Chapter 105
The Art of Dao
The following morning, just after dawn, Tobias knelt in Blossom Genji's house beside eight young girls. He was there to begin his lessons in fan artistry. Private lessons were only given to the most skilled members of the pavilion, and Tobias had yet to prove he was worthy of such attention. The girls giggled and whispered in each other's ears, wondering what he was doing there. They had all been sold by their parents during the recent famine. The pavilion had bought them, hoping to save them from a life of utter misery. However, the Silver Blossom Pavilion was not a charity, so they could not save every peasant's daughter from ending up there, only the pretty ones, the ones that might have a chance of recouping their investment.
Blossom Genji slid open the door and glided into the room, causing the girls to immediately go silent. She flowed to her position of prominence in the classroom. She smoothly knelt on the mat before her students, delicately reaching out to pick up her fan. Every action was precisely controlled as she rested it across her thighs.
Her fan was not the feminine fan used in The Three Kingdoms, but the masculine folding fan. Tobias didn't know whether that was because he was here or for another reason. The girls copied her actions in silence, so Tobias did the same.
Blossom Genji did not speak, moving silently from one action to another, moving her fan in an elaborate dance that flowed from one motion to the next. They all followed what she did, replicating it as best they could, but within a few moments, Tobias was enchanted. Every action, every motion, was perfectly precise, causing him to hear whispers of the dao of beauty Blossom Genji embodied.
The dao sang with her success as she guided those around her to her understanding without ever uttering a word. Her movements were beautiful, and through that beauty, she inspired others to be the same. It compelled them all to follow her out of an ugly world and into paradise.
Within minutes, Tobias was certain that he had made the right decision to join the pavilion. The Silver Blossom Pavilion had its foundation in the cultivation world, but had forgotten its roots, practicing methods that they no longer understood. Each motion grew his understanding of something he had never truly experienced, unrestricted beauty.
Yin Hao's dao of luck would always elude him. However, here Tobias could connect with the dao of beauty like no other place he had encountered.
Three hours passed in silence before Blossom Genji placed down her fan and broke the spell she had woven over her students. The girls were all covered in a light film of sweat. The motions had not been taxing, but the duration was beginning to push them to their limits.
"This is where we will end our lesson for the day," Blossom Genji announced. "Come and give me a hug and then go join the others for the midday meal."
The silent girls leapt to their feet and raced over to hug her, before hurrying out of the classroom to eat.
Blossom Genji turned to Tobias and opened her arms, motioning forward for a hug.
Tobias rose to his feet, made his way over, and knelt, hugging the beautiful young woman. Her hug held none of the allure that he expected. Instead, it was soft and inviting, an action filled with beautiful acceptance.
It was unlike any hug he'd ever received, and the dao of beauty sang in his ears, whispering profound truths of the universe.
Tobias disengaged from his teacher and leaned back, feeling different than before he had hugged her. Much of his stress and concern was gone. It was an odd experience, one that took him a moment to understand.
Tobias smiled, feeling the warmth and happiness rushing through him. He cupped his hands and bowed. "Thank you for teaching me that a hug can be beautiful, Blossom Genji."
Blossom Genji smiled back just as warmly. "When you are beautiful, all that you do is beautiful."
Tobias nodded.
What she had done was deeply influenced by the dao of beauty. He could not say how or why, only that it was so. "May I ask you a question?"
She shook her head. "Blossoms do not teach through words. We teach through actions. Any question you ask about our methods, I cannot answer."
"It is not that sort of question."
Blossom Genji continued to smile. "You wish to know how the little girl you saved ended up in a place like this."
Tobias shook his head. "I wish to know why we are using a folding fan. I was taught it is a masculine accessory."
Blossom Genji laughed. "The answer should be obvious."
Tobias frowned.
