Chương 27: Princess Feathertail

Rowan Rowan was excited. This was the class that Instructor Sutter deemed them finally ready to begin practicing their spell arts. It was a nice day - gauzy clouds covered most of the sky, only a few stripes of burning blue peeking out. Thirty yellow-robed students gathered in the training field. On the opposite end stood thirty bulky figures made of straw and twine.

Although Instructor Sutter had told the students to hold off on trying out their spell art until today, when they could do so under his supervision, almost no one had listened.

"Senior Brother Dempsey gave me a couple pointers already on my Gold Slash," someone bragged.

"I can already throw out an arc or two."

"I decided to try learning the utility spell from the Water Dream scripture first, to be safe."

"Are you stupid? The tournament is in less than a month! Are you going to represent the sect by showing up and cooling the sweat off your opponent's face?" Everyone's blood was hot, hoping to bring glory to Righteous Mountain in the next month. They lined up, one person per straw man, and Instructor Sutter allowed them to begin. Well… except for one student. Lee Lothesby was crouched in a corner with Elder Schell. They were a distinctive pair.

One, a fat young man who looked like if he was pushed, he would roll across the entire training field without stopping. The other, a heroic figure with his robe open at the front, exposing a thickly muscled chest criss-crossed with scars. Lee brought out various items from his storage pouch, placing them in specific spots indicated by Elder Schell. Rowan walked over to the various spirit herbs and blocks of exotic metals.

"What are these for?"

"I picked out a rank-two manual on summoning spirit beasts," said Lee distractedly, his attention fully focused on the formation on the ground.

"My Spirit Root is only slightly above average, and I'm no good with a physical weapon. I figured being a spirit beast cultivator could give me an edge in a fight." Interesting. Rowan hadn't met a spirit beast cultivator before. Seeing that both cultivators had already forgotten about him, Rowan took the hint and found an open straw dummy. For Germination, the first step was to breathe properly using the Waking Spring Breath Technique.

After officially stepping onto the Wood path, to Rowan's delight, the breathing technique had become even more natural. Now, he was doing it almost completely unconsciously. The only exception was when he was remembering he was doing it. Like remembering he was breathing or blinking - suddenly, it would feel strange and unnatural again. Once his breathing followed the proper pattern, the next step was channeling his qi through specific meridians. He pictured the Meridian Chart in his mind.

Twelve primary meridians and three hundred and sixty one apertures. He knew all of them. This part was easy for Rowan. For years, he had studied the layout of his spiritual system. He knew where every meridian and aperture in his body was in exacting detail. Rowan was also adept at manipulating his own qi. After only a few times, he figured out the complex cycle described in the jade slip. Next…

He encapsulated a chunk of his qi, cycled it through his meridians in the described pattern, and pointed his fingers toward the straw man. A faint green qi gathered at his fingertips, tiny as a bead. Instead of shooting out and hitting the straw man, it fell to his feet. A beautiful blood-red flower with five petals grew and blossomed in the dirt. The stem and leaves were white as bone. Rowan breathed out slowly. Good first try. I didn't drain much of my Qi Sea either - only a tenth of it.

Before having his entire body reformed, this would've been a huge issue. He would've only been able to replenish his Qi Sea with the spiritual energy of spirit stones. Considering his A-Grade Qi Sea and how it had taken twenty-five spirit stones to break through to the second layer of Qi Condensation, he would've been guzzling spirit stones like crazy to replenish himself. However, he could already feel his Qi Sea starting to pull wisps of the ambient qi around him into his apertures.

"Any advice, senior?" he asked the stone hopefully.

"Must I hold your hand for everything?" Well, it was worth a shot. Rowan knew better than to press his luck - it wasn't as though Ostra had taken him on as an official disciple. The senior could be temperamental. It was better not to test him. Just then his actual teacher, Instructor Sutter, approached him.

"Interesting spell. What is the intended effect?"

"It's a Wood spell art," said Rowan.

"A projectile that disrupts my opponent's qi."

"Rare, but not unheard of. Though that kind of spell is usually aligned with Water. It being Wood is… interesting. But with just cursory consideration, it seems theoretically sound." The old man rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Qi disruption arts are difficult to use in practical settings. Your opponent's qi is a force of its own, after all. It won't let you simply disrupt it." Rowan nodded, appreciating the advice.

"For now, it seems like you need to work on putting more power behind your spells so they will actually arrive at the target."

"Instructor, this attempt already used up a tenth of my Qi Sea. If I put more power behind it, I might use up two or three tenths. That's only five projectiles at best." Instructor Sutter nodded.

