“What the fuck are you talking about?” Pengfei demanded.
“I’m going to pay you back for what you did!”
Jin Nanxi presented a genuinely aggrieved expression. Pengfei ran through their short history, searching his mind for some forgotten incident. But he could not recall any interaction where he might have offended the other disciple.
“Yeah, I’m lost.”
“You tried to sucker punch me, you little shit.”
Pengfei looked at Nanxi, confused. “Are you talking about the night you put goat shit in my bed?”
“Yeah.”
“I tried to punch you because YOU PUT GOAT SHIT IN MY BED!”
“That was a prank. And you tried to take my head off for it.”
Pengfei shook his head incredulously, then aloud said, “Yeah, and then you beat my ass, remember? And do I need to say it again? You put goat shit in my bed roll! You, Hongyu, Daoping, all of you assholes have been making my life hell, and you’re pissed off at me?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, I don’t have anything to do with those two. Those guys are dicks. They…they went too far with that vulture thing. I’m sorry about that.”
“…Thanks, I guess. But you’re not that much better in my opinion.”
Nanxi seemed taken aback when Pengfei lumped him into the same category as Hongyu and Daoping.
“I didn’t think … I mean, they were just some pranks. Playing around with the new guy. I was trying to make you feel welcome.”
The two disciples stood there looking at each other, unsure how to proceed. Nanxi finally broke the silence.
“So… do you still want to fight?”
Pengfei considered for a moment, “Kind of? It feels a little anticlimactic to just drop it.”
“Just one fight to clear the air? Then we forget about everything. Move on, no matter what the outcome.”
Nanxi finished Pengfei’s thought, both of them nodding in unison.
The two of them squared off. Instead of having a mind wiped clean by fear, his usual experience in a scuffle, his thoughts seemed louder than ever.
--Is this weird? This is kind of weird.--
Nanxi struck first. Just a slight jab, more to signal the beginning of their bout than to do damage.
Pengfei jerked back awkwardly. But even that was a victory.
--I saw it coming. Managed to get out of the way.--
The conversation with Nanxi had centered Pengfei’s thoughts. Brought him down from the terror of a fight, to the mild anxiety of a sparring match. He could think clearly and his body obeyed his commands with just a slight tremor of nerves. He raised his hands in a guard and considered an attack.
The two circled each other, moving in and out. Nanxi’s next attack landed hard in the gut, but Pengfei took it with a grunt.
Pengfei alternated between his left and right fists in the most basic combinations. The movements were sharper than they had been just a few days ago but Nanxi still parried the blows.
They each threw their strikes with full weight behind them. Scratches and the first hints of bruises were soon visible on both disciples where they made contact with one another, but despite the full force attacks there was no sense of malice between the two.
Perhaps it was that subtle shift in attitude that allowed Pengfei to remain so calm throughout. He kept his cool despite punches landing on his face and cutting into his skin. It was almost like working with Jin Neng back at the sect’s training ground.
Maintaining his even state of mind and seeing Nanxi’s strikes for a prolonged period allowed Pengfei to become accustomed to his opponent. He was still the inferior fighter but was able to block more and more of the incoming attacks while landing a larger share of his own.
Minute after minute elapsed with neither combatant able to put down the other. Pengfei was the first to tire but soon even Nanxi was dropping his hands and circling away from the engagement.
At the beginning they had both been tentative and used one attack at a time. As their tension eased, the techniques unfolded in flurries and combinations. And now at the end, they had reverted to single strikes again, thrown between panting breaths.
Pengfei came forward for one more attack. He threw a punch to Nanxi’s body but stumbled with it and fell into his opponent. Nanxi caught and held him in a violent sort of hug.
They threw short, slapping, punches from time to time but mostly leaned against each other for support.
“Alright…alright…I’m done.” Nanxi gasped and backed away.
Pengfei fell to hands and knees without the support of the other disciple then quickly laid on his back. Nanxi joined him on the ground and they both breathed heavily.
--He stopped first. I’m counting that as a win.--
Instead of gloating, Pengfei turned to his side and vomited.
