Later that day, when Boneroot began individual practice following his meditation, he found that he had an observer. He suppressed the shiver that arose when he remembered the last time his training was interrupted in such a way. Turning to face the intruder, Boneroot got another look at the remarkably unremarkable Venh. The man strolled toward the center of the training grounds, hands tucked into the folds of his muted robes.

He spoke in a lackadaisical tone,

“Spatial ki, huh? Interesting. I have a few techniques like that, but I’m more suited to standard Light ki. Once you hone it enough, it can be just as deadly as the rest. Don’t let any of those fools at the sect convince you otherwise.”

Boneroot wanted to interject but he couldn’t find the chance, as Venh just kept talking.

“Frankly, there are only a few clans in the Empire that can claim to have a halfway decent Light cultivation art. Not to mention, one of those few is much more focused on Spatial ki, so a lot of the noble types you meet, whether it’s at the sect, in the capital, or wherever, they tend to turn up their noses at Light cultivators.”

The sour face Venh made looked like the right time to interrupt, but, again, the opportunity eluded him.

“If you ask me, it’s a bit short-sighted. Not two Empresses ago, Xiu Xiatian was the most powerful cultivator on this side of the Bamda Mountains and she cultivated quite a bit of Light ki, though she favored Fire, to be fair. Well, just ignore my rambling. If anyone tries to mess with you for that sort of thing, just let me know!”

Boneroot got the strong impression that he would quickly grow to hate Venh’s awful proclivity for winking. Rather, he already did. That, of course, didn’t stop the man from continuing his monologue.

“Of course, you’ll hardly have to worry about that sort of thing while you’re in the Outer Sect. Most of them won’t hit the Orange realm until the end of the year and some won’t ever break out of Red. You might meet your match in some of the stronger clan scions and the like, but, most likely, you’re going to find yourself ahead of the curve until you work your way into the Inner Sect.”

Boneroot was struggling with a whole host of Venh’s words. Firstly, he wanted to know what the difference between the Outer and Inner Sects was. Next, he was having trouble understanding the man’s implication. Kroshieshi had told him at every step of the way that he was behind his peers, that he needed to break into the Orange realm to even think about setting foot in the Brightmoon Sect.

When he finally found the opportunity to voice these concerns, a couple digs at nobles later, the boy was slightly offended by Venh’s casual laughter.

The man said, “That teacher of yours mentioned something like that. I don’t know when he last left this forest, but, to be blunt, he’s wrong. Assuming he didn’t exaggerate your cultivation habits, not to mention those spirit stones Felindei gave you, I’d wager you’re off to a stronger start than all but the wealthiest, or most dedicated young cultivators.”

Boneroot came to the conclusion that reaching Orange realm had more to do with keeping pace with Kuroki than anyone at the sect. After all, it would be quite characteristic of Kroshieshi to let him think too highly of his future peers if it kept him motivated.

Venh’s face grew serious as he continued, “That said, you’ll need to watch yourself. The advantage you’ve been given is only that: an advantage. It’s far from a guarantee of future power. The nobles at the sect aren’t going to be thrilled with a commoner surpassing them. They’ll try to tear you down, make no mistake about it. If you let up for a second, they’ll succeed, too. Once you get to the sect, you’ll need to fight for the things you’ve been provided here.”

To Boneroot, who had grown increasingly resentful of his internment in the grove, some of what Venh was saying started to grate on him.

He responded in kind, “Hey, I never asked to be here! I just followed Kuroki one day and that was it. I never got a choice.”

“I know. Trust me, I know,” Venh’s expression softened as he replied. “That doesn’t change how much you’ve prospered here, does it? The fact is, almost everyone in this Empire is beholden to someone. Sure, that someone usually isn’t a White-realm spirit beast, but they also don’t benefit as much from it, if at all. Resent her all you want, but don’t lose sight of where you’d be without her.”

Boneroot wanted to protest further. He wanted to say that, without Felindei, he’d be learning these things from people he actually liked. He knew, though, that only a handful of people in the Village ever broke into the Orange realm. He also knew he’d get nowhere by making those accusations in front of someone who seemed to be Felindei’s friend, insofar as she might have any. Instead, he let his head droop, the retort dying on his tongue.

“Alright, you get the point,” Venh quickly added. “I don’t want to beat you over the head with all this. Just keep everything you’ve gained here in mind, that’s all. Let’s move on to lighter things, yeah?”

Venh snickered, creating an orb of Light ki in his palm to illustrate his point. Immediately, Boneroot was paying close attention. While he didn’t know for certain, he strongly suspected Venh was the Black realm cultivator Kroshieshi had once mentioned.

Noticing the look in his eyes, Venh asked Boneroot, “Oh, now you’re interested? I might be inclined to show you some techniques if you ask nicely.”

The younger cultivator didn’t even hesitate to bow toward the man, just like Kroshieshi taught him to do for nobles. If Venh was actually willing to help him grow stronger, he would have stooped far lower.

“You weren’t supposed to give in that easily! Now I just feel like a jerk! Alright, just watch and learn, then, kid.”

Venh tossed the ball of light at one of the plant dummies on the edge of the training grounds. Before it made impact, however, it disappeared. Boneroot looked back toward the ball’s source with confusion.

