Jang-Guo smashed into another boulder. He clung to the rock, but the currents crashed into the boy with great unbearable force. As if a fierce tiger, the river knocked about the boy stupidly. The waves drenched the rock and made it slippery. It took no time at all before Jang-Guo became unable to retain his grip on the rock.

The boy slipped away from the boulder and the rapids rushed him toward the wall covered with protruding spikes of ice. Cursing, he gathered qi in his left arm and smashed the spiked wall to pieces. It was not enough. Jang-Guo howled with pain as the pieces stabbed into his arm. He plucked the rather large pieces from his arm.

Qiu’yue watched with nervousness at the end platform of the Third Trial, given a proper name: the Primordial Drifting Chaos, Wuji. The girl pulled her head and moved to the swirling portal which surely led to the Fourth Trial. The portal took the form of the yin-and-yang union. With a difficult look, Qiu’yue poked her head over the stone ledge high above the Third Trial once more.

“Tang-ge,” she whispered and bit at her lips. The girl had passed the trial long ago. The concept of Wuji did not come naturally to people, though Wuji, the state of nothingness, was an integral part of the inner school martial arts.

Jang-Guo had been at the Trial for one double-incense worth of time. He was battered and bruised. Besides the many cuts and holes all over his body, under his left eye ran a gash. The young cultivator was simply unable to comprehend the mystical and obtuse concept of Wuji as manifested in the Third Trial.

The Third Trial took the form of a great whirlpool of currents. The currents, impossible in nature, was kept alive by the profound qi left by Sun Devouring Moon. The currents ran counterclockwise, clockwise, intersecting, and any other way. The point of the Trial lied in its chaos. From the start, the Trial was in session. Torn into the mass of chaos, the cultivator would be bashed into rocks, spikes, and other such hazards until he either died or internalize the concept of Wuji. Then, the cultivator would be able to reach the end of the Trial and climb up to shore and enter the portal to the Fourth Trial.

Qiu’yue finished within the first half-incense of time. She drifted along with the currents and ricocheted with little harm. Carried by the natural chaotic currents, the Trial deposited the girl at the end goal.

Jang-Guo on the other hand was unable to replicate the same process. His training and innate battle instinct dictated him to smash through all obstacles. It simply seemed utterly ridiculous to meet a boulder or a spike with a gentle force — surely that would cause one’s own death!

Of course, Jang-Guo respected and admired the famous inner school martial artists who focus on the softness and gentleness of the art: Xiaolongnu [Cultural reference to Return of the Condor Heroes :p], his own sister, and Liu Da-Ge, of course. However, admiration and respect does not translate to belief and trust. Jang-Guo pursued the most extreme path of the external school: raw power, explosive momentum, and tyrannical pressure. The boy simply held no personal belief or understanding in regards to the inner school’s concept of Wuji.

Another incense of time passed. Qiu’yue gave her words of advice, but she was unable to Enlighten her honorary big brother. Partially because she did not know the right words, the best words, to communicate the concept due to her youth, but also for the reason that Jang-Guo did not have the leisure to grasp a lecture on a high-level concept while being assaulted by a barrage of obstacles. All Jang-Guo understood was to do nothing in order to progress, to surrender oneself to the force, and other inner school basic mantras -- which made absolutely no sense to him! With little progress made, the girl retreated to cultivation. Her meditation was marred with anxiety and she made little progress as well.

A loud scream broke her concentration. She rushed over to glance over the edge. Terror gripped her face as she covered her mouth.

A great ice spike impaled Jang-Guo’s leg, puncturing through his thigh. The boy bravely gritted his teeth. However, the symptoms of qi exhaustion showed on his body. Jang-Guo was pale; he shook and trembled all over, and his breathing was rugged.

Qiu’yue pounded at the barrier preventing her from diving to save Jang-Guo. The words of Sun Devouring Moon resounded in her mind: “None shall interfere in the Trials!” As she pounded the barrier, the bulwark constructed of solidified words — all meaning GATE — the girl’s right hand became battered like the holding cushion for pins and needles. The girl slammed against the barrier with her left arm too. She held in her screams. Still, the barrier merely trembled, the words cascading like a curtain of water, before it continued to stand tall and stable.

With no choice left, the girl watched with fear. Jang-Guo lost all strength and succumbed to his exhaustion. The currents carried the unconscious boy, his body nearly submerged and a gaping hole in his thigh. With no ability to fight against the currents, the boy surrendered himself to fate by default. By this absurd turn of circumstances, the boy fulfilled the most basic step to understanding Wuji. As such, after a quarter incense of time, the currents carried him to the end of the Third Trial.

