Eight Steps Chasing the Cicada

Ye An climbed the steps.

Dense woods flanked the stone staircase. Now and then, he spotted disciples in gray robes meditating beneath the trees or practicing beside the stream. None looked up at him.

He rounded the final bend, and the view opened wide.

A vast bluestone square lay ahead, three or four times the size of the training ground in Anping County. Rows of courtyards with gray-tiled roofs stood around it, their entrance plaques marked A, B, C, and D.

On the eastern side of the square stood a three-story wooden building. A sign at its entrance read "Outer Sect Affairs Office."

Ye An went inside. The light was dim. A row of wooden shelves stood against the wall, piled high with files and ledgers.

An elderly man in his fifties sat behind the counter, head lowered over a thick ledger. He wore a dark gray robe, and his hair was streaked with white. His eyes were sunken, while the wrinkles on his face rippled like lake water stirred by the wind.

Hearing footsteps, he lifted his gaze and swept it over Ye An. His eyes lingered for an instant before he looked back down at the ledger.

"Recommendation letter." The old man's voice was quiet, his tone indifferent.

Ye An handed him the letter.

The old man took it, broke the seal, and skimmed the page. His brows shifted slightly.

He folded the letter and put it in a drawer with its envelope, then reopened the thick ledger. His finger ran down several lines and stopped at a name.

"Ye An, Anping County." He looked up at Ye An. "Third Body Tempering?"

"Yes."

"Bone Structure?"

"High-Grade C."

The old man showed no reaction. He wrote a line in the ledger, closed it, then pulled an iron token and a thin booklet from beneath the counter and pushed them toward Ye An.

The token was dark gray. The front was engraved with "Outer Sect · A-3," and the back bore the Four Symbols Sect's emblem.

There was nothing written on the booklet's cover. Inside were several lines of text and a simple map.

"A Courtyard, room three," the old man said. "The iron token proves your identity. You'll need it to pass through the mountain gate, collect supplies, and take assignments. The booklet has the Outer Sect's basic rules and a map. Read it when you get back."

He leaned against his chair, hands folded over his belly, and spoke at an unhurried pace. "Outer Sect Disciples receive one hundred and twenty Contribution Points a year, issued monthly. You can spend them to borrow manuals from the Scripture Repository, exchange for pills at the Pill Hall, or rent weapons from the Armaments Hall. The regular Scripture Repository is open from the Mao hour to the You hour. After the start of winter, its hours are shortened by half an hour."

Ye An put away the token and booklet. "Thank you, sir."

"One more thing," the old man added. "New disciples get three months to cultivate. During that time, the Sect won't require you to take assignments. How much you improve is up to you."

Ye An cupped his fists and left the office.

He opened the thin booklet.

A simple map was printed inside the cover. The Outer Sect Disciples' area lay between the foot and the middle slopes of Cangwu Mountain. The mountain gate stood at the bottom, with the Outer Sect square farther up. The A, B, C, and D courtyards surrounded the square.

A road east of the square led to the Scripture Repository. The western road led to the Pill Hall and Armaments Hall. To the north, stone steps climbed toward the Inner Sect, but disciples stood guard at their entrance. Ordinary people could not pass.

The map had several other labels. The Mission Hall, beside the Scripture Repository, was where Outer Sect Disciples collected assignments. The Martial Practice Ground, between A and B Courtyards, was for everyday sparring.

Ye An spent nearly half an hour following the map around the Outer Sect's key locations.

The Outer Sect Scripture Repository stood east of the square in a two-story wooden building. A gaunt old man guarded its entrance, dozing on the threshold. He did not even lift his eyelids when Ye An approached.

The Pill Hall and Armaments Hall stood side by side. Both were single-story brick buildings with modest fronts, but plenty of people came and went.

A notice posted outside the Mission Hall listed recent assignments.

Mountain patrols, herb gathering, caravan escorts—the rewards ranged from dozens to hundreds of Contribution Points.

After making the rounds, he returned to A Courtyard.

The courtyard was small. A bluestone path led in from the main gate, with five rooms on either side.

He found room three and pushed open the door.

The room was even smaller than the back courtyard of the general store in Anping County. It held a bed, a table, a chair, and two rows of wooden shelves nailed to the wall. The window faced south; when opened, it looked out onto distant peaks and mist in the valley.

Ye An set his pack on the bed, unwrapped Shuanghong, and hung the sword on a wall shelf.

He took off the Iron Sand Gloves and placed them beside his pillow.

With that done, he sat down and read the Outer Sect booklet from beginning to end.

Then he closed his eyes and sorted through everything he had learned that day.

The old man's words, the Outer Sect map, the locations of its halls, the three-month cultivation period, and the hundred and twenty Contribution Points each year.

Three months. Within three months, he needed to push the fourth layer of Azure Cloud Finger further—at least another three hundred points—until he could send his Internal Energy all the way to his fingertips.

The Outer Sect had no shortage of disciples at Third Body Tempering. Competition was fierce.

Among the youths who had come from every region, many had better Bone Structure than he did, and plenty had greater resources.

Here, no one would care whether he had reached High-Grade C Bone Structure through luck or hard work.

