Henry dodged as eight metal rings flew at him from every direction. It took every bit of his concentration to maintain his battle precognition while not giving up his footing. Wu was ruthless in his attack. The rotund man expertly manipulated the rings with his ki, making them dip and pivot irregularly. He always sought out Henry's blind spot. In addition to that, he was also a reasonably decent close-combat fighter. From dodging fists and rings, Henry was constantly dodging, never able to set anything.

“I have watched you fight, Brother Hen Ri. You have good ki control and are an exceptional hand-to-hand combatant. Unfortunately for you, my rings can be used at short-range or long-range.”

As if to prove his point, he brought back all the rings to block one of Henry’s punches before sending them towards his legs, attempting to trip him. He tried to sidestep but was walloped on his shin. It hurt like hell, and he knew that a few more hits like that would cause him to have some broken bones to deal with.

“ You sure talk a lot for someone who has to use your little trinkets. Why don’t you come at me like a man?” Henry said, trying to get a rise out of Wu.

“Your words do not rattle me, Brother Hen Ri. Desperate people prattle on,” he said as he sent four rings at Henry’s head.

They were like bullets; if not for his battle precognition, they would have made a mess of his skull. What was he supposed to do in this situation? He couldn’t just keep dodging rings that would eventually get him. He couldn’t get close to using his ki disruption, and he had no long-range attack to speak of.

If a light bulb could appear on his head, it would have.

Henry circulated his ki into the familiar pattern of his Water Whips. The pattern felt simple, and with Henry’s newly improved ki control, he could make the water whips thin, just like the needles. Instead of the four he had before, he found that he could make upwards of one hundred little water strands the size of a piece of hair. It strained his control, but he had an idea that would hopefully bear fruit.

****

Fei sat and watched as the boy did something very shocking, and it was a feat to shock him. His ki control had gotten extremely good for someone so young. Gram Gram’s maids were renowned for their training, but quickly imparting that much precision was incredible.

That alone would not have been enough; it was the malleability of his ki itself. It was like clay Fei had seen few that could accomplish that at such a young age. Was this a quirk of inheriting his father's legacy, or was this just his own personal trait? Whatever the reason, it seemed the boy had used both of those abilities to make this new technique. Water Whips the size of hair and could have groundbreaking applications. Fei doubted that one could replicate it and that the boy knew what he had just done.

Henry was winging it with his Water Strands, not very creative, but he was literally dodging for his life. It was now or never for him as he put more ki into his eyes; he was on the literal dredges now. If this didn’t work, he was fucked. Henry felt the ki hit his eyes and sync with his ki awareness and battle precognition. He saw the thick strands of ki attached to each metal ring whizzing by his head.

Henry reasoned that the same principle that allowed him to stop Fei’s technique would also work here. He shot all his Water Strands into Wu’s technique, praying it would work as he sought to disrupt it. Instead, something strange happened. Henry’s Water Strands seemed to invade Wu’s technique, puncturing a hundred microscopic holes in his ki, and started to consume it. It started slowly at first, but soon, it devoured the ki greedily until Henry's golden strands replaced Wu's dull, coppery ki. This must have also been pretty shocking for Wu because he stopped moving and just stared at him.

Henry felt his Water Strands snap into the iron rings. They were his iron rings now. He smiled a predatory smile at the shell-shocked cultivator.

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“How are you doing this, Brother Hen Ri? I could not fight back, your ki. How did you make the ki small and sharp? Why did it consume my technique? That shouldn’t be possible.”

Wu was sweating profusely. His rings were his trump cards, and he felt like a baby sheep looking at the big bad wolf as Henry smiled at him.

“These are pretty nifty,” Henry said playfully as he made the rings do flips and spins.

“Your technique is pretty cool. I like it; I think I’m going to keep it.”

The ki usage was low; it was mainly taxing his concentration. Getting roundhouse kicked to the head while being blindfolded by a sexy maid had made concentrating on challenging situations much more manageable for Henry.

Where Wu’s original use of the technique moved them as stationary objects, Henry could manipulate them more inventively.

The strands offered him a sense of control that made him feel like a puppet master. He held the spheres aloft with some strands and spun them with others. The rings were spinning now at an alarming speed. He spun the rings even more until they blurred into spheres of iron. The air hummed with the sound of their movement.

Henry knew monologuing was for idiots, and it was best to end this.

“Well that’s interesting, let's see how much damage these things can do,” Henry said, sending two spheres at Wu.

Wu dodged both as they smashed into the ground, leaving bowling-sized craters three feet deep.

Henry released a low whistle and rubbed the back of his head in surprise.

“Well, hot damn, if you get hit with one of those, I think it'll be game over for you, man,” he said as he brought the spheres back in front of him.

Wu looked at the craters and gulped. He had tried to regain control of his weapons with his technique, but Henry’s ki just ate up every bit of his energy like some ravenous beast. He did not understand how Ki could behave like that.

“Well, if Pops doesn’t want to call it, then I apologize in advance, and thanks for teaching me how to do this,” Henry said apologetically as he looked at Fei.

****

Eight metal spheres went sailing at Wu. The death balls whizzed by, barely grazing him. Henry didn’t want to obliterate this guy; he had a problem with killing people in cold blood. He just wanted to make it look good enough for Fei to call the match. Henry knew that Fei could care less about Henry being severely hurt, but judging from the last fight, he did care if his children were safe.

Wu tried his best to dodge the balls but realized that he couldn’t keep it up. Hen Ri had added spin to his rings and increased their speed somehow. His original technique had made them mobile, but introducing the water ki might have decreased the friction of the rings and made them into screaming death balls.

He knew that Hen Ri could have ended this at any moment, but he wanted to spare Wu the pain. He wanted Father to call an end to the match. Judging by the silence, Wu did not think that would happen anytime soon. Father had that look on his face as he observed them, and that look said he was enjoying this new technique that Hen Ri had created.

Wu was breathing hard. He had been dodging the metal balls for a good five minutes. Hen Ri had pulled his punches, but the balls came unnervingly close to hitting him each time. There was only one thing he could do in a situation like this. He was resigned to being mocked by his siblings and having his father think him a coward. Wu was a practical fighter. He knew when to advance and when to retreat. He knew that this was a lost cause.

“I yield, Father. Brother Hen Ri has bested me, and I do not see any way of winning this fight,” Wu said dropping to one knee with his head pointed to the ground.

Eight steel rings all stopped moments from striking Wu square on the head.

“I did not say the match was over. How dare you stop,” Fei said, his eyes flaring with power.

“Yeah, pops, I'm not big on fratricide, so I'm going to stop here.”

“Yes I guess you have a point there I was caught up in your new technique Hen Ri we will be having words after all of this.”

Fei said magnanimously, “The winner of this match is Hen Ri. You may have a breather.”

Servants rushed out with food and water; having known his preferences, they brought the stuff he liked

Henry walked over to the still-kneeling Wu, brought the metal rings down, put them in front of him, and gave him a martial bow.

“I appreciate the lesson, Brother Wu. We should sit down after this and trade some ideas about your technique.”

“That seems like a grand idea, Brother Hen Ri,” he said, and then, after a brief pause, he pushed the rings back to Henri.

“You keep those and keep experimenting. Besides, you will need it for Brother Si.”

The seated cultivators' bright, sparkling voice spoke as if on cue.

“Yippie its my turn next, how splendid.”