Chapter 39- Moonlit Lessons

Tian stood in the garden facing Daoist Steelshimmer. Her beauty remained a puzzle that he picked at. It wasn’t an illusion, therefore what she was doing was in her presentation. The answer felt unsatisfying. There had to be more to it than her hair.

“I see why Daoist Feng called you her problem child.” Her voice was sweet, every word and tone carrying its own ripple of meaning. You wanted to listen carefully, to make sure you didn’t miss the slightest bit of that sweetness.

Tian didn’t know Daoist Feng thought he was a problem child. Was he still a child? Probably. Fifteen didn’t feel childish, but to someone who measured their age in centuries, perhaps he was.

The night breeze ruffled the leaves, making the tree tops dance in the sky. A little cooler than he was used to, but very comfortable. A lovely night.

“Did you know I can feel your thoughts? I’m not reading your mind, but I can feel the weight of your attention.” She smiled, and he could hear the dimples in her voice even if he couldn’t see them on her cheeks. “A useful skill to cultivate for a variety of reasons, not least of which is your relationship with that Snow Grace Crane you are fostering.”

Tian did not know someone could do that. It sounded very useful.

“This is the point at which you start asking me questions, Junior Tian.”

Was it? But she hadn’t asked him any questions, and she was a strange elder. He would prefer not to be killed for accidentally saying the wrong thing. Silence was the best policy. Probably.

“You… aren’t going to participate in this conversation unless I give you explicit permission to and a clear set of directions to follow regarding the flow of the conversation. That’s a bit exhausting. Junior, don’t you think you could loosen up some? It is a lovely night. Enjoy it.”

It was a lovely night. Tian entirely agreed with that. And it was a bit of a relief to talk with someone who understood how to talk with him. Although she did seem reluctant to follow her own instructions. Which was weird.

“Haaah. Alright.” Daoist Steelshimmer collected herself. “Any sect will be concerned about the strength of its younger generation. Daoist Feng tells me you have latched onto the term “servant disciple,” and there is some truth to that, but only some. I’d only tag someone with such a label if they no longer had the potential to rise. While you are still young, while any of you are still young, you remain a mass of potential. The better the potential, the higher your future rise, the better the sect’s future rise. Theoretically.”

Tian nodded along.

“Your job at the Five Elements Courtyard will be to ruthlessly crush their younger generation. Your job, and you know that your elder is listening in as I say this, your job is only and exclusively to move the proud sons and daughters of the Courtyard from the status of future heirs of the sect, to servant disciples.”

Tian immediately thought of the Saintess, but kept his mouth shut. The Six Turns Cavern were sect secrets, after all. Still. It was an ugly thing. Steelshimmer read it on his face and explained.

“The weaker they perceive their future generations to be, and the stronger they perceive the Ancient Crane Mountains’ to be, the more amenable they will be to cutting a deal. They will want to maximize the benefits they can get now, while they are still strong, rather than wanting to wait for an even better advantage. So it is vital for your sect that you not just meet every challenge, you dominate them. Now is not the time to worry about preserving their face, or maintaining any kind of good relations. That’s for your Elder and I to worry about. You just crush them.”

Tian reluctantly nodded. She was certainly clear enough. It looked like she was waiting for a question or comment, but he had been burned on the conversation thing before. Silence. Silence was golden. Her face twitched, but she continued on smoothly.

“You can understand this as an attack on their mind and will. You should also, therefore, know how to defend your mind and will. You will learn how to deal with illusions.” She smiled.

Daoist Steelshimmer had a lovely smile, Tian thought. The dark luster of her long hair made the porcelain white of her skin and the blush of her cheeks incredibly vivid. The red on her lips was nearly hypnotic. He really had to focus to hear what she was saying. But he had always been good about listening to his seniors.

“To that end, Junior Tian, I am going to teach you a very, very little bit about a part of your qi that you can’t directly control just yet. Don’t worry about what it’s called. Tonight we will call it ‘brainpower.’ Not its actual name, but since you shouldn’t be learning anything at all about it until the Heavenly Person Level, the less you know the better.”

Tian nodded to show he was paying attention.

“The Five Element Courtyard loves working with illusions. Illusion magic works in two main ways. The first is making something that acts on the senses- a spell that produces light, sound or smell for example. You would generally do this with qi. It is also why you don’t see Earthly Realm people using illusion arts. These can be ignored once identified, and aren’t worth spending too much time on.”

Tian nodded again. That made sense.

“The second way, and what we are going to be focusing on, are spells that attack your mind directly. Sometimes the effect isn’t obvious, sometimes it is. For example, you completely failed to notice the tiger I set loose in the garden.”

“WAO!” The tiger screamed and pounced from directly behind him. Tian was in motion the second he heard the sound, his rope dart slashing out and drilling towards the tiger’s eye. Then his brian caught up with his hands and he recalled the dart to his sleeve.

“Quick reaction time. Quicker to calm down, or so you would like me to believe. I can hear that heart of yours hammering.”

A giant tiger had appeared behind him. Tian felt some surprise was completely justified. The illusion yawned and lay down on the flagstones. Big beast, heavy muscles, thick fur and stinking breath. He would swear it was real. He wondered if he would feel it if he pet it. Tian stretched out his hand to try. His fingers buried themselves in the coarse fur. The tiger was very warm.

“Good thinking, but remember, this isn’t some creation of light. I’m affecting your mind directly.” Her voice sounded like a whisper in his ear, even though she was standing a few feet away.

Tian nodded. The tiger didn’t have the elements circulating in it. Any natural creature would. It could fool the rest of his senses, but his qi sense was not so easily deceived.

“Of course, this is the most basic sort of mind effecting illusion. This is one step up.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The illusory tiger came to life. Tian didn’t have any other word for it. He could feel the elements churning as its vital energy fed its muscles with brutal power. It was gathering itself to pounce!

Tian started moving again, his body acting without thought. Then he forced himself to stop. It was an illusion. He knew it was an illusion. He just needed to overrule every sense that he had which was telling him a very real tiger was about to kill him. Simple.

He could feel the vital energy churning. He could smell the tiger. The sheer weight of its presence pushed down on him.

Something about that…