51 First Duel and Many to Come (1/2)

”Rou Ming Yue! Chu Jian! Enter the arena!” the referee called her name along with her challenger, beckoning them.

She looked at the young man opposite of her. Well dressed and holding a fan in his hands, he looked more like a noble than a fighter. In truth, he is a disciple of the Soft Willow Sect, one that specialized in illusions and other mystical attacks.

”Don't blame me for challenging you, there weren't many choices”, he spoke elegantly.

”It does not matter, there is bound to be someone to challenge me,” she responded.

The both of them stared at each other, cupping their fists and bowing.

”Begin!”

Ming Yue took her stance, gripping the handle of her sword, still sheathed. The moment she made a move, she almost disappeared from her spot, turning into a blur. Chu Jian was not prepared for her swiftness and before he could make a move, she was already behind him.

”Fast!” he thought, quickly dodging her attack.

If he was late by the slightest, he would have lost.

”It looks like this will not be as easy as I thought” he said, opening his fan.

It was not some normal fan but a bladed one and by the looks of it, the sharpness was undeniable.

Ming Yue did not give him much time to recover and attacked once more. However, Chu Jian held hid fan up, deflecting the strike and making an opening. He returned the attack by thrusting his fan forth, aimed at her throat. She backed away from him, evading the attack.

”Seven Stars!”

Chu Jian exclaimed, creating six copies of his bladed fan, circling them around him. With several hand motions, he controlled them, surrounding the her with the seven fans.

”Is this an illusion?” she thought, this was the first time she had encountered something like this.

She did her best to defend against the attack but was struck several times. She could not discern which was real and which was fake. Most of the time, she had attacked the air. This frustrated her as she could not find a way to break out of this onslaught. Anymore of this and she could lose. Meanwhile, Chu Jian seemed slightly unwell, most likely this technique drained him and he could not maintain it for much longer. This could quickly turn into a battle of endurance but Ming Yue did not want to expend any more of her energy.

She needed some destructive power to escape. Knowing this, she chose to try out this technique that had been created from her training over her ever-changing dao of wind. Coating the sword with wind, she enlarged it creating a thick blade of wind that encapsulated her blade. Triple in size, it might not be a silent strike but it was extremely powerful. Wielding the massive blade of wind, she struck down the formation. As if a furious storm had struck the arena, brutal winds erupted from her attack.