The last time, at the old aristocrat's estate, Er Bingzi had gone first to see Xie Lingxi, the five-meter-tall one, then returned to Qin Ming with vague, misleading talk before slipping away. Now he had pulled the same trick again — and Qin Ming filed it away: next meeting, he would beat that one till he was genuinely ill.
Nie Rui cut through Redcloud City's night mist like a beam of light — one of the two most dazzling figures in two decades, who after taking New Life had broken the city's record for physical might. Now that he asked, the squads of the Cao, Mu, and Wei families glanced about in surprise, and many eyes turned to Qin Ming; this, the others understood, was the one he had come to find.
For a moment Qin Ming tasted what it felt like to be the center of all eyes. Of course, it was borrowed glory — had not this prodigy named him, no one would spare a thought for a boy of some backwater. Many looked askance; could such a stifled place truly breed a genius? A few noble girls were livelier. "His features are fine and clear; with a little care he'd gain real presence. Swap the black armor for something bright — I suspect he'd be quite handsome!"
Nie Rui smiled warmly, wishing to spar with Qin Ming. "Feel no pressure. Just a casual bout. I trust the judgment of Master Xu's only disciple." Qin Ming wanted all the more to pound Er Bingzi, and realized Xu Kong must be truly extraordinary, for Redcloud City held him in such regard. "I can't match you. Still, I've heard how Redcloud City produced a pair who astound the whole region."
The young aristocrats nodded, taking it as truth. Nie Rui leapt from his white rhinoceros, gleaming. "You're too modest. I've met You Liangyun. It's nothing — a few casual strokes." The others didn't catch his meaning, and Nie Rui could hardly say outright that You Liangyun had once fallen to this boy. Qin Ming could not refuse. "I've already gained my Second New Life," said Nie Rui. "I'll curb my strength." Qin Ming considered endless evasion unseemly, and nodded.
"Nie Rui, mind your measure," said Cao Long, wary of the boy getting hurt. "Would you like to switch weapons, Qin Ming?" asked Mu Qing. Everyone knew that at his very first New Life, Nie Rui's twin-arm strength reached a terrifying seven hundred ninety jin — the mightiest in twenty years; You Liangyun, once able to hoist six hundred fifty, could only place third. In their view, clashing on strength against a clumsy black-gold hammer would be folly.
Qin Ming, "following good counsel," set down his hammer. "Besides the hammer, I'm more skilled with a spear. Could anyone lend me one?" Mu Qing found most of his youths wielded long blades, and the few spears too light. After a silence one aristocrat laughed: "Use my purple-gold spear — a thousand-forged weapon. That grants me one wishing, the honor, however indirect, of crossing arms with Brother Nie." Qin Ming noticed how everyone deferred to Nie Rui.
"Nie Rui, you might lose," said the girl on the black tiger — bright-eyed, dark hair streaming, angelic. She was Shen Jiayun, of no lesser strength than Nie Rui, and a recluse had already marked her for an incomparably radiant path. Nie Rui walked forward, silver armor aglow, holding a long blade. "En garde!"
Qin Ming took the purple-gold spear, weighed it, then whirled a chain of spear-flowers, purple light churning out. "Xiao Qin, be careful," Xu Yueping called. "Concede if it's not working," said Old Liu bluntly. The young aristocrats merely smiled; with Nie Rui's strength the bout held no suspense. Some bet with gestures that he would take the boy in a few moves. "I wager three blade-forms." "I'll be cautious — seven. Nie Rui chose to test him, so this boy must have something."
Clang! In an instant all turned in disbelief: the two had already traded more than a dozen forms. They sprang apart a good twenty meters, the packed snow bursting high, and only then did the great trees crack, great boughs tumbling down. Everyone's heart shook; they had badly misjudged. "This backwater boy is no simple thing!" Even Cao Long and Wei Zhirou looked startled. Mu Qing, swathed in black robes, spoke up: "Qin Ming, let yourself fight freely. Nie Rui isn't a petty man." "Don't hold anything back," Nie Rui agreed. Old Liu muttered: "Xiao Qin is mightier than I imagined. He hasn't even set foot in Redcloud City, yet his name may beat him there."
