“You must always be aware of your surroundings,” Zi said as she disappeared again.

“Yeah, easier said than done; you keep disappearing,” Henry panted while trying to keep his guard up.

“You are too invested in what you see and hear.”

A kick hit Henry in the stomach, knocking the air out of him. Zi was always just out of Henry’s perception. Like a fleeting shadow, Henry could never catch her entire presence. A fist rocked him across his face.

“You should close your eyes, young master, and let your ki awareness go.”

“I feel like you are going to beat the shit out of me while I stumble around in the dark.”

“Yes, that is most likely the case; now shut your eyes, close your mouth, and focus.”

Henry closed his eyes and attempted to let his ki sense spread. He thought that he might have felt something; Lan kicked him in the head, knocking him out.

“Wake up, young master. It's my turn now.”

Henry opened his eyes to Fen’s pink-haired visage. The cute little girl would probably be much more gentle than Zi.

She pulled him up to his feet relatively easily. With a bit of ki on her finger, Fen pulled a training dummy over and started hitting different spots all over the figure.

“I will be assisting the young master in the practice of ki disruption; I know that master has problems with his ki pool and general ki control, so I hope this skill will help alleviate that problem.”

“Ok, but what the hell is ki disruption?”

“I sometimes forget that master is not classically trained. Hong, please come up here. I will need your assistance.”

“Coming, sister,” Hong said excitedly, jumping lightly onto the fighting ring.

“Now, ki points regulate the energy flow in a cultivator's body. With a tiny bit of your ki, you can disrupt your opponent's ki flow, temporarily crippling them. Do it right, and you could even kill your opponent.”

A malicious glee spread over Fen’s face.

“Hit them in multiple ki points, and you could make their heart explode.”

She was breathing heavily now, almost cackling with glee.

“Whoa there, you are getting a little heated right now.”

“Sorry, master,” Fen said, sounding embarrassed.

“Now, as I was saying, if you can hit the ki spots correctly, you can cripple your opponents. Observe.”

Hong bowed to Fen and launched at her fist curled and ki flaring; the redhead meant business.

With a fluid motion, Fen hit two spots on Hong’s chest, and the fiery redheaded girl’s face spasmed once, and she locked up like rigor mortis.

“This is not foolproof, young master. Most of the upper-level cultivators can unlock the blocks easily. Your opponents at this level will find this task almost impossible.”

Fen hit Hong again in two different spots, and the little pink-haired girl dropped out of her awkward pose.

“Oh, young master sister Fen forgot to mention, the ki disruption wears off over time naturally, so make sure you slit their throats while they are immobilized.”

Hong motioned across her throat while sticking her tongue out to the side.

“Let us begin, young master. Let the littlest amount of ki flow to the tip of your finger.”

Henry let the ki flow to his fingertip, holding it there while waiting for Fen’s instructions.

“Now strike me here, master,” Fen said, pointing right at her breast. “Ensure you strike hard enough to make contact; I will not move for demonstration purposes.”

Henry gulped. Fen’s breasts were not big, but damn were they perky. For science and power, he thought to himself as he flew forward, stabbing her where her finger was. He got the timing off and hit a spot lower than the marked location.

“Oh, master, you hit the wrong spot; oh no, master, that is the erogenous point,” Fen moaned.

Fen was writhing, and a little drool came out of her mouth.

“Shit, I’m sorry; what am I supposed to do now?”

“Hit me here, master. I’ve been a bad girl.”

Fen points at her other breast.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck this is bad, please work.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Henry let the ki trickle down to his finger and tried again. He made sure to strike the spot the maid was pointing to accurately.

“Oh, my, I forgot about the release of ki from that spot you hit earlier, which can make people, oh no.. ahhhh.”

Fen dropped down to the floor, moaning and gasping for air.

Henry just stood there looking at his finger in wonderment.

****

“I think sister Fen will need a moment, master,” Lu said as she kicked the moaning maid off the platform.

“You will be in my care next, master. I have watched your fight with that scion of the Wu clan; it was pathetic, I am sorry to say.”

“Hey, I was kicking that guy's ass; I could have won too. I just needed one more punch,” Henry said indignantly.

“You were getting trounced, young master. Your opponent used only one stance from the Wu sword manual, enough to put you at death’s door.”

Henry was silent; she did have a point. He had been winging it ever since he got here.

“Yeah, you are right, Lu. I’ve been riding a stupid amount of luck ever since I entered this world. I will need some training to go far in this tournament.”

“Very good; now I think the best thing we can do for you, master, is teach you the basics of the Dragon’s Kata.”

