Chapter 179: Death & Sunshine, IV

"Why would I laugh at you?" Wu Hao asked.

"Ke Shuang laughed at me," Du Linglong said bitterly. "Said I deserved it."

"Deserved what?"

"I don't know," Du Linglong said. "Losing, I guess. He's a jerk now. He used to... well, it doesn't matter."

She didn't know the half of it, Wu Hao thought.

"How do you and Hua Lixin do it?" she asked. "You made it look so easy."

"Do what?" Wu Hao asked.

"Everything," Du Linglong said. "You use Heaven-grade martial arts like it's not supposed to be impossible. You advance to the next tier as if all you need to do is take a single step. When I saw your fight, it was like watching two experts duel, not two people my age. How am I supposed to match up with that?"

"Er," Wu Hao said. Drawing on all his experience with Jin Qilong, he said: "But you know a Heaven-grade martial art too, don't you?"

This didn't have the desired effect. Du Linglong slumped. "I can't even use it properly."

"But you can use it," Wu Hao said. "Isn't that enough?"

"You still beat me," she said. "So, no. It's not enough."

Oddly enough, Wu Hao could empathize with that somewhat.

"Tell me," she said. "What am I doing wrong?"

Fuck. He'd hoped she wouldn't ask anything too difficult.

Du Linglong was watching him as if expecting him to say something profound. Wu Hao could barely sound profound when talking about something he actually knew about, but trying to say something that made sense about an art he didn't know? An art which he was only acquainted with because he had been killed by it, after it had been a lot more powerful in the future?

He debated just saying that she would get it, eventually, but dismissed that thought. It was probably true, but what would that help her? He didn't know in which circumstances she'd mastered it, either.

The only thing he knew was that if her life continued as he knew it could, then she would die at the hands of the Moonlight Sovereign, or maybe at Ke Shuang's hands.

Wu Hao took a breath. Du Linglong's focused look was gradually slipping into a frown - he'd left it a little too long, too busy wandering through his thoughts again.

Inspiration struck.

"Your art is about the sun," Wu Hao said. "Right? I mean, it's named the Nine Suns Sword Art."

"It is," Du Linglong said. "Every one of the nine stances is an expression of the sun. It's a technique that my grandfather created for his daughter, my mother."

"Okay," Wu Hao said. "So, my question is. What actually is the sun?"

Du Linglong gave him a skeptical look.

"Think about it," Wu Hao insisted, fending off the creeping feeling that he was saying something really dumb. "What's the sun to you? I mean, in your life, what's your direct connection to the sun? A Heaven-grade martial art is about making yourself part of something greater."

Du Linglong didn't quite seem to know how to answer that.

"So I need a connection to the sun?" she asked. "What would that even look like?"

"My connection is to the storm," Wu Hao said, by means of example. "Which storm doesn't really matter. It's just the storm and it's everywhere even when the wind seems quiet. You need to let go into that storm or that connection and it'll do the rest for you."

"I don't know how," she said. "I feel like when I'm in the sun, I'm nice and warm and I feel good, but that's not a connection, is it? That's just sunning like a cat, or so Ke Jiazhong told me once."

"Maybe," Wu Hao said. For once he wished Master Shu was there to explain all of this in a better way. At least the old man wouldn't have to keep coming up with new things to say, since he could just cite from his endless books.

"But you have a connection," she said. "Show me. Wouldn't that be faster and simpler?"

Wu Hao hesitated. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. What if it goes wrong?"

"That's the first time I've ever seen you look worried," Du Linglong said, which showed she really didn't know him at all. "I'll take responsibility if it goes wrong. I just want a hint."

"Right," Wu Hao muttered. "Well..."

She stepped forward, the look in her eyes pleading.

"Give me your hand," Wu Hao said, deciding what the hell. He'd reset if things did go wrong.

Du Linglong extended a hand slowly, almost like she was asking him for a dance.

Pulling the saber out of his spatial storage, Wu Hao tried to focus on the reassuring weight of the steel, rather than the bizarre situation he'd found himself caught up in.

He took her hand in his left, while his right held the saber, and Wu Hao took a deep breath.

And he tried to ignore the persistent scent of peaches tickling his nose. And Du Linglong's eyes looking into his. And the warmth of her skin where their hands were touching. There didn't seem to be much else in the world at the moment, which made it hard. The sun outside was cheery and bright, if cold.

