The Heavens Shall Fall

Facing Seloryn, Siu slowly inhaled a deep breath of air as he flexed his fingers, getting ready for another round. As she suggested, he tried to consciously let his blood flow accelerate, but he wasn't sure he was doing it right. However, it felt right because he could sense the world's essence fill him, and he quickly ushered it towards his ears, trying to protect himself from Seloryn's attacks. As he did so, the world became clearer, not only for his ears, but for his eyes, too. They were overflown with essence, causing his blue irises to shine like sapphires. By the time he exhaled, his body felt lighter and stronger, and seeing her waiting, his next step launched him forward and cracked the floor beneath his feet. Seeing it happen, watching as the stone repaired itself the next moment, Seloryn’s eyes also brightened, showing her surprise.

“So quick on the uptake...” She thought as her flute rose up to block, wanting to give him time to experience the feeling and let him press her a little.

The moment she did so, Siu changed directions mid-step, masking it with a stumble, then coming out of it with a low attack like a drunken fighter, his hand aiming for her hip instead of her shoulder. Smiling, Seloryn turned with him, and although she was fooled for a moment, her speed was fast enough to catch up and correct the mistake. When Siu's strike hit the flute, it made it vibrate and rang out with multiple, echoing notes, causing her form to twist and disappear right before Siu's eyes, leaving him unable to tell where she was.

"...!"

Luckily, with the preparations, he could shake it off quicker this time, and he felt the flute coming from his left, behind his back. Without hesitating, he twisted his torso, using the Snake's fluidity, his spine bending beyond what usually should be possible, dodging at the last moment. The flute, in turn, had only grazed his back, but even that scraping touch sent a buzzing vibration through his ribs, as notes kept coming out of it. Subconsciously, he tried to mimic it, send the same resonance through himself to cancel it out, and as he did so, his body had already countered Seloryn with an elbow strike.

Naturally, she blocked it with the flute, and the impact created more notes. This time around, they felt like they were multiplying, as one note became two, four, eight, and sixteen in quick succession, making him dizzy, miss the next step, and only see a silvery light coming at his face. He raised his hand to block, but he could tell it would go through, and that was when Seloryn's arm slowed, and she just tapped his forehead with the edge of the flute.

“Dead.”

"Yeah..." Siu froze at once as he exhaled, already pushing down the confusion in him as he managed to cancel out her resonating attacks, even feeling as if he was absorbing them. “Honeslty…? That was unfair.”

"I know, but I wanted you to see how to control your essence. It is not enough to feel it; you will have to direct it, not only in your body, but also in your mind, and through it, everything else! You will have to channel it into anything you use. Weapons, your clothes, talismans, artifacts, the list goes on endlessly. You will have to use it for both attacks and defenses. Eventually, what you are doing now will be your last line of defense, because by the time another's essence penetrates you, they would have to break through all your other defenses. Most importantly... Books can't explain the feeling; it has to be experienced and trained."

Siu listened without interrupting, but behind their protective veil, Arya was glaring at Seloryn, her eyes squinting.

“She is cheating.”

"She is, Big Sis..." Marly nodded her head rapidly, “We should learn cheating too.”

Hearing the two, Siu almost answered, then stopped because he felt Seloryn watching him.

“What did they say?” She asked with a smile.

"That you are cheating."

"Hah!" She laughed, glancing towards them, "Then the world is a cheaters' paradise. Now, the third lesson: Capacity.”

Without waiting, she played three notes, and suddenly, Siu staggered, and even when he pushed all of his essence through his blood to stabilize himself, the louder the music became, pressing him down. Seloryn simply stood there, playing her music, and although it sounded beautiful, for Siu it was horribly heavy, like she was putting weights on him, without stopping. Then, just as he was about to buckle and go to his knees before her, the pressure vanished as the music stopped, allowing him to stand. Of course, Siu almost stumbled from the sudden absence, and he stepped forward three times, nearly colliding with her.

"You see," she said while helping him stand straight, "your capacity has two uses. Naturally, one determines how long you can fight, how many techniques you can use, and how powerful spells you can fire off. The second use is more blunt: overwhelm."

“Brute force beats technique.” He said, finally recovering himself.

"Yes." She nodded, "With a big enough gap, you don't need to do anything, just unleash your powers in full, and the weaker opponent will crumble. You don't need technique or battle plans. This is why fighting someone stronger is not as easy as you would think from your time amongst the outers. You may be the best genius who has learned every possible technique the Hollow Song has to offer... yet someone in the Flesh Morphing stage, with great reserves in them, can curbstomp you. And you will have nothing to do against it..."

"Bad... memories?" He asked, seeing Seloryn's eyes wander a little, her voice becoming distant.

"Yeah." She nodded absentmindedly, "I never before was humiliated as such." She muttered, looking at him, "You see... girls can hold grudges."

"I will keep that in mind, Senior."

"Heh," She giggled, looking over him again, “Your capacity is not bad for someone newly advanced. Better than I expected, honestly. But you are still shallow compared to someone who has spent years expanding their reservoirs, so don't try to pull something you did against that Nue girl. That won't work here anymore.”

"Thank you for your advice," he said, cupping his hands and taking her seriously.

"Now! Fourth lesson: Replenishment.” And then, she gestured for him to attack again.

This time, Siu took a deep breath and used the Snake Form. His body went still, and Seloryn saw how tension kept rising through his whole body, right until the snapping point when he released it all. This time around, with essence boosting him, Siu's body actually broke the sound barrier, the thundering boom even overwriting Seloryn's flute notes. When he did so, for a moment, he saw surprise in her eyes. But it didn't last long, because she lifted the flute and struck the air with the same speed, creating a thundering crack of her own. When it happened, Siu's hand landed on the air pressure she created, feeling like hitting a stone wall.

