Chapter 8 - Du Jun

Du Jun was looking back at the series of events that led him to this situation.

It started with his best friend, Tian Yan, admitting to him that he was worried about embarrassing himself at the gathering for young people hosted by his brother.

So what if Tian Yan was not the greatest at fighting. He was still a smart, kind person and a great friend.

They were always very evenly matched when sword fighting in the yard so Tian Yan will only need to put in some effort and practice. Until then Du Jun will cover for him and help him fight his enemies because that is what a right-hand does.

If Du Jun is honest with himself he does not care about being the right hand of the emperor, he just wants to be Tian Yan’s right hand so they can always be together and have fun.

Du Jun notices his thoughts are getting off track as he climbs the stage.

They arrived at the gathering and Tian Yan had been swept off by that brother of his. Du Jun did not like Tian Feng. He could not put his finger on it but his gut just told him the teenage boy was bad.

When Du Jun made a move to follow, the flagpole teen stopped him. “Little brother, leave the young masters to play politics. You and I can go watch the spars.”

Thinking it over, Du Jun had concluded that nobody would be able to fight Tian Yan anywhere but the stage, and since that is where he was going, it was fine.

The two kids that fought on stage had both looked impressive and Du Jun was almost mesmerized by the movement of the kid that kept flowing out of reach. The flowing kid did seem to be on the losing side however and just a while later the fight had ended with the claw kid being the winner.

When the kid with the flowing movements had been helped off the stage with a twisted ankle the claw kid had stayed on the stage.

“We have the king of the hill rules, the winner stays up there until someone can beat them. We sometimes have to send up an older kid if someone is hogging the spotlight too long.” Xiao Long had answered Du Jun's unspoken question.

“You think you can win against him?” Xiao Long had continued.

Du Jun had thought it over and decided that he at least wanted to try. Also, if he was on stage nobody could challenge Tian Yan.

Now he is standing on stage opposite the guy with the claw-hand technique and feeling somewhat impolite for calling him that even if it is only in his head.

“My name is Du Jun, I am looking forward to learning from our spar.” Du Jun says with a slight bow.

“I am He Rui, I will definitely teach you.” The claw boy says with a smug look.

Du Jun sighs, he was just trying to be polite and He Rui had to act all smug and superior about it. Anyway, he is not going to respond and risk looking like a fool if he loses so he stands in the ready position he practiced for the last month.

Standing there, Du Jun starts circulating the Flame Serpent's Path. He still gets a giddy feeling every time the Qi moves around in his body. He chose to open the Heart Meridian first and even if it has only been a week he would swear to anyone who asks, he feels stronger already.

He Rui is the first to make a move and Du Jun welcomes it, he does not think he could keep still much longer with all this power coursing through him.

A claw comes flying at Du Jun’s throat and he only has a split second to decide between dodging or blocking. He knees He Rui in his stupid smug face.

Both miss their targets, He Rui redirects his claw-hand at the last moment to avoid a knee in the face. Resulting in him getting a knee in the shoulder instead and Du Jun receiving a claw-hand to his thigh.

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Scrambling to get back in a fighting position, Du Jun ignores the pain in his left thigh. He suddenly feels a pain in his shoulder and sees He Rui just punched him. It did not seem like a controlled punch but just a randomly thrown strike but it still hurts.

Taking a step back to try to regain control of the momentum Du Jun looks over his opponent. He Rui's right arm seems to be hanging somewhat lower than before so his knee probably did some damage there.

Wanting to take the initiative, Du Jun does not waste any more time analyzing his opponent. He directs a kick towards He Rui’s damaged shoulder. He Rui responds with a leg block.

They both take wobbly steps back and there is some unsteadiness to both of the legs that just collided.

Again, He Rui is the first to recover and swipes at Du Jun. Too unsteady to mount a proper defense he jumps backward to dodge the swipe.

Du Jun is starting to get a sense for his opponent and the conclusion he is getting to is not good. He Rui seems to have more fighting experience which translates to him recovering faster after their clashes.

If Du Jun let this fight drag on he will probably lose. Well, the fact does not bother him too much but he also has not counted himself out yet. His first knee had connected, probably because it surprised He Rui.

Slowly starting to pull back his Qi to his dantian, Du Jun plays the mouse to He Rui’s cat. He dodges most attacks but sometimes throws out a punch to redirect the attacks. Then an opportunity presents itself.

