Chương 95: 94. Ensuring My Disciples Suffer the Exact Same Training Trauma I Do

Ling'er returns before the delivery does. I find her waiting outside my quarters shortly after midday, sitting on the railing with her legs swinging above the courtyard. A thin layer of snow has gathered along the roof behind her, but none clings to her clothes.

"Stone River stopped the wagon and demanded eight low-grade spirit stones. Jun showed them the contract. They refused to move, then attacked when the disciples continued."

"How many?"

"Three. One at the Eighth Stage and two at the Sixth."

"And our disciples?"

"They won." She says it simply, but the quiet satisfaction beneath the words is unmistakable. I bring her inside and make her repeat the account from the beginning. The wagon returns late in the afternoon. I hear it before it reaches the gates. Several workers near the storehouses abandon what they are doing and gather along the courtyard path as the wheels creak through the entrance. Jun walks beside the driver's bench with mud dried across one sleeve.

Mei Lin has wrapped her sword arm, though the bandage appears more precautionary than necessary. Wei Chen's robes are scorched along one shoulder, but he is also smiling so widely that any attempt to appear dignified has already failed. The wagon follows behind them with every pressure cooker, jar of meat, and sack of salt gone. The delivery was completed. Wei Chen bows when I approach.

"Sect Leader. We've completed the delivery." Jun provides the payment to Shen Qiao, who examines it before placing it within his robes. Jun turns and hands me the oiled document case.

"The innkeeper signed the receipt. All goods were delivered, and payment was collected according to the agreement." I open the case. The contract remains readable despite the mud along one edge. The receipt bears the innkeeper's seal, along with a short written note confirming that the wagon arrived under Coiling Dragon escort. Jun's report is less enthusiastic than Ling'er's, but the details match. Stone River demanded an excessive toll. Their disciples initiated the fight.

Coiling Dragon defended the wagon, defeated them, and continued without pursuing once they withdrew.

"You followed my instructions," I say.

"Good." Jun straightens slightly. Mei Lin's expression remains composed, but the tension around her eyes eases.

"The contribution points for the escort will be doubled," I continue.

"The sect will also cover all medicine required for your recovery." Wei Chen looks pleased.

"That is not all." I turn toward Wei Zheng, who has arrived from the workshop with soot across his forearms and the expression of a man who suspects that every gathering will eventually become additional work for him.

"These three completed our first victory against another sect. I believe they have earned equipment made for their individual needs. Wei Zheng?" Wei Zheng's eyes move from each disciple with a critiquing eye.

"I can make them weapons," he says.

"But they will spend time in the workshop first." The craftsman folds his arms.

"I need to see how they stand, how they move, which techniques they favor, and what habits they have developed. A weapon made only from measurements is no better than something purchased from a rack." Mei Lin nods thoughtfully. Jun appears to understand at once. Wei Zheng glances at Wei Chen before speaking again.

"Although it'd probably be wasted in his hands. Not much of a swordsman, more of a man who happens to wield a sword." Wei Chen's expression turns from glee to irritation.

"You senile old man—""Sect Leader, I think only two of these disciples deserve a weapon." Wei Chen moves faster than he did when entering the courtyard. He steps in front of the blacksmith and bows deeply, parallel to the ground.

"Master Wei Zheng, your judgment is naturally correct. This junior has only begun to understand how poorly he has used the sword." Wei Zheng looks down at him.

"My mind is clouded by excitement from the mission. I would be honored to receive your instruction and any weapon you consider suitable." Mei Lin turns away to hide her expression. Wei Zheng lets the silence continue until Wei Chen begins bowing lower.

"Come to the workshop after your ribs recover," he says at last.

"Bring the sword you currently use." Wei Chen straightens.

"Yes, Master Wei Zheng." I watch the entire exchange transpire with a calm face. Wei Zheng has repaired tools and accepted commissions since joining the sect, yet weapons remain different to him. His Tool-Heart had lain dormant through years of mundane work, and the loss of his son that followed drove him to reject weapons entirely.