Naturally, it was not the end of their match; it kept going, making Siu realize she was dodging and blocking only, staying on defense, allowing him to do everything and anything he wanted. She was not only measuring how much he had, but how quickly he could recover, and after half an hour, she suddenly deflected a punch, grabbing his arm, pinning him to the ground.

"Sorry..." She said, quickly releasing him, "Reflex."

"Ouch..." he moaned, feeling his shoulder almost pop out of its socket. "I guess, only dodging gets boring after a while, huh?"

"You could still go on?" She asked, feeling a bit unsure.

"Yeah, I feel like it." Siu nodded, sitting up, looking up at her.

“Your replenishment is good." She muttered, furrowing her brows, "Crazy good, actually. Your body refills quickly, and your breathing technique is excellent... I got the feeling that you took as much essence as you had let out, which would have allowed you to go on endlessly. I had never seen anything like that...”

"Really?" He asked, looking down at himself, "I didn't notice at all."

"If you are up against someone at your level, yeah," She continued, rubbing her chin, "I felt an equilibrium in you which... I never felt it in anyone else. How... perfect. I'm getting jealous."

"Um... Thanks?" He said with a chortle, finally standing up.

"If that is indeed the case," Seloryn lowered her flute entirely, her expression becoming more serious. “You are a monster, Siu. Every cultivator trains these four things: Capacity, access, replenishment, and control. We stretch our bodies to the limit, always working on quickening the draw. We do what we can to strengthen our recovery and refine our constant expenditure. But creating an equilibrium like that? I haven't seen it happen before! Although I can't speak for Core Disciples."

"The question is if I can keep it up after I start improving." He shrugged, shaking his head, "How far can we expand our reserves?"

"That very much depends on the individual. Some methods can artificially push someone's limits further. Like medicines, formations, dual cultivation, sometimes even life-and-death battles, all of them can push one's boundary.”

“But there is still a limit,” Siu added, looking into her eyes.

“Mhm.” She held his gaze with a nod. “Eventually, everyone reaches the wall their body has. Some hit it early," she shrugged. "You can see the disappointment inside some of the servants' eyes because they hit theirs sooner than others. Some of them had smashed themselves against that wall until they crippled their future." For a moment, she fell silent, then shook her head, continuing, "It is also why inner disciples remain inner disciples for decades. Nobody wants to advance before they indeed hit their final limit, and many times, they don't believe they hit the last one, believing that it is only another bottleneck.”

Siu was silent for a while, simply listening and taking in everything. He could imagine disciples getting stuck, not knowing they hit their bodies' limitations, trying to find a way to still improve... Especially if others improved right next to them, day by day. Nobody would want to believe they can't. Suddenly, he realized just how cruel cultivation could really be.

“Can the wall be moved?” he asked.

“As I said, only a little. With the right method, at the right time, by paying the right price. But not infinitely... Talent is talent, and it is real, Siu. Unfairly real...” She sighed again, but Siu didn't ask why or who she was thinking about in that moment.

As he stood there, watching her, he thought of Elder Thane telling him not to deny his own talent. As he did so, he suddenly also remembered Bren breaking through only after losing the false idea of invincibility. And then... He thought of Milli and Nilli.

“So what is my limit?” he asked quietly, not wanting to think further.

"How should I know?" Seloryn smiled, and there was ample teasing in it now. "I'm not your bedwarmer!"

“I... I didn't mean it like that, Senior!" Siu gulped, blinking his eyes.

“Then watch what you say!” She lifted her flute again, playfully tapping his head with it. “Nobody can tell the others' limits, unless they share their bodies. Or the other is an Elder, examining you via special techniques or formations.”

“Noted."

"Make sure you did." She chuckled, then put her flute back into her sash, "I think this will do. Make sure to remember it, and start training with these points in mind. When you improve, and I'm able, I am willing to help you out with training. Of course, go and find others too, test your might against them, because if I keep putting you down, you will lose all motivation."

"Don't worry, Senior," He smiled at her, "I learned to deal with that."

"Oh?" She grinned, "What, were you bullied as a kid?"

"As a matter of fact, yes."

"No!" She gasped, looking him up and down, "You? How?"

"By disciples."

"Are you from a martial family?" She asked, suddenly intrigued, and because she had shared so much information with him without asking for anything, Siu felt inclined to answer her questions.

"No, my parents are simple, mortal peasants. No cultivator ever lived in my family, not even if you trace us back generations. I am the first, and I was taken to a sect where I was born when I was only five."

"Bullshit!" She yelled, walking around him, "You should be dead then!"

"An Elder took me in, preventing me from cultivating, but he helped me train my body to its appropriate limits. I spent seven years there, never improving, as I wasn't cultivating for real."

"That man saved your life..." She muttered, amazed by it, "I guess... the others weren't happy, wasting resources on you... What idiots! Didn't know sects like them still existed."

"Apparently, they do. So, I am well familiar with bullies, Senior, and if they couldn't bring me down when I was a kid, losing against you certainly won't."

"So... Am I a bully?" She asked, smirking, tapping his head with the flute again, "What a little nasty Junior you are! Anyway!" She chuckled before he could say anything, "It explains a lot, why you have this equilibrium in you... You got the right body and mind... Huh." She muttered slowly, then shook her head, "Let's go. I'll take you back, we can eat something on the way, then, I'll leave you to explore the sect and get used to things."

"Thank you, Senior." He said, cupping his hand as Arya and Marly came bouncing towards him, taking their rightful place on his head and shoulder.

"Don't mention it," She waved a hand, leading him away, "One day, we will be both Elders within the Hollow Song. Who knows? One day, maybe it will be I who calls you, Senior."