by Mike Han
Everyone started shouting “Calmness of Lake?!? What is that?” “Inner technique?” “How did you learn the inner?” “Teach me! Teach me!”
Raising up both hands “Guys! Guys! Calm down! I think it is an inner technique from Balance sect. And I learnt it while listening to Elder Hao. I don’t know how to teach you guys the inner technique. Guys, I am sure if you all pay attention during the meditation session, you will pick it up too.”
By the time Elder Hao entered the gathering hall, everyone was waiting impatiently for him. He raised his eyebrows in surprise of everyone’s attention and motioning for everyone to sit, started to recite the meditation technique when Yao, another of the male student, interrupted him “Elder Hao, can we skip the meditation session and learn the Calmness of the Lake inner technique from you?”
Raising his hand to stop Will’s angry outburst, he stared at Yao for a period, which made him squirmed. Then he swept his gaze across the class and said “I presumed that this is because of Jun’s effort in this morning training. Did you not ask him how he come to learn of it?”
Yao replied doubtfully, “Yes, Sir. He mentioned that he learnt it from your meditation session. But Sir, we were all here and except for him, no one else learnt it. Not to disrespect Jun or yourself, Sir, but did we miss out on some technique that you have taught?”
“A quiet mind looks to develop oneself, while a wandering mind looks for trouble.” Elder Hao answered. “Jun did not lie to you nor did he receive any special training from the rest of us. Like you all, he went through the meditation session and yet he was the only one to reap the rewards. Do you all know the reason why?”
Yao and the rest started to look embarrassed. “It is good that all of you wished to seek advancement. As I mentioned yesterday, to be a strong warrior, you need not only a strong body but a strong mind and will. The purpose of the meditation session is to help you develop your inner strength, if you are but willing to listen.”
A hand came up meekly. “Yes, Duan? Do you have any further question?” Elder Hao asked the young lady from our class.
“Elder Hao, what is this inner technique and how come it seem to help Jun become stronger?”
Elder Hao gazed at us thoughtfully as he mused on Duan’s question. “I tend to forget that you all are new students and does not have the basic knowledge. Inner technique is how we harmonize the inner and outer energy of our body by using specific breathing technique, helping us to develop internal power. This power can be in turn used to strengthen our body and able to move more freely or even be utilized in cultivating power and technique in the various fighting skills. The purpose of our meditative sessions is to allow you all to develop concentration and coordination in a state of physical stillness with the breathing technique. Why do we then do physical training? Because the physical training not only help you build up your strength and endurance, but if you are able to conduct these physical training with the inner technique, using the breath to effect the flow of energy throughout your body, you will receive many benefits, as what you saw Jun did today. Now, calm yourselves. Relax your mind…”
In this session, no one fell asleep and from excited gasps, a few managed to learn the inner technique as well.
We hardly noticed the passing days, as our minds and bodies were weighed down with tasks .In the morning we would be tasked by Will and Cai Qing to complete increasingly physically exhausting chores, sometimes making multiple trips up and down the hill with heavy loads; and at noon, followed by meditation sessions by Elder Hao, which was especially tough as everyone struggled to stay awake.
Fortunately for us, evening was often our free time. Soon everyone had comprehended the inner technique “Calmness of the Lake”, which made the physical exertion easier to handle. The instructors upon realizing this, began to increase the toughness of our chores; heavier loads, shorter time to complete the tasks etc. There were many grumbles and complains but everyone just gritted their teeth and tough it out, and naught was any mention of quitting. Whenever someone appeared to be low in mood, everyone would rally around him or her.
After a month or so had passed, we had entered the gathering hall for our meditation session, but were surprised to see Elder Hao and the two instructors waiting patiently for us. Elder Hao addressed us “Students, I am very pleased with your training and your progress. The training is not only about your ability to comprehend the internal technique we are teaching. But over these past weeks, we were monitoring your character disposition, your attitude and determination to succeed. After discussion with both your instructors, we have decided that you all worthy to be disciples of the Balance sect. Please gather your belongings and you will now be inducted into the sect as formal disciples.” At this announcement, all of us gave a loud cheer, glad that our efforts were not in vain.
In a moment, we were all gathered behind the buildings at the rear, and forming into column of two, followed Elder Hao up the stairs. The walk up seem like a formalized ritual and after an hour, we spotted another archway named “Hall of Phoenix”. There along the stairs up were the actual disciples forming as honor guards with a dignified old man, who faintly resembled Elder Hao, waiting for us at the archway. As we reached the top, Elder Hao stopped our column and alone, approached the waiting old man and they then bow in greeting to each other. Elder Hao spoke first, “Elder brother Ming, I had fulfilled my duties and brought the new prospects from the Hall of Crane to you. They had passed the trials from the Hall of Crane and we deemed them worthy to be accepted as formal disciples of Balance Sect. I would implore you to accept them as members of the Hall of Phoenix.”
