Jingyi Bo sat in Elder Hwang’s study like she was a naughty child sent to see the headmaster. The old owl had called her in out of the blue, giving no explanation, then had vanished moments after greeting her. Being left alone in the cluttered room was something of a harrowing experience - desks, shelves, tables and most of the floor was piled high with scrolls, talismans, charms, and an uncountable array of other weird things. The fact that Bo had managed to find a singular unused stool was probably evidence that the Elder intended for her to sit there.

A more dedicated cultivator might have spent the fifteen minutes the owl-like master was gone in quiet meditation, perhaps even taken the opportunity to sneak a peek at the formations that glittered to her mana sense, or the scrolls undoubtedly full of advanced knowledge. Instead, Bo spent the entire time sweating in silent panic.

Am I finally in trouble for how I got in here? Maybe the Elder is going to send me back to Qin? Is he going to break my cultivation? He doesn’t seem that cruel … maybe he wants my element-thingy?! Bo absent-mindedly put a hand on her belly, around where the dantian was supposed to be. Realising what she was doing, Bo quickly shot her hand back to its place wringing its partner in her lap.

When Hwang reappeared he did so immediately in front of Bo, smiling down at her. What might have been an attempt at being reassuring just caused Bo to nearly fall out of her seat. If it hadn’t been for her martial arts awakening, she might have actually fallen over. Instead, her command of her body let her come back from the brink of complete and utter embarrassment. To save any shred of grace she had left, Bo leapt to her feet instead.

“I suppose you must be wondering why I brought you here, hm?” He had the bearing of a kindly old man, despite (or perhaps thanks to) his owlish features. The mystery around the meeting, and the strange feeling of a heavy presence surrounding him, just made Bo uncomfortable.

“I. Y-Yes, Elder Hwang. I am honoured to be called before you, b-but you didn’t say why…?”

Hwang laughed. “I would have thought it obvious, given our prior conversation.” The old mage pulled out a lump of stone that vaguely resembled his face - the very one Jingyi Bo had made out of clay. “Your technique is supremely fascinating. Not the most efficient, or even particularly practical at your level, but I suspect with some study and effort, it will go far! A fundamental and intrinsic alteration of mana, as though it had never been changed! Hoo, what an intriguing potential!”

Bo didn’t really understand, but she gave him a bow. “Thank you for your kind words, Elder Hwang?” She didn’t really know why she had said it as a question, but she carried on. “Did you call me for another demonstration?”

It turned out that, yes, Hwang had called her for further demonstrations - but this time, he wanted more complex materials, finer control, and to study her with strange contraptions. In fact, he had a list of things he wanted to try. First up was simple transmutation. Hwang had prepared a shallow bowl of ice, the bowl itself inscribed with some complex formations that were beyond Bo’s current understanding.

“Don’t worry about the bowl, it’s there to capture the contents without interfering, and to give me a bit more information to work with too!” Elder Hwang seemed disproportionately happy with himself. Looking closely, there was the glimmer that Bo associated with conjured materials - had he made this just for testing Bo’s technique?

Jingyi Bo focused, carefully spreading out her awareness within her aura far enough to affect all the water at once. It wouldn’t do for finesse, but for transforming the whole thing at once, it was extremely useful. She turned the ice to water, the water to mud, the mud to earth, and then … hesitated.

“Um, next is Magma, Elder Hwang. I’ve … never transmuted anything into one of the more dangerous elements.”

“Ah, I see! You’re used to touching them, aren’t you? Don’t worry, using your aura here should protect you from harm, as will the formations on the bowl!”

Bo didn’t like the sound of ‘should’, but she tried anyway. Magma wasn’t hard to visualise - it was just molten earth, after all. But every piece of mana had to travel through her meridians to her heart and back out again, bit by bit. Was it safe to let Magma course through her like that? As Bo continued to hesitate, even Hwang was growing impatient.

“Come now, Miss Jingyi! As you might understand, I am a very busy man! Ohoho. No pressure.”

With a gulp, Bo began her work. Sure enough, there was a slight burning inside her body as the earth slowly turned into magma. It wasn’t enough to hurt, but she was taking it slowly. Bo guessed if she had to hurry this process, she might end up scalding herself somehow. The bowl’s enchantments seemed to protect her (and the rest of the highly-flammable study) from the heat. Jingyi Bo sighed with relief, while Elder Hwang gave a singular pleased clap.

“There! That wasn’t so bad, was it? Next element, please. Fire, I believe?”

