Bai Feng gave a practice swing with the training axe and its blunted edge that she held now in her left hand and found it much easier to swing around, much like how the shield she held in her right hand didn't tire her arm nearly as much as it had yesterday. She smiled, she definitely could get used to this.

"An axe?" came the voice of Li Zhelan, prompting Bai Feng to look up towards her. She stood a good few paces away with a slender training sword held with one of her hands in a resting position pointed towards the ground.

One of Bai Feng's eyebrows rose as she gave the girl opposing her a questioning look. "What about it?"

Li Zhelan shook her head. "Nothing, I was merely a bit surprised. Most cultivators consider the axe a crude weapon at best, only of use to laborers and barbarians even though it is far from a weapon to be looked down upon, especially in the right hands. Though I do feel I have to ask this as you have stated your inexperience with fighting with weapons before but are you indeed left-handed?"

Bai Feng nodded. "That I am. There somethin' wrong with how I'm holdin' it?"

Li Zhelan gave another shake of her head. "Since you are left-handed no. It is merely a slight difference from what I'm used to. Nothing more, nothing less."

Bai Feng gave her a shrug before taking a deep breath as her expression smoothed out towards something more neutral as a mixture of nerves and anticipation began to hit her. "So, how do ya want to do this? Do we jus' go at it until one of us gets sent to the ground or what?"

Li Zhelan hummed for a moment before answering. "I do think that would be a good indicator of a victor for our spar. That and until either one of us yields or one of us is clearly unable to continue with the spar for one reason or another. This is after all training at the end of the day, it would not do for either of us to truly hurt one another."

Bai Feng rolled her shoulders and idly noted the fly buzzing around them, one of the very few she had seen in the sect. "That's certainly fine by me. Ya ready to go then?"

Li Zhelan with a swift-flowing movement full of grace had her blade raised beside her head and pointed towards Bai Feng as she took a stance, her eyes focused intently on her. "I am indeed. May this spar be a good one."

Bai Feng slowly raised her shield just a bit below her eyes, obscuring her opponent for just a moment before letting her axe hand fall ready at her side. She focused upon her opponent and let herself tune out the rest of the world as she slowly began to circle around her. While she didn't know for certain just what Li Zhelan was capable of, she could probably assume she was stronger and definitely far more trained. The last thing she wanted to do was rush in against her. In a way she was a bit like some of her opponents she had fought in brawls back in the city, only this time they both hand weapons and she clearly knew better than her how to handle hers.

Li Zhelan merely watched Bai Feng as she circled around her, content to match her circling and keep the distance between them the same few paces they had been separated by at the beginning.

After a few more moments of that Bai Feng took a step forward before taking a simple probing strike against her opponent, swinging her axe towards her. She kept her shield raised as she did so, not willing to commit herself fully to the attack and leave herself open to a retaliation blow.

In an instant, Li Zhelan burst into motion, nearly as quick as Zou Yawen's attack had been in the trial, though this time Bai Feng could at least keep track of her movement. She dodged with the swing of the axe until she was facing Bai Feng's side before bringing her sword back and thrusting it forwards towards Bai Feng's head with a single fluid motion.

Bai Feng grimaced as she barely managed to get her shield up in time to intercept the blow and force it back, retreating back a few steps as she did so. She readied her axe to swing again if the girl pushed forwards though it was unneeded. Li Zhelan seemed to have also opted to fall back a bit after her thrust had been blocked.

Li Zhelan returned back to her initial stance as she stared at Bai Feng before a small grin appeared on her face. "A decent defense. Now do it again." She quickly closed the distance between them again, keeping to the side Bai Feng's shield was raised up at in her approach before slashing downwards at her head.

Bai Feng once again raised her shield up to block the blow earlier than before this time, readying herself to swing her axe at her opponent the moment the blade clashed against her shield, hoping to catch her out while her blade was still held up. The blow never did land against her shield though, and all she heard from behind her shield which was currently obstructing her vision was the whoosh of the wind before a blow landed somewhat lightly on the back of her leg.

Bai Feng was thankful they were using blunted practice weapons as she fell forwards, though managing to steady herself just enough to turn it into a stumble instead. She spun around towards where Li Zhelan now stood a few paces away, her eyes were wide as she stared at her opponent. How had she gotten behind her so quickly?

Li Zhelan now had her blade pointed forwards with its hilt by her stomach. "Take care to not raise your shield too early and that close to your head. Blocking sight of your opponent like that can easily spell the end for you in a fight."

Bai Feng snorted a bit at the girl's words but made sure to remember them for the future. She was a bit annoyed at just how she was telling her this while they were sparring but she was not about to let her pride get in the way of good advice. Especially with how serious of a mistake it could've been in a real fight. Readying herself once more, Bai Feng began to push forwards towards her opponent, a plan forming in her head. Li Zhelan was far faster than her it seemed, she was going to have to catch her out with something she wasn't expecting if she wanted to actually knock her down.

