72 Fight For The Ranking (2/2)
”Fellow Brothers, what do you say we help you treat these nasty injuries? We are Pei Du and Huang Ten, from the Shinsoo-Medicine Pavilion...”
Bai Fulong nodded quickly, ”If you would be so kind...”
”Oh no, not at all. It's good practice for us. We Shinsoo-Medicine cultivators spend a lot of time here at the Star-Arenas, watching our fellow disciples fight. And for the lowly price of one middle grade spirit stone, I ensure you'll be back on your feet in a few hours!”
That was to be expected. When one's talent is valuable, an opportunity like that only made sense. Shin Sumi thought about Nuan who would heal every single one of her injuries just by being immersed in water. Had she been training alone, she would have refused Pei Du and Huang Ten's offer, but next to her Ken Duang was very pale and bloody.
”Here's for the both of us. Please treat us well!”
Shin Sumi tossed two spirit stones, one to each Shinsoo-Medicine disciple. In turn, the two boys bowed quickly and took out a small scroll from their bags of holding.
A very short incantation later, from the scroll appeared two carriers made from fabric. Much like a sick person would have to be transported laying down, the two disciples took care of Ken Duang and Bai Fulong.
”Wow, these things can fly?!” Shin Sumi was flabbergasted. Behind her carrier, Pei Du laughed.
”Yep! That's one of the perks of being part of the Shinsoo-Medicine Pavilion. They are low level flying artifacts turned into emergency carriers. Other than in battle they are basically useless and need a person to maneuver but it's still good for training.”
From far away, Shin Sumi had already seen flag-like flying artefacts at times, although she had never imagined they would be carrying a wounded disciple.
After a slow flight at low altitude, Pei Du and Ken Duang brought the fighters to their practice, a small two-rooms house with its own courtyard, at the foot of a mountain.
Using their divine sense, the apothecaries ascertained their physical condition by probing their bodies before finding the best remedy.
Shin Sumi in the body of Bai Fulong was already feeling much better, the backlash from expending too much Shinsoo already washing away. She was only prescribed a few herbal concoctions for bruises, and a Shinsoo-imbued piece of incense for better recuperation after her backlash.
Ken Duang was left to rest when Shin Sumi decided to leave, thanking the medicine branch disciples for their care.
Already feeling quite refreshed, she was impressed by the talent of the two young men. She had once been told that only those without much talent would choose to join the medicine branch and avoid fighting.
As it turned out, there were also high potential individuals, even among them.
***
Back in the privacy of her home and with her injuries fully healed, Shin Sumi decided to take out the Moon Stone.
If the amazing artefact full of Yin type Shinsoo would only last for another week at most, she had to make the most of it.
So far, the Shinsoo from the moon was the only thing that had allowed her to make some sort of progress with the Liquid Realm cultivation technique she had chosen, the Moon Severing Ephemeral Shadow. Thanks to the light of the moon and then the gifted moon stone, Shin Sumi had managed to go from a few cycles a day to almost a hundred!
She still wasn't able to circulate her energy according to the Moon Severing Ephemeral Shadow continuously, but it had become her primary way of accumulating the energy of nature. At least when it came to replenishing her energy levels after a fight, it was leagues above what she had been used to with other techniques.
Slowing down her breathing, Shin Sumi sat down, her legs crossed and her back straight, the Moon Stone in front of her radiating a pure white light all around.
With each cycle from the Moon Severing Ephemeral Shadow she imagined her Shinsoo passageways absorbing a little bit of the white light, adding another color to her golden apertures.
Immersed in meditation, time passed quickly. Only a sliver of Shin Sumi's divine sense was left outside, almost her entire being completely focused on circulating her energy. Had she been able to, she would have concentrated her whole mind to the task at hand, but it was more reasonable to stay attentive to the outside world.
Especially to her bag of holding and the identification jade people used to communicate with her. Thankfully nothing brought her out of her peaceful meditation session this time.
Slowly but surely, her ability to use the Moon Severing Ephemeral Shadow grew to the point where she could complete about a thousand cycles on the fourth day. She really understood why people would go into seclusion to cultivate. Contrarily to how one would train their physical body by using their muscles a bit each passing day, training the spirit was more effective when done in one sitting.
