Wood splintered, then shattered, then burned as Ji Rong's back slammed into the dull red trunk of the tree. The plant let out a weird, high pitched scream even as its burning trunk fell, branches and vines lashing at him even as his body dug a trench in the damp soil and razor sharp grass. Worms, ants and things he didn't have a name for writhed up out of the upturned earth, crawling, biting, seeking his blood.
Lightning flashed under the shadowed canopy and vermin burned as he sprang to his feet, already falling back into a defensive stance.
It was just in time, as the towering shape of his opponent crashed through the treeline. It was a huge thing, four meters tall and almost as wide, skin like petrified bark, a gaping maw of snaggle teeth below squinting piggish eyes. It was shaped vaguely like a man or an ape, with short, powerful legs and long heavy arms.
Ji Rong spat a mouthful of blood to the side. "Bring it Fatty."
He barely raised his arm in time to meet massive calloused knuckles with his forearm, deflecting the strike away. There was a gross sucking sound as the beast's right arm, stretched like rubber to cross the half dozen meters between them, snapped back into normal shape. The beast made a low guttural sound like laughter, it's weird stretched out mouth bearing even more teeth.
Fuckin thing wanted to toy with him?
Ji Rong let out a below as he launched himself forward, lightning blazing in his veins, is fist slammed into the things tremendous gut, half a hundred strikes hitting in the space between eyeblinks.
Rough flesh gave way, cratering under his hits, and for a second, he felt his confidence surge. Then, rubbery flesh snapped back, and the reversal of his own momentum hurled him backward. He caught himself, landing on his feet as they dug new furrows in the mud.
There the thing stood, smoke rising from its distended gut. Guttural guffaws shook the trees again as it stalked forward, and its arms snapped out, stretching across the clearing in a dozen lazy, probing strikes.
He juked to the left to dodge the first, blocked the second, and fell back into his defensive stance to dodge the rest. His face twisted up in frustration. Of course they'd send him out against something that resisted his normal moves. Still, he wasn't gonna fail Liling by fucking up his officers test.
Lightning flared, cooking the sharp edged grass into blackened ash and light bloomed behind his back into the crackling ring of his domain weapon. His footing shifted, heel digging into the muddy earth as he stabilized his center of gravity in the face of an incoming fist the size of his torso. He jabbed with his right and thunder roared as air tore apart. Fist struck fist and the shockwave that rippled out shattered smaller tree trunks out to ten paces. The air wailed with another peel of thunder as the beasts left fist came in from behind, stretched at impossible length and twisting angles. He jerked his head to side and felt several hairs rip free.
Again and again, the earth deformed under the force of thunder and repeated shockwaves and lightning scorched away grass and weeds that grew back almost as fast as they were burned, their crimson thorns hungry for blood.
No partners, no talismans, no tools, just flesh and blood and fury. Over the sound of continuous thunderclaps he heard the damn plant ogre let out another guttural chortle as their fists clashed a hundred times tearing about the jungle.
Ji Rong's nostrils flared and the edge of his vision went red. For just a second, in the fat ogres face he saw silver hair, blank eyes and that fucking smirk. Lightning blazed and he heard himself scream in rage.
The lightning qi was burning hot in rubbery flesh, but dampened somehow by its nature. He couldn't say why, probably some bullshit jungle magic. But that didn't matter. It wasn't all staying in place.
The beast stumbled for a moment as his next shout roared with thunder qi, raw force blasting twisting, stretching arms off course to crash among the trees .
The ground. It was flowing down into the ground. He couldn't pierce this one. It stretched and snapped but never broke.
Mud and stone cratered and burned under his feet as he became the lightning, human senses vanishing inthe rush of raw unfiltered power. The distance between them vanished and he felt his fist dig into thick, viscous flesh again.
Lightning sparked and died barely making it an centimeter past the surface. The fucking thing laughed at him again, but its arms were retracting too slow. He had two seconds. His other fist jabbed out, and this time he didn't bring the first back, and instead dug his fingers into the things rubbery skin.
His knees bent, his shoulders flexed, and Ji Rong flipped the ogre into the air.
A fist slammed into his back, and then a second, he felt his bones creak. He became the lightning again, and this time rose straight into the sky. The detonation of thunder stripped leaves from the first layer of the jungle canopy and snapped branches as thick as the trunks of smaller trees. The force of his blow was deadened the beasts chest cratering inward as if it had no bones, but still it tumbled a few meters further up
Ji Rong felt himself begin to fall. He couldn't fly, not so lucky as some. His feet touched down on two golden discs, catching himself with the weapon that had become another limb. He couldn't fly, no, but he could jump pretty damn good.
