Chương 37: Beasts

"I have decided how to balance your karmic debt towards me." Jianyi turned around to see Lu Shan approach him on his way to their next class on spirit beasts, making his grandiose statement loud enough for other disciples to stop and follow the altercation. He debated whether he should just walk away, but before he made a decision, Lu Shan continued.

"I have studied the rules, and it is my right to challenge you to a duel. I have seen how pathetic you are with the spear during the assessment, and think that trouncing you regularly in a duel until you are utterly humiliated before the whole sect while showcasing my strength will balance the scales and make up for all the lies you have spread about me." Someone in the crowd snickered while Jianyi looked at the boy with an open mouth until he caught himself.

This was insanity—again—from the other disciple, but hesitating or showing weakness never worked with these kinds of people. However, there was little doubt in Jianyi's mind that Shan was stronger than him right now. Probably in general, if he was truthful. Years of tutoring were difficult to overcome. But even though he did not know the rules of the sect on duels, running away from them would not turn out well either. Better to fight and carry a potential loss with dignity than run away.

"I have done nothing that would warrant a karmic debt towards you; nonetheless, I am happy to accept your challenge; however, don't even think that I will offer you endless entertainment."

"One humiliation will not even remotely make up for what you have done to me! But no one should say I am not reasonable. Three duels over the next eight weeks. The first one tonight." The murmuring amongst the disciples around them increased. If Jianyi could end this madness with three fights, it seemed like a price worth paying—even though it was steep.

"Acceptable." He hesitated for a moment, not knowing what the appropriate next steps were. From behind him, he heard Shuhua speaking up.

"Standard rules: training weapons, fight until yield or first blood, with an inner disciple officiating?" He turned and nodded in thanks to the young woman. Lu Shan looked at him pitifully.

"Can you not even talk for yourself? One point of merit from loser to winner. I will see you one hour after class," Lu Shan said as he left. What? A point of merit? Jianyi sighed. Shuhua approached him.

"Are you alright?" He nodded. It was inconvenient, potentially painful, and likely humiliating, but there was nothing to do about it—now. Eight weeks was a long time, and Jianyi had no intention of forfeiting all the duels, especially once he had physically recovered.

"I will be fine. Do I need to organize the inner disciple to officiate?"

"No, as the challenger, he needs to do that. I will root for you!" she said before walking into the lecture hall. From the grins and murmuring of the people around him, she wouldn't be the only one to attend the duel.

"You, yes you, with the green eyes." Jianyi felt the eyes of most of his fellow disciples come to rest on him. This time, with relief that it had been him and not them that had been called upon by Elder Qiao Ling, who taught them about the spirit beasts of the Empire.

"What is the difference between a spirit beast and a demonic beast?" This was something that he should know based on his discussions with Elder Sun and the research he had done in the library. He took a moment to structure his thoughts, then spoke up with a clear voice.

"Spirit beasts are in balance with Wuxing; they belong to this plane, while demonic beasts are twisted by an imbalance and are enemies of this plane and any other that exists in harmony with Wuxing."

"Hah!" the Elder, who was quite small and looked ancient with thin white hair bundled in a top knot and deep wrinkles in his face, slapped the table in front of him with a vigor that belied his seeming frailty.

"First answer of the year, and it is a perfect one. That warrants a point of merit." That was new—the ability to gain points from contributions in class was something that hadn't been explained to them yet, and the relief in the youths around him turned to envy.

"What your sect brother just said is correct. Spirit beasts are not more good or evil than any animal, or, to be truthful, any man or woman. They just exist. Of course, if you are a villager whose home has been ravaged by a hungry Rock Badger, you might be of a different opinion, but it doesn't change the facts," the elder cackled at his own example and paused for a moment. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"Beasts climb through the cultivation realms, just like we do, and in higher realms, gain many abilities and intelligence. You should assume that a beast on any given tier is usually more powerful than any one cultivator on the same tier. There are, of course, those among us who break the mold, but if I were you, I would not assume that you are one of those. It will most likely shorten your cultivation path dramatically." Again, the elder was amused by his own joke.

"A circle, on the other hand, should not have a problem with even a small group of beasts in their realm, and, in rare cases, can even fight a realm up.

"Now, before we deal with the types of spirit beasts that you are most likely to encounter, let's look at the other end of the spectrum first. What are the five pinnacle spirit beasts on our plane?" After a moment, a large number of hands rose to answer the question.

"Just to be clear, I won't award merit for every question." A few of the hands dropped. The elder cackled again before choosing the tall girl who had performed so well during the spear assessment. She had a relatively deep voice and spoke with confidence.

