Chapter 31: This Young Master Prepares

Lan Fen had become a river of metal and Chen Haoran was unlucky enough to stand in the way of her course. Her wooden sword relentlessly flowed around his desperate defense, leaving him scrambling to dodge. It was all the opening she needed. She burst through his hasty blocking like water through a dam and sent his sword flying. In the same motion, her own sword harshly stabbed his chest and Chen Haoran fell.

Chen Haoran rubbed the spot she stabbed. A definite bruise in the making. “You Harmonized with the Canyon Crossing Sword?” he asked in disbelief.

Lan Fen rested her practice sword on her shoulder and smiled triumphantly. “What do you think?”

“I think you're stupidly talented.” That he was jealous of said talent went unsaid. He’d been using the technique for longer and he still couldn’t figure out how to Harmonize with it.

Lan Fen offered her hand. “You will learn. We have time after all.”

Chen Haoran took her hand and she pulled him up. “Is Song Yuelin really not watching?”

They were in the inner yard’s training ground. Chen Haoran had originally thought he’d be training alone since Lan Fen had snuck out of the manor, with Song Yuelin doubtlessly following her. Instead, she turned back around to train with him.

Lan Fen shook her head. “He has not left the outer training field, nor is he paying any attention to us.”

“What’s he even doing there?”

“Training would be my guess.” She quirked her lips. “Perhaps he grew frustrated with the circles I lead him in.” Lan Fen had already left the manor a few times this week both openly and secretly with Song Yuelin in unseen tow only to lead him on the most mundane walks across the whole city.

Chen Haoran huffed a laugh but he couldn’t help but doubt. Lan Fen could tell if Song Yuelin was paying attention, but not if he was training? It was completely at odds with what she’d shown before.

“Observe now,” Lan Fen said.

Chen Haoran threw away the distracting thoughts and focused on watching Lan Fen’s Harmonization. She flowed into a flurry of stances and strikes, unlike Song Yuelin’s hard-to-observe Harmonization, Lan Fen’s was clear to the eye; a white water rapid to wash away whatever blocked it. He compared it to his own Canyon Carving Sword, while he had yet to see Lan Fen use the technique in full just from the Harmonization he could detect a much sharper intent than his own use of it. Was this how a metal spirit root expressed other elemental techniques?

Chen Haoran squinted. He cycled qi to his legs and in a burst of motion slashed out at Lan Fen. Despite the suddenness of his attack Lan Fen responded quickly and her sword dance became a proper offense. Chen Haoran suffered a few blows before backing away. “Okay hold on!”

Lan Fen smiled at him. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“All your strikes are focused on a single point.” He noticed it while watching and the last exchange just confirmed it. “A river only flows in one direction.” The realization dawned on him.

“A river only carves in one direction,” she corrected him.

Chen Haoran breathed. His qi cycled into pattern, his sword did not glow. He swung out. Nothing. Again. Nothing. He couldn’t just focus on empty air, he needed something. He pictured Song Yuelin standing in front of him. Qi flowed. Chen Haoran felt briefly weightless.

The qi spiraled out of control.

Chen Haoran was knocked down as if kicked in the chest. He slammed a fist into the ground. “Fuck!”

“It was a good attempt,” Lan Fen consoled him.

“Good isn’t enough. Not if I ever want to stand on my own.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “I should be better at this.”

“Do not presume it is as easy as I make it look,” Lan Fen said. “I simply have more experience than you do.”

“You don’t need to make excuses for me Lan Fen. I know my weaknesses.” The stuff that mattered had always been something out of reach for him. Now he had a second life to confirm it. “It might be easier if I Harmonize with the Stone Carving Sword first.” He could apply the understanding from the lower rank technique to make it easier to Harmonize with the Canyon Carving Sword.

“I would not count on that,” Lan Fen somberly said. “You will more easily Harmonize with an Earth-rank than a Profound-rank.”

He frowned. “How did you Harmonize before this then?”

“I did not.”

“What?”

“This is my first time using Harmonization.” Lan Fen smiled upon seeing his shock. “I am grateful for you giving me the opportunity.”

“You said you had experience though.”

“From countless failures.” Lan Fen sat down next to him. “I had desperately tried to Harmonize with my Mortal-rank techniques. There was just never enough to Harmonize with.”

“Enough of what?”

Lan Fen rubbed her chin in thought. “Weight,” she finally said. “A higher rank technique is heavy in a way the lower ranks are not. This is just my own experience however, I still have more to learn on the topic.”

“What gives them their weight though? What separates the technique ranks from each other?”

Lan Fen tilted her head. Chen Haoran was about to ask if she was directing the question to the sky until she suddenly huffed.

“Who knows.”

Chen Haoran sighed and lay flat. “Who does?”

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“Assholes who choose not to say.”

He laughed. “I’ve never heard you curse like that before.” He paused. “Actually, no, didn’t you say you were going to shove a sword up my ass?”

“I wonder who I learned it from, and in my defense you deserved it.”

Well, she wasn’t wrong.

Chen Haoran shot up. “That reminds me.” He rummaged through his storage bag and pulled out a giant brown core. “This is for you.” He pulled out the other goodies Song Yuelin had given him. “I meant to give you these when you came out of seclusion.”

Lan Fen raised an eyebrow “A Seventh-Layer Liquid Meridian realm core? You seem to have had quite the adventure.”

“Song Yuelin killed it. It was definitely an intense experience.” He did one last sweep to make sure he had gotten everything,

Received Hundred-Fold: Liquid Meridan Realm Seventh-Layer Moutain King Bear

“By the way-” Chen Haoran stopped. In his hand was a single blue Moonflower. The same one that Song Yuelin dropped on him as a ‘reward’. A beautiful but ultimately valueless flower.

“Lan Fen.”

“Hmm?”

“Here,” he said, offering the flower.

Lan Fen stared at the flower. Golden eyes slowly rose to meet his own. “Thank you,” she said, taking the proffered flower.

There was no reward.

“Sorry.” Chen Haoran wrung his hands.

“For what?”

“You don’t have to accept something you don’t like…” He hesitated. “I mean… I would like it if you accepted my gifts, but you can say no if you don’t want them.”

Dangerous words. He couldn’t stop himself from saying them though. He couldn’t let himself not say them.

Lan Fen twirled the Moonflower between her fingers. “I do not like flowers.” With a sudden motion, she twisted the flowerhead off and tossed it behind her in a rain of blue petals.

Chen Haoran flinched. “Right. I’ll remember that.”

They sat there in suffocating silence. Chen Haoran felt hot in the chill air. What a fool.

He rose to leave. “I’m-”

“I do not like river eels,” Lan Fen interrupted him.

Chen Haoran blinked. “Okay?”

“Nor do I like shoddily forged swords.”

“Alright?”

“I hate the taste of rice wine.”

On and on Lan Fen listed various dislikes. Chen Haoran stood there bewildered. Whatever her point was he couldn’t see it.

“What are you saying?” he asked.

“You would have an easier time getting me gifts if you knew my dislikes, no?”

Chen Haoran dumbly looked at her. He slapped a hand to his face and started laughing. “I’ll make sure to keep that in mind for next time.”

Lan Fen stood up and dusted herself off. “I do value you, Chen Haoran. Without you, I would not be in a position to so easily strike a blow at the Lan family.” She walked past and briefly squeezed his shoulder. “The risks you are taking for my sake is a debt I swear will be repaid.”

Chen Haoran watched her go. He turned back and picked up his sword. Rolling his shoulders he took a stance and cycled his qi.

He needed to practice.

He was going to be doing quite a bit of fighting tomorrow after all.

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