'Now he is willing to try again.' Perhaps not because his opinion of weapons has suddenly changed, but because he has watched the disciples train, work, and protect people weaker than themselves. A sword made for them is not merely something placed into the hands of another cultivator. It becomes part of the responsibility they have chosen to carry. The project also gives him something he needs. My gaze shifts toward the distant forge, where Frostbite still waits.

Tool-Heart responds most strongly when Wei Zheng understands both the object and the person meant to use it. Creating cultivator weapons may help him recover parts of the craft he abandoned. If he can bridge enough of that distance, perhaps he will eventually become capable of restoring Frostbite completely. The reward strengthens the disciples and advances Wei Zheng's own path at the same time. For once, I planned both outcomes before announcing anything.

We move the celebration into the dining hall once Old Chen begins threatening anyone who remains in the cold with untreated injuries. The meal is larger than usual. Preserved meat is opened without Shen Qiao objecting to the inventory loss, fresh vegetables are added to the stew, and one of the cooks produces several trays of buns before Bao Ming can discover they exist. The three returning disciples occupy the center table.

Workers and disciples ask about the confrontation until Jun finally gives a shortened account. Wei Chen interrupts whenever he believes the description of his contribution lacks sufficient detail.

"It was a major victory," he says after explaining the final punch for the third time.

"Stone River sent cultivators several stages above us, and we defeated them without losing the delivery."

"They sent three outer disciples," Mei Lin says.

"We did not defeat their sect."

"A major first victory!" Jun eats quietly while the argument continues. The small smile he tries to hide suggests he agrees with Wei Chen more than he intends to admit. Ling'er sits beside me with a bowl filled almost entirely with meat.

"You all did well," she says. The table quiets as Ling'er picks up another piece of meat.

"You won," she says.

"That was good. Tomorrow, we will go over tactics." The next morning proves that Ling'er was not speaking casually. She gathers every disciple in the training yard before sunrise. The new covered hall remains unfinished, so the first light reaches us through exposed beams while workers continue laying tiles along the far side of the roof. Frost covers the packed earth beneath our feet. Ling'er stands in the center of the yard with her hands behind her back, facing the disciples as they form a loose semicircle.

"Today, you will learn how to deal with earth-wall tactics!" She stamps one foot, and the ground answers. Three walls of packed earth rise around her in quick succession. One divides the training yard from end to end. The next emerges at an angle behind it, narrowing the open space into a corridor. The third rises near the disciples and cuts off the easiest route back toward the main hall. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Several disciples step backward. Ling'er gestures toward the arrangement.

"Stone River's techniques are designed to control where their opponents can stand. They divide groups, cut off retreats, and force people into narrow spaces where their superior cultivation and stronger bodies matter more." She walks toward the corridor formed by the first two walls.

"If three people enter here, they cannot surround the cultivator in front. The walls force them into a line. Only the first person can fight properly, while the others are trapped behind them." She moves into the corridor and demonstrates how a Stone River cultivator would advance through it. Her steps are short and stable, each one claiming the center of the path and leaving little room for an opponent to slip past. One hand remains forward to strike or seize, while the other stays close enough to defend.

"They specialize in close combat," she continues.

"Once someone is cornered, they use short attacks and continue pressing forward. They do not give the opponent enough distance to recover or use a longer technique." Ling'er drives one palm forward. The strike stops before it reaches the wall, but the displaced air sends dust spilling from its surface. She pivots and stamps again. Another wall rises behind the position where an opponent would have stood, sealing the retreat. The entire sequence lasts only a few breaths. Jun, Mei Lin, and Wei Chen exchange glances.

They watched Stone River use the same general strategy yesterday, but Ling'er reproduces it with enough precision that their attention shifts from the walls to her. Wei Chen is the first to ask.

"How do you know their techniques that well?" Ling'er pauses. I remain near the edge of the yard, suddenly much more interested in her answer.

"We saw Stone River disciples perform a demonstration during the journey to Celestial Jade City," she says.

