Chapter 84: Endless Curiosities
Xing Jing stood behind Fu Xue, her muscular body firmly planted on the ground, although her expression was that of playfulness and excitement.
"Where... Did she come from?!" Fu Xue asked herself in confusion. On her back, the protective rock armor that had managed to resist more than one of Sui Lin's Piercing Heavens crumbled apart.
That sort of power... How did it hit her without her even realizing?!
As Fu Xue looked at the strong woman, both she and Sui Lin attempted to probe the newcomer to no avail.
"Don't tell me that her cultivation base is so much higher than mine that I can't even decipher her presence" Sui Lin suddenly felt anxious about that strange girl.
"Oh? That Fu Clan girl completely dropped her guard, didn't she? I guess that's what happens when Xing Jing enters the fight" Master Breaker said confidently.
Next to him, Master Cloud remained silent. Unlike the fighters in the middle of the Arena, how could someone with their level of cultivation fail to probe Xing Jing?
"Where did you pick such an interesting fruit, Breaker? That girl's cultivation is... No, she doesn't even have a cultivation base, does she?"
In the thousands of people assembled for the Cross Branch Arena, Xing Jing was definitely the closest to what could be called a mortal.
Her dantian was as empty as could be and not even an ounce of Shinsoo radiated from her body.
"I... I can't see her," Fu Xue referred to her divine sense. In front of it, Xing Jing was completely absent, "No, rather her presence is so faint that I'm not used to see her."
Both Sui Lin and Fu Xue had confused expressions, their guard suddenly going up as means to protect themselves from the unknown.
Pointing at them, Xing Jing laughed loudly until her eyes were clouded by tears.
"Aahaha that look is the best... Every time I meet someone new they look at me like this. Don't worry You'll understand my secret soon."
Xing Jing wiped a tear from her eye and re-assumed her original stance.
Under her robes, all the muscles in her body tensed. Hidden under her clothes, the tattoo that connected her belly with all her members started to emit a soft dark light.
"Here I come!"
As soon as her voice escaped her lips, Xing Jing was nowhere to be seen. By sheer reflex, Fu Xue turned around, a sudden possibility striking her mind.
She was right. Xing Jing had not disappeared. Her speed was just on that level. Facing Fu Xue from the other side, Xing Jing let out a horizontal kick.
The naked foot blasted through the rock protection, the almost invisible tattoo on her sole flashing just once.
Coughing up blood, Fu Xue was sent flying again.
Being further away, Sui Lin had a slightly better view of what had happened and yet she didn't have time to react. Xing Jing's movement, there was definitely no technique behind it. Xing Jing was just... running!
In an attempt to stop her from coming for herself, Sui Lin bit her tongue and was about to send a drop of blood onto her paintbrush when she stopped abruptly.
"Character Formation is useless. In fact all of my techniques are. Without feeling her divine sense, I can't send my techniques to hit her at all."
She had suddenly understood what the terrifying presence of Xing Jing meant. But she had yet to comprehend how it was possible.
Having been hit twice with the force of a tree trunk falling onto her, Fu Xue was enraged and injured.
With a lot less energy than when she had started the fight, her stone golem form shed away to reveal her bruised body.
"I can't maintain it any longer which also means I can't get hit anymore."
More than anybody present she understood the level of power than Xing Jing could deliver, although her singular presence was still a mystery.
Xing Jing seemed lost in thoughts for a moment when Fu Xue revealed herself from under the rocks. She looked at the petite girl up and down, slowly shaking her head.
"Listen, Fu Xue, right? I don't want to hurt you too bad. I am going to-"
Xing Jing didn't finish her sentence before Fu Xue, enraged by her condescending tone produced a flying sword and sent it towards her.
Xing Jing's eyes opened like giant marbles and she realized how her way of speaking had offended her. Bowing multiple times in rapid succession, she easily evaded the flying sword and apologized at the same time.
