Chapter 314 — Minor Success

CHAPTER 314

Minor Success

The Sword Pagoda's second floor was quiet at the last hour of the night.

Shi Feng stood in the middle of the stone practice ring with his plain, heavy Sword in hand. Lamps burned in the wall niches. Dust hung in the air from the sparks of his last three strikes. He had one morning before the road, and he wasn't going to waste it.

He lowered the point and breathed out.

Ember Rain Sword. Golden Core-grade, and he'd been using it since the half-step days. It had stayed at Entry all that time, and the embers still fell too thin and too late. Tonight, he thought, it was time to fix that.

He raised the Sword once more. His core turned slowly in his dantian, still only a few parts in a hundred full. Qi ran down his arm, and the blade glowed a dull red.

He cut.

The first cut trailed sparks. The second brought them down. On the third, Shi Feng held the cinders in place for a breath before dropping them together onto the post. Their heat and force finally landed where he intended.

Crack.

The training post in front of him split down the middle and burst into a hundred burning chips.

Warmth settled through his sword arm as the art reached Minor Success. Shi Feng understood the change at once. He could control where the embers would fall instead of merely producing them and waiting to see.

Minor Success.

“So-so,” Shi Feng said to himself.

“So-so?!” Keeper Yan said.

The shout came from the stairwell. Keeper Yan, the floor's keeper, was a thin woman who had been watching from the stairs. Her record book slipped from her hand and hit the stone.

“Minor Success,” Keeper Yan said, staring at the burning chips on the floor. “Already?”

“I practised,” Shi Feng said.

“Most Golden Core disciples need two years for that.” Keeper Yan picked up her book. Her hand was shaking.

“I have a good teacher,” Shi Feng said.

“That's what I'm afraid of,” Keeper Yan said.

Footsteps clattered on the stairs. Keeper Ou from the first floor pushed through, still holding his broom.

“What happened?” Keeper Ou said.

“The post's gone,” Keeper Yan said.

“He cut a post?” Keeper Ou said.

“A Golden Core-grade post!” Keeper Yan said.

“Two years!” Keeper Yan said. “He skipped two years!”

“…” Keeper Ou said.

“So-so,” Keeper Ou muttered. “He called it so-so. Beyond the sky there is another sky, they say, and beyond people there are other people.”

Keeper Yan drew Shi Feng aside and lowered her voice, glancing nervously at the stairs. She had another problem for him.

“Disciple Shi. One request,” Keeper Yan said.

“Say it,” Shi Feng said.

“Keep Senior Brother Lin away from my floor,” Keeper Yan said.

Shi Feng waited.

“He sat on my stairs for three weeks,” Keeper Yan said miserably. “He commented on every disciple's footwork out loud. A girl cried. A boy has stopped practising altogether.”

“Hey!” Lin Langtian called up the stairwell. “Who's speaking ill of your senior brother?”

Shi Feng and Keeper Yan froze. The familiar voice had reached them before its owner appeared.

Lin Langtian leaned in through the doorway with a roasted sweet potato in one hand. He looked as if he had been there all night.

“I came to see my pupil,” Lin Langtian said happily. “I heard that Minor Success crack from the first floor. Junior Brother, your wrist was too stiff.”

“It split the post,” Shi Feng said.

“And a better wrist would have split the floor,” Lin Langtian said, taking a bite. “Don’t celebrate too soon. I watched from the door. You’re still putting your feet down too firmly for Drifting Ash Step. It’s a movement art, not an ordinary walk.”

“Senior Brother Lin,” Keeper Yan said, in a very small voice.

“Yes?” Lin Langtian said.

“Please go downstairs,” Keeper Yan said.

“I'm helping!” Lin Langtian said.

“Please,” Keeper Yan said.

Lin Langtian looked from the keeper to Shi Feng, then sighed like a man misunderstood by the world. He backed out of the doorway, still chewing.

“I'll be at the gate,” Lin Langtian called. “Bring your sword and your good mood.”

His footsteps went down the stairs. Keeper Yan let out a long breath.

“Thank you,” Keeper Yan whispered.

“I didn't say I'd do it,” Shi Feng said.

“You didn't say no,” Keeper Yan said. “That's enough.”

Gongsun Ce was waiting at the Pagoda door.

Gongsun Ce waited in the morning mist, a puppet under his arm. He straightened when Shi Feng emerged with the Sword on his back.

“You're leaving today,” Gongsun Ce said.

“You heard,” Shi Feng said.

“Everyone's heard. Lin Langtian told the dining hall at breakfast. He called it the Great Inspection.” Gongsun Ce paused. “He also borrowed money from three disciples for the ox.”

“I'll pay them back,” Shi Feng said.

“I know you will. That's the problem,” Gongsun Ce said.

He turned the puppet over. The joint at its shoulder shone with fresh cooling wax.

“A wager,” Gongsun Ce said.

Shi Feng looked at him for a moment. “Again?”

“It is a long month,” Gongsun Ce said, “and the tree wants to be still but the wind won't stop. The Ledger War shouldn't sleep. I wager that you will return from three towns poorer than when you left.”

“Poorer in what?” Shi Feng said.

“Spirit stones. Reputation. Dignity. Whichever you like,” Gongsun Ce said. “It will be payable in the usual currency.”

“What stake?” Shi Feng said.

“Double the last one,” Gongsun Ce said.

Shi Feng looked at the waiting prince and his freshly waxed puppet. Gongsun Ce wanted another contest before a month apart. He was trying to hide his eagerness behind a solemn expression, and not quite succeeding.

He thought, Poor? With Lin Langtian in charge of the expenses, that's the most likely result. But Lin Langtian also wasn't the kind of man who lost.

“Accepted,” Shi Feng said.

Gongsun Ce nodded once.

“Then I wish you a safe road,” Gongsun Ce said. “And a poor return.”

“That's kind,” Shi Feng said.

“It's strategic,” Gongsun Ce said.