Yijin strolled with his friends along the sidewalks. They were incredibly surprised by the demonstration of skill that Yijin had been able to pull off only moments ago. His right fist was extremely exhausted due to the amount of Qi that he had poured into it, but he tried his best not to show any sort of weakness. Talk about taking macho to the next level. He kept his cool and gave vague answers to any questions which his friends asked. He knew there would come a time when he could tell them the truth.
That, of course, would have to be when he met his destiny and brought down the last remaining evil head that roared across the land. Yijin pulled out his phone, ignoring an unimportant question from Xiao and started writing in the fighter group chat. "Is Haoyu still brooding over his loss?" He grinned as he sent the message. "F*** you..." Was an answer from none other than Haoyu himself.
"I'll take that as a yes." The Muay Thai fighter sent a laughing emoji and the rest were silent. Yijin knew that this "Kwi" person was probably a little more on the lighter side. Yijin treated him thus from then on. It was a decision that he would come to be proud of.
With that Yijin left the group, bid them a good rest of the day and went to sleep. The weeks passed by quickly and Yijin studied diligently. It wasn't until the last night before his battle against the Muay Thai fighter named Kwi that he realized that he should cultivate his Qi a little more. You never know when you might need it. In the middle of the night, on Friday before the duel, Yijin sat upright and meditated for hours.
He cleansed his body of impurities and by the end of the night, Yijin's room was covered in bodily toxins and reeked of human waste. He had, however, had a breakthrough in his Qi and found that he was exactly the same from when he first started his adventures in Huanzhi's body. The first stage of Huanzhi's personal enlightenment, "Distrust of All."
He rose from his bed and tried to find the most open space in the entire room. Thus, he began to practice the twelve stages of the Soul of the Unknown Swordsman's unarmed technique. His hands traveled across his meridians in dazzling displays of flexibility and speed as he suddenly made paces and entered stances of all different kinds of martial arts. He allowed himself to begin his training and, like many students nowadays, pulled an all-nighter.
The next day, Yijin met up with Kwi beneath the Langtze bridge. He was alone, as was Kwi. Unlike Haoyu, Kwi was considered someone who actually respected his opponents. He treated Yijin as he would a close colleague and sparring partner. And so the two approached one another. Yijin's calm and collected energy was combatted by Kwi's energetic, spry talking and movements. This would definitely be an interesting duel. The two spoke beforehand. Kwi began.
"So are you the guy who handed Haoyu his own ass to himself?" Kwi asked jokingly.
Yijin grinned, "In the flesh, sir! It was pretty fun to see him get that riled up for no reason. Plus his lackeys were even more fun to watch as they got pummeled."
Kwi laughed as well and the two shook hands. "Kwi Tok Tan, at your service."
"Yijin Liu."
The two already knew each other's personalities. It was like watching some good friends talking. Eventually the niceties and pleasantries were completed. Kwi and Yijin both entered their fighting stances and looked at one another in some sort of joyful manner. Yijin wanted to give Kwi more of a chance just because he seemed like the sort of guy that would not become an exploiter of people or in general an asshole.
He focused his Qi into his absolute center and Kwi smiled as he watched. "Somebody that still uses Tai Qi? I never thought I would see the day. It's so ancient for most people to effectively use it nowadays. I wonder where you learned it?"
Yijin smiled, "Then how about this stance, or this one? This one as well?" switching between muay thai, taekwondo and judo. Kwi laughed at this, "This will definitely be interesting." The two commenced battle a few moments later. Kwi stepped forward his hands up and bouncing on his feet lightly. Yijin prepared and waited to Kwi to get in his strike zone. Suddenly, Kwi lunged forward and dashed two steps breaking through Yijin's range and slamming a kick into Yijin's stomach.
After the dust had cleared from the sand behind them, it was apparent that Yijin had caught Kwi's foot and gripped it tightly in his right hand. Yijin stepped forward with all his might and knocked Kwi to the ground with a shove. Kwi stared upwards for a moment before rising acrobatically. He prepared once more and now was working Yijin as a counter-attacker.
Yijin centered himself once more and charged forward, slamming blow after blow of light, fast punches much like the Wing Chun style. He then shoved Kwi backwards, despite Kwi having blocked every punch due to them not being imbued with Qi, and performed an expertly placed sidekick to the left ribs. Kwi shouted as he was sent flying five feet to the right. This time, Qi had been imbued. Kwi rose from the ground shakily and stood straight once more. He was done. This was all he needed to see.
He had been going all out from the beginning and Yijin had not even used a quarter of his abilities yet. "W-what the hell are you, Yijin Liu? Nobody has ever stood a chance against me so far in high school bouts. I've never been sent flying like that in my life. I think there is nobody in the world right now equivalent to you." Yijin beamed at this praise from Kwi. The two approached one another and Yijin stuck out his hand. "Then I take it you yield?" Kwi nodded and the two shook on it. Yijin apologized to Kwi for having done so little against him, but it was only because he felt like he did not want to injure Kwi any more than he already did.
"Hey Kwi, I saw you a couple of times at the school. You don't seem to have any friends yet. Do you want to come out for a bite to eat sometime?" Kwi smiled and responded with an affirmative. The two spoke for a while and as it turned out Yijin and Kwi had much in common. Even taste in combat. It was a surprise to Yijin that he had found someone so similar in this modern period. Eventually the two went their separate ways. Yijin's phone suddenly vibrated twice. He pulled out and checked his messages.
