Qi Like Tar

Paike and his sister left the periphery of the established buildings of the sect and started descending into the wilderness lower on the hillside. According to Liming, the presence she had detected wasn't much farther down. Paike couldn't sense anything yet, but his sister's senses were undoubtedly more astute.

There was a valley in that direction, based on the rough maps they had recently studied of the outer sect grounds, so they had a general idea of where they were headed. As they walked, they chatted casually.

Liming had apparently been getting along well with her roommate, which interested Paike. He was curious as to why her roommate hadn't been attending the spiritual classes. Apparently, her family had strict expectations, but she had been attending physical classes. Paike just hadn't noticed her the last time.

They speculated about what they might be practicing in the physical cultivation class tonight. They had some foreknowledge about physical awakening, but neither had attempted it yet, as it was best done under an instructor's supervision. They had been immediately sent to the sect upon awakening their spiritual cultivation.

Engrossed in their conversation, which had shifted to analyzing their competition, they failed to notice the presence closing in around them. It was only when one of the subjects of their discussion stepped onto the path in front of them that they realized something was wrong.

The boy standing before them was older than Liming but younger than Paike, as most of the new sect members were. Paike recognized him from the dream; he was the ninth-ranked disciple of the outer sect.

He wore the robes of a martial artist and stood almost as tall as Paike despite his young age. Muscles were clearly defined even through his robes, and Paike could almost taste the earth rolling off of him. He stood silently as Paike and Liming stopped about ten meters away. Around them, other young martial cultivators appeared on the sides of the trail—one on either side of them and two more blocking the retreat. The four lackeys were dressed similarly to their leader. Probably disciples or lesser members of his family.

"Ren Shu," Paike said, stepping forward to shield his sister slightly. "Why are you blocking our path?"

Ren Shu blinked as if not expecting to be recognized. "The Kong family and the Ren clan have a score to settle," he said. "It does not bring me great pleasure to do this, as you are not directly involved, but I have been instructed to send a message."

Paike blinked. His family had both friends and enemies, but most didn't feel the need for revenge. However, this was taking things a bit far. He looked around, noting their surroundings. "We're still under the elders' truce for the first week of orientation. There aren't supposed to be any duels or fights. Even afterward, it's supposed to be duels, not outright fights. And not five on two."

Ren Shu's expression hardened. "This is not a duel. This is not a fight. A just little lesson, really."

"You really want to risk that?" Paike asked, but inwardly, he doubted there was a chance they would care. Not if they had come so far already.

"I don't think the elders would approve if this happened within the sect compound, but out here in the wilderness, I'm sure they'll look the other way—as long as no one gets killed." Ren Shu waved his hand dismissively. "Again, not my choice, but I will apologize for what is about to happen to you."

Paike frowned. "If you say so."

Nudging his sister, he gave her some of their family hand signals, instructing her to take on the two at the rear. Without warning, he pushed off the ground, fueling his movements with qi stored in his channels. It wasn't efficient or advised. Qi should be in the dantian. But it took him too long to move it, so he was working on always having some ready. Ren Shu was caught off guard, clearly surprised but not wholly unprepared. He took several steps back, giving himself a chance to fall into a proper stance to receive Paike's charge.

Paike felt his sister engaging the two in the rear while the two flanking members of the Ren clan closed in on him. He braced himself for what was clearly not going to be a pleasant fight. All five of the opponents were in Early Ruby, barely better than mortals. Still, any fight between cultivators was not to be taken lightly.

He did nothing to disguise his approach, landing a crushing overhand right on Ren Shu's raised forearms. The backward momentum cushioned the blow slightly, but Paike had a significant weight advantage. Even his blocked punch crashed heavily against his opponent's guard. Keeping with his martial arts training, as soon as he landed the blow, he dropped into a low kick, striking the outside of Ren Shu's knee, causing it to buckle. Using the momentum, he spun to face the two flanking opponents from the side and chose the one on the right.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Behind him, Ren Shu fell to the ground with a startled cry. He had clearly trained, but the brutality of the assault had caught him off guard. Paike almost felt grateful for the harder lessons he had learned in his extra time growing up.

Running at a wiry-looking lackey, Paike intercepted him before the guy two could close in from behind. Several quick strikes landed, ending with a hip toss that allowed Paike to turn and face lackey number two. But by then, Ren Shu had regained his composure and was closing in as well.

