I watched my brother's surprised expression, the same one that I had when I found out about this special jade! It had resonating capabilities, it didn't shatter from my strike and instead absorbed it and reflected it back out!
Yao Kun grabbed the jade and analyzed it carefully, "It seems completely similar to normal jade..." He gripped it tightly, his hand suddenly glowing, and the jade starting to resonate a constant echo.
"Ah, is that your Qi? It's stable and surprisingly constant. Could I see the jade again?" He tossed it back to me and I attempted to infuse my own Qi.
This time however, the energy it reflected out was hot, fiery, and in giant bursts. This was the Qi I had obtained from months of training to defy fate, but I've had a new realization. This jade could be a good benchmark of my attunement with Fate.
And if it can resonate Qi, it most likely help me develop my own techniques better as well, letting me make sure all my techniques and martial arts 'vibrate' in a similar way so as to obtain the most synergy!
"This is an incredibly useful treasure, Brother Kun, are you sure you don't want it?"
"You found it yourself, and I can tell from your eyes you're hesitant to even be asking this in case I say, 'yes' Keep it to yourself and don't let me hear more of it, I'm tired, I want to sleep more."
He laid down and rolled his back towards me afterwards. I don't know if this is his true personality or the setback from his major injury has soured his mood, to say the least, but I don't know him well enough to answer nor judge, I can only comply for now.
I laid down and headed to sleep as well.
.
.
.
I awoke to rays of sun warming my face. No dream tonight? I guess the Tao had decided it has told me enough.
Still, I had much curiosity about this jade, and seeing that Yao Kun was still sleeping, I decided to head further into the cave to experiment a little more.
I sat down and kept the jade close to my eye as I tried to insert it with different amounts of Qi and at different bursts and paces to see how it would react. I had gained a decent control of Qi through the trainings my instructor had put me through, so I started off with my general 'mixed pot' of Qi that I had in my dantian that I had emitted yesterday.
The jade turned just the slightest shade of red and it's texture felt a bit...sharper, like it was made of miniature blades.
Afterwards, I tried to-"Brother Mo! Let us head out!"
Ack, I barely even had the chance! I wiped my imaginary tears from my face and followed my brother.
Since we had found the treasure that I had an intuition about in the mountain, we had decided to head down, where at the base we saw our instructor!
We still had 6 days left to go for the expedition, was there some kind of emergency? Is there a danger roaming the woods we had to be wary of?
"Instructor! We aren't even halfway with our training, why do you come to us?" Yao Kun beat me to the question.
The instructor seemed tired, not physically, but as if he had just argued with a wall for hours, "Well, the instructors of your senior black robes came to me and learnt I was sending you out to the wilderness as training, so they decided to have some 'fun competition' and sent out their own disciples here. They told me to give all of my disciples three tokens, whenever you find a disciple from a different year, you're able to challenge them to a spar without weapons. You wager tokens beforehand, whoever wins gains the tokens, whoever doesn't loses them. The 5 disciples with the most tokens at the end of the 10 days will gain special rewards."
The instructor seemed exasperated as he handed out three blue tokens to us, and again Yao Kun had asked the instructor about his weird expression, "I can't help but feel like the other instructors have ulterior motives by starting this 'friendly' competition just days before the winter tournament."
"Well, it seems as though we have greater issues at hand, Yao Kun, would you like to become allies in this test to come?"
Yao Kun gave me a side-eye, looking down before glancing back up at the instructor, "I was injured greatly, I can't compete here nor in the tournament, do not blame yourself for this injury, instructor or Yan Mo. I have no choice but to bid you my support, brother Mo, let them know the first years are nothing to be laughed at."
He clenched his three tokens, before tossing them over, "Instructor, may I humbly exit the wilderness to be healed?"
The instructor nodded, and after quick goodbyes, and now I was truly left alone...
Well, what more is there to do than to search out other disciples now? Due to Yao Kun's gracefulness, I'm most likely by far in first place with 6 total tokens.
Now, where would the most people be? If the instructor had come to us as soon as he could, that would mean the other disciples have just entered the wilderness from the direction of the Gansu Military Academy!
Trying my best to find out which way that would be considering the position of the rising sun, I started walking...and walking...and walking, until the sun began to fall and I had but an hour of sunlight before night came.
"Huuuuh?!" I heard a mocking shock from behind me, it was Li Baiyu, the short, white-haired prick.
"Of course you're the first one I'd run into," I put my head in my hand, facepalming, "You're gonna give me a headache...and why did you spread rumors of me being from the Demonic Faction?!"
"Because you are, clearly from your cheating ways you've managed to not die out here! No more, prepare for battle! I wager all 3 of my tokens!" He drew out his two swords, real swords this time, holding them in the same stance he had weeks prior, one high and one low.
