“Match point! Victor… Tauyang Weishi!”

Yujin sighed, the declaration of his defeat still softly echoing through his mind hours after the sparring session had ended. A single defeat wasn’t that big of a deal. No one won every fight. The chain of defeats that preceded this most recent one, however, was a bit more serious. And just a bit more serious after this one.

Had it really only been a two years since he’d bested a Jade while still Iron after winning a sect wide tournament? Since he’d been the rising star of the sect? That had been lavished with resources and training to advance him further?

Now?

Now, he was another middling Jade that the Elders paid too much attention to because an invitation to his house for dinner was more coveted than a Four Seasons Advancement Pill. Well, middling if he was lucky. His latest loss today might be enough to knock him into the lower rankings, depending on how the other ranked sparring matches turned out.

Yujin knew he needed to start changing his trajectory. He just needed to do better, figure out what had changed, what was wrong.

Except you already know what’s wrong. Yujin couldn’t stop the words. The unhelpful, intrusive, offensively accurate words. You figured it out months ago and haven’t done anything because the only way to fix the problem would be worse than hoping it goes away.

Yujin sighed, then slapped his cheeks. This wasn’t the place for such thoughts. This was a happy place. So he plastered a smile on and tried to look around with the appreciation such a place deserved.

The Flowing Travelers’ Marketplace stretched out around him, offering tantalizing sights and smells only his Iron body could fully appreciate. There had been changes over the past few years, but to Yujin, it forever remained the limitless collection of possibilities and spices he’d first discovered as a child.

And it was larger than when he’d been young. Significantly so. The last few years had seen upheaval in the region with the arrival of a massive tide of dreadbeasts, and the Flowing Blade Sect had been one of the few prepared for its arrival, thanks to his father’s warnings. The stability of the Flowing Blade’s territory, especially when compared to the violence and destruction in other sect’s territories, had drawn commerce and caravans that would otherwise have passed them by. Leading, eventually, to a Travelers’ Marketplace almost doubled in size compared to his childhood.

There was something about that fact that bothered Yujin every time it occurred to him, but he refused to think on it too deeply. This was a place for happier thought. There was nothing for him to do but appreciate the expanded selection of ingredients to cook with.

The greetings of the many vendors who’d long since learned his face teased a true smile out of Yujin. These were his second family. A second home, away from his kitchen.

“Young Master, come see! We’ve just had the latest fish shipment in.”

“Oi, Yujin. No luck on your order for Earth aspected Spirit Beasts, but my supplier says he’ll have some next month!”

“Apples, pears, sweetnuts! All so fresh from the Blueflame Orchards they’re still smoldering! If you don’t know what to do with them, just ask that young man there. I’ve seen him make candied fruits out of these so delicious you’d betray the Blackflame Emperor himself. Come get your pick Yujin, they’re going fast!”

Yujin just shook his head at every entreaty though. There was only one place he need to be today. It was the Golden Trumendous Spice Caravan’s last night in town, and the owner Ru Men was a friend and excellent supplier. He needed to stock up on the rarer flavors Ru Men always managed to find, and possibly remind him that wasn’t how tremendous was spelled. It would be months before he’d be able to tease him about that again.

“Ah, young Yujin! I knew I’d be seeing you again.” Ru Men cried out as Yujin entered the large crimson tent covering the spice displays. “You never do let me go without one last purchase. It’s a mark of pride for me you know. I get to brag about that to all the other traders. The market keeps a tally of who you visit the most, you know?”

“I am aware. You repeatedly tell me, and several of your competitors have attempted to bribe me into visiting less.” Yujin tilted his head. “I don’t suppose your knowledge of my visits is why any sales you have end two days before you’re set to leave?”

“Do they? I hadn’t really noticed. After all, the heavens themselves will descend before a merchant discusses his pricing with honesty. Even to himself.” Ru men gestured broadly around his wares. “However, if you choose to listen to unpleasant rumors about my motives, I cannot prevent that. I suppose I will just to rely on having the widest and rarest selection of spices of anyone in the Flowing Market to bring you back for your visits.”

Yujin chuckled, acknowledging Ru Men’s victory in the verbal spar. It carried far less of a sting than his earlier loss. Together, the two wandered the tent, haggling good naturedly over anything that caught Yujin’s eye. The sect elders had long since quietly set aside a stipend for Yujin’s use at the market, ostensibly for his martial achievements, but Yujin still tried to stretch it as far as possible.

“I still just can’t believe it.” Yujin shook his head as they finalized his purchases, which would be delivered later in the evening. “How do so consistently have a selection that shames every other merchant here. I’ve seen the wealth the Baetong’s can throw around but their stalls never carry a fraction of the variety you manage to. How do you do it?”

