Chương 83: Chapter 81

I open my eyes slowly, and the first thing my brain registers is that I'm still tired from all the commotion of yesterday and the whole business with the auction. I stretch my arms above my head with a movement that coaxes a satisfying crack from my shoulders and let out a long sigh as I blink to finish adjusting to the light streaming through the windows.

Lianhua hasn't appeared yet, which gives me a few minutes of peace that my mind, as it tends to do when it has nothing more urgent to occupy it, decides to fill with memories. And the memories that come are not bad ones. Not at all. The auction springs to mind at once.

An involuntary smile spreads across my lips as I recall the exact moment the auctioneer pronounced the words that sealed my victory over the Dragon's Grip, a technique that for most of those present was little more than a minor curiosity, a simple tool no serious cultivator would consider a priority. But for me, that jade tablet is worth every one of the sixty-eight spirit stones I paid for it, and probably more.

And now that I think about it with the perspective a night's rest affords, perhaps sixty-eight spirit stones wasn't as outrageous a price as it seemed in the heat of the moment. Especially if I consider what came afterward, when the auctioneer moved from techniques to weapons and the prices shot up to levels that made my bid look like a bargain by comparison.

Because a hundred and twenty spirit stones for a sword, no matter how impressive its purported abilities or how beautiful it looked, with its blade's gleam and the way light seemed to glide across its surface as though the metal were alive, is too much. In the end, or at least for me, it's nothing more than a very pretty magical sword you won't be able to recoup your investment on unless you expect to put it to heavy use.

That sum, even for my half-brother Sun Rui as the winner, and being the second prince with what are supposedly the strongest prospects for the throne, must have stung. It's nearly double what I paid for the Dragon's Grip, though I admit the difference is that I bought something no other participant truly wanted and they only drove up the price to annoy me, while he competed against half the hall for a weapon everyone desired.

But I don't have time to keep reminiscing about the auction, because the familiar sound of soft, measured footsteps tells me Lianhua has arrived. The door slides open smoothly and Lianhua enters the room unobtrusively, glancing toward my bed to check whether I'm still asleep or already awake.

"Good morning, Zhāohuán Wen", she says with her customary composure as she approaches the bed upon seeing I'm awake.

"Did you rest well?"

"Enough", I reply, suppressing a yawn threatening to escape.

"Though my body is still reminding me I overdid it yesterday and that I'm not used to it. Right now I wish I'd been able to open the Nature Gate so I could recover from this fatigue faster." Lianhua nods at my words as she begins selecting the clothes she'll dress me in today, and after laying them out, her hands move with precision as she helps me dress, making sure every garment sits in place with the meticulous care she always brings to helping me with my clothes.

Once I'm ready, she sets me in the chair and looks at me, waiting for instructions.

"Take me to the study", I tell her without preamble. Lianhua nods and, without wasting a moment, pushes the chair through the Palace corridors as we pass the handmaidens who are also preparing for their daily duties. When we reach the study and Lianhua settles me before the desk, I turn to her before she can withdraw to her usual position.

"Lianhua", I say in a tone I hope conveys that what I'm about to ask is not up for discussion.

"Send someone to tell my Calligraphy and Music tutors that I won't be able to attend their classes today." I see Lianhua raise one eyebrow slightly at my request, but she makes no comment, which I appreciate.

"And once you've done that, bring me the tablet with the Myriad of Hands technique", I continue before she can leave. This time Lianhua's reaction is different. She says nothing, but she stands looking at me for a moment that stretches long enough for me to notice a mixture of curiosity and that silent concern she always shows when she suspects I'm about to do something she considers unnecessary or hasty. But she finally nods with a brief gesture and exits the study to carry out my orders.

After she leaves I'm alone with the silence of the study and my thoughts. I don't waste time and begin mentally reviewing the plan I'd mapped out the day before for the tablet. A plan that occurred to me during the final stretch of the auction, in one of those moments when the bidding was on items that didn't interest me and therefore left my mind enough time to wander toward more productive territory.

I go over each step of the plan, searching for flaws or improvements, but before I can find anything worth changing, the sound of Lianhua's footsteps tells me she's back. She enters the study with a jade tablet in her hands that I recognize at once. Pale green, edges slightly worn by the passage of time, with five symbols engraved on its surface that gleam with a sharpness contrasting with the object's general condition. Lianhua closes the study door behind her and turns to me with the tablet in her hands, waiting.

