It took the entire night for Qiu’yue’s arm to fully heal. Due to the miscalculation on Meili’s part regarding the miraculous regeneration properties possessed by the other girl, no teaching of martial arts occurred, instead both girls retreated into individual cultivation. By the time morning arrived, Qiu’yue’s arm seemed more flawless than before, causing the girl to look at her arm in sheer wonder — even Meili was amazed as she pouted with glittering eyes.

“Maybe we should break your body more often,” the older girl remarked as she leaned forth and ran her finger down Qiu’yue’s shoulder to the girl’s wrist. Qiu’yue quickly backed away. “If you can become so much prettier by breaking your body and healing, why not become a part of the external school?”

Qiu’yue shook her head fiercely. “No! It really hurts, Big Sister Meili. I don’t want to be pretty if it hurts — I’d want to be ugly, as ugly as Senior Sha!”

Meili looked at the girl with raised brows and one cheek pushed out. She repeated the words of Cai, “Pain is suffering; suffering is strength. Brat, if you cannot stand pain, then how are you going to become strong? Why cultivate?”

“Because I have to.” Qiu’yue responded, a slight frown on her face. The little girl twirled the loose ends of her hair as her frown deepened out of confusion. “I want to see Mama and Papa again. I want to do a lot of things.”

“Then why are you cultivating? Why not leave? You won’t ever find your parents if you stay,” Meili responded with a biting tone.

“Big Sister Meili, why do you cultivate?” The girl asked and searched for any semblance of clarity in the older girl’s eyes. She found Meili’s beautiful black pearls to be guarded intensely from any taint, its secrets unresolved.

“To become strong, of course. In this world, all people must bow to those who have are strong enough to be called gods, who have become true governors of this world. Only then, can you be happy.” Meili replied, though her focus was not on the girl in front of her — rather, those black pearls of hers glanced past the girl, and off into the distance where her dreams lied. She stood up abruptly and pulled Qiu’yue up. “Aiyah, forget what we just talked about. We have to go carry rice and wine and medicine now. The inner sect disciples are paying another visit today too. Hurry up now, you rotten brat.”

The two girls walked away from the desolate clearing. From the usual poise of the older girl flowed a certain wave of cold loneliness as the wasteland behind sank into the horizon. Qiu’yue felt this loneliness and reached out to hold the older girl’s hand. Meili swatted Qiu’yue’s kindness away. Both girls glared at each other; Qiu’yue stuck her tongue out and looked away.

The Village of Lost Orphans went through their daily ritual of work. The same old tedious transport of the many necessities needed to nurture a sect as old as the Yue Yun Sect. Qiu’yue was much slower than before. Unlike the prior day, she was unable to exceed even 25% of qi output at once without feeling her ligaments begin to fray and her tendons snap. Still, to be able to carry a sack of rice while being only a little girl is more than impressive; however, whispers amongst the boys carried down by the wind placed heavier weights onto the little girl’s shoulders. Even Senior Brother Sha worried if she has become completely crippled. Jang-Guo turned his nose up and replied, “Isn’t the answer clear? The brat can’t even learn external martial arts. The girl basically have no strength, endurance, or any use!”

Meili flung away her brother’s hand. Immediately, the twin brother stumbled, carried forth by the unexpected momentum. He scrambled to support his left side with his right arm. However, the force immediately caused the pots attached to his left arm to crash into one another. Little by little, cracks formed on the bottom, like hatching eggs, and, in one great gush, everything spilled out. The sweet scent of rice wine filled the air and caused the many servants to crinkle up and to breathe in deeply. It did not take long for the sighs of content to twist into coughs of pain as the thick miasma of vinegar bore into their noses. The yoke of water which flew off the boy’s neck cascaded down on him — one of the bucket even landed on his head, covering his eyes. Blind, the boy managed to stumble his left foot into one bucket which had broken away from the old, fraying rope which fixed it to the yoke. Confused, the boy flailed his arms and tried to reassert his position but failed miserably and ended up as if someone had mistaken him for the waste barrel.

Cai laughed, “Jang-Guo, you look like shit! Are you accepting donations? Let me unload my garbage too.”

Meili held onto her basket with both hands. “Idiot ge-ge, I practice the internal school arts!” The girl fumed with anger as if storms resided inside her and marched away.

