Year 658 of the stable Era

Thirtieth day of the sixth month

Despite the relative volume of Lee Han’s shout, it was actually quite a bit softer than Shen had been used to. Loud enough to carry across the courtyard, but too soft to be heard through any of the doors. Or at the very least, one specific door.

Shen had to applaud his control. Two months ago, he would have simply shouted at the top of his lungs, loud enough to attract the attention of both Zhao Lan and every other applicant in a three -building radius.

“You dare to try to weasel out of our spar?” Lee Han demanded, striding across the grass towards Shen. “I should have known that you would try something like this!”

“What are you talking about?” Shen asked, straightening out of his stance.

“You dare lie so baldly, in front of Xia Bao? The very witness of our last great bout?” His sleeves flapped as he pointed at Bao, as if Shen was unaware of his presence.

“I am not denying that.”

“Then are you denying that you lost, in the very challenge that you proposed?”

“I believe that I was very clear that I conceded my defeat.”

“And you do recall that, upon my triumph, I claimed the right to choose the method of our next weekly match, by the accord we struck.”

“Yes, I am aware,” Shen replied. He really had thought that he was making the right decision challenging Lee Han to Go. The game was one of the few comforts the sect had allowed them, aside from the mahjong set and the books on the sect’s history, and he had been quite confident that he had more experience with the game.

However, despite his brash nature, it turned out that Lee Han was quite adept at strategy when he needed to be. What he’d thought would be a quick rout had turned into a grueling day-long match, ending three games into his proposed best of five. He hated that he lost, but it should have bought him another week of freedom.

“But according to our agreement, there are to be seven full days between matches. Only six have elapsed. Or do you intend to eat your chickens before they hatch?”

“Do you think that my eyes are stone?” Lee Han gasped, dramatically clutching his chest, “For such a feeble lie to fool me.” His finger swooped to the left, pointing towards the calendar mounted from the corner of the courtyard.

The sect had enchanted a large wooden slab to help the applicants keep track of the days. A simple seven wide grid had been carved into the thick oak, and at the dawn of each day a neat ‘x’ would scorch itself into a new box.

Shen followed the dramatic gesture, only to realize that Han Lee was indeed correct about the day. He had been far more focused on his cultivation than he had thought. It wasn’t like him to lose track of the days this badly. Maybe he was getting close to a breakthrough after all.

“Hah! Mark the date Xia Bao,” Lee Han crowed, a feline grin spreading along his human features, “Today is the day that I finally silenced Bailong Shen!”

“No,” Bao replied firmly.

“Fine then, I’ll do it myself.”

As Lee Han went to get a brush from his room to circle the date, Shen quickly ducked into his. He wasn’t fleeing from Lee Han, but rather ensuring that he wouldn’t lose to a fluke. Grabbing a food pill from his supply, he swallowed it down as he stepped back out of the room. A sensation of bitter fullness flooded his stomach, filling the hunger that he’d been too distracted to feel.

“If you’re quite ready, we can begin,” Shen announced, as the young tiger furiously ground inkstick against stone.

“Where’s your gi?” Lee Han asked, looking up from his work.

“I wasn’t getting it.”

“Do you intend mocking the very spirit of our spar?”

“No, I rather intend on embracing it,” Shen replied smoothly, taking his place on the grass. “Many consider it proper etiquette to spar bare-chested, as it shows that the participants have nothing to hide. You should embrace it as well.” He flexed his muscles as he said this, the coils of the azure dragon tattooed upon them undulating with the motion.

Lee Han’s tail stiffened at this, his ears flattening for just a second before he threw his inkstick aside in frustration. “I’ll stay clothed, as is the civilized thing to do.”

“Today the river flows east, but who’s to say that it won’t flow west soon.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That perhaps if I win, I’ll have our next spar be completed in more fitting attire.”

“In your dreams. Maybe you should focus more on your fists than your words, lest you suffer a second defeat.”

Shen smiled at those words, fist clasped in a martial salute as. “Perhaps. You seem to have benefited greatly from the Teal Jade Mind Refinement Technique. I hope that you’ve been just as diligent in your study of the body method.”

Xia Bao held his hand between the two as Han Lee returned the salute. “Remember the rules. No lethal or crippling moves, standard sparring point rules apply. The first to five points is the winner.”

The two opponents bowed to each other, eyes locked as they waited for the signal to start.

“Ready, BEGIN!” Bao raised his hand quickly and the two combatants sprang into action.

Lee Han started strong, coming out of the gate swinging a sweeping left kick towards Shen’s ribs. It was a calculated move, designed to catch a more cautious opponent off guard by interrupting the typical probing period their slower style preferred.

Unfortunately, it was also a move that he’d already tried on Shen at the Young Generation Tournament in Black Turtle City.

He hadn’t even changed which leg he led with.

Shen stepped into the move, ducking the sweeping blow and landing a pair of punches on his exposed side before his leg hit the ground. Lee Han lurched, barely catching his balance as Bao called out the hit.

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“Point Bailong Shen.”

Cursing, Lee Han took up his stance again. His tail flicking as he and Shen began to circle each other again, slower this time, each attempting to feel out the other’s growth.

“Still going for easy points, I see,” Shen taunted, his eyes carefully following Han’s stance. He was definitely faster than the last time they’d clashed, though how much stronger he couldn’t quite tell until they traded blows in earnest. Like Shen, Han’s assumed form was mostly human, the only stripes of his true nature being his tail and the rounded ears atop his head.

In the Youth Tournament Shen had seen him shift his hands to paws to deflect sword strikes against his claws, but unless he felt like breaking the rules he’d been so proud of establishing, there were low odds that he was at risk of being slashed. Lee Han was crude, brash, and impulsive, but he was also honorable.

His tail was another story.

Many yaoguai cultivators spent time incorporating their unique anatomy into their martial arts, and tail techniques were relatively common. Han hadn’t made use of any when they last fought, but it was well within the realm of possibility that he’d started to train a method in the last year. His height hadn’t changed much in that time, as he was still approximately Shen’s height, though his reach was slightly shorter.

“Begin,” Bao said, waving his hand.

Shen made the first move this time, darting in close and feinting an obvious right towards Han’s left cheek. Han was quick to react, his left hand shifting to a paw as he attempted to block it with his pad, only for the blow to never land.

Shen had quickly transitioned into a kick, sweeping Han’s legs and sending him sprawling. He quickly followed it up with a punch towards his exposed stomach, stopping his fist only moments before it made contact.

“Point Bailong Shen.”

Lee Han pawed the grass in frustration, before quickly rising to his feet for another round. He brushed long orange hair back, out of his eyes, and cracked his neck as he got back into position. As he shifted his other hand, Shen found himself envying the ease that his rival flowed between his forms. Unlike Han, the only part of Shen that betrayed his true nature was his hair, which was the same azure blue as his mane. If only the damned seal was looser…

Xia Bao held his hand up as the two of them faced off again, resuming the match with another cry of “Start!”.

Shen took the initiative once again, his fists moving in a flurry of blows as he probed Han’s defenses. Han managed to stop the majority of them; blocking the punches with his pads and deflecting the rest with his furred forearms. He seemed to be absorbing the blows effortlessly, but Shen quickly realized that the surety of his defenses was a deception. A paper tiger, if you were.

While Han’s pads were able to block Shen’s blows, it was only because of their thickness. Aside from that and his speed, his body cultivation was far below Shen’s in terms of pure strength. The dragon on his shoulders coiled in anticipation.

With a shout Shen hit Lee Han with everything he had, putting the full force of his cultivation behind the blow. His tattooed fist lunged forwards, dragon-headed fist breaking through Lee Han’s guard and crashing into his cheek.

“Point Bailong Shen.”

Han staggered back. First one step, and then three more. He shook his head drunkenly, as if he could simply dislodge the force of the blow. Shen courteously gave him a moment to catch his breath, taking the time to do the same himself.

“It would seem that your diligence in cultivating the body method is indeed lacking,” Shen taunted as Lee Han took up his stance for the third time. “Perhaps I could give you some pointers later.”

“I’m just getting warmed up,” Lee Han snapped back. “Start the round.”

“Begin!”

Han charged as the words left Xia Bao’s lips, going for the same sweeping kick that he’d opened the fight with. Shen easily saw it coming and went for the same easy duck, only for a second leg to kick him in the side of the head as he came up for his counterattack.

The tail!

“Point Lee Han.”

He took a step back to recover from the force of the blow, as Lee Han smiled crookedly. “Hah! I can’t believe that you fell for that.”

“I’m more surprised that it took you so long to remember you had it.” Shen shot back. “Did you forget you tied it on this morning?”

“You dare!”

“Begin!”

Lee Han leapt at Shen, seeking to pummel him with a returned flurry. Shen batted them, his superior strength allowing him to redirect kicks and block punches as if they were feathers. As the rain of blows continued, Han Lee seemed to get more and more winded, fury fading with each failed blow. Eventually, Shen simply caught one of his diminished punches, furry paw stuck in his iron grasp.

He threw it back, and as Han stumbled from the force, he followed it up with a front kick to his chest, sending him to the ground.

“Point Bailong Shen.”

“Your martial arts have improved, but you’re far weaker than I remember.” Shen noted as Han caught his breath. Unlike his opponent, Shen’s breathing was still even, barely a drop of sweat on his body. “The gap between our physiques has only grown more vast. You should have cultivated your body more diligently after all.”

“While one pillar may be strong, three in harmony are stronger still,” Lee Han replied, clicking his tongue. His eyes flashed, his pupils contracting into slits. With a mighty roar he launched himself at Shen, far faster than he’d been previously.

In a flash of crystal clarity, Shen realized what was happening. Lee Han was using combining his cultivation! The click of his tongue was a mnemonic trick to trigger the Jade Mind Refinement technique, allowing him to heighten his mental state.

With the increased level of control, he would be able to push the qi in his body to its limits, synchronizing it with his body to surpass Shen’s own physique. His fist blurred, a faint mirage of orange qi slipping out as his body struggled to contain its power.

Mind ringing with thoughts, Shen took a breath to focus himself as he asserted his own control over the Jade Mind technique.

His thoughts crystallized, and he knew what to do.

As Lee Han’s fist approached, he exhaled. His qi surged, rushing through his meridians. He could feel its flow against his blood, the two intermingling until they were in perfect harmony.

Yin and Yang.

Two parts as one.

When he lifted his leg, it moved as a true whole, fully unified in action and purpose for the first time in his life.

With a second breath, he was behind Lee Han, his body flowing like water.

It was surreal, as if he had finally realized how to take his first proper steps after years of doing it wrong. Raising his right hand, he brought his palm down on Han’s shoulder. It was a brief tap physically, but one accompanied by a rush of qi, the energy pushing Han down with a soft phwumph of force.

And then, just as quickly as it had come, the moment passed.

Shen let out his second breath, feeling as if he’d been holding it for hours. Sweat beaded down his back, his tattooed dragon suddenly the master of its own personal rainclouds. He sucked in a deep breath of the air, and then another, grasping for any spare qi to fill the void that had suddenly opened in him.

In the distance, he heard Xia Bao calling out.

“Shen! Shen! Are you alright?”

“I’m… fine…” he breathed, doing his best to keep himself up. “I’m just… a little… lightheaded… is all….”

“You bastard, you’ve done it, haven’t you,” Lee Han groaned from the ground. “You reached the Qi Refining stage.”

“You all right?” Shen asked, reaching out a hand. He stumbled as he did, only for Bao to catch him. The tall cultivator reached down to pick Han up as well, supporting the two of them as he brought them over to the sitting room, where he deposited them on a pair of chairs.

Shen used the short walk to catch his breath, his dantian refilling a fraction more with every inhalation. It felt easier to take the mountain’s qi in, as if his body had suddenly remembered that it’d known how to do so all along.

“I reached it a short while ago,” he said to Lee Han, once he’d recovered himself a bit more. “This is the first time I’ve used it practically.”

“Fuck, I’d really thought I could beat you to it,” Han replied, shaking his head.

“You don’t seem too far yourself. Judging by your combined technique, it seems like you’re on the cusp of mastering it.”

“You really think so?”

“Sure.” Shen thought for a second. “Ah, I’ve just realized; I won, didn’t I.”

“By our accord, you have.”

“I think I know what I want.”

“Is it to force me to strip shirtless while you beat me senseless with your superior cultivation?” Lee Han groaned. “Because if so, I think I would like to clearly concede my defeat now.”

“As tempting as that is, I’ve got something else in mind,” Shen said with a smile. “I challenge you to practice your cultivation with me.”

“Huh?”

“If we were not rivals, I would not have had this breakthrough. There’s more to cultivation than scrolls, and we can learn more together than we can apart.”

“Are you sure? As we say in my family; a mountain cannot contain two tigers.”

“But what about a tiger and a dragon?” Shen replied, offering his hand.

“Truly?,” Han replied, looking at Shen incredulously. Shen firmly met his gaze, and after a long moment he grasped his hand. “Maybe you’re more than just a smug snake with delusions of grandeur after all.”

“Don’t make me regret this already.”