The Tale Never Ends

I realized the confused and aghast expression on Qin Le’s face and placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s fine. I am a human. Not a demon.” After a heartbeat, I said to her again, “Ah, right. So with my sister here, I suppose we’ll have no problem getting out of this forest. This is her domain, after all.” I cast a glance at Sister and she nodded with a smile at me, attesting to what I just said.

Then, it was time for explanations.

Apparently, Sister was informed of my presence after I allowed the young little fox cub caught by my spirit wolf to go. It had scampered off to Sister and told her about me. The news of a young man with considerable magical skills and armed with a magical gourd appearing in the forest reminded Sister about Father, hence she led her retinue of foxes with her. To her dismay, she found only me instead.

Only, when she first saw me, the little baby brother who was still wetting his bed when she last saw me was the last thing on her mind. Being in the mountains did little to sharpen Sister’s comprehension of the flow of Time. Twenty years was like a lackadaisical wave of a hand for her and she could hardly believe that the toddler was a full-grown man now. This also illustrated the difference between the perception of demons and humans. Twenty years was hardly time enough for much progress in ones’ magic as far as demons were concerned. It was hardly surprising that Sister never expected that it was me who appeared with our Fathers’ trademark weapon, his magical gourd.

That prompted her to first have her lackeys surround us. She wanted to observe us. All the while waiting for more news from her spies abroad for urgent information about the new wielder of the Spirit Gourd. When every shred of intelligence that came back to her finally convinced her that I was Father’s son and confirmed my betrothal with Edelweiss, she was no less surprised upon the incredible revelation about me than she was jealous and sour. For more than two decades, Father and Mother had never once come to see her; the unwanted daughter miles and miles away, forgotten and neglected. And here I was, the heir to not only Father’s magic, but also his trademark regalia. It was only understandable how bitter Sister was.

It was finally when she was certain of who I am, Sister decided that she needed to test me. At her command, her legion of foxes drew closer to the fireside and I would have remained none the wiser if not for the photograph Qin Le had taken with me.

Sister only watched with amusement as I charged at the foxes, leaving Qin Le alone by the fire. Then an idea came to her. She turned herself back into a fox and pounced at Qin Le, mistaking her for Edelweiss and wishing to test her too. Little did she expect, the geeky Qin Le was thrilled to see Sister in her fox form, thinking her adorable and she couldn’t help rushing to carry Sister in her arms. Seeing this as an insult by a mortal, Sister thrashed violently and delivered a kick at Qin Le, sending her falling backward, screaming at the top of her voice and it was Qin Le’s scream that had made me turn back and come to her aid. This was how our fight began.

“So, have you never left this wilderness, Sister?” I asked dryly, “Have you never visited Father and Mother?” “No,” she replied flatly, “I have been here all this time, busy with my training.”

Sister was taken in by Father and Mother when she was just a demon with a-century-long of magical powers. She was a scourge of destruction in these parts until Father and Mother came to stop her. But they showed her mercy by not killing her, instead, she was accepted as a daughter-surrogate. And the reason Father stayed his hand, when Mother told Sister sometime before they left her, was because Father saw Mother in her.

Sister failed to understand what Mother was trying to say then. But she had little to complain; not when her life was spared when she was inches away from being slaughtered.

But Sister knew enough about repaying the kindness that she had received. She kept to herself mostly, staying deep in the jungle and concentrating her time only in her studies of magic. She paused and caressed the ear ornament hanging on her ear, fingering it wistfully. “Father and Mother first took away my demonic powers. But they took me in, imparting to me the magic of sword telekinesis and this earring.” From under her pillow, she took out a little booklet which could not have looked more familiar to me: the Hai’s Mystic Arts! I took it from her and gave it a look before returning it to Sister. “Yep, it’s completely the same, all right. I have one too. I’m sure Father conjured this out of thin air for you.” Sister giggled at that, nodding.

“But Sister,” I remembered something else suddenly. “What is that sword you were using just now?” She smirked playfully and waved. The sword of ice appeared in her hand and she handed it to me by its hilt. “This is something I made myself!” The chilliness of the ice handle tingled as soon as I grasped it and began studying it. The sword was made completely of ice, just like Shang Pei’s pole-arm. But a sheen of golden luster limned the edges of the glittering weapon, making it all the more amazing to behold.

“But, you have created more copies of this weapon?” I swung the sword, testing its balance. “What do you mean?” Sister blurted incredulously, “I don’t understand what you mean by more copies?” “I’m asking if you made only one ice sword, or do you have many, many of this?” “Of course there’s only one!” She gave me a look that made me felt silly. Then she stifled a giggle, finally catching my meaning. “Stupid boy. You haven’t realized it do you?” “What do you mean,” I almost asked aloud.

Then she explained, “The rest of the ice swords you’ve been seeing are merely copies conjured using Qi.” I blinked hard. It was hardly my first time witnessing such a feat; Father had demonstrated to me something similar before. But it had not occurred to me before that the copies could be conjured without the actual sword itself.

Sister seemed to have guessed my thoughts again. With a disdainful frown, she said again, “There are different stages of mastery of the magic of sword telekinesis. The first one is the ‘Sword of Steel’, meaning one’s mastery in conventional swordplay, but not yet in the crux of its magic…” I interjected almost immediately, “And the next is the ‘Sword of Mind and Steel’?” Sister gave me an approving nod, clearly missing my jestful jibe.

I stared at Sister, egging her to explain. She slapped at the back of my head gently. “The first stage refers to those who are able to wield the sword like how a normal swordsman would, but failing to use magic yet.”

I said nothing. With a look from me and a scratch on the back of my ear, I motioned her to go on.

“The second stage refers to users like you. Users who are adept in the magic of sword telekinesis, although only the rudimentary basics.” I narrowed my eyes skeptically and muttered, “Then what about you?”

A cryptic grin broke on Sister’s face. “I am of the third stage—’the Sword of Mind’!” Unable to contain my annoyance at her smugness, I was about to say something but she droned on, “I can conjure swords even without my actual weapon and I can control them solely with my mind now.”

“But you said something about me becoming one with my sword just now? What did you mean by that?” My question burst forth at once. Sister smiled. “You are still not yet near my level, is because you are not yet one with your weapon. To conjured weapons purely using your Qi without your actual weapon requires you to embody part of the essence of your weapon. That is what we call ‘truly becoming one with your weapon’. As of now, you are but only one step closer to reaching this stage. But, I had underestimated your weapon. I did not expect that a legendary weapon has such might. You might have just barely grazed this level of mastery, but the invincibility of your awesome weapon could have allowed you to defeat me, if not for your poor stamina!”

I threw her an ugly look. The self-satisfied grin on her was just unbearable. “You’ve been training for two decades while I have barely a year or two into this!”

But even this did not seem to escape her guess. She placed a hand on my head. “But you mustn’t be proud. You are talented, and I give you that. But that does not mean you can slack off on your training. You don’t have nine lives to spare, see? Foes and enemies don’t show you the same mercy as your sister did.” With that, she pursed her lips pompously again.

But that made me laugh. I tugged at her fox’s ears. “But what’s this, Sister? Is your growth not complete or is your magic still far from perfect? Your fox’s ears and tails are showing! Look at these legs too!?”