Shen Moxin's Resolve

The oil lamp cast a halo of light across the lesson plan, bright enough to make her eyes ache.

Shen Moxin pushed up her glasses, her pen hovering above the paper. She had written the notes last night-a few brief lines comparing "Soul Power pathway efficiency," accompanied by a simplified diagram. The lines weren't quite straight, but they got the point across.

Outside the window, dawn had yet to fully break.

She stared at those lines for a long time. Finally, she picked up her pen and added a line of small characters in the blank header: "Supplementary handout for the elementary theory class (trial)."

Her pen paused, then added another word: "Voluntary."

The ink bled a little.

She closed the lesson plan and tucked it into her cloth bag. Its corners had worn pale, but it was very clean.

The classroom was on the second floor of an old building in the back row. Its windows faced east, and the morning sun streamed in at an angle, bathing the lectern in light. Dust motes drifted up and down in the beam.

When Shen Moxin stepped up to the lectern, the thirty-odd students below were chatting noisily. Some were leafing through books, some were yawning, and two boys in the back row who looked like young nobles were talking and laughing in low voices.

She didn't speak immediately. She set her cloth bag on the lectern, took out her lesson plan, and opened it.

Her movements were slow.

The students gradually quieted down. Several commoner students sat up straight, their eyes showing their usual confusion. The noble students fell silent too, though they still wore languid expressions.

"Today, we won't be covering chapter three of the textbook." Shen Moxin raised her head, her voice steady. "We'll talk about something else."

Some of the students looked startled.

She turned and drew a simple circle on the blackboard with chalk, then put a dot in the middle.

"Suppose this is the Soul Power source," she said. "Soul Power starts here, flows through the meridians, and completes a circulation. The textbook says that the faster the circulation, the more efficient the cultivation. That's true, but it leaves something out."

She drew several more winding lines.

"Pathways." Shen Moxin tapped one of them with the chalk. "Different pathways consume different amounts and have different levels of stability. It's like walking: a straight road is shortest, but there might be a hole in it. A detour is smoother, but it takes more time."

The classroom grew quieter still. A noble boy in the back row gave a soft snort of laughter.

Shen Moxin ignored him. She pulled the diagram from her lesson plan and pinned it beside the blackboard.

"I simplified a model," she said, "to estimate the 'efficiency coefficient' of different pathways. The higher the coefficient, the more you can do with the same amount of Soul Power, or the less you consume doing the same thing."

A stir began among the students.

"Teacher." A commoner student timidly raised a hand. "The textbook doesn't cover this."

"Mm." Shen Moxin nodded. "That's why it's supplementary."

"Will it be on the exam?" another student asked.

"No."

At that, the students visibly relaxed. Several leaned back in their seats.

Shen Moxin tapped her lesson plan lightly with a fingertip.

"But you can give it a try." She raised her voice a little. "Especially those of you below Soul Power level three who feel stuck in your cultivation. Try changing the order in which Soul Power flows through the 'hand taiyin lung meridian' and the 'foot yangming stomach meridian' during meditation. Measure your current speed first, then measure it again after the change. Write down the data and compare it yourselves."

No one said a word.

The sunlight shifted, glinting off her glasses.

"Of course," Shen Moxin added, "it's voluntary."

The bell rang, and everyone left in a hurry.

Shen Moxin stood beside the lectern, gathering her lesson plan. Chalk dust clung to her cuffs, and she looked down and brushed it off.

"Teacher."

The voice came from the doorway. She looked up and saw Li Wangye standing there, holding several old account books.

He looked a little hesitant and edged two steps forward.

"That thing you mentioned in class..." Li Wangye lowered his voice. "Should we go through the hand taiyin first, or the foot yangming?"

Shen Moxin glanced at him.

"That depends on the characteristics of your own Soul Power," she said. "The hand taiyin belongs to metal and governs astringency. The foot yangming belongs to earth and governs transportation and transformation. If your Soul Power feels insubstantial and dissipates quickly after cultivation, try going through the foot yangming first. If your Soul Power is blocked and doesn't flow smoothly, go through the hand taiyin first."

Li Wangye's eyes lit up.

"I'll go back and try it." He paused. "Thank you, Teacher."

With that, he turned to leave.

"Li Wangye." Shen Moxin called him back.

He turned around.

"How are the work-study students you're tutoring doing with their training?"

"So-so." Li Wangye scratched his head. "Their foundations are poor, and no matter how they train, they're slow. There's one named Chen Shi. His Martial Soul is a rusty hoe, and his Innate Soul Power is one and a half levels. He's been stuck for two years. I taught him the old way, but it didn't help."

His voice dropped. "He's just about ready to give up himself."

Shen Moxin was silent for a moment.

"Have him try the method I talked about today," she said. "He doesn't need to understand all of it. Just have him change the order as I described. Help him record the data."

Li Wangye stared for a moment, then nodded firmly.

"Okay!"

He ran off with the account books in his arms, his footsteps thudding down the corridor.

Shen Moxin looked away and tucked her lesson plan back into her cloth bag. The bag was a little heavy.

Over the next few days, Shen Moxin taught her classes as usual.

Whenever she came to the circulation of Soul Power, she slipped in a few simple examples of "pathway efficiency." The students' reactions gradually went from confusion and resistance to numb acceptance-it wasn't on the exam anyway.

