A Spring Tale

[davidY]

Hello! I am going to try to write a fan fiction. It will be semi-wuxia. I will try my best, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Wish me luck! If you like it, I will write faster. Please read and criticize. You get greater chance of getting daily updates (if a bit short - I write very slowly). Here is a slightly more substantial first part for your reading pleasure:

Chapter 1 Part 1
Rhona whacked Thomas over the head. “Thomas, sit up straight”. It was late morning, and for the whole day Thomas had been dragging things down, trying to avoid his meeting. Not that Rhona was going to let him. She pulled the comb through his hair, causing him to wince. She snorted, and said “Do you see who is the boss?” He nodded dully. “You know, it’s not like I enjoy this”, she said, as she motioned for him to stand up, “But at least look presentable for the first time you meet her. It is supposed to be an engagement”. Noticing that he was not paying much attention, she patted him on the arm, secretly increasing the power of the blow with a little of her internal energy. That woke him, as he almost slid off the chair.

“Ouch, Rhona, I give up. Don’t worry, I’ll be there”, he said as he nursed his arm, and pulling a face at her. She pulled her face at him back and wondered about his comment, and in that instant, he quickly ran out of the room. Rhona yelled as she ran to catch up with him. Her language started becoming a little indecent. Unfortunately that just diverted her lightness skill and made her slower.

With such a head start, he had already managed to find a small place to hide in. Having grown up here, he knew that Rhona would never find him. She never had before, although he grimaced as he thought of what she would do to him when they meet again. However, the pampering had got to him – he was going to be packaged and married to some random girl. When Rhona had passed by, he crawled out of the nook, and decided to find a more comfortable place to hide in.

It wasn’t long before he found himself in front of the stables. Here at least, nobody would expect him to hide. Just as he was about to open the doors, two horses ran straight at him, one chasing the other. He was not expecting this, and so he fumbled for a moment. His legs got tangled in the hay just as he tried to dodge, and the first horse ran straight into him. His internal energy was high enough so it did not cause any injury, but he hurt all over.

“Mistress, lets stop. We have already made it to the Zhengshan school’s outskirts. Just consider it that you win” said one of the riders, a young girl. She was interrupted by the other rider, another girl who said “Consider? Do you consider it that I win and think in your heart that you have won?”, as she spoke, she looked on the ground and saw Thomas still lying there, and asked him “Weakling, get out of our way”. Thomas was in no mood for her insults, and huffed at her “Who did you say is a weakling?”

His eyes focused on her clothes, and saw that on her waist she had a sword, and even though it appeared to be a plain sword, from the way it reflected light it was clearly a refined sword.

The girl replied “Who I am is none of your business. I am here on an important duty. Do you dare to stop me?” Thomas stifled a laugh unsuccessfully, and asked “Important business?” and then thinking of a better plan, he said “If you think that just because you have a maid, you are superior…”

The girl blushed, “She is not a maid, she is a highly skilful martial artist,” defending her companion, and then said “You, on the other hand, can not even get out of the way of a horse given ten minutes. You are just a weakling”. Thomas paused for a moment, and the rude girl took the cue “So I was right!”, a little more confident, she added “Unless you want a fight, I suggest you crawl away now”
Thomas snorted, and thought to himself that this rude girl knew no bounds. To even dare say those words to him. He grinned as he imagined expression if she was told who he was. He was about to walk proudly out of the way and tell the rude girl his stature, when the servant cut in “Suin, lets just go. He is not worth it. Today is your big day”. Somehow that seemed to make the rude girl, Suin, even more annoyed.

Suin frowned, and said, “Who dares to tell me what to do?” The servant girl replied, “But your father will get…". Suin turned her head and stopped listening, and commanded to the servant “I feel angry today. Go and fight that weakling. Release my anger for me”. The servant girl stuttered, “But..” Suin stared at the girl, and said, “Didn’t I help you for that thing last time?”. Suin spoke of "that thing" quietly, but Thomas heard her. The servant sighed, and replied, "Oh… alright, Suin, but this is the last favour I owe you”. Suin smiled sweetly and said “That’s what friends are for”

Thomas had heard all this, and decided to walk away. These were definitely some very weird girls, but didn’t want any trouble. Not the least because both his parents and Rhona would definitely kill him the next time they find him if he got into a scuffle. Suin saw him walking away, and shouted to him “Stop right there, weakling. We are not done with you”.

[davidY]

Chapter 1 Part 2
Hearing this, Thomas suddenly forgot Rhona’s death threat. The day was already bad enough for him. He was already going to walk towards the worst type of coffin possible – marriage. He turned around, and with his most insulting possible voice, he asked “What? You want to beg for mercy? I already let you little dogs go. Hurry up, leave now, while I let you”.

Hearing this, Suin opened her mouth wide and was at a loss for words. Suin’s friend took the cue and leapt off the horse, and in one smooth movement, unsheathed her sword and flourished an opening move. While the move was neither groundbreaking nor elegant, the move was solid and showed a depth and commitment to her practise. Thomas blinked once in amazement. He would never have expected that the girl would know martial arts, let alone be well practised. About to draw the sword himself, he saw Suin suddenly move off the horse, leaving the horse later, but arriving before her servant.

