Yang Ru sprinted across the clearing and slammed his spear into the tree, using qi to increase his Momentum with each step. At the moment of impact, that qi erupted from the tip, transferred from his Momentum into the wood.

He stopped. Or more accurately, he was stopped.

As his Momentum shifted from him to the tree, all his inertia dissolved, leaving him standing still. It was the oddest feeling.

One moment he was running flat out. The next, he hit the trunk at full speed.

Experience told him that the result should be one of two things. Either the object he collided with should yield or he should end up on his butt. Again.

Instead, all the Momentum he’d built up disappeared, turned into pure qi, and was channeled through his spear into his target, leaving a big divot in the wood. Which didn’t seem like a significant result but considering the wood, when properly treated, could stand up to attacks from rank four and higher beasts, the result was pretty impressive.

Success! His first.

Accomplishing something once didn’t mean he’d be able to do it again when it mattered, so he retreated across the clearing and tried again.

Fail.

And again.

Fail.

And again.

Success!

He practiced for another hour, his successes and failures roughly equal. After a while, though, things took a turn. Victories began to outnumber defeats. Finally, he triumphantly attacked the tree five out of six times. Upon reaching that milestone, he sunk into mediation, going over his actions time after time until he felt both techniques click.

That was it. He’d done it. Small Success. With both.

His sister hadn’t reached that level with her second technique, the shield, yet.

Yang Ru grinned. He’d passed her. Finally.

A moment later, Master appeared. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, Master.”

“Really ready?”

Yang Ru grinned again. “As ready as I can be, Master.”

“Okay. Good timing. Let’s do this.” Master returned the smile.

----------------------------------------

Kang Lin and Yang Xiu were sparring. Though the Rising Tide Sect member was a complete master with the bow, her spear work was, to be generous, somewhat lacking. That was okay, though. They were trying to work on her shield.

“Ouch!” Yang Xiu said. “Do you have to hit so hard?”

“According to Honored Grandfather, bruises provide motivation.”

The girl muttered something, but Kang Lin couldn’t make out the words.

Before she could respond, Master suddenly appeared, an occurrence that had become so commonplace that she, remarkably, was no longer fazed by it.

“Spirit beast,” he said. “Interested?”

The two girls grinned at each other.

“Of course, Master,” Yang Xiu said.

Well used to the process by that point, they each grabbed a hand and, after his countdown, stepped, emerging in a grassy meadow. Yang Ru was already there, waiting for them.

When Kang Lin had arrived at Prosperous Gray Forest Village, she’d been determined to get to know the boy, but with him being unwilling to take any initiative, her enthusiasm for the task waned. After over a week of not being able to coax more than a few words from him, she was almost positive that the two of them would not make a good match.

She frowned. That conclusion was unfortunate. Her grandfather might be disappointed. Master would be as well, despite his words to the contrary. Worse, she really liked Yang Xiu. It was a shame that the two wouldn’t become sisters in truth.

Romantic entanglements weren’t why they were in the meadow, though, so Kang Lin pushed such thoughts from her mind, reaching out with her senses instead. She didn’t know her location relative to the village, but there were a lot of spirit beasts nearby. A lot. Powerful ones, too.

If she didn’t have full confidence that Master could handle the beasts, she would have been terrified.

Stolen novel; please report.

Master pointed to a large creature on the other side of the grassy field. “That’s the target.”

The four-legged spirit beast’s shoulders reached the height of a man standing, and it had to weigh a couple thousand pounds. A curved horn extended several feet from each side of its head and ended in points that looked wickedly sharp.

“What is it, Master?” Kang Lin said.

“Some type of buffalo.”

The creature stood out to her senses. Really stood out. It practically glowed.

“Master, is that…”

“A rank six? Yes. A peak rank six, in fact. If we don’t kill it today, it will probably join the beast tide as a seven. I’d prefer not to have that happen.”

Kang Lin swallowed hard. She felt confident about her ability to kill rank fours, even if she were solo. When teamed with Yang Xiu, the two girls had taken down a rank five. Doing so had been quite the battle, requiring the use of a spirit coin to replenish their qi pools, but they’d done it with no injuries.

A peak rank six was nearly a full major realm higher than them. Unless Master planned to participate directly, Kang Lin doubted they’d be able to kill it. But if he were going to fight, he had no reason to even involve them. Maybe they were there just to watch?

“We’re not going to fight that thing, are we, Master?” Yang Xiu said.

“Nope. You two aren’t,” he said, addressing the girls.

“We two? Not three, Master?” Yang Xiu said.

“Yep. That target is for Yang Ru.”

For the first time since Kang Lin met her new friend, Yang Xiu seemed flustered.

“Master, what would him failing against that monster prove? I know you’re trying to motivate him, but being defeated by such a powerful foe will make things worse. I’ve known him all my life. Trust me.”

