Chapter 29: Protect the House

Chapter 29: Protect the House

“Um, Paike?” Guan Li’s nervous voice reached into Paike’s thoughts and pulled him out of his near trance. “What are you looking at?”

Paike realized that his qi construct had faded entirely, and he was left staring out into the middle of the open air like a simpleton. He turned to Guan Li with a reassuring smile. “Nothing anymore.”

That didn’t come out as well as it had in his head. Quickly, he changed the topic to bring the conversation back on track.

“So, how did the rest of the trial go?” Paike asked, but he noticed that Guan Li was giving him a wary look and maintaining a decent amount of space. “What?” he asked, worried that something had happened.

“Are you okay?” Gaun Li asked warily.

Paike looked at him, trying to figure out what was going through Gaun Li’s head.

“No, actually.”

“What?”

“You’re being all wary and stuff, and it’s worrying me. Is Liming alright?” Paike asked, slipping into more casual speech, trying to pull Guan Li back to how he usually was. He was pretty sure his sister was okay, but it didn’t hurt to ask. Guan Li always spoke casually with him, even if he was trying to be more formal around most people. But the oddly formal way Guan Li was acting made Paike’s senses alert.

“You, um, you really tore into that girl,” Guan Li said, taking a cautious step closer to Paike. “I didn’t know you could fight like that.”

“Oh. Mmmmhm,” Paike articulated, realizing what was wrong. “Elder Ji said she was healed?”

“Yes,” Guan Li said emphatically. “She very much needed to be healed. Instantly.”

Guan Li started to say something but cut himself off. “Paike, I’m pretty sure you tore out her windpipe.”

Paike blinked. A flash of an image and the coppery scent of blood washed over him for a second before he put his hand to his forehead and ran it through his hair. But that was just a flash. Guan Li had watched him kill Lan Zhu, so it wasn’t just blood or hurting a woman that got to him. No, the fight must have been especially brutal to make him this wary.

“Yeah, I… I guess I did,” Paike said slowly and hesitantly. “The elder said that something in my physical cultivation, some sort of hidden trait to my attunement, let me go into a deep combat trance. And, well… I might need to learn how to control that a bit better before I try to use it again.”

“Yes. Please do,” Guan Li said.

“He also said that I needed to do a lot more testing,” Paike remarked.

Guan Li took a half step back, and Paike held up his arms non-confrontationally.

“With someone I trust to be more powerful than me,” Paike added hurriedly. “He suggested that I save up some points and get tutoring from an inner sect disciple, someone from at least the third realm.”

“You would need an Emerald cultivator to keep you in check?” Guan Li asked with a mixture of surprise and incredulity.

Paike shrugged. “I think just to make sure no one gets hurt, including myself.”

“I suppose,” Guan Li said, nodding. “I could see that.”

Paike could see that the conversation was working, and Guan Li was losing some of the caution he had walked in with. “Yeah, I also shouldn’t be losing complete control or awareness when entering a combat trance,” Paike elaborated. “That’s just not how it’s supposed to be. So, what happened after I left?”

“Well, Liming won her first match easily, and the top eight get a special session tomorrow. For the rest of you, regular lessons will occur the day after tomorrow,” Guan Li noted.

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“Good. Well, I’m glad you got a special lesson. That’s a good reward.”