Besiege Wei to Rescue Zhao

The white robed man hovered slightly above the ground, ten metres away from Wan Qiushou.

While the cultivator's white robes were untouched and in pristine condition, Qiushou's black body-suit had many cuts and tears.

On his chest was a large red gash, though the wound had already shut. This was undoubtedly the self-healing power of a martial artist.

Taking in a breath, Qiushou's fists clenched and he ran forwards. Unlike last time, he did not stamp the roof tiles, opting to approach as swiftly as possible instead.

The white robed man seemed to find this funny, letting out a low chuckle. It waved its left arm, shooting out blue energy once again.

The next moment, they both felt the ground beneath them tremble. 

Eyes narrowed, Qiushou leapt into the air preemptively.

The white robed figure did not move much, only rising slightly higher into the air.

The roofing upon which they stood cracked into an uncountable number of pieces, green light emanating from in between each crack.

And then they shot out, like shrapnel from a cannon.

Qiushou kicked the air twice, using the recoil to dodge out of the way of most of the projectiles.

He then rebounded off the nearby pillar, pushing himself towards the white robed figure in mid-air.

The figure didn't react in time. Its clean and tidy form was peppered with holes, shards of wood and stone sticking out from every angle.

Wuxian appeared from underneath, a slight look of confusion on his face.

Seeing Qiushou and then the white robed figure, he immediately identified the enemy.

He activated Effortless Flow. Qi poured out of the soles of his feet, pushing him higher into the air. Though it was mainly a long-distance movement technique, the principle was to boost speed by using blasts of qi from beneath the feet to propel oneself forward.

He was merely increasing the volume of qi and the force at which it left his body, allowing him to effectively jump in mid-air.

At the same time, holding the Northern Dark Edge with both hands, he swung upwards.

In the blink of an eye, the curved blade sunk into the white robe, before slicing cleanly through.

Simultaneously, Qiushou's gloved fist collided with the white robed figure's hooded head, letting out a cracking sound.

Wuxian felt the urge to celebrate as he saw the two halves of the white robed figure fall apart, but the absence of blood left a sense of dissonance within.

He landed back on the ground, looking up in surprise at the body which began to disintegrate into blue dust.

Landing besides him, Qiushou spoke.

"That was a puppet. The real body is still around here."

Wuxian nodded, alert.

The corridor had been decimated, with the roof missing entirely. The walls also began to collapse, falling apart one by one.

Luckily the innkeeper had left, or he'd most likely have ended up suffering cardiac arrest at the mere sight of this. Hopefully, the other guests had long left too.

"There's no cover here." Wuxian commented.

Qiushou ignored him, dashing to the side behind a crumbling wall.

Wuxian followed closely, the Northern Dark Edge's red sash rested over his shoulder.

"We should bide our time. The white robed person's been using up a lot of qi- the longer this goes on for, the more advantageous it will be for us." He whispered.

Seeing the lack of reaction from Qiushou, he continued.

"And we'll have reinforcements soon. There's no need to risk out lives."

Hearing this, Qiushou's nose wrinkled in disdain.

"No. We should take the initiative."

Wuxian waited for him to elaborate, only to be met with the man's back.

He watched Qiushou run down what was left of the corridor, feeling annoyed inside.

'Not only did I destroy the puppet you'd been struggling with so badly, but I risked my own life to help you… and now you want to challenge an opponent that's out of your league, alone?'

Wuxian took in a breath to calm himself before he followed after Qiushou.

'I've dug my grave. It's time to lie in it.'

He made sure to deactivate Effortless Flow to preserve refined qi. As he ran, he glanced through the cracks in the walls and the windows as they came, trying to locate the enemy.

Once again, he felt frustrated at his lack of techniques. At this moment, an investigative mystic art would have no doubt been useful. The information advantage would have increased their chances of winning dramatically.

He mused to himself as he moved.

'Perhaps that's what Wan Qiushou was concerned about. If we stay in the same place, the enemy might be able to close in on us without us knowing, while it'd be harder for us to detect them with our lack of investigative spells…'

He refuted this thought almost immediately.

'He doesn't know what I'm capable of and neither does our opponent. I have not fought anyone since arriving in the future, there's no way they could know what techniques I know and have access to.'

Which brought back the same question again.

'Why is Wan Qiushou so eager to engage the enemy?'

Big North's projection appeared in front of him, floating at Wuxian's running speed.

"Ahead, to the right. Attack through the wall, same as before."

Wuxian nodded, channelling wood qi from his Shen dantian.

He rapidly approached the bend. At 1 metre, his left foot twisted into the ground and his waist spun.

The treasure weapon cleaved through the air. It did not even seem to hit the wall, passing through it like a knife through tofu instead.

Green energy sparked out as the curved edge of the blade made contact with the wall.

Then the entire section of corridor before them collapsed, debris flying in every direction.

Shielding his face with his left arm and holding the treasure weapon with his right, Wuxian cut the corner and charged ahead.

