CH 16

Linghe’s voice was particularly lovely. The soft, lilting tune was incredibly soporific, and Chen Ziqi found himself being lulled gently to sleep. In a sleepy haze, he wondered why the little ones would sleep on branches and soar in the sky, but before he could think this through, he slipped into a deep sleep.

In his dreams, he grew a pair of wings and flew to the mountain cliffs to enjoy the beautiful scenery, the wind whooshing past his ears. Then, something warm pressed against his chest. It was uncomfortable, and he flapped his wings harder, trying to fly above the cliffs, but his wings wouldn’t listen to him, and he suddenly started free-falling toward the ground.

“Ah!” Chen Ziqi woke up in a fright. He stared blankly into space for a moment, then rubbed his eyes. The early light of dawn filtered in through the windows, gently illuminating his pillow and the polished jade mat on it.

Something seemed to be missing. Chen Ziqi thought hard, and his memories of the previous day came rushing in. Where was the Phoenix King’s Shizi?

He flipped the thin blankets off, and saw his frost silk-clad bunkmate curled into a ball at his side, his face pressed firmly against his chest. Dan Yi seemed to feel the chill at having his blankets removed, and cuddled even closer to him.

Chen Ziqi now knew why he had started falling in his dream. His four limbs were firmly restrained by the octopus that was Dan Yi! Of course he couldn’t fly.

He reached out a hand and tugged on Dan Yi’s ear. “Cock-a-doodle-doo!” he crowed. “It’s time to get up.”

Dan Yi slapped away the hand that had dared to pull his ear, then opened his eyes. What came into sight was a swath of fair skin and two pink little cherries. Dan Yi suddenly felt hungry. He stared blankly ahead for a few moments more, then realised what he was doing, and quickly released his hands from Chen Ziqi’s waist.

“You know, when chicks sleep, they snuggle under their mother’s feathers,” Chen Ziqi said, laughing. “You sleep exactly like that.” This fellow looked to be so prim and proper. Who knew that his sleeping habits were anything but?

Dan Yi sat up. He felt slightly embarrassed, and pressed his lips together, not knowing what to say.

Chen Ziqi crawled over toward him, his butt sticking up in the air. He tilted his head and observed Dan Yi. “Oh my! Your ears are red – are you a girl? Your skin is really so thin, hahaha!” he teased Dan Yi.

On hearing this, Dan Yi’s entire face turned red. He glared at Chen Ziqi with a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment, then pushed him aside and jumped off the bed.

Linghe resisted the urge to smile from her seat beside the bed, then got up and helped Dan Yi to dress. 

After breakfast, the two headed to Chunxi Hall together. Dan Yi had refused to speak to Chen Ziqi the entire morning, and their breakfast was spent in frightful silence. Even now, Dan Yi was not showing any signs of thawing at all. 

Chen Ziqi followed behind Dan Yi on his short little legs, scratching his head as he looked at Dan Yi’s back. His previous interactions with other children in Jiuru Town had always been loud and boisterous; they teased each other mercilessly, and if anyone took offence at something someone had said, they’d just hit each other a few times and be done with it. Those rules of engagement didn’t seem to apply to the coldly aloof Dan Yi.

He bounded up two steps to overtake Dan Yi, then turned around to face him, continuing to walk with his back facing the front.

“What?” Dan Yi asked, his tone slightly unfriendly. 

Chen Ziqi did his best to continue walking backwards without falling over. He put his hands behind his back so that his body would sway with his steps. This made him look rather contrite. “Umm… why don’t you hold my hand when we walk any more?” he asked.

His soft, sweet little voice made it very hard for anyone to continue being angry with him.

“This road is really long…” Chen Ziqi spread out his hands to emphasise this. He looked back to see where he was going, and at that moment, his foot caught on a stone. He tripped and started falling backward.

Dan Yi flashed forward and caught hold of his collar, pulling him upright. The two children stood where they were, looking at each other.

Chen Ziqi blinked innocently at Dan Yi.

Dan Yi hesitated for a moment, then extended a hand with his palm facing up.

“Hehe!” Chen Ziqi put his hand in Dan Yi’s and locked his fingers around that warm little hand.

Their small little quarrel was over just like that. The two continued holding hands as they walked toward Chunxi Hall.

Qingyun Palace was situated in a remote area of the palace, and getting to Chunxi Hall required them to walk a very long palace road. This road was flanked on both sides by high walls. Chen Ziqi always felt that this road was very scary, and would walk quickly to get past it as soon as possible. Today, however, with a friend by his side, he wasn’t afraid any more, and started to find this road interesting.

“How high do you think these palace walls are?” Chen Ziqi asked, pointing at the green-tiled walls. They were so high that he had to tilt his head backwards in order to see the top.

“Three zhang and seven chi*,” Dan Yi said precisely.

*T/N: This is about 10 metres.

“… …” Chen Ziqi turned to look at him.

“What?”

