Beware Of Chicken Chapter Volume 2 77.2: The Misty Duel (2)

The repurposed Pill Furnace closed with a soft , its long smokestack properly affixed. “It’s as ready as it’ll ever be,” Xianghua’s brother said with a sigh as he wiped off his hands of soot and grease. “Be careful with it, okay? You can’t push it too hard.”

Xianghua smiled at him, her hair tied back and her hands similarly greasy, as she checked the fuel one last time. “Indeed. Three may have exploded from my might, but this one shall last!” she declared.

Normally, the response would have him laughing at her over the top boast, but instead Bowu turned to face his sister with a worried look on his face. “Please be careful?” he asked, rubbing at his crippled leg.

Her eyes softened. She reached out and pulled him into a hug, inside the small shack on the outer courtyard that was their workshop. It was cramped, but neither of them minded.

“Yes. I’ll be careful,” she whispered.

The boy sighed, and pulled back from the hug, staring at her with a gimlet eye.

”I’m sure you will be. Just like you’re careful with your actions and words,” Bowu muttered.

“Indeed, I am a paragon of temperance. Thank you for noticing, little brother.” She puffed out her chest, her hands still on his shoulders.

“Like when you challenged Miss Cai?” he deadpanned. “She seemed pretty annoyed with you.”

“I knew exactly what I was doing,” she stated primly.

“And the fact that you tweak Father’s nose every chance you get?” he whispered.

She shrugged again.

“I want to live my life without any regrets,” she said. “If Father wants me to leave you alone, he can try. I seem to recall he failed the last time.”

“.”

Xianghua waved her hand negligently. “He hasn’t had any luck with his concubines. I’m all he has.”

Her brother sighed again. “So, what do you plan to do, anyway?”

“I’ll go as far as I can. I’ll defeat this Rou Tigu and have my rematch with Xiulan. I may have fallen behind… But I’ll surely rise, just like she has.” Her voice was firm and proud. “Maybe this year, I’ll convince the Blade of Grass to come drink with me. Or perhaps I’ll hunt down her friend. He hasn’t visited, and this Young Mistress finds herself most insulted!”

Her brother rolled his eyes. “What did you say his name was again?”

“Gou Ren. A handsome and upstanding gentleman. You’d like him.”

Her brother stared at her blankly. “Tall guy? Looks a bit like a monkey?”

“A Monkey? No, he looks like the depictions of the great Sage Wukong!” Xianghua refuted.

Her brother arched an eyebrow, finally smiling at her.

“A monkey. But well, he's not too bad, I suppose...”

“You met him?” She asked excitedly, shoving her face into his personal space, and nearly bowling him off his chair.

=============================

Her opponent was strong. Her opponent was fast. Her opponent required absolutely everything she could give, or else she would lose.

It truly was a shame to reveal this so early, but there was no point in losing without showing her strength.

Liu Xianghua absolutely refused to be anything less than her best.

The air screamed. Her furnace pumped, reacting with the reagents within, and spewing out the clouds of steam.

Xianghua brought her arm back, coating her weapon in Qi and steam.Her sword Thrust forward.

Rou Tigu, her eyes wide, barely managed to interpose her blades made of Qi, reminiscent of claws. There was a ringing clang, and hairline fractures snaked up the blue blades of energy.

Tigu was thrown from her feet from the force of the strike, barely managing to flip in the air to reorient.She barely managed to get her feet under her before Xianghua was on her again, driving her to the ground.

The modified pill furnace on her back was heavy, but it did not slow her down too much. The gauntlet on her arm whirred and hummed as the formation sucked in the steam. It was working, just like they had envisioned it.

========================

“It’s your brother, Xianghua.” Sei Fen said, turning to show her daughter the small swaddled bundle of pink skin.

Curious, her little one took the bundle, staring at the pink face.

“He is very ugly.” She opined, and Fen sighed at the blunt statement.

They’d have to fix that, at some point. Her daughter was a strange child. Far too blunt and literal. And obedient.

Her husband saw no problem with it. He commanded, and she obeyed without question or hesitation, cultivating until told to stop. Which was once until she collapsed, because she hadn’t received the order to stop.

Liu Xiang chuckled as the girl held the small bundle.

“Xianghua, make sure to protect him.” The man declared pompously, so happy to have a male heir.

Xianghua stared at the bundle. A small pink face, eyes barely open. Tiny and fragile. He blinked, his eyes focusing on his sister. A little hand reached out from the swaddling, reaching for Xianghua’s face.

Interest flashed in the girl’s eye, her own hand came up instinctively to grasp the finger that reached out for her.

Her daughter’s lips quivered. Like she didn’t quite know what was happening. Slowly, a smile spread across her face. The first one that Fen had ever recalled seeing on her daughter.

“Understood.” She said, in that blunt way of hers. Fen smiled at the seriousness in her eyes.

It was rather cute. The two siblings were inseparable from that day forward.

