Chapter 24: Give Up?

Chapter 24: Give Up?

With his sister on his right, Paike slowly shuffled to the left in a circle. Staying true to his training, he never crossed his feet. This pattern continued for several seconds while the combatants sized each other up after their initial clash.

Every once in a while, at random intervals, a beam of light flashed toward Lan Zhu’s face or body. Despite the sheer speed, it was stopped by a flicker of one of the two vines protruding from the edges of her robe. He couldn’t tell if any lasting damage was being done, but it was at least forcing her to keep some attention diverted to blocking.

As the siblings methodically flanked their dangerous opponent, Paike darted in without warning, his staff swinging. He didn’t have any special technique—just simply gripped down low and twisted from the hips, aiming to smash through any block. At the same time, from the other side, his sister darted in, not to attack but to catch their opponent if she tried to dodge. She ducked, dipping under the swing that Paike had intentionally overextended.

Just as she was about to come up and deliver a counter, Liming kicked the back of Lan Zhu’s leg right at the moment she was most off-balance, sending her stumbling. Paike swung the staff all the way around, using his extra momentum.

This time, when the lance of Starfire slammed into her, it hit her shoulder and sent her spinning. Then Paike’s follow-up blow arrived in full force. The stick smashed on an upraised forearm and he heard a loud crack as bone met wood. He wasn’t sure if her arm broke, but that had to have hurt.

The vine tendrils caught her tumble after several meters and pushed her back upright before Liming could capitalize. Liming stopped just outside of her reach and started to circle behind while she waited for Paike to catch up. Lan Zhu straightened the rest of the way; she shook out her arm as if it was numb and clearly hurting. Paike met her eyes and moved in a way that forced her to keep them on him.

“I didn’t expect—” she started to say, but Liming came from behind, sending a punch into the small of her back, causing her to stumble forward. The Kong family didn’t believe in letting their opponents talk in a fight. It was a distraction and should be taken advantage of. That training had been drilled into them their entire lives.

Paike let go of the staff with one hand and palm-struck the stumbling girl’s chest right at her sternum, sending her flying backward into a second strike from Liming.

This time, she was ready, spinning with the blow and using another technique to jump off the air briefly. A small green leaf materialized from nothing and then faded as her foot left the spot to get some distance. As she spun in the air, a foot flashed out. Liming caught the strike on her crossed forearms with only a wince. Clearly, Lan Zhu was off balance as it held only the fraction of the force that she was capable of imparting.

Another arrow flew right as she landed, but another vine intercepted this one.

“Mm, rude,” Lan Zhu said, but the Kong siblings didn’t respond. There were times for taunts in fights, in conversation, and in banter, but only when it was to their advantage. That was taught after the instinct to pounce on any opportunities that talking opponents gave them. Usually, when an opponent tried to taunt and speak, staying silent had a better chance of putting them off guard than engaging in banter.

They had been trained for this, and the two siblings worked as a well-practiced team, intentionally making sure that their blind spots were covered and capitalized on any openings. It was like they were a single, talented martial artist.

One of them would come in and present an opening, overextend. This would bait out a predictable response, allowing the other to take advantage. They were only able to do this because of the trust between them, as one wrong read could leave one of them in a tenuous position. Despite their coordination, Paike thought they needed to train more. He was not aware enough of Liming’s techniques and was often unable to give her a full opening to use her own techniques as effectively as she could. All he could really do was hit hard.

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Paike would have liked to say that the fight continued on this way, the two of them slowly battering their opponent down with tactics and numbers without really taking much risk themselves. But that would not have done their opponent enough credit. The next time he got close, a cloud of spores erupted from her mouth as she blew in his face, blocking his strike. Liming went at her from either side and he had moved in, but he was sent back, reeling and coughing, as he felt her qi attempt to seep into his channels.

In a rare turn of events, Paike was thankful that his qi moved so slowly. He had recognized this effect a few times with toxins and poisons, but never so directly. He simply had time to halt the cycle and expel the little bit of qi attempting to poison him before it got to a vital part of his cultivation. In contrast, an ordinary cultivator might have cycled it into their core before even noticing the poison or being able to react.