Chương 13: Chapter 68: Crane Strikes Through Ripples

When their drinks were cool and the tent smelled thoroughly of tea, wet feathers, and meat, Crane had Song stand and show him the first form of the Stellar Crane. Song dutifully ran through each motion as he and Cyrus had practiced, allowing his muscles to flow through the wide armed stance. The familiar movements helped calm his heart rate, which had grown frenzied at the thought of his Master in the middle of the village.

When that was done, he showed the first qi technique, jumping around the room on flashes of light. It was exhilarating getting a chance to show off for the one person in the village who truly understood how hard it was, and Song revelled in it.

"Adequate. Not as impressive as your qi control, but adequate," Crane eventually gave a pleased nod.

"You've been practicing well, my disciple. Have you used it in real combat?"

"Thank you Master," Song gasped, taking a moment to breathe.

"And yes, I had to fight a whole pack of grasswolves the other day. I even fought off one at foundation level!"

"Hmm? Disciple, you dare?" The bird somehow managed to glower without eyebrows.

"Lying to your Master like that? If you fought a foundation level grasswolf, I should be seeking you out from dogshit." Cyru's laughter rang in Song's head.

"No master! It's true!" Song protested.

"I had the aid of my horse and some poison from the Yu family, and I only just managed to run away." He quickly explained the events of the past few days, from the start of Mae's illness to his death-defying leap from the jaws of death to Bongbong's back. Crane leaned in close, giving him a beady side-eye.

"You seem to speak truth. Well, the Stellar Crane is at a higher level than what some mere dog can handle. I hope you flew far above him and wished terrible things upon his – ahem – of a mother." Song stared at the heroic Core level cultivator "You… don't do that, do you Master?" Crane let out a hack and turned his head away.

"No. Of course not. I am a noble crane. Now, your meridians seem just about full as well. I think you are ready for the second form and the second technique of the Stellar crane. They are one and the same, so you must learn them together." Song stood eagerly at attention.

"Please, teach this Lee Song, Master!" Crane puffed himself up proudly, then stood beside Song and placed his wings out and one leg up in the first stance of the Stellar Crane.

"The second form of the stellar crane is about making a quick and impossible to predict riposte after you successfully parried or dodged using the first form." Crane swept his wings to the side, and Song could see the vision of an opponent's sword being carried with them. At the same time, Crane's beak darted forward, right at where a cultivator's neck would be, quick as a cobra. Song did his best to follow along, substituting a lightning fast jab with his staff instead of a beak strike.

"Ack! Ack! A fair imitation little chick! You may have a serious beak deficiency, but the staff is performing admirably. You may wish to sharpen the end though." Song considered his slingstaff. He could certainly ask one of the village blacksmiths to fashion a metal spike for the end of it. ["Sacrilege!"] Cyrus cried. ["An abomination of a lacrosse stick! Total ejection material. Over my dead body!"] ["I thought you were dead,"] Song replied, amused at the outburst. ["Just mostly. I got better."]"Now, the technique." Crane went through the same motions as he had just a moment ago but this time his body became a stream of light as he activated the first technique to step behind his imaginary enemy. His wing swept low to sweep the offguard opponent off their feet, but this time as his beak struck it bent, warping through space to strike both neck and stomach and yet neither at the same time. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Song had to rub his eyes. He'd just seen it, but he didn't comprehend it. Had his master just… doubled? Tripled? None of the above? All of the above?

"Crane Strikes Through Ripples!" Crane declared proudly.

"A technique that allows you to strike an opponent in multiple ways at once, while passing through any defense! Ack! Ack! Ack! I'm quite proud of this one. It served me well as a young refinement cultivator."

"Master!" Song declared, his eyes wide.

"That was amazing!"

"Of course it was, silly chick. It was created by one of the greatest hunters, who comprehended the deep dao of catching fish in the river! It's harder than it looks, what with all the bendy light." Crane batted Song on the head with a forceful wing.

"But you'll need to wait until you have the form down for the technique."

"Yes. Master." Song said, entering the first form once more, and moving through it before striking forward with his staff and twisting his body in the way his master had demonstrated.

"Good. Now do it a hundred more times."

"Yes, Master!" Song shouted eagerly.

"And don't cheat by switching with Cyrus. You learn it yourself, first." Song's reply was slightly less enthusiastic.

"Yes Master." — Later, when his brow dripped with sweat and his muscles ached, Song took a break to drink some water and catch his breath. In the meantime, Crane was pouring himself a fresh cup of tea, his long hooked talons easily handling the teapot. That adroitness didn't extend to actually lifting the tea-cup though, as the crane was forced to leave his cup on the floor and lap it up with quick thrusts of his long black tongue. For a moment he comically looked like one of the village cats.

"Master… what do you know of the dao?" Song asked.

"A very weighty question for one so young," Crane said, giving his head a quizzical twist.

"If you attain understanding of the dao this evening, do you plan to die happy in the morning?" Song chuckled.

"No master. I've been wondering about my own dao. The dao of the Stellar Crane. And of where my place in the world is." Song gestured around the room.

"This isn't exactly a common story in the Tales. I won't be contemplating the dao of the sword. Or of the ram."

"Obviously not," Crane blew a raspberry.

"You're contemplating the dao of the Stellar Crane."

"But master… I'm not a crane." Crane scoffed, but his eyes whirled.

"And your father is not a ram. Yet I could spot the horns on his head and feel the goatliness of his dao, even from far in the air."

"Speaking of my father," Song said, reminded.

"He wished to meet you."

"I'm not bowing to the whims of a mere foundation level cultivator just because he provided the seed for my disciple." Crane swept a wing contemptuously.

"If he wants to meet, he can improve his cultivation and be worth my time. Ack! Ack!" Song considered for a while, then said with his eyes downcast, "Master, the dao of the Way of the Ram is about much more than just becoming the best goat one can be. It's about the steadfastness of a tree, and the free will of a wild animal. The dao of the Stellar Crane cannot just be about being a crane." His master's beak snapped shut, and he drew himself up.

Then he let out a soft caw, before walking up to a window flap and peering out into the stormy night. Eventually he said, "You have the right of it, Haksaekki. Perhaps it was I who was so caught up in a comfortable illusion. You are not a crane." The bird sounded heartbreakingly forlorn, and Song tried to speak, but found himself unable to say a word. There was silence for a minute, between boy and crane. One thankfully not broken by Cyrus.

"But, that does not mean that you cannot seek to emulate the most noble of creatures under heaven!" Crane eventually forged onwards, his voice regaining its vigour.

"The dao of the Stellar Crane is to touch the stars! To flit from place to place, leaving your mark wherever you go. Be seen and be admired, and then move on to find fresh foods and new sights and sounds. Experience all that the heavens have to offer on the wings that the Great Ones granted you! Let what remains be tales and paintings of your greatness!" Crane spread his wings high and flared his crown of stars. It was an awe-inspiring sight. Warmth welled in Song's dantian and in his bones.

He'd indeed had the right of it. Much as he'd made his master's first technique his own with the Starlight Bridge, he could make the dao of the Stellar Crane his own as well. It was still just a starting place, but the dao of delivery, traveling and experiencing the world, facing all odds to complete his task, was a nearly perfect reflection of his master's words. Now, only time would tell if the dao he'd chosen was correct. Or if the heavens and the Great Ones had other plans for him.