Yu Lijuan was unsure what to think now that she observed her younger sister fighting the Xia Jingjie.
On one hand, she knew that she was not a match for him in any way, and probably would not be even if they were of the same cultivation stage.
Lijuan had to acknowledge that even if she practiced the complete Mantra, she just never put that much emphasis on the physical part of the Heavenly Jade Mantra as her main focus was on the spirit part.
But seeing the new and yet old younger sister fight and keep up with Xia Jingjie even though she only began training three years ago, made her feel… strange.
It wasn't the envy and hate that she had grown used to when something in regards to her younger sister happened.
Unsure as to what that feeling was, she watched as Jiao and Jingjie separated and both began to grow much more serious about the battle between them.
Xia Jingjie summoned the heat from his Mantra around his black spear. The various markings on the staff of the spear began to glow, all while a shimmer manifested around the spear.
The shimmer made her remember the hot summer days that she experienced every year.
Unsure as to how the fight would go on from this point on, he looked at her younger sister. The weird Jade Gauntlets that looked so much like materialized Jade Qi, separated from her hands and began to float beside her body all while increasing in size until they grew around the same size as a grown man's upper body.
Looking between the two fighters, she wondered how the situation would turn out when she noticed a small flicker on Xia Jingjie's face.
Almost as if he figured something out.
Immediately after he changed his stance and held the slightly glowing spear with both hands just a bit above his hip and pointed the spear tip at Jiao. The next second the tip of the spear began to glow as the shimmer emitted by the spear, and the Mantra used, gathered at the tip.
Glancing back at her younger sister, she noticed no movement from her body but one of the grown Jade Gauntlets with strange markings changed from a fist into a palm in front of her.
Upon the inner side of the palm, she noticed more of the strange lines; only these were far more coherent in her mind.
In the middle of the palm was a small dot from which a line began to spiral around the dot. Once the spiral reached the fingers did it stop its expansion and in its place, the spiral line diverged into five branches for each finger in return.
Then the branches traveled up the fingers and in between every joint of the fingers a dot appeared before finally arriving at the tip of each finger and there another smaller spiral appeared like a fingermark.
If there was one thing that the lines could be compared to, it would be the strange line markings that she had once seen on her father's Jade Skin Armor that stemmed from his Ability.
Focused on the gauntlet as she was, Yu Lijuan failed to recognize what the glowing tip on the black spear represented.
Only Xia Jingjie the user of the Blazing Summer Sky Mantra and those that practiced the said Mantra would recognize it as the manifestation of the Spiritual Art Blazing Rain in the Summer, which was transformed into the Spear Art to better counter users of the Heavenly Jade Mantra.
The original Spiritual Art used the Yang Qi that the Mantra users cultivated, gathered the heat from the blue sky, and compacted it into a small space only to fall to the earth as raindrops with the intent of destroying a large area.
The Blazing Spear Art created in an effort to counter the defense of Jade Mantra users, ditched the area of effect it possessed, as it was almost useless on them anyway, and in exchange gained speed and power.
In a moment the glowing tip expanded and the next it vanished from the tip, only for an impact sound to be heard in Xia Jingjies ears.
Bam
He ignored it and increased the speed and power even more as Blazing Qi Burst was created and fired every second.
Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam.
Echoed in his ears as he had fired shot after shot. Not liking the result, Xia Jingjie began tilting the angle of the spear to fire at the different parts of Yu Jiao's body.
Shot after shot later, his spear released only for the open palm to move swiftly and block all the shots he fired at her.
Not giving up, Xia Jingjie's left hand let go of the spear and he twirled it as such that now his pose resembled a spear thrower. In the next moment, he executed the same Spear Art
Only this one was used differently and this time he put in much more power.
His spear began to glow like never before as the heat gathered at the tip.
Despite pumping more and more power into this attack, his attention had never left Jiao even once. Thanks to that he noticed one of the palms move slightly away, as she had decided to move away from the palm shield that it had functioned as.
That was when he noticed her stance. In his mind, there was only one answer that it contained and he saw as her opening stepped forward once with a fist that punched in his direction.
Following the gut feeling that came to him, Xia Jingjie abandoned further charging and threw the spear that he was holding.
Half a second later his spear met a fisted Jade Gauntlet midway between them.
BANG
In a strange occurrence of his spear falling to penetrate the fist, it instead began to release a massive amount of heat in a small contained space.
What followed was another BOOMing sound.
