Chapitre 74: Chapter 74 - A Heavenly inspiration!
"Xin, how are you? How was your breakthrough?" Rui Ming found Xin in one of the sect's gardens, drinking rice wine and gazing at an orange autumn dusk. Xin didn't respond. "Was there a delay?" Rui Ming's voice was usually straight like a string, but now there was a hint of worry.
"No. I didn't manage. Don't worry, I'm over it already." Xin took another sip.
Rui Ming sat down on the grass near him. There was a moment of silence. Xin felt like Rui Ming was about to say something, but he kept quiet. He then felt a tinge of anxiety and broke the silence.
"Make sure to check your body and robes afterwards. Could catch a tick. It can crawl up to your ass if you aren't careful."
"Ticks truly are amazing creatures." Rui Ming opened his palm and moved it towards Xin.
"Sure." Xin gave him a cup and poured him some wine. "The first star will emerge soon. I came to look at it."
And what's so special about that star, really? Does being first even make one special? Or is it the anticipating effect that makes it special, like seeing a girl take her underwear off... Fuck this, I am drifting again. Xin chased these thoughts away.
"What are the stars, truly?" Rui Ming reached for the sky, where the sun was now gone, but the moon didn't come into its place just yet.
"Giant glowing balls, apparently. Might be bigger than our world. The sun might also be a star, but it's closer to us."
"But not the moon. It doesn't glow. It reflects the sunlight. I've read about it."
"That guy, Di E Go, I told you about him and what he told us. Says our world is inside the immortal's core. If that's true, how big is this core, to have even the stars inside?"
"I don't know if he's right. If he is, maybe our stars are also fake. I'd like to find out one day."
Xin felt tranquil again. Thinking about this stuff is certainly better than obsessing over whatever invades your mind at any given moment.
"I'm planning to leave, Xin."
"Eh?" Xin felt a sense of loss and regret.
"I need to obtain wind path materials and dao shards, and they're rare and expensive. Independent cultivation, a leave of absence. The sect had granted their permission."
"You might want to wait on that." Xin broke the rules, he wasn't supposed to tell anyone about the incident.
"Did something happen?"
"Can't tell you what exactly. But you don't want to wander away now. It's starting soon. The thing. You don't want to get ambushed outside of sect territory."
Xin asked himself for a moment: "Am I manipulating Ming to make him stay because I want my friends to be with me?" Well, I want him to stay, of course, but he'll have to travel through the contested territory, if the war breaks down when he's still traveling, he might be killed or captured to torture for intel.
"I get what you're saying. If you can't tell me more, so be it. So, are you advising me to stay?"
"Yes, but you'll have to fight, I think. If that's the issue, you can leave, but be fast, and try to avoid the... you know. "
"I get. I'll stay. Time to test my combat skills. What about you?" Rui Ming smiled, every time he wanted to leave, something bad happened. He found it humorous.
"Now that I failed my breakthrough, I'm also forbidden from trying again. They wanted to assign me to a teaching gig, but I have a feeling I'll get drafted. All seeds will. It's why they recruited us in the first place."
"What a short rest. Have you spent your spirit stones already?"
"Not yet. I already have a snakevine, and I'm thinking of a defensive method. Maybe Iron Lung, too? Or Barskin?"
"I don't know too much about these. You'll make the right choice, I'm sure."
It was a weird feeling. Rui Ming didn't offer him any advice, but at least he didn't lose hope in Xin's judgement. He felt like everyone would just bully him for his failure, but it wasn't the case.
"Oh, that's the first star. It will get brighter soon." Xin pointed at the sky. "The Emperor's Bride."
"Hehe, I don't see it just yet." Rui Ming squinted his eyes.
Did I just boast my perception skills to regain status?
***
In the Elemental pavilion.
Xin managed to recompose himself and woke up early, eager to practice. He knew that war was coming, and that he had to prepare. To be completely honest with himself, Xin expected to enter a melancholic slumber and sleep in his room for days, but somehow, this time it didn't happen. Xin was puzzled as to why, a simple answer of "urgency kept you going" felt like only a small part of it.
Focus.
There was an idle mannequin in front of him, armed with its bare fists. Xin was wearing his full set of equipment. Think, Xin. If he was a guy you wanted to kill, what would you do?
He thought of his Resonance Palms and his guandao glaive. Both are good, but eventually he'll have to make a choice. His arbalest was also useful, but only qi infused attacks would harm rank one opponents with defensive methods. He thought back to his previous fights.
As a mortal on the battlefield, his duty was simple: kill other mortals, avoid rank-one fighters. But that wasn't what he truly wanted. What he truly craved was the thrill — the triumphant rush he felt when he brought down the mantis yaoguai, the satisfying warmth that filled his chest when he injured the plant hag. Those sensations were what he was really after.
I am getting tunnel visioned away again, Xin thought. If I just chase this thrill, I'll get myself killed! My defensive methods are subpar — my flesh hardening technique is weak and burns through my qi reserves, and my mortal level armour isn't reliable even against qi active mortals, rank ones will tear it to shreds.
My movement methods are also limited. I had no time to master the Woodland stride and expansion style jumps, but with my wood qi repressed, those wouldn't be effective anyway.
I made some progress in vine style training, sure, but it will only become useful once I am rank one…
Shit. Xin felt the problems pile up, but no ways to resolve them at his current rank. He was already among the strongest mortals of the sect, but against the Fist sect, who'll likely have many physical freaks, or Divine Sword sect, which is renowned for its weapon mastery, he felt inadequate. That's not it.
"Creativity thrives under limitations."
Thank you, father. An inspiring thought, but it is of no use.
Xin approached the mannequin and lazily delivered a Woodcutter's Downswing at it. It left a big dent. If he hit that place while the metal qi remnants are still around the "wound", the hit would be even stronger.
