Chapter 2 - Fathers and Sons

Li Kang allowed his father Li Jung to lead him into the tavern. The barkeep, a rotund woman of advancing years, rounded on Li Jung as soon as he stepped back in.

"Get the hell out of here you drunkard! Ain't gonna pay for your drinks tonight, and I fronted you last night too!"

"Hey, hey, hey," Li Jung put his hands up in a conciliatory manner. "I brought my boy Kang, haven't seen him in ages. How bout a couple more drinks for my son?" The wheedling tone and begging body language was extremely off-putting on the powerfully built Li Jung. It made Li Kang feel sick to his stomach to be here but he had nowhere else to go. He raised his hand with the pouch of coins and jangled them a bit. Li Jung's hand blurred as he snatched the pouch from his son. 

"We can even pay, see?" He rattled Li Kang's coins. The barkeep huffed and took the pouch.

"Fine, but I'm taking the whole thing and putting it towards your debt." She set a bottle of rice whiskey on the counter in front of the two. "And this is all you get tonight!"

"You're a goddess Hana!" Li Jung exclaimed as he uncorked the bottle and poured up two drinks. "I'll never forget your generosity and your kind spirit." 

The old barkeep blushed a little and then seemed to remember who she was talking to and made a 'harrumph' sound as she turned away.

Li Jung downed his drink and poured another right away. "So what brings my favorite son around to pay his old man a visit?"

Li Kang put his head down on the bar. "I failed my exam, I won't be allowed to do a spirit summoning, even if I can somehow get to the meridian crystallization stage. It's all over. Grandfather kicked me out of the house and said I'm disowned."

"Fuck the old man, he disowned me too, at least 5 or 6 times," Li Jung laughed. "You gonna drink that?" He gestured to the drink he'd poured Li Kang. Li Kang shook his head. His father drank both.

"You don't understand, at least you merged with a powerful martial spirit. If I can't become powerful there's no future for me, not even as a drunk like you."

Li Jung was something of a modern tragedy in the village lore. At just 14 years old he successfully bonded an extremely powerful martial spirit, a remnant of the Golden Dragon, one of the avatars of the four winds. However, driven up so fast to a prominent position in the clan thanks to his extremely powerful ki, he had crumbled under the pressure and succumbed to various vices. Drink, smoking herbs, gambling, women, he had a taste for them all. After a few disastrous and embarrassing events involving the heads of several allied clans, he had retired from the Li Clan and become the town's resident drunk. The Clan allowed his fringe existence only because they had no one else powerful enough to confront him head on and because he seemed to have no more interest in fighting.

Li Jung looked introspective. "My bloodline is built different, it's in our ki. Look at how powerful I am! I could level this village in an hour if I wanted to. In fact, I'd start with this bar right here, especially if I don't get another bottle tonight after all that gold I spent. Even a cheap one would be fine." The barkeep shot him a dirty look but Li Jung pretended not to notice and rubbed his forefinger and thumb together in the gesture for ordering more drinks. "The old man doesn't know jack about shit, and I'll prove it to you. Give me some of your blood."

Seeing that his father was serious, Li Kang sighed and drew his knife, leaving a shallow cut across the top of his forearm. Li Jung dipped his finger in the blood and manifested one of his spirit powers. 

"Golden Dragon, Avatar of the West Wind: Writ In Blood," Li Jung commanded. A sinuous golden dragon materialized behind him and the blood began glowing with a bright yellow light, which then turned pitch black. Several bar patrons fell off their stools at the conspicuous display of power. A few even hurried out of the bar.

"I told you you were just like me," Li Jung said proudly, more than a little drunk now. The barkeep Hana brought another bottle of cheap rice whiskey, apparently not willing to risk the destruction of her bar and the whole village.

Li Jung continued. "Your ki is powerful but it is strongly affiliated with the essences of both Darkness and Light. The problem is, these two essences are incompatible so any martial spirit of Light you bond will be destroyed by the Darkness in your ki and visa versa."

"So it's even worse than I thought," Li Kang said. "I was going to use the primal bonding ritual to merge with a powerful spirit on my own, but if my ki essences are conflicting it sounds like any martial spirit I attract will result in a failure and kill me during the bonding."

Within a few hours, the two had drank the entire original bottle and most of the second one Hana had grudgingly provided, with Li Jung doing most of the heavy lifting. "It's hopeless," Li Kang said. "I can't bond a Light spirit and I can't bond a Dark spirit."

Li Jung suddenly sat up. "You just need to find a martial spirit that has aspects of both Light and Darkness, then you can bond it no problem." The jerking motion seemed to have unbalanced him and he collapsed on the bar.

Does such a spirit even exist? Li Kang thought. Then, he too fell asleep.