The following hour plus was spent moving from one injured disciple to the next. Yu was only able to be involved in the healing about half the time, meaning those injuries were mostly moderate. None were minor since they were on the emergency patrol and not a healing center.

Elder Mi was an excellent teacher and Yu learned a lot. At the end, the woman had tapped Yu’s badge and ordered her, “Go to the Skills Library before our next session together and pick up a new diagnostic skill. You are actually competent and have the ability to help, which is aggravatingly rare. You are now my personal apprentice healer and will spend your healing time with me. Don’t mess up and you might learn something.”

Yu was surprised how much she enjoyed her time healing her fellows. In some ways, it felt like a refreshing break. It was a little cathartic. The victims were almost all appreciative and Yu enjoyed the sense of accomplishment and tangible return. While it wasn’t her calling the way fighting and combat were, it reinforced her desire to keep cultivating and growing in strength.

Speaking of fighting, she arrived at the Martial Training Center to the sounds of combat. The smacks of bodies making contact, the clanging of weapons, the calls of those who strike or defend. The building could be home to her. This was her calling.

She found room 4 and saw eighteen other disciples, an unknown elder, and the familiar face of Elder Gan who scowled at her entry. She sighed and stood with the others, all boys, and only one familiar. It was Gui Ai’s brother, the white-haired Gui De. He scowled at her too but she ignored it, scanning the room. She did see one blue-haired disciple who Yu recognized as one of the Bao from her Day 1 class that bragged about his testing results. Yu wasn’t paying attention at the time so didn’t know his name.

Ignoring the rest, Yu scanned the room and saw a number of familiar training tools, including tall vertical rods with other rods sticking out horizontally, armed and armless combat dummies, wooden weapons of various kinds, hanging bags filled with dried rice or sand, and many more of the like.

Yu couldn’t help it and smiled but that faded when elder Gan bellowed, “Line up!” while pointing at a wall. There was a brief scramble and all the disciples lined up the wall as instructed. “Welcome to the most physically demanding set of classes this sect offers. You are here because you're the disciples in this cycle that show the most skill in combat.” Then he pointed to the man next to him and said, “This is Elder Haishi. He will be your instructor and you will attend him the highest respect. Elder, they are all yours.” After that introduction, he stomped out with a final nasty look in Yu’s direction.

The new elder walked closer and moved down the line of disciples. As he walked by, Yu looked Elder Haishi over as he did her. She found him to be in his middle years (were he a mortal), with short black hair, a short and neatly trimmed black beard, and strangely glittering yellow eyes. He reminded her of someone and she flipped through her memory attempting to figure out who.

Before she could pinpoint it, he spoke in an incredibly deep voice that almost vibrated the air, not in volume but simply in the depth of his pitch. “You will be training in this room against each other, against your seniors, against elders, against me, and against a testing formation. But we will get to all that. For now, you need to understand the rules. This facility will be open to you, and only you, at all times. You are free to utilize it or not at your whims. The purpose of this class is to train the use of Martial Skills in conjunction with Qi, both inside and outside the body. You will learn how to mix your various talents so you become a better all-around fighter. However, until you are deemed worthy, all Qi skills are banned in this room. You may use Qi within your body only.”

Then he stopped pacing the line and took a place in front of them, with his arms behind his back and his legs shoulder length apart. “Every class is different so I will need to see you all fight. I could take the word of the elders with whom you fought before, but nothing is better than seeing it in person. Who is willing to go first?”

For a moment, everyone just stared at him then the annoying prince stepped forward and said proudly, “I will.”

The man nodded and asked, “Who will you challenge?”

That caused everyone to stir. They had assumed they would be assessed by challenging Elder Haishi. Was that how he planned to gauge their skill? Yu thought it somewhat unfair, considering the number of variables in combat, but she was excited either way. Fighting the skilled always got her blood pumping.

Then she heard, “I challenge Fenghuang Yu. Someone needs to put the verger in her place.”