Swallowing, he lifted his saber up slightly. It buzzed eagerly at his touch, and he took extra care in forming the loops that would cause the sparks to race up and down.

He didn't want to hurt her. He told himself that it might mess up Master Shu's plans, and that was why.

Pushing qi up to his saber, Wu Hao saw the line manifest itself into thin air. Du Linglong, still holding his hand, was concentrating deeply on the saber, even though sometimes her eyes still flicked up to meet Wu Hao's as if drawn there by magnets. She was full of lines, which he tried to push away.

"There," Wu Hao said, whispering. He lifted both of their hands and pointed at the line. "Can you see that?"

"See what?" she asked.

"The line," Wu Hao said. "It shows how the storm wants to flow. How you should go if you want to be carried along, the way the technique wants to be used."

Du Linglong stared hard at some point in the room, at a totally different place than where Wu Hao was seeing a clear line.

"Maybe," she said. "Is that it, over there?"

"No," Wu Hao said. "Hold on. I'm going to start -"

"Wait," Du Linglong said, wincing. "Give me one moment to -"

But Wu Hao's hand had already moved. His saber traced the origin of that first line and he unchained the raging storm of qi, the diamond in his chest rotating until it exposed a solid yellow surface, from which qi came bursting out and flooding his meridians.

He saw parts of it run up to Du Linglong's skin, biting down, and she flinched away from the contact before she bit down on her lip and grasped his hand more firmly. Bits and pieces of sun-kissed qi shook themselves free and Wu Hao fed them into the technique as well.

"Hurry," Du Linglong whispered, and Wu Hao obliged.

Letting go, he fell into the storm. The shimmering sun next to him, the wood under his feet, the stone walls, the cloudy sky up above, all of those fell away - and all of a sudden, all he could feel were winds whipping at his clothes, pulling him along if he would let them carry him like a leaf on the breeze. It was a pleasant feeling, and he laughed out loud at the sensation of unceasing movement it inspired in him. He was being stared at but he ignored that, too.

He whirled around, a new line forming, and pulled Du Linglong closer as he took aim at the sky above.

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"Sky-Severing Saber Art," Wu Hao stated loudly. "Cutting Clouds."

Slowly, he cut through the fabric that stood in his way. He could see, now, with his enhanced senses, what was actually happening, now that he could use the technique without completely surrendering himself to it.

What he was cutting through wasn't just air or dead space or anything like it. He was cutting through the sky's image of itself, and the sky as the rest of the world saw it would have to follow suit. His saber-point traced a thin line through the sky-image and he smiled to know that he could do it a few more times, if he wanted to.

And then the sky ripped apart, revealing the bright sun shining down. A long scar tore through the clouds above, revealing a field of azure sky as large as any sea and twice as beautiful.

Wu Hao had the distinct impression that his feet had left the ground, and next to him Du Linglong was gaping in awe, and Wu Hao's heart was beating as, gripped by that feeling of limitlessness, they leaned closer together until the sides of their heads touched, and -

Someone almost slammed into the door and ripped it open in their haste to get in.

"Linglong!" a voice called. "Linglong, answer me!"

Wu Hao spun and Du Linglong spun with him.

It was Ke Jiazhong, the young man who had been together with Du Linglong in the future. How together he didn't know, having never asked, but definitely together in some way. Wu Hao released Du Linglong's hands like they were on fire, and felt the loss of contact keenly.

To try and focus on anything else, he studied Ke Jiazhong. If there was one word which might describe him in his entirety, it was normally "well put-together". The last time that Wu Hao had seen him, his hair had recently been trimmed, his clothes were neat and tidy, and Wu Hao's senses had detected a faint hint of perfume, which he tried not to pay attention to.

But now he was wide-eyed and slightly dishevelled, his hair tousled by what had to have been a quick run over to this training ground. He was still a third-rate martial artist, at this point.

"Let Linglong go," Ke Jiazhong asked, hand on his sword.

"Martial brother, he's a guest," Du Linglong said, her hair hiding her face from Wu Hao. That deep red in her qi that he detected, what was that? Embarrassment for being caught with him, training where she shouldn't have been?

It had to be.

Ke Jiazhong's grip on his sword slackened slightly, before he glared at Wu Hao again.

"What were you doing?"

