Chapter 43: Battling the Zhu Clan

A/N: Just a quick note. I said I wanted to do three chapters this week but that isn't going to happen. Something came up, and I lost quite a few days of writing time. But I'm still hoping to do two chapters this week. One chapter today and hopefully one on Saturday(As long as I didn't just jinx myself and avoid Silksong like the plague too).

Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 43:

Zhu Ling wasn’t very fast as he charged me. Or, perhaps that was unfair to him. It wasn’t that he was slow—he was far from that. It was just that I was more used to dealing with faster in my spars. And with my cultivation where it was, and my passives, I found it hard to be impressed.

That wasn’t to say that he was no threat to me. 

There was power in his punches and palm strikes as he attacked. And whatever technique he was using on his hands made them very tough. When I was forced to parry some of his strikes, his hands were left uncut, and the impacts sent tremors through my weapon to my hands. If a single one hit, I would be in a world of hurt. His assault was also ferocious, forcing me on the defensive as I tried to show off as little of my abilities as I could.

Still, despite me holding back, it was manageable. It was a bit awkward for me, as I wasn’t used to fighting against someone using their bare hands against my sword. He stayed close enough to make things difficult for me and kept chasing me as I tried to put distance between us. I could have escaped with a Burst Step, but I held back as it didn’t seem necessary.

I was stronger and faster than him. All I needed was an opening, and I should be able to end the fight while revealing nothing about my true abilities. It was just a matter of time.

Zhu Ling lashed out again, his rock-like hand trying to latch onto my blade after his other fist was parried by me. I pulled away, ready to punish him for that move and—wait, what?

Instead of pulling away and cutting his wrist like I planned, Zhu Ling managed to grab onto my blade. He yanked on the blade, pulling me a bit off balance, and his other fist went for my chin.

I cursed but used my superior strength to yank my sword back. Then I used my other hand to redirect his fist, trying to elbow him away at the same time. But he redirected that with his now free hand and renewed his assault.

I frowned as he seemed to be getting faster and faster. Several times, I thought I’d outmaneuver him, only for me to underestimate his speed. His fist and palm strikes got uncomfortably close to hitting me in the chin. Was he using some kind of movement technique? For some reason, it didn’t feel like that. Instead…

It was like I was slowing down.

I gritted my teeth as I was forced to parry another blow, my hand starting to hurt from the tremors sent through it as I dodged less and less. I tried again to get away, but once more I found myself unable to. It was like I was heavier than I should be, letting Zhu Ling keep up with me and stay close, negating my advantage of reach and turning it against me.

Vaguely, I felt like I had a clue as to what he was doing. I could start to feel his Earth Qi, and how it was clinging to me each time we traded blows. But I had no idea how to break whatever technique this was. Nor did I have the time to try.

He kept up his assault, a relentless barrage of palm and fist strikes. Every moment that went by, I was slowing down even more, and if this kept up, then I was going to lose this despite having the advantage.

Damn it! So much for not showing off my abilities. I’d gotten too cocky.

Dodging a fist aimed at my head, I activated Earth Constructs several times in succession. Once to form a box around his ankles. And two other times to form rock spears. One in front of him and one behind, aimed at non-vital areas.

My sudden move was finally enough to break Zhu Ling’s tempo. His eyes widened as he was halted by hardened rock clamping around his feet and ankles. I took the opportunity to put distance between us, leaping back from him.

Which turned out to be a very good move.

A split second after he was stopped, Zhu Ling put his fist to his waist in a horse stance. He shouted, and a shockwave exploded from underneath him. It sent out an explosion of rock that shattered my construct holding him and destroyed the spears before they could touch him. 

Still, my attacks did their job and gave me room to get away. Which seemed to be what I needed to do to break his technique. I wasn’t back to full speed, but putting distance between us lessened the effect of whatever he was doing.

Zhu Ling was eager to remedy that and charged at me again. I had a split second to decide how I wanted to handle this. I could keep holding back and see if I could do better a second time. Or, I could just end things fast to not give him another chance to surprise me. 

