Accidental Cultivator
Chapter 10
Sword Play - Child’s Play
Lord Jai scurried through the night, fearful of being seen in his undergarments. As it was after midnight, the streets were deserted. Only vermin roamed the streets and alleyways. They were searching for discarded scraps of food and unprotected storage bins, or food left unattended. The occasional cat stalked these vermin, their victims’ cries of pain minuscule compared to the Tom cats fighting and the barking of dogs defending their territory.
Lord Jai kept to the side of the street, ready to hide if he encountered any late-night passerby. Occasionally he heard the sound of approaching footsteps though luckily the people were approaching on side streets and he managed to scamper into alleys and doorways to hide from their view.
On one occasion he was too slow and was forced to stand still while sheltering against a house. Leaning against the shuttered widow, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, he was alarmed by a creaking sound from the shutter. Looking into the room he could dimly see a man and a woman on a bed. The woman screamed at the sight of the shadow at the window, thus waking the man beside her. The woman pointed at the window, and the man leapt to his feet and stormed towards the window.
Lord Jai felt his hair stand on end. He had an angry husband rushing at him from one side and other people approaching from the other. He couldn't defend himself from the husband as he was the guilty party and his sister would never forgive him if she thought he was a pervert who peeked through windows at women. He jumped away from the window and dashed away at his fastest speed whilst using his advanced movement technique. He fled towards the Merchants Inn as it was his only chance of sanctuary. Stealth was abandoned in the face of such a calamity. Shouts of ‘pervert’ and ‘deviant’ were left far in his wake.
Little did he know, but his garish underwear was like a beacon as it flashed with his movements. Any who caught sight of him only had an impression of a flashing gold streak disappearing into the distance.
Approaching the location of the Merchants Inn, he slowed and proceeded even more cautiously. There were several inns on this street, and the occasional person or groups of people exited or entered these establishments. He crept from side alley to alley without being seen. Looking both ways down the street and hearing no noise coming from the Merchants Inn which was his destination, he made a final dash for the front door.
His heart sank as a burst of laughter came from the Merchants Inn. People were still awake and drinking in the bar! He froze with his hand on the door handle. Before he could retreat, the door was suddenly wrenched from his grasp. A huge man with a bushy beard confronted him. The man’s eyes boggled at the sight before him, though he recovered quickly and swiftly grabbed Lord Jai by the back of his neck and dragged him into the inn. “Look what I found!” He yelled.
There was dead silence for a moment, then raucous laughter filled the still somewhat crowded room. Lord Jai felt both rage and utter humiliation. “How dare you lay your hands on me!” he screamed. He spied a few of his guards in the crowd. They were laughing just as hard as the rest of the crowd.
Freeing himself from the large man, he attempted to rush to his room. A rat-faced man stuck out his leg to trip him but Lord Jai nimbly jumped over his leg. Before he landed, another man stepped into his path and shoved him off his feet.
Lord Jai skilfully rolled as he landed and jumped back onto his feet only to find himself being pushed from one person to another. Infuriated, he let loose with a storm of wind blades. Whilst they were not lethal in power, they still caused injuries to the weaker people at the bar.
Cries of pain and anger came from the affected patrons. His guards finally came to their senses and drew their weapons. Quickly making their way to his side, they started to ward off the angry patrons. Loud shouts of anger grew in intensity until an aura of immense strength crashed down upon everyone in the room. The majority were face down on the floor with drool coming from their mouths. These patrons were unconscious, whilst others were struggling to stay kneeling. This included Lord Jai.
Into this resulting silence came a cold, emotionless voice, “You will not make any more noise if you value your tongues. Leave now or go to your rooms.” The woman was Lord Jai’s sister. Tossing a bag of money to the barkeep, she instructed him, “Close the bar and lock the door after the last of them leave. Toss the unconscious people out unless they are staying here. Understood?”
“Yes, Lady Meng,” replied the barkeep whilst kowtowing on his knees.
