Chapter 92 — Three Moves in the Forest
CHAPTER 92
Three Moves in the Forest
“He caught the sword with his sleeve,” Ling Qingzhu said, tapping the open book. “Then all seven enemies fell to their knees.”
Shi Feng tied his pack shut beside the kitchen door. She sat at the courtyard table, reading the passage she promised him yesterday.
“A good sleeve,” Shi Feng said. “Did the book name the tailor?”
Ling Qingzhu lowered the book and stared at him.
“You're supposed to admire the swordsman,” Ling Qingzhu said.
“Seven men admired him already,” Shi Feng replied. “The tailor got nothing.”
She laughed, then tried to hide it behind the page. Her black hair slipped over one shoulder, and morning light caught the clasp he'd repaired.
He wanted to stay a little longer. Instead, he checked the wooden practice blade beside his pack. Wanting something didn't mean the day had more hours.
“Where are you going with that?” Ling Qingzhu asked.
“Outside the capital,” Shi Feng said. “I'll be back before evening.”
She glanced at his wooden sword. He could almost hear what she wanted to ask.
“The men outside might not kneel,” Ling Qingzhu said at last.
“Then I'll leave my sleeves at home,” Shi Feng replied.
He slipped a knife into his pack and went out while she was still deciding whether to be annoyed.
His hunting pass carried him through the Hengyun checkpoint without trouble. Beyond the road, thin mist hung between dark trunks, and rainwater gathered in shallow hollows.
A broad-faced hunter named Shao Sheng sat beside the path, replacing the cord on a crossbow. He was at Bone Refinement, with fewer than half his bones refined. He glanced at the wooden sword and laughed.
“Going to frighten rabbits?” Shao Sheng asked.
“If they're easily frightened,” Shi Feng replied.
“There's a tusked boar near the old lime pit,” Shao Sheng said. “Its hide stopped my bolt. Don't wander that way.”
Shi Feng thanked him for the warning and left the main path. The hoofprints were plain enough to follow without turning directions into another bargain.
He left the main trail and followed the slope until the voices disappeared. At an empty clearing, he stopped beneath a pine and opened Xu Changhe's notes.
The elder's corrections were short and useful. A careless foot went too far. A wrist turned too late. A retreat opened the chest when it should have drawn the enemy forward.
Shi Feng placed the journal on a dry stone and raised the wooden blade.
Piercing Current.
His point passed beneath a hanging branch without touching it. The short step followed, keeping his shoulder covered. He withdrew and repeated the thrust twenty times, then moved the target lower.
His strength was already far beyond most Bone Refinement cultivators. The unfinished golden refinement made the gap even wider. But strength didn't place the point where he wanted it. That depended on his own practice.
Mo Tianheng's spirit gave him alchemy expertise. It never taught his feet this step.
Shi Feng thought, Xu Changhe wrote the mistakes down because someone would make them. Better here than in front of an enemy.
He changed to Turning Wave. The first thrust missed a leaf by design. His wrist turned while his foot kept moving, bringing the wooden edge across the space beside it.
The leaf fell. The branch stayed whole.
Better.
He repeated the change until he could stop the point at the same place every time. Then he practiced Returning Tide, withdrawing just enough to create an opening before thrusting back into it.
The wooden blade weighed less than his broken sword. He couldn't pretend the feeling was identical. He shortened his movements and corrected the difference instead of adding force.
From beyond the clearing came a hard snort.
Shi Feng looked up. A Black-Tusk Boar moved between the trees, low and broad, with pale points curving beside its mouth. Old mud covered its shoulders. A snapped crossbow bolt stuck in the thick hide.
The boar found him first.
“You've saved me some walking,” Shi Feng said.
It charged.
He stepped aside and thrust the wooden point toward its eye. The boar jerked its head, and he turned his wrist without chasing the target. Turning Wave struck the side of its jaw.
Crack!
The beast staggered. The wooden blade stayed intact.
Shi Feng was pleased. A boar of this strength could injure an ordinary Bone Refinement cultivator with half his bones refined. He'd used only enough force to test the change of direction.
The beast squealed and swung back. Its tusk tore through his outer sleeve without reaching his skin. He didn't retreat in panic. He drew the blade back a palm's width, then drove it into the open mouth.
Returning Tide.
The thrust broke through the upper jaw. He released his strength for a breath, and the boar's heavy body stopped as if it struck a wall. Its legs folded beneath it.
Shi Feng withdrew the wooden sword. The tip was split. He looked at the dead beast, then at the damage.
“Still cheaper than a sleeve that catches flying swords,” Shi Feng said.
There wasn't a scratch on his body. His durability already made attacks from beasts of this level almost useless. The exercise proved something better than that. He could direct his force through the sword art instead of simply battering everything in reach.
He thought, Next time, the point shouldn't split. Enough force to kill isn't the same as wasting force.
He kept his devouring power still. The carcass was worth more to him today as meat and hide.
He took the useful tusks, hide, and meat, then cleaned his knife. Ordinary hunting work didn't need a hidden treasure or a dying enemy's storage bag to pay.
Before leaving, he wrote down the flaw in his last thrust. His wrist was steady, but he'd pushed too much strength through the tip after the jaw broke. Against an enemy behind the first, that wasted effort could delay his next strike.
He read the correction once and shut the journal. There was no shame in writing down a mistake. Xu Changhe's own pages were full of them, and that elder actually lived by his sword.
Shao Sheng looked up when Shi Feng returned carrying the wrapped hide over one shoulder. His gaze stopped on the broken bolt still lodged in it.
“That boar's dead?” Shao Sheng asked, suddenly eager.
“This part certainly is,” Shi Feng replied.
The hunter stood. He didn't see the kill, and the wooden sword didn't convince him of anything. He looked toward the trees, searching for the stronger hunter Shi Feng must be carrying it for.
“Remember who warned you!” Shao Sheng said. “You must have found a powerful hunting partner.”
“A hungry one,” Shi Feng replied.
“So you did have help,” Shao Sheng said.
“I heard the boar first,” Shi Feng said.
He continued toward the checkpoint. Shao Sheng followed for several steps, then stopped when Shi Feng didn't even turn around.
The hunter looked at the hide once more. Next time, he decided, he'd demand payment before giving directions.
By the time Shi Feng reached the capital, most of the meat was sold. He kept a small parcel for home and enough payment to replace his outer robe when it finally wore through.
Ling Qingzhu met him at the kitchen door. Her gaze dropped to the torn sleeve.
“Did the rabbits fight back?” Ling Qingzhu asked.
“One of them had tusks,” Shi Feng replied, setting down the parcel.
She stared at him, then at the meat. He smiled and reached for the chopping board.
His sword still needed work. Their supper didn't.
The next morning he replaced both broken blades with a plain steel sword. The weapon seller offered a jade-handled ornament; Shi Feng chose sound metal and a grip that fitted his hand. Its price was thirty-two stones, scabbard included. Back in the forest, he repeated the three Iron River movements at reduced force. The point cut cleanly and the steel stayed straight. That was the control he wanted to bring home, rather than another splintered practice weapon.