Douluo Dalu: 1st Cycle: Dancing Panda

Li Tai hid his presence as much as possible behind Yu Tian's shield, ready to surprise attack at a moment's notice. Their Martial Souls were profound and well known in the city. It was a shame that they hadn't yet been able to utilise their properties. They weren't yet Soul Masters.

Karni understood the tactic. Ever since he got his first Spirit Soul, his abilities have been enhanced. Not only were the predictions more concrete, his sixth sense has also become better after yesterday. Siduo really knew how to mentally destabilise someone.

His awareness was sharp even without activating his abilities. Though it was at a much lesser level compared to his Golden Insight ability.

When the first Soul Ring was activated, the awareness came from the Bo Staff itself; it was relaying rows of information into his head. And his subconsciousness didn't need to do any work at all. At the very least, he had some practice without the ability yesterday.

Karni stepped forward, glancing towards Siduo. He greeted the charging shield, the staff forward as if it were a spear. It hit the shield right in the middle, stopping both himself and the shield completely.

He was waiting for the person behind to strike, waiting for the half a second prediction to appear. While half a second did not sound like a lot, it gave more than double the normal human reaction time to act. The passive effect of the Staff of Predictions alone was already incredible.

Even if he didn't have the passive ability to see the predictions while the staff is out, he would still expect a person to jump from behind. This would give him some time to react, though he wouldn't be able to do much with that knowledge.

As soon as Karni saw the golden cloud-like sword shape appearing, he went into action.

A simple redirection of the bo staff. He let the staff slide to the side of the shield toward the legs of the golden shape.

He imbalanced Yu Tian, holding the shield, and sent him staggering to the right. With this Karni had some room before Yu Tian could block again.

Just as Yu Tian slid to the side, the person behind him came out. Li Tai didn't notice a Bo Staff waiting at his legs. He wanted to slash with the sword, but stumbled, the staff placed perfectly between his legs.

Li Tai stumbled without being able to catch his balance, he was the first to hit the ground.

Yu Tian just caught his balance again and tried to push Karni to the ground from the side. 

A speedy figure came from the side instead and jumped at Yu Tian's head, knocking him over. This figure was of course Wu Siduo, who was letting Karni take the lead, waiting to give her an opportunity.

The spar was over just like that. It didn't even last 20 seconds, the other two didn't even have time to showcase their martial prowess. Karni made perfect use of his base abilities while Siduo used her speed timely as a surprise attack. The win was just too easy.

Everyone was shocked, if disappointed. They wanted to see more. No one thought that it would end with the very first clash.

Karni was confused. 'Wasn't this too easy?' In reality, it really wasn't. The day before, he was training with an opponent much better than him. He was used to the speed of someone with a Soul Ring, and Siduo was adept at using sudden attacks to win. He was forced to make split second decisions facing someone like her. If anything grew yesterday, it was his decision making ability.

On the other hand, the opponents had zero rings, but more importantly, they didn't have nearly as much experience and sharpness as Siduo. Even if Karni and Siduo didn't use Soul Skills, the difference in quality was massive. The two also didn't specialise in speed. This meant that Karni could process all of the information slowly and at a steady pace. At least when compared to what he got used to yesterday.

Siduo was always fast. Incredibly fast. The predictions he saw were shorter as well, his reaction time had to be faster.

It was like playing a game on hardest difficulty and then switching to easy. Even if you were getting mercilessly beaten before, suddenly you were an overpowered character.

A voice threw Karni out of the trance. "Hey, Karni, is the ground so interesting? We won." He saw Siduo looking at him with a happy face.

"Y- Yeah… we won." He finally realised. He turned ecstatic. He was used to long and hard fights after yesterday's sparring session. Now however, he made two moves in total and won. He had a smile that spanned from ear to ear on his face.

"Alright, the spar is over, everyone disperse." Yi Lan's voice could be heard coming from the sidelines. 

The audience left with a sour taste in their mouth. What a boring match. At the same time, they were also amazed at the ease with which Karni and Siduo won. The crowd disappeared and Yi Lan gave a simple congratulations as he left with another, more sturdy looking older man.

"We really won, haha." Karni laughed again after everyone left. Siduo simply gave him a look. "What? Did you expect not to win?" One could easily take such a statement as arrogance, but the only thing coming out of Siduo was pure, unadulterated confidence.

"I expected it to last longer at least!" He expected to win, just not so easily. This win really felt cathartic after how much confidence Siduo crushed out of him yesterday. If he'd lose as a one ringed Soul Master against someone with no ring, he'd probably give up on everything.

The qualitative change that comes with getting a Soul Ring is simply too enormous to lose to someone without one. A Rank 10 Soul Scholar is someone who can be considered equal with optimal human adults who don't have Soul Power. A Soul Master was simply in another league. Even the best athletes couldn't compare anymore.

