Five years later…
High above the farmlands of the Bai river basin, where a chilly plateau atop a mountain range resided, two figures were sparring vigorously, amidst the clearing surrounded by aging tree stumps.
Feet glided across the low grass and their torsos stretched far and firm. Footwork became an intense dance as they weaved in from one another. Their metal blades sounded with a screeching clang once they clashed with precision and power. This demonstration was a testament to their martial prowess. However, it was clear from the start where this match was headed.
One out of the two of them was the dominant of the other with him being pushed back throughout this entire spar.
A tall lean man, donning his usual all-black attire of flowing robes and leather armour with his signature black blindfold, proceeded with a low stance that scraped the ground with his knees. His arms plunged out straight with either arm reaching opposing ends, that if one were to draw a line from end to end; it would come out perfectly horizontal. What resulted afterwards was an unstoppable thrust. The man, with the spear in his left hand, launched that blunt diamond spearhead, speeding it forward in a streak of red and iron.
“..!”
His unfortunate opponent noticed this but failed to react in time regardless. His muscles barely had time to move from the man’s previous onslaught and were now in searing ache. In the end, the opponent had to give ground and fell, letting gravity pull him away from the spear’s trajectory. In sight of this split second decision, the man felt proud, albeit left no visible expression.
Grunting in pain from the impact, the opponent immediately kicked off from the earth and did two backward somersaults, nearly crashing into an unsuspecting tree stump. He was one knee down but hastily took guard by brandishing his blunt metal Jian pointed forward in both hands. His posture was truly desperate and instinctive.
Thankfully for him, the man didn’t press forward and gracefully got up from his position with no wasted movement while maintaining full possibilities for countermeasures. The opponent knew that even if another attacker were to creep up from behind, the man would easily dismiss the assault as simply swatting away a nuisance bugging fly.
Approaching the opponent, the man spoke.
“Would you like a break, ReZhui?”
“...Ha…Ha…”
Despite his miserable state, drenched in sweat and marked with red, the now grown up ReZhui, nearing the ripe age of 15, looked back up at his combat mentor, into his black blindfold and smirked confidently.
“Don’t worry about me, Brother MianJu. I still have much more left in me!”
“...”
MianJu examined his current state. Compared to the kid of small and adorable stature, the boy has bulked considerably over the past half decade. Well-defined dense muscles of relative thickness that were rock hard to the touch when contracted strengthened his entire frame, while controlled amounts of body fat covered the vital organs. His height reached MianJu’s shoulder, who himself was taller than average.
His face grew more angular, with his overall oval face being more square and pointed from eye level to his forehead, and his lower half retaining most of the rounded features. Although, his jawline developed much sharper and slimmer, ending off at a rounded chin. His black straight hair also grew longer, which was kept tidy in a compact bun held by black string. Because of this spar, long strands loosened up and shorter outliers stuck to his forehead and neck in sweat.
ReZhui now wore a plain combat outfit with tough brown pants and black, ribbon strung boots. Two wide straps of hardened olive green and black cloth loosely covered both sides of his front torso, over his wide shoulders and behind him, leaving his arms, inner chest and sternum, his inner and lower abs, and the side torso exposed to the air. He also wore cloth wrappings and bandages all over his arms and hands, evident of his marks of black and blue from all the spars he had with MianJu for a significant portion of his childhood and he was proud of it.
Unfortunately for him, all that effort was not enough to even win him a close finish to a draw. MianJu’s skills and experience still vastly outclassed ReZhui’s very own and admittedly, he has grown pretty infuriated about this revelation.
“ReZhui, you do know that at where you stand now, no one else besides myself, within the entirety of the Bai river basin, could ever dare challenge nor threaten you into a fight?”
“...”
“And that includes multiple enemies that I taught you earlier, so what about a break?”
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“No, Brother MianJu, please…Ha, one last time for today?”
“You’re going down there today, aren’t you?”
“Yes, yes I am.”
MianJu looked up to the rising sun. There was still time before midday. Besides, he knew how fast the boy could travel downhill with his cultivated physique. Sighing quietly, MianJu gave in and blitzed forward.
“...!”
Wits on end and adrenaline gushing, ReZhui slid away in a hair’s breadth. Within another kick, he propelled himself away, aiming to increase the distance. But, MianJu was weirdly more relentless this time and closed near with a single motion, thrusting the blunt spearhead one more time before swinging it wide in an arc dual-handed to the right.
Consequently, ReZhui sidestepped the first and narrowly parried the second, shoving the trajectory overhead. He then used the opportunity of misdirection to hurriedly grab hold of MianJu’s wooden shaft as taught with his left, but he countered with letting go the staff’s end, grabbing ReZhui’s very own outstretched arm by the wrist joint. ReZhui then tried to score the killing blow by thrusting his Jian in his free right hand into MianJu’s torso, seeing both his arms were occupied. But MianJu, still in control for most of the length of the spear, slid his right arm down the pole and used the additional leverage gained to block the attempted stab.