==========================

Xianghua’s Blade, , snapped forward as if it was a Heron’s beak, spearing a fish out of the water before it had time to react. Her arm protested, as the blade struck down, again and again. Tigu managed to dodge, her movements tight and controlled even as she frantically rolled across the ground. For the first time in the tournament, little nicks and scratches marred her body.

Speed and Power.

That was the method of victory Liu Xianghua had decided upon. When faced with an absolute defense of floating blades, she had to be fast. Disrupt her opponent’s concentration. Force the normally aggressive Xiulan onto the back foot, and break through.

It was no movement technique, but hopefully it would be enough. It have been good enough, probably, if Xiulan hadn't gone and surpassed her again.

Ah, such frustration.

But there was no sense dwelling on such things. While that strategy had originally been for the Blade of Grass, it was nearly universal in its application.

Rou Tigu was good. The short, stocky girl managed to regain her feet, even through the brutal strikes. Deflecting where she could, and dodging when she couldn’t. But she was off balance, and reeling from the sudden assault.

A gauntleted fist hammered into the girl’s stomach. Tigu folded over the brutal strike, coughing as spit flew out of her mouth. She was thrown across the arena, slamming into the ground.

Something inside Xianghua winced at the brutality behind the blow.

“Hmph. Is that all you have?” Xianghua demanded, even as she felt her skin start to burn. Her furnace hissed angrily, and Xianghua modified the amount of her Qi feeding the alchemical reaction within.

She kept her face impassive. She had pushed just a little too hard, but surely, she had dealt a blow that would be difficult to recover from.

===============================

She practiced within sight of his bed. She followed around the maids, whenever they took care of him. She marched around like a little Imperial Guard, always looking for threats to her diminutive charge.

And when he finally started to walk, and started to train, she was there with him, every step of the way. Liu Xiang praised his daughter’s devotion. She patched up his wounds. She stayed with him for hours, aiding his attempts at cultivation.

But there was something wrong. A shadow, over their little lives.

“Still not ready?” Xianghua asked her little brother bluntly, her head cocked to the side.

Bowu frowned, but wasn’t bothered by her question, as he stopped his frantic sword practise.

“Not... not yet. But! I’m sure to Ignite my Dantian any day now!” The boy said, his eyes determined.

Xianghua smiled at his determination. “You’re right, I’m sure things will be fine. The Spiritual Doctor will clear out the block, you’ll see. Everything will be fine tomorrow.”

The doctor came. Xianhua held Bowu’s hand throughout the entire proceeding, as the bearded man poked and prodded, before finally rising, and shaking his head.

The bottom dropped out from Xianghua’s stomach. Her father’s face twisted, as he rounded on her mother. Her mother’s eyes flashed, as she crossed her arms.

That night, the shouting started.

That night, everything went wrong.

==================================

Laughter.

The girl on the ground was laughing.

She pulled herself to her feet, and planted her hands on her hips. Her shirt had fallen open, exposing her stomach, and the slight mar on her skin from the blow.

A bead of sweat dripped down Xianghua’s forehead, as a massive tiger formed in the mist, its eyes burning with as much glee as its mistress.

Deadly. Domineering. .

“ is what I’ve been waiting for.” Rou Tigu declared, her cheeks splitting into a wide, happy smile, full of teeth. Her yellow eyes had turned to slits. Every muscle flexed, eliminating what little hints of feminine softness Tigu possessed, and leaving only cold, predatory power.

The sheer joy on her face after she was struck by a blow that would splatter a mortal across the entire hill was infuriating, the only evidence of the damage done was the slight hitch to her voice. Tigu seemed unbeatable.

But Xianghua stepped forward anyway. She threw herself back into the fray without reservation.

She never was very good at giving up.

============================

Her mother and father forbade her from seeing her brother. Her Bowu.

It did not make sense. She was supposed to protect him, was she not? She liked protecting him. He never looked at her strangely, like the maids sometimes did, and was always glad whenever she was there.

But he was gone now. Gone, and mother and father hated each other. They shouted and snarled, as Xianghua sat in the corner trying to tune out the words.

‘Cripple.’ ‘Broken meridians.’

‘’

They blamed each other.

She searched high and low for him, but couldn’t find him in the sect. Until one day.

There was a great commotion in the sect. Xianghua wondered what it was. There were shouts, and there was screaming.

She pushed her way through the crowd, and came upon a scene. Her little brother, grabbing his leg, and sobbing.

Xianghua’s blade was out before she realised what she was doing, throwing herself at the one who to do this—

Her father’s sword blocked her own, and it was thrown from Xianghua’s grasp. He grabbed her arm and wrenched her away from the other disciple, who looked terrified.

“Bowu. As our deal stated earlier. You have

Her brother was carried away, clutching at his leg.

She made to move forwards. She would strike down the little bastards who dared to—

Her father kept his hold on her wrist. His eyes were dispassionate.

“You need not concern yourself with the cripple. He takes up too much of your thoughts, when you should be focusing on cultivating.”

He turned, and pulled her away.

Something inside her .

============================

The air rang with impacts.

One, ten, a hundred in the space of a second.

