Spring Winds

"Urghh…

How much longer until we get there!" We've been walking for hours, and this heavy pact that Master made me carry isn't making things better. ʰᵘʰ (ꐦ○_○）✧

"Hmph! Are you tired already?" Master laughed as he seemed to climb this steep trail with the agility of a mountain goat.

Tch, is this the true potential of the "Dragon of Falling Stars?" I haven't seen Master this excited or enthusiastic about something that isn't food. (#｀ε´)

Unless… what's in my bag is a giant picnic basket or something.

"Ughhh, aiyah…"

"Quit moping.

You know, back in my day, I had to carry twice the amount up to and down Yun Cai Peak all day long!

It's barely been half an hour, and you're already complaining?"

Glaring at the giddy old man, I spat out, "You woke me up in the middle of the night and told me to get dressed!

If I knew that you'd take me on a hell ride, I would've gone to bed earlier." (•ˋ _ ˊ•)

"Heh heh," Master cackled as he hiked up the rocky mountain trail. "Expect the unexpected, my dear disciple."

Aiyah, what did I do to deserve this, ah?

The other day…

"Herm…" Master held my wrist as his eyes scrunched together in thought. Sitting in an outdoor pavilion, the scent of the budding spring blew my way as I waited for Master to finish up on his progress check.

It came out of nowhere as Master wasn't involved in our cultivation before, so why now?

Maybe Master had a sudden revelation when we were gone?

An epiphany, perhaps? !?(･_･;?

Hmm, either of those options seems equally hard to imagine as I never thought of Master as someone who had those thoughts. Unless it involved food, such things seemed alien to the Master I knew.

"Hmm," Master harrumphed as he let go of my wrist and pulled away. Stroking his beard, his eyes remained closed as if making up a hard decision.

"Is something wrong, Master?" Maybe Master detected something within me that I missed?

But that's impossible; I haven't found anything strange about my body so far. Even after that voyage of ours, I came back relatively unscratched.

"Your cultivation is quite lacking for your age," Master remarked as he scratched his beard. Ah, it was still weird to see Master cleaned up.

It was as if he had become another person.

"Ehe, I suppose I have been… distracted, ah-ha." (ﾟωﾟ;)

"Hmm, we're going to need to change that," Master mumbled as he furrowed his brows in thought.

"What?" Σ(゜゜)

"What?" Master asked as if he didn't say anything just now. "Ah-ha, nothing, nothing.

You're free to go."

"Uh, okay!" (・へ・)

Ughhh, I should've known that Master would've pulled a stunt like this, ah. _(:_」∠)_

Adjusting the straps of my pack, I tried to keep up with the old man. Hah, for being as old as he is, Master sure does walk fast.

"Where are we even going, Master?"

"You'll see when we get there, heh," Master chuckled.

I don't know if I like the sound of that laughter, Master. You look like you could barely contain your glee.

"Now hurry up! We don't have all day, you know."

"Ah, I'm coming, I'm coming." Geez, have some sympathy for this junior, Master, ah. ( ד○ ד;)

---

Ahhh, kill me now… _(:_」∠)_

Sliding the heavy pack off my back, I laid down on the stone platform on the steps. Ah, so much walking.

For some reason, this hike seems worse than the journey to Yong Yuan He Mountain. And even then, we had monsters to fight along the way, so how come this walk up a mountain is so difficult?

Ah, nevermind, all of this thinking is making my head hurt. (⎺ ⎽ ⎺)

Resting my sweaty face against the stone ground, I savored the coldness that permeated into my sore body.

Ahh, that feels nice. (^///^)

As the afternoon rays of light shone down on me, I squeezed my eyes shut as I tried to turn away to a more shaded area.

Hmm, even though it was laborious to get here, this place seems relatively peaceful. The scent of budding spring flowers and the chirps of tiny birds, combined with the soft babble of the creek in the distance, brought a sense of peace over me.

Ahh, this seems to be a good napping spot. (*°∀°)=3

"Eh?

How can you be done just with a simple walk through the wood, ah?" Peeling my tired eyes open, I saw Master hovering over me as he poked my shoulder with his walking stick. "Aiyah, kids these days.

They have it too easy, ah."

Glaring at Master, I closed my eyes once more out of spite for the old man.

Hmph, why can't Master give me a break! It's hard to do all of this stuff with only four hours of sleep!

"Oi!

Are you going back to sleep?" Master asked, followed by a few more jabs to my shoulder.

"Ermmm, give me a break…"

"No, can do, kiddo; we must get to our location soon before it gets dark. Now, up you go!"

Grabbing my noodle arms, my legs trembled as Master stood me back up. "Where are we even going?"

"Ah, patience, patience!

The destination is not as important as the journey, ah." Master reassured me with a very suspicious smile.

Why do I have a bad feeling about this? ಠ_ಠ

---

Wow, this was worth the hours of pain and suffering: a rundown shack on the verge of collapse.

"Woo," Master whistled as he took in the sight of the crumbling building. "I'm surprised that after all of this time, it's still standing."

I'm surprised too.

This building seems to be in worse shape than the Yu Lan Peak mansion before the renovation. I wonder how old this place is.

Wait. (´･_･`)

Where are we? Σ(゜゜)

Looking around, I noticed that I couldn't see the towering mountain peaks of Yun Cai Peak nor the familiar scenery of its valley.