“Those old cowards? Pfeh!” Ru Men spit out the entrance. “They sit behind the safety of the sect’s borders and throw out gold and treasures like bait on a hook, hoping what they wish to sell will come to them. I go out and find it. I’ve traveled the breadth of this incredible empire and bargained with merchants who do the same with our neighbors. All the treasures you could imagine and more, just sitting out there, beyond our horizon.

“The world is so much more vast than you can imagine, but it is only there to be seized by the bold and reckless. Those who can never be bothered to leave their homes to find it will never see the variety and opportunity of it all. They will forever be limited by the borders they place upon their lives. Leaving the humble bold such as myself to collect a few tidbits along my travels to sell to the timid at a healthy profit.”

Ru Men’s friendly grin took the implied bite out of his criticisms, but Yujin hardly noticed. He was too struck by the words, harder than by any sparring partner. He’d come here entranced by the glimpses of a wider world the Flowing Market offered, but never even considered going out to see the wonders himself. Why hadn’t he?

“You should come with us.”

Ru Men’s simple statement shook Yujin out of his daze.

“What?”

“I said, you should come with us.” Ru Men quickly raised his hands. “Not this year, I mean. I’m not in the habit of stealing promising fledglings from powerful sects. But someday, when you’re gold, you’ll eventually need to take a journey to expand your path. You should join our caravan as a guard. Or chef. Doesn’t matter to me. But I see it in your eyes, Yujin. The boldness. You belong out there.”

The moment stretched, as Yujin saw an entire world of new foods, flavors and possibilities open up in front of him. A vision without sect walls and Elder expectations. And with it, came a tide of relief. Escape from all his problems and blocks. It was an elation that he swore could have lifted him off his feet.

And then the vision faded, the moment ended, and the reality of his life and training became the edges of his world once again, bring his drifting feet back to the ground.

“Yeah. Someday.” Yujin said, burying everything he’d felt deep back down, before making his farewells. He’d see the man when he returned again next year, so it was a friendly parting.

He resumed his walk of the Flowing Traveler’s Market, greeting familiar faces and keeping an ever watchful eye for inspiration for his next dish. It failed to stir the same joy it did, even compared to his poor mood from the morning though. The wonder of it felt muted.

Yujin realized that his once favorite place in the world now felt hollow to him, because it was. Now that Ru Men had given voice to the idea, Yujin couldn’t stop seeing it at every stall he passed. These weren’t the outside world brought to him, just the tiniest of slivers. A small glimpse into something so much larger than him, like those first shallow burst of enlightenment when he first began walking his Path. The joy of it was still there, but something so much larger towered over its shoulder, diminishing the former by its mere presence.

He ended up leaving the market far sooner than usual.

********************************

Meandering back through the sect grounds, Yujin tried to bring his thoughts back to order. Unfortunately, when the Heavens decide that it isn’t your day, you don’t really get time alone to properly collect your thoughts.

“Disciple Shin Yau. A word.”

“Of course, Elder Lai.” Yujin turned and bowed at the abrupt greeting. “How can this one be of service?”

“By following.”

Elder Lai turned on his heel and Yujin followed after. No words were spoken as they entered one of the public gardens scattered throughout the sect. It’s carefully cultivated creeks and flowerbeds did little to ease Yujin’s mind as they found an unoccupied gazebo and sat across from one another.

“How can I assist you, Elder?” Yujin bowed his head.

“It’s the other way around, this time, Disciple.” Elder Lai said.

Yujin gave a mental sigh at the words, but wasn’t particularly surprised. His failure to progress was hardly a secret these days, and more than a few Elders and older disciples had come by to offer their own form of advice. Different forms of cultivation, guided meditations on the meaning of the blade or sword, block breaking pill recipes, friendly sparring matches, not-so-friendly sparring matches. Yujin had experienced just about every non-life threatening form of cultivation assistance one could within the Flowing Blade Sect.

None of it had helped, and Yujin was honestly getting a bit sick of it. Still, one didn’t go around offending Elders or their senior disciples without consequences.

“This disciple is most grateful for your assistance. What guidance would Elder wish to offer this deficient disciple?” Yujin bowed his head again. He’d found a bit of self deprecation and flattery helped these sessions pass more quickly.

“Just one.” Elder Lai’s impassive demeanor didn’t change at the flattery. “You need to stop listening to the advice of others.”

Yujin’s head snapped up. “Pardon?”

“You may have progressed beyond my Foundational classes, but I always keep track of my students. I know of your difficulties at the current bottleneck. I also know how many of my fellow sect members have involved themselves in trying to guide you past it. In this Elder’s opinion however, you need to stop listening to them.”