******************************************************************************
Neng, Shutian, and Xiaotong stumbled down the mountain path in the dark of night. Dawn would break soon and they were on pace to reach the valley with the first light of day. Neng had wanted to depart the sect as soon as he learned Pengfei would be alone with Nanxi but had forced himself to wait until the other disciples fell asleep.
The other two had joined Neng somewhat unwillingly. The jolly Xiaotong had been easier to convince than the surly Shutian, whose complaints continued even now.
“Why is this my problem again?”
“You knew Nanxi was out for Pengfei’s head and you still gave him your herding shift.”
“I didn’t know it was Nanxi’s turn to go down! Besides, it was Xiaotong’s idea for him to take my shift.”
Neng remained silent but Xiaotong spoke up and tried to play peacemaker. “Both of you calm down. We go down, check on them, and IF there’s trouble, the three of us will be enough to handle it. No problem”
“I’m not worried about Pengfei, I’m worried about getting caught. This place is miserable enough, I don’t need any trouble with the Discipline Hall on top of it.” Shutian’s grumblings could not be assuaged but he kept walking downhill nonetheless.
Neng recognized the terrain around them, knew they were close. There was a bright haze in the east but the sun was still hidden by the mountains. After another few minutes the first rays creeped over the peaks and suddenly the valley below was dimly visible.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
Xiaotong squinted at the silhouettes below, “Do you see that?”
“What are they doing?” Shutian asked.
Neng tried to see what they were talking about. His eyes found the barn down on the valley floor and then panned around the structure. Plenty of slow-moving animals were treading back and forth already. A flicker of something caught his attention, a frenetic movement. Neng focused on it and eventually understood what he was seeing.
Two people locked in combat.
“Shit, they’re killing each other! Come on!”
Neng took off sprinting and the others followed suit.
******************************************************************************
Pengfei had fallen asleep immediately. Nanxi’s presence, at first disconcerting, had become reassuring after their heated sparring session. The accumulated fatigue from his previous sleepless night and the beating he had taken allowed Pengfei to fall unconscious as soon as he rested his head on his bedroll. The smell, the noise, the cold, none of it could keep him awake.
Nanxi was a different story. Pengfei woke early to find his companion sitting upright against the near wall, shivering and cursing the animals below.
They opened the door of the barn and unleashed the daily flood of goats as they stepped outside. Pengfei washed his face in the stream and sipped the ice-cold water before returning to the barn where he found Nanxi stroking the horse’s dark coat.
“What’s its name?”
“Doesn’t have one.”
“She was your friend’s?”
“Yeah. And be careful, she - ”
“Yeooow!”
“-bites.”
Nanxi skipped away from the braying horse, holding his arm where the mare’s large teeth had nipped at his flesh. He composed himself and walked over to Pengfei.
“Sorry again about what Daoping and Hongyu did with that vulture. Going after your dead friend like that was messed up.”
“Yeah. I don’t think I’m going to be able to solve things with them as easily as I did with you. Even if I could, I wouldn’t.”
“No danger of that. Last I checked, they were out for your blood.”
“You think I can give them a good fight? I did alright against them the other day, but they still had the upper hand.” Pengfei was bolstered by his recent performance against Nanxi but was still unsure if he could face Hongyu and Daoping back-to-back. Nanxi proceeded to shatter what little confidence he had.
“Ummm… it’s going to be rough, honestly. You got Hongyu with a lucky shot last time, but he’s the one you actually need to look out for. And he’s eager to pay you back after you made him puke his guts out.”
When Pengfei blanched, Nanxi hurried to add on some encouraging words. “But you seemed to do pretty good in a dog fight! Maybe you’ll be alright if you stay in close and make him go blow for blow with you. But you’ll have to learn how to get to the inside.”
Nanxi beckoned him closer. He took a guard and began coaching Pengfei on how to close the distance with an opponent.
“Come in behind your punches.”
Pengfei followed his senior’s instructions and threw some strikes to mask his entry but froze once he had covered the distance. Nanxi instantly rebuked him.
