v4c26: The Mountaineer and the Craftsman

For the first time in a very long time, Liao Yushang could honestly say she was happy.

 

The clash of metal on metal rang out in the training ground. Her sword, Ascending Mountaineer, clashed with Biren’s simple-looking blade, which was obviously some kind of treasure. Yushang had to buff the little nicks out of her own sword whenever their blades clashed.

 

Yushang stepped forward, using her own blade’s superior weight and reach to bully him backwards. He knew better than to try and block the overhead strikes, at least. Yushang had a smile on her face, while Biren was grimacing slightly.

 

“You swing that thing around way too easily,” Biren grunted as he backpedaled. He watched her blade warily. Ascending Mountaineer was, after all, made of Lode Iron, and with a bit of Qi it could increase its mass a hundredfold. Even without her Qi, it weighed nearly as much as she did!

 

That had been a pretty funny conversation. Both Ri Zu and Biren had looked absolutely baffled by her sword. Say what you would about the Howling Sword Arts Academy, they hadn’t entirely skipped out on the peasant who had ended up graduating from their halls.

 

The Heavy Swords of the Howling Sword Arts Academy were for cultivators only! Most mortals could barely lift them, let alone swing them around. But she wasn’t perfect with it yet. She was a little bit slower than she should be, and that really sucked when she had to fight multiple people at once. One on one, her strikes applied too much pressure to be properly exploited.

 

Something that Shit-Peng guy had screwed up with. One on one was where Yushang shined! Having people watching her back and helping her? She had ripped his goons to pieces.

 

She had hugged all of them for it! It was absolutely great! Hells, she had half a mind to ask them if they wanted to blow this Sect and set off together, just like the stories!

 

But she couldn’t.

 

Ri Zu had her medical stuff, Fat Han had his family legacy thing, and Bi De was in the Inner Sect. They wouldn’t leave for Yushang… so she just had to stick around!

 

“Oho? You think my sword handling skills are good?” Yushang replied cheerfully. “You’re not bad yourself, Brother! How often do you handle blades?” She waggled her eyebrows, and Biren snorted. He tried to take the initiative but Yushang easily parried, nearly batting his sword out of his hand. The man grimaced. He had wanted just swordplay today, no tricks, and who was Yushang to deny him? Especially after he had gotten his new job posting. He always seemed so stressed, lately. He was one of those tricky fighter types… and it kinda showed, if she was honest. Biren was pretty good—sometimes he’d act like an ancient master with his spectacular parries, and other times Yushang felt like he had just started learning how to fight like a cultivator instead of a mortal. But at his level? Eh, he was probably focusing more on his Light Qi arts.

 

And besides, he had Pretty Sister Yushang to cover for him! He could sit back and be tricky all he liked!

 

Truly, Yushang had finally gotten lucky.

 

“Don’t lose so badly this time, Biren. Ri Zu believes in you!” Ri Zu heckled from the sidelines where she was reading.

 

“You don’t do any better when you don’t poison your needles!” Biren barked back. “Help me out here, Fat Han!”

 

The larger man startled from where he was sitting. He had grown a bit quieter the past couple of days, just like Biren, but unlike Biren he was a lot more… morose. He was obsessing over his formation, the one that had exploded in his exam, and each time he looked at it he seemed to get more and more frustrated.

 

Yushang put the man out of her mind for the moment and turned back to her battle. She took the initiative again, bearing down on Biren. He tried to dodge and twist and weave… but Yushang was having none of it. She made an opening and struck.

 

[The Fangs Pierce the Sky!] Yushang roared. Her sword stuck upwards, rising to the Heavens like the mountains of the province. Biren tried to block… which turned out to be a mistake. His arms locked in, his body tensed… and then he went flying.

Flying out of the pavilion, over a tree, and… that was a rather loud crash.

 

Ah, nuts.

