PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

They had spent all morning and part of the afternoon together doing girlish things, they drank tea while talking about all kinds of gossip they had heard, it was more than one laugh that Mei managed to get out of Xiauyue and she had to admit that her heart skipped a beat every time she saw that smile.

They also took a short walk in the sect’s gardens, but since it was a more public place they had to act more cordially and talk about more serious matters so they ended up having a talk about martial arts.

At the end of the afternoon they returned and had a second tea time in Xiauyue’s backyard, of course, although they called it another tea time, more than eighty percent of the table was full of desserts and snacks; Needless to say, both girls had their much-needed sugar fix although they both tried to maintain their manners so as not to give the other person a bad impression.

Throughout the whole day, they had both laughed a lot, chatted a lot, and shared a lot, Mei also tried trying one of Desmond’s advice and trying to have some occasional physical contact with Xiauyue, but the result of it left her bewildered.

Basically, because Xiauyue didn’t react at all, she didn’t try to push her away but she didn’t show any apparent liking for her gesture either, but Mei consoled herself by remembering that Desmond had told her that as long as Xiauyue didn’t show any expression of rejection it was already a victory.

Little did Mei know that Desmond from the beginning had a rough idea of ??what would happen, this was normal, he already knew in advance that Mei’s attraction to Xiauyue was also going in the opposite direction; it was just that Xiauyue was too shy to admit it or rather they were both too shy to do anything about it.

In any case, the reason why she was not in such a good mood was in fact related to Desmond or more precisely Desmond’s duel as she had heard about it on the way home, being an intelligent person she quickly noticed the apparent abnormality in the whole thing so she immediately links this to recent events and attacks on her; it was just that she didn’t expect to involve Desmond in this way.

Upon entering her house she saw Desmond doing the cleaning, as usual, Since Desmond had started living with Mei, they had divided the duties and since Mei turned out to be fond of cooking unlike Desmond, he quit with joy to culinary chores and stayed with cleaning chores.

.....

Desmond noticed Mei’s entrance and greeted her with a smile as he continued cleaning the dining room but had to stop when he heard Mei’s voice behind him.

“Sorry,” she said.

Confused Desmond reflexively replied, “why?”

Mei explained to herself: “I heard about your duel on the way home... it seems I cause you problems, because of me it is likely that they will make things difficult for you.”

Desmond chuckled in response before regaining his serious look and replying: “Don’t worry, it’s only thanks to you that I can be here in the first place so you have no reason to apologize; also... Do I seem to you the type of person who fears a little challenge?”

With a marked emphasis on his last statement Mei could feel a strong pressure coming from Desmond, it was strange, she knew she was stronger than Desmond but she still felt threatened by him at this moment, that aggression and thirst for combat in Desmond’s voice was rare even here.

Of course, Mei was not someone to be intimidated either, that same predatory presence began to emanate from her as she gazed into Desmond’s cold and merciless eyes, with her hands clenched into fists it was obvious that both of them were dying to fight.

“I’ve never feared a challenge but I do have a favor to ask you, Mei,” Desmond said unexpectedly breaking the tension between him and Mei.

Mei didn’t think too much and replied, “oh what is it?”

“One week, I want you to lend me some of your time for a week,” Desmond said.

“what for?” Mei replied slightly puzzled.

“Training, my fighting style is a bit... unorthodox and I would rather have a more suitable fighting style for my duel; also... wouldn’t it be great if I beat someone up using the fighting style that the great Mei Fei Long taught me and maybe give a little message? ” Desmond explained with a mischievous smile.

Seeing that playful smile, Mei had to ask herself if she hadn’t made a mistake by inviting this man to her home, she had no basis for such a belief but at this moment she felt as if she had opened the door to the wolf and even gave him instructions on how to find the sheep.

But would that really matter to Mei? Her answer was no, those so-called sheep were none other than the bastards who had been making her life difficult, as far as she was concerned Desmond could devour them without even leaving the bones.

Also, Mei had other things in mind at the moment, like for example; to fight. Desmond had asked her to train him and Mei knew no better training method than the fight itself, in a matter of seconds that same oppressive feeling returned to the room.

Desmond who was also a fan of battle didn′t hesitate to respond with his combative intention, without the need for words or agreements, Mei and Desmond made their way to the small training yard.

It may be because Desmond expected some excitement from this fight instead of actual training, the first thing he did was activate Full-Drive, and knowing the difference in strength between Mei and him; Desmond increased the intensity and frequency of the mana waves to his maximum limit.

Now with his physical capabilities maximized by Full-Drive Desmond took his usual stance to fight. As a side note, the vast majority of the time Desmond fought using a boxing style with strong Muay Thai hints but that didn’t mean it was the only fighting style he knew.

Throughout his lively and intense childhood, Desmond had learned various martial arts for leisure or interest but had focused his attention primarily on four fighting styles; boxing, Muay Thai, Aikido, and Bajiquan.

The only reason Desmond rarely used any of these martial arts moves was that his fights rarely lasted that long and with the kind of enemies he had recently; Desmond even had to resort to fiery tactics so the fighting style was the least of his concerns.

In simple terms when Desmond couldn’t deal with his opponents with his current fighting style, he just switched and took the bow in his hand, and when that failed Desmond tended to look for unusual destructive solutions so he rarely really considered whether or not existed a problem with his fighting style.

Mei for her part adopted the same posture as last time, with her back straight so that neither her back nor chest faced Desmond, her legs slightly bent at a twenty-degree angle, and both hands centered in front of her.

Not wanting to waste time Desmond was the first to step forward, with momentum and speed Desmond unleashed a flurry of jabs from close range.

But neither his speed nor technique was a match for Mei who deflected each of the blows, without a single pause in her movements as fluid as a river, she even managed to hit a couple of palm blows as a counterattack while maintaining her defensive posture.

Feeling his rhythm broken by the impact of Mei’s casual blows, Desmond readjusted his breathing and shifted his posture slightly before resuming the exchange.

This time Desmond’s distance from Mei was slightly closer by a couple of inches and although this change didn’t seem significant; Mei was already beginning to feel the change in Desmond’s style.

A second burst of jabs advanced towards Mei but as sharp as she was she had already started to feel something strange about the change of rhythm, unable to see what was wrong with Desmond’s pace she took advantage of a small gap in Desmond’s offense and tried a counterattack with an extremely fast palm strike.

But that was her mistake, as soon as Mei’s counterattack came out she saw Desmond’s posture readjust by lowering his center of gravity a significant distance and now with her blow completely dodged came the counterattack.

Gathering momentum and twisting as he advanced, Desmond’s center of gravity finished dropping after dodging Mei’s blow, and without any pause he rose back up as his right fist followed behind, gathering strength.

Now with his entire body inside Mei’s defensive area, Desmond arrived with an uppercut that rose at an almost ridiculous angle just below Mei’s guard attempt.

And then he saw it again, those beastly blue eyes, not in a metaphorical or similar sense, but a real change in Mei’s pupils and for just a second ... just a fraction of a second Desmond felt an overwhelming pressure come from Mei and During that window of time, Mei’s speed seemed to double as she backed away from Desmond’s blow.

Desmond could immediately see that Mei’s eyes returned to normal but he decided not to say anything, they all had Aces up their sleeve and Desmond wouldn’t ask about it ... also that made it more interesting.

With revived impulse, Desmond approached Mei again with a different posture and said to himself: “Let’s have fun.”