~~~

Broadly speaking, there are four levels of lightning attunement: red, blue, white, and gold.

Red lightning is the lowest level. Most will eventually progress beyond it and reach blue lighting so long as they train diligently. It is rarer to master white lightning and rarer still to reach gold lightning, the peak of lightning attunement. Only the purple lightning wielded by the Imperial Family of the Storm Dragon Empire is said to be stronger.

By stepping into the higher levels of the True Realm, Liu Jin has gained the necessary power to manifest white lightning. He needs a few moments of concentration to do so, but it is still an incredible achievement for someone as young as him. Lei Kong made sure he knew that by constantly praising him for being able to wield so much power at such a young age.

The power of the white lightning is not the reason he is using it right now.

There is something beyond raw power at play in this fight. Liu Jin can feel it even as Yun Han glares down at him from outside the pit. While the lightning around Liu Jin sparks erratically, Yun Han’s aura is razor sharp. Despite Liu Jin’s attempts to anger him, Yun Han’s concentration has only grown since the fight began. It feels like anything that gets too close to him will be sliced to pieces.

That is not the problem.

Yun Han’s cutting attacks are not so fast that Liu Jin cannot dodge them, nor are they so strong that Liu Jin has no defense against them. Boastful as it may be to say it, Liu Jin feels he should be winning this fight with only a modicum of difficulty.

That is not what has been happening.

Slowly but surely, Yun Han has been gaining an edge. His attacks are becoming increasingly accurate, while Liu Jin’s techniques keep missing vital spots by inches. Had Liu Jin not resorted to a wide-area attack to give himself some breathing room, he does not doubt things would be going very poorly for him right now.

Liu Jin has faced all manner of high-level cultivators, so he knows this is not just a matter of pure Qi. Compared to someone like Qu Rou, Yun Han obviously comes up lacking. Qu Rou had been a cultivator in the Earth Realm, someone that Liu Jin could only overcome due to a very specific set of circumstances.

And yet, Yun Han’s aura has a pressure that Qu Rou’s didn’t have, something that threatens to chip away at Liu Jin’s strength.

Liu Jin may be overthinking it. He might be imagining it. But he cannot afford to dismiss the possibility when doing so could very well lead to his death.

He must assume Yun Han has somehow begun tapping into his Dao.

“Foolish disciple of mine, I told you that you were being too predictable in picking the rightmost gem first, yet you had the gall to keep picking them in the same order? Did you do it because you knew I had foreseen your actions and arranged my memories accordingly? Did you simply decide to be true to yourself regardless of the consequences? Or perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps, this is the last jade you break. It is possible, though I do not believe that to be the case. We are cultivators. Our way of life must be unshakable. That is the beginning of Dao.”

Words from the memory jade he broke a few weeks before leaving for the Storm Dragon Empire pass through Liu Jin's mind. Someone like Xun Huwen would surely say it is providence he decided to open that lesson before fighting someone like Yun Han.

No. Perhaps Xun Huwen would say the providence lies in finding Yun Han, so he can test what he has already learned.

Frowning, Liu Jin takes out an ordinary spear from his spatial pouch. He charges it with as much lightning as possible and throws it at Yun Han.

Even reinforced by his Qi, the weapon melts halfway through its journey. That matters little. The spear merely served as a vessel to give the lightning shape and direction, a trick Liu Jin had picked up during training. Devoid of metal and wood, the furious white lightning flies toward Yun Han.

Yun Han swings his arm down.

His Severing Palm tears through the air and crashes against Liu Jin’s lightning. The two powers war against each other for a split second, and Yun Han’s technique prevails. Liu Jin’s lightning is cut through the middle. An instant later, Yun Han’s Qi blade strikes the spot Liu Jin had been standing on.

Liu Jin has already moved out of the way and launched another lightning spear.

Then another one.

And another one.

Short bursts of [Ground Contraction] move him around the pit. At each stop, Liu Jin fires a spear of lightning at Yun Han. Each one, in turn, is met with a Qi blade from Yun Han, whose arm blurs as he launches Severing Palm after Severing Palm. As Yun Han’s Qi blades overpower Liu Jin’s lightning and hit the ground, the terrain is further damaged, and the pit keeps growing larger. Yun Han grunts as he’s forced to back away when the ground he’s on begins collapsing.

“Make no mistake. I have neither the time nor the inclination to teach you what is common knowledge. You should be able to obtain that on your own. What you will learn from me will always be advanced.