"I'm out, Yijin's too good." was one from Kwi in the Fighter Group Chat. The second was from Xiao. "YOOOO Yijin, we're all heading out again to the cafe for a coffee tomorrow. You free, or do I have to carry everyone again in Warrior's Legend?" Warrior's Legend was the video game that they had played the previous time and it was found that Yijin had a knack for it.
"Can I bring someone new with?" Yijin shot a text back.
"GO. FOR. IT!" was the answer.
The next day, Yijin appeared with Kwi. Xiao groaned as loudly as he possibly could. "Yijin! I thought you were going to bring a girl this time. Damn you, you skinny little-"
"Alright Xiao! Gods above. You don't have to go through that. Come on man, Kwi just came in recently from Thailand to our school. I wanted to show him a good time with all of us since we're all friendly here." He paused for a moment.
"Right Xiao?!"
Yijin stared at Xiao menacingly for a moment before Xiao started to suck up to Kwi. "Oh right, who are you? How are you? What do you?" Yijin showed up above Xiao. "Too many weirdly spoken questions at once." and slammed an incredibly light chop directly into Xiao's central skull. "Ai! Hey what the hell, man?" Kwi looked at Yijin for a moment and whispered, "Are they all like that?"
Yijin laughed,
"Nah, Xiao's the only weird one."
"I'm standing right here, you know."
The group entered the cafe soon. Everyone was incredibly outgoing with Kwi. At least everyone excluding Qianying. She was quiet. Almost as if she was trying to hide something. Qianying was extremely flushed at the face. Yijin suddenly saw this and realized what was going on. He kept his mouth shut, of course. Not even Huanzhi is that much of an asshole. They ordered drinks, read a few chapters from some light novels and Kwi, Yijin, and Xiao logged onto the video game for a half hour or so.
The group had gotten closer and even Kwi had lightened up with everyone. So now, the jokes flew freely, conversations were light and everything was as it was before Kwi's arrival. The group eventually left the cafe and began walking down the streets. They were hoping to find a restaurant to dine comfortably at. Yijin, seriously like an absolute jack ass, was playing mobile games on his phone as he walked.
As the group of classmates continued onwards, still drinking from some to-go cups from the cafe, Yijin stuck his phone back into his pockets and began to talk. "Are you guys hungry, or is it just me?" Kwi and Yijin both grinned. "Dibs on not paying!" The others shouted in protest, but the smartest answer was another "Dibs on not paying" from Xiao.
Qianying also butted in quickly before Kanzhou could react and before he knew it, Kanzhou was paying. The group arrived at a small stand where an old man was shouting about his honest prices and great quality food. Yijin quickly sat down at one of the stools present and called his friends over to occupy the other four. The old man was incredibly pleased.
"It's been a while since young people like yourselves stopped by my shop. Let me cook you guys a treat." The man started his fire with some good old fashioned paper and started to create the ingredients for a hot pot. Yijin was incredibly pleased at the sound of this.
However, something was amiss. Something that surprised Yijin incredibly. On the man's arm was a small tatoo. One that was barely visible, worn by years of hard work and wrinkles to show for it, but albeit frightening to Yijin. It was the symbol of the Kanling Sect.
How on Earth did he manage to find another one of these bastards once again? Of course, he couldn't do anything now thanks to Divine Comedy... I mean punishment.
The man eventually made up the meal and set up five plates in an expert fashion. Yijin quickly started eating along with his acquaintances. It was over in an instant. Yijin quietly asked everyone if they could give him a moment alone with the man.
Xiao questioned why, rather loudly might I ask, and Yijin hushed Xiao's mouth in a frustrated manner. The rest walked off and Yijin turned to talk to the old man. "Does Kanling Sect still exist, masterful elder?"
The old man froze. "How do you know that name? Who exactly are you?" Yijin stared at him for a moment. "I'm nobody in this life. My name is Yijin Liu. I am just a freshman high schooler, but can I ask you a question?" The old man hesitated. "Speak now, or forever shut your mouth."
"Has Lu Gongfen reincarnated?" Yijin spoke somberly. The man tensed at that moment, the veins on his arm were visible as his fist clenched. His eyes darted to a knife on the right side of the stand. Yijin followed his gaze and was prepared to react to any attacks. "So you are an ancient. How do you know Master Gongfen?" Yijin watched as the man's hand was slowly reaching for the knife. He slammed his palm flat on the side of the blade and smiled at the elder.
"I died by his blade, and so did he." It was at this moment that the elder started laughing extremely genuinely, his eyes softened and he looked Yijin straight in the eyes like a grandfather would to his grandson.
"Kid, I was just playing along with you! Don't take me so seriously! I have no idea who this Lu Gongfen guy is, neither do I know about this Kanling Sect you are talking about. You must be reading too many web comics! He slapped Yijin's shoulder lightly and Yijin grinned.
"I knew it, my mind must be playing tricks on me!"
The two beamed warmly at one another and Yijin bid the man farewell. "Take care now, child! You never know what may happen in the future. May the Gods protect you."
Yijin bowed in a courteous manner to respect the chef and started to catch up with his friends. He didn't believe a word the man spoke after the man had answered his questions in that fashion before blowing it off entirely.