“Oi! How am I going to explain this to the outer sect disciples? Meili! Meili, come back here! Oi!” Jang-Guo shouted as he wiped the mess off his mess. He turned to Senior Brother Sha. “Can you believe her? How can she do that to her big brother who loves her very, very much. She’s going to get struck by the righteous lightning god one of these days, I swear to the Heavens that she will.”

“Quit your whining, boy,” one of the servants barked as he shouldered past Jang-Guo who blocked the way. “This is work. Not play-time.”

Jang-Guo blushed and lowered his eyes but still retorted. “Hmph! You’re so old and you’re just a servant. I am a cultivator, aren’t you afra —”

The boy gasped as his intestines were met with the force of a mountain. The old servant had uppercutted the boy, and Jang-Guo was in the air, as if impaled, skewered through. The old man slammed the young boy onto the old stone steps. After a delay, as if the stone themselves were shocked by the sudden impact, cracks erupted forth underneath from the boy.

Pain shot through the young boy’s body and he wondered for a short moment whether he would have preferred that his qi did not instinctively reinforce his body, so that he could rush straight to the afterlife and be relieved of the terrible burning agony.

The old servant pulled his fist back and cracked his neck. “Boy, I would say you haven’t even started weaning from your mother’s tits — but wait, you don’t even have one.”

Cai stopped Senior Sha from rushing forth. Cai mouthed the words, “Consolidation, first stage.” Senior Sha smartly stopped. Cai stepped forward.

The servants all rushed to form a crowd around the fight, leaving Qiu’yue alone as she lugged the sack up the stone steps. Sweat poured forth from her. Her muscles screamed. The beating of her heart sounded like lightning wrecking through her brain. Yet, the girl inexplicably smiled and felt strong. Since young, she had been sheltered, and the electricity of adrenaline felt mesmeric to the girl.

Meili who saw the commotion as she came down the steps to apologize broke into a sprint when she spotted her brother being pummeled. As Cai stepped forward, Meili pulled him back. Cai nodded with a smirk. He briefly bowed to the Heavens and muttered a Buddhist chant; Senior Brother Sha mimicked him, though his smirk made him look grotesque and evil, rather than handsome and playful.

“Oi! Did you do this?” Meili shouted as she barged her way to the front. The other servants glanced down at her. Some began to laugh. Others started a moderate sized betting rig. Most simply thought the girl was beautiful, but it was a pity that she was as addled in the brain as the boy who laid crushed.

The servant turned to the girl. “So what if I am? Do you think I give a flying damn?”

“I apologize for my older brother’s behavior.” She knelt and bowed down to the man. The old servant became flabbergasted. He scratched his stubble confused and squinted his eyes at the girl.

“What tricks you pulling?”

“My brother is an idiot. I am sure that this was not your fault. But did you do this?” The girl asked again as she glanced up from her apology.

By this time, Qiu’yue had arrived at the point of interest. She left the sack of rice and squeezed her way to the front.

The old servant nodded. “I spanked him good.”

Cai stepped forward as well. “You carry yourself differently and is at the first stage of consolidation, may junior have senior’s name?”

He laughed and responded, “Name’s Tian Rukun. Worked as a bodyguard for the elites.” He pointed to his abdomen. “Blocked a deathblow a few years back — decimated my cultivation base. And my boss threw me out. So it’s understandable if I get a bit murderous if some brat insults my age and status.”

“So it’s also understandable if I challenge you to a duel then?” Meili got up and looked Tian Rukun in the eye as she said this.

Several of the observers muttered how the girl was doing so well.

Tian Rukun silenced the chatter with a single look, cold as needles. “I may not be as strong as I used to be, but I am strong. And I will not hold back.”

“My parents taught me to uphold one’s personal pride. It was all they ever talked about.” Meili smiled and cracked her joints. “This isn’t a fight about my brother’s honor; it’s all about me — my pride. Only I can bully my older brother!”

The old servant laughed until tears came out of his eyes. He pointed at the pouting girl. “You, you are quite bold, are you not?” The girl met his words with an upturn face. “Fine. Let us duel.”

A circle was soon formed. Those who were not at the front could not see and so was delegated the task to carry the remaining necessities up the stone stairs. Senior Sha dragged the unconscious

Jang-Guo over toward Qiu’yue. Cai similarly went over.

