Chapter 31- The Sound of an Oncoming Storm [Special Note At The End!]

Brother Tang lived. His body was ruined, but his cultivation was intact. He wouldn’t be leaving the Temple for many years, if he ever left it again. Tian never got the whole story. It was just “Heretics.” And that was that. Tian found himself drifting back into the shadows. His brothers pulled him out again. If he was scared, he should get stronger. If he wanted to get stronger, fight!

Tian decided he was around thirteen a little before the sparring session with the Convent. He might still be twelve. It was hard to say for sure. But he felt thirteen, and who could say he was wrong? He understood from his mandatory reading that most people had a specific birthday, but since nobody he ever spoke to gave the vaguest damn about birthdays for any reason other than divination, he decided he didn’t care either. Two days before the spar, he examined his growth.

He had started growing a little taller. He was covered in lean muscle. He learned a lot. His rope dart moved like it was a part of him. His palm arts had reached a certain standard and fluidity. Good enough to have the Senior Brothers acknowledge them as “Recognizably a palm art.” Tian was confident in saying that he was dangerous as all hell. Then he remembered Brother Tang still had to be fed his meals because he couldn’t use his arms yet. It checked his confidence, but didn’t extinguish it.

Everything was stronger than him in the junkyard and in the jungle. Everything was stronger than him in the Temple too. But he was getting stronger. The things that once threatened him now couldn’t last a single move against him. The heretics would be no different. It would just take time.

His body was pure- free of pill toxins or the residues of strange natural treasures. Aside from the fact that he still smelled faintly of truffle and lotuses, all the evidence of his youthful adventures had completely integrated with his body. His meridians were strong and flexible. He thought his fingers were growing back a little bit, maybe. He was definitely a bit more handsome.

The results of his constant effort were showing, and very satisfactory. Especially since he secretly broke through to Level Five an hour ago.

Level Four had been an utter grind to get through. Almost a full year to complete a single level? Madness. Unendurable! But what could he do? It’s just how things were. Senior Brother Fu kept reassuring him that he was on the fast side of average. Tian hoped he was right.

Other people cultivated many times more quickly than he could in a single cultivation session, but they could only meditate sitting still in a quiet room, and even with everything going perfectly, they might only manage it for a few hours.

Advent of Spring was steady and constant. Others were faster in bursts, but Tian could, and did, go all day.

“I must keep my new level a secret, at least until after I spar with Hong. I should act like a Senior Brother and teach that little menace *cough* that mentally ill Sister how to live like a human. And maybe fix her brain. The “knee to the head” plan doesn’t have many examples in the books, but the idea is good, I’m sure of it.”

Tian wiggled his feet in his soft slip on shoes. They were light, reasonably comfortable, and while they might wear out quickly, they were apparently very cheap to make. On the other hand, they couldn’t keep a single drop of water out.

“They should make sturdier shoes. Maybe out of thicker cloth, or leather or something. The books mention boots but I’ve never seen them.” He shook his head and refocused. “Sneaky sneaky. I’m just an innocent little Level Four Brother. Merely Level Four.”

He carefully controlled his pace and walked out of the dormitory and towards the dining hall. He carefully looked innocent and young.

“Oh, congratulations on making Level Five, Little Tian!”

“Just in time! Good job, Junior!”

“Hey, Old Dong, Check out Little Tian! He grew into a slightly bigger ant overnight!”

“What are you all- Oh, not bad! Level Five eh? You might just be qualified to fight a rabbit now. Not a hare, don’t let your new level go to your head. But a nice little rabbit should be alright.”

“Brother He, shame on you! Don’t feel pressured, Little Tian. You are doing very well, and shouldn’t be at all embarrassed about starting with a mouse.”

“Or a vole!”

“Earthworm?”

“Pill bug.”

“Flea-sized vole.”
“Brother Kang, this isn’t the first time you have brought up voles recently. Is there something…?”

“Haha! Ha. Ha. Yes. God yes. Bring strong wine and I’ll tell you tonight. Better make it two big jars. The endless dark of their bulging eyes haunts me even now.”

Tian felt a cool hand settle on his shoulder. “Your first mistake,” said Senior Brother Fu “was dreaming that you could hide your level in this den of old foxes. Your second mistake was looking like you were trying to hide something, making sure they all scrutinized you extra carefully. Your third mistake was continuing to run your cultivation art like you normally do. The qi draw is dramatically different. You might as well have hung a banner and lit fireworks.”

Tian sighed. So much for his ambush idea.

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“Don’t feel too down. Learning and growing is a good and natural thing, and concealing your level from those at a higher level is actually quite difficult to do without special means. The greater the difference in level, the greater the difficulty. Hiding from a Heavenly Person is flat out impossible.”

“So ambushes are impossible?”

“Certainly not, or at least not within the same realm. I did say there were special means to achieve it, but don’t look in the library, they aren’t in there. Mostly they are bloody, heretical and cruel, and the ones that aren’t require highly complex medicine. Generally not worth the effort. The second way to ambush is to let your true level be deceptive.”