A shockwave was created in between the two of them and it displaced the air near them. It was so strong that the various vendors and stalls in the street shattered as the shockwave of heated air pressure went through them.
What was left he cared not, only the results of all this, and this result he did not like at all.
With a mental tug of his Divine Sense, the spear flew back into his hand.
A similar thing happened to the Jade Gauntlet that his opponent had manifested. Looking at the gauntlet that had stopped his spear, he saw no damage on it at all, but he did notice one fact.
The glowing lines on it had lost a lot of their glow and the spinning mark on the back of the Jade Gauntlet slowed down too.
" You know, when I was told that you guys could shoot Yang Qi infused with lots of Heat, I had a feeling, but now I am certain. " He heard his female opponent say.
Her voice still contained intrigue and a smiling tone but her eyes still contained a calculated gaze. " That was a plasma blast, manifested by Qi and focused by the spear. Combine that with the way you posed for the shooting, I have to question if certain snakeheads exist here? "
Unsure of what she was talking about, he ignored her and focused more on what to do next. ' I don't know why she has no problems taking those hits? Could it be that her cultivation is higher than mine? '
Thinking on it for a second he metaphorically denied it by shaking his head. ' Whatever it is, I need to push her more to find out her strengths and weaknesses. '
Nodding to himself, he began using another application of the Blazing Spear Art. This time instead of blasting the Qi at the opponent he gathered it at the tip of the spear.
This way the tip is heated to a degree that no normal metal could withstand without turning liquid and with the help of Qi and the Formation inscribed on its shaft, it would not lose its inner structure.
At the same time he pushed the Qi out of the spear blade and with Qi shaping the heat, it manifested into an extended blade of pure heat.
To other people, it looked like an enlarged red spear blade of molten metal.
" Oh, now we get a LightSaber Spear? " Jiao spoke again. " Your lucky Disney does not exist in this place, otherwise your Clan would be sued to hell for copyright infringement. "
" Your banter is useless. " He said, but deep down there was an itch that manifested when the word copyright came out of her mouth.
It was strange wording but somehow it irked him as it implied that the Spear Art that his Clan invented was copied.
" You calling it banter tells me that it has done its purpose, especially since it was a joke, and you never were meant to understand it, anyway. "
" Hmph. "
" Still, remember that question that I sent your way? Has your mind pondered on it, or was it too busy playing with your spear? " She questioned him.
" It does not matter. " He replied in return. " It's obvious that the Yu Clan is looking for trouble when it should know its place, especially since your Ancestor Yu Tian is not here to defend the Yu Clan as he did so long ago. "
" Is that so? Then let us put it to the test. HALO. "
Echoed the word from her mouth into the world and in the next second a strange thing appeared behind her head. It was a circular disk of Jade surrounded by rotating arcs that floated a bit above her head.
Each subsequent arc was larger than the former one.
At the same moment, the smallest ones near the disk in the center stopped rotating and layered themselves above the disk while the other three rotated around them.
Unsure of what it represented, Xia Jingjie prepared himself for anything. The Blazing Qi Spear Blade centered ahead of him, he began closing in on Jiao only to be denied his advance as the Jade Gauntlets came at him, instead of him on them.
What followed next was the said gauntlets attacking him with fists directly towards his front, with palms that chopped at him from the sides and finger spears from anywhere that any openings could be found.
Those that came from the front meat with the Blazing Qi Spear Blade. Those that came from the side were stopped by the shaft of the spear and the fingers he dodged with movement arts.
In the heightened dance that had become his fight for reputation, Xia Jingjie focused all his concentration to find out the weakness of this reincarnation that Jiao had become.
Blocking, dodging, and deflecting the Jade Gauntlets that ignored quite a few things regarding combat, he found out a simple thing.
Every time his spear hit the outer side of the Gauntlet the attack was either blocked or deflected and every time his Blazing Qi Spear Blade hit the inner side of a Jade Palm, his Blazing Qi Spear Blade weakened for a moment.
It was as if the Qi that sustained the Blazing Qi Spear Blade in its shape was sucked away. When that happened he had to supply more Qi to not lose it and stabilize the Spear Art.
The other thing was that as he defended himself by hitting the Jade Gauntlets, the strangle lines on the gauntlet glowed more and more. In the throng of a focused state of combat, his mind whirled around that fact until another tiny discrepancy was pointed out to him.
