“Hey, Jingshu,” I said to him. He was watching the fight alone, in his own little corner. “Xinyi is going to challenge me, as is her right as someone lower ranked.” Jingshu’s eyes widened. “I’m…” I sighed. “There is no easy way to say this, but I will do my best against her. And I hope you won’t hate me for that.”

I could feel how hollowly my words rang. No matter how I put it, I would be trying my best to physically harm his crush. There was no excuse for that.

“I can’t… blame you for her actions,” Jingshu said. “Though I cannot say that I will be happy. Is there any way that you can negotiate a lower stake and then you can lose on purpose? I can help you remunerate your loss with some qi pills of my own.”

What did the internet people call this again? Simping?

“I can’t ask you to be impartial in this case,” I said. “And I won’t. I just came here to warn you. Make your peace with what is to come. For what it’s worth, I’ll try to make it quick.”

Jingshu nodded, eyes closed in pain at the sound of my cold comfort. This was too much, even for him. Surely I wasn’t this lovestruck as a teenager? And with Xinyi of all people?

What did she even have going for her besides her looks? Perhaps there was a depth to her that I failed to see.

Whatever. Right now wasn’t the time to comfort Jingshu. I needed to get ready for what would undoubtedly be a very challenging fight.

What did Xinyi have on me? Perfect movements.

What did I have on her? Physical strength, durability, battle experience and internal energy.

Without internal arts, the internal energy would only give me increased stamina. It wouldn’t directly bolster my strength. As for physical strength and durability, all it would do is extend the fight and give me more opportunities to land a devastating hit, but I’d still be up against someone with incredibly graceful movements and decent physical strength of her own. Her training and qi gathering would have given her an extra nudge of strength that would make her able to perform martial arts to an adequate standard, if not a perfect one. But all of that was just a matter of time and qi.

If plan A, raw skill, failed, then I’d have to cheat a little, this time without the use of innate qi.

Hopefully, my battle experience would be enough to counter her skill.It's In The Details: Interior Art for Kindar [https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wEna6T86--o/UT-buNLIw9I/AAAAAAAAAz8/aZy5fbTUYUo/s1600/Interior+Art+Sword.png]

Liu Xinyi POV

Liu Xinyi’s new start in another world had been rocky.

For one, the geezers that were supposed to be taking care of her were raging sexists that put even the worst that the school’s administration could throw at her to shame. In the end, who could blame them? They were obviously relics of their time, in a male-dominated field, no less.

In an instant, Xinyi’s dream of joining the marketing department of some up-and-coming culture magazine where the female-to-male ratio was greatly in her favor had immediately evaporated. All her dreams had, not just her aspirations for a future career. Nothing remained to her, not her expansive social network, adoring parents or her excellent grades that promised a bright future wherever she went.

All that remained was her own diligence in the face of insurmountable odds.

And for one pregnant moment after she put that two-faced snake Mei Ying in the dirt, Xinyi had been convinced that things could go back to the way they were: with her shooting for the top.

Only for the geezers to strip her of a prize that was rightfully hers.

Only for some no-name who had never even existed in Xinyi’s estimation to give it back out of some twisted sense of pity and chauvinism! Xinyi had been at the mercy of that loser, and what was worse, he never even paid her any mind afterwards, to the point that she had to seek him out to ask what his game was, only for him to lie to her face about some great plans and an innocuous desire for esteem.

Xinyi couldn’t deal with people like him. Wouldn’t deal with them, either. If they couldn’t be honest about their intentions, then she wouldn’t honor even their fake intentions. She refused to play games with him.

That night, with the Crown of Unity in her hands, she donned the unremovable piece of enchanted jewelry.

It was made of twisting rods of gold that split off and flowed in river-like—or floral—patterns. It wasn’t studded with gemstones or anything so ostentatious. Instead, it had an unmistakable aura of power to it.

It reminded her of the stories of Sun Wukong’s tightening headband, which sent a shock of unease through her. After all, the comparison was apt. Who knew how much control these people could exert over her now that they had invested in her? She had agreed, after all, to be a disciple to them.

What was she thinking? This was a useless line of thought. The path forward was clear, after all. With all these circumstances imposed on her, the smartest thing to do would be to adapt and overcome, not protest and rebel. All that would end in was her death, or maybe something even worse. She wasn’t a naive child to believe that her gifts would protect her unconditionally.

She put the crown on, and afterwards, it felt as though her entire body, mind and soul had been annihilated, only to be forcefully stuck back together. The experience had been as agonizing as it had been brief, and in the end, she could feel an infinity of things, all limited to her being.