Elder Ming replied in return formally, “Elder Hao, we recognized your duties as the Elder of the Hall of Crane and accepted your recommendation to induct these new prospects into the Hall of Phoenix.” Turning towards us “Welcome new disciples of the Balance Sect. We invite you into the Hall of Phoenix and hope that you will remember the teaching of our sect and bring honor to us. Welcome again!” With that he stepped aside and waved us in, the lining disciples started to cheer and clap as we walked with dignity pass the archway, now as the formal disciples of the Balance sect.
Chapter Five
We were quickly settled into our new quarters. Our new locations were much larger and had more buildings as compared to back when we were in Crane Hall. There were five gathering halls and each was used for different practices. Other than for meditation sessions, they were also used for hand-to-hand and weapons training, causing an amount of excitement in all of us when they first told us. There were more buildings used for quarters as well. Other than our class, there were other classes at different stages of advancement as well. All in all, the disciples numbered around a hundred and did not include the graduated disciples that were away from the sect. However, there were also quarters provided for graduated disciples who wished to return to the sect for rest, and for stay-in disciples, who were refining their inner and skills or those who had other duties.
Other than the mess hall, there were also buildings which were used for weapons making and medicine refining. Some disciples were trained to make weapons and refine medicine to help advance the sect’s needs. The medicine from Balance sect was renowned for healing internal and external injuries, and even sought after by the common folks. In the rear, built into the mountain, were deep solitary meditation chambers used by the more senior disciples and the elders.
We were also taught the structure and history of our sect. Some hundred years ago, our founding Grandmaster Tao who was born from a martial family, decided to retire from the conflicts in the martial world. He was known as an enlightened man and was well-versed in martial art. He had brought his family and disciples to this isolated area to establish a haven for those who were tired of the martial world and wanted to seek peace. As the fame of this haven spread, more and more people had coming seeking for Grandmaster Tao. There was this saying “You can remove the man from the martial world but you cannot remove the martia
l world of the man”. Soon people started to come over to challenge Grandmaster Tao or the people under his wing, and conflicts started to arise from those gathered. Grandmaster Tao realized that a formal structure must be in place, not only to protect all those around but to ensure that everyone had the same common purpose and belief. Thus, the Balance sect was established.
His two personal disciples, one of them his son, were nominated as Elders to lead the Hall of Crane and Hall of Phoenix. The Elder for the Hall of Crane would be the first defense for the sect and also would conduct induction for new members and hosting of guests. The Elder for the Hall of Phoenix would be responsible for the further training of disciples and normal daily workings of the sect. The Grandmaster himself head the Hall of Sages; dealing in diplomacy with the martial world and management of the sect. Those who were in the Hall of Sages were not only senior in their martial skills but also prominent figures for their virtues and deeds. The Elders were also part of Hall of Sages.
Over the years, the structure of the sect had maintained and the fame of Balance sect had began to rival that of the Monastery. The current Grandmaster Tao was a direct descendent and lineage of the founding grandmaster, and was rumored to be the strongest martial leader ever to arise of Balance sect since the Founding Grandmaster. His fame as a virtuous leader was well-known and there was legends of his younger days’ deed while roaming the martial world. The Elders, Hao and Ming of the two halls, were his fellow brothers-in-training and the trio were closer than blood brothers. They even had a nickname for their trio younger days’ deeds known as the Sacred Trio.
Our training schedule remained similar; though the morning chores were now more strenuous and exhausting, we were excited to learn that skills training would be incorporated in our schedule. The instructors explained that we would need to continue to work on strengthening our core to prepare for the skills training. Meditation sessions were also continued to work on our internal technique.
In our first session of skills training, instructor Will gathered us in our hall of training and said “All of you would have learn the basic inner technique of Balance Sect by now, since this is the criteria for entering the Hall of Phoenix. Now you will be taught the “Silky Palm technique”. Just as every school have their own basic technique for their disciples, Silky Palm is the technique taught to all disciples. Even though this is our bread and butter technique, please do not think it is simple and easy to learn. An expert in the Silky Palm is deadly and will strike fear in any opponents.”
He got us to pose in the starting stance and continued to lecture: “Silky Palm is considered by many to be a soft technique. Though its forms are few, only a total of sixteen forms, yet by varying the forms, it becomes ever-changing, and that’s what make the Silky Palm a simple technique to learn but a difficult skill to master.” He continued to teach us the rest of the forms and movement and would make us go through each steps till we performed to his satisfaction. For each form or movement that he taught, he would make us perform or hold, and at the same time would correct our posture or move and explain its basis and counter.
Ding! You have comprehend the skill technique Silky Palm from Balance Sect. The palm technique is a type of hand-to-hand combat but with the emphasis on using the palm as the main form of attack, as opposed to fists or fingers.
Ding! You have reached Journeyman rank for your Calmness of Lake Inner Technique.
Character Name: Jun
School: Balance
Strength: Breath of Fresh Air
Ability:
Comprehension (5%). Give a chance to comprehend a deeper meaning to your inner or skill learnt and evolved them into a different level. As your mastery of this ability improved, you will be able to learn skills faster.