I decided on the latter.

Using two quick Burst Steps, since I still had plenty of Qi, I put more distance between us and positioned myself behind him and to his right. It gave me the perfect angle to aim at his token, and my sudden burst of speed made him lose track of me.

Perfect.

I activated Burst Step once more and closed the distance between us, sword first. He seemed to sense me at the last moment and started to turn. But he was too slow. My sword stabbed out, right for his token, and it—

Shit!

I pulled back at the last moment, avoiding a hand trying to grip my blade. I glared at the perpetrator, ready for him to attack. But Zhu Fu just stood where he’d rushed over, a sheepish look on his face.

“What happened to this being a two versus two?” I asked, not lowering my guard. 

I’d been keeping him in the corner of my eye the whole fight, so I’d seen him rush over to intervene. Using some kind of movement technique, he’d move very fast. Faster than me at my fastest, though not by too much. Still, it was enough to make me very wary.

“It still is…” Zhu Fu started to say, trailing off as he looked to the side. “Or was. But it's clear we’ve underestimated you and your friend.”

Keeping him in the corner of my vision, I took the risk to take a brief glance at what he was looking at. It was Pan Song and Zhu Wei. 

There was a pause in their fight, but it was clear who was winning. Pan Song looked pristine and untouched, while Zhu Wei was in much worse shape and was very unhappy with that fact. His robes were burned all over, and through that it was clear that his skin below that was red and blistered. He had some more marks on his face, and he was heavily panting as he backed away from Pan Song and his setup array.

“Zhu Wei, that’s enough,” Zhu Fu called out. “You aren’t his match. Both of you and Zhu Ling are done.”

Zhu Ling visibly slumped at his young master’s words while Zhu Wei looked torn between relief and annoyance. Zhu Wei gave Pan Song one final glare before he walked off and headed towards the rest of his Clan. Zhu Ling joined him a moment later, disappointment evident in his posture.

Zhu Fu watched his clansmen for a moment before turning back to me with a smile. “My apologies for jumping in. But I would have never heard the end of it from the Elders if I let one of my juniors get knocked out so quickly.”

“That’s fine,” I said, still a bit wary. “But since we won, I suppose we are done here?”

Zhu Fu shook his head, and his smile grew. It made me nervous as it didn’t look like a happy smile. More eager than anything else. “Hardly. While I apologize for interfering in the fight, part of the blame goes to you, it seems. You truly undersold the two of you, Li Lan. It seems Pan Song truly is an Array Master, and you are quite skilled yourself. Far faster and stronger than most at your cultivation level. If I’d known, I would have challenged you myself first to see what else you can do.“

I grimaced. He was in range of my Earth Sense, and I could confirm he was in Mid Qi-Gathering already. I’d also seen firsthand how fast he was. While I didn’t think he was guaranteed to win against me, I was not eager for this fight at all. Especially not after I let myself get surprised by Zhu Ling’s technique.

“We’re kinda in a hurry,” I said, trying to get out of this. “Could we perhaps do so another time? Maybe when I catch up in cultivation? Surely then I could give you a better fight.”

Zhu Fu shook his head, the grin not leaving his face. “Unfortunately, not. I saw clearly from your speed that a fight between us would hardly be unfair. In fact, it seems like it would be quite exciting. I’m afraid I’ll have to be a bit selfish in this regard. But do not worry, I desire for this to be a fair fight. Just you and me. Wei and Ling will stay out of things. And Zhihao and Lei can test themselves against an Array Master who had plenty of time to set up his formations. Although, as an apology for being so selfish, please take this.”

Zhu Fu reached into a small bag at his side and pulled out three spirit stones. He tossed them over to me, and I caught them out of reflex. Now knowing how much these were worth, not catching them didn’t even cross my mind. Which I realized was potentially dangerous, as that could have been a trap. Like the stones could have been primed to explode or something.

But that didn’t happen. And instead, I now had three pristine and full-size low-grade spirit stones. Not a meager sum at all, but I would have still preferred not to have this fight.

