Jingyi Bo had spent much of her previous night plotting her escape from the Chao household. Now that her new allies understood her true ‘nature’, they felt that there was no more reason to hold back - they would be entirely themselves, if Bo would be entirely herself. One such thing that Bo was now ‘privileged’ to entertain was Chao’s entirely-hypothetical schemes and ideas. In fact, her presence seemed to invigorate them - Wang Wei was a hopeless yes-man, and Youni De … well, Bo had literally heard a singular sentence out of him the entire time she’d known him. With Bo happy to speak her mind on the flaws of Chao’s ideas, it only spurred him to improve them.

“So, I was thinking of a game. There are two teams - doesn’t matter how many people, just has to be even numbers …”

“Sounds like it could get out of hand at higher levels already, but go on.”

“Okay, okay, Senior--” “Just call me Bo! Senior makes me sound old.” “Alright, if you’re sure. But we could have maybe … eleven people each side. Tops.”

“Where are you going to find twenty-two people to test this game of yours, anyway?”

“I said tops! Maximum! You can have less! Anyway, you’ve got a leather ball, right? You have to kick it into a net, can’t use your hands--”

“That’s just Cuju, Da. You can’t just reinvent Cuju.”

“No-no-no,” Chao shook his head, “In this one, instead of just the net in the middle, you have a net on one side of the field, and another on the other side of the field. One team has to hit their ball into one net, and the other net is for the other team.”

“Ugh. Sounds like it’d be a lot of running. Wouldn’t you just have people on the team standing in the way of the other net? What if you forget which net is which?”

“Ah, Senior!” Chao reached over and ruffled Bo’s hair, much to her chagrin. “You are too clever by far. I guess this game couldn’t work … I will have to think about it more. But, I did think of a name! We can call it Saoka.”

“Why not something more descriptive, like ‘football’? You hit the ball with your foot.”

“But Saoka is a much cooler name, Senior!”

The debate raged on, late into the evening, before eventually Bo was able to slip away. At the very least she was reminded that dinner always tasted nicer prepared by someone else, and with good company.

Oh well. One out of two wasn’t bad.

---

Bo’s plan going forward was awakening her other two disciplines. It had taken her a couple weeks (with poor guidance, she realised in hindsight) to awaken her spiritual power. With much better teachers with far more straightforward advice, Jingyi Bo was confident it wouldn’t take her very long at all to gain access to all the benefits of awakening mind and body as well.

Her next session with Ienaga hadn’t gone particularly well - Though Chao and his gang were always right there, just slightly behind her. If simply running yourself ragged was enough to awaken the body, Bo was sure she would get it eventually. She tried to concentrate, to see within her body, but doing so repeatedly led to either tripping over or simply intensifying the feeling of her burning muscles. Even with Elder Ienaga’s guidance during meditation, Bo couldn’t quite figure out what to make of her ki. It was a work in progress, that had the rest of the day written off to exhaustion and meditation.

The following day, Bo heard second-hand from Chao how some half-spirit girls had managed to awaken their ki in barely two days. Half-spirits were always a bit more physically fit than other humans, so it stood to reason they would be better at cultivating the body. What worried Bo, Chao and Wang was the filth it apparently produced. De, perversely, seemed excited. What was wrong with that man?

In terms of cultivation, which was to fill their every spare moment, Chao Da had a ‘brilliant’ idea.

“What if we go around the Academy and look for different places to cultivate? Maybe we’ll find some really good spots and skip right ahead of everyone! I bet there’s tons of places no one’s thought to even check.”

Bo honestly didn’t have a good argument against that one. She knew sects like to build themselves on top of mountains, where qi was rich - but this place, apparently, just had qi everywhere due to the shield formation. It stood to reason there were going to be places that would just inexplicably hold more qi than usual, due to the strangeness of the set-up. Without much further thought, they all began looking.

They cultivated under trees, on benches, atop low walls, inside bushes, sprawled out in a grassy field - okay, that last one was just a midday nap. Their next target for testing, which had so far been fairly unsuccessful, was the next street over. There was apparently a bench under a tree next to a low wall (a triple-whammy, in Chao’s book), so they had to try it out. Just as they rounded the corner however, they entered … someone else’s unfortunate encounter.

Some sleeveless Qin hooligan was harassing that scrawny cat half-spirit about her ki awakening. Bo couldn’t help but admit she was curious as to how she’d done it so fast, but she wasn’t going to go around threatening anyone for it - what an awful way to lay low that would be! This Yan Zhihao fellow (why did that name sound so familiar?) even went as far as to challenge her to a duel! A small crowd had started to form, curious as to what was going on. Jingyi Bo, being a rather diminutive woman, was no friend of crowds - without a word, she turned down a nearby alleyway, sparing a glance back to see if Chao and his crew had noticed her leaving. Perhaps without them, she would be able to get some time meditati--

“Ouch!” Bo walked right into someone twice her size, falling straight onto her backside. “Watch where you’re go .. ing …”

Her eyes widened as she looked up at who she had run into. Large body, black and white fur, cute and fuzzy round ears, vicious bear face.

