Chapter 9: 9 Stalks: Great luck, longevity.


Hiya!
Been a while sorry~ updates will be coming slower for a while :0
But for now; new chappie!

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Shen Qingqiu woke among warm sheets and the scent of fragrant perfume of the Warm Red Pavilion, keeping his eyes closed to bask in the peace of it for a moment.

He frowned to himself, thinking on the day ahead. He intended to begin his altered schedule with the juniors to see how badly they struggled and how much he needed to slow the planned timetable down to be sustainable.

There was adequate time to do so after all, though there was the possibility of that invasion headed by the newest demon Saint. It was unlikely to occur; arrogant though she was in her new position, the Southern Thunder Saint girl was not so idiotic as to attack the territory of the War God; that news of Liu Qingge's death had spread was the only reason she dared in the plane of Shen Qingqiu's counterpart.

However, no Shen Qingqiu of any world had survived by ignoring potential threats or taking stupid risks. He would send word for whispers on the situation in the Southern demon territories through his various correspondents, if there was rumour of a raid on the Greatest Human Cultivation Sect, it would reach him. Possibly some of the other Peak Lords too, as most had some form of information network, typically through trade contacts, former disciples or favours gained over missions, with of course Shang Qinghua's being the most extensive over all the trade routes, outposts and customer and supplier systems.

Shen Qingqiu's eyes opened slightly, half lidded gaze tracing the intricate designs on the ceiling as he contemplated the little weasel. He was sly. It was in the way his eyes slid to look at people, in the looseness of his limbs, in the curve of his smile. It set every one of Shen Jiu's instincts on edge.

They had never interacted much for that reason, Shen Qingqiu too unsure of his position and power, and Shang Qinghua adjusting to his sudden rise to Head disciple and then to running arguably the busiest Peak in the Sect.

They did not talk, but Shen Qingqiu watched. He watched slow blinks processing new information before manipulating it to his advantage, the twitching fingertips when subtly prying for information, the movement of his shoulders tightening straight or hunching incrementally with the faint feeling of prey, especially the topic raised on the mission preceding his appointment. All tells that became less and less pronounced as the hunted look in his shaded brown eyes faded over time, replaced by calculation.

And Shang Qinghua watched back.

Not immediately, nor with the same level of attention -Shang Qinghua was a merchant child, not street and certainly not the back-alley type like Shen Qingqiu- but there was a wary attention between them. A mutual acknowledgement.

Shen Qingqiu's correspondents within the demonic cultivators passed him some curious whispers. About the stability and order of trade routes in the North, about a shadow hand with impenetrable armour of some kind, unknown as no challenger survive to speak of it.

No suspect deaths or repeat mission failures had occurred linked to organised force from the demonic North however. Not against Cang Qiong. Huan Hua... well, they had been pressing their northern border less and less since Shang Qinghua ascended to An Ding Lord and there was a distinct lack of their former force in show of disciples moving about the world.

Perhaps Shang Qinghua would be interested in some of Shen Qingqiu's knowledge of Huan Hua Palace Sect. Another protection for the Sect perhaps, on a double front against Huan Hua if Shang Qinghua's issue in fact stems from his norther demon Lord, whichever one that may be. Likely, considering Huan Hua's peculiar preoccupation with entrapping demons rather than directly killing them.

Lu Lanfen stirred beside him, stretching sinuously and yawning like a kitten. Yes, it was time to return to the mountain and corral his disciples for training.

Shen Qingqiu got up and readied himself for departure, retrieving the spare robe set from one of the layered qiankun seals in his sleeves and dismantling the intricate crown of loops and braids the girls had begged to put his hair up in. As though his muck brown hair looked more fitting in such a design than the black ink of Song Mei.

No matter, he had slept restfully after a pleasant shichen listening to the girls gossip and enduring Madam Cheng's tight-lipped concern about his health.

Slipping a bag of coin under a pillow for his time in the Pavilion, Shen Qingqiu left his temporary sanctuary and walked into the tree line off the road, where he mounted Xiu Ya and flew back to Qing Jing.

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Mu Qingfang blinked awake to the thin shadows of his bed canopy in the weak dawn light and smiled sadly at the old memories that had formed his dreams that night. His mother's frail fingers and the tired smile set against sallow skin. His uncle's pipe filled with herbs for his damaged lungs from the winter he got sick and never really recovered. Small details that made them who they were, the idiosyncrasies he was privileged to know as a close loved one.

