"Ai"
"An"
"Ai"
"An"
"Ai"
"An"
"Ai"
"An"
"Ai"
"An"
"Ai"
"An"
The patriarch fought on the blackened soil like little kids fight over a piece of candy.
The two kids who rushed here hoping they could do something to mediate the situation could do nothing and instead stood there among the crowd almost as if they didn't even exist as anything more than the crowd itself.
They looked to the seer with hope.
The seer, despite his black attire, almost always stood out due to the gold embroidery on his robes. He wasn't rich, but he had to wear something akin to his ego.
But the seer didn't stand out still as the little brawl was but too exciting for the people. The patriarchs just stood out more.
The seer and his assistant chewed on candies while the two families continued to argue. The cold war was on and it was about to go hot.
Nothing does it better than a fight on a dreary day such as this one. The heavens were grey with clouds and so was the earth with ash and dust. Grey walls and charred black spots were the only visible constructions after losing their paint to fire or collapsing, leaving only cemented grey walls.
"Hidden underground 11th cavern technique, hundred dragon breath heat blast, 4th form."
And then there was fire.
"Illusionary tree technique, 11th form, earthen illusion steps."
The fire hit the target. The target was an illusion.
The Ai patriarch was now suddenly behind the An family patriarch, and from there, he kicked him.
That enraged the patriarch, who flew back in with full throttle when a boy blocked his punch.
"Come on, respected patriarch. The two of you can't be fighting like this. You two will make both the families look bad," said the boy.
The patriarch's eyes could not have been wider.
A wave of whispers and gossip ran through the crowd that had gathered.
"But that dark bluish hair."
"Must be him."
"How? Impossible!"
"Now we are martial artists, no? Let's settle it with a fight. I fight for my uncle..." The boy continued to speak with a forced and obviously fake smile, as he then suddenly turned his face and pointed his swords towards the crowd. "...And you fight for yours."
He was obviously challenging Liu. And Liu had little choice but to step up. However, Liu hesitated.
"Liu, you little bitch, up NOW," the sly but not bad-looking face yelled.
"How dare you shout at an An family member like this?" the An patriarch raged. "Courting death."
The patriarch immediately threw a fiery punch at the guy.
The punch was blocked, and the flame extinguished.
"Come on, don't do that. You only make yourself look bad," the boy explained with fake concern, which was obviously an insult.
All stared in shock, Liu with fear.
The crowd moved away from Liu, exposing him.
"Man, he is sly and strong. In non-Murim context strong and sly. I like this guy," the seer said to Tang before he moved out into the open as well.
All attention, however, was still on Liu.
"Come up here and fight me, Liu!" he yelled yet again.
"Stop it," Lin Hua stepped in front of Liu.
"Sis, get back now."
"Did you not have enou..."
"Stop protecting that pussy, sis," the guy interrupted in Hua.
"Please..." you could see her starting to tear up a little.
"Come on, Liu. Stop hiding behind a woman and fight me!" he completely ignored Lin Hua.
Liu had crumpled to the ground.
"Father might approve, but I won't, you hear me?" he continued to yell, this time at Lin Hua.
The seer started sniffing. Sniffing hard enough for all to start looking at him.
*Sniff** Sniff.*
"You smell this shit, Cao Tang?" the seer asked.
And then Cao came in, sniffing too.
"Hmm, yeah, smells like I don't know, ass burn or jealousy maybe," Cao Tang said, continuing to sniff.
"Nah, nah, naaah. This smell," Neon also continued to sniff.
Sniff, sniff.
"It smells like incest," Neon said, with a wide evil demonic grin that stretched all the way from one ear to the other.
Lin Hua's brother was mad enough as it is, and Neon's antics popped more than just a few nerves. It pulled the entirety of it.
He swung in with a sword in an attempt at his life.
"Who are you, huh? Another one of her friends."
But right before the sword hit, a purple-haired woman wearing purplish and grey assassin robes came and blocked the attack with her dagger.
"Oh yes, so accurate you are. I would love to get to know you better, but I'm allergic to incest, you see."
That pissed him off even more.
Sparks flew, blades were traded, and the woman in the assassin's robes blocked all of the attacks.
"Stop hiding behind a woman and fight me," and he lunged at the seer once again, only to be shut down by the seer's new comrade.
"Both of you fuckers hiding behind women. Are these the kind of friends you made, sis?" the man continued to yell in frustration as he went in for another attack.
"Whatever do you mean? It is the best from behind, ain't it? It's a good spot to be in," the seer was not done toying with this guy yet though.
"Oh, dear, how inconsiderate of me. You don't have a woman to get behind. So you wouldn't get it, would ya?" And the evil demonic grin was back. And this particular taunt hit, and it hit hard.
The man charged in again with the full force he could possibly muster. His face had gone from red to purple. He had let go of techniques and was making wild charges.
"How dare you insult and humiliate me," the man's rage was so high and his scream so loud that his voice started to tear, and blood started to leak from the side of his lips.
"I kill you, I kill you," the guy went on.
The assassin was now really struggling to keep him at bay.
"Aw, what's wrong? Thought you were gonna kill me? What happened? Daddy doesn't approve?"
The man stopped using words at this point.
"Waaahh... gahuasashisai."
"Come on, man, I don't speak barbarian. Speak English, please, or does Daddy not approve of that either?"
The seer continued to just tear the guy down verbally. Not something you see in Murim.
This went on until the guy passed out.
Everybody just stood there and watched the seer tear the guy down. It was not a fight they could intervene in because it was not a fight at all.
There was just a bodyguard defending a client. There were not only no attacks made on the aggressor, but all the taunts were so subtle and indirect, and they occurred in front of so many people that it was just not possible for anyone to interfere based on anything.
The Ai family could only stand and watch as the show went down.
There were many tales of great deeds that have been done by the seer, many stories, and today another made it to the list, and this one was going to stay on people's lips for a long time because the person he humiliated was no ordinary person.
***
"Guess his identity was not so... simple," the seer chuckled... alone.
"Come on, it's a funny joke. Laugh, guys."
"No one?"
"Okay."