This Venerable Demon is Grossly Unqualified

It was interesting, watching Su Li cultivate. When I’d inspected Qin Wenyuan’s ineffective attempts, there hadn’t been much to look at. The internal motions of his qi had been relatively opaque to me. I didn’t think I could inspect those, not without doing something very invasive with my own aura. But I had been able to feel a sort of trembling in the qi of the environment, and felt a very light pull on my own qi.

I suspected the latter was because the old Elder Hu’s cultivation method had something in common with Qin Wenyan’s Ninefold Iron March, both probably targeting an element of ‘sword’ or ‘weapon’.

Watching Su Li was a rather different experience. While I couldn’t feel her cultivation in the same way I directly felt Qin Wenyan’s, there was a lot more to look at. In many ways, lunar qi was opaque to me. Or perhaps intangible would be a more accurate word. When I extended my aura outwards I could sense it, especially in the quantities that it gathered around Su Li and her little lunar mirror. But I couldn’t influence it, or on some level see ‘through’ it. To my nascent spiritual senses it felt like a light, self illuminating, mist.

As she cultivated, it gathered around her in a cloud. Nowhere near dense enough to obscure her from my sight, but dense enough that I could track some of the external flows of qi manually without the ability to spiritually ‘feel’ them. The most obvious one was an interrupted umbilical cord that led up towards the moon, fading into transparency a few hundred feet into the sky. Most of the other flows were more subtle, centered around Su Li herself. She appeared to be taking in the white mist primarily through her lungs and eyes, while the largest source of lunar qi exiting from her body appeared to be somewhere in her abdomen.

All of that was interesting, but mostly academic to me at this time. Ingressing qi via the lungs and eyes was standard for the manual, so it at least suggested she was performing the cycling pattern properly. A few manuals had claimed that the stomach and lower abdomen as a whole were a general seat of yang qi. Apparently the stomach, lower intestine, and bladder were all considered to be ‘yang organs’, because they were considered ‘hollow’ and associated with the storing and transmission of fluids. It was one of a thousand random facts of questionable veracity that were floating around in my head these days, this one coming from an offhanded mention in a qi condensation equivalent bodily cultivation manual.

I found that very strange, I would have naively assumed hollow organs would have been considered ‘yin’, given its associations with emptiness and reflection.

I scribbled a note down on the sheet of paper in front of me. Investigate whether yin and yang manuals are expected to expel a portion of qi from seats of the opposing complementary principle. My handwriting was atrocious, even with a cultivator’s grace, I was not used to brushes.

I was still so very far from being able to offer Su Li any truly insightful guidance on cultivation itself, but if nothing else, I was a diligent student.

It’d been a quiet two days since my conversation with Fang Xiao. In the end, he’d asked me for two things, help manifesting sword intent, and for me to help him acquire some materials to forge a better sword. The latter apparently meant the blood and bones of a particular spiritual beast that was too strong for him.

I’d taken a short trip to dusk to purchase some paper and ink. Elder Hu’s ring contained entire writing sets, but all of it emanated a sort of qi that made me feel like it would be a huge waste to use it on notes.

Outside of that trip though, I’d spent almost all of my time doing one of three things. Compiling notes for future lessons for my two students. Reading in the archive. And finally, trying to learn to control my sword more efficiently in its flying form. I’d made the most progress with the last item, enough that it now truly felt like a deadly weapon. My current favorite trick was simply keeping it floating behind my right shoulder, cocked and loaded like a shoulder mounted missile.

It was dangerous on the way out, but truly deadly on the way back.

I just hoped it would be enough for whatever beast Fang Xiao wanted me to kill for him. I didn’t think I could actually handle my sword for more than a single swing in his presence without destroying my reputation. Every swing I took might carry with it a profound intent that could cut nearly anything, but whenever I actually tried to chain moves together into a sequence of attacks they inevitably deteriorated into the awkward fumbling of someone who’d never seriously studied the weapon.

I was at least confident I could throw a punch and shoot a flying sword at the same time without embarrassing myself in front of an actual swordsman.

Su Li stirred, and I returned my attention to the present. I stored my notes before she would have any chance to see they were in english. On balance, having notes in a foreign language seemed like a smaller risk than having notes asking questions about basic concepts, but I still didn’t want that information spreading.

Su Li was staring up at the moon, as the cloud of lunar qi around her slowly dissipated.

