“Hey boss, there’s someone up ahead!”

  Ma Yi Ze squinted his eyes off into the distance. It was just then that he spotted the tiny figure in the distance.

  It was a day for a raid as usual for their small group of rogue cultivators, the nine of them riding towards it on the four horses that they possessed. Leaving their camp in the forest, they simply mounted their spirit-herb-fed horses and made way for the nearest village. It was supposed to be a simple raid against an under-defended village, no further planning required. And as a small band of cultivators, albeit beginner ones, a tiny mortal village should be child’s play for them.

  He didn’t quite expect the unknown figure sitting in a colorful flower field near the border of the village that was due their “protection fee” that day.

  It wasn’t just any flower field, he knew. That was a field of sharpshooter flowers. Extremely protective plants that were extremely careful with its own self-preservation. They were very difficult to harvest unless one was a trained expert, being toxic to the touch of an unprotected hand and being extremely sensitive to the slightest amount of qi. Their petals were extremely valuable, though life-threateningly difficult to harvest sometimes.

  Of course, being the leader of a tiny group of rogue cultivators, Ma Yi Ze didn’t bother with those flowers. There was nobody among his men who had the expertise to harvest them, nor did they have anywhere near as much money to hire one for even the length of just one incense stick.

  That was why he was surprised to find a young man in the midst of that flower field, stooping down as if to pick the infamous flower.

  “Some alchemist’s disciple?” one of his men asked.

  “I’m not sure about this, boss,” another said. “He could be some undercover expert picking out ingredients for a pill…”

  “If he were, then we would’ve been able to sense him by now!” another said. “I say that we just quickly knock him out and rob him! We’ll be fine as long as we move quickly enough and not kill him…”

  “But that kid can't possibly be any ordinary kid if he’s an alchemist’s disciple! I say we turn around right now and try our luck tomorrow. Plus, he may be by himself right now , but we never know if his master is staying at the village…”

  “Nonsense! No self-respecting alchemist would go anywhere near a mortal village! Those guys’ superiority complex is one not to be underestimated. Plus, any competent alchemist would have detected us by now!”

  “How about this?” Ma Yi Ze said.

  He let go of the reins. He held up two fingers, aiming it at the figure in the distance as he held another two in front of his face with the other hand.

  A bright, orange spark of flame appeared at the tip of his fingers at his outstretched arm.

  “I’ll fire an arrow, then we’ll quickly swarm him,” he said. “Make sure he’s knocked unconscious when he recoils from the shot. We’re in and out in one minute unless something changes.”

  Some of his men gave him their affirmations. Some didn’t. Ma Yi Ze didn’t really care that much. Whether they wanted to or not, as their leader, his men would follow after his command. That was the kind of tight ship that he led.

  After all, anything less and their loose group of rogues would fall apart.

  As his men continued to gallop onward, Ma Yi Ze fired the spark of fire at the young figure in the distance.

  -----

  It wasn’t the first time that Lin Siyuan had an “Arrow” fired directly at him. It was a requirement that every disciple in the Mystic River Sect, even right after becoming an inner disciple, learn how to at least do as much. More advanced self-defense concepts were usually reserved for battle cultivators, but such basics were taught to everyone.

  However, it was the first time that he had one fired directly at him outside of practice, a situation where he wasn’t pre-prepared to defend against it.

  Siyuan’s instincts immediately took over.

  Qi flowed through his body, heeding the panic that momentarily took over his mind. He raised his arms in a block, his qi flowing through his meridians like a river and surrounding his body in a thin, golden aura just as the Arrow reached him.

  As the Arrow collided with his makeshift barrier, it exploded, momentarily completely surrounding him in bright, orange flames.

  Siyuan’s eyes were wide as the flames quickly scattered, his guard still up.

  Did they just-?!

  He didn’t have time to finish that thought, as by the time the flames around him have scattered enough for him to regain visibility, the group of men who seemed so far just a moment ago were now so much closer, close enough for Siyuan to clearly see each of their faces.

  And, as one would demonstrate soon enough, close enough to leap at him.

  The moment that they came into view, Siyuan found that one of the men had leapt off his horse, not even bothering to stop it as it continued to gallop forward as he drew his sword and swung it right at him.

  He instinctively raised an arm in its path.

  The blade collided with the thin layer of qi around his body. However, as thin as it was, it was more than enough to fend off the attack, the blade bouncing harmlessly off it as though colliding with another blade.

  “Qi armor?!” the man shouted.

  Behind him, the rest of the men in the group quickly surrounded him, some of them leaping off of their mounts as the four horses among them circled him almost restlessly, each still carrying a rider. Despite how startled their comrade may have seemed, they didn’t seem perturbed.

