Fwooosh! Qin Li retaliated with a horizontal slash, his axe shone with a neon shade of green like the leaves of a mature daffodil plant in spring time.

With sweat pouring off his forehead he pushed his speed to new limits, turned on the ball of his right foot and reversed the grip on his battle axe, the double bladed weapon with each blade the shape of a half moon transitioned into a diagonal uppercut strike from low-left to high-right bringing swirling winds and a dust cloud spinning like a cyclone around him.

The move looked majestic but the opponent stepped to the right and with another forward step with wind fluttering his robes, he was through the beautiful slash.

As Qin Li was almost at the end of this strike and planning his next strike, a silver flash with microscopic precision hit the handle of his axe.

The force of the counter strike caused Qin li to over rotate 180 degrees, stumble and expose his defenseless back to the opponent and that was when Hartley landed a kick right on his butt sending him sprawling among the shrubbery, losing his axe in the fall as it clanged away across the floor and into the woods.

Qin Li stood up with a puzzled look, blades of grass were in his mouth, knotted in his hair and falling from his body making him look like a disheveled forest elf.

"Your moves are too fancy, too much useless movement and unnecessary flair, it leaves massive gaps and if your opponent is quick enough you won't have a chance to recover. I'll give you this though, if we were on a performing stage in a drinking house you would probably get the first prize but in a real life and death battle you would probably lose your head"

Hartley had a mocking smile on his face while he critiqued Qin Li's battle style. It has to be known that Hartley was only using his layer 2 xiantian physical to compete with Qin Li, who was also a 2nd layer expert.

Qin Li forced an embarrassed smile, "this is how we were taught, everyone in the...." before Qin Li could finish Hartley retorted "what you were taught is an artistic performance not suited for life and death. sure you would probably trounce challengers at or below your level but you would be easy pickings for anyone even slightly above your level. On this journey you might have to face opponents a little stronger than yourself as you found out with the water element xiantian expert on the main road that routed you within one exchange."

Hartley now had even a bigger more mocking smile on his face.

Qin Li's shoulders sank in depression, Hartley couldn't help but laugh out loud when he saw the lifeless look on Qin Li's face, it was as if someone just learned that something they regarded as a priceless treasure turned out to be nothing but horse shit..excuse me.. horse manure.

Hartley had come to respect the hard work and dedication of the 30 years old Qin Li, he had taken every opportunity to cultivate, everyday he gulped down his meals in two bites and went back to cultivating which really irked Zhi Ruo. After she prepares her meals she expects to hear compliments of how delicious the food was and Hartley never disappointed but this vagabond Qin Li would gulp down his food and go back to cultivate without a single word. Sometimes Zhi Ruo would turn her nose to the heavens and harrumph in dissatisfaction but that didn't bother Qin Li in the least.

Hartley really wasn't being cruel in pointing out the deficiencies in Qin Li battle style, when they left the Calabar province a few days ago, Qin Li had mentioned something foreign to Hartley and this was the concept of sparring. Hartley had never fought anyone or anything he didn't intend to kill before. Qin Li explained it as something which would expose their strengths and weaknesses in combat without the threat of losing their lives, Hartley was intrigued by this concept and decided to partake.

Hartley to his disappointment soon found out that there was nothing he would learn about himself from battling Qin Li, Qin Li's battle style was more of a performance than fighting.

It seemed like fighting came second and looking flashy came first. Hartley had never been formally trained but had experienced the brutal battles with fierce beats all his life and now it was looking like a blessing in disguise, if he was taught the style that Qin Li exhibited every time he picked up his weapon, Hartley would probably be a bag of bones in the mountain by now.

"Wash up and come and eat" Zhi Ruo said while scrunching her nose. "Why do you boys have to sweat so much?"

Zhi Ruo was laying out the steaming hot food on a make-shift table as the duo went off to a little spring and washed themselves. They all ate dinner in the waning sunshine of the Autumn evening. While they ate Zhi Ruo was staring side eyed at Qin Li as he ate normally this time. "The food was delicious Zhi Ruo" Qin Li made the surprising statement and a blooming smile blossomed on the face of Zhi Ruo, her flame red hair and pale skin radiated pride as she nodded at Qin li.

"What should I do?" Qin Li asked Hartley after dinner with a pleading look. Hartley smiled and got up and they both started a next sparring session. This time Hartley started to teach Qin Li how to simplify his techniques.

The trip continued like this for the next couple of days with Zhi Ruo cultivating to the best of her ability and then using her make-shift table to process pelts and make armors, The boys sparred regularly as Qin Li started to improve and Hartley attempted to close the gap to the 5th layer.

An open plane at night....

Hartley left Qin Li on watch and snuck into the carriage where Zhi Ruo slept. He stripped down and climbed sneakily onto the bed saying "Ruo its me" in a soft whisper. Ruo turned to face him with a shy blush. "Hartley we can't, Qin Li might hear us" Zhi Ruo whispered back. "Come on Ruo its been three days, I'm gonna go mad if can't touch you tonight."

Hartley sweet talked as he inched closer and closer.. Hartley rained kisses on her neck, Zhi Ruo lost her shame for a second as she expelled a soft moan. Then she quickly pulled herself together and said, "you can stay and we can cuddle but nothing else." The color drained from Hartley's face and as he was about to protest.

"Remember that night I had lady stuff?" Zhi Ruo reminded in her serious voice. It sent shivers down his back, how could he ever forget lady stuff night?. With a long face Hartley cuddled her in the dark. If he could see her face he would have seen her blooming smile of victory.