The courtyard erupted and Daniel moved before thinking, slipping past the worst of the chaos as two men rushed Li Mei from the front.

  Her voice cut through the noise, as he backed away to avoid getting surrounded.

  "If you make it out of here alive, I'll call it even for teaching you about Jianghu!"

  A big man stepped forward to block his path. It was the guy with the gorilla arms. His forearms were thick as iron bars. Whatever training had made this man, they made him to last.

  "Wong Kei-lung. The Wild Boar of Tung Wah."

  The man bowed and saluted.

  "I ask for a fight."

  "Uh," Daniel looked around, seeing as everyone else had stopped besides the ones fighting Li Mei in the background. He had thought it was going to be an all-out brawl, this felt actually more organized. Like lining up for the checkout at the grocery store.

  He thought about keeping his identity a secret. Why give them anything to target him with later? But the man was standing there, waiting. The formal salute held at his chest. Refusing to answer felt wrong in a way Daniel couldn't explain.

  We are all family.

  He returned the bow. Left palm over right fist, the way Li Mei had shown him in the alley.

  "Daniel Li of San Francisco"

  Just his name. Wong Kei-lung looked at him. A pause that lasted half a breath, that seemed to acknowledge him. Respect? Or something else?

  Then he charged.

  The first strike aimed for Daniel's chest. Daniel let it pass through. The man grunted. Came again. Combinations flowing one after another, each finding empty air.

  Wong Kei-lung's eyes narrowed further. He pressed harder, but it made no difference. His fists found nothing. Daniel shifted at angles so sharp, that most weren't even close to hitting him.

  Daniel stopped watching the fists.

  The next strike came. Daniel moved past it. His shin grazed the man's lead leg just below the knee. Target the meridians. Then the person. Foot Yangming.

  The follow-up step faltered.

  Wong Kei-lung felt his footing slip. One graze, placed exactly where his weight transferred. The boy had read him. In twenty years of fighting, he'd never met anyone who could see that.

  "Kei-lung!" someone called over his shoulder. "Watch your leg. He knows about your bad habit."

  Daniel's eyes perked up as he saw movement at the edge of his vision. A Tibetan monk? He hadn't noticed him before, but the monk was walking casually from the sidelines in the crowd with a folded-up arm in his sleeve.

  He had seen Tibetan monks before on television. The Dalai Lama, making a statement about world peace, and the necessity of international relations. Odd now, that one of their monks was at this very place now.

  The other men walked around him without touching.

  Giving him space.

  Daniel wanted to watch him longer, but another attacker came from his right and he had to move. This one was faster than Wong Kei-lung. Younger too, maybe early twenties, wearing a leather jacket.

  The young man placed fist to palm. "Cheung Keung. Seven Stars of the Southern Gate. I'll take over old man. Take a seat."

  "Damn," muttered Wong Kei-Lung, angrily, but gradually took a step back, to observe.

  Daniel pondered, wondering if Wong Kei-Lung just didn't want to continue or if there was an unwritten rule Li Mei hadn't told him about.

  He had always thought it was odd that fighters in most martial arts movies fought one at a time. Maybe there was some history to that. He would have to ask about that later.

  Cheung Keung came in with quick combinations, three-four-five strikes flowing without pause. Daniel let them come, slipping each one, and on the fourth he moved inside and let his forearm brush the man's inner arm as they passed.

  The fifth strike came slower.

  "That's only five stars," Daniel said between exchanges. "Where are the other two?"

  Cheung Keung's face darkened. He came again, faster this time. His breath came sharp through his nose.

  But Daniel watched. Seven targets in sequence, each making a shape, slowly forming a ladle. Seven Stars? Like for the Big Dipper Constellation?

  The fog had crept deeper into the courtyard, dimming the lantern lights until everything seemed to glow. The red paper of the lanterns had gone dark.

  Then Cheung Keung stepped wrong on the slick stones. His arms windmilled as he fought for balance. Daniel sidestepped and watched him crash into the floor.

  Daniel laughed before he could stop himself.

  Fast fists but poor balance.

  Then a strike caught his ribs from behind and he stumbled forward with his breath catching in his throat.

  Ah? They stopped playing fair.

  The knuckles had sunk deep into the meat of his back right next to the spine. Not a clean hit but it stung. More than one person. Right. This was still technically a group fight. He was the idiot now.

  "Stop watching and team up on him!" someone shouted.

  Daniel reset his stance and started moving again. Three men were moving into position, cutting off his escape routes. They were more wary now, having seen what he could do.

  One left, one right, one center. They were herding him toward the raised wooden platform at the side, where his footwork would be less effective. He almost laughed, feeling this was same tactic he tried on Li Mei.

  So Daniel went forward instead. The man's eyes widened. Before he could adjust, Daniel slipped past him, his hand forming a vicious spiraling claw that found the man's back.