Paike backed up slowly, making sure to keep all three opponents in sight, even as the first lackey got back to his feet. The two lackeys fell back slightly, flanking Ren Shu as they approached as a group. Paike started to circle them, ensuring they couldn't come at him from a single direction. He occasionally threw a strike, but for the most part, he simply deflected and absorbed their attacks. Taking several punches and kicks to the stomach and legs, he blocked what he could with his forearms and slipped out of the way of others.

"Give up," Ren Shu said after a particularly nasty kick slipped through his guard, barely letting him slip out of range of the group of fighters. "You're outnumbered and making this more difficult than it needs to be."

Paike ignored him and examined his surroundings, looking for some sort of advantage he could grasp. They were decent fighters, but they didn't need to be exceptional to inflict serious harm. Being outnumbered was something mortals, without techniques or arts to handle such odds, weren't well equipped for.

If Paike had some sort of wide-area fire technique or something else geared for defending or moving quickly, then multiple opponents might have been more manageable. But for now, no one even had any weapons—those would come later as people learned arts geared toward wielding one weapon or another. For now, Paike was lucky that most of the fighting was non-lethal.

He dashed backward several steps, risking a glance over his shoulder to see his sister fighting her two opponents. She wasn't faring much better. Two-on-one was more manageable than three-on-one, but Liming was not as strong a martial artist as Paike. However, she was clearly using her qi to power her limbs far more efficiently than Paike was. She must have carved qi channels in the brief time they had after class. Despite her being rushed for time, she must have done a better job than he had.

The lackey one decided that simply landing occasional punches wasn't enough and went for a lunging tackle. Paike barely managed to slip out of the way, receiving several blows to his head from another opponent. His ears rang, and his vision swam slightly from the impact. He knew he was running out of time—there was no way he could win this. Especially if they took the fight to the ground. It was something that wasn't popular with higher realm cultivators, but grappling was a sound strategy before combatants had access to potent arts.

Thinking about Liming's success, Paike had an idea. He turned, accepting a blow across his back, and then dashed forward, executing a lunging tackle that took Liming's first opponent out of the fight for a few seconds, leaving her with only one to focus on. He heard the crunch of cartilage, more so than saw it, as Liming's stiffened fingers smashed into her opponent's throat. Reinforced by qi, her hand sent him doubling over, gasping and clutching his throat, struggling to breathe.

Paike pummeled his surprised opponent beneath him, doing his best to force qi through his channels in time with his strikes. His flow was slow but unrelentingly sturdy, and he soon battered aside his opponent's defense. Just as he was about to finish him, Paike was tackled off, and the fight devolved into a rolling brawl with two opponents. It seemed that lackey number two from his initial confrontation had joined in, and now he was barely holding on. He felt a foot connect with his ribs as two more opponents pilled on. Focusing on nothing but defense, Paike wasn't even able to identify who was striking him.

Coming out of nowhere, Liming crashed into his attackers, sending them scattering in surprise. In the scramble, Paike managed to kick clear and roll to his feet. His sister pulled two combatants away from him. One of which was Ren Shu. This left only the two less talented combatants to fight him. He gratefully gulped in painful breaths as he evaluated the new situation.

Now, it was an unfair fight in his favor. They were significantly smaller than him and didn't know how to work together properly. Instead of flanking him, they came at him as a group, allowing him to keep them both in his focus with little effort.

Paike set up a telegraphed kick, so obvious that the first opponent dodged, not realizing he wasn't the target. His body blocked his ally's view, and Paike's qi-infused shin crashed into the ribs of the second lackey. The impact was brutal—Paike felt several ribs crack beneath his attack.

This started their downfall. With one trick after another, Paike beat the two into the ground. He even managed to pull off a move one of his instructors did all the time and cracked their heads together. Eventually, one of them managed to flee, leaving the other wheezing on his knees.

Paike turned and saw Ren Shu and another lackey still fighting Liming. He dashed forward, grabbing the lackey from behind and wrapping him up in a choke. His opponent struggled with futility as he slowly lost consciousness.

From the sidelines, Paike encouraged his sister, cheering her on as she picked apart her talented but clearly unpracticed opponent. Just as the unconscious body of their last opponent slipped out of his arms, he watched as the ninth-ranked outer sect disciple fell to his knees, his will to fight cut short.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!