It had been hard at first. Every errant thought could be seen on her body. Every look she cast at Wenhao sent blushes to her face and made her twirl her hair and giggle like a school child. It had been embarrassing beyond belief. Immediately, she realized the need for self-control beyond just the self-control she had already been given. She had to overcome her impulses and cultivate a disciplined mentality. Luckily, she didn’t have to start from scratch. All she needed to do was remember lessons learned in her past life, and force herself into a constant state of mind of focus and collectedness.

Exhausting, but not as exhausting as it used to be. The longer she held the facade, the easier it became to do so. This gave her enough time to master the basic forms. And things had only gone uphill from there. A faction known as the Emei had determined that she carried the potential for some ability, and gave her even more of a headstart: fifteen years worth of internal energy and some internal arts to help her set a foundation for her future strength with more gifts on the way.

And they had delivered on their promise. More years of qi and interesting treasures that would no doubt save her life down the line and probably make living in this world that much easier. If she couldn’t live a lavish and prosperous life on Earth, then she should at least be among the most powerful in this world, just to even the scales and make it so no wrinkly old bag of bones could ever talk down to her.

Promise of friendship and cooperation? That was rich. The moment they officiated that promise, she’d twist their arms for all they were worth, demand true respect that these men would never give so easily to a woman, in good faith and all! After all, she couldn’t force these disrespectful men to honor their end of the agreement. All she could do was demand what was rightfully due to her, and hold them being forsworn by her over their heads. Leverage.

While a couple of her insignificant classmates fought each other, Xinyi watched the proceedings quietly, her newly-trained eyes picking out the movements exhibited, dissecting them mentally and finding them lacking. Even this was an opportunity to get better, by improving her senses. There was an old saying she couldn’t quite remember, something along the lines of ‘your hands cannot be faster than your eyes’. The fix was easy to deduce then: make your eyes faster.

“Xinyi,” she heard someone call her, and it wasn’t one of the many girls that had crowded around her for succor from any of the boys who would think to challenge them for their trifling qi cultivation pills. She recognized the voice, but refused to turn.

Since the hierarchy now was based on the order of receiving gifts from the sponsorship event, that made only two people higher-ranked than her: Tianming, and Wenhao. And because she wouldn’t dream of stealing from Wenhao, it was natural that she had put challenging Tianming in her mind, but she wanted him to have one more fight so he could gain more treasures that she could then eventually take.

“Liu Xinyi,” he repeated, and she turned around. “You should consider challenging me, since you’d have no chance against Wenhao.”

The way he said it made the context obvious: she couldn’t beat Wenhao even if she tried. But the wording?

“You’d have no chance against Wenhao.”

It irked her.

How dare he even sound like he was insinuating such a thing? There he was again, with that blank expression. Plain-faced, short, unassuming, Tianming was a nobody, and should have stayed the nobody that he always was. Now he dared to try and rub shoulders with the likes of her and Wenhao? How dare he assume himself better than her, to show her mercy and give her the Crown of Unity just like that?

And how dare he dictate to her who to challenge?

Just for that, she would make it hurt.

The will to enact violence was still slow to bubble up for her—a personal weakness born from spending a lifetime fighting in a different arena—but she had to remind herself that her strength was not insignificant at all, and she could pose a threat to him. Cold focus sharpened her, getting rid of every last ounce of her misgivings.

“You think I wasn’t going to do that already? I don’t need your convincing to put you in the dirt, you creep.”

Tianming’s expression turned ugly at her needling. “Bet everything, then.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

She smiled. “Fine!”

Tianming walked away, leaving her alone with her thoughts, and the crowing of her hangers-on.

“Oh my gosh, what is wrong with him?” one of them crowed.

“He’s such a loser! Telling you what to do?” Another crowed.

“With a face like that, why does he feel like he gets to say anything?”

“He’s such a psycho! Like, he wants to fight you? What the heck?”

“He’s really trying to hit a girl?”

That last one sent a violent flare of rage in the depths of her soul. She turned to the insignificant nobody who said that, Zhuan Lan. If it wasn’t for her eyes that were a little too far away from each other, she’d be considered beautiful. But her face was the least of her flaws. Her mind was the biggest. “What does that matter?” Xinyi asked her. Everyone quieted down, and they looked at Xinyi in shock. “You think I’ll lose to him just because I’m a girl?” Xinyi turned to regard the rest of them all in disgust. “You think I’d stop any of these boys from challenging those among you that were above them in the hierarchy?”

“I-it’s different for us!” Zhuan Lan said. “They have natural strength, and you have the Crown of Unity!”

“I made something of myself,” Xinyi said. “You’ve done nothing for yourselves. I’m not your protector. I would much rather have strong people watching my back than any of you.”

Xinyi looked at the fight, which was just about to conclude. “I’ll show you all what a woman can do. And that will be the end of this pitiful excuse for unity you guys are demanding of me.”

