An eerie silence choked the mountainside camp as the Flawless Blade approached me. I held Cabbagy for luck as mortals struggled to their feet under the weight of the Flawless Blade’s suppression.

  Each footstep rang out like a clashing of blades, and as Chen Ai stumbled away and joined the crowd distancing themselves from the impending conflict, my mind drifted back to my journey up the pass...

  ###

  On our first day traveling together, hiking through the mountain’s forested foothills, I told Chen Ai my destination.

  She insisted on pointing out my folly.

  “You’ll have to fight the Flawless Blade if you want to reach the Great Northern Mountain.”

  “If I have to, I have to.”

  “Very manly, kid. I approve.”

  Chen Ai shook her head.

  “The Flawless Blade is at the 9th Stage of Foundation Establishment. I’m at the 7th Stage of Qi Condensation, and I could hardly track his movement! What will you do against a foe so fast?”

  What would I do? I didn’t really have a plan, but considering what I’d survived in the last few days…

  “I’ll be fine,” I said.

  “His technique is so refined that his sword cuts the very air! This wound he gave me… he didn’t even need to draw his blade! What will you do against a foe so skilled?”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “You don’t understand! He only let me live because he didn’t view me as a challenge. But if you truly make him mad, he might kill you!”

  At this, I smiled.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “You keep saying that! But if your life is in danger, honor demands I help… and I can’t help you against certain death.”

  She’d stopped walking, and her hand hovered over her jian. Cabbagy pointed out the tremble in her fingers, and the determination in her eyes — fear and honor warring in her mind — and I took a step closer to her, dipping my head.

  “It’s alright, Chen Ai,” I said. “I do not plan on dying.”

  “I know you defeated the snake, but trust me when I say it wasn’t as fast or as strong as the Flawless Blade.”

  I’d defeated the snake with luck and precision rather than any strength or speed, but if I explained that to her, she would have even less faith in my abilities.

  But what were my abilities exactly?

  When my willpower was topped up, I could manipulate my blood and bone to enhance my strength and speed to the equivalent of a mid-range Qi Condensing cultivator. However, a gap remained between me and a Foundation Establishment realm cultivator. There was too much power, with each pillar raised during Foundation Establishment being the equivalent of an entire Qi Condensation cultivator. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the Flawless Blade would be ten times stronger and faster than me, with powerful techniques to match.

  How could I defeat someone like that?

  Well, I did have Cabbagy’s first form. The Leafy Fist certainly packed a punch — heh — and I was trying to master the second form, though that was proving much harder. As much as Cabbagy insisted I could do it, my body refused to act like a cabbage. Still, with my spiritual belly full of deer meat, I could recover from quite a lot of damage and pour a lot of blood into my attacks.

  If that wasn’t enough, then I didn’t know what was…

  ###

  The mountain breeze blew, and fell, the air stilling as the ringing footsteps came to a halt. Silence prickled against my skin like the tip of a knife. My reminiscence ended as I gazed at the man who called himself the Flawless Blade.

  I had to admit, the name was apt.

  He looked like the sword-wielding hero from every play I’d ever seen as a child. Tall, handsome to the point of ethereal beauty, with sharp cheekbones and piercing eyes, and his long dark hair hung down his back as straight as the jian at his side. He wore robes of green, edged with blood red geometric patterns. Everything about him screamed dangerous cultivator.

  A slight smile touched his lips as he looked at me in my black clothes, but there was no humor in his eyes.

  “You called me out,” he said.

  It wasn’t a question.

  “I did,” I said with a shrug. “I heard you’re the dickhead blocking the pass.”

  His jaw muscles clenched. He eyed my robes, and apparently came to the decision that I wasn’t a Special Inspector.

  “I am honing my blade against the chaff blowing through this pass,” he said. “I wouldn’t expect a mortal like you to understand.”

  “That’s good, kid,” Cabbagy said from under my arm. “He underestimates you. Now get me the fuck out of the way. I might be dying, but that doesn’t mean I want to become coleslaw!”

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  “You’re not dying,” I said firmly.

  The Flawless Blade scoffed.

  “What? Of course I’m not.”

  “I wasn’t talking to you,” I said as I tossed Cabbagy to Chen Ai.

  She managed to catch my master, though she still looked pale. The rest of the mortals in the area were on their knees, barely able to keep their heads up as they watched the confrontation.

  I gestured to them.

  “Is all this necessary?” I asked. “Surely you can become a better swordsman without suppressing these mortals and causing such a fuss.”

  “Perhaps you’re right, but I find this method agrees with me. If you’re stronger than me, you’re more than welcome to make me stop.”

  I’d seen arrogance like that before. It was every noble who fleeced my father, every street thug who cornered me in an alley and stole what I’d scrounged up, it was the tax collector who didn’t care about the unseasonal frost.

  “You know,” I said with a smile. “I was just going to fight you because I need to get past, but now I think I’m looking forward to kicking your ass.”

  Gasps came from the crowd, but I didn’t take my eyes off the handsome dickhead in front of me.

  “You tell him, kid!” Cabbagy shouted from where he sat in Chen Ai’s arms. “He hasn’t got a chance against my style!”

  I hoped Cabbagy was right. Rubbing away the man’s arrogant smirk would be incredibly rewarding.

  “Cute,” said the Flawless Blade as he placed his hand on his jian. “Sometimes I reduce my power to match my opponent, but this duel is already over.”

  The bystanders held their breath.

  He didn’t draw his blade, but something happened. The air shimmered between us, and I felt something change inside my body.

  Glancing down, I saw a thin red line forming diagonally across my chest as blood seeped up from a wound I hadn’t even seen coming. The Flawless Blade cut me in half without even moving. Without even drawing his blade

  It had been so fast that not even Cabbagy warned me.

