After a brief pause to recollect his thoughts, the axe-wielding youth replied with an understanding tone, "Same goes for me. I wish you luck in our fight, young one!"
As soon as the above words were uttered, the man's eyes lit up and the battle-axe magically flew up from behind him to hover at his side. He firmly grasped the handle and began breathing in and out regularly from his mouth. With that, he had fully entered his comfort zone. A faint white mist began to appear around the axe's edge and a faint pressure made the blades of grass below his feet bend over slightly…
Beneath her azure mask, Xiao Wu's eyes focused seeing this and her attitude grew solemn. A slim black blade in the shape of an elongated triangle appeared at her left side. Her once delicate fingers, now covered in small cuts and bruises, closed around the hilt with expertise in a reverse hold. She then entered a low stance, with her knees bending forward and her front foot firmly planted on the ground, as if she could dash over at any moment.
Under her breath, she then began chanting: "In a moonless night, a veil of blackness will descend and cover the lands…"
The bulky youth examined this stance cautiously as the mist swirling around his axe grew thicker and thicker with each moment that passed. The moment the blade couldn't be clearly seen any longer was the moment that he struck! A metallic gleam surrounded in white mist flashed in a curved trajectory, any trace of the blade hidden within the swirling haze.
Unbeknownst to the axe-wielding youth however, a shiny orb enshrouded in a purple glow had suddenly appeared overhead!
"…because even in those moonless nights, my Purple Moon will still remain in the sky, and allow me to see the lands; a world clad in purple moonlight!"
Witnessing the other hiding his weapon within the foggy mist, Xiao Wu merely smiled under her mask as a moonlight foreign to the world dyed her emerald-green irises violet: in the Purple Moonlit World reflected in Xiao Wu's eyes, not even the thickest mist could hide the flow of Spiritual Energy! Without the least suspense, the iron sword in Xiao Wu's hands slashed and met with the mist, striking the axe hiding within it head-on.
Sparks flew as Xiao Wu jumped to one side to disperse the impact, having easily seen the trajectory of the blow with her emerald eyes now glowing purple: to the burly Vacant disciple's astonishment, his blow had been easily parried, achieving little more than making the girl's hand ache slightly from the clash.
"Ah!" At this time however, a fierce black gleam made all blood drain from the face of the burly cultivator, a lone blade having appeared at some unknown time just a few inches away from his upper-left chest!
He panicked and somehow managed to deviate the strike with the long handle of his battle axe, knocking the flying blade to one side. He then witnessed with wide eyes as the deadly hidden weapon flickered and shot back behind the masked challenger's figure, once more hidden from the sight of the youth. Beads of sweat rolled down his face and he tried his best to put some distance between him and his crafty opponent in order to calm down and recollect himself.
However, how could Xiao Wu let him achieve that when she had him at the ropes?
Immediately, her feet kicked off the ground and she dashed forward, the blade she held in a reverse grip in her left hand slashing horizontally as she brushed by him, not leaving him a chance to recover! Xiao Wu had shot forward like an arrow, quickly passing by the bulky cultivator.
The youth, managed to somehow parry the blow, even if just barely. Despite having blocked the blade in his opponent's hands, however, he felt dread as a second and third metallic gleams appeared out of nowhere and went after his heart!
At this time, the High Level Inferior Stage cultivator could only pour the Spiritual Energy gathered in his consciousness into his muscles: the ethereal energy helped his motions to go beyond the limits of a human's physique. Like so, the axe in his hands forcefully swerved from its original path and magically deflected both sneak attacks with the flat of its blade: clearly, despite being far from those 'geniuses', the man's battle experience was still nothing to scoff at.
Once again, the flying blades trembled slightly after the clash before being retrieved: in a matter of instants they had dashed out of sight, hiding behind the azure-masked fighter's short and slim body. As for 'Night Challenger' Xiao Wu, she wasn't in the least concerned that the youth had parried her consecutive blows. Her only response was to wave her hand and add another sword from her Heaven&Earth Pouch into the mix, increasing the amount of Vengeful Talons deployed to three in total… before dashing over once more!
Xiao Wu turned into a streak of azure, black, and metallic-silver as she danced about on the battlefield, drawing patterns in the air with her black blade and carving the night air with her Vengeful Talons.
And then, after three waves of attacks were resisted, the fourth talon was added in!
Up to that point, the youth in his late teens had been barely hanging on!
Perspiration was inundating his back as if he were dousing in a spring, and the axe in his hands appeared to transform into a swallow as it rose and dove nonstop, the techniques he had refined over many years of cultivation showing off their worth against an overwhelming opponent.
However, the moment a fifth, final talon was added, it became the straw that broke the camel's back.
Under the onslaught of one-plus-five blades slashing and stabbing at him from all directions ceaselessly, the Inferior Stage youth only managed to hold out to the first wave of five Vengeful Talons. After blocking the counterattack of the one hand-held edge and five flying blades once, the weapon in his hands had lost all momentum.
Even as he witnessed the next attack incoming, he did not manage to recover enough strength into his upper body to do anything: taking advantage of this one moment of weakness, the Black Dragon Blade in Xiao Wu's hand smashed the axe aside, breaking his stance open!
With an exquisite pirouette, in a fashion that sought to imitate Cheng Hao's flashy footwork from way back when, Xiao Wu twirled right by him and at the same time pointed forward with her finger: following her command, the five gleaming talons of the Black Dragon that had been hovering on the spot she had been standing on just earlier immediately shot forward, clawing into the exposed chest of the Inferior Stage youth!
Stab!