He sighed and got up, completing his ablutions and preparing a strong pot of tea. His blood kin were long dead now of course, from injury, sickness or simple age. Mu Qingfang held no heart demons about it, had long made peace with this as well as the helplessness of his child self in the face of his mother's illness, but the loss of them still made his memories bittersweet.

Settling at the low table, Mu Qingfang watered his potted bonsai with a small Everflow ewer

Then he turned to the morning's work basket, glancing over the colour markers of missives and forms his Hallmaster rotation determined required Peak Lord handling. His eye caught on a ribbon the fresh green of new leaves binding a message scroll and snatched it up, noting the crest of three finely detailed leaves turned mid-fall. What was Shen Qingqiu writing to him about?

Curt acknowledgement of the blanket? A scathing essay on the Wind-Soother Grass to conceal his lack of knowledge? Or something else entirely?

Unfurling the scroll, Mu Qingfang read it's contents and felt his eyes widen with each immaculately formed character. This-

Liu Qingge had a severe Qi Deviation in the Ling Xi Caves- which could have been utterly catastrophic given the strength of the War God and the Peak full of disciples not far enough away for aid to arrive in time- almost died, almost killed Shen Qingqiu - not that the missive so much as alluded to it, but Mu Qingfang knew very well the damage they did to each other in their 'duels' and with Liu-shidi in a hyper aggressive state from Qi Deviation and the power burst of Earth qi from the evidently failed breakthrough...after Mu Qingfang had seen to Liu Qingge, he would be going to Qing Jing to take tea with Shen Qingqiu to see if he had any injuries still healing or poorly tended by Healer standard. The pair of them! Staying in seclusion after a major Qi Deviation in one party and exposure to volatile, destabilizing energy soon after a major Qi Deviation of his own in the other party who was prone to Deviations!

Liu Qingge was still in the Caves! Most likely still cultivating, as if Mu Qingfang wouldn't notice the marks of Deviation when he next healed him, or that Li Qingrong wouldn't sense the disturbance and ask the one entrusted with the health of the Sect that their martial brother was alright, especially in closer proximity to the Sect! In fact, Mu Qingfang could see a slightly weathered scroll with a pale lilac tie, likely sent ahead by the Elementalist Peak Lord on this very matter!

Snatching up his cup he downed the strong mix and went to retrieve his bag and robes; he had a tiger to tend.

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The sun was just touching the tips of the Tian Gong Mountains when Shen Qingqiu had all his Peak juniors gathered at a stone training ground. As instructed, hair was tied back fully and they each wore flexible cloth shoes, short martial cut over robes and trousers bound at the ankles.

The space was similar to the Soothing Stone Grounds, but instead of clear paved space, head height wing chun training posts stood evenly spaced from one another. They were made of Bai Zhan Ironwood, with eight arms that could be locked into position or allowed to rotate freely and core cylinders only wide enough to rest a single foot comfortably.

On the flat space before them, Shen Qingqiu instructed his bewildered, sleep heavy disciples to meditate and settled into light meditation himself, emitting a light field of qi to encompass them to warn for intruders and focusing his senses on monitoring their qi flow within meditation.

Typically, disciples were expected to meditate independently after being taught upon arrival and were expected to do so each day before morning classes or activities by following their cultivation manuals. If a disciple struggled, they were to ask pointers from a Hallmaster or senior and would be immediately redirected to the Library.

Shen Qingqiu was only supervising them now because he needed their qi flowing smoothly and fully to enhance their bodies to an acceptable standard of ability. They desperately needed the maximum boost possible in increasing stamina, flexibility and strength from bones to skin, additionally, in decreasing recovery time and healing minor damage as it was incurred, particularly in muscles.

Sure enough, a third of these idiot children were sat either dozing or simply thinking things rather than actually meditating and relaxing their spirit veins.

(Surprisingly Luo Binghe was not among the number; perhaps the little beast truly was a diligent student when given proper materials. Perhaps. )

Letting his voice fall into a deep and smooth undertone, Shen Qingqiu described the feeling of full, meditative qi flow and the relaxation of body and mind, leading them in slow inhalations of cool dewy air and exhalations of heated breath expelling stress and tension from the mind and form.

Once they had achieved this and sufficiently prepared themselves for the day, Shen Qingqiu began shifting his qi in the air to bring their awareness back from their inner selves and slowly draw them out of meditation.

