Three days later, the academy’s martial arts field turns to close combat. The instructor holds rank two, and a Copper Skin Gu toughens his bronze, scarred body. First he shows how to dodge a swung fist by squatting to counter into the groin and stomach, and he drops the puppet with a few punches to its abdomen. After he silences the class’s chatter, he calls out a second, two meter wooden puppet, hugs its waist, drives it down, and pounds its head to pieces. Most students, minds already on the coming moonblade check, barely watch, but Fang Yuan listens to every word, judging the lesson pragmatic though undisciplined, since the instructor teaches whatever occurs to him rather than in order. Fang Yuan reasons privately that a single moonblade burns ten percent of primeval essence, so only a few throws exhaust it for a beginner, which makes martial arts the more reliable weapon at rank one, despite students preferring the blade’s spectacle. ch. 24
The class returns to the bamboo walled field, where groups of five throw the moonblade three times each; the first group manages only nine hits, and the elder singles out two for scolding. One is a C grade girl unwilling to spend primeval stones on speeding her essence’s recovery, so she barely practiced these three days and now privately decides to stop competing and save her stones instead. Watching her, Fang Yuan shakes his head: hoarding primeval stones instead of using them to improve is, to him, exactly backwards for anyone who calls himself a Gu Master. ch. 24
Mo Bei goes up in a later group and lands all three moonblades, two on the puppet’s chest and one shaving its arm, earning the elder’s open approval. Chi Cheng follows in the next group and matches him exactly, three for three, each blade opening a chest wound that heals within a few breaths thanks to the puppet’s own recovery. Below the field, Mo Bei gives a cold snort but does not return Chi Cheng’s glare, since in his heart the real threats are only Chi Cheng and Fang Zheng, still waiting his turn. As the last groups take their turns, Fang Zheng finally steps onto the field. ch. 24