Blossom Genji picked up her fan and flicked it open. A distinct and familiar noise accompanied the action. "A folding fan contains an element of sound. It is much easier to bewitch a suitor when more of their senses are engaged." She flicked it closed. "If you master the folding fan, you will be able to move on to the rigid feminine fan. However, very few in our pavilion have ever mastered the folding fan, and none have truly mastered the next."
Tobias could understand why. Connecting to the dao of beauty without sound would be significantly more difficult. The fact that any mortal could interact with dao was already astonishing.
Surrounding yourself with a dao without any open meridians was extremely rare. It was usually only possible for master artisans who had devoted their lives to their craft without realising they could have taken another path and become cultivators. Blossom Genji had achieved what they had, but at a much younger age.
It was something Tobias had never seen and didn't understand. Dao was supposed to be for cultivators, but Blossom Genji was not a cultivator.
Tobias cupped his hands and bowed again. "The children you taught had far more grace with their folding fans than I did, and now that I have seen my failings, I find myself embarrassed."
She smiled softly. "That is not your fault, Saviour. Whoever taught you to wield a fan was filled with bitterness. They tried to gain control over those around them, and your movements personify their character and intent."
"An accurate observation."
"You did not respect your past teacher?"
Tobias shook his head. "She was a powerful cultivator who kept trying to manoeuvre her way into my bed. Her husband would have executed me the moment she lost interest."
Blossom Genji relaxed, and her features transformed, becoming more beautiful. She did not become more attractive; her inner beauty blossomed, revealing who she was to the world around her. Dao whispers filled Tobias's ears, speaking of the beauty that lived within and how it could come out.
Blossom Genji reached out and took his hand in hers. "You are not the first in this pavilion to have had such experiences, and I am here if you ever need someone to talk to."
Through the pavilion's practices, Blossom Genji had somehow tapped into the dao of beauty in multiple ways, something that no mortal should have been capable of, but someone with a high enough divinity could do so.
She was born to be a cultivator.
Tobias squeezed her hand back. "I would like that."
***
Hun Fen didn't look happy when Tobias arrived at her house late. His conversation with Blossom Genji had lasted much longer than he expected. She had been a good listener, helping him talk about a piece of his past that he had not truly put to rest. His old teacher's advances had not made him feel powerless, because he could keep her at bay, but they had made him feel like a coward, because he had not done more to stop her. She had been untouchable to him. Someone beyond his reach of influence, and he had never made peace with that. One conversation had not fixed him, but it helped to get it off his chest.
Hun Fen stood in the small courtyard, holding a wooden training sword and glaring at the sky.
Tobias stopped behind her and looked up. "What are we angry about?"
She continued to glare. "I'm not angry."
"Then why are you glaring at the sky?"
"Because I don't like it."
"You don't like the sky?"
"It never does what you want it to. It's always too sunny with not enough breeze or too cloudy with too much breeze. It's never just what you want it to be, and you know it's laughing down at you."
Hun Fen swung her sword at the sky, and Tobias watched it form a dao slash and launch into the heavens. Hun Fen nodded as if she had won, then dropped her gaze, turned around, and grinned at him.
Tobias chuckled. "Did you learn sword dao by trying to cut down the sky?
Hun Jai stepped out of her classroom. All the Blossoms had the same house in the family compound. They were large, box-shaped dwellings with an inner courtyard, a classroom, a living area, and a sleeping area.
Hun Jai smiled at her daughter. "Hun Fen's been angry at the sky for as long as I can remember. She used to swing my fans at it when she was smaller."
Tobias frowned and reached for his folding fan, holding it out to Hun Fen. "Can you do your trick with a fan?"
Hun Fen nodded as she took the fan, flicked it open, and then waved it at the sky, sending another dao slash skyward. This dao slash was much weaker than the other, but it would be enough to wound a mortal. "It's not as good when I use a fan."
She offered it back.
Tobias took the fan and slashed the sky with it, sending a much stronger dao slash to the heavens, one that could cut a mortal in half. Watching the sword dao storms in the Sword Garden had given him deep insights into the dao of the sword. Over the centuries, he had woven that understanding back together, gaining five distinct immortal sword enlightenments, making him a living sword with five blades.