"No no no! I'm so sorry Sister Fu, I didn't mean to say it like that. Listen I will explain my fighting style to you. I didn't want to offend you I swear!"
Even as veins were beating furiously on Fu Xue's temples, the fighter from the Cloud-Formation Pavilion forced herself to calm down.
"I might as well listen to her and recuperate a bit of energy while she talks" she said to herself and then out loud, "Go on."
"Thank you, I'll be quick. Listen, my body is different from all of yours. I'm not a cultivator, you see?"
"..."
From the distance between the center of the arena and the seats, the only people capable of hearing her explanation were of course the Elders and the Pavilion Masters.
"Is that true, Breaker?" one of the other Masters enquired.
Master Breaker stroked his beard, his head swaying slowly from side to side "Hmmm yes and no. Xing Jing doesn't have a cultivation base in the normal sense. For a reason I ignore, her dantian doesn't absorb even the slightest drop of Shinsoo. But it doesn't mean she is completely devoid of it."
Master Furnace, the woman in charge of the Shinsoo-Medicine Pavilion was listening with great care. Maybe Xing Jing would be worthy of her medical attention. Curiosity for the human body was the reason for her existence after all.
The large Master Breaker continued, "From what evidence I've gathered, Xing Jing's Shinsoo acquired through meditation or other means goes through her body to her dantian and then gets dissipated. Before leaving her into our care, her Clan must already have had an idea about that, as they covered her body with spiritual tattoos. The way they work is completely natural to Xing Jing."
"She simply uses her body in a normal way and the tattoos send Shinsoo into her muscles?"
Master Breaker nodded at Master Furnace's remark.
"That, coupled with her natural talent for martial arts, Xing Jing is a beast on the ring. I even made her an instructor for hand-to-hand combat in my Pavilion, she teaches up to the second-step disciples although she herself is only mortal. But she's a ticking bomb as well..."
Naturally, all the experts gathered to see their disciples clash in the Cross Branch Arena understood what Master Breaker meant.
A girl who was fighting despite not having an ounce of Shinsoo nor divine sense was both heroic and destined to suffer. Divine sense was a crucial part of fighting, allowing to probe and see the opponent as well as their technique, but the lack of could be compensated by reflexes and alertness.
However, with the most resilient body amongst all the eighteen contestants, the latter was precisely Xing Jing's weakness. Master Breaker had deemed her strong enough to have the honorary title of Liquid Realm third step without knowing what her limits were. What would happen if her muscles couldn't take all the Shinsoo she had absorbed thus far?
***
"I'm stepping out" Sui Lin cut Xing Jing's explanation abruptly, "you both continue fighting but I'm out of energy. My techniques are the worst match for your strength."
Sui Lin turned on her heels, putting away her paintbrush, "Sorry everyone, Sister Mei, you can take my place."
Now only Fu Xue and Xing Jing remained in the Arena. As the pale-faced Sui Lin rejoined the side-lines and Mei Yunei joined the fray, Fu Xue was slowly recuperating.
"So you're like a glass sword. I can't wait to see how you'll shatter."
Contrarily to Sui Lin who would rather conserve her energy and leave when she knew she couldn't face an obstacle, it was not in Fu Xue's mentality to give up in a fight.
"A glass sword... I like that" Xing Jing laughed, all the while assuming a powerful fighting stance.
She knew better than anyone else how close the analogy was to her reality. Because of the lack of Shinsoo in her dantian, her muscles had been reinforced in a way that made her body the strongest for her level, but it also meant she couldn't do what most cultivators could.
In essence she was the only mortal in an Immortal World. Any injury she obtained would have to be recovered from, like a mortal would. Without Shinsoo she was incapable of regenerating her body or closing up wounds by herself.
Like a glass sword, she was a fragilized weapon.
Despite having full consciousness of that, Fu Xue wasn't showing any mercy towards the tall girl. Xing Jing had the will of a fighter and holding back would only show disrespect. She had stepped out in the arena to fight, and Fu Xue was completely agreeing with that.