 

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“I’m fine, Yushang,” Biren said to her kowtowing form after they managed to dislodge the disoriented man from a tree. Ri Zu had worriedly checked him over, but he was fine, as he said, if a little bruised up.

 

“…you’re not mad?” Yushang asked.

 

“It’s all good. Nice move by the way. Ya got me.”

 

Yushang grinned as he helped her up and ruffled her hair like the older boys in the village used to. Then he pulled her into a headlock and started poking her cheek. “Sending me flying like that—look at this ogre girl!”

 

“Hey!” Yushang whined. “This Sister here is pretty and dainty!”

 

“Very strong. Indeed, like an ogre,” Ri Zu agreed and turned slightly to Fat Han.

 

He tried to smile. “Indeed, it was a fantastic blow, Yushang. Truly, you are a monstrous brute, to fling our friend so far.” His voice was halting… but at least he had made the attempt.

 

Biren started dragging Yushang back to their little spot. She made motions to escape but didn’t really try, her smile bright as they walked back for lunch. This time Biren had set up a grill, and they were having some kind of spiced goat. Whatever it was, it was delicious… but the person who should be enjoying himself the most was just staring at his formation again.

 

He looked… defeated. Like he had for days now after he completed his fourth review of his formation.

 

Ri Zu stared at him for a moment before she approached him.

 

======================

 

“Han.”

 

Ri Zu’s voice cut through his melancholy.

 

He glanced up and met her kind, dark eyes. All of his friends were looking at him. He grimaced internally. He hadn’t exactly been subtle about his growing discontent.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

 

Four times. Four times he had looked over his formation, and four times he had found absolutely nothing that would have made it explode. There were no teachers he could ask, only reference books, but everything he had read said there was nothing in his construction of the formation that could have exploded.

 

But it had exploded. Was he simply lacking? Had he missed something glaring? He couldn’t figure it out.

 

It made him doubt himself. Second guess himself. The things he needed were expensive, and he hadn’t even the heart to try again.

 

It had gotten worse when he met up with some of the people who had passed. Their laughs about his exploding formation had been… unpleasant.

 

He was very, very close to just giving up. Washing his hands of everything and doing what his family was apparently meant to do: serve in the Outer Sect.

 

“Ah, yes, Ri Zu?” he asked, quickly putting on a mask that fooled nobody.

 

“Maybe you can trade pointers with Ri Zu? Ri Zu has a formation she has been studying, and would like to know Han’s methods,” she said as she sat down beside him while pulling out a scroll. “Ri Zu doesn’t have much training with this… so could she have your help?

 

She unfurled the scroll, and upon it was a medical formation. A medical formation that Fat han hadn’t seen before.

 

But Han had frozen at her words. He had been expecting her to spout pity. To ask him what was wrong, and how the actually skilled amongst their number could help.

 

But it wasn’t even pity in her eyes. He looked around at the others. There was no condescension in any of their eyes. Just honest concern about his well being and his cultivation.

 

A formation master’s formulas were their lives and their secrets. They couldn’t just give them away. That was one thing Han refused to do. He may have been fourth rate, but even he had some pride.

 

Yet the way Ri Zu had asked… it was like he was doing her a favour. Without hesitation she had revealed one of her secrets first… just to help him.

 

…what the hells had he done to make these people his friends? What kind of karma had his past lives accumulated to give him such blessings? These fellow cultivators who shared so freely? He’d had to work for his uncle for three years to get a few second-rate family secrets. This was her own work, and she had just… shown it to him.

 

“I was looking to ask for some pointers too, yanno?” Biren seconded. “I was wondering if you could teach me the basics.”

 

Yushang just smiled brilliantly. “Please, Brother! Aid this poor Yushang!”

 

Fat Han swallowed thickly. “Uh… Yes, of course I can help,” he said after a moment, composing himself.

 

They went over Ri Zu’s formation together. It was… weird, if he was honest. He understood the concept, but the way it was constructed was elegant in its simplicity.