  He didn't hold anything back and sent the man reeling in pain. Daniel felt his arms tinge as his fist seemed repelled by something. Some kind of defensive qi technique?

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  "Crazy bastard!" one of them spat.

  Daniel used the moment to reposition. The other two started to adjust and this time they weren't giving him any chances, throwing combinations and kicks so that he didn't have time to counter back.

  He caught sight of Li Mei between exchanges. She was closer now, being pushed toward the center of the courtyard just as he was. One man backed away clutching his elbow. She was being pushed toward him. He was being pushed toward her. The fight was compressing, forcing them together whether they wanted it or not.

  They collided.

  Her elbow caught his ribs and his foot came down on hers. They stumbled together, two people suddenly occupying the same space. Her hair smelled like pine trees and something floral underneath.

  "Move!" she hissed.

  "Can't you see they were pushing us together?!"

  They split apart wrong. Both went left and their shoulders hit together hard. An attack came through the gap between them and Daniel took it on his forearm, pain shooting up to his shoulder.

  "Left!" Li Mei snapped.

  "I know!"

  This was awkward. Worse than if he just fought alone. Yet, where could he even go? There were bad guys in all directions. Another attack. Both moved right. Collided again. Someone's fist flew past Daniel's ear.

  "Haha!" one of their opponents laughed.

  "They're fighting each other," another said. "Just wait."

  "Call it," Daniel managed. "The direction. I'll follow."

  A strike came toward them. Li Mei pulled him right. "Right." They moved together and the strike missed.

  "Left. Push the big guy to me."

  Daniel understood. He circled, Wong Kei-Lung had somehow found himself back in the mix, but he was caught between them with nowhere to go.

  "Now."

  Her palm struck the side of his knee. The man went down like a slaughtered pig.

  As he did, Daniel felt Li Mei move low, so he stayed high without thinking about it, his body filling the space she'd left. A strike came at her back and his arm was there to block it. Her palm shot out at someone reaching for his blind side, and the man staggered back choking.

  "Yours," she said, driving another opponent toward him.

  "Got him."

  Up and down. Back and forth. Side to side. Almost like a washing machine cycle.

  Li Mei took the fast ones. Cheung Keung caught an elbow to the temple and ran, his footsteps echoing off the walls as he disappeared. She let him go. Another tried to flank her and caught a knee to the thigh that dropped him gasping.

  Daniel took the big hits. A graze here, a brush there, each contact a way to refine his attacks to only hit their meridians. Another fighter kept shaking his hand. They exchanged glances. The calculation was changing.

  "Opening. Two o'clock."

  She created it and Daniel filled it.

  "Yours," she said, motioning to Daniel, causing the man block high, but her heel found his knee before he could recover. He went down hard, cursing.

  "Heh, stop listening. Trying to predict our moves based on what I'm saying. You aren't that clever. I can pretend to say the wrong thing too."

  Daniel moved to cover her left side, and this time they didn't collide. The lesser fighters began to thin. Two standing now, backing away with their hands half-raised. They'd had enough.

  Then a woman stepped forward from the shadows near the wall.

  She'd been waiting, watching, smoking. Middle-aged, plain-faced, the kind of woman who could sit in any restaurant in Chinatown and no one would look twice.

  Her cigarette had burned to the filter minutes ago, a long cylinder of ash still clinging to the end. Now she flicked it away and stepped into the lantern light.

  Her clothes were formal like that of a high-end restaurant waitress. Black necktie and bowler cap on her head.

  A short black capelet hung from her shoulders, the hem ending just above her elbows. The capelet shifted when she flicked the cigarette away, the fabric settling a half-second after she stopped moving.

  She placed her fist against her open palm. The bow carried a sharpness to it that Wong Kei-lung's did not.

  "Yip Sau-lan. The Eight Armed Rakasha."

  The remaining fighters backed away from her.

  Li Mei went silent beside him, looking at the woman's long sleeves.

  "Hidden weapons," she whispered.

  A famous martial arts clan came to Daniel's mind at the moment. The Tang Clan. Daniel remembered the name from Dragon Inn Chronicles. Among the great martial families, five were legendary. Tang, Nangong, Murong, Peng, and Baili. The Tang were the masters of hidden weapons. Poisons, needles, blades concealed in sleeves and hair and the folds of clothing.

  "Tang Clan?"

  He moved back as if a venomous centipede had stung him.

  Yip Sau-lan laughed, loudly.

  "Haha, truly it would have been an honor to be called as such, but no members of the Tang remain."

  She smiled, and it didn't reach her eyes.

  "They all died."

  "By your hand?" Daniel asked.

  "Who can say?"

  Her hand went to her sleeve.

  "What do you say? A one on one? Daniel Li of San Francisco? Let us not brawl like uncivilized people."

