Volume 2 Chapter 15

  Yin found himself on the shore in his dreams once more, and a second later he was in silks and in the palace, with a bowl of water in front of him, the delicious figs inside. He plucked one out without hesitation and began eating it, looking around for Hao.

  The old man appeared a moment later, smiling. “You are doing very well in the sect, I think, young Yin,” The old man said. “You’ve gained the favor of two reputable elders and avoided making any enemies so far, so yes, I’d say that you’re doing very well indeed.”

  “Thank you for the praise, Grandfather,” Yin said, biting into one of the figs. “I have been working very hard. My body is so stiff when I go to sleep, but I do seem to be getting stronger. And I reached the third stage of the initiate’s realm as well.”

  “Yes, you are doing very well,” Hao repeated. “Why have you not approached the three elders that Yotu recommended to you?”

  “I was planning to, but I wanted to get a better grasp of the sect before I did. I wanted to see if I could come up with any strategies to make them predisposed to liking me, or anything that I should avoid saying, or, you know. I was very lucky with Yotu and Uto, but I have heard stories, and I know that getting on an elder’s bad side is a good way to make my life very difficult.”

  Hao nodded along with the boy’s explanation, smiling. “Yes, you are right. There is no rush; you are building a foundation and building a foundation takes time. But I cannot be there to guide you perfectly in your waking hours, it costs me significantly every time I whisper in your ear. If you make a mistake in cultivation now it might be the work of your lifetime to correct it. You should seek one of the elders soon. As so here is what you should do. After you have finished exercising tomorrow morning, speak with the mortals to find out who the disciples of those three elders are, and look for one that is near your own age. Approach them carefully and try to make friends.”

  Hao continued to strategize while Yin continued to eat from the bowl. Once there was no more fruit and the advice had concluded, Hao said his farewells, and Yin found himself sent away from the palace and returned to one of his more normal dreams.

  He tried to return to the rocky shore, only to be distracted by an old man jumping on his back and telling him to run. He ran and ran, but the old man swatted his backside like a horse and continued yelling at him to run faster and harder. So Hao continued to run until he woke up.

  Then he dressed and did the other things that one does in the morning, then he went for a run for real.

  ~~~~~~~

  Olin was walking on water. He grinned as he strode around the pool at the base of the waterfall, practicing the technique that he had developed on his own, carefully and with many splashing failures, over the last two years. He would have thought that it was an impossible task if he had not seen a girl two years younger than him accomplish the same feat. He was, he thought, justifiably proud of his progress.

  Surprisingly, learning to walk on water had benefited his cultivation in other ways as well. He had spoken to his mentors about it, and they had all agreed that it was impressive, but had somewhat downplayed his accomplishments.

  Still, he had noticed that they had all been seen replicating his feat not long after he had managed to do it on command.

  The other water cultivators on the mountain were likewise impressed, but most of them had given up after a few hours of effort in developing the technique themselves. That was just fine with Olin, it was really none of his business what they did. It wasn’t his job to see that his peers succeeded or failed, after all.

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  He noticed a younger boy staring at him from the edge of the pool and walked over to him. He didn’t recognize the boy, and it took him a minute to put a name to the new face.

  “You’re Yin,” Olin said. “The new boy on the mountain.”

  “Yes, senior. I am,” the boy admitted. “Your technique is very impressive. Might you teach me how to do it?”

  “I think that anyone could do it, if they were at the seventh or eight stage of the initiate’s realm,” Olin said. “But it takes a lot of effort to perfect, and you have to be prepared to fail a thousand times before succeeding once.”

  “I understand. Might I seek your guidance when I have reached that point in my cultivation?” the boy asked.

  Olin shrugged nonchalantly, although he was secretly very pleased to have such a request. “Maybe, if you ask again nicely. And perhaps buy me something sweet to eat for each of our lessons.”

  He wasn’t nearly at the point where he could ask for contribution points for lessons, but a bit of candy wasn’t unreasonable.

  “Of course, Senior. Might I ask your name?”

  “Olin. But I think you already knew that,” Olin said. “You’ve been gossiping with the mortals, haven’t you?”

  “Yes,” Yin admitted, blushing slightly at being called out at it. “I’m sorry, but we haven’t been formally introduced so I—”

  “It’s fine. You’re doing everything right I think. I haven’t really been paying attention but my own gossip circle says you’re training under Uto. You must have a wealthy family if you can afford to train under the greatest weapon master on the mountain already.”

  “Ah, yes, my family is part of a fairly wealthy merchant’s clan. My own father runs one of their warehouses, and when I bonded my spirit he took me to the head family, who decided to back me,” Yin admitted.

  “That’s good. I think I like you, Yin. Let’s be friends,” the older boy said, smiling. It was a calculated move on his part, as it was good to be friends with mortal merchants, and if he developed a relationship with the scion of such a house now it would pay off later.

  But it wasn’t only calculation. He was honestly still happy about being asked by a junior for lessons in something he had worked hard to perfect, and he saw no reason not to be friendly with the boy, even if he was six years older.

  “I would be grateful for the friendship,” Yin admitted, smiling.

  “Come, I’ll show you where the best noodle shop on the mountain is,” Olin said, and he stepped off the surface of the water, put his shoes back on, and led the boy away from the waterfall.

  They spent the afternoon together, and Olin gave him quite a bit of advice over which mentors to approach for various sorts of problems and the best methods of doing so. One elder, for example, was a sucker for sweet things, while another could be coaxed into giving free advice if you complimented some aspect of her appearance in your greeting, and another was most impressed by strength and would reward a disciple who had recently won a formal duel if you approached them without making it seem like you were doing so deliberately.

  They parted a few hours later, both going their separate ways, and both better for the experience. Yin had gotten a lot of useful advice, and Olin was looking forward to what he might get out of the relationship in the future. It hadn’t really cost him anything more than a few hours of pleasant conversation, after all, but one never knows when a relationship with a merchant will be useful.

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