Drudic Cultivation | Thirty-Eight

Sorry for the delay, father's day took up my entire sunday and half of my monday (I got scammed into staying over and helping my father work on his homestead).  I've also been having several internet issues this week (you'd think that would help me write but apparently not) and will have a technician out tomorrow. Either way, here you go.

Ma Heise managed to seriously injure his opponent during the semi-finals. The top bracket was down to four competitors that the overseers split into two different fights, each getting the entire stage to themselves. The fight started and Heise wasted no time at all in launching himself forward and demolishing his opponent with his whips, painting a very savage scene for all to see. Even after tangling and downing his opponent, he continued to pummel on the boy’s face with the pommel until he could finally conceded. 

“How dare you approach me and offer a bribe before the match started. I hope these bruises remind you that not everybody in this can be bought, pathetic. I doubt I was the first you tried to buy today, but I had better be the last.” Ma Heise spit on the boy as he walked away. Jiao watched as the spit on the boy’s face mingled with the blood from his broken nose and bleeding lip and realized that he’d likely been given a free win.

Sure enough when the time for his match to start came, the boy who’d been publicly embarrassed decided not to show up in the ring. Jiao looked around for a couple of minutes before the overseer finally declared Jiao the winner while gritting his teeth. The man was obviously not a fan of the fact that Jiao had been getting so many byes this tournament. In his gut, he felt that Ma Heise had likely promised Jiao second place in the tournament in exchange for allowing him to win, but he had no evidence to prove the situation as such.

The overseers still allowed the thirty minute incense to burn before starting the second match of the bottom bracket semifinals as to allow the competitors the same amount of time the others got. At this point the moon was almost directly overhead and a large portion of the crowd had consumed more than their fair share of alcohol while watching. For the first time since the match started, Feng Yaobei decided to talk to Jiao between matches.

“Good job, nephew *hic*. I thought I was going to be, uh, destitute. You did it though! I bet on you for top four but I didn’t want to pressure you. Now look at you, you lost so early but you’re top four at the worst. Keep winning for your uncle, yeah? Hmm, yup.” Jiao had been alerted of his uncle’s approach by the stumbling and heavy hand that appeared on his shoulder. From the smell of his breath, Yaobei would be feeling it the next morning. One hand was holding his betting ticket and the other had another ale which, if he cared, Jiao should have taken from him. 

“Don’t bother my son while he’s recovering, Brother Yaobei. Get over here and stop drinking, what is your son going to think tomorrow? Do you want him to be a drunkard?” Zhipei grabbed his brother’s shoulder and dragged him away, allowing Jiao to concentrate back on the on-going battle. Due to the way the bottom bracket was set up they were required to fight twice in a row after the semi-finals. Each of the two still fighting had to fight the losers from that round, the boy that Ma Heise had pummeled vs Feng Jiao and the opponent of the smaller, fist-only boy for the other. Jiao got a bye but the other bottom bracket contestant was forced to fight as the smaller hand-to-hand combat boy had simply pinned his opponent and forced a concession.

Their battle lasted almost fifteen minutes with heavy exchanges of blows, both using wooden swords that appeared to be as heavy as metal. Chuckling to himself, Jiao mentally suggested that they both become merchants afterwards considering how talented they were when it came to trading. Trading blows with each other, that is. Smack, thump, thwack, each hit brought Jiao closer to victory regardless of which of the two won. The penalty not only required the bottom bracket to fight one more fight than the top bracket, but they also only had ten minutes to rest between the two semi-final battles. 

When the beaten and bloodied boy saw Feng Jiao walk into the arena and recalled that he hadn’t fought in almost two hours, he instantly conceded. Jiao walked back to the bleachers once again, giggling at his luck. Behind him, the middle-aged overseer was grinding his teeth so hard it was practically broadcasted to the entire stadium. ‘Why can’t my luck ever be this good in tournaments?’ he thought to himself, ‘I’d compete more if I knew I could just coast into the top three for free!’

“Half priced drinks for the last two matches! Venison Skewers, only three copper each!” 

“Only two fights left tonight, thank goodness! I’m about to fall asleep in my seat!”

“Who said there were less people today than usual? This has been going on for almost fourteen hours!”

“I’m rich! *hic* Rich! Why can’t my son be as strong as his cousin?!” 

During the waiting time for the top-bracket finals to begin, Jiao couldn’t help but listen to the various conversations around him. Nearly the entire stadium was drunk in some way, shape, or form. Over in the sect scout area, only a few people remain sitting as the rest had long since retired to their various rooms for the night. Jiao supposed that there wasn’t much of a point spectating various fighters unless they’d pledged your sect or you had the power to poach them.

Still sitting over there was Nufang Mudan. Jiao and Mudan made eye contact from across the arena. Throughout the night she’d both cheered and mourned with every single one of Jiao’s victorys. When she saw him looking over her face flushed as she thought about how washy she’d been acting. Jiao, mistaking her red face, smiled back at her. His faith in her support caused her to feel even worse even as his smile made her heart flutter a bit. She found herself a bit dizzy and flushed and she hadn’t even been drinking!

