While there were many areas in which the newer training grounds could be said to be inferior to the previous ones – the majority, really – there was at least one point where they edged out the competition; there was an immaculate view of the sunrise.
Lu watched the distant celestial object climb into view, visible only as a sliver of brilliant light against the orange-tinged horizon. It ascended over the course of minutes, and like a master host it changed the entire atmosphere by its mere presence. The sky brightened, it lightened, not only in the literal physical way, but in the way that a smile lightens a person’s face – and nature, the blades of grass and the wind and what few clouds graced the sky, it all seemed to be reaching up like beseeching hands, hoping to caress said face.
Ah, I’m in a poetic mood today.
His training partner would be arriving soon, along with the rest, and hopefully Tai Sho as well. But for now, it was just Lu and the cresting sunrise. I really haven’t taken a lot of me time this past season. It feels good to just sit and feel the warmth of the morning air…
Today would be the last chance for that. Tomorrow, the ‘Bigger Sit’ would begin. Apparently there were already a few people who had crossed over already, and they were setting things up for the actual diplomacy to occur. Lu the diplomat. Not exactly the path I thought my career would take, but I can’t say I dislike it. Or that he liked it, in this particular instance; negotiating with Horrible Swamp – and Junk Dog? The information missives were incredibly unclear about who exactly would be showing up – would likely be an unpleasant slog, and not just because of the venue.
Perhaps I can leverage my participation into something else once I get back. Maybe get paid to travel to distant sects as a negotiator? It sounded like something he would enjoy. I can bring Bull along as a bodyguard. I’m sure there are any number of adventures we could dig up.
The fantasy was just plausible enough to ease his mind from what was to come. But eventually he spied Ging coming up the mountain path, and his thoughts turned to the more practical. Time for my final lesson.
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Ging had not known the outer disciple much at all, before that summer. He had heard unsavoury rumours, certainly, but those sorts of stories were always circulating, and even the truest of them tended to be wild exaggerations of reality. Besides, as a powerful martial artist of the inner sect, such things were beneath his care.
But when he accepted a lucrative training mission from his sect brother Lan, he found himself needing to know quite a lot about the man. Spell repertoire, what fist styles he used, whether he had trained with a weapon. And even more basic things; his height, his weight, if he favoured his right or left hand.
And most importantly, how hard he could be pushed. Ging learned most of what he needed in their first lesson, and much of the remainder over the course of the next two. During the first month of their training, he took the measure of Lu of the Steadfast Heart like one took the measure of a horse; by putting it through its paces.
And what he found was… Adequate. The man had low pain tolerance, he despised muscle training, and his attention span was short. But his spellcraft was good, and he was motivated.
The rumours were wrong; the man wasn’t a useless waste. He was simply mediocre, a disciple of moderate talent in one area and nearly none in all others. Some might hear those words and think him harsh, but the truth was that most people were mediocre. It was no great impediment to success, or to becoming skilled at an art. He himself was average in most respects.
It was fine. He knew how to deal with mediocre people, as did the rest of the man’s personal trainers.
“Ah, brother Ging. Good morning.” As he usually was, Ging’s student was dressed in an overly elaborate robe, one more suited to a noble’s gathering than a battlefield. He wore fewer cosmetics than he had when they started, but if there was a way to break him from the habit completely Ging did not know it. Certainly, ruining his face did nothing to deter him the next day.
He bowed shallowly. “Lu. Are you ready for your final lesson?”
The man’s expression was nervous. “You received my letter?”
He nodded. “Yes, I read it. Tai Sho finally got his claws into you, hn?”
“Ah, that’s what Gu Gian and senior Lan said as well. Am I the only person who had never heard of the man?”
He suppressed the urge to snort. “Probably.” Tai Sho kept to himself, but he was also known.
Lu seemingly had no response to that. “…Well. Ahem, shall we begin the lesson? I’d like to be finished by the time the others arrive.”
“If you insist.” He allowed a small smile to grace his features, along with a hint of bloodlust. “You want to pass quickly? Then show me.”
And then, like a tiny sprout poking up from barren soil, Lu’s features took on a hint of bloodlust as well. Good. I didn’t train you all this time for you to hesitate. His voice was anticipatory. “The basic forms?”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
A small pause for consideration. “No. Use everything, right from the start. This is your graduation day.”
Lu bowed, then took a stance. “Disciple greets master.”
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Lu would be the first person to admit his combat instincts were poor. But the ability to go beyond one’s instincts was what set man apart from beast, and so he had learned.
Before either of them had even begun moving, Lu had already cast. Second and fourth realm shields sprang up even as a Disjointed Image decoupled itself from his location, and a cheap anti-divination illusion made him undivinable – to casual attempts, at least. The higher realm shield, invisible for now, was much like the second realm version; a curved plane of repulsive light, like a tower shield held between him and anything that sought him harm.
Expensive. But worth it. Casting above his realm was uneconomical, but he was fighting above his realm. The shield would take hits an order of magnitude harder than the third realm version, so it was necessary. Winning was a fool’s dream, no spell could close a three realm gap, but he could at least force his opponent to take him seriously.
He and Ging were speeding towards each other, seemingly on a collision course. The question is, is he where he appears to be? Statistically that was unlikely, but it was possible he was being double-bluffed. Let’s not gamble right out the gate. Ice Blade!
