Chapter 91 Sparring (2)
Li Xiaoxiao asked, puzzled, "He's causing me trouble? What happened to him?"
Xiumei said, "He insisted that you change into men's clothing so he could have a duel with you!"
These words caused an uproar. Granny Qi said unhappily, "Our Xiaoxiao is a girl, how could he say such a thing? And even challenge her to a duel?"
Mother Mao chided, "Xiumei, didn't you stop her? Have you forgotten how long Xiaoxiao was sick last time because of the fight?"
Xiumei said anxiously, "How could I not stop him? But how could I stop him? Judging from his appearance, if I hadn't come, he might have come in anyway."
Mother Mao said with dissatisfaction, "What's going on here? Our Xiaoxiao is a girl, and he's a military man. If he wins, it's not a fair victory, and if he loses, it's even more shameful. How did he come up with the idea of competing with Xiaoxiao? He must have had too much to drink."
Liu Zhi, her face tense with anger, said, "Sister Xiaoxiao is just a little stronger, how could she possibly be a match for men who practice martial arts every day? This is simply unfair!"
Li Xiaoxiao, who was just a bit stronger: ...
Actually, she was also a little itchy to see who would win if she and the Crown Prince's personal guards really fought.
She slammed her hand on the table and stood up: "Fine! I'll go. I'll go back and change into men's clothes."
Mao's mother quickly grabbed her: "Are you trying to kill yourself? Swords have no eyes. Today is a big day for adults. What if you get hurt?"
Li smiled and said, "No, if you're worried about bloodshed, we can use wooden sticks instead of swords. But aren't you curious? Who will win in my duel with the Crown Prince's guard commander?"
Granny Qi spat at her: "Don't think you can win every battle just because you have some strength. Liu Zhi is right, that's what they do. They practice in the training ground every day, and maybe they've even been on the battlefield, fighting the enemy with real swords and seeing blood. In our family, you just chop wood and carry water, you're more of a laborer. When have we ever seen you practice swordsmanship? You're so arrogant, asking who will win?"
Li Xiaoxiao shook her head and said, "Granny Qi, don't boost others' morale and diminish your own. I'm strong. Haven't you heard of the saying 'One force can overcome ten techniques'? In the face of absolute power, any attack is like throwing an egg against a rock."
Everyone present rolled their eyes, looking like they couldn't stand her.
Li Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up: "How about we place a bet? Everyone got a reward today, let's put together a tael or two of silver and gamble. I'm sure if I accept the challenge, those guards up ahead won't be able to resist placing their bets!"
The group looked at each other, all of them feeling a little restless.
Yes, everyone got a reward today. Betting two or three taels of silver won't hurt you. You can enjoy the excitement and have a good time. If you're lucky, you might even win some money. Why not?
So Granny Qi and Granny Mao were also tempted. As the elders in the household, playing cards and gambling was a favorite pastime for people their age. However, since coming to Biyang County, they hadn't been able to gather enough people for a table, and they hadn't gambled for a long time.
So the group of people stopped eating and went back to their rooms to get their money.
Even Aunt Luo and Meng Liniang went back to find the purse with great interest. After a while, they came out of the house and stood with everyone waiting for Li Xiaoxiao to change her clothes.
Before long, Li Xiaoxiao took the lead, swaggering ahead to guide the way, followed by a group of women.
Pang Shi was taken aback. Why had such a large group come? After hearing that everyone wanted to place bets, the drunken guards, who were staggering around, suddenly jumped up as if they had been injected with chicken blood. Their faces were flushed, and they howled as they wanted to place their bets.
What man doesn't like to gamble? When they get really angry, they're willing to lose everything, let alone when there's a big, exciting spectacle to watch.
The roar startled the drowsy Eunuch Rong awake. After hearing that Pang Shi and Li Xiaoxiao were going to have a duel, and remembering his godfather's high regard for Li Xiaoxiao, he immediately started organizing: "Come on, those who bet on Commander Pang, bet on Lady Li, bet here! Place your bets now!"
The guards compared Pang Shi's and Li Xiaoxiao's physiques and unanimously bet all their money on Pang Shi.
The Meng family naturally supported their own people; even the youngest member, Liu Zhi, bet one tael of silver.
Granny Qi and Granny Mao each bet two taels, while Aunt Luo and Aunt Meng each bet five taels.
