Standing above a murmuring crowd of disciples, Yang Chen was looking out across the Glass Cloud Sect’s Plaza from one of the stages, waiting impatiently for Jun Li to arrive.

  A number of disciples had gathered to observe Yang Chen's duel. Although he wasn't as well-regarded as Ren Liwei, his name had garnered its own sentiment, less respectful though it may be.

  In truth, a number of those who had decided to observe today's duel did not do so out of interest in Yang Chen, but instead because of Jun Li, whose name had garnered some complex emotions throughout the Outer Sect.

  To the side, Elder Guo had seated himself at the edge of the stage, having been called upon to oversee Yang Chen’s duel formally.

  Elder Guo was somewhat surprised by Yang Chen’s request; he hadn’t expected to hear that Jun Li was going to be participating in another duel, considering the previous incident with Ren Liwei.

  He was curious as to what Jun Li would look like, going into this duel, and how she would fare, especially after hearing of her performance in the last Outer Sect Trial.

  Yang Chen, however, was growing bored with waiting.

  Looking up at the midday sun, he wondered if he’d be able to call for Jun Li’s automatic defeat if she took any longer to show up.

  From the edge of the crowd, a small disturbance caught Yang Chen’s eye as someone attempted to push their way to the stage.

  “I’m not late, right!?” Squeezing out of the crowd, Jun Li called out to the stage as she quickly found her way up.

  From his seated position, Elder Guo looked Jun Li over, interested by the fact that she seemed to be in fairly high spirits. “You’ve arrived precisely at the scheduled time, you’re fine.”

  Letting out a sigh, Jun Li wiped the sweat from her brow and made her way to the edge of the stage.

  Placing her hat on the ground, she nestled Little Yun atop it and turned to Yang Chen with a smile. “I’m ready whenever!”

  Seeing Jun Li’s manner, Yang Chen couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

  Yang Chen turned his gaze to Elder Guo, who responded with a short nod before speaking. “Now then, to confirm the terms of the duel…”

  Elder Guo raised a hand in the direction of Yang Chen. “Disciple Yang’s terms, for if he should win, are as thus: Disciple Jun must… ‘Recite a previously agreed-upon declaration, and refrain from any further contact with any member of the Royal Family… correct?”

  With a cordial smile, Yang Chen bowed slightly to Elder Guo. “That is all I ask, Elder Guo.”

  Nodding to Yang Chen, Elder Guo raised his other hand to Jun Li. “And Disciple Jun’s terms, for if she should win the duel, are as thus…”

  Elder Guo lifted a string of golden slats from a pocket of his robe. “Disciple Jun will receive a reward of gold, paid by Disciple Yang… correct?”

  From the crowd, multiple disciples could be heard making commentary; some jeered at the concept of money being any draw for such a duel.

  Others groaned at the idea that the infamous commoner of the Outer Sect had once again signed herself up for a hopeless duel, looking for pocket change.

  Looking to the gold, Jun Li paused for a moment, feeling herself tense up, seeing what was on the line. “That… Yang Chen claimed something along the lines that the gold would be ‘enough for me to live out the rest of my life.’ Do you know if that’s accurate to the value of the gold?”

  Stroking his beard in thought, Elder Guo was silent for only a moment. “If spent frugally, yes, I believe it would be accurate. By my understanding, it should be enough to buy and prepare a small section of livable farmland.”

  Smiling widely in response, Jun Li stretched her limbs in preparation. “Then, everything seems fine to me!”

  Stowing the gold for the moment, Elder Guo swept his gaze over the two disciples. “In that case, ready yourselves…”

  Elder Guo raised his arm and looked to see the two disciples preparing themselves, Jun Li raising her arms into a defensive stance, and Yang Chen seemingly still relaxed, hands in his pockets.

  Before Elder Guo’s signal, Jun Li wasn’t sure how to start the duel.

  She wasn’t nearly experienced enough to call herself comfortable in fighting other people.

  “…Begin!”

