"Come at me with the resolve to kill if you want to have breakfast, Master."
Somehow, fighting this absurd old man just for breakfast had become a messed up routine. Consequently, going hungry until the evening also became routine because he refused to let me leave before the Sun reached its peak.
Well, not that I was particularly dissatisfied about three days in. His guidance was useful. Not only that, this was clearly the learning from a venerable ancestor scenario... Hm, if I showed growth to match that scenario, that was. What improved was merely my ability to control my cursed energy.
"I think trying to kill someone just for food is a bit too messed up, even for me." I rubbed my nose, standing across from him. "
The once peaceful clearing atop the mountain now bore the scars of many one-sided beatings, having soaked up desperation and hungry tears to become a cracked place full of deep gashes, craters and wounds.
I felt the cold morning breeze on my skin, and put a hand over my stomach.
"Suit yourself." Shuwen shrugged idly, "I am not one to say no to food."
To taunt me, he reached for a piece of chicken with his chopsticks. He always began with that.
"You leave my chicken-...!" I choked down the words that came raring out of my lips and clapped my hands together. "Nue."
Straining, I used cursed energy to reinforce my eyes as best I could. They stung under the sudden influx of information.
Purple lightning burst forth from the shadows around us just as two wolves sprang from the treeline. Shuwen struck one under the neck with a swift kick that sounded like a bomb going off, then twisted his foot to hook and drag the other in the path of the lightning headed his way.
"Heh."
I dispelled the wolves the instant before the lightning hit. Disappointingly, Shuwen outright disappeared as well. He tended to move behind me in such situations so I threw back a reinforced round kick without even looking. He blocked it with his elbow, making me hiss from the pain. A faint but amused smile crossed his dry lips.
He really left no gaps at all.
I sank into my shadow and burst out from his with a fist reeled right the next second. He tilted his body to the side just enough to avoid the blow completely. My fist struck a tree making the trunk explode into a million splinters. Shuwen attacked only the Shikigami. That was, until recently at least. I scrambled to place my forearm between a lightning-fast knee and my chin but failed to calculate just how immense the impact would be.
My arm felt like it had broken, and my brain rattled in my skull. I sucked in a sharp breath, gritting my teeth, before not-so-calmly throwing another hook that he ended up easily stopping with the palm of his free hand.
"You slipped there. If I wanted, I could take your heart."
My eyes locked onto the hand holding my breakfast. The white wolf leapt from my shadow with his maw open and bit down on Shuwen's knee. Rabbit Escape spilled out from my cuffs, obscuring his vision only momentarily. Though I doubted I'd be able to succeed if he really gave it his all, I was able to use that moment to summon Nue right above him, from a tree's shadow.
Instead of attacking, the bird's glinting talons locked down on his arms creating another brief second where I was able to throw my entire bodyweight against the bowl of ramen. He saw me coming a while away, remorselessly hoisting the food above his head. The black wolf sprang from Nue's great wings and threw itself against the entire hand holding breakfast.
The thing was, he never held down on the bowl.
Shuwen himself didn't even budge... but, the bowl was knocked from his palm. A confused grunt escaped his lips when the shadows beneath swallowed up the bowl before it hit the earth.
The shikigami disappeared.
I stared at my teacher.
He stared at me.
I closed my eyes and pursed my lips.
For a long moment, there was silence between us. Then, Shuwen's shoulders slumped a bit. He let out an amused chuckle.
"To use ancient Shikigami so flippantly-... Kakaka! What a strange master." He shook his head from side to side, putting his hands behind his back, "Splendid. For a moment there, I even forgot that you only ever wanted food."
I heaved and fell back, a bit tired from the rapid usage coupled with reinforcement, "I... got you."
"Indeed!" He chuckled warmly. "Five days, it took you five days to finally acquire breakfast. I will admit, I did not expect someone without real drive and passion to learn this quickly."
Confused, I tilted my head.
What had I even learnt? I couldn't recall anything particular.
"You considered my habits, used your Chi to bolster yourself, moved me under a tree-... Any fighter needs honed instincts. Though you can still be found lacking, as a teacher, it is my duty to give praise where it is due. My expectations were surpassed."
He offered me a hand, "Perhaps because you are empty, your self greedily takes in whatever you can. And, the self is the body as well. If you grow complacent, all you have gained will go to waste."
After nearly a week of shared living, I had gotten a bit used to his somewhat cryptic manner of speech. He wasn't calling me an idiot. No, by empty he merely meant what I already knew. I had the freedom I always wanted deep down, but even I accepted now that that had left me lost on what was to come next.
As my teacher said, I had no passion to drive me, merely a vague sense of the path ahead instead of some grand meaning.
I took his hand, "Thank you for the lesson."
He grunted and sat me up.
"Do you take issue that I do not teach you the way of my fists?"
"Honestly..." I sighed, "No. It's great to have someone guiding me at all."
I had pushed away all advice in one life. I had never received any in the other.
My stomach grunted. Without a second thought, I made to retrieve my breakfast from the shadows... only for all the contents to drench me. The dirt drank up all the soup, and marred what it could not.
...
