The Way of the Sword

Nine pairs of duelists took their positions across the wide plaza. Su Yue faced off against her strong challenger amidst it all. Her eyes flickered from side to side, not quite meeting her opponent's. Chen Wentian's words had given her reassurance but that was rapidly disappearing the longer she stood alone.

Su Yue rarely ever fought alone. She couldn't remember the last time she fought without her twin. It had been years since she had fought without her elder sisters. The sisterhood cherished the twins and protected them as the babies of the group.

"Duelists, are you ready? You each have five minutes to defeat your opponent!" Yang Kaitian instructed.

Su Yue's heart pounded. Her ears were filled with buzzing noise from the crowd and from her own nervousness. The eyes of the subcontinent were on her. They would judge her performance and her ability. Her strength would also be a testament to her master's strength, his capability as a sect master.

She didn't know if she would end up letting him down. She didn't want to let her sisters down.

"Begin!"

She couldn't let herself down either.

Sha!

A column of pale-white ice appeared in her right hand, quickly forming into a slender longsword. It emitted a sharp, frigid aura that froze the air around it, creating an icy haze around the blade.

Su Yue twirled the blade around once and went into a sword stance, ready for battle, her sword held above her head and pointing toward her opponent.

Peng Junqi sneered and drew his two short swords. He held them backward in his hands and went into a fighting stance.

"Little lass, this is the Convocation of Swords. This is for life-long sword cultivators, not for frigid nuns like you!"

Su Yue shook. Her nervousness was overtaken by a sudden surge of anger. As a past disciple of Glacial Palace, she hated being called that. It was something derogatory commonly spouted by their rivals like the Tower of Swords.

She threw caution aside and rushed forward. She brandished her ice sword with both hands and went into the first stance of the Glacial Sword, the standard sword style of all disciples of Glacial Palace.

"Hyah!" She shouted, slashing downward with a surge of strength.

Ka!

Steel clashed against ice, sending glittering crystals of ice everywhere. Peng Junqi had easily blocked her upfront attack and was looking to land a counter with his other sword.

Su Yue retreated two steps and continued her attack, slicing and stabbing with well-practiced ease and strength that was more than befitting of her cultivation.

"Ha!"

"Yah!"

Su Yue continued to press forward, driving her momentum until it was finally expended.

Pang!

Her ice sword was blown away by her opponent's two swords together, denying her final attack.

She disengaged to take stock of the situation, breathing heavily due to the prior exertion. She had been able to push Peng Junqi backward ten steps but that was it. The Glacial Sword was the sword style she knew best but it was something meant for the Body Refinement Realm and the Mind Focusing Realm only. She had never even bothered to practice Dugu's 10th Sword because she was too busy trying to catch up to her sisters with Summer and Winter's Eternal Sutra.

"Heh." Peng Junqi chuckled, "Is that all? I haven't fought against the Glacial Sword in three decades but it is just as weak as I remembered it."

He twirled his twin swords, holding them forward in his hands, and went into a neutral stance. "But I've shown many frigid nuns over years what a true sword art looks like. Watch closely my Sword of the Gallant Gentleman. If you blink, you might lose your life!"

As he finished speaking, he shot forward. His speed was a notable degree faster than Su Yue. He arrived before her in half a breath and his sword flashed.

Su Yue leaped backward as the attack swept past where her feet had been. At the same time, his other sword swung down at her head.

Kang!

Steel struck ice, the force behind the impact sending her backward.

Out of balance, Su Yue stumbled several steps before managing to find stable ground. She was given no time to rest as Peng Junqi's next attack followed behind her.

Thus began an awkward and embarrassing sequence as Su Yue was forced every which way. Sometimes she would end up tripping and almost falling. Other times, she would flail around to defend against attacks that disappeared from one direction only to reappear in the opposite direction.

The Sword of the Gallant Gentleman was a controlling sword style. Born out of natural human movements as well as traditional dances, it was a sword that specialized in controlling the flow of a duel, much like a man controlled the flow of a dance.

Peng Junqi looked like he was enjoying himself as he drove Su Yue across the dueling platform, making her move on his whims, humiliating her lack of sword skills as he pleased. He had even begun to nip at her robes, making small cuts here and there so that she looked more and more ragged as the fight dragged on.

It was when one of those swords came dangerously close to her face that Su Yue finally lost control. On pure instinct, she activated the 3rd Stage of Winter's Snow Dance, Frozen Carapace.

A surge of yin energy burst out, covering half of her face in smooth white ice. That wasn't all as a jagged ice crystal blossomed on her cheek, connecting with the incoming blade and freezing it in place. Now, not only was she protected from harm, Peng Junqi couldn't even pull his sword back.

"You can't do that!" Peng Junqi shouted, "Judge! Judge!"

Another surge of spiritual separated the two of them and the judge of their duel landed in the middle. The middle-aged man studied Su Yue's half-frozen state and shook his head slowly.

"Su Yue of Ten Thousand Flower Valley, this ice art you have just used is unrelated to swords in any way. You are allowed to use any kind of cultivation art to improve your speed, agility, strength, and constitution. But all attacking and defending moves must be done by the way of the sword and this…" He pointed to the ice that still remained across her body. "Is against the rules of the Convocation of Swords and this challenge tournament"

"But…" She protested weakly.

Ignoring her, the judge turned to Peng Junqi with a strange expression, "However, since it is the first infraction, it will be a little unfair if the duel were to end like this.

"What?" Peng Junqi spat, clearly expecting a different answer.

He had been hoping for the ultimate humiliation, for Su Yue to be kicked off the stage for breaking the rules. He had no idea why this judge was deciding so arbitrarily.

The judge was uncaring. "You two still have over two minutes of the duel remaining. Please continue!"

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