80 – A Much Needed Lesson

The first day of the combat tournament ended surprisingly quickly. It served mainly to weed out the chaff. Most matches concluded after only a few exchanges. These were, after all, battles between Qi Refining cultivators. Their limited Qi reserves naturally encouraged decisive strikes after only brief probing.

“Thank you for the support, Scholar Liu.” I cupped my hands and bowed to the smaller older man.

“This junior thanks the Master of Ceremonies for the opportunity.” Scholar Liu returned the gesture before we parted ways.

The preliminary rounds had finished far faster than I expected. The sun was only just beginning to set, yet half the participants had already been eliminated. It seemed to be the nature of cultivator combat to resolve matters quickly. That matched my own experiences, both the battle at Jinchuan and the ambush by the five young masters had ended relatively fast as well.

“So how was it, young master?” Huiran and Wendao arrived shortly afterward. “It is said the best learning comes from watching others fight,” Huiran added.

I leaned forward and rested my chin on my hand while considering the overall experience. “Honestly or politely?” I asked.

“Honestly, of course,” Huiran replied with raised eyebrows.

“Never answer politely when asked this sort of question,” Wendao added. “It is far better to receive honest, truthful comments than to suffer later because of meaningless politeness.”

I nodded. His reasoning made sense. Battles between cultivators were always potentially deadly, and proper correction was preferable to soft words that might get someone killed. Still, I wanted a little reassurance first.

“I’ll answer honestly,” I said, “but only if both of you promise not to get angry or hit me for what I say.”

The two exchanged a glance, then nodded. “Very well.”

“Hmmm. Where do I start?” I drummed my fingers against my chin.

“Honestly, the more I watched, the more perplexed I became.” I began. “I mean… Soft and Hard Palm? What kind of technique name is that? It sounds like a fucking innuendo.” I made the jacking off gesture.

“Some techniques have names that make sense I guess. But Fast and Slow Fisting Arts?” I said the name aloud in the most scandalized tone I could manage. Did these people not hear the connotations? Or was this world simply not as perverse as the one I came from? Given my experiences with Huiran and Wendao, that didn’t seem likely. I continued spouting the most ignorant drivel that I had.

Each word drove the two of them closer to the edge. Huiran’s face turned an increasingly deep red, veins standing out on his forehead and along his clenched fists that want but cannot hit me. Wendao had already closed his eyes and plugged his ears in a perfect display of “see no evil, hear no evil.”

Finally, Huiran could take no more.

“Enough!” he exploded, slamming both hands on the table hard enough to make the cups jump. His face was flushed with pure indignation. “Do you have any idea how shallow and ignorant that sounds?!

“Yes.”

“I admit the names might sound wrong, but they are not named for the amusement of perverts!” Huiran shouted.

“So you admit…”

“Soft and Hard Palm refers to the dual application of yielding and forceful Qi! Fast and Slow Fisting Arts is a classic body-tempering method that trains explosive speed alongside controlled, heavy strikes! The names describe the principles, not whatever filthy connotations you keep spouting. Of the principle of Harmonizing Opposites!” Huiran continued his tirade while I turned the phrase over in my mind.

Harmonizing Opposites… Harmonizing Opposites…

Was there anything like that back home? Nothing that immediately matched. There was force and recoil when firing a gun. Acceleration and deceleration. Could those count? Nuclear power? Probably not. Matter and antimatter? Those annihilated each other on contact, so they didn’t exactly fit the idea of “harmony.”

“Well, it’s the first time I’ve ever heard of such a concept,” I said, interrupting his angry lecture.

Huiran blinked, the wind momentarily taken out of his sails. “Not even back in your homeworld?” he asked, skepticism clear in his voice though he had calmed slightly after the rant.

“Nope.” I shook my head after giving it another moment of thought. “Pretty sure this is the first time I’ve heard it. Besides… no one told me anything.”

“I see.”

“Wuh.” 

A sudden chill ran down my spine as a female voice joined the conversation from the doorway.

Elder Yinyue stood there along with the four other Tianhe Sect disciples, as well as Wanxia and Ningguang. The elder’s expression was carefully neutral, yet the air around her felt distinctly cold. Ningguang, Wanxia, and the other female disciple had already turned their faces away, while the remaining men looked at me with clear disapproval.

“Elder Yinyue. Hi.” I greeted her awkwardly. “No one told me you were here.”

Then I also greeted Senior Sister Zhaoxia. Not expecting her to be here.

I glanced at Huiran and Wendao. One was suddenly interested in whistling, the other was looking anywhere but at me. They were about to tell me, weren't they?

“Well, we cannot have a disciple of the Tianhe Sect remaining this ignorant, can we?” Elder Yinyue’s full attention settled on me.

“Nooo. Certainly not,” I answered immediately.

“Good.” A warm smile spread across her face, the earlier pressure melting away as quickly as it had appeared. “I will spare some time to educate you properly once you return home.”

Then, just as quickly, her tone turned cold again.

“Do not try to run away.”

“Yes, of course, ma’am.” I nodded.

“But still…” Elder Yinyue took the seat beside me and leaned in slightly. “If you are capable of spouting all that nonsense, surely something useful must have crossed your mind as well?”

Did she just offer me a chance to correct myself? Well… thank you, I guess.

I tried to recall the matches more carefully. Something had stood out, though it wasn’t particularly profound.