“P-P-P-Panda man!” Bo couldn’t help but squeak with fright, pointing like some kind of fragile maiden in a play. The panda man seemed unimpressed.

“You … I’ve finally found you!” His voice was a low growl. “Because of you, someone of my station was forced to grovel and beg his way into this place! You assaulted me, stole my entry token, carried on like you have done nothing wrong! Even the instructors here have let you get away with your crimes!”

“P-Pa-Paan-P-Panda man … !”

“Oh, so you know who I am, and you did all that? Oho, you are a brat, aren’t you? A true son of Qin, taking what you want as though it always belonged to you!”

“P-Panda man?”

“It’s Pan Da-Han! The honoured, if oft-overlooked Pan clan will not forget your grave misjudgement! To regain my honour as a mage, I formally challenge you to a duel!”

“Oh. No thank you.”

A still moment of silence passed between them. Pan looked down at her, stunned. Jingyi Bo had gone from abject panic to calm and collected in a matter of seconds.

“No … No thank you?! That’s not how you respond to a duel!”

“Well, do I have to duel you?”

“No, you don’t have to accept, but if you refuse so flagrantly, everyone will think you a coward--”

“I refuse.”

Another moment passed. Somewhere nearby, a loud-mouthed son of Qin harassed a young girl for a secret she wasn’t keeping.

“But you can’t--”

“I can.”

A cornered cat somewhere hissed at her aggressor and rose to meet his challenge. Pan Da-Han, however, stood open-mouthed and aghast. After a few moments, his shock subsided and his anger returned. Raising a mighty paw, he bellowed, “If you won’t duel me, then I’ll just take you out here and now!”

“Oi!” A voice called from down the alleyway. “You givin’ our Bo a hard time, panda?”

“It’s Pan Da-Han! It’s also none of your business!”

Chao Da, Wang Wei and Youni De approached, looking more menacing than Jingyi Bo had ever seen the trio. To his credit, Pan was quick on the uptake. He reached into his robe to pull out a strip of paper Bo recognised as a spell talisman, only for it to suddenly burst into shreds. Chao had fired off some blast of air, ruining the flimsy paper talisman. Frustrated, he decided instead to take a swipe of his claws down at the nearby Bo. Ducking with the practiced speed of a survivor of many a tragedy, Bo placed her hands on the dirt next to Pan’s feet and did what she had been practicing to do - she transformed it into a puddle of mud.

Her technique wasn’t particularly quick. Frankly, by the time she had even started to get this guy’s boots dirty, the half-spirit should have taken her head clean off with a second swipe. Wang was copying Chao’s technique, throwing off his swings with well-timed bursts of otherwise harmless wind. Youni had started sweating profusely, his sweat coalescing into oily tendrils that bound Pan’s arms. While disgusting, it was effective at holding him there. Bo’s technique was not designed for combat - it was slow, clunky, extremely specific. But if she could do this one thing, it would be enough.

Pan protested profusely as the ground underneath him was transmuted into slimy mud, causing him to sink. Every time he tried to get out of it, Chao’s gang forced him back in. It was almost hilarious how the four of them could barely deal with a singular mage, but as the half-spirit sunk deeper and deeper into mud, he grew less inclined to laugh. Bo eventually stopped, some ten minutes later - a veritable lifetime in the midst of combat. Chao and company had transitioned to offering moral support as Bo stretched the limits of her ability, and as Pan’s arms sunk too deep in the mud to help him. Once he was up to his shoulders, Jingyi Bo gave one finishing flourish - the top layer was transformed back into dry, solid earth.

“I’m really sorry about this,” Bo lied with a smile, “But I never meant to harm you!” Her audience entirely captive, she quickly recounted the events that lead to her landing on Pan Da-Han’s head.

“If you-- ungh! Just landed accidentally,” Pan struggled in his muddy cage, “then why did you steal my token and run away?”

“‘Cause she had to get away from you, creep! Baring your claws at a lady! You’re a real piece of work, bastard!”

Chao shouted down at the entirely immobilised panda. Wang gave a solemn nod and a repeat of ‘A real piece of work’. De just snickered, wiping some excess sweat off his forehead.

Content that their work here was complete, the four of them left to continue their training.

“Wait. Wait wait wait, I’m sorry for attacking you! Don’t leave me here! Hello? Hello?!”