Teaching, learning and growing

Year 0189 of the MunYu empire, day 22 of five Moons.

Lee Yenshu was sleeping soundly, the sun had yet to rise, and the feast made him very tired. But, a large howling echoed through the walls of his new house, waking him up in a rush.

The sound was so loud, that it seemed to originate from his side, but he knew that voice, it was Tiaowen who had roared. 

He had no idea how he got to his house, but he was there, on his bed, now fully awake, and just as he was starting to stretch, someone knocked on his door.

- Teacher Lee, the leader has send us to wake you up. Are you up already?

That was the voice of one of the children who had played with him during the feast, it seems like they were the ones he was supposed to teach. And so, he opened the door.

On his doorstep was a bunch of small children, the older ones in front, there were about 12 of them, all in the same hybrid form, neither tiger nor human, only the youngest ones seemed to still have their tails, but upon closer look, Lee Yenshu realized the older children managed to train their tails to act as a belt, hiding it.

As he opened the door and greeted the children, all of them did a reverence to Lee Yenshu, clashing their hands together, one hand open, the other as a fist. It was fun to Lee Yenshu to see the same children who were running all around yesterday, and playing pranks on him, now showing so much respect, he could not help but laugh a bit.

-It's okay young ones! I'll be teaching you for the next year. So make sure to ask me if you have any questions. To start, I'll show you the 13 base concepts of Tàijí quán, the Bā mén wǔ bù. The martial art that I will teach you, the Flexible Pine Sprout, has it's roots in those 13 basic concepts.

And so, Lee Yenshu asked the children to give him some room, and started to move around, exhibiting the 13 basic steps of Tàijí quán, as he moved, he tried to explain to the children, the concept of the free flow of movements, and how one movement was tied to the next, and to the one before it. And how even the movement of the lungs as one breaths in and out, can change how one move flows to the next.

The children were captivated. After a couple of hours showing the movements, he asked them to start practicing, and he would point out their flaws, correct them, and show them again. In doing so, he also learned more about how to correct one's breathing, by looking at how others moved, while practicing, he realized flaws in his own move patterns, and, has he did, so did the Lifebound Life Chronicles, and the book made corrections to both the Tàijí quán techniques, and the Flexible Pine Sprout. The book even made some changes that Lee Yenshu was only subconsciously aware, fixing most of the wasted breaths, and giving a more gentle flow to both skills. 

While he was training the kids, he also noticed how good their Qi control was, to keep them in that form, every once in a while, the youngest ones would revert back to being a tiger, sometimes in the middle of a movement, and the older ones would help them change back.

This taught Lee Yenshu much more about controlling his own energy, and how to better use the huge amount of Qi he already had. Although Lee Yenshu could already sense and harness some of the Qi in nature, he had yet to reach the Qi Condensation stage. His meridians were not fully opened, and neither were his dantians fully matured. He was a oddity among cultivators. Neither at the Body Reforming stage, or the Qi Condensation stage, but somewhere in between both of those.

This gave him a enormous edge against other Body Reforming cultivators, but at the same time, since his body was reforming alongside his Qi Vessels, it would take longer for his meridians and dantians to fully mature. This would however, cause him to be much stronger than the peak Qi Condensation stage cultivators once he entered that stage.

Tiaowen, who was watching Lee Yenshu, realized that. For him, seeing that boy grow, was like watching a construction taking place. While the young tigers of his tribe were building the foundation for a house, some bigger, some smaller, Lee Yenshu was building the foundation of a enormous fortress. For the tigers, a year or two should be enough for their foundation to activate their dantians, and enter the next stage of cultivation, but Tiaowen had no way to know when that would be the case for Lee Yenshu, he knew, that once the foundation was done, he would be a force to be reckoned with. 

The day went by, and the teaching continued, until the sun was high in the sky. Tiaowen once again roared, and all the children thanked Lee Yenshu, and started to head back to their own caves, to eat. It was fun to see them turn into tigers and leap around so happily, as they all said they were too tired to move just moments before.

As Lee Yenshu was cleaning up the mess the children left behind, Tiaowen appeared at his side.

- I'll ask them to help you clean up next time, don't worry. Now, let's go, my wives told me they want to cook some food for you. It's been a while since we had someone over. And all my children have grandchild's of their own, so they are really looking forward to cook for a kid again. Expect a lot of meat.

-Thank you Tiaowen. The children here are really energetic. I noticed that some of them are really young, but they are all really focused.

-Of course, we are might tigers, we are not humans. Some of those children are only 1 or 2 years old. It's been so peaceful lately, that the young ones ended up giving birth to too many children. It's a good thing you're here to teach them, otherwise, if someone attacked the village, they would not be able to fend for themselves long enough for me to destroy the intruders.

Tiaowen flexed his muscles as he said that, trying to make it look like a joke, but, the energy he leaked as he did it, made it sure it had some truth in it. He could defend the village from any intruder with his strength, but, if the villagers themselves could not hold on until he was done, there would be casualties.

Lee Yenshu realized once more, how much his martial arts would benefit the village, while young, they don't have the strength to learn the village's martial art, but with his martial arts, they could at least defend themselves, or run away, until Tiaowen finished of any invaders. And, once they were old enough, they could learn the villager's martial art and fend for themselves.

He couldn't help to feel honored, that he was helping out this much. And also, he felt a deep sense of gratitude, and respect for Tiaowen, who thought of all of this, and still managed to make it look like he was just repaying a old debt.

