Aimless Ascension

Wang Li glared at Gale, pointing her wooden sword at him. "Fight me."

Gale raised an eyebrow. "You mean spar?"

"Whatever," Wang Li said and took her stance, slumping her shoulders in a slanted position.

Well, her basics weren't bad. And it didn't look like she would stop until Gale gave her a lesson. Gale considered what good would come of their clash as an idea resurfaced in his mind.

Practical examples were always better than theory.

Gale approached Xiaolin and took her wooden sword, which was barely better than a stick. "I'll borrow that," he said and then poke her slightly in the legs as Xiaolin fell again. "You rest for now. I'll give you a mouthful after I finish with her."

Gale advanced and stood comfortably in front of Wang Li, whose eyes were blazing like a protective mother, standing up for her cub. Perhaps, she thought, Gale wronged Xiaolin, badmouthing her about all her hard work.

"How'll we do this?" he said. "I can restrict myself to your level, but that would hardly change anything. How 'bout this: I won't use Qi or any advantage of my superior constitution. All you have to do is land a blow to win this."

Wang Li grew even angrier as she heard Gale. Of course, hearing something like your opponent handicapping himself for a fair fight would make anyone's blood boil. Much less so after how Gale disregarded their hard work.

Wang Li shot at him with everything she had. In her anger, she hadn't forgotten her stance, however; nor did she attack like a furious animal. Gale had to compliment her for this, though if he did, she would take it as sarcasm.

Thus, Gale remained silent and dodged her attack, stepping sideways. Although Wang Li had the basics figured out, she was wide open after Gale dodged her first attack. If Gale acted just a little quicker, he would be able to deal a severe blow. Both to her body and esteem.

But that wouldn't be fair. Well, anything Gale would do would hardly be fair.

He didn't attack and let her play as she liked. She showered at him blow after blow, while Gale just read her moves before she could make them. This was something he couldn't stop. His mind had adapted to reading his opponent's moves after years of experience.

Wang Li became faster and faster with her relentless assault after getting nowhere. She discovered Gale was reading her moves and her response was to move faster than he could anticipate. She wasn't reserved like she had been with Xiaolin at all.

His disciple watched from the sideline, hardly picking up anything other than being in awe at how fast they were going. She had a newfound respect for her master, watching him dodging whatever her elder sister throwing at him. What would it take for her to become like this? She wondered as she watched.

Wang Li pushed her body to the limit, strengthening her agility, and reliance using all her Qi. She forced Gale to draw his sword to block her move for the first time. And then the second time. It went as far as the third, fourth . . . Eighth.

But that was it. She couldn't land a single blow. It was as if all she was doing was playing into his hand. The master of scribe wasn't just good at scribing after all.

"You're better than I thought," Gale said, "but this is hardly entertaining."

Then, for the first time, Gale drew his sword true.

Gale drew closer for an attack. He plunged to her right, swinging his sword in a wide swipe. Wang Li's mind rang as she held her wooden sword in a block. However, at the moment of contact, Gale's sword twisted in its path in a feint.

Gale showed her his move for her to prepare a block, and she did exactly that. With the lack of experience, she clearly couldn't read his intention of the feints, even though it was quite clear.

His move landed true on Wang Li's thigh, breaking her Qi defence even though Gale used no Qi in the attack. Her mastery over the arts wasn't nearly enough to be impregnable against anything without Qi.

Wang Li yelped as her stance broke. She fell, sweat dripping from all over as she panted.

"You're relentless in your attack," Gale told her. "Why weren't you like that when you were sparring with Linlin? Do you think she'll get better if you show her mercy all the time?"

"We were just sparring," Wang Li said, wheezing.

"We're sparring too. Why do you think I won against you so easily?"

"Obviously, you're better at it," Wang Li said. "And you anticipated all my moves."

"Yes, you learned that through sparring and tried everything to get out of my readings," Gale continued. "You obviously have failed, but at least you learned something new. However, with how you and Linlin were training, I see almost no progress in them."

"Then what do you want? Beat her blue so that she won't be able to practise for days?"

"Obviously, I wanted you to hold back," Gale said, adopting a milder tone, "but not to the degree where all the effort will be pointless. Sparring is about putting your practice into practicality. You have to give her the opportunity to make mistakes, or else what's the point of it?"

Wang Li went completely silent. "I was afraid of hurting her," she said eventually.

"If you're afraid of getting hurt or hurting anyone, you'd get nowhere with this."

Gale sighed and approached Xiaolin who stood back up. Her face bore a pensive expression, waiting to get bashed.

"Have I told you not to exhaust yourself completely in training?"

"I followed all the instructions on the paper to the point," she said, looking down. Her voice was barely audible.

"You did," Gale said. "Did it ever occur to you that instruction wasn't limited only to exercise?"

Xiaolin was too ashamed to answer.

"Why hadn't Grandma stopped you or advised you better when you two started to do as you like?"

"Grandma wasn't available most of the time these days," Wang Li told him. "She's had to visit different places to get the funds for the fate lock."