The instructor looked to be in his thirties.
Broad shoulders.
Short hair.
Dark training robes tied tightly at the forearms.
A thin scar crossed the left side of his jaw.
No weapon.
No elder insignia.
Chen Gao looked around.
"Where's Elder Chen Zhaolin?"
"Not here."
"I noticed."
Chen Yiru shifted half a step away from Gao.
The man folded his arms.
"Chen Zhaowu. Outer Court Combat Instructor."
His gaze passed across the five.
"I teach thirteen-year-olds on Fridays."
Lanyue asked,
"What about the older disciples?"
"At fourteen, the clan stops arranging their days for them."
He shrugged.
"At fifteen, if they still need someone telling them when to train, the Inner Court is probably no longer their biggest problem."
Chen Gao went quiet.
Zhaowu stepped forward.
"Monday teaches knowledge."
He tapped his chest.
"Friday teaches whether your body can use it."
His eyes moved to their Spirit Items.
"The Heritage Pavilion gave you foundational techniques."
"It engraved the principles into your minds."
"That doesn't mean you've mastered them."
He pointed at his dantian.
"Combat develops Qi."
Then his body.
"Body."
Then his temple.
"Skill."
"Faster than standing around pretending understanding is experience."
Chen Ba listened.
After two days of failing the Second Step, he had no reason to disagree.
Zhaowu reached toward his waist.
A bronze bell hung from a red cord.
He shook it once.
Ring.
"Take this."
Chen Gao stared.
"That's the training?"
"All five of you against me."
Chen Gao's enthusiasm faded.
Zhaowu released his cultivation.
Then suppressed it.
"Qi Initiate Level Six."
Chen Yiru's gaze sharpened.
Three levels above most of them.
Zhaowu spread his hands.
"No Spirit Item for me."
Chen Gao brightened.
"You may use yours."
Even better.
"Your techniques too."
Chen Gao smiled.
"I will also attack."
The smile vanished.
Zhaowu tapped the bell.
"Take it before noon."
"What do we get?" Gao asked.
"One complimentary session each inside the Outer Court Qi Gathering Chamber."
That got everyone's attention.
Normally, access required resources or Achievement Points.
Zhaowu raised one finger.
"Thirty breaths."
Chen Gao blinked.
"For what?"
"Preparation."
"Twenty-nine."
The five moved.
Their first mistake became obvious almost immediately.
They did not plan.
Chen Gao attacked first.
Ninefold Tyrant Breaker slammed into empty stone.
Zhaowu stepped aside and shoved him across the ground.
Xueyin followed with Phantom Wind Dodge.
Her Scarlet Coil cut toward the bell.
Zhaowu turned with her movement and tapped her forehead.
Yiru erased her presence with Echoless Ghost Drift.
She came closest.
Her hand reached within inches of the bell before Zhaowu forced her away.
Lanyue summoned her golem.
Zhaowu used the stone guardian's position to block the others.
Then Chen Ba moved.
Lightning Qi compressed through his calves.
Crack!
First Step.
He shot across Zhaowu's flank.
The Black Pole swept for the bell.
Zhaowu twisted away.
Chen Ba attempted the Second Step.
The transition failed.
His calf locked.
Zhaowu caught the Black Pole and pulled.
Chen Ba flew past him and slid across the stone.
"First Step is usable," Zhaowu said.
He pointed at Chen Ba's leg.
"Second isn't."
Chen Ba stood.
"Yes."
"Then stop pretending it is."
The words landed harder than the throw.
"Combat is not where you prove what you almost know."
Zhaowu stepped forward.
"Use what you actually know."
The morning became a cycle of failure.
Gao attacked.
Zhaowu redirected him.
Xueyin accelerated.
Zhaowu read her movement.
Yiru vanished.
Zhaowu forced her into useless angles.
Lanyue summoned her golem.
Zhaowu moved around it.
Chen Ba used the First Step repeatedly.
Each attempt came closer.
None reached the bell.
By late morning, Gao lay flat on the ground.
"This is impossible."
"Correct," Zhaowu said.
Gao lifted his head.
"What?"
"For you."
"What does that mean?"
Zhaowu pointed around the field.
"You have five people."
"And you've spent the entire morning taking turns losing."
The five fell silent.
"Gao attacks. Everyone watches."
"Xueyin attacks. Everyone watches."
"Yiru."
"Lanyue."
"Chen Ba."
He tapped the bell.
"Why did I need five opponents?"