Inner:
Calmness of the Lake (10%), Balance beginner Inner Technique. Gaining mastery in this inner, will strengthen your body and enhance your movement.
Skills:
Silky Palm (1%), Balance palm technique. A soft palm technique that scale with the inner technique used.
Examining my stats page, I was excited to find out that my rank for inner Calmness had increased. But I still found it frustrating as there was no stats to indicate any increase in ability, though I find myself getting stronger and faster. Additionally, I had comprehend a new skill the “Silky Palm technique” from the training session. Though I was satisfied with the improvement in my character page, I still found it disconcerting that I could not gauge any information for those around me. On the other hand, considering that this virtual world was designed to be as realistic as the real world, it would probably be unrealistic if we walked around the real world with information of everyone popping up everywhere.
Days passed by and Will continued to drill us in our Silky Palm techniques. He expected us to be precise and perfect, and would make us re-do each form if he felt that it was incorrect. On the seventh day, at the end of a drill, he gathered us and form us into two rows facing each other. “All of you did well. But knowing the forms are not enough. To understand the use of each form, you would need to actually use it in actual combat. The next best alternative would be for you to spar with each other, and that would serve the purpose too.”
“At my command, you will fight with your opponent facing you till I call out for you to stop. Try your best but remember, this is just a friendly match. No blood to be drawn! Begin!” Will called out. Pandemonium erupted as everyone rushed at each other in their excitement to try out their techniques. More often than not, kicks and punches were thrown out randomly; forms were distorted and techniques were forgotten in their excitement. Will, shaking his head, would stop each match and retorted at the students. He did the same to the next match that he walked up to. When he reached me, I gave him a bow. “Instructor Will, I do not have any opponent, since our class has odd number of students. Who will I be sparring later?”
Will gave me a grin and said “I will be your opponent.” Oh man, talked about my luck. Moving into the starting stance, I eyed Will’s similar stance and decided to start off with the third form of the Silky Palm, named Thundering Palm. Basically the form started with a quick stride forward, my right palm striking quickly at his chest. Will did a quick side step, and did a double palm strike, his right palm striking my right elbow to tangle my defense, while his left palm striking towards my exposed right ribs.
I drew back my right palm, and swung my right elbow hard at his right palm, swinging my body away from his strike. As my elbow hit his palm and pushed his strike away, my left foot sweep against his legs and I grasped at him with my left hand, going into the fifth form, Eagle Strike. Without missing a beat, Will spin away, striking out with his right palm against my left hand, pushing us away from each other. All these strikes took place in a spur of moment, and as I quickly went into my starting form, I realized the hall was now quiet and taking a quick look around, found that everyone had stopped their duel and were looking at us in surprise and awe.
A round of applause erupted from the doorway, breaking the silence, and we all turned and saw Elder Hao, holding a broom clapping his hand. “Elder Hao!” Everyone bowed and greeted him.
“Sorry for the disturbance. That was a very exciting round and I couldn’t help myself.” Elder Hao smiled while saying “Please do continue and don’t mind me.” With that, he turned and left, not waiting for our responses.
“All right, all of you gathered around. Since you all were looking at our fight, tell me what you have observed? Yao, you start first.” Will pointed to.
“Oh, instructor Will, why is Elder Hao carrying a broom with him?” Yao, ever the class’ joker, made us all erupted in laughter, while Will gave a grimace.
“I should just send you to help him with sweeping, since you obviously are more interested in his broom than our lessons.” Will’s retort only made us all laugh more, as Yao gave a startled look and tried to move to the back of everyone and made himself less of a target to Will. “To answer your ques
tion, Elder Hao always does the sweeping chores himself. Although we have servants and disciples to do this, he said that when there are no new prospects or guests, he had time and does not mind helping to keep the place clean and this keeps him healthy. Now, back to lesson proper, tell me what you all observed during the fight.” The discussion commenced and it went on for a while.
The class was dismissed after the discussion and as everyone started to walk away to the mess, I turned around to look for instructor Will. “Sir, I would like to seek your permission to help Elder Hao with his sweeping chores after the lesson.”
Will looked at me with questioning eyes “Jun, you are not the first disciple to offer aid. However, soon we would be starting sword technique lessons and the class is planned to take place after dinner. I am afraid you wouldn’t have much time to help Elder Hao with his chores. If you insisted on helping Elder Hao, you would miss out of your sword lessons and I am afraid you will have to join the next intake, as your schedule would not allow for make-up lessons for your sword techniques.”
Taking a deep breath, I respond “Sir, I still have much to learn regarding the inner and palm techniques. As for the sword technique class, it is just a slight delay in my learning. Anyway this is not a race to learn as fast as possible. I would like to request for your permission to help with the chores.”
Will gave me a smile, “Very well, Jun. You can start to help out after dinner today. Find Elder Hao at the gathering hall in Crane Hall. I will pass words to him. You should go and have your dinner now then. Who knows, maybe Elder Hao will give you pointers in improving your techniques.” He ended with a joke. Giving a quick bow, I quickly rushed out to the mess.