-I really wish to be as wise as you when I grow up Tiaowen. Thank you.

The tiger laughed, as he gently patted Lee Yenshu's head.

-Kid, if you get any smarter than you already are, you are going to make the genius of this world look like dumb apes. I don't know if any human kid at your age, is as strong as you are, not without the backing of a major power at least. Just... Remember that you are a kid, there's no need to push yourself, I'll be protecting you for at least 1 year, but I never said I would stop after that. If you continue to help out the village, I see no reason to stop helping you. So make sure to be a kid when you can, I'm sure the old pine tree would want that as well.

Lee Yenshu laughed again, he was laughing a lot those days, and, the two of them continue to talk, while walking down the road to Tiaowen's cave.

Inside the cave, 5 female tigers came rushing in as soon as they saw Lee Yenshu, all of them on the Hybrid form, they were holding clothes, wrapped boxes, lunchboxes, and they all started to talk all at the same time. Some cursed at Tiaowen, saying he was being too rough on the kid, making it live so far from the village, others were telling Lee Yenshu that he should see them as their own grandmother, that they would look after him, all of them were really happy to once again have a child visiting. 

The cave was full of a strong and delicious smell of grilled meat, so much so that made Lee Yenshu's stomach growl. This quieted down all the voices, and Tiaowen laughed saying that the boy was hungry after training all day.

Tiaowen's wives rushed Lee Yenshu to his seat, and started to place a lot of food on his plate, mostly meat. 

-Sorry Lee Yenshu, we tigers eat meat most of the time, so the grains that we plant, are most for trades with the humans. Next time you come over, I'll make sure to make some rice for you.

The one who said that was the oldest of the wives, and the only one who had the same color of fur as Tiaowen. She gave a look at the other wives, and all of them sat down, and started to eat their own, quietly.

They all ate and talked, there really was a lot of food, but for some reason, the more he ate, the more he wanted to eat, maybe the training was taking its toll, Tiaowen just laughed as he passed more meat dishes to Lee Yenshu.

After a couple of dishes, the boy could eat no more, and just as he moved, to start gathering the dishes, the oldest wife hold his hand.

-No need for that Lee Yenshu, you are a guest, we will take care of the dishes, you just rest. Just think of us as your grandmothers. That way we can still spoil you, and won't take your mother's place.

She smiled while saying that. But the smile soon disappear.

-It's okay, I never had a mother. So there's no place to take. I can help, I don't want you to think I'm a burden.

Lee Yenshu said those words without thinking much about it, he really had never had a mother, the closest thing he had to that, was the Old Pine Tree, there was no sadness on his voice when he said it, he really just wanted to not be a burden, but, once his words, so pure, reached the ears of those old ladies, tears starting forming from their eyes. And even Tiaowen was shook from that. He had a hunch that kid had suffered, but, something about the way he said that, showed the old tiger, that the suffering the kid went through, was bigger than he had thought. 

The oldest wive just hugged the kid, and once more, he felt warm, for some reason, he remembered the old pine tree.

-Dont you worry, you will never be a burden. ISN'T IT SO TIAOWEN?

Tiaowen flinched at the sound of his wive.

-Of..Of course, no need to yell at me, I even told the kid that I would protect him, why am I getting yelled at? Look Lee Yenshu, as far as I'm concerned, you are our kin, so, like I said, be a kid, act spoiled, no one will think of you as a burden okay?

The old tiger started to pat Lee Yenshu's head, and, the kid felt calm, safe, warm. And all of the sudden, started to once again cry. And, as he cried, the oldest wife hugged him tighter, while all the other wives were also crying.

Just like on the feast, the boy fell asleep. On his checks, there were watermarks, from were the tears had dropped.

-Just... What did this kid went through? I know you picked him up because he had the smell of the pine tree, but, I can feel so much pain in his past, so much so, that I don't even dare to peek at it. 

The oldest wife was holding Lee Yenshu while talking to Tiaowen. Who had the Lifebound Life Chronicles on his hands.

-It's best if you don't, trust me... The wisp of the pine tree told me to read this book...but frankly, I wished I hadn't... If he was from this realm, I would have waged war against his country, just from his suffering alone.

-He's a stranger?

-Yes, from a realm with no cultivation, no Qi, nothing... And he was a slave, to the worst possible master.

-His parents?

-His mother died giving birth, his father sold him off on the same day, for a pack of tea leaves.

Tiaowen's grasped the book, as he read on, but could not read all of it, there was too much pain on those pages, he placed the book near Lee Yenshu, thanked the wisp of the Old pine tree that allowed him to read it, and went outside, his eyes filled with rage, and tears.

-Keep the boy safe, let him sleep, when he wakes up, I'll take him to his house, tell the carpenters to make new furniture, I'll make sure he can be happy here...

-Tiao, we are also no longer slaves.

-I know...but those chains, even after so many centuries, still frighten me, and he had it worse than us. I really dont want him to leave, the humans can only hurt others.

-He is human, and so was the Sage...

-I know... I know... But, for as long as he wants, I'll make sure he is safe. That's what my old friend wanted as well!

The rage Tiaowen felt upon reading the book, just made it much more clear to him, the reason why the old pine tree took upon itself to help that boy. And so, he would do all he could, so that his life, from that moment onward, was as happy, and free, as possible.