It’s not my first time in the Outer Library; I used to come often with Tie Feng and Lan Yue to find things to optimize my training along with some general topics like spiritual and monstrous beasts and about the Empire.

  The building itself is as grand on the inside as it is on the outside, opulent decorations and massive bookshelves that stretch to the ceiling fill the hall. Only those leaning towards a more scholarly route come here regularly, but there’s still a number of them seated at desks strewn around or weaving between shelves.

  The main reason most outer disciples come here is for the same reason I am, Martial Arts.

  Walking up the stairs, I go up two more floors, each filled with as many books as the last and fewer and fewer disciples, until I reach the top. This floor has the fewest shelves; however they are each stuffed to the gills with scrolls stacked on top one another or packed tightly with books.

  A single desk rests in the center with a stack of books on it, behind it is an old man, an outer elder, silently reading a book in his hands.

  At the final step, my hair stands on end, and I hesitate to take it.

  “Don’t worry sonny, step on through,” the elder speaks up casually.

  A bit hesitant, I take the last step up and feel my hair fall back and nervously take the few steps to the elder’s desk and take out my token with a small bow.

  “Greetings Elder, I would like to pursue the library for a Martial Art.”

  He leisurely raises a hand, and I place my token in his grasp.

  “So, you’re the one who won old man Lieshen’s game this year eh?” He pockets the token and finally looks up to me. “Spear arts are on the shelf to my right, if you want specific ones for movement, stealth and such they’re back over there.”

  I pause, surprised that he knows I use a spear, but shake it off.

  Clearing my throat, I grab the elder’s wavering attention, “I was hoping to gain a Martial Art for unarmed combat,” I ask hopefully.

  The elder pauses and drags his gaze from his book back to me and after a moment, he huffs.

  “I knew I shouldn’t have bet against the old man.”

  I stare as he gets up with a groan, one that’s completely unnecessary given he’s at Qi Condensation and likely in far better health than even me despite his advanced age, “Follow me.”

  We walk towards a blank wall, that to my surprise, with a raise of the elder’s hand, a passage fades into being with stairs leading higher.

  Following him up the narrow stairway, we come to a dark room that lights up slowly from stones built into the walls.

  “It has been years since someone last came for unarmed arts, the last was three years ago, a disciple wanting a last resort in case he lost his sword. He returned the book before the month was over, claiming it was useless and beneath a cultivator to use,” the elder comments as we walk past dusty crates stacked atop one another before stopping at a stack near the middle.

  My jaw drops as he, with a slight bend of his knees, hops four meters to grab a crate at the top and lands with barely a sound. Beyond impressive given the loud thump the crate gives when he sets it down.

  “Inside contains all the arts that are worth learning, the rest are either incomplete or plain horrible,” he says.

  He grabs the lid and pulls the crate open, revealing pristine books stacked within, most looking as if they’ve never been cracked open.

  “Choose one. Cover the crate once you’re done,” saying his piece, he turns and walks back the way he came, leaving me in silence.

  Bending over the crate, I grimace as I read the names of the top few books. Heavens Ninefold Crushing Fist and Basic Punches and Kicks.

  I don’t judge the contents by their names though and with a heavy sigh pick the first one and crack it open.

  ---

  I’m judging by their cover and first page. Even after an hour I’m barely halfway through the crate and I’ve only picked out three that seem like something I’d like to use, one of them is even one of the more audacious ones with six words in its name.

  With a sigh I toss, gently, another book to the side with the rest of the discarded Martial Arts. This is the eighth I think whose entire style is essentially just running and distracting your opponent until you can grab your weapon again.

  Blindly reaching inside, I grab a new book titled Adamantine Wave.

  The name is pretty good, especially the small waves detailed on the cover. Nice touch.

  Unbreakable, yet flowing.

  To resist is to shatter, to redirect is to endure, arms flow like rivers winding through stone and each borrowed force becomes fuel for the next surge.

  Now that’s intriguing. I’m not holding much hope as I’ve been disappointed far too often, I’m looking at you Seven Tribulinary Strikes.

  Reading through the entire book, I regain my hope. The entire style revolves around slowly building strength and speed in one’s attacks, a ‘wave,’ rolling with any counterattack to lessen the blow and take its momentum for your own, until you channel all the accumulated power into one devastating blow.

