"How does it feel to be outmatched, Demon? How does it feel to be a dead man walking?" Jun said with a massive smile. Hiding the anxiety and fear that filled her limbs and chest.

Jun couldn't believe she had the amount of audacity needed to have said those words to someone almost as strong as Dong ZhenKang was. Maybe not as powerful a force, but still capable enough to drown her with their power. It was only a matter of time.

But it did not matter. Not when her Ancestor was watching over her the whole time. Forcefully making her grow. Changing the amount of potential within her body while she was a witness to it. Never would she be in enough danger to die. Hurt, suffering, and in agony, maybe. Those were all different forms of tests. Things her master needed her to learn and understand if she ever hoped to become what he saw her capable of.

Far more than what Jun had thought she would amount to.

She was grateful for it. Even if the process was painful beyond belief. There was little she was not willing to endure in order to grow stronger. Better protect her family. Prevent a second Hu clan eradication from happening.

"Dead?" Shao Yating said as he straightened. Voice cracking and maniacal. Growing larger in Jun's eyes though she knew it was an illusion. "You dare speak to me of the dead? Speak to me of my domain? You dare utter words you cannot back!? You fucking bitch."

"Strange to see a man your age so uncultured. Cursing like a child."

Yating hands shook as they formed fists. Left eye twitching. He began to whisper to himself.

Jun did not allow the dangerous man before her to have a moment to calm himself. She needed him to swing wide and inefficiently. Clouded by anger. She would take advantage of his blindness and lack of a master to teach him how to fight. Something small in the grand scheme of things, but would make the difference between them.

She felt the wind whisper into her ears once more. Jun disappeared from her spot. Channeling more Qi than she knew she had within her. Reappearing directly in front of Shao Yating, already swinging a Qi infused slash of her blade. Making it impossible for him to dodge.

A smile bloomed on her face as she saw his widening eyes. His expression of shock.

Her blade ripped through the air. Screaming. Swung with every iota of force she could generate. Following through the diagonal cut, hips activated—

Shao Yating caught the blade in his hands. Liquid Qi dripped from his palms as the blade dug in slightly. Almost passing through the thick energy. He dropped her blade. Bring his hand up to stare at his palm and the dripping blood.

Jun lunged back a couple of times. Getting out of his sphere.

What happened? How'd he catch my blade? Why didn't it cut through him like it did before?

Her eyes were wide as she tried to figure out what happened. Unable to think of what caused the vast difference in her attack before and now. Had her small moment of enlightenment changed the amount of power for just a single strike? Or did Shao Yating do something different this time?

Jun stared at him. Trying to figure out what he was doing and why he was standing so still.

"What the fuck?" Shao Yating said without looking up at her. "How are you doing this? It shouldn't be possible for someone in your realm to harm me through denser Qi. That's not how the laws of the world work. It's not how cultivation works. Unless—"

Yating jerked his head up to stare in Jun's direction. He waved the cut hand. The Jade began to glow dark purple once more.

Jun prepared herself to dodge. Long moments passed but nothing happened. There was no attack. No attempt to back stab her. Nothing occurred while she waited for Shao Yating to say or do something. Everything was dead silent.

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"—I was right. That blade. Where did you get it—" Shao Yating shook his head. "No. It does not matter. I'll take it off your dead corpse soon enough."

Jun smirked. "You're covered in blood. And you assume you can beat—"

Something slammed into her. Launching her. Jun grunted as she slammed onto the hard ground and roots. Scrambling to get up. She let her instinct take over and listened to what she assumed was her spirit. Lunging left and diving right. Forced to make massive dodges in order to escape whatever it was that attacked her.

Tears filled her eyes. Pain lancing down her back and left leg. But she continued to ignore it and fight through the haze in her mind.

"You keep running. But it won't help you."

The thing attacking her stopped coming. Giving her a moment to breathe.

Jun turned back toward Shao Yating. Her shoulders heaving up and down with every lungful. Jun cursed under her breath as she watched a wall of black shadows, a hundred pairs of eyes surrounded Yating. None blinked. All locked onto her.