“You know a lot,” Chen Ziqi said, rolling his eyes inwardly. Shouldn’t the appropriate reaction be to exclaim excitedly over how tall the wall was with him?

Dan Yi forced down the sides of his mouth that were threatening to twitch into a smile. He raised his chin slightly. “Nn,” he acknowledged in a dignified manner.

“… …”

Most of the princes had already assembled at Chunxi Hall, and were chatting in groups of two and three while waiting for lessons to start.

The Crown Prince had gained two lackeys from his appointment ceremony – his younger cousin Luo Zheng, and the big, burly Yao Guang. Luo Zheng was fifteen this year, and would have been pleasant looking if not for his slanting fox eyes, which were the same as the Guifei’s eyes. They made him look rather crafty. 

Luo Zheng was in the midst of demonstrating the Liuhe Sect’s martial arts to the Crown Prince. He struck a solid horse-riding stance, gathered his qi in his Elixir Field, and punched out with his fists a few times, channeling his qi through them. Three breaths later, the fallen leaves and dust around him swirled a little around his feet.

Chen Ziqi looked at this display in awe. In Jiuru Town, there might have been a lot of martial artists, but they were mostly the low level kind that practised external gongfu and weren’t direct disciples of their sects. People with actual neili were few and far between, and whenever they appeared, they were practically worshipped as heroes.

Chen Ziqi’s dream had always been to become a highly skilled martial arts hero. Unfortunately, he hadn’t known Old Man Plum for long, and he had only learnt six skills shown in the Tianyan Wanxiang Gong book. He had memorised the theory of the rest, but he didn’t know how to put it into practice at all. Now that he was in the palace, he could only learn that ambiguous Divine Dragon’s Howl that no one seemed to be able to master, and it seemed that his dreams of becoming a great martial arts hero were slipping through his fingers.

When he looked at Luo Zheng, he couldn’t help but consider a wild thought – could he use the Crown Prince’s lackey to finish learning the Tianyan Wanxiang Gong?

“Ha!” Luo Zheng yelled abruptly. He was still channeling his qi, and punched out in the direction of a small sapling, his palm facing forward. He didn’t make physical contact with the sapling, but it swayed left and right, and some of its leaves fluttered to the ground.

“Wow! That’s amazing!” the Eighth and Ninth Princes called out, applauding.

“Please, how is that amazing? My Jiujiu is far more amazing,” Ah Mu muttered.

“What do you know?” the Fourth Prince said, glaring at Ah Mu. “Luo Zheng is only fifteen, and he can channel his qi to move solid objects! At that age, people are usually only able to start gathering qi, not channel it.”

Ah Mu wanted to say something, but didn’t know how to phrase it properly, so he just frowned and pursed his lips. “Anyway, my Jiujiu is the most amazing.”

Everyone ignored him. They started clamouring for Yao Guang to demonstrate the Jiyang Sect’s punching technique.

“My channeling ability isn’t as good as Brother’s Luo’s. I’ve only just managed to reach the sixth level of qi cultivation,” Yao Guang said, scratching his head. He walked to the same little sapling, then struck it with a qi-enhanced punch.

“Crack!” The sapling, which was about as thick as a man’s wrist, broke into two.

“Wow!!!” A few of the younger princes exclaimed in astonishment. The Crown Prince’s eyes swept across the audience in a circle. He was very pleased with the effect that Yao Guang and Luo Zheng had produced. His eyes fell on Chen Ziqi’s hungry, envious gaze, and he couldn’t resist laughing softly.

Dan Yi looked at Chen Ziqi’s expression, and the lips that had started turning upward during their walk to Chunxi Hall turned downward again.

Just then, Prince Qi arrived. Everyone went to their places and prepared to strike the horse-riding stance. Dan Yi stood next to Chen Ziqi.

“Dan Yi, do you know how to do this? Do you need me to teach you?” Chen Ziqi whispered.

Dan Yi didn’t answer. He flowed straight into the horse-riding stance, moving as easily as if he were just changing the way he stood. His feet were steady and balanced, as if they were nailed to the ground, and his upper body posture was perfect, straight and relaxed. It might have just been a simple horse-riding stance, but he did it so elegantly, it was difficult to take one’s eyes off him. 

Chen Ziqi gaped at him. Even though he didn’t know much about martial arts, it was plain that Dan Yi’s level was far above theirs.

Catching sight of Chen Ziqi’s bright, admiring gaze, Dan Yi suddenly felt strangely elated.  “Breathe evenly, keep your thoughts clear, and recite the gongfa* in your head,” Dan Yi said, before turning back to concentrate on practising his gongfa.

*T/N: In Chen Ziqi’s context, gongfa is the theory of that particular martial art. In Dan Yi’s context, gongfa is the actual practice of the martial art.

