Chapter 92: The Wind on My Fingertips – revisit?
Liming was handling the mounting pressures as well as Paike could expect. It had been less than a week, but things were happening in the sect. Twice more, he or Guan Li had been accosted while trying to go about their business.
The second time, Paike had been a lot less merciful. None of the attackers had less than two broken bones, and he had made sure to do it publicly and with enough spectacle that his reputation had been thoroughly spread.
In the girls' half of the sect, Liming's position was starting to become more difficult. Most of their year was putting up an uninterested front, backing her. But as she failed to move into Topaz, they became more nervous. The clashes there were different from what Paike had expected.
Only two of the faction's leaders were able to enter the girls' housing; however, neither of them seemed inclined for direct confrontation. So for the time being, Liming was able to work together with a few of the more powerful girls and fend off singular Early Topaz cultivators.
It was working for now, but until she could do so by herself, the situation was untenable in the long term.
After each session of cultivation, they talked. She would ask about how his breakthrough had felt. He recounted every detail he could remember several times in different ways. She said that it was helping and she could feel herself getting close.
"It is like the wind on my fingertips." She said on the fourth day. "I can feel it, but when I close my hand I find it empty."
Her experience was very different from Paike's, but advancement could be a very personal event. Because of this, there wasn't much more he could do to help. There wasn't even anyone else she could ask. The only one that was a possibility was Taka, and Paike hesitated to even bring him up, wary of distracting her.
Soon, though, it would be time for his third lesson, and Paike had promised to talk to her about it anyway.