Then, he set them to the podiums, one each, standing on one foot. He sneered as they wobbled in the Crane stance.

He claimed the foremost post facing the disciples and slowly led them through a standard sequence of movements for balance and precision core control practice. Silently, he drew his hands together loosely at his chest, bringing his left leg up straight at his waist, toes skyward and holding. Once the disciples settled in the form, he stretched on hand out to the side and then brought it forward and his leg up to grasp his toes, keeping his back straight; Standing Head to Toe. Observing his pitiful disciples struggle, he brought leg down to cross his ankles in the first stage of the Tree Pose and repeated the sequence with the other leg, slowly shifting through the motions until the disciples largely followed.

With the realisation that they were apparently not going to improve in that sequence further this day, when he reached Standing Head to Toe next, Shen Qingqiu moved his leg and arm together to his side to stand Hand to Foot, then smoothly continued to motion around his body, bending his knee perpendicular to his waist, tilting forward to maintain his centre of balance and stretching his free hand out before himself; the Dancer Pose.

The disciples shifted uncertainly on their podiums; a good portion were already flushed from such meagre exertion. Shen Qingqiu looked them over with a frosty expression. They began attempting mimicry.

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Mu Qingfang frowned slightly as he left an agitated Yue Qingyuan in his office and descended Qiong Ding Peak to the Ling Xi cave system entrance. ' What did he do?' The first thing Yue Qingyuan asked when Mu Qingfang informed him of Liu Qingge's Qi Deviation to gain permission to access the Caves.

Already assured by Mu Qingfang of Liu Qingge's survival and probable health (as he didn't see fit to leave the Caves and get himself checked after a health-related near-death event), the first thing he asked was what Shen Qingqiu did to cause it. Or perhaps worsen it? Take advantage? Only after the Healer finished recounting the situation to the best of his knowledge did the Sect Leader ask after Shen Qingqiu's health.

Everyone in the Sect knew that Yue Qingyuan favoured the Green-eyed Scholar Lord above all others, just as the callous Head Tactician exploited that bias again and again with sharp, icy remarks that cut deeply but reaped no discernible satisfaction. Now though... Mu Qingfang wondered if the Sect Leader with eyes of endless sorrow did not in fact think his Right Hand to be as trustworthy as his leniency implied, to be so quick to assume fault. Not untrustworthy in the sense or treachery to the Sect of course, even Liu Qingge would be reluctant to claim that of Shen Qingqiu, but...perhaps unreasonably reluctant in overlooking deep-rooted grievance in the face of the subject, a martial brother, Liu Qingge, requiring assistance. Perhaps.

Either way, there were more issues and nuances to those issues than Mu Qingfang was privy to and he had a patient to hunt down.

Crossing the threshold into the Ling Xi Caves, he reached out and set his palm against the soft black Star Dew Moss growing in patches on the wall and covering the ceiling with twinkling silver 'stars' like dewdrops that illuminated the winding passageways enough for an Immortal's cultivation level to see by. Softly pulsing a light wave of qi through it, Mu Qingfang focused for the minute tendrils of his qi threading through the root system and away absorbed into the matrix before an echo rippled back to him, rich dense qi perfectly balanced from centuries of powerful Immortals cultivating within, carrying whispered notes of fading yin fire and water twined together and a clearer thrum of yang metal. It was calm and focused, without the wavering edge that would betray injury or instability. Good.

Pausing periodically to check through the Moss, Mu Qingfang arrived at a bare stone antechamber suited for martial cultivation to Liu Qingge going through an advanced sequence, white training robe outlining every muscle flex and sweat beaded between his furrowed brows. He ignored Mu Qingfang and stubbornly completed his kata by leaping into the air and delivering a scything kick, no doubt devastating to an opponent, and landing in a low crouch, hands clawed to deliver a ferocious strike if necessary.

Breathing deeply, he got up, turned and acknowledged his visitor. "Mu Qingfang." he said. Stated.

Mu Qingfang quirked his eyebrows at him. "Yes Liu-shidi, though I would have expected to see you sooner given your Qi Deviation."

Grey-blue eyes widened slightly, "Shen Qingqiu?"

"Yes. Shen-shixiong sent a missive outlining the event and his treatment, but this Healer would check Liu-shidi's spirit veins for damage if he is agreeable." His smile widened. Liu Qingge eyed him warily but nodded once sharply. He knew better than to argue.

