"Are we going back, now?"
"No, I'd like to test this spear as soon as I can. If I'm correct, the martial art pavilion should be closer than the training grounds, right?"
"Indeed, it's only a few minutes away. After all, they often need to go fetch some weapons."
"Then it's decided. Let's go there first. We'll have plenty of time afterwards." Little did Cao Yun know that he would not leave the martial art pavilion before dusk.
-
The martial art pavilion was a big building, way bigger that the armory. It had at least ten stories, and several hundred men could easily fit inside each one. In this area, this was the biggest building. It made sense, if cultivators were to fight inside, they needed a lot of room.
When Cao Yun entered, many people were already fighting. The first floor had seven rings for sparring and many instruments all around. There was a kind of chaos in this, but nothing seemed out of place.
No one paid them any mind when Cao Yun and Huang Cixi got in. They looked around until they heard a very young voice moaning in pain.
On one of the rings, a small girl who wasn't more than 12 was fighting against a 17-year-old boy. He had an emblem with the number two and a red cliff behind. Gradually, Cao Yun got a very bad impression of this emblem. The people around the ring did not seem particularly pleased but did not dare utter a word.
Finally a young woman, still very sweaty from her training, spoke up. "Senior Brother, I think she got enough."
"Enough?! Did she now?! She wanted to spar..." As the little girl was trying to get up, he kicked her in the belly. No sound even came out of her and she rolled backward. "and she gets to.." he kicked her again. "spar!"
Huang Cixi saw Cao Yun ready to intervene and she took his arm. "Young Master, you'll get into trouble. Technically, he's allowed to do this, as long as she doesn't give up. And I know this man, he's Luduo Bu. He's known to be vicious. He already got punished several times but he keeps on being ruthless."
"I do not care whether he has the right to do so or not, this is disgusting!" Cao Yun circulated 'Cutting the Retreat' and ran at full speed. In a matter of seconds, he was before the little girl.
Surprised by this intrusion, Luduo Bu jumped back.
"What are you doing?! You're interrupting my fight! Do you know the penalty for this?!"
"Senior Brother, I'm sorry. But as I watched you so bravely beating up this little girl, I could not stop myself from wanting to spar with such a valiant warrior. May you offer me some pointers?"
"Oh?! You want to fight me to help this little trash?! Ha, ha, ha! Fine! But if you give up, I'll go back to spar with her, okay?"
"No problem, Senior Brother."
Once again, Cao Yun did not want to find trouble, but he could not let this little girl being beaten to death as the other disciples just looked disapprovingly.
Luduo Bu was one of the only second-years who did not go to the final duels of the entrance examination. As such, he did not recognize Cao Yun at all.
"You have a spear, so I'll take my weapon out as well." Placed against the ring was a halberd. Luduo Bu took it and faced Cao Yun.
The other disciples around the ring had all recognized Cao Yun and got worried. They had been ordered to not make trouble for him and the first time they met him, they were watching helplessly as a little girl was beaten. And now, he was going to fight the worst scum of their pavilion...
If Luduo Bu had known who he was fighting, he probably would have done some more thinking. But he was overexcited by his beating.
Without bowing or waiting for Cao Yun, he charged with his halberd, ready to slice him apart. 'Thousand Cut Blade'. His halberd lacerated the air around Cao Yun. Moving as little as possible, Cao Yun blocked with the shaft of his spear. Not yet accustomed to its weight and length, he got cut four times to the arms.
"Not bad, but not good enough!"
'Never Ending Torture'. The blood he had drawn from Cao Yun seemed to seep through the halberd and the attacks of Luduo Bu became more vicious.
Cao Yun became a little bit serious. Getting into position, he countered the halberd again and again. For now, he wasn't attacking as he was focusing on getting used to his new weapon.
-
Higher up in the building, a disciple was running through the stairs. "Chief Elder, Chief Elder!"
He reached a huge door and knocked several times while shouting "Chief Elder, Chief Elder!".
Chief Elder Baishen suddenly opened the door. "What's going on?! Why do you disturb me?!"
"It's Luduo Bu, Chief Elder. He's beating up a servant on a ring."
"What?! And you let him do it?!"
