The cultivator was up and dressed by the time we came back. We found him in his room, robes all together and blade by his side with his legs crossed in a meditative pose. There was a small phoenix on his head, though the boy didn’t sense it. The beasts had started hiding themselves and sneaking around where they shouldn’t be. This one was making a small nest out of the cultivator’s hair, and the poor boy was unable to feel a thing while it did so.

"Honored masters," he said in reverence, standing up and bowing immediately, undoing all of the bird’s progress as he did so. Bits of grass and sticks fell out the boy’s hair and the bird chirped in indignation before flying out of the window.

"Well, Chin Chin doesn’t cultivate, but he appreciates the bow," I said.

The boy didn’t respond to the joke.

"Get up lad,” Chin said as he walked over and dusted the kid off. “No need for all this bowing. Bill is about as honorable as any other old man. Don’t sweep the floor with your forehead on his behalf.”

The boy’s head was raised to eye level by Chin and the old man even went about fixing up the kid’s robe. Mr. I Hate Cultivators, was actually a big old softy when it came to kids.

"Right then. I’m Chin Chin, you can call me Chin if you want to, there is Bill. We’re all simple people round here so no need to bow, alright?”

The boy gave us an unsure look before responding with a slow nod.

"There we go, no need for any of that face stuff around here. Now, what’s your name lad?" Chin replied.

"Cai Xiun, honored master," he replied.

"Fancy name that, Cai Xiun. What’s it mean then?" Chin asked.

"Cai means happy and Xiun means stream, honored master."

"Happy stream? That’s your name?” Chin asked.

Cai nodded.

“Was your father drunk when he named you?” Chin asked.

Cai shook his head.

“Happy stream, that sounds like what you’d call a good piss, not a person.”

I chuckled at Chin's words and watched as Cai Xiun’s face widened with confusion and I saw a small panic set in the poor boy as he tried to come up with a response. This was why Chin's wife hid him away anytime cultivators were in the vicinity. Cultivators were used to respectful elegant talks, and Chin Chin’s words were anything but.

“You’ll have to excuse Chin. He’s a farmer and not much for conversation.”

"A farmer?" Cai asked.

"Yes."

"But-" Cai’s eyes flashed from Chin to me and then back to Chin again.

"A farmer?" He asked again, this time with an incredulous tone to the term.

"Don’t make it sound like an insult. No job more noble in my eyes. I keep people fed and alive while you swing your swords and spit blood at each other.”

Cai’s mouth opened a little wider at Chin’s words.

"Chin can get a little irritated at times, but you shouldn’t mind the way he speaks," I cut in. "Everyone in this village, whether a mortal or a cultivator, is under my direct protection. Meaning that if any one of your people seeks to visit here, they will have to respect that rule."

"Mortals as well?"

"Yup," I nodded.

"That’s the primary message I’d like for you to communicate with your sect. No mortal is to be harmed in my region, which extends to the entirety of the Great Desert Strip, understand?"

Cai nodded his head vehemently.

"You can tell each of the five sects to send their strongest men if they want to challenge me, but I would just suggest that they send the strongest in the region so we can set up the pecking order early.”

"In the region?" Cai asked.

"Yeah, out of the five major sects, who’s the strongest individual?"

"The strongest individual is no longer a member of the five great sects honored master."

"Oh?" I asked, a little surprised. I tried my best to keep up with the local politics here and there, but there were long stretches of time when I didn’t bother with such things.

"Then who are they?"

"The strongest cultivator in this region would be Ah-Min Tah."

"Ah-Min Tah?" I asked.

"Yes, honored master."

"What stage is he?"

"It is speculated that he has reached the peak of the Spirit Transcendence Stage, but no one knows for sure."

"Peak fifth stage then. Where is he? Is he in secluded meditation or something?"

"No honored master, he has tried to pass through the gates of immortality and failed. But Ah-Min Tah has not given up, he… he has tried to pass through those gates countless times, each time failing more spectacularly than the last. No one has seen him in a century, but people claim to see a man trying to break through the sky.”

Damn. A false immortal.

"This Ah-Min Tah, has he attacked anyone?"

"I do not know honored master, but it is said that when the Raging River Sect Patriarch and the Hollow Echo Sect Patriarch fought him, both of them were put down quickly, and Ah-Min Tah walked away with the arm of the River and the leg of the Echo."

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

That was brutal. Not necessarily insanely brutal, but I’d have to keep an eye out for this guy. False immortals rarely made it to true immortality. They lacked a Dao, an anchor of the self. Most of them either went insane or if they lived long enough, forgot entirely about who they were and what they had been through, cycling through infinite life spans without end.

I sighed, a different problem for a different day.

"So, can you do that for me then Cai Xiun? You will be properly compensated for your work."I asked, pulling out the bag of spirit stones and giving it a light shake.

Cai looked at the stones for a second, before giving a quick but hesitating nod.

"I would be honored to assist in any way I can, but I can not accept such a price for such an effortless task. I require nothing, your mercy was enough."

"Oh come on, don’t go doing unpaid labor now. Look, you’ll be doing a fast return trip and also facing some scrutiny from your sect, at least until they can verify the truth of what you're saying. Some compensation is sure to go a long way in making them believe you."

Cai shook his head firmly.

"I would not dare take more than I already have from you, honored master."

“That’s a shame, what about something else then huh?"

"I can not accept anything. Your mercy alone is enough."

"Not even a lesson or two about your technique?"

I could almost see the wheels turning in the kid’s mind. There was a lot of hesitation there, money was one thing, but a chance at personal progress was another.

