A Sage's Journey (Original Xianxia)

You’re torn between reading more of The Book, and finding someone to teach you how to face punch. Really, it is a hard decision, seeing as the the Tao wishes to throw you into combative situations. At least, you assume it is the Tao, and not some random happenstance of, well, you can’t call it luck, or unluck in this case, because the Tao would control it and thus the Tao….

You get a headache thinking in circles for a few minutes, before shrugging it off and going for something else. Yes, face punching. You will look into learning face punching, and you will try not to cause yourself a headache again.




“Excuse me, sir, but would you teach me how to punch face?” you ask the sifu of what looks like a school for, well, punching face. That is, from what you see, they do a lot of punching. Also, a face could be at about the height of a lot of their punches. Face punching, see? “Like, I know I know nothing about the, uh, fine art of, um, punching a person in the face, but would it be okay for me to join your school and, ah learn?”

“...my art is not ‘face punching,” the elderly man says, nostrils flaring as he pulls himself fully upright and glaring at you. “It is the Northern Long Fist style. We don’t just ‘punch people in the face’ as you so crudely put it, we also kick, and throw. In fact, the face is the least likely place for a student of mine to strike at.”

You stare at the balding man for a long moment, and then shrug your shoulders. Whatever, it looks like face pu- ohhhh, okay, that was a kick...to about where a person’s face would be. Very flexible. You approve.

“Okay, so, can I learn it?”

I...I will think on it. Now begone, lest you distract my students.”

“Fine, fine,” you grumble, before turning and walking away. It’s got some possibility. Definitely gets points, if only for the whole face punching thing and face kicking. You think you are that flexible, but you are not sure. Well, you’ll look for other schools, see if they are less stuffy than this one.



Turns out, no, they aren’t. Apparently the sifu’s you run into do not want to admit that they teach people how to punch, and kick sometimes, faces. Sad, really. They need to be better, more grounded people and see the truth of the matter. Face punching is fun. Which is why you wish to learn it.




“So, can I learn how to face-”

“I do not teach face punching. I teach Southern Iron Strike style. I teach strength through aggression,” the sifu says, this one kinda short and thick, like a barrel. He also has a funny, pencil thin moustache that is way too long. “I teach overwhelming force, with which you use to defeat any and all opponents.”

“Well, yeah, and you do that by punching people’s faces,” you say nonchalantly, giving a shrug and ignoring the growl from the sifu. “See, if you look, you students are punching, and kicking, at about where a person’s face is. So, face punching.”

“I do not teach face punching! I teach force overwhelming!”

“Mhm, you keep believing that,” you say with a raised eyebrow at the, frankly, un-sifu like outburst from the man. Really, and he calls himself a sifu? Well, he doesn’t appear to be too bad, so you will add it to the list you will be keeping, but you want to move on in your scouting potential styles to learn.




“This...is not face punching,” you muse, contemplatively as you stare at the row of students moving through slow motions that involve almost all their body. Oh, there are punches and kicks, but they are slowed right down, and had no power in them. “What is it even they are doing?”

“They are meditating through martial prowess,” comes an elderly voice and you turn and see a man who must be at the end of his years, with pure white hair, and a slightly hunched back. You still get a sense of...something from him, though. You’re not sure what, but something about him screams dangerous, even if he looks like a still breeze will crush him.

“That makes no sense.”

“It makes no sense to you, young one, but if you give it time, you will,” the sifu says serenely, folding his hands together under the white robe he wears. “You must only have patience.”

“But...but I want to learn to face punch now.”

“And that is why you do not understand, child. You want, but what is it you need?”

“I…,” you start to say, only to stop and just kind of stare at the strange old man. No, really, he’s being all strange and saying all this cryptic stuff that makes no sense. Actually, you will just go..to somewhere that you will not be confused so much. “I..I am just going to, ah, go….”

“Very well, child; you come back once you are ready to know.”



