บท 37: Disciple Greets Master
"What don't I understand?" the voice spoke again after a brief silence. "He can be considered talented, but not talented enough that you have to take him as a disciple."
"I agree with you." The man started. "But do you really think that I, Chiwenga, would just ask him to be my disciple for nothing?"
"Then what is your reasoning?" the voice retorted.
Chiwenga sighed. "My bow is a very peculiar weapon as you know, after all, which tier 7 spirit weapon isn't queer. My soul power is the most powerful thing that I possess, as you know I managed to attain it way before the required level. As such I am very sensitive to other people's soul power."
"Wait! That boy already has access to his soul power?" The owner of the voice was visibly shocked. Taku was only at the very beginning of his life as a cultivator. How could he possibly be able to use his soul power?
"Not only that," The man began as his face turned solemn. "I tried to look into his soul with my soul power. He is weaker than me in both soul power and cultivation. But all I saw was a haze of smoke and purple and golden lights that were very indistinct. If someone more powerful than me in both areas was to look into my soul he would find that my soul is surrounded by a golden hue, because I am fire attributed. His soul was hazy and had two lights. Tell me what that means?"
The voice was completely silent after this, so Chiwenga continued. "At first I thought his soul was weak. But then I thought that if his soul was weak then how come I couldn't see through it. The only person who I know who can answer this question is that Muroyi who helped me with my soul all those years back."
"You're talking about Saru? Should I contact him?" the voice asked.
"No, let's not contact him now. I will only go look for that old man after this kid has accepted me as his master." The man said as his usual lazy expression returned.
"You don't even know his name…" The voice retorted.
Chiwenga. "…"
.....
By the time Taku got back into the hall, he noticed that Tino was already done with his training and all four of them were waiting for him. Tino was feeling rather low because he had just endured what he described as the hardest training of his life, but after seeing how miserable Taku was, his mood lifted a bit.
The rest were lost for words when they saw him. It was silent for a while then Ranga decided to ask. "Did you sneak out to go to a brothel or something? This King has never seen a person like this after archery training. I know the look you have now so well, this King has been to many broth-…"
Ranga did not get to finish his sentence as he was struck down by Tadi, who looked to be fuming. Taku who was miserable at the moment because of his training and Ranga's words could not help but smile when he saw him getting beaten. Taku smiled at Tadi and gave her a slight nod, Tadi returned a wry smile as she kicked out at Ranga again.
"But seriously though…" Nyasha Started as he sized up the exhausted Taku. "How can archery tire you out so much? I can understand if you say that your arms or fingers are numb, but you look close to death."
Taku just smiled as he lifted up both of his shivering hands. Tadi and Ranga were baffled by the ten thin rings around Taku's fingers. They did not understand what exactly he wanted to show them. After a brief silence Tino spoke. "Your fingers must be going through hell right now right? Those are weights, judging by the quality of the rings they should weigh over five hundred kg's, each! High-quality dombos!"
The trio's faces hadn't changed much when they heard the explanation, because 500 kgs was nothing to the average adult in the Gutu Empire, but when they heard the "each" from Tino, they could not help but suck in a breath of air. They knew Taku's condition. He was not exactly the most powerful person when it came to raw strength, in fact, he would be somewhere towards the bottom. So for him to carry around 5 tonnes with him every single day should be extremely difficult. Not to mention that the weight was concentrated on his fingers.
All four of them looked at Taku sympathetically. All of them then left the training Hall and went straight to eat. After eating and grabbing a lot of meat for Shumba the little lion, the team finally left for home. When Taku got into his room he threw the meat towards Shumba and then collapsed on his bed. He slept soundlessly that night. He had slept right after sunset and then woke up the next morning at dusk.
He took a quick bath and then went out to have breakfast. This time only Nyasha was awake, and just like the previous morning, Nyasha handed him a plate of meat. "Why are you up so early? Tino told us that you guys have to be back at the training hall at noon."
"That's what he was told?" Taku asked as he received the plate and sat down. "I was told by my instructor that I should come there as early as possible."
Nyasha smiled. "Such a slave driver."
Nyasha and Taku spoke for about an hour before Taku set out for the training hall. Taku was in a rather pleasant mood this morning. Even though his fingers were almost numb he felt excited. He had been afraid of a challenge, but at the same time, it lit the fire on competition within him. It did not take him that much time for him to reach the Training hall as it was fairly close to the house they were staying in.
