I Shall Steal the Heavens 18 Chapter 17: The next step

"You can put it that way," Teacher Jiao replied mysteriously. Then he paused and shook a finger at me. "But that doesn't mean I'm your master. In the end, I'm just teaching you basic techniques that's available in the library and open to all public access."

"Huh? But you said you're teaching me something that's better than any technique I can find in the library…"

"No, I said I'll be teaching you something that's better than any level 2 technique you can find in the library," Teacher Jiao corrected me. He grinned. "Don't let anyone know, but it's actually a level 5 technique."

Holy…! What?! Teacher Jiao was going to teach me a level 5 technique?!

"Huh?! But I've only just learned a level 1 technique. How am I supposed to skip three levels and jump straight to level 5?"

Teacher Jiao held up a finger. "Firstly, the set of techniques I'm teaching you will be very compatible with the Shadow Steps that you've mastered. And after testing you yesterday, I'm confident that you've established a solid foundation with those Shadow Steps." He then held up a second finger. "Secondly, if you ask me, I honestly think all these levels are bullshit. Sure, they might be a good estimate of the difficulty and usefulness of the technique, but it's kind of ridiculous to adhere to a rigid step-by-step, level-by-level progress for something like martial arts. Martial arts are a lot more fluid, innovative and flexible than that."

"Uh…okay, Teacher Jiao."

Inwardly, I couldn't help but be thrilled. Teacher Jiao actually shared the same sentiments as me. He also believed that all these levels and Star Constitutions thing were nonsense. I was glad I had a teacher like him.

"All right." Teacher Jiao patted my back, then he turned and strode away. Raising a hand, he beckoned. "Follow me."

I obeyed, leaving Zhu Jiao, Xiao Zhang and the rest of the first year students behind. Most of them had already dispersed anyway, heading toward their dormitories or wherever it was that they took their breaks. I bet a significant number of them were on their way to their respective sects, intending to consult their masters on this training journey and hopefully use the chance to learn new skills and techniques.

None of them paid any attention to me. A few of my classmates sent curious looks after Teacher Jiao, but that was it. The other teachers were either leaving or answering the questions from concerned students who belonged to their respective classes.

It was tough being a teacher, huh?

Strangely enough, Teacher Jiao didn't bring me to a training facility, as I would expect. Instead, he proceeded toward one of the academy buildings. Initially I thought he was leading me to a classroom, but we ascended stairs after stairs, climbing all the way to the top.

Where is he bringing me?

No sooner than the thought left my mind when we arrived at the vast rooftop. Teacher Jiao pushed the door open, and suddenly we were bathed in sunlight. Without pausing, Teacher Jiao proceeded to the center of the rooftop. I followed apprehensively, and it occurred to me that Teacher Jiao might be planning to throw me off the rooftop and make my death look like an accident.

Stop thinking stupid things.

Why did he bring me up here, though? Out of sight of everyone, in a deserted place where there were only two of us?

Teacher Jiao glanced around, as if making sure no one could see us. From my position, I could still see Xiao Zhang, who had finally finished speaking to Zhu Jiao and was leaving for his office. Teacher Jiao waited until he disappeared before breathing a sigh of relief and turning back to me.

"Am I supposed to keep this a secret from the principal?" I asked intrigued by his behavior. Teacher Jiao smiled.

"No, you don't. Principal Xiao will find out about this eventually, especially when you start using these techniques, but by right I'm not supposed to be teaching you level 5 techniques. So technically I am breaking the rules."

"Uh oh…" I gulped.

"Don't worry." Teacher Jiao chuckled. "Honestly, the academy isn't that rigid or strict. As long as you show results and prove your strength, you can pretty much get away with this. Wu Ling Academy prizes results above everything else…as long as you don't indulge in criminal behavior, anyway. So I'll be putting my faith in you to learn these well."

"What are you going to teach me?" I asked curiously.

"You'll see. Let's begin immediately."

Teacher Jiao turned away and proceeded to the other side of the rooftop. Once he distanced himself, he spun around to face me. I also rose to my feet and faced him, but at his signal, I stayed where I was.

"Watch carefully."

"?"

I watched as Teacher Jiao adopted a stance I had never seen before.

"This will probably be the only time I'll be teaching you actual martial arts."

"Huh?" I sounded a little disappointed. "Then what do I do after learning this?"

