Chapter 65 - Immediate Concerns

Tang Jin stood still for a long several minutes, as did Feng Xi. The path that Ao Wen had outlined for them wasn't likely to be easy, neither of the sects in question accepted any but the very best of cultivators and they were both located on the opposite side of the continent, just getting there would be an intensely time consuming and dangerous adventure. At the same time, the light of hunger gleamed in both of their eyes. Wasn't this why they had become cultivators in the first place? To find a path they could walk to the highest peaks they could find? 

"Wen," Feng Xi finally said softly. "I know you said that you wanted to leave in the spring, do you think that you'll be able to find a way to treat my father by then? The Alchemy Novices that have treated him so far have both said that the only hope he has is to receive the treatment of a Master Alchemist because even their teacher wouldn't be able to treat him without a breakthrough. I don't mean to doubt, it's just…" Conflict warred across her face, one moment deeply aching to accompany Ao Wen on this journey, another part unable to leave her father and the Feng family without the support of a second-stage cultivator. If her father didn't recover, could she really afford to leave?

"Three possibilities," Ao Wen said, holding up her only working hand with three fingers splayed. "First, we're lucky, I can identify your father's illness and I can treat it using things we can obtain in Turning Leaf town. That's the best outcome," she said putting one finger down. "Next best outcome, I can determine the cause and I'm capable of treating him but I can't get what we need here - in that case, we take the risks on a winter trip to Red Moon City to get what we can't obtain here, and we bring that back to help your father," she said folding up a second figure leaving only one finger held aloft. "Worst case, and I do mean worst case, either I can't identify it or I can but it really does require a Master Alchemist. In that case, the three of us spend the remainder of the fall and all winter using the abilities of three second-stage cultivators to earn enough to invite a Master or Grandmaster Alchemist from Red Moon City to treat your father," she said, folding up her final finger. "No matter what, we make sure that he gets the treatment he needs before we leave."

Feng Xi's eyes sparkled with unshed tears at the fierce confidence in Ao Wen's voice. With the support of a disciple of a Medical Saintess, Feng Xi was certain that her father would be cured soon. 

"If you need anything that I can help with, just say the word," Tang Jin said, wanting to at least appear like a man who could be relied on. Besides, he truly wanted to help, he just didn't have any idea how. 

"Actually, if we wind up needing anything hard to get, I'll be counting on both of you," Ao Wen said. "Jin, the Thundercloud Forest is home to all manner of treasures that are rarely harvested because Turning Leaf town has so few second-stage cultivators who can brave its depths. I'll need your sword arm, or maybe your claws to get to some things. You're also a new Soldier. You need to learn how to use that power and your new bloodline so anything we do is likely to be good training for you to get yourself and that new rage of yours under control."

"You can count on me," Tang Jin said, pressing his fist to his heart solidly. 

"Good," Ao Wen said with a smile. "We'll get some practice on the way back. It'll be good if Feng Xi and I can hang back a bit while you pick a few fights with anything we find on the way. We won't leave you stranded but it would be good to get some practice before we get back to town." 

"How can I help?" Feng Xi asked. "I know a few songs that can help with soothing anger and dispelling aggression, maybe those would help Jin keep himself under control? Or I can enhance those things instead making it easier to draw out his power," she offered. 

"I think those are both good ideas for this trip," Ao Wen said with a smile. "But once we get back, I wanted to ask if your father has been well enough for you to inherit his Tempest Heron Archery method. Our fight against the cubs made it really clear that we're lacking support at range. I can do things with my own Flame Wind Fan Dance but I don't have Mother's Dragon Flame to work with anymore. The most I can manage right now are Wind Walking Flame Steps and Windblown Embers. That's good for moving around but until I can manage a Flame Snap or manage to break through to the second stage, I'm not the most offensive Flame Sorceress in the world right now. If you can learn your father's archery method…"

"Consider it done," Feng Xi said with a determined expression. She'd been looking for a way to be less passive and hearing that her family's archery method would be not just helpful but desperately needed for the balance of their group just reaffirmed for her that it was the right thing to focus on. "It might take me a while to be really accurate," she said with a slight hesitation before she continued, "but I already make use of some wind energy with my zither so it won't be unfamiliar territory to use a wind art."

"Why is it called the Tempest Heron Archery method," Tang Jin asked. "I know you're descended from the Emerald Tempest Heron, but I would think that storms and archery are at cross purposes." 

"That's because you've never seen Father fight," Feng Xi said with a proud smile. "While it's true that storms can work against archers, even rendering them useless with sufficient wind pressure, our family archery method is different. It won't become overwhelming until the latter parts of the second stage, but even early on, it lets my father use Wind to adjust the aim of arrows in flight. That's already powerful," she said with a smile. "But it gets even better when you shoot two or more arrows at once. It's hard to hit two different targets with two arrows launched from the same bow but if the wind itself helps, two, three, or even four arrows fired at once is possible. You create an 'Arrow Storm' that flies towards your targets."

"That doesn't sound like a hunter's art!" Tang Jin said in shock. "That sounds like something for soldiers on the battlefield!" 

Ao Wen sighed deeply, shaking her head at Tang Jin's observation. Not because he was wrong but… "Jin, most people only think of Feng Lieren as a hunter these days because they know that's how he supported the Feng family but Xi's father is a lot more than that," she said. "Something I learned from my adoptive mother a while ago about the difference between stages along the martial cultivation path. A Brawler is someone who CAN fight. A Soldier is someone who can fight for OTHERS. Jin, if you hadn't become a person who could fight for Xi and me, you would have failed to become a Soldier. But Feng Lieren was on the edge of the third stage. I think he had comprehended what Mother used to refer to as fighting for SOMETHING. A Soldier fights for others, a Warrior fights for something greater than themselves. I don't know him well enough to say whether he fought for his family, for Turning Leaf town, or something else entirely, but he was contending for the position as Deputy City Lord before he was injured. He wasn't just a hunter, he was a Warrior who could protect Turning Leaf town in much the same way that the City Lord's formations protect the city. Does it make sense now why he cultivated such a demanding archery method?" 

"It does," Tang Jin nodded, also coming to understand more about his own cultivation in the process. The distinction between Brawler and Soldier hadn't been important to him in the past. One was simply more powerful than the other. Now, however, he realized that he had to sharpen his mind along with his body, even if it was just to better understand his own way forward. How long would he have been stuck when he reached the limits of what a Brawler could do? Especially if he continued to spend his time around people like Mo Yan who placed their won interests above everything else? "I thought your adopted mother was a Medical Saintess, how does she know so much about the martial path?" he asked, genuinely curious about the source of such vast wisdom. 

"Well, mother was a Grand Elder. She was known as a Medical Saintess for inventing a method to cure what people thought was incurable, and that title overshadows the other things in a lot of people's minds," Ao Wen explained. "But mother was also a Martial General, and a Veilded Mystic too. She was two thousand years old and it felt to me like she knew EVERYTHING. She didn't, but I did learn a lot from her about all sorts of things. "

"That's… that's too much!" Tang Jin said, feeling overwhelmed by the accomplishments of this legendary figure. 

"That's why we should keep our focus on immediate concerns," Feng Xi said with a smile, feeling proud of Ao Wen who shined so brightly even if she was shining with reflected wisdom that came from someone else. "Save the big worries to those legendary people. Right now, we just need to take our next steps forward, together," she said. 

"Together," the other two echoed with a smile.