  Its not too complicated either, composed of only three major complementary techniques to accomplish a wave.

  Endless Current is a set of body movements that allow one to absorb and roll with any blows that land, along with how to use the force of it to add to one’s attacks.

  Wave-Breaking Palm is the only true defensive technique, the first still needing you to take the blows that land on you. With but a palm and a twist of your arm, you can control and redirect the momentum of an attack, though the author only wrote they tried it against fists and staffs, nothing more.

  Finally, Adamantine Crash, transfer the momentum and power of your entire body into one single attack to destroy whatever is in front of you, typically used during at the pinnacle of a wave of attacks for the most damage. The downside, however, is that your muscles can’t withstand exerting the full force it can bear all at a specific point, making one’s muscles lock up for a moment.

  Of course, there are also forms and katas to take the fullest advantage of the stance, but I can already see places where it would fit my physique better to adjust things slightly.

  After reading it cover to cover, I feel conflicted. I like it, I really do, but the problem with this is clear, problems actually.

  First, it can’t do a thing against anything bladed.

  Wait, no, I lied, that’s not completely true. Thinking about it, I can definitely buy some armour, I’ve seen blacksmiths around so maybe gauntlets and some other pieces where I’d commonly take attacks. This is just purely about redirecting momentum, so as long as I account for the attacks properly, I should be able to take care of any weapon.

  Barring the wielder just not being stronger than me, of course.

  The second is that I have to stand and take attacks. It was hammered into us that against other cultivators, dodging is the first thing one should do, with blocking attacks being second and taking attacks not even being considered. However, that was them warning us for if we reach higher stages of cultivation where qi attacks can start appearing.

  They also weren’t considering that I would be learning other techniques in the future, particularly defensive ones for my body, that’d even help with my first problem!

  Also, what can qi attacks do when I’m right in their face?

  Happy with my decision, I place it on top of the other books I considered and go through a few more of the Martial Arts before deciding to call it and place all of them back except my stack.

  Trudging down to the elder’s desk, I place the stack on his desk.

  “You can only choose one art disciple,” he doesn’t bother looking up from his book.

  “I understand Elder. However, I had a question that will influence my choice that I was hoping you could answer it.”

  The man hums for a moment as he turns a page, “Go ahead.”

  “Are there techniques, Mortal or even Spirit ones, that enhance the resilience of the user’s body?”

  “Of course,” he answers immediately, “they aren’t common but not exactly rare. There are plenty that you can eventually learn that fit with Adamantine Wave.”

  Startled for the third time today by the elder, I slowly grab said book from the stack.

  “Ahem. I will take this art Elder.”

  He just lazily waves a hand, and the remaining books I brought disappear into a storage ring, something I learnt that every elder receives to store whatever they want into a small space.

  How? I have no clue, but I want it.

  “The author was the son of a fisherman that was in the sect about a hundred years ago, the first new unarmed combat art I personally added when I was freshly tenured to the Outer Library. It was the only one of worth in the crate. You will surprise quite a few people with this style.”

  My hands tighten on the hundred-year-old book with anticipation. Giving a quick bow to the Elder, I leave him to his literature and scramble out of the library, giddy to start practicing the new art.

  ---

  This is horrible.

  I pant as I lay on the ground, body sore all over though not from the burning sensation of exercise but from letting rocks and bamboo stalks slam into me as they fly around on rope in the bamboo forest.

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  This is an exercise to allow one to roll with blows, standing firmly in one place and letting the flying objects slam into you while trying to roll with them until it becomes unconscious. It also helps to develop one’s awareness, both conscious and unconscious, with the eventual goal of being able to react to any blow, even if you’re unaware of it.

  It sucks.

  I’ve gotten the basics down, able to lessen the force behind the strikes until they feel more like a light punch. But I have no idea how I’m supposed to make it work when getting hit from more than one direction at once, especially when I try incorporating attacks to use the bit of momentum I gather.

  That’s not even mentioning the redirection palm-

  “Interesting style. Perfect for a brute like you.”

  I flinch on the ground as Lan Yue steps silently into view, humming as she reads the book I had set aside.

  “You’re really sneaky you know.”

