Heavenly Shae

Shu led them directly to a section marked 'Fairy Weapons,' resulting in Shae giving her a disappointed look.

"What?" Shu asked.

"A bit... Cliche, isn't it?" Shae pointed at the sign.

"They have other stuff besides fans, parasols, and whip blades. Like, most of the weapons here are normal and just scaled for shorter people." Shu looked down at her.

Shae rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine. What do you suggest, then?"

"Well if you don't want to fight often, fans are multipurpose." She smirked.

She rolled her eyes again, and even more dramatically. "Har har. How do they even work effectively? Wouldn't they have a reach problem?"

"Heh! So there is some tactical smarts in there. But yeah, that's a problem. Except cultivator battles are more than just swinging long sticks. There's projected weapon attacks from qi techniques, and other techniques that benefit from being hidden during activation, same with the parasol." Shu made her point by flourishing both empty hands, hiding one with the other, then flicking a small gust of air at Shae's face.

"Bwffft!" She spluttered and slapped at the perfumed air. "Huh, what is tha-aachoo!" she sneezed. "Ugh, pollen? Okay, fair point. I guess 'What's the best?' is a silly question?"

"Hmm. Not exactly. Sword and spear tend to dominate because there's so many techniques and martial arts that work with them. Variety makes them unpredictable, and you can almost always find a technique that's truly compatible."

"Huh. Okay. So what about a polearm? A halberd could work with both and have more reach?"

"You're likely thinking of the guandao, or something like it. Which can do that." Shu smiled wide. "So smart and adorable!" She reached for Shae's cheeks but the young woman stepped back quickly. Shu chased for only a beat before backing off herself and pointing behind Shae. "Careful, shelf!"

"Oop-" she stopped and spun to make sure she didn't knock anything over. She frowned at seeing that the nearest shelf was a good two paces away.

"Haha! Gotcha!" Shu exclaimed as she grabbed Shae around the shoulders and pulled her into a bear hug. "That's the real best weapon," she said while pinching the young woman's cheeks, "misdirection."

"Ow- thanks, but couldn't you have -ow- done that with less pinching?"

"Nah, I gotta get a few in before you can beat me up. Heh heh."

"That's not going to be tomorrow. Ow." She slapped at Shu's hands but after the first contact she only caught air.

"Speed is the next lesson."

"Ow, stop it, I'm not your pet doll." Shae complained, but was still smirking.

"Ooo! Now there's an idea!" Shu gave her a devilish grin and Shae froze in panic.

"No! No dress up!"

"Hahaha, you're hilariously cute when you panic." Shu relaxed and let the young woman escape her grasp. "There's not much variety you can get out of your sect uniform anyway, so that's not necessary. I was thinking about pets and puppets. You can do a lot of crazy things with qi. Though, for pets, our beast taming mountain has fallen on hard times." Shu grimaced. "We don't really have an Elder to run it right now, so..." she trailed off and shrugged.

"Hmm. Right. Getting something else to fight for me would be nice. Though I guess I could still get ambushed."

Shu nodded. "Right-right. Which is why it's good to just do it yourself. Buu~t, something like a dancing sword can help a lot for formal duels. Hmm, though they are devilishly expensive unless you can make them yourself with specially aspected qi."

Shae shook her head and waved her open palms. "Okay hold on, we're getting way too far ahead of ourselves, aren't we? Weapons, something simple to learn, good for my size and soon to be absurd strength, and-"

"Why's that?" Shu tilted her head. "Absurd strength?"

"Uhh... I can't remember what I've told you about myself already." Shae looked around for something to demonstrate with, then shrugged. "My right arm and leg have been strengthened significantly by cleansing. Just have to repeat it for the rest." She balanced on one foot and hopped in place. Using the very small movement of her ankle to bounce higher than she used to be able to as a mortal.