"I- I could not impose upon-"

"Ah come on, let's go out back," I cut in. "I’ll show you the weaknesses in your attacks."

That sealed the deal.

"... I humbly accept honored master’s graciousness."

As irritating as they could be, cultivators could never resist a chance at self-improvement. That was what their world ran on after all.

We quickly went downstairs to grab a quick bite first, and even though the meal was silent, I could tell that it helped Cai calm his nerves a bit. He ate quickly but elegantly and finished up his meal right after I finished mine. I smiled at the action, another sign of face. He was making sure to finish after me so that it wouldn’t look like he was the one waiting on me, then the poor boy panicked when I ordered seconds. We left eventually, me with some sweet tea in my hands and Cai with a filled gourd.

"Alright," I said as we walked back out onto the open field. Chin was off to the side and watching us from a distance this time.

"So I assume that attack you used against me was the Flowering Sword Technique?" I asked.

"Yes, honored master."

"Then you follow the Dao of the Sword?"

"Yes, honored master."

I took a sip of the tea. Delicious stuff.

"Now what do you think a Dao is then Cai?"

"The Dao is the blade and the blade is the Dao."

Well, that was about as textbook of an answer as you could get. But it was also completely wrong.

"Mhm, not quite. The Dao is the all-encompassing way of reality. The Dao is like the ultimate path. A Dao is merely a slice of that, a piece of that path. Now that can be almost anything, like a Sword Dao or a Spear Dao, or the Dao of Medicine. It’s about as endless as you can imagine."

Cai's face was unchanged and listening, but the kid kept paying attention nonetheless.

"Your specific Dao would be the Dao of the Flowering Sword. Now if I remember correctly," I said, gulping down the rest of my tea and holding out my cup.

"It went something like this right?" I used the technique, doing my best to imitate the sword strokes with my cup. Flashes of qi spurred out and flew out to a boulder, leaving a few dull marks on them.

"That about right?" I asked.

Cai’s mouth was hanging open, but he gave me a little nod.

"See the thing about this technique is that it’s a deceptive one. If you look at the way that you channeled your qi at the beginning and the way the sword moves through the forms, you’ll realize that the technique isn’t about having a web of sword strikes with equal power, but about having a web of sword strikes with controlled power."

I moved my cup again, this time slowly using the technique in its proper form.

"See what you want to do is, constantly weave the qi in the sword strikes to be connected with the other qi strikes. The flowering part isn’t really about the pattern of the qi blades themselves but the ability of each sword qi to channel all the other sword qi’s energy to itself when it comes into contact with something."

I created a large pattern of qi this time and sent it floating to the boulder. Now the pattern itself was going to miss the boulder, but it would graze just the edge of it, and that’s where the secret of the technique showed itself. Instead of cutting off just the bit of the boulder that made contact with the blade, the whole of the sword qi pattern dissipated and sunk into that one part where the rock was grazed. Bits of pebbles and dust flew out at us, and one of them even almost hit Chin Chin who was watching a safe distance away.

After the dust had settled down, half of the boulder was missing, and on its side was a beautiful intricately carved picture of a blooming lotus with a thousand petals.

"And that’s all there really is to it. Now I’m sure there are other parts to the technique that you haven’t seen yet, like methods of controlling when the qi bursts or how to control the sensitivity of the sword qi pattern itself, but that’s the core of the technique, and if you-"

"A- a cup?" Cai interrupted me.

"Huh?"

"You did that with a cup?"

"Oh, yeah."

"How- why-" Cai shut up for a moment before looking me dead in the eyes.

"Is there a Dao of the cup?"

I chuckled at his statement.

"Ugh, probably, but that’s not what I was using. You see Dao’s generalization. The Dao of the sword is a part of the Dao of Weapons and the Dao of Weapons is a part of the Dao of Tools."

"So the sword… is just another tool?" he asked me.

"Everything is just another tool," I answered.

"Then why pursue the Sword? Why not pursue the great Dao itself?"

"The Dao is too much," I answered.

"You can’t pursue the path to everything. That’s too general of a path to lead anywhere. So most of us limit ourselves and focus on one Dao or another. Bits and pieces."

"But… but then… is the Dao of the Sword a great one? Is it any different from all the other Daos? Is it any greater than a cup?"

"It’s violent," I answered. "It’s powerful and that’s what cultivators like power. Is it greater than the sword? I don’t think so. One gives you water while the other brings you strength. Though I suppose you could drink with a sword and cut with a cup if you had to.”

I think that answer broke him a bit. The guy stared at the cup in my hand, before moving his gaze to his sword. I saw an ounce of shame on his face when he looked at the thing. Then he looked towards Chin Chin, and a little more shame appeared on his face.

"Honored master, may I have that cup in your hand?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah sure," I replied, tossing the cup over to the guy.

He caught it in his hand like it was some magical treasure, and he stared at it for a moment.

"It’s just a cup," he muttered, looking slightly amazed.

"And this is just a sword," he said looking at his sword this time.

After a moment of silent contemplation, his face cleared up and he gave a deep and respectful bow.

"Thank you honored masters for your teachings. This one shall give your message to the five sects with utmost speed."

And with that, the kid turned around and ran.

"He called me an honored master then?" Chin asked as we watched the boy race off and out of the village.

"Yeah, I think he did."

"Why?" Chin asked.

"Maybe he learned something from you?"

"What could he have learned from me?"

"I really couldn't tell ya," I shrugged.

"All those things you said about Daos and whatnot," Chin asked. "You think there’s a Dao of Farming?"

"Probably," I answered. "What? Are you thinking about cultivating?"

"The only thing I cultivate are my crops," Chin answered.