First Blood
You do not wait for them to come to you.
You jump, flying into the air, the arc of your leap ending over their heads.
A Tibetan spear thrusts forward to meet you. Twisting in mid-air, you kick the spear aside and land unimpeded.
An axe swings powerfully at your head. Tucking your body inwards, you hit the ground rolling.
You get to your feet, knocking aside the hand that is attempting to run a sword through you, and strike.
Zhang Manxing manages to dodge at the last moment, your fingers tearing away the front of his clothes. There is both surprise and anger etched on his face, though he manages to muster up a confident laugh and regain his composure swiftly. “You came for me first? Did you think I was the weakest of us all, and that you could dispose of me quickly?” he taunts.
“No, out of all the people here, your looks would be improved the most by a good beating,” you respond, darting forward to resume the fight. A curse on his lips, Zhang Manxing sheathes his sword and takes on a defensive Taiji stance – perhaps it is true that he has learnt from each of the sects. He deflects each of your strikes with great effort, his moves more rough than gentle, but it seems that he does understand the basics of the form.
“I suppose you aren’t going to fight me yet, then,” you hear the Little Tiger say lightly, and he whirls around without warning, his axes aiming for the neck of Songtsu Taide, who had been about to turn and help his brother. “I’ll just have you as an appetizer!” roars the young bandit gleefully. The Tibetan raises his shield to block but Pang Xiaohu cleaves it in half without even stopping. Laughing, he goes on the attack against Songtsu, who is forced to discard the now useless shield and retreat in the face of the maniacal axeman’s onslaught.
“Looking away in a fight? You underestimate me too much!” A shout draws your attention back towards Zhang Manxing, who has unsheathed his sword again and is attempting to cut you down. You block his blade with the scabbard of your wodao, but before you can draw and slash he has retreated, the point of his sword facing you cautiously. You recognize the stance of Emei’s Qingcheng Stab. With a quick dart forward he advances again, his footwork changing as his swordplay shifts into a wild and fast form you have faced before – Huashan’s swift sword technique. This time, you are ready for it.
Zhang’s sword comes rushing down onto your head. You raise your scabbard and catch the edge of his blade, just mere inches away from your brow. Before he can pull away, you swing down, pulling his sword downwards. You draw your wodao as your swing passes its lowest point, and in one fluid, circular motion you slash upwards, completing the circle. It is only his good fortune that prevents you from removing half of his head: as he stumbles in surprise, the point of your sword only manages to draw a red, bloody line across his cheek.
Zhang Manxing screams in pain, clutching his face as he backs away from you. “You… you dare cut my face! You’ll pay for this!” Quietly, you sheath your sword and spread your arms. “Oh, I’m sorry,” you say mockingly, “I did say I would beat your face in until it looked better. Here, let me fix that.” You leap to the attack as he drops his sword in a hurry and falls into a Taiji stance again. This time, you do not form a claw with your hand, but a fist. You drive it straight at his face. His arm comes up to deflect and redirect the momentum, but the sheer power and speed of your Chuzhan Fist brushes the arm away before it manages to do much. It is, however, enough that your punch merely clips his ear, turning it into a bloody mess, instead of outright mangling his face as you had wanted.
It’s not like you are feeling particularly protective of Qilin and Cao’er; you just do not take kindly to people who would try to assault them.
Zhang Manxing stumbles away from you, gasping for breath as he moans from the pain. His confidence seems to have vanished, leaving behind a pathetic, whimpering husk of a man. You stride towards him, whistling a catchy ditty Yorimitsu was inspired to compose after meeting Zhang Jue. If he is really the equal of Bai Jiutian, then standards at Huashan have really dropped.
“Xiaofang! Xiaofang, where are you? Useless dog!” he shrieks suddenly. “Why did you even follow me here if you weren’t going to help me out when I needed it? Quickly! Defeat this maniac or all is lost!” You feel a presence manifesting behind you suddenly. Whirling around, you find yourself face to face with the servant girl, Xiaofang. She is fast… but you are faster. You snatch her wrist, twisting it to make her drop the dagger, and bring her down to the floor with a quick flick. As her qi begins to drain, you sense something off about it though you cannot comprehend just what is strange at the moment. You let go of her arm and prepare to kick the servant off the stage.
“Wait!” whispers Xiaofang desperately, “I’m the Emperor’s loyal servant!”