I sighed and agreed, wanting to just get this over with, this forest had already taught me two great lessons that have increased my combat capability by leaps and bounds, so unless Li Baiyu had similar revelations, this will be a one-sided battle.
He leaped forward, wanting to attack first, but I interrupted him. He was in the air and unable to dodge! Something I had learnt from my fight with the giant spider.
"Yeowang Oyeonmu, First Stance - Hwahwa-ui Wije"
I attacked smoothly, in one clear motion. I moved not as if I had memorized these techniques and were showing textbook examples, instead it was as if I lived and breathed this techniques, shaping their movements to fit my body and sword perfectly! This is also something I had learnt from when the Tao spoke to me!
My blade was not a tool of violence, it wasn't something I had to grip and move manually, atleast I didn't treat it as so. Instead I treated it as if it was a part of my body, an extension to my arms.
My blade lit aflame and striked Li Baiyu, who had no choice but to block it with his own swords and land a few meters away. But then I felt a pain in my side, looking down, I noticed I was bleeding. He cut me?! When?! His blades were far from long enough to produce a cut like this!
I looked up, seeing his creepy smile, unlike the taught smile he'd been using all before. He cleaned the blood off the tip of his sword on the blades of grass under him and walked forward slowly, menacingly.
"When the instructor came to me, he really made it sound as though it was a competition between the different year disciples, but that's not true is it? It's the top 5 disciples with the most tokens that receive a prize, not the top year."
He blurted out before rushing forward again, this time without leaping. He had learnt something during his time here as well, as his next strike was in less than a breath's time.
"Namhae Ssang-Geom Sul! Second Stance, Yeok Pado!"
He's rushing straight at me! Is this the high and low attack from before? No, that's not it! It's a feint! He's going to try and strike me from behind!
Quickly I ducked at the same time he had jumped and reversed the grip on his sword, there! A weakness!
I jumped straight at him, my sword striking through the hole in his defence and slashing the side of his stomach. And I didn't let up, I kept going, putting the pressure on him. One, two, three....a combo of 9 attacks, after which I spun like a whirlwind, forcing him to back up even more.
"What?! You even dare steal my Southern Sea Temple's arts?! You despicable demon! Too bad yours is but an oversimplified mimicry!"
Veins of anger started forming on his forehead as he spun too, we clashed again and again, the strikes chipping away at our swords. Then, at the same time, we both stopped and backed off.
Baiyu was still mad, even having bloodied his entire robe, he was unwilling to give, "How can you possibly be a greater genius than I?! This is Gansu, it's akin to a backwater region! Only a sect like Zhongnian would form here, and yet your techniques are unlike theirs!"
Duh, I was taught the basic principles of Mount Hwa's swordsmanship.
"How arrogant of you, was not even Hainan, your beloved province, once a poor and backwater region of fishermen and beggars?!"
He stroke a small chord within me, I admit, Gansu is where I was born and raised, and where my Yan Clan had been founded and resided after centuries of existence.
I rushed forward, and he did as well, but at the very last second, I used my Qi Tendrils to give me another boost of speed to get past him and attack his rear!
He reacted fast, turning with his own sword slash, but it would be too late! My blade was just ever so slightly longer and heavier than his! This duel is mine to win!
CHING!
The sound of metal hitting metal, but no flesh being cut...no, he cut my face! A slight cut on my right cheek that was deep enough to leave a scar.
I saw a light blue glow from the very tip of his sword, "So that's how you've done it, huh? Using your Qi to extend the reach of your sword. That's pretty damn clever..."
"So the secret is out, I was trying to hide it as my secret, but there's no use in concealing it now! Namhae Ssang-Geom Sul, Secret Technique! - Chimmyk Simyeon! (Silent Depth)"
The reach of his blade had elongated by several inches, to be far noticeably longer than my very own. This has become dangerous now! He wields two swords that he can use similar to spears, using their reach to keep me at a distance where I can't fight back. And not only that, depending on his control over it, he could variably change the length at any time, exploiting even the smallest gaps in my stances!
I was forced on the defensive end and pushed back massively, I had no room to counter-attack, because even if I deflected one of his swords and rushed forth, the other would come down on me like my execution! No wonder this is Hainan's finest swordsmanship techniques..
I let him come too close and he slashed at the side of my chest, only the Qi blade he manifested cut me, but-it was gone? I could feel a vibration inside my robes, the jade of resonance! It was reacting to the Qi nearby it and...absorbed it?!
Even Baiyu was confused, I took the opportunity to straight kick his dumb-looking pretty face and knock him out.
I stood still, breathing hard, I sheathed my sword and took out the jade. It was filled slightly with a light blue-ish Qi, the same color and attitude of Baiyu's, that of a rocking wave.