  Li Mei moved to Daniel's side.

  "You don't have to accept. She's trying to break up our teamwork. They aren't honorable, so there isn't any harm in just fighting her together."

  "Think I can't handle it?"

  "You shouldn't handle it," Li Mei's eyes sharpened. "Unless you got a lot better than when you fought me."

  Daniel paused. She was right, but it was like a bug bite you couldn't help but scratch even though you were told not to. A role that he couldn't help himself falling into. Wasn't the whole point of the last few months? To get better? To be someone more than just him?

  And if his meridian theory about emotions had any weight, it had to be tested with real danger. In harm's way. His chest tightened, his heartbeat went up. His eyes began to focus with increasing clarity.

  Anxiety. Worry. But also one more thing. Courage.

  He might get beat or might lose, but fuck if he wasn't going to try his best. Daniel made a fist with his hand, and started walking forward. "Feels right to just do this alone. That's what a hero does right? Fight against the odds?"

  Li Mei stood there, stunned.

  "You idiot."

  Yip Sau-lan stood here smiling.

  "Are you confident or foolish?"

  Daniel got into stance, flexing his hands.

  "You say it like those are the only two options."

  "It isn't?"

  "You'll find out."

  Daniel ran towards her to close the distance.

  Yip Sau-lan leaned back and out came several weapons. A sickle, a knife, a flying axe, an arrow, crossbow bolt, and a dart.

  Daniel flinched, ducking most of it and slapping away the sickle. It bounced harmlessly off to the side. He had to check twice to make sure he wasn't cut, but it looked like he got lucky there.

  "Pity, I've always wondered why people never use their strongest attack at the start," said Yip Sau-lan. "Though it seems in this case, you are good enough."

  Daniel paused, sweating. In his head he was thinking. Actually, you almost killed me there and I'm not sure how I avoided all of that.

  "I guess I should surrender," replied Yip Sau-lan.

  "Eh? Just like that?"

  "Then would you rather just beat me up till I'm blue in the face?"

  Yip Sau-lan then bowed with her sleeves down.

  "I mean would you hate it, if I said yes?"

  Wait…that was only six weapons? Wasn't her name the Eight-Armed Rakasha?

  A flying chain flew out of her hand as she bowed. Daniel backpedaled trying to avoid it, but it caught his arm.

  "Still too green."

  She brought her other hand behind her and flicked the hairpin holding her hair up. The needle so thin that it could pass for silk.

  Daniel's heart nearly jumped out of his chest. This was bad. Very bad. He tried to use Ghost Step, but she was holding him tight. Ah fuck it. He curved his hands into a full tiger claw and straight up swiped the air. The hairpin bounced off his hand and flew to the side.

  Yip Sau-lan stood stiff, nearly stunned. That hairpin was as thin as a thread. How could someone just slap it away?

  Daniel got up, untangling his arm from the chain.

  "So, about that beating. Get ready for…uh?"

  Yip Sau-lan started to cry, bawling her eyes out.

  Daniel stood there awkwardly.

  People just randomly cry now? I didn't even hit her yet. Sort of doesn't feel right to hit her now.

  At a distance, Li Mei rolled her eyes and yelled out.

  "Idiot, stop looking dazed, she's faking it."

  Daniel snapped out of it, but Yip Sau-lan had already slipped away in between his attention.

  "Heh, really too green," Yip Sau-lan replied. "Don't you know a woman's best weapon is her tears?"

  She moved towards the back, and the remaining people in the courtyard started to gather to block his way before he could give chase.

  "Hey. What the fuck. God, come back here so I can beat the fuck out of you."

  "Maybe, another day Daniel Li," she laughed, walking towards the courtyard door. "Dong Chi-wai! I've done more than what you paid me for. If you need my help with this boy, you should up the price!"

  "Ungrateful bitch," mumbled Dong Chi-wai, waving his hand. "Let her leave."

  The men parted for her as she took another cigarette from her sleeve. She left without further attention, but as she did more people started to gather from the street to replace the ones on the ground, apparently Dong Chi-wai had called for them during the fight.

  "Damn," mumbled Daniel, "I thought we beat you all already."

  Li Mei looked around before yelling.

  "Chi-wai! Your thugs are no match. You should already know that regular people are no match for qi. If you don't want any more accidents. Accept that you've lost. We've already beat all your experts!"

  "Not quite," mumbled the monk, walking out with his robes. "Truly, it is surprising to see people so young with such skill. If the men here had half your talent, perhaps the world would return to its rightful place with China at its center.

  The monk, waved his hand, tossing aside the sash over his neck and gave a slight nod of his head instead of a bow.

  "Norbu of Shaolin. I must ask you two benefactors to forgive me for any transgressions I may cause."

  Daniel nearly took a step back.

  "You're Shaolin?"