Rising Dragons (10)

Wing Chun stood at the foot of Mount Hua some minutes away from Huayin. She waited patiently as the other Martial Artists who had passed the previous round gathered at the clearing near the mountain; they had been told to be there early in the morning to begin the third and final round of the Rising Dragon Tournament.

Wing Chun stared up the mountain in hopes of finding any clue on the task ahead, but her eyes only met a lone white eagle, circling lazily above her. She suddenly heard a familiar voice greet her from behind.

“Sister! I knew I would find you here” Batu said.

“Sister? I don't believe we are related?” Wing Chun said jokingly, greeting the man.

“Please! We have fought together so that makes us martial siblings” Batu joked back, as he got closer to her he switched to a whisper “Be careful, the members of Steel Sword seem to have you in their sights”

Wing Chun nodded slightly, she had felt their stares a few minutes ago, and as she scanned the area she noticed that at least ten of the twenty five Martial Artists gathered here belonged to the Steel Sword.

The creaking of carriage wheels cut through the uneasy tension. A wagon with the markings of the Royal Pavilion slowly rolled up to the group and a familiar figure stepped out.

“Is everyone here?” Jiang Xuance called out loud, behind him Wing Chun could see that Lán was sitting in the carriage, silently watching out the window.

The Young Lord of the Lúse Family troubled Wing Chun slightly, he seemed too frail to be part of the Murim world, yet there he was, a disciple of a Peak Martial Artist, a feat that not a single person here had managed to achieve.

“Perhaps pledging my allegiance to him might be a good idea” Wing Chun entertained the thought slightly as Xuance made sure everyone was there.

“Very well, you have all been selected for the third stage of the Rising Dragon Tournament” Xuance announced “Your task is simple, you must make your way towards the Mount Hua Sect’s head temple” “The first eight participants to make it there shall pass onto the final round”

Everyone stood there silently, seemingly awaiting further instructions, a few more seconds passed until Batu took a few hesitant steps towards the mountain. Steps became a slight jog, and quickly became a run.

Everyone looked back at Xuance, who just stared back with a smile. Seconds later everyone was running towards the mountain, some split off to the side, probably deciding that running to Huayin and then taking the main path to the temple might be faster.

Wing Chun took a second and waited until the area was empty, only the masked man known as Yinying stayed behind with her, staring off into the distance, before he picked a path and began down it. Wing Chun did the same, spotting a path up the mountain that seemed easy and began her accent.

Around half an hour had passed before the weather began to change, low clouds rolled in and covered the mountain with a thick fog. Wing Chun had expected this of course; she had observed the weather the past few days and had predicted it to be part of the challenge, so she had memorised the route that she thought looked easy before beginning the trek.

She continued to walk before she felt something brush against leg and snap. A creak from above her was all the warning she had before a boulder came rushing from in front of her. The road was narrow so she ducked quickly and the stone passed her, it went back into the fog before a woosh signaled it was coming back.

Wing Chun was prepared this time, she flipped over the stone and unleashed her daggers, cutting the rope that held the rock before landing gracefully back on the narrow path.

The rock crashed as it bounced off the path and fell down, echoing off the mountain's walls as it kept falling into the depths below.

“I expected some traps, but that was dangerous” Wing Chun thought “The tournament organizers seem to be stepping it up”

Wing Chun continued up the mountain more carefully this time. She managed to spot a few more traps before activating them; she considered disarming them but decided to keep them up in case some of the other competitors were behind her.

She walked some more before reaching a clearing where three martial artists were resting.

They stood up quickly as she approached, she greeted them respectfully, hoping to calm their unease before she continued up her way.

“Where are you going?” one of them asked.

“Up the mountain” Wing Chun tried to move forward but another stepped in her way.

“So you know a path up? We got lost when the fog set in” The last one spoke up “Since you seem to know where you are going. May we follow you all the way up?”

“Im afraid not, this is a challenge after all, and I plan to go on my own way” Wing Chun replied.

The three stood up and circled her implying that they weren't giving her much of a choice. Each wielded a different weapon, a sword, a saber, and a spear. It was a tricky situation but Wing Chun’s heart trembled with excitement.

Wing Chun took the initiative as she lunged forward towards the man with the saber. He tried to pull it out from the scabbard in his back but she delivered a quick low kick to his front knee and followed it with a chop to his throat, the man staggered backwards and his eyes went wide as his feet failed to find ground, he fell from the mountain side crashing against the stone walls and landing with a heavy grunt onto a clearing below.

The other two lunged at her quickly. They seemed to have some experience fighting together, as the spearbearer weaved his strikes in between the swordsman’s attacks. Wing Chun parried two blade strikes as she drew her daggers before nimbly dodging a spear thrust aimed at her head.

The flurry kept coming, she parried a thrust from the sword this time before stepping forwards slightly and blocking a sweep from the spear. Wing Chun felt the fight begin to slip out of her control, she had gotten an early advantage taking one of them out with a surprise attack; but taking on two martial artists of her level was a difficult task.

They kept her on the defensive, pushing her down the road she had come from. She managed to catch the sword with her daggers but her enemy had gotten used to her style by now. The swordsman quickly let go of his blade, grabbing both her hands by their wrist.

“Now!” The swordsman said, as the spearbearer curved his strike around his ally and aimed at Wing Chun’s side.

Wing Chun brought her arms down close to her chest and pushed forwards in a circular motion, breaking his grip and sending the swordsman back a few paces, giving her just enough time to jump back, the spear catching a small bit of her side. She felt a small sting of pain as a small cut formed on her side. She readjusted her stance as the swordsman picked up his sword and remounted the attack.

Wing Chun went on the offensive once again, aiming a thrust followed by a slash at the swordsman, both attacks were parried and Wing Chun was once again forced to step back as the spear was thrust at her from behind her target.

Offense was no longer a choice, and being on the defensive was begging to prove detrimental. Wing Chun kept being pushed back, more strikes rained down on her, this time the sword nicked her chin as both men thrust their weapons at her in tandem.

She stopped retreating as she felt a slight pressure on her leg. She stopped dead in her tracks, both men noticed her hesitation and began to slowly back up. In a moment of inspiration Wing Chun triggered the trap.

She had no idea what the trap could possibly be, but as she felt the ground beneath her begin to give way, she instinctively jumped back as far as she could.

The spearbearer did the same but the swordsman was caught between them and could not move fast enough in time, the floor came loose and he fell into the empty space below.

A chasm separated Wing Chun and the spearbearer but both were still on guard.

Wing Chun took half a second to regain her stance before running along the wall and leaping at the spearbearer.

He thrust his spear while she was in the air, but she pushed off the wall and stepped on his spear to close the distance, kicking the man in the head before safely landing on the other side of the chasm.

The man staggered backwards before launching a hasty thrust, giving Wing Chun the perfect opportunity. She pivoted to one side, her back against the wall, she grabbed the spear under one arm and delivered a strike with the other, snapping the spear cleanly in half.

Now armed with just a stick, the spearbearer quickly surrendered, Wing Chun let him go as he busied himself with retrieving his heavily injured allies.

As Wing Chun kept going up, she felt slightly disappointed in herself, while she had bested three difficult opponents, she felt a little bit of shame for having to rely on surprise attacks and luck to get the job done.

“It seems I still have much to learn” Wing Chun thought. She picked up the pace up the mountain until she reached a break in the clouds, the sun greeted her as she admired the beautiful sight below.