Like an Arrow in Flight.
A series about two boys conquering an entire country together is guaranteed to have Awesome Moments from friends and foes alike. From bloody battlefields to political contests of will, their tale is an epic that includes many characters, each with their own moment to shine.
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Prince Chengjiao's Rebellion
- The very first Images of the manga gives us a Flash Forward to the kind of man Xin will eventually become- an imposing armour- clad giant at the front of an army, chanting his name with thunderous rancour as he leads them into battle, wielding a massive spear one-handed on horseback as he roars defiantly at his foes.
- Upon Lord Changwen's first meeting with Piao and Xin, it's revealed that the two boys have put themselves through self-imposed Training from Hell to eventually achieve their dreams of becoming Great Generals under the heavens, having fought a total of 1253 sparring matches against each other, with 587 ties, 332 wins for Xin, and 334 for Piao. Initially disbelieving of two youths having endured that many battles, Lord Changwen, himself a noted veteran of many battles throughout the years supporting the likes of the six generals of Qin's campaigns, admits that their skills were good enough to count as genuine sparring matches between martial fighters rather than kids play-fighting. As Xin's combat skills get shown off more and more throughout the arc, it's made very clear that besides his own monstrous talent for combat, Xin's intense training has given him fighting strength far above what a young boy of his age should normally possess.
- Despite bleeding out and being relentlessly pursued by assassins after his head, Piao manages to make it far enough to return to their old village on his own before his wounds get the better of him, collapsing just in front of the shack he and Xin slept in. Given he lost the horse he was riding into battle, the allied soldiers who were fighting alongside him and was badly wounded by the pursuing assassins beforehand, it's made clear that Piao endured a heroic struggle on his own to make it far enough to impart his mission onto Xin. Given he facilitated the meeting of Xin and Ying Zheng for the first time, it's no exaggeration to say that Piao's actions altered the course of history for China.
- Still reeling from Piao's death, Xin has to make his way past Heibei village to reach the meeting point Piao pointed out to him, a village of adult outlaws, thieves and murderers, who wouldn't balk twice of killing for easy gain, whilst Xin is but a young boy who's never even been in a real combat situation outside of his sparring battles with you. Xin tears his way through the thugs with ease, literally sending them flying with rage-fueled swings of his sword as he processes Piao's passing and reaffirms that their hours of training weren't wasted, even as He Liao Diao summons more and more Mooks to gang up on him until he's beaten his way through the entire village. He doesn't even use the real sword Piao left behind to deal with them, but the wooden practice sword he trained with Piao.
- When he and Zheng are confronted by the assassin that mortally wounded Piao, Xin attacks him in a blind rage, determined to avenge his friend, earning the assassin's Villain Respect for his impressive sword skills and combat potential at such a young age, before the assassin's greater experience wins out and he easily kicks Xin aside. As he starts to acknowledge the impossibility of him winning, all it takes is for Xin to hear Zheng telling him to keeping thinking about avenging Piao rather than winning or losing to piss Xin off enough to rise to his feet, renewing his attack on the superior-fighter and making up for his inexperience with sheer rage, landing several deeps cuts on the assassin and forcing him back. As Zheng reminisces upon Piao's speech to him about how strong Xin is, Xin pulls off what will become his Signature Move for the first time (pictured), landing an overhead blow that shatters clean through the assassin's sword and almost takes his arm off.
- Credit to Zheng as well- his body language and held sword during the face-off with the assassin beforehand clearly showed he was willing to fight and kill the skilled killer himself if need be, not really counting on Xin's assistance at all, and even decapitating the assassin with a single clean stroke, disregarding his pleas for mercy with a pragmatic methodology. Given what we see of other royalty in this series, it clearly shows Zheng is a man of action as well as conviction.
