We thought we were playing a cultivator quest, but we were actually playing Pokémon! The Xianxia edition!
Are tamed spirit beast actually a thing here? Don't think we saw any hints of it so far, even if it is a rather common trope. Yet the Honored Elder didn't seem to have one, and there was no mention of such at the New Year's party.
I'll count us lucky to get a feather or something.
We thought we were playing a cultivator quest, but we were actually playing Pokémon! The Xianxia edition!
Are tamed spirit beast actually a thing here? Don't think we saw any hints of it so far, even if it is a rather common trope. Yet the Honored Elder didn't seem to have one, and there was no mention of such at the New Year's party.
I'll count us lucky to get a feather or something.
Shaohuo kept very, very still as the phoenix stared at him. A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead as long moments passed. Then the phoenix bent its head down and began gobbling the Celestial Lavender flowers from the ground one by one. All the while, it kept one eye toward him, watching him closely. Perhaps it had come to the same conclusion as him.
Within a minute or two, the phoenix had finished eating, and now turned toward him again. Shaohuo's muscles were tense from crouching in the exact same position for minutes. It flapped its wings, taking off with a burst of wind qi. It made an odd sight, soaring gracefully in a zig-zag pattern high up into the air despite its cumbersome tail feathers, but he supposed that for a spirit-beast the usual need for a bird to be light-weight was irrelevant.
He breathed out a sigh of relief and stood up, waiting for another long minute just in case, but the phoenix didn't seem to be coming back. He hurried to the Celestial Lavender, plucking the flowers as quickly as he could in case another spirit-beast arrived. As he turned to leave, he noticed a feather on the ground. It was red and green and about half the length of his hand. It must have come from the phoenix's neck. After a moment of thought, he picked it up and put it in his pouch along with the Celestial Lavender. He wasn't sure what use it would be, but it couldn't hurt to take it along.
Within an hour the carriage began taking him back toward the family estate. Looking out the window, Shaohuo thought he saw a flash of red in the sky. But perhaps that was just his imagination.
It was late in the afternoon by the time he returned home, and his father was still in his study. Father was sitting at his desk, reading over reports.
"Hello. I'm back." Shaohuo said, stepping inside.
"Welcome back." Father said, looking up from his papers. "Were you able to gather the Celestial Lavender again?"
"Yes. But I found something else I wanted to ask you about," Shaohuo said. He reached into his pouch and pulled out the feather. "I think it's a phoenix feather."
He decided to leave out the details of his actual encounter with the phoenix. Somehow he doubted his father would appreciate that he didn't immediately run when he came across the spirit-beast.
"Interesting." Father said, taking the feather and rolling it between his thumb and index finger. "It does seem stronger than a normal feather, so it must have come from a spirit-beast. If it really is a phoenix feather then you could sell it for a good sum. But I would recommend commissioning a craftsman to make a pen out of it. A phoenix feather pen would make an excellent gift. You never know when something like that might come in handy."
"I'll have to think about it." Shaohuo said. Father nodded and returned to his work. A phoenix feather pen did have the potential to be useful, but on the other hand he was short on cash and could use the money.
The next day, he told Meiling's tutor to take the day off so he could help her instead for the day. The severe man bowed hastily and left as though chased by a pack of wolves. In his childhood Shaohuo hadn't been particularly fond of the man, but now he couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Meiling was certainly a handful, and he doubted he'd be able to put up with her if she wasn't his sister and also adorable. And, of course, he had the option of bribing her with sweets.
"Now, what were the Sage Emperor's three inventions?" Shaohuo said, quizzing Meiling on history.
"Um...the compass, letters, and silk!" Meiling said. She was sitting on her bed, studying diligently now that she had an egg tart in her hand.
"Good. That's correct," he said. "That's enough history for now, I think. Let's move on to philosophy."
Meiling scrunched up her nose as though she'd smelled something unpleasant, but she kept silent, no doubt because of his promise of more sweets to come.
Suddenly overcome with emotion, Shaohuo sat on the bed beside Meiling and pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her small body.
"Mmph. Shao-shao?" Meiling said, her voice muffled by his shirt. He let her go, meeting her wide, inquisitive eyes.
