4 years later
Jade Wing Sect, Dueling Grounds
“Go, Chunye! Kick his ass!” An energetic, blossoming young lady cheers from the front rows of the stands. A few of the disciples guarding the perimeter of the arena sneak peeks at her youthful, alluring form. The leading members of the sect smile softly as they sip their tea, watching the fight unfolding on the stage.
““Ha!”” ““Ha!”” A handsome youth, dressed in a green uniform embroidered with a hawk, lunges towards another youth, dressed in a similar outfit save for the blue colour and the cloud-like embroidery.
The initial right-hand lunge fist gets parried to the side with a sweeping motion with the defending youth’s leading hand, pushing it away from slightly behind the wrist. Before he can counterattack with his trailing hand, the attacking youth lowers his body by crossing his legs unexpectedly and flowing with the force of the block and the momentum of his lunge.
DUP
Like a compressed spring, the attacking youth’s lowered body bounces upward sharply from the unnaturally close distance, striking the other youth’s collarbone with an elbow. Unwilling to just receive the attack one-sidedly, the defending youth sends out a low kick against the other’s back leg. As though expecting it, the arm with the elbow strike extends outward and grasps the youth’s face with an inverted backhand, with his middle finger firmly in the ear.
FWOOSH
The low kick lands solidly, but with the sudden shift in weight forward, the attacking youth’s back leg had no resistance to the kick, dissipating most of the damage. With the defending youth’s precarious balance, the attacking youth forcefully pushes down with his right hand while stepping forward with his kicked leg, smashing down with his winded up left hand, causing the defending youth to fall backward with a THUD, facing towards the sky.
The face of the laid out youth stiffens as the sunlight is blocked by a leg that’s rapidly descending towards his head.
KLUNG
The foot lands next to the youth’s head, creating large cracks in the thick stone tiles that make up the stage. The youth on the floor continues to stare at the leg with wide eyes, obviously a little shaken.
“The winner, Young Master Chunye of the Jade Wing Sect!” A middle-age man announces loudly as he walks onto the stage, enthusiastic applause pouring down from 3 sides of the square stage. A few elders of the Jade Wing Sect clap slowly, with a displeased look on their face.
“Thanks for the pointers, big brother!” Chunye pulls the downed youth up with one hand, showing a big smile.
“Ah, um, yes, thank you.” The other youth stutters out a reply before quickly running down the stage with his head down and a cramped face.
As the youth proceeds back to the section where his sect is seated at during this Youth Pointer Exchange Gathering… “Che! Senior-brother, how can you lose to some cripple? Do you have any face left?” Another youth sneers as soon as he gets within ear shot, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear as the applause dies down, causing everyone’s attention to fall onto him.
“What?! This Young Master is saying the truth and you all know it! That damn kid is a cripple, so what if he can swing his fists and legs a little better now! If it wasn’t for his underhanded techniques, how would disciples from our righteous Blue Cloud sect lose to him?!”
“Little Lam(南 - south), you are going too far. Apologize.” The dignified man sitting next to the youth admonishes without force, merely paying lip service while shrewdly endorsing the youth’s words.
The youth twists his lips and rolls his eyes while making a sloppy salute with a cupped fist. “This Young Master’s words might have been offensive, please forgive my straight forwardness.”
“Forgive your granddad! You call that an apology?!” Chunlai jumps forward from her seat, putting a hand on her hip while pointing at the youth with the other. “Young Master, Young Master, what Young Master? All I see is a horse-faced, triangle-eyed, hippo-eared, fish-lipped, elephant-nosed, damned-monkey spirit, not a part of you looks human, let alone the semblance of a Young Master!”
A sect elder nearby sprays out the mouthful of tea that he was drinking, her father covers his face with one hand, the other elders turn away in embarrassment or try to suppress their laughter, as their torsos shake visibly. The rest of the audience aren’t as reserved as they hold their stomach in laughter, causing their respective sect elders to try and calm them down half-heartedly.
Who doesn’t love drama? Especially when it involves other sects? Everyone not involved knows they are in for a good show, who doesn’t know the firecracker heir of the Jade Wing sect? The last time the Bright Snow sect tried to matchmake her with their heir-apparent, she nearly crushed the boy’s family jewels for slapping one of her sect’s disciple for not bringing the tea fast enough. And now you want to pick on her brother?! You are seeking death! Even your ancestors wouldn’t want to deal with this tigress!
“Wh-what did you just call me?” The youth stutters as he brings his hands to feel his own facial features. His father, the sect leader, scowls with a dark face, disappointed at his son’s lack of rebuttal.
“Not looking like human, not looking like spirit, might as well call you a freak!”
[T/N: 人不像人，妖不像妖，只能稱呼你為人妖! - translates as “human not looking like human, spirit not looking like spirit, (we) can only call you a “freak”!, the freak here also has a connotation of being androgynous, so yeah, she’s saying he’s not a man… nor a woman, and with the physical descriptions, not really human either, www]
“A punch to the left, a punch to the right, give the bastard a pair of panda eyes.”
[T/N: The last line is a pun, palm and elephant sounds the same. Yeah, I tried to keep the rhyme, it doesn’t sound as smooth in english though… T.T]
[T/N: The drinking partner should be pretty obvious...]
“Hmph, taking advantage of my brother? Not in this life!” Chunlai declares while tilting her head back, her nose up, looking down upon the Blue Cloud personnel.