Thomas now felt a little unsure now of victory over even one of them. But it was too late to back off – they would laugh at him behind his back, so he said “You are lucky I am not asking for compensation for trying to kill me with your horse. Why don’t we let it be at that?”

Suin smiled at him, her dress fluttering in the wind. She paused for a moment, before asking “Regretting it? Well, I suppose I can let you go. But not before I have had my compensation. You ran into my horse. So now you owe me a new horse”.

Thomas was almost about to comply, until he heard her unreasonable request. She obviously did not know whom she was talking to. He shook his head, and laughed. He said, “Today is a terrible day. First that business, and now this? This must be heaven’s revenge for my otherwise good fortune. Let’s stop the idle chatter. Prepare for my sword”. As he spoke the last sentence, he drew his sword.

He estimated that they were about his age, so he knew that they could not be much better than he was. He reminded himself that he did not want to cause a commotion, although at the back of his mind, he did not want to lose this fight. He was just going to spar a bit and then leave. Too bad, while he had a good foundation to his internal strength, he was also a bit clumsy, and thus tripped on the hay that he had previously got stuck in. So as he rocketed forwards, he also lost all control.

Suin had seen all types of attacks, but she had never seen this strange stance. It seemed to defy all logic, a strong frontal attack with not even a hint of defence. She had not expected such a powerful stance as an opening stance, and did not want to block it head on. Had she blocked the stance she would have found that it was very weak, but with the unpredictability of his stance, she felt like she had no handle on the situation. So she quickly moved away. But she was not quick enough. A moment later, she heard a loud ripping noise, as Thomas’ sword cut into her dress.

Thomas had landed face first on the ground with a loud smack. He quickly got up from the ground, and saw that his sword had ripped into her dress. Suin and her servant were both shocked motionless, staring at him. Thomas quickly tried to fix the situation, by pulling out the sword. Unfortunately, that only made the situation worse. The dress ripped even more, and that seemed to wake Suin. She screamed “Pervert”, and kicked Thomas away.

Thomas realised the enormity of his mistake. He stood up and apologised profusely, and offered to find another dress. Nearby, the noise had alerted some of the Zhengshan disciples, and a few ran towards the stables. Knowing that he was in some serious trouble, Thomas bolted away from the scene of his crime, with a swearing Suin and her servant in hot pursuit behind him. If they caught him, he would be in huge trouble.

[davidY]

If you post criticisms or comments, I will try to post two parts a day
Chapter 1 Part 3

Thomas ran straight into the stables, and jumped into the nearest haystack. Suin and her servant also followed him and jumped into the haystack. Thomas waded away from the now bloodthirsty girls, but alas the haystack was not large enough to contain all three of them. In the end, they managed to scatter all the hay in their hiding place, leaving them with no place to hide. Thomas heard the stable doors being opened, and so he quickly used his Zhengshan lightness skills to jump onto a beam on the roof, and there he hung by his two hands.

Suin said, “Don’t let anybody see me wearing this dress. Lets follow him, and not let him get away”, and so both girls followed suit and jumped up onto the beam, one to each side of Thomas. As the Zhengshan disciples walked into the barn, above them, holding on to the roof, were three figures. Thomas was now in between the two angry girls. Suin released one hand and moved to slap Thomas. He released one hand from the ceiling and defended with the free hand. Suin’s companion also released one of her hands from the ceiling and attacked Thomas with it. Thomas quickly executed his best lightness skill move, and did a backflip around the roof beam, so that he was doing a handstand on the beam now.

The two girls almost hit each other, but they stopped before they did. Instead, they now each grasped one of his arms, rendering him unable to get out of his uncomfortable inverted position. The both gave him an evil grin. Thomas was now unable to just jump off the beam, if he was to avoid detection. The Zhengshan disciples moved to investigate the disturbed haystack. They would be here for quite a while more.

Thomas whispered to both girls, “Hey dimwit, I think that the Zhengshan disciples looked up, they would see your dress and a whole lot more. Who do you think will be more embarrassed? Let me go, and I won’t shout for their attention”, and returned his own smug smile. The Suin and the servant girl blushed, and after a moment of hushed discussion they released him. Thomas had a lot of blood in his head, and so he quickly swung back down. They resumed fighting, but this time, the girls started to both use their palm skills and kicking skills. Since he was at a very definite disadvantage, Thomas could barely defend himself for a few minutes, before being hit in the face. The girls were not very vicious but definitely very angry, and only after being hit ten times, did they stop. While they did hit him, they softened the blows after the first few. After a while, they stopped entirely, but already Thomas had a few small bruises on his face.

Suin whispered, “We are now almost even. You hurt my horse, and rip my favourite dress, and I hit you back”, then she was quiet for a moment, before continuing, “But you still owe me a debt”. She laughed lightly, and said, “Actually, I feel quite relieved. It is a good feeling to take out your anger on a weakling punching sack”, Thomas tried to protest, but every time he tried to say anything, she raised a fist to threaten him. Suin then spoke with a more concerned tone and said, “But how will I get to the meeting? Dad’s going to be super angry if I return late and with a ripped dress”. She looked around the floor as the Zhengshan disciples had now left, and then said “I think I will just avoid going. Maybe say that weaklings in the Zhengshan School attacked us. Father would be so furious. Come to think of it, he might even call it off”.

