<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/6/66/ShinMinAvi.png)</div><strong>Name :</strong>Shin Min-hee (pronounced Sin Mihn Hee)<br/><strong>Element :</strong>Earth<br/><strong>Location &amp; Time :</strong>Stone Disk<br/><strong>Tagging :</strong>Wu Cai, Nam Seon, Heini<br/><br/><em>"I have respect for the healers of Wudang, but here I must triumph." </em><br/><br/>Min-hee tipped her head to one side at the young brazen woman in what might have been amusement as the stone settled.  It was quite the declaration for someone that seemed to be in clothing unfitting for a surface such as this.  Min-hee observed the cloak she wore to hide her appearance and the fact that while plain was made of a quality much more expensive than your average citizen, not to mention the beautifully embroidered cloth shoes and clothing that peeked from under the cloak.<br/><br/>“We all do what we must.” Min-hee replied sagely. “She who conquers others is strong; she who conquers herself is mighty.”  She would have enjoyed continuing the conversation with the young woman, but this was neither the time nor the place and her attention was taken by another facing off with her.<br/><br/><em>"Would you like a break? I am sure whoever is left from the others will face me."</em><br/><br/>“That is very kind of you, but it will not be necessary.” Min-hee said with a slight bow before settling into her Taming the Tiger Fist Stance, her legs bowed and center of gravity low to the stone disk.  With a polite smile her extended fingers curled as if to say, “join me.”<br/><br/>The flurry of blows that follower were a blur to onlookers as the two masters tested one another's fundamental knowledge of the martial arts.  Neither pulling out any special forms, it was a dance of clashing wrists, forearms, elbows and ankles.  Holds became embraces became twisting and spiraling escapes.  When one would step to closely towards an edge a flurry of lightning kicks or artful counter attacks would push them back towards the center of the stone near enough that they could feel their exhaled breath against one another.<br/><br/>“As has your own,” Min-hee said as they circled one another around the pivot point of the stone disk.  Around them others battled and the occasional splash of another fallen competitor was greeted with an enthusiastic roar from the crowd.  “You honor your Suseung-nim.”  Min-hee bowed a little deeper this time in recognition of Wu Cai’s compliment and her skill.  She was an equal and deserved as much.<br/><br/><br/>“Not let’s see what else your master taught you.” She added with a smile matching Cai’s and leaped into the air.  She unleashed a series of aerial kicks from her Thousand Ancestor Stride that Cai blocked deftly, but was forced to give ground.  Cai returned with a sweep that knocked Min-hee to the stone, but she kip-up’ed her way back into the battle until Nom Seon deprived them of her counterweight suddenly, shifting Min-hee's momentum forward and directly into Wu Cai, knocking them both to the platform. Min-hee landed on top of Wu Cai with an emphatic “oomp.”<br/><br/>Spidery tendrils of black silk spilled around Wu Cai’s face.  Min-hee could feel Cai’s heavy breath against her cheek and smell the chrysanthemum oil in her air.  Her face blushed a rosy red as their bodies pressed together and almond eyes widened in surprise when she felt a foot placed against her stomach and she was launched off of the golden clad beauty.  Min-hee landed lightly on her feet countering the weight of Nom Seon.  She shared a strange glance with Wu Cai before they whiped their heads around in an icy glare at the source of their aggravation.  If Nom Seon wanted their attention she had it.<br/><br/>The three martial artists began a whirling, flowing dance of combat around the center of the disk.  The young interloper proved to be a surprisingly adept opponent for Min-hee.  She fought in the same style as Wu Cai, but with an aggression that Min-hee found difficult to counter.  If Min-hee had to take the young woman on her own she was not entirely sure she could have adapted in time to remain on the platform, but where Min-hee struggled with her Wu Cai did not.  It seemed likely that she had trained longer and was more disciplined than the young fighter pressing her advantage.  For now the three masters appeared to cancel one another out unless something unexpected were to happen, something like a crazed onlooker jumping onto the disk and completely upsetting the balance of the stone.<br/><br/>Heini’s graceful leap tipped towards Min-hee’s location and a swift kick from Nom-Seon pushed her towards the very brink of elimination, but Min-hee’s chi flowed with the stone and centered her balance.  She hung at the edge of the stone a single toe keeping her in place as her other foot hovered over the water, her arms flung out from her body with the grace and beauty of a crane.<br/><br/>A glint from the crowd momentarily blinded her, a reflection of the morning sun that caused motes of crane shaped colors to dance in her vision, breaking her balance and her connection to the chi that anchored her.  She was vulnerable.<br/>