Taking hold of the slim wrist presented to him, Mu Qingfang threaded his qi into Liu Qingge's system with care and set about investigating his veins and meridians. It was a delicate process, requiring fine control to assess an area while manipulating qi against damaging or overstimulating interaction with the indigenous qi. For Mu Qingfang, it was the balance of Counteracting Liu Qingge's metal qi enough to practice on him without pushing enough to cause damage. It was less difficult with their natures than some however, as wood and metal were not adjacent to one another in the cycle, interaction was much less dramatic and with their both being physical cultivators, exacerbating forces of qi attraction were muffled.

Still, it was good that Liu Qingge's meridians seemed stable and his spirit veins recovered from the Deviation, thus not requiring a sensitive operation, be it coating his meridians in qi as a buffer for healing (as Shen Qingqiu had managed with impressive care and skill with a lingering layer of pure fire qi, that Mu Qingfang gently fed his own wood qi into to bolster), or Heavens forbid the truly delicate and arduous task of Realignment.

He hummed, "Liu-shidi is recovering well, but in future this humble one requests that his martial brother please come to him after sustaining an injury, no matter how minor Liu Qingge thinks it is."

Liu Qingge stared with rapt attention at an indiscernible point on the far wall, his shoulders creeping up incrementally. He was silent, but Mu Qingfang hardly expected anything else, given that this was another familiar refrain.

Usually, he would leave it at that, quietly note down whatever beast Liu Qingge went hunting next and ensure he had the pertinent antidotes in his stock. However, a thought whispered across his mind, 'what else have I missed' and compelled him to continue. "Liu Qingge." The War God startled at the sudden seriousness of his voice and looked over.

Mu Qingfang met his eyes and held them, looking deep into tempestuous grey bright with attention. "I am a Healer." sharp eyebrows slanted in confusion, though it looked a lot like frustration. He grasped for the words to make his martial brother understand "It is my duty to heal your wounds, both large and what you may deem insignificant. It is my pleasure to ensure the health of my martial kin and my pain to watch them suffer, or to learn of that suffering later and know they did not come to me, that they did no trust me enough to let me help."

Liu Qingge opened his mouth to protest, his whole body jerking in denial, but Mu Qingfang was not finished. Liu Qingge needed to hear this, just as several other of their martial brothers did.

"Liu-shidi, you almost died and the first I heard of it was from the man I might have believed killed you had the event turned out even slightly different!"

"I-"

"Why did you not summon me through the alert system to just check you over ?"

"I need to get better."

Mu Qingfang blinked. Liu Qingge stared at him intensely.

"Shen Qingqiu. There is fear in his eyes. I need to achieve this breakthrough to be stronger. Strong enough to prove my control and ability to – protect. Him. And the Sect. Better. My qi must be stable to do so." He scowled. "This Lord will - bother Mu Qingfang to check his health after injuries."

The Healer smiled and let go of Liu Qingge's wrist. "This one thanks Liu-shidi. Otherwise, Liu Qingge is very close to breakthrough and appears to be stable with no lasting damage. So long as he does not force it, his cultivation should be without complication. Liu-shidi is very lucky." Turned to leave with a parting smile, "Come see this one when you exit seclusion, I would welcome your company before your next Hunt."

Liu Qingge huffed.

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Every single one fell off. Repeatedly.

Not one disciple could manage the transition to the Dancer Pose. What's more, many faces were flushed from the paltry effort of it.

Shen Qingqiu sighed from his soul.

"Very well. It seems this master has overestimated his juniors. He will return to the most basic techniques of the Peak and hope these disciple children can keep up." Unanimous offense light the eyes of the juniors. Were he feeling any less despairing, Shen Qingqiu might have approved on the resolve suddenly burning in them.

"Observe closely; the Cat's Foot technique."

Mustering the last dregs of his patience, Shen Qingqiu led them through the most basic sequence on Qing Jing.

By the merciful grace of Heavens, they improved with the gently increasing difficulty performed on a flat surface, one knee bent slightly, back straight and other foot extended between the arms of the wing chun post higher and higher, until they were each able to hold position in a steady high kick on either foot.

Thus, after a shichen on balance training, when the sun sat high in the sky, Shen Qingqiu moved on to archery. Leading his students up the Peak to the highest part of the bamboo forest, Shen Qingqiu finally halted at the archery range, a long flat space of short grass backed by a minor cliff of bare grey rock, with shimmering bamboo on one side and a short stone wall overlooking the village at the foot of the Sect and the vein like lines of roads extending out as far as even a cultivator's eye could see.

It was a good training site; with the contrast of exposure and shelter, depending on the day and the direction of the wind it could be used as a beginner's ground with still air or a true test of skill with gusty winds and the sun angled into the eyes.

Here, he retrieved twenty unstrung bows; ten recurving horn bows and ten elegantly arched longbows and white jade thumb rings from a qiankun pouches taken from the Qing Jing supply house.

Shen Qingqiu demonstrated a shot in the formal ritual style and again in the more practical battlefield technique, feeling the pull of his muscles echoed in the tension of the string and pausing for an instant as the target focused in his vision and the world fell to stillness for a beat of the butterfly's wings, then the arrow loosed with a soft exhale.

There was a certain serenity to archery that truly appealed to Shen Qingqiu. The precision, control and elegance expressed the epitome of all that he strived to be, but it also made him feel uncomfortably exposed. After all, how could he watch his back if his attention was focused on a distant point?

However, it was a necessary skill for a scholar- to perform ceremonial rites or defend oneself on a battlefield, as though they learned the Six Arts like Qiong Ding, Qing Jing placed emphasis on the Four Arts in creating the 'scholar-gentleman' as opposed to the 'true gentleman'.

Calling the closest ten disciples to shoot first, Shen Qingqiu watched them string the bows and was pleased to see familiarity in the action. Hallmaster Kun Juan was a quiet, dark-eyed woman who was meticulous in both her shooting and her instruction, thus the disciples were at least passable at handling the horn bows and shooting with accuracy and elegance in the fine conditions of the day.

Cycling to the second set of students, he was pleased to see the standard of competence held, though Lan Yue was obviously less comfortable in the ritual shooting style and Teng Liang looked at Wei Zhi pointedly before his shot and gloatingly after it, making her face contort with rage into something very far removed from what her delicately carved hair stick would imply about her character.

Shen Qingqiu's green eyes followed the interaction closely, but for the moment her did nothing.

With the final third came Zhang Hao, who shot with the motion echoing throughout his body, with ease and grace in the perfect posture and breath patterns. Shen Qingqiu blinked, apparently there was a budding master archer in the disciple ranks.

Satisfied with the display, Shen Qingqiu repeated the process with the more difficult to wield, but undeniably more powerful longbow. However, it became evident very quickly in the first group that the disciples were not nearly as skilled with this weapon as the last.

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Luo Binghe huffed in frustration as the arow hit off-centre again. His arrows were near the centre ring but refused to land within it, even by chance! Ming Fan had landed three of five arrows within the ring of his target, but Luo Binghe would not ask for help as he knew Ming Fan had no special skill in archery so he needed to focus to do well.

"You are making mistakes because you are focusing on the target and not on your actions."

A smooth voice intoned from behind him, startling him badly. Luo Binghe whipped round to face his cold Shizun, heart beating in his throat. The Immortal master was staring at him over an idly moving fan.

"S-Shizun?" Inwardly, he cursed himself for stuttering, but surprisingly Shen Qingqiu did not sneer and mock him, instead his rare jade eyes slid over his body. He felt a bit warm all of a sudden.

"Only when your string posture is right can you hit the target. Align your body to the bow. Do not twist yourself, idiot beast, you are not a Bearded Lightning Eel. The draw is harder, pull from your shoulders and back, down to the waist, not just the draw arm." Without waiting to see his shot, Shen Qingqiu returned to his position to observe them.

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Shen Qingqiu was instructing his youngest female disciple Zhu Ziyi or the proper draw posture to gain her the power to prevent her arrows falling short of the target, as her arms were not strong enough yet to compensate against a longbow. She was a young Mistress of a noble family whose line held a few low-level Court Officials and hoped to gain more by marriage through their future scholar-maiden trained at Cang Qiong, though from Ning Yingying's reports, the girl was willing and able to fight viciously when needed, a trait that would certainly suit a Cultivator for Night Hunts. He was describing the breath flow of the raised bow posture when an arrow flew past him in a direction it had no business being aimed.

He turned sharply to see Teng Liang holding an empty bow and laughing, until Wei Zhi darted froward from where she was stood next to the arrow now embedded in the grass and punched him in the jaw, forcibly shutting his mouth with a loud click .

Teng Liang recovered quickly, staggering back a step and parrying her follow-up blow with his bow before Shen Qingqiu got between them and ripped the longbow from his hands, forcing them both back with a harsh strike to the stomach each.

He towered over them, seething with icy fury.

"What. Was that. " It was not a question. They did not offer an answer, frozen in place kneeling on the ground, even averted but shoulders rigid with animosity. The bow creaked in his grip.

"This master was aware of a childish quarrel between junior disciples Tiang Liang and Wei Zhi, of useless bickering that almost led to the death of their shijie and two shixiongs when they could not set such petty matters aside for the duration of an active investigation, but he had thought that after the experience and their punishment that they might resolve the situation one way or another and prove themselves worthy of studying cultivation on Qing Jing Peak."

Their eyes were lifted to meet his, Wei Zhi's holding resentful fire and Tiang Liang's chin lifted in obstinate defiance.

"Instead, this master sees a disciple of his Peak fire a deadly weapon at an unarmed peer. "

Tiang Liang opened his mouth to say- something, but Shen Qingqiu snarled and thrust the bow at them.

"This is a weapon. This is a tool used to kill. When you hold this in your hand you hold the life of both your enemy and your ally. It will split flesh just as cloth under the direction of its master. This is the power known to all people, mortal and not, human and not.

"As a Cultivation disciple you are trained to use it with the skill and intent to kill. Even the lowest level Cultivator hold strength no mere mortal can match, thus the power of the bow becomes truly devastating. In your hands you hold death.

"Fear it. Know it. Keep this knowledge in your heart when you draw a weapon because any action taken cannot be without consequence and as you wield this tool you must be prepared to face what exactly that is. To lose respect for your weapon is to lose yourself to darkness and it is the duty of the Righteous Cultivator to kill those who do so."

His voice dropped to a quiet tone, crisp with unyielding ice and hard with deadly shards.

"Do these Cultivation disciples understand?"

"...Yes Shizun."

"Yes... Shizun."

"This master will decide punishment. The lesson is ended, disciples will leave and attend afternoon classes as usual. Scram. "

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From her position far up the mountain, Hallmaster Kun Juan watched Shen Qingqiu's lesson with sharp eyes, her respectably high cultivation level enhancing her vision to read their lips and bodies.

Her mind whirled as the wind tugged at robes and strands of hair.

Kun Juan respected her Lord for his thorough efficiency in managing the duties of his role, both to the Peak and the Sect, but she did not trust her art to his instruction given his general preference to keep out of training disciples. Until now, that is.

Something was coming. Lord Shen had not enacted an education overhaul on a whim, it was too detailed a plan and he was too unyielding in its enforcement. Something was coming that had the Qing Jing Lord training disciples personally to impart hard lessons to them, ensuring they realised that concepts like the duty and responsibility of a Cultivator applied to them, as Disciples of this Path.

Whether it stemmed from something in the Deviation or word from his spy network is irrelevant. To Kun Juan there are two things that are certain; one, that her art can be trusted to Shen Qingqiu's instruction, so she will be joining him for the next session, and two...

Change was on the winds.

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Notes:

•4 Arts: qin, weiqi (go), calligraphy, painting.
•6 Arts: rites, music, archery, chariotry, calligraphy, mathematics.
•Counteracting: wood dulls metal
•Inter-regulating: metal chops/carves wood

•SQH: I wasn't going for the reveal yet, but it's here anyway: have some OG SQH~! Mainly because Airplane is a nervous wreck and I know myself enough that I would make that Stew waaay worse, mainly with a litre existential crisis, a fistful of denial and a boatload of guilt. Also, I am not prepared to work out talisman array technicalities for blocking an entity like the System, which SQQ would immediately demand as a temporary solution. *cries* ALSO, I know SQH's commonly linked to a rat, but I weasels better and the stoat is brown in summer and white in winter when it's called an ermine. It's a literal turn-coat.

•MQF is Yang Wood, LQG is Yang Metal.
• LQG mainly uses Tiger Style-like Kung Fu like most of Bai Zhan, though they also learn a Leopard style equivalent.

•Shamelessly stole yoga poses for the balance training, which I did not initially intend, but the kiddies are too low level for what I had planned. They'd fall and die for sure. If I screwed anything much majorly, let me know, I've ever done yoga. Same with the meditation and archery. Tbh, this chapter is just full of things I wish I knew how to do. SO! If I made any mistakes, please please please let me know!

Specifically or just in general, please feel free to tell me what you think! Constructive criticism, gramatical/spelling errors, information inaccuracies, or just opinion on plot or flow ~let me know!