The next day and a half were very relaxed, possibly the longest time off of training and lessons that Xu Long had ever experienced, he hated it. Xu Xing being as incredibly young as she was, was not the most lively of company yet, she spent most of her time eating, or in her case drinking watered down tea, sleeping, or riding around in Xu Long’s robe. And so Xu Long found himself doing what he normally did when he had free time, he trained with his sword.
Xu Long awoke the next morning, unreasonably excited, as he was expecting Old Wu back. What he didn't expect was to immediately see the old man sitting at his table drinking from a wide yet shallow cup, Xu Long couldn’t figure out what he was drinking but whatever it was it smelt very strong and he certainly seemed to be enjoying it as he was savoring every sip.
He got up, put his robe on and placed the groggy looking Xu Xing in the front of his robe as he walked over the table. After he sat down he began filling Xu Xing’s bowl with water, he then took out a small pill from the bottle his mother had given him and placed it in the water and stirred it until it dissolved. This was his first time using the pills, his mother having handed them to him the night before, apparently they were a mix of the tea that Xu Xing craved and a little something extra to supplement her diet during her admittedly slow growth period. This was apparently his mothers conclusion after a day and a half of observing the little spirit fox before, during and after feedings and their failed attempt at feeding her spirit beast meat.
As Xu Xing started on her bowl of supplemented tea, Xu Long looked at Old Wu who by now was looking at him and the little fox. “Old Wu I want to introduce you formally to Xu Xing.”
“The Heavens are certainly smiling on that little fox, not only did she suffer the injuries she did right in front of the home of one of the handful of people with the ability and willingness to save her in the entire realm, but she then proceeds to have an astonishing affinity to the qi that her savior specializes in and the opportunity to be baptized in it for three years.”
“Huh, I had never really thought about it, but when you lay it all out like that it does seem incredible to the point of unbelievable, not only that, her time of need exactly aligned with me leaving the valley.” Xu Long looked at the white little spirit fox on the table in a new light.
Old Wu started chuckling. “I wasn’t insinuating that it was suspicious kid, your little fox there, as I already noted, has an incredible affinity for the stars, what you don’t know, apparently, is that a fairly major aspect of the Dao of the Stars is divination and fate, emphasis on fate in this case, though they are both two of the most esoteric forces in existence.” Seeing the look on Xu Long’s face he couldn't help but chuckle again. “Your mother no doubt failed to mention this to you because she had no talent for either and in fact ignores this aspect of the stars completely.”
Xu Long was pretty excited by these revelations, getting information about his mother like this, from his mother herself, had proven to be a nigh impossible task. He was keen to have Old Wu continue. “Why does she cultivate with stellar qi then?”
Judging by the sly grin on Old Wu’s face he could see through Xu Long’s motivations, but did not seem to mind. “Tradition, legacy, stubbornness, take your pick. Whatever the case may be, the end result is that she pioneered the use of the stars as a medium for formations. Unfortunately, that’s all you are going to be getting from me kid, you are going to have to get the full story from your mother.”
Feeling more than a little disappointed at having his source of information on his mother’s past cut off, Xu Long could only sigh, he knew Old Wu’s words were final. “So what are you drinking and why are you sitting around my table drinking it this early in the morning?”
“This is spirit liquor that I…received from an old friend that I went to visit. The reason I am sitting at your table is because this old friend is the same one I consulted when you started walking down the path of the sword. So tell me kid, have you noticed any changes recently?”
A confused look on his face, Xu Long scoured his brain trying to decipher what Old Wu could be talking about, finally he gave up. “Not that I can think of, what kind of changes?”
“It’s alright, I am not surprised, I did spot it rather early. In short, congratulations kid, you are on the cusp of puberty.”
Xu Long’s face went from bewildered to surprised to ecstatic in a matter of moments. “That means that I can start Body Refinement right?”
Old Wu shook his head in exasperation. “Yes, it does, hence my trip to consult my friend on the next stage of your training.”
Xu Long was so excited he was practically buzzing, so much so that Xu Xing looked up to see what was going on, giving one of her, by now, customary tilts of the head.
“When do we start?”
