At the current moment, Yan Mingqing was probably the one who had the most direct attack power. She had a decent balance between powerful and numerous techniques. Mingqing could cover most bases like Han Youhong, while also being powerful like Wang Taigang. Lin Songmei didn’t really need to be mentioned—her cultivation branch was going to eventually walk down the path of being more support-oriented.
Giving Songmei’s hand a squeeze before walking to the center of the scarred training ground, Mingqing waited for Youhong to settle in before pulling out her own fancy weapon.
“So this is my own sword, it’s been with me since I’ve been a child,” Mingqing began, setting the sword down on the center of the table.
“Right on top of my lychee jelly? Really?” Youhong retorted with an exasperated sigh, “It really is a nice sword, though.”
Beyond the blue ribbon tied to the end of the handle, there wasn’t much to the sword. Other than being really well made, the sword didn’t have anything that immediately sucked Songmei in.
She had seen the sword an uncountable number of times already after all. As always, the blade glimmered under the light, its edge giving off the impression that it could cut through anything, anywhere.
In Songmei’s opinion, the sword showed its true colors in battle, when, in tandem with Mingqing’s cultivation technique, it would wreath itself in a starry mist. Not only did the starry mist make Mingqing look unbelievably cool and superbly attractive while fighting, it also had the bonus of adding a little obscurity to Mingqing’s sword while also strengthening and sharpening the blade.
Broken stuff, what could Songmei say? That was just the passive too!
Picking the sword back up after everyone had asked their questions and done their inspection, Mingqing walked back to the center of the training area. “Alright, I’m going to be honest, there isn’t much... variety in my techniques, they all follow the same pattern.”
Infusing Qi throughout her body, Mingqing gained a faint shimmer that was almost imperceptible to the eye. “My body enhancement technique, I have to say, is one of the more busted ones. Strengthening me across the board in terms of speed, strength, and durability. I don’t know exactly how much because... yeah, we never measured since it’ll increase once I cultivate to a higher realm anyway.”
“It’s just a lot, let me reassure you on that,” Songmei whispered to Taigang and Youhong, “Just trust me on that, it feels like it’s a multiply-by-fifteen on literally everything...”
“Alright, so just... Taigang but worse,” Youhong whispered back with a few emphatic nods, “Got it. Got it. I’ll make sure to run away at full speed if I ever have to duel her.”
Taigang, on the other hand, with his signature sunny smile, only shrugged. “I’m sure it’s not that bad, I’ll give her a duel if you two want after this.”
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Nodding as hard as she could, Songmei gave Taigang a smile and a double thumbs-up. “You should definitely do that, I’d love to see it!”
Of course, Songmei only had the purest intentions in backing up Taigang for this. There were definitely no thoughts about wanting to watch Mingqing slap around someone else for once in a duel.
“My body strengthening technique is just called Blessing of the Stars, but even with its unoriginal technique it’s... good.” Mingqing interrupted Songmei’s thoughts, continuing on with her explanation, a touch of boredom surfacing on her face. “Honestly, my techniques are really boring. I'm not going to lie. The main combat technique is pretty versatile, but follows a pretty predictable pattern of the twelve zodiacs. It’s just one zodiac per sword form, then each star within each zodiac is a different move or moveset really.”
With the faint starry mist reappearing around Mingqing’s sword, Mingqing walked through her forms one by one to give Songmei and the others a demonstration. “There’s the nine stars of the Ram, which I’ve all mastered. Then, the next one is the seventeen stars of the Bull; I've only mastered eight of the seventeen at this current moment, though.”
“What are the differences between like... the forms?” Taigang asked with Youhong nodding in agreement, “Is it a huge difference? Or just... kinda for aesthetics or personal preference?”
“The difference isn’t... huge,” Mingqing shrugged, looking to the side to think for a second. “I think for the most part the differences will become more clear the higher the realm I’m in. At the moment, you could probably fight them all and not really notice the difference unless you were an expert swordsman.”
“What is the difference then, once you get to those higher realms?” Youhong jumped in, picking up a lychee jelly off the table and popping it into his mouth, “I need to know how fast I need to run depending on which form you’re using.”
“Well, I think each one is just specialized towards different things.” Mingqing explained, giving a small demonstration on the slight differences between the Ram and the Bull. “It’s hard to see with the Ram and the Bull because they are intrinsically pretty similar. But if I had to sum it up, it’d be that the Bull is a more straightforward attacking style, while the Ram is an overwhelming attacking style that has an element of willingness to self-sacrifice for more damage.”
Listening to Mingqing explain the differences between the Ram and the Bull, Songmei had to say... she didn’t realize any of it in the duel. Maybe it was because Songmei had never picked up a sword in her life, maybe it was because Songmei was too busy running.
They were just all hard to deal with...
“I guess for more of a clear cut example, even though I haven’t learned it, it’d be the differences between the Ram, the Scale, and the Scorpion,” Mingqing tapped her chin, walking back over and taking a seat. “I can’t demonstrate them, because I haven’t learned the Scale or the Scorpion, but I know the general gist of it.”
Suppressing a laugh at Songmei miming out a set of scales and a scorpion, Mingqing explained, “Well, as you know, the Ram is a very all out, kinda self-sacrificial attack style. The Scale on the other hand is just like its namesake, balanced defense and offense. Once I learn it, it might become my default, though I do really enjoy offensive-heavy styles.”
Getting her hands pinched by Songmei who was now pretending to be a scorpion, Mingqing pinched back while detailing the Scorpion. “It’s a reactionary sword style. Defensive with counters. Personally, I hate using or fighting a sword style like this. But there are times where it's useful, buying time or... say... annoying the hell out of your opponent. That’s it though, Songmei, your turn.”
“Alright,” Songmei laughed, letting go of Mingqing’s arm. “On that note though, I’m pretty good at annoying people with my techniques, it’s like a specialty at this point.”
Laughing as she walked to the center of the training area, Songmei stuck out her tongue as Mingqing snorted and crossed her arms, muttering, “Don’t I know...”