ã€ŠI am My Own Discipleã€‹


 Prologue: The Great Tomb

    After nearly a thousand years I''ve had a good run. I''ve seen my children grow up to be heroes and my grandchildren grow up to be soldiers and my great-grandchildren grow up to be writers and artists telling tales of their great-grandfather and grandfathers. I have only one regret--I have no true disciple. Each and every student I''ve taken has been diligent, courageous and hard-working (whether they wanted to or not), but none have sought to surpass me. I am not some insurmountable freak of nature. None have taken the Chimera school of martial arts to new heights. Perhaps those who would have aspired to do so died bloody premature deaths. At best, my brightest students developed innovative side branches I quickly mastered.

    I consulted my friend, Guru Pathik, and he''s right. Death is no excuse to stop refining and developing my art. I simply had to come up with a way to continue raising a grand disciple even after death. Perhaps in a thousand or two thousand years a worthy disciple shall appear from my Chimera School, and I need to be ready to raise them up. Ideally I could entrust it to the sect I founded and my personal disciples, but most of my personal disciples are long dead and the sect has been commercialized into an adventurer training center. I need to ignite passion into the hearts of the young if I hope to see future generations see Martial Arts as more than just a means to a fancy title or monster trophy.

    That''s why I gathered 9 of the Sacred Seal treasures and built this tomb. It will be like a candle flame and the acolytes will be my moths. I shall inspire and mold dreamers with challenges and thrilling trials within. A few may die if they grow careless or arrogant, but most will be able to retreat and go on dreaming of the greater treasures that lie within. Treasures like my gauntlets of chaos, and the flame of eternity. If any of you hope to seize my most precious possession--my pendant--they will need to realize something more important, though.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    They will need to open their eyes and notice that the true treasure is not the equipment or enchantments within, but the writing carved with passionate care into the walls themselves. They contain my physical techniques, my ki abilities, and my core meditation arts. The tomb diver who ignores them will not make it very far. If you follow them, though, you will find yourself growing in power by leaps and bounds.

    Before each prize, I left a piece of myself. A mere shadow supported by a fragment of my heart ki. It will protect the deeper areas from the unworthy and help care for the native cave monster species I have gathered.

    Unfortunately, I am not sure how long such a tomb will last. Will the elements wear it away after a few hundred years. Will humans conquer it in a bare decade and then leave it empty as a mausoleum to the great Chimera Martial Arts. I will hope for the best and leave this world peacefully knowing that if there is a worthy man to follow me and he seeks the strength beyond all reason and beyond all that came before--he can find it. It exists in this world waiting for him carved upon the walls of my tomb.

    I am nearing the end of my unnatural life expectancy, so to you, my family both adopted and blood related, I ask only that if there are willing souls who seek to learn that you point them towards my tomb.

    --Lu Bai Xiong, Transforming White Bear and Grandmaster of the Chimera Martial Arts School

 Chapter 1: I appoint thee Rival and Chimera School Apostle

    The World of Wuji

    The Shu Han Kingdom

    Chapter 1: I appoint thee Rival and Chimera School Apostle

    I do not remember my first two years of life. The best placemarker for my early memories is my third birthday, which came sometime after I began to recall my past experiences. I say experiences because they weren''t entirely coherent. I would recall random battles, the joy of swinging haphazardly my first blade, the trauma of losing comrades and my wife, and most of all ages upon ages of training. I think it even distorted my early values to the degree that I thought ¡°preparation is the first and last class in victory¡± was just a universal truth.

    I would be shocked years later when I discovered something called ¡°talent¡± could upset the scales of preparation and the world really was never fair to begin with.

    The most confusing memories were the scenes of me just sitting and concentrating. On a mountain top, in the middle of a lake above schools of minnows, and even in a plain wooden hut beside the dying embers of my firepit. I knew instinctively that whatever I was doing was important. It was the most important thing of all. But I couldn''t understand even the tiniest fragment of what I''d been contemplating. It was as if someone showed a rural villager who had never heard of a steam engine a train. The villager would come up with wild proposterous theories about what it was such as a metal dragon and tell his friend. That friend who had never seen the wonderous train would picture a dragon covered in a suit of armor.

    No child is ready to realize their place in the universe and yet at two and a half I already grasped that I was merely the tiniest twinkle in the world''s eye. A dangerous half truth, but I would learn the missing pieces in time. As I grew up, though, just the thought of how infintesimal I was made me stomp my feet, throw back my head and rant up at the clouds until the neighbors or my parents threatened to smack me.

    Remembering my past life didn''t make me an easier child to raise. I cried just as much for the comforting bosom of my "mama" or the strong, warm hands of that other one. I may even have cried more often for I had far more fears and insecurities to be buried beneath the soft, fluffy security of my parent''s embrace.

    The memories did give me a lot to think about and probably kept me from growing bored. When my birthday rolled around, I was speaking with a far larger vocabulary than any three year-old ought to know. I was not a picky eater, for I could remember marching on an empty belly for a week or villages disappearing consumed in the maw of famines. Personal strength and power could only make you so secure. Men and kingdoms did not rule the world for their arms were useless before our true master¡ªnature. I think I scared my parents sometimes when I talked like that, though.

    Of course, they also professed that I was the cutest little three-year old trying to sound like a ten year old. Unfortunately, I kept misusing words such as ¡°alms¡± for ¡°bowl¡± or ¡°non-lethal" for "lightly.¡± I even set up a corner of my room as a training dojo complete with stuffed animal punching bags. My favorite punching bag was named Kuro the Big Bad Black Bear.

    I''m pretty sure my past self inadvertently brainwashed and hijacked my new life, which is kind of ironic. I turned into the first adrenaline junkie who was still wetting the bed. Unfortunately, I think I neglected several things a wiser man would have valued from my memories. For instance, I probably could have become a genius scholar with my intellectual head start despite my previous life''s lack of book learning. Instead, I just did not see much point in learning to read when I had lived grander adventures than any written by contemporary explorers. Suffice to say, I squandered that headstart.

    I grew up grasping and straining towards a romantic past vision of myself. I worked out and meditated as soon as I remembered times I taught others about the initial steps. I swore I would build a fierce foundation that was even more solid than my past self''s foundation. After all, in my previous life I''d wasted sevearl years of my youth hunting miracle ingredients that promised to purify my ki. In hindsight, purer ki would only have taken a measure more of patience and two measures more of wisdom. With time I can now cultivate the right mindset and would one day be able to mix the natural energies around me into the steadily growing reservoir of ki in my lower dantian. For now, though, that was something far into the future.

    My firmer foundation did not come without a cost.

    It wasn''t until I was five that it even occured to me that my parents may have lives and successes every bit as dramatic as my hero''s. I knew my daddy worked as a teacher and my mother worked as a seamstress. Perhaps my father was secretly the tutor to the next emperor, or my mother was a legendary light armor maker.

    Of course, such childish fantasies did not pan out. My father was a part time carpenter and part-time self-defense instructor at the upper school. He didn''t teach the prospective warriors or adventurers. He taught the civilians how to face monster attacks as a civilian, which generally involved using items and then a lot of running or stalling. Of course, some classes of monsters were weak enough that any knowledgeable adult could handle them, and so he also needed to help them identify threats and categorize them.

    I laughed when he told me this. My father was a lowly part-time retreat tutor. He had never hunted anything bigger than a large tusked boar. On the other hand, his carpentry work was surprisingly lucrative, but highly seasonal.

    My mother was the seamstress of scarves. That is literally all she made. At first I thought she made a variety of things because her scarves came in such a variety of forms whether it be long and slim to triangular to layered shawls. In truth, though, she mostly just replaced people''s old scarves (also made by her) and did so as a hobby more than a side job.

    I was depressed when my fifth birthday rolled around and I received for a nameday present¡ªa scarf. Not a short training sword or some ki stimulating herbs. Didn''t my parents understand my interests I''d thought? I didn''t recognize the symbols of luck and blessings woven with great time and care into overlapping patterns. Perhaps, what they should have given me for a present was a mirror, so I could see the scales upon my eyes. I don''t know what happened to that scarf. I think about it sometimes nowdays and then try to find it, but it''s far too late for that.

    After looking into their backgrounds, I was very disappointed in my parents. These were not the parents of a legend. In response to my obvious desire to grow stronger, and since ¡°no one should risk their life with only amateur skills¡± my parents eventually tried to enroll me in a martial school. The obvious candidate was the one run by my own uncle¡ªthe Ping Dojo.

    It was an offshoot of the famous Xiong Clan Martial School, and according to family legend my great-grandfather had been an orphan adopted by that school after he impressed a passing inner disciple in a street brawl. Given my family history of drunkenness I suspect he was even brawling with only half his wits.

    Suffice to say, after several generations what little of the Chimera art the founder may once have learned was too diluted to even be recognizable at the Ping Dojo. Oh, they were not cheats or frauds. They taught a highly serviceable style of martial arts and ki manipulation that would make decent warriors out of most enrollees. However, there was nothing distinctive or specialized about it. It sat in the middle of the road and took no risks. If you peeled back the covers it held zero secret insights. Compared to what I witnessed this was like a chalk drawing of a chalk drawing of a chalk drawing.

    After a week I had had enough, and took the teacher to the side after one class and suggested a few tips that could really spice things up. He did not take my suggestions well. I left wincing at the new ache on the back of my hands. I cursed his blinding arrogance. I tried a little longer to continue learning that dreary stuff he pumped out, if only because I was so flabbergasted at his close mindedness and lonely from training alone. It worked but it was such a pale shadow of what it could have been.

    One day, I approached the others to ask to join them on an outing after class. They usually journeyed to the riverbank to catch fish together. The usefulness of the pasttime appealed to me, and they weren''t going to ask me themselves since everyone knew I was the genius nephew of the teacher. We talked as we meandered to the shoreline about warriors and enlistment bonuses. The sparkling towers of the five guardian legions¡ªEarth, Fire, Water, Metal and Wood Dragon Corps. For the best of these students would perhaps be able to work their way up from outer sect student at a 2<sup>nd</sup> tier school to one day becoming a member of these prestigious organizations.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Then they pretended to fish while acting out ludicrous stories about the dragon''s they''d slay and many wives they''d collect. The bravest of the lot dug up a crab no longer than his index finger. They did not even take it home to cook.

    My peers were not looking at the same horizon I was. I left the dojo. I told myself I was better than it. Hadn''t Lu Bai Xiong always believed personal instruction trumps group instruction. This was all the proof I needed in my mind that it would only teach to the lowest common denominator.

    More importantly, I realized something from watching children my own age and a little older. Kids are immature brats and have no true respect for anything, not even Martial Arts. I suspected it just came too easily to them. Without sweat, scars and endless toil how could they respect what they held in their hands even if it was the finest riches in the world. I desperately wanted to shove a few of them into the tomb, and let them see what happens when you practice like you have years to learn the basics. No worse than that, they practiced like it was the teacher''s responsibility to teach you because of your parent''s money.

    Admittedly, it was necessary to force them to learn even if mentally they weren''t prepared to be martial artists. As one gets older their ki channels solidify and it becomes harder to reshape them. While ki volume and adapting natural energy can be enhanced at any time during ones lifetime, there are some critical steps that can only be taken as a child.

    I left the Dojo and the classes behind me. A couple months later, the new year began and I attended my first primary school class as a 6-year old. There they would teach me to learn reading, writing, arithmatic and history. I picked up reading and writing quickly, albeit with some archaic mistakes. I had planned for my memories of my past life to make me a boy genius. I was going to skip all of these boring grades. Reality slapped me upside the head and tried to install a little wisdom into my noggin'' but my head was too hard for that. Long story short, I didn''t get to skip any grades.

    Even in my past life I''d never bothered to learn much math, not to mention I doubt there were times tables to memorize or awkward long division tricks when I''d learned math the first time. We didn''t even call the leftovers of division a ¡°remainder,¡± just spare change that you fought your brother for. Adventurers who divided the spoils just gave fat shares to useful people and slim shares to cowards and weaklings.

    The most fascinating subject was history. It seems as if every hundred years things grow more and more interesting. In the last 80 years, more noteworthy events seemed to have occured on the national and global scale than in my previous life''s first half millenia. Then again, maybe it was just that with better roads and horse breeds interesting news could travel faster and farther.

    The source of the most drastic changes were the shifts in power caused by the rising monster presence. A careful study of the rate of monster attacks nearby, however, showed that if anything they were slightly down from my own experience. The key appeared to be humanity''s expansion further and further into areas that traditionally were monster habitats. As our burgeoning population spread the frontier expanded and increased the demand for monster hunters.

    The leading martial arts sects became the new nobility. It was no longer a parallel system of political and martial power held in separate worlds, since on the frontier guilds and sects were the nexus of both martial and political power. The axis of the kingdom now rested on three groups: The Five Established Martial Powers, The Adventurers Guild (an international organization), and the Royal family along with the imperial legions.

    The oddest side-effect of these changes was that past heroes became symbols of worship. Why pray to gods and ask them to share their blessings when you can admire a legend and declare in your heart, ¡°one day I''ll become you.¡± Even more importantly, usage of strong ki tends to have the effect of extending ones lifespan. For most people, someone who can teach you how to live two or three times longer is more useful than fickle gods who may or may not help you avert a disaster.

    Sadly, there were no books written about me for some reason. I should have expected it given how little time I spent teaching my disciples to read and write. It just hadn''t seemed important at the time. I did locate a lovely biography about Guru Pathik. They left out his own martial prowess, though, and focused on his teachings and impact he had on his students. Half the book was devoted solely to his second-to-last pupil, who went on to unite the Gija clans into a single nation. That new coalition was apparently a major power in the south given how much time our teacher devoted to complaining about it and the brain drain effect it has on the Kunlun Provinces.

    Honestly, I wasn''t sure if that was truly even the Gija''s fault. The Kunlun provinces to the East mostly run along the frontier zone and have large swathes of wild monster zones. Even if every parent on the frontier trains their children to fight from childhood, unless they were a professional fighter, the risk of premature death were quite high. By some estimates one out of every three adults living on the frontier would die prematurely. I suspected the statistics were either exaggerated in the telling or underestimates to encourage more immigration and less outmigration from there.

