InterGalaxia (On Hold)

2.8

"You're late, kid" AnJin Hu barked at Chi YunQi's approaching figure. Chi YunQi stood five metres away from the stern man and just stared at him. Cupping her fist, she bowed slightly, "YunQi apologises to Master. YunQi begs Master to forgive her". AnJin Hu sighed out the corner of his mouth and went up to the bent figure. Taking Chi YunQi's forearm, he lifted her arm until she was straight-backed once again. "No need to bow and don't call me Master until I recognise you. For now, call me An" AnJin Hu, no An, emphasised. Chi YunQi blinked before smiling. "In that case, An, you can call me YunQi or Qi-Er" she replied cheekily. An clicked his tongue in jest. "Fine, I'll call you brat". Chi YunQi harrumphed in mock-displeasure. An gestured for Chi YunQi to follow him as they climbed to the apex of the hill. This hill was located on the grounds behind the Chi estate, meaning that it belongs to ChiJia. An had set up a tameshigiri pole in the middle of the clearing at the top of the hill, some wooden swords and some objects hanging from strings on a nearby tree.

 "Brat, the first thing I want to do is see what level you're at. I can see you've done some training until now, I want to see everything you do normally. From the start of training until the end of training. Use the smallest wooden sword first", An sat down on the side on a freshly cut tree stump, preparing to analyse Chi YunQi's training ethic. The little girl nodded her head and took the placed the sword hanging from her waist sash down on the ground beside An. The sword wasn't Zhanglang but it was an equally exquisite sword, though its specs were admittedly poor in comparison to her Zhanglang. An took up the sword and withdrew it slowly from its scabbard. Admiring the blade, An put it back in its scabbard after a while of inspection, a look of thought painted on his face. He briefly glanced over Chi YunQi's body as if looking for something, eyeing the charm bracelet for while before cupping his chin in thought. For the Chi YunQi who was busy doing some stretches after a few laps of running, she started to sweat when the swordsman eyed her bracelet. She could feel his secret stare through the use of her spirit force as she had covered the entire top of the hill with her domain. It was extremely taxing and there were a few spots that were layered thinner or thicker with the spirit force but for a newbie, she did a decent job in maintaining her domain.

 Finished drawing her arms backwards in a windmill motion, Chi YunQi took a second to slow her heartbeat and relax, making her body as comfortable as possible. Her breathing evened out and she grabbed the smallest wooden sword on the ground. It was a sword of decent five-kilogram weight, perfect of sword beginners around her age. Grasping the hilt of the sword and shifting the sword around haphazardly but safely, she got used to the weight. Rolling her wrist, her elbow and her shoulder in that order but not all at once, she stilled her actions and held her sword in a stance. Her feet were slightly less than shoulder width apart, her toes bent into the ground for extra stability, her torso on a diagonal so that her right shoulder is more forward than her left, her chest facing away from the imaginary opponent in front of her so that her heart is protected. Her stance is lowered with slightly bent knees, her right leg moving forward in little shuffles, her feet sliding forward while never leaving the ground so none of the built-up tension leaves her legs, wasting energy and power. Intending to make a hard swing, Chi YunQi draws the wooden sword from beside the right side of her waist in an upwards motion, blade edge facing the sky, pausing around just below her ribs before turning her sword sideways, so her sword edge was facing left, to a sweeping horizontal motion from the upwards forward motion.

 This series of actions took mere seconds to enact. Because she had both her hands on the hilt of the sword, Chi YunQi didn't take long to pass her sword to her opposite hand, turning her body as she moved forward so that her left leg and left shoulder were the ones facing the opponent this time, the imaginary opponent could almost be seen moving forward into the space she had just created, Chi YunQi sliding her left foot in a semi-circle to round the back of the imaginary opponent. Switching guiding hands again, she raised the sword over her left shoulder and struck down on a diagonal, around were the imaginary opponent's neck would be if the opponent was around her height. Chi YunQi was doing something similar to shadow boxing, visualising an opponent and fighting them. Halfway through her strike, assuming her imaginary sparring partner had turned around and swung their sword horizontally while aiming for her midsection, Chi YunQi stepped backwards on a left diagonal to avoid as much damage as possible, even if the sword hit her, it would only graze her. Quickly stepping back again as it was as if her opponent turned the horizontal slash into a piercing technique, Chi YunQi used the flat of her blade to push off on the opponent's sword, using her opposite hand to push on the flat of the blade facing her for extra momentum.

 Having forced the opponent to draw back their blade, YunQi approaches fast, uses her elbow to knock into the face of the opponent, her sword adding more weight for extra damage, whilst also hooking her foot around their ankle and finally straightening up while they're in confusion and kneeing the opponent in the abdomen. The opponent falls on their butt and she draws her sword tip to their throat. Panting heavily, Chi YunQi eyes the empty space in front of her like a victor appraising the loser. An, who had observed the whole 'fight' clapped his hands. "That was horribly done but that's why I'm here, to teach you how to execute techniques and find the best fighting forms for you".