The End Of Winter

The night after I spoke with Xiaotan, the three of us—I, Yingjie, and Xiaotan—gathered in the dining hall.

“Kou, is it really alright for me to join too?”

Xiaotan, who had been told to gather with us, seemed worried that it would increase my burden.

“One person or two makes no difference. More importantly, tell me your qi levels, shixiong.”

Yingjie said he was at the Fifth Tier, and Xiaotan said he was at the Fourth Tier.

“They haven’t improved.”

The two of them grimaced.

“And how about you, Kou?”

“I recently reached the Seventh Tier.”

“Wha—if you go up just one more, that’s the passing level for the inner disciple exam.”

Yingjie cried out in surprise.

“How did you raise it?”

“I’ve been training in Meimei Gong, Middle Transmission.”

The books on qi training in the Wallside Hall library were four in number: Girui Gong, Meimei Gong, Middle Transmission, Seiin Gong, First Transmission, and Seiin Gong, Middle Transmission.

Among them, there was no one besides me practicing Meimei Gong, Middle Transmission, and almost everyone else was training in Seiin Gong, First Transmission and Seiin Gong, Middle Transmission. Incidentally, Seiin Gong was not a moving art like Meimei Gong, but a still art in which one sat in meditation and quietly refined qi.

“Eh!”

“Hah!”

Xiaotan and Yingjie both cried out in surprise.

“Wait a second. Meimei Gong, Middle Transmission has passages that make no sense, so it shouldn’t be possible to train in it.”

Yingjie said that loudly.

“I studied it, tried out what I thought it might mean, and eventually found the right answer.”

“Kou, you’re a genius. You think so too, don’t you, Xiaotan?”

“Yes, that’s something that would be completely impossible for me.”

“I was just lucky. More importantly, Yingjie-shixiong, stop Seiin Gong, Middle Transmission and switch to Meimei Gong, Middle Transmission.”

“Got it.”

Xiaotan leaned forward.

“What should I do? My qi level hasn’t gone up at all for the past two years.”

“Let’s try Girui Gong.”

I did not teach them about Meimei Gong, First Transmission. If I taught something said to have been lost in Gyorei Cave, I thought it would cause a bit of a troublesome situation.

I had previously thought it might be fine to keep Meimei Gong, Middle Transmission a secret for myself alone. But I had come to understand that raising one’s qi level in the Qi Refining Stage was only the beginning for a Taoist practitioner and nothing especially remarkable. I was beginning to realize that a Taoist practitioner’s training became important after moving from the Qi Refining Stage to the Spirit Formation Stage, where one cultivated spiritual power.

And when I had looked for books on qi training methods in the Main Hall library, I had seen that there were many books there. Among them, there were probably manuals describing qi training methods on par with Meimei Gong.

While teaching the two of them qi training, I decided to teach them part of the Thunder Technique Fist as well. There were several martial arts in Gyorei Cave that used Heavy Yin Qi and Floating Yang Qi, and the Heavy Resonance Sword was among them.

Plum Blossom Spear Art strengthened muscle power using ordinary qi, but it seemed possible to adapt it to use Heavy Yin Qi and Floating Yang Qi as well. What I taught from the Thunder Technique Fist were the technique of moving swiftly with Floating Yang Qi to evade an enemy’s attacks, and the technique of using Heavy Yin Qi to bring down an enemy with a heavy blow.

The three of us practiced preset drills and sparring drills using short sticks. Sparring drills were mock battles in a format close to a match, while preset drills were practice in offense and defense with the techniques to be used decided in advance. However, since we were inside the dining hall, the training had to be done with short sticks.

Yingjie took one of my blows and rolled across the floor.

“No good. That’s where you use Floating Yang Qi to dodge.”

“Even if you say that, I can’t switch fast enough.”

“That’s why you practice switching.”

At first, only the three of us did it in secret, but the other outer disciples found out almost immediately. Well, since we were doing it in the dining hall, that was only natural. More and more outer disciples came to watch the practice, and the dining hall became even more cramped.

During the winter, Yingjie and Xiaotan improved considerably. Their qi levels also rose, with Yingjie reaching the Sixth Tier, Xiaotan the Fifth Tier, and me the Eighth Tier.

When the snow melted and spring came, Yingjie and Xiaotan consulted the elders and obtained permission to build a training hall. Since we had already decided during the winter what kind of training hall to build, we first decided to cut timber in the demon realm and carry it into the yard of Wallside Hall.

When spring came, instruction by the inner disciples resumed, so I became busy again. However, Yingjie and Xiaotan had improved considerably over the winter, so they seemed to surprise the inner disciples who were teaching them.

As for me, my qi level and my skills in fighting other people had improved. Up until then, I had almost always trained alone, so I had been poor at fighting people. By starting to train against Yingjie and Xiaotan, I was able to acquire things like feints and subtle techniques.

Soon after instruction by the inner disciples resumed, Kanru and Johnrin, who was teaching Plum Blossom Spear Art to the outer disciples, were summoned to Elder Tsuen’s room.

“Is the instruction of the outer disciples proceeding well?”

“Yes. The outer disciples’ skill has definitely improved.”

Kanru answered on behalf of them both.

“I see. But do not neglect your own training, either.”

“We understand.”

“By the way, Elder Chiu from Sanshou Lake will be coming with two inner disciples from Goyou Cave.”

“What are they coming for?”

“To obtain Supreme Silver from the demon realm. They will be staying here.”

Kanru tilted his head.

“That’s the metal used for treasured swords, isn’t it? But I’ve never heard that it could be mined in the Kyoren Demon Realm.”

The Kyoren Demon Realm was the formal name of the demon realm that spread out to the north of Gyorei Cave. Kanru and Johnrin had never heard that there was a vein of Supreme Silver in the demon realm.

“No vein of Supreme Silver has been found. However, it is known that Ore-Eating Worms store Supreme Silver in their bodies.”

“Is that so? Then they’ve come to hunt Ore-Eating Worms?”

“That is correct.”

“The two of you will guide them as far as Kukul Valley.”

Kukul Valley was where the Ore-Eating Worms had made their home.