    The rest of the classes reaction, though, to such news was interest and curiosity. Apparently dangerous places are somewhat attractive to naive children.

    Thus, if it were not for two things I might very well have lived the rest of my childhood as an ascetic hermit, or at least as much of a hermit as one can manage in Wenjinxiang Village when living with ones family. The first thing was a run-in with one of the local troublemakers.

    His name was Dugu, and he was a thief. Well, he was a thief when he wasn''t being a petty con artist and he was a petty con artist when he wasn''t being a bookie for the neighborhood kids, and he was an bookie when he wasn''t just being a gossip. One day I had to chase him down and take back my wallet. from the boy who was only a few years older than me. I learned from the moaning boy that he''d stolen my wallet to buy food (maybe a lie). He had a home but not a safe one and preferred to live on the streets most nights except when it was cold, wet or there might be a monster migration.

    I also learned from him that he had a dream.

    His aspiration was to steal a set of jewels known as the Queen''s Pearls. I scoffed at this. Who cares about clam boogers, especially since you can always make more of them. He was so offended he attacked me again with the exact same one-sided result.

    I acknowledged just to make him happy that there might be some pearls out there that aren''t just slimy solidified mucus, and he agreed to stop trying to hit me. I think that was the moment I realized there was something different about his blows. They lacked power or even form, but there was passion and commitment. He did what he did with pride.

    So I told him about my own dream. An old man''s dream, but something unachievable by mortal means. To lay an eternal legacy and see my Chimera Martial Arts become the number one in the world.

    He laughed and earned himself a third beating. Somehow Dugu charmed his way my heart and convinced me to allow him to try to earn his forgiveness. He suggested an eating contest since he was clearly not my match in any other field. He challenged me with my forgiveness on the line if he won, and him paying for everything no matter what if he lost. At this point, I should have remembered that he''d claimed to be stealing my wallet to buy food for his poor starving self. I don''t know how I missed this, but a short while later we were esconced in a cheap noodle shop stuffing ourselves, and me only slightly ahead of the street rat. This was shocking to me considering I have an exceptional metabolism thanks to my extensive exercise and training.

    I never noticed him going to the bathroom, slipping out of the bathroom window, or the way the noodle shop owner repositioned himself to make sure I couldn''t make a break for the door. I did notice that I had won and that I didn''t have enough money in my wallet to cover both of our large meals. After getting bailed out by my mother I resolved myself to settle the score with interest one day.

    I also had earned a new rival. The next time I saw him, I beat him, dragged him to my uncle''s dojo and forcibly enrolled him with a family discount. I even paid for his first 10 lessons with promised beatdowns if he missed even one. I figured if he was going to be my rival he had better shape up.

    The other thing to break up the monotony in those years was Hao, Hao Meifen. I first met her in the complete opposite circumstances from Dugu. Whereas Dugu sneaks when I''d prefer he announce himself and boasts when I wish he''d just shut up, Meifen was a reed which bent and bent and bent. She was frequently the victim of bullying due to her lack of school supplies, being overweight, and how she''d fall asleep and snore loudly in class. That bothered even me since I certainly didn''t want to be there either.

    It should come as no surprise that the ones who primarily teased and bullied her were a group of girl, who also had well-connected parents. It didn''t help that Meifen had lost a father to a bandit attack and her mother was unable to manage the family plot of land that had been seized by her brother-in-law.

    She was the type of girl I very well would have ignored except for one factor. One of her turd fungus tormentors sat across from me and every period they''d gossip annoyingly with Meifen being a common topic. When I saw her one day getting her hair cut off and force fed back to her I snapped.

    What a horrible misuse of a knife. Did they have no respect for the centuries of metallurgy and smithmaking that went into producing that weapon and the best they can do with it was to shave some girl?

    I decided right then and there to intervene and save that pitiful knife before she started using it to carve her intials into rocks or something. It took less than a minute to scare them away. I looked down at Meifen, who was crying about a tear in her cloths rather than the handful of hair in her mouth. I don''t think she even registered me at first. I certainly didn''t register her. I dismissed her and with the helpful advice to try to stay away from those girls.

    What reward did I get for my gallant intervention? Detention when the girls squealed on me for taking away their knife, and a new stalker. My stalker was hardly a danger to me, but it irked me to practice with an audience. Nothing I was doing was a big martial arts secret taken by itself, but the whole of my training routine was certainly something I feel other sects would sell all of their children to obtain. Spying on me was therefore almost like stealing from me.

    Even worse, if Dugu saw me with such a pathetic stalker he''d probably wrongly assume she was a hanger-on I''d recruited. I eventually decided if she didn''t tire of watching me for a week then I''d intervene and drive her off.

    A week later I gently drove her off only for her to return the next day. Then I caught her imitating me. Not only is she a thief she''s a bad thief who wasn''t even doing the moves right. Face, say hello to Mr. Palm. I considered cashing in on my favors, and foisting her off onto Dugu if she wanted to be a thief that much, but common sense managed to reassert itself. Dugu would probably only encourage her to stalk me more.

    There was only one choice. If she was going to steal my training exercises she needed to at least do them right. I would not have people in the future saying that these are the moves Ju Ping trained growing up and then pulling out some half-assed, crude copy.

    I dragged her into the center of my practice area and forced her to do it right a hundred times. Then do it backwards with the same form another hundred times.

    I''ll say this much about Meifen. She turned out to be a very hard worker. Her stupid part-time job in the evening, though, kept exhausting her. It didn''t even pay decently. I decided to stop spending money to subsidize Dugu''s martial arts lessons and instead just gave it to Meifen, so she wouldn''t have any excuses for being too tired in the afternoons. She quit, which also resulted in her snoring less in class.

    Dugu would keep on going to the martial arts lessons anyway. He''d taken to them like a fish to water once he realized how useful they''d be for getaways. I''d also learned the filthy rat was making more than double my pocketchange from his bookkeeping alone. When I complained about it to my father, he even declared he''d appreciate a son like that. Evil pays and it pays well apparently.

    That''s not to say Meifen got charity from me. I made it clear to her that it was just a loan and she''d better pay it back with interest one day. I figured 20% a year was fair. I really should be charging her 50% given how rich and famous she''d be one day. As for tuition for the private lessons I also demanded that in the future she needed to spread the fame of the Chimera Martial Arts Style and make sure everyone knew her teacher was the great Ju Ping. There was no way I''d let them forget to put me in the history books this time around.

 Chapter 2: Life within a Safe Zone of Shu Han

    When I was 6, I watched my mother''s belly swell. I tried not to think about the sounds I''d heard that preceeded it. At last she gave birth and I welcomed into this world a younger sister¡ªJu Huang. She is much loved by my parents. I think they were a little disappointed that she came out normal. They kept saying things like "she''s so easily entertained" or "it''s nice to have a normal childhood" to try to console themselves. It''s okay. You can''t always hit the jackpot.

    The first big incident started when I was eight. A forager in the woods had discovered a small patch of Violet Dew Mushrooms. They were all quickly harvested and sold off, but the shipment attracted a lot of attention from alchemists because they could be refined into solutions to treat internal injuries or promote faster Ki recovery.

    More importantly, they''re not native to the woods around Wenjinxiang village. The mushroom were occasionally seen a few hundred miles away in the Forest of Midnight--a which was actually a single large fungi-type monster that had long ago connected and united every one of the trees. The forest of midnight''s fungi caused the absorbed tree''s spiritual properties to rampage, which made the Violet Dew Mushrooms there dangerous and difficult to forage for.

    Thus, our sleepy village was suddenly flooded with hunters from big cities trying to ¡°get lucky and make it big.¡± This would have been welcomed as an economic boon, but then their trampling of the forest and disturbing of the wildlife had another secondary effect. They riled up the beast populations nearby.

    Beasts in Shu Han are ranked from 1-9 based on the potential danger they pose. Ranks 1-3 are considered bronze ranked beasts that village guards should be able to handle on their own, but sometimes adventurer requests are made to quell the rank 3 populations as preventative measure. Rank 4-6 are silver-ranked dangerous beasts that would normally result in an extermination quest being submitted to the adventurer''s guild or a local martial arts sect. Rank 7-9 are the gold ranked beasts or migratory movements that are national level threats.

    The rush of enterprising hunters set off a minor migratory movement of two packs of rank 3 Blood Fang wolves. Fortunately, with all the hunters in town we''d be able to defend ourselves from the sudden and unexpected pack movements, right? Not quite.

    Unfortunately, at the same time as the packs were discovered they hit upon a large pocket of Violet Dew Mushrooms. They decided to protect the stash of Violet Dew Mushrooms and evacuate with their harvest securely rather than run a far less lucrative defensive mission for our village.

    The nearest A-class adventurer was a day off. The Xiang clan was contacted but a pair of representatives for them were a day and a half away. We needed to make a stand to buy enough time for help to arrive.

    My father as one of the village''s self-defense trainers volunteered for the militia and went up on the emergency wooden stockade we''d erected. The log barrier wasn''t tall, especially compared to the stone walls frontier settlements came equipped with, but it had been four years since the last time I''d seen them in use, and back then we''d had adventurers who were able to ride in right before the monsters arrived.

    I try to volunteer as well, but for pretty obvious reasons am rejected. I take it graciously. I didn''t truly want to be standing upon the walls either since for all the training I''ve done I''m still only an 8 year-old, and I''d yet to truly begin practicing the Chimera Martial Arts. To truly begin I''d need to capture a silver-ranked monster and graft parts of them onto my own body. It was a gruesome art, but highly effective, and for now utterly useless. I could make do with a rank 3 monster, but I strongly preferrred to begin transforming my body with at least a rank 4 monster.

    Still, my death was unlikely if I participated alongside the others in a defensive siege, against mere rank 3 monsters. It would be a tragic shame if it happened, but it was unlikely.

    Meifen''s mother also came by and dropped her daughter off with my mother and me. Then she headed up to the wall. She was going to receive a wartime bonus for serving as well as a emergency bonus offered by the village. She couldn''t resist but, fortunately, she wouldn''t be useless. I had learned from Meifen that her mother at least was a competent enough fighter to fend off a single rank 3 monster in a 1vs1.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    It was at this point that I hit upon an ingenius idea. Meifen''s mother was only at the level of a rank 3 monster, but if I treated her with some drugs cooked up with alchemy she could easily bring out 20 or 30% more power for a short time before suffering backlash and side-effects.

    Normally, though, it would not be feasible to quickly produce drugs for the defenders, but we were about to receive a massive windfall in terms of potions ingredients. If the Blood Fang Wolves attacked all at once it would be useless, but if they attacked in waves we could use the first wave''s victims as potions fodder. I rushed out to propose some recipes I could remember that were applicable.

    I found the village headman esconced right below the fortifications. He didn''t want to listen to my plan until I threw to the ground the two men he''d sent to escort me to safety. Alright, I just tripped the last one because his armor made him too heavy for me to throw.

    He was not receptive to my plan at first. Alchemy is a tough art and even apprentices do two years of training before they''re allowed to brew without supervision. If I wasn''t skilled enough I could easily brew poison instead of beneficial drugs.

    That was a thought. I proposed that I could pretty easily adapt the Blood Fang Wolf parts into a mixture that would give out poisonous gas when poured out. We''d need to be very careful in using it, but it could become a very useful weapon for buying time. He asked me to demonstrate my skill with a packet of herbs, which I fully identified and then mixed a few into an anaesthetic, whose properties I stimulated externally with a fine trace of ki.

    The easiest type of man to bargain with is a desperate one, and so he agreed to take a chance on my work.

    Two hours the first wave hit, and the howls and screeches of the attackers were matched by the cries and rallying cheers of our defenders. It was over in less than 10 minutes. I wondered if it had just been a scouting party.

    Still, we had used up our entire stock of arrows. We could recover some of them, but not all so the non-combatants broke down barrels and crates into short, sharpened javelins.

    I also got to work and showed Meifen how to harvest their venom glands and blood sacs. I would be combining them with a bit of Fennel confiscated from the local trading post, and topping it with a layer of sawdust to keep the vapor from escaping.

    It is simple to make a weak gaseous poison out of a strong liquid poison. It is not so simple to teach people how to use it and avoid being caught in the effects themselves. My uncle, master of the Ping Dojo, was the one who made that part work. He organized a few wind watchers with signals to tell us when and where it would be safe to pour it out and thereby release the gas.

    He also made sure the vacancies in the wall''s defensive line were patched with new raw recruits, and that everyone on the line had crude cloth masks. I didn''t tell anyone, but they''d probably only block out a small fraction of the poison. Still, they probably improved morale.

    A second wave before long, but this one was different. The blood fang wolves entirely avoided our structure and passed us by on our left. They were fleeing from a smaller pack of six Stony Rocs. The stony rocs were large birds as a small shed and with skin as hard as stone. Our arrows and wooden javelins would be like pin pricks.

    These were rank 4 monsters, and our wooden walls would have no effect on them. I watched from the window of my house as the battle began. Only two of the Rocs broke formation and headed for our village. Someone panicked on the eastern wall and began unloading the solution without warning. It forced the birds to sway and swerve, but also took out a half dozen of our own defenders.

    The two strongest fighters in our village were Sum, a retired adventurer, and Zong, one of the few Hunters who''d remained behind to help us. They took on one of the Rocs at the Northeastern wall with blunt projectiles meant to knock it out of the sky.

    On the Southeastern wall the situation was far more dire. The Roc began scything attack as it cut down one or two defenders with each pass. The villagers there had seemingly nothing that would work against it.

    From my perspective on the ground looking through a cracked window I didn''t see my father stand up and aim for its eye. I would never see him miss the strike or it''s counter that tore out his throat and half of his neck. He probably couldn''t cry out at the end, but perhaps some of his comrades did on his behalf when he fell. I wouldn''t hear those cries either, though, as they were lost in the chaos of the battle.

    In the end, the Roc at the northeastern corner of the walls was driven into the cloud of poison and made a hasty retreat. The one who attacked in the southeastern corner eventually took two of the bodies and flew off as well. In the end, it killed four defenders and maimed several more. Of the six defenders who were poisoned all survived thanks to prompt medical care, but the after effects on the two of them took years to fully disappear.

