After class, our group headed to the dining hall as usual.
Everyone was in low spirits from their lack of progress. While I had made significant strides in shifting my qi on command, they were all still struggling to form a basic defense.
To me, the problem was clear. The method Instructor Sun was using to guide them to using their qi internally was far from optimal. I had to assume that it would work, but I felt like spending more time explaining qi control and finding a way to show them what they needed to do would help them learn more quickly.
Using earth qi to demonstrate what they should be doing would be difficult, but my fire affinity was high enough that I could potentially manipulate environmental fire qi to give them a quick demonstration. If I showed them what they were doing wrong and how to fix it, I was sure that at least a couple of them would be able to learn in only a few hours.
Once we were seated around the dining table, I made my proposal.
“Do you want me to try and teach you how to control qi like he wants us to?”
My question caused everyone to fall silent, and they all looked at Zhuge Yan.
He rolled his fingers on the table in thought.
“How?”
“I can manipulate fire qi. I can use it to show you what you should be doing. I think one of the problems you’re having is that you can’t see your energy body very clearly. Using this method, I could show you what you are doing and what you should be doing in more detail. That would give you a better understanding of how to control your qi.”
Zhuge Yan sat in silence as he thought, and no one interrupted his process. It took him several minutes to reach a decision.
“No.” His demeanor was firm and unyielding. “We already undercut Instructor Sun today. It wouldn’t be good to do so again so soon. Your process might be faster, but it isn’t necessary. If Grandmaster Ning trusts that the current method will work, we can rely on it.”
I nearly started to argue back, to make the case for learning more quickly, but I could see that I had already lost. The faith the others had in Yan’s decision was nearly absolute. It seemed strange to me that they would trust someone they’d only known a little over a month so much.
For the rest of the meal, the others talked about their experiences in the combat class. I was a little disappointed that my input wasn’t welcome, but I understood. They wanted to learn through Instructor Sun’s process.
Instead of contributing, I simply sat and listened to their descriptions of what it felt like when they were trying to fortify their skin. Their thoughts seemed to run counter to my own experiences.
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The next day, our class returned to the training yard. I went to my corner to practice while the others started punching each other again.
When the sparring started, I carefully observed the instructor's expression. He showed a look of surprise and then grinned in delight when everyone was as poor at defending themselves as they were the day before.
We spent all day on basic fighting drills, and at the end of it, I felt I was reaching the limit of what I could learn from this type of practice. As we were gathering to leave, the instructor called me over.
“Follow me.” He turned and exited the courtyard in the opposite direction from the other students.
We didn’t walk far before I found myself once more in Grandmaster Ning’s office, but this time, Instructor Sun stood by the Grandmaster’s side.
“You offered to teach them, didn’t you?” He looked at me from across his desk with steepled fingers.
“Yes.” There was no reason for me to hide it.
“Show us how you intended to do so.”
I looked at him in confusion for a moment, but quickly turned away to look around the room. “I need a fire.”
The Grandmaster obliged and pulled a small cauldron from his storage space.
I lit the burner and started to channel the energy it let off. It wasn’t qi, just natural fire, but for my fire affinity, it was close enough.
I shaped the fire into an arm and made the area where my qi would be burn more brightly. Shifting the qi in my body to form a shield, I simultaneously moved the brightly burning area to envelop the flaming arm.
“Their problem is that they can’t see their own qi. By using this method, I hoped to let them visualize it more easily.”
The Grandmaster looked at my demonstration with interest, but didn’t comment on it. He only turned to Instructor Sun. “What do you think?”
“It could be useful, but right now it would ruin them. If he had shown this to the others, it might’ve delayed us by several weeks.”
Grandmaster Ning nodded. “Why?”
“The goal of this training is to get them to move their energy instinctively. This would show them how to do it consciously, but it would interfere with drilling in those instincts.”
The Grandmaster looked at me. “It’s good that you didn’t interfere with our lessons again. I’m sure I know who we have to thank for that. I’m willing to try this method, but not with your class and not right now. We’ll revisit this topic later.”