Hun Fen's mouth dropped open, looking between Tobias and his slash. "How did you do that?"
Tobias smiled to hide his concern for her skill. "What you just did had nothing to do with the dao of the sword."
"It doesn't?"
Tobias shook his head. "What you harnessed is the dao of the slash. The dao of the slash and the dao of the sword are deeply connected, but they are not one. And the dao of the slash does not require a sword. Anything that can slash is capable of creating it."
Tobias slashed with his hand, creating another dao slash that was even stronger than the previous.
Hun Jai watched from the side, frowning, because she could not see what they could.
"Why was that one stronger?" Hun Fen asked excitedly.
"Because while you can use almost anything as a focus to produce a dao slash, the dao of what you use does matter. My fan is more fragile than my hand, so it produces a weaker dao slash."
Tobias knew his words were technically untrue. The right focus made it easier to harness dao, but it did not make it stronger. Strength was dictated by your comprehension. However, comprehension was easier to impart on the world with the right focus, so most ended up needing the crutch.
Teaching her wrong now would help her in the short term and was unlikely to hinder her later when he corrected her understanding. Hun Fen had more instinctive ability than anyone he had ever met. He had not expected her to be able to interact with dao without a sword.
Hun Fen held out her hand for his folding fan. "So, treating the fan as a sword is wrong. I should be treating it like the part of the sword that can slash."
Tobias hadn't spelt it out for her, but she had already comprehended his intent and fixed his intentional miscommunication. He handed her the fan, interested to see what would happen.
Hun Fen took the fan and slashed the heavens again, producing a much stronger dao slash, but one weaker than the one she had created with her wooden sword.
Tobias stood in awe of the transformation. What she had done in seconds had taken him years to understand, and he had been a core realm cultivator with extremely high divinity and talent. Even Peace Master So was not as talented as this girl, and he had the strongest connection to dao of anyone Tobias had met.
Hun Fens next slash was no stronger than the previous, which seemed to annoy her, because she tried again.
Tobias smiled. "I'm going to speak with your mother. Keep practicing."
"But you promised to teach me the way of the sword," she whined.
Tobias patted her head. "Take another swing against the heavens with your sword."
Hun Fen lowered the fan and raised her sword, slashing the heavens and creating a dao slash that was stronger than the previous one. Her mouth dropped open as she turned to Tobias. "My trick got stronger."
"Keep using your fan until your dao slashes are as strong as the one you just made."
Hun Fen dropped her training sword on the ground and began slashing the sky with abandon.
Tobias walked over to Hun Jai. "This must look strange to you?"
She shook her head as she leaned against the veranda post, revealing more beauty in the simple act than Blossom Genji had managed throughout her lesson. "I have seen the blades she creates on misty mornings. I didn't expect this to be where you would start with her training, though."
"I wasn't going to, but then you said she would attack the sky with a fan."
"You make it sound like that is a problem?"
"No, but it does mean that she needs to learn to control this ability before I teach her anything else. Otherwise, she might hurt someone."
Hun Jai frowned, displaying beautiful concern. "Hurt someone?"
"Your daughter doesn't know anything about swordsmanship. However, yesterday at the tournament, I watched her improve as she fought her opponents. She took their martial arts and made them her own. Copying what they did and incorporating them as she needed to, ignoring anything that wouldn't work with her size and strength. She did so instinctively. And today, her dao slashes are undoubtedly stronger because of it."
"You fear what her blades will become when you begin teaching her."
Tobias shook his head. "No. Her dao slashes are already strong enough to cut a mortal in half. My concern after you brought up the fan is that she can do this with anything, not just a sword. If she doesn't have perfect control over this ability, she may one day wave goodbye and accidentally kill someone."
Hun Jai stared in shock. "Then why are you making this ability stronger?"
