The Laws of Cultivation: Qi = MC^2

Yan Yun felt a torrent of emotions swirling in her chest. She had suspected her grandfather would not listen, there had been little reason to think she could change his mind after all these years. Yet despite herself, she’d been holding out a sliver of hope that perhaps, just maybe he would give her a chance.

She closed her eyes, feeling an ache filling her heart. She focused on it, on her past years spent trying to prove herself. All this time, all this time she had been doing it for the wrong reason. But not anymore.

“I will go first,” Yan Yun announced, stepping forth.

Zhang stirred at her words. “No, it should be—”

Lu Jie interrupted the boy, shaking his head. Zhang looked at her, and Yan Yun looked firmly within Zhang’s eyes. “Trust me, Zhang.”

A moment later, Zhang gave her a nod, stepping back again. She stepped forward, standing in the arena, and Elder Sheng clapped. “We have the first participant! Who will elder Yan be sending to match Yan Yun?”

Yan Yun looked at her grandfather, keeping her gaze firm. Today was the day she would prove it to him, show him what her new path looked like.

“Xiao Lan,” Elder Yan said, and a boy stepped forward. His hair was tired in a ponytail, and scars marked his body. “Do not disappoint us.”

The boy bowed to her grandfather, stepping into the arena. Then, to her surprise, bowed to her. “I appreciated your insights when we were together during the tournament.”

Yan Yun raised her eyebrow, trying to recall who he might be, but she couldn’t remember any boy that may look like this. Not to mention in the tournament of all places.

“But my target is Lu Jie. It is him I must fight against, and reclaim victory from my previous defeat,” he said, and a moment later drew his blade.

“Ah, I’m afraid we can’t allow that,” the Elder said, as he snapped his fingers. The sword was now replaced with a wooden practice weapon instead.

“How is this fair?” Elder Yan spat, furious.

“Because killing your granddaughter is not what I am here to do. It’s surprising to me that you never gave a thought regarding that,” Elder Sheng said, squinting his eyes.

Elder Yan paused, as if conflicted, before he settled with a huff, not protesting further.

Yan Yun tried not to let the conversation wound her any further, but the pain lingered. Normally, Leiyu would be with her here, whispering words in her mind. She tried to think over what he would tell her.

Close your heart to it Yan Yun. You are far better than this measly child. You just need to remember.

Taking a deep breath, Yan Yun took her stance, letting lightning flow through her. Her Chi was denser than her Qi had ever been.

Xiao Lan raised his blade, turning his body sideways, as sword Qi began to flow through it. Wooden though that blade may have been, but it would cut just as well as a regular blade. She would not make the mistake of underestimating the weapon.

“Then, with both participants ready, let the duel begin!” the elder announced.

Yan Yun moved first. Lightning flowed through her fist, as she struck like a veritable thunderbolt, crossing the distance in front of her with a single step. Chi flowed through her entire body, forming a bolt of power that left from her fist as the strike hit her opponent's blade.

Crackle.

The world lit up from a powerful flash, as lightning erupted around the chamber. The sound was akin to a tribulation from the heavens itself, sending tremors through the chamber.

Xiao Lan grunted, his blade charred and burnt at the location of the strike, yet the boy stood with his blade held tightly and no real injuries. “You are powerful,” Xiao Lan said, as Yan Yun jumped back to create distance.

“But not as strong as I had expected,” he replied, spinning his blade. Sword Qi filled the weapon, as the boy sent a cut through the very air itself, and Yan Yun had to dodge the strike in a rush.

The nature of lightning was to strike hard and fast. And that is what Yan Yun had used. It was the art of the Yan. The embodiment of strength and victory. Yet, Xiao Lan had pushed through that.

Yan Yun frowned. This was going to be a difficult battle.

Lightning covered her body, boosting her movement. She kept channeling the lightning through her entire body, letting its properties fill her as she moved faster and faster. Xiao Lan moved as well, a menacing aura of sword Qi flowing around his blade. Yan Yun let the Chi form lightning, as she shot it towards the boy.

Xiao Lan struck the bolt of lightning with his sword, rushing in closer as his blade sent an arc of sword Qi towards her. Yan Yun moved swiftly, but the boy followed the attack up with a swipe of his blade that sent three curving arcs of sword Qi cutting through the ground itself.

Yan Yun blocked one strike with Chi reinforcing her, while she dodged the other two. She noticed her robes cut by the Qi strike, her arm bleeding from underneath as a grimace came upon her face. The Qi was sharp, extremely so.

“Is this all the prodigy of the sect has to give? I had been expecting more. But perhaps the rumors of your fall had been true,” Xiao Lan said, sighing in disappointment. He raised his blade, as a strike charged itself.

“I’ll let this match end now,” he said, and Yan Yun felt her anger rise. She was not going to be insulted.

Yet the power being gathered in the blade felt menacing. A large amount of sword Qi pulled itself into Xiao Lan’s wooden blade, sharp enough she could feel it cutting through the air around it.

She rushed closer, her fists covered in lightning. Qi moved around her in a fury of lightning as she unleashed her Chi upon the boy.

Xiao Lan let the blow hit him, taking a step back from the impact of the lightning, but it wasn’t enough to stop him. With almost a roar, he brought the blade down.

“Heaven splitting arc.”

For a brief moment, Yan Yun had thought she’d lost, then the sword Qi faded as Yan Yun noticed a deep scar running through the sparring arena, splitting it neatly in two halves right down the middle. She felt her body aching, but the strike had missed her, her strike had been enough to shift the blade’s direction.