He turned back to the instructor. “It seems that Su Fang isn’t burning up enough energy. Get in touch with Rei and have her send a student over tomorrow to help him learn his lessons more swiftly.”
Looking back at me, the Grandmaster smiled. “Good day.”
I felt a shiver run down my spine.
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During class the next day, we were joined by a young woman. Taking a quick look at her in qi vision, I noticed that she was a Martial Master 4. Were they planning to train me by pitting me against a Master?
“Everybody, continue your normal practice. Su Fang, starting today you will be receiving private lessons from Master Tan.”
Master Tan gave me an evil smile. “Come with me.”
She took me to the corner of the courtyard, and once we arrived, without saying anything, she turned around and threw a punch at my arm.
Her fist connected, leaving my arm bruised and stinging.
“I was told you understood the basics.” She assumed an attacking posture with her fist raised in front of her. “Block the blows you’re able to block. Absorb the blows you can’t. When you see an opening, strike.”
She moved forward and began assaulting me.
I quickly realized that all her blows that were intended to connect were aimed at my upper right arm. This gave me an advantage, but it wasn’t much. I moved all my qi to simply defend and absorb her attacks.
At first, this purely defensive style seemed to be working, but with each hit that landed, I could feel my energy fade. If I continued to absorb all her hits, I would soon run out of qi.
Intellectually, I knew what I was supposed to do. When her attacks were headed toward me, I should use my qi to make my arm move faster. Once it was in place, I could shift my qi to my muscles and have them absorb the impact to break her rhythm. Then, I could return the qi to my muscles, making them faster and stronger, allowing me to strike when I saw an opening.
I knew this was what I was supposed to do, but in the heat of battle, all I could do was defend.
Once my energy was exhausted, Master Tan stepped back.
She shook her head. “This is going to be a lot of work.”
I couldn’t help but agree with her.
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I spent the rest of the day getting beat up. I tried to make the proper shifts in my qi, but it was difficult. When she attacked, by the time I knew how to respond, the moment had already passed and Master Tan had struck me once more.
During my breaks to recover energy, I watched the others practice. Zhuge Yan and Lin LiTing weren’t having much luck, but Shi YuLong and Chai JiaQi were starting to get the hang of it. While I was moving to protect a large swath of my arm, they had learned to localize their qi to only the area that would be struck. This gave them far more defense than I was getting.
It was clear that they would quickly begin to outpace me. While I could direct my qi more nimbly than they could, it would be difficult for me to develop the reflexes they had. Aside from their blessings, Grandmaster Ning was right. I kept getting tripped up because I was doing everything intentionally instead of instinctively.
If their blessings were powerful enough, there would be nothing I could do to match them, but I could at least prevent myself from falling behind too quickly.
“System,” I subvocalized, “improve my comprehension for martial arts as much as possible for ten million credits.”
Purchase confirmed. Cost 10 million credits. 83,485,565 credits remaining.
It was a large chunk of change, but if the teachers at the River’s Tributary had been correct, I needed to master each and every discipline important to cultivators, and fighting was surely among the most important.
Turning back to Master Tan, I set my feet and smiled. It was time to get learning.
---------------------------------------------------
With my new comprehension boost in place, it only took a few days for me to become proficient in the basics of instinctive qi control. Shi YuLong and Chai JiaQi had extended their lead over me, but I was happy with the steady progress I was making.
At the end of the week, Instructor Sun made a new announcement.
“From now on, you are to advance one stage every week. No more, no less. You will advance on time.” He turned to me and glared. “You are not allowed to accept any help from others during your cultivation.”
“Yes, Instructor Sun,” we all acknowledged.
“Your combat training will continue unabated, but you will need to begin learning a profession. If you have not yet chosen one, take this weekend to decide. However, I will warn you right now, it is against school rules to ask anyone about the details of their choice. If you wish to share, you may do so, but you must never ask someone what they are learning.”
I cocked my head to the side at this rule.