Not to mention, he fought against 6 year olds. In the grand scheme of things, this last reason might be at the top of: 'why he thought he would win'.

… … …

"So what do you think of them, senior?" Yi Lan asked inquisitively.

"They are quite good at using their strengths, especially so for ones who just had their Martial Souls awakened. She comes from a noble family so that is not completely unusual, however she seemed very familiar with what he was going to do. A look was enough for her to take decisive action." Answered the older senior to Yi Lan.

"The boy only had his Martial Soul awakened and already knew some of his strengths and weaknesses, it is quite impressive as well."

"Senior, are you thinking of…" Yi Lan started with a trace of annoyance in his voice.

"To join the sect, the most important thing is the values they hold. Talent is secondary. I will observe them and decide afterwards, I can take it slowly." Answered the older gentleman with a small smile on his face.

Yi Lan was a bit surprised at the answer and said cheekily. "They both have Twin Martial Souls, I have also reported this to the Spirit Pagoda. We'll snatch them up first. After all, I awakened Karni myself."

"But the boy already expressed his wish to join our sect. He even happened to go to one of our branches. In some way, he seemed to be aware of our presence on the continent." The man started to laugh out loud.

The only way to join the sect was to join through a recommendation, indeed the Tang Sect made no exceptions. However this didn't put Yi Lan at ease at all.

"As for the girl, I'm familiar with her parents, I'd like to see you snatch them away from me." The senior answered with the same cheeky attitude. 

Yi Lan could only shake his head. "We'll see about that." The teacher decided to storm off, leaving a smiling middle-aged man behind.

… … …

Karni had no idea what sort of bargaining had just occurred. He was casually chatting with Siduo. He couldn't think of when he was as happy as now after coming to this place.

He was happy when he fought to a draw against Siduo in that last match, but the mood changed soon after and he couldn't really enjoy the happiness he felt. Speaking of, he still had questions about that.

Karni and Siduo were all smiles while Siduo made fun of the fact Karni thought they would struggle at all. He didn't mind it this time. It only made him laugh more. He praised her perfect timing as well.

But this good mood made Karni feel like a crack was forming somewhere. No. To be exact, cracks had been forming since he came here. Feeling of inferiority. Feeling of defeat. Easily letting Siduo play around with him. Giving up so fast. Yet those rare feelings of wonders. This moment just now… they… they didn't feel right.

Oh gods. What was he doing? He was this excited for defeating some 6 year olds? Get a grip. He lost to Siduo endlessly. He was wasting time. He needed to get home. He needed to return to his mom. Damn it all. His mom. How could he try to forget that? A sense of guilt overwhelmed him. What was happening at home? Did he die? Did he vanish? He couldn't know. But what of his family? How would they react? He shook his head. This was wasting time too. Thinking of all of this was wasting time. He had to do something… Something.

He turned at Siduo with a determined look. "Siduo, let's train."

Siduo noticed the shift in his mood. "No. We were sparring too much yesterday, rest is just as important. Cultivate instead." 

Karni felt frustration rising up inside him. This familiar frustration from yesterday. "But the only way to get strong is to do it steadily. With practice. And I can't get experience without practice."

Siduo frowned. "And I'm telling you that reflection with cultivation is important to getting strong. You can't just-" 

"That's not good enough! I need real life combat experience to deal with actual situations, not meditation!" The previously subtle frustration turned into anger. Anger that has been repressed yesterday.

The usually cheeky girl turned cold. "I'm not helping you train when you can't even see ahead of you. You can be stubborn alone. I'm leaving." She turned around and started to leave.

"You…" Karni was furious. "I see. So you can say no, but I can't? You force me to fight and I… Fine! This is apparently the only way you do things. By force, yeah? You forced me to spar, I can force you too!" He released his martial soul.

Siduo stayed quiet, releasing an exasperated sigh. She turned to look at Karni. A mixture of frustration and… indecision. Karni's first Soul Ring was already shining.

She did not release her Martial Soul, she only waited for Karni to come to her. He wasn't calm and he wasn't thinking straight. He dashed at her.

As he was dashing, he suddenly saw an impossible scene. It was something he couldn't comprehend.

Tens of golden shapes, all of them predictions. There had to be at least 50 of them. He couldn't even see Siduo's original position.

His brain was overflowing with all sorts of information; he was overwhelmed. Like a hammer hit his head. He only blinked, feeling a true hit in the chest, landing on the ground. It hurt. She didn't really hold back.

She glanced at him, then turned around and started leaving.