I watched silently as she opened her eyes, and stared up at the moon. I wondered, not for the first time, what it meant to her. The sect offered a choice of several starting methods to initiates, though mastering the Liar’s Breath was expected regardless of what other method they cultivated. I wondered what had drawn her to that one, and if it was significant enough that she should stick with it.

“Did you have a productive cultivation session?” I asked.

“Yes master.”

“Good.” I said simply. “We can proceed to the martial portion of the lesson at your leisure.”

Su Li sat quietly for a few moments, and I felt a small surge of joy at the simple fact that she took me at my word. The way she at once assigned a crushing weight to my every word, yet also feared I would abandon her at the first sign of difficulty, terrified me.

“Elder Hu, I have a question.”

I really hoped it wasn't about cultivation.

“I may have an answer.” I was beginning to let up on my mask around Su Li, allowing some of the irreverence and snark that usually pervaded my speech to slip in.

“Liang Tao said that you had accepted me as your disciple. But I have sworn no oaths to you. I do not wish to overstep and claim to be something I am not.”

“What do you think a formal acceptance as my disciple would constitute?” I asked, genuinely needing an answer.

Su Li took a moment to think.

“I… My first teacher was my father, so I was never taught the ceremonies. I never needed them. I think I am supposed to swear to honor you as my parents, to swear not to pass on what you have taught me to the unworthy, and not to bring dishonor to your name with my conduct. Is that correct?”

I had no idea.

“The world is vast, and different lands have their own traditions, but you have covered most of the basics.”

I paused, and gave Su Li a look I hoped was sufficiently profound. My mind whirled as I attempted to come up with terms on the spot.

“Allow me to make clear the nature of our relationship. I require no ceremony to make explicit that which is already true.” I said slowly, still playing for time. “You are my disciple in both name and truth. I have found you worthy of teaching. This I do freely, and without expectation of repayment, as is the duty of the senior generation to the junior. I will not teach you something, if I do not trust you to judge the circumstances in which it should be passed on for yourself. I do not demand that you honor me as a parent. Honor is earned by honorable conduct, not demanded or bought. I have seen your character, and I trust you to act righteously both towards me as your master and towards others as a representative of my teachings.”

I watched as Su Li processed all of that. I watched her shoulders clench as she struggled to control her face. She kowtowed before me again, holding the pose for a long while. I watched as her back shuddered minutely, and made no comment when she wiped her sleeve across her face before rising.

“Did that answer all of your questions?” I finally asked. It felt trite, undercutting the weight of the moment. But I could no more bear its weight than her, knowing that I was so unqualified to teach her.

“Thank you master.” Su Li said to the ground, unable to meet my eyes. “I do not deserve your faith in my character, but I will give all that I have to prove worthy of it all the same.”

“You are wrong. I do not give what is not deserved. The opposite, certainly. I am a demon, I will not weep for those who deserve better than this cruel world delivers. But if you cannot believe in yourself, believe in my judgment.”

“When the day I take my vengeance comes, many innocent men will likely stand between me Kang Guo.”

I laughed, the sound clear and bright as a naked blade. It cut easily through the quiet of the moonlit clearing. Oh, this poor girl. How had she survived so long in this sect with such a conscience?

“Nobody seeks to master the sword for bloodless pursuits. Innocence is a hard thing to claim for any who would wield one. None who would live by the sword should fear to die by it. I would much prefer to see you walking away from the battlefield than them.”

Su Li remained silent. I kept talking. One day, I hoped that she might be talked out of her quest. But today was not the day for that conversation.

“I would see you attain the heights of cultivation. I hope that you will find a place you belong, and know long years of joy and peace. But these things are not mine to assign, and your quest is not mine to gainsay. If you believe your vengeance is worth risking death for, worth killing bystanders for, you will not fail me by pursuing it.”

“I’m sorry master.”

I suppressed a sigh. Su Li was truly Canadian at heart.

“What, exactly, are you sorry for?”

“That I cannot promise I will survive to do that. For using your teachings for such a base and selfish goal.”

I laughed again. I couldn’t help it. Her earnestness hurt my soul.

“Do not apologize to me, disciple, for being less than perfect. If you could do all these things on your own, you would be teaching me, and not the other way around.”

The expression on Su Li’s face was absolutely delicious. Her eyes were wider than I’d ever seen them. She looked scandalized by the very idea, but even more scandalized by the idea of contradicting me.

“Now stand, the night is long, but it is not eternal. I would not see the dawn come without you breaking a sweat.”

