Sealed in the Secret Realm with My Rival novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Sparring Under a Cracked Sky

They fought on the pine slope at dawn, with real steel and no tricks.

The sky was pale gold, and the north crack lay over the ridge.

Qin Heyan drew Hoarfrost.

Lu Baichuan drew Long Ember, and the broad saber came out of its sheath with a low, hungry sound.

He had stripped to his black trousers and bare chest, with the red headband holding back his hair.

"Last chance to be sensible," Lu said.

"I've never been sensible around you."

"No, you haven't."

Lu came in first.

He always did.

The saber swung down in a heavy crescent that Qin had met in nine finals.

Qin stepped off the line and let it pass.

The wind of the blade lifted his hair.

Hoarfrost flickered out and tapped Lu's wrist, light as a tongue.

Lu laughed, delighted, and spun.

They fought up the slope and down it, between the pines.

Steel rang on steel.

Long Ember threw sparks and Hoarfrost threw frost, and the grass beneath them went from green to white to scorched in turns.

Lu was faster than Qin had ever seen him.

Every blow came with a grin.

Qin parried one, and another, and a third that shook him to the elbows.

He could feel it in their cores, the thread pulled tight between them, the heat running one way and the cold the other.

He knew where the saber would go a moment before it went.

Lu knew it too.

His eyes widened.

"You're reading me."

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