On the fifth day of intensive training, Feng Xiaotian arranged their first practice battle.
He divided the teams himself. The red team consisted of the seven starters: Feng Xiaotian, Feng Lingtian, Zhong Yue, Su Mei'er, Lu Hanxiao, Ji Ning, and Ye Qingyu. The blue team consisted of the reserves and special members: Lu Qing, Shi Yan, Cheng Luo, Bai Yu, Jiang Lin, and Su Ran. Six against seven, the blue team was one person short, and anyone with eyes could see that the red team surpassed them in both individual strength and overall coordination. Feng Xiaotian was not looking for a victory or defeat, but how the blue team would fight under pressure.
Before the battle began, Feng Xiaotian called Lu Qing aside alone.
"You'll be the blue team's spearhead today."
Lu Qing froze for a moment. The core of the blue team's offense had always been Shi Yan and Cheng Luo's defensive control working with Jiang Lin's Spirit Mapping. Lu Qing had never imagined he would stand at the very front.
"I'm not good at that," Lu Qing said.
"You don't need to be," Feng Xiaotian said. "Do it your way."
Lu Qing fell silent for a breath, then nodded.
The battle began. The red team's offensive came fiercer than anyone had expected. Feng Xiaotian pressed forward first, activating Gale Flash Step, his entire body cutting into the blue team's formation like a bolt of blue-green lightning. Feng Xiaotian was not of the agility attack system, but the Gale Twin-Headed Wolf's explosive straight-line speed was no slower than that of the agility attack system. Feng Lingtian followed close behind, combining Gale Flash Step with a Peregrine Falcon dive, as fast as a gray blade. Ji Ning's Swallow Return cut in from the flank, changing direction three times in succession, each turn sharper than the last. Feng Xiaotian attacked head-on, Feng Lingtian dove from above, and Ji Ning struck from the flank. Three lines of attack unfolded at once, their angles different, their rhythms different, but their target the same.
Zhong Yue's Turtle Armor Protection held the very front, the turtle-shell phantom solidifying like a shield. Su Mei'er's Wind Lightning Chain coiled in from the flank, lightning dancing over its surface. Lu Hanxiao's Night Owl Gaze locked onto the position of every member of the blue team. Ye Qingyu's zither-note amplification enveloped the entire field, and every red team member's Soul Power climbed steadily.
The blue team's defensive line began to loosen under the very first impact.
Shi Yan's bell-shaped phantom was driven half a step back by Zhong Yue's Turtle Armor Protection. Cheng Luo's Wind-Binding Vine had barely wrapped around Feng Xiaotian before Ji Ning's Swallow Return severed it from the side. Bai Yu's bell-tone amplification had only just settled on Shi Yan when Su Mei'er's Wind Lightning Chain was already before her. Jiang Lin drove Spirit Mapping to its fullest, and the trajectories of the red team's attacks appeared in every blue team member's mind. They could see them, but could not keep up.
Lu Qing was waiting.
Lu Qing stood at the very rear of the blue team's formation, the blade-light of the Wind Scythe at his right fingertips flickering bright and dim. He was watching the rhythm of the red team's attacks. Feng Xiaotian, Feng Lingtian, and Ji Ning's three lines of attack worked together almost seamlessly, but there was a gap. Every time Ji Ning's Swallow Return completed a turn, Feng Xiaotian's frontal assault and Feng Lingtian's overhead dive would slip out of rhythm for an extremely brief moment. It was not poor coordination, but the differing characteristics of their attacks. Feng Xiaotian relied on straight-line bursts, Feng Lingtian on high-speed dives, and Ji Ning on agile turns. With those three rhythms layered together, gaps were inevitable.
Now.
Lu Qing moved. Rather than making successive turns to launch a surprise attack like Ji Ning, he simply cut in from the side and unleashed his Wind Scythe. Not at Feng Xiaotian, nor at Feng Lingtian or Ji Ning, but at the gap where the three lines of attack converged.
The scythe blade passed through that gap and severed the Wind Lightning Chain Su Mei'er had flung at Bai Yu.
For the first time, the red team's offensive faltered.
Feng Xiaotian glanced back at Lu Qing. Lu Qing had already retreated to his original position, the blade-light of the Wind Scythe in his right hand still flickering bright and dim, as though nothing had happened.