“Is Big Sister Meili going to be ok?” Qiu’yue asked, her eyes stuck on the scene before her. The two fighters stood at the far ends from each other. Tian Rukun had taken off his shirt to reveal bulging muscles and a rippling back much like a tiger’s, and his chest was adorned with scars. The old servant clasped his fists together and bowed. Meili returned it and adopted her battle stance.

“I thought you hated Big Sister Meili?” Cai teased.

“Big Sister Meili hates me. There’s a difference.” Qiu’yue replied with a pout.

“Do you know what the biggest advantage of the inner school is?” Senior Sha asked with a smile.

The two fighters started to pace around the circle. “It’s the ability to defeat a person with a much higher cultivation. Of course, external school users can do that too — if they are a genius that is.” Senior Sha glanced at Cai. “Otherwise, how can a small kitten beat a grown tiger? It would be like trying to crush a mountain with a pebble; but a river can easily carve that mountain into two halves.”

Tian Rukun exhibited a very wide stance: his legs were very far apart and his body was kept low to the ground, and when he moved it was with the hidden prowess of a leopard — swaying his body back and forth, making him as unpredictable as a typhoon. His right arm was held out in front like a bulwark ; both hands were coiled into fierce talons. A heavy atmosphere hung over him as he discharged all his qi at once.

On the other side, Meili moved softly and slowly in odd circular motions. With every step, her arms would coil around each other, as if they were the arms on a loom. In this case, the loom weaved qi, rather than thread, into bigger and thicker strands. These strands coiled around her open palms like pugilist bandages.

“An inner school user, eh? And counter too.” Tian Rukun whistled in surprise. “I guess I can’t exactly end this in one strike.”

“Then can I?” Meili asked with a smirk. Tian Rukun also smirked.

He pounced forward. Such force was exuded that debris scattered into the air and pummeled down on the nearby spectators. With a swift deft movement his left claw hidden behind his bulwark shot out like a hawk. Colliding with Meili’s two coiling palms, the girl followed through with the momentum, stealing some of the force for her own while deflecting much of the strike’s initial impact as the strike grazed off her palms. She stepped in forward, closing the range. In that split second, her left palm coiled around Tian Rukun’s exposed arm and slithered up.

Tian Rukun also rushed forward, but with the momentum carrying the force of a tsunami, and slammed his bulwark toward Meili’s face.

The girl flung her head backwards, her back sinking down. She spun her head and slipped under the bulwark into Tian Rukun’s space. Rukun quickly brought his bulwark back to position to slam down on the girl’s head. However, she retracted her left arm from Rukun. She pushed off from Rukun’s chest with her right palm and launched away like a geyser. She spun as she retreated, ensuring the momentum gained and qi wrapped around her body would not dissipate. Constantly, the arms coiled around and around; the qi became thicker and thicker around her palms.

Tian Rukun did not halt his assault. He flung himself at the girl with his bulwark raised and descended upon her like a meteor.

“In a battle against an internal school user, the priority is to disrupt the opponent’s momentum.” Cai commented. His still-girlish voice carried over the crowd like a bird song. “Right now, the girl is generating qi and momentum in preparation for a one shot kill. Each time Tian Rukun Senior attacks, the girl blocks. From the deflections, some of the energy would obviously transfer to the girl’s own palms. And she seeks that golden second — that single moment where Rukun Senior is unguarded due to overcommitment to an attack — where she can counter with all the qi she has wrapped around her palms — shattering bones, bursting veins and meridians, and breaking one’s very conviction.”

“Then what happens if our Old Tiger Ru messes the girl up?” One of the servants huddled in the illicit gambling rig asked.

“All the momentum she had gathered would of course stop. Consider a pinwheel, the more wind it gets, the faster it can spin by itself. But if an opposite wind blows and it cannot adjust, it would stop or even become crippled.”

Hearing this, the shameless gamblers immediately began making various remarks about the girl’s body. It did not take long for Cai to put an end to that non-sense.

“What if someone is so strong that deflecting the strikes would still hurt?”

Cai looked at Qiu’yue. “Idiot girl, if you pick a fight with someone like that, then you deserve to die! Would a mouse pick a fight with a dragon? No, he would not.”

