Chapter 55

Of Simple Arts and Shady Animals

It was a bit strange, Leo mused, how silent the forest was after the breakfast. Not only did Yue and Liang go southward in search of an iron mine, the vast majority of the animals dispersed as well, with quite a few following them. Beside Blackie, Milky also went, as did Red, Hoot, Howly, and Leo even spotted that terrifying-looking tiger shadowing them from the rear.

The animals seemed to have grown fond of the kids as much as he did, and he felt better about their safety since they had the numbers. That tiger, especially, even if it couldn't contend with the strongest cultivators looked mean as hell, and that would likely be enough to scare off most of the untoward sort.

Rather, there was only one other 'person' beside him in the camp--the strange, shabby dog. It was sitting down on all fours, staring at him, its snout long and narrow, a pair of beady, yellow eyes sporting nothing but dullness.

It was a bit distracting, altogether, as Leo tried pondering upon the new martial art that the system had given him. Although, in dog's defense, the main reason why he couldn't concentrate was because the art seemed so braindead and simple that he felt it was a waste to even learn it. Put some Qi in a specific way inside a sword and just... swing. He garnered that even a child could pull it off, which likely meant that the art itself wasn't all that special.

Nonetheless, the footwork he was given turned out to be fairly decent as at least a workout exercise, so there might be some secrets to the attack art as well. As such, he decided to study it... but later. For now, he set it aside, and wanted to see whether the dog would let him come near. Though the disheveled little thing didn't exhibit any of the usual signs of aggression--perked ears, that weird pose, lowered tail, and so on, Leo didn't trust any of his past knowledge of animals because he'd been proven wrong so many times by now it wasn't even funny.

He approached a step closer and the dog didn't seem to react at all. Pondering for a moment, Leo grabbed a waterskin and poured some juice into a bowl, setting it down. The dog's snout immediately began to move as he sniffed the tantalizing scent, carefully sauntering onward and toward it. He quickly reached it and, with one eye looking up at Leo, he lowered his head and started drinking.

It was all quite adorable and Leo had to fight back a laugh, maintaining an indifferent expression. He recalled a tidbit about how, when meeting a new dog, 'getting on their eye level' might help with trust, so he did precisely that--he got down on all fours and lowered his head until it was level with the dog's. The dog suddenly stopped drinking and, Leo could have sworn, for a moment sported 'what is wrong with this guy's head?' expression.

Quickly sorting himself, Leo sat back up and thanked the heavens there weren't phones or cameras anywhere in this world to record his embarrassment. He still felt fidgety, however, fearing there were animals hidden in the leaves or the bushes gossiping about his downward dog pose.

The dog eventually finished the bowl of juice (a strange thought to conjure, he mused) and, surprisingly, walked over toward him, lying down by his side and closing his eyes. Leo smiled faintly as he watched the shoddy thing slowly fall asleep, ensuring to make as little noise as possible as to not disturb the little guy.

With the kids doing his daily task of exploring the forest, there wasn't anything he absolutely had to do. As such, he went to the pond for a quick bath before practicing and cultivating some more. But, as he got bored fast, he abandoned the notion and sat back down in front of one of the mud huts. The seventh building there, some ways off from the rest, was gone--Leo didn't really know when it disappeared but, one day, it simply did.

There wasn't really a way for him to keep it as, unlike with the longhouse, the system didn't offer to take the raw material and process them for him. As such, he would have somehow had to get his hands on processed lumber, which wasn't going to happen in the middle of the forest.

The more the world changed, it felt, the more it stayed the same--despite him having two Disciples, a litany of animals as friends, and a world at his feet, today felt strangely similar to the first day he arrived in this world, sans the terror, confusion, and absolute belief that he was dreaming it all up.

Eventually, he got back up and started rummaging around the camp, collecting whatever he could find that could be used for the longhouse, putting it on the ever-growing piece of wood. It wasn't a lot, far from it, but at least he kept himself busy. There weren't screens everywhere that he could use to kill a few hours every day so that he wouldn't be alone with his thoughts, and though he didn't mind being alone with them in this world, he still felt it was a waste to just sit around and do nothing. Thus, he got up and did anything.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The pair of kids, and the entourage of animals (that had somehow gotten bigger?) returned a few hours before the evening, and they returned with a pair of good and bad news: bad news? There was no iron mine. Good news? They found a quarry.

"Liang already dug out what can be considered an entryway," Yue explained. "It's only about forty feet in the ground, and it is quite rich. We will go back tomorrow and start cutting off the chunks of stone. How many do you need, Master?"

