Wu Jian wiped the sweat from his body with a wet rag, put on a new training gi, and met up with Wu Meiying at the dining hall. They ignored the noise of the crowd and ate quickly while chatting about their new companion.

Wu Jian was honestly impressed with Hou Jingshu’s stubbornness. Despite how obvious it was that she had never exercised a day in her life, she doggedly stuck with their training program and completed it. She might have been left unable to move afterward, and she might have only done the beginner exercises they started with four years ago, but he hadn’t expected so much effort from a pampered princess. The girl had grit.

“She’ll be very important to you in the future,” Wu Meiying said.

“She will?” Wu Jian was nonplussed. “I mean, she’s gonna be my wife, so yeah, I guess she will.”

Wu Meiying shook her head. “That isn’t what I meant. In the future, she will become an irreplaceable existence to you, someone you cannot live without, and she will aid you when I cannot. Be sure to treat her with kindness, love, and respect.”

“Did you have another vision?”

“Maybe.”

“I see.”

When Wu Meiying acted coy like this, it meant she probably hadn’t seen anything of the future, but she still had a sharp intuition. She was likely basing her words on what she had observed from Hou Jingshu so far. Even if these words didn’t come because she had seen the future, Wu Jian still took them seriously.

“Don’t worry. I will treat her the same way I treat you,” he said.

“That would be for the best,” Wu Meiying admitted, then paused. “Though I hope you won’t replace me with her. I’m still your favorite, right?”

“That goes without saying. You’re gonna be my first wife, after all.”

While he might have spoken like he was joking at the end, Wu Jian was quite serious. He was going to do everything he could to love and respect Hou Jingshu. Even so, there wasn’t a soul on this continent who could replace Wu Meiying in his heart. They had been inseparable for as long as he could remember. Wu Jian was not complete without her.

She was his everything.

It did make him worry a little. He didn’t know if he would be able to love Hou Jingshu as he promised, but he would at least give it his all. Wu Jian did not want to be the kind of man who would neglect a girl’s feelings.

Breakfast soon ended and it was time for everyone to head to the martial hall. Wu Jian and Wu Meiying arrived with the others. Wu Lan was there, as always. He stood in the center of the martial hall, hands behind his back, shoulders straight, and posture steady. He reminded Wu Jian of a giant tree.

“Line up, everyone!” Wu Lan called out.

Everyone quickly lined up in order from oldest to youngest, which meant Wu Jian and Wu Meiying were firmly in the middle since the students who attended the martial hall were between the ages of six and fifteen.

“You know the drill,” Wu Lan began. “Start off with some basic stretches.”

“Yes, teacher!”

Wu Jian and Wu Meiying joined the others in doing their stretches. They had already done these earlier today, but it never hurt to limber up some more. They soon finished and joined their peers, once again lined up in a row.

“You’ll be breaking into pairs and sparring again today. Make sure you aren’t partnered with the same person you sparred with yesterday,” Instructor Lan said.

“Yes, teacher!” the students replied.

Everyone was about to break up into pairs, but then someone entered the martial hall, causing the students and Instructor Lan to turn in the direction of the door. The person who entered was Hou Jingshu. She froze upon seeing everyone looking at her. It looked like she had been trying to slip in undetected, but now that she had been caught, her cheeks flushed bright red.

“Princess Jingshu, welcome to the martial hall. Have you come here to watch the students spar?” asked Instructor Lan in a kind voice.

“Um… no. I… I actually wanted… to spar too,” Hou Jingshu said in a halting voice. Wu Jian had the feeling she expected to be rejected and told to sit out.

But that wasn’t what happened.

“I see. Well, you can’t join us in our normal spars right now since you probably don’t know how to fight. Right. Would one of you be willing to start teaching Princess Jingshu the basics of combat?”

Instructor Lan turned to the group of students. No one spoke at first. Several students looked at each other with uncertainty, while a few others elbowed their friends, egging them on to help the princess. Wu Jian could hear some of their conversations, and a few of them made him sick.

“Come on. Why don’t you go teach her? I’m sure you can use this as an excuse to, ahem, cop a feel.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. My strike zone doesn’t go that low, but isn’t she right up your alley, Khan?”

“Ha! That’s a good joke! Well, she is very pretty. I’m sure she’ll blossom into a lovely flower when she grows up, but right now she’s just a bud.”

