11 Five Fingers

It was the first day of autumn. The green maple leaves that adorned the many trees in the city were now bordered in red and gold, one of the natural wonders of Green Leaf City. While the city did not experience winter like the snowy countries in the north, the temperature would always dip low every night, leaving a fresh layer of frost on the already beautiful scenery. The leaves would never completely change to red and gold but would maintain this color throughout the winter.

Cha Ming had recently broken through to the third level of qi condensation. After enjoying a quick breakfast, he met Feng Ming out at the cultivation pavilion. Despite his appearance as a silk-pants young master, Feng Ming was always hard at work. He and Cha Ming would usually spar against each other every day, and once Feng Ming got used to Cha Ming's plethora of cheap techniques, they were evenly matched.

Paff, paff, paff. The sound of wood clashing on wood echoed out through the empty courtyard. Cha Ming had used his gains from the freshman tournament to purchase a low-quality spirit weapon and a corresponding weapon art. There were many types of weapons to choose from. Swords were the most common, followed by sabers, spears, and bows. There were also many unusual weapons such as whips, bolas, needles, and daggers. Cha Ming eventually settled on the staff. The staff was a very flexible and fast weapon, but conversely, a heavy staff could be used with devastating brute force.

Feng Ming was currently using a wooden sparring sword. He had a real spirit sword, but he wasn't at a level where he felt comfortable sparring against Cha Ming without severely wounding him. In this current match, they had limited themselves to movement techniques and weapon arts. These techniques did not require any qi, and they were very useful for any battle, whether it be a long or short one.

The battle ended with Feng Ming's loss. Cha Ming had used his superior technique to deflect Feng Ming's training sword, throwing him off balance. He then followed up with three quick strikes to Feng Ming's wrists, forcing him to drop the sword.

"You went easy on me," Cha Ming said, shooting his handsome friend a grin.

"That's what I've been saying the whole time!" moaned Feng Ming. "You can use your own spirit weapon and I can't. It's completely unfair and against the natural order of things. Really, I should just fight you with a big bag of money. I'd smash you to death with that!"

Feng Ming was always like that, looking for any excuse to avoid taking blame for his losses. The young man had very thick skin and would often use shameless feints to squeak out victories. He would exaggerate his victories and downplay his losses. Cha Ming didn't mind, but he still intentionally played into Ming's bait.

"Of course, how could Ming the Great possibly ever lose a fight! Oh wait, I remember the time that I won that fight at the freshman competition without any weapon advantage…"

Cha Ming rolled his eyes as he wiped the sweat off his brow. He then fastened the wooden spirit staff to his back while Ming put away his training sword in his bag of holding.

"That was pure, blatant, dishonest trickery! Not a fair fight at all! At least if I fought you with a giant bag of money, I would be honest about it. I mean, I wouldn't tell you the weight or anything, but I'd at least show you the bag before I beat you to death with it."

Feng Ming belonged to a wealthy family. Their family owned many businesses in town. His uncle was a well-known alchemist, and alchemists were in very short supply in such a small city. His father, on the other hand, was a centurion in the royal army garrison in Green Leaf City, a figure that even the city lord dared not offend. His older brother was also a captain in the city guard and occupied a similar position to Uncle Hong. He didn't dare speculate how many "facilitating payments" Ming's family had accumulated over the past few decades.

The laughing duo had sparred until mid-afternoon, after which they made their way back to the residence to meet the girls for an early supper. As they were walking back, they noticed a figure dressed in black, walking the opposite direction, on same narrow pathway as them. The man looked like he was at most eighteen, and his long black hair accentuated his pale, gaunt face. He walked forward as if every student on campus was beneath his notice. As Feng Ming was about to force his way forward and initiate a collision with the rude student, Cha Ming's hand darted out and pulled him off to the side. The figure in black paused just after passing them and shot Cha Ming an apathetic look. After a few seconds of observing Cha Ming, he continued his previous, hauntingly slow pace.

"Why didn't you let me teach that arrogant brat a lesson? He's definitely around our age, how much stronger could he be?" Feng Ming was incensed, and he was used to strutting around town in a domineering fashion.

"You should consider being less of a bully. Just now, you almost kicked a very thick steel plate." Cha Ming, seeing Ming's puzzled look, continued explaining. "Yes, that young man was definitely only a year or so older than us. However, if you look more closely you'll notice that out of the corner of his black robe there was a golden glint. When he turned over, he exposed a golden badge with the number eight on it. That means that not only is he an eighth-level student, he's also a fifth-grade talent. The school only has a handful of them, and I'm sure he has a lot of influence in town."