So, which face punching do you want to learn?
[X] Northern Long Fist
(Long on strikes with the fist and the foot. Rather acrobatic, with cartwheels and flips and the like. Hidden Weapons style would fit nicely with this one)

[X] Southern Iron Strike
(Long on fist strikes and grapples, and overwhelming an opponent with the body. You don’t quite have the stature to really bully someone with your body, but you will still learn how. Ill fit for Hidden Weapons Style)

[X] The Slow One
(You do not even know, but there was a challenge there. Good for meditation, about neutral for Hidden Weapons Style)

---

And you thought I had forgotten the Hidden Weapons Style? I hav enot. There is a possibility to really starting to form your own fighting style (Hidden Weapons), but there is also the chance to get a style that can finish a fight in one strike, or a style that helps you with your whole being a Sage, but not so much on the whole learning how to Hidden Weapons. So, ultimately, it’s up to you which you want to do, and what you want to be. It’s your Journey after all~

 

You nibble your lip as you ponder what flavour of face punching you want to do, worrying over ifs, and what fors, and even thoughs. You immediately strike from consideration Southern Iron Strike, because you just do not have the stature, nor the bulk, to really make use of the style. So it comes down to Northern Long Fist and that other slow, ponderous one.

In the end, you find a bench to sit on, and a sticky bun to eat (don’t tell Father) as you work through what you want to do. In the end, you end up consulting that odd book by this Sun Wukong person. Better to start after the map bit.

Flipping the book open you settle down to read:

What, but it said to...you are confused. No, do not let a book confuse you. Books are not confusing, only the way you read them is confusing...no, the book is confusing. Well, okay, better to flip a bit ahead, see if there is a section for face pun- ah, there is.

Well, okay, that makes sense, you guess. Like, it makes sense and should be obvious, so why didn’t..no, do not think on this. Thinking on this may result in madness. Best to just keep reading on, so you skip a bit ahead and find this:

Hm, this is true too...well, looks like Northern Long Fist is the style you will learn.

* * * * *

“I have decided that you will be the one to teach me how to face punch effectively,” you say as you approach the sifu confidently, stopping an arms length away as you stare in defiance at the man, daring him to reject you. “And face kicking, too, I suppose.”

“I will, will I?” the elderly man says, crossing his arms over his chest. The man actually looks rather wiry, and solid, but still thin. “And why would I take a disrespectful young lady such as yourself as a student?”

“Because I am Resplendent Lotus,” you blurt out, before taking a deep breath and centering yourself. You take another deep breath, slowly releasing it, and begin again. “Because I am Resplendent Lotus, and I will learn. I will learn what you have to teach, and you will learn what I have to teach. I will be the perfect student. The one from whom you learn from teaching.”

You’re...not sure where the words come from, or where the idea comes from, but the words you speak. They seem to,,,you can feel them resonate in the very fabric of the Tao. In everything. They are correct and true, because you have made, somehow, made them correct and true.

“Hm. Very well, student, let us see what I may learn,” the elderly man -your sifu- says, before turning abruptly and leading the way to an open practice area in the small school situated in the district adjacent to the one you live in.

What follows once you reach the practice area is the beating of your lifetime.

* * * * *

“I did not know a person could bend like that,” you grumble as you limp back to the bakery, bruised and battered, but unbowed. You bent, but you did not break. You withstood your sifu’s onslaught, and learned from it, as he learned from your fierce desire to be his student. “At least I am learning to face pun-” you pause, and flinch. Sifu did not like that flippancy, and you understand now why. Face punching is just the beginning of what you are learning to do! Okay, so Sifu will probably chastise you for that thought, too. “Stuffy old men.”

“What was that and by the sage’s what happened to you,k daughter?” your mother starts to say, only to then demand an answer when she sees your roughed up state. “Who did this too you? I knew you shouldn’t have run off after those thugs on your own. Are you alright? They didn...did they? Oh no, dear? DEAR?! OUR DAUGHTER IS HOME!”

“Mother, mother, MOTHER! Calm down, I’m okay,:” you desperately try to calm your mother down, waving your hands in front of you. “I found Sifu..er, a sifu, and he showed me how not to look like an idiot when I get into a fight, that’s all, that’s all! Do not...you do not need to worry!”

“What’s this now? Daughter! Who did this to you I will beat them to death with my wok!”

“Faaaather!”

* * * * *

After you manage to get your parents off your back, and get in a good scrubbing, to clean the dirt and sweat off. You are left with not much to do, honestly. You could help out with the bakery, you could go to the bathes and have a good, proper soak. You could meditate on what you have learned today. Or you could just give up and go to bed. Well, or you could read some more of the book.

So, what now?
[X] Early Bed
[X] Go to the Bathes
[X] Help in Bakery
[X] Meditate
[X] Read the Book

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Special thank you to TotalAbsolutism for the koans in the book. Without his help, this wouldn't be nearly as amusing.