Daoping was saying something but Pengfei didn’t hear it. He just held the other disciple’s shoulder mutely, frozen, his mind blank.

  A hand grabbed his robe and jerked Pengfei around. Nanxi’s palm bit into his cheek. The sharp pain of the slap brought Pengfei out of his nervous trance.

  “Thanks, I guess.”

  Nanxi grinned, “My pleasure.”

  --Bastard is a little too sincere.--

  He rubbed his face to alleviate the stinging pain as Daoping smirked, “You’re an idiot.”

  Pengfei stepped closer, nose to nose with the other disciple.

  Daoping was not to be intimidated. He pressed his forehead into Pengfei’s forcefully. But it was a misunderstanding on Daoping’s part; Pengfei was not moving forward to show his bravado. He just wanted to be close to his opponent at the start of the match.

  “Begin!”

  Pengfei unleashed his onslaught at the first syllable from Chen Rulan. Daoping didn’t seem prepared for the flurry of blows he received, backpedaling immediately, but Pengfei did not allow him to break away.

  The attacks were simple but continuous. Straight punches to the body and face, kicks to the legs. Daoping absorbed them all, but did little more than that. When he opened his guard to attempt an offense, Pengfei attacked his face.

  The senior tripped over himself in an attempt to back away. Another unwritten rule, Pengfei had to wait for Daoping to stand before the bout could continue. It was just a moment. The disciple stood, clearly embarrassed and ready to change the flow of the fight. He threw a tentative punch but Pengfei was already coming in with another flurry of his own, bridging the distance.

  In their first encounter outside the dormitory, the two boys had gone back and forth. Exchange for exchange. But not today. Daoping still had better technique, he moved with finesse, each strike executed correctly. But Pengfei smothered him in a barrage of simple blows.

  They were tied up again. Daoping grabbed Pengfei’s robes and pulled him in close, trying to stem the tide but to no avail. When Daoping encircled his arms, Pengfei thrust his knees into his opponent’s belly. When Daoping backed his hips away, Pengfei wrestled his arms free.

  Others were beginning to take notice of the ferocity of the fight. Many of the nearby disciples stopped their own bouts to watch. Even Chen Rulan was observing from the side. But no rules had been broken and no one intervened.

  Daoping was showing more fatigue than pain. He had not thrown many strikes but the clinching and jostling for position had sapped his strength. He managed to disengage and back away now, acting as if he would drop to a knee.

  “Don’t let him go down! Hold him up!” Nanxi hissed from behind.

  Pengfei surged forward and bearhugged Daoping under the arms, squeezing the disciple’s spine straight. More knees to the belly until a coughing grunt was heard from Daoping.

  “Huggghhhh!”

  The opponent became deadweight and at that point Pengfei could no longer hold the boy up. He let Daoping fall to the ground and stumbled over him, barely staying upright himself.

  The round had not ended but no one nearby was fighting anymore. Everyone watched as Pengfei stood triumphantly over Daoping.

  “That’s enough sparring for today. Everyone, grab your swords.” Chen Rulan’s normally booming voice was quiet, not needing to compete with the clamor of clashing disciples.

  --Thank goodness…another few seconds and I would be puking my guts out.--

  Pengfei hunched over, hand on knees, and wheezed. The fatigue he had not felt during the bout now manifested all at once. He wasn’t sure he had even taken a breath during the fight but now his chest heaved at a furious pace.

  Hongyu helped his friend up, glaring at Pengfei all the while. Any insults the boy had were stemmed by the presence of Elder Rulan, but the animosity in the boy’s eyes was unmistakable.

  --I’d be screwed if I had to fight him now. Guess I’ll just have to get him next time.--

  Pengfei held his hands over his head to relieve a sudden stitch in his side and shuffled off to practice alone again.

  ******************************************************************************

  Nanxi, Tianwei, and Tianxun were the first to join Pengfei at his table during the evening meal but they were not the only ones. Other disciples from his dorm sat and congratulated him for standing up to Daoping. He could barely get his food down in between jolting claps on the back.

  It seemed that the prank with the vulture had been a step too far for many of the disciples and they collectively relished in the payback Pengfei had doled out.