Lady Meng surveyed the room before starting to turn to return to her room. Lord Jai had been trying to avoid being noticed by her. Alas, his gold-braided underwear and naked torso were too eye-catching.
“Brother! What have you been up to?” She shouted at him. The cold emotionless woman from before had disappeared. A furious noble stood majestically at the head of the stairs. Pointing to the floor in front of her she commanded, “Here! Right now!”
Lord Jai shook like a leaf. He had never seen his sister so angry. He forced himself to his feet and ran as fast as he could up the stairs. Stopping, he took one look at his sister and then knelt at her feet. “I went to punish that girl but she did this to me. She took my storage ring as punishment. They forced me to return in this state of undress.” He knew he had to be honest with her or she would be even more incensed by his actions.
“What happened to your hair… and your eyebrows, and even your eyelashes?”
“Her attack disintegrated everything non-living above my waist.”
Her expression changed from anger to astonishment. “That girl is amazing. Such control over energy. Is she possibly from That Family?”
“What family?” Asked Lord Jai.
Now looking extremely concerned, Lady Meng instructed him, “You will treat her the same way as you would treat the Royal Princess. She is most likely even higher in status than any Royal in the Kingdom or even in the entirety of the Empire. You are no better than a stableboy in comparison.”
Lord Jai looked dubious but then realised his sister was being deadly serious. He then started to worry about the consequences of his previous actions. He started to tremble in panic.
“Did you hear me!” Demanded his sister.
“Yes, yes. I understand!” He hastened to reply.
“Go to your room and don’t leave it for any reason. I don’t care if the building is on fire. Stay, in, your, room! Understand?”
Lord Jai nodded and dashed to his room. What a nightmare! He never wanted to see that girl again. He then remembered he was due to have sword lessons with her tomorrow morning.
“Agh!” He felt extremely worried. No thoughts of revenge remained in his mind. She was at a higher level in status than him. He had been schooled since a young age on the rights and privileges of the nobility.
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The next morning he woke up to the sound of knocking on his door. He was very bleary-eyed as it had taken him hours to fall asleep. He still had no robes, so he was forced to answer the door in his underwear. One of his guards greeted him with a bow, but not before the guard smirked slightly at the sight of Lord Jai in his underwear. “Lady Meng said to join her for breakfast. She further instructed you to not put on any more clothing. She said you are to be punished until you realise the severity of your crimes against Ling Mai and the reputational harm you have caused your family.”
Lord Mai gulped in shock. He was starting to understand the severity of his actions. He rushed to the privy. Once finished, he washed his face and hands and then with trepidation in his heart, he descended the stairs.
There was nary a sound. His sister was eating breakfast which caused all who were present to be on their best behaviour. Approaching the table, he nervously greeted his sister, “Good morning, Sister. Do you still want me to attend sword lessons with Ling Mai?”
Examining him closely, Lady Meng finally replied, “Yes, you have to show her humility and respect. I’m sure she will earn it. Even you might be impressed.”
Lord Jai nodded, but internally he was feeling some doubt. While Ling Mai had scared him witless last night and, at the same time, she had impressed him, but he didn’t think an eight-year-old would be able to impress him with sword skills. Still, he would be very polite and endeavour not to show disrespect, mostly due to his sister's admonishments and the disparity in their social standing.
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After breakfast, they asked if there was somewhere where they could practice their martial arts. They were informed that the only place suitable was the Town Hall or outside of the town. They were informed that they would have to ask the mayor’s office if they could use the hall.
After informing the barkeep of their destination, they departed to make enquiries. Lord Jai attracted a lot of stares but unusually he was not heckled. Lady Meng’s reputation seemed to have been spread throughout the town by the bar’s patrons.
