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81.67% Learning To Live As A Cultivator / Chapter 263: Chapter Sixty Three - To them, this isn’t a storm in a tea cup

Chapter 263: Chapter Sixty Three - To them, this isn’t a storm in a tea cup

Dark clouds formed amid the azure sky, hinting the start of a storm and within a small tea shop in New Julip Town, a storm was stirring just as violently.

Two peoples blissfully unawares yet very much connected to the latter one, were eagerly examining weapons displayed upon the walls of an arms shop.  As was often the case in this type of weapons boutique, the swords, halberds, daggers and bows were more glamorous than perhaps was necessary for a tool meant to aid in the matters of kill to not be killed.  The handles of the swords and daggers were polished so much that they gleamed and cast artistically with scrollwork or vines and ivy wrapping around glittering gemstones.  The halberds long handle and the elegantly shaped bows were all carved from the most expensive and beautiful quality woods.  The halberds also had silk tassels dangling from silver cuffs near the sharp and deadly blade on top, while the bows had similar cuffs either side of the curved centre, these were encrusted with stones.

Whether or not these ornate weapons were better than plain weapons, the usual clientele either did not know nor care.  Seeing two silk laden youths with jade hairpins, gold cuffs and bangles upon their wrists, the shop owner naturally assumed that this pair were much the same, but suffered a rude awakening.

"Shimmering ice blade?" Sun muttered as he read the description beneath the sword.  "But it doesn't shimmer nor does it have the attribute of ice... or any spiritual energy for that matter.  Poo!"

"Swan song dagger?" Maimai giggled as she similarly amused herself.  "The blade isn't long enough to reach the heart, what 'swan song?' More like a pig's squeal!"

The former heard the latter's words and pointed out another sword and brought her attention to it.  "How about this one, Fèng máo lín jiǎo... as rare as Phoenix feathers and unicorns horns... accept the metal appears to be common steel."

"It's crystals are ordinary quartz," Maimai nodded sagely, approaching his side, her eyes filled with mirth.  "Should be Chángjiàn rú jīmáo!" Common as chicken feathers! (google translate, probably wrong).

The two cruelly continued to denounce the shop's wares, causing tears of blood to spill down the shop keeper's cheeks as he wished he could silence this disruptive pair immediately.  As a new customer turned upon his heel as he heard the words from the youths, the shop keeper had them leave; "This young master, young miss, if you aren't here to purchase, please do leave!"

Maimai chuckled inwardly, before tugging the unhappy man beside her out of the door.  "Come on," she urged Sun.

"But he was being rude!" Sun pouted, his face red.

"So were we," Maimai reminded him as she pointed out a fact.  "Although he was ostentatious enough to name those pretty toys, he did not go so far as to advertise them as spirit or soul weapons.  And they weren't all that expensive, not priced much above their worth.  We should leave the man a chance of survival."

"Fine," Sun sighed.  He did really want a soul sword that he could truly call his partner one day, but it was also true that it would not be so cheap to obtain such.  A soul weapon was not a normal weapon, as any man could use nor even a spirit weapon with a matrix embedded in its form, it was much more than that.  It was a weapon that had formed a soul of its own.  Even if one had the fortune to obtain one would not mean that the soul weapon would recognise them.  Some said that the soul in the weapon formed after hundreds of years or tens of thousands of years, others said it might be born immediately after crafting as if sensing its creators heart within its folds.  Jin Li's formerly rusty spirit weapon was good, strong, but it had not formed a soul even after the thousand years after it had been crafted.

"I'll leave first," Maimai told him, before pointing at the tea house.  "My sister is waiting for me in there."

"Oh, my cousin went to drink tea in there also," he said, just as the first cracks of thunder rumbled overhead.  He shuddered as if subject to an ominous omen.  Maimai also felt disconcerted.  Their casual steps became quickened ones as they neared the tea shop together.  Sure enough...

"History has plenty of pheasants wishing to be phoenixes, but their dreams cannot compare with this miss!" Her sister's voice echoed in her ears, the not too quiet insult seeming to come from a serene and calm throat, yet Maimai was not unable to hear the trembling anger within it. It seemed this argument had been stewing for sometime.

"Has my cousin an enmity with your sister?" Sun inquired beneath his breath as that girl's flustered face burst out with an insult of her own.

"Of course my dreams cannot compare! What dream remains a dream and what can be made into a reality, I am aware! Whether you have such an ability remains to be seen!"

Maimai had shaken her head at first, but was clearly confused. The girl with the long brown hair that Sun claimed to be related to, Merylin had not met this person before... right?

"You jest!" Merylin's voice rose by an octave. "You dream of obtaining a man that is unreachable for this di daughter of a powerful sect! Are you claiming to be a fox spirit with secret means?"