"It was during one of our stops near a village." The explanation comes smoothly after the brief pause. She does not add a name, a date, or any unnecessary detail that someone might later question. I resist the urge to pump my fist.

'A plausible location. A reasonable opportunity. Nothing specific enough to contradict.' She truly is learning well. Ling'er turns back toward the walls before anyone can examine the answer too closely.

"Show me what happened yesterday." Jun, Mei Lin, and Wei Chen step into the training yard. They reconstruct the important parts of the encounter without repeating every exchange. Wei Chen takes the forward position and demonstrates how Stone River's strongest disciple occupied his attention. Jun explains how the walls separated them and where he directed the others to move.

Mei Lin shows how she weakened the packed earth with water before they combined her technique with Wei Chen's flame to fill the divided road with steam. They continue through the changes in formation, the defeat of the two younger disciples, and the decision to turn one of Stone River's own walls against its creator. Ling'er watches without interrupting.

"That was good," she says once they finish.

"You understood what the walls were meant to do and stopped fighting the battles they chose for you." Wei Chen straightens at the praise.

"But you allowed them to finish shaping the battlefield." He settles again. Ling'er approaches the wall Mei Lin softened during the demonstration. She presses two fingers into its surface, and a piece breaks away.

"Walls created this quickly are not the same as natural stone. Qi holds the earth together while the cultivator forms and reinforces it. Once their attention moves elsewhere, much of that support disappears." She crushes the piece between her fingers. Dry soil and small fragments fall from her hand.

"The wall remains, but it becomes brittle. It is even weaker before the earth has settled completely." She points toward the walls separating the yard.

"Their first instinct is to make the battlefield favorable to them. Do not stand there and allow it. Pressure them as soon as they begin. If they must defend themselves, they cannot raise walls as quickly or reinforce them properly." Ling'er moves back toward the corridor.

"They also prefer straight paths. Straight walls make movement predictable and allow them to barrage whoever is trapped at the front. You need to become comfortable moving over those walls before the formation is complete." She steps once and rises. There is no obvious gathering of strength. One moment she stands before the wall; the next, she lands lightly along its upper edge. She crosses the narrow surface without disturbing the packed earth, then drops behind the disciples.

"If they raise another wall to stop you, they spend more qi. If you change direction and make them raise another, they spend more again. Force them to keep rebuilding the battlefield until controlling it costs more than it helps." Jun examines the arrangement from several angles.

"So destroying the walls is not always the priority."

"No. Sometimes their walls are useful to you." Ling'er points toward the corridor.

"The walls restrict Stone River as well. They only feel safe inside them because they expect to control the direction of the fight. If you learn how to move differently, they will eventually trap themselves or create a path whose end you already know." Mei Lin studies the weakened section at the base of the first wall.

"Then we can prepare an attack where they are forced to emerge, rather than chasing them through the formation." Ling'er nods.

"Or make them believe they have cornered you when they have actually entered the position you chose." She looks across the assembled disciples.

"That is enough explanation." Ling'er returns to the center of the yard. Her hands lower to either side of her body. Her feet settle into the packed ground, and the pressure around her contracts until it resembles that of an ordinary Qi Condensation cultivator. Jun's expression changes first. Mei Lin's grip tightens around the hilt of her sword. Wei Chen takes half a step backward before seeming to realize that he has moved at all.

The three of them stare at Ling'er as though one of the Stone River disciples from the previous day has appeared in the training yard wearing her face. Her posture, breathing, and placement have changed completely. The familiar looseness disappears from her stance. Every part of her body seems prepared to advance, trap, and strike within the space created by the walls.

"Now you will learn." Wei Chen, Mei Lin, and Jun enter first. Ling'er restricts her cultivation and avoids using any strength beyond what a Qi Condensation cultivator should possess. It does little to help them. The moment they begin spreading apart, she raises walls between them. When Mei Lin attempts to weaken one, Ling'er abandons it before wasting qi reinforcing a position that no longer benefits her.