Certain at this point that the Elder wouldn’t let anything bad happen, she began her work. Fire was what Bo had taken to referring to as an ‘intangible’ substance. It couldn’t be held in one’s hand like earth, or cupped like water. It was volatile and free. Still, as the magma seemed to evaporate into an open flame, the bowl kept it contained. In addition, Bo’s main problem with working with these intangible substances, the fact that they tended to dissipate immediately, was not a problem at all. The bowl not only contained the flame, but prevented it from going out for lack of fuel. It reminded Bo a bit of the firepit charm, now that she looked at it.

With some more prodding, Jingyi Bo was convinced to change it once more. Next up was heat … which she didn’t understand how to visualise. This was the other problem with intangible substances - not being able to see them made it hard to think of what they were meant to be like. While puzzling it out, Elder Hwang held out a small charm through which he cycled mana. To Bo’s mana sense, she could see it - Heat. It made her think of summer days, the scorching feeling of a cloudless sky, or the air around a fireplace. After a moment, she nodded and transformed the flame.

To her eyes it seemed to vanish, but to her mana sense it became a sparkling field of that Heat. It hadn’t been perfect - Bo could feel the failed excess lining her meridians even now - but it was heat. Elder Hwang beamed.

“One more to go, and then it can turn back to ice!”

Air was an odd one. Another intangible, entirely invisible. Bo thought about wind blowing through the trees, a cool breeze on her face … about mana theory. Air was next to Ice, but there was also an intervening layer of either Lightning or Destruction if she took the wrong path. Eager to avoid transmuting anything into those, she focused instead on cold, refreshing air. The transformation was, as before, imperfect. But sure enough, there was Air in the bowl. Almost as though an afterthought, Bo condensed the remaining air back into ice - there was a light snow lining the bottom of the bowl, rather than the pool of ice that she had started with.

“Wonderful. Fascinating results! A little concerning how much was lost - I dare say you will need to find a way to do a bit of spring cleaning in your meridians, ohoho! Though … hm!” Bo suddenly felt herself being scrutinised, a tangible feeling of Elder Hwang’s eyes peering literally into her soul. It seemed he had activated a talisman, his eyes glowing brightly.

“What a fascinating little artifact. Seeing it inside your dantian is not a particularly conducive environment to study, but I dare-say that tearing it out of you would not be particularly kind, ohoho!”

Bo paled at the idea of tearing something out of her soul, but the old owl moved on. She was excused for now. Elder Hwang would call her back later, when Jingyi Bo’s meridians had been cleaned up.

---

Returning home, Bo found Chao Da and friends attempting to peer into her window. If she didn’t know that they were cultivators like her, she might have walloped the three of them over the head and ran them off. Instead, she opted for merely yelling.

“What in the Emperor’s name are you three up to?!”

All three of them jumped as though caught red-handed. Slowly turning, Chao Da gave a small bow.

“Sorry, Senior!”

“Bo.”

“Sorry, Senior Bo!” A slapping sound broke through the air as Bo put palm to face.

“Would you all just tell me what you’re doing?!”

The three of them looked at each other as if to say, Wait, what is it we were doing, anyway? The singular brain cell between them finally rattled around and hit the point, and Wang Wei of all people began to speak.

“We saw a person enter your shed, roughly sixteen minutes ago, carrying a package. They seemed to be a Yamato woman, around eighteen years of age, dressed in the robes of the Academy. They left, sealed the door and vacated the premises, without the package. Unable to ascertain the nature of their actions, we have been on high alert.”

The other three looked at him. Bo cut through the silence.

“That was … surprisingly detailed. Do you recall what she looked like?”

“She was like, voom, straight black hair.” Chao was a bit more emphatic when he spoke, full of gestures. “And she was … short! Like you, Senior Bo!”

Bo knew she was small, but being used as the yardstick for shortness still managed to irk her. The description didn’t fit anyone she knew - the only Yamato person she knew was the muscular pillow-placer. One day she would learn more about that man to stop defining him by that first impression. With nothing for it but to head inside, Bo opened the front door to see what the mystery mail-carrier had left for her.

There was a box, as expected, with a letter attached. Frankly, the contents of the box weren’t even remotely interesting, just her usual supply of rice and tea. Shooing the curious Chao gang outside, Bo cracked open the letter, swiftly snatching the jade slip that had fallen out along with the message. Putting the jade aside momentarily, she read the missive from her mysterious guest.

Jingyi Bo, please find enclosed a promised jade slip from Master Ienaga, as well as your supply of food. I have enclosed extra, as you appear to be resorting to strange meals to get by. I hope you are healthy. Paper does not fill the stomach like rice. I have also included a sample of my favourite tea for you to try. I hope you enjoy it.

- Admin

As Jingyi Bo read the letter, the colour drained from her face. This ‘admin’ was starting to scare her! How did she know about the paper incident? At least she knew (vaguely) what she looked like. If Bo found her, she would have to have a word.