"That's already highly efficient for a cultivator at the second layer of Qi Condensation. Your classmates still at the first layer only had one good try in them. The others at the second layer like you can do three at most." He paused.

"At your level, spiritual arts aren't very "cost-effective". It would be better to lean into weapon skills, using your spells to sneak-attack, or as your final move." A grim feeling settled over Rowan's heart, but he said a few thankful words to Instructor Sutter as the man left to guide the student next to him. The words caught his ears, and he couldn't help but look over, noticing the student was Damion Decatour. The boy lifted his arm at a perfect ninety degree angle and shot off a beam of unshaped Metal qi.

It missed the heart of the straw man but blew off its shoulder. A few students gathered around Decatour, fawning over him. Instructor Sutter gave the young man a nod of approval and a rare smile.

"An exemplary show of skill, Mister Decatour. Others, please take note of Mister Decatour and learn from him." Damion grinned haughtily at the attention. His gaze slid over to Rowan.

"Watch out, Helsing. Metal cuts through Wood."

"Tch," said Rowan, his lip curling. He threateningly unsheathed half his sword from his sleeve.

"I've got some metal too. Want to compare notes?" This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Damion actually took half a step back on instinct, likely remembering how Rowan had put most of his class into the dirt with his sword skills. Damion had always weaseled his way out of duels, proclaiming he only fought with 'equals in exchanges regarding honor', and wouldn't lower himself to scrap around.

That seemed to only be a concern when Rowan wanted to practice.

"Leave the roughhousing for the Conference, boys," called out Instructor Sutter. Five or six boys had been standing around near Damion and Rowan, their Qi Seas depleted from practice. They were now waiting around with nothing to do. The reminder about the tournament sparked new conversation.

"I heard the first prize is two-hundred spirit stones! And they are giving prizes to all the top ten!"

"It's way more than two hundred spirit stones. That barely covers a core disciple's allowance at the more powerful Sects."

"First place is definitely going to that one genius from the Heavenly Skies Sect. But surely we can make it to the bracket stage in the new disciples group? We could get promoted straight to inner disciple… or at least, live in a pavilion instead of the dormitories."

"Hey, Damion, isn't your cousin in Blackscale Sect?" Rowan scowled. Ash was Rowan's cousin. And he barely knew Damion, even though their mothers were sisters. Damion Decatour raised his nose and crossed his arms.

"Placing well in the Conference is of utmost importance," instructed Decatour.

"But not because of a few cheap prizes. Our introductory classes are about to end. Afterwards, we'll be apprenticing under one of the inner disciples for a few years. Our placements in the Conference will certainly inform the sect which groups to put us in."

"I did hear about that. Senior Brother Minson makes his apprentices sweep his cave every night…"

"That's not too bad. Doesn't Young Master Fross give his apprentices tasks from the Inner Disciple Mission Board and make them go out and do them alone? Then he collects all the merit points for himself…"

"Honestly, I might be willing to be his apprentice if it meant making a connection with the Fross family." At the mention of Barrett Fross, the orb of Water qi in Lavinia's hand collapsed, water sloshing onto her robes. She shot their group an annoyed look and stalked away.

"Just rumors," said Damion stiffly.

"But yes, depending on which inner disciple we're assigned to, our education will vary." At just that moment, Elder Schell threw up his hands. He started yelling at Lee.

"Why did you wait so long to tell me that this is a Bright Yang ritual? We've been calmly reading for fifteen minutes when we need to be going. There's no choice but to ask everyone for help!" said Elder Schell.

"You, Rowan Helsing. Bring this Lava Moss Sludge to the foot of the hill over there. Bury it shallowly in the dirt. We have to do this before high noon." He started handing off tasks to people, who were now crowding around to help, or at least to watch. As outer disciples filed away to place different spirit herbs in different spots in the ground, one of them shouted.

"Oi! Iggy! Why'd you put that in your pocket?"

"Seriously?" said Elder Schell.

"I did not!" Ignatius cried out, immediately waving the piece of Two Iron Coral he'd been tasked to bury.

"It came out of his pocket," said Lavinia in a sing-song voice.

"It did not!" Lee sighed.

"It's fine, I brought some extras-""I expect everyone here to be trustworthy. If there is any incident," warned Elder Schell, "being kicked out of the sect is the least of your worries." He cracked his knuckles. Sufficiently cowed, the people who were "helping out" took the various objects out of their robes and planted them dutifully. After a few minutes, everything was in its place.

