My Disciple Is Crazy!

Xu Kai felt a flicker of relief at the thought of learning a spell, no matter how useless it might be.

That relief came courtesy of Chen Xi, and shattered just as quickly by her, too.

Chen Xi’s definition of teaching was anything but conventional.

Right after delivering her dramatic speech, she dug into her Bag of Withholdings. Minutes later, she produced a scroll and handed it to him. Then she grabbed a chair, dragged it a short distance away, and sat down beside him.

Xu Kai watched her through all of it.

She stared at him expectantly, silently urging him to read the scroll, and then what? Majestically absorb the spell in a split second?

Apparently, that was exactly what Chen Xi expected.

His frustration simmered beneath the surface.

'What does she think I am? A god?'

For a moment, they just looked at each other. Then Xu Kai dropped his gaze to the scroll in his hand.

He unrolled it. The first word, bold and stark, stared back at him.

'The Sun's Memory.'

The title.

'So she’s serious. She really expects me to learn this on my own.'

That bothered him, yes. But what bothered him more was—

"Why are you here?"

Chen Xi blinked.

"Uh, nothing much. Just watching you learn the spell."

"I don't think that's necessary."

"It is," she replied. "A good disciple should always watch their master. You never know what knowledge you might gain by doing so."

'Then stop looking at me like I owe you money.'

He pulled his attention away from her and back to the scroll, already unrolled and lying flat on the table.

This wasn't what he’d signed up for. But he still wanted to do it.

Xu Kai took a deep breath and began to read.

Unlawfully taken from NovelFire, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

From what he could tell, this would be fairly easy. The instructions were straightforward: channel qi to the palm. Professionals could do more, direct the qi wherever they wanted, but Xu Kai wasn't a professional. Not yet. So he stuck to the basics.

He wasted no more time.

He cleared his thoughts. Focused. Channeled his qi.

With his concentration fixed on every small sensation in his body and mind, Xu Kai became aware of something in his lower abdomen. From reading xianxia novels, he knew that area was his dantian. The feeling was his qi.

He lingered on that sensation for a moment, enjoying it, before guiding the energy upward.

A reasonable amount of qi flowed from his dantian, through the necessary pathways, until it reached his palm. The movement was smooth, effortless. Within seconds, barely any time at all, from what he could tell, the qi surfaced on his skin.

He turned his palm over, watching the faint glow with quiet awe.

'First step complete.' A surge of satisfaction. 'Second step next.'

The next part was the most crucial: manifesting the Dry Will.

All it took was the desire to make something liquid dry. It sounded simple, but Xu Kai knew it wasn't. Still, for reasons he couldn't explain, he felt certain it would come easily to him.

The Dry Will manifested almost immediately.

He connected it to the qi on his palm. The Will moved as commanded, merging smoothly with the energy.

'Success. Second step complete. Now the third.'

The third step was the simplest of all.

Dry something.

He paused, thinking of a test subject. Then he turned to Chen Xi.

"Bring me three cups of water."

"Uh, okay!"

She looked confused by the sudden request, until she realized what he needed it for. Then her eyes lit up. She jumped to her feet and rushed off, returning moments later with three cups clutched in her hands, water sloshing over the rims with every quick step.

"Master, here!"

She set the cups down and sat.

"Thank you."

Xu Kai positioned one cup directly in front of him.

'Let's try it.'

He placed his palm over the mouth of the cup. The qi brushed against the water's surface, thin tendrils passing through.

'Dry.'

The moment he gave the command, the qi pulsed.

Then nothing. No further change.

Curious, he lifted his hand and looked inside.

The water was gone.

Not spilled. Not evaporated. Simply gone, as if it had never been there. If Xu Kai hadn't seen the cup filled with his own eyes, he would never have believed it held water moments ago.

He grabbed another cup, poured its contents onto the table, and swept his palm above the puddle.

The water vanished.

'All steps complete.'

A wide grin spread across his face as he stared at the qi glowing on his palm.

Then he remembered.

His main goal wasn't drying random cups of water. It was drying himself.

He nearly face-palmed. He'd been having so much fun he'd almost forgotten why he learned the spell in the first place.

His body had been soaked for a while now. He wasn't dripping anymore, but his clothes clung to him, heavy and damp. Logically, anyone else would be at serious risk of catching a cold.

But Xu Kai wasn't anyone else. He was a cultivator. It would take far more than a little wet clothes to make him sick.

'Still, there is no point in delaying.'

He turned to his real purpose: drying his robe and his body.

It was going to be far harder than drying a cup of water or a puddle on a table. He'd have to manipulate the dry qi to sweep across his entire body, chasing out every trace of moisture. He didn't know if he could pull it off easily.

But that didn't bother him.

Because as far as he commanded it...

It had to obey.

Xu Kai raised his hand slightly, palm open. The dry qi still rested there, calm and still, not pulsing or reacting.

As if it were waiting.

Waiting for the command.

So he gave it.

'Dry.'

And the water on his body, every last drop...

Obeyed.