Lord Jai was surprised with how he was feeling. He was definitely feeling very embarrassed at having to walk semi-naked through town and felt some resentment towards Ling Mai for leaving him in this bald and undressed state, but he no longer felt hate towards the young girl. It wasn't so much of a feeling of helplessness, but more of an acceptance of both her amazing abilities and techniques, and more importantly, a feeling of inferiority in his birth status. If what his sister surmised was correct, the little girl was far far superior to him. He had always valued his noble-born status as paramount in how he treated others. If she was his superior then it turned the tables. His sister had said he was probably just a stable boy in comparison. As he had had few interactions with superior nobles, he realised he would have to concentrate on not acting inappropriately while interacting with Ling Mai.
Arriving at the mayor's office, they entered and enquired about using the Town hall for martial arts practice. The town clerk frowned and said he would check. He noted the exquisite tailoring of Lady Meng’s robe and the aura she emitted and realised she was nobility. He then dashed from the room.
Returning about five minutes later, he informed them that the mayor had approved their use of the hall and had asked if they would like to meet him.
Lady Meng politely refused, saying she would visit the mayor later. Finding out the location of the Town hall, they departed the mayor’s office and started walking there. Lady Meng dispatched a guard to go and inform Ling Mai of their training location.
Lady Meng examined Lord Jai. “I am keeping you in your state of undress not to punish you, but to show Ling Mai that we do not hold her responsible for her actions and that we accept them.”
Lord Jai nodded in understanding. He decided to give voice to his feelings, “I feel embarrassment but that will pass. I also understand her status, so even though I feel some resentment, I accept her actions as being,” he hesitated as he decided which words to use, “kind and generous in intent.”
His sister examined him again. “You look like you are finally growing up. Let's see if you remember your training.”
Seeing the look of alarm on his face, she continued, “Elder Xing will be doing the training and assessing. I will be cultivating to consolidate my advancement.”
Lord Jai didn't dare show the relief he felt. His sister was unrelenting in her own training, though he decided he needed to exhibit vastly higher levels of commitment if he was to please her. It would also help him catch up with his peers. He had lately fallen behind. He had previously relied on his natural-born talent and the resources his family bestowed upon him to be at his current level. Experiencing Ling Mai’s amazing abilities had shamed him. He gazed at Elder Xing with some apprehension. He sighed and walked over to him and bowed. “Please instruct me, Elder,” he requested humbly.
Elder Xing took him through all that he had been previously taught, first starting with the basics. He corrected him on his faults and had him practice until he was proficient in his technique.
Lord Jai was feeling mentally fatigued by the time Ling Mai arrived. He was not used to concentrating for extended periods. He sighed in relief when Elder Xing called a halt to his training.
Ling Mai eyed him up and down, causing him to want to squirm in embarrassment. He held himself rigidly still and schooled his expression into a mask of stoic neutrality.
Ling Mai nodded to him and glanced at Lady Meng who was off to the side, cultivating with her eyes shut. She approached Elder Xing, bowed to him and asked, “What do we start with? Sword or spear?”
“Neither,” he replied. “We will start on posture and stance, then introduce the sword.”
“Thank you,” she replied happily. She was very keen to start learning the sword. She had fantasies of being a hero, protecting the weak and smiting the evildoers of the world.
“Lady Meng will train you later in the spear,” said Elder Xing. “First show me how high you can jump.”
Ling Mai was puzzled by this request but swiftly complied. Crouching she attempted to leap up as high as she could towards the ceiling. She soared through the air far higher than she had thought possible. She had forgotten her continuous cultivation would further increase her strength. Skilfully somersaulting just before she reached the ceiling, she landed slightly awkwardly on the ceiling and absorbed her excess momentum by crouching. Dropping, she somersaulted again and looked at the floor for her landing. The only problem was Lord Jai occupied that floor space.
Lord Jai had been stunned by the speed and height of Ling Mai’s jump. He stood mouth agape looking up at her. Only a bare second had passed and she was now looming ever larger in his eyes. Giving an undignified squeak he tumbled to the side, barely managing to avoid being stomped. He lay on the floor looking up at her in disbelief.