Dan Yi had very nice looking hands. It was still a little boy’s hand, but it was more slender than other children of his age. His two hands pressed together, one above and one below, then moved apart slowly, the middle finger of each hand touching the palm of the other hand. He switched the position of his hands in a smooth rolling motion and repeated what he did before again. One could faintly see strong qi circulating between his palms. Then, Dan Yi’s wrists and shoulders suddenly burst into motion, executing a series of extremely complicated moves at a measured pace. All the onlookers were awed by the sight.

Dan Yi’s hands seemed to fly as he executed those beautifully elegant moves faster and faster, until his hands became a blur of movement.

“Is this the ‘Cloud Dispelling Fists’ Technique of the Danyang Divine Martial Arts?” Prince Qi asked in wonder.

Yao Guang’s lips twisted in annoyance. This Dan Yi really knew how to show off; even when everyone was just holding a horse-riding position, he knew how to make himself stand out. Thinking this, he also started practising his punches, trying to impress the princes, who were still learning the basics of martial arts.

“Hoo! Hah!” Yao Guang was practising his punches noisily, but no one even bothered to look in his direction. Everyone was transfixed by Dan Yi’s movements.

“What’s this ‘Dispelling the Clouds’?” the Crown Prince asked his cousin, who was standing next to him.

“It should be one of the techniques of the Danyang Divine Martial Arts,” Luo Zheng said vaguely. He wasn’t sure himself. The Masters of the Cloud Palace had always been very secretive and rarely showed their skills in public. Not much was known about the Danyang Divine Martial Arts, and what little they did know mostly came from rumours, the accuracy of which left much to be desired. The large bulk of Danyang martial arts techniques had never been seen in public before.

The Crown Prince gave Yao Guang a meaningful look. Yao Guang had been suppressing his irritation, and immediately stood up upon being given a chance to vent. “I have often heard of the great Danyang Cloud Dispelling Fists, and I have finally been able to see it in the flesh today. If I may be so bold, may I ask the Cloud Palace’s Young Master to teach me some of it?”

In the martial arts world, it was not discourteous to ask to be taught by someone who had just publicly demonstrated his gongfa. It was within the demonstrator’s rights to refuse, however.

Dan Yi ignored him. He continued practising his martial arts.

Meanwhile, Prince Qi was itching to have a friendly duel with Dan Yi. Without any warning, he moved forward and started exchanging blows with Dan Yi. In the Divine Dragon’s Howl, there was a technique called ‘Roving Dragon Follows The Moon’, which was complementary to the Danyang Cloud Dispelling Fists Technique. Even though Prince Qi did not have neili, he could still match blows with Dan Yi.

Dan Yi was still an eight-year-old child, so Prince Qi squatted down to be at his eye level.

“Thump thump thump!” The four hands exchanged blows quicker than the eye could follow, and after about a hundred moves, Dan Yi’s hand contacted Prince Qi’s face with a loud smack. A red palm print immediately blossomed on Prince Qi’s honey-coloured skin.

The audience immediately fell silent.

Dan Yi clasped his hands together respectfully, the fingers and palm of one hand wrapped around the other. “Good match,” he said.

“Hahaha. I’m addicted now, let’s have another go tomorrow,” Prince Qi said, after he’d recovered from his initial shock. He laughed out loud.

Chen Ziqi was astonished. So this Dispelling Cloud Fist technique was specially developed to slap people? That was so useful! He didn’t bother with his horse-riding stance any more, and bounded over to Dan Yi and tugged on his hand. “This move is really awesome, can you teach it to me?”

“Hmpf!” Yao Guang sniffed coldly, then punched out fiercely at Dan Yi just as Prince Qi had.

Chen Ziqi was standing right in front of Dan Yi, and the punch looked like it was aimed at him. Dan Yi immediately stood up from his horse-riding stance, pulled Chen Ziqi behind him, and hit back at Yao Guang.

Dan Yi’s punch looked to be light as a feather, but its impact was like a ton of bricks. Yao Guang stumbled back a few steps. He grit his teeth, refusing to admit his loss. He charged forward again, punching rapidly with his fists, wanting to experience the Cloud Dispelling Fist technique again.

Yao Guang was very tall and sturdily built. He did not give Dan Yi the concession that Prince Qi did, squatting down so that they would be face-to-face. Dan Yi was still a child, and there was no way he could reach Yao Guang’s face. 

Chen Ziqi was a bundle of nerves as he stood behind Dan Yi watching this scene. He looked at Yao Guang’s thick legs, and in a sudden flash of inspiration, yelled, “WHACK HIS BALLS!”

Author’s note: Mini-theater

The Cloud Palace’s advertisement on the Cloud Dispelling Fist Technique

Birdie Gong: The Danyang Cloud Dispelling Fists are specially developed for all sorts of situations in which you feel dissatisfaction!

Qiqi: It’s great in a fist fight!

Birdie Gong: It’s great for slapping flirts with bad pickup lines!

Qiqi: You can use it at home or when travelling!

Birdie Gong and Qiqi: A must-have technique!