Sky Pride

Tian groaned. “I didn’t think everyone knew about that.”

Sister Sia laughed, covering her mouth with her sleeve. “It’s a small monastery these days. The “secret prize” for winning the Earth Realm Tournament wasn’t a secret for very long.”

“Still though.” Tian grumbled. He had never liked being watched, and liked even less the notion of people knowing when he came into money. His commitment to appearing perpetually broke might drive Liren to the very brink of insanity, but he felt it was worth it for the extra degree of safety.

Liren picked the spear up off the table and felt the balance. She tapped it a couple of times on the ground, then looked over at the clerk with a raised eyebrow.

“Go on, give it a couple thrusts.” Sia encouraged Liren.

Liren dropped into a spear guard, then made a few very routine thrusts. It was nothing more than aiming with the front hand while pushing and twisting with the back hand. Every soldier in the army could do as much. When Tian had tried, Liren covered her eyes and said she couldn’t bear to watch. There were subtleties to it, and he just didn’t see them.

“Did they add weight to the butt? That end cap is… hundred refinement iron, I think.”

“Well done, Sister Hong! You are exactly right. The idea is that it keeps the head nimble, since you aren’t looking for cutting power. On the other hand, if you did want to club something with the spear, having a heavier butt end will add power to the blow. However, the most important thing was maintaining the proper balance of the spear, which I think you will agree was achieved perfectly.”

“Hmm. Mind if I take it out back? Brother Zihao will want to test his new rope dart. I might as well test the spear.”

“Please! Right through that door. I’ll make you some barley tea. It’s a hot day today. Easy to get overtired.”

The two trooped out while Sia rushed off to make tea.

“You really, really need to learn how to tell people it ain’t going to happen.” Liren murmured, her lips barely twitching.

“She’s a nice girl. No need to bully her. Besides, she is good to you. Nothing wrong with being nice back.” Tian was helpless. Ever since puberty hit, he had gone from being what he knew was a rather ugly child to being told he was an increasingly handsome teen. “Pretty” was the term he heard most often, which didn’t fill him with warm, yang feelings. It never really felt real to him. “Handsome” meant the tall, muscular brothers from the temple, filled with the blazing yang qi he lacked. Though he was happy to see his yang qi growing in other ways.

“I think it’s debatable which of us is bullying her, if either of us are. Alright, let’s see what you bought and what I’m being sold.” Liren started running through a spear drill, getting a feel for the balance. Tian did something that would have looked moderately insane to people who didn’t understand how he used his rope dart- he untied the hank, and shoved the whole of it inside his robe.

He almost collapsed from the sudden comfort. It was like sinking into a hot bath after a tiring day. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

“Did you just moan?” Liren stopped mid thrust.

“NO.”

“It really feels that nice?” Liren looked askance.

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Tian crossed his arms and looked away.

“Tian. Brother Tian. Brother Zihao, even. I can see your robe shifting around. It’s no use going still now. You are controlling the rope dart with your mind aren’t you?” Liren asked, with a sister's merciless accuracy.

“Any use of a weapon is controlling it with your mind, if you think about it. How else do your hands know what to do?” Tian went for the diversion.

“Mmm. Philosophical. Also, I can see it trying to sneak out the back of your collar. I don’t know why you thought I wouldn’t see it. But I do.”

Tian looked away even more firmly. But he couldn’t help it. The rope dart snaked up and around his collar, dipping down into his sleeve. His eyes fluttered. It just felt so nice. So right. Like stretching after sitting for hours, or waking up after a serious nap.

Liren coughed.

“Alright, yes, it really does feel that good.” Tian muttered. “I’ll get used to it. How’s the spear?”

“Not as good as your rope dart. Must be the difference between buying custom and buying off the rack. Eh… I dunno. I’m going to run through the dummy a couple of times.”

“I’ll do the same.”

Tian waved his hand like he was being melodramatic at the torso shaped wooden target. The dart struck from his sleeve like a viper, smashing a hole three inches deep in the enchanted ironwood.

“Damn that’s nice!” Tian grabbed the end of the rope and hauled it back. This time he properly spun the dart around his body, building momentum and sending the dart out again with real strength and speed. The target clanged and slid backwards. He had punched right through the enchanted wood.

He hauled the rope back, noticing how smoothly it disengaged from the target. “Let’s see the new features,” He muttered. He stepped back a few paces, putting him ten feet beyond the notional range of the dart. This time he used Snake Head Vine Body a little differently, stretching outward through the dart. It felt odd to the point of being disorienting, but he had the uncanny sense of his arm stretching out to poke a hole in the target. And it did.

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Tian followed up the cast with another new trick. Instead of retracting, the dart sent out tendrils into the wood. Thin but terribly strong wires extended from the rope and burrowed into the wood. Not very far, just an inch or two. Tian looped the rope around his arm and hopped back. He could have passed his rice bowl through the hole his dart left behind.

“Very nice!”

The rope coiled back in his hands. He couldn’t look away. It had only taken two throws, and he was utterly convinced.

“I think I’m in love. This does everything my old rope dart did, but better, and it stretches, and if it works as I expect it will, it will basically obliterate anything made of meat whose vital energy is weaker than mine. Or even just tied with me. It is immodest, but honestly? I don’t think anything under the Heavenly Realm is going to survive it.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.” Tian nodded, his face grave. “And it feels incredibly nice to use. If you ask politely, I might let you touch it. If you are good.”

Liren nodded thoughtfully. “No.”

