“Qi,” Feng Xue said, running his fingers along the length of a sheathed sword resting on his lap, “refers to the metaphysical energy that inhabits the bodies of all living beings. It is the core of cultivation and a catalyst to beginning the journey for immortality.”

Xiao Xue watched as his father unsheathed the sword in his hands. The heirloom was crafted by a master runic refiner, its handle and scabbard composed of aged spiritual wood of unknown origins, wrapped around by several delicate bands of purple iron. The weapon’s blade itself was crafted from Xuan metal imbued with traces of azure sunjade. Qi swirled around the weapon as it hissed slowly out of its scabbard.

But despite the weapon’s great beauty, Xiao Xue’s expression was contorted in a disgruntled frown as he stared at it.

Why did it have to be a Jian? He complained inwardly as he examined several delicate, faintly glowing characters inscribed in a row, centered down the blade’s side. The character 雪(Xue) was the most prominent as it was about four times larger than the other runes and was at the top of the row, situated just below the hilt. If one looked closely enough, they would notice each character… No, each stroke was composed of hundreds of tiny, esoteric runes that minutely vibrated as they radiated a faint amount of Xuan.

And collectively, the characters read.

Xue(Snow)

Graceful. Deadly.

Ruthless. Relentless. Pure.

Descending silently.

Transient. A passing thaw.

“Qi,” Feng Xue continued, still running his finger along the Jian’s length, a hint of adoration in his eyes, “is the life energy that dwells inside every living being, connecting them to each other, their surroundings, and the world as a whole.

“To manipulate Qi, living beings must refine and attribute it first. Concentrated clusters of the end product, which we refer to as Xuan, is contained and channeled by different parts of the body in relation to the pure, ambient Qi existing in the universe.”

Feng Xue looked up from the sword on his lap to glance at his sons. Bai Xue stood silently, intently absorbing his teachings. Xiao Xue was… lost in thought. His eyelids drooped as he stared at the sword on Feng Xue’s lap.

The patriarch sighed at the sight. It was truly a mystery how Xiao Xue managed to keep up with his twin despite not putting in even a tenth of the same effort. Feng Xue shook his head, once more dismissing the thought.

“As you have both now achieved True Xuan and have mastered the Thirteen Basic Sword Styles, you are now capable of externally manipulating your Xuan to begin training in our ancestral combat technique.”

Feng Xue paused for effect, waiting until he had regained Xiao’s attention.

“The founding father of our clan, Ling Xue, pondered on the nature of snow, marveling at its beauty, in the snowy mountains of the primordial northern alps for four years before experiencing epiphany and receiving enlightenment from the Great Dao.

“It was then, he created the four combat moves, Deforming Snow, Relentless Blizzard, Soundless Descent, and Transient Thaw. All of which are collectively known as the Four Winters.”

“But before we proceed, you both must first master the art of manipulating your Qi. Sit and concentrate.” Feng Xue ordered Xiao and his twin. The two complied, shutting their eyes as they sat cross-legged before their father.

“Rouse your meridians to sense and channel the ambient Qi into your cores before refining it as per the Dao scripture, Ten Thousand Li Flow. Your Qi should flow freely like a great river. As attributed Qi reflects its owner's identity and personality to a very high extent, your flow is free to be solemn and gentle or reckless and raging, it does not matter. What matters is for it to be deep and hold great power.

“Along your meridians are five hundred and twenty nodes called Gates that control the flow of Qi in the body. Find and open them all.”

Xiao Xue's breathing slowed as he began quietly searching for the said gates. Half a dozen seconds later a gust of Xuan exploded from his body in all directions. About a minute later, Bai Xue also experienced the same thing, his gates opening with an explosive gust of Qi.

“Good,” Feng Xue nodded in approval before he also began circulating Qi in his system.

“When cultivating,” the patriarch continued, “natural Qi is drawn into the Aperture via the first gate (located directly within the navel) and is forced into a refinement spiral where the Qi is attributed and stored. From there it flows out along the meridians to various parts of the body before exiting via the gates as Xuan.

