Ye Zhen's Promise

A young man stood motionless and panting heavily upon plum blossom poles. Ye Zhen was currently training to his limits in preparation for his spar with Ma Sa in the morning. The last two years had been more fun than Ye Zhen had ever had in the clan. He had made a solid friendship with Ma Sa which had transformed over time from his being a mentor to becoming a martial rival. As much as he had enjoyed being a flower boy in the past, he currently had no spare time to dedicate to womanizing. Ma Sa had improved so quickly that lately he had felt that the younger kid had been going easy on him when they sparred. Hell no! He was the elder brother here and needed to at least hold on to that little bit of pride!

It was frustrating to be overtaken by his own student but Ye Zhen was able to swallow that bitter pill and start chasing. He set it as his next goal to surpass Ma Sa and reclaim his elder brother pride. Ever since his first loss he'd never managed to win again, at least not really. About one third of the time Ma Sa would deliberately feign distraction and take a punch to the face. It was so damn obvious that he could have avoided them but Ma Sa shamelessly (and flawlessly) acted like it was a critical hit. Even more frustrating than a loss! Ye Zhen couldn't be mad at him though. It was a nice gesture to keep him fighting. Even if he was ninety nine percent sure it was all an act, the one percent chance that it wasn't gave him hope and made him train seriously.

Ye Zhen swore to himself that he would never quit chasing Ma Sa until he managed to get a satisfying win over him. Judging by the kid's talent, that may mean he'd never stop training but at this point he was prepared. Training had actually become fun now! He gathered his concentration and once again practiced his Seven Cloud Shadow Steps on the plum blossom poles whilst battling an imaginary Ma Sa.

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Ma Sa was actually delighted to have made a buddy in Ye Zhen. Since his increase in power and subsequent training in combat skills, he had really appreciated having a sparring partner as well as someone to dick around with. It wouldn't do for him to only hang out with old men! Early on, during one of their first spars, Ma Sa had coincidentally found a way to increase his Acting proficiency. Feints, during his spars, greatly increased his acting skill so, naturally, he took to grinding them to death.

Currently his feints were terrifyingly real. Ye Zhen had suffered many times over the last couple of years as Ma Sa honed his skills. The 'Feint, Flip, and Strangle' or 'FFS' was a favourite pattern by now. His other favourite was the 'KFC' - 'Kick, Feint, and Choke'. He also had a destructive 'Serious Series' of moves featuring such gems as; the Feint, Uppercut, Clinch, and Knee combo: 'FUCK', and the terrifying Parry into Scrotal Squeeze: 'PiSS'.

Yes... He was aware his naming sense sucked but it amused him to mentally shout his attack names as he fought. This extreme ability to feint was Old Guan's downfall. He couldn't recognize the feint for what it was and ended up getting laid out by the FFS!

Ma Sa smiled as he watched the geezer duo comedy routine. He'd quickly relocated Old Guan's shoulder as soon as he'd incapacitated him so there would be no damage or even much pain. At most Old Guan would feel a bit of a ball ache depending on how his arm had squished them in the flip. In fact, Ma Sa really hadn't intended to go so hard on him. He really didn't know his own strength as he had always been suppressing it to grade three Martial Fighter when he sparred with Ye Zhen. He had thought that a fully juiced up Martial Sage would be able to obliterate him with a look if they were serious. Turned out, not so much... The spar really hadn't granted him much clarity as to his own current strength.

"Get off me Big Brother! I'm trying to sleep!"

"Sleep? Sleep your ass! I was worried the kid had sent you to the next plane!"

"Huh? ... I... The spar... I Lost??"

"Hahaha! One move! You've gotten rusty!"

Old Guan wanted to swear profusely at Su Won but he had to maintain his scholarly demeanor. A filthy look would have to suffice. Unfortunately, that only made the old Forgemaster laugh louder!

"One... He really??" Old Guan looked at Ma Sa with a complicated expression that betrayed his thoughts. The kid was a mystery... A huge mystery! He was sure to make waves in the world but was that really wise? He was only a seven year old kid. There was no way he should be battling out in the Jianghu yet! What if he attracted the wrong sort of attention? What if some powerful forces decided that they wanted his secrets badly enough to capture and torture him?? Such a tragic scenario wasn't really so farfetched in the Jianghu...

"Boy, you're powerful. Ridiculously so for a child your age but as your teacher I have to remind you that that might bring you more trouble than you can currently handle. I can't stop you from going out into the Jianghu now but you have to promise me that you'll weigh your actions thoroughly. If you ever have to release more power than an average Martial Fighter, be sure to leave no witnesses. Survival in the Jianghu is not a game. It is life and death, great gain and great loss. Make sure you come back alive to your Grandpa Su and I. I'll give you six months to explore and temper yourself then, if you aren't back here, I'll go looking for you myself!"

