Meditations

Jia Yuan walked up and saluted the teacher.

“What sort of training will I be doing today, then?”

The teacher smiled. “No physical training today. Sit in the middle of the building while meditating. Pay attention to the life around you. In four hours, I want you do tell me what you have noticed. After this, I will have you read some scrolls on the history of cultivation on the Continent of the Five Elements.”

“Awww… but I don’t like reading.”

“As a cultivator, it is important to understand how the world you live in came to be.”

Jia Yuan groaned. Reading was boring! Training was interesting! He could feel the world’s energies! He felt strong, he felt capable!

What did reading do? It put him to sleep…

Seeing Jia Yuan’s reaction to being told he would have to read, the teacher sighed. All of these kids these days… all brawn and no brain.

“Alright you. Less complaining, or I’ll kick you out of the estate. Now go into the building.”

Jia Yuan walked into the building that the teacher had created over the pool of water, and the teacher followed him in.

The teacher paced around Jia Yuan.

“When you first received your Song, you should have learn some initial stances to practice with, right?”

Jia Yuan nodded.

“In that case, practice those first.”

Jia Yuan nodded again, and then drew the black sword. After taking a deep breath, he settled into the first stance associated with his Song of Water. Shifting his body, he swung his sword in an arc, settling into the second stance.

The teacher groaned. “Ugh, I thought this would happen. You’re treating these stances as if they’re from your Song of Fire. Your moves are too aggressive! Far too aggressive! Water is a fluid element. Practice your stances while focusing solely on fluidity of movement!”

Jia Yuan blinked a few times, then nodded. It’s true that he was switching his stances a little too aggressively. Instead of paying attention to his body as he transitioned from one stance to the next, he was more focused on just simply getting to the second stance.

This was fine when he was practicing his Song of Fire. After all, the Fire is an unbridled, aggressive and ever-changing element.

Although some of his movements were still rather blunt, he was clearly improving. Seeing so, the teacher gave a nod of approval.

He then continued to practice his stances, now with a ribbon of water flowing around him.