Longwei sighed, stood up slowly, and started walking towards Lai. He moved with a lazy slouch that somehow felt dangerous.
"So, what is your name?" asked Lai as he shifted his feet, getting into a serious attacking stance.
"Long- yeah, Long."
"Nice meeting you, Long."
Lai rushed with a full swing, putting his waist and shoulders into the blow. The staff whistled through the air, and hit nothing. Lai blinked his eyes in confusion. The place where Longwei had been standing a fraction of a second ago was empty now.
"Over here," signaled Longwei from directly behind him.
Lai spun around, startled. "When did you- That's quite the speed you possess, Long. Are you a Speed Venerable?" he asked, swiftly resetting his guard. His eyes darted around, calculating. "But qi shouldn't be working around here," he muttered to himself.
He rushed once more. And once again, he found his eyes widening in shock as Longwei disappeared from his vision and reappeared behind him.
I was thoroughly enjoying the show.
Longwei chuckled darkly. "Alright, I won't move now. I promise."
Lai got frustrated. He attacked again, this time unleashing a stream of strikes. The staff was a blur of motion. Yet, every single strike was countered by Longwei with just one hand. He swatted the heavy metal aside as if it were a twig, stepping backward casually as Lai pressed forward with increasing desperation.
"Smooth movement," said Longwei in between parries. "Footwork's shabby though."
In the middle of Lai's combo, Longwei dropped his level and swooped Lai from his feet by kicking him sharply on the ankles.
Lai lost his balance instantly and fell down face-first into the dirt. He grunted in anger, scrambling to his knees.
Longwei stood there and actually offered his hand. "Wanna go once more?"
Lai ignored the hand and scrambled backward, his face red with exertion and humiliation. He prepared for a single, decisive strike. With whatever strength he could muster, he lunged upward with his staff, aiming a strike that carried all his remaining power toward Longwei's head.
Longwei didn't dodge. Not even his whole hand. He simply raised a single finger.
The staff collided with the finger. A gust of wind blasted outward from the point of impact, kicking up dust all over the field and blowing my hair back. The staff stopped dead.
"Impossible," exclaimed Lai, his eyes bulging.
"Good night," said Longwei.
He slapped Lai across the face with enough force to knock him unconscious instantly. Lai fell down with a heavy thud and didn't move.
"That. Was. Awesome!!" clapped Yanyin, bouncing on her toes as she walked over to Longwei.
He patted her on the head gently, then his demeanor shifted back to its usual arrogance as he walked over to us. He crossed his arms, looking down at our battered group.
I knew some kind of snarky remark was on its way from him, so I turned my head away, refusing to make eye contact. "Whatever it is, don't say it."
"Pathetic," he said, nodding sideways.
"There it is."
"And you graduated from Tianlan? Either Tianlan has lost its credibility or you all just suck."
We got up, groaning from the pain in our limbs and the bruise on our egos. "That was a venerable, you know," I said, trying to defend myself as I dusted off my clothes.
"Let's go in now!" said Yanyin, pulling on Longwei's sleeve, her excitement undiminished by the violence.
Just then, a heavy grinding sound echoed through the field, vibrating deep in our chests. The noise was loud enough to halt our breath as we all turned in unison. The massive iron gates to the prison began to groan open. Slowly, they parted to reveal the darkness within, from which emerged a tall, solitary figure. It was a woman, appearing to be in her early forties, stepping out into the light with a smooth calm.
Even though she was dressed in basic, unadorned robes, there was nothing simple about her presence. Her clothing was precise and meticulous to the point of obsession. Every fold of fabric seemed engineered, draping without a single wrinkle or stray thread. Her appearance was even more unsettling. Her hair was parted exactly down the middle, combed to a glossy, unnatural perfection. It felt like watching a doll or a fake person. Like someone who was constructed rather than born, solely due to that uncanny symmetry.
"That's Aunt Hua!" Yanyin cried out, as she pointed at the woman. In a split second, she shrunk back, annoyed. "I don't like her. Please make her go to sleep just like Brother Lai."
"Why not?" Longwei replied casually, patting her gently on the back.
Aunt Hua walked toward us with her head held high, radiating a clear look of lazy and bored arrogance. She moved fluidly, looking at us as if she wouldn't take more than a moment to kick our asses before returning to her tea. That look obviously pissed me off. To be honest, I don't think I wouldn't have been pissed off even if she didn't give us that look. Some people just have those facial features, you know? The kind that makes your blood boil instantly because the words 'You're beneath me' seem written on their faces in bold, capital letters. Longwei had the exact same face.
Her feet finally stood still a few yards away. She didn't look at us initially. Instead, her gaze drifted down to Lai, who was sleeping on the ground like a helpless baby.
"Lai has never lost a battle before," she spoke with her voice smooth and devoid of shock. "You all must be pretty strong to manage that."
"We are," I said, stepping forward with a surge of pride. I made sure to meet her gaze. "It didn't even take us a minute to do that to him, and he's a Venerable. Unless you're one too, I suggest you turn around and scoot."
"Is that so?" She chuckled as her eyes shifted to the little girl hiding behind Longwei. "Poor Yanyin. Never in a million years would I have thought she'd do something like this."
She offered Yanyin a warm smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. It seemed more like a warning. "As a gesture of kindness, for knowing you so long, I will not hurt you, child. But as for the rest of you..." Her expression flattened into cold indifference. "It really is a shame you all must die this early. You all seem so young."
Qinyue scoffed, stepping up beside me. "Even Lai wasn't this cocky," she spat. "I can already see you shoving your own words down your throat."
Aunt Hua didn't waste another moment on banter. Her lips began to move, chanting in some strange tongue that scraped against the ears. Almost instantly, her eyes began to glow a menacing and glowing red. The atmosphere shifted violently. The clouds above, previously calm, turned abruptly dark and began swirling into a vortex. The wind around us picked up, howling as it grew stronger by the second, whipping dust and debris.
Yanyin shrieked, clutching Longwei's robes in fear.
"Qi isn't supposed to work here, right?!" Jian shouted over the roaring wind, looking around frantically. "Did Wan miscalculate the interval?!"
"I don't know!" I answered, raising an arm to cover my eyes from the stinging dust and wind. "But he seemed so confident!"