Chapter 108: Not So Friendly Sparring
Jian had seen Berum only on the time he was rescued by the Akaryuu Knight Order, however the man had left a strong impression on him. It had been easy, the man was a giant and was insanely strong.
He was pretty much the strongest person Jian had met, or at least he thought so. Not only that but the man wasn't completely human, and as Jian learned...Neither was he. Mara had explained that a Seraph was a mix between an angel and a demon, something insanely rare because it was usually done artificially. Angels would never let demons touch them, and it was the same for many demons.
So Berum was a really incredible person and Jian wanted to know why no one had heard of him. He was just some random guy working with a knight order, that was a bit weird.
"I have to say, I wasn't expecting to see you here Jian. I knew you were in the city, but I had no idea you would come to this sect." Berum said as he shook Jian's hand. It was quite comical due to the difference in size between the two. Jian knew however that Berum didn't have a definite size, he could just change whenever he wanted.
"Ah yes, I forgot to tell you Advisor Berum." The patriarch said in a respectful tone. It surprised Shu a bit, as the warrior had never met Berum. He immediately understood that this man had a high status, perhaps even higher than that of a sect's patriarch.
"It's not a problem. I did wonder why we were drinking in front of the tower, as though you were waiting for someone. Now join us Jian. I am sure the patriarch has many things to tell you, and so do I." Berum said as he motioned for Jian to get inside the tower.
As soon as he entered it, the boy knew that this tower hadn't been built by the Sect and had actually nothing to do with it. The Sect had been built around it, that much was easy to see. It was like a natural construction made out of blue stones and barely arranged for anyone to live inside.
'It must contain some very interesting things for a sect to be built around it. This was obviously an attempt at keeping the tower all for themselves.' Mara said.
'Hmm, why are you talking in my head now ?'
'No particular reasons, just focus on those two.' Mara said. He wasn't walking alongside Jian this time, he had retreated inside the body of the boy for who knows what reasons.
"Wait a damn second ! We still need to fight dumbass !" Shu said as he grabbed Jian who nearly fell on the ground because of the sudden pull.
"Oh ? Aren't you the Zhao Warrior ?" Berum said as he looked over the young man and analyzed him.
"What do you mean by fight, Zhao Shu ?" The patriarch said, clearly putting emphasis on the fact that he knew his name.
"We wanted to find a place to fight, but one of your disciples came and found us. Since we are here now, we could fight at one of the courts." Shu said as he glared at Jian who elbowed him in the face and growled.
"I'm gonna terminate you...." The boy said with his eyes glowing blue.
Sensing the tension between the two rising, the patriarch was ready to intervene but Berum beat him to it.
" Well, it's still relatively early and we have nothing to do other than talk. We also had a conversation that we haven't finished, patriarch. Let's finish it while watching those two fight." Berum said with a smile.
The patriarch nodded although he felt it was going to be a pain in the arse. The disciples of the sect were sure to amass around the court to watch the two fight.
"Hmm...Since we'll be fighting here , I can't utilize all of my powers." Jian whispered to Zhao Shu who nodded.
"I'll use only a wooden weapon, take one of their sparring weapons and we will be good." The Zhao Warrior said. However Jian shook his head.
"I have a better idea, you'll see."
It was quite weird how their relation had changed. In that moment, they acted like really close friends, however they still wanted to pummel each others until they were nearly dead. It was an intense rivalry, one that became so important because Shu acknowledged Jian as his rival even though the boy has much less talent than him. But Shu wasn't stupid enough to see the mange advantages Jian had, and with the many powers he had, it would be a grave mistake to underestimate the boy.
The group moved to the outer court and immediately, Jian did something that had the disciples following gasping.
"Did he just..."
"Wow ! He must have a really good chest seal !"
"Really good ?! Did you see what he freaking pulled ?!"
Those reaction were understandable with what Jian had just taken out of his inventory. By taking the items out of his cloak, it looked like he was using a chest seal, which wasn't the case of course.
"Hmm...Mind explaining what this is ?" Shu asked with a deadpan. A smiling Jian looked at him and beckoned him to walk towards him.
It was then that Jian gave some of the stuff to Shu.
"Alright so this is a basic knight armor and this is a top quality bastard sword." Jian said as he handed the items to Shu who looked even more lost.
Jian put the armor on and then put the cloak on top. He grabbed a staff he had taken out and grinned. This was the monkey sage staff that he had gotten from the relationship rewards. It was quite powerful and Jian had wanted to train with it, so this was the perfect occasion. He also needed to learn the techniques he had gotten from said rewards, but he knew it would take a long time, so he would get on it as soon as he came back from the expedition.
"Alright, what is all this ? Why the hell did you hand me these things ? We're sparring, not going through a damn battle." Shu asked. He was wearing the armor though and had the sword in hand, ready to cut down Jian.
That's when he regretted asking this. Jian looked at him, smiled innocently and then answered.
" I want this to be as violent as possible, and we need equipments for that. We can't die too soon and we can't do enough damages without good weapons."
As soon as those words were said, Jian lunged at Shu and flipped his staff to the right side. A quick blow had Shu parrying before he received a kick right to the face.
"Ahaha ! This staff gives me great versatility I say !" Jian said, taunting Shu. The warrior responded with an ample slash of the Bastard Sword. It hit nothing but forced Jian to retreat. Shu followed directly and crashed his knee directly into the boy's stomach. He swung his bastard sword once more, but Jian crouched in time to dodge the slash.
He got up in an instant and hit Shu with a devastating uppercut that stunned the warrior for a few seconds.
Jian used his staff to propulse himself by stabbing it in the ground, then he launched himself and hit Shu straight in the chest with a dropkick.
Now that the warrior was on the ground, Jian abandoned his staff and started to pummel Shu with punches and elbow strikes. When the time came for Jian to headbutt Shu, the warrior dodged at the last second, and Jian found himself headbutting the ground.
" Grrr..."
Looking at his right with gritted teeth and glowing blue eyes, Jian met the gaze of the warrior and groaned.
"Should've predicted it, dumbass." Shu said before jumping over Jian in a split second and grabbing him under the arms.
"Is he going to...."
"Dear lord..."
Everyone watched as Shu lifted Jian in the air and suddenly threw him as high as he could. The boy literally went higher than any building in the entire headquarter and even reached the height of the tower's fifth floor.
Zhao Shu who was still on the ground smiled and crashed his left foot on the ground. His arms vibrated while his eyes glowed.
"Zhao Tribe Ten Pillars, Third Pillar: Astral Spear !"
Yelling that, Zhao Shu condensed his Qi to form a blue spear of energy, shocking all the disciples who had been watching.
"Did you freaking see that ?!"
"He just produced a spear out of Qi ?!"
"Isn't that something only a high level cultivator can do ?!"
"The Zhao Warriors are so damn creepy...."
With the spear in hand, Zhao Shu aimed and launched it straight towards Jian.
The boy was still stunned while falling down. He watched the sun in the distance, he looked at the capital..And then he closed his eyes.
The spear reached him and...
*Swish !*
Jian dodged at the very last second. Not only did he dodge, he grabbed the spear as it passed right by him and launched it back at Shu.
Of course the warrior caught it, even though it made him move back for a few centimeters and nearly pierced his chest with how difficult it had been to block. The problem was when he had finally stopped it.
"Arghh ! Damnit !" Shu said as he dropped the spear. A black gas evaporated without anyone seeing it, except Berum that was.
'This son of a.....I should've seen that coming.' Shu thought as he prepared himself. Jian was going to fall right on him, so Shu buried his feet under the ground so he wouldn't lose any balance and he extended his arms
"COME AT ME !"