All this time as he engaged the Jade Gauntlets in combat the sounds of contact between it and his spear were lesser than they should have been. ' Could it be that our contact is charging the Jade Gauntlets somehow? If so, that's not good. Not at all. Need to end this far sooner or I will run out of Qi. '
Yet, despite knowing that fact, Xia Jingjie did not rush to his next action. Defending himself he spared a bit of attention on Yu Jiao herself.
There his Divine Sense told him that the owner of the hands was performing a strange dance with the main work being done with her arms and its many motions.
Immediately he figured out that the strange dance was tied to the movements of the Jade Gauntlets. At the same time, he figured out that whatever the Jade Gauntlets were, whether a Spiritual Art or something else. All of it was tied to Jiao so as long as he was busy focusing on the Jade Gauntlets he would definitely lose. ' No, I have to go all-in on her, not the tool she is using. '
Moments later, Xia Jingjie changed his tactics. With skillful defense, he steered the Jade Gauntlets to give him an opening. So when the opening appeared he executed a Spear Movement Art that would consume a majority of his Qi.
This art used the expanding nature of Yang Qi to flood his roots with a great amount of energy, even to the detriment of prolonged recovery. In the next moment Xia Jingjie's spear was lined up straight towards the female opponent and with a step, he exploded towards the girl.
There was no stopping this art once executed. He went forward with all of his intent, without any doubt, no matter the consequences that would ensue. And deep down Xia Jingjie knew that her death was better than him and his Clan being humiliated, especially not after his father's last command.
With every step of his, all but his target in front of him blurred. In this hyper-focused state, Xia Jingjie noticed how Jiao's body had slowed down to a crawl as his Blazing Qi Spear blade inched closer and closer to her.
Still, when his eyes met hers, there was something there. Deep down inside them, he felt as if those eyes apprised him in the same clarity that they had appraised him before all this started.
Which should be impossible under normal circumstances.
Only he should be able to experience this slowed-down world as the art did its work. With every step he inched closer and closer he saw the extended Blazing Qi Spear Blade reach her torso.
It was at that moment, just before the Qi blade touched the clothes on her slightly bulging chest, that something green appeared. It took him a moment in that hyper-focused world to recognize it for what it was, especially as it kept unfolding like an umbrella as his spear blade of Qi and Heat began to pierce her insides, only it did not pierce her insides.
No, it was absorbed instead. Every moment that the spear blade of Qi and heat inched closer the lines on the Jade Armored Breastplate glowed more and more as the glow was spread away from the impact.
It was only when the physical blade of the spear hit the Jade armor that he finally felt a resistance register on the spear and saw the blade start penetrating the armor, but before even half of it penetrated it stopped.
Baffled at how little he had accomplished, Xia Jingjie began to leave the state that every practitioner of the Blazing Summer Sky Mantra desired to achieve, in every single moment of combat.
With every moment that world began to gain traction, the glowing on the armor spread away from the impact site.
It traveled to the back of Jiao's back and there his Divine presented him the same black and white elongated teardrop that he had observed on the back of the Jade Gauntlet, only this one was bigger.
Much, much, much bigger. In fact, it almost consumed a third of Yu Jiao's back.
The other thing the slowly leaving perception showed him was how the black and white mark rotated faster the more of the glow it absorbed. In return, the glow then began to leave the same black and white mark only to travel along different lines down the spine and into Jiao's right leg.
Only for him to notice that the same leg now sported the same Jade Armor Plated Boots and that the boot full of the glow was now separating from Jiao and decided to go for his wide-open chest.
Xia Jingjie's guts screamed it would be a bad idea to be hit with it, but there was nothing that he could do about it. At least not for the few moments after the art had strained his body beyond its limit.
There was only one thing that he could do. Pray that his protective talisman would save him.
The Jade Armored Plated Boots made contact with his chest where the necklace holding the protective talisman activated.
With a speed that would take him years and years of cultivating, the Qi inside the talisman expanded and met the force of that boot.
For a moment there was a balance between the forces but however the talisman worked, this time it found its match as the two warred. The force behind the boot made Xia Jingjie fly for a few moments before he impacted back on earth.
He even skipped on the earth as stones did on the water when thrown correctly.
Shaking away the disorientation that he experienced, Xia Jungjie used his spear, which had dislodged itself alongside him, as a crutch to stand up as his legs and back felt like twigs.
Once he was up he focused on his opponent and saw her holding her right hand over the chest where part of his heated blade had penetrated. There was no blood leaving through the opening in the armor that he had created as the flesh had been seared shut the wound.
