The First Spar

“Mo Bai, are you really sure it’s alright?”

Bai Xia asked for final confirmation, her voice trembling slightly. The surging crimson energy around her was almost breaking free, forming a restless vortex.

Having never wielded such immense power before, Bai Xia—completely inexperienced—felt herself teetering on the brink of losing control. It was only when Mo Bai nodded, signaling that she was fine and could unleash her full might, that she steadied herself.

The next moment, the young woman no longer held back. With a sudden burst of speed, she lunged like an arrow toward Mo Bai, who stood ready with his sword.

****

‘Truly unexpected,’ Mo Bai mused. Bai Xia’s performance was proving to be far more outstanding than he had anticipated.

A flicker of surprise crossed Mo Bai’s eyes, quickly morphing into approval. Watching the young woman charge toward him, his initial excitement transformed into a fervent desire for battle.

He had initially planned to use only thirty percent of his strength, but now Mo Bai found himself compelled to increase it to fifty. Without evasion or hesitation, he deftly spun his longsword into a flourish before holding it steadily in front of him.

He was eager to see exactly what his little Blood Princess was capable of.

The young woman’s snowy white hair whipped wildly in the tempest of crimson energy. Even in the well-lit training ground, Mo Bai could discern the burning scarlet in her eyes. Despite wearing delicate leather shoes unsuitable for sprinting, her explosive speed far exceeded his expectations.

In the blink of an eye, Bai Xia had closed the distance to within a meter, her right fist, imbued with blood-red energy, slamming directly toward Mo Bai’s chest.

Mo Bai’s pupils constricted. In a hasty move, he brought his sword across to block.

“Boom—!”

With that single punch, Bai Xia unleashed nearly all the surging crimson energy within her!

The collision of fist and sword erupted with a muffled thunderclap, and an immense force surged along the blade. Mo Bai’s arm instantly went numb, and his feet were forced to slide back half a meter, leaving two distinct gouges on the training ground floor.

Mo Bai steadied himself, a look of disbelief flashing in his eyes.

He was, after all, an Awakened about to step into the Second Stage, yet he had been pushed back half a meter by a single attack from his little maid. Was this truly the power of an Outsider?

Virtually all Awakened who had encountered Outsiders shared the same first impression: they were incredibly strong—extraordinarily so. Even the lowest-tier beings could overturn cars and flip tanks with effortless ease.

Evidently, Bai Xia possessed this formidable power as well.

However, what puzzled Mo Bai was this: if Bai Xia truly possessed the strength to effortlessly flip a tank, then that punch should have done far more than merely force him back half a meter.

‘Very strange…’

After a slight adjustment to his stance, Mo Bai resumed his combat posture. “That was excellent,” he encouraged. “Show me everything you’ve got.”

He wanted to see if his little Blood Princess had any other skills beyond conventional combat.

“Alright,” Bai Xia nodded after throwing her punch. She then took a deep breath, the crimson glow in her eyes intensifying.

Since Mo Bai had managed to block her full-power strike, she felt no need to hold back any longer. Yet, aside from throwing punches, she actually had no idea how else to wield this power.

The surging energy coursed through her body like a flood trapped without an outlet.

She could feel this power yearning to be guided, longing to tear, devour, and destroy. Yet, at the same time, something within her prevented her from fully indulging that instinct.

‘Never mind… I’ll just fight for now…’

Setting aside her distracting thoughts for a moment, Bai Xia concentrated fully on controlling her energy. She charged at Mo Bai again, unleashing a flurry of punches like torrential rain. Each strike left crimson afterimages, and the air shrieked with piercing cracks.

Mo Bai’s swordplay shifted dramatically, his longsword weaving an impenetrable curtain of light, continuously parrying Bai Xia’s attacks. Finally, with a sharp tremor of his blade, he forced Bai Xia back several steps.

“Have you… practiced any of this before?” Mo Bai suddenly asked, a hint of disbelief in his voice.

Not to mention Awakened who had just embarked on their cultivation journey—even those who had just entered the academy for advanced studies didn’t possess Bai Xia’s level of practical combat skill.

He felt that if Bai Xia had simply trained on her own, she might already be able to fight him to a standstill.

Facing Mo Bai’s inquiry, a somewhat winded Bai Xia shook her head blankly. “I… I’ve never encountered any of this, Mo Bai.”

To be honest, Bai Xia herself didn’t know why her movements were so fluid. Although it was her first time, every punch and every dodge felt like an ingrained instinct, requiring almost no thought.

Seeing his little Blood Princess already panting from the intense exertion over such a short period, Mo Bai hastily ended their sparring session, his longsword dissolving into points of light.

“Take a break.”

“Mm…”

Sitting in a chair in the nearby rest area, Bai Xia clutched a chilled can of cola, sipping it in small mouthfuls. The cool, sweet liquid slid down her throat, providing slight relief from her physical fatigue and heat. It also suppressed the impulsive sensations stirred by the recent battle.

‘How should I describe it?’

Bai Xia felt quite strange herself, especially during combat. The more she gave her all, the more she sensed something amiss within her body—as if another, more volatile self wanted to take over. It made her irritable and agitated, even deriving pleasure from the thrill of destruction. Even now, recalling that feeling, Bai Xia felt a slight tremor of fear, her heart pounding.

This was why she hadn’t dared to fully unleash herself against Mo Bai. Her intuition told her that if she succumbed to that power, something truly terrible would happen.

Droplets of condensation slid down the cola can, the icy touch bringing the young woman back to her senses. Bai Xia took a deep breath, forcing herself to suppress the turmoil within her and trying to appear unbothered. However, the abnormality during the fight had not escaped Mo Bai’s notice.

“Did you feel something strange during the fight?” Mo Bai suddenly took Bai Xia’s small hand gently, his fingertips resting on her wrist. A gentle energy entered her body, carefully sensing the lingering fluctuations.

If asked why he possessed so many skills despite his relatively low cultivation, Mo Bai could only say that such was the privilege of a prominent family—one could never have too many abilities.

Unfortunately, he didn’t discover anything specific, only that the energy within Bai Xia was exceptionally active.

“Mm…” The young woman nodded cautiously. “It was just a strange feeling, like I was losing control… like I wasn’t myself anymore.”

“That’s normal,” Mo Bai replied calmly, withdrawing his hand.

This wasn’t difficult to understand. He could roughly gauge Bai Xia’s level during the fight, and it was perfectly natural for someone inexperienced to struggle with controlling such a powerful force, leading to a sense of losing control.

In essence, she was simply too weak.