Tian shook his head. He had clearly misheard. “Pardon?”

“No.”

“My ears are acting funny, I’d swear you were saying no. Do you not like nice things? Does feeling good upset you?”

“I will regretfully refuse this doubtless great joy. On the not insane side, however, this is a pretty adequate spear. It’s not life changing, but it’s better than decent. The snake head… well, look for yourself. It makes a wide hole, and it is as sharp as advertised. Just rips apart the dummy on the recovery, nasty stuff. It also holds the edge well, and works with both my energy cultivation art and my body cultivation art. It will hold up under my Fairy Maiden spearplay, even if I use the more extreme moves. It’s a solid upgrade over what I have now.”

“So get it. Hey Sis’ Sui, how much are you selling this spear for?” Tian asked the returning clerk before he snagged a cup of barley tea. He smiled in thanks, and saluted Sui with the cup before taking a drink. Barley tea wasn’t his favorite, but, well, it really was a hot day and barley tea had a special way of keeping you going no matter how sticky the weather got.

“Twelve thousand spirit stones, and you can substitute merits for up to half the cost at the Monastery rate. Or you can swap treasures or materials for part of the price, but we would have to get them assayed. Of course, that’s before your discount.” Sui answered promptly. She spotted immediately that Tian had emptied his cup and topped it up before delivering a cup of tea to Hong. “What did you think of the spear, Sister Hong?”

“It’s good. It’s not twelve thousand spirit stones good, though.” She shook her head and handed the spear back. Sui waved her hands gently.

“I really encourage you to think again. The resources on the mountain are plentiful, but some are always going to be limited or just not available here. We have no one to trade with anymore, so we can’t replenish our stocks of rare materials. Prices for equipment are only going to get higher, not lower. If this spear suits you, you really should grab it now. It might not be available at any price later.”

Liren frowned. Tian looked concerned. “Do we not have enough?”

“Spirit stones? Not even if we counted each one as two. We do have a fair amount of merits, though. It’s just that we will need to stock up on medicine and other equipment before we go, and those won’t be cheap either.” Hong was in charge of their money, at least as far as trading was concerned. If she said they didn’t have the money, they didn’t. All he could do was sigh and apologize to the sister trying to help them out.

Tian smiled sadly at Sister Sui. “I’m sorry, Sister, but it seems we just can’t. I’m afraid my little stipend can’t cover the gap. Truthfully, I lead a very frugal life. I wander the valleys, picking wild vegetables and doing a little hunting to supplement my meals. When I’m away from the monastery, I always wear unlined linens, for fear of damaging the fine robes the sect provides. I’ve tried to pick up shifts at the hospital, but they insist there aren’t enough patients to justify hiring a new orderly. All I get is lectures.” Tian shook his head, sounding helpless.

“Oh, I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to put you on the spot like that.”

“No, no, it’s fine. I accepted these things would happen years ago. I’m just blessed that I could pay for the rope dart-”

Liren coughed and put an arm around the shoulders of the considerably smaller Sui. “Brother, why don’t you keep practicing with your new dart for a while. I’ll just have a word with Sister Sui inside. Maybe we can work something out.”

Twenty minutes later, they left with the spear, a set of traps for a variety of game, a set of tools for disarming traps of the human-hunting variety, and a considerable range of excavation gear. Thanks to their very substantial discount, Liren managed a very successful shopping trip.

“All I get is lectures?” Hong asked, giving Tian a dirty look.

“What? They aren’t letting me work and they lecture me about my failings. I didn’t tell a single lie.”

“You might have mentioned the Martial Uncle who takes an hour a week to teach you pulse reading, or the surgeon teaching you all manner of cutting, clamping, cleaning and suturing techniques. Or-”

“I don’t see how any of that is relevant.”

Liren’s hum expressed her disbelief and disdain.

They walked on a bit further. Tian asked “How are your moodswings?”

“Alright. Yours?”

“Alright.” They sighed.

“It’s the lack of stamina that’s killing me.” Liren’s voice was a bare murmur. “I have about a minute of endurance going all out, and that time shrinks more and more the stronger my body cultivation gets. I know it’s got to stabilize at some point, but right now… I think the lack of yin is killing me. Probably not literally, but…”

Tian nodded. “I’m better balanced, but… you are right. I’m not really competitive. I just want to be left alone to do my own thing with you, and even with you, I mostly want to just be in our little house together, or on the boat, or flying on the back of the Snow Grace Crane through the rivers in the sky. Drifting along, seeing what the world brings me. I’ve spent more than a year on those damned Dragon Suppressing Palms, and I still haven’t reached the initial level of mastery. I have the movements and the vital energy circulation patterns memorized perfectly. But I don’t have the yang spirit.”

“And I’m sure it’s stunting my development in other ways. I am starting to see the beauty in some of the Sisters, and Liren has always been beautiful, but for someone who practices a Yang Wood cultivation art and has particularly strong kidneys, my libido is nil. I’m seventeen. All the Brothers say I should be spending sixty percent of my time trying to talk people into my bed, and forty percent of my time being scolded for being an idiot. That should scare the hell out of me, and the best I can manage is ‘Oh, that’s probably not good.’”

“I’m miles out of touch with my yin. My, hah, feminine side.” Hong chuckled. Tian thought she was underestimating herself, but didn’t say anything. It had all been said before. The crane came flying in, landing in a flash of blinding white feathers and black wigtips. She shared a memory of Brother Fu, standing in front of an elegant courtyard, waiting.