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  “Bu! Bu!” Came the panting cries from outside the little two-room shack that I shared with my father and whichever whore he could manage to coax back here for a few weeks.

  As ordered, I was standing in the doorway between rooms, my torso bent to the side and one leg raised up to press against the wooden panelling above the doorway. I could tell from the light leaking in under the entrance door to my home that it was barely mid-morning, which meant I had only been standing like this for about three hours, roughly an hour to go before I switched legs.

  While I couldn't yet see the person calling to me, I recognized the voice as Yi Ming, A boy I know who lives down in The City Of Deer. He has been my friend ever since we were both small.

  “What do you want, Yi Ming?” I called without shifting my position. While close enough that my father and I could take frequent trips down the foothills into the city, it was far enough that Yi Ming must have had a good reason to come all the way out here. Even if he ran all the way from his home, the trip would have taken him at least half an hour.

  Red-faced and panting, the boy burst in my front door.

  He was a skinny thing, and short compared to me, if you had stood the two of us side by side, never would you guess he was two years my senior. Looking back, I now realise most of the children who lived in or around The City of Deer were poorly fed. I would probably be like them if I hadn't been able to supplement what my father gave me to eat with hunting of my own, but the reindeer, camels, and mazaalai were simply beyond most boys my age.

  “Bu!” He said for a third time, prompting me to roll my eyes.

  “I said What is it?!” I snapped.

  “Disciples,” he took a few deep breaths. “ Disciples from the Unbroken Steel,” I have to admit that got my attention.

  The Unbroken Steel were a sect of cultivators and martial artists that held more than a little sway in The City Of Deer.

  “What about them?”

  Yi Ming was rather pathetically still out of breath, even though he had been here for at least thirty seconds.

  “Three of them are rampaging around the training camp, breaking yurts and crippling people.”

  Frowning, I lowered my leg, ending my exercise early. The training camp was a small collection of yurts around a circle of stone pavement in a field on the outskirts of the city. It was hosted by an old former champion wrestler who trained both the local children and the children of the barbarian nomads when they came to The City of Deer.

  I knew that the Unbroken Steel looked down upon the nomads and often found reason to bully or belittle them. Honestly, most of us did it too, and I had only become an exception after my father made me spend time training in their wrestling art.

  Other than the Zasuul who coached the boys, none of the wrestlers had the kind of power to match the arts of the cultivators, and so they usually had no choice but to put up with the abuse. It was strange that things had escalated so much, though.

  “Why doesn't the Zasuul chase them off?”

  Yi Ming shook his head in response, his dirty black hair flaring out as he did.

  “Zasuul Munkh is away today visiting family.”

  While I no longer trained wrestling with the other boys, winning the little monthly tournament Zasuul Munhk held had become a nice source of income for me. If the boys who were preparing for the larger contests held among the barbarians were crippled or the practice arena destroyed, the tournament might be canceled and those funds lost to me.

  I'd had my eyes on a new bow of truly magnificent make imported from the land of dragons for the better part of a year now, and with my winnings this month, I would finally be able to buy the thing.

  These arrogant bastards from the Unbroken Steel would not be taking my prize from me.

  “Did they say why they are doing this?”

  Yi Ming, who had finally stopped panting, shrugged.

  “They claim the zasuul insulted them, but I think they just felt like it.”

  There really was nothing for it; I was going to have to help the wrestlers. I didn't really care to help, but if the Unbroken Steel disciples were strong enough to bully the entire camp with only two disciples, a fight with them might actually be pretty fun.

  “Fine, catch up when you can.”

  Closing my eyes, I inhaled deeply and pulled upon my Center Dantian, the seat of Qi that sat near the core of my being.

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  Snapping my eyes open again, I burst into movement and dashed past Yi Ming, my legs pumping as they filled by a basic Qi enhancement that every child knew. It amplified my leg strength and thus the speed of my run. Every child might know the technique, but they didn’t have my power. When I wanted to go fast, you would need a horse to keep up, and even then, It would tire long before I did.

  No matter how many times I saw it, the view from just outside the cabin I shared with my father always filled me with a sense of wonder. I didn’t know it then, but it was the same feeling one gets when looking out over the ocean. The plains of grass were a vibrant emerald green that seemed to stretch on forever. Even when a river or hill broke up the steppes, they seemed like tiny things compared to the endless rolling grass.

  I didn't have time to enjoy the view and took off across the grass, dashing as fast as my Qi-infused legs could carry me. After I felt like I had built up enough momentum, I turned my sprint into a series of bounding leaps that sent me soaring through the air and utterly devoured the distance between me and my destination.

  Neither my home nor the training grounds were a part of the city proper, but sat atop rare patches of even ground among the hills around it.

  The collection of yurts came into view quickly, and I could immediately see that Yi Ming was right; the little collection of animal skin-covered tents was in a state of chaos.

