Chương 33: The Reed Steers the River

Liming looked up and met his gaze with a beautifully innocent smile.

"Brother!" she exclaimed, standing to greet him. He stopped in front of her and gave her a warm smile in return.

"I was close to breaking through, but I wasn't sure I would make it today. Some minor conflicts yesterday gave me the inspiration I needed to push through," Liming said, still smiling. Paike scanned her up and down, looking for any sort of injury, but she was flawless. Even the hem of her robe didn't have the slightest bit of dust on it.

"No trouble, I hope?" he asked. She shook her head.

"No. Yixin and I fended off a few challenges, but nothing we couldn't handle. How about you?" Paike rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Mmrph, Guan Li, and I suffered a bit of damage at home. One of the legacy disciples decided it was time to step in and teach me my place." With a worried expression settling on her face, Liming took several steps closer to him before patting his arms.

"Are you hurt?" she asked, closing her eyes, her hand pressed to the inside of his bare wrist. He could feel her qi wash over him, trying to dive into his body but unable to push his qi away.

"I don't see any injuries," she said, "but I can't look inside past the skin." Paike gently shook her hand off of him.

"I'm fine, don't worry. Nothing a good night's sleep didn't fix. But congratulations," he said again, changing the subject.

"That's incredibly fast. You're certainly going to shoot up the rankings now." Liming smiled as she stepped back half a step.

"Yes. Well, I was thinking maybe we could go celebrate." Paike raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh? How would my little sister like to celebrate her fantastic accomplishment? I heard some of the restaurants are still open." Liming gave him a slightly affronted look.

"No? I'd like to do a little bit of testing and training and then stop by the library to pick up my next technique." Paike blinked, remembering. Though she still looked like his little sister, who had tagged along for as long as she could, she was a cultivator now and, in the eyes of many, an adult. At least as much an adult as any mortal ever could be. As immature as she acted sometimes, she was doing her best to grow up and to celebrate at a restaurant well; that was still something reasonable adults did.

But she might not see it that way. Giving up, he shrugged.

"Sure, I'm more than happy to be your test dummy," he said, holding his arms out wide, causing her to laugh as he spun around. They spent some time testing as she used basic qi reinforcement to strike at him, both through his shield and without. They worked up a slight sheen of sweat, but a simple manipulation of qi from Liming pushed all the gunk from her body and robe in a second. Paike looked at her, surprised.

"What?" she said.

"It's something I saw Elder Sister Chuhan do. Just expel a thin mist of qi all around you with enough force for a few finger-widths, and it can push anything you don't want off your body. Doesn't really work in combat or against anything trying to resist it, but it helps the cultivator seem presentable." Paike frowned. How had he never heard of this?

"So as long as you have a tiny bit of qi—" Liming shook her head, interrupting him.

"It takes a little bit more than a tiny bit. I wouldn't want to do it anytime I think combat will happen, but if I need to look presentable or go into the library where I don't want to be sweaty..." Paike closed his eyes, focusing on the sluggish flow of his qi moving through his pathways. He tried to force a little bit out, but it did nothing more than bead up on his skin like ephemeral sweat.

Grimacing, he wiped it with his hand, causing it to smear over his skin—only visible through his spiritual senses but uncomfortable nonetheless. He stepped forward, and some of it passed through him in an odd mist-like shower, and some of it came along with him. He shook his head, and bits of sweat and qi were flung all over. Liming held up her hands, shielding her face, chiding him all the while for being gross. Paike shrugged.

"I'll get the hang of it eventually," he lied. That was not something he'd ever be practicing. If he really needed to start looking presentable for things, he figured he'd have to buy some sort of talisman made with someone else's qi. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. That Liming had control of her qi as she did was insane. He would be surprised if more than one in a hundred cultivators could pull off what she did so effortlessly.

Maybe once they were in the Emerald Realm or above, they'd be able to do it, but being able to make such a fine mist and move it so quickly as to carry off anything unwanted—and then unconsciously filter out things like the fibers of her clothes or hair follicles—well, he could only bow before a true talent.

"So, you said you wanted to go to the library?" Paike said, taking a deep breath and centering himself, ready to move on to a new topic.

