45 Sparring: a foreign concep (1/2)

Fwooosh! Qin Li retaliated with a horizontal slash, his axe shone with a neon shade of green like the leaves of a mature daffodil plant in spring time.

With sweat pouring off his forehead he pushed his speed to new limits, turned on the ball of his right foot and reversed the grip on his battle axe, the double bladed weapon with each blade the shape of a half moon transitioned into a diagonal uppercut strike from low-left to high-right bringing swirling winds and a dust cloud spinning like a cyclone around him.

The move looked majestic but the opponent stepped to the right and with another forward step with wind fluttering his robes, he was through the beautiful slash.

As Qin Li was almost at the end of this strike and planning his next strike, a silver flash with microscopic precision hit the handle of his axe.

The force of the counter strike caused Qin li to over rotate 180 degrees, stumble and expose his defenseless back to the opponent and that was when Hartley landed a kick right on his butt sending him sprawling among the shrubbery, losing his axe in the fall as it clanged away across the floor and into the shrubbery.

Qin Li stood up with a puzzled look, blades of grass were in his mouth, knotted in his hair and falling from his body making him look like a disheveled forest elf.

”Your moves are too fancy, too much useless movement and unnecessary flair, it leaves massive gaps and if your opponent is quick enough you won't have a chance to recover. I'll give you this though, if we were on a performing stage in a drinking house you would probably get the first prize but in a real life and death battle you would probably lose your head”

Hartley had a mocking smile on his face while he critiqued Qin Li's battle style. It has to be known that Hartley was only using his layer 2 xiantian physical to compete with Qin Li, who was also a 2nd layer expert.

Qin Li forced an embarrassed smile, ”this is how we were taught, everyone in the....” before Qin Li could finish Hartley retorted ”what you were taught is an artistic performance not suited for life and death. sure you would probably trounce challengers at or below your level but you would be easy pickings for anyone even slightly above your level. On this journey you might have to face opponents a little stronger than yourself as you found out with the water element xiantian expert on the main road that routed you within one exchange.”

Hartley now had even a bigger more mocking smile on his face.

Qin Li's shoulders sank in depression, Hartley couldn't help but laugh out loud when he saw the lifeless look on Qin Li's face, it was as if someone just learned that something they regarded as a priceless treasure turned out to be nothing but horse shit..excuse me.. horse manure.

Hartley had come to respect the hard work and dedication of the 30 years old Qin Li, he had taken every opportunity to cultivate, everyday he gulped down his meals in two bites and went back to cultivating which really irked Zhi Ruo. After she prepares her meals she expects to hear compliments of how delicious the food was and Hartley never disappointed but this vagabond Qin Li would gulp down his food and go back to cultivate without a single word. Sometimes Zhi Ruo would turn her nose to the heavens and harrumph in dissatisfaction but that didn't bother Qin Li in the least.