Elder Haishi said sternly, “This is a spar for determining skill. Nothing more. Personal matters can be addressed elsewhere.”

Yu stepped forward out of the line and asked, “Weapons elder?”

He pointed towards a corner of the room and said, “Wooden weapons can be found against the wall. We had hook swords specially made for you.” So she was known. Hopefully, it wasn’t in a bad way.

Yu bowed and jogged over to where he pointed. She found two pairs of hook swords. Lifting one, she twirled them in a brief version of an early form and then put the right back, finding it lacking in balance. Taking the other, she did the same again and determined them both acceptable, if not as good as her steel ones. Nodding to herself, she returned to where Elder Haishi had moved, which was the sole sparring circle in the room. The prince joined them with a saber and stood opposite her, sneering the whole time.

“You fight until I say stop. You stop when I tell you to or you will be removed from the class. Are you all clear on that?”

All nineteen of the disciples agreed and the elder stood between them. He reiterated that no skills were allowed and then dropped his hand to begin their match. Yu took an aggressive stance where her center was balanced but she was more upright than not.

The prince was in a defensive stance and so she decided to approach. Knowing he was going to attempt to embarrass her, she started with Qi moving through her body at a moderate rate and shuffled closer but at an oblique angle. He shifted and started backing up slightly. When she got in range, he still hadn’t attacked so she decided to start things off. She began with a basic cross sweep with both swords and he slid backward to avoid it. Yu noticed the prince tucked in his sword slightly, clearly not comfortable taking on her blows.

She didn’t understand. Why was he being so defensive when he wanted to “put her in her place?” Was there some sort of trick coming?

Staying cautious, Yu slid forward and swept low with her left. As soon as his sword lowered for the block her right swept high, aiming for his neck from the opposite direction. The prince showed surprising agility by simultaneously changing his block to raise his saber without changing its positioning and leaping over and back from the lower sweep. Yu’s wooden right sword clacked against the hilt of his saber, a victorious grin on his face.

Yu could not figure out why he felt so pleased about it; they had barely done anything. Not really caring, Yu pressed inward against his sword hilt and he pressed backward, equaling her strength. Twisted her right wrist entirely over so it was facing away, she leaped back while pulling downward. The prince’s eyes widened and he tumbled forward, not prepared for a forward pull. Without the prince realizing, Yu used her change in wrist position to place the hook of her sword around the hilt, and with his pressing outward, he wasn’t ready for the change in leverage. Another crack sounded and the prince’s head jerked up and back as her left sword, forgotten with the earlier dodge, swept upwards. The flat of the hooked blade smacked into the prince’s chin causing him to wobble and fall backward onto his butt. Yu slid forward and whacked the prince four times in a blink, once each in the knee, thigh, stomach, and chest. The prince flopped backward, moaning on the ground and Yu stepped back looking at the elder.

He nodded and said, “That will do.”

Ignoring the grumbling and swearing from the line, Yu bowed to Elder Haishi, placed the swords in a rack closer to her, and returned the line. The elder walked to the prince who was just rising and said only, “Return to your place in line.”

Gui De glared daggers at Yu and spat, “You’re dead, verger.”

Elder Haishi stepped right into his face a finger width from his nose and bellowed, “Shut up, disciple! One more word like that and you’re out!” He turned to the rest of the disciples and yelled, “That goes for all of you! Threats for being defeated are disgraceful to you, your family, and only further demonstrate your weakness.”

Stepping lightly as if nothing happened, he returned to his original spot and called, “Now, who’s next?”

Two students raised their hands and he called for them to spar against each other. One said, “Elder, I wished to challenge the verger as well.” The other looked at the first and then said to the elder, “As did I.” Yu’s eyebrows rose and she looked at the elder.

He looked at her and then back at them. “You will be respectful here. Use her name and position or you will not be in the class. Now, does anyone else here wish to challenge her?”