Why? Was a person’s profession such a well guarded secret? I had met countless alchemists, formation specialists, and herbalists, and none of them had shown any reservations at all when talking about their professions. How were you supposed to sell herbs or pills if no one knew you had them?
I didn’t think Instructor Sun would appreciate my question, but when I looked at Zhuge Yan, I saw a solemn look on his face. He knew the reason.
That night at dinner, once we were settled down, I broached the topic.
“Why aren’t we supposed to ask people about their professions?”
The rest of the table quieted down, and I could feel them become nervous. Zhuge Yan looked at me.
“There are two reasons. For combat professionals,” he gestured to Shi YuLong and Chai JiaQi, “they generally like to keep their profession a secret as much as possible because it can surprise an enemy. If someone is a water cultivator but suddenly starts throwing out countless talismans, it can serve as an excellent surprise. Of course, anyone can use talismans, but if you are a known talisman artist, people will be far more prepared for it.”
“That makes sense, I guess, but such a rule seems like a bit much if it’s only that.”
“The other reason,” he said, his gaze fixed on me, focused on not letting his eyes roam around, “is that depending on your profession, you can be in serious danger if people know about it.”
“You mean, like how someone might want to kidnap an alchemist and force them to make pills?” I asked, trying to put his words into a context I had considered before.
“That is a possibility, but for refiners, it’s much worse.” His face became stony. “Do you know that with a quality Rank 1 refined weapon, a Martial Disciple is capable of fighting an unarmed Martial Master? From what I’ve heard, with even just a Rank 5 refined weapon, a mediocre Martial Emperor might be able to defeat anyone on the continent other than the Saint and his Sovereigns.”
“Alright… but that’s not too different from the benefits a pill can give you. An alchemist can create pills that could allow a Disciple to fight against a Master.”
Zhuge Yan steepled his fingers, trying to think how best to explain. “A Pill Emperor can make pills that would greatly strengthen a Martial Emperor, yes. So, if the Martial Emperor is strong enough, they might kidnap the Pill Emperor to have a constant supply of pills, right?”
I nodded, accepting that reality.
“This would still require a constant flow of high level herbs, so they would also need to enslave a powerful herbalist. They would then need to protect their fields from being raided, so they would also need the services of martial cultivators. The scope and scale necessary for constant production of such pills expands rapidly, and there are many ways for that Emperor’s adversaries to interrupt the supply chain other than striking at the alchemist.”
“Is a refiner so different?”
“An Artifact Emperor can make a weapon that would make a Martial Emperor undefeatable. Once it is made, it’s made. No need for a supply chain. No need for more weapons. After the Emperor has that weapon, what do you think they will do?”
“Kid—” I began, but cut myself off. Why would they kidnap the refiner? They already had the weapon. They wouldn’t necessarily need more than one. They would just want to make sure no one else had access to its equal.
As a look of realization crossed my face, Zhuge Yan nodded. “Refiners are the top targets for assassination within every empire on the continent. The empires who have already managed to obtain Rank 5 and 6 artifacts will do anything they can to keep their edge. If a new empire or kingdom wants to train up a refiner to make them a new weapon, they must do it in absolute secrecy.”
Yan looked at me seriously to make sure I fully understood his message. “If someone is even suspected of being a high level refiner, they will be targeted. Both this school and the Nine Rivers Sect have protections in place to help refiners live long enough to be trained and grow up, but that doesn’t mean they are safe. Even within the school’s walls, there are people who would go to any length to prevent a rival faction from gaining a refiner.”
“Can’t the Sovereigns, or at least the Saint, do anything about this?”
He shook his head. “Possibly, but if they can, they don’t want to. They’ve arguably made the situation worse over the years.”
“But—”
Zhuge Yan cut me off. “We are broaching topics best left alone. Let’s talk about happier things.”
I nodded and allowed the conversation to change topics. I noticed that when we did, Lin LiTing, who had been extremely nervous as Zhuge Yan talked, finally relaxed.