“Oof!”

  I slam face first into the dirt, back stinging from the blow.

  “Haha Zhan! That’s thirty to nothing!” Xue Xu says proudly with her chest puffed, halberd planted into the ground.

  Yes, that’s right. The girl almost half my height wields a weapon a head taller than me.

  And she’s good.

  Groaning from the bruises forming across my body from the previous 29 hits, I get up for another round.

  “I don’t know why you keep going against Xu, Junior Brother. The outcome won’t change no matter how many times you stand,” Wang Xie flatly comments from a bench, no book in sight this time but watching our spar with his head propped on a hand.

  “Perseverance is a cultivator’s virtue,” Chen Yue counters, pausing his impromptu lecture to Tie Feng. “Without it, how could one advance?”

  “But persevering to fail is just a fault at that point.”

  I ignore him, Xue Xu doing the same as she eagerly spins her halberd, completely willing to continue beating me.

  Brandishing my spear, I swiftly close the distance to prevent her from gaining leverage for a full swing. It’s something she doesn’t care about however and still reels her arm back for a heavy strike.

  She does nearly the same move every time, so woe on me if I didn’t figure out a way to take advantage of it. Planting my foot so I’m just a hair’s breadth from her arc, I slide my foot forward and kick a spray of dirt straight at her face.

  She yelps as the dust cloud hits her face and with my heart hammering in anticipation I slip to her unguarded side and charge in.

  “Ptoowey!”

  It’s all the warning I get before I have to frantically twist my thrust to a guard braced against my side as she blurs, spinning in place with her halberd stuck out and dispersing the cloud of dust.

  A jolt runs up my arms before I’m launched backwards and tumble across the ground. My spear is ripped from my grip, and I slam my hands down to claw the ground that barely slows me before I crash into the bamboo forest.

  Flat on my back staring staring straight at the sky, I ignore Mei Ruylin and Lan Yun peering down at me with amusement, having crashed right between where their each perfectly balanced on a thin length of bamboo with the tips of their shoes. While balancing their swords on a finger.

  Crazy.

  “Ruru!” Xue Xu whines as she appears by my feet, “Look at what Meanie Zhan did to me! He threw dirt in my face!”

  I ignore the dirt-covered girl’s glare that soon turns to the two above me as they giggle at her.

  “You used your full-strength Sister Xu, I think that makes thirty to one now,” I blandly say below them.

  She instantly flushes and puffs her cheeks at me in outrage.

  “No it doesn't! You cheated!” She huffs, stamping her foot.

  Mei Ruyin tries to stifle her giggles, “Haha, no he didn’t Xuxu, in a fight anything goes. Especially against a stronger cultivator, any advantage matters no matter how dishonest,” she consoles the girl before turning to me.

  I don’t plan on moving anytime soon, broken bamboo is surprisingly comfortable.

  “I trust I don’t need to explain why you shouldn’t pull anything like you just did against someone else in a spar,” she says firmly.

  “Yeah I know, don’t want to start blood feuds or whatever for the disrespect,” I say, though they’d likely just skip the declarations and just go straight for the kill. “If I do anything like that outside of here, they won’t be able to complain about it afterwards.”

  Mollified, she goes back to her competition against Lan Yun, the two having bonded over their similar combat styles and training plans.

  I can proudly say Lan Yun beats the other four in anything close to balance or flexibility, outperforming them all with only Mei Ruylin close behind. Of course, that just pushes my friend to stay ahead.

  I hold it over Xue Xu’s head much to her consecration. Lan Yun was my friend first, so her wins are my wins, and Xue Xu was Mei Ruylin’s, so her losses are hers too. No matter what the little girl says to the contrary.

  My own fine control is lacking, what with me focusing on building strength and endurance, but I’m progressing!

  A shuffle forward is still forward.

  I stay staring at the sky, ignoring Xue Xu poking me with her halberd before she gets bored and pesters Wang Xie instead to a spar. His lazy protests go ignored until he’s forced to frantically dodge and draw his daggers once Xue Xu gets impatient and just swings at him.

  With the combat hungry girl mollified with another offering, I get up with a groan and stretch to get a kink out my back before restarting my workout.

  Ever since our first meeting, our senior’s started staying later some days, just coming by to talk and give a tip here or there.

