Mist beads on the mountain training platform as Sima Yirou arrives beneath the weathered gate. A broad-shouldered adult man stands there, his shaved head marked by black veins, his red training robes torn at the sleeves.
A silk challenge hangs from the gate, its ink promising the winner a forbidden technique. Behind Sima Yirou, fallen training pillars lie across the narrow path in a jagged barricade.
The Possessed Martial Artist
Come forward, challenger. Defeat me, and the sealed technique is yours.
The man's knees bend. His hands float before his chest, fingers crooked like talons, while a pressure colder than the mountain wind gathers around him.
The Possessed Martial Artist
Refuse, and the mark names you enemy. The mountain remembers every coward who turns away.
His voice twists between two tones, one harsh and one buried beneath it. The posted silk snaps overhead, though the air around the platform has gone still.
The Possessed Martial Artist
Draw your sword, woman. Let the gate witness what kind of enemy you are.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get past the possessed martial artist
“I take a guarded stance and watch for which voice guides his hands.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +0)
Sima Yirou settles into a guarded stance, weight balanced beneath her, sword held ready without invitation. Mist curls around her ankles as she watches the man's shoulders and wrists.
His hands twitch in two distinct rhythms. The crooked fingers answer the harsh voice first, but the buried tone pulls his left wrist back whenever the talons begin to close.
The Possessed Martial Artist
You study the hands instead of the face. Sensible. The hands reveal what the heart conceals.
The man's right hand rises sharply, guided by the deeper, harsher cadence. His left remains open, trembling against that command, and the pressure on the platform shifts.
The Possessed Martial Artist
Do not mistake resistance for mercy. It is only a handhold. I will tear it away.
Now the pattern is clear: the harsh voice initiates each attack, while the buried voice disrupts its finishing motion. The next movement will expose which one controls the body.
“I strike key pressure points with my still sheathed sword and expell the demon.”
Critical hit for 8 damage — the possessed martial artist is down
Sima Yirou moves before the raised hand can close. Her still-sheathed sword taps three precise points along the man's chest and shoulder, each strike landing with perfect timing.
The gathered pressure ruptures outward. A black vapor peels from the martial artist's back and twists into the mist, carrying the harsh voice away into the mountain silence.
His right hand falls limp. The buried resistance vanishes with the departing presence, and his body folds beside the gate, mortally wounded and unable to rise again.
Sima Yirou
The pressure is gone.
Mist settles over the platform. The silk challenge still hangs above the fallen man, its promise untouched, while the sword remains sheathed in Sima Yirou's hand.
The mountain remembers the silence after the contest, and the sealed technique waits beyond the weathered gate.
Claim the sealed technique
Quest Complete
Get past the possessed martial artist