The next morning was warm, clear. There wasn't so much as a single cloud on the horizon. Wu Hao opened his eyes, revelling in the sensation of being fully rested even though he'd gotten maybe three hours of sleep, at best.

  Qi was fantastic. He'd missed it so much more than he'd thought, like a lost limb that had grown back.

  He stretched, feeling muscles pop in pleasant ways. The bandit saber leaned against the side of the bed, and he took it up with a single hand, not the two hands that he'd needed to use to lift it before. It still didn't feel light, but now he could actually wield it, and there was still the same heft as it swung through the air.

  Good.

  The servant had barely knocked on the door to notify Wu Hao that training would begin in an hour, but he'd already cleaned himself, dressed in that same shredded tunic they'd given him a week ago. The man's eyes shifted oddly, and while Wu Hao would've appreciated knowing what he was thinking, there was no qi there to read.

  He knew the way, and he knew what'd happen. There was a slight spring in his step that surprised even him, and he arrived at the stone plaza far earlier than he usually would have, finding barely anyone there yet except Yi Wei.

  They said nothing to each other until the others arrived. Wu Hao still felt annoyed at the ways she'd tried to needle him and her presumption to save him the last time this fight had happened. She didn't seem to know what to make of him, but the impression he'd made on her of surprising power seemed to have been dying out. The caution and the vague respect were fading, and soon they'd be gone entirely.

  She'd see soon enough, though.

  Training began as it usually did. Wu Hao tried to keep his performance to what it had been, but it was honestly a struggle to try and not rush through the exercises, easy as they now all seemed. Jin Qilong gave him looks once in a while, but didn't say anything. He might've simply not realized what had happened, or maybe he'd remembered he'd decided to be disgruntled with Wu Hao.

  All of that faded into the background the moment that Shan Kong stepped up to the stone ring, where all the challenges were held.

  When Shan Kong pointed his saber at Wu Hao, it was to find Wu Hao's saber already clear of its sheathe and aimed right back at him. Wu Hao didn't even bother to try and act surprised.

  There was no time to lose, so Wu Hao spoke before Shan Kong could.

  "I'm challenging you," Wu Hao said.

  The other boy's fingers spasmed at the hilt of his saber, and the expression of hate that he wore whenever he saw Wu Hao ground itself into an angry scowl.

  "I accept," Shan Kong growled. "Get up here, peasant."

  Taking a very deliberate care not to show off, Wu Hao moved up to the stone ring. He could've easily jumped it in a single bound now that he had his qi back, but Shan Kong didn't know that. Probably.

  And if he didn't, that was something that could be exploited. Wu Hao'd done it before, and he found that he rather enjoyed the thought of Shan Kong falling for more or less the same trick as when Wu Hao had beaten him last time.

  This time, Jin Qilong didn't attempt to stop him. He didn't bother holding Wu Hao back, instead just watching him with an odd expression.

  "You sure he'll survive?" Yi Wei asked. She hadn't bothered to muffle her voice much, but even if she had, Wu Hao's enhanced hearing could've picked it up easily enough.

  Jin Qilong let out a soft laugh. "Shan Kong? I doubt it."

  "What?" she asked, her eyes narrowing into a frown, but Jin Qilong said nothing in response, just smiling. Wu Hao had his doubts about how long this improved version of Jin Qilong would last, but it was welcome as long as it did.

  Yu Xiong reached the platform in a single bound, barely appearing to have landed except for the small puff of air that pulled slightly at their legs.

  "Wu Hao has challenged you to a duel," he said. His tone was odd, though, and in his qi Wu Hao read a pleased confusion. "Do you accept?"

  "Yes," Shan Kong said. Louder, he continued: "I'll show him his place."

  Yi Wei might have jeered something from the side but Wu Hao ignored her. Instead, he raised his saber with both hands, trying to emulate how he'd been without qi in his system. Shan Kong's eyes narrowed.

  "Begin!" Yu Xiong declared, and disappeared in a short step backwards that saw him touch down at the edge of the ring.

  Immediately, saber smashed into saber. Neither of them had been willing to try and cede the first move, and now both sabers rattled loudly as they were drawn back for another blow. Wu Hao moved sideways, beginning an attempt to circle the other boy.

  "Wasted effort," Shan Kong sneered. "Let me show you what real talent looks like."

  His qi twisted deeper in on itself, more bursting from his core to bubble and roil, until it beaded down to the saber in Shan Kong's hands.

