The Shadow of Nine Lives; Winning the Spar!

After he finished eating, Xiao Ying went to stand beside Dan.

"So, where, exactly, are we going to spar?" He asked him.

"Oh, we have a training room for that. It's reinforced so that we don't destroy anything, and it also has wooden practice weapons and dummies." Dan explained.

"Oh, okay. I guess I'll follow you?"

"Yeah, follow me. I'll show you where it's at."

After their brief conversation, Dan led Xiao Ying to the training room.

"Welcome. This is our training room." Dan explained when they first reached the room.

It was a big white room. There were wooden weapons on the wall, as well as metal ones, for practice.

Toward one side of the room, there was a row of wooden practice dummies that looked worn out, as if they had been used for countless years.

"There are weapons over there, and here, in the middle, is where we'll have our little spar." Dan said as they stepped into the room.

"Go and familiarize yourself with the weapon of your choice." He continued.

Xiao Ying walked straight up to the wooden dagger hanging on the wall and picked it up. He then walked up to a wooden dummy and swung the dagger about a few times.

Since the system had transferred the knowledge of Dagger Arts into his mind as well as into his body, he naturally knew how to use the dagger.

The only thing he was lacking was practical experience. So in other words, he had the theory of it down, he just needed the experience of fighting and knowing what to do during the fight.

Xiao Ying made his way into the middle of the room to begin the spar.

Occupying his vision, was a panel. He received a quest it seemed.

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Quest received!:

First Spar!

Quest Details:

Win your first spar!

Quest Rewards:

4 stat points

Combat experience

20 experience points toward next level

1 skill point

Quest Failure Consequences:

Host's pride is trampled on

Host loses

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Closing the panel and looking ahead, he noticed Dan hadn't chosen a weapon yet.

"Are you not going to pick a weapon?" Xiao Ying inquired.

"These," Dan held up his fists, "are my weapons."

Continuing, he said, "Let's start on the count of 3."

Xiao Ying nodded.

"3….."

"2….."

Xiao Ying tensed up.

"1….."

Immediately on the count of one, Xiao Ying stopped suppressing his aura as his aura blasted out.

It exuded a slaughterous feeling, as if you let your guard down, you wouldn't know how you died.

The wooden dagger in his hands emitted sounds of keening as he gripped it.

Suddenly, Xiao Ying ran forward. Once he reached a few meters in front of Dan, he slashed out.

Dan, underestimating Xiao Ying's strength, just held up his arm to block it.

"Clang~~~!" The sound if metal clashing against metal rang out.

Jumping back, Xiao Ying was badly jolted due to the impact. On Dan's arm, where the dagger slashed, was a small cut, barely visible to the naked eye.

"Haha! I guess you are pretty strong despite having such a low cultivation base!" Dan laughed.

Seeing how little damage he did, Xiao Ying was dismayed; however, he didn't give up, and instead was even more determined.

Rushing out with his fastest speed, Xiao Ying ran toward Dan once more.

Once he got into range, he slashed at Dan's throat. This time however, Dan parried the strike and counterattacked.

As quickly as possible, Xiao Ying slashed at the incoming arm, trying to change the fist's direction so that it barely missed him.

"Slash~~~!"

"Whoosh~~~!"

"Clang~~~!"

Blow after blow was exchanged between the both of them, with Xiao Ying barely managing to narrowly dodge the ones coming at him. In fact, he could barely even keep sight of them.

Xiao Ying slashed at Dan's throat once again before changing direction as fast as he could, slashing him across his chest.

This time, his feint worked; however, the aftermath was but a shallow cut.

"Huff~~~!"

"Huff~~~!"

The sound of Xiao Ying taking deep breathes was all that was heard. He was drenched in sweat.

'Fuck! What can I do? His defenses are too tough! Maybe I should attempt an illusion? But to do that…I'd have to absorb Shadow-Blood Qi….' Xiao Ying decided.

Xiao Ying started filling his mind with thoughts of murder while protecting his mind using his willpower.

Within his perception, dark red motes of light began to appear before being drawn toward his body.

There was one illusion technique he could possibly use given the scarce amount of Qi at his disposal.

This illusion was projected through the eyes, and the purpose of it was to put your target in a trance for a few moments.

'Argh! This has to work!' Xiao Ying was in pain.

After gathering enough Qi, he began rushing toward Dan.

"This time, Xiao Ying, I won't hold back. Let's see how long you can endure!" Dan provoked as he started rushing forward.

"Likewise," Xiao Ying grunted.

Once they were within two meters of each other, Xiao Ying unleashed the illusion technique.

"Shadow of Nine Lives!" Xiao Ying yelled.

Suddenly, Dan stopped right in his tracks.

Capitalizing on the few seconds he had left, Xiao Ying managed to get behind him before placing his dagger on Dan's throat.

A moment later, Dan came to.

"What the fuck was that?!" He exclaimed with his mouth wide open in an "O" shape, realizing that he had lost.

"That was a move I like to call 'Shadow of Nine Lives'." Xiao Ying answered, out of breath.

"Is it because it causes nine different lives to flash before the target's eyes as if they had lived through them before disappearing like they never existed?" Dan was amazed.

"Yep. Like a shadow in the light. Honestly didn't think I could pull it off, though."

"How did you possibly pull that off with your cultivation base? And where did you even learn that?"

"Long story short, I absorbed the Qi around us. Also, the technique was the only thing I had left of my father." He lied.

"Awesome! You won fair and square though. Let's call it quits for tonight. Goodnight, bro." Dan departed.

While Xiao Ying and Dan were talking, multiple panels had appeared.

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Congratulations host for completing

the quest .

Quest Rewards generating...

Quest Rewards received....

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'System, allocate one stat point to absorption, two to perception, and then the last to intelligence. Also, allocate that one skill point to Dagger Arts.' Xiao Ying commanded.

During the fight, he had realized that he could barely keep up with and see his opponent's moves and strikes. If his perception had been one point lower, he most likely would have lost; hence, he decided to put two stat points into the perception stat.

His status screen now showed:

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Name: Xiao Ying

Age: 16

Status: Alive

Level: 2 (160/200)

Stat Points Available: 0

Absorption: 12

Perception: 18

Strength: 17

Intelligence: 12

Agility: 17

Vitality: 16

Cultivation:

Early Physique Tempering Phase of the Foundation Tempering Realm

Intents- *NEW*

Slaughtering-Dagger Intent

Skill Points Available: 0

Skills:

Dagger Arts- level 2 (1/2)

Shadow of Nine Lives- level 1 (0/1)

Quests: 0

Item Shop: Unavailable

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The system seemed to have added the intent Xiao Ying comprehended as well as the illusion technique he used.

'Damn! If I would have known the 'Shadow of Nine Lives' technique would have been added, I would have used the skill point on that!' Xiao Ying cursed the system.

Well, at least he had won the spar.