She didn't use any Soul Skills, she didn't even release her Martial Soul. Just… How was she capable of doing that? He didn't even see what she did due to the amount of predictive shadows he saw.

His Martial Soul could be countered like this too?

He stood up, laughing at himself. Siduo was leaving. "Of course. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. All it means is that I'm still weak. It just proves the rule of the world. Only strength matters, opinion doesn't."

Siduo stopped in the distance, listening to him.

"That's why you can say no, and I can't. You can simply overpower me, drag me anywhere you want, and I wouldn't be able to complain."

Now Siduo turned around, wide eyes. Karni already came close to her. "Karni, it isn't good for you-"

"Oh fuck off." Karni shook her off.

Siduo just stood there for a while, watching him leave.

Begrudgingly, Karni slowly went back toward his room. It was so damn frustrating. All of it. The way she talked, what she talked, what she did. "Fuck." He stopped behind the dorm building. He made a stance, starting to swing his bo staff in various ways.

He did not look graceful at all while doing it. He tried to figure out what could be best, but his mind just kept returning to the scene. 'Damn it, why am I so riled up.' Because of his mom. His worries. 'Why did Siduo do that? Why is a damn six year old getting me so riled up? Control your emotions dammit!' But he couldn't. There was dissonance between his actual mental age and his body. The two didn't mix well. A grown up mind wasn't meant to be in a child's body.

But that just meant one thing. He needed to get stronger. Everything. Siduo's power, his inability to control his emotions… The only way to get home. To face all of it, he had to get stronger. To get stronger, he needed training.

He swung his Bo Staff mercilessly, without seeing the end, nor a goal. Without much cause, it was more like he was venting out his frustration.

'Two weeks I've been here. Two weeks and I defeated a couple of six year olds! Well congratulations me!' He continued to drown in his frustrations. It became a rabbit hole he himself created.

He was wrong. What he did could be considered more than what most of his peers did. A week in the world of cultivation was a frighteningly short time. Not a lot can be done in such a short time. But humans rarely noticed such things when their minds entered a narrow tunnel.

A small, red-haired head peeked from the side of the building far away. Simply silently watching.

Karni continued to swing his bo staff until he passed out. Frustrations circling around his head. He lost consciousness. Last half an hour, his swings were done in an almost unconscious state.

Wu Siduo finally approached in silence. A mixture of emotions were visible on her face.

"I fucked up." She crouched next to him, hands on her head. "I should've stopped after his reaction was unusual. Siduo you asshole." She hit herself. "This pettiness of mine caused this."

She sighed to herself. Then softly picked him up.

… … …

"Holy shit. Dude. Can you shut the fuck up already?" A young male voice could be heard.

"Wha… I'm sorry I guess?" Another young voice answered. Young teenage voice.

"Nobody cares okay? Be normal. You were normal before." The young male voice could be heard again, as one looked at him, the boy seemed to be around 14 years old.

"What? So I can't even enjoy something I like? Dude, I always have fun with you guys, I just wanted to talk abou-" A young Karni was interrupted. Genuinely bewildered and confused.

"For fucks sake… Just stop. You're embarrassing me." The 14 year old answered.

… … …

"Karni got obnoxious this year. He doesn't even want to hang out with us anymore." A whisper could be heard from afar.

Small footsteps stopped as they listened.

"Not only that, but he tries to constantly make excuses for himself. We get it dude, you like this, we don't give a shit." Another voice said.

"He never said much back before, but now he constantly argues with us. And then he calls us assholes? Why should we deal with him?" A third voice said.

"Oh right, of course, telling friends what you like is obnoxious. Calling them assholes after they flipped me off is me being an asshole. Right. What did I expect?" Karni was speaking to himself, silent enough for nobody to hear.

"No, no. Right. Now that I dare enjoy something they don't, and give a single complaint of something they enjoy, they don't care. Those two are sycophants as well! They complain just as much!" Anger built up, before dying down, being replaced with sadness.

"Right. I was a sycophant too. Ah. Fuck." Mob mentality was a bitch.

… … …

"So what if they don't care? Enjoy them on your own. You are your own person. True friends accept you as you are, even when they don't agree on everything. It's not like you did anything wrong." A woman was holding her teenage son in an embrace.

"Always think of your own happiness first. Sometimes you find that those you thought of as friends aren't actually your friends. But when you do find actual friends, those are that more precious. They take care of you even after a fight."

"True friends have disagreements, Karni. They have different interests, yet they are still friends, accepting one another as they are. Disagreements are like challenges, if the friendship stays after a few," she gave her son a look, "make sure to keep that person with you forever. Those friends will grow with you, and both of you will become better people for it." 

The two figures' hug lasted for a while longer.

