Winter Training

The moment an arrow was suddenly shot at me, I released killing intent into the area. Then Yulong and a Taoist practitioner who seemed to be his companion appeared from behind the trees. Yulong was holding a bow in his hand.

“What exactly are you trying to do, shooting an arrow at me?”

When I asked, Yulong laughed in a mocking way.

“It was just a little greeting. I deliberately aimed wide, didn’t I?”

It was true that even if I had not knocked it down, it probably would not have hit me. But I knew that Yulong’s skill with the bow was not all that high. It might have hit me after all. In my mind, Yulong changed from being merely an unpleasant person into an enemy.

“Do you need something?”

When I asked Yulong, he made an annoyed face. He had probably expected me to be frightened after nearly being killed by an arrow.

“I just came to hunt. What are you doing here?”

“I came to see the cave belonging to the group I’m about to join.”

I considered hiding it, but if they investigated, they would quickly learn about the Old Immortal Cave.

“Hmph. Since you can’t become one of Elder Shanshi’s direct disciples, you’re joining a group instead. That’s all someone without ability can do.”

Hearing that, I frowned.

“What are you talking about? Don’t tell me you’re under the mistaken impression that you became one of the elder’s direct disciples because your ability was recognized?”

When he heard that, Yulong’s eyes shot up in anger.

“Shut up. You only got lucky enough to be allowed to join the morning practice.”

“That was because Elder Shanshi recognized my ability and allowed me to take part in morning practice.”

“Even if he recognized your ability, all he did was let you join morning practice without making you a direct disciple. That just shows you’re only worth that much.”

He should have seen my mock battle with the elder, yet he stubbornly refused to acknowledge my ability. Talking to him was getting exhausting. More than that, what concerned me was the Taoist practitioner standing with Yulong. His face looked familiar, but he was an inner disciple whose name I did not know. He was probably around forty.

“Hey, aren’t you going to introduce me?”

“My apologies. This is Daaren-shixiong.”

He was not one of Elder Shanshi’s direct disciples. Was he one of the high disciples? When I glanced to the side, Seiran was tilting his head.

Noticing that, Yulong made an irritated face.

“Daaren-shixiong is one of the high disciples. And he’s also a master of Dragon Qi Sword Art.”

If he had mastered Dragon Qi Sword Art, then he was extremely skilled. Not to the extent of Elder Shanshi, but he was certainly stronger than I was. I finally understood why Yulong was acting so confident. He was acting bold because he had gained this high disciple as an ally.

Incidentally, the condition for being called a high disciple was having one’s qi level at the Fourteenth Tier or above. However, there was a great wall between the Fourteenth Tier and the Fifteenth Tier.

There were even people who had reached the Fourteenth Tier and still did not rise to the Fifteenth Tier even after several years. Those people were apparently specially allowed to study the Spiritual Blossom Ascension Art, a discipline for acquiring spiritual power. Occasionally, the stimulation of learning the Spiritual Blossom Ascension Art caused someone to break through to the Fifteenth Tier.

Daaren-shixiong’s qi was inferior to Elder Shanshi’s. He was probably still at the Fourteenth Tier.

“I’ve started learning Dragon Qi Sword Art from Daaren-shixiong. I won’t lose to you.”

Daaren-shixiong glared sharply at Yulong.

“Don’t say unnecessary things.”

Yulong apologized. Yulong had repeatedly asked his master, Elder Shanshi, to teach him Dragon Qi Sword Art. But Elder Shanshi had refused, saying it was too early for him to learn Dragon Qi Sword Art. Since he had not yet satisfactorily mastered the basics, Heavy Resonance Sword and Swallowtail Swordsmanship, it was only natural that permission was not given.

And yet Daaren-shixiong said he would teach him Dragon Qi Sword Art. There was no doubt he had received a large sum of money from Yulong’s parents. In other words, Daaren-shixiong was that kind of man.

“Let’s go.”