Where did Master whisk me off to?! ∑(ﾟ∇ﾟ|||)

"Uh, Master, why did you bring me here?"

"Well, I'm glad that you asked." Master clapped his hands with a wide grin. "You'll be staying here for the next few months."

"W-wait, what?" A few months?! Here?! ∑('＝';)

"Come along, let me get you settled in."

Uhhhh… (o_o ;;)

Seeing as I didn't have much in the matter choice, adjusting the pack's straps, I followed Master into the hazardous building.

Opening up the door, Master tried to clear the cloud of dust that blew into his face as he waved his arm in the air. "Pugh!

Cough, cough!

Aiyah!"

Peering over Master's shoulder, I tried to take a peek at the "prison" that Master has decided to banish me to.

Surprisingly, the inside of the shack didn't look that bad compared to the outside. It sort of resembled the shack that Senior Sister and I had to sleep in while we waited for the renovations to finish.

Stepping inside, aside from a tone of dust, everything looked well taken care of, like if someone visited this place frequently to maintain everything.

"Ah, this place is the same as always, hehe. Just as I remembered it to be."

"Where are we even, Master?"

"Hmm," Master sighed as if reminiscing. "This place was my hideout, you could say.

After wandering the world and fighting off monsters, I came upon this abandoned shack for shelter while injured.

Surprisingly, this old place had some sort of array on it that would confuse any unwelcome visitors.

Haha, I ended up liking this place so much that I ended up fixing the home up a bit to my liking.

I even studied the ancient array of this place and applied it to Yu Lan Peak. Although it's nowhere near as good as the one here, this master must say it is a close replica, haha."

So Master dragged me all the way here to show me his old crib?

But I still don't understand why to keep me here, trapped for an unknown time.

Ah!

Could it be that Master is taking revenge on me after exposing his "dark past" to Senior Sister? I didn't realize that a slip of the tongue would warrant such a harsh punishment! (´;д;`)

Before I could start apologizing for my actions, Master started to talk. "Why are you standing around? Sit down."

Gesturing towards the floor cushion before him, I quickly knelt. Ah, I suppose Master is expecting me to start admitting my guilt first.

However, before I could start kowtowing in repentance, Master once again started from my expectations.

"You're probably wondering as to why I have brought you here to this location."

"Eh," I nodded. "It's because I told Senior Sister about your "dark past," right?"

"Huh?

Dark past? What do you mean?"

Oh, so it's not that… hahaha. (ﾟωﾟ;)

"Uhh, nevermind, Master. Please continue."

"Okay then, ahem." Coughing, Master cleared his throat. "As I was saying, you're probably wondering why I brought you here."

"Yes, Master."

"Em," Master nodded in satisfaction before he got up and started to pace around. "After the two of you left for your mission to Yong Yuan He Mountain, this master had a revelation in your absence.

As I can guess, you've probably heard about this master's previous exploits."

"Em, yes, Dragon of Falling Stars."

"Ehem," Master coughed awkwardly as a bit of color appeared on Master's wrinkled face. "Ah, yes… that.

Anyways, life wasn't easy on me growing up. Everything that I fought for was achieved through sheer grit and luck.

However, that kind of lifestyle isn't sustainable at all times. I inevitably had to face hardships before I can start living the easy life that I have now.

But," Master paused in his pacing. "Why would I wish that upon my disciples?

The life I lived wasn't glamorous nor glorious. It was merely a product of the times.

Therefore, I've decided to change my approach in my teachings.

Previously, I had thought that leaving you two to work on yourself individually would've been the best method. After all, it was the way that I managed to achieve success.

However, after seeing your current progress, it has become clear that I was too lenient. This is not the fault you, dear disciple, but the fault of me as a teacher. "

Oh sh*t. Σ(･o･;)

I know if I like where this is going. I mean, on the one hand, Master is starting to look like an actual teacher.

But!

On the other hand, that could mean that I would lose out on my sleep cultivation drastically! Σ(ﾟ口ﾟ;)//

"Even though your aptitude is excellent, it is not the most critical factor in becoming a great cultivator.

Cultivation is just like constructing a high building. Your aptitude merely determines the speed and method of obtaining raw materials.

But you can expand this method further by hard work. However, if you want to make your building sturdier and firmer, you must build this foundation.

This foundation, of course, is your body. If you want a stable foundation, you train to have a good body."

"But, I've been practicing martial arts since I was young. Plus, with all of the training I've done with Senior Sister, my fitness is surely better than the average mortal."

"It's not enough.

Yes, the work you've done with your senior sister has been beneficial; however, don't overestimate your cultivation.

Your senior sister has told this master of the incident at Xiong Xian Pass. At the level that you're at, you can't withstand a tall building that's magnificent enough with your current abilities."

Master is right… I am too weak…

I couldn't even prevent Senior Sister from getting hurt by that crazy old man.

"However," Master placed his hand on my shoulder. "You must remember that you are my disciple. And as my disciple, I shall take you to greater heights.

Levels that are much higher than what I could have achieved at your age." Master smiled down at me as he patted my head.

"The skills that you've practiced are indeed great for the mortal standard; however, it's not sophisticated enough to generate internal qi, nor is it enough in terms of external strength. With this in mind, your current skills aren't enough to build a good body."

"So… what should I do?"

"Heh," Master smiled. "What this master plans to do isn't going to be easy, and you might be hurt from doing such things.

However, this method could significantly improve your cultivation and set you back on track, so don't hate this master, okay?"