"You'll owe me, little fox," says old Weidun as he throws off his leather apron, revealing his muscular torso. And how can anyone call this man old—flashes through Xiao Tai's mind as she clasps her hands in greeting and bows. The fist of her right hand presses against the open palm of her left. Yin and yang, warrior and scholar, light and darkness.
"My gratitude knows no bounds, most honored Weidun, and my tongue will never turn to speak ill of your teaching," she says modestly, lowering her gaze.
"When it comes to criticizing my cooking, saying the meat is tough—oh, then your tongue turns just fine," Weidun snorts, but folds his hands in response to her greeting. "Now I'll show you the art of secret combat from the Imperial Silent Screams unit. Though perhaps one hand will be enough for you." He turns sideways and extends his left hand forward.
"You have a head start, Silver Bell," says Weidun, stroking his gray beard with his right hand. "One minute during which I'll only defend."
"Don't regret it later, old man," she says, crouching slightly and preparing to lunge. After two weeks of persuasion, old Weidun finally agreed to show something from his unit's martial arts. And, as always in this world—no clear explanation, no training manual or diagrams drawn with sticks in the sand, no theory. Just—stand opposite and try to kick old Weidun's ass. What ass—this whole Xiao Tai with her shoes and belt barely weighs forty kilos, while Weidun with his muscles weighs at least twice as much, if not more. And there's almost no fat visible on him—no, you can't see abs, but still, still...
If this training bout were taking place in her previous world—she wouldn't bet a broken penny on her victory. Never would a girl weighing as much as a skinny lamb, training for only three weeks, and before that barely recovered from prolonged exhaustion, never would she defeat a trained and experienced fighter, even if he were well over fifty. But in this world... maybe she does have a chance after all?
Elementary level of cultivation, warm energy spreading throughout her body. She still hadn't learned to feel the power meridians, but this warm feeling fills her chest, stomach, legs, arms, each finger individually. Now she's stronger, faster, and more enduring than any ordinary girl her age.
"Attack, Bell," Weidun smirks, watching her strengthen her body.
"You asked for it, old man!" And she springs from her spot, covering the distance between them in one leap! Strike! Straight, right hand, to the center, too fast to maneuver or deceive, betting on speed!
Her hand goes down—Weidun simply lowered his hand, blocking her. She jumps back to the side. Well then. Standard palm block. Her task now is to learn how much the martial arts in this world, this world of qi cultivation, differ from the systems of her previous world. So far she sees no difference. Straight strike—block. And the old man's speed isn't bad—he reacted. Though... what else to expect, she telegraphed with her whole body where she would strike.
"Not bad. Elementary level body enhancement," nods old Weidun. "Strength, speed. And a proper strike. You say you never trained under anyone before?"
"My memory got knocked out, old man," Xiao Tai grumbles in response. "Forgot?"
"Hmm. Interesting. Will you try again?"
"Of course. Try not to get too winded, old timer."
"One young lady is asking for a couple of knocks. And might go without meat today."
"That's already unfair play, you old codger," she says, knowing that Weidun loves this kind of good-natured banter—a real tsundere.
Fine, she's already seen something, and a smart person can guess about the existence of oceans and sea monsters from just a drop of water. A palm block can tell you a lot—for example, that deceptive strikes aren't common here... that strikes are delivered with the whole body, powerful, but strengthened bodies can withstand them. Palm block... she changes her stance, stands higher, bounces softly on her toes, shifting her body weight from leg to leg, raises her hands higher, protecting her head. Shuttle movement, forward-back, forward-back. Time to test good old boxing. She tilts her head right and left, warming up her neck.
"Interesting stance..." says old Weidun, but she's already beside him! A step closing the distance, invisible due to constant bouncing, shortening the distance imperceptibly, unexpectedly! Wave-strike, short jab with straight left! Jab! Yes, a palm block follows, but a jab from boxing isn't a straight punch from kung fu or karate—it's a wave! No one intends to defeat an opponent with the first jab, the movement practiced hundreds, thousands of times, wave-wave! The palm doesn't have time to touch the first strike before the second is already delivered! The strike passes through the defense but doesn't reach—her arms are much shorter than the old butcher's, but this is only the beginning of the combination! During the second jab, the right leg pulls up to the left, and on the third—the left leg slides forward, and the left hand goes forward, gathering strength and speed from the whole body moving forward! Strike! The fist seems to stick into a stone wall and sharp pain pierces her hand!