Up again, thunder crashed, and the beasts chest cratered further, the heat of the lightning pooling where his fists struck home, growing with each of a hundred strikes. In return fists like boulders slammed down on him. He felt something crack in his jaw, mouth filling with blood. He felt his ribs groan.
He landed on his domain weapon and jumped again. They rose higher into the air with each cycle, punching through thickening vegetation, and clawlike branches dug into the both of them drawing bleeding wounds. The crater in the beasts chest deepened with each blow, and the ogres piggish eyes grew wide and its movements more panicked, at the bottom of the crater of stretching flesh thick hide had begun to glow cherry red with heat.
Ji Rong landed again and this time when he launched himself up the last of the disks burst into radiant light. This time his fist struck home, and he heard something tear. Roaring out a warcry, he let all of the built up power he had been storing flood through his meridians and muscles. In the next moment he saw light, the sun shining down through the hole blasted in the jungle canopy. For a moment he felt himself floating in midair, right fist extended and painted in dark red blood.
Below was the ogre, a Ji Rong sized hole torn in its chest, tumbling back to earth. Then, he began to fall too, the air screaming past him.He landed in a sloppy crouch atop his weapon and felt a surge of exhaustion as it began to fall too.
He grimaced, his little cheat drank qi the way a drunk guzzled cheap wine. Fighting the surge of exhaustion, he leapt again and this time dug his fingers into the bark of one of the massive trees, letting the drag slow his momentum for the last few hundred meters of the fall.
By the time he hit the ground he absorbed the force with a quick flex of his legs, ripping his fingers away from the tree before the acidic sap could burn him anymore. He grimaced as he glanced around, half of the broken trees were already growing back and the jungle had almost erased the signs of his battle. Even the hole overhead was shrinking by the second.
"You know, most people work out a new plan, or figure out how to leverage secondary skill," A dry voice drawled. They build traps, or trick their target into a greater enemy."
"What can I say, I'm pretty dumb," Ji Rong replied, not looking around as he panted for breath.
"Hm, that's not something an officer should admit," the voice said, and this time a slim hand dangling a waterskin from delicate fingers came into view.
Ji Rong snatched the skin and guzzled from the qi enriched mineral water inside. Finally he raised his head to look at the other person. She looked like a taller Lu Feng, thin, pale, way too much hair. The difference was in the form fit plates of armor, made from the scales of something that had to be pretty damn big, and the tremendous greatsword, carved from the fang of something even bigger laying across her back. He didn't know how they were related; anything past cousins was still kinda gibberish to him.
"A boss has to know where he sucks so his people can shore it up," Ji Rong shot back, glaring at Lu Daxia.
She pursed her lips in a frown, resting her hand on her chin. "That is not wholly wrong, and yet…"
"I make it sound dumb," Ji Rong grunted. "You're gonna have to give me a minute if you want me to sound smart.
She huffed in amusement and Ji Rong grimaced as he felt her hand on his head tousling his hair like he was some snot nosed brat.
...There was no point in trying to avoid it. He'd given up after the first week, she was too fast.
"Well, Sir fool," she drawled, "Despite your methods you have passed the last physical tests, you are capable of survival as a baron in the Western Territories. Congratulations."
"Does that mean I can see Li-" He grimaced as she gave him a sharp look. "Does that mean I can see Princess Sun again?"
The older woman sighed. "Still too arrogant by a half. The princess has many familial matters to deal with. Aren't you thinking too highly of yourself?"
Ji Rong grunted as he rose, swaying to his feet. He knew Liling was important, but all the princess stuff hadn't really gotten into his head before he was here. He'd only seen her once since they'd parted ways a month ago, and that was from across the throne room during some official thing.
...She'd been off, something about her eyes had bothered him, and the way that she talked as well. He knew her well enough to recognize her noble-speak, it'd been more than that.
She'd reminded him of Dharitri. Even then he was sure he'd caught her eye, but her grandfather led her away before they could talk.
"Pfeh, We'll be going back to the Sect soon-ish anyway," Ji Rong said.
Lu Daxia gave him an unreadable look as he stepped past her, heading back toward where he remembered the road to be. "Indeed? Well, I had intended to allow you a rest, but it seems we will need to accelerate your enrollment."
Ji Rong stopped turning his head to look at her. "What, I thought this was the last test?"
She nodded cheerfully. "It is, Sir Fool. However since you have favorable odds of living a decade, that merely means we are not wasting our time with your administration courses."
Ji Rong's groan echoed far among the trees.
.