  Lan Yun had the confidence Tie Feng and I lacked and bluntly asked why they came by so much to help three nobodies.

  Surprisingly the four were just bored.

  They can’t really socialize because of their positions, Lan Yun informing me after our first meeting that the four are some of the most talented in the outer sect with Chen Yun and Xue Xu being the top two respectively. They hide away at this relatively isolated training ground for the past few months since they arrived before we came along.

  Anyways, they were just curious about us and ended up liking our jibe. Or Xue Xu just being happy that we don’t really care much for their position with the others following along.

  Tie Feng is just happy to talk to people that know more than him and Lan Yue only cares about mercantile connections, something the four have no fingers considering their high social statuses. And I have no need of their money or resources given I’ll be getting what I need myself, though I won’t reject if they offer, so I never asked nor brownnosed them after our first meeting.

  So yeah, we have senior’s who help us out. Well, except Wang Xie but he sometimes has something worthwhile to say if you read between the lines.

  It’s unfortunate though that Xue Xu get’s real enthusiastic any time training or combat is brought up and just goes full throttle on herself and everyone else.

  But the extra weights she throws on me does push me further through sheer desperation to not get crushed so is it really unfortunate?

  Hmm…

  Tentatively, it is fortunate. I’ve gotten stronger pretty quick, though nowhere near to the next stage, and I haven’t been crushed yet so it should be fine.

  Oh, and speaking of ascending stages, Lan Yue reached the sixth stage a week ago as well. She’s gotten even slipperier in our spars, and I can barely predict her half the time nowadays, though it’s just driven us to draws more often than a win or loss.

  Although we’re on the same stage we have a clear difference in strengths, which from what Chen Yun says its due to the ways we both honed our bodies. Lan Yue focuses on pushing her flexibility and control with some weight training making her agile, while I just push through with raw power and endurance, leaving me with more strength and explosive speed.

  That’s also why I’m much bulkier than the normal cultivator as they typically do more of a balance that prioritizes speed over pure strength. Though the supplements that compacts their developing muscles at the cost of a bit of strength is the main reason why they all look lean.

  I can afford them as the ingredients and creation are quite simple, but why would I spend my hard-earned coin on something as useless as looking lean when I can be stronger than my opponent and just as fast. Granted the latter is still a work in progress as I only recently started focusing on it but I’ll eventually get there!

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  ---

  Kicking a pebble while waiting for a spar to finish up, the two still testing each other by flitting around the ring and sending slashes at one another that aren’t even close, when Elder Lieshen’s voice booms across the field.

  “Disciples!”

  My eyes leave the two who jolt to a stop and shift to the elder’s figure by the sole building in the courtyard where his disciples previously monitoring the spars now converge.

  I drift closer with the other disciples until we’re gathered in front of the elder who surveys the crowd, barely half the number these sessions initially started with.

  “It has been three months since you joined. You were granted segregated time and tutelage, some taking advantage of the opportunity, the rest did not and will lose out on the rewards. Similar to your mandatory classes, this allotted time ends with today’s session.”

  Murmurs erupt from those around me, and even I feel a little trepidation. I’ve heard from the others that the general training grounds have none overseeing the matches and can get quite… brutal if you choose the wrong opponent. Or annoy the wrong person. Or just plain unlucky.

  I’ll check it out once to see for myself, but it’s definitely low on the places I would like to be.

  The elder holds up a thin silver token, “This token allows one person to choose any Martial Art within the Outer Library. One of you will win it today.”

  Worried murmurs flip instantly to excited chatter, and I can’t help but grin as I stare at the silver token. It takes a typical disciple half a year to earn enough points for a chance to pursue the Outer Library, longer if one focuses on buying resources or stick to safer missions.

  So to have a chance to acquire a Martial Art this early is quite a gift.

  “The winner of course will be decided through combat, and as I do not wish to wait all day for a winner to be decided through a tournament, it will be a free for all.”

  I still as I see smile growing on his face.

  “Begin.”

  We all freeze. It takes a moment for me to process his command before I move just as the chaos starts and nail the girl behind me with a straight punch to her chin.

  Staying low, I vault her falling body and shove aside two locking blades with one another, sending them to the ground in a tumble of limbs as I get clear of the crowd.