Feng Ming's face paled. No matter how powerful his father and uncle were, they would need to curry favor with this individual for the sake of their respective organizations. He kept quiet all the way back to the residence.

--

Cha Ming was currently walking outside through the frosted woods. The woods near the school were divided into areas of varying safety; the safest area was a very large park which contained a multitude of winding stone trails. Lonely benches had been placed every few hundred meters.

He had picked sunset to take his walk. This was the time when the green, red, and gold colors in the leaves would appear in their greatest contrast. Trees, mountains, and rivers—these had been Cha Ming's favorite sceneries as far back as he could remember. His favorite paintings always contained one, two, or three of these elements. While spring was his favorite season due to the feeling of hope in the air, fall was definitely the most beautiful season.

Cha Ming walked for a few hours, slowly but surely. Every once in a while, he would grab a red or gold tinged leaf and admire it, sometimes sitting down on a nearby bench. The park reminded him of modern parks. Lanterns lit up the road as far as the eye could see. The lanterns were powered by spirit oil, which was produced by crushing, refining, and mixing spirit stones with other ingredients. By the end of the process, the spirit oil had no other use but lighting, and the school did not need to worry about theft. The spirit oil would absorb sunlight in the daytime and recharge, only needing to be changed out every few decades or so.

The latest leaf he had been admiring was unique among all of the other leaves he had found. It was not only green and tinged in both gold and red, but it also had blue and brown patterns running through the leaf. The brown patterns seemed to outline a sharp mountain, while the blue pattern emulated a stream running through the mountain. The leaf itself looked like a perfect sunset in the forested mountains. He found himself lost in thought. When he finally came back to reality, he noticed the surrounding woods were covered in darkness. Not a single light could be seen in the distance. He refused to believe that all of the lights would malfunction at the same time.

He frowned and continued walking down the path, which he could barely see. Eventually, he noticed a single lamp lit near a park bench. An elder with white hair and a white robe was doing what he had been doing previously, admiring a leaf he had picked off a tree. Cha Ming approached the elder slowly.

"Young friend, do you know why mankind has five fingers?" said the elder softly.

Cha Ming was surprised, as he was quite sure that he hadn't made any sounds while approaching. Nevertheless, after hearing the question, he could not help but ponder on it.

"Is it not purely coincidence, and did we not evolve from other creatures?" said Cha Ming carefully. The elder chuckled, replacing the leaf on the tree. The leaf merged perfectly with the tree, and in fact turned even more healthy and green than it had been before.

"Many in this world would consider what you said heresy. Some would say that mankind was created by the gods, and others would attribute this to the Jade Emperor. Few people know that in other worlds, mankind did in fact evolve from other creatures by pure chance. But these worlds are very far removed from our own." The elder then paused, stroking his long white beard.

"In this world, mankind was directly created by Nuwa . The five fingers were by design, to correspond with the five great gifts that she gave mankind after their birth. She made mankind using her clay and blood. Through this clay and blood she granted mankind with affinities for the five elements that she used to create their life. At the end of their life, they would once again return to these five elements upon their demise, and their souls would go to the netherworld to be reincarnated in the Yellow River."

Cha Ming was quite surprised at the man's words. It seemed like he was aware of other worlds, and Cha Ming had experienced first-hand his own rebirth through the Yellow River. Was this man a god?

The white man looked at him, still stroking his white beard, nodding his head as though he had come to a decision. He then opened his mouth and said softly, "You should have some kind of paintbrush on your person. May I see it? Don't worry, I won't take it from you."

Cha Ming was surprised yet again, but then he decided that he may as well take out the brush. Although it was likely linked to his rebirth, he felt as though this expert could destroy him with a single thought, should he so choose.

When Cha Ming presented the paintbrush, the old man gently took it. He stroked it, looked at it carefully, and ran his fingers along the inscriptions. After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he handed the brush back to Cha Ming.

"You may call me Uncle Su," said the old man.

Cha Ming bowed and said, "Uncle Su, this one of the younger generation is called Du Cha Ming."

Uncle Su nodded, seeming pleased. "There is karma between you and me, since you are now the bonded owner of this brush. As such, I want to teach you a technique. My only condition is that you are not allowed to tell anyone that you learned it from me."

At this point Cha Ming was quite intrigued, but he was really at the mercy of this expert and figured he might as well go with the flow.

"Let it be as Uncle Su has suggested," said Cha Ming.