The Heron’s beak clashed with savage claws. They were even. The world narrowed to the gap between heartbeats.

A gauntleted fist caught Qi claws, and forced them up, drawing a shallow line across Qi hardened skin. Like a spirit beast’s flesh, it was tough beyond measure. In retaliation, a knee planted itself into Xianghua’s side, driving the air from her lungs and disrupting her breathing.

The steam flowing into her gauntlet destabilized, and she let it. She forced it to go further. With half a shriek, and half an explosion, her fist rocketed forwards again, hammering into Tigu’s face.

Both women were sent flying away from each other by one another.

Xianghua sank to her knees, greedily sucking in air. Tigu kicked out, spinning her legs and landing in a crouch, her knuckles on the ground, watching intently.

Waiting for Xianghua to get back up.

Xianghua huffed out a laugh, and decided not to test the strange girl’s patience. Her furnace spluttered, and she grimaced, rising to her feet again.

==================================

Bowu lay on his bed, clutching at his leg. The break was a bad one. It had damaged his knee, and even a week later, he could tell it was healing poorly.

“You are my blood. Be thankful for this.” His father had said, as he banished him here to the edges of the sect for being a worthless cripple, and for failing their bargain.

His mother’s eyes had ghosted over him, she’d said nothing like he wasn’t even worth the words.

Even his sister was—

“Bowu.”

He flailed, scrambling, looking for the interloper.

Xianghua was there. Her blank expression on her face. Or at least on half of her face. The other half was bruised, with her eye swollen shut.

“Xianghua—your face?!” He gasped, shocked to see her. She had not abandoned him too, had she?

She smiled at him with her little smile then pulled him into a hug.

“It’s fine. Father was just a bit rough today.” She whispered into his ear, hugging him tight. “Don’t worry. I’ll be here for you. I promised.”

Tears formed in Bowu’s eyes, as he held onto the only person who cared.

===============================

“She’s not gonna last.” Bowu muttered, staring down at the fight. He could see the rattle in the furnace. Its glow was bright and dangerously close to overloading. It was nearing its limits, and Xianghua seemed to notice it too. Her face was slick with sweat and blood.

But her opponent was slowing down too. Tigu was getting more cautious, even while the grin on her face was growing wider.

“Man, they’re really goin at it, eh?” Gou Ren muttered. Unlike the other bouts, where he had looked mildly concerned, now he just seemed amused.

The Image Master snorted. “Just like with Xiulan. I thought they were gonna kill each other the first time, but she was smilin’ then too.”

The women below clashed again.

Xianghua took a breath, and breathed out, a jet of steam erupting from her mouth, and forcing Tigu to dodge away.

Xianghua seized the opportunity. She reached back, pulling again on the furnace.

Every vent opened, spewing great gouts of steam, and shrouding the entire arena. He saw his sister wince as the burns she had received from the furnace on her back made themselves known.

The crowd howled and booed, as they could no longer see anything.

[Blazing Breath, Second From] He heard his sister’s voice Echo.

[Keelbreaker’s Bite]

“Prepare yourself!” He heard his sister shout.

=====================================

His sister met with him every day when she could. She made him his cane. She brought him the healing herbs that didn’t seem to do much.

When father was gone, she smuggled him into the library. They played on the lake. And she complained about her teachers.

“The etiquette teachers are being annoying. They keep saying their faces are meant to convey something, but I don’t get it.” She muttered, staring at the ceiling of his shack. “The only person I understand is you.”

Bowu frowned.

“I dunno. You could just keep doing it. They always say you should be domineering.” He muttered, taking a sip of his drink.

Her blank stare lingered on him for a moment, before she shifted. Her posture straightened, her head tilted up; like she was looking down on him.

“Oh, you dare approach this Young Mistress?” She demanded.

Bowu spat out his drink.

“Ha? You’re courting death?!” She shouted, one hand on her hip, and her finger pointed straight at him

Bowu howled with laughter, and missed the gleam in his sister’s eye.

He was in the crowd, the first time she said that to the visiting sect’s Young Master. They just nodded along, like her behavior was expected.

And for some reason, the man seemed to take less offense to the insults when she shouted them, instead of replying with her usual blank monotone.

Their lives diverged as they grew up. But she was always with him. She told him about the friend she had made, this Xiulan, and how the girl was far too boring for her own good.

He had even met the woman once. Xiulan. She was nice. A bit too obsessed with duty and honour, but she had chased off the bastards who popped up occasionally when Xianghua wasn’t there to drive them off.

But his sister always, always came back, with a new tale, or with a present, and a smile just for him.

=========================================

Neither of them could see. She heard Tigu start to sneeze, as Xianghua’s Qi invaded her nostrils.

Xinghua took off her furnace, quickly pulling on it, and resetting some of its functions, as well as pouring one of her waterskins that was under the furnace into the depleted chamber. Leaving the hissing contraption on the ground, she stepped away from it.

She could feel through the steam. The feather light touches that told her where her opponent was, stalking cautiously towards the hissing.

She kept her breathing shallow, to not give away her position. She couldn’t be