"Unfortunately, much like Sui Lin, I've emptied almost all my reserve energy earlier. This will be my last attack" she told herself as she gathered Shinsoo in her hands.
"Cloud Arts... Third form! PEERLESS SKIES!!"
The pressure in the Arena rose drastically. A large cloud formed above Xing Jing, only a few meters in the air.
Even she, without divine sense, could feel the pressure of a strong technique and see the white light it radiated.
The third form of the Cloud Arts techniques, Peerless Skies, was different from the others in the sense that it wasn't a single stage technique. The longer time one spent in activating it, the stronger the technique was. It also consumed a lot more Shinsoo as the cloud grew bigger and bigger.
Gritting her teeth and ignoring the beads of sweat on her forehead, Fu Xue decided to bet on the speed of her technique.
As long as Xing Jing didn't move, she would keep pouring energy into it.
It all came down to the moment Xing Jing herself attacked. Faced by this absurdly strong technique, she wasn't going to remain idle. She leaped forward, understanding that Fu Xue would launch the cloud at her as soon as she did.
"I can't take that head on, I need to evade and strike quickly."
In the seats watching the combat unfold, the crowd was completely silent. Everybody present was below the Liquid Realm's third step and watching Peerless Skies being used in combat was as surprising to them as seeing Jun Qian and Xiao Yue use pseudo-domains previously.
The weaker disciples even felt some uneasiness in front of Peerless Skies' pressure.
Fu Xue motioned down with both hands as soon as Xing Jing moved, sending the cloud downwards.
By the point the cloud struck the ground, the fighter from the Light-Breaker Pavilion was ten steps away from it. The cloud burst in a terrifying wave of white light.
For a moment, everything turned white. The technique was completely silent, the only noise across the room being that of the ground cracking and the air being pushed away from the center of the blast.
In the middle of a step, Xing Jing was drowned into the immaculate white light, as if time had suddenly slowed down. She disappeared from sight as Fu Xue tried her hardest to fight the fatigue and keep her divine sense focused on her opponent.
But then Xing Jing, like a dragon in a storm, soared out of the white cloud, one leg first and arms to the side.
Fu Xue cursed internally. Unbeknownst to the public, it was the first time she had ever used Peerless Skies, moreover in a bad condition after an already intense fight. Peerless Skies' radius of effect was larger than the other techniques from the Cloud Arts arsenal, but as luck would have it, Xing Jing's speed was just a tad above.
"It's my loss" Fu Xue still found the strength to sigh and cross her arms in front of her.
Xing Jing's ferocious kick struck her guard but encountered almost no resistance. Fu Xue was sent flying through the air in the direction of the Cloud-Formation Pavilion's bench, for the third time by the same adversary.
By the time Fu Xue lost consciousness in mid-air, both her arms were broken and the white light of Peerless Skies had receded, uncovering a forty meter diameter circle of cracked desolate ground.
Fu Xue plummeted down and was about to crash when a person appeared and softened her landing by catching her in their arms. It was the Cloud-Formation Pavilion's next fighter, Ye Tehzu. Looking down at the collapsed body held by his arms, the young man's eyes enlarged slightly.
As quick as possible, he turned back on his heels to put Fu Xue to rest among the other fighters of his branch.
"Oh crap, please don't wake up, please don't wake up. By the gods, why did she have to come flying this way?!" Ye Tehzu didn't mean to catch her, it was a simple coincidence that she landed right where he was. By all means he didn't regret not letting her crash on the ground, but knowing Fu Xue he knew he would be in big trouble if she realized she had been laying down in a man's arms.
"Please take care of her, and if she wakes up don't tell her I grabbed her. And I sure didn't touch her in any inappropriate places, okay?!!"
Ye Tehzu left Fu Xue in the care of Rai Linxi who was in the best shape from their line-up of defeated fighters. As soon as he spoke, Rai Linxi's eyes shone with a strange devious spark.
