Chapter 436 — Six Cases and One Rule

CHAPTER 436

Six Cases and One Rule

“One case each,” Sima Lan said. “Not two. Not a small one for luck.”

Fan Dacheng stopped halfway up the boat ramp with a trunk on each shoulder. He was the biggest and loudest of the six, staring at the second trunk in dismay.

“It's only my spare robes!” Fan Dacheng said.

“Robes are cheap in Qingyun City,” Sima Lan said. “Weight isn't. The boat carries twelve people and no more luggage than that.” She tapped her slate with the chalk. “Leave it.”

Fan Dacheng reluctantly lowered the trunk, still unwilling to leave it behind.

Shi Feng stood at the bottom of the ramp with his hands behind his back. Dawn was turning the stone landing of Thousand Forge Peak from grey to gold. The old patched boat creaked at its moorings, and Elder He Zhen sat at the helm with a cup of tea, pretending he couldn't hear anything.

Zhu Liu came down the line with his receipt book open.

“Six students,” Zhu Liu said. “Senior Brother Shi, Senior Attendant Sima, Senior Brother Gongsun, Elder He Zhen and me. That's eleven.”

“Twelve,” Lin Langtian called from above.

Zhu Liu looked up. Lin Langtian lay on the cabin roof with a sack under his head and a sweet potato in his hand.

“Chief Disciple Lin Langtian,” Lin Langtian said cheerfully. “Morale. I counted from up here, Junior Brother. Nobody ever counts the roof.”

Zhu Liu wrote it down with a shaking hand. He hated being wrong, and he hated even more being wrong in ink.

“Everyone line up,” Shi Feng said.

The six students lined up in their usual order. Fan Dacheng stood first, round and red-faced. Next came Tao Shun, thin as a bamboo pole, who was already wringing his hands. Geng Xiaoyu, the only girl, stood with her arms crossed. Shen Pu was eating a bun. Yu Tie kept looking at the fists of the guards on the wall as though he wanted to borrow them. Ma Liang came last, holding his case against his chest with both arms.

They were Foundation Establishment alchemists of the outer court, and the other sects called them the garbage cohort. After a month with Shi Feng, they could at least refine a Clear Marrow Pill without setting anything on fire. Most of the time.

A month wasn't enough to teach them everything, Shi Feng thought. But the exam wouldn't wait for them to feel ready.

He had eaten their failures every night of it. Fifty-one practice pills in the first week alone, then fewer, then fewer again. The Ledger had given its verdict that morning and he still remembered it.

[Devoured: one month of cohort failures | Core: 58% | Note: improving]

He didn't know whether the note meant him or them. It was probably both.

“I'll say this one more time,” Shi Feng said. “At the exam you'll finish a pill, and an examiner will ask you what it is. You report what the pill is. Not what you hoped.”

“Not what we hoped!” Fan Dacheng shouted, so loudly that a guard on the wall dropped his spear.

“Quietly,” Shi Feng said.

“Not what we hoped,” Fan Dacheng whispered, which was no quieter.

“Tao Shun,” Shi Feng said. “Your last practice pill. What was it?”

Tao Shun jumped.

“A… a very good Clear Marrow Pill,” Tao Shun said. “Probably. I think. It might have been…”

“That's what you hoped,” Shi Feng said.

“It was a good colour!” Tao Shun protested, still hoping to defend his pill.

“Geng Xiaoyu,” Shi Feng said.

“Cracked,” Geng Xiaoyu said at once. “Two fine lines on the left side. It'd pass a cheap shop and fail the Pavilion.”

“Correct,” Shi Feng said approvingly. “Ma Liang, your turn.”

Ma Liang took a deep breath.

“It was a very bad pill,” Ma Liang said sadly. “It smelled like boiled socks. I'm sorry. I couldn't think of a nicer way to say it.”

The other five turned to stare at him. Yu Tie opened his mouth, probably to say something unkind, and then shut it again.

“Correct,” Shi Feng said.

“But that was a bad answer!” Fan Dacheng protested. “He said socks!”

“He said what it was,” Shi Feng said.

“It was socks,” Shen Pu agreed, chewing. “I was next to him.”

Sima Lan, who was writing the roll for the third time, did not look up.

“I charged for the trunk,” Sima Lan said.

“You didn't!” Fan Dacheng said.

“You should read the whole account before arguing,” Sima Lan replied, pointing to the entry.

Gongsun Ce nearly laughed beside the ramp, then hid it behind a cough.

“Board,” He Zhen called from the helm. “A fall into the pit, a gain in your wit. Before the tea gets cold.”

They went up the ramp one at a time. Lin Langtian lowered his sack to the nearest student, who happened to be Shen Pu, and told him to guard it with his life. Shen Pu said it was heavy. Lin Langtian said that was the morale.

The boat rose off the landing with a long creak, and the stone yard dropped away beneath them. Tao Shun gripped the rail. Fan Dacheng gripped Tao Shun.

Ma Liang was still holding his case. He moved to the rail beside Shi Feng, and for some time he said nothing at all.

“Senior Brother Shi,” Ma Liang said at last. “What if my pill fails? In the hall, I mean. What do I say then?”

“What do you think you say?” Shi Feng asked.

“That it failed,” Ma Liang said miserably. “It always does, a little. That's what I'm afraid of.”

“Then say that,” Shi Feng replied calmly. “Don't call it a good pill just because you're afraid to fail.”

Ma Liang looked at him and waited for the rest of the answer. Shi Feng gave him none.

Ma Liang relaxed a little. Nobody had ever told him that admitting a failure could be the right answer. He stayed quiet for the rest of the flight, but stopped clutching his case quite so hard.