Power Transfer

Wang Jingyuan was stunned into silence. A real, powerful chief was offering to teach her martial arts? Was she dreaming? Seeing her expression, Luo Qingye hastily added, "You have great potential. You can easily become one of the top martial artists in the sector."

"Really? Me?" Wang Jingyuan couldn't believe her ears. She rushed over to sit next to Luo Qingye. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. What, do you not believe the chief of Xuanyan Sect?" Luo Qingye acted like he was a little miffed.

"Of course I believe you, but…" Wang Jingyuan thought of a bunch of problems with his offer. "I don't have any foundational knowledge. It's going to take years of practice, and you said earlier that—" She stopped herself from saying that he was going to die in a few days. That wasn't nice to mention, she decided. She didn't want him to die, nor did she want to remind him of the inevitable. Luo Qingye read her mind and chuckled quietly.

"No worries. Even though I have less than a week left to live, I can make you stronger and more powerful than the average martial artist."

"How?" Wang Jingyuan was very confused. "Is that even possible?"

"Of course. Miss Wang, I've decided to transfer to you all of my internal forces and internal power."

Luo Qingye said it so casually, like he was going to give Wang Jingyuan something commonplace and not his entire lifetime's worth of practice and experience. Wang Jingyuan refused immediately.

"No! I can't take that. You've spent all of your life cultivating your internal forces and practicing your skills. Not only will I be taking what doesn't belong to me, you will be left with nothing. If I am going to make my name known in the martial arts sector, I want it to be through my own hard work and not taking the fruits of someone else's labor."

Luo Qingye nodded inwardly. He did not pick the wrong person. This girl meant every word she said; he could see it in her eyes that she was an upright and honest person of good morals. "Miss Wang, I am a dying man. What would I need my internal forces and power for? You are a righteous and just person; the martial arts sector need more people like you. Even though Xuanyan Sect is no more, I don't want the Xuanyan Sword Skills and Song of the Phoenix to go extinct. You mentioned that you would like to learn martial arts, didn't you? It would mean so much to me if I could pass down the two works of my life."

Wang Jingyuan searched Luo Qingye's sincere gaze. On one hand, she didn't think it was fair for her to take someone else's power. On the other hand, she really wanted to learn martial arts and be a part of this world that only existed in her fantasies before. Luo Qingye watched as Wang Jingyuan wrestled with her own thoughts before finally looking up and saying, "Senior Luo, if you are sure about this, then…I will be more than honored to accept. I promise to dedicate my life to avenging you and Xuanyan Sect, and to always be a just person. I will never use what I learn from you for evil."

Luo Qingye nodded approvingly. "Good. Tonight, I will transfer to you my internal forces and power, and tomorrow, we will begin sword lessons."

* * * * *

When the sun set in the west and Xuanyan Mountain was cast in shadows, Wang Jingyuan followed Luo Qingye's instructions and dragged the large branch so that its leaves were blocking the entrance of the cave again. As a merry fire burned near the entrance, Luo Qingye and Wang Jingyuan sat face-to-face by the inner wall of the cave. Luo Qingye instructed her to sit in a meditative position, with her legs crisscrossed and back straight. He did the same.

"Normally, we should have our palms in the air in front of us, but one of my arms is broken so this will have to do." Luo Qingye laid his hands on his knees, palms facing up. Wang Jingyuan placed her hands, palm down, onto his hands. She could feel the calluses on his hands, which must have developed from years of practice with a sword. Again, she felt bad that she was sort of cheating.

"Close your eyes, and concentrate on focusing all of your qi in your dantian [1]. Clear your mind of other thoughts. Match your breathing to mine," Luo Qingye instructed. Wang Jingyuan followed his instructions carefully. After about a minute of deep breaths, Luo Qingye spoke again.

"Continue focusing on your dantian. Do not move suddenly or break your focus; if the process is forcibly disrupted, both of us run the risk of severe deviation and, as the saying goes, 'stepping into the fire and entering the demonic realm'. I'm going to start the transfer now."

Wang Jingyuan could feel heat emitting from Luo Qingye's palms. The heat turned into a warm flow that entered her palms and began travelling up her arms and down her torso into her dantian, where it turned into a ball of flames. It felt like a stream of energy entering her that gradually turned into a raging river, until it was coursing through every vein and artery in her body.

Wang Jingyuan tried to keep her excitement in check and her mind blank. She focused on her breathing and the churning ball of flames in her dantian. The warmth of the internal powers enveloped her, and she slowly lost herself within it.

After what seemed like a long time, Luo Qingye suddenly leaned to the side and coughed out a few mouthfuls of blood. Wang Jingyuan's eyes snapped open. "Senior Luo! Senior Luo! Are you alright?"

Luo Qingye nodded feebly and wiped the blood from his lips. "Summoning one's internal forces when one has severe internal injuries is not advised," he said simply. "But have no fear; I can't get any worse than I already am."

He raised his gaze to Wang Jingyuan's. "Well, how do you feel? Can you feel the internal forces within you?"

Wang Jingyuan tried to imitate what she had seen martial artists do in dramas and call up some of the internal forces. To her surprise, she felt a gust of power within her that responded. "I can feel it! The transfer worked!"

Luo Qingye smiled faintly at the sight of Wang Jingyuan looking down at her hands like discovering them for the first time. "That's fantastic. Let's get some rest, and tomorrow, I will teach you how to wield a sword."