"No good. As expected, I still can't beat Senior Qingyi."
"Senior Qingyi is just too strong. No wonder she's one of the two great pillars of our Guangying Branch!"
"And the other one?"
"Obviously Captain Zhu Yuan and Vice-Captain Fang Wen."
?
"Isn't it common sense that two great pillars can mean three people?"
As he stepped out of the elevator, Fang Wen found everyone gathered in a noisy little crowd.
"What's going on?" Fang Wen walked over and casually patted a few people on the shoulder.
"Ah, Vice-Captain Fang, we were sparring with Senior Qingyi."
"Oh?" Fang Wen raised an eyebrow.
"And the result?"
The few of them exchanged glances, then all shook their heads in unison.
"No chance."
"Couldn't beat her."
"Couldn't beat her even together."
These were all elite members of the Special Operations Unit. Under normal circumstances, each of them could easily flatten three to five grown men.
They were roughly at the level Fang Wen had been before his skills upgraded—maybe a little weaker, but not by much.
Fang Wen turned to look at Qingyi, who was leaning against the wall with her long staff, calmly drinking tea, and could not help falling silent.
"Zhu Yuan's not here, so you couldn't find anyone else to fight?"
"This incident has revealed many shortcomings. Everyone still needs more tempering."
Fang Wen understood Qingyi's meaning. If the team was to avoid being helpless the next time something like this happened, getting stronger was absolutely necessary.
On that point, Fang Wen agreed completely.
"Then how about I give it a try too?"
He felt a little tempted. He also wanted to know exactly how much stronger he had become.
Only then did Qingyi open her eyes and sweep her gaze over Fang Wen from head to toe.
"That would be ideal. Let us see how much progress you've made during this time."
Fang Wen nodded and put on some protective gear, but when it came time to choose a weapon, he hesitated.
He had never sparred with Senior Qingyi before. When training with the other team members, he usually didn't even need a weapon.
But against Qingyi's staffsmanship, going in barehanded probably wouldn't end well.
Fang Wen scanned the rack of wooden training weapons, and in the end chose a spear even longer than Qingyi's staff.
As the saying went, one extra inch of reach meant one extra inch of strength.
Besides, he personally didn't like petty little weapons. Wide, sweeping attacks were a man's romance.
"I'm ready. Seth, come referee."
"Oh, okay!"
The young wolf Thiren (X) — lynx Thiren (√) stepped into the center of the arena and looked left and right.
"The rules are the same as usual. Within one minute, the first person to land a hit on the opponent's vital points wins the round. Best of five rounds. First to three points wins."
Both Fang Wen and Qingyi nodded to Seth.
Seth stepped off the floor and blew the whistle.
The bout began.
Neither Fang Wen nor Qingyi rushed in immediately. The two walked to the center of the arena, stopped about a meter apart, bowed to each other, then retreated until they stood about three meters apart again.
"Is this the old-era pre-match etiquette Senior Qingyi mentioned?"
"No idea, but it looks really ceremonial."
Hearing the whispers around them, Fang Wen and Qingyi exchanged glances.
"Fang Wen / Qingyi, please instruct me!" the two said at the same time.
The moment those words fell, Fang Wen struck first.
A few quick steps brought him within range, and he took full advantage of the spear's reach with a sweeping horizontal strike.
Qingyi instantly lowered her body and dashed forward in the opposite direction. Fang Wen's choice had been correct, but a spear's length was both its advantage and its weakness.
Fang Wen's pupils contracted sharply. Borrowing the spear's momentum, he leapt into the air and launched a flying kick at Qingyi, who had already closed the distance in the blink of an eye.
Qingyi stopped dead in place.
From utmost motion to utter stillness took her only an instant, as if inertia simply did not exist in her body at all.
She easily blocked Fang Wen's kick with her long staff.
Though because of Fang Wen's weight, she was still forced back several meters.
The moment she steadied herself, Qingyi adjusted her stance while swinging her staff and gave Fang Wen no time to breathe before charging in again.
So fast!
Fang Wen had not even regained his footing before Qingyi's staff came smashing down toward his head.
He could only barely raise his spear to block.
Seeing that Fang Wen had reacted in time, Qingyi smiled.
The second Fang Wen saw that smile, he knew things were about to go bad.
Sure enough, the long staff suddenly transformed into Qingyi's specialty—a three-section staff—and wrapped itself around Fang Wen's spear in one smooth motion.
The leading end of the three-section staff nearly clipped Fang Wen's shoulder as it spun around. Left with no choice, Fang Wen had to release one hand.