All but two raised their hands. Yu worked hard to keep her face from showing any further emotion. She supposed it made sense that nobles would be the ones trained well enough to be in that class. She looked at the elder as he asked the group, “This is an assessment. Why would you all want to fight her? I tell you now, if any of you attempts to seriously hurt her in this class, you’ll be expelled from the sect, no matter who your relations are.”

One red-haired boy said, “Nobles have a responsibility to remind everyone they deserve to be above the commoners and vergers. We simply wish to remind the disciple of her proper place.”

Seriously? Yu couldn’t help herself and rolled her eyes.

All but one of the other challengers nodded their heads. The one who didn’t also rolled his eyes. The elder obviously saw and asked him his reasoning. He said, “I want to challenge the best.”

Now that sounded like a good reason to Yu. Interestingly, the others looked at him with mixed expressions of pride, excitement, and even anxiety.

Yu called, “I accept.”

The Elder sighed and shook his head. “In all the years I have taught this class, I don’t think anything like this happened. It is a simple assessment so we can determine proper partners, training methods, and what tools and other resources to make available.”

Yu offered, “I’ll take on the nobles two at a time with the exception of the one who actually wants to learn or teach something. He and I will be one on one.”

The young man was two or so heads taller than Yu, had a rather handsome face and black hair tied in a short ponytail. His dark eyes and tanned skin contrasted with the bright white teeth that shone in the room’s lights as he grinned at her. She ran back to get the hook swords and then returned to the ring.

***

Yu spun and leaped horizontally as a sword swept high from the front and a saber low from the rear. Her left heel clunked into the temple of the blue-haired saber-wielder and he immediately dropped to the floor, perfectly still. The hooks of her swords crossed over right as her remaining opponent’s sword swept over her. She hooked it and spun, continuing that spin as she landed on the bamboo mat, his sword following her and leaving his hand open and empty. She pressed down with her arms and leaped back to her feet, sending his sword skittering away at the same time. He raised his hands and backed up and out of the circle, giving up.

Breathing slightly heavy and covered in a layer of sweat after her fourth two-on-one battle, Yu walked over to the downed student and glowed blue as she pressed her fingers to his forehead.

Looking up at the elder who was looking back at her, she winced and said, “He might need a healer. I think I hit him a little hard.” He sighed and tapped his badge. Then she asked him, “Can we stop now, Elder Haishi? I wish to have enough energy for my one-on-one and I’m pretty sure this wasn’t what you intended.”

He huffed and said, “Certainly not. That is all for that.” Then to the group, “You will compete against each other from now on.”

Yu stepped up to that one disciple whom she spoke of earlier, she whispered, “We can go last.” He bowed slightly to her but a huge grin split his face.

By the end of the “assessment,” Yu was sure she was better than every single other person in the class. Who taught those people that they thought they were so high and mighty? What a bunch of arrogant incompetents. How in the hells were they listed as the best? Then again, compared to each other, they were all about equal. None of them compared to Prince Zihao from the arena though. He was far beyond each of them, at least with his spear and unarmed.

Finally, everyone else had gone and it was Yu’s fight with the other disciple, named Nian Kang, who wielded a set of weapons Yu had never seen before but found unbelievably fascinating. Dual horn knives, or weapons that looked like the antlers of certain types of herbivorous demonic beast but were only the length of forearms, had dual overlapping crescents with a gap in the middle for holding. They matched up well against hook swords because they were small and had no straight lines which made hooking onto them nearly impossible. His weapons were also specially made of wood like hers had been. Both combatants were smiling widely as the battle started. As soon as they stepped up Yu heard whispers of how she was going to be shown her place and the like. Maybe she would, but she hoped it would be worthwhile.

The clacking of Yu’s swords against his knives and visa versa was like the banging of wooden drums. They countered and moved like a pair of smooth dancers, the beat of the wood against wood a matching tone to their elegant movements meant to maim and kill.

