"Who are you?" I asked the girl.
At the same time, I read her thoughts without waiting for her reply. Fortunately, the girl was not a cultivator, so she could not hide anything from me.
What can I say? It's a tragic story. And I'm liking this world more and more.
At that moment, I was once again overcome with fatigue. I mustn't forget, this body is only 5 years old, so it's not strong enough yet.
Taking a small golden bell from the stool next to my bed, I rang it. After a few short moments, a maid entered the room.
"Girl, you don't have to answer now. This conversation can wait until tomorrow," I told her. Then turning to the maid:
"Feed her, wash her, and dress her in something appropriate. Tomorrow I will fetch her myself," and after a short pause I added, "And yes, take our guest to the restroom."
"Yes, young master."
Saying this the maid took the girl, who was silent all this time, with her.
Once again I went to the closet to get my sleeping clothes and was interrupted again, this time by a completely new voice. The one I had hoped not to hear today.
"Are you going to bed already?" asked Yishu.
"Big brother," I replied respectfully, "the hour is late. I feel incredibly tired from everything that has transpired today."
"Well, that's no good. I'm going to have to put you off your sweet sleep for another couple of hours. Remember I wanted to show you something?"
"Can't we do it tomorrow?"
"No, we can't. As a punishment, father has sent me on a new assignment outside the sect. I'm leaving for Ten Godly Swords Sect tomorrow at dawn. I don't know when I'll be back. And I feel that without me at your side, with your understanding of cultivation, you might stagnate completely."
After pondering for a few seconds, I agreed. The issue had already dragged on for almost two days. It was the reason I'd gone to Floating Flower in the first place. I'd be lying if I said the show of force my brother put on with those bounty hunters didn't add to the interest.
"Okay. Where do we go?"
"First, let's go to the training ground."
***
The moon was already shining brightly above us. I didn't realize that Lunar Jasmine was growing on the training ground. Realizing what I was paying attention to Yishu decided to explain their origin:
"Lunar Jasmine, otherwise known as Moonflower, is mother's favorite flower. When I was six years old I didn't know what to gift her on her birthday. At the time, I rarely went outside the practice field and had little idea where to plant them. I remember her cursing when I ran into her workshop covered in mud and ruined a couple of her creations. Hehe."
That's when I noticed a brand new gesture. He wiped his index finger a couple of times under his nose. Is this crook telling the truth?
"Even though she yelled at me, she really liked the flowers. Even father, in all his strictness, let them stay, – They bloom at night, so they won't interfere with the training! – That's what he said."
We stood like that for a minute, each of us thinking about something different. I, for my part, didn't even think that father would make such a gesture, given their constant conflicts. They looked more like two sworn enemies who had been placed under the same roof by someone's superior will.
"Alright, enough of admiring nature! Grab any sword and get into a stance, show me all the One Sword Method steps you've memorized."
I did as he said. I transitioned smoothly from stance to stance. All my movements perfectly mirrored what was described in the book.
In response to my demonstration, Yishu just nodded his head to his thoughts and said:
"Now attack me using the seventh step."
I did. Because of the height difference, the sword swung straight at his shin. Yishu only lifted his leg up and I rolled off balance. I hate this puny body.
"Your mistake is trivial and very common among beginners. You just don't understand."
"What don't I understand?"
"Everything and nothing."
"Can you please answer my question instead of playing with me? What exactly do I not understand."
"I'm telling you, everything."
There's that damn smirk again. I can already feel my eyes lighting up with anger. One of these days I'm going to wipe that smirk off your face punk.
"Don't be mad. Okay, let's get to it from the other side. What do you know about the history of this textbook? Who was it written for?"
Where is he going with this? I decided to calm my anger and answered in an even tone:
"The book says that it's for those who have just entered the sect and embarked on the journey of cultivation. The textbook was written 144,000 years ago."
"That's right. And at what age 144,000 years ago did people start cultivating?"
This question threw me into a stupor. After rummaging around in my head, I was surprised to find that I didn't know the answer to this question. I had never been interested in this sort of thing, and I hadn't had time to study it yet.
"I... I don't know."
"Sixteen years old. That was the age in our region that was considered the most suitable to start cultivating. Back then, it was believed that childhood ended at that age and one was fully formed and ready to walk the path of self-refinement. Everything changed when Tenzin Gyatso appeared 130,000 years ago and began the path of cultivation at the age of 11. But the manuscripts and manuals stayed true to tradition, accordingly..."
"They just don't fit me... I'm just too small..."
"Bingo, that's what I mean about understanding! You can never just replicate someone else. Each of us was born to walk our own path. One must always know the reasoning behind every action depicted. The seventh move is designed to cut off the opponent's head with a bottom-up flick. Were you aiming for my head?"