“I don’t understand.” Yujin said. “The people offering me advice are all further along the path of cultivation than I am. They are more experienced and have experienced similar difficulties. Why shouldn’t-”

“Similar, yes, but not the same.” Lai interrupted, “Do not forget what you asked of me those short few years ago in my office. You stood before me with courage and determination, declaring your decision to step off the road laid out by this Sect’s founding patriarch. You chose to walk your own path, along with all the difficulties that come with it. Any advice your seniors have to offer has not applied to you for quite some time now.”

Yujin was speechless. Yes, he’d altered his path, but he’d still been forced through endless reports and assessments along the way. Every change requiring review and approval. Only now was he being told

“This is not to say their efforts are without merit, or can not assist other disciples.” Lai continued, “They do possess a wealth of knowledge and experience to offer, especially in avoiding the most obvious mistakes made by children. However, in my experience as a teacher, when a sacred artist has received the level of assistance you have without any noticeable breakthroughs, the problem is with the teachers, not the student.

“You are embarking on a path no one has tread before. Your own. And no one else can tell you the proper way to tread it. You possess a great deal of talent, so a total lack of progress is most likely due to trying to step in a direction that is contradictory to your path. My fellow sect members largely follow the same path, and tend to forget that different paths can require vastly different methods.”

“Elder, if I don’t listen to my seniors, then who?” Yujin asked.

“You should listen to your soul.” Elder Lai reached across the table to gently poke Yujin above the core in his chest. “Take what you can from the advice of those around you, but discard what isn’t useful. No one can walk this path but you. Do not let others tell you what is right or wrong.”

Yujin had nothing to say to that.

Elder Lai stood, thanked Yujin for his time, and left.

Yujin remained seated for a few moments, thoughts in turmoil. Then decided to take the Elder’s advice and ask himself a question.

What do I think the next step of my path is?

Yujin was on his feet and moving towards the sect’s library within seconds. After all, he’d known the answer for months now.

***************************************************

It didn’t take long to find the passage he was looking for. He’d come back to it half a dozen times over the past year, ever since stumbling across it in his exhaustive search of the sect’s entire collection of scrolls, books, and dream tablets on Sacred Beasts. It wasn’t as impressive as the rumors told about repositories closer to the heart of the Blackflame Empire, but it had still taken him months to fully peruse.

He’d found dozens of remnants and sacred beasts with abilities that were compatible with his path. But when he’d followed Elder Lai’s advice and asked himself which was his choice, without regard for the concerns of his sect or its members, only one remained.

There were no dream tablets containing the memories of Sacred Artists who had encountered it, but several scrolls mentioned the creature in passing and a single book contained a more detailed passage.

The Lost Half-Thought Wisp

Primary Madra Aspect: Dream

Secondary Madra Aspect: Spiritual/Intangible

These Sacred Beasts are so named due to the children’s story that they are born from the minds of children and forgetful adults when a thought is left uncompleted. One of the most peculiar breeds of Sacred Beast contained within these pages, it has earned mention simply from the various ways it departs from its seeming disregard for several rules of nature that most other Sacred Beasts appear bound by.

The Wisps are possibly the most difficult to detect, track, or capture of any Sacred Beasts cataloged by our efforts, while remaining one of the least threatening and easiest to kill. They possess several abilities that make detection and restraint of any potential specimens difficult in the extreme, but possessive essentially no defensive or offensive combat related abilities or techniques.

Physical characteristics:

The wisps have no set or ‘true’ form that this author has been able to determine. It most often appears as a sphere, simple geometric shape, or mist like wisp, almost always a hue of purple or dark blue. There have been secondhand reports of more complex shapes such as pentagons, hexagrams, and one definitive mention of a dodecahedron. However, the very nature of this Sacred Beast, if it can even be called that, makes verification of any information not personally witnessed near impossible.

Our research indicates they are composed almost entirely of dream madra, but we were unable to identify the non-madra matter from several specimens, as it decays rapidly following any Wisp’s demise or destabilization. Observing them from concealment revealed them capable of shifting between shapes on several occasions. They also demonstrated a level of intelligence far below that of a truly self aware creature.

The most unusual physical characteristic of the Wisps is their ability to phase in and out of tangibility. Any real interaction with non-madra materials appears to be entirely at their choosing. It is unclear if this is an Enforcer technique or simply an inherent quality of their bodies, but we were unable to discover a material that the wisps were unable to simply pass through as if it were not there. Only through containers fully encapsulated within a stable madra field could the Wisps be restrained from their seemingly perpetual wandering. Even then, the madra used for the field needed to be of a type disruptive to dream madra, and contain no holes, cracks or flaws with its encirclement, or the Wisps would invariably escape.

They may also possess the ability to become invisible at a moment’s notice, disappearing from sight entirely, but remain detectable by the trained madra senses of Sacred Artists at the level of Jade or above. They a it is theorized that they simply render themselves intangible to the light that we would use to see them. However, it is also possible they are using an advanced variation of their primary madra Ruler technique, one that surpasses the ability of our research team to see through.