With a twist and a pull, Qingyi instantly wrenched the wooden spear out of Fang Wen's grasp.
Seeing Qingyi's smile grow even wider, Fang Wen steadied himself, lunged forward, grabbed the three-section staff just as Qingyi was about to fling his spear away, and yanked back hard.
Qingyi let out a startled cry as Fang Wen pulled her straight into his arms.
It should have been a rather suggestive scene.
Instead, Fang Wen ruined it completely by following up with a clean rear naked choke.
There was only one reason for that:
In Fang Wen's eyes, there was nothing but the desire to win.
If it had been anyone else, the round would already have been over.
Even Zhu Yuan would not have been able to break free of Fang Wen's choke if his grappling skill was not much worse than hers.
But Qingyi was a construct.
The most lethal aspects of a rear naked choke—suffocation and rapid unconsciousness—meant absolutely nothing to her.
In fact, even if Qingyi's head were ripped off, as long as it got put back on, she'd probably be fine… probably.
At this point, the two of them were still standing. Because of the height difference, Qingyi even had to rise onto her toes while caught in the choke.
"Uh… Round one, Vice-Captain Fang wins."
Seth, thoroughly dumbfounded by the fact that Fang Wen had pulled out an actual killing move, hurriedly made the call.
Before the last word had even fallen, Qingyi drove a vicious elbow straight into Fang Wen's waist.
Fang Wen's breathing stopped instantly, and his body bent forward involuntarily.
With her feet now firmly able to reach the floor, Qingyi grabbed Fang Wen's arm, exploded with core strength, and directly lifted his whole body off the ground, flipping him from behind her to in front of her—
Then followed it up with a brutal forward slam.
Fang Wen only felt the world spin. Before he could react, his back hit the floor and stars burst across his vision.
When he came to, ten minutes had already passed.
Holding his back, Fang Wen complained,
"Hiss… Qingyi, that was way too ruthless. I swear my bones almost broke."
Qingyi drank her tea and shot him a somewhat resentful glare.
It was the first time Fang Wen had ever seen such an expression on Qingyi's face.
"You were no better! Since when is a rear naked choke an acceptable move in a sparring match?"
Uh… fair enough.
"Haha. So then, who won, Seth?"
Fang Wen looked over and found everyone's expressions oddly strange.
"What's wrong? Couldn't judge the result?"
"Uh… y-yes."
"Then call it a draw."
Even if it was declared a draw, Fang Wen knew very well that he had won by exploiting an opening. The moment he lost his weapon, the match should by all rights have been over. He had only managed to force the draw by taking advantage of Qingyi's momentary slackness.
If they fought another round, he'd probably get beaten senseless.
He could feel that his hand-to-hand combat had improved, but without learning a proper weapon, it still wouldn't be enough.
He was not going into Hollows only a few times in the future.
He couldn't very well keep fighting Ethereals barehanded, could he?
[Qingyi Affection +2. Current Affection: 34.]
?
Only then did Fang Wen notice the system notification from five minutes ago, and his expression turned strange.
Five minutes ago, hadn't he still been lying unconscious on the floor?
Why was this affection meter jumping around on its own?!
"Did anything happen while I was unconscious?" Fang Wen turned to Seth.
Seth's expression instantly stiffened, and his eyes involuntarily flicked toward Qingyi.
Then Qingyi glared fiercely at him.
Fang Wen followed Seth's gaze and looked at Qingyi in confusion.
So Qingyi glared at him too.
This… was completely baffling.
Fang Wen licked his lips.
The faint fragrance of tea lingering on his lips and teeth instantly made his mind clear.
Wait.
When did I drink tea?
Aside from the utterly baffled Fang Wen, everyone else unhesitatingly skipped over that topic.
Qingyi took a slow breath and said to Fang Wen,
"Your combat skills are improving quickly, but not having a regular weapon is a fatal weakness."
"Mm."
That matched Fang Wen's own thinking exactly.
But how to learn was another issue.
Of the people he knew, none used a spear.
As if sensing his predicament, Qingyi continued,
"If you wish to learn spear techniques, I can teach you the basics."
"After all, spear technique and staff technique do share common principles."
At those words, Fang Wen's heart immediately filled with joy.
"Starting now, set aside two hours every day to come to the training hall."
Fang Wen brightened—and then his face stiffened.
Wait, Senior Qingyi?
You're not planning to abuse your authority for personal revenge, are you?!
Looking at Qingyi, who was continuously wiping down her staff, Fang Wen had a bad feeling.
Seeing the nervousness on Fang Wen's face, Qingyi smiled once more.
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