The servant girl replied “Suin, don’t do it. If he knew, he will start a big fight”. The servant paused for a moment, and said “What about this, we say some bandits attacked us midway. We say we fought a dozen... no, fifty of them until they crawled away”. Suin pondered on that, and nodded her head wisely, and said “That’s a great idea, Elise”, as she smiled thinking of the idea. Thomas shook his head in despair - they were just so strange. He did not realise that the servant girl, Elise, had just possibly avoided a disaster.

They released themselves from the roof, and landed in the soft hay. They were not yet powerful enough to possess a lightness skill that would allow them to land well yet. Just as they were about to leave, the stable doors opened once again. A few people walked in, accompanied by some Zhengshan disciples. Among the newcomers, were a man and woman who appeared to be talking to each other, and a younger man who was talking to the Zhengshan disciples.

[davidY]

Chapter 1 Part 4

Since Thomas knew most of the people in Zhengshan, he knew immediately that these three were not from Zhengshan, but visitors. They also had a powerful and imposing air about them, marking them clearly as martial heroes from Jianghu. The way the couple walked was light yet heavy, showing a very high attainment in internal energy. Thomas pushed the two girls and signalled for them to follow him. He started picking up the hay that they had scattered, and started rebuilding the hay pile, pretending to be Zhengshan disciples cleaning up the stables, while using the haystack as cover.

One of the disciples called out, “Hey guys, come and get the guests’ horses.
Elise whispered “I’ll go, they don’t know me”, and she quickly walked to the entrance, and took the reins of the horses.
Thomas turned his face away from the group and whispered to Suin, “Just avoid letting them see who you are”. Suin’s changed her facial expression, and pointed behind him.
Suin said “You are.. are you.. Quinn?”

Thomas almost jumped and quickly looked over his shoulder, and saw somebody standing behind him. It was the youth that Thomas saw, who was now holding onto the rein of his horse. The youth nodded smartly, and replied “I am indeed Quinn. And who might you be?”

Thomas had heard of Quinn before. He was the son of the two great heroes, the famous couple named the Lightning Linked Sabres. As a martial artist on his own right, he was an up and coming hero, already winning two of the recent Junior Sword Meets. The reputation of these people was no less than the reputation of the Zhengshan School. Thomas quickly bowed and lowered his face to hide his face. Similarly, it seemed that Suin lowered her face, although she seemed in a slight daze.

Quinn repeated “And who might this lady be?” in a gentlemanly manner. Thomas snorted, thinking that even though Quinn was about Thomas’ age, Quinn acted like an old gentleman. Suin snapped from her daze, and slapped Thomas, and said “Don’t worry about that weakling”. She then said in a somewhat sweeter tone, “I am.. ah.. Elise”.

Thomas whispered to Suin, “Aren’t you called Suin?”. Suin whacked him over the head again, and smiled a little bit uncomfortably at Quinn and said, “Ah, don’t listen to him. He knows nothing”, and then asked Quinn, “So what is a heroic person like you doing here?”.

Elise walked away from the stable door and led the horses towards them. She asked “Suin, where do you want the horses put?”. Suin’s eyes bulged in a panic, and then poked Thomas hard in the ribs.
Thomas understood her message, and replied “It’ll be good over here,” pointing to the nearest stall.
Quinn looked at Thomas with a slight grin, and asked, “so your name is Suin? It sounds more like a girl’s name”.
Thomas looked at Suin with annoyance, and pointing to Elise, he said, “she is Suin”.
Quinn looked at Elise in confusion, and asked, “but didn’t you ask Suin for instructions?”
Elise looked at Suin in confusion, and said, “right... I am Suin”.
Suin looked at Thomas with anger, and rather embarrassingly repeated her question, “So... what is a heroic person like you doing here?”.

Quinn turned back to face Suin and replied, “I am here because my parents are looking to introduce me to martial heroes. I am a new face in the martial circles, and they want me to make some more friends. While I have made a name for myself at the Junior Sword Meets, few people know me by face. Along the way we heard that the Zhengshan School seeking to merge with the Tianshan School, so my parents are here to pay the elders of both schools a visit”

Since Thomas did not want Quinn to find out who he was, Thomas faced away from Quinn and faced Elise and hoped for Quinn to leave. However, once Quinn started talking to Suin about the current state of Jianghu, he seemed to never stop. It turned out that recently a precious martial arts manual had surfaced in Jianghu, and many blood feuds had sprung up around the manual. Already several small clans had clashed, and there were rumours that even the Demon Cult had become involved. There were even some rumours that the Zhengshan School had managed to obtain it. To Thomas, this was absolutely nonsense. His father had not mentioned anything about a precious manual.