  She ignores me and flips to another page, “I saw your last attempt. Looks to be going well, but you were struggling at the end.”

  Flipping the book shut, she pulls out her sword and walks to a nearby stalk, and with a blur, cuts it near horizontally.

  As it leans to fall, she slashes the top of the collapsing stalk and grabs the middle, leaving the remaining piece to fall to the ground as she flourishes the makeshift bamboo staff.

  “It says that the best training method is to go against an opponent, reading body language and facing blows one would truly face in combat.”

  I don’t like the words coming from her mouth. I stand cautiously as she spins her staff.

  “As you are in need of a partner, I’ll graciously help you practice,” she says with a little smirk.

  My shoulders slump, “This is payback for the fight isn’t it.”

  “Yes, it is,” she declares without hesitation before swinging her staff down at my shoulder, my twist too late, and I yelp in surprise and pain as it lands with a solid smack.

  I end up in her tender mercies for half an hour. It’s a long half hour.

  It’s even longer when the others come by and Xue Xu gleefully joins Lan Yue in smacking me around.

  Although I had to skip my workout for the day, my body feeling like one big bruise, I can’t deny the benefits by the end of the beat-down session. Most of their strikes I was able to handle with but a bit of pain, and pain is a great motivator to be more aware and get my body more used to rolling with blows. Even my redirection palm works half the time now too.

  Granted, it just let Xue Xu justify using more strength and leaving my palms as just giant bruises.

  ---

  “Welcome, fellow brother and sister,” the outer disciple manning the counter says with a practiced smile.

  It’s impressive how many weapons and armours can fit in a single room.

  The walls are packed full of various weapons, primarily swords of course, but also spears, axes, hammers, glaives and halberds with a few exotic ones that I can’t name. Across the room are stands of armour, decorated with beautiful designs and colours.

  All of them are pretty thin, basically normal clothing, with only a few pieces that could be considered actual armour.

  Looking closer at the stands, I choke back a spit take when I read the prices.

  “Are you seeing these prices?!” I whisper to Lan Yue, who glances at it and just raises a brow at me.

  “I expected it, these aren’t made from normal materials Zhan. The ore used was soaked in natural qi, and the leather comes from Body Tempering or even Qi Condensation beasts. These prices are paltry compared to what cultivators typically spend, you would not believe how much clans pay for certain spiritual wine,” she mentions casually as she looks at a fine leather armour set, designed with leaves and vines.

  A little perturbed, I instead grab the attention of the woman at the counter, “Ah. Senior Sister, I was hoping-”

  She just sighs, smile falling off her face as her head slumps lazily into her hand and waves at a corner where a crate is, “The cheap stuff is in the bin over there, knock yourself out. Please.”

  Awkwardly bowing in thanks, I jaunt over to the crate filled with plain, thick armour, a contrast to the intricate and delicate looking sets through the shop. They do look very familiar though. Picking up a breastplate and turning it around in my hands, I feel it click into place! These are unpainted, but definitely are pieces of Imperial armour!

  “You wish to buy this garbage?” I can hear the derision in Lan Yue’s voice without turning.

  “Well, unlike some of us, I don’t have unlimited money from selling expensive wine,” I say with sarcasm, “unless you wish to donate and help out your poor friend so I can buy some of that fabulous armour on display?”

  I turn and look at her with wide eyes, which she returns flatly and turns away after seeing the grin poking through.

  Darn.

  “But to answer your question I will. Wore these during the beast wave and you’d be surprised at the punishment they can take; they make up in their looks with resiliency.”

  “So perfect for you,” she snipes.

  I don’t deign her with a response and drop the breastplate to dig through the crate for a decent pair of gauntlets.

  Guess no cultivator wants to wear the heavier, plain-looking armour that are so commonly made and equipped across the Empire. But none of the soldiers I’ve seen wear anything but Imperial armour. If they’re outer disciples who aged out of sects, then what happened to all the equipment they bought?

  …Considering Captain Haoran said the soldiers get ‘beaten’ into obedience, I don’t think I want to know. Ever.

  I pick out a pair that look better than the rest and put them on.

  Metal gray, with two solid pieces of metal that wrap around my forearm and plates covering the back of my hand and a bit beyond to my knuckles, all joined with a leather base that pads my arm and hand, giving my wrist free movement.

