“Truth is, every time we sparred before, I’ve been holding back. A lot.” Her grin turned to a wry smirk. “And now I see that I don’t have to any more. Once you’ve fully mastered your strength and speed, you’ll be a fearsome opponent even those outer initiates almost certain to make Bronze at the temple would be fools to underestimate.
“And Father is teaching you powerful tools, Alex. I don’t think you realize quite how powerful they are, even if they have no elemental affinity. With them, you have a hard-to-beat pair of trump cards. But you’d be a fool to show them off unnecessarily, especially at Dragon Temple, lest your future opponents get your measure before you’re ready to face them. Best you only use them when you’re at your peak as a student, ready to duel for prime cultivation spots, assuring you at least a few seasons of pristine growth. Or, if you're really smart, never show them off at all, till you're in a life or death battle and really need them."
Alex flashed dark smile. “And dead men tell no tales.”
“Exactly!” she said before charging forward.
But this time Alex was ready, twisting to the side and forcing her weapon off line. He then feinted a strike to her head with the butt end of his polearm while arching the ball of his left foot, cocking his hips, and lashing out with his right leg in a powerful angle kick he kept utterly free of Qi.
If anything, his shin strike was far weaker than he was capable of delivering, so conscientious he was about not triggering what had become for him an almost automatic Adderstrike.
But it was enough to make her stumble, aimed as it had been for the back of her knee. And this time it was his blunt training gladius gently gliding across the metal links of her neck guard.
She chuckled softly. “Well done.”
He grimaced. “Actually, I’m ashamed.”
“Why?”
“That kick. It would have been so easy to Adderstrike with that blow. I almost...”
She smiled up at him, patting his cheek. “Stop it. You didn’t. You’re learning control. You’ll need to have it when dueling, or in battle. I trust you won’t actually hurt me, Alex, and so far, you’ve measured up to that trust. I hope you feel the same about me.”
He nodded.
“Good.” She cracked her neck, pointing at the far end of the training field. “The sparring was fun. But now it’s time you worked on those trump moves father showed you some more. Why don’t you show me what you can do?”
Alex blinked, feeling a cold chill. The clay mannequins covered in ancient bronze armor were just as he had envisioned them in his dream.
She gazed at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
He just shook his head, equipping the shield she gave him.
She frowned, peering at the targets. “Father told me you still haven't gotten the knack of this maneuver yet. It's fine, Alex. But you still have to get a little bit closer, then..."
But Alex was already in motion.
Bullrush!
Crashing against the bronze mannequin suddenly before him.
Adderstrike!
His fist lashing out with bone-shattering force a heartbeat later, caving in the hardened bronze breastplate, just like he had in his dream.
Adderstrike!
But this time he did not bother drawing his blade, instead raising his shield, rotating his hips, and lashing out with a low angle kick that blasted completely through the dummy’s leg, wood shattering as it toppled over.
And Alex was already moving, weaving and dodging, his fists and shins devastating the handful of armored mannequins he had charged into.
And when he had but 2 Qi points left, he spun around, mimed pivoting his shield behind him to ward any final blows, and Bullrushed right back to his starting point… before stumbling to the ground, face first, eating dirt.
Liu Li laughed at the sight. “I don’t know whether to be impressed or amused!”
Alex grinned. “And I still have 1 Qi point left! How’s that for hit and run? Even though your father’s Bullrush power is great for charging, it can also be used to retreat! Only problem is, well, I sort of toppled over.”
Liu Li smirked. “That is sort of a problem.”
“But the potential!” Alex enthused. “I can just feel it.”
She gazed archly at the brutalized mannequins. “So can they.”
She furrowed her brow, peering intently at mannequins he had blasted through with what he would always think of as his Muay Thai roundhouse kicks, for all that Golden Realms Kung Fu used the exact same strike.
Liu Li paled at the crumpled bronze thigh guards and shattered wood. “Remember when we were talking earlier about absolute trust in our partners?”