The door to the hall was open, but when he entered he was surprised to find that there was no one present inside. He frowned and then walked towards the door that led to the garden. The door was unlocked and he entered.
"At least you are diligent."
Just as he entered the garden a familiar voice drifted into his ears. He looked up and noticed that there was a bow flying straight at him. He quickly caught the bow and then he heard the man's voice again. "Begin practicing, you don't have all day."
Taku knit his brows and then sighed to himself. He quickly lifted the bow and began to attempt to pull the string.
This trend carried on for the next week without exception. By the third day Taku was able to slightly pull the string a little bit. Seeing this, Chiwenga was secretly shocked, even though he did not show it on his face, inwardly he was in shock. He thought for a while before he decided to add more weights on Taku. To Taku's surprise the weights this time were placed all over his body.
Every step he took made him feel like the ground beneath him was trembling. The rest of his teammates could only cast sympathetic gazes towards him. By the end of the week with these newly added weights, he was again able to pull the string a little bit. Chiwenga was again surprised but this time he chose to do nothing about it.
After another 3 days, Taku pulled the string until the bow bent a bit. This had greatly shocked Taku because at first, he had thought that it was a hard bow that did not bend. At the end of the day, Chiwenga stopped him and the proceeded to remove the weights from Taku. When the weights got removed, instead of feeling free and unrestrained, Taku felt a bit empty.
Chiwenga just smiled and spoke. "This is now enough! Now do you want to be my disciple or not? Even if you say no I will teach you some of the things that I know so feel free to answer freely."
Taku clasped his hands together and said resolutely. "Disciple greets master."
Chiwenga was clearly delighted when he heard this. He let out a hearty laugh and then spoke. "Good, Good, Good. Come back tomorrow morning and I will teach you some stuff. I know your team accepted a mission and is setting out in a week and a half. So make sure to come very early every day."
Taku then nodded and left. Just as he left a shadow manifested behind Chiwenga. This shadow had no shape and was extremely strange. Turning around and facing the shadow Chiwenga spoke. "What do you think of him now?"
"Hehe…" the voice laughed and went silent for a moment before speaking. "He is indeed a good seed. I wonder how he would feel if you told him that the weapon he is training with is a tier 7 spirit weapon."
Chiwenga just smiled as he went back and sat under his usual spot.
The next day Taku arrived early yet again and headed straight for the garden. When Chiwenga saw him he motioned for Taku to sit down and then spoke. "There is something I need to ask you. If you feel like it is too personal then you don't have to answer it after all we all have our secrets."
Taku nodded and then Chiwenga continued. "I have a very powerful soul. The reason why is because I gained my soul power way earlier than most people. The level at which people attain soul power is usually after they enter the Kusakura level. I got mine as soon as I began cultivating, it was a problem for a while but then this other powerful Muroyi helped me with it. I tried to use my soul power to inspect your soul because I sensed that you could already bring it outside your body. Is this true?"
Taku nodded and Chiwenga continued. "Good! When I peeked into your soul I saw nothing really. It was hazy and I could only see two distinct lights. Do you know why it is like this?"
Taku hesitated for a bit and then sunk deep into thought. Seeing this Chiwenga spoke. "You are now my disciple you can tell me anything. But if it is too personal then I don't mind if you don't speak about it."
Taku smiled wryly and then decided to talk a bit about his condition. "I don't really know what happened for me to be like this. As far as I know, I was born like this. But when I was young I was attacked by a Muroyi who used a spell that ultimately should have killed me. But somehow I survived, apparently after that my soul transformed, instead of dispersing. This led to me having two attributes in my soul, and they are two entities that are ever fighting against each other."
Saying this much Taku lifted his hands and in an instant, they were covered in smoke. "This smoke became an entity that was created from the result of the two fighting each other. The two entities tend to calm down and cease fighting when the smoke surrounds them. But the minute that I bring the smoke out of my body and use it for a long period of time the two entities go back to fighting again."
The smoke retreated back into Taku's body. Taku had purposely altered some of the information. He did not believe for one second that if he told his Master that he transmigrated, he'd actually believe him. At the moment Chiwenga's mouth was wide open, he did not know what to say at the moment. He thought that his issue with his own soul back then was horrible. But after hearing Taku's story, he felt as though he went through nothing at all.
There appeared a shadow behind Chiwenga which was also staring blankly towards Taku. Taku almost jumped in fright when he saw the shadow but then Chiwenga spoke. "Don't mind him. He is an old friend who does not want to leave me alone."
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