  Luckily for Jun Li, she wouldn’t need to worry about making the first move.

  The instant Elder Guo’s hand fell to signal the beginning of the duel, Yang Chen instantly jolted forward towards her.

  Stepping back, Jun Li was able to partially deflect Yang Chen’s opening punch, much to his dismay. “'tsk…”

  Stepping deeper towards Jun Li, Yang Chen sent a flood of strikes towards Jun Li, hoping to knock her out with a single solid strike to the head.

  To his dismay, however, Jun Li kept up with his onslaught, dodging most of his sharp blows and diverting the ones she couldn’t evade.

  Though Yang Chen was only slightly perturbed, Jun Li found herself requiring absolute focus to maintain her defense.

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  Despite the difficulty, however, Jun Li found she was enjoying herself.

  Thinking back to her time in the last Outer Sect Trial, she realized that she didn’t entirely dislike fighting, despite how painful each mistake could be.

  Feeling she had adapted to Yang Chen’s attacks somewhat, Jun Li sought an opening to counter.

  Receiving one of Yang Chen’s strikes, Jun Li simultaneously struck with her leg, trying to throw Yang Chen off balance.

  As Jun Li’s strike passed through the space Yang Chen’s leg previously occupied, she realized he had disappeared from the spot.

  At the other side of the stage, Yang Chen was slightly crouched over, looking to Jun Li with an expression that betrayed his growing resentment.

  “Junior Sister Jun!” Yang Chen stood tall and spoke loud enough for the crowd to hear. “You’re truly remarkable for a commoner. It takes talent to get as far as you have, coming from such ignoble origins!”

  Jun Li lowered her guard slightly, hearing Yang Chen’s odd, backhanded compliment. Yang Chen flicked a finger in her direction after a moment.

  “…but that’s as far as you can go.” He sneered, running a hand through his hair.

  “I’d prefer to avoid hurting you too badly, you see, so… how about you just concede now and save both of us the trouble?”

  Almost relieved to see Yang Chen acting this way, Jun Li smiled, slipping back into a fighting stance. “Sorry! I think I’m doing a little too well to back down now.”

  Hearing Jun Li’s response, Yang Chen’s smile faltered for a moment.

  “Well…” He spoke quietly so as not to be overheard by the crowd. “If you need another beating on this stage before you learn your place… I’ll be happy to indulge you.”

  Hearing Yang Chen’s comment, Jun Li no longer felt any need to hold back against him.

  Before she could make the first move, however, Yang Chen shot forward faster than ever before, forcing Jun Li to try and block his rapidly approaching palm.

  As Yang Chen’s palm impacted Jun Li’s guarding forearm, she buckled under the force of the strike, sliding back over the stone tiles of the stage.

  Sucking in a cold breath, Jun Li tried to strike back, but Yang Chen instantly shot back to the other end of the stage. ‘That’s… a Movement Technique…?’

  With an eye to Yang Chen’s feet, Jun Li recognized the wispy Qi that appeared beneath his feet. “The Glass Cloud Art…?”

  Yang Chen scoffed in response to Jun Li’s question. “Wow! You recognize it? I’m surprised you’re literate enough to read the Glass Cloud Manual.”

  “But… being able to read it isn’t much use if you’re unable to comprehend the contents.” Hearing Yang Chen’s derision, Jun Li resented the fact that she agreed with him.

  She had eschewed training in her Movement Technique, instead favoring time spent Cultivating.

  Even her improvised ‘Cloudburst’ technique was just a shortcut that only worked in niche circumstances.

  Without fine-tuned control, it was useless in combat with another person.

  “Of course, it’s not just the Glass Cloud Art…” Yang Chen raised his arm and slipped into a ready stance.

  Yang Chen’s palm glowed lightly with a transparent sheen. “The Billowing Glass Palm, another of the Sect’s fundamental Techniques.”

  Lunging forward, Yang Chen slammed his palm into Jun Li’s quickly raised guard, one blow after another. “This is what sets us apart from trash like you!”

