The next couple of days Jack had to sit in front of the Moon Step depiction in the martial hall so that Bi Xiongtuo wouldn't get suspicious. The other depictions of martial methods near him only showed some simple ways on how to improve the body's circulation of spirit energy, which Jack already guessed on his own through his dissection research.
He spent most of the time he stared at the Moon Step depiction on theorizing how to modify the Air Blast spell into what he wanted. When he couldn't take it anymore he decided to stand up and go to Bi Xiongtuo.
Just as Bi Xiongtuo opened his mouth to once more lament on the hardship of learning the martial Dao, Jack said "I think I've got it, Disciple Brother Bi. Can you show me something else that's suitable for me?"
Bi Xiongtuo's brows furrowed as he stood up and asked "You think you learned the Moon Step already?" When Jack nodded his head, Bi Xiongtuo exclaimed "Impossible!" His face darkened as he growled "Just because something is difficult, does not mean that you should treat it like a joke and jump to something else. Either admit that you cannot do it like a man, or get out of my martial hall."
Jack's brows rose in surprise as he said "But I can do it, look." He turned to the side, started the pulsing cycle of the Moon Step, and dashed to the entrance of the martial hall.
Bi Xiongtuo's jaw slackened as he stared at the casual way that Jack sprinted towards the entrance. He'd seen inner disciples of his own Mountain that needed more effort to execute it.
When Jack returned back to the middle of the martial hall, Bi Xiongtuo greeted him with a wide grin. He gave Jack another hard slap on the back as he said "Brother Song, I never knew that the Eternal Rest Mountain hid such a leg technique genius from us. Say the word and I will petition the Elders of the Unbreakable Rock to have you transferred and given proper tutelage under an Elder that focuses on leg techniques."
Jack blinked a few times at the burly young man as he thought 'I underestimated how much that babble hampered the regular cultivators in this world. I'll have to start acting more conservative in the coming month.'
On the outside, he gave a sardonic smile to Bi Xiongtuo as he said "I'm sorry, Disciple Brother Bi, I already have a teacher. He's almost like a father to me. I can't do that to him."
Bi Xiongtuo's face sank for a couple of seconds before he gave Jack an understanding look as he said "Very well, the bonds we make can sometimes be the things that hold us back, but I will not meddle in your affairs. Just know that you have a home with us if you ever wish it."
When Jack gave a solemn nod, Bi Xiongtuo sighed and turned to a corner. He walked towards it while he spoke "Follow me, we do not have a lot of advanced techniques here, but we do have a decent leg striking skill for people of the fourth grade and above."
Jack hesitated as he followed in Bi Xiongtuo's footsteps, but in the end, he said "I thought more about studying some basic body strengthening method first. You know, to strengthen my foundations."
Bi Xiongtuo didn't even look back at Jack as he said "That would waste your talent. You need to exercise your leg meridians as much as you can while still in the lower stages of cultivation. It will help with your future growth. This skill will build up your legs much more than any body strengthening method we have here."
Jack sighed, but still followed behind Bi Xiongtuo as he thought 'Looks like I'll have to figure something else out for the men.'
Bi Xiongtuo stopped in front of a complicated diagram of meridians and said "This is the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique. The cultivator has to use his legs to stamp out his enemy as fast as possible in a continuous wave of kicks. It burns through spirit energy, but it will crush anything that tries to block it."
Jack gave it a glance and saw tiny marks for sigils all throughout the paths that the spirit energy had to go through. His eyes widened and glued to the description of the cultivation method as he realized the implications of this kind of use.
Bi Xiongtuo opened his mouth to continue the explanation but, when he saw that Jack ignored the world around him, he gave a soft chuckle and walked away.
'This requires the user to make tiny sigils and apply them directly to the muscles of the legs. How much of this can the muscles take before breaking down? Can I make such small sigils in my Air Blast spell to get it to the size I need it?' Jack's brain buzzed with ideas as he studied each tiny speck on the meridian diagram. He regretted his choice of not taking papers and charcoal to the martial hall and swore that he would next time.
As midday neared, Jack reluctantly peeled himself away from the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique. He said his goodbyes to Bi Xiongtuo and left to pick up the food for his men.
When he arrived at the Gravedigger building, a strange silence greeted him from the courtyard instead of the usual noise of training or joking around.
Jack frowned and led the food servers to the courtyard.
There he found his men standing in a line like proper soldiers.
Once they saw him everyone's eyes brightened, but not one of them shouted anything out or ran towards the food.
Shi Furui beckoned Jack over with a twitch of his head, and when he felt it safe he whispered "You have a visitor in your office. She caught us in the middle of a dissection demonstration and almost killed some of the men with a screech; I fear that a few of them might go deaf. She ordered us to line up here and wait for our punishment while she closed herself in your office because the courtyard smelled too much."
Jack's frown turned murderous as he looked down the line of men and saw dried blood crusting over the ears of some of his men. He looked all of them in the eyes and said "Wait here, I'll go see what this is about."
He turned and left his men and the food servers in the courtyard, while he went back into the main building.
When Jack opened the door to his office he met the eyes of the young lady from the library. She stood in the middle of the office with arms crossed over her chest as she glared at him.
She opened her mouth and started saying "Do you know what your servants…"
"You!" Jack exclaimed as he slammed the door shut and walked over to her. "What in damnation's name do you think you're doing?!" He shouted as he pointed a finger at her face.