The burly cultivator felt a prickly sensation as the five flying weapons, under the emerald-eyed girl meticulous control, ground to a sudden halt as soon as they had tasted blood. The blades solemnly withdrew in an orderly fashion while leaving behind five shallow marks on the now bloodied flesh, resembling wounds from the vicious claws of a beast. Although they did look quite painful and worrisome at first glance, Xiao Wu had made sure they wouldn't cut so deep that they would pose any threat to her opponent's life; after all, it was just a practice match with a fellow disciple, not a fight to the death with an enemy. So long as they could avoid it, she would be sure not to inflict any fatal wounds for no reason.
Xiao Wu let out a breath and recalled her two Martial Ways -the Black Dragon Blade in her hand and the Purple Moon hanging overhead- back inside her Pseudo-Core and collected the five other flying weapons in her Heaven&Earth Pouch.
Still in a state of shock, the young man clutched his wounded chest bitterly and wiped away the traces of blood at the corner of his mouth. Immediately afterwards, he bowed his head in defeat, "I thank senior for steadying your hand back then. Is it possible for me to know senior's name?" He asked hopefully.
Xiao Wu's pristine laugh came out as she retorted, "If I could easily give my name away just like that, I wouldn't wear a mask, don't you think?"
"Indeed, that was my mistake, I apologize…" the other agreed.
"That's fine, I understand your curiosity." The emerald eyed girl waved her hand dismissively. "Unfortunately, my current situation is a difficult one where I can't disclose my true identity, so I can only do things in this roundabout manner…"
After some hesitation, Xiao Wu eventually pointed out somewhat awkwardly, "Also, you should not be calling me senior, seeing how I am younger than you by quite a bit…"
The man nodded in a carefree manner, chuckling as he pressed down on his wounded chest with some cloth, "Indeed, that you are. However your skills are the real deal… To be defeated so easily, it seems the peak of my martial arts is even further up than I had anticipated. Although I did not consider myself too highly, I was still much too haughty. Meeting you was just the wake up call I needed to realize this!"
Xiao Wu smiled underneath her pale mask, "Eheh, fellow disciple exaggerates." She then bowed elegantly and added, "Thanks again for agreeing to my request tonight. It was a fruitful experience for me as well… also, good luck in your journey!"
"Mm, it was my pleasure, young genius!" The youth bowed himself. "By the way, is there-"
Is there a chance for us to meet and spar again… was what he was going to ask. Unfortunately, by the time he looked up, that enigmatic azure-clothed, black robed figure had already disappeared. He could only sigh and lament: "So fighting me has no more value now that you've cut me down, has it? Just like on the battlefield, a dead enemy is in the past and one should only look ahead, that's the way of a true victor!"
The sound of an axe cutting through the wind could be heard as the youth began to swing the axe while recalling the clash from earlier. Other than understanding the fearsomeness of his opponent's might, he had also come to an understanding of his own strengths and shortcomings.
"After that fight, I feel like my attainments that have staled for so long are finally ready to improve again… It's time for some training!"
...
Xiao Wu's next stop was a house ten minutes from the previous one. She once again stopped in front of an isolated hut and waited patiently.
After a few more minutes, a man in his late years came out.
Long ago, when he had still been middle-aged, the ignorant people around him had congratulated his strength and his attainments.
Blinded by their flattery, he had followed their suggestions to join some kind of School or Sect to make his way higher up in the social ladder.
Eventually, he had decided to come to the Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect
Unfortunately for him, the truth revealed itself early on: at his age, unless he had a cultivation of the Advanced stage or higher, the Sect would pay no mind to someone as old as him. After all, he had surpassed his golden age long ago, and yet had only managed to achieve Low Level Basic Stage. As he got older and older, his attainments staled, to the point where to this day he had yet to reach Middle Level. It was a classic example of people stumbling upon cultivation methods in their youths, yet having no one to guide them or to compare notes with.
Later on, those people would never be able to achieve greatness and would eventually burn out, destined to never leave a mark in the world as they returned to dust…
And now, he was on the verge of turning eighty.
"I apologize in advance for any trouble my selfless actions might cause to you," respectfully shouted the emerald-eyed child in azure clothing, black Sect robes and wearing a pale mask.
Having experienced the vicissitudes of life first-hand, the old man had deep understanding of the hidden motions in the world.
In his long years, how many young fighters had he seen rise up or heard tales about? And among those, how many had he witnessed falling due to their own haughtiness and vanity? They were simply too many to count…
Therefore, even if he could tell the other's youthfulness with his own eyes, he still bowed back as a sign of respect.
He saluted the black-robed figure standing in his yard without the least bit of presumption at all. The old man was not arrogant in the least regarding his standing in the cultivation world; on the contrary, he knew where he belonged to extremely well: he was the bottom tier, his role that of a stepping stone.
And he also understood that, to fight a mysterious rising star such as the one before him, the bizarre Night Challenger, was a rare chance of a lifetime. To a nobody like him, what better way could there be to leave his own, miniscule yet indelible mark?
That way, no matter how insignificant he might seem in the bigger picture, his actions would be molding the future path of the chosen one that would be shaping the future!
If he lost, nobody would dare laugh…
And if he won, he would have a story to tell in a far distant future, when the cub of now grows up into a full-fledged tiger!
###
Author's Note
These are the two philosophies of the one that is winning and of the one that has lost: the latter wishes to etch a mark so as to not be forgotten; the former is merely looking to attain the peak, and therefore legends are left behind wherever he trails, irregardless of his intentions.
And contrary to popular belief, I believe that it is the state of being that defines the mentality, and not the other way around. Ultimately, it is all up to fate, luck, chance, occurrence, or whatever one might call it: if things don't align, a person's 'Will' alone doesn't have the power to carve into the real world...
And that is why in this miraculous world that I have created to find refuge, I most definitely won't have it be so.
~ Cookie