  “That’s showing him!”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “About time!”

  “Just need to stick it to Hongyu now!”

  Other tables craned their necks to watch the boisterous huddle of disciples but they did not need to ask what was happening. The word quickly spread through the Jin generation.

  When the initial fervor died down, Nanxi offered his own mild praise.

  “Not bad. Just do the same thing again with Hongyu.”

  “Thanks. I couldn’t have done it without you three.”

  The twins grunted in acceptance but any other meaningful discussion was drowned out as the amassed disciples began retelling the events for the third time. Everyone loved imitating the sucking noise Daoping had made when that last strike had forced all the air from his lungs.

  The good cheer followed Pengfei out of the Dining Hall and back to the dormitory. He had originally planned to slip away and continue his recent routine of extra training but the wave of mirth carried him along with the others.

  As the well-wishers made their ways to bed, they gave him final words of encouragement and parting claps on the back. Mixed in with those, a hand gently rested on his shoulder. Words, at first lost in the laughter of the others, were repeated when the voices died away.

  “I challenge you, Jin Pengfei.”

  Hongyu had walked up behind him, mixed into the crowd of disciples. Pengfei turned and met the boy’s eyes.

  Nanxi spoke first. “Wait until the next sparring matches Hongyu.”

  “I don’t want to wait.”

  “You’ll get in trouble. Just –” Another disciple tried to reason with Hongyu but the boy waved away the words.

  Pengfei met his opponent’s resolve, “Fine. Let’s get it over with.”

  A ring of bodies formed around the pair. The other disciples whispered to each other, waiting for the fight to begin.

  Nanxi was the last to move out of their way. “Do you want another slap across the face?”

  “No, my head is clear.”

  “Alright. Give him a hard time.”

  Pengfei nodded and looked to his opponent for the start of the bout. Hongyu took a guard and gave a last taunt.

  “No elders to pull me off you. You’ll have to bow to me if you want it to stop.”

  Pengfei did not respond. He dug his feet into the floor in preparation for his first charge but Hongyu beat him to it. The older disciple lunged with his punch. Pengfei parried the blow and tried to close in but a push kick to the midsection kept him at bay.

  Their first conflict had not shown Hongyu’s true abilities. Pengfei had been able to take him off guard and felled him with a single punch to the stomach. But there was no element of surprise now and it was becoming clear that Hongyu’s skills exceeded Daoping’s by quite a bit. Every time Pengfei stepped in with a flurry of attacks, his opponent counterattacked or pivoted away.

  Hongyu began by using the ‘Heaven Shaking Fist’. The techniques were executed with greater proficiency than Pengfei could manage but at least they were recognizable. He was able to defend against many of them.

  The two of them seemed to be evenly matched for a short time. But as the pace of the fight increased, defense was all Pengfei could manage. There were no longer any gaps to attack or close in.

  And then the difference in their educations became apparent. When the ‘Heaven Shaking Fist’ was repelled by Pengfe, Hongyu switched to techniques that his junior had no answer for.

  What should have been a fist became a palm strike. Instead of coming from the left, it was the right. Blows targeted the muscles, joints, and acupressure points.

  --Is it the Swan Falling Palm? Or the Three Yin Hand?--

  Pengfei had never seen these martial arts before but remembered the names he had seen on manuals in the library. The names did not matter though. Without experience, Pengfei had no way to counter the attacks.

  The unfamiliar blows snaked their way around blocks and parries to strike unexpected targets.

  The scratches and bruises that Pengfei had accumulated during his training with Nanxi in the valley had only just healed but now new wounds began to appear on his face. A busted lip and–

  “My fucking nose!” Pengfei staggered back, clutching his face. Blood filled his hands and dripped between his fingers onto the ground.

  Hongyu sneered at him. “Are you ready to bow down and beg for mercy?”

  “Screw you!”

  Pengfei flung his blood at his opponent but it splattered harmlessly against the boy’s robes. Hongyu reached up and wiped a single drop off his cheek, flicked it to the floor, and made his way toward Pengfei again.

  He had tried what strikes he knew.

  He had tried closing in for a dog fight.