"Dao is hard for mortals to comprehend. Your daughter is currently working with the dao of the slash. This is the universal law of something akin to the shallow cut. As she goes deeper into this dao, she will naturally develop ways to improve her control over that dao, which will prevent her from harming others. I will have to help her master everything she discovered at the tournament yesterday, before I can begin teaching her anything else."
"Finished!"
Tobias looked over his shoulder to see Hun Fen slashing the sky with her fan, creating dao slashes that were as strong as the ones with her sword. "I want ten dao slashes with your sword and then use the fan again until you can make dao slashed that are as strong as the ones with your sword."
Hun Fen snapped his folding fan closed and shoved it through her belt before leaning down to pick up the sword. The sword jumped into her hand when it was a few inches away.
Tobias groaned internally. Her comprehension of sword dao had grown stronger just by gaining a deeper comprehension of the dao of slashing."
She grinned excitedly. "I learned a new trick."
She dropped the sword to the ground and held her hand above it. The sword juggled in place but did not rise from the ground. After nearly a minute of trying, she bent down, picked it up and began swinging it at the heavens.
"Was that normal?" Hun Jia asked.
"It is for a core realm sword saint who has about a century of training under a sword master."
"She's eight."
"Which should answer your question."
"Is this because she's a prodigy?"
"It could be."
"You don't know."
"Cultivators like your daughter appear once in a million years. There is no one alive I can compare her to. I'm surprised that none of the noble clans have kidnapped her yet."
"I have done everything I can to prevent that from happening. She has two dozen open betrothal offers and is directly under Patriarch Ming's protection."
"Was her father related to him?"
Hun Jai gave a sad smile. "He married into the clan and was a prodigy like Hun Fen. His wife died in childbirth, but gave their clan another prodigy to take his place when he had his accident. She was supposed to win yesterday's tournament."
The chances of two prodigies appearing in one clan were low, unless you knew how to create them, but that information was a closely guarded secret, even Tobias hadn't discovered. It could have been luck, but it likely wasn't.
"You're lucky to have survived her birth."
"So, I've been told."
"Do they know they are half-sisters?"
"Yes."
Tobias might be able to use this. "Do the two of them get along?"
"In private."
"In public?"
"They keep their distance. The main branch of their clan fears that my daughter will supplant their prodigy. The tournament will have made our relationship worse."
"Finished!"
Tobias glanced over his shoulder. "Switch back to the sword again."
Hun Fen held her hand above her sword, causing it to jiggle, trying to get it to fly into her hand.
Tobias could see the stubborn look in her eyes and knew the limited time he was allowed to train her each day wasn't enough to keep her from getting distracted. "The space between your hand and the sword is an illusion. If you can move it at all, distance does not matter. Your mind is lying and saying it should be harder."
The sword flew into her hand, but her nose began to bleed. Hun Fen wiped her face, seeing the blood. "You said the distance is an illusion."
"It is an illusion, but it still takes effort to bring your daos together."
"But I can normally make hundreds of dao slashes before my nose bleeds."
"You are projecting dao upon the world, not changing it."
"So, when I summoned my sword, I changed it."
"Yes. You were telling the universe that your dao and the dao within the sword are one, which is much harder to do. Now, go get a drink of water and wait for the nosebleed to stop."
Hun Fen pinched her nose and tilted her head back. "Will it always do this?"
"So long as you are mortal."
"Then it's a stupid trick."
Hun Fen wandered off.
Tobias turned back to her mother. "I'll take care of the Ming family."
Hun Jai sucked in a breath, hearing something he didn't say. "Please don't kill them. They're mostly good people."
"I'm not going to harm them. I'm going to inform Patriarch Ming that their prodigy is welcome to be my suitor."
Hun Jia's eyes widened. "They will never allow something so scandalous."
"Nothing in the rulebook you gave me last night prohibits me from teaching my suitors cultivation. And I know that Patriarch Ming would be willing to bankrupt his Clan and weather any scandal for me to train her."
"You're certain."
"Completely."