There weren't many people from the Meng family, but the smallest bet was one tael. In contrast, the guards were much poorer, with some even betting over a hundred copper coins. When they took them out, they were ridiculed: "Why did you only bet so little? Are you looking down on the Commander?"
The guard said nonchalantly, "What can we do? It's all because I drink too much and have drunk it all. If I had known that the commander was going to have a martial arts competition, I would have saved more to bet on."
Finally, there were two small piles of silver on the table. The pile on the left was for betting on Pang Shi to win, mostly copper coins and small pieces of silver, looking very poor. But the servants of the Meng family, who should have been very poor, all bet silver, with the smallest bet being one tael of silver.
The number of people on both sides differed by nearly double, but the amount of money was not much different.
When it was time for Eunuch Rong to place his final bet, he slowly untied his money bag, took out a ten-tael silver ingot in full view of everyone, waved it around in front of them, and finally placed his bet firmly on Pang Shi's side.
"Tch~" The guards immediately started jeering, finding it pointless. Even if he won against the other side with his ten taels of silver, they wouldn't get much left.
Officer Shi gritted his teeth and bet one tael of silver. Although he really wanted to bet on Pang Shi to win, Li Xiaoxiao was on their side. If he switched sides now, he was afraid he would be scolded to death...
Forget it, it's just a tael of silver anyway. Even if she loses, as her family, we have to support our sister!
After the bets were placed, everyone immediately moved all the tables, chairs, and dishes in the courtyard, clearing out the space in the center of the courtyard, and surrounded the two people.
Pang Shi and Li Xiaoxiao stood facing each other, one to the east and one to the west, with a distance of five or six meters between them.
Li Xiaoxiao asked calmly, "How do we compete?"
Pang Shi said, "How about we use bamboo staffs as weapons and stop when we've made a move?"
Li smiled and said, "Okay."
Zhao Jian quickly ran to where the servants were drying clothes and brought back a bamboo pole. Pang Shi drew his broadsword, split the bamboo pole in two, and threw one piece to Li Xiaoxiao.
Li Xiaoxiao reached out and caught it, then swung it around in her hand a couple of times. Finding it too long, she took out the short sword hanging at her waist and quickly slashed the bamboo pole down to about a meter in length: "That's enough for me!"
Pang Shi gripped the bamboo pole tightly in his hand, barely able to suppress the boiling passion in his blood.
He dared not underestimate his opponent, who was almost half his size.
On the day she appeared in the dilapidated temple, she almost knocked the black-clad assassin's Longquan sword off with a single piece of firewood. He had never understood how she did it, but now he finally had the chance to verify it.
He was finally able to fight Li Xiaoxiao.
Pang Shi was never one to hesitate. Now that he had decided to compete with Li Xiaoxiao, he wanted to do everything in his power to win the match.
He made the first move.
Without a single unnecessary movement, he ran a few steps, leaped high, and struck Li Xiaoxiao on the head with a stick.
Li Xiaoxiao felt that Pang Shi was like a bear at this moment, a fierce and agile bear. The sound of the bamboo pole cutting through the wind was almost ear-piercing, and he was quite strong.
Li Xiaoxiao did not dodge, but raised the stick with one hand to meet the attack.
With a "crack," the two bamboo poles collided and shattered into strips of bamboo fiber, raising a cloud of dust in the air.
Pang Shi took a step back, glanced at the bamboo pole in his hand that had been broken into pieces, and felt a throbbing pain in his palm.
In this move, both sides were evenly matched, but their weapons were no longer effective.
The evenly matched attack ignited Pang Shi's inherent fighting spirit, and his eyes lit up: "Are you serious?"
Li Xiaoxiao threw away the bamboo pole in her hand and reached out to grasp the hilt of the short sword: "Bring it on!"
Pang Shi no longer held back, turned around, grabbed his knife, and slashed at the enemy.
A gasp rippled through the crowd: "They're really using knives! Won't they get hurt?"
The short sword met the attack head-on, carrying an air of unwavering determination.
As their weapons clashed, Pang Shi's hand trembled painfully once again, and he could barely hold onto his long sword. But Li Xiaoxiao gave him no chance to react. She deftly twirled her short sword in her wrist, turning defense into offense. Her slender body leaped up and slashed down in front of him.
Her movements were swift, giving Pang Shi almost no time to react. Each sword strike was faster than the last, and Pang Shi retreated step by step until his leg hit the wall. He managed to block her attack, then pushed off the wall with his leg, finally finding an opportunity to counterattack. He used the wall's force to turn defense into offense.
