Douluo Dalu: 1st Cycle: Dancing Panda

Karni took a step back to dodge the first swing, then let the second swing of the katana hit him at an angle.

The katana kind of bounced off and Karni turned his palms to the side and disarmed her in an instant.

The two looked at each other for a split second…

Only for her to pull out another katana out of her storage ring. Not as good as the last one, but still highly refined. At least second grade Thousand Refined.

"What are you? A katana collector?"

Karni complained as he dodged yet again and disarmed her in a similar manner as before, just using a different opening on her part.

He did all of this with one hand. His other hand was holding the Greatsword, but not using it.

She took out a third Katana. This one was emerald green, and looked more like a decorative katana than a real battle katana.

Karni sighed. "You really are a katana collector, huh."

She just grumbled and attacked again.

It wasn't so much a problem of her not having any skill with this katana. He saw expertise in those moves; her hands were trained; her familiarity was higher than his with the Greatsword, far higher. But without her Martial Soul… she was just too slow.

Even without his Martial Soul, Karni was used to Siduo's speed—and his Martial Soul did not offer any boost in mobility outside of Shift. Siduo was one of the fastest people Karni knew. Though as it was right now, Karni would consider Xie Xie as the faster one. At least from his memory of Siduo before they departed.

Whatever this girl was, an agility or assault type, Karni had no problem reacting to her. If this were Xie Xie or Siduo, he'd have a much harder time keeping up without Martial Souls. She had a level of intent in her katana already, but as long as that didn't connect directly, it wouldn't be a problem.

And above all that, Karni was arguably more skilled at dodging than Xie Xie. His Drunken Ghost Dance excelled in movement.

Karni threw the Guardian up in the air with great difficulty, then used both hands to intercept her. He disarmed her, grappled her and pushed her to the ground with her arms behind. The Guardian landed beside him. He picked it up and placed it on her in a calm manner.

She struggled, grumbled, but could not lift it. The Guardian Greatsword was insanely heavy to lift without Soul Power. Before he joined hands with Lily the Brown Lotus Panda, his body would not have been able to lift it without Soul Power.

He sighed, went and picked up her other katanas and placed them in front of her. He sat down in a meditative pose and looked at White Eight stuck beneath the Greatsword. "Now. Can we talk?"

She just grumbled. "No."

"White Eight, I don't even know why you attacked me. Did I do anything to you?"

She sounded exasperated and stopped struggling. "My Martial Soul is the Dragonwolf Katana." She stared daggers at him.

Karni blinked. Dragonwolf Katana, Dragonwolf Katana… "Oh! You're the Wolf King's little sister! The girl that forfeited against me. Why are you mad about that? You forfeited."

"I'm not angry about that!"

"Then what the fuck are you angry about?!" Karni grumbled. Fucking teenagers. Though he was physically a teenager right now, since his Panda awakened as the Royal Bamboo Panda, Karni had been far more stable in his emotions. Probably the influence of his bloodline.

He didn't want to just put Relaxing Aura on the girl either. It could have made her easy to talk to, but he couldn't keep up Relaxing Aura all the time. Plus, that would only be treating the symptoms, not curing them.

She said in a whisper silent enough that people would not hear it. "My brother."

"Your brother?"

"I said my brother!" She screamed, before going silence. "Wait, you heard me the first time?"

Karni couldn't help but chuckle. "White Eight. You do realise I cultivate Sound, right?"

She fell silent. Feeling stupid.

"But your brother, eh? Why?"

"You played around with him. You humiliated him."

Karni went into thought. "I suppose I did look like that… but I was genuinely in the middle of a breakthrough… no, that's completely true, I was also in a bad mood at the time. I sensed something new and was using your brother to reach it. That's why I only used certain effects on your brother. The intention wasn't to humiliate him, but I also didn't really care if I did or not."

She stared at him, her face changing a bit. She did not know how to feel about that. It was a bit too honest, so she at least believed him.

Karni sighed. "I can't ask you to forgive me about what I did, but my progress was immense thanks to your brother. I owe him that… I suppose a demonstration is in order. Just gimme a sec to think about it, I usually do this with my Martial Soul."

He closed his eyes for ten seconds, then opened them. "Right."

He placed his hands together. Parted them and clapped. He took control of the sound that the clap generated. A resonance appeared between his hands, just like it did between his Drumsticks. It was a pseudo version of Still Harmony.

Karni moved his hands around White Eight's head. The resonance enveloped her mind. "I couldn't have understood this if not for the battle with your brother. It's not something I can comprehend by just using my best abilities, I needed some sort of push, your brother played that role."

Karni saw her eyes change from madness to a bit of… confused frustration. He smiled. That was good enough for now. He lifted the Guardian off her.

She stood up, ignoring him, and went to pick up her katanas. She even seemed to cuddle them a little bit. Aww. She was a katana fanatic.

She constantly wore a slight blush. It looked like she was embarrassed. "We can work together." She turned around, the blush gone and the proud face back on. "But don't talk to me. I still haven't forgiven you." She said in a bratty voice.

Karni rolled his eyes as soon as she turned around. Of course she hadn't forgiven him, he as still quite an asshole against her brother, but still, her tone pissed him off a bit. He couldn't help but whisper out loud. "Fucking teenagers man."

He let it go and focused on absorbing the energy of the Garchomps they defeated. It mostly disappeared due to their squabble. He ignored the weird stare that the girl was giving him regarding the comment.

… … …

The two just walked around for hours and hours, meditating while absorbing the draconic clouds, and fighting a few beasts in between. It wasn't that hard to progress, but Karni had to admit that he was bored.

The girl was petty, and didn't speak to him. He also didn't want to deal with it, so he also didn't speak.

After a few hours of absorbing the clouds, Karni started to see some slight changes with Hope. The changes were miniscule, but they were there nonetheless. She had grown by about a centimetre, and her scales had darkened somewhat.

Hopefully three months would be enough to make her evolve.

"I don't see your body absorbing the clouds. What are you doing exactly?" White Eight finally talked to him.

Karni looked at her, acting completely unsurprised. His eyes were saying: "You said no talking."

She became a bit flustered, huffed a bit and went back to meditation. Karni could not help but roll his eyes again. She couldn't even handle a simple jab. If that was the case, this might last a while.

Hua Lantang wanted to set Karni up with his little sister? Really? With this brat?

But an idea started to brew in Karni's mind. She wanted to be petty? Fine. Karni would give her some pettiness. He learned how to deal with petty people from Siduo. This girl should be easy to handle.

… … …

After another few hours of fighting the dragons and absorbing the energies of clouds, the two decided to set up camp. Well, it was more the girl taking out a tent and setting it up without saying anything. Karni just nodded and went to grab firewood.

While collecting, Karni was practicing a little skill he hadn't used before. He'd been practicing the whole time, but White Eight didn't know it. It was key to his plan of winning this Battle of Pettiness. If anyone saw his practicing the skill they would be creeped out. He seemed to be talking to no one, yet someone was answering back.

After a good half an hour, he returned to the camp, made a campfire in a pit, which White Eight made to put the wood into while he was gone, and went on to put up a tent of his own.

He looked at the tiny tent and couldn't help but be reminded of a much larger tent, warm and cosy, surrounded by snow. And Siduo.

He clapped his cheeks. Only half a year left. Three months of this and three months of travel back. He'd see her soon. No need to worry.

He turned around. The fire was ready. He sat down around it and relaxed.

"Who will watch out during the night?" White Eight asked and looked at Karni.

"Me. I can sleep and still be sensitive to the surroundings." He said with moving the wood around, his hair covered his face.

She looked at him and made a cheeky smile, not nearly as good one as Siduo did. "Hah. You spoke to me." She looked like she had won.

Karni looked up at her, confused. "I'm not speaking though." He pointed the finger at his mouth. It was not moving.

She leaned her head sideways. And felt a whisper behind her. "I'm not saying anything."

She turned around, there was no one there. White Eight looked at him annoyed. "You're still talking to me."

He shook his finger. "Not talking. Communicating. I'm not moving my mouth or utilising my vocal cords. I'm manipulating frequencies in the Sound to imitate my voice and words." He smiled back at her.

She pointed her finger at him, trying to scold him, but not knowing what to say. "T-Talking is communicating!"

"Communicating is not talking though." Karni sounded. "If it were, things like nodding or shaking our heads would also be talking. Those are not talking, but they are considered a form of communication."

Yes, this was Karni's plan. The epitome of pettiness. To be pedantic. To be the "Um, actually" guy. It annoyed the hell out of people, and Karni knew it. If someone wanted to fight him in pettiness, Karni had learned from the best. He was also a studious person. It was easy to channel his "Um, actually" energy.