Qiu’yue rushed down to greet her honorary big brother. She pulled the boy onto shore. The girl placed her delicate head on Jang-Guo’s chest.

Qiu’yue bit her lips. She held her breath. Concentrating to her utmost ability, she tuned out the crashing of the water. One second. Two second. Three.

Ba-bump. The girl’s heart clenched and stuttered in relief. Then she gasped and furrowed her brows. The heartbeat was faint, extremely so.

The girl tore off the cloth around her left arm revealing the lingering patches of dead flesh. She wrapped it tightly around Jang-Guo’s wound after cleaning it with water.

The boy did not even groan in pain. He was simply in too great of suffering that he could not respond. Surely, he was shuffling his feet along in the line for reincarnation.

Placing her hands on Jang-Guo’s chest, the girl channeled her qi through the boy’s body. She forced everything through, causing small rips to flower across her body and drip blood. Her qi flowed through Jang-Guo’s body, searching desperately and madly for the older boy’s dantian and life essence.

Finding it, the spine of the girl jolted upright and her hair flowed upward. Qiu’yue’s eyes snapped opened to show two wide golden orbs — great suns with a black abyss running across the middle.

The girl howled as veins and meridians popped on her entire body. Great gray wisps flooded from her eyes, nose, and mouth.

Jang-Guo also howled. That was a good sign: he still lived. Only those alive still scream and react to pain. Yet, a peculiar mysterious scene occurred. The boy became like a sponge! His being would bloat up before withering away to become like a corpse. It was as if his very soul was being dragged back from death's grip!

The boy struggled to be set free. Qiu’yue remained with her frightening appearance as her hair wound themselves into nine braids which flowed heavy across her back. The nails on her hands elongated and sharpened into claws.

With one strong jolt, as Jang-Guo felt an absolute kiss with death itself, the connection broke. Jang-Guo’s eyes flashed opened. Beads of sweat lined his face. He breathed heavy.

Qiu’yue was out cold. Her eyes were closed now, though the nine-tail braid and claws remained.

Jang-Guo tore open his robe and inspected his chest. He grimaced. Two bloody red prints stood out against his tanned chest. The boy felt weak, especially with the throbbing at his thigh. He wiped the beads from his face.

Jang-Guo thought to himself. Qiu’yue saved him. But it felt as if his soul was pulled away from death to be swallowed instead. It felt evil and primal — unfit for the living.

He swallowed his spit. Some clung to the walls of his throat. The boy made a fist with his right hand. He filled it with qi. Then he gasped.

“My cultivation fell by one whole stage!” He exclaimed. Quickly he inspected Qiu’yue’s cultivation. He pulled back — cradling his burning thigh — with horror. “Qiu-di is at the fourth qi condensation stage! Impossible! It can’t be — just a few days ago, she broke through to the third.”

Jang-Guo made a fist once more. He looked at the fist; then he glanced at Qiu’yue sleeping peacefully. His fist shook with more than just the qi overflowing through him. He threw his fist to the side. The built up qi dispersed and shot out toward the wall.

Bang! Ice shattered forth, spinning and sliding to Jang-Guo’s feet. A great crater was made from just Jang-Guo’s punch to the empty air. The boy examined himself in the crater, his features distorted.

He frowned, but shook his face clear of emotions. “The Trial was a difficult one...it, it isn’t that

strange that Qiu-di gained a level. Yeah, of course. What else can it be.”

Still, Jang-Guo stared at the girl with a frown. A frown filled with fear and awe. “Qiu-di, exactly who the hell are you?”

The boy slammed his fist against the ground. “What are you thinking! She’s your little blood brother, and she saved you. She saved you.”

But did she? A voice echoed in his head. Are you sure she wasn’t trying to suck out your soul? Your life essence and cultivation?

Thump! And Jang-Guo’s head whipped back as he struck himself with his own fist. Bloody-lipped, the boy receded into cultivation.

Yet, wracked with doubt and fear, Jang-Guo’s cultivation was consumed by images of Hell and demons. It did not take long for him to cough up blood. Jang-Guo watched Qiu’yue and he wondered. And he feared — for what, he did not know. Jang-Guo simply watched with deep fear gnawing at his child heart.

Author's Note: Short chapter again. Skipped a day again. Sorry. School. Short stories. Portfolio. Finals. Family. Etc. Fellow teens please sympathize.

Also, to those who think I'm not sticking to my guns of not making an OP character, I am. Well, at least until the very last few arcs. It's been hinted at (quite obviously) as to Qiu'yue's mother being special in addition to being strong. Genetics are a thing. And such a ability will obviously have drawbacks and other conflicts.

As always, thanks for reading.