Yu had not fought in such a way in a while and she reveled in the combat. They continued to test each other’s movements, agility, strength, and adaptability. Only on that last element of the combat did Yu have an advantage. Her opponent had a greater advantage over her in strength and speed. Yu’s adaptability had saved her until she thought she saw a pattern in his attacks and attempted to use the crescent blades in her handle to catch his dagger when he surprised her and straightened his fingers causing the blade to spin around her sword and smack into the back of her hand. She hissed and was about to leap backward when she felt the edge of the other blade touch her stomach.

Yu froze but her gasping pants could not halt the surprise and then glee she knew showed on her face. She would absolutely learn from this young man. He was brilliant.

The nobles clapped and whooped at Yu’s defeat but he ignored them. Leaning forward, the talented young man whispered between his own heaving breaths, “You’re amazing.”

Yu felt herself blush brightly and stepped backward, bowing. “That was wonderful. I haven’t fought like that in a very long time. Thank you.” While it hurt Yu’s pride that she lost, it was only a tiny bit. She hoped he would be her sparring partner at least part of the time when they spent time in the class. She indeed could learn from such a warrior.

Then it hit her. She hadn’t fought like that since the assassin attacked her back home.

Yu had been viewed as a great threat to the other clans of her home city and they likely were the ones who sent an assassin to kill her right before she left for the sect. What triggered her memory was the teacher’s yellow eyes—they were the same as the assassin’s. And with a closer look, Yu saw similarities in their facial structure as well. A relative certainly, but how close? And did he know of the young man’s evening. . . activities? Yu needed to be cautious of being alone with him.

Putting those thoughts aside for later, Yu and the victor returned to the line of disciples. Nian Kang, that was apparently his name, was celebrated while she received numerous derisive and prideful glances. Yu heard the prince say, “We would expect nothing less from the grandson of the Horned Demon, the great Nian Ke.” Yu noticed the young man wince at that praise. So, Nian Kang was from the family line of great warriors. Well, he certainly fought like he was.

Yu wiped the sweat from her face with her sleeve and sat down with the rest, each of whom stopped standing after their fights, many with her, she noted mentally.

The prince said, “Imagine if Qi was allowed. The verger wouldn’t have lasted even five breaths.”

The blue-haired student snorted at him and said, “Maybe against someone like a Gui that’s true. Against a truly skilled Qi user like a Bao, she would be downed in a single strike.”

What happened next surprised Yu. The group of disciples split into two groups. Well, three as Nian Kang and one other stepped away entirely and joined Yu on the floor watching the inanity playing out. Nine of the nobles stepped behind the prince and the remaining eight stepped behind the Bao. Nian Kang whispered in Yu’s ear, “I find it interesting that they seem to be competing over their ability to beat you when one was knocked on his ass in seconds and the other was unconscious on the floor until a few minutes ago.”

The third disciple snorted and covered his mouth but it was too late and the group of arguing nobles glared over at him.

Thankfully, Elder Haishi stepped forward and called loudly, “That will do. Return to your positions and line up.” They did but Nian Kang stayed next to Yu. The elder didn’t seem to care as he continued without commenting on the change. “I have a good impression of where you all stand now. Next week I will be assigning positions in the class. The sect's three leader classes have something of their own ranking system outside of the rest. While you don’t get better quarters or more resources, you do get a small stipend of points based on your placement. At this, the lowest level, fifth place will receive ten points per week, fourth place fifteen, third twenty-five, second fifty, and first one hundred.”

The group whispered at that. Yu was shocked herself. Nian Kang standing next to her did not seem surprised though. Perhaps he heard about it from a relative? Yu would wager his family had placed in the top five for generations. She figured she’d be second with her impressive neighbor first.

The elder continued, “Now, before I let you all go to clean up and replenish your energy in the dining hall, I wanted to explain why we do things the way we do in this class. Specifically, why we bother with martial skills at all when you can simply drop a mountain on someone or some such thing.”