"I was just thinking that I'd miss you," Shaohuo said, feeling the need to explain. He wasn't usually a very huggy person. "You know I'll be at the sect for a while, right?"
"Yeah," Meiling said, her lip beginning to wobble. "I'll miss you too, Shao-Shao!"
He chuckled and reached a hand out to pat her on the head. "Don't worry, I'll write you letters and I'll come to visit every now and then."
"Promise?"
"Yes, I promise."
Shaohuo's family came outside to see him off the next morning, and even Meiling was there despite the early hour, yawning and rubbing her eyes. The plan was that he would spend the day at Xiaoli's home and they would leave for the sect together the following morning. If the carriage driver was impatient because of the lengthy farewells, it wasn't noticeable to Shaohuo's eyes.
"Take care, little one," Mother said, releasing him from her hug after a long moment. "Make sure you eat properly while you're there."
"I know," Shaohuo said, suppressing the urge to roll his eyes. Personally he was more worried about the other students than he was about whether he ate enough rice to satisfy her. The latter was inevitable, after all; that much rice couldn't fit in his stomach.
"I'll write to you later," he promised Meiling.
"Okay," she said, and nodded, her eyes still only half-open. He knelt down and hugged her, holding her close for a moment before letting go.
"Don't worry. I'm sure you will do fine," Father said, a relaxed smile on his face.
"Of course," Shaohuo said, nodding politely. Father could be too easy-going at times.
He got in the carriage, and as it began to ride away, he looked out the window and waved goodbye to his family until he couldn't see them anymore.
Upon arriving at the main clan compound, Xiaoli and her father greeted him, and Xiaoli's father invited him inside for some tea. They sat and made small talk while the servants brought snacks. At almost the precise moment it could no longer be considered rude for them to take their leave, Xiaoli got up and motioned her hand for him to follow.
"You're fully at orange now, I see," Shaohuo said as they walked across the grass toward the training field.
Xiaoli nodded with a smug expression on her face. Clearly he'd said the right thing.
"Yup! And you are too, huh? That's good. I wouldn't want to hurt you by accident," she said, catching his eye as she grinned.
"Pride comes before a fall." Shaohuo said dryly. She stuck her tongue out at him, making him snort in amusement. In truth, he wasn't that confident he would win. He had the advantage of time over her, but she'd make a frightening amount of progress even for someone with her talent. Perhaps the Honored Elder had been teaching her, or she'd just had access to better drugs than him, considering she'd been able to give him the Heaven Flower Elixir in the first place.
Having reached the training ground, Shaohuo positioned himself across from her, taking out his spear and extending it to its full length with a burst of earth qi. He eyed Xiaoli warily as she snapped her arms out, her sleeves billowing in the wind. Her arms returned to her sides in a combat position, her hands now clenched around knives.
Unlike last time, when he saw Xiaoli weave gravity qi into formation for her enhancement arts, he did the same with Still Water, channeling water qi through his body. As soon as he was done, he bounded forward to strike with his spear, but Xiaoli must have had the same idea since she'd already begun to move as well. Whatever art she'd used to move so quickly, it hadn't been enough to make up for the longer casting time and his spear's longer reach.
Shaohuo activates his spear with 15 qi and boosts balance by 3 with 10 qi. 65/65 > 40/65.
Xiaoli activates her knives with 15 qi and boosts speed by 6 with 20 qi . 71/71 > 36/71.
He made use of the advantage while he could, thrusting his spear at Xiaoli's center of mass. He didn't know whether it was her natural grace or the art that was enhancing her speed, but she dodged most of his blows, swaying like a leaf in the wind with a stoic expression on her face, at times her movements so quick and subtle that she was out of the way by the time he finished pulling his spear back to strike. Still, he kept her at spear length, out of range of her knife, and finally landed a hit, whacking the side of her stomach with the shaft of his spear when she failed to move out of the way in time. Xiaoli winced as it hit her, but it didn't seem to slow her down.