“Tch!”
Failing once, ReZhui tried one more but soon found himself with the shaft of the spear speeding towards him. His left arm twisted beyond its normal range of rotation and he readily stepped back with his right foot planted behind to keep him steady. All his weight was now concentrated upon the left foot as he continued to lean further left in hopes to offset that exertion, while his blade was held in a compromising position, serving as the barrier to prevent the other end of the spear from striking his head. MianJu shoved forward and the Jian forcibly dug deep into the pole from ReZhui’s firm opposition as his hamstrings burned intensely.
From that short exchange, they ended up in an arm lock. A stalemate, at a glance.
“Argh!”
But ReZhui was surely at the disadvantage as MianJu applied more pressure onto his wrist, clearly signalling to ReZhui to let go or risk his joint breaking. If he released his grip, ReZhui would lose himself this closest opportunity for a killing blow and would have to resort to facing another barrage of thrust attacks. In both scenarios, he will lose either way but ReZhui decided to remain, hoping his tenacity will push him through as he tried to come up with a new plan. In this tense position, MianJu felt nothing. He hasn't used any Qi yet and only brought ReZhui down to this burdening position through sheer skill.
Witnessing ReZhui’s agonising face as he gritted his teeth away, MianJu took the chance to talk once again.
“Brute force, ReZhui? It’s smart for the average bandit, but not against me.”
“B-brother…When would you let me truly cultivate?”
“As I stated from the beginning of training, the world of JiangHu is a place of ruthlessness and tragedy. Any form of Qi cultivation, if unmasked, will bring you enemies day and night.”
“Arrrrr…RHAAAA!”
MianJu pressed a nerve at the end of his radial.
“And you, ReZhui, like many others who begin their martial journey, will never learn to hide your cultivation progress unless you reach the higher echelon of the ascension realms. Thus, it will only bring unnecessary danger for your stubborn sake.“
“...”
“And that’s exactly why this last spar will end quickly…In your utter defeat.”
In spite of his monotonous warning, his voice struck fear into ReZhui’s consciousness and momentarily made him lose his grip. But that was plentiful for the mentor as MianJu proceeded to fling ReZhui’s arm away and push him slightly, shifting his centre of mass. With his hand free and the Jian no longer plunged into the spear, ReZhui fell hard onto the ground, butt first.
“..!”
However, ReZhui was unfazed and immediately somersaulted backwards once again.
“...”
MianJu, knowing this, closed the gap instantly and thrusted his spear. In retaliation, ReZhui slid beneath the attack and closed in for MianJu’s feet. Ultimately, the spearhead pierced deep into the ground instead, and MianJu took this outcome calmly. ReZhui, with both arms on the handle, spun around, driving enormous momentum to severely strike MianJu’s right foot and cripple his movement.
The blur of dull silver approached near but the blade never reached its target. In a hair’s breadth, MianJu took off from the ground and landed safely behind ReZhui at a farther distance.
Nevertheless, MianJu realised it and acted accordingly, using the spear as a supporting frame to flip overhead.
“...!”
ReZhui quickly got up in wariness. He had never seen such agility before, but before he could sort his thoughts out, MianJu lunged back at him with another flurry of slashes, giving him no chance to purely strike back. His movements hastened quicker and mightier. The small tuft of red hair at the end of the spearhead was the only reason ReZhui could keep up with these blinding attacks. MianJu’s spear eventually wobbled excessively from his downright incredible spearmanship at keeping the momentum going and after surviving the onslaught for a meagre one minute, ReZhui lost it.
The bending of the pole mercilessly misguided ReZhui’s perception of the incoming thrust. The first five parries were credited to sheer luck and instinct alone. But, these attributes could never help him for long. MianJu spun the spear overhead and swung around for a power slash to his left. ReZhui tried to parry but his blade was also drawn off-course once in contact with the vibrating spear. The last thrust was unleashed and ReZhui caught sight of the red tuft, raising his Jian to block it. Unfortunately for him, the spearhead changed course from the wobble and his defense was rendered useless. Like a snake coiling past rocks, the spearhead reached his chest and struck him fatally at the heart. The accumulated energy then burst out from the tip and ReZhui soon found himself propelled far from where he previously stood, crashing hard into a tall tree stump.
“Argh…ARC!”
His eyes went white from the impact and his mouth foamed uncontrollably. In a temporary daze moments after, ReZhui finally fell unconscious. What he last saw was MianJu’s unshakened figure standing firm. He had barely moved a step.