A quick look at Suin showed that Quinn enchanted her. Elise whispered to Thomas, “Quinn is Suin’s idol. She has been idolising him ever since he defeated all other School’s junior disciples at the Junior Sword Meet”. After listening patently for a while, he could not contain his boredom any more. There was always some trouble somewhere about marital arts manuals, but he thought that if everybody spent more time practising, they would probably become greater martial arts masters without the need to fight over a manual. He was about to leave the stables and hope to escape the wrath of Suin, which was by now temporarily cooled by meeting Quinn’s. Just as he was heading for the doors, suddenly a Zhengshan disciple crashed through the stable doors, and slid across the floor.

[davidY]

Chapter 1 Part 5

The disciple tried to speak, but could not make a noise. He had blood all over his face, and his hands were shaking, probably from pain. For an instant, Thomas was shocked still, before he sprinted over to the disciple, and kneeled down. He immediately recognised the person, one of his friends who had been stationed for guard duty today. He put his hand near the nose, and felt that there was weak air movement. However, for some strange reason, the breath felt very cold. Thomas urgently asked, “Samiel, are you all right? Who hurt you?”

Samiel weakly lifted his hand, and whispered, “Thief”. Thomas lifted his head, and saw a bright flash of light as it streaked down. With a loud metallic clash, the streak of light stopped midair. Quinn’s thin sword had blocked and stopped an attacking sword. Thomas looked up, and saw a masked man wielding a sword. However, Quinn’s sword was still vibrating due to the collision, whereas the intruder’s sword had stilled. Thomas grabbed hold of Samiel tightly, and executed his lightness skills and jumped back a few meters. The two girls also rushed forwards to help Quinn.

Thomas shouted, “Watch out, the thief is very powerful. Samiel is the brightest disciple of my generation, and he got defeated”. Thomas made sure that Samiel was stable, before turning his head towards the battle. Currently, they held the upper hand. The intruder had not expected to find people here, and thus there was the element of surprise. It was also obvious that the intruder was much better than any of them. However, against the paired sword formation of the girls, and the fast sword skills of Quinn, it would take a while for the intruder to gain the upper hand.

Quinn’s sword skills emphasised a rapid succession of complex stances that flowered out from his sword, variation after variation. On the offensive side it relied on the unpredictability of the variations, and defensively it would be of great difficulty to penetrate. Against Thomas, Quinn would definitely gain an upper hand, but only after twenty or thirty exchanges. In terms of internal energy, however, Thomas felt like he had the advantage, since Thomas’ internal energy was the best in his generation at Zhengshan. However, internal energy was not crucial at their level of sword skill.

The girls also used a fast sword skill, but this time, their formation greatly improved their power. While individually they might be weaker a bit weaker than Quinn, put together they were at least double as powerful as he was. Whenever the intruder attacked Suin, Elise would block, allowing Suin to attack the intruder while his offensive stance opened him up to attack. Thomas almost jumped when he recognised this formation. It was the Paired Swords formation of Tianshan. Tianshan and Zhengshan had always been enemies. He shook his head, not understanding their purpose here. It couldn’t have been just to annoy him.

Thomas also wanted to join the fray, but realised that even if he helped, it would not ensure victory. Already, the girls were hard pressed to defend. Thomas guessed that Samiel must have had discovered the thief, and had been chased here. That meant that nobody else would know that the thief was here. Thomas ran for the stable doors, and was about to shout as loudly as possible, in an attempt to draw the attention of Zhengshan disciples.

Just then, there was a loud burst, startling Thomas and he turned around. The intruder had used an internal energy attack at him. It was forceful and cold, emanating from his fingers. Thomas felt his chest constrict at the pressure of the attack, obviously to silence him. He also felt an extremely cold energy reach for him. Quinn stepped in front of the blast, and countered it with his own, and began competing their internal energy, giving Thomas the chance to shout.

Judging from the coldness of the energy, Thomas knew that this was no ordinary thief. If Quinn were to compete in energy, he would die under the energy within a minute. The girls realised this, and they each put a hand to Quinn’s back, supporting his energy. Even that was not enough, and they all started to feel the cold energy force its way into their meridians.

[davidY]

Chapter 1 Part 6

Thomas saw that combined they could not win. So, he drew his internal energy, and compressed it into a highly dense form. Then in an instant he released all the energy at the girls. The intruder had not expected a sudden increase in the attack, and without time to balance the attack, he was thrown back, but uninjured. However Thomas, the girls and especially Quinn had been injured in the competition of strength, and they just slumped onto the ground, almost powerless.

The intruder quickly got up and saw his chance. He flicked his hand, and from within his sleeves, flew out four deadly daggers, one aimed at each of them. He then jumped up and used his internal energy to escape the barn. Suddenly, from outside four projectile weapons were launched, and deflected each of the daggers. These weapons turned out to be small earings. For such a force to be deflected by small earings, there must be a vastly superior martial arts master protecting them.