“Was the way the participants practiced sword arts the usual method?” I asked.

“Hmmm.” Elder Yinyue hummed thoughtfully. “What made you feel it was unusual?”

In response, I created a miniature projection. “These movements, right here.” I pointed as the projection replayed one of the Qi Refining sword cultivators in motion, a nonsensical-looking pose where one leg lifted, the sword arm extended fully, and the free hand made some gesture near the chest. Then another sequence where the cultivator bent awkwardly close to the ground to deliver a one-handed sword sweep.

“What about it struck you as unusual?” Elder Yinyue asked. From the corner of my eye I caught the body-tempering disciple almost stepping forward before restraining himself.

“It’s a um… hyperactive. Fidgety.” I created a second projection, this one showing the swordsmanship I had learned in various VR games. Greatswords, flamberges, standard longswords, and the like. Most of those forms kept both feet planted, relying on stable stances and controlled swings. The difference was stark. Cultivator sword techniques looked far more restless and exaggerated by comparison. It was something I only now noticed clearly, since I was no longer on the receiving end the way I had been against Hánhuā, Wendao, and that one of the five young masters whose name I had already forgotten.

“These are mortal swordsmanship,” Elder Yinyue concluded immediately.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Not exactly. But you have already seen that a certain degree of mobility is required when fighting other cultivators. There are sword arts that more closely resemble what you just showed, of course. However, unlike those, the forms you demonstrated do not account for the movement arts that cultivator swordsmanship must incorporate.”

So that was how she had identified it so quickly. It made sense. Still, I quietly maintained my opinion that their swordsmanship looked unnecessarily hyperactive. If I ever learned from my father, I hoped it would not turn out the same way.

“Anything else?” Elder Yinyue offered.

“A few things. Though these come more from my own situation than from watching the participants.”

“Of course. There is little of true value to be gleaned from observing Qi Refining juniors at your current stage. Ask.”

“Alright then. Is it possible to reabsorb the Qi from a used spell? And can a cultivator store their Qi outside their bodies for immediate later use?” I asked the two questions that I have.

The first question was mainly to test whether other cultivators could do what I suspected I could. I had already felt that I could recoup some of the Qi from the sun-in-a-jar currently in Ningguang’s possession. The second was to confirm whether creating an external Qi battery was even theoretically possible.

“Regarding your first question: no. Once Qi is released, it is spent. Attempting to force it back will interfere with your own internal circulation. An active spell will collapse violently and injure the user. That is what we call backlash.”

“As for the second question, it is possible, but extremely inefficient in both directions. Compatibility is also a strict requirement. We already have pills that serve this purpose. Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to absorb random stored Qi, even if you believe yourself compatible.” Elder Yinyue delivered the explanation cleanly and ended with a clear warning.

I nodded. There had to be a reason I could reabsorb the sun in the jar. Was it because the construct was ultimately an illusion, even if it was a self-sustaining one that could be stored? An idea began forming. Qi batteries… the possibility of reabsorption… clones of myself… Oh yes, it’s all coming together.

“I believe I have no further questions for now.” I offered my thanks.

“You are planning something,” she noted at once.

“Something that might work.”

“Good. You are learning.” Elder Yinyue gave a small nod of approval.

“Now then. I am also here to praise you for your work as Master of Ceremonies. That publicity stunt was particularly well executed.” She smiled as she said it.

“What publicity stunt?” I looked around. Several of the others were staring at me strangely.

“It went something like this,” Huiran said, then proceeded to explain exactly how my interaction with Scholar Liu had been interpreted. My jaw slowly dropped.

“My God. Is it necessary for everything that happens to carry some deeper meaning?” I muttered, half-annoyed. It was as irritating as the claim that everything was political.

“It wasn’t planned?” Ningguang asked, finally joining the conversation.

“Not even a little. I was genuinely annoyed that he was spoiling the matches before they began. Inviting him up was simply an apology for rebuking him in front of… the entire city.”

A few soft scoffs met my explanation. From their group, it seemed only Elder Yinyue and Senior Sister Zhaoxia actually believed me. Whatever.

“Very well.” Elder Yinyue reclaimed control of the conversation. “I will now tell you the real reason we arrived in such numbers.”

With a snap of her fingers, a privacy barrier far stronger than the one Huiran usually created enveloped the entire room.

—

Xuehai hummed quietly as he walked toward the City Lord’s office, still in high spirits. This Zhaoge clearly possessed potential. Still sloppy though. attempting to deploy a formation array he only read in stories. Of course the result had naturally been crude and besides, the formation array in the story was not the complete one. No respectable faction would ever publish the full details of a powerful array in publicly available texts. With some refinement and proper tutoring, however, the young man could still become useful.

Xuehai reached the office and stepped inside. He immediately noticed the City Lord burning a letter. The reply to the one sent the previous day had already arrived. Baosheng remained standing by the window, drawing a slow, controlled breath to master his temper. As both City Lord and head of this world’s branch of the Wànlì Merchant Guild, he despised wasted effort above nearly all else, no matter how small. Both he and Xuehai had already expected this outcome. Even so, they had tested the slim remaining chance for a different answer. That effort had now ended in quiet disappointment.

“When the tournament ends,” Baosheng said at last, the reluctance clear in his voice, “release Qianxue back to her sect.”

~ Valarion