  Barbarians and local children who came here to train were laid out in scattered groups around the little dirt circle that acts as the training ring. It was easy to see that some of the older boys tried to stand up to the pair of disciples and got soundly beaten for their trouble.

  ‘I guess the techniques and skills of the sect disciples really are that much better than what the rest of us train. ‘

  The concept that they are usually off in their fancy hall, keeping all the good techniques along with the good food all for themselves, was more than a little annoying, but they were too powerful for anyone in The City Of Deer to do anything about.

  ‘That isn't quite true,’ I thought to myself. ‘I might not be able to challenge the Unbroken Steel sect as a whole, but I can definitely do something about this now.’

  Even as young as I was then, I didn't act out of pity for the trainee wrestlers; if they were too weak to overcome a gap in technique, that was their problem.

  “Hey!” I called to the pair of sect disciples. The duo were both a few years older than I was; by my guess, they were about fifteen. Though if I'm honest, their fancy and still clean sect uniforms made them seem bigger and more mature than I and the other boys here.

  “Last chance to fuck off.” I wasn't as eloquent as a child as I am now.

  The pair of disciples turned towards me cautiously. Caution, they abandoned upon laying eyes on me. Sauntering forwards, they flashed the most condescending pair of grins I had ever seen.

  “Is that a threat, you barbarian trash?” said the taller of the pair, the one who was actually bigger than me. His companion covered his mouth and let out a little effeminate giggle. That was the moment I decided I was going to hurt these two boys very badly. Even then, I was Lu Bu, I am not a barbarian, and I will not be laughed at.

  Stepping forward to meet them, I cracked a predatory grin. As annoyed as I was at having to help the local barbarians, I was excited to test myself against a pair of sect disciples.

  “Alright boil heads, who wants to die first?” I asked using the common insult for low-level Cultivators. Their meditations and purification techniques were known to force all the toxins out of their bodies. It led them to long and healthy lives, but it also meant younger cultivators tended to develop terrible acne during the process.

  The taller of the two sect members lashed out with an open-handed finger thrust, as his hand glowed with a dull metallic light. It was exactly what I had expected from a Broken Steel disciple. The Dagger Hand was one of their most common techniques, and I had witnessed its use all over The City Of Deer by members of the sect at all levels.

  ‘Too slow.’

  It was possible the teenage disciple was purposely disguising his speed with an actively slower attack, but I doubted it. Besides, if that was his intention, I knew I was about to make him regret holding back, no matter the reason.

  Twisting, I avoided the thrust and lashed out with my own superior speed. I had decided I was going to use the barbarian’s wrestling techniques to begin the fight. Not out of some desire to defend the honor of the martial art, but to see if I Lu Bu, was powerful enough that the moves which had so utterly failed these other boys would work for me. I admit it, I was a weird kid.

  Turning to face entirely away from the attacking disciple, I snatched his wrist as I did so. Then, with a savage yank, combined with my twisting body and strategically placed tripping leg, I threw the disciple down onto the packed dirt. Surprised by the sudden change in direction, he fell back on a classic technique for landing when thrown known as ‘smashing face-first into the ground’.

  I didn’t have time to gloat as the disciple who had giggled moved to help his companion the moment I had grabbed a hold of him. The shorter disciple leaped into the air, striking out with his right elbow, which had been engulfed in the same dull metallic glow as the other teen’s Dagger Hand.

  This wasn’t a technique I recognized, but knowing the Unbroken Steel, it probably had something to do with making his elbow as hard as metal. Fortunately, the other disciple was also too slow to truly challenge me, too slow and too weak. Ducking under his elbow strike, I slammed myself into the older boy’s midsection, immediately wrapping my arms around him and locking my hands together behind his back.

  There was a very good reason none of the boys attempt aerial moves in a wrestling match, and I was about to teach this Unbroken Steel idiot exactly why that is.

  With a small effort of will, I sent some Qi to both my back and legs, then I hurled the boy directly over myself in a savage suplex that came down atop his still recovering companion.

  While the move required me to fall as well, virtually all of the force came down upon the pair of Unbroken Steel disciples, so I kicked back onto my feet well before they had even recovered from the impact. Satisfied that the wrestling techniques worked well enough, and that the issue was simply one of power, I abandoned my grappling based approach and fought the pair with my full arsenal.

  It wasn’t a long fight.

  I treated that pair of disciples like the boulder I used for conditioning training; Smashing my shins,knuckles, and elbows into them until my own skin was swollen and torn. During the entire fight, neither disciple managed to land a single blow on me that I didn’t block or knock aside.

  It was so disappointing that after I was done beating them into a pair of bloody, broken messes, I decided to rob them. Initially, I was a tad disappointed with their lack of coin, but I found a tiny ornate box on the taller of them.

  My eyes lit up, and I popped the little chest’s latch. Inside, I found three pills, and while I didn’t know what they did, I knew I’d made the right choice coming to the aid of the barbarian camp.

  I like to think 11 yr old Lu Bu would be cute...probably not though.

  Advance chapters over on