Murim's Weakest Princess

As soon as lunch was over, Lizi cleared the dishes, cleaned the place and left. Dinner was left in the kitchen and could be eaten without heating it. Anji also received some new snacks in case she got hungry while studying. She did not have time to say her goodbyes properly as Lizi seemed to be in a rush to leave before the sun started setting. On the bright side, all the morning laundry Anji did was dry and now folded. The maid also informed Anji that she would be arriving in the morning daily so that Anji could focus on her studies.

There was only one problem. Anji’s studies were going nowhere. All afternoon, she flipped through the book she was given. More than half of the book contained combination spell explanations that often employed the use of a matrix. That meant Anji needed to finish memorising her timetables before she could make any progress. The mental sums exercise using the abacus was no help. Anji could not even remember the single-digit cross-multiplication. How was she supposed to do double-digit calculations? The concept of shifting numbers and beads also made her cry. Anji did not even want to think about cross-matrix multiplication or division and roots.

Eventually, Anji gave up on the theoretical aspect and attempted the practical aspect. Her shifu mentioned that there was more than one way to activate a rune or spell. The easiest spell Anji could activate was the water-filling spell on the teapot.

So far, she was having little success triggering the spell’s activation. Whenever she thought she was close to making it work, the spell would flop like a deflated paper ball. Something seemed to be lacking even when Anji focused on imbuing her energy into each stroke of the rune.

"This is a basic rune, right?" Anji talked to herself, trying to confirm the spell’s complexity. According to the books she had, this was a mere water rune. There was nothing else added to this run apart from creating water.

What was she missing?"

Taking a break from her task, Anji decided to leave the bed. Instead of the table and the uncomfortable stool, the young girl decided to shift everything onto the bed instead. She was far more accustomed to the small bedtable than a large dining table more suitable for adults.

After climbing from the bed, Anji decided to go to the garden for a change of view. Whenever she was stuck on a problem, she would walk in the garden to reset her mind. Seeing the trees and flowers might not help her find an answer any quicker. However, according to her mother, their very presence provided a calming and healing effect. Hence, it was recommended that people who were stressed, worried or sad take more walks in beautiful gardens.

The little garden in this hut was far from beautiful. There was no landscaping and no gardeners to take care of it. In fact, it still looks as if part of it belonged to the forest outside. Her shifu was still recuperating, so Anji did not want to leave the hut. Instead, she walked around and sat on the stairs to feel the summer breeze. Thanks to the sound barrier, it was silent apart from the sound of Anji’s breathing.

Here, Anji decided to try meditating. The things she was trying to understand were too complicated. Even if her mind could understand it, her body might not be able to follow. Just because she knew how martial artists sparred with their swords did not mean Anji could mimic what they could do. She had a naturally weak constitution. It was only natural she learned and functioned differently from others. Perhaps this was also why the simplest spells did not activate for her.

With only the Tai Yin Meridian functional in her body, Anji meditated with the feeling of the occasional summer breeze toying with her hair. She enjoyed the little distractions as she felt the weak pulse running from her thumb to her intercostal muscle. The channels were very faint to feel, but Anji knew they were there. Without a huge lump of energy to roll and knead into these established pathways, Anji noticed for the first time how fragile they were. It was as if they were little drops of dew collecting on a big leaf. If she added more water to that leaf, it would collapse, and any water Anji had collected before would be released back into the atmosphere.