Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 7. Pulling the Tiger’s Tail.
“We should probably get going…” Laien said lazily, gazing upon the starry sky while lying on his back. He didn’t quite know when he and Yin had shifted to this position, but at the moment he was holding Yin’s hand and allowing his mind to wander freely. The lingering sensation of the spiritual bond between the two of them was strangely calming, but was it because they were both in such a tranquil state of mind? Or was it because of something else?
“I could start with doing my basic Qi training…” Yin said in a quiet voice. “Meanwhile you could learn all those scrolls you have on you. The sooner they are gone the better,” he suggested quietly, not wanting to disrupt the peaceful atmosphere of the moment.
“Yeah, you are right. I should get it over with as soon as possible,” Laien agreed with a little sigh. It would make it harder to comprehend and learn the higher levels of those martial arts if he tried to study them all at once, but he wasn’t planning to settle with any of those three anyway. All he needed was the knowledge he could then derive to creating his own martial art through that mysterious method Master Shire had bestowed upon him.
“I guess I will start with the eight levels of the Red Dragon Art…” he mused quietly and withdrew the first scroll of the Red Dragon Art, then grabbed it with his left hand and placed it on his chest. He glanced at Yin, who smiled at him and proceeded to concentrate on circulating Qi throughout his body. “It should take me about an hour to absorb all the scrolls of those three martial arts, eh?” he thought a bit resignedly, knowing he would for a period of time have trouble processing all that new information.
When he just began analyzing the first scroll the paper crumbled almost instantly. At first, he was startled and worried if something hadn’t gone wrong, but then he realized all the necessary knowledge about the first level of the Red Dragon Art was already inside his head. In fact, he felt he could change his Qi Origin according to the Crimson Blood Qi Manipulating Art with but a single thought and if he so desired, pursue the same martial path as his elder brother.
“Is it possible to tell what affinity your Qi has before you start training…?” Laien couldn’t help but ask aloud. He had been so preoccupied with his spiritual practice that he ended up leaving all the important matters regarding his martial cultivation for when he would reach the peak of the fifth mortal realm. However, given how eventful the past two weeks had been he forgot to research or inquire about some important questions.
“More often than not your Qi doesn’t have an affinity, so there is no point in doing any silly testing people from the outside like doing,” Yin explained lazily, focusing most of his attention on his own training. “Unless you are born like me, with an inherited martial art or in some rare cases when your body is heavily connected to a specific element, you can practice pretty much any martial art you want,” he elaborated, then sighed a little. He would need to pay more attention to his words if he wanted to properly explain how the martial arts operated.
“As I said though,” Yin brought up more seriously, halting his training for the time being. “Martial practitioners tend to have a hard time gaining insights into the Elemental Laws. It’s partially because we tend to have a low elemental affinity and partially because our martial arts are often based on an elemental law, like mine is based on lightning. What I mean by that is you could say mastering higher levels of a martial art is a bit like gaining more insights into the Elemental Laws, but it’s still a simplified version. You need to actually master the Profound Mysteries of an element on your own to properly unleash their full power in battle,” he clarified, touching upon what he and Laien had discussed yesterday.
“That’s why those who are born into an element like me and those who are dual practitioners like you have it easier. We are sure what we are compatible with,” he finished up and gave Laien a meaningful glance. From what he could tell Laien’s body didn’t have an affinity in itself, so the answer to Laien’s dilemma should be fairly obvious.
“So I should avoid fire-element martial arts and focus on what I’m best at, water?” Laien asked rhetorically, to what Yin nodded. “By the way,” Laien brought up. “it looks like you do have some insights into the Mysteries of the Lightning Element after all; if that explanation from just now is correct,” he mentioned with a mischievous smile.
“I told you I don’t,” Yin said with a sigh and smiled helplessly. “It’s a bit like this; I’m learning how to control my martial art and to use it in a way which will give me the best results. I’m only operating the mechanism. If I, for example, lacked the ninth level, I would have been unable to create it on my own since I don’t truly ‘understand’ how the previous levels work, I only know how to operate them to get the desired results,” he tried to explain as well as he could, considering that he himself still had many questions about the martial arts he would love to have someone answer them.
“Hm, I think I get it,” Laien said, pretty intrigued by Yin’s explanation. “I always felt magic is based on the Principles and that some spells allow you to use them without having the necessary insights. So it’s actually a pretty similar deal with the martial arts but they focus on the Elemental Laws,” he speculated, getting more and more amazed by how much more there was to learn about the things he had considered to be simple; like martial arts.
