Chapter 9 – A Fairy’s Guidance

Yi Cheng was pleasantly surprised by the news that his friend brought him. He would not have enjoyed sleeping between at least a hundred recruits that he did not know.

The little house paled in comparison if you compared it to Jia-long’s mansion, but the house was at least twice as big as his living wagon. Upon entering Cheng discovered that beside a large bed there was no other furniture.

“I am sorry, but you will have to gather the rest on your own,” said Jia-long somewhat embarrassed.

“Brother, could I possibly get a loan?” asked Cheng hopefully.

“…”

“No?”

“I would like to… but,” said Jia-long, hesitant to answer.

“But what?”

“Father’s orders prevent me from doing so.”

“I guess he told you to stop spending money on a debauchee or something similar?” asked Cheng as he walked further into the wooden house.

“How did you know? You almost used his exact words!” Jia-long blurted out.

“Acting is the most minor of gifts and not a very high-class way to earn a living,” answered Cheng, fully aware of the reputation actors had in this world. A good actor might wear fine silks, eat gourmet food and socialize with the higher social circles, but they had no status themselves that was worth speaking off.

“It is alright brother. After I memorize the contents I will find a way to sell the Quintessential Spear Arts,” Yi Cheng said matter-of-factly.

Jia-long couldn’t believe what he had just heard, “Ehhh…”

“I might not be able to pay off my debt entirely, but it should make a good dent, I think,” said Cheng while laughing jovially.

“Let me talk to father again,” said Jia-long.

“No need brother,” said Cheng, “No friend of mine will need to beg on my behalf.”

Jia-long didn’t press the issue further. After saying their goodbyes he left the little house that he had arranged for his friend. As he walked towards his own mansion he tried making guesses on the true value of the Quintessential Spear Arts.

Cheng let himself fall back onto his only piece of furniture, lying with his legs and arms spread wide, one knee up in the air. He reached for the manual containing the Quintessential Spear Arts and started reading.

After two hours of intensive study he put the tome to rest. While lying on top of the bed, he drifted to sleep. When he woke twenty minutes later, he noticed that Izel was sleeping on a pillow not far from his.

He was still hoping that his contracted fairy would become more accommodating instead of aloof and proud. While gazing at the sleeping fairy, he thought back on all the things that happened in the last two weeks, realizing that the little creature’s patience had been tried and tested again and again. When he had said that their tale would impress the world, he meant it, now he just had to figure out how to do it.

For now he just absorbed the contents of the Quintessential Spear Arts manual, page after page. Eventually the sun went down and the young actor, aspiring expert, fell asleep shortly after.

After waking up in the morning Yi Cheng had trouble getting out of bed due to the aching muscles in his thighs. He looked around, but Izel was nowhere to be found.

Jia-long had told him that basic rations were supplied for free near the training grounds, but if he desired more luxurious foods or drinks that he would have to pay for them. Since he had not even a single copper written to his name, the choice was easy. He headed towards the training grounds in search of breakfast.

The rations consisted of cooked rice and tofu, a commoner’s meal. If Cheng wanted fruit, meat or vegetables he would have to start earning money.

After he finished his meal he headed to the training grounds. Today the martial initiates would teach in the use of weapons. Jia-long had told Cheng that there were teachers for the sword, axe, bow, staff, spear and unarmed combat.

Timid Tiger taught in swordplay, switching between double-edged straight swords and sabers as he pleased. While the remaining three of the rugged men, all four confirmed to be martial initiates, respectively taught in the ways of the axe, bow and staff. The teachers for unarmed martial arts and the spear were not yet martial initiates, but their level of skill in their respective arts was nothing to sneeze at.

After testing the waters in all of the disciplines that were taught over the course of a few days, he realized his aptitude for the sword, axe and bow were abysmal. His proficiency in unarmed combat was the best while his potential in the spear and staff would be decent if he trained his body more rigorously.