Alex nodded.
She grimaced. “Yeah, how about I just trust you not to kick me at all, okay? I owe you my life, hero, but the thought of you losing control for even a split second...” she shuddered. “Seriously, Alex, we’re sticking with ji at close range and Dao practice for now on.”
He blinked. “Why’s that?”
She grinned. "Because unless you’re spearing with it or attacking in formation, we duel with ji like quarterstaffs with hooks we can trip each other up with. All the motions are circular. Just like when fighting with the dao. You can thrust, of course, but we'll focus on the cut. Father didn't teach you any techniques for power slashes or cutting through any obstacle, only how to thrust with extreme force.”
Alex nodded. Of course, when he thought about how he pivoted and swung his hips for massive rotational power when he delivered his roundhouse kicks, summoning the power of Adderstrike only at the last instant to blast forward with his shin, how did he ever manage to convince himself it was any sort of ‘straight line’ attack?
He shook his head. Best not to think about it too closely, lest he botch the very technique he was working so hard to master.
She smirked. “And we won’t even talk about your kicks blasting through father’s armored dummies. We won’t say a damned word, though I bet your patron’s spirit is having a merry chuckle somewhere, flaunting your odd twisting of Qi disciplines to all the grumbling gods in council.”
Alex laughed, perked up by Liu Li's beautiful smile, and not discouraged by his glorious slide through the dirt in the least. And after a handful of minutes Dual Path Cultivating until his meridians were once more flooded with Qi re-infusing his body, he began practicing Bullrush with zeal, having a specific goal in mind.
Right now, his goal wasn’t maximum distance or smashing into his foes, but rather a controlled pivoting maneuver, to at least see if he could dash 20 or 25 feet in the blink of an eye without needing to ram into a target or flopping flat on his face.
And every time he failed, eating dirt and mud, Liu Li’s golden laughter would inspire him to do it over and over again.
Until their shadows shrank under the noonday sun, and Alex finally got it right.
Bullrush!
20 feet crossed in the blink of an eye. And though his thighs burned for a couple moments, Alex stood firm, only stumbling forward a single step before turning around, allowing his Qi to flood his body entire once more before propelling himself 20 feet at an angle to his first charge, this time not even needing to stumble a single step forward, completely bracing himself on powerful thighs that seemed to revel in the burn of a good workout.
By the time another hour had passed, he was able to shift the distance from between 15 and 27 feet and keep his balance 9 times out of 10, and was sure that with further practice, he would gain even more control and range.
Now, the question was what he could do with this newfound talent.
He grinned as he took up mace and shield from the rack of training weapons.
Liu Li gave a curious look at the combination. “We haven’t even gone over mace, yet. Damn good choice against fully armored foes, though.”
He grinned. “I have an idea, and this lets me see if I can strike with force. And should I fall on my face I won’t kill myself.”
She
smiled. “Always a good idea to avoid fatally falling on your own weapons.”
Alex grinned, enlisting her help in setting up several targets on the softest, loamiest part of the grass, with plenty of field between them.
Bullrush!
Alex blinked, taking only an instant to orient himself as his burning thighs absorbed the sudden shifts in motion and inertia before stepping back and twisting his hips, lashing out with his mace in a wide arc, his shield spinning in tandem, protecting his line and ready to knock any opposing weapon out of the way.
Only to stumble around, completely missing everything, Liu Li’s laughter washing over him once more.
He frowned, doing his best to figure out what he had done wrong.
Before repeating the maneuver again, once more stepping back and pivoting around just as fast as he could.
This time his mace went flying as he managed to crash shield against his dummy’s helm, his own mace-holding fist smacking the rim of the shield, leaving him both embarrassed and in pain.
Liu Li’s laughter only increased.
“All right, Alex. Humility first. Let me show you the basics of how best to swing your weapon, wrapping your mace around your opponent’s shield to strike him in the small of the back, shattering his spine if you know the technique of overreaching and whipping your arm around his defenses. And that target right there’s a great place to start. But if you’re going for spinning blows, best you practice pivoting and turning and striking the target already behind you before adding in any fancy maneuvers.”