But more annoying was how he went about it. When he manipulated the Soundwaves, he made it so they now came from all directions. She always heard him all around her. Like a detached voice of a ghost.

This was what Karni was practicing the whole day. He often spoke and manipulated the Sound so only one person would hear him, but he had never imitated a voice from nothing. He needed a bit of practice so that he wouldn't butcher words or imitate his own voice badly.

"Speaking of communication," Karni started, "ours has been bad. I don't even know your name."

"But… we were in the same group in the tournament." White Eight felt defeated.

"Yeah, but you forfeited. It didn't really leave an impression on me. All I know is that your family name is Hua."

She sighed. "Fine. I'm Hua Jingxiao."

"Mm. Nice to meet you." Karni nodded. "As for your brother. I do have to ask. Did he gain nothing from our battle?" Karni remembered those last few battles well. The one against Hua Lantang the Wolf King was not difficult, but arguably the most important one. Still Harmony seemed to be the ingredient to many of his new skills. He'd feel bad if he just made the guy suffer for his own gain.

He also remembered how Hua Lantang reacted. The two parted… weirdly. Hua Lantang was angry at the end, but then he calmed down in an unnatural manner after Karni rudely thanked him.

Hua Jingxiao grumbled. "He did actually become better. In just a month after your battle, he had reached the bottleneck to the Spirit Abyss Realm. He wasn't even close to it before. Apparently, he did some introspection due to you."

"Tell him I wish him luck in his breakthrough. Spirit Abyss is a difficult bottleneck." Karni would know. He was stuck at it for a good while. And he had close connection to spirituality. The Dragonwolf Martial Soul didn't. Then he sighed and added. "And that I'm sorry. I was in a downwards spiral mentally at the time.

White Eight sighed. "I will. He said he had no idea how to progress though."

Karni nodded. "It took me a few months to break through the bottleneck, and even then, it was because I comprehended some things. He might need a year, because his Martial Soul isn't focused on Spiritual Power."

Hua Jingxiao wanted to complain that Karni was exaggerating, but she swallowed her pride. "Any advice I can pass onto him?"

Karni looked at her in slight surprise. "For me, it was a sort of natural progression of my recent breakthroughs. I joined my Sound, Spiritual Power and Soul Power and the battle against Long Yue was the push I needed. He will likely achieve it through his own unique way eventually as well. Since he only recently started to develop skills in spirituality, he will likely need to refine that aspect of himself before he achieves a breakthrough. How he does it is completely up to him though. Combine it with skills? Focus on spirituality alone? I don't know his style well enough."

Hua Jingxiao stared at Karni. It really was creepy hearing him all around her without him moving his mouth. But she also stared because he was being genuinely helpful. Just in case, she even wrote it down.

"Now then, let's go to sleep, eh? I'll hear it if any dragon comes running."

… … …

Karni got out of the tent feeling refreshed. He did his morning routine, went behind a tree to wash and relieve himself quickly, then returned. He saw White Eight also coming out of the tent.

Luckily, there was no beasts attacking them in the night. When he came back, he noticed two clouds somewhat near them. They moved around slowly in the sky. Two happened to come close to their tent.

He let Hua Jingxiao also freshen up, then they went to the clouds.

… … …

The days spent here were not exactly exciting. It consisted of mainly three things. Walk around aimlessly looking for clouds, rest during the night, and a little trolling from Karni every now and then.

It has been a month and Karni had still not said a single world. He always used his comprehension of Sound. Even in battle, as he was doing now.

They were battling a bunch of small dragons. A colony of them. They weren't difficult, but it required good communication between them.

Karni regularly warned her. "Watch out!" He screamed, the voice coming from her left. She turned left and slashed another dragon into two.

With constant cooperation, it did not take them long to finish them off. They stepped down to absorb the energy of the dragons.

The energy of the dragons was not as good as those of the clouds. At least for Karni.

Karni, or Hope to be more exact was more influenced by the Draconic Clouds. The elemental energy in the clouds was small, but that small percentage gave them a different quality that Hope very much appreciated. The clouds seemed to be at least twice as effective to Hope.

But White Eight had a Draconic Martial Soul, which meant that what helped her most was exactly the pure energy of dragons. The elements of clouds were not as important, as her Katana did not have any inherent elements. The draconic energy hence refined her the most.

Hope had also grown quite a lot now. She grew by around 30cm, and her scales were darker than ever before. Between the scales a bit of gold had started flowing. And her eyes seemed more and more shaded in gold. He had to look carefully into her eyes to see her irises. Hope was growing up nicely.

In that moment however, a sigh escaped Hua Jingxiao. "Fine. I give up. You win. And I am sorry. Please just talk normally to me from now on."

Karni looked at her, thinking about it. For the first time in a while, he actually said something. "Even in-" He couldn't help but cough. Not talking for so long took a bit of a toll on his throat. He cleared his throat and massaged it a little then spoke again. "Even in battles?"

White Eight looked at him and shook for a second. "Seeing your mouth move just felt uncomfortable. And no, you can keep that up in battles. It's easier to know for me how to react if I know where it's coming from."

Karni laughed at the first comment. "Aight." He gave her a thumbs up. He felt cheery. He won the Battle of Pettiness.

Hua Jingxiao sighed. "Let's set up camp."

… … …

After the camp was set up with high efficiency, the two finally conversed like normal people after a whole month.

White Eight quickly adapted to Karni's mouth moving again. She even looked cheerful.

They were exchanging their life stories. Karni was especially talking about him and Siduo, who Hua Jingxiao was surprisingly familiar with. It was only after Siduo that the princess become friends with Hua Jingxiao. It was due to the princess berating her for being a bootlicker. At the time Hua Jingxiao was confused, but that somehow ended up bringing her closer to the princess.

Karni explained the history behind that.

"She slapped her? The princess?"

Karni nodded, laughing. "Sisi doesn't take shit even from royalty. But that's what I like about her."

"It… actually makes some sense." Hua Jingxiao was thinking of the events. "No wonder the princess changed a year ago. But why didn't Wu Siduo come with you here?"

Karni turned bitter. "We were a bit too playful in the academy."

"Playful… In the Shrek Academy?"

Karni laughed. "We schemed a bit to get some petty revenge on a friend of hours. The girl that fused with Tang Wulin to defeat Long Yue. To do that, I decided to be a sort of spy. The teachers didn't like that. They also thought we were too dependent on one another… so now I'm here alone."

"That sounds a bit unfair."

Karni shook his head. "Actually, being alone made me realise that it was quite true. Me and Sisi have been doing everything together since we were six… ten years now. I don't think I would have improved with the speed I did if I haven't come here. I believe she is improving as well. It was because I was alone that I was in a bad mood and that I achieved my breakthroughs."

Hua Jingxiao fell silent for a bit. "Val Karni, would you be willing to spar with me for the rest of the two months?"

Karni was a bit surprised. "Where did that come from?"

"I… am talented. I know how that sounds, but I am. I have more potential than my brother, and have progressed faster than him, despite him being a harder worker. The same goes for a lot of my peers. But listening to how you and Wu Siduo trained made me realise why Yun'er is better than me. She actually started training hard after she met Wu Siduo. You are the same age as well, yet you disarmed me with such ease a month ago. I'll be honest, I… felt a bit humiliated. So I want to spar."

Karni thought for a bit. "I'll be honest. Your swordsmanship is not bad. It's just a bit slow. I can feel that you have already reached the Katana Consciousness. That is incredible for our age. But you are not exactly efficient with using it without your Martial Soul. I go the impression that you're dependent on the boosts your Martial Soul gives you. Do you train without your Martial Soul as well?"

She blinked a bit. "I did. Back when I was ten. To get the basics down. But it felt more efficient with my Martial Soul after that."

Karni shook his head. "Every new stage, we should return back to the basics. After I comprehended Still Harmony against your brother, instead of perfecting techniques with it, I spent time just walking around and learning to control it. It's why I was able to imitate it with just a clap a month ago."

Hua Jingxiao nodded. "But then… why are you not training without the Martial Soul in this Still Harmony."

Karni sighed. "Because only my Martial Soul gives me access to that level of Sound. I train on my normal use of Sound on the regular in everyday life, sometimes just playing around with it, but only my Martial Soul can connect to that… special Sound—I can't really explain it, it's kind of connected with the future. I've tried bringing it out many times after I understood Still Harmony, but it is not exactly possible. I still train of course, but it is one of those things where I'll simply have to wait for an opportunity—if it's possible at all. It's unfortunate, but all comprehension I have is through my Martial Soul."