The Five Rivers Gang provided classes for a myriad of other things as well, such as: reading, basic arithmetic, book-keeping, first aid and many more. Most of them were useless to Yi Cheng, but he did request training in first aid, forgery and basic survival skills. First aid and basic survival were free, but forgery would cost him fifty silvers, something which he couldn’t afford for now.

Somewhat satisfied Yi Cheng returned to his house after a busy week of training. Most days he would come home to an empty house, but today Izel was clearly waiting for him.

“Master…”

“What is it Izel?”

“I have been watching you all week now,” said the fairy.

“Liked what you saw?” Cheng joked.

“No. Your lack of knowledge is painful to watch,” answered the fairy coldly.

Izel’s words hurt more than Cheng had expected them to.

“But… I do believe you are trying to improve,” said Izel approvingly. “Therefore I will tell you of other paths, before you bind yourself to one that leads nowhere,” Izel declared proudly.

“Other paths?”

“I will show you,” said the celestial fairy, lightly tapping on the actor’s forehead.

Due to Cheng’s restless character he immediately wished to ask questions, but before he had the chance to do so information started flooding into his mind. As the stream of information continued, his world started to spin. It felt as if his brain was being scrambled.

The little fairy removed her finger from his head and the seemingly endless stream of knowledge stopped at once, the pounding in Cheng’s head remained.

“You should try sleeping,” said Izel.

Yi Cheng was absolutely certain that sleeping would be impossible as long as that vicious giant rampaged in his head, but he lay down on the bed nonetheless.

The headache didn’t disappear, but eventually the tired actor fell asleep. During his slumber the information solidified in Cheng’s mind. He would wake up with many new valuable insights and important knowledge.

It was midmorning when Yi Cheng woke up, his head still felt like an axe was planted in it. If he ever felt like this in the past, he would have waited until Liling would bring him eggs, rice, sausages and fruit juice, the perfect cure for a hangover. This time, no breakfast was brought. Food would have to wait until lunch since the free rations were only distributed at set times.

As time passed the pain between his ears slowly diminished, allowing him to put his brain to work again.

The first thing he did was compile a list of the things he had learned:

The body always absorbs elemental energy. Through special techniques you can influence the absorption speed. Without these techniques the chances of becoming an elementalist are non-existent.

Martial Qi should simply be called Qi or life force. The best known way of cultivating it is through combat and training, which is why it is often called Martial Qi. Other methods of cultivation are meditation, losing oneself in their art or craft, enlightenment and through the Joining of the Essences*.

Mantras are words of power, copying them from others can lead to quick results, but the power gained is incomparable to mantras you receive when rising to the next level of Qi cultivation through your own understandings.

Mastery of a weapon, martial art or other talent is essential if you wish to become a supreme expert. Most choose to master a weapon or martial art, since those have offensive power even before imbuing them with elemental energy or qi. Yet there are a multitude of experts who used their unique arts such as calligraphy, puppetry, acupuncture or even zhezhi* to etch their names in history.

Qi is the indomitable will, elemental energy is the unbridled force and mastery of your art is the hand which guides. All three are equally important.

There was a lot more information squeezed into the actor’s pounding brain, but these pieces were by far the most important. He now possessed a much better understanding of what he had to do.

Cheng’s first priority was finding a technique which would allow him to gather elemental energy more swiftly. His second priority was to make a decision on which of his talents he would cultivate. His third priority was to train the general quality of his body and mind through exercise and meditation. Cheng was getting excited just thinking about these things, his eyes dancing with excitement.

“You should forget about Elemental Gathering Techniques for now,” said Izel, correctly guessing Cheng’s intent. “Once my powers return in two weeks’ time, you will automatically obtain one.”

“Two weeks? Not three?” asked Cheng, clearly remembering that the fairy had told him he would have to wait at least a month.

“The large quantities of water energy in this area make it easier to create wood energy.”

“Really? How does that work?”

“I could use my information transfer technique again if you want,” answered Izel, her lush lips transforming slowly into a mischievous grin.

“I’ll pass.”

“I thought as much,” Izel said, laughing heartily.

* Joining of the Essences – Taoist sexual practices.

* Zhezhi – The art of paper folding that originated from China.