    Combined with the losses from the first assault we''d lost 6 men and 3 women. That night help arrived from the Bai Trading Company. Their splendidly armored guards arrived to a mix of cheers and mourning. They took over most of the walls and reinforced us until a group of four adventurers arrived in the morning. At that point all of the villagers left the walls, and left it to the professionals.

    Meifen''s mother, Hao Kwan, survived with no physical injuries but a new set of nightmares. My father was given an honorable funeral as a hero along with the eight other who fell in our defense. His was an empty grave, though. Of the hunters and merchants who started this disaster, none were punished. To the rest of the land of Shu this was just another day with only minor troubles.

    This was what an awful day looked like for those who lived deep inside the safe zones of Shu Han.

 Chapter 3: The Alchemy Prodigy and the Scout

    After the unexpected migration event, my uncle''s Dojo exploded in popularity. It would only be temporary, but to help keep up with the demand he enlisted my mother as an assistant. In truth, my mother was not that capable of a fighter, and to make matters worse she had begun practicing late so she had very little ki. Still, she was capable enough to help assist in the low level children''s classes, and I think he knew we''d need the money.

    In addition to the regular pay and emergency bonus my mother was given, the village headman also gave a special gift to the nine families who had lost loved ones. Thus, we were flush with cash for now, but father had been the primary provider for our household. We needed new sources of income.

    There was also a curious problem with how to conduct the funerals. My father had been the carpenter, who normally supplied caskets for the deceased. For those who wished to be cremated it wasn''t as much of an issue, although, he''d still have supplied protective boxes to put the urn into. There was even a proposal by a particularly angry family to dig up the graves of some of the adventurers and hunters who''d died nearby, throw out their bodies and use their caskets. I found out my uncle knew a tiny bit of carpentry and at the Headman''s urging he spent several nights working with some volunteers until he''d completed a set of caskets. When my mother saw the casket he brought out for my father, she broke out into tears. Indeed, it would have been a shame for a carpenter to have been buried in a cloth bag. I hugged her and, in that moment, I regretted that I had never and could never ask my father to teach me his art.

    As for our money situation, I had an idea. I had earned a bit of minor fame for brewing the poison that was used, albeit it came with some uncomfortable looks from families of the six who had been hurt by it. I decided to help support my mother and my sister by leveraging that reputation and my moderate alchemy skills. They needed to be brushed up first, though. In my previous life I''d never been more than an amateur cultivating it out of curiosity and without commitment.

    Thus, I found out soon enough that having been an amateur dilettante in my last life made me a poor ad libber in this life. When I tried to mix potions or draughts without all the ingredients my substitutes invariably backfired. It was embarassing and at times volatile. It occured to me after the fourth melted bowl that I''d done just this during the battle when I hadn''t had each and every optimal ingredient. I felt belated gratitude to the Headman, who had steered me away from making stimulants or medicine, and instead into making an aerosolized poison.

    Long story short, I''d need some starting capital to allow me to buy herbs I needed. For every practical recipe I could think of there were at least several ingredients that just weren''t available nearby. Fortunately, my family had just come into a windfall and were struggling to figure out how to transform that into a regular stream of income. I also stopped loaning money to Meifen, since her own mother had received a rather large payment herself for work rendered. Instead, I hired her on as my assistant in the Ping Family Potions and Elixirs business.

    Not everyone was happy about that. For my mother I was proposing using my father''s blood money to start a small business. Even worse, it would force me and my mom to work with the very traders, and by extension the hunters, who''d screwed us over and caused my father''s death. Convincing my mother I could make it a financial success was the easy part. Getting her to agree to work with them was a sisyphean feat. Pretty much the only large merchant group she liked was the Bai Trading company that had come to help us.

    She wasn''t wrong. They were selfish opportunitists willing to make a buck over a pit of corpses, and I had no intention of forgiving or forgetting. Still, I couldn''t help but feel it wasn''t all their fault. Wasn''t part of it his fault too far being so weak? When I see my two-year old sister, I imagine her dying in that fashion as well and it keeps me up at night. Did he overestimate himself? Would she overestimate herself if I trained her more? It bothered me, but I had at least a few more years to think about it. In the meantime I had a business to build, and I''d even join hands with an Akuma to make it possible.

    In order to cement my reputation for not just brewing poison but also practical potions, I first sought to make a pesticide that was harmless to humans. It was called ¡°Varigone¡± and had been very popular up until 40 years ago when many insects began developing an immunity to it. That said, I was able to get around some of the immunity by supercharging it with more ki in the middle brewing phase. It still was probably too unreliable and not profitable enough for a licensed alchemist to waste their time on, but as an unlicensed practitioner it would be my bread and butter.

    Meifen wanted to learn it too, but I judged it to be not worth the time it would take to teach her. Besides, I wasn''t really an expert in this to begin with and she might think less of her master if she realized how much her teacher was making it up as he went along.

    Instead, I gave her a comprehensive herbology education as we combed through nearby fields, and shrubbery until I felt she could help handle harvesting some of the safer and more common ingredients. I still went with her to reduce the danger of these trips, but with her help we could finish this drudgery in half the time and still have plenty of time to train afterwards.

    A several months after the incident me and Meifen were in the woods not far from the road when we were accosted by a man with a gnarled old staff.

    ¡°What are you kids doing out here alone? It''s not safe.¡±

    At first I couldn''t place him, and then it clicked. This old man was Sum, the retired adventurer who had helped out in the siege. He tried to get us to come with him back to his cabin where we could stay while he sought our parents to give them a stern talking to.

    ¡°There''s no need. Our parents aren''t out here too. We''ve come this far on our own and we''ve gone farther before.¡± Meifen held up our herb basket and showed him what we''d been doing.

    ¡°Don''t worry, uncle. Ju is unbeatable.¡± She said with unshakable confidence that definitely didn''t cause me to puff up my chest.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    He turned to me and raised an eyebrow as I grinned back. ¡°How about a match, old geezer? If I win you''ll acknowledge we have what it takes to run a simple herb gathering mission. If I lose then you get to skip the lecture and know you''ve taught me my lesson.¡±

    He sniffed and threw aside his staff. Then I felt the aura around him change as he began cycling his ki faster and faster. ¡°Fine boy. Don''t be whining about your whipping.¡± His blood was boiling just like my own and in the space of a blink he was a mere two steps from me. I adjusted my guard and concentrated a layer of ki onto my arms with a thinner layer around the rest of my body.

    I sat back and blocked kicks and punches while I tried to read his style. It was heavily mobile and he often threw punches and kicks while in the air using his internal ki to form a base in mid-air to increase his leverage.

    I found the power behind his blows was impressive and I recalled that this was a man who heaved watermelon sized projectiles at the Rocs with enough precision to drive it away. Then he got even faster.

    One punch slipped around my guard by doing an abrupt angle change in mid-air that turned a low hook into an upper cut. I rushed into the blow to throw off the angle and minimize the power he''d get when it landed. It still knocked me off my feet and for the first time in the fight I was airborne. Exactly where he wanted me.

    It was time to take the gloves off and see if I could pull off the flying kick I''d been practicing for the last three months. After my father died I realized I may not have as much time as I''d expected to sculpt the ultimate physique and core. I should focus on practicality a bit more to ensure I survive in the immediate future. Me and Meifen began working less on meditation and basic moves. In its place was a new form of study that was older than all the rest¡ªdrilling. I ran drills in every conceivable scenario I could think of to perfect the most useful and powerful kick I could pull off with my currently underdeveloped dantian.

    I called it the ¡°flying birdchick kick.¡± Something simplified from my ¡°Flying Phoenix Kick¡± didn''t deserve a better name.

    As soon as my feet left the ground in my battle with Sum I began adding a forceful counterclockwise rotation. I spun and extended my leg out to its full length and let a shrinking ball of ki form in my right big-toe. When it was the size of a walnut. I snapped my leg out and caught him in the thigh. Sum had a brief instant to realize what had happened before his hands aimed to pin me in place were pinwheeling in the air as he slammed into a tree thrunk three meters behind him.

    I frowned. I had been aiming a little higher up to hit him in the belly. I just hadn''t anticipated him speeding up at the end.

    Regardless, after Sum picked himself up he conceded the match. He wasn''t seriously injured and I could tell he could continue if he wanted to, but he''d been proven wrong and knew it. I could take care of myself and probably Meifen too. Not to mention I''d trained her in a push-throw combination that could be executed as a perfect setup for my ¡°birdchick kick.¡±

    ¡°Damn right.¡± I laughed as I offered him my hand to shake. After trading blows I knew this man was a true warrior. ¡°Why did you retire anyway, Mr. Sum?¡±

    ¡°Ah, that''s a long story. Suffice to say that people were unhappy with the job I did on my last job.¡± He said with a mile wide smile that never reached his eyes.

    ¡°Alright, then do you have a dream? I''d tell you mine, but I''m not sure yet if you''re worthy to hear it.¡±

    I got a laugh out of him with that, and then he proclaimed that if my dream was more manly than his he''d buy me a better knapsack for my herbs. His dream it turned out was to try the five legendary wines of the four continents and Anchor Island. The wines were Redfield Wine from Lorraine, Sadie Columella Red from Sahelia, Azure Punch from Anchor, Shiraz from Cathay and Billionaire''s Vinegar from Araucania.

    He had tried four of them, and the last remaining legendary wine was ¡°Billionaire''s Vinegar.¡±

    ¡°Well then what are you doing bumming around here for then.¡± I wanted to ask. Meifan put it a bit more diplomatically by proposing, ¡°Then go on a trip and find your dream. You''re plenty strong enough if you can fight my master on an even level.¡±

    ¡°It''s not that easy,¡± he dismissed with a handwave. ¡°I''ve searched everywhere for leads and have come up dry for years. The last bottle I''d heard of got scooped up by the Bai Trading Company six years ago. Anyway, it''s not enough for me to drink it. I need good company to drink it with me. After that day it''s in short supply.¡±

    ¡°Say no more. It''s time for you to pay up. My dream is both grander and greater than a quest for a bottle of wine. I''m going to cement forever in people''s minds that the greatest martial artist was Ju Ping and the greatest style ever conceived was the Chimera Martial Arts. People will practice it forever and ever.¡±

    I turned to bask in the awe upon his face. Unlike the fools my own age, he would understand that I said what I meant and meant what I said. This wasn''t idle boasting.

    Instead painted upon his face was a trace of regret smudged by sorrow. ¡°That is indeed a grander and greater dream, Young Ju, but great and grand dreams aren''t always better. A true man knows himself and his dream reflects not just who he is but what he can be but what he yearns to become.¡±

    ¡°That''s fine. I want to be strong. Tell him about your dream, Meifen.¡± After all, I''d never have accepted a student who didn''t have a strong goal to aspire towards.

    ¡°No, no, I can''t. It''s too private.¡± She declined. A hint of color on her cheeks suggested how embarassing it was. Not good. She needed to be proud not ashamed of the greed that pushes us onward.

    ¡°I won''t buy you that knapsack. Not yet." He concluded. "Your dream isn''t complete yet, Ju. Come back and tell me when you know for sure what your dream is.¡±

    With that he dismissed us. Meifen thought to inquire about a few of the herbs we''d been having trouble finding and he pointed us in the direction of a likely patch before departing.

    <hr>

    A week later we had an unusual visitor to our town. Every two years the nearest martial school, West Xiong Academy, sent scouts throughout the lesser towns, villages and ports. They were scouting for not just talented young pupils but rare gifts that could be used to enrich their inner circle.

    Last time, a scout had visited I had been 6. I had evaluated the scout and found him sadly lacking. I doubted that there was much of anything in West Xiong Academy that I didn''t already know something similar to or better. My own memories were almost like having one of the most talented grandmasters as a private tutor.

    This time when he came, I was mentioned by the village Headman by name as an alchemist prodigy. Tales of the poison I''d whipped up in the middle of the disaster from the trading post''s shelves and a single type of monster corpse were enough to impress the Scout into coming to investigate me himself.

    He was a stick thin and lanky fellow with a tough chin and soft hands. I wondered what he did on a day to day basis because it couldn''t have been weapons handling or hand-to-hand combat.

    He told me about the benefits. 100 pieces of silver for my mother as a signing bonus, and three years of training at which point I could either ascend to becoming an apprentice to one of the masters or be dismissed into the outer school as an associate. The latter he mentioned with distaste.

    I asked him two things. ¡°How do you determine who is talented and who is not? Secondly, how do you teach the talentless?¡±

    He laughed and promised only the talented are invited. They scout for large ki reserves, wide ki channels, a healthy physique and a sound mind. Years of practice helps, but oftentimes those trained at home or in small dojos spend their first six months unlearning everything they were taught.

    I declined then and there politely but firmly like I was dealing with a child. He told me I was making a mistake, but accepted my rejection and disappeared.

    It was a rotten day. I had learned yesterday from a teacher that Meifen had been using the arts I''d taught her to bully her former bullies. Today we were not going to meet. In two days, I would decide whether to continue her instruction at all.

    Meifen had talent. She was like a sponge and even if she couldn''t do it as fast as others she practiced harder than any of my past disciples until she got it precisely and reliably right. She was a machine, but a machine cannot do martial arts. It is an art. The most critical thing a machine lacks is a notion of sacredness.

    I understood then a tiny bit of what Sum had meant.

    <hr>

    Sum took off his leather gear and massaged his thigh where a growing giant welt had blossomed.

    "Damn, kids are getting crazier every generation." He said as he headed for his cabin''s kitchen. In the dying light of the sun''s ray it took him a while to find what he was looking for.

    In the back of a cabinet with a spider web or two he found a recently opened keg of homemade moonshine. He poured a glass and then headed back out to his porch. There he sat on a rocking chair Wang Ping had built for him several seasons ago.

    "You''ve got a great son, Wang." Sum said as he raised a glass of his moonshine up towards the rising moon. "Don''t worry so much about him. I''ll be watching over him for you."

 Chapter 4: Lessons from Meditation

    (Xie the Scout)

    I left the liar''s house and made my way back towards the village center. On the way, I''d met the boy who''d introduced himself outside the village Headman''s manor.