The fight finally ended, both participants bloodied and tired. Idiots. What would stop someone lower-ranked on the hierarchy from challenging the victor now?

Either fight and leave unscathed, like that mediocre Tianming somehow managed, or don’t fight at all! They’d eventually learn if someone lower-ranked made a challenge, but they wouldn’t have the opportunity.

Xinyi stepped into the battlefield, scanning around to find Tianming standing next to Jingshu. Once he made eyecontact with her, he walked on ahead, each step resolute and strong. Everything, from his body language from his way of talking had changed from their time on Earth, but that wouldn’t be nearly enough.

Tianming put his hands together and started muttering. What the hell? Creepy. “Are you praying for yourself?” Xinyi asked. Her eyes widened as she took in his solemn expression as he continued muttering. He was! “God won’t save you!”

Tianming lowered his hands, and opened his eyes. “I was praying for you. Only the Lord can give you mercy now, because I will not.” He took a deep breath and roared. “I bet everything I have against everything you have!”

“Ehem,” the crier intoned. “Your stake far exceeds Xinyi’s. Are you sure you would enter into this bet, knowing how imbalanced it is?”

Tianming smiled mildly. “It doesn’t matter. I won’t lose.”

Xinyi clenched her jaws. The nerve of him! “I agree!” she shouted. “Li Tianming, I will make you regret your words!”

The crier counted down.

Five.

Tianming swung his arms around in wide and ornate circles.

Four.

He jabbed at the air experimentally, his strikes slow and showy.

Three.

He skipped on his feet.

Two.

He slowed down and widened his legs.

One.

Arms outstretched and pointed towards her, Tianming stopped moving.

The fight was on.

Xinyi cooled down. Rage wouldn’t do her any good now. It would be playing into his arena. She was pure technique and training, and that could only manifest in a calm and controlled environment. She inched towards him. He did the same.

It felt like minutes had passed when they were finally in range, and by then the anticipation had risen so much that almost all her plans flew out her mind in nervousness.

Until he moved, and suddenly it all came back to Xinyi. She tried to bat away a strike, but found that it was so heavy that she could barely deflect it, taking several steps back as she did. Tianming rained blows, and Xinyi immediately felt their imbalance in strength, not from any head-on strike, but from how heavy they were to deflect. She didn’t dare block directly, not even with her elbows, like that lunatic once had.

Xinyi was on the ropes, stumbling back and back as Tianming shed all notion of mercy, going at her like he would another man. A man he had a grudge with even.

In her peripheral view, she saw the boundary of the battleground approaching, and she knew immediately that retreat was no longer possible.

She had to attack!

She threw a punch, one that she knew would slide right between his guard, hitting him right in his nose. Tianming’s head flew back. Xinyi didn’t hesitate. She jumped at him with an elbow to the same spot, saw him moving to block, and improvised on the fly, turning the elbow into a back-handed jab that still ended up catching him on his nose.

All the while as she prepared a kick to his leg, using the force of her forward jump to add as much strength and ferocity to her movement as she could. Tianming roared out.

Xinyi knew she had him now.

Tianming threw another attack, but she knew what he was doing know. No, not know. She wouldn’t be able to explain what she was doing, she knew. This fight was happening at a scale of speed far faster than knowing or understanding. This was comprehension, intuition. Instinct.

Tianming made to strike, Xinyi weaved away from that strike, honed in on a weakness in his guard, watched as he immediately corrected on it, and she honed in on another just as quickly, getting to it before he could do anything about it.

Xinyi was faster.

No, not faster. Maybe in a foot-race, he would have her beat, and maybe their strikes were equally fast, if not hers slower than his, but what he didn’t have was reaction speed and agility. And that made all the difference. Xinyi planned out several moves ahead, raining blow upon blow on Tianming.

His nose was bloodied. A knee had buried itself in his shin, and a shin in his mid-section, punching the air out of his lungs, a fist to his throat, and finally, Xinyi grabbed his hair, jumped over him, and pulled him along, falling right next to him, only his head made a loud thud on the ground, so loud in fact that for a moment, she worried she had killed him.

She stood up and took him in. He breathed erratically, eyes dazed and body twitching minutely.

She looked towards the crier, waiting for him to announce her victory.

“It seems that Xinyi has won by a great upset, as Tianming is unable to continue fighting!”

Xinyi breathed a sigh of relief.

Tianming had had her worried there for a moment, but it was her belief in herself that had eventually helped her prosper. And she hadn’t even needed to use that of all things.

“All tremble at violence,” she turned around to look at Tianming slowly getting up, having left a bloodstain on the ground where his skull had hit. “All fear death.” His eyes, glazed and unfocused, sharpened and took her in with undivided focus. “Putting oneself in the place of another,” he closed his eyes for a long moment. “One should not kill nor cause another to kill.” He opened them again, and they were wet with tears. “You brought this upon yourself,” his voice was so heavy with emotion. “Brace yourself,” his voice cracked.