"We'll discuss it when you actually master this set of martial arts." Teacher Jiao smirked. "To be honest, by then you will be at a level where you don't need me to teach you anything, and you would have unlocked access to other level 5 techniques."

That was right. Level 5 was the highest level for all the martial arts techniques stored within the Wu Ling library. If I could get access to it, then I probably could pick any martial arts technique of my choice. But before I could get carried away, my attention was forcibly tugged back to the present.

"I'm only going to show you just once." My homeroom teacher shrugged. "After all, I'm not supposed to be teaching you level 5 martial arts techniques. I'm just showing it to you once, and whether you succeed in learning it or not is entirely up to you."

"Right…"

So Teacher Jiao was using a loophole. He was practicing or showing off his techniques, and not exactly teaching me anything. If I wanted to learn anything from this, I had to watch him very carefully and commit every little detail to memory. I wondered if I would be able to do that. My memory wasn't exactly very good.

No excuses. I already decided to stop whining, to stop making excuses. So I'm going to do my best under my current circumstances.

"Ready?" Teacher Jiao asked. "I'm just going to practice by myself. You're welcome to watch if you're interested."

Hell yeah, I was interested. I smiled and sat back, watching carefully as Teacher Jiao turned back to face me.

I watched as he scraped his foot against the concrete, a small wisp of qi rising from his polished, black leather shoes.

"I'll be teaching you five basic footwork techniques."

"Footwork techniques?" I repeated, puzzled. Now this was something I didn't see coming. I was half-expecting a proper martial arts technique such as a punch (Soul Crushing Strike!) or a kick (No Shadow Kick!), but I guess this worked as well.

"That's right. To be proficient in any martial arts, whether it is swordsmanship or punching techniques, you need a solid foundation in footwork before you begin." He glanced at my feet. "The Shadow Steps manual has been instructing you to run everyday. I've seen you judiciously follow that routine, gradually increasing the distance you cover day by day. Thanks to that, you have built up a firm base and shape your physical constitution for footwork." He smiled and nodded encouragingly. "I've watched you train by yourself, and I'm impressed by your determination and discipline. You really did your best not just to run, but also to improve your physical fitness and stamina with various exercises. I think you're finally ready."

I swallowed and watched him carefully, trying my best not to miss anything.

"The first one is 'Advance' (jin). It allows you to move forward quickly, and is usually use to close the gap between you and your opponent in an instant."

I frowned as I studied Teacher Jiao's movements, but he seemed like he was walking normally.

How is this any different from how he normally walks?

Then suddenly Teacher Jiao's feet turned into a blur, flickering and disappearing.

"Eh?"

My eyes widened, and the next thing I knew, Teacher Jiao was right in front of me.

The fuck?! He closed at least fifty meters in just a millisecond?!

My jaw dropping, I backed away on instinct. While I was flustered, trying to absorb what was going on, Teacher Jiao reached out and tapped my chest.

"This is 'jin'."

"Amazing…"

I pushed up my glasses as I marveled over the technique and ran through what I had just seen in my mind. Even though I was paying as much attention as possible, I still wasn't able to capture the movement. I gritted my teeth as I tried to visualize how Teacher Jiao did it, and replayed it in my head.

Unfortunately, Teacher Jiao wasn't going to wait for me to figure it out.

"And the second one is…"

"Huh?"

Teacher Jiao was sliding backward, his feet flickering into a blur again. In another millisecond, he was suddenly back where he started, fifty meters away from me.

"'Retreat' (tui). As it name implies, it is a technique used for retreating from your opponent."

Well, that was obvious. If there was a technique for advancing, then there must be a technique for retreating. I had expected that.

If Teacher Jiao was disappointed by my calm reaction and lack of shock, he didn't show it. Instead, he continued without missing a beat.

"And the third…"

Teacher Jiao disappeared completely from sight. I glanced around to make sure I wasn't seeing things, but he really wasn't there. I turned around, half-expecting to see him behind me, but I didn't manage to spot him.

"Oh, you're good."

I did sense movement behind me before I turned around, though. And Teacher Jiao's voice spoke up from somewhere behind me.

"That's right. This is 'Evade' (duo), which allows you to evade your opponent's attacks and line of sight."

I continued turning around in an attempt to keep him in my sights, but Teacher Jiao casually kicked my feet out from beneath me, causing me to topple over.

"Whoa!"

I managed to throw out my hands and break my fall in time to prevent my face from meeting concrete. In a second I bounced back up to my feet using a basic technique of Shadow Steps, only to see Teacher Jiao's approving gaze.

