Return of the Taishan Heroes
Trekking down the hill, you look back, up at the Sword Saint and his disciple. He waves you good luck; he wants to observe the battle a little longer before deciding what to do… if he does anything at all. The man is already yawning. It seems that he is not too convinced that your decision to weigh in on the side of the Fire Cult will bear any significant fruit. Murong Yandi had argued to be allowed to intervene, but his master had held him back, too. He would have to watch from the hill for now.
“Strange, I thought you would have gone for the fire girl from the start,” quips Qilin. “What’s the matter, getting shy?”
“She can handle herself,” you say.”I need to warm up on some orthodox prigs first.”
“Such trust! I’m jealous.” Qilin laughs, and moves closer to Cao’er. “Are we still going with that plan to reel in Number Three? I mean, I thought our darling here was going after her first, so…”
You seem to be hearing something disturbing talk. “Wait. What are you talking about? What Number Three?” Qilin only gives you a smirk, her arm around Cao’er’s shoulder. “…it’s between us girls. You don’t need to concern yourself with it. Go… you have a fight to win…” says Cao’er calmly, pointing ahead of you. She has become a lot more assertive with you lately, though you think it is warranted, given the amount of stress you put her through in the past month. Sighing, you shake your head. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Look who’s talking,” retorts Qilin with a grin. “Just go and have your fun, you idiot.”
“Yes, yes, I hear you.” Giving the girls a brief wave, you head down the steep approach to the battle, hopping from rock to rock.
***
The Fire Cultists under attack consist of a group of twelve nubile maidens; somehow Cao’er had neglected to mention that particular point to you when recounting her observations. You do not recognize the fifteen or so Taishan and Kunlun fighters attacking the cultists: they are in their twenties, and you have never seen them before. You make the last leap just in time, throwing a string of silk around a raised sword-arm that is a moment away from striking. With a pull, you send the Taishan man sprawling to the ground in the perfect position to serve as your landing cushion. Your feet land on his back as he shouts in pain.
You look around at the surprised combatants. The Taishan disciple below you tries to throw you off, but a stomp on his spine tames him quickly. “I seem to have gotten a little lost,” you grin embarassedly, giving the fighters a little bow. “I was looking for the site of the Fire Temple challenge, but this doesn’t seem to be that place, is it? It looks more like a hooligan’s brawl than a proper match.”
“Who are you?” challenges a Kunlun fighter, shaking his staff in your face. “Whoa, careful where you point that stick of yours, friend,” you gasp, gently pushing away the pole to the side as you rock backwards on your heels, causing the man underneath you to groan in discomfort. “The rules of the jianghu state that you should first introduce yourself before asking a fellow pugilist’s name,” you say, lecturing the Kunlun disciple. He frowns at you before taking a step back, calling out his name. You look to the side, at the frightened girls. “Doesn’t seem very orthodox, attacking a bunch of defenseless girls like this, whatever your name is,” you mutter. “I just introduced myself!” he shouts. “These are evil cultists that ambushed and murdered our noble masters, and just who are you, you disrespectful bastard?” demands the Kunlun fighter again. The other orthodox pugilists begin drawing closer, hostile intent in their eyes.
“Ah, right. You did introduce yourself. I apologize, but I am bad with names. Especially if they are about to cease mattering in a while.” You grin, spreading your arms out to your sides as you introduce yourself: “I am Xu Jing, the Man Tiger Pig, disciple of the Southern Maniac.”
The orthodox fighters take a synchronized step back, their faces turning pale. It looks like your reputation has not diminished in your absence. “You! You are siding with these foreign cultists?” snarls a female Taishan fighter. “I thought that as heretical as your master Zhang Jue was, he would not have trained such a traitorous brat!”
“I don’t know, should I side with you?” You turn your head to the side, asking what appears to be the eldest girl of the cultist bunch. She gives you a confused look. One of the other girls whispers something in her ear, in a foreign language, and her eyes widen. “Y-you are the Holy Maiden’s…” she stammers. “Yes, yes, please help us! We don’t want to die here!”
“Sounds great, that. I don’t think anyone wants to die here. How grateful would you be?”
“I… ah…” she blushes, uncertain. “…I would be very grateful, young master,” she says shyly, looking down.
“Hold on, how grateful would you be if I helped you out instead?” you grin, turning back to the female Taishan disciple. Her face goes red, but more out of anger. “This is your duty as a fighter of the Central Plains. Gratefulness has nothing to do with it!”