"Tsk!" She jumps back, cradling her hand. "Damn! Your head is wooden!"
"Not the head, the chest. Where you hit," says old Weidun, but his eyes are serious. "Why don't you strengthen the striking parts of your body with your 'qi,' fool? 'Stone Skin' technique, elementary spell. You have enhancement, so what's the deal? What if I hit you? You'll break all over, silly girl. What's the point of striking fast if you cripple yourself in the process?"
"I don't know how," she replies, holding her hand up and examining the swollen knuckles. Little fist—bones and skin, narrow palm, long thin fingers. Such hands should play piano, or whatever musical instruments they have here? What kind of boxer with such a body—some Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson in a sheep-weight body with rabbit bones...
"You don't know how? Seriously? Wait, you have the first level, you do enhance yourself."
"I don't feel the meridians," she admits. "I know this 'qi' of yours exists, but I can't feel the power meridians at all."
"Wait. How do you use enhancement then?" Weidun wonders. "You need to pass qi through meridians to the surface..."
"Uh... well, I pass warmth through my arms and legs," she shrugs. "The teacher said that would work."
"Your teacher should be... let me see your hand. Aha. That's enough duels for you today. Here, apply this piece of meat and wrap it with a cloth. It'll hurt tomorrow. Generally, I'd show you to a healer—after all, you injured yourself at decent speed."
"Injured?! Injured?! I got you, you old stump! Got you!"
"If you 'got' someone like that in battle, you'd be left without a hand, fool! Give back the meat!"
"I won't! I beat you! Let's go again!"
"Your hand is broken, you stupid fox!"
"I'll finish you even without this hand! But no body strengthening! Just fists!"
"You're a crazy woman! We need a healer here! Give back the meat, I told you!"
"You take it!"
"Oh, Holy..." Weidun slowly runs his palm over his face. "You won't let go, will you?"
"No. To hell with the left one, let's try once more, but..." She lowers her left, bandaged hand, letting it hang along her body. She raises her right and extracts a long hairpin from her hair. The complex hairstyle immediately falls apart, cascading down in a waterfall of hair, and she shakes her head, throwing it behind her back. The old butcher freezes for a second, shakes his head.
"Are you doing this on purpose, little fox?" he grumbles, relaxing. "You could be my granddaughter."
"What?! I never even thought of it, you old stump! You! How could you even!"
"And who's shaking her hair here like she's showing off in front of a young man?!"
"I only have one hairpin! One hairpin! I wanted to... oh, forget you... fine, another time." She sits on a nearby bench and presses the piece of meat to her injured knuckles. The old man sits beside her, pours hot tea into a cup and silently offers it to her. She, equally silently, takes it with her right hand and carefully blows on the cup. Takes a sip. They remain silent.
"You know, you surprised me, Bell," Weidun finally says. "If you had a strengthened body, you would have got me."
"I did get you anyway..." she grumbles. Weidun winces.
"Look, I'm not trying to put you down," he says. "It's just that in battle such a strike is useless without strengthening the striking part. You'll break your hand, that's all. You did well, yes. I've never seen such movements. It's like you're there, like I'm controlling your hand, and suddenly—you bypass my defense and even strike. Well done. It's just useless if you don't strengthen your body."
"I understand," she grumbles. "I understand everything. Tell me, Uncle Wei, in your unit you have this style—soft palm, right? Block—like this..." She demonstrates with her hand, deflecting an invisible strike down and to the side. "Right?"
"Sharp-eyed," he chuckles. "Stopping enhanced strikes with a direct block—they'll break your arm. Punch through a shield. Break strengthened skin and bones. But if you just deflect to the side with your palm, like this... then all that energy dissipates into space. When qi dissipates into space after an attacking discharge—it hangs in the air for some time as a suspension, then it's easier to attract and manipulate. So the opponent constantly loses their qi on attacks, while the defender gains it."
"Energy vampirism," she mutters under her breath. "Interesting paths evolution took here. It's clear that an accentuated straight strike is easier to enhance with your qi than a sweeping side strike. Also few deceptive strikes, because a strike without qi won't penetrate strengthened skin. I suppose the same applies to sword fighting, knife combat, and long polearms, though... polearms aren't popular here. Probably because..."
"What are you muttering there, Bell? How's the hand? Better?"
"Tell me, Uncle Wei, when attacking with a sword, for example, do you enhance the hand or the sword with qi?" she asks, and the old butcher just scratches his head.