No one answered.
"You don't need to defeat me."
He shook the bell.
Ring.
"You need this."
Yiru looked at the others.
"We've been fighting him."
Chen Ba nodded.
"Not the objective."
For the first time that morning, the five formed a plan.
It was simple.
Gao would force Zhaowu to move.
Lanyue's golem would close the opposite route.
Xueyin would pressure the opening.
Yiru would disappear.
Chen Ba would react to whatever remained.
Gao raised his axe.
"Ready?"
They moved.
Ninefold Tyrant Breaker came from the front.
Zhaowu shifted right.
Lanyue's golem was waiting.
A stone fist forced him low.
Xueyin's whip cut across the space above him.
Zhaowu retreated.
For the first time, the five had dictated where he moved.
Chen Ba saw the angle.
Crack!
First Step.
He appeared at Zhaowu's flank.
But instead of reaching for the bell, he swung at the instructor's shoulder.
Zhaowu blocked.
Their weapons met.
Chen Ba pushed.
Only half a step.
Enough.
"Now!"
Yiru appeared low beside Zhaowu.
Her hand closed around the red cord.
Zhaowu reacted.
Chen Ba shoved the Black Pole between his arm and waist.
One heartbeat.
Yiru pulled.
Snap.
The cord broke.
Ring.
The bell flew free.
Yiru caught it.
Silence.
Then Gao threw both arms into the air.
"We won!"
Zhaowu hit him on the head.
"Ow!"
"You stole one bell from an instructor suppressing himself to Level Six."
Zhaowu looked across the five.
"You did not conquer the Great Land."
Gao rubbed his head.
"We still won."
"Yes."
Zhaowu turned to Chen Ba.
"You had a chance to reach for the bell."
"Yes."
"You attacked me instead."
"Yiru was closer."
Zhaowu nodded once.
"Good."
Then he addressed all five.
"Strength matters."
"Speed matters."
"Qi matters."
"Technique matters."
He pointed at the bell in Yiru's hand.
"But the objective matters more."
"Never confuse winning the fight with completing the purpose of the fight."
Training ended there.
No Achievement Points.
Only the promised Qi Gathering Chamber session.
The five had barely left the training ground when Chen Ba stopped.
The pressure inside his dantian shifted.
Qi gathered naturally.
His meridians opened.
The thin barrier that had been pressing against him since Wednesday gave way.
A quiet pulse spread through his body.
Qi Initiate Level Four.
Yiru noticed first.
Then Xueyin.
Gao turned.
"No way."
Lanyue's eyes widened.
Chen Ba opened his eyes.
Gao pointed at him.
"You just broke through."
"Yes."
"You were Level Three this morning."
"Yes."
"You were Level Three two days ago."
"Yes."
"How?"
Chen Ba looked at his hands.
"I don't know."
The answer killed Gao's next question.
Xueyin watched him.
"Maybe the training pushed you over."
"Maybe."
But Chen Ba had already been close before Friday.
That remained unexplained.
That evening, Gao visited the Recovery Hall.
Chen Shun was cultivating in bed.
"Still cultivating?"
Chen Shun opened one eye.
"What do you want?"
"To visit."
"You came to talk."
"That too."
Chen Shun closed his eye.
"Talk."
Gao pulled over a chair.
"New Friday instructor."
Silence.
"Chen Zhaowu."
Still silence.
"He made five of us fight him."
Chen Shun opened his eyes.
"Together?"
"Yes."
"What level?"
"Suppressed to Six."
"And?"
Gao grinned.
"We took his bell."
He recounted the fight.
Their failures.
The golem.
Xueyin's movement.
Yiru's Ghost Drift.
Chen Ba's First Step.
The final opening.
When Gao finished, Chen Shun asked,
"How was Chen Ba's technique?"
"Fast."
"Second Step?"
"Still bad."
A hint of satisfaction crossed Chen Shun's face.
Then Gao added,
"Oh. He reached Level Four after training."
Silence.
"What?"
"Level Four."
"Chen Ba?"
"Who else?"
Chen Shun's hand tightened around the blanket.
"When?"
"Right after training."
Chen Shun closed his eyes.
Qi began moving through his meridians again.
Faster.
Gao frowned.
"Didn't the healer tell you not to force it?"
"I'm not forcing anything."
Gao watched him for a moment.
Then sighed.
"You're both strange."
Chen Shun ignored him.
Chen Ba had reached Level Four.
Then he would catch him.