  Moving around, it feels nice and snug against my arms and doesn’t add much more weight than I’m used to. Throwing a few practice punches, it’s a tad sluggish, but nothing I can’t push past.

  What I don’t like is the lack of protection for my palm and fingers, something that I’d like to have if I’m going to be redirecting strikes with my palm. I can push through if it’s a blunt attack, like I did against Lan Yue and Xue Xu, but against anything else and it’ll be a problem. I’d like to keep my fingers, thank you very much.

  Taking the gauntlets to the woman, I place them on the counter, “Senior Sister, is it possible to add some more protection to the glove? Just the leather parts.”

  She glances down at the gauntlets in question, “Easy, just need to rivet chainmail on and it should be fine.”

  The price she quotes makes me wince, but then my saviour Lan Yue comes and does what I brought her for. Haggling.

  An hour later, I leave the store with a significantly lighter purse and newfound respect for Lan Yue who plays around with a dagger she got out the woman for free.

  “Wanna test our new toys?” I ask with a glance at Lan Yue.

  She expertly flips her dagger in the air and grabs it smoothly by its hilt and sheathes it, which is crazy since I haven’t seen her even touch a dagger before today, and she just nods.

  ---

  A little bit of an adjustment period and a few lost spars against Lan Yue are all it took before the gauntlets started to feel like a part of me. It does take a bit more effort to move my arms, but that’s just more training! It’s a win in my books.

  It’s an even bigger win as I’m far more dangerous to fight, now with a bigger reason to not take a hit as Lan Yue found out when I left a bruise with just a glancing punch.

  She got me back for that though.

  I’ve also been mixing in gauntlet practice while training my Martial Art, needing to build some pain tolerance and thicker skin without them, but also needing to get more used wearing them.

  But the sect cut off the small allowance they gave new disciples along with the classes and segregated training time. Two weeks later, I’m feeling a bit worried as my purse grows ever lighter.

  So, I need to do something about my money situation, and of course that led me to the Mission Hall looking for some work.

  New armour in hand, literally, I walk into the busy building where there’s a few counters manned by disciples, each with a long line in front of them. Lining up behind the shortest one, it surprisingly doesn’t take long to reach the front, and I think I recognize some of the disciples, newer ones like me.

  Outer disciples get mandatory missions every month, and from what I overhear from my spot, the work doesn’t seem very enticing and uncomfortably similar to what I was doing before back in the city.

  I did not become a cultivator to shovel manure again, no matter if it’s from the sect’s stock of spiritual beast mounts.

  Even if it’s a good workout.

  Older ones though seem to choose some of the more interesting missions if they aren’t doing a mandatory one. A lot of them seem quite dangerous, like hunting dangerous beasts or bandits, but the pay sounds far more worth than the danger.

  Sucks that I won’t be able to choose those until I prove through my record that I have the strength and experience to handle them, though I’d like to ascend a stage or two higher before I do those ones as well.

  Don’t want to die the first time I set foot outside by myself.

  “A bandit group formed under two army deserters has been reported attacking merchant caravans along a trade route roughly a three-day ride from the sect, you are to exterminate and bring proof through the swords the deserters took with them. Do not try hand in swords other than their own, each city has its own identification imprinted and you will not be informed of the deserter’s, any falsification will result in immediate exile from the sect to the penal legions.”

  I stare at the outer disciple offering the mission scroll, who blandly keeps holding it out.

  “I think there’s been a mistake. I’m a new disciple. I shouldn’t be getting a mission like this,” I say with a bit of agitation, my informal speech bleeding through.

  “Mandatory missions are assigned under the purview of the assigning disciple and we are given records of your reported strength and experience,” he says as he lifts up a sheet of paper, “and it says here you beat your cohort in the free-for-all Elder Lieshen arranged this year, along with accounts from… trustworthy senior disciples saying you can hold your own, more than enough against a few bandits.”

  “But you just said there are army deserters; they’re going to be at least at the seventh stage!” I say, incensed and a little suspicious at that last bit.

  What older disciples? Chen Yun and the rest wouldn’t do this without asking.

  Or maybe they would? Maybe they didn’t think it would matter much?

