Maxing out my luck in a cultivation world

Combat Test - Part 2

Little author announcement:

I made another novel, you can find it on my account, I'll probably be writing in that when I'm burnt out on this one.

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She smacked the clone's sword far away, approached it in a flash, and threw a palm strike at the upper right shoulder of the clone.

Hitting the shoulder with her palm, she grabbed hold of it, pulling it closer to herself and headbutting it. Centering a lot of Qi on her forehead, she crudely slammed her forehead into the clone's, concussing it and sending it back.

While the clone was recovering, she came in to shoulder-bash it, and then she instantly sent around 10 punches aimed at the same spot in 1 second. Each connected with the lower chest, avoiding the ribcage.

The clone recovered enough to direct the sword, which had been sent flying, speeding towards them. Because of the clone's transparency, Deimos took notice of the blade soaring at them both, and she jumped backwards to avoid it.

The blade pierced through the clone, getting caught at the handle. The clone fell to a knee, and Deimos, now aware of the fact that it can control the sword from a distance, realized the clone was not going all out in the combos before.

The clone, with not a single care, grabbed the handle of the sword, ripping the blade from its body. Deimos, of course, did not want the clone to recover, so she sought to interfere with its movements.

Deimos thought to herself, 'What if I make use of the movements in the sun and moon circulation technique? Perhaps I can minimize Qi usage while improving output!' Deimos attempted to extend her Qi out, releasing a bit of Yin Qi from her body at the same time, in an attempt to make a sort of Qi blast.

Of course, this immediately backfired. She had no experience with the technique; trying to alter it during the middle of a fight was obviously a bad idea. She sent a small wave of Qi out, she managed to shift some Qi outwards and pull more along with it, using fewer movements with more efficiency than she was normally doing.

This, however, led to her catching her own Qi that she was using as a shield, and instead of ripping the shield off or anything, it sent her flying forward. In the spots where she had denser Qi like her hands, were sent forward stronger and faster than the rest of her body.

She, of course, was instantly knocked off balance and unable to control her own movements. It was akin to being caught in a riptide and trying to swim straight for the beach against the tide.

But this misuse of the technique, this alteration, sparked an idea in her mind. What if she were to use it to maneuver around the arena? SMACK, a powerful blow impacted her leg. She got distracted mid-fight, not good.

Knocked to the ground by the impact, she expelled QI from her body, aiming to send herself backwards. After creating some distance between the two of them, she stood back up and returned to her footwork.

The clone released its hand from the sword, which began to float beside it. As the sword weaved around in the air around it, the clone took a hand to hand combat stance and waited for Deimos' next move.

Deimos thought to herself 'If I make use of the sun and moon circulation technique for assisted movements, perhaps I could get the best score possible in this test!'

Apart from her little train of thought, her eyes were deadlocked on the clone. They were having a staredown, waiting for an opening, anything to initiate an attack on the other. Suddenly the clone shifted to one side a little more, leaving a single opening she could spot.

Instantly taking action and dashing in she failed to consider the fact that the clone intentionally shifted to make that opening. Deimos was already on top of the clone by the time the opening appeared, the lightning blitz style was useful like that, and she swiftly guided her fist to the clone's face.

Making use of the lightning blitz style for her punch, electricity crackled from her hand and as soon as it got close to the clone, it drew her fist in like a magnet and sped up her strike to the point where the clone was unable to dodge.

It blocked with its forearm barely, but that gave enough time for it to direct the sword in the air to slash at her throat. Deimos bolted backwards and skidded across the ground. She then once again tried to make a Qi flow mimicking the sun and moon circulation technique.

She, instead of falling this time, made multiple flows in the area around her body that she could, instead of displacing herself like last time, use it to defend against attacks. The clone is entirely made of Qi unlike the mere coating she built around her body before, so shouldn't its attacks be fully redirected?

After creating what was akin to a winding loop of Qi flow around the outside of her body, two flows in opposite directions covering most area around her body. She waited for the clone to begin attacking.

The clone, wary of the sudden stop in Deimos' onslaught, paced slowly in a circle around Deimos from afar. It was observing her. She was shifting herself to be ready for anything it had to throw at her.

WHOOSH

The clone dashed at her, intending to punch her, as the sword it wielded flew in to slash her from behind, but both were caught in the typhoon of Qi. Getting brought close and then simultaneously being forced in two directions ripped both the clone and the sword to pieces.

The talisman used to create the clone pieced itself back together right in front of her, now completely devoid of QI though. Elder Shoushan appeared behind Deimos in a fraction of a second, as he walked in front of her to grab ahold of the talisman.

With a dignified nod, Elder Shoushan said "Good job, that was quite impressive! You have shown that you have at least a basic understanding in the application of the sun and moon circulation technique! That is better than most."

Continuing his monologue he says, "Moving onto the final test, well.... follow me. I'll show you the way"