“Halt! To continue on you must first face me in combat, leave now if you do not dare.”
Dropping down in a three point landing the petite pugilist lands right in front of the incoming caravan. As it grinds to a halt several angry merchants step forth and start shouting at her before their guards manage to get in between them and the assailant. Seeing the merchants huddle together to discuss their next move Mu smiles and maintains her confident pose, arms on her hips and feet spread at shoulder width while she stands in the middle of the bridge without a care in the world. If it goes the same as the other times then right about now-
“Qiao Fan. Get her!”
A giant of a man steps forth flexing his broad shoulders and cracking his neck. He draws a glaive from his back nearly twice Mu’s size once he’s but a step away and glares down at her. Mu looks up with a cocky smile and settles into a martial pose.
“This one is known as Gao Mu. Please advise.”
“Hmph.”
Without finishing his introduction the man raises his glaive and slams it down where Mu was standing. The ground craters under the force of his blow. By the time it lands however Mu is long gone and kicks his knee from behind causing the man to topple backwards. Her elbow meets his descending head with a loud crack eliciting several flinches from the surrounding crowd. He’s unconscious before he hits the ground.
“The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” Mu states confidently. With such a large height difference the man’s own momentum provided almost half the force of that blow. “Wait, I'm not short! Argh! Come on, bring on the next one. I’ll make you take me seriously!”
She angrily shouts, completely forgetting tradition dictates she’s already won after beating the representative they chose. Taking her mistake for arrogance several guards tighten their grip on their weapons and rush to be the first to step forth.
“This Su Delun shall bring you down, bandit!"
He opens with a spear thrust aimed straight at Mu’s heart. The pugilist spins around it, grabs the haft and breaks it over her knee. A backhanded blow to the nose sends the man sprawling. Seeing him clutch his face while moaning in pain Mu sheepishly drops the remains of his spear.
“I guess the strong ones wouldn’t guard a caravan?” She mutters. Unbeknownst to her she does so loudly enough for the rest of the guards to hear. “Ah well, surely there’ll be one that can put up a fight.”
Three fights later Mu is far less hopeful. Especially since the merchants’ faces are growing paler and paler with each fight she wins.
“Haaah? What’s this? Why have we stopped?” A man roughly Mu’s age with a short green mohawk asks while yawning. Stepping out of the carriage he’s in he rubs at his eyes and takes in the scene. “Seriously? None of you can get rid of a little girl.”
“I’m not little!”
“You’ll be even shorter when I’m done with you.” The man fires back in a bored tone while walking towards the front of the caravan. Leaning over to look her in the eye his smile widens into a toothy grin.
“Well, I’m not supposed to tell anyone but I'm sure you won’t be talking after this.” He says, tilts his head and leans in further to whisper into her ear. “The name’s Shi Xiaowen. Amuse me a little before you die will ya.”
With a laugh Xiaowen turns his back to her and walks several paces away. Without a care in the world he turns to face her once more and draws his weapon, a front-heavy ramdao with all manner of symbols carved across its breadth and length.
“Well then, fellow daoist. Please adv-”
Halfway through his sentence he abruptly jumps forward, sword cutting towards her neck. With wide eyes she jumps back. ‘Fast.’ That is the only thought going through her head as she frantically dodges his ferocious assault. Shi Xiaowen’s arm moves like a whip in spite of the weight of his weapon, sending strike after strike towards his opponent. A fire lights inside of Mu’s chest. This is it! This is what she’s been looking for.
Planting her feet firmly on the ground she takes a deep breath and slams her palm into the side of his blade with a roar. The impact echoes like a gong and its vibrations travel all the way up Xiaowen’s arm causing his teeth to clatter.
“You dare!”
“Huh? We’re fighting, aren’t we?”
“You court death!”
A dull green glow lights up the many carvings atop Xiaowen’s blade when he channels his qi through it in full. With his sleeveless shirt fully exposing his bulging arm muscles Mu has little doubt of what would happen should she get hit. A smile blossoms on her features without conscious thought as she hops from foot to foot and shakes her arms to loosen her muscles, further infuriating her opponent.
“Raargh!!!”
With a maddened roar the man leaps towards her and slashes his sword downwards straight at her head. She dodges to the side and attempts to retaliate only for his other arm to swing out and catch her in the gut. Rolling with the blow she lets herself be flung away and uses the railing to catch herself. His next strike sends wood flying and crashing into the water below. Keeping herself low and hanging from the side railings Mu limits the angles from which he can attack her while striking at his legs through the railings.
Seeing the man about to back off and prepare for a horizontal slash to cut through her handholds she raises herself up and uses the railing to swing over his head. Landing in another three point landing she quickly turns it into a roll when she feels him react, the wind of his strike barely caressing the hairs on her nape. She places one palm on the ground using it to both rotate herself fast enough to hit him with an upside down tornado kick to the wrist and flip herself upright before he can recover.
Immediately rushing close to him to limit the strength of his swings she lashes out with a flurry of blows. Caught on the back foot Shi Xiaowen grits his teeth and abandons all thoughts of defense or self preservation to charge her instead. Trying to catch her with a shoulder charge he finds his opponent just a bit too quick to catch and meets naught but air whilst she slips into his blind spot.
Mu kicks his legs out from under him and catches his sword arm while he goes down, wringing his elbow in such a way that he has no choice but to let go of his ramdao or risk stabbing himself. Xiaowen crashes face first into the ground while his sword clatters against the railing a bit further away.
“Thank you for your guidance, senior.” Mu says while respectfully clasping her hands and bowing her head. For a moment the man does not believe his ears. He lost? His face scrunches and he lets out a snarl as he pushes himself up. Looking at Gao Mu he finds her brow furrowed while she's counting the amounts of carriages and carts in the caravan, so deep in thought she’s not even paying attention to him anymore. A vein pops on his forehead. The nerve!
“Ah! I got it!”
He suddenly hears her say while walking his way. Before he can react she snatches the pouch hanging from his side.
“Mhmm. Listen, merchants! You have been bested. Either turn back and return with stronger champions or let me pick one of each of your belongings as payment for your passage. Ah, don’t worry, I won’t be unreasonable.”
Xiaowen’s heart skips a beat. In utter disbelief he looks from the pouch in her hand to his now empty side. His fists clench. He can’t afford to lose that. No matter what.
His eyes change color as he reaches deep inside himself for something he had not intended to use for a very long time. Muscles bulge and his teeth begin to lengthen. He pushes through the pain, continuing to-
“Xiaowen. That’s enough.”
“Master?!”
With wide eyes he stops what he was doing. Gritting his teeth through the pain he crashes down on to his knees and kowtows towards the carriage he’d left.
“Your orders, Master?”
“Return. We have wasted too much time here.”
“Y- yes, Master.” Xiaowen utters through gritted teeth, a shiver running down his spine at his master’s displeased tone.
Mu pays him no mind when he rushes to pick up his weapon and get back to his carriage. She’s far too absorbed in inspecting the ornate mirror she’s just pulled out of his pouch. Only when the first merchant reaches her does she remember what she was doing and quickly shove it back into the pouch. By evening she has a neat pile of valuable knick knacks she has no idea what to do with. She scratches her head. Finding a place to put all of them sure will be a pain.