A flushing Alex gave a sheepish grin. “I was just hoping that, you know...”
“Endless glory and success with every new technique you try? Sorry, hero, real life doesn’t work that way. Now your grip is good, but you want to lash out with the mace using your hips, shoulder, and upper arm. Your wrist and forearm are flowing with the blow. Very different from fencing with the dao, jian, or gladius.”
Alex nodded, following her lead as she took up a practice mace and showed him first how to swing it for maximum effectiveness while keeping his balance, and most importantly with any top-heavy one-handed weapon, how best to use his shield in concert. She also showed him where and when it was best to deliver short snapping kicks, while making it very clear he wasn't to imitate those lessons, save on the dummy.
And by the time Alex had resigned himself to the fact that he needed to master these basics before he tried incorporating any exotic new Qi disciplines with them, it had already grown late, and Liu Li was for calling it a night.
“You really accomplished a lot today, Alex, and you hardly whined for rest breaks like you used to.”
Her smile made his heart skip.
“I have to say, I’m impressed.” Then her bemused gaze turned serious. “Honestly, I haven’t said a word because I’ve been so worried, but, well, I think we better check on Father and see what the status is of those elixirs you made. Don’t you?”
Alex swallowed and nodded, feeling a sudden surge of anxious uncertainty himself.
His interface had stubbornly refused to compare either elixir with anything he had seen or witnessed before, defining them as incompatible comparisons. So he didn’t know what to expect either. For all they knew, her father was desperately trying to salvage something useful from Alex’s experiments.
22
By the time they freshened themselves before meeting up again to head to the apothecary, going in tandem as if for mutual support, the hour had grown late indeed.
Alex’s anxiety only grew.
When they knocked on the door, Liu Jian didn’t pull it open with impatient eyes, outraged at their interruption, or ebullient with the glow of success.
Much to both their surprise, he didn’t answer at all.
Alex turned to his companion. “What does it mean?”
She twirled a curl of her silken hair thoughtfully. "It means that your concoction is so strange or so difficult to work with that he's lost track of time altogether." She flashed a wry smile. "And we both know better than to interrupt an alchemist struggling to recoup lost silver. A confrontation can become positively explosive."
Alex’s brows widened. “Do you think he’s mad at me?”
She shook her head. “In situations like these, there’s only one thing we can do.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
She grinned.
“Go to bed and get a good night’s sleep. I’ll see you in the morning, Alex. I’m sure everything will be fine.”
And Alex did just that, exhaustion draining him of all worry and care the moment his head caressed the soft downy pillows of his bed.
To be woken up by the chill touch of a man who could kill him with a whisper.
Or so he thought when he gazed into Master Liu’s eyes, the man’s demeanor different than it had ever been before.
“Did you know?”
Alex froze, suddenly terrified of saying the wrong thing.
“Know what?” he asked at last.
Liu Jian gazed at him for long moments that stretched endlessly, before at last giving the tiniest of nods. “Come, Alex. There is something I want to show you.”
With those words, he led an increasingly curious Alex back to his laboratory where he spotted the flasks he had used to store his rejuvenation and purification elixirs. Beside them were a score of other flasks, each holding a measured amount of solution that looked exactly like what Alex had made just the other day.
Alex furrowed his brow. “Master?”
The man then picked up one of the smaller flasks and a pearlescent pill that radiated a wholesome sort of aura. Alex’s eyes widened. He suddenly hungered for that pill.
The old man smirked. “Do you understand what you’re seeing?”
Alex swallowed. “Is that one of your cultivation pills, sir? It smells absolutely divine.”
