Aimless Ascension

Gale showed Xiaolin the basic stances one after another, while also explaining their advantages and disadvantages. Although these were basic stances, they were at the heart of all combat skills. You could implement them on the battlefield no matter what weapon you have.

"I don't want you to learn from my stances," Gale said after finishing his explanation. "Do you know why?"

"Because I'm not skillful enough to learn them?"

Gale shook his head. "You aren't absolutely wrong, but that's not the point," Gale said. "When you learn from another individual, it's pretty easy to take in flaws from their movies. You'll learn the moves, thinking they were the most perfect in the world, but unwittingly, you'll be practising the flawed moves.

"Moreover, a practitioner's style plays into it too. I have been practising for over six years, and naturally, I adapted to the way which is most efficient for me to move in. Look at our stature. I'm easily a foot and a half taller than you and twice your weight. Our ways aren't very compatible with each other."

Xiaolin frowned cutely. Her clothes were soaked in sweat, but Gale hadn't let her exhaust herself. He would let her rest timely whenever she was at the halfway point of her limit. That way, she could do more than what she would be able to in a single turn.

"Then I should just practice from the scroll?"

"Yes, for now," Gale said. "You will need to go against hundreds of opponents to make your style. It isn't possible without experience.

"Other than that, you're lacking in Qi manipulations. Although you have a better Qi affinity than most people, you lacked any mastery over Qi arts. I know your constitution won't let you recover Qi naturally, which caused most of the problem. That's why I think we should try to make you advance to copper sooner."

Xiaolin's eyes lit up. "You mean?"

"Yes, we'll start on next week," Gale answered, much to her delight. "Also, I would need to observe the entire process, and we can't just do that here with pure crystal. I'll be taking you to Stormhold next week. Is there any problem with that?"

Xiaolin shook her head.

"Good, now practice. I'll go see Grandma Yushen about the deal."

***

The deal went without a hitch. Guo Zong, the manager, acted as the witness between the two parties. After finalising the deal, grandma Wang wanted her granddaughter to fuse with the fate-lock as soon as possible.

Gale elaborated about the whole ritual process they would have to go through. The ritual was simple and short. All Wang Li had to do was wait till midnight, then she had to transfer Qi to the cloth like Fate-lock, which she would be wrapped in. Moreover, she would have to be submerged in water for the entire time.

As far as rituals go, this one was pretty simple and straightforward. Grandma and Madam Wang decided they would be done with it tonight.

For the rest of the day, Gale was totally free. Well, he could have taught Xiaolin more, but teaching didn't go like that. She already had her hands full with everything he had given her, no need to put her through more. It would be like biting more than she could chew.

So till the evening, Gale played with Rong'er and Xiaolin. He met the white-haired Sun Ziang once in the morning, though the newly arrived enforcer was busy with his work. The scion of the Sun clan told them he asked about Xiaolin's condition to the best healer of their clan at Grandma's request.

The healer said she had some ideas, but she would like to check up personally. That's about it. Being the best healer of the legendary Sun clan certainly put her on a busy schedule. They weren't sure when she would have time to check on Xiaolin.

Just like that, it was midnight, and the time to complete the ritual.

***

This was probably the biggest night of Wang Li's life. Well, probably the second biggest, the first being her wedding night. That certainly went well. The marriage was almost a disaster, and it wasn't going well currently at all.

Wang Li breathed in and out, driving away all the negative thoughts. The night wind was chilly, and she wasn't wearing anything under the robe, as she would have to be naked for the ritual.

Weirdly, most fate lock fusion rituals require the practitioner completely naked or at least physically in contact with the item. Although there were exceptions, she didn't have the good fortune to get on with that.

Thankfully, this ritual wasn't as tough as the other one she would need to do to fuse with the other fate lock Grandma had.

All she had to do was to transfer Qi into the cloth-like fate lock while being submerged in the water. Well, the process wouldn't take long, only about a few minutes. She would have to hold her breath for that long.

Seemed pretty easy enough.

Still, she couldn't help but get nervous.

"Getting nervous, are we?" the foreigner and also Linlin's new master asked her. He handed her a cup full of hot drinks. "Here, take this."

"What's this?" Wang Li asked. While inwardly she added: 'He won't be here the whole time, will he?'

The one Wang Li wanted to be there for her was her husband, but they hadn't been on talking terms lately. Although she had reminded him yesterday and invited him, she hadn't seen his figure so far.

'He's probably enjoying himself with some whores,' she thought and almost crushed the cup in her hand.

"Easy," Gale told her. "You're way too rigid about this. This drink will help you calm your 'nervous system'."

"Nerva what?"

"The mind," Gale said, gesturing with his finger to her head.

Gale then delivered Auoana's Scarf to her and made his way out of the garden.

"Sensei, you won't be here till the end?" Xiaolin asked, addressing his master in that weird term.

"The ritual is a bit inappropriate for an outsider like me to stay," leaving those words, the foreigner left.