She leaped forward, swaying to the side as she landed in order to avoid another of his strikes. She was now at close range, less than a yard away from him. She struck forward with her knife quickly, but Shaohuo was prepared and had already shuffled to the side and back. Xiaoli kept attempting to pursue and close the distance, but he managed to stay at range, shuffling backward and giving her no opportunity to get a single hit in. Even her enhanced speed did her little good when well-timed thrusts of his spear made it difficult for her to move closer even if they never hit their target. Frustration was clear on her furrowed brow, which shone with sweat from the game of cat-and-mouse. Shaohuo took the opportunity to counterattack in earnest, maintaining his distance and thrusting at her. Once again, she dodged with sharp yet graceful movements. Only one of his strikes hit, a glancing blow that didn't even phase her.
Xiaoli's lips curved into a crooked smile, and he got a very bad feeling in his gut. Her arms suddenly extended, hurling both of her knives straight at him. He dodged them without trouble, but when he looked up, Xiaoli was already running to the other end of the training grounds. He swore under his breath. Lacking any options for ranged attacks, he began running, but was far outstripped by her speed. He was still running toward her when he saw her begin to form a lance of fire qi. He swore again, and dove to the ground.
"FIRE BOLT!" Xiaoli yelled, and the air whistled as the lance streaked through the air.
Shaohuo hit the ground belly first, but apparently it was too little, too late. A burst of heat and pain struck his back, burning his skin to the point where he cried out in agony, his yell muffled by the grass. His qi began healing the injury a moment later, dulling the pain. Unlike when he lost to Suyin, he still had plenty of qi available to heal the injury.
Shaohuo got back on his feet, groaning as the skin on his back burned from the movement.
"You yield, right?" Xiaoli called out from where she stood.
"Yes," Shaohuo said, trying to keep his answer brief so as not to exacerbate the pain. He had briefly considered continuing to fight, since he doubted Xiaoli could manage to cast that Fire Bolt more than one or two times in a row, but it was not like he'd been able to land a good hit on her anyway and he didn't fancy getting burned again.
"Do you need help with that?" Xiaoli said, her brow wrinkled with concern.
"No, I'm good. I could use new clothes though," he said, shaking his head as he felt the back of his robes. He hissed in pain when he pressed too hard on one of the burnt patches of cloth, irritating his skin.
"That would probably be a good idea, yes." Xiaoli said, eyeing his shirt with a worried expression on her face.
Xiaoli's father thankfully chose not to comment on the sad state of his clothing, simply telling one of the servants to fetch him some new robes.
15 for a hard-fought loss. Progress 23/800 to next level.
The servant showed him to a spare room where he changed into the new robes, fortunately a relatively simple, unembroidered dark red piece. He didn't want to owe Xiaoli's father anything even if they were family and fine clothes were a small expense for the main clan.
He joined Xiaoli in the clan library afterward, but it was a bit awkward. Xiaoli spoke little, unusually quiet and occasionally glancing at him while they read. She must have felt guilty, even if she wasn't apologizing every few minutes the way Suyin did after their spar.
Shaohuo thought about telling her not to worry about it, but she hadn't brought it up and he didn't want to make her dwell on it. She wasn't Suyin, she probably knew she didn't do anything wrong. But people weren't rational.
"So, what's that book about?" he said, breaking the silence.
"Oh, I'm just reading an adventure story this time. The main character is a prince who finds a dragon egg and…" Xiaoli said, her eyes brightening as he kept asking her about the story of the book. He didn't actually care since he didn't usually read adventure stories, but the important thing was to make it clear that he wasn't upset with her. And he thought that went well enough.
When he and Xiaoli joined her parents for dinner, Shaohuo was surprised to see that the Honored Elder was there as well, occupying the seat at the head of the table. Though this was his home, he always seemed to be either busy or away on business.
"Hello. I am glad to see you are well, Honored Elder," Shaohuo said, bowing.
"Welcome home, Honored Elder," Xiaoli said, bowing as well.
The Honored Elder nodded at them and waved his hand, indicating that they sit down.
"I came to see the two of you off," the Honored Elder said. He took a long sip of tea and then continued, "I understand both of you are doing well in your cultivation and have reached orange. And I've heard from your father that you succeeded in gathering the Celestial Lavender." Here he turned toward Shaohuo.
"So you did succeed after all," Xiaoli's father said, nodding. "I am not sure whether to be impressed or think you're reckless."