    ¡°It''s just like I told you, right. Anyone can get lucky and brew poison. The village headman supported the lie because it was good for morale, but now he''d like to move it out of town before it endangers someone. It seems like the kid is aware, though, that he''s not going to fool people in the big city like he can out here.¡± The boy in mismatched rags declared.

    ¡°Fine. Here is your tip.¡± I said as I took out my purse and flipped a silver coin towards his feet. He stepped forward and caught it in his left hand.

    ¡°Thank you, uncle.¡± He said with a foppish bow and then rushed forward to embrace me in a hug. I extricated my arms and shoved him off only to see his face plastered with a sneering grin. Before I could berate him he vanished down a cluttered alley.

    I hated being used. In truth, the boy was not the problem so much as the headman. I''d nearly made a fool of myself. Perhaps I could redirect a travelling alchemist this way and point out a dangerous young charalatan. It would be both right and a righteous comeuppance.

    I continued making my way towards the village center, and it felt like those thoughts had lightened the load on my shoulders.

    <hr>

    ***

    (Ju Ping)

    I spent the rest of the day meditating. Novice practitioners see martial arts as a matter of finding ones ki, unlocking the lower, middle and upper dantian and then mastering various physical applications. For this reason, serious martial artists are sometimes called cultivators for they plow and seed their own ki pathways so that they can ¡°cultivate ki.¡±

    I''ve always thought this was rubbish. We are not machines. Martial arts is not about paying in this time or effort to get a predictable and standard outcome. Some men are born with only two dantians. Are they the lesser for that fact? No.

    The truth I strove for was one I''d only begun to fathom, and yet from my craddle I had understood the word for it. Wuxia, to be a ¡°Martial Hero,¡± that was what I''d always strived for.

    The word, by itself, is hollow. A man can be a hero many ways. He can cure a disease or kill bandits or raise and support orphans. In this way, the truth was equally malleable. It didn''t matter how I strengthened my spirit. I could do it by increasing my resolve as I slaughtered infants. I could do it by hunting and sacrificing to harvest the purest and rarest of supplements. I could do it by pouring my heart and soul into a single painting for over a decade.

    I only needed to figure out how I, Ju Ping formerly Lu Bai Xiong, was going to express my ¡°Martial Heroism.¡± Today, I meditated on the one thing that had always seemed to elevate my spirit¡ªmy fight with Chengdu and later Varan. The pure exultation at scoring a victory and the resolution that came with my defeats.

    In the back of my mind I had another question stewing. How should I handle Meifen? I had cast out disciples before. It was easy and yet terrible. The easiest part was that casting a disciple away when you were the master was really simply a matter of a few words. The terrible part was that it''d mean sending someone out into the world half trained and with a shattered moral compass.

    She could do terrible harm and yet still possessed the potential for so much good. Were her mistakes my own shortcomings that I refused to acknowledge? I didn''t think so, but a master was responsible for what their disciple did.

    I was clearly leaning towards a short punishment. Still, this could happen again. Should I prepare and in anticipation train her only in short quick things that could be easily mastered or easily left incomplete? I disliked this on principle, but I had a feeling this would definitely happen again.

    Something was wrong with Meifen. When I had confronted her about it she''d fallen to her knees and hugged my shins. She''d been wrong and apologetic and entirely too subservient about it. There was no fire in her when I was around, and yet she clearly had some fire to have gone after her former bullies. She just refused to show it to me.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    I was gratefully suddenly that Meifen was still ugly. She had slimmed down and lost weight working with me, but there she''d always be big-boned and have a solid look about her face and rough hands. If she had been a dainty flower I''d question if I was being too soft on her or biased.

    My heart was telling me that there was only one thing to do and as I''d done countless times before I trusted my heart.

    <hr>

    My mother didn''t like me leaving the house late at night, but she had been increasingly busy and it was easy to slip out after dinner. Atop the roof of our school house I met Meifen. She jumped up to it with the help of a school desk and then bowed low to me. It had been three days since I''d spoken to her about her misuse. In that time I had not even said one word to her.

    I had planned a show. At my feet was cooling corpse of a fox I''d caught and snapped the spine of. To the west was the dying sun, and to the east the ascending moon. I stood proud and tall to dispatch my wisdom when we were spotted and screamed at by a stupid bothersome woman. I picked up my prop and without a word our eyes met and we both took a dive off of the roof in the direction away from the screeching harridan.

    After a short chase that left only the harridan panting, I began asking Meifen questions in an alley, similar to the one I''d met Dugu in.

    ¡°Meifen, we''ve meditated on it before, but what do you think Martial arts are for?¡±

    ¡°To strengthen ourselves in mind, body and spirit. To forge and complete the being that God has only put the first initial touches upon. To shape our evolution.¡± She answered unhesitatingly. I hadn''t questioned these answers when she''d at last settled on them. They were each good answers in their own way.

    ¡°Why do you want a strong mind, body and spirit. What is the pont of the instrument you are forging? Why evolve at all?¡± I asked.

    She paused. In the space of silence I took a sliding step forward and thrust out my hand. It fell quite short of her but the wide wave of ki behind it blew her hair wildly around in the hot gust of air.

    ¡°If you continue to follow me you will meet countless men who can make that same movement and spew out poisonous fumes, lava, cannabalistic ki, crushing gravitational maelstroms, or blinding, burning rays. They will all possess the means of killing not tens or hundreds but thousands or even tens of thousands. With that kind of power at their fingertips humanity has continued existing and flourishing when by all rights we should have fallen into infighting and destroyed ourselves eons ago.¡±

    She studied me. My legs, my hips, my chest and arms, every part that had moved. She was thinking. I could tell by the way her ears twitched and she rubbed the back of her left hand. She did not answer the three questions I''d possed and grasped for the answer to the one I hadn''t spoken.

    ¡°Progeny. Humanity possesses an innate need to reproduce and protect our young. We don''t evolve for ourselves. We evolve for our children. We don''t forge ourselves for ourselves. We are instruments for a grander purpose. We don''t become strong as an isolated entity. We are the fruits and fulfillment of the legacy of those who have come before us.¡±

    She hit the nail on the head. At least she could do it in a classroom type setting.

    I gestured for her to hold out her hands and then I shoved the bloody fox into them. ¡°Mei, what does this make you feel like? To be holding this in a dirty, wet alley at dusk.¡± I gestured at the mainroad in a half smile. ¡°No one is ever going to notice this animal who died. Not even my little sister who always acts like anything furry is made for cuddling and lovin''.¡±

    She didn''t say anything. The gears churned behind her eyes, until at last they spat out, ¡°nothing. It''s just a dead fox.¡±

    Then she did something I didn''t expect. She swung it by its tail against the wall. It hit a thunk.

    I frowned. ¡°Meifen, that''s not how you should treat it. It may be dead, but don''t dishonor it. You''re right. No one is going to notice because to them it is nothing. It''s a dead end. There will be no progeny and there will be no continuation of its line. It was weak so it was caught by me and because it was weak no one will notice or protest if I cooked and ate it.¡±

    I took it back from her and then paused to realign on my goal. I wasn''t getting through to her. I needed a more modest goal.

    ¡°Do you remember reading about Guru Pathik''s student? He''s important because he left behind an entire country. A legacy that still exists and shapes our world to this day. If he still around and were to attack this village would you hand over your life to him just because he is someone important.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± She answered reflexively.

    ¡°That''s right. Every being has a right to defend and fight for themselves, even murderers and bandits. They fight not just for their own right to exist but for their descendents. Now think of school as a microcosm of our world. The bullying is some child''s pretensious version of warfare. Do you get the right to fight back when bullied?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± She said with more confidence but she wouldn''t meet my eyes.

    ¡°They get the right to fight back against your bullying as well. Now what happens when cultivation is brought into the picture. As I said once the existence of cultivation and martial artists who can kill thousands or tens of thousands is seemingly incompatiable with our flourishing society. How does that work out?¡±

    She didn''t want to answer, but she''d got it. ¡°They upset the balance. They tip things towards escalation and destruction. They wipe out the hope for a legacy and future.¡±

    ¡°They also guarantee a hope and future, Meifen. We don''t always get to choose our enemies but we do get to choose who stands by our side.¡± Even as I said the words a hollow hole seemed to open up in my chest. They seemed more true than when I''d practiced the line in my head. There was something in there for me.

    I forged on ahead. If I stopped to think I wasn''t sure I could pick up later with the same momentum. ¡°I want you, Meifen, to teach them a little of what it means to be a cultivator and a martial artist. You may continue to practice with me, but if they accept you are to give them lessons in meditation until they grasp their scale in the world. When they do, tell them this speech as well about keeping the balance and about a being inalienable rights.¡± I nodded down at the fox who had fought and lost to me. Then I raised up my right sleeve and showed her some scratches I''d received from it. I''d purposely let it scratch me as I killed it. It had surrendered its life but not without scoring a bit of my blood.

    ¡°In two months,¡± I said down to my apprentice, ¡°they should have either refused to learn from you or be ready to unplug the first opening to their dantian. You don''t have to go further than that, but at least teach them up until that point. If they wish to learn more then they can go to the Ping Dojo.¡±

    I began walking out of the alley back towards my house. Before I remembered one last thing. Meifen was standing behind me with a hint of horror on her pale face. ¡°And another thing, if you''re going to hit someone and you want to keep it a secret be sure to learn to hit only places that can be concealed by clothing.¡±

 Chapter 5: The Bet

    Oi! There is something wrong with the world. Just two years ago I gave Meifen a talk about morals, heroism and coexistence. She did not really learn the lesson I wanted her to learn, though.

    She instead learned how to become popular. Everyone in the village knows her as the kind, generous, wise and powerful Sister Meifen. That''s...not right. They''re even saying I''m just her hanger-on, who is leeching off of her because I have no friends. Only Meifen is nice enough to be my friend.

    This is the girl who slams fox corpses around. I mean she didn''t kill it that time, but is a total psychopath. A year ago, Dugu flipped me off and declared he was going off to the nearby city of Chenai to make his fortune. He also mentioned something about how lazy I''d gotten just settling into a tiny anthill out here. Bah. He doesn''t realize how badly my family needs me.

    Anyway, Meifen suggested we go at night and take off an arm or two for his disrespect. Normally we only beat people to a pulp but avoid permanent injury, Meifen. In her words, ¡°he''s a martial artist and cultivator too, though. He ought to be able to take responsibility.¡±

    For the sake of my rival, I restrained Meifen, but from then on I realized Meifen has twisted my lesson into simpler terms. ''Those who do not practice martial arts are babies who need to be taken care of to bring out their full potential. Those who practice martial arts live in a world of conflict that weeds out people with poor potential.''

    She''s not wrong, I guess, but I think her standards for decent potential are a little skewed. My sister was three, I found Meifen trying to teach her to meditate. In her words, ¡°it is important that Master''s little sister grows up to become strong. If she is too weak she could be held hostage, or people might not believe she is master''s sister.¡±

    I think she was still a little too young, but by the time she was three Meifen shocked me by showing that she had indeed taught little Huang to meditate. Then she encouraged me to take her with us on our training trip.

    NO! I was not going to throw her to the wolves like that. Only, people like me and apparently Meifen can handle that.

    The other trial to arrive in my life was the new Alchemist, Mr. Faraday. When he arrived, he immediately began criticizing my potions. He even opened a competing shop right next door. How does he expect to make a profit? Anyway, I undercut his prices and that made him mad since people still kept buying from me.

    Fortunately for him, alchemy isn''t the only art he knows. He also knows a bit of magic. Magic is an art from Lorraine based on channeling the natural forces of this world through mediums. It also requires taking in a small amount of magic to operate as a catalyst in the form of a magic core. Particularly gifted magicians may even pass on their magical core into their offspring as an inheritable feature. Thus, his failed alchemy shop became the ¡°Magic Lessons Night School,¡± which angered my uncle and mom. In the end, the dojo went back to the level of popularity it enjoyed before the Assault during the unexpected migration.

    Dugu also found out he had a natural aptitude for magic and didn''t even need any procedures to implant a magic core. He had an inherited one that just needed a bit of practice that Mr. Faraday was happy to give for a price. That is until Dugu felt Mr. Faraday had reached his limits and took off for the city. I hear he''s made a bit of a name for himself already as a black market pill dealer.

    I confess to having a bit of interest in magic myself, but I refuse to learn it from that jerk. I will probably pick it up later in my life when I meet an infinitely better teacher.

    The night of my 10<sup>th</sup> birthday I went to bed with a sore head. Earlier in the day I''d been in a heated match with Meifan and her favorite student, Spear-guy. She brought him on to help us when we needed to practice fighting multiple enemies from multiple avenues of attack.

    That particular day I''d been distracted by thoughts of a new mixture I''d been brewing and Meifan had landed a sharp blow to my head from behind. We called off practice and let everyone go early.

    When I closed my eyes, I was greeted by a curious memory.

    ***

    I was in a bright room. There were no sconces, lamps or torches. The white walls themselves seemed illuminated from within. In the center of the room was a bed fit for a king, and upon it was a grumbling 12-year old boy.

    ¡°Hah, I''ve just caught a Black red-eyes Dragon. Now to add my spell card...oh, you''re here.¡± He said as he stashed something under a pillow.

    ¡°Welcome to heaven. Don''t get comfortable. You won''t be here long.¡±

    ¡°This is heaven? But I''m buddhist.¡±

    ¡°Well if you check out the garden in the back you can see Buddha, but he''s turned into a rock for the last several hundred years. He was aiming for the next level as a Boddhisatva, you know. Pretty sure he just wound up as a Sokushinbutsu again.¡±

    Oh. Well, I was a non-practicing Buddhist. He''d probably be pretty disappointed in me if he saw me.

    ¡°After dumping his responsibilities on me, I''ve decided that the population has gotten a little too large and cumbersome so we''re going to be doing some trimming. You have been chosen as plague number 5¡ªZombie Apocalypse.¡±

    Trimming? If he meant what I think he meant then he had another thing coming. I may not be a good buddhist, but now that I know he''s kind of real I wasn''t going to slaughter a bunch of people.

    ¡°By the way, you can call me the Introvert, but some people like to call me god.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Okay...this might require a bit more thinking. Perhaps I could side-step things by suggesting how ill-suited I was for this dubious honor.