"Different ways," he says. "There are different schools and styles. But to infuse a sword with your qi—you need to reach at least the fourth level of cultivation. And you need a special sword that can absorb qi without damaging the blade. There are masters who can cut through a stone wall with their sword, or cut a thousand armored warriors in half!"
"Well... it's not the sword cutting, it's the qi cutting..." she says and thinks again. To transfer your qi to a spear or halberd, you'd need to overcome and infuse two types of material—the shaft and the tip. Unless the weapon is all-metal... and still, qi concentration drops rapidly with distance, Wun Jun told her that. She should derive a formula—she questioned the teacher this way and that, but he doesn't know in what proportion qi concentration falls per unit of distance. Generally, it's wrong—qi exists, but there are no instruments to measure it. Or are there? How do they determine a cultivator's rank here? By eye?
"You know what? Let me show you how to strengthen the body. At least those little fists of yours," old Weidun suddenly suggests. She looks at him, not believing her ears.
"You... are you serious! Most honored Master Weidun! This worthless one has nothing to repay such a generous offer! I... uh... can cook lunch! Salt your chopping block! Sharpen knives! Sweep the floor here! I can ask Minmin to mend the apron—it's frayed at the edges."
"Look at that, turns out you can be polite, Bell," Weidun squints. "I thought once you became the Head's adopted daughter, you completely forgot polite words."
"How could I! Truly your talents, respected Weidun, are higher than heaven and deeper than the sea. And the glory of your glorious deeds..."
"Oh, stop. You overdid it. And I almost believed you. So what? Ready to learn body strengthening?"
"Am I ever ready!" Xiao Tai immediately jumped to her feet. Her left hand still hurt, but such a chance couldn't be missed! In this world, any hint, any knowledge is worth its weight in gold. Everyone guards their secrets and keeps them close, everything passes from father to son, from grandfather to grandson. And here—they want to teach technique! Just like that! No, definitely need to send Minmin to the kitchen for a bottle of rice wine to please the old man. What else does he like besides wine? Give him tea, sweets. Otherwise this nasty Wun Ju doesn't intend to teach her, thinks that for cannon fodder she knows enough, will pass the loyalty test, won't arouse suspicion among the Azure Phoenix clan, and as for the rest... what's the point of teaching her at all? Xiao Tai strongly suspects that the teacher roughly assumes the same thing she does—that there's no way back from the Phoenix stronghold for her, she'll be like the Iron Mask, her whole life in solitary confinement without the right to correspondence. So why teach her then? It's like playing a zither to a cow.
"Don't tremble," the old butcher smirks into his beard. "It's a well-known technique, elementary level. Nothing secret here. Too bad you don't feel meridians, but try anyway. So—body strengthening, or 'Elementary Level Stone Skin.' The simplest spell, consisting of thirty-two components. First—a brief prayer to the God of Stone Skin, the Glorious Stone Toad. Remember the words of the prayer..."
"Thirty-two components?!" She bulges her eyes like that very Glorious Stone Toad. "Seriously? For an elementary level spell? Good thing I don't lack memory."
"That's very good," Weidun nods. "Already at the second level, spells have no less than one hundred twenty components. Memory always comes in handy."
"Uncle Wei, how do you enter battle then? Well, unexpectedly, if there's an ambush or something? Do you really have to recite all these prayers?"
"You silly little thing. Each spell works for some time. General enhancement—about four hours, so it's better not to cast it at night—you won't sleep afterward, sounds and smells will interfere."
"I remember that," she shudders, recalling the deafening sounds of night moths hitting the net. "Someone should have told me beforehand."
"What a strange girl you are, casting body enhancement at night," the old man smiles. "Were you planning to meet a guy at night? These snot-noses from the high house say Master Wang is handsome."
"Ugh! What are you saying! No, never. I'll die a virgin, mark my words, you old stump," Xiao Tai shakes her head. "And I didn't cast any enhancement spell!"
"But you possess enhancement. You clearly move fast and became strong," her companion notes. "So you know the body enhancement spell. Basic enhancement, which includes acceleration and perception. The foundation of foundations."
"I don't know any spell! I just strengthen my body and that's all. I send warmth, like feeling qi diffused in the air, and then—bang and..."
"What? Wait..." the old man suddenly tenses up and becomes serious. "You mean you don't cast anything? Twenty-four components of the enhancement, acceleration, and perception spell, an elementary level spell... you don't do this?"
"I don't know anything about any components," she admits. "Is something wrong with me? Can this be treated at all?"