“Nice, I know about Kata’s. It's like a series of movements, right, kinda like karate.”

“I do not know about this karate, but the Dragon’s Kata is something Madam herself taught to the household staff. Refined for thousands of years, this is the culmination of hand-to-hand combat. I think it should fit your style of fighting best.”

That made perfect sense. Henry wanted to get up close and personal and could do drills, which is how he was taught in the old government-run sect he attended in his former life.

****

“Excellent, young master, now speed up the pace,” Lu said without stopping to catch her breath.

Henry felt comfortable doing the katas; he flowed through the moves effortlessly. Lu only needed to show him once, and everything clicked.

The Dragon Kata was a mixture of muy thai, boxing, and krav maga. It was fast and brutal, with many kicks and knees, all targeting the joints or kill spots on a body. It was all aggression and efficiency, no wasted motions, no wasted strikes. Unlike many modern martial arts from his world; this style allowed eye gouges and nut kicks.

“It's as if you were born for the Dragon Kata, young master. Now that you know the forms, with time, you’ll slowly be able to infuse the strikes with your ki for even more destructive power.”

“Yeah, it's kinda weird. I watched you do it once,” Henry said as he finished.

“ It might be your inner dragon resonating with your ancestral combat style,” Lu said.

“Or Master is just a total badass,” Hong said excitedly.

“Enough with the playfighting. It's time we got swole, master. Let's hit the weights.”

“Wait, you want me to lift weights, Hong? I thought cultivators didn’t care about that kind of stuff.”

“There's nothing wrong with getting strong, young master. You seem more like a body cultivator to me anyway,” Hong said, flexing her arms.

Damn, her bicep was huge, this girl was jacked.

The other maids watched as Hong put Henry through a weight-lifting circuit. They hit the quads, shoulders, back, abs, you name it. This wasn’t show muscle that Hong wanted Henry to obtain. This was strength and flexibility training. The other maids cheered them on. Even the usually stoic Lu was cheering the two on as they pressed increasingly heavier and heavier weights.

“Madam had these weights enchanted the young master. They promote muscle growth by speeding up the body's natural healing process.”

“Gram Gram is so rich it's crazy.”

“Madam is indeed quite wealthy, probably the wealthiest being in the twelve realms, and that's why those rat bastard beast lords want to win that scion tournament so much. They’d force Madam to part with her riches.”

Hong and the other maids seemed personally offended by this. Henry was also of the same mind, screw those assholes. Dragonkind was very single-minded when it came to their gold.

****

Drenched in sweat, Henry was sipping crystal clear water the girls had told him had nutrients and spiritual herbs infused into it.

Henry was grateful that Gram Gram had pulled out all the stops during his training. She didn’t have to, and he knew it must be so she could see her son again, but Henry appreciated it.

He felt a poke in his side, and the blue-haired bookworm Lan looked up at him.

“Young master, now that you are all limbered up, I think it's time we get to the most important part of your training,” Lan said with a severe look that looked quite out of place on her young face.

“Ok, what's the most important thing?”

“Frankly speaking, young master, you are a savage. Don’t get me wrong that makes you adorable, but soon enough, you will move in circles where one slipup could expose your identity as an outworlder.”

She takes Henry by the hand and walks him to the living room. Books and maps are already laid out everywhere. Henry feels a tiny part of himself die slowly. He knows what this whole setup means.

“Please beat, scold me, anything but this; I can’t. I just can’t. I'll die if I try,” Henry whined.

“I’m sorry, young master, but I must educate you in the mannerisms and lore of someone befitting your position. Madam wishes to pass you off as Lord Fei’s offspring so you won't raise suspicion and undue scrutiny about your origins.”

“Well, that’s news to me; I have to pretend to be Fei’s kind. I’m pretty sure that guy hates my guts,” he said, pretending to flip through books.

Lan snatched the book from Henry’s hand. “Regardless if Master Fei likes you or not, young master, this is what the Madam has decreed, and her word is law.”

“So you will buckle down and study so the big bad cultivators don't lop your head off because you are an outworlder.”

The other maids joined them in the living room. They all started prepping ingredients for dinner.

Hong was arm-wrestling Zi and seemed to be losing. Lu started chopping up meats and veggies while Fen assisted her.

Henry sat down and opened a book while Lan lectured him about the importance of a salad fork. It felt like he was part of a big family, giving Henry a warm, cozy feeling in his stomach.

He would study, train, and get swole; then he would go rock that tournament and get into the best sect and get super rich because fuck it, that's just what dragons do.