He huffed and told them the answer, “Well, it’s actually quite simple. First, you are weak. All of you are far too weak to lift a mountain or a hill. Hells, most of you are too weak to lift a boulder. To reach the point where you can lift a mountain, you must survive to be that strong.” Then he looked up and down the line and said with a sneer, “I can see the skepticism in some of your faces. Some of you think you are great. You think you have been given the resources or training or are in some other way special. That earlier show of noble pride demonstrates just how utterly clueless you are.” Those very nobles muttered disagreement.

“Be silent!” He bellowed as he paced up and down the line of disciples. “You know who else thought they were great because they were born in a good family? Every other noble cultivator who died young! Thousands of your like are killed every year by beasts and by each other. Most die to their own pointless pride. You need to realize that you are not even strong enough to live another moment if someone who just barely compressed their Qi wished you to die. Right now you are pups. But maybe not forever. If you can put aside your pride and attempt to learn.”

He pointed at the group, running his arm up and down the line, “The master of this sect could wipe out you, your supposedly mighty family, your clan, your city, and this empire if he wanted to. The only reason he doesn’t is because he has actually important things to do, unlike you lot who sit around and bicker about power that isn’t even yours.”

Yu hoped her face didn't show her shock. This man was truly intense. His yellow gaze nearly hurt, it was so hard.

He continued his tirade, “If what I saw earlier is an example of your supposed nobility, then I weep at your futures and chances to live a full life. It was unconditionally PATHETIC!" That last word was bellowed. "A nine-year-old could have slit your throats or chopped of your heads or cut off your balls and all you could do was fall on your asses and-” he finished in a mocking high pitch simper, “whine and cry and call your mummies about it.” Yu noticed a few of the boys tighten their legs at the last example of their. . . vulnerability.

Yikes. And gross.

Then he stepped away from the line and into the center of the room once again. “Now assume you, by some miracle of the heavens, survive to be strong enough to lift that mountain. Why study martial skills? Because the person you face may be able to drop a bigger mountain than you, idiots! When you are equally matched or outmatched by your opponent, using your body or a weapon can be the difference between victory and defeat. And that means life and death, in case your skulls are too thick to figure it out. And what happens, may I ask, when you run out of Qi? What then, huh? Are you going to hide behind your mummies and daddies? Or your noble sycophants and watch them die until your Qi is returned? Do you think they’ll just stand there and be your fodder? Well, good luck with that! Depend on Qi skills and Qi’s power only and you will be a dead noble. Do what these two are doing. . .” The elder then pointed at Yu and Nian Kang. “. . . Grow your bodies, minds, and Qi and just maybe you will survive to enjoy your rich mansions, expensive food, and beautiful women and all that other nonsense you didn’t earn but feel you’re entitled to.”

Yu was glad she wasn’t the target of that man’s ire. He felt like walking power and anger. Could he have a grudge against the nobles?

Apparently he noticed their glares and mumbles because he next said, “Oh, don’t like it being criticized? Is your pride too big to take such insults? Well, feel free to challenge me any time and earn your face back. Otherwise, you can either shut up or leave the class!” The final six words were a yell. “Feel free to grow into a core disciple, get strong enough to challenge an elder, and do so! I’m the one who is going to train you to do just that after all. This is your last chance to get out without consequences. If you leave the class after continuing to the next you will be expelled from the sect. If you choose to leave, don’t come back next week and that’s it. You’re free from this. If you return though, you are stuck here for at least a year, when schedules are reevaluated. Think hard, disciples! This is an opportunity but if you are too prideful to admit you are currently weak and soft and useless, then Don’t. Come. Back. Now get out of my practice center!” Then he turned around and left the room, each step resulting in a vibration Yu could feel from her feet up to her spine.

Yu exhaled and turned towards Nian Kang. “He is the most intense elder I’ve met so far.”

The pale young man nodded and said, “He is. And it isn’t just for show. I know him from outside the sect. He is a friend of the family and as long as I have known him he was always like that. But he is an amazing teacher and really cares if his students learn.”

Yu nodded, totally able to picture that. She looked the way the elder just went and said, “I look forward to learning.”