What About You?

3: sword

“Ah, so that’s how it is,” Wei Zexian mumbled, finally being able to fly his sword. It had been a few days since the three had arrived back to where the mercenaries were staying, and they had immediately gotten into Wei Zexian’s training.

Wei Ying was also training, and he was getting close to forming his golden core so that was good. But most of the troop’s efforts went into stuffing the two malnourished kids. It took a while for their stomachs to expand to handle the new amount of food they were receiving, but they were getting the hang of it.

Wei Zexian was just happy to see his brother so happy.

“Ah! Shit dude, pay attention,” Cao Yijun, courtesy name Shuren, dodged the flying sword that the boy was controlling.

“Oh, I’m sorry Shuren’xiong (senior cultivator),” Wei Zexian quickly apologized, his sword finding its way back into its sheath.

“Spacing out already, shidi (younger cultivator)?” Meng Zhihao, courtesy name Tian, called with a smirk, only to get hit by Zi Xieren.

“You’re in no position to be calling him out when you’re doing the same thing, Meng Tian!” He scolded him, causing his underling to pout.

“Let’s just get back to it,” Cao Shuren sighed, rubbing his neck. “Since you’ve got the basics of flying your sword, we’ll move on to flying on your sword.”

“Oooh, fun,” Wei Zexian smirked, already knowing he would nail it. He ended up falling twice, but the boy could definitely be described as a master of the flying sword by the end of that day.

“I can’t believe Wei Zexian was able to ride Niuqude (his sword's name),” Cao Shuren walked with Zi Xieren later that night on the rounds. “I feel kind of betrayed.”

“As you should,” Zi Xieren huffed, “It shouldn’t have been possible, but now I have a good idea what courtesy name to bestow on Wei Zexian.”

“Oh? Already?” Cao Shuren looked surprised. “How old even is he? Shouldn’t we wait?”

“Come to think of it,” The troop leader frowned. “I don’t know how old he is. But anyway, I’ve been thinking of allowing him to craft his own sword.”

“That’d be a good idea,” The younger man agreed. “He’s progressing fast enough, plus I think he’d be able to handle the work required to make his own sword.”

“I have a friend a few towns over that is a blacksmith,” Zi Xieren recounted. “I’m sure I can leave Wei Zexian with hi for a few days while we go off on that job coming up.”

“Will it take just a few days?” Cao Shuren raised a skeptical eyebrow. The troop leader shrugged in turn.

“Who knows.”

~*~

“See you in a few, kid,” Zi Xieren ruffled Wei Ying’s hair as Wei Zexian stood next to him.

“Have a safe trip!” Wei Ying beamed up at him, obviously having taken to the older man.

“Don’t cause too much trouble, got it Wei Zexian?” The troop leader’s eyes whisked to the boy, who made a smug face.

“Don’t worry, there won’t be too much damage.”

“Oh, before I forget,” He squatted down in front of Wei Ying. “Do you know when your birthday is? Or your brother’s?”

“Yep!” The youngest boy nodded. “My birthday is October 31st! Gege’s birthday is March 14th!”

“Why didn’t you just ask me?”

“Because you would’ve been snarky and wouldn’t have actually answered the question,” Zi Xieren gave him a knowing look, causing the older of the brothers to scoff and cross his arms.

“…true though,” He sighed. “Come on A’Ying, let’s get inside.”

“Coming!” Wei Ying followed after his older brother, and the mercenary band left soon after. The blacksmith’s wife took a liking to Wei Ying the second she saw him, so while Wei Zexian was slaving away with her husband, she pampered Wei Ying.

The entire week that the troop was gone, Wei Zexian didn’t leave the smithy. Nor did he see his brother. But the results were worth it. The blacksmith watched, his eyes glistening with tears and his mouth ajar at what he was witnessing.

“That’s..” He sniffed emotionally. “The most beautiful piece of art I have ever seen!” He quickly hid his face in his elbow, sniffling as he let the tears flow.

Wei Zexian hadn’t heard any of what the older man had just said, his sole focus on the pulsing sword in his hands. It was radiating energy, its blade pitch black. “…Juedui (absolute)..” The syllables were drawn out of the boy’s mouth, and the sword pulsed as if to answer.

A smirk appeared on Wei Zexian’s face, extremely pleased with himself as he swung Juedui around a few times—making sure not to put any of his own energy into it because that might have taken out the smithy—and nodded in satisfaction. “Damn, am I awesome or what?”

“Honey!” The blacksmith’s wife called, poking her head into the smithy. “Your friends are bac—” Her eyes widened as she saw the sword in the boy’s hand.

“Oh,” Wei Zexian quickly sheathed it, smiling at her innocently. “Thank you for coming to get us, ma’am!”

“Oh, n-no problem!” She replied as he brushed past her in favor of going to greet the mercenaries. Quickly, the wife went over to her husband. “That boy is a monster.”

“No one in a two mile vicinity doesn’t already know that, dear,” He replied, still wiping his eyes from earlier. “Well, except maybe his brother.”

“He knows as well,” She muttered, thinking of all the times in the past week Wei Ying had spoken of his gege with such respect and reverence, how he wanted to be even a quarter as ‘awesome’ as he was.

“What’s up, punk?” Bai Yin, courtesy name Zhenya, greeted with a grin as he saw Wei Zexian coming towards them.

“I finished!” He answered, coming to a stop in front of him before shifting to show him his belt and the sword hanging off it.

“A fine blade,” Bai Zhenya nodded approvingly. “Care to draw it?”

“Are you ready for that?” Wei Zexian mocked, the two grinning challegingly at each other.

“Now now, that’s enough,” Zi Xieren walked over, crossing his arms as he looked at the boy. “So? Draw already.”

“So impatient~ I haven’t even gotten to say hi to everybody yet,” He teased, but drew the sword anyway. Every heart skipped a beat, their stomachs’ now in their throats. Never had any of them witnessed such a terrifying sword. And that wasn’t the worst part: they were scared because of who was wielding it. And who had made it, as it reflected his blood, sweat and tears—his inner soul.

“Wei Zexian,” Zi Xieren knelt down in front of him. “How do you feel about me giving you a courtesy name now?”

“Huh?” Wei Zexian cocked his head. “I’m nowhere near being an adult, though?”

“It can also be bestowed when a master deems you’ve earned one,” Cao Shuren commented, coming to also kneel in front of the boy. “So, what do you say? We’ve had one in mind for you for a while.”

“Um,” His eyebrows furrowed for a moment, his mind racing before his face relaxed and he nodded. “Then I shall graciously accept your offer, Zi Xieren’xiansheng, Cao Shuren’xiong.”

“Then, from now on,” Zi Xieren and Cao Shuren stood up, smiling down at him. “You’ll be known as Wei Kuo. Extraordinary and limitless.”