“To successfully perform the Four Winters technique, a practitioner must be adept in controlling the variations between the flow speed of their Qi intake and the energy coefficient of their expelled Xuan. Simply put, when performing this technique, a delicate balance exists within the flow where the rate of change of speed and volume must be accurately gauged and controlled. Any discrepancies in these two would cause the technique to unravel under its innate pressure.”

Feng Xue floated to his feet, a gust of Xuan lifting him clear off the ground. He stood before Xiao Xue and his brother taking a stance with the unsheathed sword in his hands before suddenly performing a sword dance.

Xiao Xue roused his meridians, sensing his father’s aperture and meridians which were purposefully left unshielded. The patriarch’s flow felt stable at first inspection, but underneath its calm facade laid a turbulent undercurrent. It wasn’t violent per se, but it retained some undertones of aggression.

Sensing deeper, Xiao Xue discovered the balance his father spoke about. The flow of Qi in Feng Xue’s system spiked erratically with every movement he made, and unsurprisingly the volume and speed of the flow varied consistently with one another.

The patriarch continued his performance for another minute, allowing the two to properly examine the technique before coming to a stop.

“I will now demonstrate the first style of the Four Winters technique,” he said, stretching his hands sideways.

“Deforming Snow!”

Xuan-imbued snow suddenly shot out from his raised palm in a thick cloud. The cloud lingered, for a few moments before it began to slowly dissipate.

“This style,” the patriarch said, turning to face Xiao and his brother, “is predominately defensive and restrictive. To perform it, the coefficient of your Xuan’s volume must be exactly thirty-seven fold its flow speed. This allows you to disperse your Xuan quickly enough for it to be relevant in battle but remain viscous enough to restrain an attack.

“The working principle behind Deforming Snow is to create a voluminous curtain of Xuan-imbued snow between yourself and an attacker or offensive technique. Any technique attempting to bypass this would most likely be slowed down, partially diminished, or outright dissipated by the energy-nullifying action of the defensive layer.

“This style was never meant to be fully defensive like a typical earth-based style as the Four Winters is a lesser-yin technique that is more offensive in nature. Instead Deforming Snow was created as a delaying tactic or to restrain the enemy’s movement. It allows the practitioner to easily transition between evading an attack to counter-attacking or to create time to set up a more effective defense immediately afterward due to the ease with which it can be deployed.”

“A more effective one?” Xiao Xue asked with a groan. “Are we going to have to learn another technique?”

“Yes,” Feng Xue replied blandly. “Yes, you would. Preferably an earth-based technique to compliment the speed, versatility, and offensive nature of Four Winters.”

Xiao Xue groaned at his father’s reply.

Feng Xue ignored him as he continued speaking.

“I will now demonstrate the second move of the Four Winters technique, Relentless Blizzard. This, unlike the former, is a true sword technique that requires high-level mastery of the blade.”

The patriarch stomped his right foot on the ground and a person-sized pillar of earth rose a few meters to his side. His Xuan continually flowed outwards into the pillar, reinforcing it for a dozen seconds before he suddenly cut the supply, satisfied with the construct's sturdiness.

Feng Xue then took a ‘ready’ stance with his front foot pointed forward towards the newly-created pillar and his back foot at a 90-degree angle to it. Both his knees bent slightly, lowering his stance, and his right hand held the sword upright in front of him perpendicularly to the ground in a firm grip. His other arm hung idly in mid-air, his palm facing the sky.

Stepping forwards, Feng Xue’s Xuan exploded as he cleaved his blade at the earth pillar from where he stood. Multiple large arcs of Xuan-imbued ice materialized, shooting forward towards the pillar, rending large gashes along the construct’s entire height.

The patriarch turned around to face his sons, and unsurprisingly their expressions looked rather bland. They both held contemplative expressions, seemingly pensive, as they studied the damage done to the pillar without even a sliver of excitement on their faces.

