Two young men were exchanging blows in a vast clearing which, from a particular perspective, would look like a unique arena in wildness. While both were handsome, the younger one was much better looking.
Ying, wearing his black training suit, threw punch after punch to no avail, but the fighting intent only rose higher and higher in his eyes. Aaran, in his loose grey robe decorated with bronze symbols, looked more like he was dancing instead of fighting.
Dodging or redirecting every and each strike from his opponent. The surroundings of the clearing were filled with tens of trees and thousands of leaves on each tree like spectators watching a fight happening next to them.
After finishing another exchange, they separated. The older boy was clearly more tired, but his will never diminished. While the younger was standing there with his ever-present smile without as much as a drop of sweat.
Huff
"You are much better than I thought. Are you really only in the Saturation realm?" asked Ying between taking heavy breaths.
The light of recognition flashed through Aaran eyes.
'It feels weirdly familiar but wrong at the same time. What's going on?'
Seeing his opponent unresponsive, Ying attacked with his all, hoping to catch Aaran off guard.
Even while having numerous thoughts, Aaran was still focused on his surroundings. Seeing Ying attack, he decided to finish it quickly so he could concentrate on that weird sensation.
After failing to punch his target many times, Ying used feint again without success.
Swoosh
After seeing through Ying's intent, Aaran dodged Ying's punch and grabbed his wrist. Then he pulled him without letting Ying lose any momentum and kicked his calf while simultaneously gently striking his throat.
Tap
Thud
Ying heavily fell on his knees, trying badly to grasp for breath.
Cough Cough
After observing him for a few seconds, Aaran sighed and crouched beside him.
"Repress the instinctive desire for air and get your breathing slowly under control with shallow breaths until you can get deep ones."
After instructing his fellow student, Aaran focused on finding the reason behind his earlier thoughts. Other people might brush it off as Deja Vu or just a strange feeling, but he knew it wasn't that simple.
Soon, he found the memory he was looking for. The first weird dream that triggered two of his abilities was similar to his current situation. Even if the details differed, the feeling was similar. The main change was him being on the winning side this time.
With a weird face, Aaran thought.
'Is it fate playing around again? I didn't want to have anything with that before reaching the Avatar stage, at least, for fuck sake, let me at least get my seed before anything happens.'
After the Abode tempering stage, one had to create a seed with a cultivation technique in order to breakthrough to the Derivation stage.
'Before reaching that, I don't really have any way to deal with that without paying an enormous price. Ahh, Man plans, and Dao laughs. Let's just focus on cultivating for now. Maybe, just maybe, I won't have any fated encounters before reaching the third major realm, and everyone will be happy.'
Seeing that Ying was already sitting and breathing correctly, Aaran, with a little worse humor, held his palm open.
"Pay up"
Looking at that open palm that had just made him breathless a while ago caused Ying to feel the fear of a lack of air again. People say you can appreciate something only after you lose it, and Ying understood that saying more deeply than ever.
"I do not have any on myself now. I will get you crystals in half a year," even though he didn't have any, and they were hard to get without higher cultivation or finishing school. He was fully intent on paying back; after all, he had lost fairly and wouldn't stop so low as to go back on his word.
It was Aaran's time to act like he had met a huge problem.
"That won't do. How can I know you won't go back on your word? After all, we have no witnesses or contracts."
"I would never go back on my word! My father taught me what honor is and that it is more important to a man than his life!"
Aaran was taken aback for second.
'How did we go from a small spar in the forest to things worth sacrificing your life for in a few sentences?'
With his kind smile that was almost broken by the absurd situation, Aaran continued his little plan.
"You want to cultivate here, and so do I. We both don't have many friends, so how about we cultivate here together? As for the price of the bet, just spar with me, let's say, twice a week."
It wasn't like anyone here could steal or glimpse into secrets of Aaron's technique. Nor would interrupting him be dangerous in his daily cultivation. Aaran liked to cultivate with fewer people purely to improve his quality of life. Other kids might be forced to cultivate alone or in strict conditions because it's easier to focus, but that wasn't a problem for him.
While Ying didn't understand how letting Aaran cultivate here would be equal to five crystals—after all, he didn't own this place—he gladly accepted the change of terms. With that, at least no one would say he went back on his word, and he didn't have to look for these crystals!
"Agreed!" Ying shook Aaran hand with a wide grin.
After getting up from the floor, Ying asked.
"So, which days do you want to spar?"
"It doesn't matter. I will be here every day after lessons, so just catch me here twice weekly."
Although Aaran still had to gather knowledge from the library, unlike in his home, he could borrow and read books here.
'During our fight, Chiron's influence gave me shallow insight into his potential without him even using his abilities. Such valuable talent will save me a lot of time, but I need to find out how it exactly works in the future.'
After dealing with his new friend, Aaran went to the middle of the clearing and started cultivating. Just like last time, after a while, his movement encompassed a myriad of opposite concepts and slowly merged them.
Even after a few minutes had passed from their spar, Ying still felt the freshness of the forest like never before—the damp earth and the fresh flowers. He had never before focused on that, but today, it brought him some odd, simple joy.
Seeing that Aaran moved further from him, Ying understood that his new friend was planning on cultivating. He was curious about just how someone like Aaran had to cultivate.
Ying wholly focused on observing without thinking just how fantastic an opportunity it was. First, he saw Aaran's movements flowing slowly like a small stream. With each passing second, the current was getting faster and faster. Then, suddenly, everything changed. From fast to slow, light to heavy, river to earth.
Unlike last time, Aaran wasn't planning on encompassing all concepts but focused on these fitting for Ying.
With time, Ying saw more concepts focusing on weight, hardness, and space. He was instantly engrossed and felt like he was experiencing all these ideas by himself; he could feel the heaviness of the heavens and the vastness of the earth. A few minutes later, Ying sat down, immersed in one of the most enormous opportunities cultivators can happen upon.
Aaran was dumbfounded but didn't stop his cultivation even for a second.
'Did I just grant someone epiphany with my meager cultivation? Moreover, thanks to Chiron's influence, I achieved minuscule insight into my own cultivation. Such an amount won't change anything in the short term, but if I keep guiding him, it will help me plenty.'
...
Just as the sun was setting behind the horizon, Ying woke up. The first thing he saw was Aaran leaning on a tree while flipping a coin.
"You took your sweet time. It's almost nighttime, you know. Don't you have some exams tomorrow?"
Unlike regular cultivation, epiphany was one of those things that you don't want to be interrupted. However, unlike breakthrough, it wouldn't result in injuries; it would just diminish benefits. So Aaran decided to spend all his day standing guard. He couldn't let his effort be wasted for no reason, right?
Ying was still in a stupor. He lost the fight in one moment, and in a second, he attained epiphany! In both cases, the main preparator was that younger boy chilling under the tree while throwing coins!
After taking a few deep breaths, Ying stood up and bowed.
"I don't know how you did that, but thank you. I will remember it for the rest of my life!"
With his natural smile, Aaran only waved his free hand.
"Alright, alright, just don't forget about your lost bet. I still need someone to spar with."
Ying nodded vigorously
"I won't forget! I will come here every day!" Ying said those words and then quickly ran through the forest. After all, Aaran was right; he still had to prepare for tests tomorrow!
'He might not be the most polite, but he's quite upright, and with his potential, this might be more interesting than I thought.'
As the sun set, Aaran made his way home through the dark forest accompanied only by his countless thoughts.