"Ooooh Sister Fu is not going to like that... I don't know how she will take the fact you went out of your way to catch her."
"No- No I didn't, she-"
"Grabby hands and all that, oh she WILL be pissed, I know it."
"Wait, that's not at all how it-"
Chu Erlong who was meditating on the side opened one eye to look at the pathetic scene next to her, disrupting her concentration for her upcoming turn.
"Shut up and go fight." In one sentence, Chu Erlong stopped the commotion. If there was one person whom Ye Tehzu feared almost as much as Fu Xue, it was definitely Chu Erlong.
Reluctantly but having no choice, Ye Tehzu returned to the Arena to join Xing Jing and Mei Yunei.
As soon as he was out of hearing range, Chu Erlong turned to Rai Linxi, "Not bad, you really know how to encourage him."
"Tehzu is scared shitless of Sister Fu. Right now he should be considering all the possible death he could endure at her hands when she learns that she has been touched by him. Even if he didn't really touch her at all, obviously."
Resting her chin on her knee, Rai Linxi smiled, "His depression should only last a few seconds though. In a short while it will turn into anger. I really hope he redirects it towards Xing Jing for sending Fu Xue his way."
Chu Erlong looked in the distance, absent-mindedly adding "Boys really are complicated but so easy to manipulate..."
***
Mei Yunei was a much better match against Xing Jing than Sui Lin. Her Ocean Needle sword flowed freely in her hand, easily catching up to the speed of Xing Jing's martial arts.
With every move, Mei Yunei's hair bounced on her head, the lilac ribbon holding them dancing along her blue sword.
Clenching her jaw at the same time as her fists, Xing Jing evaded the weapon while counterattacking with her bare feet. With each attack the tattoos on her body discretely glowed, strengthening different muscles.
Kzzzing!
For the third time since the beginning of the fight, Ocean Needle slid along Xing Jing's forearm. With furrowed eyebrows, Mei Yunei was starting to breathe a bit heavily.
Not only did Xing Jing hold enough firepower to compare to a battering ram, she was also an expert at hand to hand combat, effortlessly redirecting her opponent's strength instead of taking the brunt of the blows head on.
"Piercing Heavens!"
Mei Yunei's teeth briefly showed a vibrant smile. Ocean Needle had just been pushed to the side. Normally she would raise her sword for the next strike, just like she had done previously.
But having successfully baited Xing Jing, her sword was pointing towards the latter's thigh when she unleashed the acceleration power of Piercing Heavens.
Ocean Needle's tip shot towards its target at an alarming pace. The light blue blade was very thin and much faster than a typical sword.
Understanding the danger she was in, Xing Jing braced herself and brought her arm back along her body during a side-step, effectively trapping the path of the blade between her arm and her thigh.
With the added power of the Star-Sword Canon's second form, there was no stopping Ocean Needle by just parrying it like before.
Instead Xing Jing steadied her heart and ignored the pain. Sharing the burden of Ocean Needle's acceleration between her leg and her arm, she avoided any important injury to either one, instead opting for two deep lacerations that didn't touch any vital veins or arteries.
Successfully stopping the sword's momentum, Xing Jing grabbed the needle-like blade with her hands before Mei Yunei could react.
If she manages to successfully yank the sword away from her, Mei Yunei would instantly turn from a dragon to a chicken in a fight. No matter how strong and adept with a sword she was, she was done as soon as her hands were empty.
Mei Yunei's eyes flashed with a lot of bizarre emotions, understanding the tall girl's plan. Xing Jing had decided to take her sword right after Piercing Heavens as well, right as her control briefly relaxed due to the Shinsoo she had just burned.
But one thing Xing Jing, in the heat of the moment, had not accounted for, was that the Cross Branch Arena was not a duel fight. It was an all out brawl between three Pavilions. And Xing Jing had not felt Ye Tehzu's divine sense approach.
"Cloud Arts, first form enhanced: Cold Smoke Lightning!"
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