Chương 42: Blood on the Path

He should have been able to see it coming, but the Topaz boy was just as angry as he remembered, if not more so. And ignoring all strategy, decorum, or anything, he just charged at Paike. Paike couldn't do anything but step forward to meet him. Behind him, he felt qi rise as the others prepared techniques to meet the advance of the Fang clan. The four Ruby cultivators had also moved to attack his team. Whereas the Topaz member of the Fang clan charged like an enraged bull, the others engaged in a more cautious way.

However, as they got close, they began to produce weapons, which immediately changed the nature of the conflict. The Topaz cultivator pulled out a sword, while one of the Late Ruby cultivators unwrapped the chain from his waist and began to spin it around. Two others pulled out knives, and the last one, something that looked more like a club than a staff. A bunch of brutes they were, rather than elegant cultivators, but that didn't mean that they were not dangerous.

Having partial stage advantages at least in every fight was a huge deal. It was impossible to overstate how much of an edge that gave them. Ninety nine times out of hundred a Middle Ruby should win against an Early Ruby. A Late Ruby shouldn't have to even try, maybe they would lose 1 in a thousand. Even more so against what essentially were newly awakened cultivators, newly awakened children. What he took away from this was that it was just a matter of time.

Their only hope was an elder would intervene, especially now that weapons were involved. How could he stall them? Could he do anything to do so? Paike was much taller than all of them, and his martial arts training as a mortal had left him brawnier than most cultivators, especially wider in the shoulders. However, their advantage in physical cultivation and an extra year of training in the sect negated a lot of his advantages against people in his own class. His staff would help, but he was the only one armed.

"What do you want?" Paike called, ready to hand over any sort of cultivation resources, because this wasn't going to be a simple sparring session. Drawing weapons wasn't against sect rules, but the way they were handling them sure made it seem like they weren't going to abide by the rules for much longer. Unfortunately, he didn't get an answer. The charge continued. Paike risked a single glance back and to his relief he realized that his team was not as unarmed as he feared.

Zhang Shuying was the most obvious, holding a bow and darting to get range. Liming had whips of water flowing behind her and Mi Lixain's Lute was strumming. Paike could feel the music invigorating him slightly and upping his reaction speed. His sister's familiar qi wove around him as well, spurring on his movements. Gaun Li was the most surprising. He held a pair of knives. Paike would have to ask where he had gotten them, when he was sparing earlier Paike had advised him to find a pair.

How had he done it so quickly? Then the Topaz cultivator was on him. Paike had to use his extensive martial arts training to sway and tap, step, and pivot away from a downward strike that would have split him from collarbone to hip. The end of his staff swung up in a counter strike that he quickly had to abort. The Topaz cultivator was fast, far faster than Paike. It was only because he telegraphed his moves that Paike was able to dodge the next three incoming strikes.

The cultivator was using some sort of art to enhance the speed of his blows and the fluidity, but it was locking him into predetermined combos, combos that Paike found extremely familiar, and he moved as if he had done them thousands of times in training. Half step. Back. Turn. Twist. A slight duck and dodge. The staff raised to deflect. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. And then the critical moment came.

As the boy went up onto his toes, in the final move of Heron Wades Through the Rushes, Paike reached forward, grabbing the wrist of his free arm and spinning himself behind the man. Using one arm he spun his staff across the Topaz cultivator's throat and behind his own neck. He heard a gurgle as he applied pressure, using his height to bend back slightly and lift the other cultivator off of his feet by his neck.

As Paike took his free arm to control the sword, he squeezed hard and steady, attempting to sleep the cultivator as he reinforced his entire body with qi. Even the Topaz's strength couldn't break out of the hold. The boy tried to wiggle and bite but the only thing he could get his teeth in was the staff. Paike continued to increase the pressure. The boy began to flail before he twisted his wrist, dropping the sword. He kicked back and briefly got his arm free as Paike tried to control his legs.

And had to use both hands on the staff now. Still, the boy took his two free arms. Reaching up, he grabbed at Paike's elbow and wrist holding the staff, and began to wrench. Paike struggled against the strength but lost a couple of finger-widths of ground, more than enough for the boy to remain conscious. There was a struggle that seemed to last forever, but must have only been a couple of seconds before Paike had to release his staff with that hand or risk having his arm broken.

The moment of freedom was more than enough for the weasel to spin and kick Paike back and send him sprawling. As the boy fell to his feet he dove for his sword. He then bent over and put his hands on his knees, wheezing as he held the sword out in a warding gesture. Paike struggled to his feet, the wind knocked out of him from the landing, and something felt a little bit off in his knee. He cycled qi towards it, reinforcing it, but still had a slight limp as he took a step forward.

He didn't even have time to check on his teammates before the cultivator was on him again. Paike continued moving out of the way of the sword, but with every single swing, he was only a hair's breadth from lethal danger. Transient Shield Formation continually popped up in the last second to stop a strike that he just couldn't avoid or deflect with the staff. That the Fang clan's Topaz cultivator couldn't destroy his shield was clearly a great insult to him, and it pushed him to an even greater frenzy.

His near decade of training overcame his honest fear, and Paike's body moved without his conscious control, following a set of patterns, reacting to stimuli that had been drilled into him since before he could walk. Only that allowed him to focus and stay alive. But it only took one small mistake, one small accident, not one made by him, but rather the Topaz cultivator made a mistake in the pattern, something Paike actually reacted to properly.

But the Topaz cultivator's innate advantage was such that even a not-perfect strike would be more than sufficient to maim Paike. The blow changed, and anyone of a sufficient cultivation level to have reactions would have easily capitalized on that opening and handily won the fight. But he was still Ruby. And the Topaz cultivator moved a with a speed he couldn't hope to match. Paike barely even registered in time to know that his Transient Shield Formation was out of place. He tried to move his staff to block.

But he wasn't fast enough before he could get it into position, the blade was buried in his forearm. The armor under his skin from his physical cultivation slowed the sword, but failed against the power of a higher realm cultivator. In the end, his bones stopped the wimpy slash that the awkward thrust had turned into. Still, it was enough to make him want to scream as his left hand simply stopped obeying his commands, its fingers going from a closed fist to just limp as blood began to pool on his robes.

His primal yell made the eight other fighters on the path freeze. Even the Topaz cultivator stopped, looking at what he had done, as if it hadn't necessarily been intentional. But the slow smile that stole over his lips and exposed his teeth made Paike think that the plan had always been to cripple, if not kill. This made his blood boil as he looked over to find Liming with several scratches on her face from a pair of daggers.

He didn't even look at the other three of his teammates before he focused on himself, pulling at his tainted qi. More than just to form a shield, as he had been doing throughout the fight when he needed to make a block. No, he pulled it into his cells and his physical cultivation. He sank down into his meditative trance that he had done only once before, before the feeling overwhelmed him. He was able to hold off his descent long enough to say one more word.

"Run!" And his team listened.