“Aren’t we all, when we find ourselves about to be beaten?” you smile.
“No, I do mean it. I serve the Emperor directly. I have heard of your name from my superior. We are on the same side!”
You groan. “I hope it’s not who I think it is.”
“We must have Zhang Manxing win the competition,” pleads Xiaofang. “It’s for the sake of the dynasty!” You suppose that his victory would benefit Shun, but still…
“Funny how you say that at this time,” you laugh. “Couldn’t you have told me before?”
“I did not know… I was not sure-“
Xiaofang is interrupted by a loud scream and a gurgle that causes the cheering crowd to fall silent. You snap your head up and see a terrible sight: Songtsu Taide is flat on the floor, cut clean in half at the waist. His blood has stained the floor a dark red, seeping into the wood. Pang Xiaohu has his arms crossed again, red staining his face and clothes. “So, are you going to fight me now, Xu Jing?” Before you can respond, Langtsu Maide shouts out in rage and agony, attempting to run towards his brother’s killer. Jixuan Wuni strikes quickly, knocking Langtsu down from behind while he is distracted. The Tibetan warrior falls down unconscious, out of the fight. That was probably a kind decision – had he not done so, you could see Langtsu sharing his brother’s fate in the next few seconds.
Zhang Manxing is clutching the side of his face, staring wildly around the arena as he tries to figure out what to do next.
The monk, Xuxian, is walking towards Pang Xiaohu with a terrified expression on his face, though you can see that his eyes are full of resolve. It looks like he is joining the fight. The beggar Jiu Mou, on the other hand, has stood up and begins walking the other way, to the edge of the stage. The audience murmurs in surprise as he hops off the stage, disqualifying himself. Casting one last look over the proceedings, he sighs loudly before resting his stick against his shoulder and wandering off.
Prince Tenzin is slumped against one of the stands outside the stage, battered, dazed, and tended to by half a dozen guards. Yunzi catches you looking at her and she shrugs, smiling. “No challenge,” she mouths silently. You shake your head at her arrogance. You’ll see how well she fares against you later.
You can feel the tension rising between Xuxian and Pang Xiaohu, who is looking down on the short, slight monk with raised eyebrows. “It looks like you’re not too bad yourself, baldie,” he grunts. “I guess I’ll take you on before I move onto the main dish.” Hefting his axes again, he attacks.
To his surprise, the monk blocks his axes with his bare palms – you think it is Jinzhongzhao, which Guo Fu had demonstrated before, but somehow in this monk’s hands it seems slightly different. It does not seem to elicit anything but glee from the Little Tiger, however, and his attacks grow ever fiercer.
“Hey,” says a voice timidly under your heel. You look down: you had almost forgotten that you still had Xiaofang under your shoe. She stares up at you.
***
It’s time to decide what to do with these self-claimed emissaries of Shun’s will. They might be telling the truth, or they might not: you have no time to find out. Still, you feel it is likely that Xiaofang is not lying.
A. You put them out of the tournament. Regardless of what Shun has planned, he is not here right now. You will do as you see fit.
1. You slaughter Zhang Manxing on the stage. What is one more person dead?
2. You spare him – you have clearly shown that you are the better fighter: there is no need to do anything beyond giving him a sound beating.
B. You leave them be: perhaps they do have a plan from Shun, and you do not want to interfere with it more than you already have.
***
It looks like the state of the battle has changed yet again: in the blink of an eye three competitors out of the original nine have been eliminated, and the Prince appears to have tremendously overestimated his abilities compared to Yunzi. Xuxian and Pang Xiaohu are battling it out in the middle of the stage, with the monk seeming to hold the upper hand. Jixuan Wuni is standing back, waiting to see what you will do. Yunzi is looking at you with a glint in her eyes: you realize that if you don’t do anything at all, she’ll be likely to jump you, looking for a good fight.
A. You join the fight between the monk and the bandit. Yunzi might interfere, but even in that case you should be able to handle the fight.
1. You side with the monk: Pang Xiaohu is a bloodthirsty killer and should be eliminated as soon as possible.
2. You side with the bandit: Xuxian is the stronger fighter, and it makes more sense to defeat him first.
3. You attack them both, turning it into a three-way fight. That's the fun way to do it.
B. You head to the side with Yunzi for the private fight that she wants. You can deal with whoever is left over later, after you’ve finally made it clear to the stubborn Holy Maiden that you are the better fighter.