Wu Hao didn't move an inch, since he could have beaten Ke Jiazhong into the ground easily.

"He was showing me a technique," Du Linglong said, before Wu Hao could speak. "What's it to you, anyway? You never take an interest in my training."

"Wh -" Ke Jiazhong said, his head whipping to her and to Wu Hao in turn, his expression complex. "That's because..."

"Because?" Wu Hao asked, and received a scowl.

"That doesn't concern you," Ke Jiazhong barked. "Anyway! It doesn't matter. That's not why I was looking for you, Linglong. We've still got to get you ready for tonight's banquet. Your hair's a mess, Linglong. Have you even ran a brush through it recently? And you're all sweaty. Ew."

Du Linglong sniffed the air, then pulled a face as she ran her hand through her frizzy hair. She hissed, though, and pulled her hands out as if she'd burned herself.

The skin of her palms was slightly blackened, an imprint of Wu Hao's own palm and fingers left there.

"Oh," Wu Hao said, when he saw. His stomach dropped. "Shit."

"It's fine," she said quickly. "I asked for it. I'll ask Auntie for some ointment. But that was... I don't have words for it. It was a lot."

After another breath and an experimental flexing of her hands, which at least didn't seem to hurt, she gave Ke Jiazhong a smile.

"Maybe a bath would be nice," she said. "And, um. Bandages?"

"That would be for the best," Ke Jiazhong said pointedly, and he turned. "Come with me. I'll have someone draw up a bath and get you new clothes."

"Fine," Du Linglong said, and she made her way over to the exit of the training ground.

Ke Jiazhong all but dragged her out of the door, but when she was almost outside, she glanced back at Wu Hao, and there was a definite sparkle in her eye that hadn't quite been there before. Wu Hao grinned without even knowing why he was grinning at all.

"See you tonight, by the way," she said, before she was yanked away. He caught a few fragments of conversation he caught. Something about promises and family, but he didn't get the full picture.

After all, it was then he got smacked upside the head again.

"Boy," Master Shu said gruffly. He had appeared out of nowhere, apparently drawn by whatever had drawn Ke Jiazhong. Wu Hao's eyes were drawn to the large line he had carved into the sky, which was slowly beginning to pull itself together, and realized that he hadn't exactly been subtle. "Do you realize what you've just done?"

"She wanted a hint," Wu Hao protested. "I just gave her one."

"You did not give her a hint," Master Shu stated. "You made her look at the world the way you do, and that is dangerous. You should know, brat, that it is one thing to try and learn to look at the world a certain way. It is another to try and unlearn a way of thinking entirely. Some claim it is impossible."

"Oh," Wu Hao said. "So... what does that mean?"

"It means that perhaps you have influenced her development and pulled her into your direction," Master Shu said. "Perhaps it means nothing, in practice. Perhaps it means that you've pulled her off her intended path. Whatever it is, your attempt at giving a hint made you at least in part a teacher of hers, and that is in no way a responsibility you're ready to take on. Otherwise you would have known not to do this - a teacher helps along the path you are meant to take. A teacher does not forge a path for you."

That... wasn't how Wu Hao had thought about it at all. He just figured he'd help.

"Oh," Wu Hao said again, more subdued. The giddiness he'd felt was gone, now, replaced with a sudden guilt. "Shit."

The old man set his hand on Wu Hao's shoulder.

"You should have asked me first," Master Shu said, his tone softening slightly. "Idiot boy. I suppose that in the end the fault lies with me, in any case. Normally one doesn't become a second-grade martial artist until later, when you've had a bit more life experience and know enough not to do this sort of thing."

Master Shu sighed.

"That's not why I came here," he said. "I don't know what effect it will have, what you just did. Besides, it's done. But I did in fact have good news."

Wu Hao grunted. "What is it?"

"It's about tonight's spar," Master Shu said. There was a distinct tone of satisfaction in his voice. "Normally, it was supposed to be a challenge of two first-rate martial artists. That Lu Bowing fellow and Ke Shuang's half-brother, Ke Boyi. Boring, I suspect, but a serviceable match, perhaps. It would neatly showcase the talents of the Patriarch's intended heir and all that, though I suspect you wouldn't much care."

"But?" Wu Hao asked.

"My bait has been taken," Master Shu said. "Congratulations. A second match has been set up, and you're to figure in tonight's demonstration also - duelling against Ke Shuang, of course."