"Teacher! You don't have to worry! I'll definitely be back by then! And, even if something really does happen to delay me, do NOT under any circumstances leave the city to search for me personally. I mean it! I'll look for Uncle Ye Zhu when I'm out there and get him to relay messages to you via his clan anyway so, really, you don't need to worry!"

"Mn... Then, when will you go?"

"I'll leave tomorrow after I say goodbye to big brother Ye Zhen. I'll call by your residence on my way out of the city to bid you my farewell. Now, how about we go and have dinner? I'm hungry!"

"Ha, what a good disciple you are... Inviting yourself to dinner at your Grandpa Su's! You just want to eat Li Pan's cooking! I've seen your nose twitching for a while now!"

Su Won wasn't wrong. Min Li Pan made truly delicious cuisine and Ma Sa definitely wanted to get some before heading out to the Jianghu.

After a satisfying dinner and a brief verbal spar with the stone faced doll, Su Ya, Ma Sa headed back to his own room and decided to cultivate a little before going to sleep early. He was so excited that he wanted tomorrow to come right now!

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Dawn broke over the Ye clan as two young boys stood face to face at opposite sides of the clan training match arena. One boy was around eleven or twelve years old and he wore his long dark hair in a sloppy man-bun. The other was a boy of around seven years old who let his long dark dyed hair flow like a mane. Ladies out there would kill for his volume! The morning breeze kicked up a little dust causing the smaller boy to blink and the taller boy to blur into action.

Ye Zhen's low kick traveled through the afterimage of Ma Sa's thigh and was swiftly followed up by a swift punch towards his currently closed eyes. This too struck nothing but air. Ma Sa's body dropped low to the ground and, bearing his weight on his hands, he struck Ye Zhen's supporting leg at the back of the knee with his shin whilst his other leg blocked Ye Zhen's kicking leg from finding purchase on the ground. Off balance, Ye Zhen could only try his best to roll away from Ma Sa. He knew precisely how scary the young boy was when it came to grappling. His seemingly successful escape suddenly turned into a nightmare when he was midway through his roll. As he rolled through over his shoulder he found that his head and shoulder were inexplicably stuck to the ground causing his legs to flail in the air as he attempted to complete his roll. Ye Zhen was now facing up as his own body was folded over top of him.

Ma Sa, already on his feet, could only smile at the result of his test. It was the first time he'd gotten to use this technique in a spar since he'd begun training two years ago. It was, of course, Qi Thread Manipulation. As Ye Zhen was mid roll, Ma Sa looped a Qi thread around his armpit and neck and then anchored him to the ground. The subsequent sight was extremely satisfying.

Ye Zhen struggled to breathe as he panicked. What the hell was this?! He clutched at his neck but there was nothing there despite him clearly feeling a restrictive band running over it. He was so close to escaping too!

"Fufu- Sorry big brother. I couldn't help but test out my new technique today." Ma Sa released the Qi thread and Ye Zhen flopped over onto his stomach as he gasped for breath.

"That... What the hell was that?"

"It's a technique called Qi Thread Manipulation. It was originally for controlling puppets but I repurposed it for 'ranged grappling'... What do you think?"

"It's fucking SCARY! I thought I was possessed by an evil spirit or something that wanted to strangle me to death in an embarrassing position!"

"Why would the position ma- Never mind... It was a bit bit sneaky so sorry about that. I wouldn't have used it any other time but I needed to see how effective it was. I'm leaving this afternoon."

"Oh, no worries man! I gotchu! I'll know next time. Wait... What?! Where are you going??"

Ye Zhen practically leapt to his feet from his belly. An impressive feat of agility indeed.

"I'm heading out to temper myself in the Jianghu for six months."

"Ah, the Jianghu... WHAT?!"

Ye Zhen had grabbed Ma Sa by the shoulders and looked into his eyes in a fiery, no homo, kind of way.

"Hahaha! Big Bro there's no need to get so excited. I'm just off to do a mission in the Jianghu and asked my Teachers to let me stay out there for a while to gain battle experience. They tested me so they know I can handle myself!"

"You!..."

Ye Zhen was really confused right now. His target, Ma Sa, was already able to go out exploring the Jianghu by himself and he, Ye Zhen, a talented youth of the Ye clan, was still deemed unworthy of doing the same by the clan elders. He stood silent in shock for a moment.

"Well, big brother, I'm off. I want to get out there and explore as soon as possible. Maybe someday we can adventure together!"

With his casual farewell said, Ma Sa turned and walked towards the exit of the training arena. Just as Ma Sa was leaving, Ye Zhen snapped out of his daze.

"WAIT! MA SA! THREE MONTHS! IN THREE MONTHS I PROMISE I'LL GET MY ELDERS' APPROVAL TO ENTER THE JIANGHU! I'LL FIND YOU AND WE CAN KICK SOME BUTT TOGETHER!"

Without turning around, trying his best to look cool and steal the role of the elder brother a little more than he already had, Ma Sa said:

"Good! Work Hard! I'll be waiting!"

*~* [Nailed it!] *return* *~*

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