After dinner, Lan Bei Er and I followed Huang Qian Jin and Hui Ying to their accommodations. As expected of a room reserved for the fourteenth prince, it was extremely spacious and even had its own enclosed private courtyard. I wasn't sure what to say, so I just ogled the place in disbelief.
"Over here." Hui Ying went to the middle of the courtyard and stretched. He then gestured for me to approach, and I did so. He offered me an apologetic smile. "To be honest, this technique won't be useful for you in the intersect tournament, so if you're expecting this to give you some defense against Bai Ning Shuang's soul attacks, it will not."
"Then why teach him this technique?" Lan Bei Er asked, confused. Hui Ying sighed.
"It'll be useful for sir Hei Ye if he accepts the request from his majesty the Emperor after the tournament. It's meant for those kind of situations, after all. I would normally wait until after the intersect tournament…but I fear I will not have time to impart this technique when it ends. So I'll just demonstrate it to you now, and you should remember it as best as you can and practice it in your own time. After the tournament ends, of course."
"Okay. I will do my best." I nodded and watched Hui Ying intently. He smiled and held up a hand. I instinctively jumped back when all the shadows beneath him shifted and writhed restlessly. In an instant, chains burst out from the shadows and spread out everywhere, almost forming a cage.
"T…this is…"
"Shadow Chains," Hui Ying explained with a smile. "It's designed to work against spirit beasts, not human opponents."
I understood. "So the favor from his majesty the emperor involves a spirit beast."
"Yes, but young master will not tell you more until after the intersect tournament ends. Nonetheless, I'll still teach this to you because I might not have an opportunity later."
"Understood." I watched the shadow chains splay and expand across the courtyard. Bowing my head, I cupped my hands. Please enlighten me."
Hui Ying explained how the technique worked, and I attempted to replicate it. Even after a few tries, I wasn't able to do it. Again, I wasn't some type of unprecedented Mary Sue genius who could master a skill immediately after seeing it once, or whatever it was that overpowered protagonists did. This wasn't a wish fulfilment power fantasy story. It was reality. Like any skill, I had to practice a lot and work hard before I finally grasped how to use it.
"The theory behind Shadow Chains is simple," Hui Ying explained as he patiently watched me fumble about clumsily. "They restrain a spirit beast and reduce its strength drastically. And while you restrict its movements and bind it, you can easily deliver the killing blow."
"So it makes hunting and slaying spirit beasts a lot easier," I said, trying again. The shadows refused to take shape in the way I wanted them to, dissolving rapidly after I failed to manifest them as chains. Damn, this was frustrating, but I didn't expect to learn this technique in a single night. It was going to take plenty of practice.
"Correct, though there is another unexpected effect that I discovered while refining and perfecting the technique." Hui Ying grinned. "I heard you're an array master…so you'll probably understand what I'm talking about. Eventually."
"Right," I grunted and sighed at my latest failure. Hui Ying nodded, as if satisfied.
"Well, that's it for tonight. I've imparted the basics to you. The rest of it, you'll have to practice by yourself."
"Hai, Sensei. Thank you very much."
"Sen…what?" Huang Qian Jin repeated incredulously. Hui Ying shrugged.
"That sounds like the language from the archipelago kingdom near the east coast of the Tian Xuan Continent."
Wow…they even had that here? Cool. I wondered if I would get a chance to meet samurai or whatever warrior equivalents they had in this world. I definitely wanted to visit the archipelago kingdom of Yamato one day.
"Your sword, Abyssal Edge, was forged there, you know?" Hui Ying told me, a hint of a smile on his handsome face.
"I didn't." My jaw dropped and I stared at Abyssal Edge in awe. Yeah, I definitely wanted to visit the Yamato Kingdom one day. That would be one hell of an adventure. Maybe I would get to see fox spirits, samurai, tengu and onmyouji with their shikigami familiars.
I couldn't wait.
However, I had to focus on the present for now. Taking a deep breath, I tried to reconstitute my shadowy qi as black chains. There…I was finally succeeding in some form, but they felt too unsteady. Nonetheless, I felt delighted at the clear sign of progress.
Hui Ying nodded in approval. "You've finally gotten the basics, but that's just the start. Not to worry, with a ton more practice, you'll quickly master it."
"Thank you, sensei."
"I'm not qualified enough to be your sensei," Hui Ying said with a laugh. "And most of this is down to your own effort."
"That's not true," I argued. "You taught me so much. I already have a master, so I can't address you as such, but at the very least I am honored to be your student."
"Can't cultivators take multiple masters?" Huang Qian Jin asked, puzzled. I shook my head.
"No, it's not appropriate. Normally, you can't. It's like trying to have more than one parents. It has something to do with filial piety and loyalty."
"But Ye Ming from Martial Arts Reigns has more than one master…"
"That's just a fictional manhua. Albeit the manhua adaptation is better than most other cultivation manhua because there's no harem and Ye Ming is loyal to Su Lan for now. Unfortunately, the novel version devolves into stupid harem nonsense. Anyway, there may be logical fallacies and inconsistencies, so don't take that as a prime example of how cultivation or master-disciple relationships work."
"…okay." Huang Qian Jin was gaping at me. Lan Bei Er frowned.
"If you ever dare to have a harem, I'll punish you severely and divorce you straight away."