The two exchanged blows for over twenty moves, and Pang Shi's clothes were soaked through. He had already witnessed how terrifying Li Xiaoxiao was; in terms of strength, he was no match for her.
If he continues to confront them in this way, he will not gain any advantage.
But Pang Shi's appointment as the Crown Prince's personal guard commander was never due to brute force, but rather to his extensive combat experience. Since a direct confrontation wouldn't work, he began trying other methods to fight her.
He had already discovered that Li Xiaoxiao's methods were very ruthless, and strength was her absolute advantage. However, if this advantage could be slightly restrained, it would be discovered that her moves were actually without any rules.
She probably didn't have systematic training in orthodox martial arts. Instead, she reacted to each move as it came, seizing every opportunity. Moreover, she was very quick to react on the spot. She was adept at using her superior strength to overwhelm her opponents in unexpected ways, leaving them unable to react and ultimately defeating them with her sword.
What a pity! If she had received effective guidance from a young age, she would definitely not be the way she is today. Perhaps he would have been defeated by her sword in just a few moves.
After recognizing her shortcomings, Pang Shi couldn't help but feel hopeful again.
He leaped back, escaping her attack range, then his aura shifted, and he unleashed a seemingly ordinary slash at her.
The guards watching were extremely tense after the first twenty or so powerful blows, thinking that Pang Shi was bound to lose. But to their surprise, he was able to quickly extricate himself and then unleash this seemingly ordinary strike.
One of the guards blurted out, "The Thirteen Forms of the Horizontal Saber? Commander Pang has mastered the saber technique."
Li Xiaoxiao's short sword barely touched Pang Shi's horizontal saber before he quickly moved away. Then, he unleashed a set of thirteen horizontal saber moves with fluid grace. When attacking, he chopped, stabbed, flicked, swept, and slashed; when defending, he intercepted, carried, shifted, and entangled. His footwork was also methodical, sometimes advancing, sometimes retreating, sometimes turning, and occasionally releasing a move that seemed like an opening to lure Li Xiaoxiao into attacking.
Once he unleashed his complete sword technique, Li Xiaoxiao felt as if she were trapped in a quagmire, struggling in vain. Although Pang Shi failed to hit her, her advantage of superior strength had vanished.
She disliked this kind of battle; it was sticky and unpleasant, and her power was often interrupted by his moves, which frustrated her greatly.
Pang Shi's judgment was correct; Li Xiaoxiao's martial arts skills were indeed unorthodox.
She hadn't received formal training in combat techniques; every move she made was honed through countless life-or-death struggles. Each strike was deadly, a clash of titans, a fight to the death.
This is a fighting style that kills a thousand enemies but also inflicts eight hundred casualties on herself. Every time she survived by sheer luck in the apocalypse, she was severely injured. Firstly, she was young, and secondly, almost every orphan in the apocalypse lived like this.
In that world, she was the most insignificant member, barely surviving each day with the belief that she had earned another day. Therefore, for a long time after arriving in this world, she lived a carefree life, spending her entire monthly allowance on food the very next day. Mother Mao spent a long time correcting this habit, but it was very difficult for her. It took a long time, until she accepted herself as a member of this world and finally accepted that she no longer had to constantly risk her life, before she could finally relax a little.
Of course, the fact that she had recovered somewhat was only in her own opinion. At least in Mao's mother's eyes, she still didn't seem to care about money and it wasn't enough. But for her, it was a complete upheaval of her personality.
It was precisely because the people in this world had such low combat strength that even when she was seriously injured and her supernatural abilities were cut off, she was still able to defeat most people with her physical strength. Therefore, she never realized that her overall combat ability was actually weak. When she encountered a master like Pang Shi, who was trained through orthodox methods, this weakness was easily exposed.
As Pang Shi fought, he became more and more confident. Li Xiaoxiao's rhythm was disrupted, and she couldn't unleash the full power of her abilities, which highlighted his advantage.
After finishing the Thirteen Forms of the Horizontal Saber, he switched to a new set of saber techniques, which were more cunning and agile. He wielded the horizontal saber with such skill that it seemed to whistle through the air, and Li Xiaoxiao was forced to retreat step by step.
