Xin was failing miserably. Sweat flowed in thin streams down the contours of his face as he stood in front of his training dummy. Almost seven of their fifteen allotted training minutes had passed, and he was beginning to accept his impending failure. He breathed out, letting the qi condense in his palms. He could feel his channels strain and stretch with the gathered energy. This time, he let the qi bleed out of him in a slow trickle. The energy left his outstretched palms and entered the dummy, lighting up the carved valleys of its channels.
The light moved outward from below the navel, spreading slowly. The qi passed the four gems modeling the four center meridians located near the stomach leaving them glowing a pale white and snaked towards the heart but stopped short. Xin collapsed forward onto his knees. He wasn’t physically tired, he practiced expulsions for hours on end without breaking a sweat, but a shrill and incessant panic was suffocating him, making it hard to breathe.
No matter what he tried it was always wrong. At first, he had expelled the qi as he normally did. The dummy flew back before he could register the lit meridians. He tried lowering the velocity of his expulsions until the dummy barely rocked, but without the speed, his qi didn’t have the push it needed to fill the artifact’s system.
YiHua grunted beside him. They had moved further away from the group to practice as usual. Xin could see the fading glow on the still upright dummy from YiHua’s last attempt. Eleven glowing gems. All but the highest gem at the center of the forehead was lit.
Even in his despair, he couldn’t help but feel admiration bubble up inside of him. YiHua, unlike him, never relied on brute force. She didn’t have the advantage of size, but she was almost even with him in duels for one reason—she was more skilled. Xin had known it since the first day they fought. She seemed to have an innate understanding of qi that he just lacked.
She turned to him with a small smile. “Not quite yet, but I think I’m getting the feel of it.” She moved towards his dummy, obviously intent on helping him again.
Xin held out a palm, stopping her. “No, you go on practicing. You’ve almost got it.”
She quirked her head at him. “Exactly, I’ve almost got it so we have to focus on you. Two brains are better than one.”
Xin rubbed harshly at his face. “And what exactly would be the point? Shang’s not here. I thought we’d agreed it was all of us or none of us.”
YiHua’s face crumbled at the accusation in his words. “The point, you big dolt, is that we try our best. When do you think we’ll get a chance like this again? We get to have people like these watching us. I was already shitting myself at the disciples, but the Sect Leader is on another level. And you know what’s sad Xin?” She didn’t pause long enough for him to answer. “I don’t even know what level that is. That’s how far he is above us.”
“So what? You’re so impressed that you’d be willing to abandon Shang? Your best friend?” Xin asked. He could see the turmoil in her face, so he was surprised when she shoved him, hard. He fell back, his butt hitting the dirt.
“You. Don’t get to shame me for trying,” she hissed. “I never said I would leave the village without him, but the only way we have any leverage over the sect is by smashing through all their tests.” She leaned forward to haul Xin off the ground. “Make them want us so badly that they’d be willing to add a human-sized cargo box to the airship. And besides, Shang would kill both of us if we didn’t at least try our best.”
Xin gripped YiHua’s arm like it was keeping him aloft. He forced himself to smile even though he didn’t feel the least bit optimistic. “Okay. I’ll try.”
“Good, now I think your approach is wrong. You’re still thinking about expulsion as an attack. This is not a test to see how far you can fling the dummy, it's a test of control.”
“But, we’ve never expelled qi as anything other than an attack,” Xin grumbled. He couldn't see how this exercise could even be applied in the heat of combat.
YiHua stood back and considered. “Maybe we've never done this exactly, but I can see analogous applications.” she moved in front of him, her feet set in a fighting stance one hand raised. “When you are faced with an attacker ready to slam you with an expulsion at close range, what do you do.” She was too close to through up a deflection so Xin intercepted the strike by slamming the side of his hand into her wrist.
“Like just now, what did you do?” She asked.
“I uh- hit your wrist with my hands,” Xin said. He could tell YiHua was trying hard not to roll her eyes at his answer.
“Yes, good, but what else did you do?” she probed.
Xin thought back to his sparing sessions. An expulsion so close to his body was dangerous. Even if he pushed the blow off center, there would still be some blowback if the qi exploded inches from him. When he struck, he always sent a thin stream of his own qi into his attacker's arms, to try and wrestle control of the attack away from them. If he could intercept the flow of qi for even a second, the attack would be delayed and lack potency.
That feeling of fighting for control was different from a normal expulsion. Its goal wasn’t to push a physical object away. The goal was to weave the qi through.
YiHua gave him an encouraging smile and pushed him towards his dummy. “Just channel that feeling. You aren’t trying to slowly push your qi against it. There is nothing to push against. Qi flows through the world without barriers.”
Xin forced his fluttering heart to slow. His fingers tingled as he pictured intercepting an attack. The lack of resistance as his energy flowed out of him and through. The expulsion streamed out of him in a gushing torrent and splashed onto the dummy. The sheer weight of it should have pushed the artifact back, but it didn’t even wobble. One. Three. Six. Seven. Nine. Eleven. Eleven out of twelve.
Xin jumped so high he almost slammed his head on a pavilion roof. YiHua laughed, slapping him on the back. “She glanced back at the crowd of students. Three minutes left. Better practice fast.”
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Aran took no joy in seeing so many fail, over and over. He might have been slightly entertained at first, but now it was just tedious. The students were lined up behind five dummies. When five new students stepped forward, they would have three chances to light up the meridians while keeping the artifact on its feet.
They were more than halfway through the group and no one had come close. Cytan waved his hand, ushering the new group of failures to the side. He barely glanced their way before dismissing them. His eyes continually flickered towards someone near the end of the line. Aran followed his gaze to a tall boy with light brown hair. The boy was easy to spot since he stood almost a full head over his neighbors. His face was bent down, whispering occasionally to a girl with black hair and eyes. Her face was flushed a rosy pink from exertion, and her red lips curved with a strong cupid's bow so that they curved up at the edges. Pretty, but so…pedestrian.
Aran wondered at Cytan’s sudden interest. Aran’s attention heightened as they approached the front of the line. His perception touched something strange as a muscular boy with a thick neck stepped up for his attempt. Something was strange at the flow of qi through the boy’s body. It was far too fast given the width of his channels. He waved the village elder Zuang forward.
“Who’s he?” Aran nodded his head towards the stocky boy.
Master Zuang’s face lit up at the question. “That’s Fu XiaoXi. He’s the son of the Headmaster of JaLong. A terribly talented student.”
The corners of Aran’s lips lifted at that. Looks like the headmaster’s been ferreting cultivation supplies to this boy. Trafficked ones if he had to guess. There’s no way a headmaster of an unknown school could afford to buy such potent resources from a sect-sanctioned seller.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Cytan glanced at him, picking up on his strange cycling speed. Aran just shrugged. He was not against a little bit of help. Fairness be damned. The world was never fair. Sometimes those born without claws and fangs had to buy them instead. That didn’t make them any less worthy.
Cytan didn’t voice his concern though Aran knew it bothered him. He never had to resort to such measures. What a hypocrite.
The artifact wobbled, threatening to tip back, as Xiao’s qi made contact. Ten meridians lit up on its wooden body. The best results by far. His second and third attempts were not better, but not worse. At least the boy was consistent.
Partly just to annoy Cytan, Aran clapped softly and stepped forward to grasp the boy’s shoulder. “An admirable showing. Step to the left. You deserve to go to the next round.”
Xiao bowed low in thanks and he turned to face the gathering crowd. A man with similar features gave him a toothy smile.
“Didn’t realize that almost passing counted,” Cytan grumbled under his breath.
“I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that recruitment decisions are mine to make,” Aran said with false levity. “Look, your favorites are stepping up. Let’s see how they fare.”
“Elder Zuang, tell us about them,” Aran commanded.
Zuang didn’t need to be told who he was referring to. “The tall boy is Hu Fu Xin and the girl is Fu YiHua. I hope you don’t mind my enthusiasm, but these two are the stars of this village. We’ve never had talent like them in all my years.” At Aran’s unimpressed expression, he added, “of course, that small talent means little to the Shadow Tiger Sect. I hope you’ll forgive an old man for his humble opinions.”
“Hu? So that’s the boy of the former disciple?” Aran asked. Zuang bobbed his head so hard it looked like it would fall off. He studied the pair more closely. Their channel size was good. Meridian placement…very good. He would need an system analyzer to get a better reading, but their foundations were solid. While channel size could be modified using specific training regimes, meridian placements were essentially set at birth. Misaligned nodes could drastically decrease cycling efficiency and lead to spiritual imbalances in later realms. There were ways to get around it, but they were costly and rare.
Aran watched the two closely on their first attempt, studying their movement and the flow of qi through their bodies. The taller boy was a bit stiff. His brow furrowed as he stopped a kink in his channels. An artifact. A transference orb. But that didn’t make any sense. He could feel no foreign qi entering the boy. And then he understood. This was a transmitter, made to siphon off qi. From the look of pure hate the Headmaster's boy, Xiao, was directing at the boy, he could guess who was responsible for implanting it. Aran’s lips quirked up at that. A tiger indeed.
He was so distracted he barely registered the outcome. The two training dummies were upright, each glowing from twelve gems. They had passed. Despite his favorable assessment, Aran was still taken aback.
“Again,” Aran instructed.
Both turned back to their now dark artifacts and expelled a torrent of qi. The artifacts didn’t even sway. Twelve points of light glowed brightly on both.
“Again.”
The third attempt produced the same result. A perfect execution. It hurt Aran’s pride to admit to himself that Cytan was right. Treasures indeed. He could see the little smile painting Cytan’s lips in his peripheral vision.
“Splendid, you two move on to the next stage,” Aran said. There was a smile on his face, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Recruiting talented cultivators was good for the Sect, but Cytan’s smug satisfaction made Aran feel like he’d lost somehow.
Unsurprisingly, the few remaining students failed in spectacular fashion. One even blew the artifact onto the roof. In the end, there were only three that passed. If Aran was honest with himself, only two were even worth considering. The students that failed the first round and a small group of curious villagers crowded around the edge of the courtyard, circling around the remaining three students.