After listening to everyone talk, Wu Jian was prepared to step forward and offer to help her. That was his duty as her future husband. And yet, just before he could do so, Wu Meiying stepped forward, smiling gently as she looked at Hou Jingshu.

“If you don’t mind, instructor, I would like to be the one who teaches Hou Jingshu the basics,” she said.

While Wu Jian thought it was his duty to teach Hou Jingshu, he considered that maybe Wu Meiying would be better suited than him. They were both girls. That gave them some common ground. He also didn’t know if he would be a good teacher. On the other hand, he knew for a fact that Wu Meiying was talented at pretty much everything she did.

Instructor Lan nodded. “Feel free. You’re one of the best students in my class, so I know you’ll do a good job.” Wu Meiying nodded and walked over to Hou Jingshu. While she began speaking with the Shang Kingdom’s princess, Instructor Lan looked at the rest of them. “Now that that has been taken care of, the rest of you, pair up and get to sparring.”

***

The first thing Wu Meiying taught Hou Jingshu was how to fall properly.

“There’s a correct way to fall?” asked a gawking Hou Jingshu.

“Yes.” Nodding, Wu Meiying smiled and explained. “If you fall without taking the proper precautions, you can hurt yourself very easily. For example, what if you fall and land on your head? That would hurt much worse than landing on your arm. Head injuries can be pretty serious. You could also fall improperly on your arm and dislocate your shoulder, which would make it hard to continue fighting.”

“Then what is the proper, um, procedure for falling?” asked Hou Jingshu.

“The correct way to fall is to tuck your chin in, turn your head, and throw up an arm. You should also twist or roll your body to the side when falling. This will prevent you from landing on your back and getting the wind knocked out of you.”

As she spoke, Wu Meiying carefully watched Hou Jingshu’s facial expressions to make sure the girl understood. The Shang Kingdom’s princess scrunched her face up for a second, then it softened, and then, finally, she nodded once.

She’s perceptive. That’s good. Just as I expected. She’ll definitely be able to stand beside Wu Jian when I can’t.

“I think I understand,” Hou Jingshu said.

Wu said, “In that case, let’s put this idea into practice. Since we’re just starting out, I won’t hit you or throw you. Instead, I’m going to push you with enough force that you fall. What I want you to do is practice falling just like I told you. Hmmm. Would you like an example before we begin?”

“Yes, please.”

“In that case, please push me.”

“Um…”

“What are you waiting for? Come on and push me.”

“O-okay…”

While Hou Jingshu looked uncertain, she came over and pushed Wu Meiying with all her strength. It wasn’t much. Hou Jingshu’s strength came from alchemy pills, not training, so she wasn’t as strong as she could be, but this was just an example and Wu Meiying acted like she had been pushed hard. She did exactly as she had instructed Hou Jingshu, tucking in her chin, turning her head, and twisting her body as she threw up her arm. She hit the training mat with a thud.

She stood back up moments later.

“This is the most basic way to fall. There are other ways you can fall, of course, but they are a lot more advanced and require more strength than you have right now. Do you think you can replicate this?”

“I think so,” Hou Jingshu said, though she sounded uncertain.

That was enough for Wu Meiying. “Okay. Then let’s get to practicing, then.”

Wu Meiying began pushing Hou Jingshu. She was careful not to exert too much force, but she also made sure there was enough strength in her push that her partner couldn’t regain her footing. Her first push sent the girl sprawling to the ground. Hou Jingshu let out a cry as her head smacked against the mat, then she rolled onto her side and gripped her noggin.

This is going to take a while, but that’s fine. No one can something perfectly the first time.

Wu Meiying was patient. She knew it would take time for Hou Jingshu to acquire the strength and technique she needed to stand by Wu Jian’s side, and Wu Meiying was more than willing to take her through every step necessary to help her accomplish this.

“Are you okay?” asked Wu Meiying.

“I’m… fine… that hurt… ooow…”

“You didn’t fall properly. That’s okay. No one ever gets it right the first time. Come on. Take my hand and get up. We’ll keep practicing until you can fall correctly.”