A blur followed the intruder, and before the intruder could leave through the window, he had been pushed back to the ground. As the two men landed on the ground, there was a deep footprint left on the ground. The force that the blur had used must have been very great. It turned out that the blur was the man that Thomas had seen earlier. Quinn shouted, “Father! Make sure he does not escape. He seems to have bad intentions”. The man was no other than The Linked Sabres Hero Yun. Quinn’s mother, The Linked Sabres Heroine Yun, arrived closely behind. Behind them, Thomas could hear the Zhengshan disciples entering.

Thomas guessed that she had saved their lives. Thomas quickly spoke out, “My friend Samiel is injured and lying over there, he needs help straight away. Also, that man is a thief, check what he has stolen”. The Zhengshan disciples quickly went to tend to Samiel’s wound. The intruder pulled a small scroll from within his pockets.

From far away, somebody spoke, “Do not move” in a thundering tone, manifesting a deep level of internal energy. By the time the words had been spoken, the speaker was already outside the door. It was Zhengshan School’s top master and leader, Mr Zheng. Thomas cringed, before being interrupted by Suin poking him in the ribs. She whispered “hide me, or else you will get it”. Thomas looked around in panic and replied, “you will owe me a lot”, and before Suin could argue, he said, “I will distract them, you dive into that hay pile. I’ll count to three”. Suin nodded and gathered her remaining energy.

Thomas shouted, “Dad, I am here! Help me, the cold energy is too strong”. Immediately all faces turned to look at Thomas, and Mr Zheng from outside entered quickly and reached for Thomas’ wrist. Mr Zheng probed Thomas’ internal energy, and found that indeed there was a strong cold internal energy, but not as dangerous as Thomas had made it out to be. Behind them, Suin quietly crawled into the hay pile, while everybody was focusing on Thomas. Because everybody was distracted, they did not realise it, except for Quinn and Elise were nearby and so had heard the conversation.

With a strong beam of internal energy, Thomas’ father neutralised the cold energy. Next to him, Heroine Yun did likewise for Quinn. Mr Zheng stood up, and helped Thomas up.

Mr Zheng said, “Return that scroll now. I will not waste empty words, if you do not give the scroll back, we can and will take it back. You are given a choice. Do not think that you can escape”.

The intruder replied, “Do you think I will believe you? You are a fool, and a traitor. I don’t think you will let me leave either way. When I came here, I did not expect to study this scroll, but to return it to the rightful owner. In my eyes, you are the real thief”. Everybody was surprised by the female voice.

Mr Zheng paused for a moment, and smiled, before saying “Is this what you do? Call others a thief, when I have clearly caught the stinking thief red handed?”, everybody laughed at that, before he continued, “My reputation is well known. I am an upright gentleman. Can you be even be a gentleman?”, everybody laughed at that”, before he offered, “Since you are a woman, if you tell me who you are, and why are you here, I will contemplate your release.”

Mr Yun interrupted, “Mr Zheng is of greatest reputation. I assure you, that he is a very honourable master. You can believe his words”.

The intruder replied, “If you think you can have this, you are mistaken. Either you let me go with this scroll, or I rip it, and it will go with me into oblivion”. The intruder shook the scroll in her hands, and taunted, “If you let me go, you might have another chance to steal this back”.

Mr Zheng saw the opportunity open, and his body instantaneously blurred into motion. While the intruder was unprepared for the attack, Mr Zheng had already moved half the distance. By the time the intruder had started to respond to the attack, she was already too late.

[davidY]

Chapter 1 Part 7

From far away, a whistling noise was heard. The whistling chilled the very bones of Thomas. It was of almost the same type of energy as the intruder had used. A series of what looked like white snowflakes flew at a furious speed towards Mr Zheng. Before Mr Zheng could touch the scroll, the white snowflakes had reached Mr Zheng’s back. The snowflakes were small, so naturally they could move faster than Mr Zheng could, but while small, they possessed an inherent feel of power.

Mr Zheng was forced to turn away from the scroll and defend himself from the snowflakes. His sword flashed and sliced through them. By the time the snowflakes had all been cut, a figure had appeared in the doorway. Mr Zheng made a small smile and said, “So Snow Swordsman finally arrives. I knew you would come to save your disciple. However, I never knew that you would be involved in theft. You are well known as one of the four sword masters. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Thomas looked at Snow Swordsman’s sword, and just as the rumours said, he did indeed wield a white sword that emanated extreme coldness. This was caused by Snow Swordsman’s pinnacle achievements in cold internal energy, so bountiful that even when not fighting, he would extrude this powerful aura. Outside, the sky darkened as heavy rain clouds moved in. It was almost like a herald to the approaching trouble. A dense sense of humidity crept into the air with the clouds, making everybody more nervous. Thomas' hands slowly started sweating from the anticipation.

Snow Swordsman replied simply, “I am here to take my disciple back. You may keep the scroll. I will discipline my student”. However, there was powerful internal energy behind those words that made it very forceful. Weaker people would have hurt their ears if they heard it. The words were simple, yet they accepted no arguments.

Mr Zheng spoke, “I don’t think that is the appropriate course of action. While you may be renowned, I don’t think that all the renown in the world can protect your disciple from reality. She stole my scroll, and such serious matters, I cannot and will not see go unpunished, for the sake of the safety of everyone. However, on your behalf, I will reduce the punishment”. His speech resonated with a righteous air, and Hero Yun nodded with agreement.

