Chapter 206 — Soft as Tofu

CHAPTER 206

Soft as Tofu

Lin Langtian arrived the next evening with no basket at all.

He walked into the hut with a potato in each hand and sat down on the floor, cross-legged, like a man who planned to stay. Zhu Liu looked at the empty doorway, then at his dustpan, then at Shi Feng.

“He didn't bring anything,” Zhu Liu whispered. “Is that good news?”

“Probably not,” Shi Feng said.

“I can hear you,” Lin Langtian said cheerfully. “Sit, Junior Brother. Roll up your sleeve.”

Shi Feng sat. He rolled up his left sleeve to the elbow.

Lin Langtian bit into one potato and, with the other hand, took hold of Shi Feng's forearm. His fingers pressed along the muscle, then along the tendon, then into the joint. Nothing in his face was joking.

“Hm,” Lin Langtian said. “Hm. Hm-hm.”

“Is something wrong?” Shi Feng asked.

“Yes,” Lin Langtian said. “You're tofu.”

Zhu Liu choked and quickly pretended to be sweeping.

“Tofu,” Shi Feng repeated.

“Soft as fresh tofu,” Lin Langtian declared, pointing his potato at Shi Feng’s arm. “Don’t get angry yet. You’ve got good bones. The trouble is how you use them. Listen before you argue.”

“Go on,” Shi Feng said.

“Your qi is excellent,” Lin Langtian said. “Seven nights of waste pills have made it so dense that some Golden Core men would envy you. But that power needs a body that knows how to take a blow. Yours hasn’t had enough practice.”

Shi Feng thought about it. He had been hit before. A spear in the final, and a year of other people's fists before that.

“I was hit in the tournament,” Shi Feng said.

“Once, from a man who respected you,” Lin Langtian said. “You gave him a sword afterwards. I’m talking about repeated blows, including the ones you don’t see coming. You need to learn to endure those without losing control.”

“My bones are fine,” Shi Feng said.

“Your bones are excellent,” Lin Langtian said, suddenly serious. “That’s why I’m bothering. Strength alone won’t teach you how to react when a real blow lands. Pills can’t give you that habit. You’ve got to practise until your body knows what to do.”

The room was quiet. Even Zhu Liu had stopped pretending to sweep.

“The cavern?” Shi Feng asked.

“You eat fire,” Lin Langtian said. “Of course it feels gentle to you. It can’t throw a punch back. As the saying goes, a flower raised in a greenhouse can’t stand the wind and rain.” He started his second potato. “Find something that hits you on purpose, without wanting to kill you. Then go back regularly.”

“Where do I find that?” Shi Feng said.

“Where does every poor Great Sect keep its cheapest teacher?” Lin Langtian grinned. “In the barn at the end of the outer court. The Puppet Array.”

Zhu Liu dropped his dustpan.

“No,” Zhu Liu said. “No, no. Chief Disciple, please. Nobody uses the Puppet Array. It's for punishments!”

“It's for training,” Lin Langtian said.

“Last year a boy went in for ten breaths and came out needing a bed!” Zhu Liu said. “They say the puppets don't stop at the pain you can take. They stop at the pain they can give! The outer court calls it the Meat Barn!”

“That's the nickname?” Shi Feng asked.

“They're very honest in the outer court,” Lin Langtian said.

Shi Feng looked at the rolled-up sleeve. The arm looked ordinary. Underneath, the golden bone that nobody could see felt perfectly solid. But he had never been hit by a Grade Three puppet. He didn't know how it felt, and the one man who might have told him was sitting on his floor eating a potato.

He decided Lin Langtian had a point. Everything he'd gained lately came from a cauldron or a cavern, and none of it had hit back.

“What does the keeper charge?” Shi Feng asked.

“A lot,” Lin Langtian said. “He's nervous and underpaid, and he's afraid the puppets will hurt somebody he'll have to write a report about. So you pay him in something he needs, not stones. And you don't pay all at once. Haggle.”

“Haggle?” Shi Feng said.

“You do know how, don't you?” Lin Langtian said.

“I've bought cabbages,” Shi Feng said.

“Then you won’t go completely unprepared!” Lin Langtian said, clapping his hands. “Don’t accept the first refusal. Talk to the keeper. We can work on the rest of your bargaining later.”

“And the herbs?” Shi Feng said.

“They still come every evening,” Lin Langtian said. “Don't think you've escaped. I'll bring a basket, you'll fail, you'll eat. The array comes after, once the herbs are done.” He stood and brushed crumbs from his lap. “This is what caring looks like, Junior Brother. A little of this, a little of that, and a great deal of eating.”

“I'll write it down,” Zhu Liu said faintly.

“Please do. Under 'tofu',” Lin Langtian said.

Lin Langtian was already at the door. He turned back with his hand on the frame, and his voice came out light.

“Get hit by something before something hits you for real,” Lin Langtian said. “Goodnight!”

The door swung open behind him and bounced softly against the wall.

Shi Feng sat in the lamplight and rolled his sleeve down. Zhu Liu was writing something in his receipt book with trembling fingers.

“What did you write?” Shi Feng asked.

“'Tofu,'” Zhu Liu said. “And 'we're doomed'. I'm not sure which is the heading.”

Shi Feng went to the doorway. At the far end of the dark outer court stood the windowless stone barn. Wooden blows sounded from inside, slow and regular. He listened for a while, wondering how his body would fare against them.

He closed the shutter. Tomorrow, he'd go and see what it wanted.