Aran stepped forward before Cytan had a chance. He didn’t want him to get all the credit for finding these recruits. “The second round is simple. Deflection is in many ways an extension of the first test. The goal with deflection is to change the flow of opposing currents of qi in midair. As a method of defense, it requires fast reflexes of both body and mind.” His gaze landed on the three, but only the girl dared to meet his eyes and only for a second.
“Since this test does not require the use of a training tool, we will forgo the demonstration. I will fire at you three times using pure qi, and you must deflect. You will go in alternating order for each attack, for fairness.”
Cytan looked like he wanted to jump in and object to him administering the test, but even he thought better of challenging Aran in front of so many spectators.
“Boy, you first.” Aran pointed at the Headmaster’s son.
The stocky boy, Xiao, stepped forward. He looked again to the crowd for reassurance. Whatever he saw there seemed to help. He crouched low in a defensive stance, readying himself. Aran would keep this simple. Standing still with his arms behind him, Aran expelled a thin blade of qi at the boy. It was obvious he’d been caught off guard. Stupidly, the boy had been waiting for a physical tell. He barely managed to get a wall up in time. The blade missed Xiao’s ear by an inch and caught the edge of his deflection. The force of the impact sent the boy careening to the side. His body rolled twice before stopping. Aran waited patiently as Xiao pushed himself up with shaking arms.
“Acceptable, next,” Aran said. Xin rushed forward. He steadied his form, his face stern and determined. Again, Aran gave no indication of his attack. The blade of qi approached low this time, targeting Xin’s legs. Attacks to the lower body usually garnered a slower reaction. It took time to reorient a defense for an attack coming from an oblique angle. If there was a delay in Xin’s reaction speed, Aran couldn’t tell. His attack slammed into a wall of force. The collison blew back the leaf litter on the ground and ruffled nearby robes, but Xin did not budge, the only sign of strain was a slight grimace.
When the wind settled, Aran gave the boy a small smile. “Good, next.”
The girl’s approach was different, but the result was similarly effective. She managed to catch the blade further away from her and deflected the blow in two stages. The first was light and reduced the blow’s momentum and the second was more substantial, changing the direction of the blade entirely allowing it to slide harmlessly off her shield.
Aran was impressed, though he would never admit it out loud. “Girl, you will receive the second round of attacks first.”
She had not lost focus since her successful defense of his first blow, her senses open and waiting for another attack. Aran flooded the space between them with qi. Unlike the thin blade of his first attack this was all encompassing like a crashing wave. The brute force of the second attack exposed her weaknesses. She was struggling to push enough qi out around her to deflect the heavy blow. There was no clever way to escape. Her eyes were squeezed shut with effort. When the wave of qi passed, she was shaking slightly but no worse for wear.
Xiao went next. Aran gave a similar attack, though with a bit less force. Even so, Xiao’s defense cracked almost immediately. His body flew back at the impact, and Aran had to run to catch his limp body before his head slammed into the courtyard wall. What a disappointment, but what could he expect? The Headmaster came forward to retrieve his son’s limb form, his face sunken and resigned.
Xin faced the second test as he did the first—stalwart, as immovable as stone. The second attacked emphasized the boy's strengths, and he passed with flying colors. With only the two of them left, Aran decided to have some fun. Well, it would be fun for him at least.
“For the third round of attacks, you’ll both defend together.” Xin looked back uneasily at YiHua as she stepped up beside him. He’d caught on quickly to Aran’s words. Attacks, not just one.
Without preamble, Aran started the sequence of expulsions. Though he kept with the rules of the test and only used pure qi, he knew he was breaking the spirit of the rules. No matter how gifted these children were, they had never encountered pure qi like this. He sent thin threads of qi zipping towards them disguised within a barrage of attacks. They were both throwing up deflections in quick succession. Their backs touched, both trusting the other to cover for their blind spots.
The girl jumped as her keen senses picked up on the qi threads, but she’d noticed them too late. They were already looping their way around their feet. Without warning she dropped both shields. Xin yelled in alarm as he rushed to cover for her, but he didn’t need to. YiHua gripped the back of Xin’s robes and scorched the earth with an expulsion that blinded the crowd. Xin’s scream of alarm drew the spectator’s attention to the roof. YiHua was hunched forwards on her knees in exhaustion.
Aran was really smiling now. The girl had launched them both to avoid being ensnared by his qi threads. While not necessarily considered a deflection, the speed of her qi control and its potency was impressive. Or it would have been if she’d had a core. As she was, with not even all meridians open, her feat was nothing short of shocking. And the boy. He was like a mountain, holding off the brunt of Aran’s heavy attacks allowing the girl more maneuverability.
If someone told Aran he would be applauding the skill of foundational cultivators in their mid-teens, he would have spat in their face for the bold faced lie, but here he was clapping along with the crowd.
It was too early to guess at their full potential, but Aran felt a thrum of excitement at the possibilities. The best ranked cultivators in each sect invariably belonged to one of the Principal Families. Their first loyalties were always to their respective families. Even the Tora disciples answered to the Tora Patriarch. The thought of gaining a set of cultivators outside their control, with fealty only to the Sect, was mouth watering.