist in Bei Duyi’s stomach.
“Who are you to say what gold is?” Bei Hong roars as he keeps hitting him. “Gold!”
Three more hits land on his chest. Bei Hong steps closer and smashes his foot on top of Bei Duyi’s, preventing him from stepping back.
“Is Beyond Tarnish!”
“Are you mad?” Bei Duyi yells. Every time Bei Hong makes contact with his body, he burns himself. “My touch alone is enough to burn you!”
Bei Duyi screams as Bei Hong smashes his forehead against his face.
“And mine is enough to break you!”
Bei Duyi has no words.
The most guttural of growls rises from his throat as he throws himself into the fight.
~~~
“You cannot possibly be serious,” Qing Jin tells him.
“I am extremely serious, Brother Qing,” Bei Duyi replies.
“You expect me to believe you care for your cousin.”
“Of course not!” Bei Duyi replies, sounding offended at the thought of it. “I hate my cousin. He’s loud, uncouth, and has the survival instincts of a frog being slowly boiled alive... That does not mean I want to see him dead, no matter how much his actions may run counter to his own survival.”
“Yet, you left him in the Golden Fist Sect,” Qing Jin points out. “I know you joined the Eternal Flame Clan a year before him.”
“I am not my cousin’s keeper. I will not put my life on hold for him. It was always my intention to join the Eternal Flame Clan, so I did once I judged myself worthy. Besides, by then, Bei Hong was not completely without allies, even if it was clear the clan would eventually send him away.”
“So when he joined the Eternal Flame Clan…”
“I knew he would behave in the Eternal Flame Clan as he did in the Golden Fist Sect. However, the Eternal Flame Clan is home to predators far beyond Bei Hong. Worse still, I saw that he had somehow found companions who were just as irreverent as him. No offense intended,” Bei Duyi quickly adds.
“No, you definitely meant to offend, but that’s fine. I am not easily offended. Continue.”
“With Bei Hong having made so many enemies in such a short time, I thought that there was no other choice but to take control of that enmity. I could not make it go away, but as an Inner Disciple of no small amount of power, I could make my opinions heard. I became one of the leaders of the group against Bei Hong.”
Liu Jin hums. “So that’s why they all challenged him and Huang Shing one by one instead of just waiting till he was alone to attack him as a group.”
“Yes, I convinced them that it would be best if we kept our activities firmly within the confines of the rules. Of course, as Bei Hong and the rest of you kept winning, that became harder to do.”
“It likely didn’t help that you seemed to be in no hurry to challenge your cousin.”
“I thought that if I made myself unavailable to Bei Hong, his focus would be on cornering me, which would make it harder for him to get into bigger trouble. But yes, you are right. The others misconstrued my actions as cowardice and weakness, and so disobeyed my orders, which led to the fight you had in the Summer Forest.”
“Which led to our mission in Night Forest Nation. Yes, I understand the chain of events well enough. No need to explain it,” Qing Jin says. “Regardless, do you really expect me to believe you went through all this trouble to stop your cousin from getting himself killed? Assuming you’re telling the truth, it’s all so needlessly roundabout I wonder if you can even draw a straight line.”
“Bei Hong is stupid. He cannot be handled the same way one would someone with sense.”
“Bei Hong is not the only one lacking in sense.” Qing Jing sighs. “My father once told me I have an uncle who I have never met. The more I learn about other families, the more I think that’s not much of a tragedy.”
~~~
“Family tends to be that way, Brother Qing.”
Words from a conversation that happened days ago flash through Bei Duyi’s mind. They would have made him smile if he weren’t so tired.
Bei Hong and Bei Duyi keep brawling in the center of a crater created by the force of their blows. The area around them has been left a smoldering waste. Their fast jabs and furious kicks have degraded into sloppy punches and inelegant shoves. Their golden bodies have turned back to weak, broken flesh.
It is a fight in slow motion. It takes Bei Hong a full three seconds to make a fist, raise it, and throw a punch. It takes Bei Duyi equally as much to put a bare facsimile of a block, one that somehow causes him to fall forward, his forehead crashing against Bei Hong’s neck. His cousin tries to shove him away but lacks the strength to do so.
They fall.
It is not graceful or capable of eliciting any other feeling than embarrassment. The two cousins are a tangle of limbs that somehow still insist on trying to hit each other. Most of the disciples watching them have already left, having decided they have better things to do with their time. On Qing Jin’s side, Lu Mei shakes her head and looks away as if embarrassed for them.
One full hour later, the punches possessing all the ferocity of a sloth have stopped. Bei Hong and Bei Duyi lie side by side in the bottom of the crater.
“Just this once…”
“... let’s call it a tie..”
~~~