I spun my own sword in my hand, then drove it, sheath and all, half a foot into the dirt. That was another little trick I’d been working on, stretching the bounds of what counted as a bladed implement for the purposes of my intent. Knives had been effortless, and a wooden sword surprisingly easy. Easy enough I still worried a little about accidentally bisecting someone were I to try sparring with one. But branches and my own fingernails remained far beyond me, the sheath of my sword was roughly the limit of my current ability.

Su Li began to set her own aside, albeit in a far less flashy manner, before I interrupted her.

“We’ll work on your unarmed foundations later. Let’s start with a simpler exercise. Try to land a strike on me, feel free to use any weapon or technique you wish.”

“Master…” She trailed off, uncertainty clear on her face.

“Disciple Su, I have risen so high I’m frankly not sure it’s possible for someone in qi condensation to kill me, even if I was drugged insensate. For you to draw my blood would be an honor, not a training accident.”

That did it. She unwrapped her ruined wreck of a weapon and took up a stance. My words aside, I really didn’t want to get cut by that, the sheer number of deep gouges in the edge made it basically serrated. I wasn’t really worried though, in the worst case I could probably backpedal faster than Su Li could charge forward at a dead sprint.

I took up a terrible bastardized karate guard, brandishing my fingers like the deadly weapons they now were, and beckoned her forward.

Slowly, we circled each other. Once it became clear I had no interest in attacking, Su Li began to close towards me. I was pleased to see she’d taken my lessons on footwork to heart, her feet moving in short crescents as she closed the distance and circled.

I popped forward with inhuman speed, my fingers reaching out idly towards her head, just to see what she would do.

Flinching, Su Li threw out a warding slash and I dipped back out of range, letting her regain distance.

It wasn’t a bad reaction, but it surrendered the momentum.

Slowly, at a pace sedate even for a mortal I chased her down. Each time I closed the distance, Su Li threw out a series of conservative, defensive, attacks. My leading hand danced around them, never more than two feet from her, but never touched by her sword.

This wasn’t working.

I stopped, straightened, and closed my eyes, daring her to try something.

“Master…”

“I do not recall telling you to stop. Strike me, if you can.”

I let my aura leak out into the world, keeping it still, quiescent. This was a little risky, but Su Li was by far the safest training partner I had within the sect. I kept my hand extended out in the direction I’d last seen Su Li, my fingers splayed out as if they were antennae.

I felt it, a delicate pressure, a flash of intention, the bright flash of a desire to cut me shrouded by what I instinctively knew was a lack of genuine malice. I spun to the side, feeling the breeze of a thrust ruffle the collar of my robe. My hand shot out, blindly reaching, then retracted back viper-quick as Su Li smoothly moved into a rising slash aimed at my wrist.

“Good! More!” I exclaimed, genuine joy in my voice. Finally, a training exercise that was actually useful to both of us.

I pivoted about my back foot, spinning around a slash. The intention moved closer, stepping in, and I danced back out of range of a cut aimed for my midsection. They came faster now, each cut flowing into another as Su Li shed her apprehensions and launched an all out assault.

I danced around them all, now I was the one giving ground freely. I could hear Su Li panting as I led her on a dance around the clearing. I took another step back, and felt something firm against my heel. I leapt upwards, hopping clear above Su Li’s thrust, and let my eyes crack open as I rose into the air.

It was indeed a tree. My foot rocketed out, kicking off the trunk. I flew clear over Su Li’s head, landing again closer to the center of our impromptu arena. I closed my eyes again as I landed. I didn’t need them.

Su Li’s reverse thrust never had a chance of touching me, it was launched from too far away.

There was a pause in the dance, the shrouded lantern that was her sword faded from my spiritual sight as she circled around me without striking.

I waited, turning to track her by the crunch of fallen leaves beneath her slippers.

I felt something new, not the intention of an attack, but instead the ghost of one, rapidly moving towards me, expanding as it moved.

I threw myself bodily to the side, clearing a dozen feet in a single rolling dive. My shoulder slammed into a rock, but I kicked out and muscled through the awkward tail end of the roll. That would have been a horrifying bruise, if I were still mortal.

Another pair of lunar slashes flew towards me, but they were too close together, easy to dodge with a pair of quick steps to the side.

“Don’t let up! Stagger your attacks to restrict my motion!” I shouted encouragement, even as I spun and ducked.

