69:
“I wish to test something out,” Xiao Feng said in the soul space, while his body mirrored his speech in the real world.
“What is it?” Beast Master Zen asked, with a tone of excitement in his voice that was largely buried by the disbelief he echoed.
“A sparring exercise,” Xiao Feng replied. “If you take on the role of the attacker, I will commit to defending. I know that you are not a martial cultivator, but this is the fastest way I can assess my capabilities,” He explained.
“Do you know why I wield a staff?” Beast Master Zen asked, before he tapped the dense wooden staff against the ground a single time to impress the question upon him.
“It is ideal for self-defense if you are a Wind Cultivator,” Xiao Feng replied after a moment, his expression thoughtful as he watched his predecessor shake his head in the soul space.
“I am indeed a Wind Cultivator,” Beast Master Zen replied. “But that is not the reason why I wield a staff. Let me ask you a question in turn. What is a martial cultivator?” Beast Master Zen asked, a mischievous glint in his gaze as a little of the surprise faded away.
“Someone who is trained to fight demonic path cultivators,” Xiao Feng chose to reply with an answer that his predecessor would’ve given, still not having caught on to the point Beast Master Zen was trying to make.
“That is one definition,” Beast Master Zen nodded in the affirmative. “However, it is also quite a limited one. As you may have guessed, I am not fond of killing. For all the atrocities the demonic path has committed across decades, they have not yet convinced me to replace my staff with a glaive and enlist in an endless war. Yet, I am no stranger to violence,” He explained, a sly smile playing upon his lips.
“The staff,” Xiao Feng said, as his eyes widened slightly in recognition. “You use it to defend yourself from spiritual beasts without killing them.”
“Indeed,” Beast Master Zen said as he planted the staff before himself, before shifting to an odd stance that had him leaning forward upon his staff while balancing himself on the balls of his feet. “To you, or rather, to the understanding you have left unvoiced, the essence of a martial cultivator is simple — a cultivator who has been trained to kill another is a martial cultivator. By that definition, I am quite far from it. However, I am quite well-experienced in defending myself against powerful spiritual beasts and as a Beast Master, as long as I escape without harm to my person, it is my victory.”
Back in the soul space, Xiao Feng’s predecessor had a conflicted expression on his face. “I know very little about spiritual beasts,” He admitted with a sigh. “I had believed myself to be amongst the upper echelon of foundation establishment cultivators within the martial division, yet it is alarming how feeble my knowledge base is outside of it.”
Xiao Feng understood the message Beast Master Zen was trying to convey. If martial cultivation was a discipline that taught a cultivator how to defend themselves, then being content with only knowing how to deal with a single threat was either an act of arrogance or foolishness.
“I understand,” Xiao Feng said to Beast Master Zen. “Demonic Path cultivators are far from the only threat out there. To limit the definition of martial cultivation to a single threat would be to leave myself open to a multitude of others. If you are willing, I would like to trade for a primer on various spiritual beasts in the region,” He cautiously asked, unsure if Beast Master Zen would be willing to trade knowledge that he had to have acquired through first hand experience.
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For a moment, there was silence between the two parties, before it was punctuated by a bout of amused laughter.
“You continue to surprise me,” Beast Master Zen admitted, his tone heavy with intrigue. “Your demeanor is divorced from every other martial cultivator that I have met. To so readily accept a lacunae in your teachings instead of trying to contest my statement is worthy of admiration. I am willing to charge for a great deal of things, but the knowledge you seek is not one of them. Some beast master I would be if I turned away those willing to learn about my craft,” He shook his head chidingly.
“Thank you,” Xiao Feng offered a light bow, if only to hide the surprise on his own features. He hadn’t expected Beast Master Zen to be so forthcoming with valuable knowledge. As warm as the Beast Master’s words sounded, both of them knew that they were no more than a platitude. Knowledge was the entire foundation of the sect system and Xiao Feng’s predecessor had paid a hefty price for the Flowing Wind Art along with access to the Azure Lotus Sect’s resources.
“Anyhow, let us not digress any further,” Beast Master Zen said, his jovial demeanor giving way to a somber expression. “Did you truly touch upon the soul?” He asked, his own tone sounding doubtful as he posed the question.
“I am not certain,” Xiao Feng replied calmly. Without his predecessor’s aid, he would have no way of confirming that it was truly his soul that he was interacting with and even his predecessor could not say for sure what capabilities and limitations his soul space had.
Beast Master Zen nodded in agreement, before saying, “We shall go with your suggestion then. I will limit my Wind Qi to the early foundation establishment stage for our spar. Feel free to use that artifact of yours to defend.”
“Are you sure?” Xiao Feng asked, sounding a little taken aback. Windcarver was a peak layer foundation establishment artifact that had been given to him by Elder Haoyun.
“You needn’t worry about me,” He replied. “Though, do make sure to limit yourself to defending. Liulian might not take kindly to a wild charge at me.”
Xiao Feng chucked at what he thought was a joke.
Beast Master Zen’s expression remained somber.
Right, Xiao Feng thought as his smile faded and he nodded to convey his understanding. The Umbral Fang is going to try and murder me if I attack her bonded human. Why did I think that was funny, again?
“The spar shall continue until you tell me to stop or I judge you unfit to continue,” Beast Master Zen declared, his tone clipped and formal.
“That is fine,” Xiao Feng said, before drawing his blade.
Even from within the soul space, Xiao Feng was sure that his heart rate had picked up as he studied the slender construction of his silver blade, his left hand sharing the burden of his right as it wrapped around its translucent crystal hilt.
He could feel the resonance between the Wind Qi in his dantian and the wind attunement of the artifact, calling for him to unleash their combined potential.
I guess it’s too late to ask for a wooden sword instead? Xiao Feng wryly thought, knowing that he’d never actually wielded an artifact before.
Beast Master Zen answered his question by flipping the dense wooden staff with a single hand, so it was pointed in Xiao Feng’s direction. His free hand stabilized the staff, adopting a two handed grip over it. Then, Beast Master Zen kicked off the balls of his feet, his stance already primed for explosive momentum and moved with agility that far surpassed anything such a heavy-set, muscular man should’ve been capable of.
Oh, crap.