26. I Believe This Violates the Natural Order

We find a larger clearing after an hour of walking; a natural amphitheater of grass surrounded by trees, the ground flat and clear. Ling’er stands in the center, and I settle on a fallen log with paper and brush, ready to document everything.

“Show me everything you learned from the tournament. Start with the water-wind combination from the Violet Sky boy.”

She nods, and then she moves. Water flows from her palm, condensed from the air itself, drawn from the humidity around us. Wind wraps around it instantly, shaping it into a spiraling stream that spins faster and faster. She directs it at a boulder twenty feet away, and when it hits, the stone erodes. Sand and gravel spray outward, carving a groove into the rock’s surface. In seconds, she’s cut a line six inches deep.

I blink. “That’s not what he did.”

“No.” She releases the technique, and the water falls harmlessly to the grass. “He used the combination for speed, for movement. Wind making water slippery so he could flow faster. But that’s just one application.” She grins, young and fierce and proud. “The wind can also wrap around the water and spin it faster. Make it a spiral.”

She made a saw. From water and wind.

She gestures at the boulder. “Want to see it cut wood?”

Before I can answer, she’s moving again. This time she targets a nearby tree; a mature oak, its trunk a foot thick. The spiraling water-saw hits it, and wood chips explode outward. In seconds, the tree groans, tilts, and crashes to the ground with a thunderous impact. I try to hide the tremble in my legs. I keep my face calm. My hands steady. My voice level.

“Good. Very good.”

But inside, my legs are trembling. Not from fear of her, but from the sheer impossibility of what I’m witnessing. A twelve-year-old girl, cultivating for less than a month, just felled a tree with a technique she invented herself based on watching a tournament match. It is unbecoming of a sect leader to show fear in front of a child. Especially this child. So I don’t.

I write.

Technique Documented: Spiraling Water Saw

Element: Water/Wind combination

Stage: Qi Condensation

Effect: High-speed water cutting, effective against stone and wood

Note: Ling’er’s adaptation, not original technique. Significantly more lethal than source material.

Next: flame shield. She raises her hand, and fire blooms around her,e, forming a perfect sphere of flame that encloses her completely. Within it, she’s untouched, the fire licking at the air inches from her skin without burning. The heat is intense enough that I have to step back, shielding my face.

“Original version was just defense.” Her voice carries clearly through the flames. “A shell to protect against attacks. But I thought if I’m surrounded by fire, why not use it offensively?”

She gestures, and spikes of flame shoot from the sphere in eight directions simultaneously. They don’t just shoot randomly, each one targets something specific. A tree. A rock. A patch of grass. Precise, controlled, deliberate. I study the targets. The tree—chest height, center mass. The rock—where a head would be if someone crouched behind it. The grass—leg level, a sweeping attack.

They’re not random. They’re precisely targeting areas of a person’s body. Had someone been standing in those positions, multiple vitals would be pierced simultaneously. Heart. Head. Femoral artery.

‘Scary.’

The flames retract. Ling’er stands in the center of the sphere, untouched, smiling.

Technique Documented: Flame Sphere with Offensive Spikes

Element: Fire

Stage: Qi Condensation (adapted from Foundation-level observation)

Effect: Defensive sphere with targeted flame attacks from multiple angles

Note: Requires precise control and simultaneous multi-target awareness; Ling’er manages effortlessly

Next: earth platform. She stomps, and the ground responds. It’s not smooth like the Iron Peak elder’s demonstration. Instead, the earth rises beneath her feet in jagged steps, each one a rough platform of packed soil and stone. They lift her higher and higher, twenty feet up, until she stands on a column of her own making. She jumps down, lands lightly, and the platform crumbles behind her, returning to the earth it came from.

“Still working on that one.” She brushes dirt from her robes. “The elder made it look easy, but talking to earth is harder than it seems. It’s stubborn. Doesn’t like being told what to do.”

I nod sagely, as if I have any idea what “talking to earth” feels like. “Progress takes time.”

Technique Documented: Rising Earth Steps

Element: Earth

Stage: Qi Condensation (simplified from Foundation-level)

Effect: Creates temporary platforms for height advantage

Note: Ling’er reports 70% proficiency; improving with each attempt

Next: phoenix fire.

She hesitates before this one, her hands lowering. “Master… this might look different. The bloodline wants to change it. When I try to make a phoenix, it comes out… not right.”

“Show me.” I keep my voice calm. “Let the bloodline do what it wants.”

She raises both hands. Fire erupts. Not the controlled sphere from before, but something wilder, more alive. It doesn’t form a phoenix. Instead, it shapes itself into a dragon, a serpentine form of living flame with wings and claws and eyes that burn. It circles her three times, its heat so intense I feel it from thirty feet away. Then it launches.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The dragon strikes a target tree thick as a barrel and incinerates it. One moment there’s a tree. The next, there’s ash and smoke and a crater where it stood. The dragon lingers in the air for a moment after, almost intelligent, almost aware. Its eyes seem to find mine. Then it dissolves into sparks. I feel it before I see it: a wave of heat so intense that the hairs on my face curl. I reach up, touch my eyebrows, and find them… shorter. Singed at the edges.

Ling’er notices immediately. Her face goes pale.

“Master! Your—I’m so sorry—I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s fine.” I cut her off, keeping my voice level despite the tingling on my face. “They’ll grow back.”

She’s still apologizing, still horrified, still casting anxious glances at my eyebrows.

“For your penance,” I say firmly, “twenty laps around the clearing. Now.”

She runs. I watch her go, suppressing a smile. The eyebrows are a small price to pay for witnessing that.

Technique Documented: Dragon Flame Projection

Element: Fire (bloodline-influenced)

Stage: Qi Condensation (Foundation-level potential)

Effect: Creates fire construct with limited autonomy and destructive capability

Note: Ling’er’s bloodline is adapting techniques to its nature automatically. Phoenix becomes dragon. Expect more such adaptations.

Next: instant freeze. She returns from her laps slightly breathless but composed, her earlier panic faded. I gesture for her to continue. She takes a breath, centers herself, and her hands go pale; not white, but cold, frost forming on her fingertips. She kneels and touches a small puddle left by morning dew. The water freezes instantly. Ice spreads in fractal patterns, beautiful and deadly, covering the entire puddle in less than a second.