The chase lasted quite a while, as was fairly common, Xu Long had never actually caught the little spirit fox before, much to his vexation. Sure she was fast, but so was Xu Long, the problem was that she seemed to always be in the right place at the right time. If he closed in there would be a hole in some dense brush Xu Xing size for her to escape through, if she climbed a tree there would always be a path through the canopy sturdy enough for her but not for him, and on the cycle went.

Xu Long was unsure if it was her affinity with the stars at work or if she really was that cunning and planned it all out. Either way he still played along, it was after all Xu Xing’s favorite pastime, and it had the added benefit of improving his forest traversal skills that had been languishing ever since he started his relentless education. Maybe they were right about him being a training obsessive…

As Xu Long was vaulting over a large rock he suddenly felt a prickling in the back of his neck, he pulled his head down and turned his vault into a roll as he felt a sharp rush of air brush over top of him.

He sprang up out of his roll unsheathing his sword in the process only to deflect a blow from his side without turning his head to look, he ran his blade along what he now knew to be a spear shaft, rolling his wrist to ensure the spear went where he wanted it to go, using its momentum against it. Except the spear wielder was far stronger than him and the spear stopped dead in its tracks as if it had hit some invisible barrier that would allow it to move no further. Looking over at its wielder, Xu Long smiled.

“Sorry Old Wu, I guess I lost track of time trying to chase down Xu Xing.”

“Not bad, kid. And don’t worry about it. I take it you have figured out by now that it is virtually impossible for you to catch her as you are now?”

“Ha, yeah I did have an inkling, but virtually impossible isn’t the same as impossible” Smiling at Old Wu, Xu Long then turned his head to the forest behind him and put his hands to the side of his mouth. “Xiao Xing It's time for my training!”

As he turned to head back with Old Wu he felt something from up and to his right, he spun on the tip of his foot and snatched a little white ball of fluff that had leaped at him from presumably the branch she was hiding and observing from.

As he was placing the little spirit fox in the front of his robes he looked at Old Wu with a cheeky grin. “See, just have to come at the problem from a different angle.”

Shaking his head and giving a short snort of a laugh, Old Wu started walking towards the pond for their daily sparring session.

They made their way to the clearing in the grove at a brisk pace and Xu Long placed Xu Xing on his bed, her favorite vantage from which she had watched him getting beaten up for the last few years. Before long Xu Long and Old Wu were facing each other in the clearing, Old Wu leaning casually on a training spear, Xu Long unwrapping a blindfold that was wrapped several times around his left wrist.

“Your mother has informed me that she has already spoken to you this morning, have you given any thought to what you would like to focus on in the coming couple of years? Just so you know, your mandatory day with me will be more than adequate for you to maintain your progress from Body Refining until you start cultivating, so you can spend your time however you like.”

Xu Long, about to place a blindfold over his eyes, stopped with a thoughtful look on his face. “I can’t rightly say just yet. At the moment I am leaning towards filling the time with sparring, or similar, and then adjusting once I figure out if I need extra time for the lessons Mother has planned for me.”

Old Wu stared at him for an intense few seconds. “Kid, you realize that I am giving you an out from blindfold training, you have progressed far beyond the goals that my friend who suggested this course of training had set for them, and I can’t imagine that it’s not exacting a toll on you.”

“Well, I didn’t know about the goals of the training, but I had figured that you and Mother were signaling that I could put the blindfold aside.” Looking down at the blindfold laying across both his hands. “The truth is that it is taxing, spending so much time in total darkness, some days I dread putting this blindfold back over my eyes.” He looked back up at Old Wu. “But honestly, whatever price I pay wearing it, I pay it gladly. The last few years spent sparring blindfolded with you have been a revelation. I feel like I have opened a door to a whole new path in my swordsmanship and I equally feel that I have taken but a fraction of a step down this new path that feels like it stretches on beyond the horizon...It calls to me.”

Old Wu sighed and looked up at the sky and started mumbling to himself. “Here I was thinking that you were just being your usual training mad self, taking this training method and pushing it far beyond its intended purpose, just like you did with those foundational sword forms that you somehow managed to turn into the most beautiful sword dance I have ever seen…”

He looked back down at this prodigy that he felt grossly unqualified to teach, yet was forced to because of circumstances beyond both of their control. Between himself and the kid's mother, he was the most qualified, any other solution involved having the kid leave the valley and getting his mother to agree to that at such an early age was both a cruel thing to even ask and a non-starter with the stubborn woman. He looked into the purple eyes that were staring at him, full of stubborn determination, clearly the color of his eyes was not all that he had inherited from his mother, Old Wu couldn’t help but shake his head.

“I understand, kid. In some ways I envy you, few if any have even an inkling of their path at your age, and while you may have only caught a glimpse of it, that glimpse is invaluable and should be pursued with diligence, even if you have to be cruel to yourself to do so.”

Xu Long nodded and then looked back down at the blindfold as he brought it up to his face and put it over his eyes, he took a deep breath as his world turned dark. Talking about this with Old Wu had brought his unease of spending so much time in the total darkness of the blindfold to the surface, but it had also galvanized his conviction, he knew in his heart that he had to do this.

When it was tied on he looked straight ahead and unsheathed his sword, he was as still as a statue, his breathing slow and steady, as he felt himself melt into his surroundings. This was a feeling he knew all too well by this point, this passive stance that had seen him through the trials and tribulations of Body Refinement had become too easy. He knew something had to change, in the beginning he was passive and it felt like he was enduring, enduring the unknown. Now though, he felt comfortable standing still, like he could deal with whatever the unknown threw at him as long as he didn’t move.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He felt Old Wu coming before he heard him, his sword flashed to intercept the spear as if on instinct. It felt too safe, too easy. He felt Old Wu withdrawing no doubt to test him from another angle, possibly with another weapon; they had done this dance many a time. Xu Long could feel his discontent with this passivity building the longer the spar went on. He knew what he had to do, but it was not so easy. It was one thing to face the unknown and react to what came at you, it was quite another to walk out into the unknown. He had to take that first step.