“Calm down kid, you are quite early to the party as it were, we have a lot of time. I swear it is as if your body is as training mad as your mind and has pushed you into early puberty to get to Body Refinement as soon as possible.”
Seeing that his words had no effect on Xu Long’s excitement, Old Wu sighed again. “Fine, I will go talk to your mother and we can get started in an hour.”
As Old Wu stood up to leave, he suddenly turned back. “Oh yeah, I almost got caught up in your enthusiasm and nearly forgot. Kid, reaching puberty doesn’t just signal that you can begin Body Refinement, it also means that you are becoming a man.” Old Wu waved his hand over the table and a book appeared, the cover was blank and somewhat nondescript. “Read this book very thoroughly, especially the second half, commit it to memory. Trust me, it is better for everyone if you know what you are doing. Come to me with any questions.” He left with a wink and an unsettling grin.
Xu Long was looking at Old Wu leave with a raised eyebrow, but he opened the book to peruse nonetheless. When he did, what greeted him was extremely life-like and labeled drawings of naked men and women, along with what appeared to be pages of comprehensive descriptions of everything to do with puberty and reproduction in general. The second half however was a little different, the pictures, while similar, had changed from analytical to more action orientated, he continued to flip through with increasing interest, the second half went over different training methods, techniques and finally sexual positions. The longer Xu Long flipped through the book the redder his face got. When he finally flipped through to the end, he let out a long breath and looked up from the book only to see a little white spirit fox tilting her head staring at him.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Ahhh!” He let out a startled yelp and closed the book as fast as he could. Xu Xing just continued to stare. “How long have you been there Xiao Xing?”…Not exactly sure why he was waiting for a response that he knew wasn’t going to arrive, Xu Long shook his head and grabbed the book, looking around for a place to stash it, he decided to rest it up against the side of his bed that faced the grove wall.
Still feeling a bit restless but unwilling to continue reading the book with Xu Xing staring at him, Xu Long did what he always did, got out his sword.
After placing Xu Xing on the ground so she could roam while he trained he walked over the clearing by the pond and closed his eyes as he started running through the foundational forms that he had basically internalized in the last 3 years. The excitement and anxiety of the impending challenges of the Body Refinement Realm, the complicated feelings that the contents of the book invoked in him, all of it melted away as he flowed through forms effortlessly. Old Wu had compared it to a dance and in many ways he was right, but it was so much more.
Unsure of the time, Xu Long continued in this state, then just as he had finished a lunge and was transitioning it to a horizontal slash with a twist of his wrist and a slight adjustment of his body, he felt like someone new was watching him. He opened his eyes to see Old Wu standing to the side.
“Not bad, kid. I was incrementally raising the presence I gave off to see when you would notice me, you got it pretty quickly.”
Xu Long flicked his wrist to spin his sword 180 degrees and sheath it in one smooth motion, he then stood in front of Old Wu with a serious yet passive look on his face, the jittery excitement from earlier had been brought to heal through his focus on the forms.
Old Wu gave out a little snort of laughter. “Now that is the face of a young man who is willing to walk into fire. Fortunately for you, Body Refinement is a little less intense than that…not by much though.”
“Before we get to the fun stuff, however, I will go over just what your new training regime will entail and answer any questions you may have.” When he saw Xu Long nod, he continued. “Now typically the Body Refinement Realm is considered very simple if not grueling, all that is required to succeed is to push the body up to and beyond its limits through physical exertion and pain, recover quickly through medicinal means which are supplemented to encourage growth and health, and then do it all over again, ad nauseum.”
“Your foray into the Body Refinement Realm, however, will be a little different, fundamentally we will still be breaking down your body and rebuilding it over and over again, but the differentiator is the how.” As Old Wu finished his sentence he threw a long thin cloth towards Xu Long.
“This blindfold is your new best friend. You will be wearing it throughout your training in the Body Refinement Realm, which will mostly be composed of us sparring and you running through a new set of sword forms that I will teach you. They are designed to push your body to the limit and sculpt a body that is perfect for the sword. Even when you are running through these forms, you will be blindfolded and I will be attacking you at random. Do you understand?”
Xu Long looked up from the blindfold in his hand with a serious look on his face. “This is to train both my body and fighting instinct at the same time?”
