With Shú’s help, Lán navigated the busy streets of Huayin. Even though it was a few minutes away from dawn, the entire city was filled with activity, with a week to go for the Rising Dragon Tournament, everyone had something to do.

Lán arrived at Huayin’s Royal Pavilion. It was a beautiful and tall golden building, the red roof tiles shimmered as the first rays of sun peeked over the horizon. A few guards looked lazily over the main gate as officials and other staff entered the building to begin the workday.

Lán headed over to the reception hall where a wiry looking official greeted him.

“Master Jiang Xuance is waiting for you in their office.” 

“Where might that be?” Lán asked.

The official grimaced as he looked over at the long thin stairs. “His office is on the seventh floor." he replied shyly.

Lán laughed, it looked like his master was presenting him with his first challenge.

Lán slowly made his way up the seven floors, taking several breaks but still managing to keep a good pace. By the time he made it to the seventh floor, he was glistening with sweat and his knees were trembling. He gathered himself and knocked on the door.

“You're late” a voice called from inside.

Lán took the snarky remark as an invitation to come inside, he opened the intricate wooden doors to find himself in a beautiful open office, Xuance sat on a long wooden desk filled with papers, behind him a wide window with a breathtaking view of the city.

“Sit down, I can see that you need it.” Xuance said without looking up from his desk. 

Lán took the offer graciously, but he sat down without relaxing. He knew that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and he needed to be alert and absorb everything his master would teach him.

Jian Xuance sat looking at his desk quietly for a few more minutes before finally looking up and addressing Lán.

“So, Lúse Lán, Young Lord of the Lúse Family” Xuance said “Your family suffered a serious blow to their power three years ago, but it seems that over the span of a year you somehow have managed to claw your position in Húchéng back”

“You honor me master” Lán replied “There is still much work to do, I plan on restoring my family to its previous glory and then make it into an even greater version of what it was before”

“Don’t call me master yet boy, I have yet to teach you anything” Xuance said “So how did you do it?”

“I have mostly my allies to thank” Lán began before Xuance interrupted him.

“No no, I know all about your clinic and the Húchéng Summer Festival. What I want to know is how you beat me in Go?”

Lán sensed that this was a matter of curiosity rather than pride. He took a second to look at his master but his true intentions were covered by a mysterious grin. Lán hesitated, but in the end decided to trust his new master.

“I discovered a tome in my family's library, it had been overlooked for a long time, but it allowed me to develop a technique known as the Azure Palace”

Xuance listened carefully as Lán explained all of the intricacies of the Azure Palace as well as the current barriers he was facing with his techniques. Once Lán finished, Xuance took a minute to think before speaking.

“Your mental technique is similar to mine” Xuance said, Lán looked at him with a glimmer in his eyes before being shot down by him. “While I wish we could share our techniques with each other, mental techniques are fundamentally incompatible since they completely rewire the practitioners brain”

“My technique is called the Sound of Thought” Xuance continued “Its what allows me to memorise such huge amounts of information and ways to combine it to find new knowledge”

Lán looked a bit disappointed before Xuance continued “Don’t fret boy. A promise is a promise”

Xuance grabbed an empty scroll and began to write, a few more minutes passed before he gave the scroll to Lán.

“This is called the Manual of the Sixth Sense, it will allow you to fill the gaps in Hall of Mirrors by training your senses to their limit”

“As for your other technique, the Azure Eye” Xuance continued “I would reflect on why it's not a technique described in the manual. It seems to rely on the dissolution along the barriers that separate the mind, body and spirit.”

“While it's true they are one and the same, they are separated for a reason, you must be wary lest the barriers completely fall and you risk collapsing in on yourself” Xuance ended his warning.

“Memorize the manual and destroy it once you are finished” Xuance stood up to give Lán some time. 

Lán looked at the manual once and handed it back to Xuance almost immediately.

“Oh, right” Xuance said as he sat back down “Very well, the day is young, lets get to training”

Day became night as Lán trained, the manual described various exercises and techniques to expand the scope of his senses. It even described a Sixth Sense, while the five normal senses need your focus to really be useful, the Sixth Sense was more akin to a feeling, it stayed in the back of your mind and observed for you, alerting you if something was wrong. 

Lán sat in front of his master with his eyes closed.

“How many fingers am I holding up?” Xuance asked

swish, swish, swish

Lán heard as his master’s fingers raised, he heard the tendons move and bones creak.

“Three” Lán said and opened his eyes

Xuance held up four fingers, Lán frowned as he realized that he had used the sound of his question to raise one in secret.

“Good try, but you must remember my young student, while they are a great tool, senses can easily be fooled” Xuance laughed.

Lán trained for a while longer before his master sent him off. They shook hands before Lán closed the office doors and began his long way down.

Xuance looked over the window as his disciple wheeled himself away.

“It seems I've found my senior disciple a promising junior” he thought out loud.