“I just realized, if I’m going to show you one of my techniques, one of my revered, renowned, deadly techniques, I should get to name it.”

Venh cocked an eyebrow and smirked at the boy. Boneroot nodded his agreement immediately.

“Seriously? You’re taking all the fun out of this. Fine, name it... I don’t know, ‘Fun Ball’. No, that’s terrible. ‘Venh’s Prismatic Whipping Orb’. Even worse. OK, I got it! Ready? Are you ready? You’re going to name this technique ‘CHAOS YARN’. You have to shout it, too. That’s important. Got it?”

As incredibly skeptical as Boneroot was, he still gave his immediate pledge to abide by the name. Finally, Venh stopped talking and reformed the ball in his hand. Now that he was fully dedicated to observation, Boneroot noticed the ball of Light ki was actually more like a spherical mass of ki strands. It reminded him of the balls of fabric some of the members of his village used to make clothes.

This time, when Venh threw the orb at the dummies, it exploded into a wild frenzy of Light tendrils, which flayed outward in no discernible pattern until the technique ran its course and they dissipated back into the natural essence of the world. In its wake, long strips of earth had been gouged out of the field and several of the nearby dummies had been sliced in clean, deep cuts at random intervals across their body. The word that stuck out in Boneroot’s head was devastation. Maybe CHAOS YARN wasn’t the worst name for it.

“So. Wanna learn it?”

Yet again, Boneroot signalled his immediate agreement.

~

When Venh was done showing Boneroot the basics of how to form the technique, he left him to practice on his own. However, he requested the boy’s presence in the grove’s central atrium later.

After finishing his practice and bathing, Boneroot went to the meeting place, curious of what was to come. It was there that he found himself presented with a surprise. He arrived in the room to find Venh inspecting the moonlit torch on the wall that Felindei apparently hadn’t bothered to remove after Kuroki’s binding. Without looking up from his inspection, he said,

“We leave tomorrow. Likely in the afternoon, but it’s ultimately up to Felindei.”

It took Boneroot a moment to reply, “Really? I thought I’d have at least another week to train.”

“Nope. We’re expected at the Brightmoon Sect tomorrow.”

“Wait, we’re leaving tomorrow, but we’re expected there tomorrow? Isn’t it in the Wei Mountains? How are we getting there in a day?”

Venh gave him a look that suggested he should have already guessed.

“Felindei? I guess that would be the quickest,” Boneroot sighed. “It’s just that I was looking forward to actually walking out of the forest. It probably sounds like a small thing, but I’ve spent my entire life here and, more than a few times, tried to see its edge on my own. If Felindei just sends us to the sect in that abrupt, instantaneous way of hers... I don't know, I guess it’d just be disappointing.”

Venh looked thoughtfully off to the side before offering, “Well... I suppose we could do that. We’ll just have to leave a message for Felindei with Kroshieshi.”

The tsovar in question looked appalled, but said nothing. Again, Boneroot was given a hint of Venh’s true power if his own mentor was acquiescing to the man’s whims. That same man was now sporting a mischievous grin. Kuroki popped up from Boneroot’s shadow to interject.

“Are we going on an adventure?” When the boy realized this question was directed at Venh, he realized he could now hear Kuroki’s mental link with others.

The wicked smile on his face grew wider as Venh responded, “That’s right! We’re going on an adventure to the edge of the forest, then over Lake Aobu, all the way to the Wei Mountains. And we can leave right away! That is, if Boneroot wants to.”

Kuroki was buzzing with excitement now, bounding about the room. For a moment, Boneroot was taken aback. He thought of his old home, the cave at the base of what he now knew to be called the Bamda Mountains. All the boneroot flowers he had collected were surely dead by now. The thought filled him with a painful wistfulness, tempting him to go back one last time. He knew, though, it would do no good.

Just as he had to leave that cave to get stronger, he now had to leave this grove. Frankly, he was at least happy to be doing that. No matter how he felt about Kuroki or Kroshieshi, this place was too stark a reminder of whose web into which he’d fallen.

At that point in his thinking, though, Boneroot realized he now had the opportunity to leave. Even better, he could leave without seeing Felindei again. The choice was obvious. He turned to his teacher, perhaps former teacher now, and smiled. For all he’d been through with Kroshieshi, he felt she had at least genuinely tried to help him. For that, he was grateful.

“Looks like it’s time to go. I know you didn’t have much choice, but I appreciate all the time you’ve spent helping me be a bit less weak.”

Kroshieshi snorted, “A bit, indeed. If I hear you’ve failed to get into the Inner Sect by the end of the year, I’ll be hunting you down, understand?”

As Venh rounded up Kuroki, Boneroot knew exactly how he wanted to part with the older tsovar.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll be sure the entire Empire knows how much the great Kroshieshi helped to develop the Heavenly Spatial Void Claw of the Phantasmal Shade’s Shifting Abyss!”

The warmth in her expression faded immediately and Kroshieshi barked, “Absolutely not! I will not allow you to put my name in the same sentence as that abomination! Your primary attunement is Light, that doesn’t even make sense!”

In the same moment, Venh, who had a keen sense for timing, snatched Boneroot up and then they were gone, a patch of swaying grass and an irate black cat left in their wake.