"What you do in your pavilion is up to you then. But you still have to reach our standards to be allowed to entertain in our gardens."
"I'm looking forward to the challenge."
Hun Jai smiled. "You mean that, don't you?"
Tobias nodded. "Your pavilion is steeped in the dao of beauty. It is unlike anywhere I have ever seen. Blossom Genji's fan lesson was an enlightening experience."
"She has a gift for the fan."
"She does. Are all the Blossoms like her?"
Hun Jai nodded. "We each have our individual talents, which make us unique and worthy of the title Blossom. My daughter puts us all to shame. Within a few years, she will be teaching us."
"What is your talent?"
"Tea ceremonies."
Tobias smiled. "I look forward to my lessons."
"Most don't. They find my art too tedious."
"My grandfather has a deep love for tea. He began teaching me tea ceremonies when I was just four years old. Preparing tea for others always makes me feel like he's with me."
Hun Jai smiled, lighting up the world with her beauty.
Tobias began to hear dao whispers again.
***
The Blossoms taught their disciples in the morning, then had a two-hour break for lunch before the girls went off to study worldly affairs. This meant Tobias could only teach Hun Fen during her lunch break and after sunset.
Later that evening, Tobias sat in the courtyard watching Hun Fen continue to hurl dao slashes at the sky with various objects he had found. Her mother was off entertaining a wealthy suitor, and one of the retire Blossoms were cleaning up inside.
Hun Fen's progress was astounding.
In the few hours he'd been training her, her ability to manipulate the dao of slashing had gone from being able to harm someone at the bottom of the foundation realm to the peak. Tobias had been right about her having a nascent soul realm depth of comprehension, but he hadn't realised that his comprehension didn't just encompass the sword, but every aspect of its dao.
Hun Fen gently placed down the piece of broken pottery and skipped over to the corner of the courtyard to collect the ball sitting there.
"Stop," Tobias said firmly.
Hun Fen didn't stop.
Tobias used his aura to summon the ball to his hands.
Hun Fen turned and scowled. "I can do it."
Tobias waved her over.
Hun Fen continued to scowl as she marched over.
Tobias held up the ball. "This has no connection to the dao of slashing. It is not a focus. It is an obstruction. If you try to use it to create a dao slash, you will be creating a dao slash out of nothing. You will not be harnessing a dao or changing it, but creating it."
Tobias motioned her forward, wrapped an arm around her waist, and pulled her to his side so they were both facing the same way. Then he held up his palm. "If you try to do what you wanted to do, this is what is going to happen to you, but only if you are lucky."
Tobias created a dao slash from nothing, sending it into the sky, withdrawing the protection his dao offered him. It was a very risky thing to do, but Tobias had never shirked his duties as a master and had no intention of starting now.
Pain tore through his head, causing him to black out.
Tobias woke nearly an hour later.
Hun Fen was slapping his face.
He was lying on his back, with one arm still wrapped around her so she couldn't run off and keep training. He tasted blood in his mouth and could see through his aura that he had bled from his eyes, ears and nose. His body had recovered from the substantial injuries. However, he was still weak, his brain corrupted by the slashing dao he'd created.
Tobias opened his eyes, and the slapping stopped.
"You're alive."
"Barely. Now, what did you learn from watching me?"
"If I had tried to do what I wanted to do, I would have died."
Tobias nodded and opened his arm so she could escape. He sat up, which caused his head to swim, as he moved to his stool. He motioned for her to take a seat in front of him.
She knelt in front of him, perfectly poised, causing dao whispers of beauty to assault him. In his state, it gave him a thumping headache. But he needed to drive the lesson home.
"Hun Fen, we can borrow dao. We can harness dao. We can expand dao. And we can change it. But creating dao is something even core realm cultivators shouldn't do. My dao slash was weak, but if it had been any stronger, it would have killed me."
"You don't look well, Master."
Tobias frowned. "That's because I almost died. Now, why are you calling me, Master?"