Tian Rukun continued to chase after the girl. With every strike deflected, the qi wrapped around the girl’s palms had become so thick that when the girl rotated her arms, her palms sliced through the air and emitted the crisp sound of a sword unsheathed. On Rukun’s bare upper body, there were red palm imprints everywhere. If struck enough, even water can wear away a mountain thin.

The deciding moment of the duel came rather unexpected. Tian Rukun slammed his bulwark and thrusted his left claw toward Meili. The girl deflected the strikes. However, rather than retreating, Rukun threw caution to the wind and continued his barrage. With such swift strikes, Meili found no opportunity to counter even if Tian Rukun’s qi reinforcement ceased for a second or even two seconds.

Meili frowned. She did not understand why the former expert would unleash such a vain barrage. With every deflection, her palms became quicker and fiercer. Caught in that cycle of exchanges, Meili failed to realize the tiger’s hidden tail.

With a mighty roar from Tian Rukun, Meili was momentarily stunned — though she never ceased rotations of her arms and deflection of the barrage. The old tiger swiftly pulled back his own strikes. The girl, caught in the cycle of deflection and barrage, failed to realize the change in circumstances. She had struck out, expecting a stronger force to push her back. The momentum pulled her forward and though she desperately tried to strike Tian Rukun with her palm, the old tiger merely side-stepped and leapt backwards.

All the force gathered during the bout bursted forth into empty air. The air ruptured. Bang! Bang! Bang! The palm which strike empty air imprinted a palm image in a tree off in the distance. The force of the blow shaved the top of some of the onlookers’ head.

Meili cursed but followed through with her strike, stepping in and twisting her entire body with the strike — so as to reduce the own strain on her body — and then pulling her palm back.

Tian Rukun smirked and pounded his chest. He rushed forward. And he poked Meili in the forehead. “You lose!”

“Match End!” Cai announced. “Tian Rukun is the winner.”

Tian Rukun laughed at the sight of Meili pouting. “You are still lacking in actual battle experience, little girl.” Then his voice turned grim as he inspected the imprint on the tree far away. “Though, in the future, I expect you would become a rather feared and respected woman.”

The girl turned around with clenched fists. She stomped away to where the rest of the orphans were gathered. She pulled them all away from the crowd. She turned back one last time. “If you could’ve beaten me so quick, then do so! Don’t make me look like a fool!”

Tian Rukun frowned. “You think I was actually going easy? Girl, look at your palms.”

It was then that Meili noticed how torn up her palm was.

“I was hitting you with the full force of the first stage of the consolidation stage. Your palms were deflecting strikes with the force of a hundred men. That was the only technique I had at my disposal. If you had noticed, my entire jaw would have been shattered from your strike.”

Hearing that, Meili turned away and began to walk. As soon as the Village of Lost Orphans entered the forest, Meili broke into a toothy grin, her front teeth prominent like a rabbit’s, and she hummed a uplifting song.

The trio from the revered inner sect were waiting underneath the Tree of Ten-Thousand Fire Blossoms, identical to yesterday. The two inner disciples both wore frowns, particularly Gui Fa whose eyes were as sullen as a desert — her white makeup was sloppily placed on, as several places featured her natural golden skin tone.

Qiu’yue refrained from participation. Her eyes glowed as she anticipated seeing the rest of her peers’ abilities who were all part of the external school.

First up was Senior Brother Sha. If Yun Leader Meng was repulsed when Senior Sha came up to greet her, she did not show it.

“Ten years old and already at the 7th stage of cultivation. Very nice. Even if you do not pass Qiu’yue’s trials, you can still enter the outer sect before you become 12.”

Senior Sha nodded but grimaced at the red fairy’s last words. No one but Cai noticed, as Sha’s ugly face made his grimaces indistinguishable from his regular expression.

“Gu-gu, ah, gu-gu, this Da Gui doesn’t feel well. You go fight. Go redeem yourself from yesterday’s display.”

Gui Fa frowned but stepped forward. Instead of using the umbrella from yesterday, this time the girl pulled out a pipa [Chinese banjo].

Immediately, Senior Brother Sha burrowed into the earth. The inner disciple did not care much for that novel trick. She strung the pipa with her qi imbued in her pick.