  With some breathing room I turn back to the chaos that erupted from a single word. And it is chaos as few thought to make space, most disciples tangled in a mass of flailing limbs and dulled weapons poking those unlucky right where we gathered.

  Ignoring the mess, I target a boy who slipped free, sword raised in a defensive guard, eyes fixed towards the group. He doesn’t hear my charge over the clamour until my spear is pressed against his throat.

  “Sit, you have been defeated,” a disciple of the elder suddenly appears behind the boy.

  Pulling my spear away, I ignore the grumbling boy as he sits and look around the area to find my next target, a girl with a spear also hanging back and calmly waiting.

  It may be smarter to follow what the others are doing and wait for most of the excitable ones to wear themselves out.

  Too bad I’m one of them.

  Her eyes find my charging figure and she reluctantly prepares herself; spear pointed at me.

  We know each other, not personally but as two of the few spear wielders in our cohort we’ve faced each other before.

  Bracing her spear against her back, she thrusts with one hand towards me. I react by raising my spear and smack mine against hers. At a higher stage and also being physically stronger, she can’t match my strike and her weapon goes flying to the side.

  What I don’t expect is her to spin, using the shaft braced against her back and the force of my strike against me to whip a spinning upward slash to my face which I barely block with the shaft of my spear and shove it down where it stabs into the dirt.

  Quickly capitalizing the opening, I slash down at her only to curse as she’s able to lean back in time. I forgot to adjust my hands, spread from blocking her strike giving me a shorter range.

  I don’t let her pull back her spear though and stomp on the head just as she pulls, making her jerk in place and this time, I level my spearpoint at her face with a single hand.

  “You have lost, sit,” another disciple comes and goes.

  She huffs and I studiously ignore her glare of annoyance as she slumps to the ground.

  Lifting my foot off her spear, I turn to look for my next-

  Lan Yue!

  I frantically get my spear up and wince as it gets launched to the side, her strength with both hands enough to knock my single arm easily.

  I dash backwards as she gets her footing from her leap, enough to get some space and calm my frantically beating heart from her ambush.

  “Say aren’t we friends? We should leave each other for last,” it’s futile to convince her but it’s worth a shot.

  She can be surprisingly stubborn, which shows as she answers with a slim smile.

  “As you can see, everyone’s dueling a single opponent now,” she’s right, the chaos from the first few minute’s settled down now and there’s about a dozen fights happening, including my own, “and I know you have the endurance to outlast me if I beat the others so it’s best to get you out early.”

  I give her a flat look, “You know I beat you half the time, right?”

  She responds by dashing to me and I curse, swinging my spear wide to deter her but curse once more as she drops below it, far lower than a person running should be able to.

  Calisthenics man.

  But it’s something that she does often when we spar so I let my swing carry through and twist my hips to snap a solid kick toward her face.

  I relish the flash of panic as my foot nears her face but curse again as she drops to her knees and slides beneath me, slamming the pommel of her sword against the back of the single leg holding me up as she passes by.

  She’s always annoying to fight.

  My knee buckles with a grunt and I fall to my back. I don’t wait to see what’s casting the shadow across my face and roll to the side, a blade falling straight down where my face was.

  Planting a hand, I shove to throw myself upright and send a thrust to her unprepared form, still kneeling where I once was with her sword in the ground.

  My grin vanishes as she leans slightly to the side to let my thrust whistle past her face, giving her a chance to raise her sword and lock my spear against her hilt and with a determined heave with her whole body, she wrenches it from my grasp.

  I blink at her victorious smirk, my spear clatters somewhere behind her.

  I leap at her.

  She squawks indignantly as I tackle her into the dirt, too close due to stumbling from her disarmament to get her sword in a proper position to count as a ‘kill’.

  I’ve never pushed our spars far enough to get in close to grapple so she has no experience with it, it’s simple enough to grab her wrist and squeeze.

  Her fingers pop open and her sword falls free and I use my grip as leverage to swing my body around her. Now, Lan Yue is incredibly flexible, her fighting style depends on it so she’s quite resistant to most holds. However, something called an ‘armbar’ I learnt from Xue Xu is highly effective, as is being proven right now.