But there were always a few whose eyes lit up.

Most were commoner students who sat in the front row. They listened intently and filled their notebooks with densely packed notes. During breaks, Shen Moxin could see them gathering together, arguing in low voices about "coefficients" and "losses."

She didn't disturb them.

On Friday afternoon, theory class ended early. Shen Moxin stayed in the classroom to sort through the practice records the students had handed in. It was routine work, and most of them had put little effort into it.

As she reached the later records, her fingers paused.

The handwriting on that record was crooked, but the page was full. For the previous few weeks, it had contained only the words "no change," but this week it had gained another half page:

"Changed the order as Teacher Shen said (foot yangming first). Felt nothing on the first day. On the second day, after completing a Soul Power circulation, my lower abdomen felt a little warm, and it lasted half a quarter of an hour longer than before. On the third day, I condensed a trace more Soul Power in the same meditation time (measured with a soul-testing stone; the reading rose from seventeen to nineteen). Not sure if it's a coincidence. Will continue observing."

Signed: Chen Shi.

Shen Moxin stared at those lines for a long time.

A bird called outside the window. Afternoon light slanted in, tinting the paper pale gold.

She pulled the record out separately and slipped it into her lesson-plan book. Her movements were very gentle.

She was halfway through packing her cloth bag when footsteps sounded at the door.

Li Wangye poked half his body inside, unable to contain the excitement on his face.

"Teacher! That kid Chen Shi!" He crossed the room in a few strides, lowering his voice but speaking quickly. "He just came to me and said it looks like his Soul Power really is about to break through! He's only trained for five days using the method you described, and the soul-testing stone's reading has jumped to twenty-one! He told me to hurry over and tell you..."

He suddenly stopped speaking when he saw that Shen Moxin's face showed little expression.

She only pushed up her glasses.

"It's only been five days. There isn't enough data," Shen Moxin said. "Have him keep training and measure it three times a day. Record the time, environment, and physical condition too. Gather at least a month's worth of data before looking at the trend."

Li Wangye stared for a moment, then nodded emphatically.

"Understood!" He turned to leave, then looked back. "Teacher, Wang Hai, Zhao Xiaosui, and a few others also said their Soul Power seems to be circulating a little more smoothly. It's not as obvious as with Chen Shi, but... but it really does work."

Shen Moxin gave a quiet "Mm."

Li Wangye left. The classroom fell quiet again.

Shen Moxin sat back down in her chair without moving right away. Sunlight fell on her hand, revealing the chalk dust on her fingertips.

She raised her hand and looked at it against the light.

Then, very slowly, she clenched it into a fist.

The change was like an undercurrent beneath the water.

On the surface, everything was as usual in the elementary theory class. But during breaks, three or five more people gradually began gathering to talk in low voices. They asked one another, "Which order did you try?" and "How much did your reading go up?"

Word spread discreetly.

Once, as Shen Moxin passed behind the training ground, she heard two commoner students squatting in a corner and resting. One of them was gesturing as he spoke. "...Really, my method doesn't work. I need to switch to the second pathway Teacher Shen mentioned. It's a longer route, but the loss is lower, so it works out better overall."

The other muttered, "Soul Power can work out better?"

"Tsk, you don't understand. It's like carrying water. Taking the short route with a leaking bucket isn't as good as taking the long route and arriving with a full one."

"Bad logic..."

"Believe it or don't."

Shen Moxin didn't stop. She walked straight past.

Her pace didn't change, but her back straightened a little.

In the end, the news couldn't be kept hidden.

On Monday morning, Shen Moxin had just returned to the office after class when someone knocked at the door.

It was a young deacon from the Teaching Supervision Office. His face was unfamiliar, and his expression was businesslike. He handed her a notice bearing a red seal.

"Teacher Shen," the deacon said flatly, "the Supervision Office has received a report that the content of your elementary theory class differs from the lesson plan approved by the academy. In accordance with procedure, a random classroom inspection will be arranged. It is scheduled for the first period the morning after tomorrow, during your theory class."

He paused, then added, "The supervising inspector will be Sun Ming, Teacher Sun."

Shen Moxin accepted the notice.

The paper was a little cool. Her gaze swept over the final name and paused for an instant.

Sun Ming. She knew of him. He was close to Ning Zhishou and was known in the Supervision Office for being "rigorous and conservative."

"I understand," she said.

The deacon nodded, turned, and left. His footsteps rang crisply down the corridor, gradually fading.

The office was quiet. A pot of pothos sat on the windowsill, its leaves drooping.

Shen Moxin stood holding the notice for a while, then walked behind her desk and sat down. She laid the notice flat on the desk and smoothed out the creases at its corners.

Sunlight came through the side window and fell on the paper. The red seal was especially glaring.

She reached for the fountain pen in the pen holder, intending to make a note. When her fingertips touched the barrel, they paused slightly.

A very slight pause.

Just that once.

Then she drew out the pen, unscrewed the cap, wrote "Read" in the blank space on the notice, and signed the date. Her handwriting was neat, every stroke carefully formed.

When she finished, she screwed the cap back on and returned the pen to its holder. Her movements were unhurried, just as they always were.

Only as she put the pen away did her fingertips linger unconsciously for an extra second on its cool metal barrel.

Outside the window, a wind suddenly rose, making the pothos leaves sway.