"And this is the fourth technique…'Flow' (liu), which allows you to read and predict the flow of moment from your opponent. Used correctly, you can disrupt the flow and use it offensively."

"Cool."

I was still trying to do my best to digest what I was seeing, hoping to somehow etch those techniques into my mind. I really needed to try these techniques out in reality later, and practice as much as I could in the one night I had left.

"Take note that you can't simply use Flow however you want. You need to read your opponents' footwork well, and adjust accordingly, adapting your own footwork to the opponent's so that you can disrupt his flow and neutralize his techniques."

"Gotcha." I nodded as Teacher Jiao walked away. Without turning back, he continued speaking gravely.

"And finally…the last one."

I blinked, not sure if I was seeing a mirage or something. Slowly, one by one, copies of Teacher Jiao were splitting off from his original body, each one so vivid and solid that I couldn't tell them apart, couldn't distinguish which of the several Teacher Jiao before me was real.

"Whoa?!"

There were five clones of Teacher Jiao casually standing in front of me, basking in the silvery moonlight that shone down on the rooftop.

"This is a secret technique that's the most advanced of the five. Using your qi, you can create illusions to confuse your opponent psychologically. It is called 'Shadow' (ying)."

"!!!"

How was I supposed to learn something like that?! This practically bordered on magic!

Then again, most martial arts – especially the elemental ones did.

"With a month of practice, you should be able to pick up at least the first two pretty easily." Teacher Jiao smiled. "You already have quite the excellent foundation for using footwork techniques, thanks to you consistently running everyday."

"Thank you." I hesitated for a moment and stared at him. "I don't mean to sound rude and ungrateful, but…why? Why are you teaching me? And a level 5 technique at that."

"Well…the cold hard truth is that I feel sorry for you." Teacher Jiao shrugged as he offered the blunt reply. "You're tasked with the ridiculous and unrealistic goal of restoring the Heaven and Earth Formula. You're left out and excluded from all the sects and forced to be an Experimentalist. Even Zhu Jiao found a master and is leaving you behind. Everyone is forging ahead in training and are rapidly attaining high levels of strength. For you to flail about on your own…it just looks really pitiful."

I felt as if I had been stabbed by several swords. Sucking in a deep breath, I winced and grumbled under my breath.

"Couldn't you have use a little more tact?"

"Why? Can't handle the truth?"

"…"

I sighed and shook my head. In any case, I was grateful to Teacher Jiao for teaching these techniques to me even though such an action would have gotten him into trouble. Even though I only had one month left to try and practice such advanced techniques, I was still going to make the best use of what I had in order to salvage my current situation.

I closed my eyes and reviewed the footwork techniques, and then tried them out in reality. Moving my feet about, I attempted to replicate Teacher Jiao's movements, but only succeeded in making a fool out of myself.

"Ugh…how do I do it?"

"Patience and lots of practice." Teacher Jiao waved a hand to assure me. "Don't worry. This isn't something you can pick up from just one time. You can spend the next month practicing them over and over again."

"Yeah…but…isn't the trick located in how you direct qi toward your ankle and move it?"

"Hmm?" Teacher Jiao turned to stare at me. I raised my leg up and rotated my foot.

"I've been trying to analyze it, and it seems that I'm supposed to use my foot from the ankle down. So…kind of like this…"

I tried again, only to almost sprain my ankle.

"Gah!"

Falling over, I winced and clutched my foot, trying to endure the pain.

"Huh? Weird…I could have sworn that's how you moved…"

"…"

Teacher Jiao regarded me silently for a moment, and then he smiled in approval.

"Not bad. Your analysis is spot on. But you're missing one crucial link." He pointed at my foot. "You also need to match the circulation of qi in your ankle with your movements. You're doing that, but too roughly. Your foot is too tense, and that causes the qi to get clogged up in your muscles. Relax."

"Yes, Teacher Jiao."

I tried again. Teacher Jiao watched me patiently before quietly nodding to himself. Or perhaps he was nodding in approval upon seeing me put in tremendous efforts into my practice.

"Take your time to master it. It won't be easy to master it to peak perfection, but once you do attain that level for your footwork, then I'm pretty sure nobody in your generation will be able to touch you."

"Really?" I looked up at Teacher Jiao excitedly. "Even Bai Ning Xue?"

"Hmm?"

Teacher Jiao looked surprised by my question.

