Strike One

Cheng Xiu leapt away from the Earth Puppets constant attacks. Her sword copies floated around her in circles.

Her eyes fell on the other wooden baby puppets.

Qi Suppliers.

Suppliers were minions who gathered power for their masters so that they could use it whenever they could without worrying about things like running out of ammunition.

Cheng Xiu frowned. If these suppliers were supplying Qi for the puppets, then why would those puppets lose their powers before?

Could it be that Crow had just started to use the supplier puppets to help the Adult puppets?

The Earth Puppet jumped out of the ground towards her.

Cheng Xiu prepared her sword.

If Crow had started to use these Qi suppliers for his Elemental Puppets, did that mean that he also had Qi suppliers for himself? Wouldn't that mean that he had as much Qi as he wanted as long as he had even one of these suppliers with him? Should she attack him now, when she wasn't as tired so that she could kill him? Or should she kill off the puppets first?

On the other side, Crow was observing his opponent closely.

He suppressed the smirk that wanted to grace his face. Finally, she was on a track that he was familiar with. His opponents, once they discover that the puppets are supplied by the Elemental puppets have only two choices. One, to kill off all the baby puppets and then attack him or two, to attack him before the puppets could supply him Qi.

Both had its risk. He might be able to make more Qi puppets or it might be a trap to get them to where he wanted him so that he could unleash his next set of skills.

But looking at Cheng Xiu in front of him, Crow had the hunch that she would choose to attack him than wait for the Suppliers to die out. She was smart in that regard. Any traps he made for her would not be as dangerous as having very little Qi when your enemy was in full charge.

Cheng Xiu continued to engage the Earth Puppet in a fight, not moving away from her opponents.

Crow frowned. Had he given her too much credit? Was she not able to see the disadvantage she would be in?

Cheng Xiu jumped over the head of the puppet.

The puppet moved its hand to grab her ankles even though one of its arms was burned off, and the other was half burnt too.

Cheng Xiu smirked.

She aimed the sword straight through the face of the puppet, leaving behind a huge dent on its face.

Crow felt his heart jump. How was it possible? How was she able to make damage on the skin of the puppet with her sword?

He thought hard as he observed her moments.

He saw the light glow on her sword.

Crow realised what had happened. He didn't want to believe it, he couldn't. Conscious Qi Burst! She was using conscious Qi Burst to make damage on the puppet.

Had she discovered the truth about the puppet's strong outer skin? Or did she just want to create damage on the weapon?

Cheng Xiu landed on the ground and immediately bent backwards.

A gust of wind brushed past her, tearing the hems of her clothes.

Cheng Xiu raised her eyebrow. She had just wanted to see how Qi Burst would do against the impenetrable skin of the puppet and actually ended up damaging it a bit.

Cheng Xiu observed the puppet's surrounding Qi. It had dissipated a bit. Could it be that the puppet's outer skin was made of Qi or something and could be damaged through Qi Burst? Was the strong skin created by using another Talisman that was not a part of the puppet's original makeup?

Cheng Xiu tilted her head in thought. She had to test it out. But how?

Cheng Xiu's eyes travelled to the baby puppets that hid in the woods.

She smiled.

She ran towards them at a high speed.

Crow sighed. So she chose to kill the Qi suppliers instead of him. He was disappointed. This was the power of an S ranked mind?

Cheng Xiu tried to stab the babby closest to her left in the heart.

The Earth puppet chucked a boulder at her.

Cheng Xiu ducked away from it. The tip of her sword touched the baby puppet's chest.

The Earth puppet tried to grab ahold of her hand.

Cheng Xiu swung her hand away and used Qi burst to knock the puppet off its feet.

A golden light appeared around the puppet's midriff briefly. A single green Talisman was attached to the puppet with a golden thread.

Cheng Xiu smirked. So her thoughts were right. The impenetrable skin was not fool-proof and it would seem, the Talisman was really unstable.

Cheng Xiu raised her sword in the air.

Crow was still wallowing in his disappointment when he saw Cheng Xiu stab the stomach of the Earth Puppet.

He watched uncomprehendingly as a Talisman became visible for a brief second before it was torn by the blade of the Red Carp Sword.

He watched with a numb feeling in his heart as she pulled back her sword and stabbed the Earth puppet in the heart.

It turned to dust.

How long did it take for her to figure out a trick that took many experts more than two years to clue together? Half an hour? Five minutes?

Crow suddenly felt that they were not in the same league. That he was not a worthy opponent to her.

He shook his head to clear his mind but the thought that she might be superior to him slowly sprouted in his heart and with it, he started to resent her.

Cheng Xiu grinned and pointed her sword towards him, and through the happiness of her victory against his puppet, he saw mockery. His humiliation. His self worth being ridiculed.

Anger rose in his heart. He would destroy her.

"Strike!" Cheng Xiu said.

Crow gave her a mocking smile. "It's strike one."

Cheng Xiu smiled. "I would hope so!"

He glared at her.