Madra Techniques:

Wisps have been observed as exclusively using Ruler techniques, disregarding the possibility that their phasing through different materials could be an Enforcer technique. They primarily use a dream madra fueled technique render themselves unnoticeable. Anyone within the area of effect of this technique instinctively disregards any Wisp they see or detect as non-threatenting, unimportant, and uninteresting. They simply cannot bring themselves to care about the Wisps enough to even acknowledge their presence.

The exact range this Ruler technique reaches has been speculated upon, and is believed to be only several feet in diameter. It’s subtlety should not be underestimated, as it mimics the background vital aura to an astonishing level of detail to disguise itself. The technique should be considered effectively undetectable, from within or without, unless countermeasure to detect a dream madra based technique with that specific effect are deployed.

(Author’s Note: There were several heated arguments amongst the authors of this book over whether to even add the Wisps to this compendium of Sacred Beasts. It was later determined that the side of the table arguing against their addition were actually under the effect of an unobserved Wisp on their side of the room. This discovery assured the addition of the Lost Half-Thought Wisps entry, but there were additional, similar issues during the editing process.)

As a Wisp progresses to more advanced stages, they are rendered undetectable to anyone in a lower realm of advancement. Jades could not detect Wisps within the Gold realm, even with the assistance of fellow Sacred Artists at that realm. It remains unclear if the Wisps cannot progress beyond the Gold realm, as our group was unable to obtain the assistance of an Underlord in verifying our findings.

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The technique appears to be variable in strength, with a weaker version of it running perpetually as a defensive strategy against creatures which feed on dream madra. A more powerful version is deployed when a Wisp feels threatened, or it is feeding.

Preferred Environments and Diet:

The Wisps appear to have a diet consisting of the dream aura naturally emitted from any sufficiently intelligent Sacred Artist or Beast. Using their Ruler technique allows them to gets within inches and harvest the dream aspected vital aura every thinking being emits unconsciously from their bodies with each thought or dream. It is unclear if the Wisps can actually reach into another being’s mind and take aura, madra, thoughts, or memories from their source without first being released into the environment. Such an event was never witnessed despite extensive observation, but that level of technique may only manifest in Realms beyond Gold. Such direct contact could also potentially break the effectiveness of their protective Ruler technique.

Wisps have been observed in effectively every inhabited environment in which vital aura is relatively calm and below a certain level of strength. The unique composition of the Wisps bodies renders them vulnerable to sufficiently turbulent vital aura. They were observed to appear with higher frequency around human settlements as opposed to similarly large groups of Sacred Beasts. It is hypothesized that the dream madra of humans is somehow more desirable to the Wisps.

Potential uses to Sacred Artists:

As of the time of this writing, there exist no known valuable uses for the Last Half-Thought Wisp.

We have found no record of any Sacred Artist or sect cultivating with dream madra who uses these creatures in any way. Their decaying bodies leave behind no base matter a Soulsmith could use, nor any madra binding for their Ruler technique, or any other technique, upon death. Even the level of madra contained within individual Wisps is so small as to be largely useless as fuel for cultivation or any other construct.

It is possible that a Sacred Artist on a dream madra related path could create equivalent techniques to the Wisps. However, the techniques used by the Wisps could very well be dependent upon their unique body composition, and would be rendered ineffective at concealing anything with a more tangible form. Additionally, intense focus is required to resist the effects of their Ruler technique, meaning that even a moment of inattention could lead a Sacred Artist into forgetting critical details they had observed, or even why they care about such an endeavor. (Author’s Note: This very thing occurred repeatedly during our observations, even after recruiting Sacred Artists specializing in dream madra techniques to perform the observations for us.)

The only true potential value discovered was found in the madra generated by a Wisp shortly after it feed. The madra created by the Wisp after it cycled the dream aura of a Sacred Artist was found to be ‘flavored’, for lack of a better term, with that person’s unique path, madra and emotions. An angry person’s aura created a more turbulent, disruptive form of madra than that of a calm one. Likewise with Sacred artists using opposing cultivations, such as Flame and Ice Paths, generated dream madra that ‘felt’ warmer or colder.

It is unclear if this could phenomenon could be refined into something more useful, either in extracting information about an individual, or in generating specific types of dream madra applicable to hybrid paths of cultivation.

The text continued on in some minutiae about the exact data collected and patterns of behavior, but Yujin had read those passages enough to know they weren’t valuable to him. Everything he needed was contained in the first few pages. Yujin’s brow furrowed as he re-read the entry over and over, even having memorized it months ago, just to be certain.

