Chương 41: The Fang Clan

The second they first felt the tongs of flame licking at them, Zhang Shuying acted. Behind each of them, a fierce and fast wind blew, pushing them from behind. The direct boost to their speed was negligible, but the circulation of air around them helped mix the alternating streams of freezing cold and burning air. This had the effect of keeping the temperature immediately around them within the tolerances that Mei Xian's lute allowed them to withstand.

It was by no means comfortable, and none of them wanted to take longer than they had to, but they would survive. Further helping them along, Liming's technique flowed around their ankles, speeding them forward, and shadows from Gaun Li obscured their way, but helped dull the heat. Paike could do nothing but lower his head and charge like a brute, his arms pumping and legs straining as he tried to keep up with his much more nimble teammates.

They might have started out ahead of him, but soon he pushed past them, his max speed higher than theirs, even if it took him longer to get up to it. His entrance into each of the different temperature changes ever so slightly helped cushion the blow for the ones behind. It got hotter and then colder, and then even hotter, and then even colder, until they were finally through. Last time they had all tried to make it on their own, Paike had gone first and just powered through.

With no techniques to help him, the others had trouble. Several times, they had to dive off to the side into the cool water below and swim back to start when they were either too slow or overwhelmed by the temperature changes. It had gotten frustrating, and what started out as helpful advice about each other's techniques turned into much more acidic comments. Unwanted suggestions about one's cultivation technique were always rude. That was even from people who were experts in related arts.

Unless they were elders or instructors directly responsible for one's instruction it was best to wait for an ask for help. That no one of them knew much about any cultivation, let alone each other, had only made things much worse. Liming, surprisingly, had some of the most trouble. She just wasn't heavy, or fast enough to really push through everything, the fire and ice qi almost formed a physical barrier to stop her.

Mei Xian had also struggled, having not prepared any sort of song for this trial, and had to simply win through with her own effort. Both of them had eventually been unable to make it on their own. Paike had gone back and helped a couple of times, but he could only do so much, as they just couldn't endure what he had. Eventually, they all made it through, with him acting as a bulwark against the fire and ice qi.

This time they worked together from the beginning and it had only taken them a tiny fraction of the time of their previous attempt. That and they were prepared. Right in front of the fifth and final obstacle, Paike looked over to see if he could find the team they were racing against. But looking back, even past the previous stage, he still could not see them coming out of the forest. Either they had finished long ago, or Paike's team was moving much faster than he realized.

They felt much faster than their previous attempt, but the other team could have gotten faster, too. Ahead of them, a series of swinging hammers and a beam, no more than a hand span across, spanned a large body of water. Running on the beam was possible, if difficult. However, the hammers swinging from side to side as they were released from some sort of timing mechanism, it meant they couldn't just sprint through.

Most of the time, they had to sprint and then stop, then sprint and stop, which was exceedingly difficult on a thin beam. Only those with high physical cultivation could manage it, and that was probably the point. They had eventually learned the pattern, and Guan Li had even tried going underneath the beam, though when he swung beneath it, it had suddenly become intangible and he had fallen below. This time, though, Paike had a different idea.

"Let me go first." Paike asked the others. No one had any objections. If anything they were all much more focused this time around. Even Liming was taking this seriously. Only speaking when they had something to say, or an idea to put forth. He felt more than a little out of place giving orders, but for now he had the highest cultivation, so that was only natural. He started to circulate his qi in his fingers, and as he stepped onto the beam, he stopped right in front of the first hammer and formed the technique.

A small shield the size of his hand cracked as the hammer slammed into it, but it didn't break. It started to fade almost immediately, but then the hammer hung still, not having swung all the way up to its recovery point. Paike moved further along and repeated it over and over again. He stopped the hammers right before they would crash into him and watched as they hung impotently, not completing their arcs or being reset. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen.

Please report the infringement. His teammates watched in stunned silence. Each hammer weighed many times his body weight and was more than capable of breaking bones if one didn't move with their momentum when struck. Him stopping them by any means probably wasn't what an average Middle Ruby cultivator should be capable of. This was the first time the power of his technique had been on display in such an obvious manner. He stopped hammers until he was almost entirely depleted of qi.

