CHAPTER 12: NEXT STAGE

Meixing stood before her spirit energy. It was now three times the size it had been before. She crushed it in her hands and the energy painted the body of her whole Persona. She ran through her meridians, down the stomach, up the heart, down the liver before rounding up to the brain and returning to her dantian.

She slammed on the ground and the spirit energy scattered from her body. Stretching out her hand, she began gathering the shining dots of spirit energy into an orb.

Meixing opened her eyes in the real world. “Wow, I’ve come fart these last few months.” She said as she fetched some corn. “My spirit energy can cover my whole Persona now.” She ate the corn as she spoke.

“I’m proud of you.”

“W-What?” the piece of corn choked her and she began to cough violently. “You’ve never complimented me before.”

“Do not get used to it. With your miniscule skill, I will not compliment you much. However, I cannot deny that you have worked hard.” Dong said. “And you are right on the deadline. Six months have passed and you have enough spirit energy. It’s time to teach you a stance.”

“Cool!” she hopped in excitement. “You’re going to teach me Awareness Widening Stance!”

“What? No! You need an offensive stance, not a sensory one!”

“Aww!” she drooped. “Alright, what is this offensive stance?”

“Before I tell you, I want to explain what a stance is.”

“I already know.” She said. “It is a technique that uses spirit energy to… to do amazing stuff!”

“Well that was a botched version of my explanation but basically… you’re right.” Dong said. “Another thing you need to know, most good stances have three tiers, 3 to 1. For you to stand a chance against the gecko demons, you will need to master this stance to second tier in 6 months.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.” She said.

“Sure, for a prodigy like me.” Dong said. “But for the average person, it takes a year to get that far.”

She took an uneasy breath. “So I need to do it in half the time.”

“Yes.”

She nodded. “Then I’ll do it!”

“Heh, I like the confidence.” Dong said. “I will teach you the Body Forge Stance. The third tier of the move is a slightly weaker version of Body Hardening Stance third tier.”

“Body Hardening Stance. If it’s a weaker version, than why not just teach me that stance?”

“The ease at which you say that tells me you are an idiot.” Dong said.

“Here we go again,” she said under her breath as she rolled her eyes.

“Most people only learn one stance in their lifetime and even then, it is usually a useless stance.” Dong said. “And you… you, a beginner, casually asks me why I do not teach you a stance I have seen someone perform and may never even have ever learned how to do? Well… you are not wrong. I am a prodigy genius after all who learned 13 stances before being trapped in this sword. And yes, Body Hardening Stance is one of the 13 stances I know but still…”

“Aren’t we under a deadline?” she interrupted.

“You are infuriating!” Dong said. “Anyways, Body Forge Stance is better. Its Second tier version gives resistance to not only external threats but internal ones too. Someone with a Hardening stance may be able to stand up against a normal punch but if they breath in a toxic than they crumble like a weak girl named Meixing.”

“Fine, just teach me the technique.” She rolled her eyes.

“First, form your Persona…”

Another month had passed. Meixing was in her storage room practicing the Body Forge Stance.

“Good. Good.” Dong said.

Meixing looked at her hand, clenching and unclenching it. “I feel the power in me.” She said. “But how do I know this thing works.”

Dong began to cackle at this.

“What?” she said, shivering at the laugh.

“I have the perfect test for you!” Dong said before he laughed again.

Meixing felt her uneasiness increase the longer he cackled.

“Keeping heading west.” Dong said.

“Where are we going exactly?”

”You will understand soon enough.” Dong said. “Now, use the stance.”

Meixing closed her eyes. She formed her Persona in her dantian. The large breasted woman with a full body appeared and touched the sphere of spirit energy. The sphere painted her whole body with its radiant energy.

She directed her energy to the correct meridians, using her Persona as a reference point. Dong had told her that this was the best way to form stances. The stance had activated.

“You need to learn how to perform the stance faster.”

“Alright, I’ll work on that.” She said. “Now what do I do.”

“Place me down against the tree then take 7 steps back.”

She did as she was told and walked away. “Okay, what now?” she said.

Hearing something behind her, she whipped around. She saw the goat that had terrorized her whenever she entered the woods.

“D-Dong?” she said.

The wild goat charged at her and slammed its curved horns into her abdomen. She was sent hurtling back and hit the ground hard. Grasping her belly, she got up to her knees, drool seeping from her mouth.

“Al-Alright,” she said, trying to regain her breath. “This was a good test. I think I’m done.”

The goat hit her again, sending her rolling away to the sword against the tree. She grabbed the sword.

“ARE YOU CRAZY?” she snapped. “I’m dying here.”

“You actually are.” Dong said, sounding amused. “You better run.”

Meixing dodged another charge at her and ran away, heading for the exit as the goat gave chase.

“YOU DO KNOW IF I DIE YOU’RE SCREWED TOO, RIGHT?” Meixing shouted.

“Calm down and look at yourself.” Dong said. “All you have is a few bruises and you took a ram horn to the face. If you had not activated it, it would be a different story.”

“Your-Your right. That damn goat would have eaten me!”

“Why must I be paired with you?” Dong said. “Anyways, when you master the technique, you should be able to easily take a shot to the gut without much problem.”

“Really?” she said. “Fine. I’ll get to that stage and then I’m going to beat that damn goat u…”

She stopped and looked out.

“What?”

She stopped to stare at Bao who was training at his field alone.

“Oh, that boy again.” Dong said. “I’m surprised how infatuated you are with your former bully.”

She shrugged. “He hasn’t been my bully since that night I found you.” She said. “She’s lost so much weight.”

She noticed how the chubby boy now had a more defined physique, with muscles even beginning to bulge from his arms as he swung his staff around.

“Ooh, you love him, don’t you?”

“What?” she shouted. “That is ridiculous! You’re ridiculous, I could never like a guy like him.” She said sticking out her tongue. “Trash guy. Always has been.”

“Then why are you so interested in him?”

“When the demons come, it might help to have him on our side.” She said. “He is strong. I’ve seen it before.”

“That is true. The forces of this town are measly and adding another ally for the coming battle would be of great use.” Dong said. “Especially him. He is a young, strong boy. Sometimes, I regret that you were thrown in the well instead of him.”

“Hey!”

“It’s the truth. Boys are stronger and easier to train. And he has his meridians opened. It would have taken less work to get his spirit energy to par.”

“Yeah. His father had some stance. He probably helped him.” She said. “I’m going to help him, so he is stronger when the demons attack.”

“Why? You’ve seen what he is willing to do when he has little power, why would you trust him with more.”

She thought of the last two interactions she had with him. First was the night he defeated the demon and saved him and the other when he let her go and stopped her from being bullied.

“I think his changed.”

“And if he hasn’t?”

“It doesn’t matter.” She said. “I’ll get stronger and if he tries any funny stuff, I’ll beat him into the ground.”