It contained everything he needed. The path forward, and all the reasoning he’d need to justify his choice. The difficulty in finding and capturing Wisps would even buy him a bit more precious time from people disappointed in his bottlenecked progress. It really was perfect in every way.

Yujin smiled, and realized that for the first time in months, it wasn’t forced. He’d found his next step forward, no matter what may come of it or what anyone else thought.

Yujin had found the perfect Remnant for his ascension to Gold.

After signing out a copy of the Sacred Beast compendium, Yujin sprinted back to the market. Not to visit Ru Men, but for a few more basic supplies. As was the new family tradition, large announcements were given over a dinner of family favorites. He just hoped the butchers had kept a few cuts of water aspected bird meat. Even with all his advancements in cooking over the years, Yujin had never found or made anything that surpassed his father’s preference for meals containing the less-than-easy to source meat.

******************************

Haisin had a new routine he followed at the end of the day when he arrived home.

Well, ‘new’ was a bit of a stretch. He’d been doing it for years now, but compared to his decades long previous routine, it still felt strange sometimes. Previously, he’d be arriving home exhausted and filthy from a beast hunting excursion. He’d set aside his weaponry, cleaned his boots of any blood or mud, wash his face and hands in the bowl of water his wife would always leave out. A dozen small rituals of cleaning and sorting that felt like the proper conclusion to a full day’s work and preparation for the next.

Now? Now he couldn’t do most of those if he wanted to.

Now, he would simply hang up his outer training robes or formal coat, depending on if he’d been training the new hunting recruits or working behind his desk that day. They rarely needed cleaning. He stretched out the knot in his back instead of ignoring the countless shifting aches and pains that would fade with the evening’s cycling session. And then he inhaled deeply, through his nose, to find out what wonderful dish was waiting for him at dinner that night.

And then he’d smile, because the food was always good these days. The exact smile would depend on what the meal was telling him. And today was a very large smile. The scent of everyone’s favorite foods filled his home. That only meant one thing, good news. And since it wasn’t his news to share, that meant a wonderful meal would be followed by a pleasant surprise.

Just as long as it’s not Kasi letting me know about a cute boy’s interest in her again, tonight will be a good night.

********************************************

The devastated remains of a well enjoyed meal were spread across the table as the conversation of their days had petered out. Kasi had recounted her Copper cycling and training classes for the day, either not noticing the way her father twitched every time a boy’s name was mentioned more than once or masterfully concealing her knowledge of it. His mother had talked about the latest gossip floating through the medical wing of the Foundation stage training school. Haisin had complained about the various meetings he’d been ‘forced’ to attend instead of being out hunting various threats to the Sect, and Yujin wasn’t sure if his father was aware of exactly how often he mentioned the various highly ranked sect members who attended those meetings with him.

“So…” Yuji looked around the table with a gleam in her eye. “We all know what we just ate. Who has the surprise announcement?”

“I do.” Yujin answered.

All eyes at the table turned to him.

“I picked the Spirit Beast who’s Remnant I’m going to be using to ascend to Gold.”

A soft cheer went up from Kasina and Yuji, while his father just let out a relieved sigh. Yujin couldn’t tell if that was relief he’d finally chosen, or that the surprise wasn’t related to Kasi and boys. Nothing like it had ever been discussed at family dinners, but Yujin had heard the rumors of marriage offers made based on Sect politics before. And he’d also watched his father become increasingly stressed after meetings with certain Sect Elders with certain reputations for political marriage.

“That’s wonderful.” Yuji exclaimed, reaching over to take Haisin’s hand. “Tell us all about it. I’m certain it must be something special after all this time.”

“Well, it’s called the Lost Half-Thought Wisp…”

Yujin relished recounting every detail of his search and how Elder Lai gave him the advice he needed to make a choice. The moment of clarity. His thoughts on the best way to catch one.

His mother and sister were a perfect audience. Oohing and asking the right questions. His father just sat in silence with a soft smile. Yujin really thought it was going well, until his father spoke.

“Ok, ok. Enough fun. What Remnant did you actually choose?”

The room went silent.

“What do you mean?” Yujin asked.

“It was a very amusing joke. A dream based remnant. Intangibility. You kept a very straight face. What’s your real choice?”

“Why wouldn’t this be my real choice?”

Yujin and his father were both still half smiling at each other, each seeming confused at the joke the other was making. Kasina looked genuinely confused, with eyes slowly narrowing as she looked between her father and brother. No one noticed the look of growing fear and worry on Yuji’s face, the only one in the room who seemed to have grasped where the conversation was inevitably heading.

“For starters, you follow a Path based on cultivating flame and blade aura.”

“Paths change all the time as Sacred Artists grow and learn. You define your Path, not the other way around.”