The corner of Feng Xiaotian's mouth moved slightly. "Continue."
The battle resumed. Feng Xiaotian withdrew to the rear flank of the red team's formation, leaving the frontal assault to Feng Lingtian and Ji Ning. He wanted to see how much Lu Qing could accomplish under sustained pressure. Lu Qing still stood at the very rear, still waiting. But the red team had begun to pay attention to him. Lu Hanxiao's Night Owl Gaze locked onto his position, Ji Ning's Swallow Return circled around from the side to try to pin him down, and Su Mei'er's Wind Lightning Chain no longer focused solely on Bai Yu, splitting off a chain to coil toward Lu Qing.
Lu Qing did not retreat.
Lu Qing raised his right hand and unleashed his Wind Scythe. Not a single scythe, but twin scythes. Two scythe blades shot from his palm at once, one meeting Ji Ning, the other slashing toward the Wind Lightning Chain. Ji Ning's Swallow Return changed direction repeatedly in midair, avoiding the first blade, but the second was already waiting where he would land. The Wind Lightning Chain was entangled by the first blade, while the second cut through the gaps in the chain, heading straight for Su Mei'er herself.
Su Mei'er was forced to recall her chain to defend.
Lu Qing's twin scythes wove a net in the air, not a net for attacking, but a net for cutting. Every coordinated move, every handoff, every move to cover a position by the red team was precisely severed by those twin scythes. Not through speed, but through judgment.
Feng Xiaotian stood at the edge of the field, watching Lu Qing. This was exactly what he had been waiting for.
Not the slash of a single scythe, but the strangling kill of twin scythes. A single scythe's trajectory could be predicted, and Lu Hanxiao's Night Owl Gaze could lock onto it. But twin scythes were different. Two blades were unleashed at once, one bright and one dim, one large and one small, and no one could guess how they would change direction. Lu Hanxiao could lock onto one target, but he could not lock onto attacks coming from two directions at once.
When the battle ended, the red team had won. But with Lu Qing's twin scythes supporting it, the blue team's defensive line had held for a full quarter of an hour longer than anyone had expected.
Feng Xiaotian walked to the center of the training ground.
"Today's spearhead for the blue team was Lu Qing." Feng Xiaotian swept his gaze over everyone. "You all saw it. Lu Qing isn't the fastest, but his twin scythes cut off seven coordinated moves, three covering moves, and two pincer attacks from the red team. A single scythe slashes; twin scythes strangle. A single scythe's trajectory can be predicted, but no one can guess the twin scythes' changes in direction."
No one on the training ground spoke. Lu Hanxiao watched Lu Qing in silence for a long time, then nodded once.
Lu Qing stood there, the blade-light of the Wind Scythe in his right hand yet to disperse. Two scythe blades hovered side by side above his palm, one bright and one dim, one large and one small, like a pair of wings.
Lu Qing heard Feng Xiaotian's words and saw Hanxiao's nod.
Hanxiao said nothing. But Lu Qing understood that nod.
Not sympathy, not consolation, but recognition.
The corner of Lu Qing's mouth moved. So slightly and so briefly that it was almost imperceptible. Then he withdrew the twin scythes into his body and straightened.
This was Lu Qing's way.
Night fell, and Feng Lingtian sorted out the medicinal bath formulas in the dormitory. Lu Qing was of the power attack system, and his medicinal bath required herbs that strengthened sinews and bones. Feng Lingtian wrote down the names of several herbs, then paused.
Feng Lingtian recalled the scene from that day's practice battle. He had been cutting in from the flank and had seen with his own eyes the moment Lu Qing's twin scythes sliced apart the red team's coordination. Those two blades had passed through the gap in Ji Ning and Su Mei'er's pincer attack, clean and crisp, without a single unnecessary movement.
Lu Qing had been holding back all along, Feng Lingtian thought. What he had kept tucked away wasn't a scythe, but himself.
Feng Lingtian wrote Lu Qing's name beside the list of herbs and added a two-word note: twin scythes.
Feng Lingtian set down his pen and gazed at the moonlight outside the window. Thirteen people, and each had something of their own to unearth, he thought. Lu Qing's twin scythes had been unearthed. Next, there were still the others.