    ¡°Excuse me. Chimera Martial Arts isn''t really meant to be used to create zombies or zombified puppets. Are you sure there isn''t someone else you could use?¡±

    He frowned and I saw a hand twitching towards his pillow. ¡°You''re right. I''ve already released one Eons old necromancer from hell for this task, and he''s just been wasting the last 100 years fortifying his city and seeding the earth with his phylacteries.¡±

    Right. I obviously wasn''t his first choice.

    ¡°But you White Tiger, can just create a bunch of chimeras and call them zombies. Most people won''t even be able to tell the difference.¡±

    I decided not to correct him about the translation of my name. ¡°Exalted one-¡±

    He interrupted. ¡°I prefer all-knowing and omnipresent one, but continue.¡±

    ¡°All-knowing and omnipresent one,¡± I said with more of an edge, ¡°I spent my life preparing humanity to take up my legacy. Now you want me to turn it into a vile curse that will be tainted with everlasting infamy.¡±

    ¡°Actually, you spent about 760 years living in a hedonistic lifestyle centered around your own powers. 50 years in depression over your wife, and 120 years hunting immortality. You only started seriously raising disciples and that tombstone when you''d exhausted all other options. Plus, you''re not even going to get 100 years of infamy. Regular people have a really short memory nowdays. By the way, you do realize under my system you''d be going to hell or it''s more productive equivalent if I didn''t have a special mission for you. ¡±

    I felt a droplet of sweat form on the back of my neck. God drove a hard bargain. ¡°Nevertheless, I''d suffer an even worse punishment for my wrongdoing after I finished spreading this plague of yours.¡±

    ¡°Now that''s where you''re wrong. You see here is a super secret, ultra exclusive get out of a hell free card.¡± He said as he pulled out a shining gold card from behind his back. ¡°Granted, technically it''s not called hell anymore. I just make you do some community service as a gold farmer for me, but with this I''d give you a clean slate after you get done.¡±

    Huh? This sounds too good to be true.

    ¡°Now you''re questioning whether I''m really the real deal or if this is all some sort of trick, right? Check my omniscience then. Ask me anything.¡±

    ¡°Where is the ring I got for my 400<sup>th</sup> birthday buried?¡±

    ¡°You gave it to your fifth disciple and lost track of it.¡±

    ¡°Who was the second love of my life.¡±

    ¡°Your first wife. She always had an inferiority complex because she knew she came 2<sup>nd</sup> after martial arts. I suggest you see a therapist and rearrange your priorities in your next life.¡±

    ¡°How could I complete the 720 Hip sweep wheel so it won''t be countered by Varan?¡±

    ¡°Alright now you''re just trying to get me to help you with your martial arts. End of Q&A.¡±

    He surprisingly has dealt with all of my counter-arguments as if he knew them before I''d even make them. This might be the real deal. Still, ¡°I don''t feel comfortable with staining the work I spent my while lifetime on like this. I know you said you''ll send me to hell, but in some ways destroying my life''s work sounds even worse than that.¡±

    He tapped his chin and then strode up to me and turned me to face a mirror that I hadn''t noticed. Then I realized why I hadn''t noticed it. It was growing out of and taking over one of the walls.

    ¡°Look into that mirror. I''m going to show you what''s become of your tomb in the 82 years since you''ve died.¡±

    ¡°What? I just died yesterday.¡±

    ¡°Time means nothing here. Now, no more questions.¡±

    I watched as the tomb lay...empty. Utterly empty. Then some bandits settled into the first rooms and used it as a bandit hideout for a year before officers of the law came with a group of adventurers and flushed them out. They left the corpses in there and collapsed the entrance to the tomb on top of them. Then over a number of years the soil and rock covering the entrance to the tomb was coverd by vegetation.

    ¡°It''s gone. Completely forgotten.¡±

    ¡°Yes, the year after you died your Xiang clan sent a team of elite martial artists and they harvested 6 of the 9 treasures. Then they told everyone that they''d conquered the tomb and claimed all the treasures. Some people tried to check, but they couldn''t make it farther than the Xiang Clan''s experts. After that no one felt it was worth their time to enter an empty tomb.¡±

    ¡°NO. Those assholes!¡±

    ¡°I think they were upset that you didn''t leave your belongings to the Clan and felt they were just collecting their rightful inheritance.¡± He shared with me gleefully as I began hyperventilating.

    ¡°By the way, Chimera style Martial Arts is no longer their primary style. It requires too much work from seniors and elders to capture strong beasts for each of their students. Since personalized instruction has fallen out of style the new preference is to teach Hurricane Revolution Martial Arts and when they become masters if they want they can experiment with the archaic style of one of their advisors.¡±

    ¡°Advisors? I''m the founder!¡±

    ¡°Not according to the history books. You started the Xiong Library and their lower level school. Your Student, the Lightbringer expanded it into a sect, national level organization, and completed their most famous style of martial arts that is totally orthodox. Hint: Your work might have been a bit too dark for them when they wanted to enter the mainstream about 120 years ago. They''ve been taking baby steps in revisionist history since then.¡±

    I could see what he was doing. He was probably only telling me half of the story to rile me up so I''d do what he wants. And it was working.

    "You really should have studied more public relations, White Tiger. Even the name of your martial arts could have been so much better. Something that invokes heroic connotations like Justice Sword Style or the Compassionate Fist." Him pantomiming movements from my own style as he made his suggestions was an uncalled for low blow.

    ¡°Fine. They''re ungrateful, unfilial slimeballs, but they may have had a point. So my legacy is in the hands of a-holes and being forgotten.¡± I threw back my head and laughed. The one who called himself god said nothing as my laughter echoed off of the empty halls. ¡°Even if I went back there I still wouldn''t be able to reverse this. No one will want to learn an art that eliminated half of society.¡± I said waving my hand at his mirror.

    ¡°Not true. Not true at all, Mr. White Tiger. Your style may not live forever among the hallowed halls of the Orthodox Martial Arts organizations, but when you achieve great infamy those who hunger and thirst for power will do anything and everything to preserve and uncover lost secrets about your work. The question, therefore, is whether you''d like to be forgotten or remembered by people who would cross any and every line for the sake of martial arts.¡±

    He was right. There were generally two camps and I suppose the darker, unorthodox schools would like to incorporate my teachings into their own. I would probably not get full credit, but it would at least live on in more than dusty libraries or tombs.

    ¡°Also, don''t flatter yourself. You wouldn''t be able to destroy half of humanity. You''d barely be able to knock off a tenth of it if you went all out.¡±

    I narrowed my eyes, but in truth there were plenty of deep mysteries and old secrets that could very well stop me prematurely. He may be right, or he may be wrong.

    ¡°Let''s not do this as a mission. A challenge¡ªhow about that? You don''t really need me to slaughter humanity so much as slow their rate of growth. If I can make the world''s population rate fall by more than a tenth then I''ll have won and you''ll give me that ¡°get out of hell free¡± card.¡±

    ¡°Oh, interesting. You want to make things harder for yourself. Fine. That''s even better for me. But what will I get if you fail?¡±

    I crossed my arms and replied. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°You''ll be my personal assistant for a century, no a millenia.¡±

    What? That doesn''t sound worse than going to hell or new hell for that amount of time. ¡°What''s the catch? Is there a job description, perhaps?¡±

    ¡°No job description. I''ll make it up as I go along. Nice doing business with you.¡± He said, and suddenly I realized without me thinking I''d somehow uncrossed my arms and was now shaking his hand. Did he just force me into accepting his terms?

    ¡°Good luck. Try not to live that long of a life this time.¡±

    ***

    I awoke in the dark. The thin winter walls had let in a chill, but I was positively steamy underneath my comforter even with the dying bed stove.

    What a crazy dream. I turned over and saw my left a note and a package. I leapt out of bed. No one should have been able to sneak in and drop that off.

    I grabbed a handkerchief and opened the note without directly touching it.

    To White Tiger:

    I think you''re ready to begin our bet. Remember you have until you die, and your goal is to reduce the human population growth rate by half. If you can deal with the other races, especially those randy Mermaids and Sirens, then I''ll give you...extra thanks.

    Wish Everything Goes Smoothly,

    The Introvert

    P.S. This stone will begin to crack as you get closer to accomplishing your goal. When it finally will completely shatter if you accomplish your side of the bet.

    I dropped the note and the moved the stone over. This was too much to take in all at once. I turned over and went back to bed.

 Extra: Primary School Lesson 1 on Shu Han

    Cultivation and Fighting in Shu Han:

    Unlike the Mentalists of Sahelia, Magicians of Lorraine or the Druids of Olmec, the fighters of Shu focus upon drawing out and controling internal energies called Ki or Aura by the Tu Ying Sect. They are frequently hand to hand combat specialists, although weapons and poison is often employed as well. Unlike the Druids of Olmec they do not see themselves as servants of nature but masters of it and attempt to mix their own personal ki with that of the world around them. It is said that true masters can not only create hard ki attacks to hit enemies from even beyond the line of sight, but can also fly and burrow through the soil. They may also draw inspiration from nature and animals to further enhance their movements, but it is said that the greatest masters teach nature itself and add to its magnificence. The stages that a typical cultivator goes through are as follows:

    - Feeling and learning to control your ki.

    - Unlocking the Lower Dantian

    - Unlocking the Middle Dantian

    - Unlocking the Upper Dantian

    - High Level Applications

    - ???

    <hr>

    Monster Ranks:

    Bronze Ranks:

    1 ¨C Dangerous only to children and the infirm

    2 ¨C Dangerous to untrained and unarmed adults. Can normally be fought and killed by even groups of civilians. Unlikely to group up and prefer hiding or fleeing from predators.

    3 ¨C Dangerous to low level cultivators who have not unlocked a Dantian. Can sometimes exhibit pack behavior, but generally have low intelligence and may be subservient to stronger monsters.

    Examples: Blood Fang Wolf (3) ¨CAn evolution of wild wolves who have unlocked their ki. They frequently attack in groups with quick hit and run tactics from multiple sides and then wait for injured prey to bleed out. Their saliva contains anti-coagulant properties and their fangs have extremely high concentrations of virulent bacteria.

    Silver Ranks:

    4 ¨C Dangerous to cultivators who have unlocked only their lower Dantian. They frequently live farther from populated zones and many exhibit extended lifespans. The oldest in this category is the Phantasmal Tortoise, and analysis of a living shell once led to the discovery of a Phantasmal Tortoise that was over a thousand years old.

    5 ¨C Dangerous to cultivators who have unlocked only their lower Dantian. Adventurers must be B or A rank to be deemed to fit to fight one of these. They sometimes exhibit family groupings but their packs are rarely large due to their large appetite and limited availability of prey. Fleeing from a rank 5 beast is generally regarded as impossible for non-cultivators even on horse-back. The only defense is to fight and win or wait for them to gorge themselves on your companions and leave.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    6 ¨C Dangerous to cultivators who have unlocked their middle Dantian. Low level drakes, sea serpents and cloud demons that cannot be handled by even militia armies or war machines are fitted into this category. They are responsible for the most deaths in the frontier zones because they are more common than Gold rank monsters, and yet stronger than the average professional warrior.

    Examples: Stony Roc (4) ¨C These are large birds that have not only developed ki abilities, but also feasted upon water or resources from near a leyline. At birth they are as vulnerable as any rank 2 monster, but as they grow up they learn to harden their body to extreme levels. While their attacks are not particularly dangerous aside from their large size, they are also ambush predators who due to their flight can easily outmaneuver prey. Fortunately, their hard defenses make their bodies heavier than normal bird-type monsters, so they have limited endurance and flight time before rest is necessary.

    Gold Ranks:

    7 ¨C Dangerous to even cultivators who have reached the peak of the middle Dantian stage. In groups they have been known to kill Upper Dantian fighters. Gold rank monsters are sometimes called ¡°City Killers,¡± with rank 7 monsters called a little ¡°city killer.¡± Classic examples include adolescent dragons, Brass Empusa and Giant Backbreaker Crabs.

    8 ¨C Dangerous to everyone. A single one of these is said to require a team of at least 4 S-rank adventurers. The great Taoist Wong Li was defeated by one of these although he took his foe, an Cerulean Hydra down with him too.

    9 ¨C Dangerous to nations. These are rarely seen and frequently result in the mobilization of the armed forces of multiple nations through multilateral treaties. By the Rotundra Treaty any war amoung member nations is to be temporarily halted if a rank 9 monster appears in their lands or the lands of any neighboring country of the parties involved. It is believed that the ancient city of Atlantis was destroyed by one Rank 9 monster that devoured the consciousness of everyone there in a single night. Monsters of that reach this class are usually unique and therefore do not have types or classes. Instead, they are given specific designations. The last rank 9 monster to appear was the Vraldon. He did not, however, choose to attack anyone and instead chooses to prowl an island off the coast of northern Cathay. Vraldon is worshipped by the local Tu Ying martial artists and is considered a minor local deity.

    Ancient Ones: Some manuscripts suggest that all present monsters today are the descendents of ancestors sealed away during the era of the 1<sup>st</sup> Global Empire. The ancestors were said to be able to shape the seas and shatter continents and according to legend there was once a continent to the east of Cathay at least as large as Cathay and Lorraine put together. This disappeared during the conflict with the Ancient Ones.

    <hr>

    Local Culture: Eastern Shu, Western Shu and the Mountain Tribes

    There are two distinct cultures in Shu Han. It is believed that Eastern Shu was one of the first lands to have developed agriculture alongside the Northeastern marshes of Lorraine. Consequently they have a society that values exploration and travelers with heavy emphasis on hospitality. Upon reaching the age of 16 young men are also expected to go upon a journey or for the adventurous, a quest, which will help them decide whether they wish to remain in their home village or settle elsewhere. Increasing population and falling farming plot size has led to increasingly popular movement towards the cities and the countryside being dominated by older communities.

    Western Shu is believed to have evolved from a fishing community that had trade ties to the merpeople. Consequently, their diet usually contains more protein and they have always had more rapid technological development, especially with respect to seafaring innovations. The more protein rich diet may also have led to stronger fighters and the more rapid exploration and expansion up and down the coast. There is also a heavy emphasis upon taking care of the family and in the distant past human sacrifices were even practiced for the sake of increasing the prosperity of the rest of the clan or tribe.