The older man chuckled. “As well it should. It’s a masterwork cycling pill. So powerful is the flow of Qi it enhances that it would help any Bronze break through to the next rank after a single night’s cultivation, and would even serve to strengthen a Silver’s meridian pathways, achieving heightened affinity with his Inner Core.” He flashed a bemused smile. “I certainly wouldn’t recommend it in someone who hasn’t broken through to Bronze and mastered a cycling technique appropriate to their proclivities and elements. But for virtually anyone else, up to and including any city lord… these pills are among the most highly valued of all my creations.”
Alex swallowed. Beyond impressed. “Are you saying that one day, if I keep practicing, you might find me worthy of teaching the secrets behind the manufacture of these pills?"
Alex immediately paled under the man’s glare. “Do you know what you’re even asking, boy? The right to become my sworn disciple? To learn my greatest secrets as my chosen protege?” The man snorted. “And of course, you have no idea of just how costly this single masterwork cycling pill was to forge.” His gaze hardened. “The entirety of my share of Qi-enhanced blossoms that you managed to harvest, at great peril to all our lives, went into forging this pill. A gift fit for a city lord!”
He sighed and shook his head. “By comparison, the Enhanced Purification pills Elder Ying insisted upon were an afterthought.”
Alex lowered his head. “This one apologizes for his presumptuousness.”
A soft chuckle pulled Alex out of his deferential bow. “Master Liu?”
Bemused eyes met his own, his mentor giving a wry shake of his head. “And your purification potion, made of the most basic cultivation ingredients, was of a potency equal to my masterwork cycling pill!”
Alex blinked. “Master?”
The older man sighed, shaking his head. “Truly, were your Meridian gates not the massive edifices they were within your own spirit, did anyone else save you yourself make your pills, you could raise yourself up to ranks undreamed in frightfully short order.”
He shrugged. “But of course, save for cleansing impurities or healing injuries
, your pills and elixirs will have only a fraction of the effect upon yourself compared what they would grant any other cultivator. No alchemist can raise themselves beyond what they were at the time of making their elixirs. They can only repair damage marring their pristine ideal. Their own affinities and weaknesses assure only minimum benefit, should they dare to waste their own potions upon themselves in pursuit of growth.”
Alex frowned. “No one ever told me that before.”
His mentor shrugged. “An easy enough limitation to overcome, if you know another alchemist you can actually trust not to poison you or subtly attempt to damage your own foundation.”
Alex smirked. “I take it such trust earned and received is rare?”
Liu Jian nodded. “Which is why alchemist clans accrue such power, when two or more alchemists can actually trust each other to act with beneficence alone. Of course, ingredients are costly, and weeks or months of cultivation are needed between breakthroughs, particularly when one reaches the ranks of Silver. Of course, not even Masterwork potions can assist with transcending to Gold. And unfortunately, the closer related you are to your ally, the less his concoction will work on you, the laws of similarity adversely affecting the divergence needed to catalyze internal changes and breakthroughs."
Alex sighed and nodded. “So, the system is balanced. Sort of.”
His mentor laughed. “Hardly, Alex. There are exceptions to any rule. Take your own Cultivation Elixir. A natural purifier, it will cleanse a normal cultivator's meridians with such shocking potency that he risks the destruction of his entire unformed meridian matrix!"
Alex blinked. “What are you saying?”
“What I'm saying, Alex, is that, as concentrated as your formula was, it would have seared through all of your victim's meridian gateways, opening them entirely, and the sudden flood of intensely purified Qi would have, in all likelihood, destroyed them."
Alex paled. “Are you serious?”
His mentor solemnly nodded. “I diluted your exotic brew into 12 separate flasks, half used up in my experiments. Of the remainder, each would allow any other basic ranked cultivator to have a breakthrough, perfectly cleansing a single one of their meridian gates and flooding them with beneficent Qi. The wisest will, of course, cultivate and meditate for a full month between each dose, assuring themselves the strongest, most stable of foundations. The more impetuous who are not complete fools will still wait at least two weeks between doses, and if fortune favors them, it will be enough.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reborn: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 1 Page 36
