The Heavenly Sword by Alice Poon EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Alice Poon
- Language: English
- Genre: Asian Myth & Legend eBooks
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 3.4 MB
- Price: Free
“The trick is to be a needle wrapped in cotton,” Sai’er’s father said.
Sai’er made a face at his back.
Her foster brother Binhong deflected a flurry of mindless slashes from her
sword, then leaping up and making a half spin in mid-air, he slammed his
sword down towards her with his full body weight.
Without thinking, she met the ferocious blow with all the qi she could
muster. The shock waves from metal slamming onto metal ripped through
her arm, and nearly jerked the sword out of her grip. She lurched to one side
from the force of the blow, her hand shaking. He took advantage of the
opening to bolt forward and in one swipe sent her half-raised sword flying
out of her hand and skipping over the ground. With a smug grin, he then
touched the wooden tip of the sword to her throat.
“Daughter, you’ll never be able to master the Sword-as-Whip technique if
you don’t work at your neigong,” Ba harrumphed, the veins in his temples
visibly throbbing. Throwing his bamboo smoking pipe onto the stone table,
he mumbled in frustration.
“Neigong needs diligent practice before you can master your qi flow. Qi
must be used wisely—in attack, and in defense… If only you would pay
attention to what I tell you.”
“There you go again, Ba!” Sai’er snapped, her temper flaring. “You mean
I’m thickheaded ‘cos I’m a girl, am I right?” She just had to let off some
steam.
Constantly losing to Binhong at archery already rankled. In sword
dueling, she had a clear edge over him in agility, yet she still couldn’t beat
him at that either, and the incremental stress she endured was worse than a
punch in the guts. And Ba’s constant fault-finding just added insult to
injury.
“Then how come Binhong catches on and you don’t?”
“That’s not true, he still can’t control his qi flow,” she asserted. “His only
advantage over me is his brute strength, you know that!” She had no doubt
that sometimes her Ba made things up just to irritate her. No way would she
believe Binhong understood him any better than she.
You always talk in riddles, Ba! Who on earth can figure you out?
“Aiyah! It’s not about physical strength. How many times have I told
you? You can take him down if you’re good at your neigong.”
But what does it mean to be good at neigong? she murmured to herself in
exasperation. Didn’t I use my qi to the best of my power?
A blunt riposte decrying his inscrutable mumble was about to spew from
her lips when she caught herself and swallowed it back. Making him lose
face in front of his favorite apprentice would not help her case. Worse, it
would only add oil to the fire.
Yet for all her rants, Ba was still a Sword-as-Whip expert, as well as a
virtuoso herbalist.
Binhong threw Sai’er a sympathetic glance, and kept silent, his eyes
roving between the two verbal duelists with a sense of acquired patience.
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