The lady looked taken aback by the reaction as she stepped back in fear and stammered "W-what…"
Jack kept up with her and growled "Those are my men. If anyone has the right to punish them, then it's either me or Elder Yu. You do not have the right to meddle in Eternal Rest Mountain business."
The lady bumped into the office table as she stopped her retreat, looked down with blurry eyes, and said "I… I just could not restrain myself when I saw them doing such horrific acts." She looked up with some fire in her eyes as she continued "They mutilated a corpse in some kind of ritual. I know that it is not my place to punish them, but I could not hold myself back. If they were my servants they would have already been whipped to their bones, and that one that led the mutilation would lose his head."
Jack stared into her defiant eyes for a few seconds, before saying in a calming voice "I know, and they will get the punishment they deserve, I will execute it personally."
A second later the girl looked mollified with his promise, so Jack stepped back and asked "What do you want?"
She let out a long breath of air before she said "I came to see why you avoided the library in the last couple of days. Disciple Brother Li told me your name, and after I asked around a little I found out where you worked."
Jack kept staring at her as he repeated "What do you want?"
A hint of annoyance flickered over the girl's eyes as she said "I came to honor our deal. My mother said that a proper Lady has to keep her word."
Jack rose one eyebrow up in surprise as he asked "You told your mother about me?"
The girl looked down at her fiddling hands as she answered "I sang the foreign song you taught me to her, and then she made me tell her how I learned it."
Jack studied her rosy cheeks for a few seconds, before sighing and saying "Fine." He cupped a hand and shoved it into the girl's field of view while adding "Give me the money, then."
The girl's head snapped back up to stare into Jack's eyes as she said "What money?"
Jack just kept staring at her and shaking his cupped hand.
A few seconds later her right hand crept into her left sleeve and took out a bulging pouch. She opened it and started counting one silver coin by one on the table while shooting subtle glances at Jack. He ignored her and kept count aloud with her. Once she counted out thirty silver coins Jack scooped them all up and stored them in his money pouch.
With a satisfied smile, he stored his pouch and said "I don't have time to go to the library right now, nor will I have it in the next few days." He turned to the door of the office and opened it "Why don't we meet up at the library in three days? I should have some free time then."
The young lady thought about it for a second, before nodding and agreeing. She stepped through the open door into the empty hall and glanced at the entrance to the courtyard with disgust.
Jack caught her look and said, "Give me a few breaths and I'll escort you back to your Mountain." He turned and left for the courtyard.
The young lady reached out a hand towards him and opened her mouth, but then something stopped her and she dropped the hand and allowed the call to die on her lips.
Jack stomped into the courtyard, pointed at the food, and shouted at the food servers "Take that and give it to the rats outside, these beasts don't deserve it." They gave him confused looks, but they still said "Yes, Lord." with a bow.
He turned his gaze to Shi Furui and bellowed "And you!" He stalked towards him while growling "You better wash that dirty neck of yours nice and clean for me tonight." Jack got up into Shi Furui's face and whispered "Take some of the dry food from our storage and eat it in the graveyard, I'll come with the corpses later. Now, brace your stomach."
As soon as he finished his instructions, Jack slammed a fist into Shi Furui's gut. Shi Furui doubled down and fell to his side, allowing Jack to send a few more kicks to the same place. To finish it all off, Jack spat onto Shi Furui's face in disgust.
He looked up at the startled faces of the rest of his unit with pain and yelled "Take this demon away; I'll deal with the rest of you when I get back."
Jack turned on his heel and walked towards the main building. In the doorway, he saw the young lady standing and watching him, while a tiny satisfied smirk hovered on the edges of her lips.
Jack walked past the girl and said "Let's go."
Once they exited to the street he looked in the direction of the distant Blooming Life Mountain and started walking towards it.
The lady had to hurry her steps to catch up with Jack's long strides. When she did, she complained "Slow down. I am not in a rush to go home."
"Apologies, that scum made me furious." Jack said and stuffed his anger down to the bottom of his thoughts as he slowed his pace down to accompany the young lady on a tour around the town.
An hour later they reached the path on the bottom of the Blooming Life Mountain and stopped walking.
The girl locked her curious eyes onto Jack's own and said "You have to tell me why you chose the weak Air Blast spell so that I can prepare better to help you in your research. Almost no one picks that one at all, and you took it as your first."
Jack stared into her beautiful eyes and said "I aim to misbehave." A second later he gave her a crooked grin.
She giggled at his expression and didn't realize that he just told her the full truth for the first time since they met.
When she collected her poise back, she looked up the mountain with a slight frown as she said "I have to go." and made to take a step.
Jack caught her left arm in his right while he said "Wait."
She stopped in her spot and looked at his hand in confusion.
Jack released her and asked, "You still haven't told me your name."
The young lady covered her mouth with a hand as she realized her mistake. She quickly moved it to her chest and introduced herself with a slight bow "I am Mai Yining, fifth grade direct disciple under Elder Mei Fenhua, my mother, and the Blooming Life Mountain."
Jack gave her a slight smile as he said "Nice to meet you, Disciple Sister Mai."
Mai Yining's smile beamed at him as she turned around and started to walk up the mountain with a slight skip in her step.
Jack turned around towards the town, and a thunderous grimace of rage flashed over his face for a split second. A moment later it disappeared and his normal calm mask took over for the walk back into town.