“Well, some martial arts are based more heavily on a magical beast than an element,” Yin added, very much disliking the idea of leaving any subject unclear. “The Red Dragon Art is of fire affinity, but it’s centered around the inherited abilities of a powerful Dragon. The Twin Phoenix Art and the Fire Serpent Art seem to be the same, while the Heavenly Flame Art is focused around a unique type of flame and the Elemental Law of Fire,” he elaborated, glad to see and sense that Laien was genuinely interested in what he was saying. Knowing he wasn’t speaking to himself, he continued eagerly.
“For example, if I was capable of creating scrolls containing the knowledge of my martial art and gave them to you to let you learn it, you wouldn’t be able to use it as well as I can. The reason is pretty simple; my martial art is based on the ‘Lightning Wolf’ magical beast’s innate abilities and the Elemental Law of Lightning. It wouldn’t be fully compatible with your physique and would never truly operate at full effectiveness. It’s the same with your elder brother’s Red Dragon Art; he won’t actually be able to use his arts as well as the magical beast that was born with them,” he described the nuisances, quite sure Laien would be able to easily understand the point he was making.
“Huh, so that’s how it works,” Laien mused aloud, happy to learn more… but the more he learned, the less confident he was becoming in creating his own martial art. His master had apparently ‘somehow done it’ according to the man’s own words, so there was nothing he could rely on as an example. Master Shire was simply too much of a genius, and Laien himself knew he would have had no idea how to explain to someone how he used and employed his Guardian magic or how he used magic at all. It came naturally to him, how could he hope to explain it in words? It was the same with his master. Shire couldn’t be blamed for being unable to explain how he created his wind-element martial art.
“You seem more troubled than before,” Yin noted with a chuckle. “Don’t worry about it too much. You are going to work it out sooner or later,” he said with a bright smile, fully confident that if there was someone to create a supreme martial art on his own, it would be Laien.
“Uh, aren’t you thinking a bit too highly of me?” Laien asked helplessly, a bit ashamed of how much Yin believed in his abilities.
“Maybe… but I don’t think so. I really do think you are incredibly talented; as your partner, I have no complaints about your strength,” Yin said with an honest smile, causing Laien to blush a little. It wasn’t that Laien didn’t know how it felt to be praised, it was just that he valued Yin’s words much more than anyone else’s. Yin was pretty much the most talented person he knew; he was just his age and he was also his friend and hopefully a rival. Given all of those, of course Yin’s opinion mattered to him a lot.
“You don’t have complaints even though I’m weaker than you?” Laien asked with a somewhat helpless smile. He really wanted to get stronger, at least as strong as Yin… but he knew it wouldn’t be an easy feat to achieve by any means. If someone were to be generous, the current him was comparable to a well-trained martial master of the second rank. Yin, however… was very well comparable to an elite martial master of the second rank!
The difference between the Red Dragon Art and the strange top-level art used by the Cail family was already so large, so how huge was the difference between an average high-level art and a truly supreme top-level art? Thinking about it like this Laien couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
“You will get a lot stronger when you gain access to an actual martial art,” Yin said optimistically. He wouldn’t deny the reality and claim Laien was stronger than he actually was… but he very much meant what he had just said. He really felt Laien’s innate potential was no less than his own.
“Even then I won’t be as strong as you when you use that emerald lightning,” Laien pointed out with a slight smile. It might have seemed he was being pessimistic, but in reality, both the tone of his words and the expression on his face suggested otherwise. His true feelings were contrary to being pessimistic; he was feeling as motivated as one could be, though he was also aware of the kind of a hurdle he would need to overcome if he ever wanted to catch up to Yin.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Looking at it objectively, If Yin were to go all out in a fight against him he most likely wouldn’t be able to withstand a single blow from him. He was very far away from being Yin’s match! He might have managed to wound Yin during their first duel, but he knew the result wouldn’t be the same were they to face-off again. Even without using the emerald lightning Yin would be able to beat him up in a very one-sided fashion since he would never again fall for the long-winded spells like Ascent of the Storm.
“Well…” Yin began saying with an expectant smile on his face. “Then all you need to do is to go beyond your own expectations. Do not think though that I’m going to make it easy for you by standing in the same place and waiting for you to catch up,” he encouraged and challenged Laien at the same time, then chuckled happily when he sensed Laien’s competitive spirit rising to new heights. He really liked how straightforward and honest Laien was.
