Eitsu's Nine Lives (永津の九生) [yuri/GL yokai reincarnation story]

22 - Niǎo Qīng Yè

A/N: Starting today, I'll be attempting to put out at least 8 chapters for each of my 4 stories over the next 5 weeks. I'll hold off on adding my usual kanji footnotes for now, but I will be coming back to fix them up later.

***

"You want to do what?"

"What's the problem?"

Cheng Guk Lung put down his brush and rubbed his face. He had dark circles around his eyes that rivalled Tsubaki's. "No... I suppose that makes sense. Who do you want to spar against?"

"Whoever wants to rumble? I want to find out how much I've recovered."

Eitsu lay on the floor, playing idly with a ball of paper that Cheng Guk Lung had crumpled up and tossed aside.

"Well there's plenty of muscleheads at Hanasan who would want to try fighting a divine cat. I'll ask around."

"Thanks, Che-Cheng... Ugh... Cheng..."

"You're doing well."

A day later, almost the entire sect was once more gathered in the clearing below the five schools. The atmosphere was just as festive as the picnic had been the week before. There was food being passed around, and a few boxes for gathering betting money. Even the tutors were joining in.

"That was quick," Eitsu remarked from where she dangled in a tree.

Cheng Guk Lung looked exasperated. "As soon as I started asking around the schools, they almost wanted to start fighting you immediately! I had to work hard to make them delay it for a day. Next thing, all classes have been cancelled and the entire sect is here..."

"Good. So who's first?

"Well, since everyone was in such a hurry, it hasn't been decided yet. The school head thought it might be good to have the disciples do some sparring too, and some of the stronger ones can then fight you. I think some of the masters are itching to have a go too."

"I want to go first! Let me fight her!" A young man in the robes of the Reflective Arts School was yelling across the clearing. His eyes were sharp as knives, and they glinted in Eitsu's direction. The people standing next to him groaned and tried to act like they didn't know him. "Come on, let's go!"

"Ugh, that guy."

"Good, I don't want to sit around." Eitsu jumped neatly down from the branch, limbering her arms one at a time.

"Are you sure? Jiàn Kuàng might make a lot of noise, but he's one of the best cultivators of his generation. He's already on the edge of breaking into the expert level of the Second Dāntián."

"Is that supposed to be impressive?"

Cheng Guk Lung put on an academic air and began to explain, "Our cultivation arts are based on the movement of spiritual energy through the three focal points of the body, the dāntián. Jīng, the energy that we are all born with, is transformed into Qì, vitality, in the Lower Dāntián. Qì becomes Shén, spirit, in the Middle Dāntián. And Shén is transmuted into Wúwéi, nothingness, in the Upper Dāntián. Once one is able to transform Shén with complete efficiency into Wúwéi, they Ascend, achieving a divine state of being."

"... you're asking me to be worried about a brat who isn't even anywhere near achieving divinity? Did you forget who I am?"

Cheng Guk Lung looked awkward. "To be honest... we don't fully understand what you are, Lady Eitsu. A kaibyou, a yokai, a divine cat... They're not terms we really understand around here. Without a point of reference, we can't really determine what that means."