The origin of the attacks moved closer to me, as Su Li advanced behind the cover of her ranged attacks. I let her herd me backwards, even after advancing, I didn’t think she had enough gas for more than a dozen of those slashes.

As I leapt over the ninth slash, Su Li took advantage of my airborne immobility to launch an all-out assault. Three slices rocketed towards me, one horizontal at waist height, the other two at angles on either side of me.

I could have retreated, but I had no doubt Su Li was charging forward behind them.

A wide smile on my face, I dropped on all fours, dipping below the horizontal slash, then rose up to meet her.

Even through tightly shut eyelids, I could see her sword descending towards my head, burning with that unearthly argent light.

I flexed my aura, twisting it about myself like the eye of a hurricane, and her sword stopped as surely as if it’d hit a brick wall. It was an edged weapon, one that shone with the intent to cut, however dim hers was in comparison to my own. Even shrouded in lunar qi, it fell under the purview of my authority.

I heard Su Li’s panting exhale, felt her sword dip down an inch as it ground against the immovable wall of my aura.

I opened my eyes, expecting to lock eyes with my student, a manic grin plastered across my face. Instead, a fist blocked out the world.

The world slowed to a crawl as genuine surprise shot through me. I dropped again, dipping below her fist as I abused my impossible reaction time to its fullest.

I moved so fast my feet left the ground for what felt like a full second, my muscles pulling them upwards far faster than gravity could pull them down.

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound.

As her cross shot over my shoulder, I executed the most textbook perfect double-leg takedown of my life. Normally, thinking was a disaster in combat, but moving this fast I had time to go through the whole checklist.

My lead left foot landed just outside her right.

My right knee rolled forward, planting itself in the dirt between her feet.

My arms looped around her upper thighs, pulling her legs flush against my chest.

I straightened my posture, a straight line running from my right knee to my right shoulder.

My head pressed right against her ribcage, chin tucked to prevent a guillotine choke.

I waited a moment, then another. It was only fair to give her a chance to sprawl.

Su Li didn’t react fast enough.

I rose, pushing off my extended left leg, driving through to lift her clear off the ground. My arms twisted as I stepped forward, turning her body ninety degrees horizontally.

I let go.

I didn’t bother to follow through on the takedown, instead just dropping her the full distance.

As I watched her fall, some irreverent part of my mind supplied commentary.

‘Get rotated idiot’ I very carefully did not say aloud, as my mind flashed back to that silly video of a shark.

Reality resumed its regular playback speed. Exhaustion hit me like a semi truck, whatever that state I’d entered was, it had eaten through my qi as fast as literally regrowing flesh. Just those few seconds had burned through almost twenty percent of it, and I still hadn’t quite recovered from my ill-fated attempts at cultivation.

I stood stoically, as Su Li panted in exhaustion where I’d dropped her. I kept my breathing perfectly steady, hiding my own effort, but only barely.

Had I just slowed time by accident? What the hell was Elder Hu’s original cultivation technique? Clearly swords were the focus, but I’d seen hints of aeromancy in the Stormbreaker, and now some form of internal time manipulation? That was far beyond mere enhanced reactions.

“That, was excellent.” I said slowly, setting that mystery aside for later study.

“I didn't.” She coughed out. “Even touch you.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“That is not a reasonable short term goal.” Even as I said the words, I realized I was wrong. If Su Li had gone for a punch or kick earlier, mixed it in amongst her sword strikes while my eyes were closed, I may well have missed it if it was timed properly. Reasoning about the location of her fist from only the motion of her sword would have been tricky.

“Your footwork is cleaner, you can throw out more Waxing Crescents far faster than you could a few weeks ago. You’re using the environment strategically, and planning ahead to restrict my ability to leverage my superior speed. When you backed me against that tree, you forced me to open my eyes for a moment as I reoriented myself.

“Stop comparing yourself to elders and geniuses. You are a better fighter than you were a few weeks ago. All that matters is that you continue that trajectory. If there are any words I live by, it is these: Every day, a little better than the last.”

Su Li didn’t respond, still catching her breath after that final sequence of blows.

“Now,” I continued. “What have I told you to do when someone attempts a double leg takedown against you?”

“To sprawl.” A great inhale. “Master.”

I gave her a sedate smile.

“Guess what you’re doing for the next half hour?”

I could see on her face that she guessed correctly. She’d been fine. She was a cultivator, and the dirt wasn’t that much harder than a sufficiently cold gym mat.