Biting off a sigh, I tucked away the spirit stones in my own bag at my waist. Then I brought up my sword at the ready and tried to crush any annoyance I was feeling. Now wasn’t the time to get angry. 

And it wasn’t like I could really be too mad at this guy anyway. He didn’t know lives might be at stake—either ours or Xing Yaling’s. To him, this was just an enjoyable chance to test himself against his peers. One with some dangers, but should have been relatively safe.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the other two Zhu Clan members approaching Pan Song and his formations while Zhu Wei and Zhu Ling moved off to the side to watch. Pan Song had a focused look on his face, but didn’t seem too concerned, thankfully. That meant I could focus on my own fight.

Still…

For a moment, I considered trying to tell Zhu Fu about Qian Zhi to stop this fight. He seemed like the kind of guy who wouldn’t be a fan of that kind of thing. But I had no proof, nor did I know who might be involved with things or which Trial Overseer might be watching this fight. So, instead, I held my tongue and started creating foxfire and channeling it up my sword. 

I could not hold back like I did against Zhu Ling anymore. Zhu Fu was at a higher cultivation level. And while I could match the average Mid-stage Qi-Gatherer in some ways, and even exceed them in others, Zhu Fu was likely far from average. I only had a chance because he’d just reached the Mid-stage, according to rumors.

Even then, I was going to need everything I had to win this fight. Well, everything but my most lethal move, anyway. What I was still holding inside me would hopefully not need to be used in the trial at all.

Zhu Fu watched me with a smile, seeming happy to let me have the first move. 

I decided to oblige him. I started off with Burst Step and closed the distance between us in an instant. When I was in front of him, I slashed with my sword and used Earth Construct multiple times.

As my sword slashed at his arm, a rock spear launched out from behind him at one of his legs, and another one appeared to his side, aimed at his token. Zhu Fu didn’t seem to react, and for a moment, I thought maybe he wasn’t as fast as I thought. Then I felt his Qi flare.

Rock shot out of the ground in two places under him. A large amount grabbed onto his legs and flowed up his body ridiculously quickly. The rest shot up straight to his open hand.

My rock spear aimed at his calf was met by greaves of rock, shattering into pebbles and doing nothing. The other spear was then smashed apart by the staff he’d just formed, while the other side of the staff met my sword, parrying my slash while remaining unmarred.

Shit.

I leapt back as Zhu Fu grinned and swung his staff. It missed my arm by a hair's breadth, yet I could still feel the savage power behind that blow. I burst stepped away to give myself space, not wanting to meet that kind of heavy blow with my sword.

I was tense and ready to Burst Step again in case he followed me. But he’d stayed where he was, resting his staff over one shoulder as more rock slid up his body, finishing his armor. It covered his feet, shins, forearms, hands, chest, and shoulders.

I grimaced at the sight. That was likely the famous Immortal Earthen Armor of the Zhu Clan. I’d read up on it, just like I’d read up on the most famous techniques of all the major clans. It seemed to live up to its reputation, too, given how hard it seemed, despite being made out of what should have been dirt and loose rock. 

“Your speed is quite good,” Zhu Fu said as he started towards me at a sedate pace. “But those earth spears of yours…” He shook his head. “They are fast, I will give you that. But there is much room for improvement. Mainly… they are too soft!”

He shouted that last word and rushed me, swinging his staff hard down at me. I burst stepped away, not wanting to even try and parry that. I stopped far to his left, in time to see his staff smash into the earth and shatter the ground.

Rock and dirt went everywhere, leaving a person-sized crater where I’d just been. Zhu Fu straightened himself up, hefting his staff on his shoulder again, and grinned. “See, this is what can be done with earth Qi when used properly.”

I grimaced but didn’t let myself be intimidated. Sure, he clearly knew a lot more about earth Qi and techniques than I did. And his earth constructs were way better than mine. But that was just one of my tools. I had other things at my disposal. Things that he would hopefully not see coming. 

