16 Dao Teacher

[Word Count 2360]

"I am not going to use my inner strength. I will handicap myself for your own sake," Zhao Wei suggested. It sounded very ridiculous to say that he was handicapping himself when his body wasn't added into the equation.

"I see no problem with that but… why do I have a feeling that that isn't enough of a handicap?" Zhao Yufei squinted her eyes with a suspicious look on her beautiful face.

It reminded her of that time during the tournament. The monster in front of her could effortlessly defeat her in a single move.

"Okay, I will limit my strength to your level," Zhao Wei said silently.

'This means that I will be suppressing my strength all the way down to the Peak of 2nd rank. What an unfair world we live in. Sadly, that world has always been unfair.' He chuckled dryly inside his mind.

"Come at me with all you've got. As long as you graze or even touch me then it's your win." Zhao Wei then positioned himself some distances away from Zhao Yufei and took a calm, non-combative posture.

Zhao Yufei took on a more serious approach. Her disposition was one of utmost vigilance and concentration as she eyed her sparring partner.

Taking slow but graceful steps, Zhao Yufei tried looking for any openings in Zhao Wei's posture.

Zhao Yufei analyzed first since she already knew the icing tip of his hidden capabilities.

'His stance is so basic and calm as if he is not about to fight with me. He looks harmless but after having a few interactions with him, I know that he's anything but that.'

'I hate to admit it but I admire him since he has superior fighting capabilities than me but as a genius myself, I don't want to say inferior for long.'

"Aren't you gonna move? Don't you value the benefit of having the first move?" Zhao Wei spotted a mocking grin on his face.

Zhao Yufei frowned in displeasure but she just couldn't move yet.

'He has no openings, that's what is making me hesitate in my attack.'

Zhao Yufei felt a headache when facing this kind of person.

'Hmph, if I can't find an opening in his stance then I will just have to create one where I would deal him a lethal blow to his ego.' A resolute glint momentarily flashed in her clear eyes.

'I will win! I will defeat him if I just find that one opening!'

'One opening is all I need to end it all!'

When she moved, Zhao Yufei looked like an Immortal fairy gracefully gliding above clouds. Her dainty feet seemed to elude the earth with every nimble movement that she took.

WHOOSH!

Her delicate palm was coated by a blue glow of energy as she outstretched her hand in an effort to deliver a ruthless attack.

Zhao Wei had told her to use every ounce of her strength without reservations so she intended to do just that.

When Zhao Wei's body showed a reaction to her attack, Zhao Yufei's pink lips slightly curved into a devious smile.

'That was a feint, idiot.'

Zhao Yufei redirected her own attack at the last minute and aimed at an opening - a seemingly unguarded area of Zhao Wei's shoulder.

'This is my victory!'

A hidden dark and wicked smile slowly creeped across Zhao Wei's lips.

Zhao Yufei accidentally caught a glimpse of his smile and she suddenly forgot to breathe for a second.

'That villainous smile, don't tell me…' A sudden realization hit her mind with unstoppable momentum.

Zhao Yufei's instincts immediately kicked in and she wanted to escape from the already set 'net'.

"Gotcha!" That word sent cold shivers down her fair back without even realizing it.

When Zhao Wei finally moved, he didn't use any of his perfected techniques or even the monstrous strength of his physical body. Zhao Wei only used his Eye abilities and his fingers. He didn't even use forceful methods.

His movements were minimal and precise as he rapidly used his fingers to hit the pressure points located beneath Zhao Yufei's arm's soft flesh.

Zhao Yufei's arm muscles were rendered useless as it went limp and in addition to that, she couldn't efficiently circulate her inner energy through the meridian vessel located on her arm.

What?!

Zhao Yufei was petrified beyond measure. She felt helpless and weak

Her right arm was now useless and paralyzed. Her nerves seemed to have ceased functioning.

She couldn't believe that she was crippled under the guise of a spar.

'No, no!" She panicked wildly.

'How can this be happening?'

'Am I going to be unable to cultivate?!'