    Today, Western Shu is regarded as wealthier and more developed than Eastern Shu. Easterners, though, often consider the West softer with their less rigorous training habits and the fact that their stretch of frontier is smaller than the East''s. Some government officials are especially concerned about the imbalance of power among the Emperor''s guardian legions since the Fire, Metal and Wind Dragon Corps located in the East are considered of higher quality than the Water and Wood dragon corps that patrol in the West.

    To the South of Shu Han exists the Cathay Mountain Range, which is also referred to as the Cathays. It is populated by mountain tribes, which are rumored to practice cannibalism. In truth the mountain tribes are made up of many different cultures with very strict hierarchical systems based around ritual warfare. It is difficult to say much in general terms about them because things differ so much between tribes. That said, all previous attempts to invade and claim the Cathays have failed not because of the mountain tribes but the monsters which live on these slopes. When invasion occurs the Mountain tribes frequently just move out of the way and allow the monsters and invaders to fight until they are both exhausted before coming down for the kill.

    <hr><hr>

    For Instructor Eyes Only: The Court in Chengdu is seeking a champion to face off against a representative that claims to have come from the wild lands beyond the frontier zone. Geniuses no older than 18 who are well read and possess large amounts of esoteric knowledge may apply. We also recommend they be capable of solving at least three step riddles. No rewards will be given out, however, except to final candidates. Some transportation costs may be reimbursed.

 Chapter 6: Can a Phoenix See Its Own Shadow?

    (Yazhu Qiang)

    My name is Yazhu Qiang. To my friends I am Qiang-er, to my teacher I am proof of her complete transformation, and to my teacher''s teacher I am ¡°spear-guy.¡± I just don''t get Ju Ping. He''s a genius. No one in the village could possibly question that. He is as gifted as the dojo master despite being a young child, and seems to have absorbed alchemical knowledge just from going out into the woods and experimenting. Everything he does seems to be effortless and yet he''s also such an idiot.

    Take for example school. We all expected him to skip grades based on how much his father was boasting about him teaching himself to read. Who had ever heard of such a thing. Then he shows up, bows low to the teacher and takes a seat in the back and just stares at the teacher. His tests come out¡ªaverage. Better in reading and writing but horrible in math and with odd eccentricities in his knowledge of history but so many holes. You''d think he raised himself in the woods with his knowledge of recent history. The worst part is he thinks he knows everything. You just can''t teach a guy like that except he pays perfect attention and seems to always be ready to try.

    None of us can accuse him of being the teacher''s pet, though, because if the teacher ever asks him to do something he''s always quick to refuse so he has more time to practice martial arts. His speed cleaning of the classroom is admirable in its speed but every once in a while the teacher manages to corner him and force him to go back over spots he went over hastily.

    I think the person who understands him best is my teacher Meifen. Did you know she used to be the most unpopular person in school? She was teased, bullied and accused of being all sorts of awful things at night. I don''t think they''re true, but I wonder sometimes. She''s strong, though, so strong I can''t picture her ever letting anyone push her around. Yet I know it happened. I saw it and thought at least I don''t have it that bad. I was the second biggest pushover in school and the delinquent''s errand boy.

    Meifen was saved by master. She says it was because the bullies were misuing a knife. That sounds like him. He wouldn''t notice people unless they had something to do with teachers, martial arts, or warfare.

    I once saw him running into town with Meifen trailing behind them. I asked what was going on, and she told me that he found a Haderoth arrowhead. It wasn''t enough metal to make something useful for, but he found it thrilling nonetheless. Meifen had a smile like she was happy for him too.

    In truth, Meifen, especially a smiling Meifen, scares me far more than Ju Ping. With Ping you''re probably all but invisible to him, but Meifen notices things. One day she decided to clean up the school and challenged all the delinquents at once. She fought them all and won and from then on ruled the school as the queen. Except she was a benevolent queen who forced the delinquents to stop bullying others and even to make restitution to some of those they''d bullied. She didn''t accept restitution for herself, though. The strangest thing was from then on for two months she started training the bullies. Not just her bullies but mine and even older kids.

    I asked her once why she did that and she said her master ordered her to do it. She chose to go through with it in the least unsavory manner she could manage. I hadn''t noticed until that moment in truth she burned with as much hatred then as she had when she first began her campaign of terror on her former bullies.

    She still wanted to destroy them and the only thing standing between her and them was their family''s money, the teacher who supported them, and her master''s command. I don''t think Ju Ping understands how awful bullying is. I don''t think he has the capacity to understand what it means to be a victim.

    When Meifen began to teach me she said I would continue until I wanted to stop. Then she turned me into a walking bruise. She is merciless but afterwards she treats my bruises and cuts with leftovers from their pharmacy. I bet Ju Ping doesn''t even notice these bits going missing. To him, the world must be such a magical place. There is an ocean of wealth in every field and no one can hold a candle to his prowess. He even has Meifen, the school''s empress, following behind him and assisting in everything without a word of complaint.

    I hate it when I get like this. We''re all born for different things. I want to be an adventurer one day and leave this town behind for the wealth, power and world we hear whispers of from travellers passing through. Comparing myself to Ju Ping is a trap.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    Still, it''s so hard sometimes. This afternoon, Meifen asked me about boys and how to get their interest. I knew who she meant. I could have tried to sabotage them. To misrepresent things. To claim that I was an expert and could easily help her.

    I didn''t. I said it as I saw it. I owed her that much.

    ¡°I don''t think I can help. If you''re talking about Him then you''ll need to ask a weapon or a martial arts manual what would interest them. I think me and him just are too different.¡±

    She was disappointed but not truly surprised. She understood what I was talking about and forgave me for badmouthing him after only one particularly rough spar. When Ju Ping arrived I took my frustrations out on him. For once it seemed to work and he was caught off guard by a blow from Meifen.

    I think the problem with the two of them is that Meifen won''t correct him, and he thinks he doesn''t need correction. It won''t affect their martial arts, but one day Meifen will follow him into a dragon''s den and only he will walk out. I don''t know how to stop it.

    A year ago, Meifen finally finished opening her Lower Dantian. She told me about it. It was the most excruciating experience she''d ever had. Like her veins had turned to liquid fire and the pressure was a half step to bursting when it all pooled together and transformed from pressure, heat and pain to liquid Hao Meifen. When it was over she opened her eyes to find Ju Ping holding her hand. He was smiling up at her and asking her how it went.

    I know he cares. I know he wants to do right by her even if he doesn''t care in a romantic sense.

    I just don''t know how to fix him and I don''t know how to save her.

    She saved me. She is my Ju Ping. I need to help her.

    But how?

    Suddenly, I see a light flashing across the sky. It''s almost too bright to be a shooting star, but then it dims and fades as it descends. It''s falling...onto the Ju house? What in the world?

    ***

    [Somewhere in the East of Lorraine]

    The Magical eddies around the Nexus point freeze. Then stream up in an unnatural pattern. I look up and see an opening in the world cracking apartt as the very sky is torn asunder for a split second. Then it''s over and the magic drifts down like snowflakes having lost their target. There''s something new in the world now, though. I can only see the faintest trace of its tail, but the waves of its passage are coming. I need to ensure the Coven is ready for what this brings. Hopefully someone saw where it was falling towards.

    Nights like these make me wish the old Archmagister didn''t die so suddenly. Who could have imagined a single 1 aria incantation could cause a stroke and rob the life of the Midnight General. I could really use your wisdom, Teacher.

    ***

    [Somewhere in the Glass Islands]

    I crack my eyes open. The peaceful night has been shattered. It was such a wonderful night. I suppose I should check on that. I crane my neck, but cannot spot anything. Huh? I guess I didn''t sense it from nearby. Then from a nearby island? No?

    The voice of wind speaks and reminds me how often my kind forget that the world is not just around them but above them. I raise my chin and it strikes me as obvious as sledgehammer to the face. How could I have missed this change? The whole tapestry of fate is shifting. It''s happening again. Just like 10 years ago.

    I sigh. There''s more work to be done. I make note of where it''s heading. Somewhere in West Shu Han. Very well. I''m glad at least this time I have a lead. I stand up on legs that have grown from pins and needles numb to full on screaming bloody murder. Then I lift myself up into the arms of the wind and command it to carry me forth in the direction the sun rises from.

    ***

    [Somewhere on the Neverending Plateu of Sahelia]

    ¡°God dammnit. I''m tired. Wipe your own fuckin'' butt for once.¡± I scream out to the sky. It responds with more droplets of piss.

    The opening is closing. Good, at least he''s not sending several things like that time on the lesser world of Ba¨ª Z¨¦.

    Wait, there''s something funny about the flight pattern. Hey, it''s not headed for me. It''s going towards Cathay. Northern Cathay would be my guess. Hah? So you''ve finally found another sucker to con into playing your game so you can spend more time gaming.

    I wonder if I should go there. Maybe help out my young Kouhai. Show them the ropes and make sure they can''t get themselves killed too fast. It would be a shame if they die too quickly. That would mean more work for me rather than him splitting the workload.

    ***

    [Somewhere in ?????????]

    It has happened again. The angels have parted the waters of heaven once more. This time only one thing fell. I can feel myself salivating. I hope it is an angel, but I doubt it. Most likely it is another divine artifact. The balance of power will no doubt be broken once more just as it was 60 or 70 years ago.

    Perfect. Chaos and conflict with weaken them and provide me an opening to claim my prize once more. They still have not found a way to counteract such a simple flaw in their society. There is no need to fight them head-on. They will simply not be able to compete with us through the eons and then one decade they will simply vanish.

    Times to prepare. Perhaps I should send someone to gather information until I am ready. Someone who will not be in danger of assimilating. Vairochana has been well-behaved recently. At worse, our collective will lose an expendable spy.

 Character and Location List (regularly updated):

    Alphabetical Order:

    Chengdu: A rival of Lu Bai Xiong. Note: there is also a city called Chengdu, which is the capital of Shu Han.

    Dugu Yinfey: A minor thief, scam artist and bookie in Wenjinxiang village who impresses Ju Ping by cheating him. He is acknowledged by Ju Ping as a rival and later receives martial art teachings and leaves for a larger city where he makes a name for himself as a black market pill dealer.

    Mr. Faraday: An alchemist who moves to Wenjinxiang. He is not good enough to compete with Ju Ping and ends up instead transitioning to just teaching magic since he is also a minor magic user.

    Mr. I: A friend of Ju Huang with an interest in books and history.

    Guru Pathik: A friend of Lu Bai Xiong and he helped him come up with the idea for the tomb. He is mostly just remembered for his student who helped found the Gija''s new coalition.

    Hao Meifen: The first student of Ju Ping. She was a bullied and awkward student in his primary school who was saved by and then stalked Ju Ping. She has became the Empress and Queen of the school after taking out all of the delinquents and beginning to properly manage their behavior.

    Headman of Wenjinxiang Village: He runs Wenjinxiang village just as his father did before him. He took a chance on Ju Ping being able to brew a poison that could help them in their crisis and holds Ju Ping in high esteem such as recommending him to the recruiter from West Xiong Academy.

    The Introvert: A being who claims to be a god. It made a bet with Ju Ping and allowed him to reincarnate. If Ping cannot reduce the human population growth rate by more than 10% than he will be forced to work as an assistant to the Introvert for a 1000 years.

    Ju Huang: The younger sister of Ju Ping. She is six years younger than Ju Ping, and began to learn to meditate from Hao Meifen who taught managed to teach her to do so at the age of three and a half.

    Ju Ping: Main character who is the reincarnation of Lu Bai Xiong, Grandmaster of the Xiong Clan and the Chimera Martial Arts.

    Lu Bai Xiong: The grandmaster and founder of the Xiong Clan. He also developed the Chimera Martial Arts and built the Great Tomb as a training device before passing away.

    Midnight General: A former Archmagister of a group of magic users in Lorraine. One of his/her students is the current Archmagister

    Sum: A former adventurer who apparently knew Ju Ping''s father well. He participated in the defense of the Wenjinxiang village and helped drive away one of the Stony Roc birds. He lives in a cabin outside the village and has a dream to taste the five rarest wines in the world.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Xie the Scout: A minor character who came to Ping''s village to invite him to join a school of the Xiong Clan. He was fooled and pickpocketed by Dugu. It was likely his rumor spreading that led Mr. Faraday to stop by and eventually settle in Wenjinxiang village.

    Varan: A rival of Lu Bai Xiong.

    Vraldon: A rank 9 monster that is worshipped on

    Chapter 6

    Vairochana: An unknown information gatherer seeking information on the item that fell from the realm of angels.

    Yazhu Qiang: Meifan''s primary student and a fellow victim of bullying. He has a crush on Meifan but knows it will not be returned.

    Chronological Order:

    Lu Bai Xiong: The grandmaster and founder of the Xiong Clan. He also developed the Chimera Martial Arts and built the Great Tomb as a training device before passing away.

    Guru Pathik: A friend of Lu Bai Xiong and he helped him come up with the idea for the tomb. He is mostly just remembered for his student who helped found the Gija''s new coalition.

    Chapter 1:

    Ju Ping: Main character who is the reincarnation of Lu Bai Xiong, Grandmaster of the Xiong Clan and the Chimera Martial Arts.

    Dugu: A minor thief, scam artist and bookie in Wenjinxiang village who impresses Ju Ping by cheating him. He is acknowledged by Ju Ping as a rival and later receives martial art teachings and leaves for a larger city where he makes a name for himself as a black market pill dealer.

    Hao Meifen: The first student of Ju Ping. She was a bullied and awkward student in his primary school who was saved by and then stalked Ju Ping. She has became the Empress and Queen of the school after taking out all of the delinquents and beginning to properly manage their behavior.

    Chapter 2:

    Ju Huang: The younger sister of Ju Ping. She is six years younger than Ju Ping, and began to learn to meditate from Hao Meifen who taught managed to teach her to do so at the age of three and a half.

    Sum: A former adventurer who apparently knew Ju Ping''s father well. He participated in the defense of the Wenjinxiang village and helped drive away one of the Stony Roc birds. He lives in a cabin outside the village and has a dream to taste the five rarest wines in the world.