"No..."
"Now take aim, try it."
I did as he said. It went better this time, my concentration level was higher. I almost got a good hit, however Yishu just stepped aside.
"Do you know what your mistake was now?"
"The direction of the sword has changed, so you need to change the mechanics of your whole body movements, starting with your legs and posture."
"That's right! Well done!"
"But it's no longer move number 7. It's a completely different technique now."
The art of lightsaber combat, driven by force and thousands of years of continuous evolution, is a vast array of identical movements. Both Sith and Jedi knew essentially the same set of techniques. Sidious demanded that I practice the techniques to perfection.
"That's where you're right and wrong at the same time, my smart, stupid little brother," he said and snatched my practice sword from my hands. With the great tenderness with which parents stroke their children, he ran his hand over the blade. "What is a sword? In one way – a tool that is very different from all others. Spears and bows were created for hunting, axes, and hammers for construction, and only the sword was created for one thing," at this point he looked me dead in the eyes, 'to kill other people...'
Shifting his gaze to the sword again, he gripped its blade with force. The sword cracked in half, and Yishu only dusted off his hands. "On the other hand, it's just a sharp stick made of various metals," he said dismissively. "It's up to you to decide. Understand, once you learn a technique it becomes yours and you will always use it only to the best of your understanding. What matters is victory, not how you achieve it. After all, it is the victory that decides whether you will live another year, day, hour, and even a moment. Always remember, never hesitate, if it is beneficial for you to lie – lie, steal – steal, desecrate – desecrate, kill – kill... spare – spare. Do you see where I'm going with this?"
"Yes, elder brother."
"People are different in everything. Even if you and your opponent are the same height and know the same techniques, someone will have longer arms and someone will have longer legs. Someone's eyes will be sharper, someone's sense of smell, more comfortable clothes, shaved pube, and so on. I could go on forever. But most importantly," at this point, he put his right hand on my shoulder, squatted down, looked me in the eye, pointed to his temple with his left finger and tapped it lightly, and said, "he who could understand the technique and make it his own will live to see another day."
"I understand it now. Thank you for the explanation," I replied and made a respectful bow.
"Heh, don't be so formal with me. Now let's move on to the main library. I'll give you a second lesson!"
***
As we approached the library we stopped at the entrance.
"I didn't know it was open at night," I muttered.
"With the number of people in our sect, it's impossible to cater to them all in the daytime. Everyone's striving for perfection."
"Speaking of which, what about the brothel?"
"Don't worry, Dad said he'll take care of it. Just make sure you stop by his place tomorrow," he told me with a smirk, "or they'll take your girlfriend away."
"So you remember her..."
"Nah, I saw her being taken out by the maid and somehow I figured it out. Let's save the pretty girls for later, look at the sign over the main doors now. What does it say?"
"Ye not a geometrician, ye shall not enter! – What does it mean?"
"What it says. Okay, don't get mad, you'll turn gray before you know it. Let me explain, by geometrician we mean people with a strong imagination and high spatial reasoning. Without imagination, books won't help you. That's the second lesson – develop your imagination. Learn to analyze huge data sets and make imaginary models in your head. Without that, you're unlikely to get very far. Now let's get in there."
When I entered the library, I was once again surprised at how many people there were. We walked through a dozen rows of bookshelves until we stopped at one filled with volumes bearing the strangest titles.
"Where is it, where is it... Here you go."
With those words, Yishu took the book and handed it to me, the cover of which read – Cultivation manual for the very young and small but very smart with a very poor imagination; read this book if you want to succeed in cultivation, especially if you're called a genius by everyone around you and you can't do anything because you're just repeating what is written and drawn in manuscripts and scrolls; it's a very useful book, I recommend it to everyone.
What kind of asshole named a textbook like that? Yishu had just whispered in my ear:
"Don't tell anyone, but this book was once written by the founder himself, just shush, no one!"
"I'll keep it in mind."
"Now, let's go home! I'm going to register this book on myself."
***
When we reached the main gate of the estate Yishu stopped and said:
"Well, this is it. We probably won't be able to see each other tomorrow, so train hard. When I come back home again, I'll be evaluating your progress, and I'll be strict!"
"Aren't you coming home?"
"No. The thing is, there's been a new recruitment round of new students in the sect recently. They say there are some incredible beauties there, and I haven't seen them yet. You know what I mean."
"Be careful you, don't catch anything."
"You're insulting me! Caution is my middle name!"
After saying that, Yishu jokingly waved his hand at me and disappeared into a cloud of smoke.
He can do that?
Okay, eh my head is splitting.