Hero Yun said, “Mr Zheng is the renowned leader of Zhengshan school. He would not rashly kill nor maim your disciple. Mr Zheng has my utmost respect and approval. You should accept his suggestion”.

Thomas saw that by now, with both Mr Zheng and Hero Yun standing next to the intruder, she had no chance of escape. However, the scroll was firmly in her hand, and this time, her hand was tightly wrapped around the scroll. If anybody did any suspicious moves, she would immediately make the scroll confetti, with her internal energy, and that way, nobody would get the scroll.

Lightning flashed once, illuminating the world to the minutest detail, every chink in their swords, every scratch on their faces. A few seconds later, the dull rumble of thunder was heard, hailing the approach of a heavy storm. Along with the the thunder there was also the thud of hoofs along the roadway. Another party of people were approaching from afar.

Snow Swordsman, unperturbed by the darkening mood, replied to Mr Zheng, “So you do hold your grudges. I have already said that you can take that scroll back, yet you are not satisfied”, then he added, “I think we have not competed in swords ever since you became the leader of Zhengshan school. Maybe it is time to measure each other today,” and turning to Hero Yun, he said, “Hero Yun, you are a well known hero, I do not believe that you should intercede in this personal matter”.

[davidY]

I wonder why everybody wants the scroll ^_^
==============
Chapter 1 Part 8

Heroine Yun sighed, and said, “If this was just a test of skills, I do not dare interrupt, but since this is a matter of justice, I think it is only fair that I help Mr Zheng”. Hero Yun nodded in agreement with his wife.

“Snow Swordsman, if you simply let me detain your disciple for the period of a month within Zhengshan School, I will return her to you. I give my word that she return injured, nor disabled. I just plan to correct her ways”, said Mr Zheng

The intruder spoke up, “Don’t forget that I still have the scroll hostage. If anybody thinks that they can punish me, then I will destroy this, and nobody will be able to ever use it again. The intruder shook herself free from Hero Yun’s tight grip. He dared not further hold her, in case she would destroy Mr Zheng’s precious scroll.

She walked quickly and solidly across the barn, towards Snow Swordsman. This time she took no chances and held the scroll in both hands tightly, her knuckles white with tension. Mr Zheng was unable to think up of a strategy to stop her. At this moment, if he attacked, he would risk the scroll being destroyed. Even if she did not destroy the scroll, Mr Zheng was not sure of his ability to reach her before Snow Swordsman. Even if Snow Swordsman was late, Mr Zheng was not sure of his ability to protect the scroll.

What Thomas could not understand was why the intruder had not called Snow Swordsman her teacher. It seemed to him that there was a small contradiction in their purposes. The intruder had threatened to destroy the scroll, and would go to great lengths to keep the scroll away from Mr Zheng, including destroying her only ticket to escape – the scroll itself. Yet Snow Swordsman offered to return the scroll back to Mr Zheng, if only to save her life. This was clearly in conflict, so Thomas guessed that there was some other piece to the puzzle. The light fall of rain was heard as the clouds started to finally release their water. The rain was in beat with the sounds of the hooves, which were getting closer.

Mr Zheng said, “Halt. There is one more thing that I have not told you. While that scroll is real, I have transcribed the scroll. As for the copy, it is still safe. Even though I cannot take that scroll out of your hands, if you move a step more, I will kill you. At the moment I am closer to you than your master is”.

The intruder halted straight away, and paled. She was now standing closer to Thomas, and he saw that she was shaking slightly. She said, “Mr Zheng, if what you say is the truth, then why do you still want me to not have the scroll? Mr Zheng you have still not and can never understand the scroll. I doubt you would either risk making a copy or even have the skills to make a copy”.

Heroine Yun slowly spoke to everybody, “I do think anybody wishes for there to be any bloodshed today. It is supposed to be a day of celebration of the engagement of Zhengshan and Tianshan schools. Why don’t we stop this madness today, and try to solve this problem tomorrow?” She knew that this type of trouble could involve deadly battles, or even feuds that last for generations. While neither she nor her husband could not think of a stratagem immediately, she thought that if she delayed for a day, it would be an extra day to think of one.

The noise of the outside horses had stopped. From the sounds of it, it was clearly a large group of people. From outside, a powerful voice said, “Not so fast”. Nobody had expected this, in a flash, Snow Swordsman turned. A newcomer almost flew into the stables, displaying excellent lightness martial arts, before raising his palms to attack Snow Swordsman. Snow Swordsman defended with another palm, meeting hard with hard energy. Just before the attacks collided, both people withdrew their feints and revealed their true attack. They both pulled their swords out. Within a split second, a few dozen stances were exchanged. The newcomer was tall, solidly built and a high level martial arts master. However, Snow Swordsman was still a few levels above him.

Snow Swordsman was using high level internal energy, and had sent his energy flakes at the newcomer. These were the same weapons used against Mr Zheng a while ago. If any of these snowflake-like weapons had hit, they would have been sharper than razor blades. The opponent had likewise been using his own internal energy, to destroy the weapons before they hit.

