Mage's Cultivation Journey 31

We didn’t walk in immediately. Instead, Hun Chu stepped forward, and talked with the guards. “I have returned home, bringing exalted guests with me,” he declared. It was clearly a ceremonial display — or at least, a poor attempt to be one — as unless they were utterly incompetent, our arrival had been long delivered.

That assumption turned out to be correct. An older man, likely in his late forties, walked out of the gate. He was merely at Skin Refinement, but he walked with a confidence that was much greater than Hun Chu displayed. “Elder Kai, greetings,” Hun Chu said, bowing.

“I greet our exalted guests in the name of Iron Mountain,” he said as he bowed, his voice soft yet amicable, his gaze soft enough to hide the calculating glance behind from most. More interestingly, he bowed in a way that didn’t target either me or Yu Xing openly.

I snubbed his humility while Yu Xing responded. “It’s our honor to be greeted by your exalted self, elder,” he replied. Elder Kai adapted to the silent direction immediately, and ignored me completely, focusing on the young master.

No wonder they had picked him to greet us.

We walked into the compound. I glanced around, feigning disinterest as I took stock of the people. Interestingly, inside the compound, most of the area had been split into training fields, with multiple martial arts lessons ongoing. Open courtyards with practice dummies, sand-filled sparring sections, and a lot of plates to break.

I didn’t recognize the styles, but none of them felt as impressive as Furious Wind. They were likely common styles, with more precious ones taught behind closed doors.

“These are our external students,” Elder Kai introduced while he walked, though the way they looked, it was obvious. Every student was dressed differently, likely from different families or organizations. It fit the general function of the Iron Mountain Alliance. Ultimately, it was an entity focused on raising elite caravan guards in its roots. A business.

Still, as far as businesses went, it was a heavyweight one.

“I would like to spar with them,” Yu Xing commented.

Elder Kai chuckled. “I’m sure you won’t find it satisfying, young master Yu,” he replied. “Our eternal students often leave once they reach Muscle Reinforcement. And, the few that stay would hardly entertain you. But, we can arrange a bout with our direct recruits. Most of our students of the inner court are already at the Peak of Muscle Reinforcement, some even lucky enough to advance their expertise to Minor Familiarity.”

Interesting classification, I noted. I had learned that they had a special way of defining their expertise, starting from Beginner, followed by Minor and Major Familiarity, probably with further tiers.

Exactly how they measured these cutoffs, I didn’t know. The broken manuals I had picked were not exactly helpful. Kids didn’t know enough to enlighten me either.

Another research topic added to the list.

“That would be preferable,” Yu Xing replied. His posture was straight, almost domineering. It was something he practiced, but after the fight against the Azure Blade Union, it didn’t look as fake. The idea that he could fight against several elite Muscle Refinement fighters at once adjusted his perspective.

Su Mi stayed near him, her eyes scanning everything, her mouth closed. A good way to keep Yu Xing safe when I wasn’t there.

I maintained my silence, observing. As we moved from the external training field to the inner courtyard, where the buildings lost their showy nature, but became even more expensive. The inner courtyard had fewer martial artists, but their composition was much higher. Mostly Skin Refinement, with several Bone Forging realm experts.

None of those Bone Forging martial artists even drifted closer to our side. Well, my side. I highly doubted it was a coincidence. They were too tense for it to be.

I didn’t engage with them.

Soon, we stood in front of a small house, separate from the rest, with its small garden and a little scenic pond. “This will be your residence as long as you grace us with your valuable presence, young master,” Elder Kai said. “I already assigned several servants —”

“No servants,” I cut in, my declaration sharp.

That finally broke through Elder Kai’s permanent happiness, a scowl passing through his face, likely ruining his plans to insert spies into our circle easily. But, I had no intention of having several spies just to keep him happy.

People looked at me, expecting me to continue. I continued to treat them as invisible.

“As you wish, Lord Steward,” Elder Kai agreed rather than trying to change my mind, which was a credit to him. Then, he turned to Yu Xing. “Would you like to continue, Young Master Yu. Or, would you prefer resting first?”