She pressures Wei Chen until he commits himself to a direct exchange, then retreats before his counterattack and changes direction toward Jun. Their steam tactic never forms. Each time Mei Lin's water and Wei Chen's fire begin moving toward the same area, Ling'er changes the shape of the battlefield or forces one of them to defend. Jun attempts to predict her movement through the corridors. Ling'er responds by breaking one of her own walls and leaving through a route that did not exist when he gave the command.

Whenever Wei Chen expects her to hold the front, she slips around him and attacks the others. Whenever he turns to pursue, another wall rises in his path. The three of them are defeated before they can establish the rhythm that carried them through the road battle. Ling'er allows them enough time to drag themselves clear before calling forward the next group. She does not repeat the same strategy. Against one group, she corners two disciples behind a wall and overwhelms the third before they can escape.

Against another, she permits them to surround her, then raises uneven pillars beneath their feet and breaks their formation before striking. She mixes water into the soil until their footing becomes uncertain, then hardens selected sections so that every adjustment carries them toward another trap. Her speed makes the lesson worse. She moves between the disciples quickly enough to leave fading images in her wake.

One moment she occupies the front of a formation; before those disciples finish responding, another image of her seems to emerge beside them. They begin reacting as though they are fighting several Stone River cultivators at once. Every wall conceals a new angle of attack. Every retreat leads toward another section Ling'er has already prepared. Each group becomes so focused on the version of her immediately before them that they fail to notice where she is directing the rest of their formation.

The disciples waiting for their turn become progressively quieter. Ling'er does not overwhelm them with the strength of her body. She does not release the strange pressure of her bloodline or use anything beyond techniques that a Qi Condensation cultivator could theoretically perform. That makes the result more discouraging. Her timing is better. Her movements waste nothing. Every slight error in balance or attention earns an immediate counterattack.

By the time the final group enters, most of the training yard has become a maze of cracked earth, shallow mud, standing walls, and collapsed barriers. The final exchange ends with three disciples lying in separate sections of the maze. None seems to have realized that the other two had already been defeated. Ling'er lowers her hands. Silence settles over the training yard. Wei Chen is folded over the top of a waist-high stone pillar, his arms and legs hanging on either side.

Mei Lin sits against a mound of broken earth while rubbing one shoulder. Jun remains facedown in the mud for several breaths before turning his head enough to breathe without inhaling it. The other disciples are scattered between them, groaning quietly or remaining motionless in the hope that Ling'er will mistake them for unconscious. Wei Chen eventually manages to lift his head from the pillar.

"Were you… a Stone River disciple in another life?" Mei Lin looks toward Ling'er with enough seriousness that she may be considering the same possibility. Ling'er surveys the training yard. Her gaze passes over the broken walls, the mud, and the disciples she has defeated while restricting herself to methods they could realistically encounter outside the sect.

"We…" She pauses.

"May need to begin more slowly." Several disciples groan louder. A familiar warmth settles through my chest. For weeks, I have suffered through Ling'er's ideas of reasonable training while everyone else watched from a safe distance. I have been chased through forests, thrown into rivers, and informed afterward that each experience was necessary for my improvement.

'Now, at last, I am no longer alone.' Ling'er stamps once and restores the training grounds back to their original shape.

"We will begin again with escaping the initial enclosure," she announces.

"You will repeat it until everyone can leave without being struck." Several heads turn toward me.

"Sect Leader," Jun calls, forcing himself onto one elbow.

"Perhaps we should first discuss—""Ling'er understands these techniques better than I do," I say. That much is undeniably true. Mei Lin attempts a different approach.

"Sect Leader, some of us are still recovering from yesterday."

"Then this will teach you not to depend on perfect condition." I have no idea whether that is a good training principle, but it sounds convincing. Wei Chen slides slightly farther over the stone pillar.

"Sect Leader." I meet his pleading gaze. For once, I understand exactly what he is feeling. That only makes my satisfaction deeper.

"You heard your Senior Sister," I tell them.

"Begin again." The protests follow me as I leave the training yard. I do not turn around. Ling'er has everything under control.