Possibly a word of thanks, Bo muttered to herself, pulling a small box of tea leaves from the bottom of the food crate. These smell quite nice!

Putting those aside for the moment, she grabbed the slip of jade and channeled her qi into it. Thoughts, ideas and concepts flooded into her mind. Oh man. I’m going to need them for this.

---

It was late afternoon. Bo and her friends had just spent the last two hours locating and then promptly clearing a patch of flat ground, a short distance out of sight of the town proper. At the very least, the only nearby buildings didn’t have any windows looking this way. The perfect place for some surreptitious martial arts practice.

What had started as a way for the four Qin students to quietly practice their martial arts without losing face with the rest of their countrymen had ended up into a strange kind of excitement. Excitement for a game.

“I told you, Senior Bo! Saoka’s such a good idea that even Elder Ienaga agrees!”

The jade slip had included instructions for a basic martial art form, as well as instructions for how to practice it in secret by disguising it as a game of Cuju. Cuju, a ball game relatively popular back in Qin, involved kicking a ball up through a goal in the centre of a pitch. Chao Da’s version, which he had inexplicably named Saoka (which Bo assumed was just some sounds he thought were cool), instead involved a bigger pitch with two goals on either end. Coincidentally, it fit really well with Elder Ienaga’s stealthy way to practice martial arts. All the running would enhance their practice, and a wider field meant they would have to be better aware of their surroundings.

“Say, why’re we sneakin’ around with all this, again?” Chao was busy tying some spare rags together to form a ball.

“Because, the rest of our countrymen seem to think that martial arts are for savages!” Bo groaned - it was him who had explained this to her in the first place, after all. “After that one guy got fried by a half-spirit in his stupid duel, they all decided to shun the discipline.”

“I’m sure they’ll come around. Then we can show them all how to play Saoka!” Chao grinned. Wang nodded along, agreeing. Youni, who had been fairly quiet up until this point, snickered. “Senior Bo, you do have to be careful though - you can’t go calling Yan Zhihao ‘that one guy’. His family is quite powerful.”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass if he’s Elder Shit of Grand Pooping Sect, Chao! It was stupid of him to challenge some junior, and stupider of him to lose.” Bo sighed deeply. ‘Powerful family’ was, in her experience, code for ‘Prone to underestimating their misfortunes’. People like that tend to get chewed up by those with the real hunger to succeed, but usually not before stepping all over folks minding their own business. Like Jingyi Bo.

After some set-up, the group had the pitch assembled. While Da, De and Wei cleaned the pitch of stones, bushes and troublesome debris, Bo formed a wide hoop of stone for the goals. Once snapped in half, there was a semi-circular goal marked at either end of the pitch. They went over the rules, they practiced kicking around the ball, and then, they got into it.

Immediately, the differences in their strength came to the fore. This game was meant to help them learn martial arts, so it was full contact - the ball could only be kicked, but the other players were entirely fair game. All four of them had awakened to their Ki, though Bo had made a nearly a week’s head-start on the others. It wasn’t much of a head-start - her short stature wasn’t much of a match for teenage boys in their prime. It also didn’t help that their scuffles ended up in hilarious little slap fights.

Bruised and sore, they sat down and added to the rules list.

“No hitting the face.” Chao, sporting a nasty black eye, gave Bo an unhappy look.

“It’s not my fault you put your face in where I was swinging my fist! No grabbing hair!”

Wang Wei, writing these down on a piece of paper Bo had conjured up, sighed very slightly. There was a set of thin red lines across his face

“We can likely add ‘No scratching’.”

“One time!” Bo whined. She had been meaning to file them down. Her martial arts awakening was making them grow faster. Inexplicably, it hadn’t lengthened her hair. Nearby, Youni was lying on his side, alternating between snickering and groaning as he clutched at an injured ‘treasure’. Wang Wei side-eyed Bo as he wrote something else down on the list.

“O-Okay, how about this? We just practice the, uh, kicking parts. On the balls.”

Youni groaned.

“On the ball. Singular. The one made of cloth? Guys?”

After a bit of time, the four of them got back into it. With less to worry about in terms of getting into a brawl, it was much easier to focus on the game. There was so much strategy to be had! In teams of two, they could set themselves up to receive a ball kicked to them, then kick it straight in. Or, one of them could block up the goal with their body, blocking shots. Their abilities as cultivators even let them pull off moves that a professional Cuju player would have blushed at, like leaping into the air to perform a spinning kick to goal, or sliding directly under an opposing player.

By the time they finished up for the night, they made two careful observations. First, the utterly demolished ball of cloth would have to be traded out for something more hardy. Second, they needed more people. Way more people.