“To a degree, but the sword skills you’ve spent a decade learning are based around a flowing blade that can deflect and control the movements of your opponents. Any sort of intangibility you could give it is completely incompatible with everything you’ve learned so far.”

“Then I’ll develop a new sword style to fit my Path. We’re the Flowing Blade Sect, our sword style flows and changes to fit the situation. You were the one who taught me that.”

The smiles were gone and now everyone in the room realized something was wrong. The words were faster and more terse, but neither Yujin nor Haisin tried to slow down.

“Dream madra doesn’t work well with physical techniques.”

“Work well doesn’t mean doesn’t work. It just means I’ll have to work harder on integrating it.”

“There isn’t anyone at the sect who cultivates dream aura. No one to teach you the way.”

“There isn’t anyone here that can teach me now. Every piece of advice I’ve gotten for over a year now has been useless. I’ll just have to find an outside source and adapt what I need.”

The voices and the frustration they contained were rising now, changing into something else as the words came faster with each sentence.

“You’ve already fallen behind others in your generation. You can’t just invent an entirely new cultivation system from nothing.”

“Why not? I’ve already done it once. I’ll just do it again.”

“Dream techniques are only truly effective when fighting other Sacred Artists, not Dreadbeasts or Sacred Beasts.”

“Then I guess I’ll just take a role in the Sect other than being Beast Hunter.”

Yujin’s final rebuttal brought a sudden end to their now rapid exchange. The shock at his answer was written plainly across his normally impassive father’s face. Haisin’s mouth opened and closed, searching for the right words.

“Yujin. You’re my firstborn son. Every Shin Yau firstborn son has been a Hunter, like his father, for over eight generations, since we first joined the Flowing Blade Sect. And we still hunted them even before that. That’s your path, the one our family has laid out for you for centuries. That’s your duty, to the sect and your family.”

“I chose my own Path eight years ago! You were there! You supported my choice then, what’s different now?”

“That was altering the aura you incorporated into your core! Not… whatever madness this is. Yujin, we are the protectors of this entire region, and everyone in it. We train to fight so that when danger comes for the people under us, or for the empire as a whole, we’re there to stand in front of it. You’ve been studying how to assume that duty for most of your life! And this is a step directly away from that purpose!”

“Well, who’s to say I can’t find a different way of upholding that duty? Who says the only way to protect our people is by burning and cutting anything in our way? There are plenty of threats out there that can’t just be cut or burned, or even hurt by any physical means. What I can do is invaluable in the right circumstances! Only having one way to fight isn’t good. We need variety, we need to be able to adapt, to change and flow with the struggles of the world around us. That’s what our ancestors knew when they established the Flowing Blade Sect, when they gave disciples the chance to alter their Paths. That’s what I’m choosing to do, right now.”

Yujin felt a flush of triumph as the argument paused again, both he and his father catching their breath. He’d come up with the reasoning for his change in the library earlier that day, knowing he would need to justify this additional change to his Path to the Elders overseeing his training. It was a perfectly valid argument, adhering to the tenets of the sect’s Founding Patriarch, if taken a direction and distance others never had before. Yujin knew it would convince the Elders to allow this change, especially given his lack of progress. They’d want to give one of the sect’s young geniuses a chance to recover and breakthrough his bottleneck.

And it probably would have worked, but Yujin had made one mistake.

He wasn’t trying to convince the Elders, who followed his career with great interest and enthusiasm. He was trying to convince his father, who was something else entirely.

“No, Yujin.” Haisin slowly shook his head. “That’s not what you’re doing. This is about the cooking, isn’t it?”

Yujin flinched. He didn’t have an answer for that.

“I’m your father. Did you really think I haven’t watched every step you’ve taken on your Path? Do you think I’d forget the talk we had, after you cut a Jade to shreds and wept? That I wouldn’t notice you’ve been cycling dream aura from our meals together for at least two years now? A change that has not been mentioned, even once, in any of the documents regarding your training and progress.”

“How…” Yujin swallowed. This wasn’t how the conversation was supposed to go. “How did you get to read those? Only Elders tasked with training are supposed to read those.”

“Rising through the sect hierarchy comes with it’s own benefits.” Haisin said. “I kept silent about that because what a Sacred Artist does outside of training is his business. But this? Yujin, you can’t let your little hobby interfere with things that are real, things that matter.”

Yujin’s uncertainty and hesitation washed away in a flood of anger at his father’s words.

“Oh, things that matter? Like, what, sitting behind a desk all day and holding important meetings while you send others out to fulfill the sacred duty our family has passed down to us for eight generations.” Yujin was standing and shouting now. “What would our ancestors think of your path right now? A path, by the way, you are only walking down because of my ‘little hobby’! Do you honestly think Elder Chousan would have listened to your concerns about the beast tide, let alone stayed in our house for more than five minutes, without my ‘little hobby’? If my cooking matters so little, what does it say that the entire sect values it more highly than anything you’ve done for them your entire life!”

