A Snail's Wisdom

"Fate must have greater things in store for you. Now come eat this stew! I made too much and don"t want to waste it."

Kenja was thankful for the change in topic. He scarfed down the food and walked to his neighbor"s porch next door where an old man sat in a chair with a small pile of logs next to him. The old man was a tall and muscular elder. He had a rugged white beard with smooth gray hair. He was clearly a foreigner with the air of someone who had experienced a world beyond the walls of Ryuga. He was intimately carving one of the logs with a large knife that seemed more suitable for splitting the logs into pieces.

Kenja stopped in front of the old man afraid to interrupt his concentration. After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he stopped and inspected his work with a look of satisfaction. A sheet of wood shavings covered his hamstrings.

"Good evening, Frederick-sensei." Kenja bowed as he greeted the old man.

The old man looked up from his carving.

"Kenja! How long have you been standing there?"

"Oh, I"ve just arrived." Kenja gave him his signature smile.

Knowing better, Frederick motioned to the empty seat on the other side of the pile of logs, "You"re a polite boy. Come, come. Sit and tell me how your examination went today."

Kenja nodded and took a seat next to Frederick. He began recounting the successes of his sisters as well as his own failure. At the end of his story, Kenja was surprised to hear Frederick burst out laughing. Kenja was at a loss with how to respond.

"HAHAHAHA...sorry, sorry...HAHAHAHA...I"ll stop, I"ll stop. Just give me a moment," he laughed and spoke at the same time.

Having calmed down, he gave Kenja a warm smile. "When something like this happens, all it means is that fate must have a bigger plan for you."

Kenja rolled his eyes at this. "Baba said the same thing."

Frederick chuckled once more, "See? You should know that we old people know a little bit about fate. Just relax and become my direct disciple."

It must be noted that Ito Frederick was the master of the Burning Fists Dojo. The dojo had reared many famous martial artists including Frederick himself.

Originally, Frederick had come to Ryuga to gain fame and defeat the original dojo master. He had lost to the master"s direct disciple again and again, but he had persevered. He had trained by himself fevershily for months, and after so many defeats, he had fallen in love with the dojo master"s daughter that had treated his injuries each time. No longer wanting to leave Ryuga, he had joined the dojo as a disciple and, eventually, won the girl"s affection. His wife had pa.s.sed away years before Kenja met Frederick, but he had become the dojo master by that point in time.

He had taken his wife"s surname, but he wished for his close friends and students to use his own name when speaking with him. It had been customary to address one like that at his old home.

Kenja began thinking deeply. Seeing this, Frederick gave him another push.

"Cultivators are a bunch of sn.o.bs anyways. Forget about them."

Cultivators and martial artists followed different concepts that placed them in different categories. Martial artists trained their body by reinforcing their muscles and bones through tempering and training. Pinnacle martial artists could utilize Qi to strengthen their bodies and reflexes much like cultivators do.

Cultivators, on the other hand, trained and nourished both, their body and their soul. While martial artists can add a few decades to their lifetimes, they were heavily limited by their soul. Thus, they would still be cla.s.sified as mortals. Cultivators developed both their body and soul, so they were less constrained by the pa.s.sage of time. The strongest cultivators were known to live more than a thousand years. It was said that the pinnacle cultivators could ascend past the sky. And that"s why cultivators were often called Immortals.

As a result, many cultivators separated themselves from the affairs of mortals a.n.a.logous to how adults do not play or argue with children.

Kenja continued pondering the old man"s offer. Frederick had taken care of him and his sisters on multiple occasions. He frequently sent Baba food, gave them ch.o.r.es to do for income and even gave Kenja some martial arts training. Kenja imagined that if he had a father, he would be very similar to Frederick.

"Kenja is thankful for sensei"s offer, but I still wish to pursue cultivation." Kenja chose to close his eyes to avoid seeing the look of disappointment on his sensei"s face.

"Open your eyes," Frederick commanded solemnly.

Kenja opened his eyes to look at his sensei. Frederick nodded his head.

"I would have been disappointed if you accepted. Men should always be resolute in what they want. Don"t be ashamed of following the road you choose. If you can only remember one of my lessons, this is the one I want you to remember." Frederick gave Kenja a valiant smile which he returned grandly.

Kenja had a reason for rejecting Frederick"s offer, but he had not shared that reason with anyone. He looked over at the completed carving and saw the contour of a girl. Frederick picked it up and showed it off.

"I"m trying to carve out Shizuka for your Baba. I figured she might miss them while they"re gone. Here, why don"t you get started on Yoshie, and I"ll go fetch us some tea."

Kenja could only nod his head before taking the knife from his sensei. He had carved with Frederick on multiple occasions before, to the extent that he could handle a large knife that was clearly not meant for carving a wooden sculpture. Frederick walked into his home leaving Kenja alone with his thoughts. Kenja was about to pick up a wooden block when he was interrupted by a condescending sneer.

"I heard you failed the Flowing River Sect"s examination again. Better yet, your sisters pa.s.sed their first time, and here you are, still, an incapable failure."

Kenja looked to the person speaking and saw a man slightly younger and shorter than him. His black hair was set in a prim and proper manner. His clothes were lavishly expensive but suitable for strenuous activity. Behind him stood several boys around his age and further back stood an older man with a dangerous air. Kenja could tell that the older man was a cultivator.

"What are you doing here Kitamursan? I don"t remember calling you over today."

Kenja maintained his respectful speech with a disrespectful tone. While he didn"t care much for this spoiled brat, he didn"t want to stir up trouble on Frederick-sensei"s front porch.