“Sorry about that. I didn't realise I had become so strong.” Ling Mai offered him a helping hand.
Lord Jai gingerly took hold of her small hand and stood shakily. Looking at her small hand in his, he felt a wave of emotion. He suddenly wanted to protect this tiny girl. “What is happening to me?” He wondered.
Ling Mai smiled at him and retrieved her hand from his grasp then went over to Elder Xing, leaving Lord Jai staring at his hand. Lord Jai watched as Ling Mai started following Elder Xing's instructions. He half hoped she would be terrible but had a feeling she would either be average or amazing. His feeling of jealousy caused him to want her to fail but if he was honest with himself, then he wanted her to be amazing. If she was amazing then he had an excuse for failing twice to injure or subdue her. He also had the thought that she would be safer if she could protect herself.
He looked at his sister and wondered what she would think if she knew his thoughts.”Maybe I should ask her to educate me on how to act responsibly? It would help mitigate some of the damage he had caused to their sibling relations.” Lord Jai was not looking forward to his punishment back in the capital. It would help consolidate his cultivation but the pain he would experience was horrific. He didn’t know if he had the mental fortitude to remain sane.
As he watched, he saw Ling Mai start to learn the first stance. She was a bit uncertain in her movements to correct the various parts of her body that Elder Xing corrected her on for the positioning of her limbs and her posture. Elder Xing would first demonstrate the stance and explain the finer points and expound on the reasons for using each stance. Ling Main listened intently to Elder Xing’s instructions. She looked totally focused on learning.
After a minute or so, she suddenly started to improve. He watched in awe as she started flowing into each new stance with hardly any correction from Elder Xing. “What just happened? She is now learning at an insane speed!” Lord Jai was flabbergasted.
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Ling Mai was listening carefully to Elder Xing. He demonstrated a stance and then explained how to stand correctly for this first stance. She couldn't concentrate on all parts of her body at the same time, or notice all the finer details of Elder Xing’s demonstrations.
Feeling a bit overwhelmed, she thought to herself, “I could use my energy sense to help analyse movements but for these static stances, I can’t use my energy sense. I need to learn faster. Too many things to look at simultaneously! Hang on, what about my multiple minds? I can assign one to each part of my body!”
Feeling very satisfied with her solution, she started assigning minds. They were all very happy as they had something different and more interesting to do than cultivate.
It was a strange sensation to have her limbs move without her main mind being in control. She started trying to learn what to do but realised she could get each mind to memorise what they were doing for later practice. Instead, she listened to what Elder Xing said as though she didn't have multiple minds. What he said was the most important aspect of the training. He provided insights into what each stance was used for and later on, how to flow from one stance to another.
As she was now improving her speed at perfecting each new stance, Elder Meng in turn increased the pace of the lesson.
After about an hour he called a halt. “Have a drink and we will start with the sword.” His expression was calm but he had a feeling of disquiet in his heart at her progress. “Is she really only eight years old? What is her heritage? Could it really be That Family?” Elder Xing often suspected that he may have a watered-down heritage from That Family. His enhanced ability to use energy sense and energy manipulation was an order of magnitude about anyone else he had met. Ling Mai was at least another order of magnitude greater again. He felt a burning desire to know more about his heritage.
After having a drink, Ling Mai was eager to start the sword training but she noticed Lord Jai staring at her. “Is there a problem?” she asked.
Lord Jai shook himself, and hurriedly said, “Not at all. I am very impressed with your progress. It took me years to perfect my stances. You have made faster progress than I thought possible. My sister is right. You are a prodigy.”
“Thank you.” Ling Mai was puzzled. He didn't show any of the arrogance and rage he had displayed yesterday. What had his sister said or done to him? Had she made him parade through the town undressed? She couldn't understand his complete change in character. It was as though he had a personality change. If she didn't know better, she would have thought he was a twin brother, though the gilded underwear sort of belied that idea.