… … …

"So what if they don't accept that you like him? It's not like you did anything wrong. He is his own person as well. They can't dictate his feelings. Your own happiness first, remember mom?" A boy's voice could be heard, it was Karni of 15 years.

"I… I get it sweetie. I just worry that we won't be friends anymore." A woman's voice could be heard, sitting next to Karni, it was his mom.

"If they can't support you in this, are they really your friends?" Karni smiled reminding her of a talk just like this one, a year prior.

"Well I still don't want to lose them. Ahh fine, I'll call him." Mom gave in.

Karni simply gave her a smile.

… … …

Karni was teary eyed, sitting alone in his room. The loneliness was extreme. His mum was the happiest she has ever been, and he loved seeing her this way, so why was he feeling like this, why was he feeling jealous?

It was damn puberty it's what it was. But even rationalising it, it didn't really help. His feelings could hardly be controlled. It shouldn't have been such a big deal.

A knock on the door and the door opened. A woman walked in with a worried look.

"I knew something wasn't right with you the past couple of weeks. Please tell me what's going on." The woman said to Karni.

"Mom." Karni said softly as he looked at her. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm like this, I just have trouble getting along with him and it's all just so weird and… I don't know…" He muttered.

His mom just sat down next to him and gave him a hug. "You know, if you really can't accept him and it's making you suffer, I can stop being with him." She said with a sincere look.

"No!" Said Karni immediately. "Mom, I love seeing you happy, I just, I don't know why I can't accept him! You've been so happy these days, I don't want to take that away from you! He didn't do anything wrong either… I just…" Tears were falling down his face.

"Thanks." She said back and hugged him harder. "No need to rush. Tell me everything at your own pace. Don't bottle all this into yourself."

"First it was my friends who stopped hanging out with me, and now I feel like I'm losing you as well. You look so happy, and I'm happy that you're happy but it just… hurts." Before he could say more, his mom interrupted him.

"I will never leave you Karni, whenever you need me, I will be there. I won't stop being your mom just because I found myself a partner. Besides you were the one that encouraged me, remember?" She gave him a soft smile.

"Yes…" his eyes were still watery. The things he felt when he looked at her and her partner; the fact that despite all, he does enjoy the company of his step-sister; that he hates the fact that he only hides in his room without even trying to talk to anyone.

The last thing his mother said to him that day. "It matters to me that you are happy, sweetie. Even when you're older, when you live on your own and I'm a grandma, I'll only be a call away."

… … …

Karni woke up crying. "What a shitty dream." He said to himself. It was a dream of his past, one of the more turbulent times in his life, when he was just about to start high school, when his hormones were unstable and his puberty was at its peak.

Small moments, compared to all the suffering in the world, but they mattered to him. It was nothing that could compare to his current circumstances, but they were embedded deep in his heart. It was these kinds of moments that he remembered and cherished the most. Thinking back, his worries then were quite childish back then, but they were part of him nonetheless.

These small moments changed him for the better in the future.

High School became a place to make true friends. Even in university they still constantly hung out together. Nights of parties and 3am talks. Many memories of those times. He knew what true friends meant after experiencing an unfortunate friendship with people who were simply teenagers following the trends. Children that had yet to have true opinions in a peaceful world.

His relationship with his step-dad improved. The two even played video games together every now and again, yelling at each other with stupid insults as true gamers do.

A small smile then appeared on his face as he remembered what his mother said. It was a bittersweet one, as the words she said were of no comfort right now. He'd rather have those problems again than these.

He got up, and realised that he was in his dorm room. In his bed. His heart grew warm when he noticed another person in his room. She was all but embedded into his mind by now. The frustrating woman, pushing him around, yet he always got something out of it.

He sighed to himself, "You're so frustratingly nice to me. And I know nothing about you." It looked like he made another friend. No. He needs some answers first. And some apologies. He needed to apologise too. If they still talk afterwards, then he can truly say he made another friend. One a tad bit younger than he expected. Though that was also up for questioning.

She fell asleep while putting him to bed. A helpless look made onto Karni's face. The same look she apparently slept with at the moment.

Siduo was, for the lack of a better word, weird. She didn't sound like a six year old. At times feeling more mature than even him. Occasionally though, she did act according to her age. But then again…

Karni too, appeared six every now and then, he couldn't avoid it. The tantrum yesterday proved it. He would've never overreacted in such a way in his past life. His body's hormones were that of a six year old, even if he did have the mind of a twenty year old person inside. The two didn't mesh. No matter how old, one's body couldn't be completely subdued.

"Everything's a mess." He muttered, and softly lifted Siduo up while putting her on the bed.

He grabbed the blanket with which he slept and put it on her. He went to take a shower. He was filthy, and the stubbornness of a young girl the previous day made him scrub himself clean.