  Siyuan sunk into a defensive stance, his hand instinctively palming his side where his sword usually resided…only to feel nothing. He quickly glanced down at his side to see that his sword wasn’t where it usually was strapped to his side.

  Great. The one day I forget to bring my sword…

  “It doesn’t matter if he has qi armor, he’s just a Qi Manifestation brat! Just break it!”

  They didn’t give him time for another thought as they all ran at him, weapons out and qis flaring to life.

  Siyuan kicked into action, the thin barrier around his body brightening slightly as he braced himself for impact.

  The first man that reached him tried to swing his blade at Siyuan. Now, Siyuan was no combat expert, being a relic smith in training, but even by his standards, the attack was, well, it was rather pathetic. It was pretty quick, definitely more than anything a mortal could pull off, but that was about it. The young cultivator easily avoided the attack, slamming his palm into the man’s unprotected nose with enough force to send him flying backwards.

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  The next deluge of attacks came, but even though he was being simultaneously attacked by eight other people all at once, he wasn’t having as hard of a time as he thought he would. They seemed to be getting into each other’s ways more than Siyuan’s, which gave the younger cultivator less to have to deal with at once. Plus, it was obvious to see that they were all not nearly as well trained as even him from the way he could see them clumsily swinging their blades at him. The few times they did manage to land attacks, whether it be physical or qi-related, said attacks just bounced harmlessly off his armor. Even his basic combat training from the Mystic River Sect was more than enough to take care of them.

  If Luo Han were here, he’d already be done taking care of all these guys, Siyuan thought. But, hm…

  Siyuan kicked one of the men in the abdomen hard enough to make spit out blood. As he went flying backwards, two of the other men, in a semblance of teamwork, tried to stab him from both his sides at once, their blades glowing with qi reinforcement. The tips of their blades bounced harmlessly off of his qi armor.

  He caught one of the blades, wrapping his protected hand around it before bringing his other arm up to slam his elbow into his nose, causing the rogue to lose grip of the sword.

  Now he had a weapon. A shabby, mortal weapon, yes. And one that was very unbalanced in his hand, to the point of being awkward. However, a weapon was a weapon. And a sword meant that he was now capable of the Mystic River Sect’s swordplay techniques.

  He smoothly blocked a blade coming at him from the side. Then, with the smoothness like the flow of his sect’s namesake, he counter-attacked.

  And the next thing he knew, that metal blade sliced through skin, spilling blood. And following that spatter of blood…was his attacker’s head.

  Siyuan’s eyes widened as he realized what he had just done. He was, by no means, some hardened warrior. He was still, by the means of cultivators, a child, not even a year into his own cultivation.

  Taking a human life, even one that was trying to take his life, was by no means something Siyuan could have been expected to be prepared for as a relic smith in training.

  His shock didn’t last very long, however, as a loud roar reverberated through the air.

  “You bastard! Make due for my brother’s life with your own!” one of the rogues shouted, jabbing the spear in his hand right at his head.

  Like with the other rogues before him, his attack was easily beat back. Moving the sword behind his back in an almost ceremonial motion, Siyuan jutted his palm forward, slamming it into the rogue’s chest, blasting him backwards.

  The leader of the group, who had been by the side just simply watching the fight unfold, just scoffed. Finally, he drew his sword. One that was definitely longer than a normal sword, but also with a thicker blade. It looked heavy, yet the man held it as if it weighed nothing.

  “Men, retreat to the village and collect what we are owed!” he shouted. His voice bellowed, deep yet with the charisma a leader would have. “I’ll join up with y’all when I’m done with this brat.”

  What the-?

  Siyuan’s head whipped around just in time to watch the men he had just beaten begin sprinting towards the village.

  “Hey-!”

  “Rule one of combat, don’t turn away from your attacker unless you have a death wish!”

  Siyuan quickly twisted back, bringing his blade up to block the larger blade being swung down at him. His eyes widened.

  So heavy?!

  The next thing he knew, he was being flung backwards from the force of the attack.

  The larger man remained where he stood, a large toothy grin on his face. His whole body was bathed in a thin, fiery aura that hadn’t been present before. His large blade was bathed in a thin layer of bright, orange flames.

  Qi reinforcement? Crap.

  Qi reinforcement, the simple art of infusing an object with one’s own qi to momentarily increase its durability and its strength. It was easier than it sounded, however. One needed a kind of somewhat precise control of their qi, one that required them to be able to sustain it for a period of time outside their body, where it acted as no more than a kind of volatile, formless energy. Luo Han had told him multiple times that it was easy once the concept for it was understood.