"You can probably guess why I asked you to bring it", I say, indicating the tablet with a jut of my chin.

"Use it." Lianhua looks at me and, instead of pressing the tablet to her forehead as I expected, speaks.

"Zhāohuán Wen", she says in that tone of hers she employs when she wants to be diplomatic yet firm at the same time.

"You've already given me the Vision of Horus technique. I don't need another technique for the time being." Her objection doesn't surprise me in the slightest. I know Lianhua well enough to understand that her natural instinct is to conserve resources rather than spend them, especially when the resources in question are limited, irreplaceable, and could be used by me instead.

"There are plenty of uses left", I reply with a firmness that admits no argument.

"And if it's never used, that tablet is nothing more than a stupidly expensive jade ornament. Besides, I want to test something." Lianhua opens her mouth, probably to raise another objection, but I cut her off before she can begin.

"Stop arguing and just use it", I tell her in a tone that, I hope, makes it clear this is not a suggestion. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Lianhua looks at me for a moment longer, and I can see in her eyes that familiar resignation that appears every time she realizes arguing with me about something I've already decided is about as productive as trying to empty the sea with a bucket.

She sighs, a soft sigh, the kind emitted by someone who knows she's lost a battle before even fighting it, and finally presses the jade tablet to her forehead. The contact lasts only a few seconds, during which I watch closely as the tablet's surface seems to react to the touch. I immediately notice one of the five symbols beginning to fade, as though an invisible eraser were passing over it. Lianhua finally pulls the tablet from her forehead and looks at me.

"It's done", she tells me in her usual tone, though it's clear to me she's making an effort to maintain it.

"Good", I say, nodding with satisfaction.

"Set the tablet on the desk and tell me what exactly the technique does." Lianhua places the tablet on the desk's surface with care and takes a moment before she begins speaking, as though organizing in her mind the information she has just received.

"The technique, like the Vision of Horus, has created three seals in my mind. I assume they correspond to the different stages Master Mu explained during the auction", she begins.

"Mhm", I say, nodding to encourage her to continue.

"Go on." Lianhua complies without delay.

"The technique itself allows the creation of a sort of invisible hand made of Qi to grasp objects", she explains with the precision that characterizes her when reporting on something.

"And it also allows the creation of as many hands as the user's capacity to grasp Qi specks." She pauses for an instant, as if verifying something internally, then adds "Therefore, right now I would be able to create up to five hands simultaneously. Each one capable of supporting a weight of roughly ten catty." I process the figures quickly after hearing Lianhua.

Ten catty is approximately five kilograms per hand, and multiplying that by five hands gives a total of roughly twenty-five kilograms of capacity if she used them all at once. Not bad at all. Five kilograms per hand is more than enough to manipulate most everyday objects, from books and utensils to light tools. And five simultaneous hands is a number high enough to perform complex tasks that would normally require more than two.

"That's very good", I tell her after my reflection, though I can't stop a note of regret from creeping into my voice as I continue.

"The only downside, which is a shame, is that you weren't able to create more hands and that it's now impossible for you to do so."

"But now I want to see a practical demonstration of the technique", I add, shaking my head slightly to push aside the depressing and useless thought.

"Try lifting some objects." Lianhua nods and directs her gaze at the desk as she concentrates. For a moment, nothing happens. And then one of the books on the desk rises gently, as though an invisible hand had picked it up and were holding it in the air about thirty centimeters above the desk's surface. I watch the book hold steady, without trembling or swaying, which indicates Lianhua's control over the Qi hand is precise even on her first attempt.

A second book then lifts in the same manner, joining the first in the air. But here Lianhua stops and, with an expression mixing apology and determination, tells me "For the moment this is my limit. I need to practice more before I can use more hands simultaneously." I wave my hand to dismiss her apology as I continue contemplating the books floating in the air.

"Don't worry", I tell her matter-of-factly.

"For practice, the exercises I gave you to use while you're cultivating should almost certainly work for this as well." Lianhua nods at my words as the two books descend gently until they come to rest on the desk once more.

"But now I want you to try something else", I say, and something in my tone must tell her that what comes next is what I'm really interested in, because I see her attention sharpen.

"I want you to use the Vision of Horus", I explain.