Feng Xue sighed, an expression of loss appearing on his visage. At that moment, he seemed to have aged at least a dozen years.

“Just like with Deforming Snow,” Feng Xue said with another sigh, ”Relentless Blizzard is heavily dependent on the volume and fluidity granted by the Ten Thousand Li Flow Dao scriptures. When performing this move, you attribute your Xuan with your understanding of the Dao of the Sword. The greater your understanding, the deadlier your blade becomes.

“To perform it, the coefficient of your Xuan’s volume would vary between fifty to seventy fold its flow speed, depending on whether you want to sacrifice speed for power or vice-versa.”

Feng Xue sheathed his blade as he walked towards the twins.

“That’s all I will teach you for today,” he said, his ring glowing as it materialized two Jians in his palm. He tossed them to the seated twins. “We will touch upon the other two moves when you have mastered varying your circulation and can reasonably perform these two moves in a real battle.”

Xiao picked the sword complaining, “must we wield the Jian? We have already chosen our weapons of choice, so isn’t it redundant and a waste of time to master the use of another instead of what we chose?”

“Our family heirloom is a Jian,” the patriarch replied, “if you don’t learn to wield it, who then will? Enough of this and begin familiarizing yourselves with your weapons. You have till noon today to prepare, for when I return we will begin live exercises on the use of the Four Winters technique in martial combat.”

Xiao Xue pouted but complied, falling silent. He unsheathed his weapon to see the gleam of its purple metal blade in the morning light. With a confused frown, he turned towards his brother who also had a frown on his face as he examined the weapon in his hands.

“Uhm, Pa,” Xiao Xue said hesitantly, “these are real blades.”

“Yes,” Feng Xue replied. “I believe it is time for you to experience and become acquainted with the dangers of martial arts and your indisputable mortality.

“Or do you feel you are not ready yet, my son?”

“Do we have a choice in this, Pa?” Xiao Xue asked in return.

“...No.”

Xiao Xue turned to his brother, shrugging as an amused smile appeared on Bai Xue’s face.

“I guess we are doing this then,” Xiao sighed, his eyes closing and breathing slowing to an imperceptible level as he fell into a state of contemplative meditation.

-Glossary-

The Thirteen Basic Sword Styles. Do well to remember them, Dao cultivator, for they would serve you well on this arduous journey to achieve immortality.

Thrust- A basic stab without extremely inclining the body.

Feint- Deceitful misdirection used to create an opening for an attack.

Block- This is the use of the length of the sword to defend against an attack.

Cleave- A cut/slash that is either horizontally/vertically aligned with the practitioner stepping forward to strike.

Parry- The weapon’s blade is used to push aside/deflect an attack.

Intercept- The tip of the sword is used to attack diagonally upward, downward, or backward at the wrist to dissuade an attack.

Envelop- This is a fusion of an intercept and parry. It involves small circular motioning of the sword around the opponent’s blade to both parry an attack and attempt an intercept at the opponent's body.

Clear- This usually employs lateral energy(upwards/downwards) to stop the incoming sword by suppressing its motion.

Lunge- The tip of the weapon is stabbed as far toward the opponent as possible, with the back leg straight and the practitioner’s body leaning into the attack by at least 45 degrees and a front leg that is bent to the point where the knee is over the ankle.

Dominate- This defensive movement is a fusion of lunge and clear and is used to catch and stick to the opponent’s blade. It is a move that allows the practitioner to control the flow of the battle by applying his/her body weight to the opponent’s blade.

Disengage- This involves moving the tip of a blade over or under an opponent's blade to the other side or where the disengage started. This is done very quickly and with the absolute minimum of movement. It is used chiefly to escape a parry or as part of a disguised attack.

Remise- This is a series of small, repetitive thrusts or cleaves

Beat- This is a strike at the opponent’s sword usually done to disarm or create an opening for a follow-up attack.