Sky Pride

”OH YOU HAVE NO IDEA!” Voidcatcher was so agitated he turned back into his giant toad form. ”Some of the worst losses I ever suffered were in the Heavenly Realm. Good brothers and sisters turn on each other over a single herb, scammers are everywhere, crafters, alchemists, formation masters and the other skilled trades are all absolute vampires, leeches, marrow sucking creatures that will drain you dry of all your treasures and spirit stones. Itʼs hell!”

”Junior always knew merchants couldnʼt be trusted!”

”Very true, very true! There is hope for you yet, young Tian. Listen, and learn wisdom from me. A fool goes into a merchantʼs store through the front door, a hero enters the merchantʼs warehouse through the roof. Itʼs not robbery to steal from a thief, and thatʼs what merchants are- thieves. All of them. In the Imperfect Human Realm, anyway.”

Tian nodded strongly. His teacher was clearly speaking the divine truth. He could feel Grandpa Jun radiating approval too.

”To escape that hellish stage, you need to reach that certain point of accumulation, then form your qi body. Once that is established, you embark on the great journey of shen cultivation. Which you donʼt need to worry about for centuries, so ignore it for now.”

”Hah. Yes, Teacher.”

”The manual for the Vast Darknorth Sea Art has an explanation on how to condense the qi body. Here. A nice fresh copy just for you.”

A jade slip floated over. Tian looked at it. It seemed quite smooth, a fine, lustrous green, with a rather ordinary decoration of a fu dog at the top.

”Send your qi into it. Your shen will come along for the ride. You will see.”

Tian did so, and his head snapped back almost instantly. It was like reading a book without the intermediation of pages or ink. The words and pictures appeared in his mind directly. He withdrew his qi, and the images withdrew with them. It seemed he would have to memorize it the old fashioned way. Still. What an incredible thing.

”Right. That should about do it. Iʼll send a leaf for Young Hero Hong. Iʼm quite sure old Merciless isnʼt doing her any favors. Itʼs not in his nature.”

”Teacher, might I impose on your kind nature for one more minor thing? You mentioned that my acupuncture book is dangerously wrong. Could I trouble you for a book or some teachings on acupuncture so that my medicine dao will not be led astray by your inferiors?”

Voidcatcherʼs giant eyeball rolled. ”You lack the skills for flattery. But fine, fine, Iʼll be a good person to the end. This is something that quack Earthʼs Blessings put together. Just pay attention to the mechanical bits, what to stick where and when. That much is right, if clumsy and written stupidly. The theory is all garbage. Sounds plausible if you donʼt know any better, but itʼs rubbish. Donʼt mind the tear stains and the smudged autograph. I beat him up and made him cry when we debated at the Duke of Yaoʼs tea party… ah, but thatʼs still beyond you for now. Here.”

Voidcatcher tossed out an inch thick book printed on what appeared to be excellent quality paper. ”Feel free to tell everyone you meet that you are his student, by the way. Particularly if you botch a diagnosis or kill someone during surgery or something.”

”Senior Earthʼs Blessings is dead?”

”No, I just hate the fact he dares to keep practicing medicine despite knowing what a loser and a failure he is. Especially since someone robbed his medicine warehouse while I was crushing him in the debate. He should have retired, or better still, reincarnated and gotten out of my sight. Any and all slander or disgrace you can bring to his name is merely correcting a public misunderstanding, not doing any wrong.”

Tian cupped his hands and bowed. He really learned so much from his teachers.