“No time to be slacking then,” Laien said with a laugh and exchanged a glance with Yin. The two of them needed no more words and got straight to their respective training regimes, each motivated to make as much progress as possible in the shortest amount of time.
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“You said you wanted to go for a walk, but you are actually looking for those two, aren’t you?” Liza asked grudgingly. The sun had only risen half an hour ago! And yet Jin dragged her out of the bed to take part in his unreasonable plans. It wasn’t that she needed a lot of sleep as a martial master, but she liked to sleep nevertheless! “Why did you even drag me with you? If you want to rape those brats you can go ahead and do whatever you want, but don’t make me into an accomplice! I’d like for my head to remain where it is, nicely connected to the rest of my body,” she said angrily, greatly frustrated by Jin’s lack of common sense.
“Rape them? Please don’t associate my actions with such things,” Jin said pompously and snorted at the mere implication. “Just wait and see, it’s going to be fully consensual. All you need to know is how to push a few correct buttons,” he said self-confidently. He couldn’t count the number of women and young ladies who had fallen for his amours; there was a fair share of young men, too. If he had set his sights on somebody, there was no way this person would refuse his advances!
“Not everyone is going to fall for your handsome face, nice body, a few sweet words and silly promises,” Liza pointed out with a sarcastic smirk. Jin was a typical playboy; many women and men would be attracted to this type, but there existed just as many people who would be numb to his advances.
“You fell for that,” Jin said simply, his confidence as unwavering as ever.
“All I ‘fell for’ was your looks and that insatiable thing in your pants, nothing else,” Liza replied with a laugh. Did Jin really not understand that he wasn’t a casanova, but more often than that, just a one-night adventure for many of those he had slept with?
“Or so you say, but you would be sad and lonely were I to leave you alone,” Jin countered, the memories of all those women begging him to stay with them longer making Liza’s argument completely invalid in his eyes.
“Just don’t rely on me when you fail miserably,” Liza said and shrugged her shoulders resignedly. “Oh, looks like we found them,” she said uncaringly when the sounds of steel clashing against steel began resounding throughout the forest.
“So diligent, sparring so early in the morning,” Jin said with a chuckle and began heading towards the place the sounds were coming from. “The clangs are quite loud, they must be fairly strong for their age,” he added, impressed by how hardworking the boys were. The greater the people were, the more pleasurable it was to seduce them and make them his own!
Liza shook her head. She didn’t see anything remotely interesting in watching two kids spar. So what if they were said to be the top talents of the Sarkcente Kingdom? How strong could twelve-year-olds be anyway? The rumors about their battle proves were certainly over-exaggerated; people always did that when they saw just a little bit of talent in some young masters. They would make a big affair out of nothing. She had worked hard and become a martial master of the first rank three years ago, at the age of forty-one. Even if those two brats were indeed somewhat talented it would take them at least a decade to reach the level strength she had now; thus, they really shouldn’t be so arrogant and think too highly of themselves.
“After this mission is over,” Liza thought with a slight frown.” I should cut my ties with this whole Cail family. They pay good, but they are too much of a pain in the ass,” she decided silently, in the end following Jin out of her own accord. No matter what she said, she needed to admit she was a bit curious to see how Jin intended to ‘seduce’ those two. He would either succeed or make a clown out of himself; and either way, she would be able to witness something pretty funny.
“They really are using a spear and twin swords,” Liza mused quietly when she saw the figures of the two youths fighting a few hundred meters away. Due to all the trees she couldn’t see too well, but despite that, she couldn’t help but wince. The movements and the high tempo of the exchange between those two were enough to quite definitely place their strength around the seventh mortal realm. For twelve-year-old kids… it was no small achievement, as unwilling to admit it as she was.
She was already surprised, however when the two of them approached close enough to see the fight between Laien and Yin clearly…
“Eighth… no, ninth mortal realm?” Jin muttered, his eyes wide open. The layer of icy mist surrounding Laien’s spear and the lightning surging through Yin’s twin swords; both were enough to cause him to become wary of them. He was a martial master of the first rank and he trained in a high-level martial art, but he was actually feeling slight fear from watching two twelve-year-old boys fight each other! “It doesn’t look like the rumors were without truth to them,” he said quietly and smiled to himself. The boys weren’t as strong as they were made out to be, but they were incredible nonetheless.