"Don"t be like that Kenjsan. I am here to console my younger brother."

Kenja"s nerves were being tested, but Kitamura Bolo happened to come at an opportune time. Kenja would love to take this chance to vent his frustration on someone; he wasn"t afraid of Bolo"s entourage either, but the Immortal bodyguard might cause him a bit of trouble.

"I understand. Thank you for your kind words, but since when have I become your younger brother. I may have failed the exam, but since when have you become a disciple."

The self-important man harrumphed loudly. "I plan to take the examination tomorrow with the princess. Once she sees my capability, of course, she will fall for me. The princess is known to be the third most beautiful woman in the kingdom, behind the Queen and her elder sister. The most likely reason for that is because she is still young. Same age as me."

Kenja remembered that Kitamura Bolo had always been a womanizer. Their first few interactions involved Kenja violently teaching him why pestering his sisters had been a bad idea. Kitamura had claimed "it is an honor to serve as a concubine for the Kitamura family."

Kenja suddenly sensed the Qi in the surrounding area move towards Bolo. He was showing off his Qi control through the breathing exercise.

"I see your lung capacity has increased. If you keep breathing in like that, I fear you won"t leave enough air for us." Kenja mocked Bolo.

Bolo turned red and stared angrily at Kenja.

"Perhaps you would like to see which of us two is the younger brother now," Bolo challenged Kenja.

"I fear that I would only find out that I, your father, have sired a weakling."

Bolo turned even redder before stepping backwards to the middle of the street. "Come, fight me now if you aren"t all words. Today, I will put you down and forget your meager existence."

Kenja put the knife in his pocket before getting up and walking off the porch.

"I will gladly take the opportunity to teach my son another lesson. In fact, I will give you a handicap; I will place my back against the gate with nowhere to run." Kenja spoke as he pa.s.sed by Bolo and his entourage. The Immortal bodyguard was also intrigued by Kenja"s confidence and gave him and his master s.p.a.ce to fight.

Kenja walked all the way to the front gate in front of a wooden board tied with rope. He turned around and told them to wait one moment. They continued staring at him as he held his hands behind his back and began breathing in and out. After a few breaths, Bolo became impatient.

"Well, are you going to start or shall I just come over there and beat you over the head?"

Kenja held up his hand. Then, all of a sudden, he yelled out.

"Frederick-sensei, I won"t be having tea today. I will be full after I introduce my friend to the ground."

Everyone looked back to see Frederick holding a tray with tea on the front porch.

"Don"t forget to bring back my knife!" Frederick replied back.

Not only Bolo, but his entourage was angry with the lack of tension and immense disrespect that Kenja was displaying. They turned back ready to punish him only to find no one there. And at the previous location of the wooden board, a rectangular hole was visible.

"He ran away!! Get him!!!" Bolo commanded his group as he ran toward the hole. The moment he exited the opening, his vision darkened as he was nailed with the aforementioned wooden board. He nearly lost consciousness as he fell, face forward.

"Ground, meet my grandson, Kitamura Bolo." Kenja announced as loudly as he could. As soon as he finished the quip, he bolted to the Lost Forest. Halfway to the Lost Forest, he looked back to see that the Immortal cultivator had just exited the hole and begun sprinting towards him at an unbelieveable speed. Even with his head start and vigorous morning routine, the cultivator will have caught up with Kenja a few steps away from the forest.

Before escaping Bolo"s group, Kenja had removed the rope from the wooden board and tied it with the knife behind his back. Using Frederick as a distraction, he picked up the board and took it with him as he exited the city walls. As soon as Bolo ran through the hole, he would knock him flat with the board and escape to the forest before his bodyguard could make amends. Thankfully, Kenja kept the rope with him preparing a back-up plan in case the Immortal bodyguard was quick to respond.

Kenja was twenty steps away from the forest when the Immortal was about to reach out and grab Kenja"s collar. Sensing the impending danger, he tossed the knife behind him which caused the cultivator to back off momentarily and a.s.sess the threat, but it only took him a moment to realize that it was a regular knife tied to a rope. Kenja quickly retrieved the rope back to his side.

He was twelve steps away from the forest.

Feeling insulted that a child was able to fool him to such an extent, the cultivator put forth everything he had as he closed the gap once more. Two more breaths and he could once again reach out and grab Kenja"s collar. Eight steps away from the forest, Kenja blindly tossed the knife out to his left. His pursuer was surprised once more, but he did not slow down this time.

"The rabbit may fool the fox once, but no fox can be fooled twice."

Then he realized that Kenja continued to hold the rope as he ran. He swung the rope around his head which cause the knife to enter a circular arc that would pa.s.s the cultivator at a frighteningly fast speed. Thankfully, at this distance, he was within than the arc"s radius, so the knife would wind up behind him, and he could just grab the rope out of his hands. He would have time to reach Kenja without worrying about the knife.

As if reading his mind, Kenja pulled the rope back to him and squeezed out the fastest speed his legs could muster. All of a sudden, the knife"s speed increased while the arc"s radius was shortened. It was on an on-hit collision with the sprinting cultivator.

The cultivator was furiously shocked. He momentarily considered taking the knife"s attack as long as it meant he could teach Kenja a lesson, but at this point, he was not sure he could catch him before he enters the forest. The cultivator immediately slowed down and avoided the knife.

Three steps away from the forest, Kenja could see the cultivator had chosen to give up the chase, but he continued to walk towards the forest. Kenja immediately understood the cultivator"s intentions.

"If you can"t catch me, then you will make sure I become lost in the forest."

Kenja remained unperturbed as he entered the forest without a second thought.