"What fox spirit? You're a fox spirit! Your whole family are fox spirits!" Carmen screamed in return, unleashing the temper that usually only Sun and his brethren had only been subject to before and even that had been away from the prying eyes of adults. Flashes of lightning brightened the sky now and then, punctuating their curses, but the rain that should have followed did not fall.

Hearing their words tossed back and forth, both Maimai and Sun had an epiphany and turned to each other. "Jin Li?!"

They both sighed in unison, though for differing reasons. Maimai was thinking of her best friend when she exhaled her exasperation; poor Leon. Yet another girl deluded themselves into thinking that they were the right or only person 'worthy' of his Jin Li. What made Jin Li so special? He was just a man! He had looks and strength, but his tongue was sharper than a sickle and blunter than any spoon! It could pierce and bludgeon at the same time without warning and yet these silly girls came back to be abused some more! He was also a bottomless pit when it came to food, what woman could afford him when poor Leon struggled to?! It was rumoured that he was born noble, but no one really knew the truth and he rarely offers explanation, his 'mysteriousness' which continued to feed the silly girls' imaginations was really just him being lazy.

Sun in the meantime was thinking far more simply. Why did all the girls like Jin Li and not him? Not that he wanted Carmen to like him, that would be gross. He didn't want Merylin to like him either, she was the sort to love not her husband but his position and reputation. Actually, forget it. Girls were all too complicated. Best stick with finding a soul sword for a partner and not worry about the rest...


Chapter 264: Chapter Sixty Four - Three strikes and you are out!

The tea shop manager was a refined, genteel woman, versed in the etiquette of tea brewing, poetry and was apt at making her guests feel welcome and relaxed... but every coin had a flip side.  Without warning, this coin revealed it tail.  "Get out!  How dare you disturb the tranquility of laoniang's business!"

Two young ladies were pushed out of the doors without breath spare to defend themselves, while two embarrassed relatives bowed in apology and appeased the hostess with a few silver each.  The woman tested the weight of the purses in her palm before sounding out a loud 'harrumph' and striding back inside, where she once more transformed into her amiable, elegant self.

Without tea to drink and the mood of shopping spoiled, it seemed it was time to return to the Institute.... and it seemed that the two parties of two just happened to be intending to return in the same manner; via Griffin.  They walked in cold silence, but once their joint destinations became obvious, the competitive nature of females began to once more rear its head.  Carmen was undoubtedly the instigator this time; after giving a disdainful glare in the direction of the two girls across the street, she hurried her pace to get ahead.

Ordinarily, Merylin would never rise to such obvious provocation, but the number of griffins flying too and from school were limited and it was true that she did not wish to have to wait half a shìchèn or so for the next beast to land following a return flight.  Thus she discreetly picked up the pace as well.

Seeing that the gap between them had not increased, Carmen's strides became less 'ladylike' and far longer, gradually the distance grew to her satisfaction.  And then it shrank once more.  This continued until both girls were pretty much running ungainly with Maimai and Sun just dragged along for the show.  Both girls approached the Griffin handler intent on leaving the other behind.

"We can't fly at the moment," the handler mentioned, indicating the overcast sky with his finger.  The rumbling thunder in the dense and darkening sky was increasing, becoming particularly strong in one area off to the north east.  An odd hunch caused Sun to frown, but it was another that put words to his feelings.

"Someone is breaching a cultivation level!" 

Sun didn't recognise the speaker, but suspected from the age and temperament, and the fact he also wished to ride back to the Institute, that they were one of his seniors.  He was with a friend who happened to blurt out;

"But are there any Teachers in closed cultivation at the moment?"  He was not wrong to ask this question.  His assumption was that the cloud formations above were not due to some ominous winter storm, but were actually due to a Cultivator ascending.  Lightning tribulations were a common occurrence for any Cultivator breaching levels above the quinary stage; completing Body Tempering brought with it the first trial of the Heavens and every stage after that also. Most students would leave the Institute prior to forming their core, leaving no more than a handful of the most talented each generation to manage to form their core before graduation.

"I think Teacher Compari was," the other mentioned.

"Who is that?"

"Oh, you've not met him," the other realised.  "He went into closed cultivation after I started attending the Institute.  He must have been cultivating inside the mountain for ten years now..."

Sun also had no knowledge of this mysterious Teacher, but for some reason, his intuition felt as if that their words did not quite fit the current scenario...

"Jin Li, he's in closed cultivation in that mountain as well," Maimai murmured aloud.  Sun glanced at her and the uncertain feeling in his gut began to solidify. 