Shao Yating strolled towards her. His Liquid Qi hissing and bubbling. "You will die, just like the rest of them. All spoke so arrogantly. Looked down on me and thought me weak. Beat me when they still had the chance. I killed everyone that dared to look at me with any vitriol or derision. Every. Single. One. You aren't the exception! No one will escape my dead. No one will escape my wrath!"

He threw his arms forward. More undead than she could count surged at her like a tide of water. Hundreds clawing to get to her quicker than she could react.

Jun struggled to keep track of everything that was happening in the chaos of her fighting. Slashing. Hacking. Dodging, and a hundred other things she did in order to keep going. But it did not help. The cuts and scratches were piling up. She had prevented anything fatal from happening, but it still wasn't enough.

No matter how many she destroyed and killed, two would take its place. Quite literally being drowned in bodies.

Long and longer it continued without a moment's rest or time to recover. They were unfeeling and undead, they did not have waning endurance. They did not complain or grow weaker with every cut that covered their entire body. They felt nothing.

Not Jun. Her legs trembled. Arms grew heavier with every swing. Covered in blood head to toe. Everything hurt. Places she didn't even know could hurt pained her fiercely. Robes ripped to shreds. Only enough to cover her modesty and nothing more. Soon enough she was about to die from blood loss and not even death blow.

Where is Ancestor?! Save me! I can't keep going any longer—

The darkness shifted. It receded. Returning to Shao Yating. He stood a distance away, his own shoulders rising and falling. Though he attempted to hide his growing fatigue. But it was enough for Jun to catch it. As small as it was.

"Ready to give in?" Shao Yating said. "Give me the sword and the movement technique manual and I'll let you leave this place alive. Take advantage of my moment of magnitude while you can still breathe."

Jun tried to retort but found herself incapable. She fell to a knee. Forced to use her blade as a crutch to keep her from falling face first. Jun had no energy left in her body. No strength to keep her up and continue to fight. Her teeth chattered. Her grip on her blade growing weaker.

Was I wrong? Is this not a test by my Ancestor? Is everything he said a lie? But how? All the treasures, all the resources, the manuals he taught us?! I fucking carved Shao Yating's throat! How can all of this be fake—

The wind snapped around her. Slapping Jun. As though it was something physical. Jun held her face. Shocked and unable to react as she looked up. A figure slowly materializing before her. Jun knew who it was without it needing to explain.

Shao Yating jumped back. Eyes searching for whatever arrived. He found nothing with his senses either. "What happened? Who's there?"

The tall noble lady, wearing all green, sneered.

"I-It's beyond me," Jun whispered to it, struggling to speak the words. "I am too weak."

"You dirty tramp."

"What?" Jun blinked.

"Did you forget who your ancestor is? What power he wields? What gift he has given you?"

Jun grit her teeth. Staring directly into the weapon spirits eyes. Unsure what it expected from her. This was beyond just a major realm difference between her and Shao Yating. The very quality and density of their Qi was levels apart. The difference between a gaseous core and a liquid core was like the earth and sky. Far too vast to overcome.

"Did you forget who I am!? What power I wield! Use my power, you fucking tramp! This world will cry at your awakening. Never would an insect as weak as that pitiful thing stand before my leviathan power! You dare let it scratch your skin? You fucking disappointment!"

"What do you expect me to do? How do I fight someone like that!?"

"Wield me, you bitch!" The spirit slapped Jun again.

Shao Yating stared at her with blinking eyes. "Who the hell are you speaking to? Did you go insane? There goes my plan to torture you."

"I don't fucking know how to!" Jun shouted back at the spirit. Her hands shaking and turning into fists. "There. I said it. Are you satisfied with my ineptitude? I am not worthy of my Ancestors trust and resources! I am not worthy of the treasures and this fucking weapon! I'm not even a direct descendent! Some tainted, ill bred, distant relation that is worthless—"

The spirit slapped her again.

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