Yang Ru snorted, and Master was clearly trying not to grin. Failing, but clearly trying. Something was going on.

The two of them had something planned.

She tried to meet Yang Xiu’s eyes to convey a warning, but the girl was too agitated.

“What do you think, Yang Ru?” Master said. “Up for a challenge, one that you apparently have no chance of winning?”

Yang Ru grunted.

Kang Lin was given to understand that people who knew the taciturn boy well could interpret such responses, but she certainly didn’t count among that number.

“Brother, no,” Yang Xiu said. “There’s no point in this. You have nothing to prove.”

He grunted again.

“Fine. Be that way. See if I care. Don’t complain to me when you’re regrowing an arm or a leg, though.”

Master had to turn his head to hide his smile that time. Something was definitely going on. What it could be, though, Kang Lin had no idea. There was no way for Yang Ru, having barely stepped into the first minor realm of Foundation Establishment, could defeat a peak rank six on his own.

“If there are no more objections?” Master had schooled the grin on his face, but his tone still reflected his mirth.

He hesitated a moment, giving anyone who wanted a chance to respond, but Yang Xiu kept her mouth closed that time. And Kang Lin certainly had no intention of intruding into whatever was about to happen.

“Alright,” Master said. “Yang Run, you may proceed when ready.”

The boy showed no hesitation. He started running, growing faster and faster with each step.

They were quite a distance from the buffalo, far enough that it hadn’t taken notice of them. Over a hundred yards. Probably more like a hundred and a half.

Most cultivators accelerated to their top running speed quite quickly, but Kang Lin had noticed that Yang Ru tended to get faster and faster the longer he ran. His sprint toward the buffalo was no exception, and he built up a lot of speed over the relatively long distance.

By the time the beast noticed, it was too late. Yang Ru was moving faster than any Foundation Establishment cultivator she’d ever seen. Between his speed and the beast’s weight, she was expecting a huge collision.

She just hoped that the boy could survive it. Yang Xiu would be devastated otherwise.

Kang Lin could say one positive thing about him. He was brave. She would have been leery about running toward a spirit beast almost a full major realm higher than her and outweighing her by nearly a ton, but he showed no hesitation.

Maybe he just wasn’t that bright? That could be why he didn’t talk much. Diminished mental capacity could also explain his slamming himself into a tree repeatedly.

She tensed as the collision grew imminent. With so much force involved, she didn’t see how he wouldn’t be hurt, perhaps even severely. And if he wasn’t able to trigger whatever qi technique he used at the right time, all that energy would bounce off the buffalo’s qi shield and be directed right into Yang Ru’s body.

Yang Xiu clasped her hands over her eyes.

He was three steps away. Two. One.

Kang Lin expected that he’d be tossed back like a rag doll.

Impact.

Against all expectations, he remained standing. Somehow, he’d completely halted his momentum at the last instant?

Even more against her expectations, the beast was, incredibly, thrown back. And it had a gaping, bleeding hole where its head used to be.

Yang Ru had killed a rank six spirit beast in a single strike.

“Look,” she said. “Your brother did it.”

“What?” Yang Xiu uncovered her eyes. “How?”

Kang Lin shrugged.

“Let’s go check it out,” Master said, holding out his hands.

The three of them Quickstepped to Yang Ru and the bloody beast corpse.

“Great work, my disciple,” Master said.

Yang Ru cupped his hands.

“What do you think, Yang Xiu?” Master said. “Do I still need to have that talk with him?”

In a fine imitation of her brother, Yang Xiu grunted.

“Master?” Kang Lin said, at least partially to spare her friend any more embarrassment. “What just happened?”

“While you and Yang Xiu have pursued a more traditional path of utilizing many quick attacks of a normal power level against opponents, Yang Ru went a different direction. His techniques allow him to build up an astounding amount of power for a Foundation Establishment cultivator and then transfer that energy in a single strike. If he were planning on working alone, learning those techniques first would have been a terrible idea. When combined with a team, with Yang Xiu specifically, his techniques give them the ability to take out opponents that they normally would have to flee from.”

Kang Lin nodded. She’d never seen anything like what the boy, the man, did, but it was useful. Interesting. Smart.

She had not given Yang Ru enough credit.

Master did not have simple disciples. She should have realized that truth from the beginning.

“Yang Xiu, how is work on that shield coming?” Master said.

The girl grimaced. “Slower than I’d like, Master.”

“That’s okay. You’re still making progress. I mean, not as much progress as your brother who’s already reached Small Success with both his techniques, but progress nonetheless.”

Kang Lin had never seen Yang Ru grin so widely.

He noticed her looking at him and stepped closer. “Kang Lin, will you go on a walk with me?”