  “Stages are not everything, especially at Body Tempering, so I recommend you be smart about how you act,” he says simply, though he sighs when I keep glaring at him and don’t reach out to take the scroll.

  “If you have a problem then bring it up with the Mission Hall Elder. He will take my side in the gauge of your strength, dubiously perhaps, but my word will hold,” he sets the scroll down and goes back to reading a sheet of paper.

  Gritting my teeth, I snatch the scroll and stomp away, two disciples giving me a wide berth as I shove the door to the hall open.

  I feel less angry when I arrive at the training ground, though it flares a bit when I catch sight of everyone there, Tie Feng sparring with Lan Yue while the others watch.

  “Hey Zhan! So, was I right and you got assigned to manure duty? Wait, why are you so mad?” Xue Xu’s excitement dulls a bit as she notices my tense figure.

  “Did any of you mention anything about me to anyone? That I can people at a higher stage than me?” I ask heatedly to the four watching the spar that comes to a stop.

  “What? No? Only my uncle knows that I’m helping a few of my juniors whenever we have dinner. But he says it’s a waste of my time and-”

  I tune out Xue Xu’s rambling and turn to the other three.

  “What’s this about Zhan?” Chen Yun asks with a raised brow.

  I just reply by tossing the mission scroll that he deftly catches and opens to read, Mei Ruyin peering over his shoulder while Wang Xie stays where he lies and waits for the two to finish.

  “Bandit extermination? There shouldn’t be any reason for you to get this mission so early,” Mei Ruyin says with worry in her tone, Chen Yun continuing to read with furrowed brows.

  “-but uncle is weird so, wait. Bandit extermination!? I didn’t get my first one until I spent a whole month doing boring missions!” Xue Xu whines.

  “This is certainly concerning. I can say with confidence that I never mentioned you in my talks. What about you two?” He asks the other two.

  “Only in my letters to my father,” Mei Ruyin says.

  “No point in mentioning them,” Wang Xie says as he slumps back down, curiosity fulfilled.

  “Well then, the only information the mission desks should have is of Zhan winning Elder Lieshen’s tournament, but I won ours and still had to do my own share of missions and advance to the seventh stage before being considered.”

  “The disciple at the desk did mention the recommendations were from trustworthy senior disciples, and you four are the only ones I spar with that can likely give one,” I offer.

  “Ah, so that’s why you asked if we told anyone anything,” Chen Yun says understandingly. “However, with us not doing so, there must be other disciples that you left an impression on. Are you sure there aren’t others that could recommend you?”

  I think on it for a moment, “The only ones who have seen me fight are Elder Lieshen’s disciples, maybe one or two saw something in me?”

  Mei Ruyin hums, “Perhaps, but we won’t know unless they tell you directly so there is no point in wondering. They are correct that you can hold your own against an average disciple, your new Martial Art being surprising to face, so you should be able to handle it.”

  “Ruru’s right,” Xue Xu pipes in, “a few washouts from the army don’t mean anything. Well, maybe against you they are something. But you’re smart! Fight smart!” She says simply with a firm nod.

  “When do you have to leave?” I flinch, slightly less this time, at Lan Yue popping up beside me with a question.

  “I have until the end of next week to hand in my proof, three days there and back, plus searching for and fighting the group? I have to leave in two or three days.”

  “Do you have the supplies you need yet?”

  I shake my head, not thinking I’d need any sort of supplies for what was supposed to be an easy mission within the sect.

  “Then Tie Feng and I will help you, you cannot be trusted to know what to bring.”

  I go to protest but slump at the look Tie Feng gives me. Now that hurts coming from the usual easy-going boy.

  “When we finish, I’ll teach you how to use a map and compass,” Tie Feng says after he sees I’ll stay quiet.

  “Ooh ooh! And Wang Xie can teach him how to track!” Xue Xu says as she bounces on her feet, making Wang Xie groan.

  “No, I’m not. You all know how to track as well, so why don’t you teach hi- OOF!”

  He wheezes as the weight of a little girl slams down on top his stomach and shakes him up and down by his shoulders.

  “No! You’re the best, and you’re gonna teach him! Okay!?”

  He just groans in response, whimpering as the girl shakes him some more before he gives a thumbs up and the girl gets off him with a smug smile.