"Pft-" Shuwen turned his head away.
I put my face in my hands.
"Oh, come on now, Master. A... Are you sobbing?" He inhaled deeply, and I could hear the grin he was struggling to restrain, "I will make more for you, as a reward. Come now, don't cry-"
"Y-You said that last time too."
He never gave me the feast he had promised.
-
I sat on the porch with an empty bowl in my lap. I ended up being unable to relish my food when the landlord showed up unexpectedly. My first thought had been that she'd come with some complaint, maybe to raise the rent after seeing someone actually live in her shitshack-... erm, anyway, I was mistaken.
Yes, indeed, I knew that I was definitely mistaken.
Why?
Because, right across from me, outside the dingy and rusted gate, Shuwen was busy conversing with the overly animated fifty-something year old woman. She was blushing faintly, a hand on her cheek, and wearing a bright yukata patterned with flowers. The god-forsaken perfume was strong enough to block my nose even from a distance.
Clearly, my old teacher was getting hit on.
My question was, why not me?
Though I disliked talking too much in general, I was still a healthy young man who liked women just as much as the next guy. I could never say no to being fawned over or hit on like in those isekai anime... Where was my popular guy moment?
It wasn't like I was that bad-looking. No, actually, I had a whole young Toji Fushiguro thing going on, minus the scars, or was it an older Megumi look-... That was likelier. Where Megumi was fifteen, I'd recently turned twenty-... Anyway, the point was, I looked decent enough-
"Ugh... I really have too much free time on my hands now." I rubbed my temples with a sigh. "Seriously, what am I even thinking about right now?"
"Ara~, Enji-kun-" I raised my head. She was waving her hand with a smile, raising up a basket, "I brought you some of my son's clothes! He lives in the city now so they're just gathering dust-"
Was she doing this to get on Shuwen's good side? No, she was likely trying to sway me into staying there longer.
"Thank you." I said calmly.
I must have made a strange face then, because a look of pity framed her lips at my words.
"Take care of yourself, alright?"
What even was this?
She bowed to Shuwen and handed over the wooden basket before turning to leave. He gave her a slight bow.
"What was that about?"
Shuwen smiled faintly, "As I said, master, people can be unexpectedly kind."
"Is that so?" I rested my chin atop my palm, humming, "Must be nice, eh? Getting hit on like that."
"It's flattering, but I'm a married man."
I couldn't help but raise a brow at that.
"Your expression says you're surprised someone would agree to marry me." He stared at the clear blue sky, "You are right, master. She is too good a woman. For her, even someone like me wants to look fashionable."
"Must be nice." I repeated.
"It is."
The smile that crossed his lips was an undeniably admirable one.
I had to wonder if some day I would have someone who could cause me to make such an expression.
But, that was for later.
For now, I had to tame as many of the Shikigami as I possibly could.
-
"You know, this kind of feels like cheating..."
The size of the Shikigami I had already tamed was far larger than what I'd been expecting, so much so that I readied myself for the surprise when I summoned the Great Serpent. I still found myself surprised.
The white Shikigami was nearly double Nue's entire wingspan, and nearly three feet wide. The snake was also far faster than it had any right to be, almost managing to catch me off-guard with how it immediately made to bit my damn head off the second I summoned it.
Fortunately, Nue intercepted it in time.
Unfortunately, Nue was some kind of weird owl-eagle hybrid. Both those creatures hunted snakes. To add insult to injury, I made Nue drag it into the water and give it the good old electric chair too.
"Just give up."
Its long tongue slithered as it hissed loudly before bowing down, resting its massive head against the sand. The sea waves lapped across its massive form. The Shikigami's form turned a puffy black that immediately retreated into my shadows. Suddenly, Nue's talons were empty.
Shuwen watched the ordeal with his hands behind his back.
"Your disregard for the divine is strangely awe-inspiring."
"That. Divine. Why do you call them that?" I glanced at him.
"Servants are spiritual beings, Master. As such, our sensitivity to similar beings is greater than yours." He explained easily, raising an empty palm. "And I can tell. Those creatures are incredibly close to the existence of a servant... yet, in a fashion, not at all. If this were not the case, your Shikigami would have no effect at all upon me."
So... these Ten Shadows were capable of affecting servants... That was good to know.
"Alright, Toad now."
Toad's ritual was even more unfortunate than the Great Serpent's.
Both snakes and owl-eagle thingies were its natural predators.
The massive green Shikigami simply closed its beady eyes in acceptance the moment I summoned it in tandem with the even larger Great Serpent and Nue.
There was never even a fight.
-
Hope you enjoyed.
You can find 7 chonky chaps ahead at patre0n.com/Bleap
Li Shuwen's such a goat bro. He so kind he's protecting the feelings of this FRADULENT BUM by telling him he's talented. What? You're telling me has good battle IQ? NAHHHHHH, THE SHIKIGAMI DID ALL THE WORK! HE'S USELESS! USELESSSSSSSSSSSS! WHAT? HE CAN FIGHT WITH REINFORCEMENT NOW?! LIES! BULLSHIT! HE AINT SHIIIIIIIIIIIII-