Dust obscured his vision, but he could hear sounds of exertion nearby.

"Wan Qiushou! Where are you?" He yelled.

To no avail. All he could hear were continued sounds of fighting.

'He's able to survive well enough by himself anyway, I should take this moment to regain my bearings.'

Though Wuxian had not cast the blade techniques, only supplying the qi for their usage, he still felt tired all the same. Sooner or later, the fatigue would build up and reduce his combat effectiveness. While the white robed man's expenditure of qi was large, the qi Wuxian would need to use to defend himself would not be insignificant either.

Plus, between a Qi Condenser and a Foundation Builder, the former would have greater qi quality and storage. Perhaps Wan Qiushou was right about the need to be proactive.

After a few breaths, the dust began to clear. To his right, Wuxian could make out the silhouettes of two individuals, a few metres apart.

Wan Qiushou looked worse for wear with several small holes lining his clothes. The white robed individual was the same as before, albeit no longer hovering in the air.

They engaged in a sort of dance, Qiushou attempting to close the distance, only to be met with a face-full of qi or high speed dust particles, prompting him to evade and pull back, or defend and push on.

And it was no question as to which option he had picked, given the number of wounds covering his body.

But his expression was sharp as ever, no signs of pain or exhaustion on his face.

He did not react to Wuxian's arrival, only pushing forward once more.

The white robed cultivator stepped back again, blue energy seeping out of its sleeves.

The energy engulfed the newly-created dust particles, accelerating them forwards at phenomenal speeds.

Qiushou's eyes narrowed. Before the particles had even been fully engulfed, he stomped the ground, causing dust and chunks of wooden floorboard to fly upwards.

He then turned, spinning about with a heel kick.

"Ha!"

The debris shot forwards to meet the incoming dust particles. He was trading blow for blow, fighting the white robed cultivator using his weakness, range, to combat his opponent's strength.

This was clearly folly.

Qiushou covered his face and made his body smaller as he continued running forward, the dust particles cutting through his skin with barely any resistance.

The white robed cultivator summoned a thick wall of qi. 

The debris sent forward by Qiushou hit the wall, similarly to how an object dropped at height sank into water. 

The further the debris travelled, the slower it became.

The white robed figure swung its arms forward, almost shifting into a horse stance as it did so.

The debris then followed the previous wave of dust, back towards Qiushou at twice the speed.

Wuxian, now with clear vision, made his move.

'The only mystic arts I can use are Effortless Flow and weapon imbuement of the three elements. 

Neither are specifically designed for defence, but I have no choice- the incoming projectiles will be the final nail in Wan Qiushou's coffin if they hit. Which, given his method of dealing with them, most likely will.

Of the three qi I have access to, wood is restorative- it will not help if we're dead. Fire is offensive, and as Wan Qiushou has just shown, our offence cannot match the white robed man's- we'd be on the losing side of the exchange. Only earth qi has defensive innate properties.

That settles it.'

Wuxian leapt forward, placing himself in front of Qiushou's battered frame.

In his left hand, a defence-boosting pill was retrieved from his inner pocket and popped into his mouth, slipped beneath the metal Han mask.

At the same time, earth qi mobilised from his Qi dantian, visibly travelling down his right arm and into the weapon. 

The muddy yellow energy coated the entire weapon- not just the blade, imbuing it with the protective dampening power of earth qi. Once fully engulfed, it seemed to project outwards a few inches on either side, like a shield.

At the same time, the weapon became extremely heavy. Without any additional exertion from Wuxian, its butt sank slightly into the floorboard beneath.

Wuxian, standing side-on to the incoming debris, pushed his right hand out, his weapon covered his entire body and anchored stably into the ground.

A gust of wind followed his move, but was insignificant in comparison to the incoming storm.

"Get behind me." Wuxian said.

Qiushou had a conflicted look on his face. After a moment of hesitation, he did so, standing sideways behind Wuxian.

The debris came, colliding with the imbued treasure weapon at deadly speeds. The tassel and sash hanging from the neck of the weapon fluttered like a kite in the wind.

A wooden shard of floorboard impacted against the earth qi barrier, instantly rebounding and shooting off-course, into the distance.

A speck of invisible dust, faintly giving off a blue aura, bounced off the barrier. It shot towards the nearby pillar soundlessly, leaving only a tiny hole in its wake as it passed through, like a needle through a thread.

Another chunk of wood bounced off, giving off a sound similar to that of a stone being skipped over a water surface. Coincidentally, it flew off to the right, splashing into the pond.

After a few more seconds, the incoming storm stopped.

Without waiting for Qiushou, Wuxian stepped forward, severing the flow of earth qi to his treasure weapon. Upon doing so, it became lighter again and the muddy yellow energy emanating off of it was discharged into the air, creating a light smokescreen.

Qiushou followed behind, unwilling to be left in the dust.

Seeing this, the white robed cultivator seemed slightly startled, jumping backwards several paces in a row.

