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Osmanthus blossoms swirled in the wind on Qiang Cong Peak. The breeze cleared away some of the building heat, because of course Qiang Cong Peak would have some sort of natural temperature control. Sha Hualing couldn’t be too cross, though, because her scarves and clothes were soaked in sweat from her climb up the mountain.
“A wicked demon is here to stir up trouble!” Sha Hualing shouted, walking around the reception courtyard. “Maybe I will tempt a poor cultivator to evil! Or besmirch someone’s reputation!” She pouted. It was taking abnormally long for someone to chastise her.
Sha Hualing wiped some sweat away from the back of her neck with one of her scarves. Another floral breeze would be welcome.
Finally, a binding array glowed into being around her arms and a storm of energetic swords fell from above. Sha Hualing dove to the side and rolled away from the blades (difficult, with her arms pinned around her). She sprung up into a defensive position and surveyed the courtyard.
“Leave, foul harpy!” Liu Mingyan leapt down from her sword. “You have no business being here.” And with that she ran directly to Sha Hualing, blade flying at her side.
Sha Hualing took the two seconds she had before impact to surge demonic qi through her system and break the binding. It burst in a shower of sparks just in time for her to pull her knives out of their sheaths on her thighs.
The sun glinted off their blades as they traded blows. Sha Hualing pressed forward aggressively, and lost some of the scarves that wrapped around her hips. Liu Mingyan regained the ground and knocked her veil askew. Sha Hualing cut Liu Mingyan’s sash in two, Liu Mingyan cut three of Sha Hualing’s braids off.
That crossed a line. Sha Hualing growled and purposely left her flank open so she could lure Liu Mingyan in for a pair of devastating knife jabs to her kidneys. Unfortunately, she didn’t get out of the way of Shui Se in the process.
They stared at each other for an instant, breathing through the pain of their respective wounds. Then Liu Mingyan pulled herself and her sword away to regroup.
Well that wouldn’t do. Sha Hualing darted forward, swinging her blades in large arcs to distract Liu Mingyan, who raised her sword to block them. That gave Sha Hualing the opportunity to drop to the ground and slide under Liu Mingyan’s legs. She popped up behind her and grabbed Liu Mingyan’s neck in a chokehold.
“I’ve got you now,” Sha Huanling whispered in her ear.
Liu Mingyan scoffed before grabbing Sha Hualing’s arm, hard, and throwing the demon off her back.
Sha Hualing took the momentum of the throw and rolled to the edge of the yard, out of Liu Mingyan’s reach. That was it, the battle was over. She stared at the sky and appraised her injuries. Two, maybe three broken ribs, minor abrasions everywhere, the gash on her leg, and, oh yes, that stab through her liver. “I yield!” Sha Hualing took a deep breath. “The mighty Liu Mingyan has defeated me.”
“What are you grinning at?” Liu Mingyan scowled and threw Sha Hualing’s discarded knives towards her. “You lost.”
“Did I? Or did Ying-er get what she came for?” Sha Hualing waggled her hips suggestively and immediately regretted it. She pushed more qi to her liver to patch up the wound.
In a flash, the point of Liu Mingyan’s sword was in Sha Hualing’s face. “What did you steal?” It was less of a question than a promise of further violence.
Sha Hualing twisted her lower body in a large arc (to which her ribs strongly objected) to sweep her legs behind Liu Mingyan’s. Liu Mingyan, of course, saw the move coming and jumped two feet in the air before landing in a crouch, one knee on Sha Hualing’s chest and her sword across her throat. “You know I had to try,” Sha Hualing said with a grin.
The scowl deepend and Liu Mingyan pressed down ever so slightly on the sword. “What did you come for?”
“Training, obviously.” Sha Hualing wiped some blood from her mouth. “None of the demons in my army can challenge me. But you?” She twisted and craned her neck in an attempt to ease the pressure. It didn’t work. “Every time you kick my ass down the mountain, I learn something new.”
That earned her an amused scoff. Liu Mingyan’s scowl even let up a fraction of an inch. “I suppose we have both improved since the first time we fought.” After a moment’s consideration, she rolled her eyes and stepped off of Sha Hualing’s chest.
Sha Hualing leapt to her feet and arranged her scarves and sashes. Some of them were too encrusted with blood to be worn again, which was always the sign of a successful battle. “Exactly. That twisting flip you did when you got out of my hold? Fantastic. Inspired. Sexy as hell.”
Liu Mingyan looked away as she pinned her veil back in place. “I’m surprised you didn’t make a big deal about my face.”
“Why would I?” Sha Hualing asked as she wiped her knives on a discarded scarf and sheathed them. “I saw it once, it’s not surprising anymore. If all it took to stop me was the sight of one beautiful woman, I’d deserve to die.”
“That’s what I keep saying!” A bird in a nearby tree took off at the volume, and Liu Mingyan had to take a breath to compose herself. “But shizun and the other Peak Lords are still concerned for the constitution of male disciples, so I continue to wear the veil.”
That sounded fucking absurd. But who was Sha Hualing to argue if the righteous and virtuous human sects coddled their students? “If any of my soldiers froze in battle because my breast popped out, I’d demote them and use their intestines as a belt.”
A small noise came from Liu Mingyan’s direction, not a laugh, but perhaps a huff of amusement. “I could use a new one, since you destroyed mine.”
Sha Hualing grinned wide. “Jiejie, are you funny? Do you make jokes?” She bounded over and slung an arm around Liu Mingyan’s waist, leaning in close to whisper, “Are you secretly a fun person?”
Liu Mingyan stiffened for a moment before she pinned Sha Hualing’s hand to her waist and twisted her entire body in a sharp motion, throwing Sha Hualing a few feet away.
“My mistake,” Sha Hualing said. The air felt too hot again, catching in her chest uncomfortably. “I should have known none of you uptight Cang Qiong folks can loosen up.”
But then Liu Mingyan gave Sha Hualing a long look. Sha Hualing wished the veil were off again, because she couldn’t read the cultivator. Maybe she was going to get thrown down the mountain for real this time.
“I’ll be visiting Huan Hua Palace with the rest of Xian Shu Peak next month,” Liu Mingyan said at last. “Maybe you’ll attack us while we’re there.”
Sha Hualing grinned wide, showing off fangs that did not go unnoticed by Liu Mingyan. “I’ll be sure to.”