"Well, it's not against the rules..."
"The rules?! Pathetic! I'll break his arms, we'll see if it's against the rules."
In an instant, Chief Elder Baishen disappeared and arrived in the first floor. Her fury turned into surprise when she saw Cao Yun fighting against Luduo Bu. "Did this idiot finally do something right?"
In fact, she had already expelled Luduo Bu from her pavilion twice already. But unless he went too overboard, he could not be forbidden from getting in. This idiot never learned his lesson and always caused trouble. But this time he seemed to have realized her deepest desire. She wanted to watch Cao Yun fight.
Luduo Bu was more vicious than Zhi Yin. His technique was weaker, but he had more strength and his cultivation was a bit higher, ready to cross into 7th-grade Mortal.
Luduo Bu thought that Cao Yun was pretty weak because he only stopped his attacks and did nothing more. Accordingly, he pressed on and exerted more and more strength. His martial art was 'Bloody Cavalry'. It became stronger and stronger as his blood became hotter. His halberd could also absorb someone's blood to use the Qi within to strengthen itself.
They fought like that for some time. Gradually, Luduo Bu who wasn't completely stupid realized that Cao Yun was gaining momentum. Indeed, he was getting familiar with his spear. It was longer and heavier than the training spear so it took some getting used to. Now he was used to it.
Chief Elder Baishen had not said anything as she did not want this fight to end yet. Right now was the good part as Cao Yun had finally decided to act.
'The Pillar Piercing the Sky'. He immediately used the first move of Horn Star. As the spear started to spin, the Horn Star in his sea of consciousness accelerated as well. With her spiritual senses, Chief Elder Baishen could see the Horn Star faintly appearing on the tip of the spear. Cao Yun was not a Mortal Warrior so he could not materialize yet, it was just his intent and only Spirit Warriors could even catch a glimpse of it.
The spear seemed more rigid in Cao Yun's hand and a vortex of wind formed on its tip as it went for Luduo Bu.
Sensing the danger, he stepped back and tried to stop it. 'Butcher's Cleaver'. His halberd stroke vertically and collided with the vortex.
The onlookers felt their blood pulsate in their veins. The air around the halberd became hotter and hotter. Cao Yun added a little bit of vibration in his spear and angled its trajectory. As the spear moved, the halberd fell on nothing and was then pushed back by the vortex of air that passed right beside it. Luduo Bu tried to control the trajectory of his halberd to attempt a block with its shaft. But he was too slow and the spear went right for his head.
Chief Elder Baishen had an instant of hesitation but she relaxed.
In the last moment, the spear changed its course and pierced his right shoulder. Cao Yun had controlled the hit. If he had used the full power of the blow, Luduo Bu's arm would have been torn apart, but he just had a bloody shoulder.
"You!" Luduo Bu tried to take back his halberd that fell to the ground when he got hit. When he touched the weapon, Cao Yun's feet landed on his fingers and crushed them. His spear went straight for his throat.
"So, do you give up now?"
"You!" Cao Yun kicked him right in the face.
"Do you give up?" Before he could even answer, he kicked again, and again, and again.
"I give up. I give up." With a bloody mouth, Luduo Bu answered. "You'll pay for this!"
"Oh?! You threaten someone in my pavilion?!"
As soon as he heard this voice, Luduo Bu's blood turned cold. He remembered what had happened to him the last two times.
"Chief Elder Baishen, I respected the rules this time. You can't punish me for nothing."
Her eyes went to the little girl who could barely move.
"You call this respecting the rules?!"
"She asked to spar, I swear! If she had given up, I would have stopped!"
"You crushed her throat! Do you take me for an idiot like you?!" She got closer. "And you did break the rules when you threatened Chen Guo!"
Hearing the name 'Chen Guo', he turned even paler. He clearly remembered his faction leader asking him not to stir up anything with this fellow. Not only the wrath of Chief Elder Baishen, but he also feared the anger of his own faction.
Why didn't I ask for his name?! I really am an idiot...
"Chief Elder Baishen, this is just a misunderstanding..." His body suddenly rose into the air and was thrown through the door to the ground outside. The noise of some bones breaking could be heard.