Bai Feng swung her axe at Li Zhelan, making sure to make it a very wide swing, one that she'd see coming far before it even came close to landing. Li Zhelan easily dodged it, moving in the same direction as her swing once again while preparing a strike of her own. Bai Feng though had been ready for that and the moment her opponent had moved began to charge forwards with her shield to bash them with it. It might be a tool she had mostly heard used in stories to block and protect whoever wielded it but why not hit someone with it. After all, it'd be a waste to just focus purely on defense with it.

It worked perfectly, Li Zhelan did realize what it was Bai Feng was doing part way but she wasn't able to adjust in time to prevent Bai Feng's shield from crashing into her. It sent her stumbling back and knocked her blade right out of its position where it was about to stirke from. Bai Feng pounced on the opportunity like a tiger as she swung her axe towards the girl in an attempt to bring her down.

Li Zhelan however recovered far quicker than Bai Feng had expected and just barely managed to raise her own blade and parry her axe away before slamming the hilt of her blade into Bai Feng's shield with far more force than the slender sword had any right to strike with. Bai Feng was forced back by the sheer strength of the blow itself before Li Zhelan followed it up with a relentless assault from her blade now that she had taken back the initiative.

Bai Feng managed to hold off the assault despite how each blow that landed on her shield threatened to break her guard, making sure to keep her shield out and extended from her when they took the blows. She tried a few times to get in a few swings of her own in but the superior reach of Li Zhelan's blade combined with her speed and agility made that an impossibility unless she was willing to get hit for it. Something that she was sure she couldn't take without being knocked down herself if she didn't block it in some way. Her arm holding the shield was screaming in pain by the end of it despite the shield being what actually took the blows. Just how strong was her opponent?

Li Zhelan fell back for a moment as her blade settled into a new stance that was much more aggressive than her previous ones. "That was a very good attempt at bringing me down and a solid defense by you from my own assault. Let us push it further now!" Her grin widened just a bit as the wind strangely began to pick up around Bai Feng. Following that she burst into motion once more thrusting her blade towards Bai Feng as a powerful wind from above threw Bai Feng off balance.

With a grunt, Bai Feng managed to throw her shield in the way of the blade just in time, though combined with the sudden winds from above it sent her shield arm reeling backward. In a desperate attempt to keep Li Zhelan's next strike which was almost certainly coming from taking advantage of her now open guard she swung her axe with as much force she could muster at her.

Li Zhelan blurred for just a moment and before Bai Feng could even realize it her axe clashed against Li Zhelan's blade and after a strong gust of wind was ripped from her grip being launched up and into the air. The next moment before she could even recover, Li Zhelan had moved the blade and lightly hit her shoulder with its blunted edge, and left it there.

Bai Feng looked over to where the blade could have so easily cut through her shoulder had it actually been sharp and took a deep breath before looking back towards Li Zhelan as she slowly brought her aching shield arm back to her side. A part of her was disappointed that she hadn't even managed to do more than hit the girl with her shield but in a way she had expected it the moment she had shown herself to be far faster than she could hope to match. "Damn, ya got me. I couldn't even react to whatever it was ya did there at the end."

Li Zhelan pulled back her and let it rest at her side as she grinned at Bai Feng. "That was certainly a good bit of sparring and I do believe I have a good measure of you now." Bai Feng's axe chose that moment to hit the ground, landing in the grass by the patch of dirt they had been sparring on and Li Zhelan slowly looked over to it. "Though I do suppose I might have let myself become a bit overeager when you proved yourself to have such a stubborn defense."

Bai Feng gave her a look. "Jus' a bit? I'm not even sure what that wind thing ya did was."

"Maybe more than a bit overeager I suppose. That was one of my cultivation arts that caused the wind there to disrupt your movements, one I had not actually planned on using when we first began." Li Zhelan conceded as she looked back towards Bai Feng. "Still though, that was an impressive display for not having practiced long. At least what you did with the shield was, your strikes with your axe were about what I expected from you when we began."

Bai Feng smiled a bit at the knowledge she had done well enough to surprise her before frowning a bit at that last part. "I jus' swung the axe when I had the chance, I'm not entirely sure there's more to it than that."

Li Zhelan shook her head. "There is far more to utilizing an axe in combat than just that. I cannot claim to be nearly as experienced with an axe as compared to my own expertise with swords, but I do at least know the basics." She hummed for a moment heading over and grabbing the axe before offering it back towards Bai Feng. "Well if you are willing do you wish to go for another round? I did quite enjoy that round of sparring and it would not be much trouble to show you some of the basics I know about utilizing axes. That and the more general basics about fighting as well."

Bai Feng looked at Li Zhelan with more than a bit of surprise before smiling. Li Zhelan seemed so different from how she had in the morning since they had begun sparring. While it had been a bit of an awkward first meeting the girl did seem like the decent sort and she did want to actually have more than one friendly face to talk to in the sect. She took the offered axe. "I think I'd be down for that. Though can I at least get a minute or two before we go again? My right arm needs a rest after holding ya off."

Li Zhelan's grin widened as she nodded.