These masters amazed the spectators by their speed and power. The lower disciples could not even see all the moves. Thomas, who had already progressed more than the lower disciples, could see the moves, but he could not comprehend all of them. The moves were all fast and powerful like lightning, yet before the swords collided, the swords had already changed stances. This was a very high level of sword control.

The newcomer was not trying to attack to win, but rather using a more defensive attack in order to distract the Snow Swordsman. Thus whenever the Snow Swordsman attacked a critical point, instead of defending, the newcomer simply retreated. Understanding the newcomer's motive, Mr Zheng quickly reached for the scroll and took it away from the intruder, before sealing her pressure point. The newcomer retreated several steps back.

Hero Yun cut in and said, “Good skills indeed. Heavenly skills...” and clapped, trying to break the tension. Hero Yun said, “So by your moves, you can only be the leader of the Tianshan School, Mr Tian”.

[davidY]

If you like this, then please comment. If you don't, then please criticize. One helps motivate me, and one improves what I write. Both improve your experience ^_^

Chapter 1 Part 9

Snow Swordsman shouted, “So this is what righteous people do, stab behind people's backs”

Mr Tian ignored Snow Swordsman and replied to Hero Yun, “Correct, and from your heroic aura, you can only be Hero and Heroine Yun”. Mr Tian explained, “I just arrived at Zhengshan School recently with my daughter, and I am heard that there was trouble with a thief. I rushed here as fast as I could. I have to admit, I never expected for Snow Swordsman to be here. It seems all the heroes have decided to meet without me”.

Mr Zheng said, “It is funny that Snow Swordsman would complain of unrighteous behavior, when it is he who first attacked me behind my back”, leaving unsaid that he thought that Snow Swordsman was a hypocrite.

The sky suddenly burst into rain, and the air was fogged up by the water. Outside of the barn, it was hard to see further than a meter. Even inside the barn, it was starting to drip. There were shouts from the Tianshan disciples that had been with Mr Tian. Then four of the disciples carried in a large sedan chair from outside to escape the rain. Thomas guessed that the person inside the sedan chair was his future wife. However, there was no way to see inside, as the box obstructed any sight of who was inside. They way that the disciples carried the sedan chair showed that they had excellent internal energy. They were probably both guards and sedan chair carriers.

Snow Swordsman replied snidely, “While I attacked your back, it was two of you against one of me. Now there are three of you, and still one of me. Perhaps you should not complain”. Being a highly trained warrior, he was not only capable of fighting, but naturally would have very quick reflexes and have a good implicit understanding of situations. Seeing that although they appeared to be upright, they were nevertheless going to disregard what he had to say, Snow Swordsman immediately switched tactics.

Snow Swordsman rushed at the sedan chair. He stopped in front of the chair, and turned around. He loudly proclaimed, “I am now using the same underhand tactics you are using. Lets exchange a hostage for a hostage. You may keep the scroll”. While Mr Tian was closer to the sedan chair than Snow Swordsman was, because of the suddenness of the attack, he was left unprepared for the attack. Also, Mr Tian had anticipated that any attack would be directed at himself, rather than at the sedan chair.

Mr Tian quickly said, “Mr Zheng, Snow Swordsman, there is no need to be hasty. Lets just slow down a bit”, and he looked meaningfully at Mr Zheng, and continued, “It would do none of us good to see the hostages killed – I would lose a daughter, you will lose a daughter in law, and Snow Swordsman will lose a disciple. Lets be calm here..”

Nobody was very calmed by the situation. Everybody in the room had long had their swords unsheathed, at at the slightest drop of a pin, fighting could break out. The miserable rain continued to heavily thud on the roof, offering its own somber music to the cold silence.

He was cut off by Elise, who jumped up and spoke loudly, “I am Mr Tian's daughter. If you will look at the sedan chair, you will see that it is empty”, taunting Snow Swordsman. Mr Tian looked towards Elise in shock, and said, “You... you.. You are there!”, before quickly running to protect Elise. Thomas shifted uncomfortably at this revelation.

It was also unexpected for Mr Zheng. While, it nagged him that Elise was not from his school when he entered the barn, he had no idea how she had entered the school, or why she was there. In the conflict, nobody had really noticed that she was there, until now. He wondered why his son, Thomas was with her. Had they met before?

Ever since Mr Zheng had sealed off her pressure points, the intruder had been unable to move out of her position. However, because her internal energy was based on a compressed cold qi, she could freeze the blocked pressure points, and use her internal energy to circumvent the blockage. Thus she could move sooner than Mr Zheng had expected. She had waited until now, and seeing her opportunity arise, the intruder reached her hand for the scroll.

[davidY]

Sorry, just moved into college. Busy busy

Chapter 1 Part 10

Just as the intruder got hold of the scroll, Mr Zheng returned to his senses, and uttered, “How did you escape?” under his breath. He had thought that his pressure point skills were good enough to hold the intruder for at least an hour. Suddenly he was a little unsure if the intruder had been hiding her true skills so he momentarily loosened his grip.