“No! Once you’re in, you have to keep attacking!”
“Alright, alright!”
Pengfei threw punches to Nanxi’s body and head. He kept the speed of the attacks high but held back on the power for the sake of his partner.
“Good!” Nanxi pushed Pengfei away and made him work to close the gap again. The pair practiced for several minutes with Nanxi beginning to throw strikes of his own for Pengfei to defend against.
It was just after they had separated again. Nanxi was attacking while Pengfei strategized another entry. Suddenly, there was a shout from behind them.
“Basssstaaarrrrdddd!”
Pengfei and Nanxi both looked around for the source of the sound. Nanxi turned just in time to take the full brunt of Neng’s tackle head on.
“What the hell!” Pengfei cried. He jumped forward and caught Neng’s arm as he cocked it back to punch at Nanxi beneath him. “Neng, what are you doing?! Stop, stop, stop!”
Pengfei managed to pull Neng up off the ground and suddenly Shutian and Xiaotong were there restraining Nanxi.
The next few minutes were a confusing muddle of shouts and curses as the misunderstanding slowly resolved itself. Finally, as tempers cooled the truth came out.
“So, you two weren’t fighting?” Neng queried.
Pengfei shook his head. “No, we were just training. We’re … kind of good now.”
“Well, you look like you’ve had your ass beat.” Xiaotong noted cheerfully.
Pengfei smirked, “I won actually.”
“It was a draw, you little shit.”
“What are you guys doing here anyway?” Pengfei asked, changing the subject and drawing a sarcastic barb from Shutian.
“Yeah, Neng, what are we doing here?”
Neng shifted uncomfortably. After the fervent outburst in his attack of Nanxi the normally quiet disciple had returned to his usual attitude, but Pengfei could recognize the subtle hints of embarrassment on his face.
“We thought…or, I thought that Nanxi might be giving you a hard time.”
Pengfei was stunned, unaware Neng valued him highly enough to go to such trouble. He coughed awkwardly.
“Th, thanks, all of you. I really appreciate the effort.”
An awkward pause, and then Nanxi asked, “So … you guys thought I was the problem too? Does anyone get my sense of humor?”
******************************************************************************
The disciples spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon together with the recent arrivals planning to hike back up to the sect in the night. They should have slept throughout the day but could not contain their excitement at the presence of the mare.
The entire Jin generation had been plucked from impoverished orphanages across the Central Plains. Then five years isolated in the Kunlun sect, unable to leave the area except to occasionally gather supplies. As such, there had never been a need or opportunity to learn horsemanship.
Naturally, everyone had turned to Pengfei who was known to have arrived at the sect by horse.
“I’m telling you, you don’t want to mess with her.” He had warned them, accompanied by Nanxi’s enthusiastic agreement. Still, the other three were not deterred. When they had not given up, Pengfei coached them on how they might approach the horse and first put the bridle over its head.
Shutian was out in the pasture now trying his luck where the others had failed.
The rest of the group was gathered at the barn. Neng had agreed that Pengfei should aim to fight his opponents in close. The senior disciple now watched as his friend sparred with Nanxi and attempted to implement the strategy. Neng called out suggestions as the fighters circled each other.
“Don’t let him back away! Stay close!”
Nanxi had begun using his full repertoire of techniques to resist his partner and so single strikes were no longer sufficient. Pengfei used a flurry of attacks to bridge the gap and grab Nanxi by the neck but the other disciple continued to struggle and fight.
--Need to cut off his movement with attacks.--
Pengfei threw knees to the midsection. It was not a strike he had practiced much before and Nanxi was able to slip away without much difficulty. Pengfei pursued, punching as he followed. Suddenly, Nanxi stopped his backward momentum and came forward with a powerful blow of his own aimed at Pengfei’s right side.
“Huuuggggghhhhh!”
A nauseating constriction he had never felt before gripped his flank and Pengfei involuntarily dropped to his knees. He curled into a fetal position and writhed on the ground. The other disciples seemed unconcerned and within a minute the pain had lessened to the point he could speak again.