Elder Mudan broke eye contact with Feng Jiao after blushing. ‘Finally,’ he thought to himself, ‘I’m able to start building a friendship with the Elder.’ Like Aideen had told him, the first step to a solid friendship with a girl was a red face, advice that had not led him astray yet. So long as he could befriend Elder Mudan, he figured he could get Junior Sister Cao and Senior Sister Jing into the sect with him regardless of whether or not he could actually defeat Ma Heise. 

There were still a few minutes before the match began so Feng Jiao decided to do a bit of cultivation while he waited. Usually, it was not socially acceptable to start cultivating while in public but that didn’t really apply for tournament contestants. How else would they restore their expended energy? That being said, Feng Jiao had long since restored his used Qi and was just cultivating to cultivate at this point. Strands of Qi were attracted to the ethereal image of Aideen that appeared on his shoulder before being redirected into his various acupoints and entering his meridians. 

Finally, the ‘finals’ of the boys bracket began. Jiao thought that calling the battle the finals was rather dishonest, considering the fact that the bottom bracket would still have to fight afterwards and, the following day, the champion of the top bracket could be challenged by the champion of the bottom bracket.

Two boys entered the stage, the tall, dark-eyed and swarthy Ma Heise and the much smaller young boy who called himself Bai Fu. Up until this point, Bai Fu had not used a weapon against any of his opponents and had defeated each one. Both the boys had remained undefeated the entire night and, whereas Ma Heise had been pressured by Feng Jiao, Bai Fu hadn’t even broken a sweat. Regardless of who won, Feng Jiao looked forward to fighting the both of them. 

Unlike the beginning of the last few matches, Ma Heise had no arrogant advice to offer his opponent and only respectfully bowed after introducing himself. Within his eyes, Jiao could see the same passion to do battle that Heise showed everytime he looked back over at Jiao. Bai Fu smiled at the show of respect before bowing down in return. He did not, however, withdraw a weapon.

“Junior Bai, do you truly not wish to battle me at full strength? I will not be laying down my weapons simply because you choose not to pull yours out? Do you not wish to give me this face?” Ma Heise narrowed his eyes when the gong sounded out but was not quick to move. It seemed he was truly offended that Bai Fu was not taking him seriously enough to withdraw a weapon. Even when Feng Jiao, who had similarly avoided using his staff the entire time, had faced Ma Heise, he withdrew his staff before the fight even started!

“You mistake my intentions, Senior Ma. It’s not that I am not giving you face, I couldn’t afford not to. I’ve just not been trained with any weapons.” Bai Fu giggled and his clear voice responded loud enough for the crowd to hear. Flashes of surprise registered across the faces of everyone present, including Ma Heise. What kind of hallowed practitioner didn’t learn how to use a weapon by the time they were six? Even if they weren’t masters of the arms, they’d still have swung a sword and stabbed a spear before. 

“I see. I’ll take your word, for now. I still will not be putting away my whips, however. Good luck.” Ma Heise wished his opponent luck from the bottom of his heart before rushing forward with his whips unfurled at his side. Like two sea-dragons swimming in a stream, the whips flowed majestically and menacingly. 

Bai Fu did not stand still and he too rushed forward, running with an odd gait. No matter how many matches Feng Jiao watched, he could not figure out how the footwork of Bai Fu worked at all. In his eyes, the boy should have tripped after running less than two seconds but instead, Bai Fu was able to move at fast speeds and approach from unpredictable angles. 

The serpent like whips shot forward as Ma Heise slowed his approach, striking like two cobras consuming a rat. A clear whistling noise could be heard as the leather weapons split the air at an astonishing speed but just before they made contact, Bai Fu took another step and appeared two meters away from where he’d been. The whips smacked into the ground and Ma Heise rushed to bring his whips back to defend himself as Bai Fu rushed forward and pressed the opening, all the while running on top of the whips to prevent Ma Heise from pulling them back.

Unable to get his whips back in place, Ma Heise was forced to disarm himself and fight back against the smaller boy’s hands with his own. Just like in his previous matches, Bai Fu was able to quickly disarm his opponent and bring them onto even grounds. Fists were thrown back and forth but were dodged repeatedly. After a few brief moments were neither party gained any ground, they separated with Bai Fu holding the discarded whips with his toes. It was only then that Feng Jiao noticed the boy had lost his shoes at some point, exposing delicate white feet.

“I didn’t expect that I would run into another boy here who’d managed to open all nine meridians and reach the peak of mortal awakening. Imagine my surprise when the boy seemed to be only eleven or twelve years old, as well.” Ma Heise laughed self-deprecating but his words rang heavy in everybody’s ears. The peak of mortal awakening? Reaching that level at Ma Heise’s age would make him an above average cultivator but at Bai Fu’s age? A genius among geniuses! Although the Mortal Awakening stage was mostly an accumulation of Qi it had to be said that each meridian became exponentially more difficult to connect back. Even Feng Jiao, with his super cheat to steal Qi from plants and make it his own, was only at the seventh step!

Loud whispering broke out in the stadium and Feng Jiao looked toward the sect scout area to see who this boy was pledged to. It seemed, however, that there wasn’t a single sect scout who was ecstatic about having recruited a genius, each of them seeming shocked and slightly remorseful. Jiao’s eyes widened at the implication at the same time the other scouts noticed the same thing he did. 

The top two fighters in the boy’s backet, Ma Heise and Bai Fu, were both unclaimed!