'Deflecting that many projectiles, I have used up a third of my Qi dantian's refined earth qi. I can at most deflect the same amount or less twice more.'

Wuxian frowned as he moved forward, shifting to clasp the Northern Dark Edge in both hands.

The White Crane technique did not have any techniques regarding this 'reclining moon blade'. The most similar would be the staff forms, but there were still differences.

For a staff and spear, the centre of gravity would be near the centre of the shaft. For this reclining moon blade, it was closer to the blade.

But regardless, the enemy needed to be defeated and Wuxian could not exactly ask the opponent to give him time to become familiar with his own weapon.

Unlike before when fighting Qiushou, the white robed cultivator seemed to adopt a more passive position.

No longer initiating as many attacks as before, it seemed to want to wait things out. Perhaps it was merely taking some time to probe Wuxian's capabilities first before deciding whether to commit or not.

Wuxian suddenly spoke, partly to Qiushou and partly for the white robed figure to hear.

"You have called for reinforcements, right?"

There was a momentary silence on the battlefield, save for the quick and rapid sounds of boots hitting the ruined floorboard.

"No."

Wuxian almost tripped, turning his head slightly to glance at Qiushou.

"Well, do it! Now!" He barked.

This time, the man decided to listen. He withdrew a gold-rimmed black badge from his inner layers, pressing the characters on the centre.

Seeing this, the white robed cultivator suddenly became urgent, understanding that time was not its ally.

It pushed both sleeves forward, but unlike before, did not manipulate dust and debris.

Instead, two crescent-shaped blades of blue qi sailed through the air, following a parabolic trajectory.

They moved diagonally away from each other, attempting to curve past Wuxian and disrupt Qiushou's call for help.

'Not good!'

Wuxian employed Effortless Flow to quickly change direction with a single step, turning to the left, a gust of wind echoing his actions.

His arms pushed forward and the tip of the Northern Dark Edge intercepted one blade of crescent qi.

But to his shock, the blade he had intercepted suddenly dived and dodged his weapon, continuing on its trajectory towards Qiushou's hands.

At this moment, Qiushou made a decisive move. He turned, shielding the badge with his back and arms.

A second later, both blades of qi sank their fangs deeply into his back. There was a sickening squelch and Qiushou was pushed into the floor by the force of the attack.

But his sacrifice paid off. A golden pulse of energy seemed to radiate off of the words 'Nightwatcher' that were engraved into the badge.

An invisible pulse of energy shot out in a wide arc, with the badge at its centre, emanating off into the distance.

Then, the light coming off from the badge flickered and vanished, its spirit battery completely drained.

And its owner collapsed onto the floor, like a puppet with its strings snapped.

Wuxian turned back to face the white robed figure.

Qiushou had not been particularly cooperative during the duration of the battle, but Wuxian was a forgiving person.

Furthermore, his last move before taking the blow was undoubtedly heroic. Wuxian wanted to run over and check whether he was still breathing, but doing so would put himself at risk.

Looking at the shadowed hood of his adversary, Wuxian felt the need to say something. Resuming the fight in silence felt wrong and delaying the fight with conversation was advantageous to him, since reinforcements had been alerted.

Without much expectation, he spoke.

"You have been holding back, as have I. Prepare yourself." He said, trying to appear bold and heroic.

Surprisingly, the hooded figure responded.

"You have consumed a low-grade defensive pill. Within the next ten seconds, you will experience minor pill poisoning." The voice was clearly male.

Hearing this, Wuxian felt surprised. He did not expect his opponent to be able to recognise a pill's quality and type just by appearance. 

More than that, to accurately count down its effective duration.

The white robed man continued.

"I will defeat you before your reinforcements arrive." 

This seemed to be more of a statement, more of a declaration than anything else.

Wuxian stared through the narrow eye slits of his mask, not hurrying to engage the enemy.

As if they were performers in a choreographed dance, the two switched roles. One dropped the lead while the other took it, changing from a defensive stance to an offensive one and vice versa.

That being said, Wuxian's defence was not merely to stand about and wait for the enemy to attack.

The moment the white robed man moved, summoning another pair of crescent blades from thin air, Wuxian countered, running forwards.

'I have so far clearly demonstrated an inability to launch ranged attacks.

If he wishes to put me in a passive position, he will merely need to attack Qiushou, to force me to return and defend. I will be forced to expend my qi to defend myself. Assuming he still has qi once I run out, I will be at his mercy.

If I try and block the attacks while advancing simultaneously, they'll merely dodge my blade and continue onwards, as was the case previously.

The best move will be to besiege Wei to rescue Zhao. I will not have to intercept his attacks- it is they that will be forced to intercept me.'

Making his decision in a split second, Wuxian stepped forwards.

But then he faltered in his step, almost falling to the ground.

"Pill poisoning." The white robed man chuckled, swinging his arms forwards.

The crescent blades followed a curved trajectory.

One spun through the air, while the other shredded through the wall.

The battle was decided at this moment.