“What the fuck was that? Did you use your internal energy?”
Nanxi chuckled, “No, it’s just the liver.”
There was still a toxic cramping sensation similar to what he remembered of being poisoned by the man-in-black, but Pengfei stood again. Slowly.
“Show me. Show me how to do that.”
“Take a rest. I’m getting tired just watching you two!” Xiaotong shouted.
Nanxi waved Pengfei off and led him back to stand with the others, both of them still breathing heavy from the exercise.
Neng observed his friend with a quizzical look. “You’re … a weird one, Pengfei.”
“What did I do?”
“I mean, you come from money right? It’s obvious you don’t belong to a martial arts family but you’re still a little bit …”
“He’s surprised you’re not a complete pussy.” Nanxi completed the thought and Neng nodded in agreement.
“Yeah. That.”
Xiaotong picked up the line of questioning. “What’s the deal, young master? You curse like a bandit but don’t know how to wash a dish. Did you grow up rough or not?”
“My family has money but it wasn’t just hunting boar with noblemen and private tutors. All different types of people worked under my father. Most of the children I hung out with were…”
“Poor?”
“Your words.”
“I knew you were rich!” Nanxi said smugly, then continued, “So why did you enter the Wulin? And why did you come out here of all places?”
Shutian walked up, defeated and dragging the bridle behind him, while Pengfei considered what to say.
--These are the guys who snuck out to protect me…and Nanxi. I guess a little truth wouldn’t hurt.--
He took a deep breath and searched for the words to begin.
“My mother was… my dad married a second woman after her. Things got tense after that. We got into a fight, an actual fight.”
“Not very filial of you.” Xiaotong chimed in.
“Right… He said he’d get rid of me. The next day my mother found a letter he was writing, telling his second wife about everything. Said he was going to have me shipped off to the northern frontier. He bragged that I wouldn’t survive six months.”
“That’s pretty messed up.” Nanxi observed, and the others nodded.
“Anyway, I didn’t want to stick around for that. My mom had to stay to look after my grandfather, so I left by myself. And since my dad is a member of the government, the Wulin is the safest place for me.”
Shutian looked confused. “Why is that?”
The others laughed at his ignorance. It was Xiaotong who explained for his friend.
“The non-interference between the government and the Jianghu. The government won’t step foot in the underworld unless someone abuses civilians, commits treason, or something like that.”
Pengfei nodded. “But my father still has enough influence to ensure no group would accept me. My sister suggested Kunlun; she said it was out of his reach.”
“Out of his reach? More like ‘banished to the middle of nowhere’…” Shutian grumbled.
The disciples digested Pengfei’s story for a few moments before Xiaotong broke the silence.
“That’s a pretty messed up family you have there. You could have told us a bit sooner.”
“It felt wrong complaining to anyone in Kunlun since…”
“We’re all a bunch of dirty little orphans?”
“Your words. Enough about me. How are you three getting back into the sect without being seen? Just sneak back in at night?”
Neng had already thought of the answer and revealed it now to his two coconspirators.
“We hike up the mountain in the night, then fall in with the other disciples on the morning run. No one will rat us out, we just need to get in the gates unnoticed by the elders. But we should get some rest, we’ll need to leave here by midnight I think.”
Shutian and Xiaotong nodded and accompanied Neng to the shady side of the barn, preferring to sleep in the outdoors and avoid the smell of goats for as long as possible. Meanwhile, Pengfei pestered Nanxi for the particulars on how to attack the liver.
******************************************************************************
The three travelers slept in fits and spurts. Pengfei saw them get up every now and then as he trained throughout the rest of the late evening. Their sleep did not seem very restful but he tried not to disturb it regardless.
He and Nanxi went inside the barn at sunset and were asleep within an hour of nightfall. There was little to hold their interest in the secluded valley. Neng and Xiaotong came in not long after to take shelter from the cold and biting wind.
The four disciples tossed and turned in the cramped portion of the second story not occupied by bags of feed and tools. That is, until Xiaotong ran back in and shouted at them after a trip outside to relieve himself.
“Shutian is gone!”