Bloodline Plant Lord: Rise of the World Sovereign

The group ran into a pack of eight corrupted wolves on the fifth morning in the Greymist Stretch. Bigger than the first pack, faster, with thicker corruption lines along their bodies and red eyes that glowed brighter in the dim forest light.

Selene let them handle it.

The fight was messy and loud. Eight wolves hitting from multiple angles in heavy undergrowth, with mist up to their knees and corrupted roots snagging their footing. The group fought in a loose formation — Cassian and Kaelen holding the center, Iris covering the gaps, Ren watching the flanks, Lyra keeping everyone’s filtration stable from the back.

And Yuelan was everywhere.

She moved through the fight like a fire moving through dry grass. Fast, aggressive, and completely in her element. Where everyone else fought defensively or tactically, Yuelan fought forward. She didn’t wait for wolves to come to her. She went to them.

— • —

The first wolf that came at her caught a spinning kick to the jaw that sent it tumbling into the underbrush. The second tried to flank her and she dropped under its leap, came up behind it, and drove her elbow into the base of its spine. The third was smarter — it circled wide and came from behind. Yuelan heard it, spun, and met it with a straight punch that carried enough energy to crack the corruption lines along its skull.

Three wolves in about ten seconds, and she was already looking for the next one.

Ren had fought beside Iris yesterday and seen precision combat — every move calculated, every angle chosen. Yuelan was the opposite. Her style was built on speed, aggression, and an instinct for violence that had been trained into her since childhood. She didn’t calculate angles. She felt openings and filled them before the enemy could close them. It was raw and loud and extremely effective.

The Crimson Empire trained fighters the way other nations trained soldiers: young, hard, and for real. Yuelan was the product of that system, and in a corrupted forest full of mutated beasts, it showed.

The pack was down in under a minute. Eight wolves. Nobody seriously hurt.

Yuelan stood in the middle of the clearing with her fists still clenched, breathing hard, grinning. She always grinned after a fight.

— • —

During the afternoon break, while the group rested and Eira checked everyone for corruption exposure, Yuelan dropped down beside Ren at the base of a tree.

She didn’t start with small talk. Yuelan didn’t do small talk.

"Spar with me."

Ren looked at her. "What?"

"Spar. You and me. Right now, while we’ve got the break." She stretched her arms over her head. "I’ve been fighting wolves and lizards for five days. They’re good practice but they’re stupid. I want to fight something smart."

"I’m flattered."

"You should be." She turned to face him fully. "I’ve been watching you, Valis. During the assessment, during the field work, during every fight we’ve had in this zone. You’re fast, you read the field well, and you hit harder than you pretend to. I want to see what you actually look like when you’re not holding back."

There it was. The same observation Iris had made, Selene had made, and Cassian had hinted at. Ren was holding back, and people were noticing. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

But Yuelan wasn’t asking because she was suspicious. She wasn’t asking because she was analyzing him. She was asking because she was a fighter, and fighters wanted to fight good opponents. It was the most straightforward thing anyone in this group had ever said to him.

"Half-speed," Ren said. "No energy techniques. Just hand-to-hand."

Yuelan’s grin widened. "Deal."

— • —

They cleared a flat patch of ground near the edge of the camp perimeter. Cassian leaned against a tree to watch. Iris glanced up from her gear but didn’t move closer. Kaelen looked once and looked away. Lin Yueying watched with her usual calm.

Selene saw them set up and said nothing. Apparently sparring during breaks was within the rules, or she simply wanted to see what happened.

They started slow. Testing range, feeling out each other’s timing. Yuelan threw the first real strike — a fast jab aimed at his shoulder. Ren stepped it and countered with a hook she had to twist away from. She was fast. Really fast. And her footwork was better than it looked from the outside, because the wide, aggressive stance she used was actually built for quick direction changes.

They traded strikes for about thirty seconds. Ren kept it at half-speed the way they’d agreed, but even at half-speed the exchange was sharp. Yuelan threw combinations that would have put most people on the ground. Ren read them, slipped them, and countered with moves that forced her to adjust. She adjusted fast.

"You’re quicker than you showed in the assessment," she said between exchanges.

"Half-speed, remember?"

"Yeah. That’s what I mean. Your half-speed is faster than most people’s full speed."

She came at him with a low sweep that he jumped. When he landed she was already inside his guard, throwing a short uppercut. He caught her wrist, redirected her momentum, and they ended up in a grapple that lasted about two seconds before she twisted free and reset.

Both breathing harder now. Both smiling.

"Again," she said.

— • —

They went three more rounds. Yuelan won one — she caught him with a combination he genuinely didn’t see coming and put him on his back. Ren won one by reading her timing and landing a clean sweep that dropped her. The third was a draw, both of them circling and trading without either landing a decisive hit.

When they stopped, Yuelan sat down in the dirt, pushed her hair out of her face, and laughed. Not the polite laugh of someone making nice. The full, honest laugh of someone who had just gotten exactly what they wanted.

"That was good," she said. "Really good. Where did you learn to fight like that? And don’t say ’I read a lot.’"

Ren sat down across from her, rubbing his shoulder where her uppercut had connected. It was going to bruise. "Field experience."

"What field?"

"The kind where things try to kill you."

Yuelan looked at him for a moment, then nodded. In the Crimson Empire, that answer was enough. You didn’t ask a fighter where they learned. You respected what they could do and moved on.

"Next time we spar, full speed," she said.

"You sure?"

"Valis, if you keep holding back on me, I’m going to take it personally."

She said it with a grin, but her eyes were serious. Yuelan Hong didn’t want a sparring partner who let her win. She wanted someone who made her better. And she had decided that person was Ren.

— • —

Later, Cassian dropped into his usual spot beside Ren at the campfire.

"So," he said. "You’ve got Lyra following you around like you’re the only warm thing in the forest, Iris stopped trying to arrest you with her eyes, and now Yuelan wants to punch you on a regular basis." He paused. "You’re having quite a field trip."

"Yuelan punched me three times. She’s having the field trip."

"Fair point." Cassian stretched. "For what it’s worth, she only challenges people she respects. In the Crimson Empire, asking someone to spar is basically a friendship proposal."

"That tracks."

Cassian grinned. "Just don’t let Kaelen hear about the spar. He’ll think you’re building an army."

Ren glanced across the clearing to where Kaelen sat alone, cleaning his field gear with cold, methodical precision. He hadn’t commented on the spar. He hadn’t commented on anything. But he was listening. He was always listening.

’Not an army,’ Ren thought. ’Just people who fight beside you because they chose to.’

Kaia pulsed. Warm. Settled.

He was starting to think that was worth more than an army anyway.

— • —

Author’s Note: Yuelan doesn’t play games. She wants to fight, she says so. She wants to be friends, she throws a punch. In the Crimson Empire, that’s how it works. Thanks for reading!