Hun Fen gave him a very serious look, one that didn't match her age. "A master is one who prevents their disciples from coming to harm. They lead by example. You hurt yourself, so I wouldn't be hurt, so you are one I should call master."
"Master has a much deeper meaning in the cultivation world, Hun Fen. You are too young for me to allow you to make that commitment. Instead, call me teacher."
Hun Fen nodded. "Does it hurt, Teacher?"
For some reason, the word sounded like master when she spoke it. Tobias didn't understand how that was possible.
Tobias sighed and ran his finger across his nose. "This isn't a nosebleed. It's pieces of my brain. I pushed myself too hard. I underestimated what I could handle, and now I must pay the price."
"Oh. Why did you underestimate your ability? You don't seem ignorant?"
Tobias chuckled at the blunt question. "I'm a clone."
Hun Fen frowned. "I don't know what that means, Teacher?"
"This is not my real body. My real body is far away in seclusion, cultivating to reach the sage realm. This will take me a thousand years, so I made another body, this one, and put my mind into it. What my old body could survive, and what this one can, is vastly different. And I have never pushed this body as far as I did today, so I didn't know its limits."
Hun Fen's eyes widened. "You're a nascent soul realm cultivator!"
Tobias had told her mother, but not her, because he didn't feel she needed to know. He put his fingers to his lips. "But don't tell anyone."
"Is this why I can't read you? I normally know who I like and who I don't like, but I can't tell with you."
"Yes."
"You told Mama last night that you were hiding from your clan. Did you do something bad?"
Tobias nodded.
"Why?"
"Because I was young and foolish and trying to protect them."
"Now they hate you?"
Tobias shook his head. "They don't hate me. I can go home whenever I want, but if I do, my main body will learn what I know. And if it learns what I know, it will come out of seclusion to train Lung Mei."
"Is that bad?"
"No. But it's also unnecessary." Tobias could see she didn't understand. "A few centuries ago, I discovered there was a problem with Lung Mei's mother's cultivation and told her she needed a core realm daughter to help her correct it. I never expected her mother to be so callous that she would feed her own daughter to spirit beasts when she was done with her, or that she would intentionally harm her to save herself, so when I found out, I placed Lung Mei under my protection and made her my disciple."
"Is that why she's so odd?"
Tobias nodded. "Cultivating beyond the mortal realm before the age of twenty-five changes how your mind develops. Lung Mei has lived for more than a century, yet she behaves as if she were only a few years older than you. If she progresses her cultivation, she might never mature. So, I am helping her undo what I have inadvertently done to her. If my main body learns this, I will come out of seclusion to make things right."
"Which you don't have to do, because you are right here."
Tobias nodded.
"What will your clan do if they find you?"
"They will take me home and make me share what I know with my main body."
"Will they torture you?"
Tobias chuckled. "I will return to my main body when we meet, sharing everything I have done, becoming whole again. If they torture me, it will be no different from torturing my main body, so they would not dare. Also, my clan does not torture. We are just people who like to live a simple life. My little sister spends her days cooking for everyone."
Hun Fen smiled. "That must be nice."
"It is, and I miss them, but I must correct my mistake. Now, we were talking about creating dao. I may only be a clone, but I am still a cultivator in the nascent soul realm. If you tried to do what I just did, your head will explode."
Hun Fen's eyes widened. "Won't I just pass out like you did?"
"I passed out because my head tried to explode."
"Oh."
"Do not try to create dao. I cannot stop you. Only you can stop yourself. So please remember this lesson, because I do not want to explain to your mother why her daughter isn't around anymore."
Hun Fen nodded. "I promise I won't ever attempt to do what you did."
"Good."
"Can you teach me how to use a sword now?"
Tobias shook his head.
"Why not?"
"Because I'm a mean old man."
She giggled. "You're not mean. Mean people don't try to protect others."
"Then why wouldn't I be willing to teach you how to use a sword?"
She giggled. "Because you're trying to protect me."