    Chapter 5:

    Xie the Scout: A minor character who came to Ping''s village to invite him to join a school of the Xiong Clan. He was fooled and pickpocketed by Dugu. It was likely his rumor spreading that led Mr. Faraday to stop by and eventually settle in Wenjinxiang village.

    Mr. Faraday: An alchemist who moves to Wenjinxiang. He is not good enough to compete with Ju Ping and ends up instead transitioning to just teaching magic since he is also a minor magic user.

    Chengdu: A rival of Lu Bai Xiong. Note: there is also a city called Chengdu, which is the capital of Shu Han.

    Varan: A rival of Lu Bai Xiong.

    The Introvert: A being who claims to be a god. It made a bet with Ju Ping and allowed him to reincarnate. If Ping cannot reduce the human population growth rate by more than 10% than he will be forced to work as an assistant to the Introvert for a 1000 years.

    Lesson 1 on Shu Han:

    Vraldon: A rank 9 monster that is worshipped on

    Chapter 6:

    Midnight General: A former Archmagister of a group of magic users in Lorraine. One of his/her students is the current Archmagister

    Vairochana: An unknown information gatherer seeking information on the item that fell from the realm of angels.

    Yazhu Qiang: Meifan''s primary student and a fellow victim of bullying. He has a crush on Meifan but knows it will not be returned.

    Side Story 1:

    Mr. I: A friend of Ju Huang with an interest in books and history.

    Geographical Places List:

    Ba¨ª Z¨¦: A lesser world

    Neverending Plateau: Located in Sahelia

    Nexus: Located somewhere in Eastern Lorraine and being managed or used by a group of magic users.

    Wenjinxiang Village: The village where the Ju Ping was born in Western Shu Han.

    West Xiong Academy: A school that sent the recruiter Xie to look for talented pupils. Ju Ping decides not to even try to go there.

 Chapter 7: The Mockingbirds Waltz

    (In a forest to the Northwest of Wenjinxiang Village)

    Stomp...STOMP...STOMPP! STOMMPPP!

    I kept my eyes closed and my hand clutched tight around Meifen''s mouth. I had only unlocked my first Dantian, but this time around I noticed I was a lot more sensitive to the flow of ki around me. For this reason I was trying something I far above my level. I was trying to detect the ki in the rank 6 monster passing by.

    I desperately wanted to know if it was pointed towards us or going to pass alongside us. The monster was a Ravenous Slimemold. This was one of the larger variety suggesting that it had been formed by the agglomeration of hundreds or more lesser slimemolds. That alone would make it dangerous given purely physical moves would be useless, unless it could blow the monster away or scatter its parts across a wide range.

    What made the Ravenous Slimemold special was that it could continue digesting and eating away at us even from torn off parts of its own body. We would only need to be touched once, and even if we tore free or were freed by a partner the slime would continue killing us until we could find a body of water or potion to wash it away.

    I had brought on this training trip several potions that should increase our survivability. Even if we were discovered if I had time to use one I could either lure it away with a false scent or use one as a catalyst for a sonic barrage. It wouldn''t kill the slime, but it should disrupt it''s elasticity and drastically slow down its movements. I didn''t want to use that one, though, given neither of us had trained our internal ear drum much so it would hamper us as well, not to mention attracting major nearby predators.

    Fortunately, I heard at last it moving away. My ki sensing could only tell me the direction. I had difficulty picking distinguishing the distance but I relaxed enough to take my hand away from Meifen''s mouth. Her upraised brow I realized suggested exactly how unnecessary she considered my actions.

    Ever since Meifen had opened her lower Dantian I had been wanting to leave to begin practicing the Chimera Martial Arts. I had delayed for a year to be sure we were ready even if we met with any of the local rank 5 predators.

    On this trip our targets were rank 4 or injured rank 5 monsters that could be captured and used for parts. Humans are inherently weaker than monsters. This can be partially addressed with Ki, but the fact of the matter is there are no humans who can fight a rank 9 monster one on one. At rank 9 monsters generally have reached the peak of ki or magic capabilities and, furthermore, have all the advantages of their superior form.

    I once saw a rank 9 in the distance. It was a herbivore and seemed more concerned with siphoning off residual mana from an underwater nexus point. It had been the beginning of my passion and obsession with creating a martial art that could truly one day stand on the same stage as them.

    As the thumps faded at last to soft taps I stood up and held out a hand to Meifen. She didn''t take it and climbed to her feet on her own. Then began wrapping the chains of her Kusarigama around herself once more.

    I had tried to persuade her to go with an easier weapon, but she had liked the throws I had demonstrated and how they could be used to setup larger attacks. Consequently she wanted a weapon that could further enhance her ability to throw and entrap enemies.

    ¡°We''ve got two more wolves hanging around. We could use the meat.¡± I suggested.

    ¡°Normal or special?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°Normal+, rank 2 at most.¡±

    She headed off with a nod in the direction I pointed. I followed a second later without a sound. I smirked as I saw her scythe volley forward and swing around empty air as it took to the trees. Meifen followed it up a second later with just enough ki to bounce off the trunks like trampolines. The blood fanged wolf counterattacked fiercely with a lunge that Meifen dodged. The wolf kept on going through half a tree trunk and then found it pinned as a jump back kick from Meifen. pinned its torso against the trunk. An instant later a knife from strapped to her forearm was drawn and slid into the back of its head.

    She looked at me as I revealed myself with a dirty scowl. ¡°Another game. That was rank 3.¡±

    ¡°Sometimes the information or wrong or outdated. You ought to be prepared for anything.¡± I suggested with a small upturn of my lips. I was proud of her. She''d come a long way.

    ¡°Is this meat even any good?¡±

    ¡°Maybe, I know a good recipe for the liver, but I think most of it will go into our traps as bait.¡±

    The slimemold wiped out our traps and just ignored the sting in every one of them. I was annoyed at having to reset them, but at least this wasn''t anywhere near as annoying as the last month of school had been.

    ¡°What''s this?¡± Asked Meifen.

    I turned back to her to find her surrounded by a few white lights. ¡°Those are Wisplings. Harmless rank 1 monsters. They''re immaterial so there''s no point trying to catch them. They are attracted to other monsters and cultivators who have just been in combat because they''re feeding on your ki emissions.¡±

    She gazed at them in fascination. Each was about half the size of her fist. ¡°Why are they even considered a rank 1 monster if they''re harmeless?¡±

    ¡°Some predators use them to help them find prey. If you were trying to hide they''d be far from harmless. Also, they can grow and evolve into Wisps, which are tricky to deal with and rank 3.¡±

    I move over to her. ¡°Watch what I''m doing carefully.¡±

    I wave my hand in a ring and purposely try to go against the flow of the natural energy around us. The wisplings scatter. ¡°What did I just do?¡± I ask her.

    She frowns. ¡°It doesn''t feel like you pushed them away, but they scattered like they were afraid. Was there some implicit threat in your motion?¡±

    ¡°No. although if I''d taken it up a few notches I might have been able to temporarily scatter their energy. What I did was a simple training exercise in the Void Martial Arts, which is about opposing nature and the heavens. It draws strength from the conflict and can be thought of as an anti-Tao martial arts. The wisps were reacting to a temporary disruption of the natural balance of yin and yang.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you used yang oriented ki didn''t you. You were opposing the air element, which is more yin-aligned and your circle wasn''t perfectly straight. It was lop-sided because you were making an unbalanced energy wave.¡±

    ¡°Good. You''re getting better. Observation, replication, adaptation and demonstration. Those are the three steps through which our arts advance. For now concentrate on observation and replication, but also remember that''s just a means to the goal.¡±

    The mantra brought a small frown to my face. The Xiong clan followed all four from what I''d heard, but their adaptation was constrained to something that needed to look and appeal to outsiders. Their demonstration was like an ouroboros eating itself. Each successive generation they would churn out with their quantity over quality teaching would be inferior to the previous one.

    ¡°Let''s get started.¡± I said with a pleasant smile that was only skin deep as I turned back to the corpse we needed to prepare. "I wonder how monsters reproduce so quickly.¡± I mused as I drew a dagger from my waist.

    "They probably have large broods and shorter reproductive cycles than humans." Suggested Meifen. "I wonder about how so many high level predators can survive without killing off all of the wildlife and then starving."

    "Oh, I know the answer to that."

    "And you''re willing to tell me?" Asked Meifen who''d begun to drain the excess blood.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    "What are talking about? Since when do I keep secrets from my student. The reason is that many of these are omnivorous and I''ve even seen some high level monsters engaging in farming practices. Albeit that usually involves culling other predators who''d kill their choosen prey and only eating sustainable amounts each season."

    "That''s terrifying." Said Meifen.

    "What do you mean?"

    "I was just thinking about how if monsters are really that calculating perhaps we''re also a flock they''re building and periodically culling."

    ***

    (Dugu Yinfen)

    I stood in the line for the East Xiong Academy''s entrance exam and considered that I might have an addiction. I don''t think it''s normal to be contemplating how to fleece these crowds and turn hope into profit when you''re about to take a test. Still, I can''t seem to work up the nerve to get nervous, and there are worse trains of thought to default to when criminally bored.

    ¡°Hey, how many years have you been preparing for this.¡± Said the young man in front of me. He looked about 9-10 and had new, clean clothes but not professionally tailored. I pegged him as the son of a skilled worker or a poor merchant family.

    ¡°Three years. There was plenty of sweat, but I''m certain my hard work will pay off in the end.¡± I said as I put on an enthusiastic front like a well-worn cloak.

    ¡°Me, me too. Well, technically I''ve been training for three and a half years. I don''t think I''ve going to get in this year, though. Hopefully I can pass the test next year. I guess I''m trying this year to prepare for next year.¡±

    What a waste of money. The entrance fee for this farce is 10 silver. That''s four books or enough to feed a poor family for two weeks. I look down at him and wonder if he''s just filled with false modesty. Three and a half years is plenty of time and if you can''t get the basics down by then one more year won''t help you.

    I hold out my hand him. ¡°Good luck then. My name is Dugu, Dugu Yinfen, but no one uses my given name.¡± He shakes it, and holds on a tad too long. A shame that his hands are uncalloused. It doesn''t seem like he''s worth my time.

    I transfer my attention to the room the applicants are entering one at a time. From the account I got they are traditionally tested for physical prowess, spiritual strength and mental foundation. A strong traditional martial artist needs a strong body and a strong mental foundation to build their internal energies. The spiritual strength is a new category they''ve introduced since they now teach the Western magical arts too to students who show high aptitude. If you''re especially gifted in that, though, you''re better off heading to the far west to learn at their schools.

    Mr. Faraday has already told me I have above average magus potential, but that won''t be anything special if I head to the far west. I should concentrate on my strengths.

    ¡°APPLICANT 73.¡± Shouts the proctor. He''s as bored as I am but he''s been loading himself up with bribes. I''ve counted at least 6 gold and 13 silver entering his hands. He doesn''t realize it but the other proctor has also been keeping track of how many bribes he''s collected. I wonder if he''ll report him or demand a side payment for his silence.

    The East Xiong Academy is one of the two primary Xiong academies along with the West Xiong Academy. The important one, though, isn''t either of these feeder schools, but the more mysterious Chimera Xiong Academy. Supposedly it was once called the Imperial Xiong Academy before they were forced to change the name by the Emperor. Where the East and West Academies maintain the face of the Xiong Clan as a teacher and supporter of the Imperial court, the Chimera Xiong Academy is by invitation only and has the nickname of ¡°the little court.¡± It is said that ¡°the official tax rate is decided by the ministers in the royal palace, but the amount a tax collector may overcharge and how much of it will go to the Xiong Clan is decided by the little court.¡±

    If I want true power in the Xiong Clan''s territory I''ll need to reach there.

    Which means I need to sit in this line and hope I haven''t become too old to enter by the time I finally get to the front. I sigh.

    I try to do some breathing exercises before settling on cycling and purifying my mana. Ten gold coins worth of bribes later it''s finally my turn. I ask the corrupt proctor, ¡°can you tell me what the best result has been so far today?¡±

    I flash him a silver coin that goes into a handshake and then leave my possession. He answers dryly. ¡°Ten stones worth of weight, Jade spiritual pressure, and 700 breathes worth of ki.¡±

    He clearly doesn''t care if I understand what he''s just said but I nod and step inside. In the first room is a set of boulders lined up in order of increasing size.

    ¡°Pick a boulder and transfer it across that line without dropping it.¡± The proctor of the first room says. There are two black lines on the ground. One line is just in front of the boulders denoting the starting line and the other at far end of the room. ¡°You may take up to five minutes to choose your rock, but once you''ve made your choice and begun you will only be given one chance.¡±

    At first glance this appears to be a simple strength test. It''s not. The human body can carry extremely large amounts of weight with the appropriate posture. The issue will be how strong our grip is. Moreover, we need to properly guage our strength and choose the heaviest rock we can successfully handle.

    I start from the heaviest rock and work my way down the line. I merely lift it for a second and then put it back down. I hear a snicker from the proctor as I start at the heaviest boulder. At last I find one that I think weighs approximately 10 stones. I move one size smaller. I think this is probably around 9 stone. I lift it up and begin my trek across the room. At the other end after passing over the line I place it back down on the ground.

    ¡°Good work.¡± Said the proctor. ¡°Can you place it back for me?¡±

    A hidden test. The doorman never mentioned how the boy who lifted 10 stones did on this part. He probably couldn''t manage to put it back as well. I don''t lift it up again and instead choose to roll it back to its starting place. With a nod at the proctor, I move on to the next testing area.

    In the next room, the proctor is by the exit at the end of a long room. On the ground are nine lines. Right in front of the proctor is a nightstand and a bracelet.

    ¡°Make your way here and put on this bracer.¡± He starts with the weakest spiritual emission. A Quartz level aura that only makes me feel some discomfort.

    As soon as I cross the first line he switches to a peach moonstone aura that feels as if I''m carrying one of the smaller stones from the last room. I continue on without slowing down.

    After the second line he deepens it with a layer of Topaz aura. It''s like moving through molasses.