  "Ocean Devil's Teeth Art," Shan Kong roared. "Wave Cutter!"

  "That's a Sky-tier Art!" Jin Qilong shouted. "Wu Hao, get -"

  Grim victory flashed in the other boy's eyes as his saber swung outwards, the edge sweeping out with those buzz-sawing spikes of qi that would shred Wu Hao's skin. In those eyes Wu Hao could see that fury that he'd even made Shan Kong bother with this, elation to see that the technique was working, and a bloody glee that Wu Hao was about to be cut down.

  Wu Hao exhaled the breath he'd been holding, already having unchained his own qi in response. White-and-black qi exploded out from his core, forming into tight loops that swirled through Wu Hao's meridians and entwined tightly, forming into a single strand that poured into the bandit's saber. It glowed, once, and then Wu Hao answered Shan Kong's Sky-tier technique with one of his own.

  "Storm-Cutting Saber Art," Wu Hao roared. "Tempest Slash!"

  There was a shiver in the air as Wu Hao's qi twisted upon itself further. A flash of qi gleamed across the bandit's saber, resounding with a loud snap, and then it too began to buzz loudly.

  The two buzzing sabers met in the space between Wu Hao and Shan Kong, qi-enhanced steel smashing against qi-enhanced steel. The force that resulted felt utterly immense. The sound was like nothing Wu Hao had ever heard, like two beasts roaring in his ears as he was nearly pushed back off his feet by the fury of the impact.

  But one of those beasts was his, and he poured more and more qi into his saber as he reinforced the technique again.

  Then more, still.

  The Storm-Cutting Saber Art had been what he'd received from being killed by the guards. He'd sought them out twice more before he'd stumbled upon the idea to rob the library, meaning he now had three moves unlocked in total, one for each fragment, and while he hadn't made much of an attempt to study the moves since, he still knew them like the back of his hand.

  "What the fuck -" someone shouted from the sidelines, but the rest was lost in the fury of the screaming sabers and the shouts of surprise.

  Shan Kong's face had gone bloodless with tight, impossible fury as his pinprick eyes stared at Wu Hao. Both of their hands were shaking, and the seawater sting of Shan Kong's qi went wild as the other boy began to be forced back. Wu Hao's qi was more concentrated, more powerful, more skillfully wielded.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Wu Hao grinned, holding the bandit's saber with two hands, and began to really push himself.

  His core released yet more qi. He'd already pumped almost as much qi into the Tempest Slash than he'd had at his disposal when the limiter had been active, and there was still more that he could give. The black and white rippled through his veins, sending power throughout his body. There was a slight pain with every movement, but nothing compared to the pain of having his limiter shattered.

  The keening of the two buzzing sabers increased in pitch and in volume as Wu Hao pushed Shan Kong back, slowly. The other boy's hands shook with the effort of trying to keep himself steady, but it didn't work.

  Finally Shan Kong's defenses crumbled, all at once. His saber dropped away as he retreated and Wu Hao's saber lanced out, sweeping an arc through the air that cut at Shan Kong. The other boy gave a small grunt of pain that resounded loudly in the sudden silence.

  Wu Hao pulled his saber back, letting the silence hang for just a moment more. Then, on the long cut that he'd inflicted on Shan Kong's arm, blood began to well up.

  Shan Kong glanced at it, eyes wide as his mouth worked to try and say something. He stumbled back another step, as if he was drunk, eyes glued to his arm. A small tear had been riven into his saber, but Shan Kong couldn't seem to rip his eyes away from the blood beading down his arm.

  "No," he managed. "No!"

  His face snapped back to Wu Hao, whose grip tightened on his own saber. "I'll kill you, you fucking peasant!"

  Wu Hao raised the saber again into the setup position of the Storm-Cutting Saber Art.

  "Try me," he said, weighed his words carefully, and threw caution to the wind yet again. "Bitch."

  Shan Kong howled something indistinct and leapt at Wu Hao, oodles of qi forming at his feet that twisted into patterns and launching him forward like an arrow loosed from a bow. His saber buzzed again as his qi began to spin into the patterns required for his technique, and when he reappeared and the blur that he'd become, it was ready to cleave Wu Hao straight in two.

  "Ocean Devil's Teeth Art," Shan Kong hissed again. "Water Cutter!"

  A long, spiralling cut of water lashed out along the saber's edge, extending it further and biting deep into the stone as it roared forward.