“Impossible,” Liza muttered with a frown, having trouble trusting her own eyes. “How can they be so strong? How can mere brats be so powerful?” she wondered disbelievingly. She had thought it would take Laien and Yin at least a decade to reach the threshold of the power of martial masters, but what the boys were displaying was enough to place them at the level of power of the ninth mortal realm! If they had their own trump cards, they could very well already be very close to the level of weakest martial masters! Twelve-year-olds! How ridiculous was it?
“Looks like they noticed us, but they don’t seem to care,” Jin said with a slight smirk. “I bet they enjoy showing-off,” he added quietly, but how could he possibly know Laien and Yin were only warming-up? They were only using their basic Qi or spiritual energy with the addition of the Principle of Energy. Were they to unleash their full power, they would be far beyond the level they were displaying at the moment!
“If you don’t want anything then leave us alone,” Laien called out to the two, not stopping to exchange light blows with Yin as he did. He had no opinion about that brown-haired man, but he didn’t like that woman at all. He didn’t feel like displaying his abilities for her to see if there was no good reason for it; he didn’t feel like interacting with her at all if there was no good reason for it.
“Actually, there is something I wanted to talk with you two about,” Jin said casually and smiled when the boys halted their sparring for the time being and turned to look at him. “We haven’t introduced ourselves yet, right? I’m Jin and this alluring woman by my side is called Liza,” he said carefreely and sneaked a rather apparent glance at Liza’s large cleavage and her rich and shapely bosom.
Laien sighed inwardly. So what if this woman had a full, shapely figure, was attractive and under her cloak was wearing very light and revealing clothes? Was that supposed to make him feel attracted to her or something? Truth to be told, he didn’t feel like pursuing any relationships with women anymore, not even casual ones; not after Siana had told him how she really felt.
Additionally, he wouldn’t so easily forget how badly Liza had treated them during their first meeting either. Flashing a pair of boobs would change nothing unless she properly apologized. Considering the talk about arrogance he had with Yin, he would try to act mature and forgive her if she brought herself to say sorry.
As for Yin… nothing much needed to be said. He was thoroughly disinterested and didn’t spare Liza’s body nor a glance nor a single thought.
“Ho, so it really is like that. They aren’t interested in women,” Jin assumed on his own, refusing to believe two pubescent boys wouldn’t be at least a little interested in a woman as attractive as Liza. “Since they are already like that it spares me a lot of trouble convincing them to give it a try,” he thought happily, in his opinion the job he needed to do having just gotten a lot simpler.
“I must say, you guys are really strong,” he began as usual, by complimenting the other party. “I was very impressed by the strength and skill you displayed. I admit I had doubted what people were saying about your duel in the Royal Arena, but now I’m convinced they were speaking the truth,” he followed up smoothly and gave the two a charming smile. He expected the boys to warm up to him as a result, at least a little… but alas.
“Stop beating around the bush and tell us what you want,” Laien said impatiently, displeased by the empty flattery. Did this man, ‘Jin’ or whatever he was called think it was his first time facing somebody trying to court a favor with him by being nice? He had met so many of this kind of people in Neil City he could recognize when someone was buttering him up at the first glance.
“I just wanted us to get along with each other,” Jin answered almost habitually, the look in his eyes mechanically turning a bit sad and longing.
“Do it in a normal way then,” Laien said with a snort.
“Fine,” Jin agreed with a chuckle. “In that case how about we spare for a bit?” he suggested, knowing that fighting was the best way to break the ice with most boys and young men. “You can both come at me at once. If you manage to wound me I will do one thing you want me to do, if you fail to then I get to make a request of you. How about it?” he asked in a challenging way, looking at the boys in a way which seemed to ask if they would take up the bet or if they were too scared.
“No thanks,” Laien replied almost instantly, his gut feeling telling him Jin’s proposal wasn’t coming with good intentions.
“Surely not interested, just go away,” Yin also spoke up, by the looks of it feeling even more at guard against Jin than Laien.
“There’s no need to be shy,” Jin encouraged, withdrawing a greatsword from his interspatial ring and walking up closer to Laien and Yin. “I promise not to tell anyone if you lose, so come at me with your full strength,” he said with a smile and raised his weapon, obviously preparing to launch an attack.
Laien and Yin couldn’t help but exchange a bewildered glance. What were they supposed to do about this horribly mistaken idiot with impure intentions?