"We're going to need to clear the area," said Elder Schell.

"I will send off a flare into the air when no one is in range of the ritual," he told Lee.

"Wait till the flare dissipates before you activate it. It should be gone in half a minute after you see it." Once they were out of earshot of Lee, Decatour decided it was time to be annoying.

"What are the chances that Lothesby will have interrupted our cultivation for no reason, in order to fail a summoning?"

"Unfortunately very high," said Elder Schell.

"He will likely have to repeat this several times."

"And to think I was sure that Helsing would be the one holding the class back," Decatour tittered. There was a smattering of chuckles.

"You better hope Lee's summon doesn't have a taste for whiny heirs," Rowan drawled calmly, ignoring the jab Damion had sent him. What was he going to do, reveal his sixth rank manual? He was the one with the profound sutra, the helpful essay, and the detailed diagram for his spell. Rowan wasn't going to have trouble. As they passed a nearby hill, there was a surge of Fire qi from Elder Schell and a little flare flew into the air. Green, for ready.

Nearly a full minute later, another surge of qi pulsed through the air as Lee completed whatever incantation the ritual called for. Lines of light began to ascend to the sky from the different places where the ritual materials were buried, all over, followed by a surge of qi without an elemental origin. For just a moment, the air burned. Had Lee done it? Had he managed to summon a phoenix princess who could turn into a beautiful woman after all? Bang! A small animal of some sort fell from the sky.

"Kikireeeeeki!" it crowed, flapping its wings but failing to fly. In the distance, Lee caught a chicken with a serpent for a tail. Rowan and the rest of the disciples ran back as fast as they could to where it was struggling in Lee's arms.

"Unhand me, Assistant!" the half-bird, half-snake, screamed." What is that?" asked Rowan. The creature started running around, chasing after students. Instructor Sutter and Elder Schell only shook their heads with amusement, going off to a corner to chat and watch the chaos. Apparently they were only here in an "advisory role". A few arcs of spellfire hit the chicken, but it only seemed to briefly daze the chicken. Rowan jumped when its beady red eyes focused on him, slit pupils constricting.

He cursed Lee a few times in his head and shook his sleeve, dropping his own minion onto the battlefield. The Wandering Bulb squared up against the threat, neck extending fully upwards. The birdsnake stared at the Wandering Bulb. Its wings came up slowly. The bulb's roots floated in the air in front of it and it swayed from side to side.

"Hmph, it seems you have summoned me to deal with my ancestral enemy, Assistant," said the birdsnake. Lee stared.

"No Bloodroot will live as long as I, Princess Feathertail, still draws breath!" The birdsnake slithered over to the bulb and started pecking at it. With a deft flick of its roots, the bulb tripped the birdsnake and it lost balance, tumbling into a small bush.

"Curse you!" The bulb squeaked in what could only be derisive laughter.

"How does a snake trip and fall over?" Lee moaned, his face in his hands.

"I-it's because this Princess is hungry. I've fought so many battles and I still haven't been fed!"

"Fed?" Lee asked.

"Fed," said Princess Feathertail, who was rubbing her stomach with a wing.

"The expenditure of qi has made me very hungry, and considering it is I who will be fighting all your battles, as my assistant you better prepare cuisine to my exacting standards!" The Wandering Bulb tapped Rowan's shin, as if to say "but she didn't even win, don't I deserve a meal too?"

"What would you like to eat?" Lee asked, sounding just a tad overwhelmed.

"What do snakebirds-""Did you call me a snakebird, assistant?"

"What are you anyway?" Lee asked, rolling his eyes.

"I am the great of Feathered Lines, the-" Princess Feathertail paused.

"Mother said to never tell anyone what I am."

"It may be a basilisk," muttered Rowan, who had seen spirit beasts like this in the Helsing books.

"Thanks," said Lee.

"Anyway, what do you want to eat, Princess?"

"That's more like it," said Princess Feathertail, preening.

"I would like to have eight dormice, lightly stewed in Five Element Jujubes and at least one hundred year old ginseng. Baby badger liver cooked with four stalks of Whispering Willow cuttings. And also a Lava Mallard egg, over easy, marinated in the strongest venom you have."

"What."

"Which part of the order did you miss, Assistant? I said eight dormice, lightly-""No, what I mean is where do you expect me to find you Whispering Willow cuttings?"

"Oh no, have I been summoned by someone poor?" Large tears welled up in Princess Feathertail's eyes. Rowan elbowed Lee with a smirk.

"Maybe you should've used cheaper ritual materials." His friend just looked at him with defeat.