"Huh. Okay." Shu said as she watched. Shae felt her scan her with qi, then she nodded. "Okay yeah, you don't seem to be doing that with qi. Cool. A big hammer or mace is usually used to show strength, but you need body weight or earth qi to balance it. Even regular weapons can be made hellishly heavy without being obvious, so don't worry about that. And you need the martial arts training first anyway. That strength should give you plenty of speed. At least, once you can harness it properly." She nodded then flicked a finger in Shae's direction. "Qigong will help with that too, so make sure you practice, daily. No, twice a day."

"Yes, sensei." Shae smirked and fired off a quick bow.

"Okay, so. We could just say axe or gouge, since you did all that wood chopping on the way here. The handle can be extended as needed if you do decide on using a polearm."

"Uhh, gouge?"

"Come, come." Shu waved and directed Shae to a rack of weapons and began pointing. "A gouge kind of looks like a shovel, sometimes called a monk's shovel. The crescent moon spade is the same but the curve is reversed, good for trapping weapons. Lots of varieties of spears, pitchforks, hooked blades, and combinations of all those. The ji is sometimes called a halberd." She stopped and tapped a spear with a kris-like tip and a crescent blade attached on one side, almost making a curved 'K' shape. "It's popular just for looking menacing, but it's fairly functional too. Its ability to hook weapons is pretty nice."

Then she moved on to something that looked more like a stubby dao blade attached to a long pole. The blade's reinforced spine had three copper rings through it. "This is a guandao. Its wide blade makes it heavy, and it can be customized further. The name gets used a lot in fiction for the nine-ringed guandao, a particularly large and heavy variant. It's also a favorite of fire cultivators because they can recut the wide blade to look like flames. Ah, speaking of, any ideas for what qi aspects you'll go with?"

"Go with? You mean it's supposed to be a choice?" Shae raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, though not everything will be compatible. Your personal preference plays an important role in that." Shu nodded as she lectured, then tilted her head. "Wait, what do you mean supposed to be?"

"Uhh, I kind of already have something?" Shae rubbed the back of her neck.

Shu frowned. "Accidentally, or intentionally? And was it your choice?"

"Oh, completely on purpose, yeah... Err... No, I guess it was sort of an accident. No one made me though, I just..." She paused and looked at her right arm.

After a breath she squeezed her fist. "Okay. I didn't really know what I was doing. Yet I don't regret it and I think I've understood it enough to make it fit well." She nodded to herself and looked up. "I can always change it later, right?"

Shu sighed. "Silly girl. Sure, you're early enough that you probably could. Don't second guess yourself right now though, and listen to the elders if they say it won't work out."

"Mhm, right."

"So, what is it anyway? A little earth or nature? You were up on that mountain, right?"

"Uhh, no it's a little more complex."

Shu raised her palms defensively. "You don't have to explain the whole thing. I don't need your personal understanding of clouds or whatever. Just the basic element, some weapons work better depending on it, though I'm no encyclopedia." She finished with a shrug.

"Okay, sure. It's pretty much lightning."

"... Lightning." Shu blinked at her, then looked up and into the distance. "I feel like I should be more surprised at this point. How did that happen, if you don't mind?"

"Well, you remember that tribulation on Pilgrim's Rest Mountain?"

"Ah, okay, there it is." She shook her head then rubbed her forehead. "Don't tell me the rest, otherwise I'm going to need to sit down."

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Shae rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

The more experienced cultivator took a few slow breaths to calm herself then broke out of it. "Okay, sure, whatever. Lightning, why not? That's usually an advanced aspect that needs a special constitution- no, don't tell me more, that's personal and we're in public, someone could hear." She waved her hands defensively again, even though Shae hadn't tried to interrupt her.

"Still, good to keep that in mind." Shae looked around to see who else was in the shop. A guard was in one corner sipping from an out of place teacup, and a cashier was in the opposite corner, waiting by a steaming teapot.

"Ah, well. It's the cultivators you can't see that you have to worry about. Our senses get crazy strong, and that's before techniques come into play." Shu tapped her nose. "Now, back to weapons... Hmm... Lightning is kind of tricky. Weapons aren't really built to take lightning strikes, or conduct them. So you'd need something special-made if you want to use it like that."