    These were the easy spiritual emission types. I brace myself for the next one. When his aura switches to sunstone I feel a wall of emotional rejection. It reminds me of the day I was cast out of my family. How my sister was adopted by my cousin but they refused to take me in. I reminded myself that I had found a new home for myself. That I had carved a place for myself. That I...

    Upon reaching the fourth line an opal aura shines out and hits me with fear. Fear that I am inadequate. Fear that I am unnecessary and useless. Fear that I will become my father. Fear that my father was right.

    It''s a relief. The composite colors of this trial are like tiny rays exploring my body from multiple angles to find my weakness. They will be disappointed.

    I proceed across the fifth line and finally reach Jade. This time there is no emotional component. Pure aggression and intimidation greet me and try to make its bitch. I smile and take a dive.

    ¡°Enough. You''ve failed. Continue on.¡± Said the instructor with a wave at the door before staring down once again at the bracer.

    I pick myself up and head on through. As I pass the nightstand I take a peak at this bracer. It is old and covered in a suspicious layer of metallic grime, but beneath it is a symbol inlaid with Jade. It is a rectangle filled with squiggles I''ve never seen before. What captures my attention, though, is the sense of meaning and purpose I can feel from it. More royal than royalty and as fathomless as the endless sea.

    ¡°Continue on applicant 117.¡± I do so with a new spark of regret in my heart.

    In the final room they order me to stand in the middle and meditate. The proctor puts his hand on my shoulder and begins to send in his internal ki. I follow my reflexes and redirect my own ki to push it out. He does this again and again each time with a touch more. I find it difficult to keep track of how much he''s using, but when I suspect he''s close to 600 breathes worth of power I soften my resistance and then let it fade entirely.

    ¡°Very well done. 650 breathes.¡± He announces.

    I leave the testing center and place my hands behind my head. It really was a waste of time. I had decided not to give it my best to avoid conflict with my seniors. There would no doubt be competition for recommendations, and being second or third best was good enough until I was ready to make my move.

    I wondered what Ping and Mei were doing. This would probably have been a nice warm-up for them. To think I had been trying to sabotage him by preventing him from coming here years ago, only for him to not even show the slightest interest. Now it''s me entering and him doing what I''d always swore I''d do¡ªtaking care of my family.

    He may call me his rival, but he''s already won. He''s won in every way I could care about.

    I turn down an alley and call out to my tail, ¡°come out already. I don''t want you following me home.¡±

    I see two older boys and a well-dressed young noble step out. ¡°Ahh, is this the part where you tell me to quit and withdraw my name?¡±

    ¡°Shut up, drudge rat.¡± Cries out one of the older boys. ¡°You can take a bath and put on fine clothes, but a commoner like you has no business going to the school of Master Xiong He, much less showing him up.¡±

    I laugh. They''re calling me a ¡°drudge rat¡± because I''m a mere commoner. It''s clear they have no idea who I am.

    ¡°I''m glad you''re here. I needed some stress relief after that exam. Come at me you blue buffoons. I''m sorry, I mean you blubbery babboons.¡±

    The two older boys charge at the same time, while the younger one moves forward at a sedate walking pace. I slam a psychic attack at the right one with unshaped mana. Then I catch the overhead blow of the left one. As he tries to pull out a dagger with his other hand I slam a palmstrike forward at the hilt that causes it to slide back into its sheathe, and him to overbalance and almost topple over. Only my hand hold on his gi prevents him from toppling over.

    I don''t even need to use any of the techniques I''ve paid tutors to teach me since coming here. I slam the heads of the two forerunners into each other and then kick them both at opposing walls.

    ¡°Tell me, young heir, have you ever heard of the Mockingbird. It is a species of bird that is now extinct, but was said to find the nests of other birds, roll out their eggs, and then lay its own down in their place. It would fool its victims into raising their own young.¡±

    ¡°YOU...¡± He''s speechless, or maybe just apoplectic with rage.

    ¡°The reason it went extinct was because it never learned to take of its own young. When the species that it preyed upon as a parasite went extinct it followed them soon after. At least, that''s my theory.¡±

    ¡°What do you want? Money. If you harm me then know your family will be destroyed by my father.¡±

    I shake my head. Such a hard head this boy has. ¡°I''m not going to hurt you, Baifong Xiang. I know very well who you are and who your father is. I''m saying I''m willing to play the role of the Mockingbird''s adoptive parent. I''ll take care of you unlike these useless pieces and all I ask in return is that you make sure I''m taken care of. After all, just as the Mockingbird went extinct when it''s victims disappeared, if I were to be done away with you''d be left with these buffoons to defend you. The next time you find yourself in a dark alley against someone like me it could very well be your turn to go extinct.¡±

    I offer my most sincere smile and a courtly bow that I learned from an expert forger. We leave his two useless babboons where they fell and I walk out with my coparasite. The boy will not survive long once I move on. I can tell based upon how quick he was to show his back to me, but that isn''t my problem.

 Chapter 8: Spoils of War

    <em style="font-weight: normal">Camping is a lot more fun with company. The tedium can be broken up by pranks training exercises and stories, which are mostly true. I think the fact that she invariably accuses me of telling tall tales just illustrates how poorly she understands the time honored tradition of exaggerating ones own feats.

    ¡°Then I wrestled the Black Striped Python into a pit of acidic venom left behind after I beheaded her mate.¡±

    ¡°Which was as tall as a mountain. I remember.¡± Said Meifen.

    ¡°Right, and while that would have been the end of it if it had been a rank 6 monster, this one was at most mildly inconvenienced by the skin irritant. Fortunately, I understood that the python was a earth element monster, so it would be exceptionally vulnerable to...?¡±

    I turned to see Meifen distracted by something. ¡°Hey this is when you point out-¡± She shoved a hand at my mouth, which owing to her poor aim or my large mouth just wound up with her fingers inside my mouth instead of wrapped around it.

    ¡°Shhh, master.¡± There''s something out there.

    I extract her fingers and close my eyes. I can feel it and it''s small but not too weak. Rank 4, wait! ¡°It''s concealing it''s own strength. I can''t get an accurate reading on it.¡± I write out in the dirt.

    Meifen wrote out in response, ¡°what should we do, master?¡±

    ¡°We''ll continue to hide. It''s far enough away I don''t think it heard us and the wind isn''t blowing out scent towards it.¡±

    It triggers one of the pitfalls, but is too fast to fall in. It also triggers a snare and net combo that should have caused it to struggle until the noose tightens. Instead it gnawed a whole large enough for its body in seconds.

    I write out, ¡°I''m pretty sure this is a rodent or marsupial sized prey. Rank 5-6 based on speed but probably pretty fragile.¡±

    It went through all of our traps and claimed the bait in each without fail. Then it left.

    ¡°What a waste.¡± Complained Meifen.

    ¡°Don''t think about it like that. We''ve can learn a lot about it and our traps based on how to sprung out and now we get the fun part¡ªimproving them.¡± She perks up a little. Compared to the stake-out portion or simply resetting the traps this will be more interesting.

    <hr>

    ***

    The next day our small furry friend returned, but we were ready for it. The key was to disarm it''s greatest weapon¡ªits speed and reflexes. This time our traps led it down a path that ended in a ditch. We promptly dumped an enormous amount of tree sap down on it. It partially escaped to the left, but the area around the ditch with the exception of the route it had taken in was covered in lard. From then we began taking turns attacking it with projectiles. The endurance contest wound its way back through the path it had taken, with it slipping and sliding whenever it wanted to zig or zag. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    What finally decided it was a single trap without any bait that the creature had missed on the way in. It was a wide, but not particularly dangerous trap involving a disguised pit of sand. It as soon as we had forced it to enter it the jig was up and it switched tactics. It began a full frontal assault on us, which just meant it tried to ram me.

    I was only two dozen arm spans away from it and it headed for me like a missile. While it had difficulty getting traction for more manueverable dodges it mustered plenty of speed for its charge. I also recognized it as a Hurricane Ratatoskr. It was non-native to this region and heavier than it looked. Worst of all it could cloth itself in strong winds that could knock aside projectile attacks. It must not have wanted to do that earlier due to its limited traction. That was no longer an issue.

    For all of the Ratatoskr''s strengths, though, it had equally glaring weaknesses. It was still only knee high, and a straight charge is a terribly predictable attack pattern to use. While I would have had trouble taking it head-on, parrying its charge was as simple as sliding my sword into the ground at an angle in front of me, and then bracing it. The creature slammed into my blade and with me and the earth as a brace it bounced off it to the side. Unfortunately, Meifen was not prepared to predict which way it was bouncing and missed a golden opportunity to hit it in midair while it was defenseless.

    A throwing knife did impact the ground where it was going to land and resulted in it throwing itself to the side in midair and literally jumping off of the throwing blade that was coming at it. I lost track of it at this point with my eyes, but my ki senses were becoming clearer as it drew on more of its innate power. I located the monster that looked like a drill toothed squirrel up high near the canopy with a small whirlwind forming around it once again.

    ¡°Heads up.¡± I yelled as I took off after it. The smart thing to do at this point was probably to continue to chase it until it had exhausted its stamina. I didn''t do that.

    Instead, I slammed against the trunk of the tree it was resting on midway up the tree and caused the upper broughs to shake. It abandoned its perch and I moved to intercept it in midair. While arrows and slingshots wouldn''t be able to pierce its defenses I was certain my sword could. It did, but all I missed its body and sliced off only a single front leg.

    ¡°I''ve got it.¡± Cried out Meifen, as she saw it knocked into a bush.

    ¡°Wait, don''t get too close.¡± A second later my words were justified as it released a massive burst of air. Meifen, who had frozen as soon as she heard me, was knocked onto her backside and then rolled a few times to the base of a tree.

    I threw one of the potions I''d prepared at the crater before turning away and shielding Meifen. I heard the vial burst and spray its contents everywhere as it was picked up by the chaotic air currents. To my satisfaction I heard a snarling scream a second later.

    I had used a pungent acid that was useful trump card, but not ideal for this mission. The corpse was too heavily mutilated to be used for our purposes. Transplants of it chemically scarred tissue were unlikely to perform any better than our current bodies. That said, we did recover the one arm I''d lopped off and I had a few ideas on how to use the tiny amount of usable muscle fibers from it.

    <hr>

    ***

    After one more week of hunting and trapping we decided to pack up the traps. In addition to the rank 5 Hurricane Ratatoskr, we had also met a pair of rank 4 ground wyrms, and a rank 4 Fal Slug. Arguably our most useful piece was the detachable tail from a rank 5 Gigant Anole. We never even saw it get caught in a trap owing to its natural camoflage, but in order to escape it had torn off its own tail. As soon as I saw it I decided to we would quit now while we were ahead. Plus, it would be difficult enough trying to bring this much material back with us.

    Many of the parts, such as bones, muscle, skin and claws, were hardy enough we''d be carrying them back rather than implanting them in the field. Others, especially the parts from the Fal Slug and the blood vessels of the Gigant Anole would not keep, so I prepared for surgery in the field. In particular, for the Fal Slug their own vulnerability to salt meant I preferred to only use their internal organs.

    I decided to give most of the upgrades to Meifen, since it would be challenging to perform surgery on myself in the middle of the woods without all the pieces of a proper medical kit. She went under the knife in a meditative state and with any luck (60-70% I''d say) there would be no rejections once it was reforged by her ki.

    I still had her chugging regenerative potions like they were water, though, just to be sure. 10 days after we''d packed up our traps, and after a little over two weeks in these woods, we were finally ready to go home.

    With far heavier packs, we headed back to my shop. After several days of travel, we finally saw our village, but what awaited us were only smoking cinders.

 Side Story 1: The Legend of Wenjinxiang Villag

    <em style="font-weight: normal">(Ju Huang, younger sister of Ju Ping)

    A month ago, I finally moved my ki for the first time. Following Sister Meifen I got it to leave my body''s holes. It was too faint to even be visible, but Meifen said she could feel it. I could too after a while when I got sleepy and hungry. They celebrated with a lychee tart, and I got the biggest piece. I couldn''t finish it, so my brother said ¡°waste not want not¡± and ate it up in two big bites.

    My brother is funny. When he sees me practicing he tries to distract me with things to play with that he thinks are appropriate. Sometimes mom sees and hits him. Then she explains to me that good people don''t hit other people when I try to hit my brother when he brings more gross things.

    I think Meifen is the one who makes the most sense. I like her, and she''s nice except when she''s showing me how to do something new.

    When they left on their trip things got boring, so I went to play with my friend Mr. I. He really likes books, and was looking up the history of our village. If I could read that probably would be fun too.

    He explained that our village and the two closest towns make up a county under the city of Baiwe. It was started by a great pioneer who built the first homes out of the shell of a massive turtle he defeated.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    The shell is missing, but Mr. I hopes to find it. If he can he will figure out how strong the beast was and how strong our founder was. It may even have medicinal properties depending on its age.

    I agreed that was important work. Not as important as my uncle''s Dojo or my brother''s druggie place, but still really important. So the next day, I dug up our yard looking for it. I found rocks, and worms and an old tin box, but no shells. I think my mom was also disappointed too, and demanded I dig somewhere else. If I knew where to dig I wouldn''t have wasted time in our yard, mom.

    Then I remembered my brother''s place is important. Old things are always gathered in important places. I headed over to his shop and began digging there. He had a lot of interesting moss and stuff growing there, but no shells. Well, there was a snail shell, but that wasn''t big enough.

    Mr. Sum came by with a request and I explained how Meifei and my brother left to go find bad monsters. He was quite impressed with my holes and said I would become an expert treasure hunter one day. That''s right. Mom told me I can be anything I want to be, and I have a nose like a dog. I manage to sell Mr. Sum the nice snail shell I dug up for a copper piece and rushed over to the trading post.

    The mean man tried to drive me away until I waved my copper piece at him. He sold me some milk candy and told me I should go take a bath right away.

    I''m sorry Mr. I, but I don''t think I''m good enough to find your shell. I decided to leave one of the milk candies on my brother''s desk. He needs something to cheer him up on occassion. I also think mom and dad didn''t give him enough candy growing up. When he returns from his trips he''ll sometimes give me such and such pill with blah, blah effect and smile at me like he''s the best brother in the world.