Tricked and Swindled

Qin Jin exits his chambers and strolls down to the entrance where Wen Po impatiently awaits his arrival.

"Ah, if it isn't the little brat, hahaha!" Qin Jin bellows as he strolls through the gate, recognition evident within his eyes. "You call yourself Wen Po now, right? It's been so many years, I always forget names!" Though compared to his lifespan of a thousand years, a mere twenty or so was nothing.

"Shut up, old bastard. I didn't come here for you to showcase your usual idiocy. I'm looking for some young one named 'Xu Jiyu'." Wen Po exhales, still bouncing on his toes, as if expecting an attack at any moment.

The disciples who had been knocked out earlier regained their consciousness a while back, and are currently staring at Wen Po with shock and disdain. Calling their Shifu an 'old bastard'?! Who did this man think he was? Their Shifu deserves the utmost respect, ah!

Even Fang Lei, hiding behind a tree from afar, is shocked. Was Wen Po looking for a death wish?! Foolishly and casually addressing the Sect Leader like that was just like courting the King of Spirits!

"You may be an old student of mine, but that's all the more reason for you to treat me with respect." A sharp edge could be heard in the sect leader's tone. Fang Lei feels a chill in the air he hadn't felt just a minute ago.

"You sure a frail, old man like you can handle someone still in his prime, geezer?" Wen Po's cocky smirk widens slightly as Qin Jin's frown deepens.

"Enough talk. Time for me to teach you a lesson, just like back then." Qin Jin pulls his arm across his chest, stretching out his shoulder, while eyeing Wen Po with a lopsided smile of his own.

Wen Po leans his head to the right, and then to the left, once more. "Bring it on." In that instant, he stops bouncing. Fang Lei doesn't understand the sudden shift, neither Qin Jin nor Wen Po is moving. An eerie tension enshrouds the onlookers, including Fang Lei and the two disciples. Time feels like a thick, viscous jelly…

Wen Po is the first to attack.

Shuffling both his feet forward, he quickly kicks up a cloud of dust, hiding his feet in a plume of airborne dirt. Qin Jin takes a step back as Wen Po lunges forward. His hand extends, flat, toward the sect leader's thigh as if to jab him. As the apparent target evades, however, Wen Po changes his course, directing his hand at the ground beneath him, once again taking advantage of the earth. He deftly gathers a bit of the coarse dirt, rolling his body laterally, and throws it at the older man's face.

Qin Jin recoils, leaping even further back, batting at the air in front of him as he's now unable to open his eyes. Wen Po doesn't miss a beat as he aims straight for the gap his strategy had just created, charging in an arc to attack his former teacher's flank.

"Oi, where'd you learn this dishonorable method of fighting?" The immortal grunts, as his student lands a roundhouse kick on his left side, just below his ribcage.

"I'm but a humble merchant, you can't truly expect me to fight fair against the great and powerful leader of the Yun sect~" Wen Po's violet eyes dance as he seems to glide around his opponent.

Fang Lei shivers, the pair engaged in battle are throwing off wave after wave of intense bloodlust. He knew Wen Po was no ordinary traveling merchant, but what the hell is with this situation?

"Bullsh*t. You know your martial way isn't as strong as mine, so you resort to these tricks?" Qin Jin snarls.

"Of course. Anything to win, the loser doesn't stand to gain a thing!" Wen Po roars in response, throwing lightning fast jab after jab. Even with his sight momentarily taken, the sect leader calmly turns aside each blow, evading and peppering Wen Po's defenses with rapid strikes of his own while the pair advance and retreat in sequence. Like the ocean's tides, Fang Lei thinks to himself. A sliver of his memory fades in and out of the back of his mind as the duel continues, of waves crashing onto a rocky shore. Receding and once again smashing down upon the rock, locked in eternal battle.

The battle is decided in an instant.

Wen Po succeeds in grabbing Qin Jin's wrist as he counters, his palm striking at the immortal's center of mass with all the force he could muster. But to no avail. Qin Jin turns his body, letting the strike glance off his body, and reverses Wen Po's grip on his wrist, turning it into a weapon of his own. He pulls the younger man toward himself and proceeds to hit him with a vicious sequence of savage blows.

Qin Jin first throws his head back, smashing his forehead into the bridge of Wen Po's nose. Reeling, the merchant stumbles backward, and he presses his advantage. The master kicks out, striking the student's lower leg and bringing him to his knees. He spins, and again, lands a devastating back kick, this time to the chest. Wen Po is knocked onto his back.

The sect leader stands tall, looming over his collapsed opponent. One hand behind his back, he slowly extends a hand, and points at the face of the defeated. "Ha, loser. Told you I'd win, even if I am old~" Qin Jin announces, singing the words as he does a small victory dance over Wen Po.

Wen Po raises his hands in defeat. "You got me. I'm still no match, it seems." He gives a weak chuckle, though his nose is gushing blood onto his robe.

It's a good thing that he's a merchant, he has plenty of spare robes stuffed into his bag. The blood doesn't bother him one bit, and it appears he's even accustomed to seeing it with the way he casually wipes it away with his wrist.

The disciples and Fang Lei stare at the scene, completely awestruck by the aftermath of the duel. It was a completely fair fight—Qin Jin hadn't used any of his spiritual power. It was all just pure martial arts!

Where did Wen Po, some traveling merchant even learn all of that? Could it be he was really training under Qin Jin before? After all, the two spoke together with such familiarity, it would be strange if they haven't had some kind of close relationship in the past.

As the others speculated on their relationship, Qin Jin gives a nod of approval. "You've improved, well done. Who would've thought that a little brat like you would grow up to be so healthy and talented, ah. It's really too bad that you weren't born with any spiritual roots, else I would have accepted you into the Yun Sect as a disciple."

Wen Po only shakes his head, blood still freely flowing onto his clothes. But he's quite unfazed by this as he replies, "No need, I prefer to follow my own law and I do not wish to be tied down to one location. Traveling is something I am passionate about. If I had become a disciple, I would've never become the person I am today."

The Sect Leader hums, seemingly agreeing with Wen Po's words. "Very good, it seems you have even become wiser since the last time we'd met. Now if only a few of my disciples would learn from you…" He eyes the two young disciples who are still kneeling obediently on the floor.

They immediately shrink their presence, unable to properly look their Shifu in the eyes out of fear. Bending at the waist, they cry out, "Please forgive your incompetent disciples! We will work harder from now on!"

"Since you promise to work harder, go and retrieve our guest, his name is Xu Jiyu. He should be in one of the guest rooms, now get to it." Qin Jin says in a nonchalant tone, a teasing smile upon his lips. Ah yes, he was just teasing his disciples, of course.

The two disciples, realizing that they'd just been teased, immediately relax and scurry off to find Xu Jiyu as ordered.

Meanwhile, Fang Lei watches in secrecy, face filling with black lines.

If getting Xu Jiyu was that easy, why was he forced to sign some kind of strange human contract he couldn't read, ah?!

Wen Po tricked him!!

He'd totally been swindled, ahhhhh!!!