Author note: Chapter as promised. Another 2 next week assuming nothing comes up.

~~~

The black souls surrounding Sun Qing flowed along her body, down her arm, and concentrated on her hand as the ki continued to float around her.

Sun Qing had never practiced a technique, but instead relied on her inborn knowledge of souls to form the attack. If a technique was akin to a computer program that performs a function then Sun Qing was writing the code as she went along.

Gu Long had already resigned himself to a struggle and rather than trying to avoid it he instead took a step forward while planting his feet firmly. He was unique in this regard as most cultivators would focus on meeting an attack with an attack as that was the only way to achieve victory. Gu Long wasn’t looking for a victory and was instead just aiming for a draw.

The open palm struck the Snapping Dragon Turtle’s Shell Protection technique. This time there was no ripple or shockwave as the attack was concentrated on penetrating rather than crushing.

The wailing of the souls stopped as they formed a shape of a palm and pressed into the brown ki defensive shell. The shell distorted and for a moment held firm.

Silence.

For those watching it was a slight moment of silence, but for Gu Long that moment seemed to stretch out for an eternity. His sight narrowed and all that was left was Sun Qing and her palm. If it was only that perhaps he could hold, but the palm continued to grow in his mind and filled his vision until nothing was left but the dark depth of the souls.

He could see inside the palm and in its depths he felt a presence approaching. A faint scream came with the presence. When the palm approached there was wailing of terror and pain as though the souls regret their continued existence.

The approaching scream was lacking both fear and regret and instead was filled with hatred and disgust.

Gu Long had the impression that the presence was the reason for the wailing souls desire to die and that the hatred and disgust wasn’t directed at him, but at all living things.

All that was left was the darkness surrounding him and the scream that continued to grow louder and louder.

With desperation Gu Long’s ki was flowing erratically into the Divine Turtle Shell Protection technique which was already unstable.

The technique came closer and closer to breaking and in Gu Long’s mind it so did the scream. Faster and faster they approached causing Gu Long to lose more and more control in a vicious cycle that could only end with one result.

The silence broke along with the shell.

The scream contained only in Gu Long’s mind also broke free from the attack and with the darkness of the palm spread across the courtyard like a firework in the night sky. All those present felt a pulling at their soul and a fear like no other. Those with First Layer cultivation collapsed and those who had just entered the Second Layer coughed up blood.

Gu Long’s vision returned as blood filled his throat.

All this took a long time to describe, but the silence had only lasted for the time it takes a spark to fly from a flint.

The palm that no longer contained the black souls continued on.

Gu Long forcefully suppressed his injuries and brought his shields to block the attack with his right arm behind his left.

The piercing aspect of the palm had been used and now it was an open palm slamming into the metal shields hoping to crush.

Gu Long could not resist the strike. As the force of the attack passed through his left shield it caused the shield to shattered. Hs left forearm that pressed into the right shield turned into a red smear staining the shield. The right shield cracked and his right arm broke. The rest of the force pressed into his chest cracking his sternum and sent him flying into the front of the palace that had been previously undamaged.

“Two!”

Pressed into the wall, Gu Long fell forward, but managed to catch himself with his right shield. Adjusting his posture he leaned backwards against the damaged wall. Dropping the shield he brought out a pill from his space ring. The pill was green with leaves covering it and was a life saving pill given to him as a welcoming gift by Meng Fai, Sun Yu’s eunuch bodyguard, when he became the captain of their guards.

“Heh. I didn’t think a little girl like you could push me this far.”

Gu Long brought the pill to his mouth while trying to keep his hand steady and failing. As it entered his mouth his shaking hand shook a bit less.

Swallowing the pill he felt the pill energy flow through his body.

“Didn’t think you’d let me do that.” He said as he felt his broken right arm and the missing left hand heal.

“Hehe. You think it matters? One move is all I ever needed.”

Gu Long remembered the scream and shuddered. He definitely couldn’t block that move a second time.

Standing up straight he spit out the blood he had forcefully repressed. The injury had healed and it needed to be cleared.

Again he pulled out two more shields. They weren’t as powerful as the previous one that had broken, but they were still valuable and would serve his purpose.

The terror that is a Snapping Dragon Turtle is not that the beast has incredible defense. That alone would only allow it to receive hits until it died. The reason the Snapping Dragon Turtle was feared was that coupled with its defense it had terrifying dragon jaws that would snap out without warning at lightning speed.

Placing his arms in front of him again as if he was going to defend he roared out a challenge that was more for himself than his opponent.

“YOU THINK I FEAR YOU? YOUR NOTHING BUT A SHELTERED BITCH THAT ONLY GOT YOUR STRENGTH FROM PILLS AND TREASURES! A PAPER TIGER!”

