Responding the Xu Lingxin’s actions was no difficult feat, even more so as An Fei merely had to raise the qama in defense. The young girl glanced at the shimmering reflection of her fatigued self in the blade, and tightened her grasp. Alas…
“Little Sister, your arm is trembling. Have you not learned how to use a knife in combat?”
The remark was of gentle nature, and could hardly have been interpreted by anyone as carrying either a malicious or mocking intent. Yet, An Fei instinctively flinched as her arm buckled, and her expression gradually became grave. The gaze she delivered towards the celestial maiden was between a mixture of astonishment and confusion.
“And why would that be?”
“Little Sister lacks the resolve the kill. Although a knife may be sharp and lethal, it can do no harm if its owner knows not how to wield it to its greatest potential,” Xu Lingxin curved her lips into a smile, and extended her left palm forwards.
“Come with Elder Sister. Do not force yourself –“
Hu!
The celestial maiden’s words were slashed at the throat when An Fei burst into a fierce leap, closing the distance between the two within an instant. The qama, held in a reverse grip, soared for the butterfly sash at Xu Lingxin’s waist, yet was halted mid-strike by an elegant, thin blade vibrating gently within Xu Lingxin’s fingers. The failure of her initial slash had yet to faze An Fei as she pressed forwards to deliver a straight punch with her left fist, the curled fingers gently flickering with scarlet webs of light.
“ – ah, so it must come to this? Little Sister, have you no heart?”
Xu Lingxin leaped to distance herself from the young girl, and sighed when she witnessed the destruction to her robes. Though the qama’s deadly strike to her abdomen had been stalled a few centimeters before cutting flesh, the butterfly sash that had taken He Xin weeks to weave had suffered a drastic blow, almost shorn in half. The celestial maiden shook her head in dismay, and steadied her heart as she raised her blade.
“I didn’t think that Little Sister could hold together such strength and murderous intent, despite such a frail demeanor –“
“ – how!?”
The young girl succumbed to the gentle breeze that tousled at a few strands of hair that swayed from her forehead, and closed her eyes to blink. In the short fraction of time that the pair of scarlet irises closed, the celestial maiden had dashed forwards and thrust with her sword. The five meters had reduced themselves to mere centimeters before An Fei’s senses could scream in fright, and she barely avoided becoming stabbed in the arm as she flinched backwards.
“To be able to respond despite having trained so little in either cultivation or the sword, Elder Sister is impressed!” Xu Lingxin praised with a brilliant smile, and twirled her fingers.
“However, that would not be enough!”
The gentle sword that was loosely held in the celestial maiden’s fingers could hardly be described as a sword, for its thickness and weight were far too insufficient to retain a rigid cutting edge when swung, and even An Fei’s brusque and shoddy counterattacks could make headway. And yet, the sword seemed inherently blessed with flexibility, for when the young girl raised the qama before her chest to intercept the incoming thrust, the tip of Xu Lingxin’s sword flexed upon impact, and as traced through the air in a motion similar to a recoiling spring, leaving behind four wounds as it withdrew – two each along the cheek and the inner thigh.
The wounds were light to the extent that only the skin had been cut, and hardly any blood had been spilled. However, the young girl’s gaze immediately darkened at the scorching sensation that threatened to boil over from her cheek and thighs.
“Early this morning, the Soul-Binding Contract has been fulfilled. Now, I am unable to harm you, nor leave any permanent wounds,” the celestial maiden slowly exhaled and fiddled with the handle of her sword.
“The heavens are known to be fair – teaching your body a little discomfort is still permissible!”
An Fei massaged at the thin scarlet lines that gently rubbed at her flesh, and nibbled at her lips to focus. The young girl continued to suppress the overwhelming, soul-devouring concoction that was severe blood loss, lack of sleep, and now, irritating pain, and raised the qama in defiance. Begging for the fragmented memories of the past to resurface, she raced forwards, and cut with her blade.
The surface of the long knife glimmered as it slashed through the unyielding winds. As Xu Lingxin twirled her fingers in defense, the young girl struck out six times – two horizontal and vertical sweeps, and a final cross slash from the left. The elegant sword, light as a feather, swayed and bent at each stroke that hammered upon its blade, utilizing the gathered impact to lash out and lightly scrape at the latter’s skin.
When the final strike landed, however, the celestial maiden gasped in shock as her feet seemed to have been stripped of all purchase along the tattered soil. Xu Lingxin’s cheeks cramped as she found her vision abruptly buried into the earthen soil and her robes danced too airily with the grinning breeze, all the while as An Fei swung the qama from above. The celestial maiden clenched her teeth and rolled to her side to evade the blow, and rammed her right leg forward onto the young girl’s knees to topple the latter onto the ground.
“To think that even my spiritual essence was frozen… Little Sister, you were able to use martial arts techniques, and those that require a cultivating foundation as well,” Xu Lingxin clicked her teeth and hurled herself to the left to evade becoming on the receiving end of a toppling strike.
“No wonder that old hag, Mei Yue, desired to absorb your roots so desperately when you were recovered!”
When An Fei rushed to attack once more, the celestial maiden witnessed her dignity crumble from within. The young girl relied on the simplest of horizontal, vertical, and diagonal slashes with her long knife as she pressed forwards; the strikes were clumsy, disordered, and without proper thought, and it wasn’t difficult for Xu Lingxin to evade them with ease. And yet, once every few strikes that luckily wasn’t dodged and was parried by the elegant blade, she found herself being thrown against the dense gathering of trees, rooted into the ground face-first, or flung into the skies while her legs desperately sought purchase to avoid being hurled off the winding path. When she had suffered the mysterious set of phenomena and the desecration of her robes for the ninth time, Xu Lingxin had managed to trace the young girl’s movements.
“This pattern – calligraphy!? You’re… using a martial arts technique that relies on calligraphy!? How insane!”
When her eyes had registered the most recent combination of strikes and had pieced together the finishing stroke, the celestial maiden swore never to allow herself to make contact with the qama in An Fei’s grasp. Xu Lingxin howled and threw the elegant sword to distract the young girl for the slightest of moments, and pressed tightly against a round, carved ornament of suet jade. When her spiritual essence made contact, the jade’s surface gleamed with a violet radiance, and a shrill whistle erupted from their surroundings.
“Little Sister, that’s enough!”
The harsh impact of the whistle forced An Fei to stumble back for a few steps until she had regained her balance, and her gaze immediately soured as she witnessed numerous black shadows leap from the surroundings, forming an immediate encirclement with drawn swords and knives. Xi Lingxin tidied her robes and attempted to brush away at the stains that had wormed into the silk fabric, and heaved a hefty sigh.
“Little Sister, one cannot be so heartless.”
Thirty figures guarded the front and twenty more directed their swords and spears at her back. An Fei spun the qama and raised it to become level to her chest as she prepared to respond to an attack. The young girl maintained the hostile tension between her and the Morning Star Temple’s cultivators for several breaths, before abruptly lowering her blade.
“I’ve lost.”
The rhombic crystal nestled in her chest had lost all of its glamour and had ceased to rotate. Regardless of however she begged and pleaded with her mind, the spiritual essence nestled within her veins and meridians remained stagnant, as though frozen in time. Her eyebrows twitched as she saw Xu Lingxin’s brows ease with relief, but the young girl soothed her irksome mind by staring at the odd combination of torn lilac cloud silk robes and a pristine emerald green dudou. And yet…
Losing just ten kilometers away from the finishing , what a disgrace…