"Around... 300 medium-sized ones?"

"Okay," she said. "It will take us a few days, but we'll definitely get it. It's just a shame that we weren't able to find an iron mine."

"It's fine, don't worry about it," Leo said. "We'll find it eventually."

"Even if we don't," Liang said. "We can always go buy some iron ore on the outside. Ah, sorry, Master! Isn't there a rule that once we enter the forest, we can never leave? Senior Sister mentioned it when I first arrived, but I forgot. Please forgive me!" while Leo dubiously looked at Yue, the young woman didn't dare meet his gaze, looking away and coughing awkwardly.

"Master is forgiving, Junior Brother," she said. "Let's not bother him with that. Ah, Master, didn't you mention that you will teach us another art today?"

"... sure," Leo continued to stare at her for a moment longer before simply smiling and shaking his head. "It's very simple. What you have to do..." he slowly explained the Qi pathway through the meridians and how precisely to gather it into a weapon--be it a sword or a fist. As it was quite simple, and as the both of them were quite talented, the two picked up on it quickly and Leo scattered just as quickly, not wanting to witness their unabridged disappointment with the excuse that he had to go out and gather some water and veggies for dinner.

**

Yue followed her Master's instructions precisely and swung. The thin sword in her hands shook rather violently, so much so that she nearly lost the grip. She frowned for a moment, turning toward her Junior Brother.

"Liang, stand over there and put up several layers of defense."

"Hm? Sure, Senior Sister," he said quite obediently. "Like this?"

"Yes. When I attack, make sure to pay close attention and dodge in time."

"Okay!"

Yue did the same ritual again, slowly drawing Qi into the sword and swung--Liang's body was embossed in several layers of gloss, all from Qi. Ordinarily, she wouldn't be able to break through even a couple of those layers due to the difference in cultivation realms, but for some reason, in her heart, she felt this attack would be different.

As per hope and prediction, she watched the sword easily cut through the numerous layers of shields like they were made of tofu. Luckily, Liang recognized it just as quickly and hurriedly dodged backwards, avoiding an injury with a rather shocked expression.

"How did you do that, Senior Sister?!" he asked, fiery curious.

"I didn't," Yue sighed. "I used that new art that the Master taught us."

"..." Liang frowned and closed his eyes for a moment. Yue watched another few layers of shields appear on his left arm, while his right arm executed the attack--and, just like with hers, she watched the layers of shields evaporate into thin air. It seemed, despite the simplicity of execution and the perceived lack of 'power', there was one world-defying quality to the art: it ignored defense.

On its own, this wouldn't really be all that wonderful as cultivators very rarely allowed themselves to be stricken directly with a weapon. However, because of just how simple the art itself was, it was entirely possible to layer it on top of another, or even weave the two into a singular attack.

"Master really has the strangest things," Yue said.

"More than that," Liang said in a rare instance of growing serious and somber. "I suggest you don't use this attack on the outside, Senior Sister. Unless you plan on killing whoever you are attacking."

"Why?" she queried. All else aside, her strange Junior Brother had far more experience in the world of cultivation than she did, and she often asked him questions about it that he was more than happy to answer.

"My former Master mentioned once that a key property of a lot of demonic arts was somewhat like this," he said. "That they had the unnatural ability to ignore the order of things."

"Are you saying that the Master's art is demonic?!"

"No, of course not. It's one of the purest arts I've ever experienced," he said. "But it doesn't matter. Unless we teach it to others, they would never know that. All they'd see is us ignoring conventional wisdom, and doing seemingly the impossible."

"... sort of like with the footwork?" Yue, with Liang's help, had discerned the true nature of the Master's seemingly simple footwork. However, it was far too mind-bending of a truth that she buried it deep and ignored it, for her own sanity's sake.

"Hm," Liang nodded, sighing. It was strange seeing her Junior Brother being so serious, which likely meant that the weight of this was far grander than she thought. "So, remember. Don't--"

"--don't use it unless I mean to kill, yes," she nodded. "Rather, I should be warning you."

"Ha ha, you needn't, at all!" gone was the somberness, and back was the carefree attitude that, on occasion, would anger her just a twine too much. "I am the greatest secret keeper of the entire Holy Blade Sect! In fact, this one time, I caught one of my Senior Brothers sneaking out of the brothel, and I never said it to anyone!"

"You just told me."

"..."

"Alright, I'm going to practice a bit more while you marinate on that. Good luck, Junior Brother."