  “I yield! I yield!” She screeches, slapping my leg as I arch my back. Flexibility means nothing when your elbow starts bending the wrong way

  Letting go, I roll back to my feet and grin at her as she cradles her arm with a groan, then wince when she gives my ankle a petulant kick.

  “Uncouth barbarian,” she hisses, thankfully keeping her feet to herself now, “you’ve never done that in our spars before!”

  Picking up my discarded spear, I shrug, “Until now. Never really a point before as I was trying to improve my spear work rather than win.”

  “Well you better use it when we spar from now on!” She snaps, almost shouting at me, so I just do the right thing and nod.

  Leaving her to grumble, I see that there’s only a few people left. Naturally I go for the most exhausted looking one, I myself feel good enough for a fight or two before I start lagging.

  The boy barely has the energy to resist my strikes, his defense being decent but not enough to handle the strength behind them so with a powerful upward slash, his sword hand goes flying above him and leaves him open for my thrust.

  “Sit,” a disciple holds my spearpoint still, aimed at the boy’s stomach who just flops to the ground, raggedly huffing.

  Exhaling, I turn and see that there’s only one other disciple left standing, everyone else beaten and sitting leaving a loose ring formed around the two of us.

  I vaguely recognize the boy across from me who looks relatively fine bar a bit of sweat, a more refined look about him that makes me think of him coming from a clan which he soon proves.

  “Hah! I have heard of you peasant!” He declares pompously, and I subtly slide a foot back.

  “You fight like a barbarian, flailing about with your crude tricks, backed by a brute’s strength. You think you can ever hope to defeat me!” I shift from a guard to rearing my spear back with one hand, muscles bulging beneath my robes. “I come from the illustrious Ma clan, raised on sword arts refined through generations and you are but a shadow before the grace of-”

  I rear back and throw.

  His eyes widen just in time to see the whistling spear and scrambles to roll into the dirt.

  The spear slices through the air where he stood a heartbeat ago before flashing past.

  Thunk

  The spear buries itself in the front wall of the elder’s building, sunk deep into the reinforced wood, shaft wobbling.

  The disheveled boy’s wide eyes flick from the spear back to me and barely gets his arms up in time to block my sidekick that sends him rolling further back.

  I don’t slow as he frantically tries to recover to his feet; I charge and just a half meter away, plant my feet and send a straight punch breaks his hasty guard.

  My next punch slams into his gut before he can react, and as he doubles over, I send a knee strike straight to his face.

  Crack

  His nose gives and he stumbles back with a yelp, cradling his face while waving his sword wildly to keep me away, useless with how easily he telegraphs them.

  Dashing forward, I grab his sword hand’s wrist as he reaches the arc of a swing and pull him towards me, right into the fist that meets the hand covering his face.

  He groans and jerks back but recovers enough to drop his hand and throw a punch with a furious yell. I can’t dodge in time and grunt as his fist snaps my head to the side.

  “You think-!”

  I cut him off by punching his face.

  And again. And again. And again.

  I slap his raised arm aside, plant a foot forward and with a twist of my hips, drive an uppercut straight into his chin. His head snaps back with a sickening thud, and his body crumples.

  I release his wrist, the sole thing keeping him upright, and let him drop to the ground.

  A snort comes from the side, looking over to see it came from Elder Lieshen, his eyes dancing in amusement with a faint smile.

  “Congratulations Outer Disciple Zhan, you fought with what your best at and it granted you this win,” he says with mirth, “if you had used your spear, properly that is, you would have lost.”

  He steps forward, “You have won the right to pick a Martial Art from the library, do not disappoint me with your choice,” he says simply, tossing the token to me before strolling to the building.

  “Also, take your spear out of my dojo,” he adds over his shoulder.

  Grinning, I run a finger over the silver token and tuck it in my robes as one of the elder’s disciples nonchalantly hauls the unconscious boy away, the rest of the defeated disciples now rising to leave as well.

  I pretend to not notice the odd looks they throw at me or the distance they keep between us.

  “Good job.”

  I flinch when Lan Yue suddenly speaks up beside me, having not heard or felt her approach and I hesitantly grin at her.

  “Thanks. No hard feelings?”

  She stares at me a moment longer before turning and walking off.

  “Hey, hey, Lan Yue it was just a fight!” I call as I jog after her.

  I really don’t want to know what kind of tricks she’ll start coming up with to get back at me.