'I can't let that happen. I am gonna kill this ruthless demon!'

Her eyes reddened due to small tears, her cheeks bloated in anger as she hatefully stared at Zhao Wei.

"Haha! Yufei, why are you looking at me as if I stole something very precious from you?" Zhao Wei revealed a gloating smile.

"Bastard! Even if I have to die today, I will make sure to tear apart that smug smile off your face before gouging out your stupid eyes and feeding them to the crows!" Zhao Yufei spewed out cursive words from her small mouth without a care of her current unlady-like behavior. The burning embers of fury smoldering in her charming eyes were enough to turn winter into summer.

Zhao Wei had to admit to himself even as someone who had good control over his sexual urges, that the currently fuming Zhao Yufei looked as hot as hell.

'I am still human and humans are beings of emotions. I have urges but as someone who has excellent mastery over their body, my lower body will never win against my godly mind… Amitabha.'

The inevitable connection of yin and yang. Seven emotions and six desires. Those were what defined a human being.

Zhao Wei's ambitions were naturally high and mighty. He didn't pursue eternal life or pseudo immortality. He wanted more than that. What could be found after eternal life? What exactly existed beyond Eternality? What did it mean to transcend all of existence? What did it truly mean to severe all the fetters holding you to mortality?

In his pursuit of such Grand aspirations, there were naturally going to be sacrifices. Power after all comes at a cost. His heart yearned to be unburdened so there would naturally be no room for romantic love between a man and woman. In addition, his single-mindedness didn't allow it.

Calming down his inner thoughts, Zhao Wei spoke in a reassuring tone.

"Give it a few minutes and you will be okay. Just for your information, I have not crippled you… permanently. I have just hit some of your pressure points that are responsible for your whole arm activity. As for the meridian vessel, it's just a minor one. It will naturally return to normal just like the pressure points."

"Ugh, uwaah!… Y-Y-You l-lying… scummy piece-!" Zhao Yufei didn't listen to Zhao Wei's words and treated them as lies as she cried her heart out but then…

"Er?!" Zhao Yufei was suddenly surprised when she felt the sensations of her arm muscles returning.

"My arm…" Zhao Yufei continuously clenched and unclenched her fingers.

After confirming that everything was alright including her energy pathways, she set her deadly gaze on Zhao Wei.

"You are really heartless!"

"You are evil!"

Zhao Wei nonchalantly raised his eyebrows. Zhao Yufei's way of speaking kind of made him speechless for a moment.

"Whatever will suit you best."

He honestly didn't care about being called heartless or any names since they didn't define who he was. Even if he had a bad reputation, he wouldn't even bat an eyelid.

"I don't wanna waste any more of my time uselessly arguing with you, so I will now get straight to the point," Zhao Wei said coldly.

'This man…? I really can't understand him. My mind tells me not to try understanding him but my heart is slowly suggesting something illogical, ugh!' Zhao Yufei pushed those confusing thoughts away and firmly nodded.

Her main reason for coming here was to find out about her own inadequacy. So Zhao Yufei really needed to know the areas she was lacking from someone who was obviously more knowledgeable than her.

"Do you understand the essence of your own technique?" Zhao Wei started while taking his shirt that was hanging on a nearby tree and then wore it.

Zhao Yufei watched each and every of his actions without blinking but soon realized her own inappropriate behavior and turned her eyes away albeit while being embarrassed.

"My palm techniques incorporate softness to counter hardness while using less effort to fight off my enemies." Zhao Yufei answered softly.

"Hmm, you wanna know why you lost horribly against me?" Zhao Wei asked calmly while his eyes gazed off at the fluffy clouds floating in the vast sky.

"Please guide me." Zhao Yufei had a solemn expression on her face.

"One, You are predictable. Two, you have so many unnecessary movements. Three, you have no concrete knowledge about your own body. Finally, you have yet to understand the essence of your technique." Zhao Wei cut off a small random twig from the tree.