Even though falling on her head must have hurt, Hou Jingshu showed astonishing determination as she climbed back to her feet and prepared herself. Wu Meiying smiled before she adopted a serious expression. She pushed the princess again, and once more Hou Jingshu was sent sprawling to the ground. This time she managed to tuck in her chin, but she couldn’t do anything else. Well, at least she had avoided smacking her head on the mat.

“The key to falling properly is to commit the actions to muscle memory. Once you’re able to fall properly on an instinctive level, you won’t even need to think about it. Now, let’s try that again,” Wu Meiying said.

They practiced for what felt like several more hours, and while Hou Jingshu didn’t manage to fall properly by the end of their training, she was getting better. She managed to at least get the first two steps down and no longer had the wind knocked out of her. However, her instincts when falling was to windmill her arms in an attempt to regain her balance, which was a habit they would need her to kick if she wanted to get better.

Because Hou Jingshu was still sore from this morning’s training, they didn’t practice the entire session. Wu Meiying did not want to wear the girl down. That was unproductive. Once Hou Jingshu became too tired and sore to continue, they found a place to sit against the wall and watch the others spar.

Hou Jingshu’s eyes were locked onto Wu Jian.

“He’s pretty strong, right?” Wu Meiying asked when she noticed where the girl was looking.

“Yeah… I’ve never met someone my age who was that strong before,” Hou Jingshu confessed with a nod.

Wu Jian was currently sparring one of the older Wu Clansmen. Wu Bai was relatively tall for his age, with short black hair, a dark tan from being out in the sun, and decent muscle mass. He was much bulkier than Wu Jian, whose body was streamlined from his intense workouts. Despite being older than his sparring partner, it was clear who was better.

Wu Jian was dominating the sparring session.

The young boy wove around all of Wu Bai’s punches and kicks as if he could predict where they would land. A few punches came close to hitting him, but then Wu Jian would shift them away from his face and body with an open palm or the back of his hands. He didn’t attack right away. Unlike Wu Bai, who threw punch after punch, Wu Jian calmly waited until he saw a clear opening. Then he slammed his open palm into the other boy’s chest, staggering him. Once staggered, Wu Jian moved into Wu Bai’s guard and hit him with an uppercut to the chin, which sent the older boy sprawling to the ground.

“Ack… oooh… I think that broke a tooth,” Wu Bai muttered as he rubbed his jaw.

“I’m sure your tooth is fine.” Wu Jian smiled as he held out a hand. “Wanna go another round?”

Wu Bai looked at the hand, smiled, and allowed Wu Jian to pull him up. “Of course. Please give me some more pointers, Little Master.”

“Ugh, you people need to stop calling me that.”

“Ha ha ha! I doubt you’ll ever lose that nickname!”

“Uuuuugh.”

He’s come so far…

Wu Meiying felt her heart soar as she watched Wu Jian spar. He was probably unaware of it, but she had always been watching him. There was no one else under the heavens who mattered to her as much as he did.

As the spar between the two started up again, Wu Meiying began talking. “You might be surprised to know this, but Wu Jian used to be a scaredy-cat.”

“Wait. Really?” asked Hou Jingshu.

“Really.” Wu Meiying nodded. “He was also a cry baby, hated confrontation, and would rather let people walk all over him than stand up for himself.”

Hou Jingshu frowned. “You’re not pulling my leg, are you? I find that very hard to believe.”

“It’s all true. I’ll tell you more about his past some time.”

Hou Jingshu’s eyes were alight with interest, which made Wu Meiying smile. This girl was quite simple. However, that was what made her attractive. It was also why she was adamant on letting this girl join her and Wu Jian’s relationship. Her determination and straightforward personality would make her a great Dao Companion.

“Well, all right. By the way, who is that guy over there? He’s been glaring at Wu Jian ever since I came in.”

Wu Meiying looked at where Hou Jingshu was pointing and found Wu Fei staring at Wu Jian with a hard look. This was not unusual. Ever since the strength competition four years ago, Wu Fei had been watching Wu Jian with disturbing intensity. Nothing seemed to have come from it, however, and so Wu Meiying often put it out of her mind. She hadn’t seen anything in the future that would threaten her beloved.

“That’s Wu Fei. He always does that. Pay him no mind.”

“Hmm. If you’re sure.”

“I am. Now, how about we get a bit more practice in before lunch?”

Hou Jingshu practiced falling for another hour before it was time for lunch. Her butt and back would be very sore for the rest of the day.