  Unfortunately, Siyuan didn’t really understand the concept of qi reinforcement. And it wasn’t exactly something that could be picked up right away. He had tried multiple times already back in the Sect with almost no success.

  The large man barreled forward, swinging his blade at Siyuan with blinding speed. In response, Siyuan pointed a finger at him. A golden spark of qi came to life at the tip of it, right before he fired an Arrow at his opponent quickly enough before he could reach him.

  The attack landed point blank, exploding against the man’s chest and launching him backwards. However, to Siyuan’s dismay, it didn’t even seem to break through the man’s qi armor.

  This is really not good.

  “Haha, that’s a very fast Arrow, kid!” the man exclaimed. “Not bad!”

  Siyuan didn’t respond. He instead deigned to fire three more quick Arrows at his opponent.

  I won’t take him in close-range combat. I’ll just pepper him with Arrows then find my chance to land a critical blow. Qi reinforcement doesn’t matter if he can’t get close to me. And as long as I keep it up, he won’t be able to gather qi quickly enough to form his own.

  The bulky man manages to dodge past the three, but Siyuan catches him just as he hops to the side, managing to score two more shots. Golden explosions crackled against the man’s armor of qi.

  “But this is quite annoying,” he said. Despite his words, he didn’t seem more than mildly inconvenienced.

  Again, Siyuan didn’t reply. He shot several quick Arrows at him.

  Four more golden explosions bloomed to life, pushing the man back further. However, when he fired a fifth…

  The man suddenly burst forward, towards the incoming qi projectile. He turned his whole body, taking the blow of the Arrow with his back. He grunted with notable pain as it exploded against his armor, but unlike the others, it didn’t seem to even stop him.

  Siyuan’s eyes widened. He quickly re-enveloped his body in his qi armor right before the man rammed his shoulder right into him. Their qis collided as his much smaller frame went flying backwards, tumbling back to the ground.

  Siyuan rolled out of the way just as the man’s large flaming blade was brought down on him, leaping onto his feet. The man didn’t let up though, quickly raising his blade and swinging at Siyuan’s torso in a wide flaming arc. Thinking quickly, Siyuan raised his arm in the blade’s path. The flaming blade colliding against his armor, not quite enough to stop it, but enough to hinder it at least somewhat. He swiped his arm sideways, tossing the blade off its path, the momentum of which caused the man to almost lose his balance.

  “Oh?”

  Siyuan took that opportunity. He swung his blade at the man’s undefended neck.

  The man just tsk’d. Right before Siyuan’s blade could reach its target however, he raised his arm, much like how Siyuan did. Unlike with Siyuan however, his arm did not stop the incoming blade.

  Unfortunately, Siyuan wasn’t exactly the strongest cultivator in the Lower Reaches, or anywhere close to it. So instead of slicing right through his arm like Siyuan had envisioned…it went about halfway through before getting stuck in the man’s thick, muscled arm.

  Both Siyuan’s and the man’s eyes widened.

  “Damn, you really that weak?”

  The man’s other hand balled into a fist before he punched Siyuan right in the face hard enough to send him flying backwards yet again.

  This time, Siyuan didn’t get up as quickly. He took his time, trying to catch his breath and gather himself from the powerful blow. Blood poured down his nose, and he had to spit out a few teeth that had come loose from the blow. He was disoriented, his vision skewed off so that he was seeing double for a bit before he blinked it away.

  All the while, the other man just watched, a wolfish grin on his face, his flaming blade still in hand.

  Son of a bitch, he deliberately punched me with his blade arm instead of just slicing me to pieces, Siyuan inwardly cursed. And damn that weak blade. If it were my relic I would’ve easily lopped off that arm.

  The other man, still remaining where he stood, pulled the sword out of his arm as if it were a mere splinter rather than a whole blade. He tossed the blade forward, letting it clatter to the grass in front of Siyuan. The young cultivator just stared, baffled, at the weapon on the ground before looking back at his opponent.

  “C’mon, get back up,” he said, baring a wolfish, toothy grin despite the gaping hole in his arm. “You’re a cultivator, aren’tcha? Get up, make this more exciting for me before I finish you off.”

  Siyuan just scoffed and grit his teeth.

  As of now, I’m not strong enough to even properly damage him on my own, huh? I can’t even properly block any of his attacks. His own strength, along with the qi reinforcement, is too much for me to simply parry away.

  The man in front of him began to walk forward, baring both his teeth and blade menacingly.

  Something to bridge the gap between our constitutions. That’s the only way I’ll be able to survive this battle.