"In that case, why don't you spar with that? That other skill is not something I'll be able to train against. You disarm me instantly, which means I don't really get anything out of it. But if you train in this aspect…" Hua Jingxiao was implying that he might grow.

And Karni agreed, though he wasn't sure about it. "Sure. Let's try it out. Tomorrow morning though. I'm tired."

… … …

Karni created a little ball of Sound the exploded in a shockwave as it clashed with the Meteoric Iron Katana. The Katana bounced back, and Karni's palm came flying toward Hua Jingxiao's belly.

She managed to turn the Katana fast enough to block the palm attack. She was still pushed back though.

She was about to jump back toward Karni, but he came flying at her instead. Two balls of concentrated Sound in each of his hands. All she could do was defend to the best of her abilities.

She managed to stay in place and was about to counter-attack when a kick tackled her leg and made her fall to the ground.

She breathed in deeply, containing her frustration. "Lost again."

"You got a lot better though. I mean, you're making me use all of the skills I have at the moment. Your reactions are much better. You connect your moves fluently even when you're imbalanced."

"Well, I learned by watching Brother Val. Every piece of defence you use is also a set up for an attack. I had to adapt."

Karni smiled and helped her get back. "Sister Hua is too kind."

They've been training for two months and a week now. They've become proper friends in this time.

The Sound Balls Karni utilised in this fight was the strongest attack he could come up with without his Martial Soul. It was not something he would use with the Martial Soul, as he could form Sound in any shape he wanted there, but it was most efficient without it. And it helped strengthen his ability to control Sound somewhat.

But as he expected, he didn't progress that much with only controlling regular Sound. It was like a whole dimension was outside his reach.

Hua Jingxiao saw the most improvement. Not just in her techniques, but in strength of her body. The Dragon Energy was really useful to her. It was part of the reason Karni also had to rely on Body Sect techniques to fight her.

That being said, he still didn't struggle against her. He had to use all of it yes, but their difference in experience was vast.

Because of the lack of his own improvement Karni was also considering going out of this place, lest he missed the return journey, but Hope had yet to evolve. And he felt like, if not now, he would lose this opportunity forever.

Hope had grown well. It felt like she was on the verge of evolution. She had stopped growing after she surpassed him in height for about ten centimetres, and her eyes did not want to open for a while now.

It was like she was in a small stasis. She was absorbing the dragon energy still, even more than before, but she did not move. She simply slept and rested, waiting for an opportunity. That was why Karni was split between what to choose.

But then, he remembered of a disturbance around here. Gu Yue should be here during it as well, and she made it back to Douluo, so Karni shouldn't have a problem until then.

"You know," Hua Jingxiao started, "we should probably be somewhat close to that place now."

"The graveyard?" It was the place where the disturbance should happen.

Hua Jingxiao nodded. "It feels like we were always going in that direction. My Martial Soul also feels like it's been absorbing richer energy recently."

Karni thought a bit. Wulin should trigger that soon anyway. And even if he didn't, Karni would have to leave soon, otherwise he would miss the ship back home. Hope evolved or not, he wanted to see Siduo again. "Let's check it out."

"I heard it's a lot more dangerous than here though."

"We can just leave the valley if it comes to it. We have guaranteed Yellow Fighter status now, and I feel that any more improvements would be small. We both need a place with richer energy."

"Fine. Let's go then-"

Just as they were about to head into that direction, a rumbling explosion shook the very realm. A deep terrifying energy came from the direction they went from. From the Dragon Graveyard.

Well, well, well. It began.

"What is this?" Hua Jingxiao sounded worried.

"You know how I told you that my Martial Soul has some elements of the future in it?"

Hua Jingxiao nodded, confused.

"Then trust me on this. Go out and tell the sect. I need to go and check everything is okay."

"I… but… Brother Val, if something happens-"

"Nothing will happen. Trust me. I have an inkling of what is happening, and I need to be there."

"I… alright." She sent her Spiritual Energy into the pearl and vanished. Karni relaxed. Good. There were still some things he wanted to keep secret.

Now to go to Tang Wulin. And to meet Gu Yue. The place would close soon, and Karni still needed a breakthrough. And there was a little event here that he wanted to influence. That voice told him not to mess with destiny of other people, but he would.

He would mess with destinies of Gu Yue and Wulin. Because he wanted happiness for the two of them. And most importantly, for himself.