"The Azure Dragon in the East, the Vermilion Bird in the South, the White Tiger in the West, the Black Tortoise in the North, and the Yellow Dragon in the Center, below the capital." The table in front of the elder buckled dangerously under the clap in excitement.

"Yes! Another perfect answer. This is a promising class, very promising indeed!"

"Why are you looking so gloomy?" Minghao asked him while drinking a cup of tea in the kitchen, where Jianyi had come in search of a bite to eat after a long day of lectures.

"I have to fight in a duel in half an hour that I will most likely lose," Jianyi said while biting into a plum.

"Oh? Who is the challenger? I assume you didn't challenge…" Minghao seemed relaxed, smiling.

"I told you about the boy who attacked the disciple on the mountain run? It's him. He feels like there is some sort of karmic imbalance that he wants to restore. He wanted to humiliate me regularly; I managed to reduce it to three duels over eight weeks."

"And he is better than you?" his older friend asked curiously.

"Well, first of all, he is in better shape than I am, and he is also one of those that you warned me about: he has had tutoring from an early age, at least that's what it looks like when he fights." Minghao nodded.

"That's how it is sometimes. It will be a good learning opportunity. Be glad that the dueling rules of old no longer apply," he said with a grin.

"Back in those days, duels were often to the death. Fortunately, everyone has come to realize that we can't afford to lose talent to the inflated egos of overeager cultivators." Jianyi was indeed glad that he didn't have to deal with that. Nonetheless, fighting at half his strength against an opponent whose stated objective was to humiliate him in front of his fellow disciples seemed bad, too. He straightened his back. He might lose, but he would not give up.

With a wave, he wished farewell to Minghao, whose calmness had helped ground him, and made his way to the training field. Once he had reached the outer sect, quite a few disciples were walking in the same direction, and Jianyi felt a slight twist in his gut. Maybe it was just a coincidence? It wasn't. Entering the training field, he saw dozens of disciples, most from their intake, lounging on the steps around the area; some had even brought snacks.

That a fight that was framed as his humiliation served as an attraction gnawed at him. But he was committed to not letting any frustration, anger—any emotion at all—show. He took a deep breath, refusing to think back to that fateful day that had damaged his lungs and led to his current weakness. This was exactly the kind of situation his mother would shake her head at. She wasn't wrong. Lu Shan waited at a training circle in the middle of the field.

To Jianyi's surprise, Cai Fangyin was with him, but on second thought, it made sense. Shan probably did not know a lot of inner disciples, and Fangyin was his instructor in the Jade group, after all. Taking the steps down into the arena-like grouping of sparring rings, he saw Shuhua as well as the Liu cousins amongst the crowd, but, to their credit, they did look more serious and less like on an outing on market day.

Fangyin opened her mouth to say something, then schooled her face, looked at him with an inscrutable expression, and cleared her throat before speaking up.

"Zhao Janyi, did you accept the challenge from this Lu Shan?" He slightly bowed his head.

"I did, senior sister."

"Very well. I, Cai Fangyin, inner disciple of the Fivefold Spear Sect, will officiate this duel. Before we review the rules, please acquire a practice spear from the rack over there," she pointed to the left. Jianyi was a few steps ahead of Shan and focused on trying to visualize how he could shape the spar in an advantageous way when he heard the boy behind him.

"It is interesting that the Heavens bestow core cards to people as weak as you, don't you think?" There was no malice in the voice. The disciple sounded like he was exchanging pleasantries over tea.

"I will truly be glad once we are done with these duels and the scales are in balance. Even now that you are not immediately off to the frontlines, I have to imagine that you will die soon." Jianyi shuddered but refused to engage. Refused to even think about all the things that were wrong with this boy. There were, of course, stories about unhinged cultivators, but this… He selected a blunted spear and almost turned back to the ring when he noticed a hair-thin fracture in the haft.

It would likely last for quite a few more fights, but why take a risk? The next spear looked flawless, and he returned to Cai Fangyin while twirling the spear. He wasn't quite as relaxed as he tried to project, but he had been in enough spars in school to know that projecting strength was important. There was a brief moment when Jianyi was back in position while Shan was still returning from the weapon rack; Fangyin's expression softened, and she winked at him.

She had been kind before, and it helped steady his nerves to know that she was at least not against him.

"Good," Fangyin said as they stood, facing each other.

"The rules are simple. First blood decides. Any attack deemed to have a lethal or crippling intent means immediate forfeit of the fight. If one of you yields or I call an end to the fight, you will cease any attack immediately. No artifacts are allowed to be used in this fight. No retaliation outside of this circle is allowed. My call is final, and any breaking of these rules will be brought to the attention of an elder. Is this clear?" Jianyi's palms were slightly sweaty. He nodded.

"Take your position." He felt his heart hammering in his chest.