Everyone scattered before forming a half-circle around the four, watching as the action unfolded. Yau Ming got into a basic stance. A clear insult to anyone paying attention. So, naturally, everyone was aware of how Yau Ming was mocking Yaru and saying that he'll be able to defeat him using a style they learned when they were six.
It didn't escape Yaru that Yau Ming would not play by the rules when Yaru proved to be a little harder to deal with than he remembered. Fighting head-to-head against him would result in utter defeat - and numerous bruises. So, Yaru needed to stall time. It would be a fifty-fifty chance, but Yaru bet the instructor would make Yau Ming cease fighting in his presence.
Looking at the sun's position, Yaru drew a deep breath and prepared for a struggle. Yau Ming clenched his right hand tight and bared his teeth in what was distinctively not a smile. He wasted no time before attacking and throwing Yaru onto a pile of mattresses. He rolled with the throw and used the momentum to get back on his legs.
'I hate my life,' Yaru thought for a second before Yau Ming moved to attack him once again. He didn't use Qi, so Yaru found him surprisingly easy to predict. Yau Ming peeked at Xiu. She looked bored and annoyed - He was taking too long to 'educate' Yaru. The boy took a deep breath and changed his stance. Yau Ming struck again, punches moving faster than before. Soon, Yaru was straggling to keep up the pace.
"Can't we just, I don't know, go one day without fighting each other for some stupid reason?!" Yaru swiftly rolled on the floor, taking a cushion and throwing it at Yau Ming's face. The other boy growled at him, furious.
"No?" Yaru jumped out of the way and right onto someone's shoulders "that's sucks," he flipped in the air, landing next to the weapons box.
Yau Ming howled in rage and charged toward Yaru blindly, "eight trigram palm!"
The attack would have been more effective if Yau Ming had controlled his anger. Baguazhang's fighting style typically uses your opponent's aggressiveness against them, not the other way around. Instead of connecting, the move missed, and Yaru slipped away with a wooden sword in hand.
"That moron," Xiu commented angrily, "He should have used External Martial Arts if he's going to let his emotions control him like that. Remind me to show Yau Ming how to use Baguazhang's fighting style properly."
"Give him a break," Tao Lan smiled at her "if he fought seriously with the loser, the fight would have been over before it even began."
"That's true, but that's no excuse for slacking off," she rebuked and returned to watch the fight.
To match Yaru's wooden sword, Yau Ming reached for a training axe. Swinging the axe, he used his full strength to deliver a devastating blow. Yaru had no time to dodge out of the way. The axe hit his practice sword and broke it in half. It didn't stop there. The axe continued on its warpath, and the force pushed Yaru to the floor. His knees got scraped, and his chest hurt severely, "son of a-"
A kick to Yaru's face connected harshly with his cheek, "Don't talk about my mother," Yau Ming spat.
"My bad," Yaru looked up at his attacker, and his blood boiled in his veins. Yau Ming started pulling him closer while laughing maniacally. Yaru struggled in his hold, looking up at him with eyes filled with disgust and hate.
"What's going on here?!" The voice of the training instructor cut the one-sided fight.
'Finally.'
The room turned to the entrance with wide eyes, waiting to hear what the instructor would do. They already knew he wouldn't punish Xiu - her daddy wouldn't stand for it, and he killed people for much less, but to roll over and abide by Xiu's rules would ridicule him.
And Yaru...? Yaru bet on the instructor's pride.
Xiu laughs darkly, "Nothing much, Shifu. This useless waste of space disrespected me, so I showed him why that wasn't smart." There was a veiled threat there, Yaru noted. Not to him. But to instructor Fan.
Instructor Fan Kuo knew that Xiu detested Yaru and would say whatever if she could torment the boy, but since Fan Kuo didn't like him much, he decided not to punish Xiu for her behavior. It also had the nice perk of not dealing with Xiu's father, which was a headache in itself, "you again, Yaru? Why are you always making trouble for everyone?" Fan Kuo hit him on the head.
Yaru kept quiet while the instructor dragged him toward the center of the training hall, "sit down and keep quiet or I swear, miss Xiu would be the least of your worries."
Yaru kept his mouth shut and sat down on the floor. Seeing this, the instructor rolled his eyes and sighed, "In one month, there's going to be a tournament!" he announced, "The first place will get a grade S technique scroll and two bottles of pills!"
Hearing this, an excited chatter broke around the room. Instructor Fan Kuo spread his Qi which instantly silenced the crowd, "you will do well to keep silent. I have not finished speaking, and not all is good news. The tournament will be a shared event between all the sects. Our Mystical sect will have to put in quite the effort if we want to win against the other sects."
The teens groaned at the news. While the Mystical Sect had the highest number of disciples, a lot of them were sub-par warriors. That said, Mystical Sect still produced a lot of promising cultivators, but with so many people, not all were given the tools to shine.
The other sects were smaller and more specialized, but they also had far more resources for each of their disciples. Most would dream of relocating, which is why Fan Kuo smiled at the next part, "I know, terrible of them. But, there's another sweet reward for those who show real promise - If you can beat three contesters from another sect, you will automatically join their sect!"
Yaru bet the other sects were not so happy to hear this part. Since there are so many disciples from the Mystical Sect they would have to be careful not to beat three of them, or they'll risk an immediate transfer.
"However, the last forty places are going back home," instructor Fan Kuo finished and Yaru decided he was finished.
'They're going to kill them.'
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