  The few tricks and tactics Pengfei had learned in his short martial arts education were now all spent. There was nothing else to do except take his beating.

  --But I never wanted to win… I just wanted to make him think twice before coming after me again.--

  How much would it take to plant a seed of hesitation into Hongyu’s mind? Was one good hit enough?

  --I can land one… I can do that much. But which one?--

  He had taken down Hongyu with a single punch to the stomach before… but a thousand of the same blow on a dozen different opponents since then had shown no effect. Without the element of surprise, Pengfei simply lacked the power.

  --But there’s that.--

  A target less protected by the thick muscles on the front of the midsection. Something painful enough to leave a lasting memory with just one punch.

  Hongyu was on him again, an arm’s reach away. Just outside the necessary range. Pengfei tried to sneak inside between his blows but for every step he took, Hongyu retreated a step. It didn’t matter if it was a subtle creep or a sudden lunge.

  --I need just half a pace.--

  Another blow to the nose sent him reeling backwards and fresh spurt of blood flowed. Hongyu didn’t let him back away though.

  An idea sparked as a fresh wave of blows pummeled him.

  --He’ll follow me backwards.--

  Pengfei took a step back in retreat and Hongyu stepped in. Just when his opponent planted his foot, Pengfei hopped half a step forward. He threw his strangely looping punch to the side of Hongyu’s torso, just below the sweep of the ribs. Digging in, driving through.

  The liver. The target Nanxi had struck three weeks ago that had caused Pengfei so much pain.

  “Hunfff!” Hongyu breathed out and tightened up his guard. His striking stopped but the senior disciple was still standing.

  --Fuck…It didn’t work…--

  Pengfei waited for his opponent to attack again but for some reason it did not come. He peeked out around his fists and saw something unfamiliar on Hongyu’s face.

  Pain.

  “Hit him again!” Nanxi’s voice pierced the fog. “Same spot! Fucking hit him!”

  --It’s working. I got you now, asshole!--

  Pengfei curled in and whipped his left hand out again. It found its mark. Hongyu’s knees gave out and he collapsed in on himself with a groan. But Pengfei grabbed Hongyu’s robes and drove the disciple to one of the nearby columns, pinning him there with one hand. With the other, Pengfei threw blow after blow.

  The hastily thrown punches skidded off Hongyu’s shoulders or thumped against his chest but did little damage. They were more an expression of Pengfei’s bottled-up anger. When the last of Pengfei’s stamina was spent and the strikes became pathetic slaps, Hongyu was able to wrench himself free of the boy’s grasp.

  The senior disciple was still doubled over, motionless, but stayed on his feet. With no further attacks coming from his opponent, and with no energy for his own, Pengfei considered the match over. He stumbled towards the ring of cheering disciples that formed the boundary for the impromptu match. But before he could push his way through them Hongyu called out from behind.

  “I didn’t go down, you little shit!”

  “Then I forfeit. You win.” Pengfei was happy to walk away with his one good hit. He had accomplished what he needed to.

  But Hongyu boiled over at the dismissal. He screamed and lurched forward, bringing his hand to his side. It extended in what looked to be a normal side-punch but even Pengfei could tell there was something different about it.

  Thundering Sky Strike ( lei tian ji - 雷天擊 )

  Pengfei stood there mute, too tired and shocked to react. The attack would surely connect and do some tremendous damage to its target.

  Just before the blow connected, another disciple lashed out. Someone in the crowd kicked Hongyu in the side and sent him sprawling to the floor at Pengfei’s feet. Apparently, many of the disciples were indignant at Hongyu’s underhanded tactics. Using internal energy, and in a surprise attack no less, was a taboo that even Pengfei knew better than to transgress.

  The crowd jeered at Hongyu as the boy climbed tiredly to his hands and knees.

  “You asshole.” Pengfei panted. He slapped his opponent tiredly across the face.

  And that was when the door of the dormitory burst open.

  “Enough!”

  The word was deafening. It did not just cut through the noise of the crowded disciples; it completely obliterated their screaming voices.

  Everyone in the hall turned to see Elder Chen Rulan standing in the entryway.