"Looks like it's time you learned..." Ru cracked his neck as a drop of blood went down the Young Master's face, whose body was stuck to the cracked wall.
'What the fuck...? That strength...'
"What a true Martial Artist is."
'Qi is that important, huh?' The Young Master in disguise thought to himself as he took a stumbling step away from the wall.
In an instant, countless thoughts crossed his mind. The Techniques offered by the System for a price, the relation between Qi and Techniques, and the difference between him and the Martial Artist in front of him.
The Young Master's vision was blurry, and it showed.
"Oh, come on. You didn't talk shit just to collapse from a hit, did you?"
'My Stats are higher but... I'm playing with an incomplete deck. This Qi thing... How do I fucking use that? Both my Cultivation Realm and Physique are better but...'
"Stand up. I still gotta fuck you up."
'It doesn't mean anything if I can't use it!'
The Young Master took a deep breath in, and his head fell forward.
Wind Tiger's Footwork!
Taking the shortest path to close the distance after feigning to have passed out, the Young Master...
"Ha... That's it?"
Fails to do any damage due to the Martial Artist's Qi.
A clenched fist wrapped in Qi connects with his sternum instead.
The force was such that the Young Master's feet left the ground.
"Fuck..." Ru whispered, impressed by his own strength, his own talent. "Going at it seriously sure is different. I can't seem to produce this much force when training..." His lips curled up. "Combat free of rules... That's what I excel at, it seems."
The man clothed in black was on the ground. Panting, unable to take a deep breath in. Part of his ribcage had cracked. Two hits... That's all it took?
"You know a few Techniques, which is impressive and surprising. Your fighting skills are subpar and your Qi is inexistent. A random guy a bit stronger than the others from the boonies thought he could challenge true Martial Artists? Give it a break, little guy."
Ru's smile widened, as he noticed that the man gasping for air was... Crawling away?!
"I'm still a nice guy so... Apologize. To me and the Sect. Then I'll let you live. Maybe I'll even take you in as a Servant."
The gasping man didn't answer. He crawled and crawled, towards the area of the alley where the shadows were darkest.
"No? I'll shatter your skull with my next hit then. Not that I mind..."
The man's gasps for air stopped.
"Got your breath back? Get your prayers in, little guy!" The Martial Artist shouted as he ran forward, aiming to deliver a downward punch to shatter the man's skull against the ground.
Ru couldn't help but chuckle internally as the man started turning around while remaining on the ground.
'With this timing? Ha! You won't reach-'
As an ominous ringing resonated through the dark alley for a moment,
'Where...' Ru's knees hit the ground. His hands clung to his stomach. To the horizontal wound that had been drawn. 'Did that Sabre even...?!'
The disguised Young Master pushed himself on the ground, spat, and wiped the blood off his chin with his wrist.
"That wasn't easy." He whispered, looking down at the bleeding Martial Artist.
'He's not hurt...? Then when he feigned passing out... When he took both of my hits... He acted like I had damaged him...? But where... Where was he hiding that Sabre?'
The Martial Artist's eyes widened.
'Where... Did it go? It struck me and disappeared...? Or was that...'
Ru clung to his stomach, to his torn organs, and to his blood. All the same, they came spilling out.
[You have Consumed a Vitality Peach.]
[All injuries have been healed!]
A magic trick?-
Where did that Saber...?-
Both now and with Rika,
'Having an Inventory sure is useful. Now...'
***
"What... The fuck happened?"
"We came to find you as soon as-"
"Who?"
"A Solo Practioner, he must have been. He was clothed all in black."
"You came to find me? Instead of assisting one of your fellow Disciples?"
"But we didn't think that drunk guy had the strength to..."
"That's right! He must have tricked Ru!"
"Silence! As a Senior Disciple, it is my role to avenge him. Who was it?" The Senior Disciple could barely contain his anger as he looked down upon Ru's lifeless body.
"We... We don't know-"
The Senior Disciple, whose body was much larger than Ru's, seemed to grow even larger as his whole body was covered by Qi.
"FUCK!" He shouted as he drove his fist onto a wall and,
'Holy shit...' Lei stared at the scene from a safe distance away. He stared at the Senior Disciple's fist...
Crack- Crack- Crack-
Brought down an entire building.
Passerbies shouted, screamed, and cried. But as soon as their gazes met the Senior Disciple's, they shut their mouth and continued walking, too scared at the possibility of becoming the object hit by those fists.
'Qi... Is amazing!'
Standing on the top floor of the building opposite the alley, the disguised Young Master stared down while sipping on a glass.
'This guy... I would definitely die against.' He thought with a smile that refused to leave his face. 'Before the Hero makes it... Qi. That's what I need most. Learning how to fight better too but... Qi is what I absolutely need to learn about!'
Bringing down a building with one's fists!
'Techniques... The Disciples I saw in the training court before sleeping. Wrapping their fists in that aura and repeating the same movement again and again... That's what mastering a Technique is. By using Qi to strengthen a particular move over and over again, the Martial Artist grows used to controlling Qi when using the move. At that point, using Qi when performing the move becomes a habit. A natural thing to do. So natural that you don't even need to think about it. That's what it means to master a Technique. That's what it means to-'
"That was close, wasn't it?"
A voice coming from the side suddenly. When had the person approached? From where? Since when...?
It took everything from Lei not to react, not to move, not to let it be known that he was caught by surprise.
"Was it?" He asked confidently without looking away from the scene he had been watching.
From the edges of his peripheral vision, Lei could notice the colors, the motifs, as well as the long hair.
"Too close for my taste." The stranger shrugged.
A stranger, but Lei could guess who it was.
The stranger lay a cheek on his own arm, and his orange pupils stared with great interest.
"Neat little trick at the end though." The Young Master of the Flamboyant Vermillion Tiger Sect commented as he took a sip from his glass, his arms nonchalantly hanging over the edge of the terrace.