Clearly Snow Swordsman also knew that his own martial arts would allow the intruder to circumvent the pressure point, so he had planned this distraction. In a flash, Snow Swordsman reached over for the intruder, and pulling on her collar, he jumped forwards, exhibiting his marvelous lightness skills. However, Mr Zheng had not lost his wits. Reflexively, he reached for the intruder's arm, to hold her down. His other hand held onto the scroll, and to avoid damaging it, he jumped up with them, matching their trajectory, although a bit less elegantly than Snow Swordsman.

Snow Swordsman saw the attack, and pointed backwards with one finger, and from his finger he emitted a powerful beam of cold energy. This was the same attack that the intruder had used earlier on Thomas. Mr Zheng, seeing the powerful attack, defended by withdrawing his attacking arm, and defending.

Heroine Yun nodded, and whispered to Hero Yun, “Snow Swordsman is indeed well versed in tactics. He applied the strategy “Besieging Wei to Save Zhao” of the 36 Stratagems, and now he has escaped”. They were unable to help Mr Zheng, as the two martial arts masters were locked in battle in the air, already a distance away and moving quickly, so that neither of them could catch up to them, unless they had superior lightness skills.

The two men fought without changing their trajectory out of the barn. Finally, after exchanging their two beams of internal energy, Mr Zheng knew that he could not hold out any longer, if he were to keep the scroll intact. The scroll mattered to him more than the intruder did. So with some regret, he used his internal energy to crisply break the scroll in two, where the intruder was holding it. That way, he fell to the ground with one half of the scroll in his hands, while the other half was in the intruder's hands.

By now Mr Tian had jumped after Snow Swordsman, and as soon as Mr Zheng touched the ground, he used his lightness skills to alter his trajectory and follow Snow Swordsman. However, the escapees had already got a good head start, and had better lightness skills. They half ran, half flew out of the barn and into the heavy rain. Many disciples chased forwards to help their masters, though they were even slower and would provide little assistance.

Thomas, who was still on the ground, recuperating his internal energy, looked at the standing Elise, and said to her, “Well.. uh.. that.. was kind of a... a surprise”, he then quickly added, “but there is no way that we will get married

[davidY]

Sorry for the huge delay. I just got to uni. It is soo hectic. I have an essay due tomorrow, and I just started tonight, so wish me luck! Yes, I am procrastinating...

Chapter 1 Part 11

Although Quinn had been been shocked, he had nevertheless remembered that Suin was in the haystack. Because she had helped them defend against the intruder's internal energy attack, she would have also been injured. Quinn calculated that when she had used her internal energy attack, she would have exhausted her energy needed to heal against the internal injury. Without treatment like he and Thomas had received, she would be in trouble.

He quickly walked to the haystack that Suin had thrown herself into and pushed aside the hay. Suin was shivering ever so slightly, and her skin was tinged a little blue and bit colder than normal. Quinn quickly reached into his pockets and withdrew a bag of healing pills. He pulled out the smallest pill, a green and strong smelling ball, his family's most famous pill, the Divine Health Restoration Pill. In the bag, while he had many types of pills, he had only three of this type.

Suin saw the pill being handed to her, and she immediately recognized the value of the pill. She had heard of it being able to cure all poisons and being of great worth to internal energy cultivation. Since it was made from rare and exotic herbs, there were not many of these pills in Jianghu, and owners were sure to save the pills for important occasions.

Suin shook her head, and said quietly, “You should save it”

Quinn smiled and said, “You know, these pills are made to be used. Anyway, you have suffered internal injuries, and if they are not treated quickly, you might get permanent damage to your meridians”, and he added, “I have a lot of these at home, so take it”.

Suin nodded already feeling a bit like a cold drowned cat, and then took the pill, and smiled a thanks to him. She ate the pill, and a moment later, she felt the intense yin and yang energies of the pill wash through her bodies, and pushing her internal energy back in order. Then she turned to Elise and opened her mouth to say something, but closed it a moment later.

Suin tried to move towards Elise, but to no avail. Her legs were almost like jelly, and they would not move. Quinn moved to help Suin up, propping one of his arms under her elbow. But, after trying to stand up, Suin managed to just fall back down to the ground, this time, pulling Quinn down with her. They landed in a heap, with Quinn above her.

Realizing that he was in a potentially compromising position, Quinn scrabbled away from Suin. But their weakness did not help them, and only after a while of fumbling did he manage to sit down on the ground away from Suin. Quinn checked her internal energy, and noticed that she was not unconscious due to her injury, but because the pill had extruded a powerful energy that had temporarily washed through her meridians and opening them.

Thomas and Elise looked on, their conversation interrupted by Quinn's antics, and laughed at the pose that Quinn made when he was on top of Suin. The moment he had been dragged on top of Suin, he had contorted himself to avoid any contact, to avoid any possible damage to her reputation. In the end, Quinn actually had to use his lightness skills to avoid touching Suin, but that was obscured by his uncoordinated and awkward movements. When Suin saw that they were laughing at her, she blushed, and exclaimed, “What are you looking at?”, only prompting more laughter.