34

Oracle Ching watched the airship descend and come closer. The dreadful Cobra snake which the irresponsible boy had killed and skinned, and somehow he survived the toxic qi poison. Not that his other feats were any less amazing.

'That's Pef and Xie. And two more women...Kira. His newest wife. And...a blank. Well, my boy wonder surely produces results...' she thought, an inner grin forming in her heart. Give him an impossible task, and he'll come back in two months, task fulfilled and married again.

Soon after, a fast bolide rushed to hug her, ignoring servants or propriety, even his own face as an Emperor of an entire continent. Not that he ever seemed to care about that.

"Auntie, I'm back! And I found someone. I hope you'll like Madam Ling" the young man whispered in her ear.

"Indeed you did. And she's awfully young to hold a Core rank." she observed with a glance.

"Ah, that. Well, she found the pirates and helped kill them. Instant promotion!" Pef explained with an exuberant voice.

Lia Ching nodded to herself. It was good the apprentice was blooded already. Would make night patrols less of a bother.

"All right then. Have some tea. And you get two hours everyday, for next two months" she allowed after a minute of thinking.

You couldn't cram 600 years of experience into a few months of lessons, but the boy had the glove. It will remember everything.

"Yay! Sword qi will be awesome!" the young man cried and let go, appearing at the tea table in a second.

"Ling, I will be your teacher in Oracle arts. Enjoy your next 500 years." She greeted her student with a kind smile.

The woman seemed terrified for some reason, not daring to sit near Xie or herself.

In the end, she sat in between Pef and Kira, using their bodies as shields. How was a Sky rank safe, she had no idea. At least Pef will find it easy to work with the new apprentice. Their hips touched and neither of them even noticed.

"I will be in your care, Oracle Ching." Madam Ling whispered in a scared voice.

"So, there's a new Spirit rank in Port Li. A master Wong..." she began the tea ceremony, with a subtle display of prowess.

Reading people was even easier now, with her new Earth rank.

Her guests were suitably impressed, as was the apprentice. The new wife, Kira, had a guilty look on her face, and stole a glance at Pef. The details were fuzzy though. Perhaps an affair?

The boy grinned and nodded.

"Yea. Wong lasted a whole year under Awakening. He will be amazing when he grows up" Pef explained with a proud voice.

"He's like 8 times your age..." Kira muttered with a gruff tone and caressing her wedding ring. A storage ring at that.

"Don't mind these small things. Anyone under 500 is a youngster, in the cultivation world. Only Aunt Ching is an adult, and such a beauty as well. Ah, if only she was 100 years younger, we could have..." Pef answered with a careless handwave, spilling his tea and then returning it in the cup, with mater magic, before it hit the table.

Both a genius and a moron, in the same second.

Because Pef was here, the tea ceremony lasted only 20 minutes. And by that time, the boy was ready to run around the house a hundred times, fidgeting and restless.

"Go then. Be here in three days, at noon" Ching allowed with a dismissive gesture.

"Okay, bye Auntie. And look in the mirror more often!" Pef yelled as he grabbed his wives and flew away.

A peaceful silence fell, as only the two oracles remained.

"Do you know numbers, Ling?" she asked a bit sternly.

"Ah, Pef has been teaching me the new numbers. I can count to a hundred, and divide them in this range"

The old oracle rose an eyebrow. 'Mnemonics?'

"You have 24 guests coming for dinner. 20 of them are married. How many women?" she asked with a smile.

The young woman blinked and thought for a second. "Most likely, 12 are women?"

Ching nodded and poured tea again. Teaching an apprentice was fun.

"Now do it again, and use your skill" she demanded with a more interested voice.

The qi swirled, tiny white tendrils bunching together and splitting apart.

"One in five chance for 12 women." came the response, as expected.

"Only after knowing the correct odds, we can influence the future to fall where we want it. And while simple questions are easier to answer and influence, like demanding every guest to bring a date, others are not. Does your skill act by itself sometimes?" she asked curious.

"Miss Ching, I don't...well. If there's a flash of light on the horizon I know there will be rain. But only if the wind is coming towards me." the young oracle answered hesitantly.

"Yes. That's how it starts. I see you have a short sword already. Good. Now let's go in the garden, and see what your skill can do with it" Ching said gently, stepping out in the back garden. Two gestures and the order was sent.

A young servant still at Core rank, ran to the duel line and hefted his stick.

"But...what if I hurt him?" Madam Ling asked a bit wary.

"Then you get rewarded, of course. But you won't even hit him. Not this year" she explained with a light smile.

As expected, the young apprentice barely held to the Earth rank sword, chopping left and right like she held a warhammer and not a feather.

Soon, bumps and bruises started to pile up, splitting skin sometimes. But Ling kept going, for hours.

Such was the crazy Xi method. Pain didn't stop people anymore, although they would still hurt. They just wouldn't care anymore.

"Okay. Let's have dinner and rest" Ching demanded as the sun was soon to set.

A boiled magic corn, and some honeyed sweets later, and both women rested on a bench, watching the stars emerge.

"So, what do we do as oracles?" the apprentice asked as her last bruises faded.

"Glad you asked. We keep the city safe. While the major gangs and cults have been culled off, there are always murderers, rapists, arsonists or thieves. Like those pirates you killed..."

"Oh. It was a gruesome sight. But mostly because of Lady Xie. She's too brutal." the apprentice answered with a shiver.

Ching smiled thinly. She preferred a sword to that huge maul, but it wasn't a less deadly weapon.

"Come, let's dress you up. You have a ring I see?" she asked rhetorically.

"Ah yes. I have a few sets of clothes, and soap and my Earth rank armor." Ling said lifting her hand to show the ring.

"Good, you will need them." the oracle predicted with kind eyes. Justice was rather bloody, and soap would help.