Qi flowed through my body, the whispers from Lu Jie guiding my steps. The world shifted around me, Qi thrusting out from under my feet as I dodged back from the arc of sword Qi lashing out at me.

The sword boy did not slow down, swinging his sword in a wide arc one after the other as arcs of sword Qi flashed, carving scars onto the ground. The air shimmered around the boy, cuts appearing on the robes he wore from the Qi running wild around his body as he lashed out.

I did not have the time to taunt or even think. Qi moved in cycles around me body, Wind step whirling as I moved faster than I could think. Memories of years of sparring seeped into my mind, muscle memory that I didn’t know I had responding where I could not.

I had never properly had the chance to test out my body after I’d begun cultivation both Heaven and Earth together. I knew I was stronger by quite a bit, yet the sensation of seeing the world move just a bit slower when I focused, the feeling of moving my body the way I desired it to perfectly, in a moment’s thought. It’s like I had been born with this delay in between my mind and my body all my life, and now, suddenly, that disparity was shrinking.

As I dodged through the storm of sword Qi and waves, I realised why this was so. The heavens defined the spirit. They were a symbol of the spirit and the soul. But the earth? It was physical, material, raw. It defined the body, the core. The cultivation of Qi refined the spirit, whereas the cultivation of Gu refined the body. But like Yin couldn’t be without Yang, cultivating Qi and the spirit fed into the body as well, and I imagined cultivating just Gu did the same the other way around.

A cut on my arm drew me out of my thoughts. I could feel the small cuts on my body, slowly racking up even as I kept on dodging the waves of sword Qi. Feeling tired from the constant running back and chasing, I surged my Qi, generating flames on my palm. With a smooth turn I punched my fist out. Right as the flames were spreading, an idea struck me. I gathered the flames, shooting it out in a pressurised explosion instead.

The pain from the Qi flowing through my singed fingers made me wince, yet I didn’t hold onto the sensation long, jumping back instantly as the flash of the boy’s blade cut through the explosion.

“Stop running and show me Lu Jie! Show me the strength you’d displayed back then. That blinding light you’d produced,” the boy roared lashing after me even harder and I clicked my tongue, jumping backwards.

My eyes glanced to the place the boy had kicked the spirit herbs to and I wondered if I really couldn’t just run there and grab the herbs.

Another slash of sword Qi cut my thoughts short as I dodged to the side, barely saving the left side of my body. I prefer my face in one piece, please and thank you.

My mind began to sort through any ideas to beat the boy in front of me. I really didn’t want to spend any more drugnades on this whole thing, and I was not going to be mixing Gu and Qi again. I still had no idea how I’d done that or why, but using Gu was a non option.

All of a sudden, the attacks stopped. I paused mid step, watching as the boy stood silently, his knuckles white from gripping his blade tight which now hung by his side as he stared at me. What happened now?

“Why… why are you running away? Why? I have not landed a single hit on you. I have… been outmatched by you?” the boy said, as if the realisation had just dawned upon him.

“I wouldn’t call it outmatched. You’re really fucking fast,” I replied, somewhat unsure why I even bothered to.

A glare was the response I got for my words, as the boy looked up at me, as if I’d just murdered his family.

“I do not need your pity Lu Jie. What secrets have you found that you’ve grown so much? You’re… not even using more Qi. You’re merely faster than me. You- the failure of the sect. How?”

“Perhaps you’d misjudged me,” I replied, frowning as Lu Jie’s angers mingled in my voice.

“No, no you had been weak. All of us knew that. You must found some training method, to think it was power enough to grow you to such heights in such a short span. A wasted treasure,” the boy scoffed. “No matter. I will find this secret of yours when I beat you,” the boy said, raising his sword once more. Qi began to gather on the blade, rays of light drawing towards it as a shimmering sheen covered it, glowing ominously.

I clenched my teeth, staring at the boy as I was reminded of why I so desperately wanted to leave the sect. This was precisely why. The arrogance, the thought that the world revolved entirely around talent, the stupidity, all of it. I was feeling sick and tired of stupid cultivator bullshit, and being holed in with exceptions like Liuxiang and Su Lin was making me forget that so many of these idiots still surrounded me.

“Face my blade, one and for all,” the boy proclaimed, his voice echoing as the wind vibrated around him in a frenzy. A bright light shone around him, as I saw something gather around the sword, sword Qi so dense I could feel like I could almost touch it.

Shit, is this guy some kind of hidden protagonist? I cursed internally, watching the Qi turn sharper and sharper until it peaked and the boy roared.

“Heaven splitting Arc.”

The world was light for a moment, as an arc of Qi taller than a tree shot towards me faster than I could react. I pulsed my Qi, dodging in to the side yet I knew I was too slow. In a desperate attempt, I exploded fire under my feet, the shockwave from my blast launching me to the side. Yet the cutting edge of the arc managed to send waves of sharp wind that managed to cut my chest as my robe was slashed through, drawing blood.

I grabbed desperately onto the ground, as the wind blasted over me as I poured my Qi outwards

I coughed, clutching my chest in pain as I watched the blood seeping through. Fuck, that hurt. I pulsed my Qi towards the injury, channeling my essence into it as the wound slowly began to heal.

I stood up, looking at the boy, who stood with the support of his sword, his Qi almost completely depleted.

“I… failed. Shameful…” the boy coughed, collapsing onto his knees. His gaze turned upwards, his eyes burning, yet now empty of the energy they had carried. “How…?”

I stared at boy, at his blatant denial of reality and felt my anger rising. I was peaceful or so I would like to think, but that only went so far as people didn’t slash me with big power waves that could kill me.

“You wanted to know how I got so strong right?” I asked as the boy, as he looked up once more. It seems that had his attention.

Grasping in my pocket, I felt at my gu-nade. “Let me show you then.”

Closing my eyes, I picked flipped the lid open, carefully chipping out a chunk of the Gu-exploding pill, before taking another small chunk from my regular Qi exploding pill.

Grabbing the two pills tight, I walked closer, standing a few feet away from the kneeling boy, covered in injuries. “What you will now see is the result of centuries of study and human innovation, reapplied to a world of walking calamities. It is destruction given form.”

I grinned, even as my anger rose as I stared at the boy. “It’s the power of science.”

I threw the Gu and Qi pill together, as I pulsed both of my energies at them at once.

A tiny start lit up in front of me, as a powerful explosion pushed me back. The world shuddered, the ground below me shaking with a tremor as the pills exploding, annihilating each other. A wave of heat passed over me, stinging my skin.

A moment later, as the shockwave passed, I opened my eyes, and saw two spirit herbs, half charred and destroyed standing on the ground where the boy used to be.

“Eat shit,” I muttered out loud, walking up to the herbs and picking them up. I glanced at the explosion marks on the ground where the sword boy was a moment ago, before I began to make my way towards Twilight.

I had a feeling that showing that weapon, even just a tiny chunk of it was going to have consequences, but I couldn’t be bothered right now. Like all good procrastinators, I planned to procrastinate the consequences of my actions.