Despite being baffled at how little damage he had done, he still found it weird that there was no physical reaction to the pain that the seared wound should have made her pronounced.
" Mend. " Xia Jingjie heard his opponent say.
While the word was foreign to him, just as the others he had heard from her mouth, this one he reasoned had to do with some kind of healing. The next moment after Jiao had said those words, she ignored the wound and walked toward him.
" I almost died there, you know? " She said straight into his eyes with her calculating gaze, only this time there was no smile to be sensed in her voice. " I guess, I got conceited with everything that I accomplished in just three years. Either way, this will be a good lesson for me. "
The next second, her whole body began to glow Jade green as she began materializing plated armor made of Jade on every single part of her body.
Within seconds her whole body was shrouded in that Jade Armor that looked as if it was sculpted with lines and spirals all over its body and the only thing that ever showed any opening was the eyes and nostrils.
Combined with the thing she had called Halo floating behind her she looked like a Warrior Princess going to war. Only for the armor to vanish again and only the Jade Gauntlets to remain behind on her hands.
He knew what that gesture from her meant. Feeling wobbly from the aftereffect of the art he had just executed, he knew he had no choice but to admit it.
" I give up. You have won. " He declared.
Shaking her head to his admittance, she still approached him slowly. Seeing her not accepting his defeat he took a stance as best as he could, but not seeing his chances, he hoped he could talk his way out of this.
" What do you want? I have already admitted defeat? "
" You admitting your defeat is of no concern of mind. But I guess I can still give you a third chance. " He heard her say as she stopped about ten meters before him. " They say that the third try is always the lucky one. Let's see if that applies to you. Now that you are no longer thinking with your spear, can you figure out why I had to slap you at the beginning? "
Taking the given chance to recover some strength, Xia Jingjie tried to think of a reason why she had slapped him. Yet, no matter how he thought about it, nothing came to his mind.
" I do not know why you did it. " He replied honestly. He was far too exhausted to ponder on her whims.
" Alright. " She explained for him to understand. " Better to admit ignorance I guess, then face the facts. I will tell you. Your actions caused my appearance by destroying any karmic bindings I had with my family. It's a simple price for me to pay, but it is only simple from my side. Can you imagine how it would be to be on the other side? On the side of the family that has to watch their favorite daughter lose all memories, much less someone like me who recovers memories of a different life. A life without their presence? Can you imagine it? "
" I… "
" Of course, you can't. You are just a brat that barely reached adulthood. What would you know about kids and family? " Hearing it, shivers traveled his spines as the words were delivered with a cold tone. " Of course, you would not know of the pain that befell my father, Yu Liwei. The same pain that I noticed in his eyes whenever he pointed his gaze at me. For a long time, he battled his inner demon on destroying me but ultimately failed because of his love for what I once represented in his mind, a favored daughter. It took time and effort on both our sides to even have a civil relationship between a Father and a Daughter. "
" That… "
" Oh, now you're speechless? " Said the cold voice. " Well, not that it matters. Now that you know the reason I can finally do what I wanted to do from the start. "
" What? " Xia Jingjie questioned.
" Enact Justice, of course! " Jiao said while staring at him. Her voice implied that what she was saying was obvious. " Is this not called filial piety in this land? To enact justice for the wrongs that had been done to one's family? In this case being, a Life for a Life. "
More shivers overcame him. They overrode his tiredness as he finally realized that he would be fighting for his life.
Immediately he summoned his Blazing Qi Spear Blade.
At the same moment, the Jade Gauntlets separated from Jiao's hands and went for him.
It was as if time had reversed as he began defending himself, only to realize that something was seriously wrong. There was almost no sound whenever he defended successfully against them, and in fact, even the response from the spear felt differently. The closest analogy he could even think of was like hitting something soft only for this something to be hard as a rock.
That was when it clicked for him. " Y… You have been… toying with me… from the beginning? " Xia Jingjie managed to stay in between the attacks and his labored breaths.
" Like a cat playing with the mouse it caught. " He heard the reply a moment later. " Only to find out this mouse had teeth. It matter not now. "
With those words, the Jade Gauntlets changed their actions, as one of them grabbed the spear blade and began sucking out the Qi from it.
In a matter of seconds, the Blazing Qi Spear Blade was no more but even that was not enough. As he failed to defend against the other Jade Gauntlet and it latched its palm on his chest.
His protective talisman reacted to it as it manifested between his skin and the palm of the Jade Gauntlet.