"Don't worry, my wife. That will never happen." I came from a world where monogamy was the norm. I intended to stay faithful to my wife no matter what. Any reader coming into the comments and asking for harem could fuck off right now (you probably couldn't see it, but I was showing those harem-obsessed commenters the middle finger). "No concubines, no multiple wives or any of that shit. I loathe infidelity and double standards."
"Anyway, yeah, you should only have one master. Having another master while your current one is still alive is considered inappropriate and rude, especially to your present master."
"Fine, fine." Huang Qian Jin clasped his hands behind his head. "It's not as if I'm looking for any master anyway."
"You're already learning the royal cultivation techniques from your grandfather, the retired emperor. You don't need a master." Hui Ying frowned in disapproval. Huang Qian Jin nodded reluctantly.
"Yeah, yeah."
"Anyway, you should continue practicing Shadow Chains on your own." Hui Ying turned back to me. "But that's not the only technique I intend to teach you. Here's another – and I'm sure you'll master it a lot more quickly because you've already grasped Shadow Sword Strike well enough. And this one will be useful for you during the intersect tournament. You'll probably be able to learn it by tonight and use it for tomorrow's match, if I'm not mistaken."
"Another technique? It's based off Shadow Sword Strike?"
"That's correct. I continued experimenting and improving it, and I think you'll like it a lot." Hui Ying drew his sword. I watched the familiar qi patterns swirled around the blade, indicating Shadow Sword Strike. However, Hui Ying subtly changed and adjusted the flow of qi before executing it swiftly. Instead of a massive shadow blade arcing from the sword like a lunar fang, it took the form of a dragon. Roaring silently, the shadow dragon glided across the courtyard, disintegrating a tree and gouging a ravine into the soil.
"Whoa!" I gaped at the new Black Shadow Sect technique, amazed. Hui Ying nodded and sheathed his sword.
"This is Shadow Dragon." He grinned. "I bet I only need to show it to you once."
I drew Abyssal Edge and tested it. The first three tries were failure, with me simply unleashing the normal Shadow Sword Strike or a distorted form of it. On the fourth try, I finally got it, with the lunar fang evolving into a dragon. It wasn't as large as Hui Ying's, but its serpentine figure soared through the air gracefully, its jaws open in a soundless growl.
"Not bad. I knew you would be able to learn it quickly. It's based off Shadow Sword Strike, as you correctly surmised, so if you work from there, you'll able to do it."
"Thanks." I tried again, and the Shadow Dragon was much larger and more powerful this time, reducing a second tree to atoms. Whoa, that was stronger than I thought. Not bad at all.
"The best thing is that it's not limited to sword attacks." Hui Ying nodded. "I developed this technique with your abilities in mind. If you pick up a ranged weapon, you should be able to use Shadow Dragon in conjunction with it. It's meant to be flexible and suits a variety of weapons, especially ranged ones."
"Isn't that perfect?" Lan Bei Er gushed, her hands clasped. "Husband, you've been recently practicing with a bow. You should try this technique out with your bow."
"Turn it into an arrow?" I mused and took my Hou Yi bow out of my spatial pouch. Hui Ying smiled when he saw me conjure a black arrow.
"Yes, you should do that. This is excellent…I didn't think you would have taken my advice already."
"Let's see if it works…" I let the arrow fly and it transformed into a shadow dragon midflight, roaring and gnashing its fangs before pulverizing a boulder. "Oh, it does! Yay!"
"Good work." Hui Ying nodded in approval. Then he placed a hand on Huang Qian Jin's shoulder. "Okay, I've taught you everything I wanted to so far. If I come up with new techniques, I'll come look for you again. Even though you're part of White Herb Sect now, I want to at least ensure that the legacy of Black Shadow Sect remains alive somewhere. Perhaps when you leave White Herb Sect one day, you can establish your own Black Shadow Sect."
"You'll have to come back as an elder if that happens," I said. Hui Ying laughed.
"It's a promise then."
"The Black Shadow Sect, huh?" Lan Bei Er looked up at the sky wistfully. "It was never one of the major sects…which is quite a pity, if you ask me. It was always mysterious and aloof…and almost nobody noticed when it got destroyed." She turned to me and Hui Ying. "But with you two, you might just be able to revive it and even establish it as a great power!"
"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves here," I said. "Right now I'm a representative of White Herb Sect. I intend to repay the faith that both sect leader and Xue Ren have in me and do well in the intersect tournament."
"Yes, you should focus on that right now." Hui Ying nodded and gently guided a protesting Huang Qian Jin toward the room. "We won't disturb you anymore. You should rest well tonight and make sure you have the energy to compete tomorrow. You certainly did well in your first two matches, but it's only to get harder from here on out."
"Thank you." I cupped my hands and bowed my head. "I'll definitely put the Shadow Dragon you taught me to good use."
Hui Ying waved his hand and chuckled. "I look forward to seeing your performance tomorrow. Don't overdo it and practice excessively tonight, though. Make sure you have enough rest."
"I'll keep your advice in mind, sensei!"
"Good luck, brother Hei Ye! I'll be watching tomorrow as well!"
"I'll try not to disappoint you." Straightening myself, I watched them both enter the room. Then I took Lan Bei Er's hand. "Shall we return to our room?"
"Yes, of course."
Under the moonlight, the both of us strolled back to the room that the Azure Water Sect had assigned as our accommodation.