The day after the boys had learned their movement techniques, all the elders gathered around a table in the mess hall.
"Jinhu is immovable, he will become the mountain!" Mu Jang exclaimed.
"Brutes. Ilho learned in silence, as all things should be." Sa Gwan looked up at Mu Jang.
"Glad everyone is feeling confident. Are you confident enough to bet our future on them?" Wu Jin looked around the table.
Mu Jang slammed his fists onto the table sending food flying everywhere. "Jinhu will beat those golden spoon bastards all day long."
Wu Jin raised his rod.
"Sorry, I'll replace the food." Mu Jang walked away, head down.
"Pure brutes." Sa Gwan muttered. "The other sects won't be able to see Ilho coming." Sa Gwan nodded toward Wu Jin.
"Father?" Wu Jin looked at Cheng.
Cheng laughed. "He mastered what we couldn't. He is ready."
"Where is Yeol, he is always by your side, eating all my sects food." Wu Jin searched.
"So-Yeon summoned him." Cheng shrugged his shoulders. "He's still an elder of the Tang clan."
Wu Jin stood. "Gather the boys, meet me in the armory." He walked away as Mu Jang approached with a plate of new food.
"Really?" Mu Jang sat the plate down in front of a random recruit. "Here, enjoy."
In front of the armory the boys fell in line. Wu Jin stared at the three of them. Each felt different in their own ways. Each had grown into something entirely different from two weeks ago. "You've all done well so far. But that was the beginning. Footwork. It is the foundation for all martial arts." Wu Jin began pacing back and forth, arms behind his back, rod in hand. "Now you're ready for your weapons."
CRACK
Wu Jin struck a metal rack. Sa Gwan and Mu Jang approached their disciples. Cheng and Yeol were nowhere to be found. Jinhu and Ilho looked over at Blue. He shrugged his shoulders.
"Jinhu, gauntlets. A sword doesn't fit you. You're an overgrown child, too dull to be worried about finesse. Put those to good use."
Mu Jang handed the gauntlets over to Jinhu. He put them on, struck his fists together. The black steel on his knuckles clanged together.
"Thank you, Sect Leader." Jinhu bowed.
"Ilho, two butterfly swords. Short, precise. Like your mouth. Maybe these will force it closed."
Ilho took the swords from Sa Gwan. He bowed to Wu Jin. "I will try, Sect Leader."
Wu Jin shook his rod at him. Ilho straightened and smiled. Wu Jin turned around and grabbed a sword and approached Blue.
He handed Blue a jian. "This will serve as your weapon. It was his preferred weapon." Wu Jin whispered.
THUD.
Yeol and Cheng landed behind Blue. Blue turned his head. "About time my masters showed up."
"We are not your masters anymore." Cheng spoke.
"If you're not, then who is?" Blue stopped for a moment and began to turn back to Wu Jin. "You're kidding me."
Yeol grabbed his shoulder. "Good luck."
Cheng stepped next to Wu Jin and placed a hand on his shoulder. "He is one of the best jian users in murim. There's no one more qualified."
Wu Jin smiled. Blue did not.
Wu Jin stepped back. "You have two weeks to learn your techniques. It is better to have one mastered technique than three flawed ones." Wu Jin looked at Sa Gwan and Mu Jang. "You will train separately in the mornings and together in the afternoon. Dismissed.
The boys split off with their masters, each took a different space in the courtyard.
Jinhu stood in front of Mu Jang. "You have learned earthshaker. Now with it." Mu Jang lowered his stance, qi flowed from his his legs to his fist as he went through the steps. He sent qi flying from his gauntlets and exploded a training dummy. He turned back to Jinhu. "You will split the earth. That is the technique. Earth-splitter. The first form I showed you just now is Earthrend."
Mu Jang explained the movements of the first form to Jinhu. He took his stance in front of the training dummy. He went through the motions, qi flowed as Mu Jang described. He threw his punch. Qi reached his fist and then fizzled out. Jinhu looked down at at his hand. He shook his head and tried again. Three times in a row the qi never made it past his knuckles.
Mu Jang walked up. "The moment you throw your punch, your base relaxes and twists." He patted his leg. "All your strength comes from the base." He stepped back and placed one wooden log straight up and placed another log on top of it, parallel to the ground. "If the foundation is weak." He kicked the bottom log, both logs crashed down. "The entire structure collapses."
Jinhu took his stance one more time. He kept his base square, as he threw his punch, he contracted his core. The qi made it to the dummy. Not explosive, in fact, it barely damaged it. Jinhu smiled and turned to Mu Jang. "Like that?"
"Something like that." Mu Jang laughed.
Across the courtyard Ilho stood, swords in hand, waiting for Sa Gwans instructions. Sa Gwan placed small pieces of cloth tied by a string to the dummy. He walked back to Ilho, handed him a scroll.
Shadow Sever.
Ilho looked back up, then to the dummy. "You're going to your perch again, huh? Can you at least tell me the deal with that." Ilho pointed to the pieces of cloth hanging from the dummy. He heard one word only before Sa Gwan left for his spot on the wall.
"Precision."
Ilho sighed. He sat and studied the scroll. The movements were fluid. When tied with shadow step, it became precise. Deadly. Only meant for one purpose. Death.
After hours of silence and copying what was in the scroll, Ilho was finally was ready to attempt to be precise.
He dashed, used shadow step to approach the dummy. He swung the swords. He had missed every string. Two pieces of cloth hit the ground, cut in half. Sa Gwan appeared. He replaced the pieces of cloth that had been cut. He turned and flicked Ilho’s forehead. "Slow down. Shadows have no need to be fast. Death is instant when you are precise."
"But, speed is important." Ilho retorted.
"Not if you give your enemy a chance to fight back." Sa Gwan drew his butterfly swords. In one motion every string was cut, and the cloth tied to them floated to the ground. "Precision first, then speed.
Ilho stood in shock as Sa Gwan replaced the strings and cloth and dissapeared back to his perch. "Did we just have a conversation?" Ilho shook his head and reset.
Over the next few hours he slowed down every time he missed. He began to realize that. Slow is fast. Slow didn't mean a turtles pace. It meant dialing in on your target. Focusing on one exact spot ahead of time and never losing focus.
Ilho reset once more. Shadow step. Precision. One of the four strings snapped. Ilho gasped as Sa Gwan appeared and patted his head. He replaced the cloth. "You understood a little I see." He pointed to his own eyes. "Let the qi flow here, let it guide your swords. Then you will truly strike from the shadows with precision."
Ilho bowed. "Yes, sir."