Hearing his answer, Uncle Su smiled and walked toward him. He was a full head shorter than Cha Ming, quite short for an adult. After reaching him, he took out his hand. Each of his fingers was glowing a different color and was inscribed with the Chinese character for each element: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. On the outside, he could see a white circle. In the middle of the circle and connecting the elements was a black star. The black star had no characters. It was as if it could not be materialized as a character, instead materializing as a block of nothingness.

Before he could react, the man let out a quick palm strike to his chest. He was thrown back and landed at the foot of a tree. He couldn't move his limbs, and as his eyes slowly closed, Cha Ming wondered what the hell had just happened.

--

"Cha Ming! Cha Ming!"

He woke up feeling groggy and shaken to the chirping voice of Xin Er. She explained how she had not seen him all morning, and finally in the afternoon she remembered that he had gone for a walk. She saw him resting quietly by a tree. It looked like he had slept all day, judging by the number of leaves that had settled on him.

Rubbing his eyes, he slowly looked up at the sixteen-year-old girl that was staring at him rather grievously. "Wuuuuu, you are bullying Xin! I was so worried that something had happened to you out in the woods, yet here you are, napping all day!"

Xin then broke into tears again and sat down crying. Looking around him, Cha Ming didn't see any sign of the old man. Although he felt more energetic than normal, there was no wound remaining from that vicious palm strike. He got up and brushed the leaves off himself.

"Xin Er, did you see an old man in a white robe with white hair nearby?" he asked.

Xin Er finally stopped crying and shook her head. Sighing, he took her hand and led her back to the school, and they arrived just in time for supper. After a while, Hong Xin was fine. Feng Ming and Gong Lan had not really noticed Cha Ming's absence. After all, it was common for cultivators to wander off and seclude themselves for a few days—why would a single day trouble them? After accompanying Xin Er for a sufficient amount of time, he finally made his way back to his room and started cultivating. As he looked inward, he almost fainted from surprise.

If he had looked into his dantian two days ago, he would have seen a mixed swirl of five elements, sitting together in a small puddle. The situation now was starkly different. Instead there were five liquid spheres floating in the air, joined by a white circle. A black star was present in the middle, crossing between the elements in a destructive cycle but not daring to touch the white circle.

This… what the hell? That looks a lot like Uncle Su's palm!

As he continued to observe it, he noticed a few strange things. First, it seemed like each puddle was twice as large as before. As he inspected further, he noticed that the white circle holding them separate was circulating a thin layer of elemental energy from one sphere to the next. This seemed to reinforce each element. Conversely, the black star seemed to cause mutual restraint, but now that he looked at it, something was a little off. The black star seemed to only have four lines, but the lines alternated between the elements. It was like the four lines were instead averaged over its initial five spaces. He was still at the third level of qi condensation, but he now had access to twice as much qi! Wasn't this a little too much?

After finishing his observations, the soft voice of Uncle Su sounded in his head.

"Young lad," the voice whispered, "I am always a man of few words. Since you have that brush, I decided to give you this cultivation technique on a whim. Since you haven't cultivated it from the start, however, I needed to be a little… forceful. Nevertheless, if you can hear my voice now, it means that the process was a success.

"What you are now cultivating is called the Perfect Five Elements cultivation technique. This technique is a little special; you can use the five elements in a creation cycle and generate 'creation energy.' This creation energy is made from all five elements and is used to suppress the destructive energy between the elements in your dantian. This destructive energy is not there on purpose. Instead, it's a consequence of joining the five elements together in formation. Effectively this means that you can remove one 'restraining' or 'destructive' interaction in your dantian. Accordingly, one restraint is eliminated from each element, which allows the individual's qi pool to double its growth instead of being inhibited as with lower-level cultivation methods. There are also other ways to make use of this interaction, but you seem like a creative man; I'll let you figure it out.

"To finish, I'd like you to continue paying close attention to that brush that you've bonded. It's not an ordinary item, and I can sense the karma of reincarnation on you. Perhaps in time you will be able to solve the riddle of the brush. When you meet my dear apprentice, perhaps he will be able to elaborate.

"Anyhow, take care. Remember that your path forward is like a clear sky, with many possibilities."

The voice faded away. Cha Ming pondered a bit before he walked out of his room. Looking toward the woods, he kowtowed in the general direction. After all, Uncle Su could now be considered a teacher.

Little did he know, at the edge of the woods there was an old man in a white robe. He was quite short and was gently stroking his long white beard. After a few moments, he turned around and walked inside the woods, seeming to vanish with the mists.