Haisin flushed at Yujin’s words. Yuji reached over, trying to catch her husband’s hand but it was too late. Haisin was already standing and shouting back, matching his son’s anger. Words that couldn’t be taken back had been spoken, even if either one wanted to.

The evening and shouting only devolved further from, and the lovely candied meats Yujin had prepared as a surprise dessert went unmentioned and uneaten.

*************************************************

Yujin looked up to find himself back at the Flowing Travelers’ Marketplace.

He hadn’t really been paying attention to where he was walking after storming out of the house. The argument with his father had reached such a fever pitch that even Yuji had raised her voice and ordered her son to talk a walk and calm down. Yujin had gladly obeyed, exchanging a few more choice words over his shoulder as he left, grabbing only his sword out of sheer habit as he left.

Yujin didn’t know how long he’d been walking since then, but he could see the first hints of dawn lightening the night sky. The argument had kept repeating in his head, over and over. The dismissive attitude of his father towards his Path and cooking. The cruel words he’d shouted back. True words, but cruel nonetheless for how he shaped them.

But why did he say those things? Is there something I’m missing?

The stray question snuck it’s way in. Yujin angrily cut it off. He was in no mood for introspection or reconciliation. Elder Lai had told him he could only listen to himself in regards to his Path, and he had. Everything had become clear the moment he did that. And now, his father, one of the only people who had always supported him, told him to his face that support was conditional? A lie?

Then he really did only have himself. What were his instincts telling him to do now?

Yujin thought for just a moment, and realized yet again, there was only one path his soul told him to follow, and it was the reason he’d wandered to the marketplace to begin with. If he couldn’t follow his path here, he’d just have to go somewhere else. He started jogging, and reached Ru Men’s caravan just as they were finalizing their preparations to leave.

“Young Yujin! This is a surprise.” Ru Men exclaimed. “Here to try for a last minute deal? I must admit, it’s a sound tactic. I suppose I could unpack one or two items, if you know what you’re looking for?”

“I want to take you up on your offer.” Yujin said in a rush. “The one you made earlier. To travel with you.”

“Well, of course! That’s wonderful. We’ll be back in a season or two and we’ll have a slot waiting just for you. You didn’t need to come out to tell me so early in the morning. Although I do appreciate the enthusiasm.”

“No, I mean I want to take you up on it now. I want to go today.”

“I see. There shouldn’t be any real problem with that…” Ru Men hesitated. “And, the Elders have approved your journey?”

“Well, yes.” Yujin kept his voice as steady as he could. “They gave me permission to follow my own Path, and right now, that means leaving here with you.”

Ru Men frowned and looked down. Yujin knew his friend wasn’t someone he could convincingly lie to under far better circumstances than. But he was angry, and Elder Lai had told him that only he knew the way forward from here. Yujin watched his conflicted friend, and realized he needed to weigh the scale a bit more.

“Well, it’s like you said,the world is the place for the bold and reckless. So either I’m bold enough to set out on my own, or I’m reckless enough to do this without my sect’s permission. Or both.” Yujin shrugged. “Either way, I know I belong out there, and if you aren’t there to guide me, who knows what trouble I might find on my own.”

Ru Men snorted, shook his head, then glanced to back down the market’s central road toward the Flowing Blade Sect.

“And all this time, I thought you were terrible at making a deal.”

“I guess I was just saving it all for when it mattered.” Yujin paused. “Or if you ever found more of that Fourfold Seasoning powder.”

“Tell you what. We’ll go find some more of it together.” Ru Men looked back over his shoulder. “Taisang! I’ve got a last minute guard for the caravan. Come find him a place.”

The caravan’s head guard trotted over as Ru Men turned back to Yujin.

“Just so we’re clear, if the sect comes asking pointed questions of me, I’m throwing you directly underneath the Dreadgod and saying you lied incredibly well.”

**************************************************

Haisin’s stare bored a hole in the floor as he bowed to the Elders, body parallel to the floor.

“This one apologizes again for his failure to control his son.”

“Senior Haisin, please, raise your head.” Elder Chousan said. “Your apology is not necessary. This is hardly the first time a promising disciple has cracked under the strain of expectations.”

The Elders of the Disciple Oversight Council nodded along to the sentiment, muttering their thoughts and opinions in the manner of all elderly in front of the less aged, and thus less wise.

“Really was only a matter of time. The boy’s been pushed far too hard to advance rapidly.”

“I personally assisted him in several meditations on the history of the sword. If that couldn’t help, it’s no wonder he despaired of continuing his training.”

“No discipline amongst the youth these days. In my day, when you hit a bottleneck, you just kept bashing your core into it until the damn thing broke!”