Officer Shi looked regretful. He also practiced swordsmanship and could naturally see the extent of Pang Shi's swordsmanship. As expected of the commander of the Crown Prince's personal guards, he would not have known that swordsmanship could be so skillful if he had not seen it with his own eyes.
Xiaoxiao was strong, but Pang Shi's skillful maneuvering left her with no chance to retaliate. As time went on, he found her weakness and she was destined to lose.
He wasn't surprised. In every aspect, Li Xiaoxiao was no match for Pang Shi. There were differences between men and women, differences in physique, differences in the length of time they had practiced martial arts, and even the advantage of age didn't exist... In every aspect, Pang Shi could easily defeat Li Xiaoxiao, who came from the countryside. It was only expected that she would lose the competition.
But she has already done a remarkable job. At least she has fought Pang Shi for so long without being defeated. Ordinary people cannot withstand Pang Shi's heavy sword.
The Meng family members basically thought the same as Constable Shi, but they were much closer to Li Xiaoxiao than Constable Shi. They felt that Li Xiaoxiao had already won by fighting this far, and it wouldn't be a good thing if she really defeated the most powerful guard commander by the Crown Prince's side.
What if Pang Shi holds a grudge? What if he's concerned about saving face?
However, Li Xiaoxiao, the person involved, did not think that way. Although she was very annoyed by Pang Shi's entanglement, it was impossible for her to admit defeat.
She was waiting for an opportunity.
Pang created an opening at the opportune moment, and she jumped in as he had hoped.
Pang Shi was overjoyed. Fearing he might hurt her, he turned the blade towards himself, but struck her left hand with the back of the blade.
Her sword was in her right hand, and it was too late to defend herself.
With this blow, Li Xiaoxiao was about to admit defeat.
After all, if it were a blade, her hand would have been chopped off.
Li Xiaoxiao dropped the short sword from her right hand, twisting her body in an almost unbelievable way in mid-air. She caught the fallen sword with her left hand, swung it backhand, and "whoosh—" a series of chilling sounds rang out. The short sword had already slashed a long mark on the blade of the horizontal sword. At the same time, she stretched out a foot, about to kick Pang Shi hard in the abdomen, but changed direction midway and kicked his sword instead.
It was another head-on collision, and Pang Shi had nowhere to dodge. He could only grip his sword tightly and retreat quickly, his shoes leaving deep marks on the ground as he nearly fell.
With a kick, the two entangled figures separated again. Pang Shi's face was ashen as he plunged his knife into the ground: "I lost."
If Li Xiaoxiao hadn't stopped midway, and that kick had landed on his stomach, he would definitely have been injured.
She won the friendly sparring match, which ended with the opponent giving up.
The guards watching sighed in despair, while the Meng family members, who had just realized what was happening, screamed and clapped wildly: "Xiaoxiao/Sister Xiaoxiao, you're amazing! You're so great! We won!"
Grandpa Rong exclaimed in amazement, "To have witnessed such a competition, I have no regrets in this life."
Li smiled and said, "You're already very good. After all, I'm naturally strong. If it were someone else, they would have been defeated long ago."
Pang Shi was not satisfied: "Actually, if you had someone to give you some pointers, you would have won much more easily! You're just a self-taught player, wasting a lot of effort."
Li Xiaoxiao snorted, "But I won."
Pang Shi said, "You need to change your approach. What if you're surrounded by multiple people and your strength is depleted?"
Li smiled and said, "Then I'll take them down one by one first, so they can't gang up on me."
Pang Shi retorted, dissatisfied, "What if the enemy had ten or a hundred riders? How could you possibly defeat so many by yourself?"
Li smiled and said, "There won't be such a time."
Pang Shi asked, "What if someone else designs tactics specifically to target you?"
Li Xiaoxiao thought to herself, "Then I'll summon lightning to strike them dead!"
But considering how slow her powers would recover, taking a long time to recover after each use, she ultimately gave up on this method.
Well, one time could be considered a coincidence, but if every time she appears, a thunderbolt suddenly appears, anyone would know there's something wrong with her.
She had no intention of exposing herself to others.
After all, her goal has always been to live a life of leisure and comfort, as long as she can live a peaceful life without causing any trouble.
She glared at Pang Shi: "You've already lost, yet you keep nitpicking. What are you trying to do?"
Pang Shi asked, "Would you like to become my disciple?"
Li Xiaoxiao took a deep breath, then rolled her eyes at him: "You can't even beat me, and you want me to become your disciple?"
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