The woman charged, axe raised overhead. Su Yan braced himself, feet spread wide and eyes locked on his opponent. Just as the axe descended, his sword swept upward. In that brief moment he pulled at the pool of Qi inside his body. The Primal Genesis Qi coursed through his body and, by means of the Weapon Enhancement Art, laced around his sword.
Usually such action would grant his sword a glimmer that was easy to notice in the dead of the night. However, he was stunned to find his weapon shine brightly just as it collided with the axe. His goal from the beginning was to focus on deflecting, and the task was accomplished easily.
The woman's eyes widened briefly, her axe sliding away. In her eyes a flicker of caution flashed.
Even more astonished than her was Su Yan himself. He realized that he had exhausted a large portion of his Qi. At this rate he could only perform four more swings like that. It had been a surprise that his attack had such effectiveness behind it, though not an unpleasant one. He didn't have time to properly assess his new ability, though, as the woman had reoriented herself and was in the process of swinging another blow.
Gritting his teeth, he countered the blow with his own swing. Another portion of his Qi was drained, and the exchange put some distance between the two battling parties. Su Yan moved back a few paces and eyed her warily. The second blow had been stronger than the first, and he wondered if she was getting serious too.
"You can't keep that up for long." The woman spoke. "I can see the effort is putting a strain on you. Are you using a self-harming technique to stimulate your vitality?"
Su Yan raised a brow at that. Although he wasn't using any self-afflicting art, this was only marginally better. He did hope he had one though, or at least learned one beforehand. Everything could be remedied except death, so there's nothing wrong with using such damaging techniques in his opinion. There had to be some in the Wisp Realm, he was sure. Well, at least he learned something from this encounter.
"Even if I was, would you let me go?" He asked with a light tone but didn't relax his guard.
"No. You will still die here."
A sigh escaped Su Yan's lips as he saw the expression on the woman. She had a determined look on her face and would stop at nothing to put him down.
'Well, three more to go,' he thought and readied his blade.
This time when Su Yan rushed in, he did so with the conviction of entering a death battle. He had done something similar before. Every cultivator who breathed on this continent had battled death at one point. In the end it didn't matter how you ended up in a perilous situation. What did was how you could prevail over it.
A grin stretched across his features as the woman sprinted with a wild grace and leapt in the air, a manic gleam coursing through her eyes. Su Yan glanced up and pushed at the ground. The reactionary force pushed him sideways, and he dodged the overhead swing. As the axe impacted the ground, a plume of dust shot in the air.
The woman rounded on him in a second and was already rushing in. Instead of running away, Su Yan met the charge with his own. Just as the axe came swinging from the side, he dropped low and flung to the side, rolling behind her. The woman turned, but her bulky build proved disadvantageous in the reflex department. The sword easily slashed at her back, leaving a cut that bled red.
"Ugh!" The woman gritted her teeth and lunged at him. Just now he had tried a normal attack, and as expected, the damage was minimal. The only problem was he only had three attacks left. Attacks that took time and couldn't be canceled even if he wanted to. He had to make each one count.
The battle devolved into much swinging on a woman's part and more dodging on his part. It became clear to Su Yan that although the woman had experience fighting, it seemed to be the short kind where she did away with her opponents quickly. She wasn't used to drawn-out battles, and that became apparent from how she was getting frustrated. It was also clear to Su Yan what type of opponents she had fought in the past: mortals.
"Change your mind yet?" Su Yan teased as he expertly dodged to the side. The woman growled in return and swung with reckless abandon.
As he dodged another swing, he felt his senses going haywire. A hazy red aura coated her axe, and Su Yan realized with stunned amazement that she was using a martial skill. A type of technique that only those above the realm of body transformation should use. The reason was simple: Martial skills drew on a cultivator's vitality, and only cultivation above Body Transformation allowed for restoration of vitality.
None of that mattered, though, because Su Yan could only watch as the axe advanced with force, ready to impact his head. He sent Qi into his sword and pushed upward. The axe met the sword, and Su Yan gritted his teeth as the vibrations traveled along his arm. The webbing of his palms split open, and he was knocked back.
Stabilizing his footing, he felt a grim shadow settle over him.
"Not so smug anymore, are we?" The woman grinned at him. Despite her outward nonchalance, Su Yan could see the strain the skill was placing on her. In his estimation she would hardly last more than a few minutes. Of course he was no different. He had only two portions of Qi left in his dantian.
Without saying a word, he charged forth. The woman swiped her axe at him, and he stopped dead in his tracks, taking a hard left. The woman followed, and Su Yan dropped on the ground just as a red blur passed overhead. He swiveled on the balls of his feet and slashed at her ankle.
Light enveloped his sword, ready to sever her legs. Yet the woman was faster than before after using the martial skill. She stepped back and brought forth her axe in a downward swing.
Su Yan anticipated the blow. He was waiting for it. The time seemed to slow down as the sword connected. The woman grinned, and Su Yan let go of his sword and lunged. The smirk turned to a frown, then horror, as she watched a rapidly advancing fist ready to impact her face.
Weapon Enhancement Art. So generic that it could be used to enhance any weapon, even fists.
The blow connected, and the bones broke. The skull caved in, and the woman fell backward. Su Yan was on top of her in a second, his fists rapidly pummeling her face into dirt. After the first blow, the follow-up strikes had considerably less force behind them. That only made the affair messier as his fists fractured her bones, split open her skin, and even her eyes seemed to rupture and leak liquid and blood.
At last the body stopped moving, and Su Yan stepped back, breathing hard. The entire act had finished so fast that the two men barely had any time to react. They watched wide-eyed and open-mouthed as their leader stopped twitching, lying dead on the ground.
Su Yan gazed at the two and picked his sword from the ground. He held it over her chest and thrust straight into her heart. It never hurt to make sure your enemies were put down for good.
"Now time to deal with those loons."