Is this the peak of what a mortal can do? Xin looked at his weapons again. Specifically at his crossbow. A curious weapon, it uses the energy stored during reload to unleash it during the shot — it trades time and effort for power. Just like we do with training. Or all craftsmanship. Or society.
Hmmm. This crossbow is very slow, the mechanism takes a lot of time to reload. But simpler infantry crossbows are smaller and weaker. And the bows are fast but can't break even armour like mine most of the time.
Xin thought of master Lu. A rank one master, unable to seriously harm the creatures they were facing. Still, he used a wood path method that expanded the shoulders of his bow and infused the arrows with wood qi. He also used obsidian arrows, avoiding the elemental conflict of wood and metal elements.
Xin randomly thought of Rui Ming again. His ability to modify and improvise his techniques was awe inspiring.
Wait. Five Wind Treatises. "Are you a tree that breaks, or a tree that bends?" Tempest asked his student.
Which tree am I?
Xin looked at his crossbow again. The elemental conflict of wood and metal, but they work in harmony. Bending is an aspect of wood element, yet here it's unleashed by a conflicting metal path material…
Wait!
"Disciple!" Xin addressed an outer disciple on duty. "Bring me some iron pipes! And ask for a broken unusable crossbow, maybe they'll give you one!"
"Will do, disciple Xin!" The young man knew Xin, and wanted to be in his good graces. Five minutes later Xin had several metal sticks, a rusty pipe and a broken crossbow.
"That's a good job, disciple. I'll mention it to the instructors." Xin retrieved the items and dismissed him.
"Thank you, older brother Xin!" He bowed and left.
Xin sat down and meditated. Remembering Lei's injury, he was extremely careful. The metal might break and snap at his fingers, or even cut him.
He took the broken crossbow, its wooden frame slightly cracked, its string worn out, and put his middle finger and his thumb on two of its metal shoulders. His pointing finger was where the tip of the bolt was supposed to be.
He noticed an instructor watching him from afar.
Bend! Xin used metal qi to bend the metal, and it submitted. The shoulders moved towards each other, but his wrist hurt like hell. Need to refine the movement.
Bend! He bent the shoulders again, and pretended to put the string in the loader, focusing on making his wrist more firm. Amazing, I circumvented the reloading process!
The instructor approached him.
"We don't teach this stuff to mortals, they lack the qi control for such refined moves. I am impressed, disciple." He nodded at the young man.
Xin massaged his wrist, it was still hurting.
"If qi active mortals knew how to do this, they'd stop buying sect's ranged dao shards." Xin joked, but then realised that he might have guessed correctly, at least partially. In reality, it was his experience and affinity with two elements this interaction used that allowed him to succeed on the first try. If any of these variables changed, he'd struggle immensely.
"Well, the crossbow won't last long if you do this. And your shot won't be any stronger, in fact, it will be slightly weaker." Right, metal element stiffness will slightly inhibit the shoulders when they open up.
Wait, what if I also propelled the arrow somehow? Xin drifted in his thoughts instead of replying to the master, who was just standing there, awkwardly.
Propulsion dao shard? Hehe, no.
My elements are currently not in conflict, I've got a few more days to train at my full wood qi potential, before the materials wither away. Maybe wood path is the answer?
The instructor leaned to the wall and smirked. It was clear by how stressed and agitated Xin looked, with a vein on his temple bulging slightly, that he was cooking up something in that weird head of his!
Once Xin figured out the hardest part, the ideas started flowing even faster.
The string is made out of fiber, and the way the string opens up is also a wood element interaction! Xin took a small rope from the training equipment and tied it between two sticks, like a stretched bowstring.
Xin felt a pleasant tingling in his head again. That's it, the heavenly inspiration is assisting me!
Xin knew how to execute this motion, despite only doing something remotely similar before.
He also used the Carnivore Grove inheritance to think of the properties of vines in relation to what he was doing. This helped him manage the qi flow correctly, without overstressing the string.
Twang. A qi infused rope launched a little stone into the distance. It felt like a strong launch for such a weak "weapon"! If I apply this technique to crossbow shots, they'll be stronger than normal shots.
Master Lu infused the bow's shoulders to proper the arrows, then infused the arrows with wood qi to help them transport the energy. But this creates a loss, is there a more elegant way?
Wait... There would be some conflict, but the gains should be well worth it! Xin grabbed his crossbow and prepared his technique.
He remembered Lei again. My friend, you invented a compound technique by yourself, but you aren't the only talent here!
All the remnants of his breakthrough failure shame were now repressed. A single feeling dominated Xin's mind — a lust for improvement. He pointed the broken crossbow at the mannequin.
"Careful, Xin." The instructor warned him again. "You might get injured. Are you about to attempt a compound move?"
"Of course." No announcement. No spectators. Just me and my wooden friend. He stared into the mannequin's painted face, it looked somewhat cute. It's a shame I am about to hurt you, buddy.
Xin put his fingers on the crossbow's shoulders again. His other hand was touching the string and holding the handle.
Bend! The shoulders were bent as the crossbow was forcefully reloaded and the string was put into the latch.
Expansion! The string was filled with vigour, eager to escape from its restraints.
Metal qi infusion! Xin's pointing finger touched the tip of the bolt, a final stroke in this compound move!
Thwack! The crossbow shot its last ever shot before fully breaking.
The arrow penetrated the mannequin's head, going the length of a pointing finger in. The old crossbow broke in two, of course, but Xin was triumphant.
"Holy shit." The instructor couldn't hold his amazement. "This move is rank one in power, and you used a trashy crossbow! If you used your arbalest..."
"Oh, I'm intending to use it, don't worry."
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone