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Chapter 27: The Training for the Duel

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If he wasn't mistaken, Min Lao was currently somewhere in the Heavenly Root Realm.

Kyu Cao didn't know exactly how difficult it was to go from the Earthly Warrior Real to the Heavenly Root Real, but judging from the dog's words, it should be a monumental feat.

"I see. I thank again Senior Uncle."

"Young Master is too kind."

Seeing these two stoic-faced fellows with ramrod backs interchanging such candid words with practically indifferent tones, the cat and snake pair found it somewhat comical.

Kyu Cao took one last glance at the dog then turned away, and began to walk toward the Backdoor's Forest under the surprised stares of those two guards.

Wan Tanpei hesitated briefly, but gathered his boldness and spoke out. "Young Master."

"Nn?" Kyu Cao halted and looked back over his shoulder. It felt like he did this every time he exchanged words with the dog.

"... Is Young Master's injury better?"

"Yes, it is." Thanks to his treatment, his paw was practically healed. It'd only been a few scrapes anyways.

"Then that's good. Please, be careful while picking herbs, Young Master."

There was again, that strange inflection.

"... Un."

With nothing more to add, Kyu Cao resumed his way and disappeared into forest.

"Senior Wan, who was that kid?" the cat guard asked, and the snake was curious as well.

"He's the one I swore to follow till my last breath," responded Wan Tanpei curtly, disinclined to reveal any more.

The pair could only leave it at that, but admiration and respect were in their eyes as they looked at the dog.

Many Cultivators of common birth dreamed of achieving success, leaping through the Waterfall Gate and becoming a powerful figure surrounded by riches and beautiful mates.

But this was just dreaming.

A more realistic goal was to find a master to whom they could devote their lives to, getting out of a life of hardships, and finding something they could take honor upon.

But as for Wan Tanpei's motives, they were his alone.

At the Backdoor's Forest, Kyu Cao stood at the wild lake's shore.

This place could be said to have become a base of sorts for him while training here.

He was without his outer robe.

Kyu Cao had found his inner garments a comfortable attire to train in. Although they still were formal clothes, he was sensible enough to wear an outfit of lesser preciousness made with more resilient fabric.

This was only relatively speaking to his usual wear though.

He adjusted his breathing, and took an easy to hold and stable stance.

Extending his creamy paw forward and unsheathing his claws, he began to circulate his Qi and control it toward it.

With a lightly cool sensation, extremely small ice crystals formed on the ends of his fingers, looking as if they'd been dipped in the fresh and pure first snow of winter.

Then, he just held that stance.

This, was the second of the three martial arts inside the Blue Icy Bear Pendant.

While the first was the movement skill, Treading the Frozen World. The second was an actual offensive martial art named the Snow Dust Edge Coat.

Kyu Cao's impression of this martial art was: efficient.

The principle of this Snow Dust Edge Coat, was using one's own Seven Frozen Qi to create a thin energy film over a sharp edge, increasing its hardness and sharpness.

Theoretically, it was a rather simple and straightforward martial art. It actually only had one stage to train on.

However, in practice, the Snow Dust Edge Coat was quite hard to use.

The first step, creating the Snow Dust Coat, was easy enough; Kyu Cao had succeeded on his first try.

However, maintaining it, that was a completely different matter.

It wasn't that it consumed too much Qi.

Quite the opposite. This martial art advocated the best use of the Qi to create only the necessary Snow Dust without wasting energy, thus, an efficient martial art.

It was the "Snow Dust" aspect which was troublesome.

Film was a relative word. The Snow Dust Coat was a literal description, as the Qi took the form of a finely shaped powder over the edge. This was the reason Kyu Cao's claws gained a beautiful end to them.

This Qi powder was not inherently fixed, and it tended to scatter if one wasn't careful, which meant a waste of Qi.

It sounded contradictory, but the point was that a high level of control and concentration was needed to maintain the Snow Dust Coat affixed.

Currently, Kyu Cao could maintain around half of his clawed fingers coated and do eased movements.

Swoosh!

Kyu Cao suddenly swung his paw.

Wherever his paw cut the air with a whistle, a trail of glittering dust was left, truly beautiful; it made one think of a shooting star.

This glittering trail was the Qi that had fell off from the Snow Dust Coat.

Not stopping to admire this sight, Kyu Cao returned to his previous stance. Then, he reapplied the missing parts of the coat before swinging again. And again. And again.

Honestly, Kyu Cao had had his doubts about this Snow Dust Edge Coat's offensive capabilities before.

A cover of fine dust that could easily come off didn't sound very sharp after all.

He believed, that he would have to at least master this martial art, till the Snow Dust Coat was firmly affixed and he could fast and sharp movements for it to become usable.

But he'd already been proved wrong.

That time, when he carved out the tree's trunk to collect the spirit herb moss, he had experimentally used the Snow Dust Edge Coat martial art to do it, with great success.

He'd used slow movements, only applying some force behind them.

Yet the result was that he cut the wood as easily as peeling an apple's skin.

His claws had become as formidable as the sharpest blades.

He even suspected, that if he could do fast and powerful movements, probably even steel would be like paper, the same level as those legends of martial artists.

It had been left clear how exceedingly powerful this martial art actually was.

But this wouldn't work if all the coat fell off before he could make contact with the enemy, so one of Kyu Cao's objectives for this week was to perfect his grasp on this martial art; if only, to keep the coat intact for a brief moment during a swift movement.

His other objective, would be keep getting more fighting experience.

These two were Kyu Cao's more underdeveloped areas right now.

He would fist improve his attack, then he would be able to venture against the forest's beasts with more certainty.

Regarding his movement skill, Treading the Frozen World, it could be left as it was.

Even if he were to reach greater success or even perfect success, the difference it would make in the duel would be truly negligible.

So, it was better to invest his limited time on the others.

As for the third martial art inside the pendant, he couldn't even practice it.

Swoosh!

Another swing, yet another trail which depleted more than half of the Snow Dust Coat.

Kyu Cao stopped.

He'd been trying to focus on holding onto the Snow Dust while moving his arm, but quite honestly, this was probing to be useless.

Was there some trick to it?

Maybe he was being fixated on an idea again.

After talking Wan Tanpei, Kyu Cao had begun to realize that the way he regarded martial arts was too rigid and biased.

It was contradictory too. Because, while he saw them as something hot-blooded and instinctive when it came to others; he was rather set on looking for set precepts and fixed rules when it came to himself.

He didn't believe it had to become lawless and unstructured, but maybe he should start being more flexible.

Reaching this conclusion Kyu Cao eased his posture and actually sat down.

Then he began to think.

It was easy to see why the method he was using was not working. He simply couldn't focus on all the Snow Dust specks, and concentrate on every each to keep them on hold; that was probably something beyond the reach of a mortal.

He could try to put a second Qi layer over the Snow Dust, but not only was that redundant, it would completely invalidate the technique's principles.

Kyu Cao tried to approach it from another angle.

... The Snow Dust was like that, right?

Snow.

It was incomparably fine and delicate, but if Kyu Cao were to be unable to sense the traces of Qi in it, he might confuse it with real snow.

How did snow cling to a surface?

Snow fell in winter, painting the world a pristine and shiny white.

It fell, and gathered.

It gathered on the ground. It gathered on the tiles of the roofs. It gathered on the straw hats of the wandering travelers.

When the snow formed small mounds and its own weight won over, most would fall, but a thin layer would remain stubbornly.

Snow would even gather over the walls and the houses pillars, although imperceptibly. That's why those playful rascals would end with their tongues stuck.

"... When snow gathers... it becomes frost."

Kyu Cao lifted a paw and held it in front of him.

He began to execute the Snow Dust Edge Coat.

Soon, the ends of his fingers became sparkling and ethereal like.

How does snow become frost? Both were basically ice. Was it the temperature?

It had to be colder?

Colder.

Colder.

Kyu Cao tried to make a colder Snow Dust, eventually succeeded after a few tries.

Visually, it didn't seem to make any difference, but Kyu Cao could tell that the coating was colder than before. If it were not his own Qi, his fingers would have started to become numb.

Wanting to see the results, he swung his paw like a blade.

Swish!

A sound like a whistle, incomparably sharper than before was produced.

But what Kyu Cao paid his attention on was the shiny trail.

Some Snow Dust still came off. However, compared to before, it was only a pinch.

So it was like that!

Kyu Cao looked at his paw impassively, but his eyes couldn't conceal his bubbling emotions.

So he had to think of the Snow Dust as true snow, only more magical. How marvelous.

"Qi... is the essence of the world... !"

This common knowledge popped in his head.

Then, he suddenly he felt as if a door inside had been smashed open.

Right, all of existence could be said to be made of Qi.

This was something everyone was taught of, as words of wisdom and truth passed down from mighty ancestors of old.

All this time, he'd been regarding the Snow Dust as only a materialized form of his Qi; a rather powerful and mysterious object, but nothing more.

But it was not only Qi. It was snow.

True snow.

Although it sounded blasphemous, he was creating snow.

Cultivating, is going against the Law of Heaven and Earth; Kyu Cao had heard this saying before, but he believed only now was he truly comprehending it.

His heart beat faster with excitement, and his eyes shone strongly like mystical blue torches.

Today, it could be said that Kyu Cao had taken his first peek into the true meaning of Cultivation.

As direct son from the Blood General, Great General from the Bloody Army, as well as recognized future head of the Bloodstripe Clan, it was natural for Young Master Dai Dao to have a courtyard befitting of his stack of noble titles.

Its area could only be measured on li, with luxuriously decorated pavilions, and beautiful gardens. It was comparable to the courtyards of those Grand Marshals of the greatest status, and second only to the Blood General's.

Min Lao strode through the paths with hurried steps, traces of anxiousness on his face.

His advance never halted, knowing well his way.

Eventually he reached a set of doors that he opened unhesitatingly.

"Older Brother!"

"Min Lao, that's a rude way of coming in," a calm and undisturbed voice spoke out.

Inside the room, Dai Dao sat behind a desk, reading some papers.

Big shelves with books and scrolls occupied a whole section of the space, while on the other there was a high table with various chairs, and some cabinets from where an aroma of tea leaves wafted mildly.

The room was well illuminated and full of warm colors.

For a military general's office, it was unexpectedly cozy and homely.

"Older Brother! You must have heard about the matter with Little Brother, have you not?!"

"About how he somehow got into a duel with the second son of the Goldcloud Clan, right?" asked Dai Dao matter-of-factly.

"Yes!"

"Yes."

"Yes... Then why are you so calm?!" Min Lao almost roared.

"Calm yourself down. This is a good thing."

"A good thing?" repeated the hulking tiger dumbfounded. "How is this a good thing?"

"Because it will be a good experience for him," responded Dai Dao, his eyes never leaving the paper. "He's been leading an extremely peaceful life, to the point that he's dull about it. Maybe this can rouse him a bit."

"But Older Brother, it's a martial duel. It will be extremely difficult for Little Cao to win." Min Lao's expression and tone revealed completely the worry he felt toward his younger brother, and the unwillingness to accept any harm to befall him.

Finally, Dai Dao stopped his lecture, and raised his head to look at his second brother with his fierce golden eyes. "If he loses, that would not be so bad. Some setbacks might wake him up from his current tedious life."

Hearing this, Min Lao was still unwilling, but he could also not help but agree with his older brother's words.

He had always thought that his little brother lifestyle was too wasteful, in the sense that Kyu Cao did not seem to enjoy it.

Of course, the cat was difficult to read, so it was mostly his own impression.

"But Min Lao, you might be underestimating Kyu Cao too much."

Min Lao stared at the other tiger puzzled. "Older Brother, what do you mean?"

Dai Dao did not immediately respond, and actually returned to his paper. "That Kyu Cao is not as helpless as you might think. Cats do have sharp fangs too after all. But you'll see it yourself anyways, right? You were planning to go to see, weren't you?"

Faced with that question, the big tiger averted his eyes with feigned ignorance.

The information about the duel was something that Apothecary Grandmaster Jon Che had passed directly to the Bloodstripe main family. It was not too long ago that Min Lao had heard of it from housekeeper Duan.

"Then just go and be a witness in representation of the family, okay? This is a direct instruction from Father."

"Father?!" Min Lao was shocked.

"I have to go to Bloodbath City to receive some important guests, so you are the most fitting to go in our representation. Let me only tell you what's exactly that father intends."

"... All... All right." Although dazed, Min Lao listened intently to his older brother's instructions, but part of his mind was still a mess.

Just what was going to result from this?

Meanwhile, in another quarter of the state, the eastern quarters trainees barracks, others related scenes were being played, each with their own script.

Every actor was a character, that would play a role in the duel that was to come.