The Heavens had no care for the speculation of mortals nor Cultivators on their first steps towards attempting to breach their gates.  The sky filled with a blinding white light before streaking towards its destination in an angry manner.  It clashed with the barrier around the mountain which wobbled like a soap bubble pressed by a finger before springing back into shape and vanishing before the naked eye.  As if furious at being thwarted, the Heavens sent down two further strikes, but the could not penetrate the barrier, just explode against it, sending out booming cries causing immense pressure to the ears of normal people.  A few fell to their knees in the wake of the loud thunder.  This seemed enough to satisfy the Heavens, for the clouds above began to disperse, once more revealing the cold, pale blue sky beneath.

"All aboard!" The Handler said some ten minutes later after the ringing in his ears had abated and he'd calmed the Griffin enough for it to fly.  Carmen indicated that Sun should help her rise; she had been one of those who'd crumbled beneath the pressure.

Merylin looked down at her as she climbed carefully aboard the Griffin; "So weak," she said with exaggerated pity before adjusting her skirt as she sat with a straight back in her seat.  Maimai sat down beside her, offering Sun a quick apologetic glance.

Carmen grumbled beneath her breath.  So what if she was 'weak'.  A true lady did not need to be physically strong, such would make her no more than a boorish woman.  But then, wasn't that what this girl truly was beneath her airs and graces?  Feeling that she'd cursed the odious girl satisfactorily in her heart, she felt more at peace and proved that she could climb and take a seat upon the flying beast just as, if not more, elegantly than the other!

Following Sun aboard was those two seniors and a few others who either learned or worked in the school as perhaps caretakers or cooks. The two seniors sat behind Sun and continued their discussion from earlier.

"Those lightning strikes certainly seemed to be in the direction of the mountain for closed cultivation. Do you think that Teacher was successful?"

"How can it be?!" the other refuted. "To complete Body formation one will receive Heaven's wrath with one times nine strikes and for every stage above that they will receive that they received before plus another nine strikes. Teacher Compari was reputed to be attempting to breakthrough to the high level of octonary stage, must then receive three times nine strikes, not just three strikes!"

"What do you think caused those strikes then?"

"Maybe someone managed to create some legendary Pill or artefact? Don't know anyone foolish enough to do so inside the boundaries of the Institute though..."

A certain Teacher that happened to be a certain youth's direct Master sneezed, before scratching his nose. Was someone speaking ill of him? Not possible, he was way too awesome... unless it was his brother, Corne... Corvus grumbled somewhat under his breath.

Back on the Griffin, others were listening into the conversation and drawing their own conclusions. "Brother Sun," Carmen's eye's twinkled with interest as she drew his attention to her. "Didn't you mention that my... I mean... Jin Li went into closed cultivation. Could it be he that caused the lightning strikes?"

"I... shouldn't think so?" Sun denied, weakly. "It's doubtful, I mean, he is just trying to form his core..."

"But its not impossible, right?" Her imagination drew an image of his silhouette standing tall upon a mountain peak with lightning flashing behind him and his long, midnight hair flowing in the wind. She clasped her hands together. "He's just so majestic...!"

Merylin, who happened to be across from them, sat up even more rigidly in her seat, glaring beneath the shadow of her long lashes at her sister, though her voice remained like a warm summer breeze not the cold winter winds her eyes might have otherwise suggested. "Sister, you did not mention that Jin Li entered Closed Cultivation..."

"Hmmm?" Maimai wasn't sure how to respond the the question nor undertone that she had long since learned to identify. "Well, um... it happened just as winter break ended. I haven't really had much chance to talk to you... and I didn't think it was that important."

"Of course it is," Merylin reprimanded her, softly. "I could have assisted brother Jin Li with some pills... cloudy spiritual pills maybe or tranquil mind pills for once he's succeeded in breaking through..."

Maimai attempted not to roll her eyes. Could her darling sister even make tranquil mind pills? More than likely, she'd ask the Head of Sunset Peak of the Sect for them. "I'm sorry, sister," she apologised, insincerely. "I didn't think..." it was necessary!

"I'm certain that Jin Li would not need to accept pills from outsiders," Carmen clicked her tongue, openly expressing an opinion as if it was not directed towards her adversary at all.

"That is true," Merylin nodded in agreement. "He certainly need not accept pills from outsiders... He only need inquire of me when he is in need, I'm willing to provide whatever he needs. Just as last time..."

Carmen glared, her face reddening with emotion that was barely restrained. Sun and Maimai prayed inwardly that the flight back to the Institute would be over soon!


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Ebonsolaris Ebonsolaris

laoniang is the feminine version of laozi, basically meaning something like ‘this superior’ or ‘this teacher’. It works like Jin Li’s ‘this Lord’ or ‘I, your father’ in more modern period books x (at least this is my interpretation of it!)

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