  Unless…

  My master trusted me to take care of this by myself?

  Even if I couldn’t use his second form yet, I would do my best not to disappoint him.

  Blood manipulation stopped my body from sliding apart, and my soul larder fueled my regeneration, but really, the wound was so clean and precise that there was barely any healing required.

  Though they were far weaker, the Howling Spirit Monkeys caused more damage with each of their bites.

  In less than a second, my body was completely healed.

  “Nice cut,” I said genuinely. “Very impressive. I don’t suppose you're satisfied?”

  The Flawless Blade smiled at me.

  “Why would I be satisfied after finally finding an opponent worth drawing my blade?”

  “I figured it would be like that,” I said with a sigh. “Alright then, let’s —”

  The Flawless Blade stood behind me.

  I hadn’t even seen him move.

  He faced away from me and was slowly sheathing his blade.

  “Cut of the Four Winds,” he murmured reverently. “Let’s see if you can survive that.”

  As he finished talking, a huge wind kicked up and blasted dust and blades of grass high into the sky.

  The wind rushed through the crowd as bloody lines formed on my body. One from the crown of my head down to my groin, one from ear to ear, and two diagonal slices from my collarbones to my hips. Faster than the blink of an eye, he’d cut me four times.

  Once more, blood manipulation held my body together. I also used bone manipulation to keep my bones in place. The strain on my willpower wasn’t too great yet, and since the cuts were so smooth, my severed bones easily fit back into place.

  Healing my bones was usually a huge time sink, but this precise damage was actually quite easy to click together.

  The flesh in my soul larder dipped down, but I was still mostly full.

  After a few seconds, I turned to face the Flawless Blade. My clothes fell in tatters to the ground. Only the undergarments I’d borrowed from Deng preserved my dignity, but even they were sliced thinner.

  Though I’d been unable to react, I was beginning to get a sense of the rhythm that this fight might take, and a new plan formed in my mind.

  “Another great cut,” I said approvingly. “Or should I say four cuts? You’re clearly very skilled with a sword.”

  There was no trace of my wounds by the time the Flawless Blade turned around, and his eyes narrowed when he beheld my flawless, but naked form.

  “I felt your flesh part under my blade,” he said. “Your clothes lie in rags on the ground, yet there’s not a scratch on you.”

  I shrugged.

  “Maybe it’s a sign?”

  “A sign?”

  “A sign we shouldn’t fight.”

  He threw his head back and laughed. The sound had a wild edge to it, and the suppressed mortals began crawling away.

  “You dare to mock me?” the Flawless Blade said. “I will enjoy killing you.”

  I shrugged.

  “I think you’ll be disappointed if you try that.”

  “Enough! You are clearly skilled enough to deceive my blade, yet you carry no sword yourself, and haven’t even lifted a finger to attack me. Why?”

  I raised a finger. You know which finger.

  “You mean like this?”

  “Love it, kid!”

  I know it was stupid, but seeing the vein bulge in the Flawless Blade’s forehead was honestly pretty satisfying.

  “Blade of the One Man Army!” he shouted as he blurred past me.

  This time it wasn’t one, or four, but a hundred cuts that passed through my body. There was a brief pause as my brain was cut into a dozen pieces, but I held myself together long enough to heal and turn around.

  That attack took more of my flesh pool to regenerate, but I was still fine when the Flawless Blade saw me. Really, even after all his cuts, I’d barely used up any of my stockpiled blood.

  He shook his head.

  “I don’t understand,” he said. “I can feel that you have no cultivation, and your flesh offers no resistance to my blade. It’s like cutting down any fool, yet you remain standing.”

  I really didn’t want him to puzzle things out any further.

  “Maybe this is just a bad match-up?” I said. “I don’t think I can defeat you in a duel, but it doesn’t look like you can defeat me either. Let’s call it a draw?”

  “Boo,” called out Cabbagy. “Use my second style!”

  I shook my head.

  “It’s not worth trying to fight him,” I said to my master.

  The Flawless Blade cackled, but there was more than an edge of mania to the sound.

  “Fight me? You are weak; otherwise, you would have destroyed me as I have attempted to destroy you. The weak must fall before the strong, and there are none stronger than me! I am the Flawless Blade, and I will suffer no imperfections!”

  He lunged for me, blade drawn.

  I committed to my plan.

  Again and again, he sliced my body. Dust billowed up from how quickly he moved, his slashes cracking the air like a whip. My blood dripped, only for me to pull it back into my body with my willpower.

  The Flawless Blade’s attacks grew frenzied, sloppy, and his cuts attaining an edge of imperfection. While these crooked injuries were harder to heal, the difference between a sloppy cut from him and a straight one was so minuscule that I could still hold myself together relatively easily.

  I focused on healing myself as quickly as possible, using his attacks as a method of training. With each cut, I felt the way my regeneration worked, and I attained faster and finer control.

  The sky grew dark, and my flesh pool grew low, before the Flawless Blade finally stopped attacking.

  It took a lot to tire a Foundation Establishment cultivator, yet the Flawless Blade stood there heaving for air. His clothes were disheveled and sweat-stained. His sleek black hair was wild. His eyes were bloodshot as he stared at me with disbelief. I’d long lost my underwear and now stood nude and unmarred before him.

  The cool mountain air felt great on my body, though I was a little hungry.

  He shook his head, blinking hard, as though it might change what he saw.

  “How… how are you still standing?”

  I shrugged.

  “With my feet?”

  He screamed with ugly frustration as he gripped his blade with both hands.

  “If I can’t defeat you as a 9th Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, then I have no choice."

  That didn't sound good...

  Wind whipped around the Flawless Blade as his voice shook the air.

  "I'm going to break through to the next realm. See if you have the power to stand before my Blessed Core Formation cultivation!”

  2 hours later...

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