The boy clicked his tongue. In a rush he moved towards her, and Yan Yun raised her fist, but the boy managed to rush in faster than her, as his blade struck her in the chest. Yan Yun felt a sharp pain erupt in her ribs as she was thrown back. But her strike had landed as well, numbing the boy’s body further with the lightning.

Yet, with each passing second she felt herself becoming more desperate as the gap between the two of them kept growing.

Quickly raising herself to her feet, Yan Yun shouted as she charged up her Chi, rushing at Xiao Lan and struck him with a fist covered in lightning. The boy swung his blade, intercepting her strike, before his fist struck her in her gut, as he launched her aside. Yan Yun found herself on the ground, gasping for air, as her energy began to fade from her body.

“There’s no anger, no arrogance. Nothing. Your lightning feels tame, like it’s trying it’s best to not hurt me. This was not the battle I had been anticipating,” Xiao Lan said, walking closer as he pointed the blade towards Yan Yun. “Surrender. This is unseemly.”

Yan Yun looked up at Xiao Lan, glaring at the boy in anger. Yet he felt so powerful. What was she meant to do? The more she tried to fight, the more her strength seemed to fade away from her grasp.

“Do not waste time and end the match,” Elder Yan said, scoffing.

Her eyes shifted from behind Xiao Lan, towards her grandfather. She saw him watching, and saw the sadness in his eyes. For a moment, the grandfather from her childhood could be seen in his eyes. Then, a moment later, she realized what his expression meant. The sadness was not for her. It had never been for her. It was for the shame she had brought his name. The shame and sadness that she was his granddaughter. Yan Yun felt her heart crumbling.

What was she doing? Clinging even now to what her grandfather had taught her? To what he had made her, of the lie he had told her all this time.

She saw it now, saw the heartless man standing in front of her. With a soundless cry from her bleeding heart, Yan Yun reached within herself, and severed the final chains tying her down.

Xiao Lan pulled back his blade. “Apologies. But please forfeit, or I will be forced to strike,” Xiao Lan said.

Yan Yun pushed herself to her feet, Xiao Lan could’ve struck her down at any moment, but the boy did not. He waited, till she was back onto her feet. Standing on her feet, Yan Yun closed her eyes.

Lightning was not her path. The vicious merciless victory was not who she was anymore.

Then who was she? She had found an answer hadn’t she?

Yan Yun opened her eyes, and whispered the words again. “I cultivate… to help my friends.”

The world heard her. And it answered.

“She’s having a breakthrough now?” Zhou Fang exclaimed. Elder Sheng burst into laughter.

“Strike her, boy!” Elder Yan shouted.

“Guess I should stop the tribulation,” Elder Sheng said, jumping up as an aura spread itself all around them.

But the words spoken around Yan Yun no longer reached her ears. The heavens rumbled in the skies, as Yan Yun felt her Chi change. No longer was it lightning, but something else. Something she desperately cherished and would give her life to protect.

Colors of all kinds began to swirl around Yan Yun, filling her body as her wounds healed rapidly, filled with an entirely new kind of Chi.

Xiao Lan stood in front of her, eyes open, before a smile took over his face. “I take back my words. You are a worthy opponent. Allow me to give it my all too.”

The boy took a step back, drawing his blade back as sword Chi began to gather on it with a powerful flurry. “I had wondered just what kind of blade I could use to beat Lu Jie, and after a lot of training, I finally found my answer.”

With a toss, he threw his blade aside, before taking his stance with empty hands. A moment later, a blade formed itself from the collection of sword Qi in the boy's hands.

Yan Yun watched Xiao Lan take a stance to strike, feeling the tribulation rumbling in the skies with a roaring strike, now held back by the elder. She reached out to her new power, to the strength she had gained, and called upon it.

Strands of Chi began to flow into her, from all around her, from near and from far, filling her chest. Memories, feelings, of all the time she had spent with people she cared for now began to overflow within her, cascading into a powerful tide.

A new art filled Yan Yun’s mind, as she harnessed the energy, taking the stance for a single strike. This was her path. This Chi was everything she was, and so she simply let it be free into the world.

Xiao Lan’s Qi continued to grow, till the blade vibrated the air around it with power. “This is my answer.” Xiao Lan said, and as he raised the blade of energy, and then swung.

“Sword Art: Formless Blade.”

“Friendship Art: Heartful Strike."

The world split in two.

Qi and Chi mingled in the air, with a powerful eruption of power sending swirling storms of power through the area.

The ground cracked from the energy of the sword Qi, before being healed by the friendship Chi in a continuous cycle. The world itself seemed stuck in time.

Then, she heard a voice echo from the other side.

“I forfeit,” Xiao Lan said.

“Huh,” Yan Yun murmured to herself, staring at the boy who looked at her with a complicated expression.

Xiao Lan walked up to Yan Yun, before giving her a bow. “I felt them… almost like a dream. But I felt what this meant to you. And I could not keep fighting against that.”

Yan Yun watched Xiao Lan turn around and walk back to stand behind the elder, staring in disbelief. Was that what her art did? Show someone her emotions?

“Well well well, you kids sure left a mess,” Elder Sheng said, jumping back down as he wiped dust off his shoulders. “Anyway, the first round’s victor is Yan Yun!”

Yan Yun stared in disbelief at the man, at the world around her and at the events that had transpired here. Then, as if a puppet with its strings cuts, she felt the tension drain from her body as she fell.

Lu Jie rushed in, holding her up. “Are you alright?”

Yan Yun gave him a nod. “I’m fine.”

“Clearly, you killed it out there. Thank you Yan Yun,” Lu Jie said, helping her up. “But friendship Chi huh? Can’t say I expected that, but I like it.”

Yan Yun blushed, burying her face into his shoulder as Lu Jie laughed.

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