Looking at his underwear, she said, “You can put on a robe unless your sister forbids this?”
“His sister doesn't forbid it,” came a voice from behind her. “I am also getting sick of seeing him in his fancy underwear.” Lady Meng approached them and asked Elder Xing, “How did she do?”
“As expected,” was his veiled response.
“I see. Then we will follow an accelerated learning path?”
“A very accelerated one.” was his reply. He looked at Lady Meng and winked.
Lord Jai was flabbergasted, as he had never seen the Elder behave with less than the highest respect with his sister He was feeling very uncertain about life. In the last twenty-four hours, his whole worldview had been turned upside-down.
Elder Xing pointed to the ceiling where two indentations were easily seen on the otherwise smooth surface, “We will have to pay extra for repairs as she bounced off the ceiling when I asked her to jump.”
Ling Mai looked up. Sure enough, two very prominent foot-sized dents were above where she had jumped and would be noticed immediately after someone entered the hall. “Ahh. Sorry about that. I didn't know that would happen. I can pay for it and also apologise for the damage.”
Lady Meng looked intrigued, “Show me your jumping ability,” she commanded. Seeing Ling Mai’s doubtful look she reassured her, “I will explain it to the Mayor and pay for any damage.”
Seeing that Lady Meng was serious, Ling Mai started to crouch only to see Lord Jai scuttling away.
Lady Meng saw her brother’s panicked retreat and lifted an eyebrow. Lord Jai looked a little flustered and sheepishly explained, “She almost landed on me the last time she bounced off the ceiling.”
Lady Meng just shook her head at her brother’s antics.
Ling Mai looked at the ceiling then positioned herself underneath the indentations and jumped with almost the same amount of force as she had previously used. She slightly reduced the strength of her jump so she wouldn't collide so hard with the ceiling. Somersaulting again, she landed on her feet. There was a tearing sound as her feet punched two holes through the ceiling. She was left dangling from the ceiling. “Whoops!” She thought to herself in dismay and with a look of embarrassment on her face she apologised, “Sorry!”
Shaking her feet, she freed herself from the ceiling. Dropping towards the ground she spun to land neatly on her feet. Looking up, she winced at the sight of two holes where there were once only indentations. “So much for limiting further damage by landing in the same spot,” she thought to herself. “Well, at least I tried.”
Lady Meng walked over to her and felt the muscles in her arms and legs. “You are very strong for your age. Where did you learn how to somersault like that?”
Ling Mai was surprised to be examined by Lady Meng but accepted it as part of the assessment to see what training she needed. “At least she isn't examining my teeth!”
“I used to play with one of our caravan guards who used to be a circus performer. He taught me tumbling, My father said it could be a useful skill to learn so as to reduce injury if one had a fall.” Ling Mai had a melancholic look on her face. The memory was sweet but painful. Her previous life with her family had been very happy. She brightened up as she remembered she had a new family now and new friends. Dwelling on the past would not bring her parents back to her. She would honour their memory by making the most of her life.
Nodding to herself, she asked, “Are you going to teach me the spear now?”
Lady Meng opened her mouth to reply when a gruff voice interrupted her. “May I ask who the noble lady is? And why is that man only wearing underwear?”
Lord Jai cringed in embarrassment. He quickly asked his sister and Elder Xing, “Can I please have a robe?”
Elder Xing retrieved a robe from his storage ring and tossed it over. Lord Jai quickly donned the robe with alacrity. He looked very relieved to be decently clothed again.
Lady Meng looked over and saw a large and robust man approaching from the doorway. “I am Lady Meng and this is my brother Lord Jai. He was being schooled in how to behave in the presence of superior personages. I assume you are the mayor?”
“Yes, Mayor Long at your service.” Looking at the holes in the ceiling he continued, “I see you have been training. What martial technique made those holes?”
Everyone turned to look at Ling Mai. “It was an accident!” She exclaimed.
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