“If it isn’t an inconvenience, I would prefer to continue the tour,” he replied.

“As you wish, young master Yu,” he replied, and continued the tour. The next stop was a large training field, but with several enclosed halls as well. It had far fewer students, about thirty, but they moved with far greater skill.

Not just that, I soon noted. The transformation of their internal energy was different. More intense. I didn’t know how much of it was the quality of their style, and how much of it was their expertise, but their superiority compared to other students was not in doubt.

They were also better than the Azure Blade guards the kid fought against at the city gate. When we arrived, they stopped fighting, bowing to us first, then to the Elder; but not all students were happy about it. Even more, I noticed a few of them looking at Su Mi in barely disguised appreciation.

Pride of young men.

“Would you like to spar with our students, Young Master Yu?” Elder Kai asked.

It was an open ploy to test us … Well, me. In the larger scheme of things, Yu Xing’s performance fighting didn’t matter. The valuable thing we represented was my healing capability, especially with their current conflict.

But, my prickly attitude meant that they couldn’t even dare to ask me. The next inevitable step was to try to charm me with gifts.

If I had a bookie I could be honest with, I would bet on them ‘accidentally’ injuring Yu Xing in a way that bruised his meridians, likely in a way that would keep him out of commission for a few weeks, with no risk of permanent injury.

A good way to test the medical skills, Hun Chu inevitably reported, without creating a feud in the process.

Yu Xing looked at me after the invitation, and I nodded. Their plot might be obvious, but I didn’t want to stop it. It worked to my benefit as well.

One of the students stepped forward. Yu Xing moved forward as well, and with a gesture from the instructor, they started sparring.

Behind my facade of disinterest, I watched carefully. While I finally had the chance to watch martial artists other than Furious Wind experts fight outside the gates, I had been more occupied with keeping us safe than observing the way their internal energy moved.

Yu Xing’s opponent had a fluid style, one that reminded me of water more than anything else, doing his best to dodge Yu Xing’s attacks. It didn’t seem like a good strategy considering Yu Xing’s advantages, but I wasn’t entirely sure about that conclusion.

When it came to fighting aspects of martial arts, I had no idea … nor did I plan to spend time. Learning to fight would require weeks and months of careful practice, where I developed the necessary reflexes and the mindset.

A time that was much better spent researching the nature of internal energy. As long as I could mobilize more internal energy than my opponents, and attain a higher quality, the skill aspect wouldn’t matter.

It was why, after a momentary glance at the physical aspects, I focused on the way they mobilized and transformed their internal energies, collecting data for future practice. The fight itself lasted for five minutes before Yu Xing finally won, though not before taking a few hits to his meridians like I suspected, the kind that would keep him from fighting at least a month if he relied on resting — meridian injuries were very slow to heal.

That would probably be enough to satisfy Elder Kai and the other decision makers. I had other objectives. “Pathetic. Just one fight, and you’re already tired,” I interrupted. “Continue. With him.”

That put a worried expression on Elder Kai. He was probably wondering whether my dislike was even more intense, and I was using the opportunity to injure the kid. Especially since I picked someone with a much more offensive style.

Not a bad guess on his part. Inaccurate, but still…

Yu Xing fought four more opponents, each challenge worsening the meridian injury on his arm, at least on the surface. Actually, thanks to his meditation lessons, he knew exactly how to avoid worsening his injury. But, he must have realized part of my reasoning, as he played his weakening even more.

“Not as shameful as I expected. My master’s blood is proving its worth,” I idly commented. “Come here.” And, in front of everyone, I stabbed several needles along his arm, flooding his body with my internal energy. He moved his own internal energy in response, and I cured his wounds out in the open, in front of everyone.

Their shocked expressions told me the story. The bait succeeded. All that remained was to see what kind of reward I would pull.

I thought about ending the sparring there, but when I noticed Elder Kai calling a servant to whisper a quick order, I decided to stay there for a while longer.

“Fight five more. Then, you will rest for the remainder of the day,” I ordered, just to show them the injury had been treated correctly.