“It seems like Tianming was not as defeated as we thought! The match goes on!”

Xinyi tensed.

Tianming was first to move, but Xinyi didn’t hesitate either. She dodged under his initial strike, and threw her palm at his chest, hitting him with an energy strike, taught to her by the Emei.

He flew back, rolling on the ground. Hopefully, he’d roll over the boundary lines.

He turned his roll into a recovery, skidding on the ground and stopping right before he touched the line. Then he darted towards her. Fast. Way too fast.

The Emei representative had specifically told her to never use energy strikes against her classmates because none of them would have learned anything to defend themselves from it.

That was before she had recklessly bet everything on a fight, and Tianming had managed to tank even her best hit.

No. No holds could be barred anymore. She would win this, whether it killed Tianming or not. He had brought this upon himself.

It's In The Details: Interior Art for Kindar [https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wEna6T86--o/UT-buNLIw9I/AAAAAAAAAz8/aZy5fbTUYUo/s1600/Interior+Art+Sword.png]

Li Tianming POV

My head pounded with an agony that stretched around my entire skull like a spider, pulsing with every heartbeat. It was like my brain shared its space with heart that pulsed pain itself in tandem with my regular heart. I could only taste copper in my mouth, and I could barely breathe through my abused nostrils.

But my body? My body had never felt so strong since I had transmigrated.

Enlightenment. The Supremes and Transcendents had many explanations for what enlightenment entailed, but in the simplest of terms, it was a moment of unprecedented, possibly heaven-imparted, genius that allowed you to skip the steps of learning martial arts, allowing you to master something far before you should be able to. And it applied to cultivation as well. One could spontaneously generate another ten years of qi if they had suddenly reached a realization about one of the many natures of the universe.

Likewise, enlightenment could help me skip the steps of integrating my vital energy, allowing me to do it far faster.

Xinyi had energy strikes. She had internal arts. No question she had backing from a sect, the Emei no-doubt. What did the Emei internal arts focus around again? Soft taps to devastating effects, the epitome of the gentle style, more gentle even than the daoists over at Wudang.

I was at the other extreme of the spectrum of gentleness. My style, like all Shaolin styles, was a ‘hard’ one.

I threw my fist at Xinyi hard enough to break through brick, and she parried the strike with a fist strike of her own, an energy strike that nullified most of the force of my own strike without giving her any of the knockback.

That didn’t matter. She was out of tricks now.

Energy strikes and extreme agility and reaction speed didn’t matter to me. Not if I could…

She made to kick my head, and I let her, giving me just the right opening to hit her in her dantian.

Her core of energy, or dantian, was a metaphysical existence, and could only be interacted with metaphysically, or spiritually as it were. But a strike like this, coupled with the little internal energy I had injected to it in the form of an energy strike…

She recovered from the kick, which carried no internal energy at all, and stepped back, shocked. She couldn’t fathom that her energy was gone now. In reality, I had only disrupted her control over that energy, but she wouldn't know that immediately I didn’t let her wonder too long at what had happened. Instead, I punched her across the face, sending her sailing back.

She got up shakily, like a deer on ice. I’d shaken her brain a little too much, no doubt. I didn’t let her get up. I kicked her down.

And kept kicking.

She started crying out, and I could faintly pick up on shouts from outside the ring, but I didn’t pay it any mind. I just needed to bruise her enough that she wouldn’t get up. Towards that end, I stomped her thighs hard enough that I knew she’d bruise black.

The only cry from the sidelines that I let stop me was the crier’s. “Xinyi seems incapable of continuing the fight! Therefore, the match goes to Tianming! Along with this, ninety years of qi pills, the Dragon Whisker Hanfu and the Azure Flame Gem!”

Great.

That made four treasures, and two-hundred and ten years of qi. Sure, not all of it was mine, but it was an important bargaining chip for something else.

“Zhang Wenhao!” I roared, rubbing the wound on the back of my head and all the blood that had built up off. “I challenge you! A hundred and twenty years of qi against yours, and all my treasures against the four of yours!”

Wenhao stepped into the ring with a murderous glare. “You’re really looking to test your fate, aren’t you?”

“You wanted this fight, didn’t you?” I asked. “Weren’t you the one begging me to get stronger?” I snorted. “If you gained some common sense and changed your mind since then, I’ll happily call the match off in honor of your newfound maturity.”

“Wait a damn minute,” Wenhao growled. “Who said anything about changing minds?”

“I figure you’ll say that you’re going to enjoy this, aren’t you?” I asked. He smiled, a confirmation enough. “Sorry to disappoint you, but lord forgive me, so will I.”