“Do you know which style of martial arts is the most supreme under the Heavens?” Meili asked Qiu’yue as they walked deeper into the forest away from the clearing. Being autumn, there were no bugs. This lack of life meant there were no sounds either. To Qiu’yue the unexpected shattering of this silence startled her.

She ran to catch up to the senior sister. Her steps crushing the crisp leaves into tattered pieces. Meili glanced at her with a frown before turning her sight directly forward. The tall trees loomed over them with their fading beauty.

“Uh, Big Sister Meili, what are martial arts?”

Meili stopped, causing Qiu’yue to knock into her. The older girl turned around and pulled on Qiu’yue’s cheeks.

“Aiyah, you really are a brat,” she said with a frown. She pulled on the little girl’s cheeks until she was satisfied. Smiling at how beaten up the girl’s cheeks had become, Meili let go and continued walking. Qiu’yue followed and found herself massaging her cheeks again. “If normal arts is expressing intent through ink, and if poetry is expressing the soul through crafted words, then martial arts is expressing strength through the use of qi.”

The little girl nodded quickly despite not really understanding any of it. All she understood of art was that her mother often painted and that her father often composed poems; and she thought of those creations as both exceedingly beautiful and hard to understand.

“Now, let me tell you the various styles of martial arts and then you will answer my question. If you get the question wrong, there will be a punishment.”

“Big Sister Meili, can I not answer the question?” Qiu’yue glanced up at Meili with begging eyes.

“If you don’t answer the question, I will spank your butt without mercy.” Meili responded with a sharp grin as the pair arrived at another clearing, though more desolate from the clearing in which the Tree of Ten-Thousand Fire Blossoms grew.

The clearing was covered in frost, and, to Qiu’yue who had never seen such a pristine coating of white crystals, it felt like a place where the living should not trespass.

Meili simply marched confidently with large strides to the center of the field and patted the space in front of her for Qiu’yue to sit. Still, the fence of large naked trees with far-reaching claws which surrounded the clearing made Qiu’yue hesitant. It was only when she felt Meili’s cold eyes that she scuttled over quickly like a rabbit.

“Ultimately, in martial arts, there are two main styles of the craft: the external school and the internal school.

“The external school is what most people think of when martial arts is brought up. It is like a dance, full of energy and movement — sharp and sudden. The core traits of the external school is to use qi to strengthen the body and unleash an unrelenting storm on the enemy; to overwhelm the enemy in a single strike similar to the first beat of a drum; or to shatter the entire willpower of the enemy with sheer force. Of course, the external school is not just limited to kicks and punches. There are external schools who utilizes qi to manipulate the elements to unleash horrific catastrophes. And this type of martial arts is the one that you cannot learn.”

Qiu’yue whose eyes were shining with wonder darkened. Meili asked Qiu’yue to make a fist. The older girl saw Qiu’yue cannot even form a proper fist and had to teach her the correct posture: knees slightly bent, one foot pivoted outwards, and the fists inward to the chest with the thumbs resting on the outside of the other fingers.

Qiu’yue punched the air with the force of all her qi. A screaming pierced the sky as successive booms erupted, an aftershock exploding forth from the strength of the punch. The girl’s entire right sleeve, tattered and ripped, revealed innumerable lacerations on her arm. She screamed and tears flowed forth as she bent down onto her knees and clutched her bleeding arm. That only aggravated the pain.

“This was the trade-off for mending your body from the serious burns that you received when you were struck by that inner disciple’s lightning. You will easily over-exert your body if you practice the arts of the external schools; if you do, you will die.”

“Big Sister Meili, it hurts!” The girl cried. She did not say anything more and kept bawling as her right arm hung limp.

Meili rolled her eyes, “Aiyah, stop worrying, you brat. Yun Leader Meng said you can heal wounds quickly now too. This is a good time to find out how fast you can heal. Now stop whining.”

Qiu’yue whimpered from how the air felt on her wounds but kept quiet. Her arm continued to dribble out blood but less so and slower.

“And this leaves only the internal school. The only type of martial arts that you can practice, and the type of martial arts that I now realized I had the misfortune of choosing.” Meili said with a twitching of the eye. “Now if I have to compare the internal school, it would be less of a dance and more of a song. Whereas the external school embodies power and speed, the internal school is one of precision and tempo— and is ultimately the pinnacle artform of timing and sense. Rather than using qi to empower one’s attacks, we internal users use qi to enhance our senses and direct the course of battle.

“Consider the external school as a whirlpool, we internal users are the oars which can completely stop the motion — therefore, existence — of the whirlpools, and even overturn the direction. We are the users who focus more on counter-attacks, foot-movement, proper stances, and controlling the flow of the battle. Of course, that also means the internal school is filled with odd martial arts like acupuncture, the sound arts, and other such mystical spiritual skills. We internal schools prefer efficient execution of qi rather than explosive raw strength.

"To summarize: the external users can be thought of as forcing all the strength they have in every strike; we internal users merely layer qi over our bodies for protection and rely on footwork and many other factors to kill.

"Now nod your pretty little empty head if you understand.”

The girl nodded with squinched eyes and tight lips. In a half-incense of time, the arm had stopped bleeding. However, the repair to the actual flesh had not quite began.

“Good,” Meili smiled. “Now, tell me, which martial art is supreme under the Heavens? The explosive might of the external school? The precision of assassination techniques? The profoundness of movement arts? The many exotic arts which cannot be classified? I’m only going to count to a hundred. I expect an answer by then, brat.”

A hundred counts passed by extremely slowly for Qiu’yue. The gnawing pain on her right arm made it impossible for her to think clearly. The slightest irritation to the wound would inflame it and cause the wounds to burn. And when the wounds finally showed signs of healing, itchiness became engaged to the pain.

“100!” Meili finished counting. “Now, brat, what’s your response?”

“The external school?” Qiu’yue squeaked out a response as she bit into her left index finger to fight the pain which persisted on her right arm.

“Wrong!” Meili sang happily. “The most supreme martial art is the one which I practice: the art of countering! Force can be neutralized, diverted, or even used against the enemy. If we ourselves do not have strength, we can still direct the enemy’s force for our own purpose! Is that not the most supreme martial art under the Heavens?”

Despite the pain, Qiu’yue still managed to retort Meili’s words. “You never gave me that option, Big Sister Meili!”

The senior sister flicked Qiu’yue’s nose. “I never said you had to choose from the arts which I listed; they were simply ones I happened to use as examples.”

“What about countering umbrella gu-gu’s lightning?” Qiu’yue asked fiercely as she held herself back from poking at her wound.

Meili pulled her head back and went quiet. She chewed on her lips and furrowed her brows. “Aiyah, brat, I don’t know, but the art of countering is definitely the most supreme martial art under the Heavens! It definitely is because the person who taught me it was definitely the strongest!”

This statement made Qiu’yue puzzled to the extent that she forgot about her right arm momentarily. “Who was it?”

Meili rolled her eyes. “It does not concern you. Instead, you should be concerned about your punishment. I’m determined to train you so that you won’t die in a fight at least, for both yours and my sake. So, once that arm of yours is healed, I will engrave the basic throw and grapple into your body through personal experience!”

Sensing Meili’s terrible mood, Qiu’yue stopped talking. Meili retreated into meditation, leaving Qiu’yue alone in the silence as she waited for her arm to scab over.

Author's Note: I wanted to make this chapter longer, but there were issues with my internet so I didn't actually get to work on it until late at night. I'm not satisfied with how this chapter turned out since it was mostly talking and exposition. As always, thanks for reading.