Hearing him say her strength was from treasures made Sun Qing think about the fruit her brother had given her.

He had gone into the mountains all alone while facing beasts and bandits for no other reason than to find it for her so that she could have a breakthrough. Then the evil third prince must have heard about it and brought men to attack him intending to snatch the meat out of a tiger's mouth Her brother had then fought them all off just to keep them from getting it and then, rather than getting revenge himself on the third prince, rushed home and gave it to her!

Thinking all this Sun Qing’s eyes began to water up. Before a single drop could fall Sun Qing’s mood turned into rage.

“YOU DARE INSULT MY BROTHER?”

Gu Long’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. He couldn’t figure how she came to that from what he said. Seeing she was provoked however he let the matter go and prepared his attack.

Like the dragon hiding inside it’s shell he pretended to defend. He had wanted her to attack without thinking and now in her fury she was!

Her hair turned red with anger and the grey ki with a hint of green began to circle her body again. The black souls returned as well and this time in much higher numbers.

Yelling “DIE!” she jumped forward and pulled her hand back intending to throw out another palm attack.

Seeing his sister was intending to kill and that she had gone into a rage Sun Jiao wanted to stop her, but hesitated. He tried to think of the pros and cons of stopping her, but just didn’t have time. The only thing he could think of was Xiaobo’s advice to make your opponent mad and that left him with a bad taste in his mouth.

“Sister.”

He only spoke one word, but when it reached Sun Qing’s ears it was as if nothing else in the world mattered to her. She instantly calmed, her hair returning to it’s natural deep blue, almost black color and she stopped to analyse the situation.

At that moment Gu Long had timed his attack and switched from defense to offense.

“Divine Dragon Snap!”

His arms that had been crossed in front of him opened wide and he lunged forward. The image of a Dragon Turtle’s head appeared behind him with it’s jaws agape was so large it appeared as though it could swallow him whole.

Sun Qing’s arm was half extended and was instantly surrounded by the closing jaws which locked her in place. Both of Gu Long’s shields flew towards her head and he could already see them ripping off her face. Perhaps it would be intact and he could keep it as a trophy he thought.

His arms closed just as the jaws snapped shut. A shockwave strong as Sun Qing had created blasted out.

Gu Long’s face twisted. The feeling of his shields touching flesh wasn’t there.

Sun Qing’s body had turned into a grey smoky wisp which floated right through him.

Sun Qing used the same move she had used on Dian Po. Dian Po had only just entered the Second Layer so it was expected that Sun Qing at the Third Layer would be able to beat him without any effort. If you asked a hundred people then a hundred people would all say that the result would be different against someone at her strength.

A hundred people would be wrong.

Gu Long, Third Layer ki stage, put up no more defense against this attack than Dian Po.

The smoke flowed out of his back and took the shape of Sun Qing. In her hand was a black soul that was larger than Dian Po’s, but struggled futilely just the same.

Her calm appearance broke at this moment and like a storm she ripped the soul into pieces while cursing under her breath. As quick as it came though it passed and her appearance returned to the epitome of tranquility.

The soldiers watching this were shocked. How could she have perfectly countered and effortlessly win?

The answer to that lied with the flaw in the Heaven Elements Academy.

Heaven Elements Academy was a powerful resource for smaller clans, but the large clans would avoid it due to the huge flaw in learning there. That flaw was that the techniques and skills you could learn were limited. For instance Sun Qing had known about Gu Long’s Divine Turtle Shell Protection move because everyone knew the strength of the Divine Dragon Turtle technique so how could she not know about it?

She also knew it wasn’t just defensive, but also an offensive technique. Once she had calmed down she was able to instantly see through the shallow thinking of a commoner. To think she had almost fallen into his trap!

Turning to her brother she looked over the shriveled up corpse of Gu Long and shook. He had seen through it all and knew exactly how to save her! It was just like when they were children and he saved her from mother! That had been the moment she became devoted to him and today he had proven again that her devotion was correct.

Her heart was beating and she began to tear up, but pushed it down. She didn’t know how to express what she was feeling and didn’t expect any expression. Instead she calmly hopped over the body and walked towards him while ignoring all the eyes that followed her.

Saying nothing she returned to his side and bowed her head with her hands clasped in front of her to keep them from shaking. Feeling daring she took a side-step to get close enough that they almost touched and waited for his reprimand for losing control. She would accept it happily along with any other punishment.

Instead what came was the hand on her shoulder as he brought her closer for a half-hug.

“Good job.”

Sun Qing’s mind went blank and her vision went white.