"And then, while you're using it, use Myriad of Hands to lift objects that are within the range of your vision." Lianhua listens, and for a moment surprise shows on her face with a clarity I rarely see from her.

"It didn't occur to you because you haven't had time to think about it", I tell her before she can raise any objections.

"But think for a moment about the possibilities." I lean forward slightly, feeling the excitement I've been holding back ever since this idea came to me reflected clearly in my posture.

"If you're able to use the technique at any point you can see with the Vision of Horus, think about the possibilities", I continue, and I notice my voice rising half a note with the excitement.

"That would make the operating range of the Qi hands incredibly wide, and you'd no longer be limited to what you can see in front of you." And here I can't stop a smile from crossing my face.

"At the technique's full capacity, you wouldn't even need to move to do your work", I go on enthusiastically.

"You'd simply have to stand in the center of a room, activate the Vision of Horus to take in the whole space, and then use the Qi hands to carry out your tasks in a way that would be, at the very least, two or three times more efficient than the normal method." After my words, I watch Lianhua's expression change.

Her initial surprise gives way to something deeper, a sort of focused reflection I rarely see from her and which she normally reserves for moments when she's evaluating something whose implications require more careful thought. She remains in that state for a few seconds that feel like an eternity to me, until she finally closes her eyes. And I wait, but the wait isn't long, because after barely a minute I see one of the books on my desk rise.

But this time it's different, because simultaneously, a book on the shelf along the opposite wall, a shelf that sits directly behind Lianhua, slides from its place and joins the first in the air. The two books float for an instant, suspended in the air like a pair of enchanted tomes in some school of magic, and then they begin moving in circles around the room. And all of it without Lianhua moving a single muscle of her body or having opened her eyes.

The books trace trajectories that cover the entire room, moving with a fluidity suggesting Lianhua isn't simply making them float at random but is directing them deliberately, as though testing the limits of her range.

One of them passes over my head and glides toward the farthest corner of the study before turning and coming back, while the other traces the room's perimeter and finishes with a wide arc that carries it up to the ceiling, directly above where Lianhua is standing, a point that lies completely outside her normal field of vision. After a while, the books finally head back to their original positions.

The first one settles onto the desk with a softness, and the second slides back into its slot on the shelf as though it had never left. Lianhua lets out a sigh the moment she finishes placing the books and finally opens her eyes.

"From what I've seen, the test went well and it's possible to use both simultaneously", I say the moment I see her open her eyes. Lianhua looks at me and nods.

"Yes, Zhāohuán Wen", she confirms, and in her voice there is a nuance I can't entirely decipher.

"Everything went perfectly." But she doesn't stop there. She continues speaking, and what she says next leaves me completely stunned.

"And not only that", she says, and this time there is something in her tone that looks suspiciously like contained joy.

"When using Myriad of Hands together with the Vision of Horus, the latter technique, which had reached some sort of bottleneck and I hadn't been able to improve further, has finally opened one of its seals." Here she pauses briefly, as though considering something before continuing.

"I assume that means I've reached the rank of Adept in that technique", she finishes.

"Or at least that's what Master Mu called it." For an instant my brain refuses to process what she's just said, and then it does, which nearly makes me jump out of my chair.

"What?" I exclaim, and I don't care in the slightest that my voice has risen several pitches.

"Quick, tell me what the technique can do now. Has it improved, or does it let you do some new trick?" Lianhua looks at me with a calm that contrasts almost comically with the hurricane of excitement I've become.

"I can now see in the dark", she tells me with the same matter-of-factness with which she'd inform me she's left my tea prepared, and I'm fairly certain this time she's doing it just to get a rise out of me.

"Both when using the technique and with my normal vision." I stay silent for a moment that stretches longer than it probably should, as my mind processes the implications of what she's just told me. Because what has just happened is not simply a minor improvement. What has just happened is that my ninja handmaiden, who was already someone I wouldn't want to face if I were her enemy, has just received what I can only describe as a rank promotion.

Lianhua now has telekinesis in a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree radius, at a range that moreover extends to everything the Vision of Horus can encompass. But that was something I'd already anticipated when we started these tests. What I hadn't expected is that she can now also see in the dark, and that means that darkness, something that for most people would be a significant disadvantage, has become her best battlefield.

And suddenly I can't help thinking that if before Lianhua was the perfect candidate to star in an Assassin's Creed set in feudal Japan, she has now ascended directly to the category of final boss.