A sword of cold ice, sharper and more durable than it had any right to be, materialised in his hand. He immediately dropped it, letting the Dancing Blade art guide it for him. Two other swords of mundane steel joined the first, pulled from his purse. Getting awfully close. Three will have to be enough. HA!
The swords cut through the air in formation, weaving a pattern that should take them through all the most likely approaches an invisible Ging would be following. They made contact- and Ging’s form bulged, separating into a half-dozen identical copies. Body Clone. Ugh, that’s annoying. Annoying enough that he would have loved to use it himself, but sadly it wasn’t usable below the sixth realm.
One body took the swords head-on, dissolving into smoke when they cut through, and the rest scattered. The clones were just durable enough to take a hit, and would scan as real to any of the anti-illusion arts he had picked up. And yet, I have to use one anyway; he might be hiding somewhere else, not even as one of the remaining five.
…Or, since I’m using everything… Lu grinned, and flexed his stomach. Space ki suffused his body, gathering to concentrate in his eyes, and a sort of second sight overlaid itself on top of his normal vision. Suddenly there was a world of diffuse mists and rushing winds, one where four of the Gings were light and airy. Ah, no invisibility today. Glad I didn’t spend the qi.
This was a technique he had named Gravity Vision, and it was as straightforward as the name implied. In G-Vision, the earth was the only truly solid object; everything else was ephemeral, living in its shadow, more or less diffuse based on their mass. And the Body Clones were just qi constructs; they had no weight, so they showed up as obviously fake.
His Dancing Blades homed in on the real Ging, while he took out each Clone with a single first realm Fireball.
“Hn. New trick?”
“New to you.”
To his mild embarrassment, his cool moment was subverted by his teacher easily dealing with the flying swords. With his sixth realm swiftness he grabbed the two steel blades by the hilts, and the Ice Blade melted under a stream of fire issued from his mouth.
Damn. Well, at least I forced him to use some qi. And it wasn’t like he was done yet – Ging was keeping hold of the swords, which still had his spell applied, so he knew he was there. Fireball! Snowball! Lightningball!
Three glowing balls of elemental fury coalesced, rotating between his outstretched arms. Ging raised a brow. ‘You think you can hit me with those slow attacks?’ That’s what he’s saying, I bet. But-!
It was time to pull out an actually new trick, one he had never used in any spar before. Again he squeezed his stomach, building the technique. It built and built, twice as costly as Space Ripper, four times, eight..!
Spacial Freeze! If one could force space to move, couldn’t you also force it to hold still? In a five-metre sphere centred around Ging’s chest, movement became impossible. Everything froze, as if suspended in time, but Lu could immediately feel the inner disciple trying to break out with his sense and movement arts. Qi burned the sphere of ki, annihilating it swiftly – but not swiftly enough.
“HA!” The elemental trio flew forward – and stopped at the edge of the frozen space, caught just as surely as Ging was. But with another twist of ki, he operated a technique he had converted from a spell, and aimed it at his own attack. Anchoring Distortion burst forth, and sections of the Spacial Freeze were rent apart, letting the various balls move forward. He carved away bit by bit, until the elemental attacks were nearly touching Ging’s chest. The Freeze wobbled, nearly destabilised by both his own efforts and Ging’s, but it was too late. Anchoring Distortion!
The Fireball, Snowball, and Lightningball made contact. There was a furious WHUMP as the concussive blasts overlapped, and Ging disappeared under a cloud of mingling smoke, steam, and ice particles.
Lu panted. He hadn’t moved all that much since the beginning of the spar, but casting so many arts in quick succession took its own sort of toll. He debated sending more attacks into the cloud – but his vision wavered slightly. Ah, better to go defensive while I let my mental effort recover. And hitting a downed man is unsporting, anyway.
The obstruction cleared gradually, and Lu waited with held breath to see if his combo attack had done anything.
The man’s robes were ruined, only barely keeping him decent. His hair was singed and stuck-up with static, and ice beaded his thin beard and moustache. And also, if you looked closely…
“Aha!” That’s damage, real damage! Ging’s chest was red and irritated, the skin obviously unwell. Three realms of difference, from the peak of the inner to the peak of the outer! That’s like- like a seventh realm hurting an Elder! Not quite, he was being a little hyperbolic – but it was still impressive.
Ging blew out a breath, forming a little cloud of vapour as it caught a cold spot. “Good attack.” He cracked his neck. “You’ve improved greatly under me and the others. But let’s not get a swelled head, hm?”
Behind his back, a ghostly orb appeared, the size of a man’s torso. The apparition grew eight heads, and eight tails. Ging’s smile held a little more than a hint of bloodlust. “Let me see how your defenses hold up.”
Ah, perhaps I celebrated a bit too early…
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One by one, his other guests entered the grounds. Lan arrived first, in his scholar’s robes. Next came a trio of his other combat instructors; the Lady No, and Sirs Han Bing and Jung. Unfortunately, the other eight neglected to show.
Finally, fashionably late, Tai Sho entered the fenced-in clearing. His smile made the noon sun far above seem a pale imitation.
“Apologies, juniors. I hope you have not been waiting on my account… My, I wasn’t expecting such a crowd.”