“Well, that settles it.” You sigh loudly. “You can’t expect me to do anything else after hearing that, can you? Anyone who worships some foreign fire god, get behind me,” you call out. As the cultist maidens make a run for it, you hop off the man you were standing on and give him a good kick, sending him back to his brethren. They hurry to catch him, allowing the girls to slip through their fingers. Folding your hands behind your back, you give the orthodox fighters an arrogant sneer, raising your eyebrows. “What are you still waiting for?” They respond with a roar, charging at you as one.
You jump. Your first kick breaks the staff of a Kunlun fighter, sending the man flying. You step on his chest and push off in mid-air, soaring towards your next target. This time your kick is blocked successfully, but you move on to another opponent immediately as you continue your assault on the orthodox pugilists. The Taishan come at you with swords, the Kunlun with staves. You finally land on the ground – six wooden staves rush towards your head from all directions, but you throw your hand up, swiftly weaving a web that catches half of them. With a shout, you pull, tugging it from your opponents’ hands with your superior strength and using the staves you captured to knock away the other half. You swing the three staves around wildly, smashing them into your opponents. Dropping the silk, you take advantage of the opening in their formation to launch an all-out assault with the Wuying Leipo Kick.
You blow past the Taishan and Kunlun disciples like a powerful hurricane, leaving them broken and battered behind you. It is over in moments: your opponents had no counter for your kicks. Wuying Leipo Kick is probably a technique that has not been seen for decades in the jianghu. In the wild, furious exchange of blows you had understood that the fighters you were facing would be considered skilled in their own right, but they had failed to comprehend the relentless aerial assault you delivered and suffered for it.
A few of them roll over, groaning in pain as they clutch their heads, while others remain unmoving, probably unconscious. You had held back in the attack, but out of concern for your own safety, you had not done so to the extent where they would not be heavily injured. In a fight like this, if you slowed down even a bit, the orthodox pugilists might have been able to turn the tide with a lucky hit.
“Seniors! Oh no!” comes a panicked shout. Seven pugilists dressed in Taishan robes come rushing in, followed by a young man dressed in Kunlun robes and wielding a particularly long staff. You vaguely remember the Taishan disciples. “Seven Heroic Youths of Taishan? Or something like that, I presume,” you say casually, dusting the dirt off your boots. They glare at you, united in hatred, but it is the Kunlun disciple that speaks. “You must be Man Tiger Pig then,” he says, his face serious. “I am Su Liaojing of Kunlun. May I ask what you are doing here, and why you attacked our seniors?”
“I’m just doing what everyone else is doing,” you say. “Attacking the weak.” You give them a feral grin, but they do not shrink back. You can tell that though the fighters you just beat were their elders in age, that is not necessarily so in terms of strength.
“The cultists poisoned the masters of the Eight Sects and then brought down the cliff as a means to sabotage the tournament. I do not think you are right to protect them,” replies Su Liaojing.
“Really?” You look over your shoulder, at the twelve girls huddled together in fear. “When have I ever done anything right by the Eight Sects?” you laugh. “This should not come as a surprise.”
“Indeed, it doesn’t,” he says calmly as he settles into a crouching combat stance that you do not recognize, his long staff held away from his body. He is remarkably composed; you don’t think taunting him will give you any advantage in a fight, and you take your own stance as you curl your fingers into claws.
“Wait, Brother Su,” calls out one of the Taishan Youths… you don’t remember which number he is. One? Two? “We have a bit of a debt to settle against Man Tiger Pig ourselves from the tournament. Can you leave him to us?”
“That is just fine with me,” replies Su Liaojing, though he remains in his stance. “Are you confident?”
“With our full Qixing Beitou Formation, Man Tiger Pig’s defeat is assured before the fight even begins!” boasts the Taishan disciple.
***
A. You call out Su Liaojing, saying that you will defeat him first before taking on the Taishan Seven. He is rumoured to be Kunlun’s best young fighter, losing only to Yunzi in the tournament: you will see just how good he is.
B. You take on the famed Qixing Beitou Formation of the Taishan Sect. This is the most powerful technique they have to offer – break the formation, and they can have no complaints about your strength.
C. Taking both these Taishan and Kunlun disciples on at once should not be impossible for you as you are right now. You will challenge Su Liaojing and the Big Dipper Formation simultaneously and prove your superiority over them.
D. You are not here for a fair fight. You make a surprise attack, trying to catch the Taishan disciples off guard and disabling as many of them as possible so that their seven-man formation cannot be performed at its full effectiveness.