The two men and two women shuttled back and forth, turning the front courtyard into a warzone. The ground was cracked and cratered, crisscrossed with shallow ditches and deep slices. The air rippled from the force of their bodies colliding together with terrifying force, filling the area with loud booms and gusts of wind, caused by the rapid motion of their bodies. Sage was unsurprised by these proceedings. What actually caught his eye was that even though they were engaging in such fierce combat, none of the four forgot to take care of their clothing.

With such intense impacts, a mere set of clothing could easily be blown into pieces if it was close to combat for too long. Of course, no fighter wanted their clothing to be shattered to pieces in a fight and leaving them battling in the nude. It may not affect their combat ability, but it would definitely have an effect on their reputation. In order to prevent this terrible situation, Cultivators had long ago learned to cover their bodies with a layer of their Qi. Not only did this enhance their defenses and other physical qualities, it also protected their clothing from damage. The issue was that the more intense the battle became, the less energy a Cultivator would have to spare upon protecting their clothing.

Sage was quite pleased to see that each of these four were going all out in maintaining the layers of Qi around their body at a high level to ensure their outfits weren’t ruined. When their fists and feet impacted against the body of their opponent, they struck a layer of Qi and not the fragile clothing. The garments were not created of mortal materials, but that only meant they would be ripped or torn by repeated hits and not instantly destroyed from the first strike if they weren’t actively trying to defend them.

As the battle progressed, the fighting styles of the four became more apparent. Baozhai was a real brawler, but she used the reach of her long legs to give others a headache in close quarters. She made people fight her up close, but then stayed just slightly out of reach of fist and palm experts by using her legs. Her opponents didn’t use any weapons so they didn’t get to see how she handled that situation. Songji on the other hand, used some sort of marvelous movement technique to leap through shadows to make sneak attacks and catch her opponent off guard. Facing off against them, the thin and scholarly man seemed to be an expert at evaluating his opponents. He was outmatched by either of the women, but he seemed to find the weak points of their attacks, always putting himself in the place where he’d take the least damage or be the hardest to strike. The other man was almost a polar opposite, fighting with pure ferocity. What he lacked in subtlety or cunning, he made up for with unrelenting chains of attacks. His fingers curled into claws and he slashed repeatedly, using offense as defense, at least until he got tired. Then the large man curled up defensively and got pummeled by Baozhai for a while.

The four of them battled it out for more than ten minutes straight, until at one point when Baozhai was kicking the large man who was hiding behind his crossed arms and Songji was chasing the thin man. The two women suddenly stopped and stepped back, quickly returning to either side of Ruanfu. The two men were not really injured, but their hair was a mess and their clothing was out of place, making them both look quite harried. Both Baozhai and Songji still looked unflustered with their lovely dresses and elegantly coiffed hair still in perfect condition. The three women gave the men a knowing smile.

Then Ruanfu suddenly pointed towards the third man, the completely average looking one that had yet to act. He looked to the left and right and then pointed at his face. Ruanfu nodded her head, “You. Yes, you. Impress me!”

Sage and the two other men immediately turned their gaze to the man who had been called out. Then the three of them shared a knowing look. After hearing Ruanfu’s words, the previously unassuming man puffed up his chest and stepped forward. A giant grin crawled across his lips, a grin that immediately infuriated the large ferocious man. Even if they’d been standing on the same side a moment earlier, as soon as he saw that smug and knowing smile, he lifted his hand with the urge to punch the other fellow’s face. The thin fellow immediately held him back and they, along with Sage, resigned themselves to observe.

Stepping forward, the once perfectly common person’s smile completely broke the illusion of normality that he previously had. Nobody with such an absurd look could be normal. The man laughed and a long spear appeared in his hands. There was a bright red tassel encircling the spear just below the head, which he waved about with a flourish to draw the eye. Ruanfu looked patently bored. He seemed offended by her gaze and the spear flipped over and stabbed into the ground. Then he hopped into the air, landing with two toes gripping the pommel of the spear haft. Balancing upon the end of the narrow pole like that was no simple feat, at least for a mortal. Nearly everything about a Cultivator was at a higher level than a normal person. Balance, hand-eye coordination, body control, and the strength of their extremities were all higher than a normal person. Even so, it was still an unusual sight to see someone balancing high in the air on such a narrow object with only two toes.

The ladies were still showing no signs of admiration so the fellow stepped up his game. He did a backflip and caught the base of the spear with his hand, balancing upon his palm in a handstand position. Then he pushed up and supported his entire weight upon the tip of a single finger. His body lifted and dropped, his arm bending and then extending again, performing one finger handstand pushups in an effort to show off. Then his legs spread apart and he started to spin on top of that single finger. Still seeing no reaction, he dropped down slightly, moving from balancing on a finger to gripping the end of the pole with one hand. Using that single hand grip his body swung out to the diagonal and he extended all his limbs. His limbs formed a star shape, holding his whole body in the air at an angle. The angle he was in acted like a lever to multiply the weight he had to hold up, which every part of his arm had to be able to withstand.

Even so, these feats of strength and balance didn’t seem to impress Ruanfu. She merely nodded her head, “You are almost as good as a monkey.”

Sage and the other two men stifled their laughter and shared a few glances. They wanted to correct Ruanfu but kept their mouths shut. For his part, the man performing didn’t take it as an insult. He actually laughed, “I really do have a bit of work to do in order to reach their high level.”

Then he bicycled his legs while circling around the end of the pole before flipping back onto it and balancing on his toes. Taking his game to the next level, he leapt up into the air and did a cartwheel in mid-air before landing on the tip of the pole with his other foot. Then he jumped and performed a double front flip, spinning till his back was towards the pole and catching himself with one hand stretched out backwards. He pulled hard and tossed himself back up into the air, doing a juggling act with his own body.

Ruanfu stopped at this point to lift her hand and yawn.