As Miejue's contemptuous voice pierced the three men's ears, True Qi surged through her. Her wide sleeves seemed to transform into clouds cascading from the heavens as they gently swept toward the nearest man, the Third Boss.
Her sleeves looked slow, but moved as swiftly as lightning. The three men couldn't react in time.
The moment Miejue's sleeve snapped out, the One-Eyed Third Boss felt a bizarre, spiraling force suddenly erupt from the hilt of his saber.
The brutal force of his heavy strike was deftly guided aside by that gentle sweep, redirected and deflected from its intended path like a raging wave crashing into a hidden whirlpool among the reefs.
His heavy ghost-head saber dragged his whole body with it. He staggered sideways, unable to stop himself, and completely lost control of his attack.
The weapon threatened to throw him off balance. It felt as though a giant python were coiling around and wrenching the tendons in his right arm. A moment later, pain lanced through the One-Eyed Third Boss.
Almost at the same moment, the Second Boss let out a low shout and brought his twin hammers crashing down, one after the other, with enough force to split mountains and shatter stone.
The Golden Gourd Hammers looked to be only about the size of three adult fists, but each weighed more than forty pounds.
Combined with the force behind each swing, a direct hit would leave its victim dead with a crushed skull.
Miejue didn't even look at the hammers bearing down on her. She casually raised her left palm to meet their shadows.
In the firelight, the skin along the edge of her palm gleamed with a jade-green luster that seemed almost tangible.
The instant her palm touched a Golden Gourd Hammer, it sent the weapon spinning toward the First Boss, who had just closed in from the side.
Startled, the First Boss hurriedly raised his palm to strike it away.
Palm met hammer. Both men staggered backward several steps, their blood and qi churning within them.
In a single exchange, Miejue had effortlessly dismantled the three men's combined attack.
Her unruffled air made it clear she hadn't even used her full strength.
Gu Shaoan wondered why Miejue had suddenly changed her ways and was holding back against the three men. Just then, she parted her lips, and her calm voice, amplified by True Qi, reached his ears with perfect clarity.
"Shaoan."
Gu Shaoan quickly turned his attention to her. "Master."
"Watch closely."
Her words had barely reached his ears when Miejue darted into the center of the three men, who had regrouped, as swiftly as a ghost.
Then her figure blurred into a succession of blue-green afterimages. Each palm strike fell short of a thunderous, killing blow, yet neatly blocked a position one of her opponents had to protect.
Her palms flashed in a flurry. In Miejue's hands, Golden Summit Cotton Palm flowed like clouds being gathered, gentle and winding one moment, then surged like an overwhelming tide the next.
Just then, Miejue lifted a hand and used the third move of Golden Summit Cotton Palm, "Pine Waves Sending the Moon," to spin away the force of the Golden Gourd Hammer in front of her. She then whipped her palm back like a lash, striking toward the One-Eyed Third Boss's ribs and forcing him to lurch desperately to the right.
Next, Miejue lightly raised her hand and brushed her fingertips over a vital point at the First Boss's waist.
The First Boss recoiled in alarm. The gust from his swinging palm swept across the Second Boss's face, forcing him to raise a hammer to block and leaving his guard wide open.
The three men were undeniably powerful and vicious, yet now they were tugged this way and that by the ever-present palm shadows and their uncanny shifts in rhythm, like puppets controlled by invisible strings. They had fallen completely into the "cage" Miejue had shaped at will.
As Miejue kept the three bandit chiefs' struggles in check, she calmly explained to Gu Shaoan, "Shaoan, you're exceptionally talented and perceptive. But the art of martial combat lies in the ingenuity of its application—in the mind."
She moved with ease among the flashes of blades, the shadows of hammers, and the sharpness of claw strikes, her words perfectly clear.
"When masters face off, victory and defeat don't depend solely on the depth of one's cultivation or the unpredictability of one's techniques. True control lies in drawing your opponent into a trap of your own design, anticipating their moves at every turn and seizing the initiative."
As she spoke, she seemed to gently press a palm against the back of the Third Boss's saber. He immediately felt an irresistible force pulling his weapon toward the First Boss. Startled, he fought to wrench it back.
"Look. I want his blade to veer left, so he can't swing it straight."
Miejue's voice carried a hint of icy emphasis, as if demonstrating a lesson.
She abruptly changed her move, lowering her shoulder as she drove into the Second Boss's centerline. A slight release of force made him grunt.
The heavy Golden Gourd Hammer was wrenched from his grasp by a surging force and sent crashing toward the Third Boss, who had only just regained his footing.
"He can't move to the right, and dodging left is another trap. Like a puppet on strings, every step takes him deeper into my grasp. He can neither advance nor retreat, and I control whether he lives or dies."
The three bandit chiefs, who usually threw their weight around, were now drenched in sweat and struggling to breathe beneath Miejue's palm strikes.
Every time they thought they had broken through or found an opening to counterattack, they only stepped deeper into the invisible rhythm of death.
Their eyes were filled with utter terror as they watched the blue-green figure controlling everything like a god or demon. For the first time, they clearly felt a gulf between them that seemed as vast as heaven and earth.
If Miejue hadn't wanted to use the three of them as teaching examples for Gu Shaoan, would any of them still be alive?
She would have killed each of them with a single palm strike.
Firelight flickered across their faces. The One-Eyed Third Boss had long since lost his earlier fury. Like the other two bandit chiefs, he had nothing left in his heart or on his face but fear.
Watching Miejue's palms flash as wind and shadow formed a cage around the three bandit chiefs, Gu Shaoan focused intently, repeatedly imagining himself in her place.
The battle continued, and Miejue's voice reached Gu Shaoan from time to time.
As time passed, Gu Shaoan's thoughts began to surge with new energy.
Ideas came rushing in like waves, one after another.
In this unusual state, Gu Shaoan's mind grew noticeably more active.
Gradually, his thoughts began to change.
At first, he had pondered the meaning behind each of Miejue's moves. Then he began to study how her techniques changed as she attacked.
Eventually, Gu Shaoan even tried to put himself in Miejue's place. He imagined what moves the three bandit chiefs would use next and how he could respond with Golden Summit Cotton Palm.
Sometimes his approach matched Miejue's next move; sometimes it differed.
But when he thought it through and compared them, Miejue's techniques proved more suitable and more effortless than his own.
Miejue noticed Gu Shaoan frowning and then relaxing his expression by turns, and smiled.
She had seen this reaction many times on Mount Emei.
It always appeared when he had gained some insight while practicing.
Seeing him wear that expression again, Miejue knew he had already grasped some of what she was teaching him.
She continued using Golden Summit Cotton Palm to control the three bandit chiefs before her, giving Gu Shaoan a chance to observe.
Gu Shaoan, meanwhile, watched Miejue's fight with the three bandit chiefs with complete focus, at times showing sudden understanding.
After a long while, a notification suddenly appeared before Gu Shaoan.
[Congratulations! You have reached Beginner Level in Combat Awareness. Achievement Points +200.]
Before you continue