"I would say reckless. Take care not to follow his example in that regard, Xiaoli. Though you could learn from Shaohuo's manners," Xiaoli's mother said. She raised a kerchief to wipe an imperceptible stain from the corner of her mouth. Shaohuo didn't speak to her often, but what he'd seen and heard did not endear him to the woman.
"Yes, mother." Xiaoli said tonelessly, but her eyes flashed with irritation before turning to glance at him with a questioning gaze. He had forgotten to tell her about the Celestial Lavender. Hopefully she wouldn't be too upset.
Xiaoli's mother opened her mouth to reply, but the Honored Elder cleared his throat loudly and she fell silent.
"In any case, I know you had some questions regarding how to conduct yourself at the sect, Shaohuo, and I thought it best if Xiaoli heard my answers as well," the Honored Elder said, looking at Shaohuo and Xiaoli in turn, perhaps to ensure they were paying attention. "Our friends in the Zhao family have a son named Zhao Jinhai who you should show respect while you are at the sect. Needless to say, you must also be respectful toward all others from our province, even if you have personal grievances with them."
He was probably referring to Wang Shen. It left Shaohuo at a loss, since it didn't answer his question of how to deal with Wang Shen in the future. Was he supposed to just ignore it if he started harassing Suyin again?
"Yes, of course Honored Elder." Shaohuo said, nodding, and Xiaoli said so as well.
"I understand that there will be conflict at the sect, as there always is. However, you must conduct yourselves honorably even in times of conflict. If there is any unbefitting behavior, it will not be from our House," the Honored Elder said, his gaze seeming to sharpen.
Having said his piece, the Honored Elder was silent once more, and the rest of the dinner passed with uneventful small talk.
Later that night, when Shaohuo retired to one of the guestrooms for the night, he heard a knock on the door. A servant woman holding a package wrapped in nondescript paper was standing outside.
"This is for you, my lord," the servant said, bowing, and held the package out for him.
"Thank you. You are dismissed," he said, waving the servant off. When he returned inside, he opened the package, which contained four vials of Heaven Flower Elixir bound together with twine. There was a letter attached, which he opened.
Dear Shaohuo,
I have attached some Heaven Flower Elixir to this letter which I believe will be of some use to you. Be sure to conduct yourself well at the sect, and never forget your duties to the clan and to the province.
Best Regards,
Elder Li Lee
It was an odd letter to receive. The Honored Elder had certainly given him valuable information in the past, but this was the most direct assistance he'd ever received from him. The more cynical part of him thought the reminder at the end pointed toward this being an attempt by the Honored Elder to guide him toward supporting Xiaoli at the sect. He was going to do so anyway, of course, but being given these pills to do so left an odd taste in his mouth.
Perhaps it just bothered him because being given something material in exchange for helping Xiaoli hurt his pride. Perhaps it was the doubt that bothered him. Was the Honored Elder doing this because he cared about him, or just so Shaohuo would help the next clan heir? He supposed it didn't matter in the end since it led to the same result, but he did find the Honored Elder difficult to read, and it unnerved him at times. The Honored Elder seemed kind, but was very distant even considering his busy schedule.
He decided to put it out of his mind for now. There was nothing to be gained from thinking on it, and he was probably just being paranoid anyway.
The more cynical part of him thought the reminder at the end pointed toward this being an attempt by the Honored Elder to guide him toward supporting Xiaoli at the sect. He was going to do so anyway, of course, but being given these pills to do so left an odd taste in his mouth.
The less we suck, the better we can support Xiaoli. That is not something to dwell on. If you wanted to do it anyway, being given an instrument to do it hardly even counts as a bribe.
[X] Hold on to it for now
It'd make a fancy present, and being something we personally obtained, it has some value above what it's worth in coppers.
Within an hour the carriage began taking him back toward the family estate. Looking out the window, Shaohuo thought he saw a flash of red in the sky. But perhaps that was just his imagination.
I kinda wish we'd spent more time with our mother now. Oh well. Also bit awks we're being paid to support our cuz but I suppose we're just being paid to be a dutiful member of the clan? That seems fair enough, the clan rewarding good behaviour.