A pity, Liu Jin thinks as he keeps throwing lightning at Yun Han. His Master thinking like that is probably why he never bothered warning him about the dangers of splitting his soul in the booklet he hid away inside him. He likely imagined that someone would have explained the basic dangers to him by the time Liu Jin reached it.

As expected, his Master’s idea of what is ordinary cannot be trusted.

Similarly, do not expect me to tell you how to reach your Dao. That is a door you must open without help, or it will be meaningless.

Having had enough of being attacked from a distance, Yun Han jumps into the pit. His aura is so sharp it cuts everything in his path. His whole body has become a blade intent on slicing Liu Jin in half.

Different people will tell you different things about Dao. Some of those things will even contradict each other, but that won’t make them untrue. That is simply the way of things. A Dao is the manifestation of our way of life. It is natural for a carpenter and a king to lead vastly different lives and arrive at different, even contradictory, answers.

Liu Jin dashes around the pit with [Ground Contraction], but Yun Han chases after him. The closer Yun Han gets to Liu Jin, the sharper his movements become. The former Young Master of the Yun Sect slams into Liu Jin with his sharpened aura.

[Art of the Roaming Thief - Third Step]

Yun Han’s face morphs with surprise, then outrage as he passes right through Liu Jin’s body but finds neither blood nor flesh. The mirage fades an instant later, and a lightning spear strikes his back. Yun Han cries in pain but manages to move out of the way before more can hit him.

“Is that what you have learned after all this time?” Yun Han roars as he counters with multiple [Severing Palms], forcing Liu Jin to dash away from his attacks. “Better ways of running away?!”

“Are we talking about the past now?” Liu Jin asks. Unlike Yun Han, who shouts at the top of his lungs, Liu Jin uses his Qi to let his voice drift throughout the pit. “I thought you did not want to be reminded of the past, former Young Master Yun Han.”

The Severing Palm that flies towards his face after he says that feels particularly vicious.

“Do not speak of that name or that title to me,” Yun Han warns him. “I cast them off a long time ago. I am nothing of the Yun Sect and nothing of the Yun Clan. I am Han and nothing more.”

“Was that the price Murong Bang asked of you?” Liu Jin asks. “To give up past loyalties?”

To his surprise, Han throws his head back and laughs. A more reckless person would have perceived that as an opening and tried to take advantage of it. However, Liu Jin can feel the pressure around Han has not diminished in the slightest.

“Loyalty?” Han echoes. “Are you stupid? What loyalty can I possibly feel towards a pathetic Sect that…”

Han stops himself and takes a deep breath. The pressure around him becomes heavier as he does.

“I see,” Han says. His eyes are colder now. “It seems I have not been able to cut myself off from the past as well as I feared.”

You will inevitably encounter people who can wield their Dao and fight against them. Of that, I have no doubt. To live is to encounter people, and to encounter people is to clash against them. Some would even say that is proper and good. Without people to war against, a person might have to turn against their own self, and the self is always the mightiest enemy.

“Seeing you has caused me to think about things I had left forgotten and feel things I had long surpassed,” Han continues. The Qi in his hands glows softly but dangerously. Even the slightest sway from his arms causes multiple, deep cuts to appear on the ground. “That makes it all the more important for me to kill you.”

“Interesting,” Liu Jin says, unbothered by the threat to his life. He has heard far too many of them. “Can I take that to mean you have not seen another resident of Eastern Port City in all this time?”

Han snorts.

“Is that supposed to be a subtle way of asking me what happened to them? What do you think happened? Those who weren’t dead were sold off, which means they are probably dead by now.”

Liu Jin frowns.

“You sound as if you don’t care.”

“What reason do I have to care?” Han asks. “What is Eastern Port City and its people to me now? A name and nothing more.”

“And yet, you are angry at me,” Liu Jin points out.

“You are an annoyance.” Han waves his hand at him, and Liu Jin instantly dashes back to avoid the slicing wave caused by the motion. “You were annoying back then, and you are annoying now.”

“I am pleased to have made such a strong impression on the Young Master.”

Han’s face twitches.

“I take it back. You’re even more annoying now. Killing you is a kindness to the world. They will surely write songs about me for doing so.”

“I can think of a few people who would,” Liu Jin agrees. “Yet, laudable as your ambition might be, I do not believe you have the power to achieve it.”

Han takes a deep breath.

And strikes.

Assuming winning through superior power is not an option, there are, broadly speaking, two ways to fight someone who has tapped into their Dao.

“I do not have the power to achieve it?” Han roars as his Qi tears throughout the landscape. His Qi blades seek to separate Liu Jin’s head from his body. “What fight have you been watching?!”

The first way is by understanding the nature of the Dao you are facing. Once you have identified its core principle, you will become aware of its strengths, weaknesses, and possibilities. However, this is risky if you do not possess a Dao of your own.

“You have grown stronger. I’ll admit it. But what use is strength if all you do is run and hide!” Han roars as he spins his body to deliver a wide kick. The Qi blade created by the motion splits the pit in half, cutting off Liu Jin’s path. “You know you cannot defeat me in close quarters, so you try to keep your distance!”

Liu Jin dashes across the pit as Han chases after him. However, Han quickly catches up to him.

“Your desperate flight betrays your weakness! Cover it with as many spins and exotic techniques as you want! Switch your lowly poison for bright lightning! It does not matter! Your struggle speaks of nothing but fear!”

Han jabs his hand forward as though it were a spear, fully determined to pierce Liu Jin’s head with it.

The other is far simpler.

Lightning blooms around them, stunning Han and giving Liu Jin enough time to dodge. He creates a lightning spear and throws it at Han's gut.

This time, Han is the one who barely dodges in time.

Just reject the person entirely.

The lightning spear explodes.

Understanding is not needed to reject something.

Liu Jin and Han are caught in the explosion and blown back. Han tumbles to the ground while Liu Jin easily lands on his feet.

“Should you really be lecturing me about hiding?” Liu Jin wonders, not moving to attack. “You were doing such a great job earlier tonight. Even I could not sense your presence and that of your men until the first attack was struck. Does General Murong teach such stealth to all his men?”

Liu Jin narrows his eyes.

“Or is there something else to it?” Liu Jin tilts his head to the side. “Some sort of item, perhaps? It does not seem to be something you are wearing, or else you’d have used it by now. Or perhaps it has some type of activation requirement?”

“Those are the questions of someone who will live to see tomorrow,” Han says. “You will not. You took us away from the battlefield to aid your forces. In doing so, you have locked yourself in a struggle with me. You cannot run. You cannot hide. You cannot surrender. You can only fight and die an ugly death. This is the truth of the world.”

“You speak as if I should care about the world’s truths,” Liu Jin says.

“How arrogant!”

“The battlefield is a cruel, ugly place. There is no beauty here. There is no mercy. There are only bitter ends. You have been saying such things since we began fighting, and you are completely right. Yet, we are cultivators, are we not?” Liu Jin asks Han. Lightning rises around him. “We are the ones who struggle against the Will of Heaven. Why should we put any weight on how things are? The moment you accepted things as they are, you failed as a cultivator. You saw ugliness around you and let yourself become ugly. You say you have changed, but you are the same failure you were in Eastern Port City.”

“LIU JIN!”

Han’s Qi erupts. The earth around him explodes as he launches himself at Liu Jin.

As soon as Han is close enough, the lightning aura around Liu Jin flashes and expands, catching Han as though he were a fish in a net. It does not halt Han in his tracks, but it stuns him long enough for Liu Jin to easily dodge.

“Did you never wonder why I created this pit for us to fight?” Liu Jin asks softly as the aura of lighting around him shrinks back to its original size. “After all, I am scared of fighting in close quarters with you. Is that not what you said?”

Liu Jin slams a lightning spear into the stunned Han. It speaks volumes of Han’s reflexes that he manages to launch a Severing Palm at Liu Jin right at the moment of impact. Han is wounded and knocked back, but his attack leaves a gash on Liu Jin’s arm.

“Why, then, should I restrict my movements in such a way?” Liu Jin continues, not letting the pain show on his face. Instead, he goes on the offensive, launching another lightning spear and dashing toward Han.

“Why should I try to make sense of your actions?” Han roars. Just as Liu Jin expected, he dodges the lightning spear with ease,

And as expected, Han cannot react in time when Liu Jin’s lightning aura spreads out and blankets the field.

“And you had the gall to accuse me of arrogance,” Liu Jin says as he contracts his lightning aura and slams a lightning spear into Han. “Were you so confident in your Dao that you believed your victory was inevitable?”

“What?”

“Oh?” Liu Jin takes notice of the very real shock on Han’s face. “Did you not know? Impressive, but if that is the case, there is no point telling you of your own skills. It would defeat the point.”

Han dodges Liu Jin’s next attack and steps into his guard.

“You talk too much,” he growls out. His arm, sharpened by Qi, is mere inches from Liu Jin’s chest.

Liu Jin expands his aura once more.

The lightning stuns Han again. Liu Jin immediately switches to Poison Qi, and a large Qi snake rams right into Han’s body, slamming him into the walls of the pit.

“On the contrary,” Liu Jin says, switching back to lightning. “I talk just enough.”

Enough to make Han angry, lose his focus, and make mistakes.

This is necessary if he wants to defeat Han.

“Ever since you entered this pit, I have been testing your power,” Liu Jin says while Han picks himself up.

While the exact nature of Han’s Dao still escapes him, Liu Jin believes he has a decent grasp on its effects on the world around Han. Han’s Dao is one that seems to alter probability in his favor. When Han attacks, his attacks are more likely to hit. When Han is attacked, the enemy is more likely to miss. It has been fairly effective against Liu Jin, who favors precise and focused attacks in close-quarters combat.

Still, despite how impressive that sounds, Han’s Dao works very subtly. Most people will not realize they are under its influence. It is almost like being sliced by a blade so small one doesn’t notice the wound until much later. However, the longer one stays under the influence of Han’s Dao, the stronger it becomes.

The pit offered Liu Jin a way to test the maximum range of the influence of Han’s Dao. That is why he spent so long firing lightning spears at Han from varying distances. Besides, lightning allowed him to more easily use wide-area attacks against Han.

Had Han seen poison flooding the pit, he’d have surely avoided it instead of jumping in.

“It is a fairly interesting power, pity you have no idea what it is.”

Han replies with one Severing Pam after another. Liu Jin weaves in between them, gradually closing the distance between himself and Han, who starts backing away.

“I thought you said trying to keep one’s distance in a fight was a sign of fear,” Liu Jin comments while he dodges.

“Shut up!” Han roars. Liu Jin’s taunt forces him to advance. As he does, Liu Jin spreads lighting all around him. It is not enough to stop Han or damage him. That doesn’t matter.

If he uses more focused techniques, Han’s Dao will allow him to dodge them more easily. To win, Liu Jin needs to gradually chip away at Han with wide-area attacks, which do less damage but have greater odds of hitting. All while controlling the time he spends under the influence of Han’s Dao.

It is simple.

Sure enough, the lightning weakens Han enough for Liu Jin to land another lightning spear. This staggers Yun Han, and Liu Jin capitalizes with four more spears. Yun Han barely manages to roll out of the way of the fifth one. His armor is a wreck, and there’s blood flowing from his mouth. His eyes shine with pure hate as he glares at Liu Jin.

He runs.

Yun Han dashes out of the pit in a blur of speed.

“I thought I was the one who was only good at running away,” Liu Jin comments as he cuts Yun Han off. “This is a cruel world where surrendering is not allowed, is it not? Yet, you now want to surrender?”

Han does not offer any words. He raises his Qi and adopts a stance, but his eyes keep darting around, taking in their surroundings to see which escape route is safest.

“You wish to run and abandon your men, don’t you?” Liu Jin asks, making Han flinch. “Go ahead then.”

“What?!”

“I would rather help my men than deal with you,” Liu Jin explains, shrugging. “You running away would save me time. So do it.”

For a moment, their eyes just silently war against each other. Neither looks away even for an instant.

Han tears his gaze away first.

“This isn’t over,” Han promises before turning around and running away.

Liu Jin says nothing. He stares at Han’s retreating back until he has vanished into the horizon. Even then, he does not say or do anything. Only once Liu Jin can barely feel Han’s Qi in the distance does he fall to his knees. The lightning around him fades, and large beads of sweat fall to the ground. Though he had not let it show during the fight, using lighting so freely and for so long had taken a toll on him.

Had the fight continued, who knows what could have happened?

It is a sobering thought and not one he particularly likes. Though if his assumption is correct, letting Han run away did far more damage than Han suspects.

Liu Jin frowns as he gets his breathing under control. The fight is not over yet.

The men back at Ox Storm Fortress still need his help.

~~~