"To understand your opponent's weakness, first you must understand yourself. You have to know your weak points. And to understand your weaknesses, you must have an illusory image of your physical body in your mind."

"After having a basic understanding of your own body, then you must learn to know how to control it. Your movements will be unpredictable if you know how to operate your own body."

Zhao Wei paused, enjoying the silence of the atmosphere and the attentiveness portrayed by Zhao Yufei's determined eyes.

"I am not going to tell you to do things the way I do. The martial path is one trodden by oneself and every one has their own path. I don't want you to blatantly heed to everything that I say lest you walk a path that I designed for you." Zhao Wei warned before continuing.

Zhao Yufei nodded aggressively, her eyes fixated on Zhao Wei's figure. Each word that Zhao Wei spoke, filled Zhao Yufei with a sense of profundity. She couldn't understand how someone young enough to be called her peer was so knowledgeable about such abstruse concepts.

Her mind sadly couldn't keep up with everything that he was saying but since she was a genius, she had already understood most of the important details.

"So about the essence… the fundamentals. Softness and hardness. These two concepts are derivatives of the principles of Yin and Yang. Your technique uses softness and barely incorporates hardness. If the ocean has different pressure levels which increase with the increase in depth, then your power can be said to be merely at the top layer where the pressure is the weakest. "

Zhao Yufei winced when she heard his last words. Being called weak isn't funny.

"If you want your attacks to be unpredictable with perfect balance between offense and defense, then be like water. Water can be found almost everywhere. It's in the air and has also taken the form of clouds and it's in the deep seas, where it can even crush a cultivator's body into smithereens if they are not careful." Zhao Wei smiled as he took some examples from Earth's scientific concepts. (A/N: Higher level cultivators can't be affected by high level water pressure)

"The clouds are soft and intangible while the waters in the deepest part of the seas are filled with unimaginable pressure which equates to hardness."

"That's the essence. An understanding of the fundamentals of what your technique entails."

Zhao Wei fiddled with the twig in his hand before breaking it into two and dropped it on the ground.

"You have to find your flow, Yufei.'

"That's all." Zhao Wei exhaled lightly and looked at Zhao Yufei who seemed to be lost in her own thoughts.

"Be like water, understand water, be unpredictable. Find my… flow?" Zhao Yufei muttered to herself before realizing that Zhao Wei had already finished with the explanation.

"You seem to have grasped something. I am surprised. I don't consider myself as a good teacher but giving you a few of my insights wasn't that bad," Zhao Wei said expressionlessly.

"So where's my technique?"

Business as usual.

Zhao Yufei harrumphed. "It's not like I am going to break my promise."

"You don't know anything about a woman's heart," Zhao Wei spoke in a disapproving voice while lightly waving his index finger at her.

"As if you know anything about a woman when you are just 14 years of age. A mere brat!" Zhao Yufei retorted with a mocking smile on her lips.

"And you are 15. I can't believe that an old girl like you got beaten up by a mere 14 year old brat," Zhao Wei winked at her.

"..."

"..."

Zhao Yufei didn't know how to counterattack anymore and closed her mouth shut.

Zhao Yufei then took out an old book from her dress's pocket and hurriedly placed it on Zhao Wei's outstretched hand.

Zhao Wei quickly went through the book to confirm its authenticity and after making sure that there were no mistakes, he nodded in satisfaction.

"You can go now. We are done."

Zhao Yufei almost felt like chuckling, her suppressed laughter, full of unconcealed melody.

"Stop talking as if we are couples breaking up when we are of the same clan. Your mouth really knows no shame." Using her delicate hands to hide her blushing face that reminded one of a thornless rose, Zhao Yufei gave Zhao Wei's face one last glance before hurriedly excusing herself.

Zhao Wei smiled to himself before shaking his head.

"It always begins like that but sadly, she would eventually be disappointed." His eyes held deep meaning as he went inside his house to shower before resting.

After all, the day has truly been a long one and he also had to prepare adequately for what he had planned.

Risks and opportunities awaited him once again in the Sky Cloud Forest.

***