The sounds emitted became tangible, visible waves distorting the fabric of the air which slammed against the earth all around her like a blade made out of wind. Senior Brother Sha’s hands shot up from the earth like gnarled roots and wrapped them around the inner disciple’s ankles.

The young woman merely pointed her pipa at the hands and strung. The blades of sound sliced at the boy’s wrist and he had to retreat back under the earth.

Underneath the earth, Senior Sha muttered to himself, “I wish I had a knife.”

Meanwhile, the inner disciple continued to play her pipa. She also began to wail out a sad song imbued with qi. The song tore at the spectator’s eardrums and it did not take long for everyone to jab their thumbs into their ears. The song traveled all the way into the earth.

“Stop! Stop! I give up,” Senior Sha shouted as blood leaked from his ears and eyes.

“I see, a burrowing art. Rather tailored for assassinations — or burglary,” Yun Leader Meng said with a gleam in her eyes. “Ugly Dwarf, your special task would be to steal a rare fan from a rival sect of ours. The fan originally belonged to me. Of course, you are not yet at the level — nor has Qiu’yue passed her own trial. So do not worry for now.”

Next up were the twins.

“We’re a package,” Jang-Guo said and poked his finger into his sister’s cheek.

“Hmm, the girl is on the 8th stage and the boy is teetering on the 9th stage. It would be unfair to send only one.”

As such, it was decided both inner disciples would go out at the same time.

“Ge, you take care of the ghost lady; I’ll stall the swordsman.”

The twins broke into two streaks of blue. Jang-Guo charged at Gui Fa, scooping up dirt as he approached. When his arms emerged from the earth, a great claw gauntlet made of dirt encased his arms. The gauntlets extended his reach by at least a meter. Caught by surprise, Gui Fa hastily blocked with her pipa. The gauntlets struck the pipa’s strings and quickly broke them.

“How dare you do that to my pipa!” The woman roared, her shrill cries imbued with qi ripped apart the casing around Jang-Guo’s arms to rip.

Jang-Guo paid no mind. As far as he could see, the inner sect disciple was now unguarded — easy prey.

On the other half of the ring, Meili deflected Da Gui’s sword strikes with her bare palms which had been trained to withstand sword strikes to an extent. Da Gui’s sword strikes were lustrous like starlight and gleamed and shined with such magnificence that it blinded.

Meili despite being able to deflect all the strikes with perfection, she was unable to close in on her target. As she deflected each strike, Da Gui would use the momentum from the same clash to hop away.

Back to Jang-Guo, the situation had reversed. Jang-Guo who had launched an assault on Gui Fa in his feral fighting style was now on the defense. He erected great walls of earth with every swing of his gauntlets, only for them to be torn apart by Gui Fa’s shrill screams.

However, that was not the only reason why Jang-Guo was on the defense. Gui Fa who had started crying, imbued qi into her tears and manipulated that thin strand of connection between herself and the tears to create many water pellets which she hurled at Jang-Guo as she bawled her eyes out. These water pellets weighed as heavy as decent-sized rocks. Slamming against the earth walls, numerous dents were created.

“Meili, regroup!” Jang-Guo shouted as he soon became unable to bear the madness, facing Gui Fa alone. Meili nodded as she was having difficulty slipping into Da Gui’s sphere.

Spinning away from Da Gui in flips, Meili found her back against her brother’s. Meili flung her left hand out toward Da Gui in the hope of getting lucky. Da Gui plunged his sword down and sliced the palm strike. She kept the other hand rotating as she looped her fingers around her brother’s.

Something miraculous occurred. As Meili rotated her arms, she also moved her arms up and down her side. Afterimages formed, and soon 4 arms were gathered on her right side.

Jang-Guo’s left arm bulged with tyrannical strength. He plunged his arm through the earth once more and formed a gauntlet in the appearance of a western dragon’s arm: this huge bulking arm with thick, sharp talons. Furthermore, a sandstorm made residence around this gauntlet of his, and each sand particle sliced out like a hornet.

The pair charged at Gui Fa first (mostly because they found her singing to be atrocious and annoying). Before either of them could land a single strike on her, Da Gui had dashed in front of their assault and blocked both the twins’ attack.