I kicked off the ground and burst stepped again. I did it twice more, making full use of my Qi as I still hadn’t needed to tap into my main pool yet. I moved around him, trying to get the best angle to strike at him before finally moving in. 

This time, I used Metallic Razor Slash. Both in hopes that I could damage his staff, but also to make it less noticeable what I was doing.

Zhu Fu turned to meet me before I got to him, and parried my horizontal slash. My enhanced sword cut a small gash in the absurdly hard rock of his staff, but that was it. Not nearly enough to affect its effectiveness, especially since it seemed to repair itself.

But that was fine. Hacking through his staff was not a requirement for me.

Instead, I just slashed again, attacking at my full speed and strength. I forced him back with the ferocity of my blows, not giving him the chance to build up any speed with his weapon or make use of his reach. While he may have the higher cultivation, with all my advantages, and going all out, I could make him respect the strength of my strikes and put him on the defensive.

If he let a single blow of mine through, it would be devastating. 

I did my best not to overextend as I hammered his defense with my attacks. He parried every blow, seeming content to let me wear myself out as I was going at it full force. But that just played to my advantage, as my endurance was still my best quality. And if he thought I was just trying to overpower him, then he wouldn’t notice as more of my balls of foxfire got onto his staff and slowly moved to his hands.

Once the foxfire started to move from his staff to his body, I directed them to a place where he would be less likely to be noticed. That meant mainly towards his back and also away from his token for now. I timed the movements with our clashes, hoping that would make it even harder for him to notice.

When each ball of foxfire was settled, I started to use them to drain his Qi. Not a lot at once, of course. He’d notice right away if I took anything but the bare minimum, and my element of surprise would be gone. But I drained enough that, as the fight drew out, it would give me another advantage in terms of endurance, replenishing my already greater Qi reserves.

I didn’t really want to draw this out, but it was a nice bonus if my other plans didn’t work. As for my main plan, that was rather simple. All I had to do was make him think he had me beat by waiting me out. Then, once I’d gotten even more foxfire onto him, I would have several options for a single decisive strike.

Unfortunately, Zhu Fu was apparently not willing to let things continue like this.

One moment, I was slashing away at him like a focused madman; the next, he parried in a way that almost ripped my sword out of my hand. I cursed and managed to maintain my grip, but was forced to throw myself to the side as he lashed out with another bone-breaking strike to my side.

I quickly recovered, moving my sword up to guard against any incoming strikes. But that turned out to be unnecessary. Zhu Fu hadn’t pursued.

Instead, he remained in the same location, one hand on his hip while his other was on his staff firmly planted in the ground.

“You’re even stronger than I thought,” Zhu Fu praised, his ever-present grin still there. “But I can’t help but feel like you might be holding back. I suppose that’s fair since I am as well. But now I think it’s time for us to really go all out. To truly test ourselves against each other. So bear witness to—"

I didn’t let him finish. Not wanting to give him the time to do whatever he was going to do, I rushed him again, my sword still shining with Metallic Razor slash. I just had to put him on the back foot again and—

Shit!

Something incredibly powerful pinged off my Earth Sense. It was just soon enough to get me to abort, leaping back right before I could slash at Zhu Fu. Where I’d just been, large paws seemed to rip out of the ground, slashing the air with frightening speed. 

“It seems you are as eager as I to really get started,” Zhu Fu said, laughing as the paws pushed against the ground. Then the rest of the beast at his feet pulled itself out of the earth like it had just been in a hole. “That is fine with me as well. Bare witness to my most profound technique, my Immortal Earthen Guardian!”

The beast—a bear I could now see—loomed in front of Zhu Fu, moving—and looking—incredibly lifelike. But it was still obvious that the massive bear, almost twice as tall as I, was just like Zhu Fu’s armor and staff. It was made out of earth.

The bear reared back its head and let out a loud, earth-shaking roar. I winced at the sound, but didn’t dare take my eyes off the thing as it slammed its forepaws into the earth and got on all fours.

Then it rushed me, and I cursed. I should have known that things were not going to be so easy. Maybe I would have to use my trump card after all.