  But Wu Hao had activated his own approximation of a movement technique. He hadn't had the time to try the Dragon Ascending Gate Art yet, so instead he instinctively fell back on something that he knew worked. The extra qi that he pumped into the technique sent him soaring into the air, rising three times his own height or more, turning slowly in the air as he reached the apex of his jump.

  Qi blazed along his arms again, reassuring in its sheer weight and the familiar pain, and he forced qi to the soles of his feet. The pure power concentrating there burned, and he could feel shivers run up his spine and blood vessels pop under the sudden pressure, but he detonated it all the next instant and sent himself not just falling down but downright rocketing back to the ground at an angle.

  This time, it was he who'd become an arrow. One aimed at Shan Kong, who looked up when the realization hit him. The fear hit a second later, and the other boy tried to raise his sword in an attempt to block the impact. But Wu Hao had all the force of a mounted soldier at full tilt, and his saber was the lance.

  "Storm-Cutting Saber Art," Wu Hao roared. "Lightning Bolt!"

  The saber rattled in his hand, but his grip was iron and his course was set. The wind shrieked in his ears and then he smashed into Shan Kong with the head of the saber first. He tore into the other boy in a frenzy of movement, crashing into him and then rolling together into a tangle of limbs that dug furrows into the stone until Shan Kong slammed, back-first, into one of the pillars to the side of the arena.

  His senses shook, his fingers went numb, and he fought for a moment just to get control over his body again. When he did, he stared straight into the quaking eyes of Shan Kong.

  Wu Hao's saber had broken through Shan Kong's hasty guard. Having kept the saber steady throughout the crash landing, he found himself with its tip directly hovering above Shan Kong's heart.

  "Stop!" Yu Xiong roared. "The duel is over!"

  Acting as quickly as he could, Wu Hao's hand took hold of the rings on the back of the saber, while his other hand held it steady. Its tip stuck deep into Shan Kong's chest, but that was the problem: it was stuck there, caught on some sort of underarmor that the other boy was wearing. Shan Kong's eyes met Wu Hao's and what he saw there was terror.

  Pouring more qi into his muscles, Wu Hao stopped the quaking of his hands with exhaustion and forced the tip down, bearing down on it with all his weight.

  The tip cracked against the underarmor. Another gleam spread over the edge of the bandit's saber, much less bright this time, and the snap was far less loud, too. It buzzed softly at first, and then Wu Hao pumped what qi he had left into the technique. He'd wasted too much on the earlier strikes, unused to the sheer consumption of the Storm-Cutting Saber techniques.

  But even if he didn't have enough for a full-on technique, he could still use the same principles. He forced his qi into something like the same pattern that he'd used to activate the technique earlier, and his qi began to wind itself up, twisting into something sharp that would cut through the armor and rip out Shan Kong's heart.

  Out the corner of his eye though he noticed a vague blur rushing towards him and raised the bandit's saber just in time, blocking the sudden giant hunk of steel that blasted him away. His feet skidded across the stone floor, catching on one of the tiles that he'd cracked open earlier with his landing and nearly sending him ass over head.

  He remained standing, but it took him some effort, and by the time he'd raised his head again, Yu Xiong had already gathered Shan Kong into his arms. His saber had been planted firmly into the stone, until he tore it out again with one hand and kept it next to Shan Kong's body, both cradled in his arms.

  "I'll bring Shan Kong to the infirmary," he said, but his eyes bore into Wu Hao. "He may still survive this. We will discuss this at a later date. Class dismissed."

  Yu Xiong's figure flickered again, and then he was gone, reappearing with another flicker half a building away. In his haste, though, he left a trail of blood. Wu Hao studied it, wondering if maybe he should finish off Shan Kong, but stopped.

  He'd won. If it'd turned out that he hadn't quite won as much as he'd needed to, he'd do this again.

  Oddly enough, he was looking forward to smashing Shan Kong again. It might even prove to be cathartic.

  Wu Hao exhaled, inhaled, exhaled again. He stared at where Shan Kong had gone, and finally he raised his saber up to where Yu Xiong had disappeared to.

  "Next time," he said. "I'll kill you."

  With that said, he turned away. All eyes were on him now, all of the students struggling to think of what to say.

  "Come on," he told Jin Qilong, who at least wasn't gaping like the others were. He had a helpless smile instead, even though from his qi Wu Hao could tell he was just as astounded as the rest had been. "Let's get to that meeting, young master."