When they got to the library, his sister didn't split off to search for her own things but instead dragged him along. Paike was flattered but felt out of his depth. He had never really studied healing arts, but her own unique mix of wood and water affinities was fascinating to him, even if entirely counter to his own earth and maybe metal-tinted affinities. Of course, that was just the basics from what he could gather with his limited Ruby senses.

There were several bits of Liming's cultivation that would probably move those base elements she'd chosen into more complicated things as she grew and her path became more solid. He was still not sold on the idea that she should be a healer—not a pure healer, at least. Maybe a healer with battlefield control or some sort of ranged heavy cultivator with a healing focus would be best for her, but she was insistent. After much discussion, he eventually pushed her toward picking a battlefield control support-type art.

It was a three-technique art called The Reed Steers the River, which she thought was a humorous inversion of the expected trope of something being carried downstream. The art was complicated, with four meridian pathways to open, but it would carve some exciting options for his sister. It would allow her to contribute at any range, even if she was away, healing a team member. It would also give her immediate safety and slight protection while taking advantage of her extreme talent and skill with speed.

The general idea of the first technique was to saturate the field with her own qi—something that could only be done by someone with a substantial reserve or the ability to break up qi into tiny, imperceptible particles and evenly distribute them with a remarkably steady hand. Luckily, his sister had both. This field would allow her to sense things around her as long as her domain was uncontested.

The remaining techniques would allow her to speed up herself and her allies while slowing down and hindering her opponents. It was a strange mixture: flowing water around her allies and those she wanted to speed up while a tangling web of reeds and grass diverted a trickling stream against her enemies. If she was really focused, she could gain significant advantages for herself or disadvantage one particular enemy. The whole art integrated well with the rest of her fighting style.

The general teachings relied on a preexisting combat style. This was something most advanced arts did, and the further along a cultivator got, the less willing they would be to change up their entire style. It was his turn once they eventually settled on this and put back the more heavily healing-focused arts or the more combat-oriented and defensive arts that Paike wanted. When he went to find arts that might be suitable for him, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

No longer were they looking at the advanced section with multiple attunements, several meridian openings, and multiple techniques. Instead, he started where he had last time: single-technique arts that opened one unattuned meridian. It was frankly embarrassing. He also wasn't sure what he wanted. None of the arts would really improve his combat ability in any significant way, and anything else seemed like something he wouldn't be able to learn. Liming, though, didn't give up.

He had to keep telling her no, but she kept bringing him things that were clearly beyond his ability. That didn't stop her, though. He pushed away an earthen dome technique that required him to open six meridians. It was the culmination of a complicated art that, for the most part, would be okay, but only being able to use part of it rankled him. This time, as he continued discarding simple techniques, she brought back something that he might be able to use.

It was a three-technique art, but it only required one meridian attuned to any of the earthly elements—something basic. The first technique was a simple injection of qi from his palm upon contact with a palm strike. It wouldn't work the way the art intended, but he could adapt it. The other two techniques seemed plausible as well. He sat there, considering, and Liming's smile grew as he didn't immediately reject her suggestion.

"Where did you find this?" he asked. It wasn't perfect, but maybe something by a similar author could work.

"It was tucked in the wrong section, over with the three-meridian, three-technique arts," Liming said. Paike tapped his chin thoughtfully. Understandable. This wasn't necessarily an art that would be extremely popular. It was too simple in some ways and too complicated in others, so no one would have noticed it missing. They checked the author and then looked the name up in some of the reference tomes but didn't find anything else written by her.

"Well," Paike said, drawing the word out and still considering.

"You still have the meridian opening pills from Elder Chu, right?" Liming asked. Paike nodded, not having needed all of them to open his first meridian.

"You can do it. At least it's worth a try," Liming said as she tapped the book that Paike was holding. Mulling it over in his head a little longer, Paike eventually sighed and tucked the book for Acknowledgment of Worldly Matters under an arm.

"Fine. I guess there's nothing else I really wanted, so it's not gonna hurt if I fail. I don't know how much time I'll have to learn it, though. I really need to focus on just advancing." Liming smiled.

"Well, you have the rest of the day. Physical cultivation classes don't begin for us till tomorrow. Once you learn it, we can go test it out on some people who think too highly of themselves," she said with a smile that set the hairs on the back of his neck prickling.