Qin Ming did not draw on his strongest area — strength — but relied on pure "spear-craft," folding blade-forms into his thrusts unseen. Nie Rui moved again, his speed bursting the snow, his silver blade carving a blinding arc. Qin Ming sidestepped and, in a flash, pressed the spear down on the blade's back and stabbed close. Many eyes shrank — the boy's grasp of the fight was astonishing, the spear-point like a wandering dragon tearing through the night. Nie Rui strained to break the hold, his left hand faintly glowing, but Qin Ming shook the spear violently and a wide net of spear-flowers bloomed, driving his foe onto the losing hand.
The place fell silent, all agog — the spear had come alive, a coiled flood-dragon baring fangs. "This spear has found its soul in your grasp," Nie Rui said, face grave. He curbed his strength and charged; in an instant they were locked in battle, boughs snapping, snow bursting, great trees falling with a rumble.
"This backwater boy, though not Nie Rui's match in raw strength, still wields near seven hundred jin — what a brute!" "His spear-work looks like common loose forms, yet it turns dross to miracle!" At last even Cao Long and Feng Xing gave their verdict.
What spear-craft? Qin Ming thought — this was blade-craft, a veiled "spear-sword," a strangely different flavor from the hammer-sword. He grew ever more fluent, sweeping the spear horizontally, the point like a blade-edge while he shook it, its vibration magnifying the sword-intent till thunder seemed to rise between sea and sky.
Nie Rui reeled back in disarray, sweat on his brow — he was about to lose. The next moment Qin Ming drove the "spear-sword" to a new height, even using a "kick-blade form," kicking the thrust spear swift as lightning; Nie Rui dodged again and again, and the spear — never knocked away — wound at last about his body like a living dragon before returning to Qin Ming's hand.
Clang! While Nie Rui's blade was pinned under the purple-gold spear, his arm jolted and several silver plates were pierced. Qin Ming pulled back and drove the spear into the ground, a little sorry — so caught up in his first true "spear-sword" that he had not reined in, meaning only a draw yet beating the man. The site fell utterly silent. No one believed it: Nie Rui, the most dazzling genius of twenty years, defeated in a backwater by a boy hunter. All gaped, their sense of reality shaken; some wondered whether the long-dead Black-and-White Mountain was stirring to life again.
Shen Jiayun broke the quiet. "Nie Rui, are you all right?" "Fine. I lost — and gladly." "Really? No heartache?" she giggled, sparing his feelings not at all. "The road simply isn't for me. Brother Qin has made me see it," he sighed, sheathing his blade. "So I'll choose the path of becoming a god." Qin Ming, mulling his own words, heard this "outrageous" talk: first You Liangyun, defeated, went home to inherit wealth and ease; and now this one — worse — a defeat meant becoming a god. His breathing grew heavy.
"It's not what you think," Nie Rui smiled. "What they call gods — surely they're but a stronger breed of creature. A senior elder of a secret sect found me possessed of a rare 'divine wisdom' and said I could walk their path. I'd meant to stride through this boundless black world in mortal flesh — now I must recognize my measure." "Stop sighing. If you go on, what are we to do?" "Qin Ming, I'd like to test myself against you too," said Shen Jiayun, slipping to the ground, long sword in hand, the wood growing lively. "Good!" Qin Ming nodded.
In an instant the snowy field filled with sword-glare like a rainbow, wind and thunder roaring as though electric-dragons descended — Shen Jiayun was a sword-immortal dancing. But she too was defeated, the spear-point plucking a string of blue-gleaming beads from her hair, the spear resting across her shoulder. Again silence; the two mightiest geniuses of Redcloud City in twenty years had both fallen to one hand. "Young man — no need for ten years. Meet me again a year from now, and I'll be far beyond your reach." There was no disappointment, only a bright, city-toppling radiance. "We shall see." Qin Ming lifted the spear with a light flick, caught the falling beads, and set them back among her cloud-like tresses.