The next moment he felt the protective talisman lose its cohesion as the Qi was drained out with a speed that terrified him down to his bones.
Grabbing it he tried to take it off, but however it worked, he failed to even nudge it away.
No matter what he tried it just would not let go. It caused fear to erupt from deep within him when the same cold voice interrupted him.
" Did you know what happens when you combine Fire Qi and Air Qi? " She asked him but he knew that whatever she had in mind it would be terrible for me.
That was when he noticed on the gauntlet stuck to his spear the colored red Jade on the forefinger and the colored purple Jade on the middle finger light up slowly as it decided to tell him his Fate.
" Thunder. " Lighting erupted from the Jade Gauntlet as it traveled down the shaft of his spear and made contact with the hand holding it.
Right after it made contact with the protective talisman that had enveloped his body.
Now it had to defend his life on two fronts, and the results showed themselves moments later as the protective talisman stopped working and the Jade Gauntlets detached from him and returned to their owner.
" That took a lot of Qi. Must have been an expensive thing to possess. " Yu Jiao said. " Any last words you want to say. "
Those were like an Emperor's decree that decided how his life would end. Dread and fear bubbled like nothing he had ever felt before. By instinct, he produced the one thing that defined him the most in his life.
" You can't kill me. My Father is the Prime Minister. "
" Why would I kill you? " Xia Jingjie heard.
" Hmph, of course, you can't kill me. If you… " Stumped by the contradiction his mind gripped with dread and fear replied before his instinct told him that there was something else in store for him.
" Oh, you realized that a Life for a Life does not mean I need to kill you. " Once again shivers made their appearance on his body, as Xia Jingjie's mind processed the words from the girl before him.
" No, in my father's mind that would be taking the easy path for both you, your father, Xia Renshu, and the Xia Clan overall. " Jiao said, but a moment later she began to explain her thoughts. " You know, I think it's a kindness that my father was able to stoke the flame of revenge for a whole three years. I am sure you were able to enjoy your last days like a normal person as from this moment on you will become the Fool of the Xia Clan for having dared and had done what you did. "
With that declaration, the Jade Gauntlets came for him. Xia Jingjie tried his best to deflect them but with his exhausted body combined with a burdened mind of dread and fear, it took but a few moments for him to be in the iron gripped hand of the right gauntlet.
The other one held his spear in place while the one around his throat held him up in the air.
" Ughhg. " Gasping for his breath Xia Jingjie felt something creep up into his head. He had no idea what it was but the more he felt it reaching closer to more he started struggling.
The more he struggled for air the more he lost control of his body. With an errant feeling that came out of nowhere, he felt something warm trickle down his legs.
" Ah, looks like I made you soil yourself. " Trickled the words into his mind as the grip loosened and he finally gasped for some air. " But what I find even more interesting is for Xia Renshu to not come and rescue his son. Does he think I won't go through with my words or could it be you have already been discarded in his mind. I hope it's not an excuse that he can always make another son. If it was that one then I pity the common people of this Empire. If the one at the top is that cruel to his own flesh and blood then how would he treat those beneath his boot. "
Hearing it, Xia Jingjie's mind jumped to memory just before he came to confront the madwoman that was choking him at this moment.
" Oh, that is a strong memory. " Jiao exclaimed. " Looks like he truly did abandon his own son. Very well, if it is so then there is no need to prolong this. But before I make you a Fool, I will take a look at that Mantra that defines your Clan. "
Right after those words came into his ears, he saw it.
Right behind his strangler, about half the length of his spear, a shimmer appeared.
From it a familiar Blazing Qi Spear Blade manifested. It was far stronger in brilliance, a lot bigger in size, and far far more deadly than his ever was or will be, at least before he reached the Soul Creation stage if he survived.
Yet, its brilliance only illuminated what happened next greater.
A finger made out of Jade manifested right before that brilliance could penetrate his strangler's head. Somehow it stood its ground without any trouble at all.
" Xia Renshu, you dare interfere in the Juniors fight? Even attempt to kill my daughter? " A voice boomed out of nowhere. " Did you think I am without feeling like you? "
" Hmph. " The Blazing Qi Spear Blade retreated into the shimmer.
After that, the voice roared out again. " Xia Renshu, come let me show you why the combined might of this Empire failed to get rid of my Ancestor. "
What came next was a serious booming sound, but those did not matter to Xia Jingjie.
No, he cared more for the lack of air as the gauntlet gripping his throat started choking him again.