Two unhurried months had slipped by since Yoriichi and Xiao Yu arrived at the Jia Nan Academy. The initial shock of the freshmen's arrival had settled into the grinding, relentless routine of cultivation.
In the center of the expansive clearing outside his estate, the morning air was crisp and still.
Yoriichi stood opposite his sister, roughly twenty paces apart. His right hand rested lightly on the hilt of his sheathed Katana. Across from him, Xiao Yu held her azure-scaled whip, her posture low, her breathing deep and highly pressurized.
Between them, a single, golden autumn leaf detached from the high branch of an oak tree. It drifted downward, swaying gently in the silent air.
Both of their eyes tracked the leaf.
Rustle.
The exact millisecond the golden leaf touched the dewy grass, the clearing erupted into motion.
Xiao Yu exploded forward, her speed vastly superior to what it had been in Wu Tan City. She didn't charge in a straight line; her footwork was erratic, weaving left and right like a rushing stream navigating a rocky riverbed.
"Water Breathing," Xiao Yu whispered, her pale blue Dou Qi flaring brilliantly. She snapped her wrist, sending the braided whip snaking toward Yoriichi's chest. "Third Form: Fluid Dance!"
The azure whip blurred. She moved with the mesmerizing, continuous grace of a dancer, her footwork generating endless momentum. The whip didn't just strike once; it flowed, rebounded, and struck again in a seamless, unending chain of attacks.
True to her affinity, actual, tangible splashes of condensed water began to manifest around the scaled leather, leaving wet, slicing arcs in the air.
Yoriichi remained perfectly calm. He didn't draw his blade.
Using his Transparent World vision, he saw the kinetic buildup in her muscles long before the whip even snapped. He smoothly tilted his head to the left, letting the razor-sharp tip graze past his ear.
He stepped back a fraction of an inch, allowing a sweeping strike to pass harmlessly over his chest. He was passively defending, weaving through the deluge of water and leather like a phantom entirely unaffected by the storm.
Seeing her continuous strikes failing to land, Xiao Yu aggressively shifted her momentum. She leaped into the air, twisting her entire body.
"Second Form: Water Wheel!"
She simultaneously combined the flowing momentum of the Third Form into the devastating, vertical rotation of the Second. A massive, spinning wheel of actual water manifested around the whip as it crashed downward, aimed directly at the crown of Yoriichi's head.
It was a brilliant, highly advanced combination for a beginner.
Yoriichi simply raised his left arm, using the lacquered scabbard of his katana to perfectly intercept the center of the strike's kinetic force. The water wheel shattered against the hard wood, sending a spray of cool droplets across the grass, but Yoriichi's arm didn't buckle a single inch.
For a few more minutes, the intense spar continued. Xiao Yu relentlessly pushed the offensive, her whip cracking like thunder, but no matter how fast or fluid she became, she couldn't break Yoriichi's absolute, passive defense.
Slowly, the heavy breathing of the Water style began to take its toll. Xiao Yu's Dou Qi flickered, her lungs burning as her reserves rapidly depleted. The sheer physical stamina required to maintain the Fluid Dance was immense.
Sensing the sharp drop in her kinetic output, Yoriichi decided the lesson was over.
He finally channeled a minute fraction of Dou Qi into his right hand. He drew the katana an inch from the scabbard, using the non-sharp, blunt spine of the blade.
He vanished.
Bypassing her exhausted guard entirely, Yoriichi appeared directly behind her. He calmly and precisely struck her back right between the shoulder blades with the blunt edge of the katana.
The impact wasn't brutal, but it carried enough localized force to completely disrupt her center of gravity. Xiao Yu let out a surprised yelp, her legs giving out, and she tumbled face-first onto the soft grass.
The spar was over.
Xiao Yu rolled onto her back, her chest heaving violently as she gasped for air. Her robe was plastered to her skin with sweat and the residual water from her own attacks.
She looked up at her brother, who was already calmly seating himself cross-legged on the grass. He pulled a small, soft cloth from his robes and began meticulously polishing the spine of his katana.
Xiao Yu pouted, her cheeks puffing out in sheer frustration.
"You... you didn't even use your style!" she accused breathlessly, sitting up and glaring at him. "You just dodged! Tell me the truth, you monster... did you even use a single drop of your Dou Qi to fight me?"
Yoriichi paused his polishing, looking at her with his serene, crimson eyes.
"Yes. At the very last strike," Yoriichi replied honestly. "I required a localized burst of Dou Qi to bypass your peripheral vision and strike your blind spot."
He returned to cleaning the blade. "Do not worry about my capabilities, Sister. Focus entirely on your own. You are doing remarkably better day by day. Your transition from the Third Form to the Second Form was exceptionally fluid. If you ever manage to force me to draw my blade and use a breathing style to defend myself, you can proudly consider yourself a true expert, and I will teach you the next forms."
Xiao Yu sighed dramatically, flopping back onto the grass.
"I severely doubt if I can manage that in this lifetime," she mumbled, staring up at the passing clouds. "I sparred in the Grand Arena three days ago and easily dealt with those arrogant peak Dou Zhes from the senior classes. But you... I can't even tell where your limits are. You are just too powerful."
Yoriichi hummed a low, noncommittal note, continuing to clean his pristine blade.
Despite her complaints, Yoriichi was genuinely impressed by her progress. In just two months, Xiao Yu had skyrocketed to the realm of a Six-Star Dou Zhe.
To jump three to six stars within sixty days was a terrifying speed, usually reserved for those consuming extremely volatile, high-tier alchemical pills. But Xiao Yu hadn't touched a single pill.
Unbeknownst to her, the primordial, violet-rosy spark of blood that had awakened within her marrow a month ago was silently working miracles. It was passively reconstructing her meridians, making them wider and vastly more resilient.
Her physical constitution had increased significantly, allowing her to absorb ambient worldly energy at a terrifying rate while practicing the intense Water Breathing style.
She was slowly, unknowingly, shedding her mortal limitations.