Kanru’s Instruction

When we returned to Gyorei Cave, we carried the Star Dew Fruit we had gathered to the apothecary, then went to Elder Tsuen’s room.

“Elder, it’s Kanru. We’ve returned.”

He called out to Elder Tsuen from outside the room.

“Enter.”

When we entered the room, Elder Tsuen, Elder Mon, and Elder Shanshi were inside speaking together.

“You’ve done well.”

Elder Tsuen said that coldly. In contrast, Elder Mon turned a gentle smile toward us.

“It seems you fulfilled my request. Thank you.”

Elder Tsuen’s tone was brusque, which made Elder Mon’s gentleness stand out all the more attractively. She was so youthful and beautiful that calling her an “elder” felt strange. It seemed that the request to gather Star Dew Fruit had indeed come from Elder Mon.

“Only Kanru stays. The rest of you may return.”

We left the room and headed back to the Wallside Hall.

To Kanru, who remained in the room, Elder Tsuen asked about Kou.

“How was Kou’s Broadsword Fox-Flame Technique?”

“I saw him fighting the Piercing Wolves, and I confirmed flames coming from the broadsword’s blade.”

When Elder Shanshi heard that, his eyebrow twitched upward.

“Hm, interesting. That outer disciple called Kou may be a genius.”

Elder Tsuen made a displeased face.

“To call him a genius is going too far.”

Elder Shanshi turned his eyes toward Elder Tsuen.

“Even so, Kou is excellent. What kind of instruction have you been giving him?”

Asked that question, Elder Tsuen averted his eyes. Seeing that, Elder Shanshi frowned.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t been instructing him?”

“I have not been instructing them, but I have been managing them.”

Elder Mon turned a sharp gaze on Elder Tsuen.

“If Sect Leader Wei were to learn of this, he might be disappointed.”

By the way, sect leader meant the head of the sect. That Sect Leader Wei trained in the Blue Spirit Hall and rarely came outside.

“W-wait a moment. I’ll start instructing them from now on, so I want you not to tell the sect leader.”

“…Very well, then.”

Elder Mon forgave him, but asked what exactly he intended to do.

“There are simply too many outer disciples.”

It seemed Elder Tsuen wanted to reduce the number of outer disciples.

“To handle the Main Hall’s miscellaneous work, that many are necessary.”

Elder Shanshi pointed that out.

“The outer disciples finish the miscellaneous work in the morning alone. We can just make them work through noon as well.”

Hearing that, Elder Mon grimaced.

“Then they could not be called disciples. If you intend to employ them as servants, it would be necessary to pay them wages.”

Elder Tsuen’s face became displeased. The attitude of this elder probably influenced the thinking of the inner disciples around him and showed itself in their attitude toward the outer disciples.

“It cannot be helped. We shall begin instructing the outer disciples. But my direct disciples alone are not enough, so we will have no choice but to choose those among the outer disciples with superior skill and have them assist.”

“In that case, you should have Kou help.”

Elder Mon proposed.

“That’s a good idea. And could you lend Kanru a little longer as well?”

Kanru was Elder Shanshi’s direct disciple, but he had been borrowed to help manage the outer disciples.

Elder Shanshi nodded.

“It cannot be helped.”

When I returned to the Wallside Hall, I handed the Demon Spider Sword to Zengu.

“So this is a Sword-Leg Spider’s sword leg. It’s heavy.”

“The sword leg is heavy, but its sharpness, penetrating power, and qi conduction are good. I think it’ll probably go well with the Plum Blossom Spear Art.”

“Is that so? Then I have to become able to defeat a Sword-Leg Spider too.”

Weapons were consumables. If you kept using them, they would be scarred and become unusable. You needed either enough money to buy yōma materials or the skill to obtain those materials yourself.

After returning to my room, I took the oil-producing tube out of my backpack. This oil-producing tube was said to produce oil, but since it might actually be methanol, it might not be oil at all.

“The problem is how to make it produce it.”

As a test, I sent just a little qi into it, and I felt the surrounding air being drawn into the black tube, which was about five centimeters in diameter. Then liquid dripped from the tube end opposite the one drawing in the air. When I touched that liquid, it felt thin and slick. When I soaked a scrap of cloth in it and lit it, it burned with a bright flame. It might have been a substance close to kerosene.

For the time being, I decided to call it kerosene. Wanting to make a kerosene lamp, I tried to draw up a design on some paper I had bought, but it had grown dim.

“This is exactly when I want a lamp, but I’ll do it tomorrow.”

That day I went to sleep and recovered from the fatigue of the journey.

The next day, we were told to gather in front of the Main Hall after finishing the water hauling, so after filling a water jar, I headed there. Besides hauling water, there were other chores such as cleaning, but hauling water took the most time, so those of us assigned to it were the last to gather.

Then Elder Tsuen and Kanru arrived.

“There is something I must tell you. Until now, I have not been giving instruction to the outer disciples because I was busy. But I have concluded that this will not do, and so I have decided to begin instruction.”

Cries of “All right!” rose up from among the outer disciples.

“First, this Kanru will teach you the basics. And the one assisting him will be Kou. Step forward.”

From that day on, the outer disciples came under Kanru’s instruction, but once they actually received Kanru’s teaching, they were bewildered.

Kanru could demonstrate, but he could not explain in words.

“You do it like this.”

Kanru began teaching the ‘Heavy Resonance Sword’ and demonstrated the first representative routine, ‘Wind Flowers,’ as an example. This thing called a routine was similar to a karate kata. Seeing that, Yingjie and Junhai imitated him and swung their swords.

“That’s completely wrong. Like this.”

Kanru demonstrated it again, but there was no explanation at all. To expect them to master it like that was reckless.