Still, he had shortened the run they had to make by nearly eighty percent. He wiped sweat from his brow, as he had just enough qi left in his body to circulate it to his legs. He leaned forward. He counted—one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight—and then sprinted, the timing almost perfect, only having to slide under the last hammer. He dove headfirst, stretching his arm to the side to keep his balance as he slid along his chest, coming up in a roll to his feet just on the other side.

Behind him, already mostly down the beam, his teammates came. Zhang Shuying came first, her wind helping her balance as she stopped halfway through for a brief pause before starting up again. Guan Li slipped through like a snake several times, letting hammers miss him by fractions of a finger's width so that he never had to change his pace at all. Liming and Mei Xian were much more careful and took their time, but no one got knocked to the side.

Just as Mei Xian started her last run, the first hammer that Paike had stopped reset, and then, a second later, the one after it reset. But it was too late, the hammers having frozen long enough to allow them all to cross. Once the last one was over the finish line, Paike let out an undignified yell at the sky and smiled around at his teammates as they all celebrated in their small ways.

"Congrauatlions, brother." Liming smiled at him, as if he had done it all by himself. Guan Li gave him a thumbs up and the others were smiles and nods.

"It was all of us." Paike protested.

"We all won here." Elder Ji materialized behind them before any of them could reply.

"That was a significant improvement over your last attempt. I'm not sure your opponents will even finish. So we will not wait before dispensing rewards." The elder paused for a second as his focus shifted elsewhere.

"Each of you have been awarded 100 sect points. Well done. You are dismissed for the day."

"We did well, but I can think of several areas where we can improve if we are to run the same course again." Paike told the others as their group walked together from the training grounds back towards the main sect compound. For now he ignored what he might purchase with his sect points. They were moving along in a loose group along the trail, but everyone slowed and bunched together slightly once he started to talk.

"I thought we did better than pretty well, we beat the other team so badly that I wouldn't be surprised if they don't comeback tomorrow. They shouldn't dare to show their faces again!" Zhang Shuying interjected, but received an elbow in the side from Liming and a quick glare. Zhang Shuying's mouth snapped shut, and she gave a very slight bow while walking, in way of apology.

Paike continued on as if no one had said anything, "I think our strategy won't change drastically, but there are a lot of things we can do better. Every moment between obstacles, between actions, can be optimized. As I said, however, I think more importantly, we need to consider what happens when we are allowed to interfere with one another. I believe the elder heavily implied, if not outright stated, that we would be able to do so in future runs.

So what I'm thinking our strategy should start with Mi Lixain and—" However, before Paike could properly explain his thoughts, several people appeared from the bushes in front of them. The new comers quickly moved to block the path. Paike frowned, as he had not noticed them in his spiritual sense. He hadn't been exactly observing everything, but he had been keeping a passive scan. When he looked closer a few of them seemed vaguely familiar.

Guan Li also recognized them, he held out a hand blocking Mi Lixian from stepping further, as Paike stopped the other two girls in the path, preventing them from walking towards the five cultivators facing them. The one in the center was the same Topaz cultivator who had found them at their house, the first day of the elder's truce being withdrawn. The fall out that fight caused was much less than it could be, but it still bothered Paike to have a damaged dwelling.

Examining the other cultivators, they all had a family resemblance, if not in body and face, then in the way they dressed. They were clearly all part of the same clan. Paike stepped forward, drawing the attention to himself, hopefully allowing his friends to prepare themselves. However, they were at a massive disadvantage. There was only one Topaz cultivator, to be fair, but all of the other four around him were Middle Ruby or above. Whereas no one on his team was at mid-stage besides himself.

And it wasn't even fair to ask most of them to fight. He figured Guan Li would be at his back, as it had also been his home that was destroyed, and his sister would never leave his side. But the other two... well.

"You again?" Paike asked.

"Last time you were so rude, you didn't even bother to introduce yourself." The Topaz cultivator sneered.

"Of course. A Kong rat like you wouldn't recognize the Fang clan. We must be so far beneath your notice."

"Who?" Paike said, frowning, glancing at Liming, who also looked confused.

"I'm sorry. As far as I'm aware, my family has no quarrel with yours. However, you seem to be insistent on creating one," Paike said, trying his best not to antagonize the people further and defuse the situation. Of course, the insults to his family would have to be avenged somehow, but now was not the time or place. If it were a family matter, he would escalate it to family channels, not try to take on a suicidal fight by himself. His words, however, did not have its intended effect.