54:

Xiao Feng was disappointed to find that Cultivator Lei Jiao, Elder Haoyun’s inside man within the Alchemy Division, was nowhere to be found. Instead, Xiao Feng had found a bored alchemist designate who had barely spared him a glance until she saw Lianhua standing next to him.

A training room was granted to them with little difficulty, as the alchemist designate in question stumbled over her words to comply with their request.

Xiao Feng stood a little distance away from the wide, oblong chamber’s side, watching as the two women that had accompanied him shifted into a combat stance.

All three of them had taken standard length wooden swords from a basket that was kept outside their training room. Alchemist Jun had positioned her sword before her, her knees slightly bent to allow for movement, her grip tightly clenched onto the wooden hilt.

On the other hand, Lianhua had an inscrutable expression on her visage, her stance similar to Alchemist Jun, but her sword was held to the side, gripped comfortably in hands.

To the untrained eye, which his own would be if it were not for Xiao Feng’s memories, Alchemist Jun’s stance was the aggressive one while Lianhua’s seemed more defensive.

The truth was much the opposite.

To raise a blade without intending to strike was a sign weakness. It was to expose yourself for a counter even before the battle had begun, but more importantly, it was a revelation of fear.

Lianhua’s stance was different. It spoke of a readiness, a willingness to burst into motion. To parry or to counter. To react to the situation as it came, instead of giving in to a very human desire to shield one’s vitals.

“It is two against one then?” Xiao Feng asked, arching an eyebrow at the two women that had been more than ready to turn against him once they entered the chamber.

“Two alchemists against one veteran,” Lianhua corrected as Xiao Feng’s stomach dropped.

Some veteran he was.

“Fine. How do you want to do this?” Xiao Feng asked, even as worry coiled tighter in his gut.

“Are you testing me?” Lianhua queried, before her lips arched up into an intrigued smile. “Very well, both me and Alchemist Jun are Wind Cultivators. We will use our wind Qi to empower our sword blows and nothing more. I will leave the duration of the duel to you.”

Xiao Feng pursed his lips as he considered Lianhua’s suggestion, before replying, “Thirty minutes then. I will use the rest of the time to give you feedback.”

Lianhua nodded and then turned to Alchemist Jun, “Do you have any taels on you?”

“A few bronze ones, why?” Alchemist Jun nervously replied, as she clearly found herself outside her element.

“I just need one,” Lianhua said.

Alchemist Jun didn’t ask any further questions, as she fished her robe’s inner lining to pull out a bronze tael and offer it to her.

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Lianhua nodded in thanks, before turning to Xiao Feng and tossing the coin in the air.

The intention behind the gesture was obvious.

Come on, man, Xiao Feng directed his thoughts inwards as he traced the path of the rotating coin in the air. You know I’m not ready for this. Either you help me or I get outed as an impersonator. Or worse, I offend the two people in this place that actually care about me, He implored.

“Child of Earth, do you expect me to fight your battles for you?” The answer came in his own voice, but it was different. The tone was sharper, but that was not all. There was a hint of weariness to it that made his heart ache, but it was not something he could delve on at the moment.

No, but I do need guidance if I am to not get my derrière whooped by two alchemists, He countered.

“Then clear your mind of distractions, otherwise I will not be able to aid you,” The response came, as the weariness in the tone was substituted by just a flicker of amusement.

He did as commanded, allowing his worries of being found out as an imposter fade away into the background along with the odd excitement he felt at being able to practice his swordsmanship with friends.

Okay, done, Xiao Feng declared.

“Sense the Wind Qi in your Dantian as you have done before. Let it flow into your meridians.”

Xiao Feng kept his eyes open as he directed his Wind Qi to flow forth.

“Not a trickle, yet not a flood. The destination is your sword, the vehicle, your arms. Do not miss the acupuncture points in your chest.”

He focused, directing his Wind Qi to hit two acupuncture points on his way to the arms. His body knew what to do, his muscles remembered. Xiao Feng could feel it.

“Let it build in strength before splitting down two opposing pathways. Good, Now, allow the Wind Qi to be amplified by the acupuncture points in each of your arms.”

Xiao Feng felt this hands tingle with power as amplified Wind Qi flowed outward, yet to have been given a shape by him. Without command, it simply began to seep into his blade, overcoming the resistance offered by the wood with some difficulty.

“You already know what I ask of you, but now you must understand. Wind Qi is no mere energy, Child of Earth. You can borrow techniques and experience from my memories, but I was not nearly powerful enough to trick the heavens. You cannot take my understanding of the Dao, no one but a god can.”

What is the Dao? He could not help but ask. He knew the definition, but the meaning escaped him just like his predecessor said.

“That is a question for another day. For now, understand that there are many aspects to wind. The wind can cut. The wind can sunder. The wind can harm, it can kill. But that is not the wind you seek today. You seek a gentle wind. A cool breeze on a sweltering hot day. A wind that is incapable of causing harm, a wind that seeks not violence but still wishes to protect. You will not cleave, but you will not be sundered.”

Xiao Feng’s features tightened with focus as he felt himself falling into a trance-like state.

A memory bubbled up in his mind. A memory that belonged to him, not Xiao Feng.

It was not a pleasant memory, it was one that he had long forgotten. A radio’s garbled music was overshadowed by a war of words. He was too young to understand what they meant, but the venom and anger they were spoken with were something that children knew how to translate well. Two voices warred, their every word prickling at his heart.

The voices belonged to the people that had brought him into the world. That world. It was before they had split, a time where they pretended that what had broken could be salvaged.

The boy knew that if he spoke up, if he made his presence known, the war would turn into a ceasefire. But he was just a boy and he sought a cure for the unease plaguing his heart. So instead of intervening, he slipped outside the house after tugging open a sliding glass door and stepped into a small garden.

A gentle breeze comforted his features as the glass door behind him was shut, sealing the voices within.

It was a simple memory. An ordinary one. Yet, he could understand the underlying intent behind his predecessors words.

Wind curled around Xiao Feng’s blade, looping around it until it’s blade was completely ensconced.

Xiao Feng’s lips curled up as the name of the art and form he was using came to his mind.

Flowing Wind Art— Fourth Form, Dancing Breeze.