Old Wu gave him a grin. “Correct. The general premise is that if you are going to subject yourself to grueling physical exertion and pain to refine your body you might as well learn how to fight at the same time.” Then his face turned a little grim. “One thing you need to keep in mind throughout this whole ordeal is that I am responsible for making sure you do not sustain any permanent injuries. I will decide when you rest and recuperate, you do not even need to think about when the next break is coming, the only thought in your head needs to be ‘keep going’.”
Old Wu let that statement sit for a while, watching the face of the young man in front of him that had not shown a fraction of a moment of doubt as he explained to him just what he was signing himself up for. And now as Old Wu let him sit in silence and ponder everything he had just heard, all he saw on that young face was determination.
“So kid, are you ready to get started?”
Xu Long nodded. “I’ve been waiting years for this.”
Old Wu waved his hand and a pretty standard looking sword appeared in his hand. “Alright, watch this carefully, and remember, this is a sequence that is designed for a single purpose, it is in this order for a reason, unlike before, you do exactly what I do in the order and with the timing that I do it.”
“Understood.”
Xu Long unsheathed his sword as he kept his eyes glued to Old Wu.
After more than a few hours of attempting to mirror what Old Wu had demonstrated, with the old man adjusting his form and correcting his timing, Xu Long had the sequence down to the point that Old Wu was happy with it. The more he repeated it the more he could see the truth behind Old Wu’s insistence that this was specifically designed for a purpose that was different from what he had practiced before. The sequence was frenetic, then calm, then frenetic again, the body had to be twisted in odd angles and then snap to different odd angles, he felt like every muscle in his body was on fire. Even though he was certainly swinging and thrusting his sword, it wasn’t like his previous experiences with training sword forms at all, he just wasn’t feeling it, that magical feeling like he and the sword were one.
Drenched in sweat, Xu Long was gasping for air, doubled over with his hands on his knees after his third time running through the sequence without Old Wu having to correct him, his entire body was in pain, but none of that was what was bothering Xu Long at the moment. He had a perturbed look in his eyes, he couldn’t figure out why he felt something was missing with this sequence of sword forms.
That is when he heard Old Wu chuckling to himself. “Ha, he told me you would hate this.”
Xu Long looked up quizzically at the old man, still panting too hard to talk coherently.
“Don’t try to think too hard on it, kid. The way it was described to me was that since this sequence was designed for the purpose of training the body for swordsmanship, it has all the hallmarks of swordsmanship, yet all of the heart is missing, it is rigid and clumsy, and there is no flow or beauty. Basically, it is antithetical to everything people who love the sword generally love about the sword. Unfortunately for you, this is just one more thing that you are going to have to endure during this process.”
Once Xu Long had caught his breath enough for the old man’s liking, Old Wu appeared in front of him almost instantly. “Here eat this and then hop in the pond.” Old Wu said as he shoved a small dark green pill in Xu Long’s mouth and then pointed at the pond a few meters to their right. As Xu Long was making his way to the pond he heard the old man behind him. “I hope you are ready kid, that was the last time that you are going to perform that sequence with the ability to see and no threat of a random attack, and every time you get comfortable with that sequence I will be increasing the weight of your sword.”
Xu Long paused and then looked back, smiling. “I’m ready old man, just you watch.”
Then he turned back to the pond to take the last step into the water when suddenly he went completely stiff and fell face first into the water.
“Huh, that was quicker than expected.” Old Wu walked up the pond and flipped Xu Long, who was floating face down, onto his back, when he did he saw the slight panic in Xu Long’s eyes as he was completely unable to move a muscle. “Relax kid, the pill just kicked in before I was expecting it to, just lay back and let it and the pond do their work, not that you have much choice in the matter.” Chuckling to himself Old Wu walked to the table and sat down to continue slowly sipping his spirit liquor that he seemed quite enamored with, as he did, a little spirit fox sauntered over to demand pats from him, to which the old man chuckled and obliged.
Xu Long, completely unable to move, just stared up at the sky of the valley as he felt a wondrous feeling spreading through his body, even though he was frozen with a rather neutral look on his face, in his head he had a big grin.