Yulong and Daaren-shixiong went down in the direction opposite the Old Immortal Cave. They might have had a practice area there.

Haoxuen came up beside me.

“It looks like Yulong-shixiong hates you.”

“It’s not like I’ve done anything that should make him hate me.”

“He just can’t stand that Kou-shixiong is too capable.”

“You should be careful.”

Hearing Haoxuen and Seiran’s words, I let out a sigh. All I was doing was trying my best to become fully capable as soon as possible.

Starting the next day, we began cleaning and repairing the Old Immortal Cave. At the very least, it needed repairs to seal the door and the hole in the ceiling. We decided to make the hole in the ceiling into something like a skylight that could be opened and closed with a long pole. Even if it was called a skylight, glass was precious, so it would be a waterproofed wooden panel.

When we asked craftsmen in town, they said it would be finished in about three days. In the meantime, we would clean the place thoroughly so it could be used. Before winter came and the snow began to fall, the Old Immortal Cave had become usable.

“All right, let’s carry in the deadwood last.”

When I said that, Haoxuen and Seiran looked surprised.

“Are we going to build a fire in here?”

“There’s a hole in the ceiling, so if we build the fire under that, the smoke should be fine.”

What I really wanted was a stove, but that was not going to be ready in time for this winter. We searched out a large amount of deadwood on Mount Gyorei and carried it into the Old Immortal Cave.

I was worried about carbon dioxide poisoning, but the great hall where we would make the fire was at a slightly higher elevation than the doorway, and the carbon dioxide, which was heavier than air, seemed to flow out through the gaps in the lower doorway.

Once winter came and snow began to fall, not only Haoxuen, Seiran, and I, but also Shunlin and the others started training in the Old Immortal Cave.

“This is a nice place.”

Shunlin said that as she looked around the great hall of the Old Immortal Cave.

“The three of us cleaned it up and made it usable.”

When I said that, Haoxuen and Seiran looked proud.

“Unless the weather is especially bad, like a blizzard, let’s train here.”

During the winter, there was a building called the Martial Training Hall where the inner disciples practiced martial arts, but once about thirty people started training there, no one else could fit inside.

Inner disciples who could not get into the Martial Training Hall had no choice but to practice outside in the snow. As long as the snowfall was still light, training was possible, but once the snow became deep, training could no longer be done.

“We were lucky to make this place usable.”

When Seiran said that, Shunlin nodded.

“But is it really all right for us to use it too, even though we’re not members of the group?”

“That’s fine. Shuyon-shixiong, who is in charge of the group, said we could use it however we liked.”

That winter, our training advanced greatly. My qi level rose to the Tenth Tier, and I succeeded in adding a slash using Heavy Yin Qi to the Eight-Flash Sword I had been refining.

Shunlin raised her qi level to the Sixth Tier and awakened Lone Awakening Eye. In addition, Shunlin and the four former new disciples also became able to use Floating Yang Qi, at least. For some reason, they said Heavy Yin Qi was difficult. In my case, it had not felt any harder than Floating Yang Qi, so it was strange.

Happily, Meimei and Hongfa’s qi levels rose to the Fourth Tier. And Shunlin and Hongfa, who had trained together in the Demonic Horn Warhammer Art, had reached the stage where they had almost mastered the basics. Shunlin had become strong enough to defeat a Gōrō with an Iron-Claw Hammer, and Hongfa had become strong enough to kill a Piercing Wolf in a single blow.

Meimei’s Swallowtail Swordsmanship also improved greatly. She had mastered most of the basics, and once her qi level rose to the Sixth Tier, she would probably be able to train in the secret technique Eight-Flash Sword.

As for Haoxuen and Seiran, whose qi levels were both close to reaching the Fifth Tier, they had graduated from the Phoenix Will Broadsword Art and advanced to the stage of training in the Broadsword Fox-Flame Technique. Considering all of that, our winter training was thoroughly satisfying.