Over the course of the week, Shin Sumi had to wake up from her almost trance-like state only three times to go follow the teachings of the different Pavilions she was part of. It wasn't an obligation on her part, cultivating and training had always been left completely to the disciples to arrange.
Nevertheless, with the rankings coming up soon and leading to the Cross Branch Arena, she was curious to see if some tension had risen.
In the large training room of the Star-Sword Pavilion, Shin Sumi as Bai Fulong was picking up a wooden sword when a tap on her shoulder turned her around. A middle aged man whose name she didn't know was holding a wooden spear in his hand. He seemed almost embarrassed to ask, although his eyebrows were trying hard to stay firmly slanted downwards.
”Is he afraid of fighting me?” Shin Sumi asked herself, resisting the temptation to shake her head and laugh at his pitiful appearance.
”Brother Bai, I-I would li-like to challenge you to an amicable fight. What do you say, young man?”
Shin Sumi eyed the man up and down. Under Bai Fulong's gaze, it was clear that the disciple was quite frightened. A few steps behind, four of five other disciples were watching, trying not to be too obvious about their curiosity.
”Sure! Let's have a good practice fight.”
Bai Fulong's reply scared the challenger who had to take a full second to calm down and bow in return.
Standing sideways with her sword slightly raised, Shin Sumi relaxed her knees. This was the posture she was feeling the most comfortable in for a fight. It wasn't really practical to use in a real fight that could start in the most unexpected manner but for a duel it felt right to her.
Deciding to take the first step forward, Bai Fulong launched the first attack, a normal strike straight ahead. As soon as she moved, Shin Sumi was glad to see the face of her opponent completely change.
”Fighting lives in one's blood” she remembered one of Wan Jishun's teachings, ”only by having a sword in hand can you really tell one's will”.
Suddenly, the clumsy looking middle-aged man livened. By seeing a sword approaching in his direction, his blood seemed to churn and catch fire. Using a perfect technique, he parried Bai Fulong's attack effortlessly before launching a counter attack.
Having no trouble at all to follow Bai Fulong's rhythm, the man showed clearly that he had earned his place in the most selective Pavilion of the Dark Sky Starry Sect.
On the flip side, he only lacked a little in raw power, but his technique was definitely on par with the best.
Suddenly changing rhythm and speed, Shin Sumi blasted the man's sword away from his hand, the wooden tip of her blade ending against the man's heart.
”It looks like my win. It was a good fight, let's do that again sometime, alright brother? I would like to know your name.”
”M-My name?” The man had reverted to the shy person he was before the fight, his confidence surely blown away at the same time as his sword,” this humble one is Zaho Zhu.”
”Zaho Zhu, you're good! Your technique especially is great, I had trouble finding a flaw in your movement!”
Zaho Zhu tipped his head as a thanks, disbelieving the praise he had received. On the side, the five other disciples who had been watching all had their jaws to the floor.
Shin Sumi was really proud of herself. She had managed to avoid embarrassing the middle aged man while at the same time making sure to show everybody that she was a league above them.
Despite being aware of her talent as a cultivator, Shin Sumi didn't like to taunt her worth, afraid of being seen as full of herself like Jun Qian and the likes.
Now the five people who had been secretly waiting for a chance to challenge Bai Fulong knew there was no point in doing so. And the man who had challenged him had lost but with honor and even some praise from her.
She had even asked for his name, genuinely impressed by his technique and potential.
Glad to have resolved the situation in the best way possible, Shin Sumi didn't stay around for longer, by fear of seeing people slightly stronger than Zaho Zhu try to go after her too.
”The upcoming ranking has made everybody frantic. I guess it's a good thing for the sect as a whole, everyone trying their best to surpass their own limits... I hope it's not as bad in the Cloud-Formation Pavilion as it is here.”
The day after was indeed the scheduled day for the spirit formations training.
How could Shin Sumi know the situation would be even more hectic there than in the Star-Sword Pavilion ?!