The Rise of the Last Light and the Fall of the First Sin was a Xianxia novel with strong fantasy influences that in part also covered the formative years of the two protagonists. She had not considered, however, that her fully immersive experience of the novel would have included every damned day of her lessons with the two. She had been in that place for over two months now and the days passed without all of the excitement that was characteristic of the genre. It was true that the kind of adventure one found in novels was only found in books. Everyday life, even if it was the one of an Immortal who lived in a magical world, was just as boring as that of the reviewer of novels published on a questionable website.

She resisted the temptation to simply smear herself all over the desk. She was watching her pupils write with unwavering focus after she had given Zhang FengMin the ungrateful job of teaching them the theory behind the use of the imperial sword.

By then they had covered many subjects: history, the theory behind spiritualism, music, fighting and its theory, plus alchemy and herbal medicine. It was all really interesting, and by teaching she had also learnt that the mix she was taking through various means had to be prepared no longer than two hours before and by her brother. She had remembered that after all he was known for his remedies, almost as much as the Cultivators of the ZhuQue mountain, who specialised in medicine and magical remedies. Without any particular reason her eyes came to rest on the protagonist. For some time she had been debating getting closer to him and, as she had predicted, it had been as easy as stealing candy from a child. Liang HaoHan was the student everyone would have wanted. Careful and smart, nothing escaped his attention. His only flaw was a light jealousy toward the other two students who often bothered him. But who else took the brunt of their insults if not Shi XinNian? That boy had been born to sacrifice himself on the altar of loyalty. Disheartened, she shook her head and closed her eyes to smoke from her pipe. She frequently took advantage of moments such as those to meditate. The silence and the soft strokes of the brushes against the paper were relaxing and she realised that she had almost gained all of her strength back. Or at least, that was what she believed. She really had no idea what the Original’s power really was like.

She got up and straightened her skirt as she looked up. Everyone reacted to her movement by raising their eyes and pointing them towards her. This was one of the moments she liked best, in addition to being one where she could take advantage of all the fake kindness the Original showed Shi XinNian.

“Good. We can stop now. Today I want to assess your practical abilities to determine which path you should follow. While on mount QingLong we prefer the Shi Movements, some of you might not be suited for them. In that case we will instruct you in the basics of the movements preferred by other celestial mountains. As you know, though, to complete your training you will have to study on those peaks. – Ming ZhenYa brightened at those words and as she was walking past her she whispered to her. – obviously I will also be able to give you a few pointers regarding Wujian Long from mount XuanWu. I am very confident in my knowledge of the Er-Shí movements.”  She said walking past her.

“Shizhi, you may go. I will take care of this.” She said, nodding towards the young Master. He looked at her in astonishment for a moment, but then he smiled as though that sudden and unexpected act of kindness had surprised him.

“Of course, Zhang Shigu. Should you need me I will be in the Pavilion of the Thousand Scrolls.” He said before leaving.

The Pavilion did not ring a bell. She scanned her memory while she walked towards the practice field, and then nodded to herself remembering that must be the library at the Tree-lined Springs. She glanced behind herself, noticing Shi XinNian and Liang HaoHan chatting excitedly among themselves. She smiled at that, it saddened her that in a few years those two would be at each other’s throats. She turned to face forward again and sighed. She wanted to avoid that, their friendship was genuine, and it had been since Liang HaoHan had started suspecting the Demonic heritage of the other. But through what fault of hers was that the final outcome? She was certain there was another subplot with an enemy who had not been revealed, and she really wanted to understand who was behind it all.

They quickly reached the small flat area and she positioned the disciples in the field. Around them were other students who were studying under her Shibo for the most part. Afterall, the lessons she held with them were considered special, and were almost a test for her too, so she could prove she deserved her immortality. If she succeeded in creating capable Cultivators she would have become an example to follow. And everything would be decided at the Celestial Meeting and the competition that would be held there. She sighed, shaking her head. The Meeting was still some time away, and she hoped she would have the time to create a worthy hero while giving the antagonist a chance. She waved her pipe and five swords appeared in front of the pupils. They picked them up with hesitation. They were all terrified, even the brave protagonist seemed to be weighing what to do. She squinted.

“So? Who will go first? Show me the tenth movement.”

The protagonist, true to his title, stepped forward. He assumed the starting position and began with the lounges. The tenth movement was fencing in its simplest form, mostly focused on the attack, not even a beginner would have found it challenging. She observed Liang HaoHan’s stance, studying the position of his legs and torso, and found that in fact they were flawless. It was almost as though he was born to perform the Shí movements, but she knew very well that by the end of the novel he would have also mastered the Yi and Sin-Shí movements, known to be more aggressive. Those were the same Shi XinNian would control perfectly, yet another plot hole as far as she was concerned. How could the young Demon manage the Sin-Shí movements? They belonged to the school on Mount BaiHu, which had been mentioned so scarcely that even a careful reader could have forgotten about it.

She raised an eyebrow after Liang HaoHan executed a perfect lunge.

Despite it all though, she knew the mountain of the tiger was renowned for its brutality, and what better movement for a Demon? She sighed at the end of the demonstration.

“Perfect, I could spot no mistakes, you may continue with these movements. Start studying the sixteenth movement.” She said, waving her pipe. Shifting between attack and defence was a typical teaching style on QingLong, and defence tactics went from the sixteenth to the eighteenth movements.

“Yes, Shizun.” He replied as he bowed and stepped back. She noticed Ming ZhenYa smiling at the boy.

“You were marvellous Liang-Ge, I would not have been able to do any better.”

The boy smiled without showing even a hint of embarrassment.

“Well, Shifu focussed a lot on this movement at the beginning, it was not hard.”

Oh, what a teacher’s pet. Zhang YueLiang thought with a grin.

She gave all the other disciples the same attention. It was obvious the Ming cousins did not tolerate the movement well, as they excelled in mount XuanWu’s defence style instead, but they did well enough, and she decided she could teach them a few more attack movements before pushing them toward the turtle’s style. Their only local student did not make a single mistake in his steps, but he was still not as fluid as the protagonist had been.

“Five more times, ZhaoDa, and try to focus more on how you hold your hips. The way they are now, anyone could knock you down in three seconds flat.” She commented, shaking her head.

The boy bowed quickly and disappeared from view, as though he had been able to detect her irritation. She was surprised, had she really been that cold? She shook the feeling off and turned to face Shi XinNian who had remained with his eyes fixed on the ground the entire time as he held the sword in obvious discomfort.

“So?” she asked as she looked at him.

He tensed his shoulders and tentatively stepped forward before assuming the starting position. Zhang YueLiang immediately widened her eyes, it was wrong. The boy swallowed audibly and executed the series of movements. The Mistress had blanched as one step followed the next: it was too unstable, a gentle breeze would have carried him away. What was going on? Shi XinNian himself had now realised the others were trying to contain their giggles and he noticed Liang HaoHan’s confused expression. Even the other disciples in the field with them who had been indifferent up to now had stopped to look at him. The woman tapped the pipe on her own head a couple of times as she reflected.

“That’s enough.”