CHAPTER 109: THE NEXT STAGE OF TRAINING
“Hiyaaa!” Jao Cong jumped up, his knee shooting for Zen’s face.
Zen leisurely stepped back, dodgng the short boy’s attack. Cong bounced while throwing a few jabs that Zen interceopted it with his palms. Zen threw a punch and Cong blocked it but was off balanced. Zen came forward with a right hook but Cong ducked under it while stumbling forward. He quickly spun around to cover his back, his arms raised in protection of an attack that ultimately never came. He shifted from left to right in an attempt to confuse Zen. He leapt left, Zen reacted but it was a feint as Cong jumped right while throwing a punch. Zen barely blocked the punch with his forearm but did not see the follow up left that found purchase in his unprotected belly.
Zen grimaced while holding his stoach. He looked at Cong who was frowning, not because he had hurt his family but frowning in disappointment.
“You finally got a hit on me.” Zen said. “I was expecting you to be more… happy.”
“I don’t think that counts,” Cong said. “You were… distracted.”
“You’ve become good enough to notice that, huh?” Zen smirked. “Then maybe you should train with my Battle Doll.” He nodded to his father’s gift which sat lifelessly on the side.
“Ah… no!” Cong waved. “I’m not ready for that.”
“Well, soon you will be.” Zen said.
“Hopefully soon, I’m planning on entering the school tournament this year.”
“The tournament?”
“Yes, the one they have once every 2 years.” Cong said. “It wil be the first one our year will be entering. You are going to be entering too, right?”
“Why not.” Zen said,with a secret hope that Chen Jan would also be entering. He wanted another chance to fight him ad beat him to the ground for the earlier embarrassing defeat he had dealt him on their first day. But if you are going to stand a chance, Coz, you need to start fighting the mannequin.”
“And you need not be distracted.” Cong retaliated. “What were you thinking of anyway?”
“Geyi Kun,” Zen said.
“Oh!” Cong’s cheeks flushed, slightly. “I-I would not know how to help you with… those kinds of things… girls things.”
“What? No, its not like that!” Zen waved vigourosly. “It’s just that a month ago, we began going out…”
“Oh! I do not understand, if you’ve already been going out with her, then why are you denying her? Is it a secret love?”
“Wait for me to finish my statement before you make assumptions, you homone crazed kid! I was saying, we were going ot to forage for herbs. It was mostly going good, all she was missing was plant to finish her… Always Warm Soup or something like that but for the past 2 weeks, she never called me to help her out.”
“Maybe she found the missing ingredient?”
“I doubt it,” Zen said. “This Crystal Stock plant was nowhere to be seen. We starterd susectng that we’d have to go deeper into the forest to look for it. O doubt she would have gone deep without me as the navigator or without additional protection.”
“So she is looking for the Crystal Stock?” Cong tapped his head in thought.
“You know where we can find one?”
“Sort of,” he said running into his cottage. “I’ll show you!”
Zen waited and moments later, Cong reappeared.
“Here,” the shorter boy held out a cylinder pill to Zen who plucked it from his palm.
“What’s this?” Zen turned it over in his hand.
“It is a medium grade ki condensation pill.”
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“Meduim grade?” Zen’s eyes widened. “It must be worth a lot.”
“It is but it is not as useful to me as my ki is stable.” Cong said. “So I am giving it to you… to Geyi Kun… to yu both, for thanks for training me.”
“Okay,” Zen said. “So we can sell this and buy a Crystal Stock plant.”
“Oh yeah, I guess you can try that.” Cong said. “But Crystal Stoks are not very hardy plants, therefre, you might not be able to afford it by just selling this plant alone.”
“Then how will this help?” Zen gestured to the pill.
“70 % of this pill is Crystal Stock.” He sad. “To extract it, all she needs to do is dissolve it in water, then bring the water to boling point, whatever is left at the bottom of the container, will be crystal stock. And since it has already gone through the alchemist process, it will be actvated. And much more potent.”
“Huh, hopefully it will be enough then.” Zen said.
“If she needs more, I will ask my sister, she has two more in her possession that she is not keen in using.”
Zen nodded while pocketing the pill. “Alright, now, let’s continue wth the training!” he said, while taking a fighting stance.
“Zen?” Geyi Kun said when he saw the boy waiting outside the walls of her commune, meditating along with Shibi.
“Kun Kun,” he said as he got to his feet. “Where have you been? Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you?”