His sword rappelled off each of Meili’s palms, parrying each with extreme precision, before unleashing a series of thrusts against Jang-Guo’s monstrous arm. The thrusts wore away the dragon arm and at the final strike, completely broke the gauntlet and exposed the dragon for what it actually was: dirt.

Seeing the boy’s unprotected arm, Da Gui swung his blade. What he did not expect was for the bald boy to smile.

Jang-Guo flung his own sister in front of him. Meili used the momentum of the swing and struck out her arm to meet the sword like the blade of a windmill against the wind.

The unexpected obstruction made it impossible for Da Gui to retract his blade. Meili connected with the blade and forced it to swing down with all her force. The blade struck the earth. Meili gave it one final successive palm strike and the blade shattered.

Da Gui pulled by the momentum inevitably connected with Jang-Guo’s reformed dragon gauntlet.

And he disappeared. Vanished as soon as the strike connected. The twins looked at each other and both cursed.

Gui Fa who was hidden by Da Gui’s body during that exchange stopped crying and smiled. She laughed hideously. In her hand was a mirror, and entrapped in it was her own qi.

The inner disciple flicked her wrist and the mirror shot that qi out in a single ray of light. It struck Jang-Guo in the face and blinded him before tearing into his face, burning him. Then Gui Fa unleashed a hail of water pellet and sound waves onto his body.

Meilie did not have the luxury to worry about her brother. Da Gui grabbed Meili’s throat and squeezed.

“Enough.” The red fairy announced. Instantly, Gui Fa stopped and retreated into herself. Da Gui tossed Meili onto the ground. Then the red fairy gave both the twins restoration pills. “Fascinating. Both of you would definitely fit in the Yun Division! Since you two are a package, I will give you just one task: enter a fighting tournament and gain first and second place. Don’t worry, there is a tournament hosted by the rival sect I mentioned before at the end of one year. You two can serve as distraction for...uh...that Ugly Dwarf over there.”

Fortunately, Senior Brother Sha’s ears still hadn’t fully recovered and he did not hear Yun Leader Meng’s mean nickname for him.

Cai stepped forward next.

The red fairy gasped and flapped open her fan. “Boy, what is your name?”

“Cai.”

“You are only 7 years old.” The boy nodded. “And you are already half step into the tenth stage.”

The inner disciples glanced at the boy who merely smirked in response.

“What a pity that you want to join the Yue Division above all else.” Yun Leader Meng sighed into her fan. “Well, pick out of those two. And please, lose spectacularly so I could feel better about losing such a talent.”

Cai pointed at Da Gui. It was finished in an instant. The boy dashed forward, and weaved himself splendidly through the array of sword thrusts, before leaping up and grabbing the young man’s head and then slamming it onto his knee. Cai followed up with a pound down onto the young man’s head with his fists gathered into one great boulder. And to finish it off with style, the boy jumped and did a spinning kick onto Da Gui’s neck like an ax.

The red fairy slammed her fan closed and pouted. “So why aren’t you in the outer sect? Clearly, you are Chosen by the Heavens: incredible latent talent, superb battle sense, and that dash of yours, it is not so simple — am I right?”

Cai cracked his joints. “I made a promise to enter the outer sect with everyone. Real men keep promises. And the dash is a secret~”

“Hmph, one of these days, you will tear a ligament doing that dash, and when you are at my division’s medicinal halls, I will force the secret out from you.”

“So what’s my task?”

“Mm, Little Sister Mo is currently stuck in her cultivation. If you can find a Bleeding Tendril Heart Flower, that could help her breakthrough.”

“Let me guess, there’s probably an auction at the rival sect for the flower.”

“Wrong!” The red fairy laughed. “It actually grows somewhere in the mountains north of here. It’s quite rare to find. So good luck. Remember, my Yun Division will always welcome you~”

With those words, the red fairy left, followed closely by Gui Fa who lugged Da Gui’s unconscious body.

Cai and the boys went into meditation, excited at the prospect of jumping directly into the inner sect at the end of one year.

Meili had Qiu’yue follow her back to the desolate clearing once more to formally teach her the basics of fighting.

Author's Note: Well, late upload again. (Ambiguous usage of late, kinda.) I had some personal stuff to do today so I didn't finish as early as I had hoped. It's longer than usual so there's that (but 5000ish words is really just an average chapter by standards...)