"Crawl back from whence you came. For threatening a fellow disciple, you are banned from entering my pavilion for six weeks!"
Immediately, Cao Yun went to the little girl. She really was in a bad state. She was no more than twelve and coughing blood as her breathing was difficult.
"Chief Elder Baishen, please..." Before he could ask for help, the old woman was already holding the small body in her arms. She injected some Qi to stabilize her condition. "Quick, go fetch Physician Ming."
Luckily, the martial art pavilion had several physicians just in case.
A middle-aged man came down running. If the chief elder gave an order, he had to rush. He examined the little girl for some time.
"She'll be fine." Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. He gave her a pill that she couldn't chew. "Please Chief Elder Baishen, can you direct the medicinal essence of the pill through her body." As a Spirit Warrior, she was much more competent with controlling her Qi outside her body, even though she was not a physician.
She followed the directions of Physician Ming and very soon, the little girl opened her eyes.
"She'll need some days to get back up, but she'll be fine. There's no definitive damage."
"Thank you, Physician Ming."
Chief Elder Baishen caressed the girl's face. "Everything will be alright." The next moment, her face was dark and her eyes stared at the disciples around the ring. "You just stayed there doing nothing?! My martial art pavilion's honor was being sullied by the blood of a child and you did nothing?!"
"But, Chief Elder, it was all according to the rules."
"So if I beat you until you pass out but it's according to the rules, you'll be fine with it?!"
No one dared answer her anymore.
"Oh, I will ask your instructors to lend you to me for some special training! After this month, you won't dare stay silent when faced with such barbarism!"
The disciples could not imagine what they would endure. In fact, even though the next month was going to be hell on earth for them, afterwards they would be way stronger than before. In a way, it was a blessing in disguise.
Chief Elder Baishen put the girl on a small bench. "Chen Guo, I'm sorry this is the first thing you saw of my martial art pavilion. But your technique already seems a bit more honed than before. Come on, I'll show you to better opponents!"
The rest of the day, Cao Yun fought against all kinds of opponents, but none was weaker than 7th-grade Mortal. He even fought against a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior who restrained his Qi not to manifest it outside of his body. He tried to leave several times but Chief Elder Baishen was very insistent. She even bribed him with some small spirit stones before the other disciples' incredulous eyes.
"What?! It's within the rules. I thought you liked to follow the rules?!"
But Cao Yun had to admit that he really was getting stronger. His martial art became more and more refined and by the end of the day, he perfectly controlled his 'Nine Chi Black Dragon Spear'. He had realized that it could become harder or softer according to the technique he used, probably thanks to the Ebony Snake Dragon's scale within. When he was able to control Qi, he could probably control this aspect of his weapon as well.
Chief Elder Baishen had finally gotten enough and she had some work to do. She left as the sun was setting.
Cao Yun had gotten friendly with many of the disciples he sparred against. At first they were reluctant but couldn't say no to Chief Elder Baishen. But as they fought against him, they realized he had a great understanding of martial arts. His cultivation was still lacking but he was only 16. Not one of them was at his level when they were his age. They all thought beneficial to get closer to him.
Finally, Cao Yun decided to leave. But first, he went back to the little girl. She was asleep and Huang Cixi was caring for her.
"How is she?"
"She's fine. She woke up during your fights and gave me a message for you: 'Thank you, Big Brother'."
"You know her?"
"Yes, she's one of the servants assigned to the new disciples. She just got into the sect this very year as well. It's been three weeks since she got here. Apparently she really wants to become a fighter and so she loves coming here. I hope this doesn't change anything..."
"Do you know who her master is?"
"Yes, do not worry, someone will take her home shortly. Chief Elder Baishen already told me to leave everything to her."
"Fine." Cao Yun brushed off her hair to watch her face. Earlier there was only pain on it, but now she was very peaceful. When he saw her earlier, he had remembered the face of his little sister being taken from him. Luckily, the Drop of Wrath had behaved because he really could have killed this man on the ring. Cao Yun was afraid of this part of him. He loved fighting but not killing.
Huang Cixi watched as Cao Yun was full of affection for this little girl and she remembered her second brother's body who had been buried. It really was him who showed this respect in death.