Du Jun dodges one of He Rui’s swipes and finds himself slightly to the other boy's right side. He directs a punch to the damaged shoulder and floods his body with as much Qi as his danitan can push out.

As a fire cultivator, Du Jun’s Martial Manual has a focus on explosive discharges. The until now ordinary punch explodes forward with all the power of Du Jun’s Qi.

*Crack*

The fist lands and a cracking noise can be heard from the previously damaged part of He Rui’s body.

He Rui is pushed a step to the side by the impact and can not stop himself from falling over.

Du Jun takes a step back and gets in the ready position again but it is all posturing. He barely has any Qi left after that risky move but pretending he does seem like the smart option.

After not getting up for a few moments He Rui says. “ You win.”

Smiling broadly, Du Jun takes a step forward and offers He Rui a hand. He Rui hesitates but takes the offered hand and Du Jun pulls him up.

“You got me there, I was sure you were running out of Qi.” He Rui says and then bows.

“Thank you for your guidance.” Du Jun says with a bow and a snicker he can not suppress.

He Rui manages to walk off stage by himself and Du Jun is suddenly alone with a sea of people looking up at him. Taking the opportunity to look around, he spots Tian Yan standing with Tian Feng and a few others their age.

Well, most of them are around Tian Feng’s age but there is one girl that is Tian Yan’s age.

Tian Yan looks worried but he really should not be, Du Jun did great in the fight and it is now over. He just wishes Au Yu had been here to see it. He knows she has a crush on Tian Yan but Tian Yan never really showed any interest in her. Du Jun knows that if he just manages to talk to her instead of running away every time he sees her she would find him just as cool as brother Tian.

Starting to get bored from just standing there Du Jun decides he will ask if it is ok to concede without another fight, he has no Qi left so what is even to point in another fight? As he is about to find someone to ask, Xiao Long steps up on the stage.

“Little friend, how about I show you a few moves and then let you concede with honor.” Xiao Long asks with a smirk.

Having just been looking for a way to get off stage, Du Jun thinks this is a great idea. Xiao Long should be in the late Qi Gathering realm or early Foundation Establishing so there is no disgrace in losing to him.

“Thank you, I appreciate your guidance.” Du Jun answers with a bow and gets in a ready position.

Doing a final sweep of the audience he notices Tian Yan. His face is now white and the people around him also look concerned. Everyone except Tian Feng.

*Thump*

There is nothing but pain to Du Jun as a horrible feeling radiates from his stomach. It takes him a moment to realize that he was punched by Xian Long.

Mustering some effort to look up he sees Xiao Long standing there above him, his smug smirk replaced with a vicious grin.

“Thank you for accepting to duel me, it would have been hard to do anything to you inside the rules of the court otherwise.” Xiao Long says.

Not giving Du Jun a chance to ask any of the thousand questions running through his mind, Xiao Long punches him square in the face.

Du Jun falls over on the ground as he experiences the feeling of having his nose broken for the first time.

Lying there he notices Tian Yan struggling and screaming about ending the fight with Tian Feng having a firm grasp on his shoulders. Nobody else in the audience seems inclined to stop the fight but they do not look happy either.

Silently thanking Tian Yan for reminding him he just needs to concede to stop this fight, Du Jun opens his mouth to speak.

“I con… Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” He manages to get some of it out before Xiao Long steps down on his knee with what Du Jun can only assume is a full power stomp.

Slowly managing to emerge from the sea of pain he is in, Du Jun registers that Xiao Long has him locked in a neck hold. Du Jun’s line of sight is arranged towards the group with the two princes so both parties can see each other.

Tian Yan is frantic by this point and only Tian Feng's far superior cultivation realm is holding him in place. The people around the princes seem to have calmed down but are all white in the face. Everyone except the younger girl who has her head held towards the chest of a teenage girl who might be her older sister. It looks like the teenager is trying to shield the younger girl from seeing what is happening on stage.

Du Jun has changed his mind about having Au Yu here to see this, he is very happy about her current absence right now.

Shifting his eyes to his best friend, Du Jun sees tears running down Tian Yan’s face.

“Brother Yan, you should not cry in public. How will you become the emperor if people think you are weak.” Du Jun thinks to himself in his now somewhat delirious state.

*crack*

And then Du Jun’s line of sight abruptly changes and he sees the mountains, sky, and the capital off in the distance. He would like to go there together with Tian Yan and Au Yu someday, he thinks to himself as everything goes back.