"What, are you thinking of challenging Bai Ning Xue or something?" Then it hit him and he began to burst out laughing. "I see. So that's how it is. I don't blame you, all the guys in the middle school section are in love with her. Of course you would want to impress her by showing off her strength."

"Huh? No, no, no!" I waved my hands frantically. "I never thought about that! I mean, she has a Five Star Constitution and is currently in line to be the next vice-leader of the White Tiger Sect. Actually, she and Zhu Jiao are the only ones in class who have a Five Star Constitution. I was hoping, since you said that nobody in my generation will be able to touch me if I learn these footwork techniques, I could at least try to measure up with her in terms of footwork."

"…I guess that's a good goal, but it'll be incredibly difficult." Teacher Jiao sighed heavily. "That girl has been a true prodigy ever since she was born…a genius born every hundred years. As you already know, she is currently the only person in your generation, other than Zhu Jiao, who has a Five Star Constitution. She is the pinnacle of your generation, the elite among elite martial artists. To be honest, right now you're a million light years away from reaching her level. Never mind Bai Ning Xue. I doubt you'll be able to touch a hair of Zhu Jiao either. Well, maybe that's a bad comparison since Zhu Jiao would most likely be on par or better than Bai Ning Xue, but…hmm, let's see…I'd say it's a miracle if you even reach Qi Fu Ren's level."

"Ugh."

The truth hurts, but I had to face it in order to grow. I couldn't stay behind Qi Fu Ren forever. I didn't want to rely on Zhu Jiao to protect me, and I wanted to pay Qi Fu Ren back for all the abuse he heaped upon me.

"All right. That's it for today. Go get some rest. You still have a month to slowly pick apart these techniques and learn them, so don't overdo it tonight, okay?"

"Yes, Teacher Jiao."

And with that, Teacher Jiao was gone, leaving me alone on the rooftop. I watched him disappear through the door, and then returned to practicing footwork.

"How did Teacher Jiao do it again…?"

By transferring qi into my ankle. Oh, right. Teacher Jiao said I was too tense. I needed to relax.

Even if you say that, it's not that easy.

Taking a deep breath, I tried it out again, only to fall flat on my face.

"Ugh…damn it!"

Well…nobody said this was going to be easy.

Steadying myself, I rose to my feet and took another breath. I couldn't give up, not just yet. I needed to keep trying. I had only one month to practice these footwork techniques that I only saw once. I wasn't going to waste it.

I'm not going to let Teacher Jiao down.

Closing my eyes, I pictured Qi Fu Ren's mocking expression and his insults. I imagined Hu Shuo taunting me. I remembered the sneer on Ba Dao's face.

I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth. That's right. I wasn't going to allow those three to continue laughing at me forever. I was going to pull myself forward and surpass them. I was going to make them regret ever looking down on me.

Then I pictured Bai Ning Xue's beautiful face. Despite my denial, Teacher Jiao was correct. I did want to impress her. Which guy wouldn't want to show off and impress the girl he had a crush on? Even if I was down in the dumps and reincarnated into another timeline, I was still an ordinary guy with hormones rushing through my body. Then again, it was pretty creepy, because I was supposed to be thirty years old in my previous life. But my previous age and three decades of experience were fading away as I settled down in my thirteen-year-old body.

The body also made the mind, which was probably what influenced my behavior. Or maybe I was a really immature and pathetic socially awkward thirty-year-old in my previous life. Still didn't change the fact that it was creepy to have a crush on a girl who was less than half my mental age. I had to get it together. Perhaps it was the curse of all web novel protagonists who got sucked into wish-fulfilment, self-insert plots – that despite being fully grown adults in the beginning, they mentally degrade into an immature, petty, horny teenager as the story went on, caused by the author's complete lack of imagination and pandering to clichés and a young audience.

That aside, there was still another issue that plagued me.

But…I can't betray Zhu Jiao.

This time, Zhu Jiao came into view. He was my friend…but now I saw him as my rival. I really shouldn't resent him, but I couldn't help the jealousy that was growing in my heart. I wanted to surpass him as well, to step out of his shadow and come into my own without relying on him. I wanted to stand by his side, and not behind him.

I wanted to be on equal footing with him.

But in order for me to achieve all that, I had to take the first step. Opening my eyes, I sucked in another huge lungful of air and steeled my resolve. My eyes flickered to my feet and I put one foot out, focusing my qi into it.

"All right then. Let's try again."

Chapter end