Elder Chousan coughed significantly and the rumblings quieted.

“Now, back to business. I’ve received word back from the city watch commanders. Shin Yau Yujin was spotted four nights ago heading towards the Flowing Travelers’ Marketplace shortly before dawn. Guards manning the city wall reported seeing a young guard on a traveling caravan matching Yujin’s description heading out shortly afterwards. The caravan belonged to a one Ru Men, who in accordance with city protocols had already filed a list of several potential destinations he was planning to visit next.”

Chousan set down the pages of notes a submitted to him before the meeting.

“The business before this council is what to do next? While disciple Yujin has been given leeway in his pursuit of a unique Path, leaving the sect’s territory is a step to far. Something he most certainly knows. Nevertheless, his motivations remain uncertain. He could be seeking inspiration for his Path, or possibly just fleeing the sect entirely. Does any council member wish to submit a suggestion?”

The rumble of a dozen voices speaking over one another filled the room again, and Elder Chousan gave a long suffering sigh. For all the importance and responsibility that came with being a sitting member of the Disciple Oversight Council, it wasn’t often the entire council was called to session simultaneously. Hence, the rather irritating lack of formality or order to the proceedings.

“Dragged back in chains and fifty lashes in front of all members of the younger generation! It’s the only way to properly reassert discipline! It did wonders back in my day, I’ll say that much.”

“We have several patrol groups out in that direction. They can intercept the caravan within a week’s time. Have him finish out their long term tour. Time slogging through the mud and beast blood our sect has to manage will be discipline enough.”

“Secluded cultivation for at least four months, in one of the punishment cells. End all these distractions of daily life and repetitive training. The uninterrupted mind is a Sacred Artist’s greatest weapon.”

“Four months!? But he was going to be catering my anniversary dinner in two! Surely, there’s no need for seclusion. There has to be a more reasonable punishment.”

“Or we could just let him go.”

The room fell silent, and Elder Chousan slowly turned toward the latest speaker.

“Elder Lai? Could you perhaps repeat yourself, I believe you may have misspoken.”

“I said we should let the boy go.” Lai said again, unruffled at the veiled insult. “I personally spoke to him the day before his disappearance, and I don’t believe this is a flight. I believe he is attempting to find his Path, searching for something he cannot find here, inside our walls. This has always been a risk we take when allowing disciples to deviate from our Sect’s established cultivations. I would guess something made him think he would not be able to secure our permission to travel, and so he took matters into his own hands.”

“We can’t just let him run off, free as a phoenix.” Elder Taraka shouted back. “There are rules regarding disciple travel at such young ages, and he’s broken just about every one we have for Jades. They aren’t allowed travel outside city limits. Ever.”

“It is not without precedent.” Elder Lai replied. “ Rare, but I can personally think of three separate instances this has occurred.”

The two sides of the argument solidified. Those who wanted to drag Yujin back, oftentimes without regard for his physical well being, and those who wanted to offer leniency and various degrees of free travel to a budding genius seeking inspiration and hardship out in the more dangerous world.

Elder Chousan, as he so often had to, ended up guiding the compromise between the two sides. The errant disciple would be allowed to journey out into the world, within limits. Word would be sent to each city Ru Men’s caravan was known to frequent, informing the relevant city authorities of a runaway disciple of their sect. The student was to be observed, detained after two month’s time, and returned via the earliest possible secure method back to the Flowing Blade Sect. The disciple’s punishment for these actions was to be left temporarily undecided, until any progress made during his travels could be assessed in person.

“Shin Yau Haisin. You have been largely silent during these deliberations but your voice does have weight here. Is there anything you would wished changed about the council’s chosen course of action?”

“No, Elder.” Elder Chousan’s words were met with a beaten reply. “I have faith in the decision of the council. I only wish for my son to be returned safely.”

A wave of approving nods swept the room, aside from Elder Chousan, who merely glanced over at Elder Lai. The men were hardly allies, political or otherwise, but both respected the insight of the other. And a glance between them was all that was needed to confirm what the other saw.

Something was wrong with Haisin, and it almost certainly had to do with his son. However, it wasn’t their place to interfere. At least, not yet. If something Haisin had said or done had precipitated his child’s sudden departure… well, that was a complication for another time. Right now, they knew Yujin approximate location and destination. When Yujin returned, the council would determine exactly what had occurred to cause this mess, and deal with it in a quieter, more discrete manner.

That wasn’t a problem for this forum though. Family matters could get tricky and messy. Especially in a sect that gossiped as much as this one. There would be plenty of time to sort everything out later, Chousan reassured himself as he formally dismissed the gathering.

Two weeks later, the concealed wreckage of the Golden Trumendous Spice Caravan was uncovered by a Blackflame patrol.