Superhumans of the Dome City-Chapter 1420 - 23: When the Map is Exhausted, the Dagger is Revealed
"Good morning, Uncle Ming."
"Morning."
"Uncle Ming, are you unhappy?"
"Hmm... hard to say. What about you?"
"I was a bit scared last night and didn’t sleep well," said Qin Qianbai. "Did Yan Qi have another argument with everyone?"
"He had an argument with himself," Qin Ming said, "He managed to argue himself to victory and then went to rest."
The snow had been falling all night without pause, lightly dusting the tips of Qin Qianbai’s hair. The girl ran back into the house and moments later came out with two rice straw hats. Qin Ming thanked her but didn’t take one. She tied a hat on herself to shield from the snow and stood beside the tall and slender Qin Ming, like a little stone monk statue by the ancient path.
"How can someone argue with themselves?" Qin Qianbai asked.
"Many people do that. When what they want to do and what they should do aren’t the same, they can only argue with themselves internally," Qin Ming said, "Sometimes I argue with myself too. I have many things I want to do, but after I do those things, I’m happy, but others might not be."
Qin Qianbai didn’t quite understand, so she said something safe, "Why not discuss it with Grandpa."
"Hmm..." Qin Ming thought seriously for a few seconds and shook his head, "I’m thinking about the Impermanence Skill, in this regard, Grandpa is not as skilled as I am."
"What are you thinking?"
"Thinking whether or not to do it thoroughly. Little Qian, just think, if a person always does what they like, then they won’t be unhappy; if they resolve to do what they should, they won’t be troubled either." Qin Ming brought his palms together making a slashing motion, "No matter what one chooses, if they do it thoroughly, there’s no turning back. When that time comes, there will be no need to argue with oneself, and in any case, one won’t be unhappy."
Qin Qianbai felt that Uncle Ming made sense, but when she looked at his young face, for some reason her heart felt cold and she was a little scared. There was clearly no anger on Uncle Ming’s face, yet he resembled Yan Qi from last night: like an abyss, like the sky, like the ubiquitous snowflakes in the world, beautiful yet cold, devoid of human warmth.
"Uncle Ming, I think it’s better to let it go," she hurriedly said, "Grandpa often says it’s important to leave a margin for everything you do because doing things thoroughly can easily offend people and might even hurt oneself. Even if doing something you like, it’s better to hold back a little."
Qin Ming said nothing, quietly gazing at the snowy scene, as if in deep thought or perhaps thinking nothing at all. Qin Qianbai grew more frightened inside until Qin Ming patted her on the head, and even through the hat, she could feel the warmth of his hand.
"Grandpa makes a good point," Qin Ming nodded, "Leaving a margin keeps the heart, while doing things thoroughly loses it."
Qin Qianbai suddenly felt relieved, the inhuman coldness dissipated, and her familiar uncle returned. She watched Qin Ming leap onto the wall, apparently preparing to leave.
At this moment, a sparrow flew over their heads, dropping a stone from its claws. Qin Qianbai flicked her finger, sending the small stone aside silently. Qin Ming inadvertently noticed his niece’s action, thought for a moment, and turned to take the hat and put it on.
"Little Qian, you can now reason things out, seems like you’ve been studying hard lately," Qin Ming said, "Let’s see how you’re doing on the right path."
Qin Qianbai blinked and responded softly, then bounded away like a deer on the snow. In a few steps, she reached the training yard behind the house. She tiptoed to pick up two wooden swords—one long, one short—from the weapon rack, pondered for a while, and then took an additional long staff.
The little girl ran back with three weapons much taller than herself, handed the twin swords to Qin Ming, and stood with the long staff on the other side of the courtyard, assuming a proper posture: "Qin’s of the Imperial Capital, Qin Qianbai. Please."
"Qin’s of the Imperial Capital, Qin Ming." Qin Ming held up a short sword, "You start." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦
Qin Qianbai let out a light shout, charged forward across the snow, brandishing the long staff to guard her vital points. In the heavy snow, the staff’s shadow moved like a ribbon. Due to her weak strength and small stature, she chose long weapons to maximize her attack range. As the snowflakes whistled around, the tip of her staff cleverly targeted upward like a bee’s sting towards Qin Ming’s chin. Qin Ming parried the staff’s tip with a short sword, Qin Qianbai flipped her wrist, turning the thrust into a sweep, pressing one end of the staff downward on the short sword, while the other end swung with force towards Qin Ming’s temple.
The Qin Secret Skill Swift Slash.
"You’ve learned to use staff with sword techniques, you’ve improved," Qin Ming said. He slid the short sword to deflect the force from the staff’s tip, stepped back to avoid the staff body’s swing. Qin Qianbai, not giving up the advantage, lowered her body and spun the raised staff, repeatedly attacking the midsection of Qin Ming. Qin Ming blocked with the short sword’s blade. In two breaths, three crisp sounds rang out, snowflakes danced chaotically in the turbulence, Qin Ming took another step back. Qin Qianbai held her ground with the staff, tilting her little head up: "Uncle Ming, how was it?"
She was a bit expectant and a bit proud. After every practice with Uncle Ming, she felt she had made great progress and thus cherished such opportunities.
"Not bad," Qin Ming sheathed the short sword, leisurely raised the long sword, "Come, try some moves."
He stepped forward, gripping the long sword with both hands, slicing leisurely to create a clear arc. Qin Ming’s movements flowed like water, yet the blunt wooden sword carried a sharp and chilling intent to kill. Qin Qianbai suddenly shivered; this was a move she couldn’t block, and getting hit would certainly cause severe injury. She quickly swept the staff at the snowfield, sending plumes of snowflakes to intercept Qin Ming’s sword with consecutive kicks.
The wooden sword cut through several clusters of snow, the melting snow washing away the intent to kill, making the bout appear like a child’s snowball fight. The long sword swept over Qin Qianbai’s head, a drop of snow fell on her forehead, making her let out a "yah".