Only by reaching Meridian Opening could he stand out.

The Scripture Repository was still open.

The gaunt old man sat on the threshold. This time he was not dozing. He held a chipped, coarse porcelain bowl and drank cloudy tea from it.

Ye An walked over and cupped his fists.

"Senior, I'd like to borrow a movement technique or a hardening art."

The old man raised his eyelids and looked at him. His gaze rested on Ye An's face for a moment before he set down the bowl and pointed at a shelf nearby. "The Mortal Grade manuals are over there. Pick one yourself, then bring it over to register. Twenty Contribution Points per book, deducted from your account."

Ye An went to the shelf.

It had three tiers holding more than a dozen thin booklets. Labels on their spines read "Iron Cloth Shirt," "Grass-Walking Flight," "Vajra Leg," "Eight Steps Chasing the Cicada," "Crane-Form Steps"...

Ye An examined them one by one. He picked up Iron Cloth Shirt and flipped through it. A hardening art of Upper Mortal Grade. Once mastered, it could withstand a full-force blow from someone at Third Body Tempering without injury. But cultivation took a long time. Without talent and resources, it normally took a year to reach Initial Glance, three years to reach Micro, and ten years to reach Penetration.

He put down Iron Cloth Shirt and picked up another: Eight Steps Chasing the Cicada. A movement technique of Upper Mortal Grade.

The opening line read: Within eight steps, each step takes a new form; after eight steps, one slips free like a cicada shedding its shell.

The footwork itself was not particularly intricate, but once perfected, its sheer speed could surpass even some Spirit Grade movement techniques.

Its drawback was its difficulty. It demanded exceptionally precise Internal Energy circulation. Each change of direction had to be made while the energy remained perfectly steady. The slightest deviation would catch the foot and leave the practitioner frozen in place.

Very few disciples mastered it to Penetration. Most gave up at the third step.

Difficult?

To Ye An, that was hardly a problem. The Sage of Martial Dao was his advantage, and diligence was his talent.

He drew Eight Steps Chasing the Cicada from the shelf and brought it to the old man. "Senior, I'll take this one."

The old man glanced at the booklet in his hand, then at him, and muttered, "Only through diligence and hard work can one achieve anything." He took the booklet, registered it, then waved a hand. "Go on."

"I'll remember that."

Ye An took the booklet back to his room, sat on the bed, and opened Eight Steps Chasing the Cicada to its first page.

Eight sets of footwork diagrams were printed on the page, with notes beside them. The writing was clear and the strokes neat.

He studied the diagrams for a long while, then closed the booklet and walked through the first step in his mind.

Early the next morning, before dawn had fully broken, Ye An went out.

The Outer Sect Martial Practice Ground lay between A and B Courtyards, an open space paved with bluestone.

No one else was there when he arrived.

He began practicing the first step of Eight Steps Chasing the Cicada.

His left foot crossed half a step diagonally. His right followed. The left crossed again, and the right followed once more.

The book said this step required him to "sink the breath into the Dantian and turn each step with the body."

He tried it once. The movement itself was not hard; keeping his Internal Energy steady as he moved was.

With every step, his Internal Energy sloshed through his meridians like water in a bowl he could not hold level.

He practiced all morning, from the Mao hour until noon, without stopping.

He had managed the first step. It was not yet Initial Glance; he could only just perform it smoothly.

He stopped practicing and sat on the stone steps beside the Martial Practice Ground. His knees ached, and his ankles felt faintly hot.

He looked down at his toes and walked through the first step again in his mind.

The next day, Ye An again left at the Mao hour.

The third step was a hurdle. The book said most people gave up there.

He practiced all morning and fell seventeen times.

Every fall had the same cause. He rushed to change direction before his Internal Energy steadied. His center of gravity shifted, and his whole body tipped sideways.

By evening, he had fallen for the twenty-third time.

After that last fall, he did not get up at once. He sat on the ground, watching the sunset glow in the west and thinking through how to move correctly.

Then he rose, brushed the dust from his clothes, and returned to his room. In the courtyard, he broke the third step down piece by piece and practiced it again.

On the third day, Ye An did not go to the Martial Practice Ground.

He sat on the courtyard steps with his eyes closed, running through the first three steps of Eight Steps Chasing the Cicada again and again. He took apart every route and every flow of Internal Energy until he could see each one clearly.

Then he opened his eyes, stood, and walked the steps in the courtyard.

One step, two steps, three.

He did not fall on the third step. It was not because he had practiced it enough. He had held his Internal Energy at his ankle for an extra instant, supporting his center of gravity.

Ye An stood still and looked down at his feet.

He could perform the first step smoothly now. The second no longer caught him. He could hold his footing on the third.

He walked through them once, stopped, then walked through them again and stopped.

[Azure Cloud Finger (Fourth Layer): 135/800]

[Eight Steps Chasing the Cicada (Initial Glance): 1/100]

He still had three months to cultivate. While improving his movement technique, he had to bring Azure Cloud Finger at least halfway to completion.

The Outer Sect offered only Mortal Grade Martial Arts, after all. More opportunities awaited in the Inner Sect.