  Steadily pushing through Jun Li’s defense, Yang Chen continued to berate her. “I’d like to see some common trash try and comprehend such a profound and elegant Technique!”

  Slowly being pushed back to the edge of the stage, Jun Li’s arms were slowly growing numb from the beating.

  Feeling she wouldn’t be able to defend much longer, Jun Li tried to stay calm and look for an opening. ‘You’re not the only one who's been training in Martial Techniques…’

  Though most of the Techniques contained within the Sparking Thorn were designed for use with weapons, Jun Li still had enough practice with the leg-based techniques to have used them in the last Outer Sect Trial.

  Suddenly, after one blow too many, Jun Li’s guard began to falter as her battered arms drooped down under the strain.

  Unable to let the opportunity pass, Yang Chen wrenched one of Jun Li’s arms out of the way and slammed his palm into the center of her gut with the most forceful strike at his disposal.

  A loud 'snap' rang out, and his strike physically shunted Jun Li off her feet and into the air, her body folding over herself as she collapsed. From the floor, however, Jun Li smiled at hearing that 'snap.'

  Watching Jun Li crumple down and onto the floor, Yang Chen grinned and opened his mouth to utter some inane insult.

  Before he could say a word, however, his expression distorted into a silent scream of pain as he placed weight on his left leg. “What the… hell!?"

  The cloth of his robe was shredded, leaving loose scraps hanging over his knee, the exposed skin below revealing an alarming sight as Yang Chen fell to the floor of the ring, eliciting some gasps from the crowd nearest the stage.

  His knee was destroyed, crushed by a heavy force and broken backwards, leaving it distorted and hooked in reverse, like the digitigrade leg of some beast, but far more grotesque.

  Hearing Jun Li’s coughing, Yang Chen raised his face, now pale and trembling.

  A few steps away, Jun Li was slowly picking herself off the ground, clearly having suffered herself; she was now sweating heavily, a stream of bile spilling from her mouth.

  Seeing Jun Li sporting a half-smile, Yang Chen realized she had deliberately allowed her own guard to fall and had readied herself to trade blows and come out on top.

  'That sounded good, that 'snap' I heard… I guess the Sparking Thorn works just as well on humans.'

  Jun Li righted herself slowly, feeling the pain of her organs, twisted and bruised from where Yang Chen had struck her, sweat pouring down her face.

  “You…!” Yang Chen scowled, but before he could say more than a word, Jun Li interrupted him.

  "I was worried for a moment there…" Jun Li began to make her way over to the collapsed Yang Chen. "I was worried that you were more skilled than me, that you had more Martial Techniques, and better ones."

  "But I didn't have to worry about that. Not really." Jun Li now stood at her full height, the effects of Yang Chen's strike now remaining only as a lingering pain.

  "Because you're weak." Jun Li furrowed her brows as she looked down on her opponent. "Really… What have you been doing? You got here when you were sixteen, right? Same as everyone else? Have you even been Cultivating daily?"

  Clutching his shattered knee, Yang Chen looked up to Jun Li with an expression that made humiliation seem like too light a word. "I've not lost yet, you damn… Urgh…!"

  Watching the agony born of her making, Jun Li felt her tension melt away, and she turned from Yang Chen without concern. "Elder Guo, I don't think he's going to surrender."

  Pensively looking over Jun Li and her opponent, Elder Guo spoke slowly. "Indeed… Considering the circumstances, I have to judge Disciple Yang as unable to continue the duel."

  Raising his hand towards Jun Li, Elder Guo made the final call. "Disciple Jun Li has won the duel, and as such, is entitled to the reward wagered by Disciple Yang Chen!"

  At this, the small crowd of onlookers couldn't help but murmur to one another. In his unsightly failing, Yang Chen had truly tarnished any goodwill he had garnered in the past.

  At the quiet sound of the crowd, Yang Chen's head rolled back onto the tiles, and he passed out, more from the strain of humiliation than pain.