Old Wu came again, this time with a saber, Xu Long could feel it cutting through the wind with reckless abandon aimed right at his head. He intercepted the saber edge to edge, but he did not try and stop it’s momentum instead his sword flowed with the path of the saber as he rolled his wrist and his sword lazily spun around the saber to rest against its back, from there it easy altered the trajectory of the saber over the top of Xu Long’s head.

As he felt the massive momentum of the saber careening over his head he knew that this was the perfect time. Hardening his resolve, he took a step towards the saber’s direction, the sword in his hand darting forward in a perfect thrust. It felt almost alien to him, he had not been on the offensive for years. That one step felt like breaking through a barrier and he felt a tightness in his chest that he did not know was there, lighten. He had missed this. Just as he missed Old Wu with his thrust, which was not particularly surprising since he could not see him and could barely feel where he was.

Taking a deep breath he returned to passivity, he knew taking that first step was important and that he would take many more, but he couldn’t just run out into the unknown after taking a single step. He heard a chuckle from in front of him and slightly to the right.

“Not bad, kid. Almost got me there, I was not expecting you to go on the offensive.”

Xu Long angled his head slightly in the direction he heard Old Wu from. “I could not advance any further by being passive, I had to take the step.”

“Hmm, I hope you are prepared, kid. That one caught me off guard after almost 4 years of defensiveness. But now I will punish any openings you present.”

Nodding his head, Xu Long replied. “Please do.”

There was no reply from Old Wu, it was like he had dissipated back into the unknown. Xu Long stood there waiting, almost excited about what was to come, something new.

In the end the results of Xu Long taking that step were everything he hoped, however, new might not be the right word to describe the day he just spent sparring with Old Wu. It was a very familiar feeling day, that consisted of Xu Long being beaten and then healing in the pond only to get out and do it all over again. And just like when he had first set foot into the Body Refinement Realm, he was loving it. The feeling of improving his swordsmanship, the feeling of taking a step down the path, it was utterly intoxicating.

In fact he still had a somewhat silly grin on his face as he walked towards his mother’s garden with a slightly apprehensive looking Xu Xing in the front of his robes.

Giving her a reassuring pat, Xu Long tried to encourage her. “Don’t worry so much Xiao Xing, trust me you are going to love the place I am taking you. Haven’t you ever wondered where mother’s tea comes from?”

That got the little spirit foxes attention, her eyes went wide as she started scanning her surroundings, trying to figure out where they were going. Xu Long had to shake his head, Xu Xing had never consumed anything other than his mothers tea and whatever nutrients she snuck into the tea pills she made for him to dissolve in water for the greedy little fox. She was well and truly hooked.

After a few more minutes traversing the paths and a few shortcuts through some thickets of trees they arrived at the border path of the garden. Xu Xing had been kept from this place for a reason, which was on full display right now as her greedy little eyes took in the sight of the sea of stellar lotus blossoms that his mother was extremely proud of. After the shock wore off, she started squirming to get out of Xu Long’s robes and made a beeline for the closest pond as soon as she hit the ground. She was destined to be disappointed though. As soon as she reached the edge of the path and tried to dive head first into the pond she stopped in mid-air, looking to all the world like she was caught in some kind of invisible spider web.

“Well what do we have here.”

Xu Long turned his head as he felt his mother appear at his side as if she just popped into existence this second. It was sometimes a bit disconcerting when he was given a stark reminder about just how much Old Wu was holding back in their spars, when even his mother, who was an entire realm Old Wu’s junior, could approach him completely unnoticed without even trying.

But he recovered quickly, it is not like this information was new to him, he just had a tendency to forget because they were both so casual with him and rarely showed off just how powerful they were.

“You can’t claim this wasn’t entirely predictable, Mother.”

Xu Long interjected on Xu Xing’s behalf, still looking at the struggling little fox caught in the devious trap.

“Of course not Long’er, it is just that in situations like this it is better to show not tell.” She replied as she slowly walked over to Xu Xing.

Crouching down to get a bit closer to the struggling Xu Xing, who was looking a little panicked at her sudden appearance, she reached out and pet Xu Xing on the head slowly and calmly.

“Shhh, it is alright little one. I know it doesn’t feel like it right now but this trap just saved your life. Were you to take even the smallest bite of one of the petals of any of these lotus blossoms you would almost certainly explode immediately.”

Xu Xing froze and then looked up at her.

“You cannot feel the incredible power flowing through this garden because I designed it that way. Come, I will show you.”

She pressed a certain point in the air around Xu Xing and the fox fell to the ground, she then held out her hand for the disorientated spirit fox.

As the somewhat cowed Xu Xing was hopping onto her hand she looked at Xu Long. “Long’er, unfortunately I cannot show you until you have cultivated to at least Core Formation, preferably Nascent Soul, lest it taint your path.”

Xu Long smiled at his mother. “I look forward to it.”

He then walked over and pet Xu Xing on the head. “Have fun. And maybe just don’t eat anything in there, ok?”

She nuzzled into his hand and then gave it a nip in response.

Xu Long gave her a small smile. “My mistake, I forgot who I was talking to.”

He then watched as his mother walked into the center of the garden with Xu Xing in hand only to suddenly disappear when she took the final step to reach the dead center. When they disappeared Xu Long could swear that he saw some of the stars in the petals of the lotus blossoms light up momentarily.

He shook his head and then turned around to walk back to the grove, he had a book to read.