“Psht, I owe you no obligation to meet up with you.”she said, pointing at him with her spade. “And what are you doing out at this time? Isnt this when you are training with that doll of yours?”
“I thought I’d take a break and ask you what your problem is.”Zen said accusingly. “You haven’t called me to help you with foraging. Did you give up?”
“I just gave up on callig on you.” She said, hugging herself and looking away. “Since we collected all the Criss Grass that weren’t burnt, I thought you would not help me anymore.”
“What? We made a Warrior’s Pact, remember?” Zen thrust his fist out. “I promised to help you and I will.”
Kun smiled and shook her head before placing her hand over his fist. “You people and your strange customs.”
Zen shifted his fist to be over her open hand whee he dropped the Ki Condensation Pill.
“What’s this?” she looked at the pill.
“A condensation pill.” He said. “Jao Cong said it contains that Crystal Stock plant you wanted. Although it is a pill so I don’t know it if its much.”
“It should be enough.” She said, studying the pill. “Ingredients that are activated are very potent.”
“Yeah, Cong’er did say something like that.”
“Heh, I guess you are garunteed to be the brawn in any duo you are a part of.” She said.
“What does that mean?”
“You would have to be the brains of a duo to know.”
“You are very annoying, Geyi Kun.” He said. “No wonder you only have two friends.”
“Two?”
“Yeah, me and Shibi.”
Kun smiled. “You really consider me as a friend?” She blushed and looked away. “Great, I have two monkeys for friends.”
“What are you doing with a spade in the middle of the night anyways?”
“It’s quiet a good coincidence that you’re here.” She said as she began to walk. “Come, follow me. I have something to show you.”
“We’re here.” Kun said, stopping before a strip of dark soil.
“Why are we here?”
“Look,” Kun pointed.
Zen looked at the soil. There was a small bud growing from it. The bud began opening, its orange insides draping on the side with a yellow centre.
“Look familiar?”
Zen leaned closer, allowing himand Shibi wo get a closer look. “Isn’t this the flower we failed to save.”
“This is its descendent that you saved. It was a seed from the part of the plant you saved. I planted it and have been tending to it.”
“Wow, thanks.” Zen said as Kun began digging the plant out. “I may not know a lot about plants but don’t they usually bloom on the day?”
“Some do bloom at night but this is not a flower to a whole plant, it is the plant itself. So it’s not really blooming, it’s just entering its next growing phase.”
“Okay!” Zen nodded and rubbed his chin but did not really understand. He wanted to prove that he was not just the brawns.
“Here,” Kun offered the newly potted plant to Zen. “I grew it for you, so take it.”
“I don’t know if I should take it.” Zen said. “It’s still so small and fragile and I may just accidently kill it.”
“Fine, I’ll raise it until its strong enough to survive your stupidity.”
“Thanks… hey!” Zen stared daggers at her.
“Awu! It’s you two, Geyi Kun and Wang Zen!”
Zen’s heart sped up as he recognised the voice. He looked as Xue Shaonu walked in sight. His eyes widened, taking in her beauty as if she was glowing against the night. She wore a white dress tha went well with her milky and smooth skin. Her smiled made his heart add a few more beats in the span of minutes.
“Xue Shaonu!” Zen said.
“Are you two on a date?”
““No!”” they both said.
“I would never date her!” Zen pointed. “I have a type, and that type is any breathing thing but her!”
“My family would disown me if I came home with him.” Kun insisted. “Even if he fixed his nose, he’d go from horrendious to unbearably ugly!”
Xue Shaonu covered her mouth as she giggled. “You two trying to hide your love is so cute. Secrte love is so romantic but its not going to be much secret for longer if Zen keeps giving you flowers.” Shaonu leaned in closer. “But the flower is kind of small.”
“If I were to actually give her anything, it would be smaller cause that would represent her worth.” Zen said.
“I doubt this is the last small thing Zen gives to a girl.” Kun said.
They turned huffed and turned their backs to each other at the same time.
“You two are so cute.” Shaonu said. “I’ll leave you to continue then. Bye!”
“I honestly do not know what you guys see in that girl.” She said as she walked off.
“You’re kidding, right?” Zen said.
Kun simply rolled her eyes. “So I have all the ingredients I want but what are you going to do since you haven’t gotten your ki to be pure enough?”
Zen smirked. “Who says my ki isn’t pure enough?”