Chapter 106: Sparring

"Mo Hua!" Bai Zixi exclaimed happily, "Did you bring food?"

"No…"

"Then you came to play with me?"

"No… I came to see Mr. Zhuang." Mo Hua replied honestly.

Bai Zixi was greatly disappointed.

"Have you finished your lessons?" Mo Hua asked.

"Not yet, almost done, but I don't feel like doing them." Bai Zixi said, then lay back down.

Mo Hua's eyes lit up. "So you don't have anything to do right now?"

"Sort of." Bai Zixi nodded.

"Then let's spar!"

"Spar!" Bai Zixi sat up excitedly, but frowned at Mo Hua—his Foundation Establishment fifth layer, thin frame, and faint spiritual energy—and asked, "What are you going to spar with me on?"

Mo Hua whispered, "Let's spar on body movement."

Bai Zixi was unimpressed. "That's so boring."

"If you don't want to, then forget it." Mo Hua turned to leave.

Bai Zixi quickly got up and grabbed Mo Hua's arm.

"Not boring, not boring—it's better than lying here doing nothing."

Bai Zixi thought for a moment, then asked, "But how do we compare? Body movement… what's there to compare?"

"I just learned a new body movement technique—for survival." Mo Hua pulled out a cheap jade pendant, threaded a cloth strip through it, tied both ends, and hung it around his neck.

"Try to take this pendant from me. If you get it, you win."

"Any stakes?"

Mo Hua looked troubled. "I don't have much spirit stone."

Bai Zixi waved his hand. "I don't care about spirit stone."

"Then if you win, I'll treat you to beef and a flask of osmanthus wine."

"Deal!"

Eating, playing, and sparring on body movement—Bai Zixi was delighted. He thought for a moment, then added, "Add a box of crabapple pastries—for Zixi."

"Fine." Mo Hua agreed readily.

On an open patch beside the big locust tree, they marked boundaries, each standing at one end.

Mo Hua said, "Begin," and Bai Zixi's gaze sharpened—he dashed forward in a white robe like a tiger, moving with incredible speed.

Mo Hua's eyelid twitched; he held his breath, predicted Bai Zixi's path with his spiritual sense, sidestepped lightly, and retreated three zhang with a light foot tap.

"Huh?"

Bai Zixi was astonished—he'd been certain he'd catch Mo Hua, yet Mo Hua had merely shifted slightly and slipped past him.

"Where did you learn this body movement?"

"A passing, nameless, kind uncle taught me." Mo Hua replied.

Bai Zixi was baffled and didn't bother asking further, but his competitive spirit flared, his eyes brightening.

"Watch out!"

Bai Zixi pushed off the ground, a faint golden spiritual energy flashed across his body, and in a blink, he reappeared before Mo Hua, reaching out with his right hand to seize the pendant.

Mo Hua leaned back, and as he neared the ground, he used spiritual energy to guide his body, gliding smoothly backward along the earth.

Bai Zixi's hand closed on air; he spun his body and lunged again at Mo Hua with even greater speed.

Mo Hua hadn't finished his move, his spiritual energy hadn't fully shifted—he couldn't change his technique in time, and Bai Zixi tackled him to the ground, snatching the pendant from his neck.

Bai Zixi pulled Mo Hua up, apologetic. "I didn't hold back—I'm sorry, are you hurt?"

Mo Hua rubbed his arm; though it ached, it was unharmed. "I'm fine—it's just sparring."

Bai Zixi relaxed, then waved the pendant teasingly. "Don't forget the beef and pastries."

Mo Hua chuckled at his childish expression. "Don't worry—I'll bring them tomorrow."

"Mm-hmm!" Bai Zixi nodded eagerly, then added, "Want to play again? No—sparring!"

Bai Zixi corrected himself—sparring on Dao techniques was serious business, not play.

Mo Hua thought, then sadly shook his head. "No—we're too far apart in cultivation. No matter how many times we spar, I'll always lose."

Bai Zixi came from a great family outside Li Province; his spiritual roots, cultivation scripture, and Dao techniques were all top-tier. He was a prodigy of his clan, with exceptional talent. Though he sometimes seemed careless, his strength was undeniable.

Just now, Mo Hua had used the Flowing Water Step to evade several times—he knew clearly that his current body movement could never match Bai Zixi's.

Besides, Bai Zixi's realm was far higher than his.

Mo Hua sighed.

Bai Zixi saw Mo Hua's disappointment and said, "I'll suppress my cultivation to match yours."

Mo Hua paused. "Is that okay?"

"If it's sparring, it must be fair. Using higher cultivation to win is bullying." Bai Zixi declared firmly. "Besides, we're sparring on body movement—it's even less fair to rely on cultivation. Otherwise, it's pointless."

Mo Hua nodded. "Alright, but let me rest first."

Mo Hua rubbed his arm again, then asked Bai Zixi, "Zixi, are you a body cultivator?"

Bai Zixi frowned. "You have to call me Big Brother!"

Mo Hua rolled his eyes.

Bai Zixi sighed helplessly, then whispered:

"I plan to become a body cultivator, training martial Dao techniques—but I can't tell anyone. I've only told Zixi. Even Xue Yi doesn't know."

Mo Hua was speechless—he thought, with your personality, everything written on your face, Xue Yi would've known already…

"I've heard that some clan prodigies can cultivate both spiritual energy and the body. Can you not?" Mo Hua asked softly.

Bai Zisheng was a little disdainful. "What's the point of cultivating both? It's neither one thing nor the other—nowhere as pure and satisfying as pure body cultivation! One force subdues ten skills, one fist shatters ten thousand laws. Who cares about dual cultivation or single cultivation—if they provoke me, one punch and I'll break their nose!"

Mo Hua watched with a touch of envy; he too wanted to shatter ten thousand laws with a single fist.

When Qian Xing had gone looking for trouble earlier, if Mo Hua had Bai Zisheng's kind of strength, he would definitely have broken that man's nose with one punch too.

But alas, he could only think about it…

After Mo Hua had rested, he sparred a few more rounds with Bai Zisheng, who had suppressed his cultivation.

The result was entirely different.

Bai Zisheng's cultivation was suppressed to the fifth layer of Qi Refining. Even though his cultivation method and movement technique were of respectable grade, without the support of cultivation, every move was noticeably slower than before.

Mo Hua's divine sense could see it clearly now.

Mo Hua could predict most of Bai Zisheng's moves with his divine sense and dodge them using Flowing Water Step. Occasionally there were some extremely tricky strikes that Mo Hua couldn't dodge in time and could only concede.

The two agreed on twenty exchanges to decide the winner—snatching the jade pendant meant Bai Zisheng's victory; failing to snatch it meant Mo Hua's victory.

All the way until dusk, the two traded wins and losses, the tally roughly even, but Bai Zisheng was still probably a notch better.

Bai Zisheng had a thoroughly good time, and Mo Hua also gained quite a bit of insight into Flowing Water Step.

Bai Zisheng wanted to continue sparring, but Bai Zixi reminded him softly from the side with a single word—"homework." It was like a bucket of cold water poured over him, so Bai Zisheng had to give up. While it was still light, he had to hurry and finish his homework.

Mo Hua bade them farewell, arranged to come again tomorrow, and under Bai Zisheng's repeated urging, agreed to bring wine, meat, and crabapple cakes.

Everything beneath the big locust tree was seen by Old Gui, who sat in a bamboo pavilion to one side.

Old Gui watched Mo Hua's retreating back, his gaze meaningful. "The Zhang family's Flowing Water Step, then…"

End of the fifth watch.

Happy May Day, everyone.