"Huh? But they're metal? They conduct electricity." Shae once again threw out an English word and infused meaning into it, almost reflexively at this point.

Shu paused this time. "That's a neat trick, but why didn't you just say lightning?"

Shae shrugged. "I guess it's less accurate. Electricity is a broader category which includes lightning. Like, you know when you handle a bunch of cloth, and you build up static and get that little shock? That's technically the same as lightning, just way weaker. So I'd call it static electricity, not weak-lightning."

Shu paused again, staring up and across the building again. "That's lightning...?" She took a breath. "Huh. I guess you are pretty compatible with it. Whatever, you can explain it more in private later." She shook her head. "So, the problem is that cultivator weapons are also spiritual tools. They are not made to take huge pulses of energy, regardless of the source. If a high stage cultivator picks up a weaker person's sword, they could shatter it just by trying to use their qi through it."

"Huh. Okay, yeah. That makes a lot of sense. Apollo had that problem in Gatewash, she borrowed my bow, but couldn't use most of the arrows with her techniques."

"Exactly!" Shu pointed.

"Oh, right. I also need more arrows." Shae pointed back.

Shu tilted her head and flashed a frown. "Okay. You didn't bring your bow, I see. They should be made to fit it."

"Ah, yeah. Guess I can come back later." She shrugged.

"Hmm, well, we can go look at prices at least. You might be better off learning to make your own. That will let you replace them in the field, too."

Shae tilted her head in confusion. "I thought I shouldn't use it later?"

"Hmph, not exactly." Shu wobbled a hand. "Just that it's not useful for cultivator duels. There's a cap on how fast and hard an arrow can fly and hit, though your lightning may affect that... -Anyway." She shook her head. "Our improved senses and reaction times mean we can see arrows coming across a battlefield and dodge or deflect them with time to spare. That's why it usually comes down to melee combat. You have to get close and make it impossible for your opponent to defend. You could get an arrow shot off up close, but how would you defend? And even then," she mimed drawing a bow and pointed it at Shae, "it's very predictable."

Shae nodded and sidestepped the imaginary shot. "Okay, that makes sense."

"Heh." Shae paused and fidgeted with her hands, rolling the acupuncture hairpin that was bent into a ring around her finger. She looked down at it and had a thought. "What about this? I'd have to get really close, but it works with lightning, and I can throw it." She removed the ring and unbent it into its normal needle-like form.

"Hmph. Needles are a valid weapon type. Usually used by assassins and fairies."

"Huh?" Shea screwed up her face in confusion.

"Heh heh. They are easily hidden in clothes and hair. You could probably hide even more if you can bend them like that." Shu gave Shae an assessing once-over look. "Your earrings too?"

Shae nodded.

"Neat. Except: unless you can afford to lose them, throwing them around in combat isn't a great idea."

"Ugh, right," Shae grimaced briefly. "Oh! Doctor Cho said there was a spiritual beast quill that was similar, those would be more disposable."

"Hmm. Still kind of expensive, but yeah, sure." She looked back to the rack of weapons and hummed.

Shae followed her gaze and waited.

"Okay," she said and nodded. "One of the downsides of polearms is that if someone gets inside your reach, then you're in big trouble. Some people are just fast and it's easy to overextend into a big opening in your guard. Especially as a beginner. So you usually want a small weapon or shield to defend with."

"But if I have my needles," Shae pointed.

Shu pointed back. "Right, your opponent might leave themselves open while trying to punish your opening. You'll still need a good bracer or target shield to at least look like you can defend, but it'd definitely catch out most of the newbies that won't expect it. Then also make them hesitate later, which is still a win for you."

"Heh, cool. So which polearm?"

Shu shrugged. "Up to you, mostly. There might be one that works well with a lighting technique. Or just because of what it was made from. Early on, though ... And using practice weapons, one with more metal in the head... And heavier to use your strength..." She walked along the racks, pulling at spears and poleaxes with longer metal shaft-guards. "Oh! Uhh..." She pushed them back and looked around. "It might be with the dao." She spun and walked off to a different section.

Shae followed her around the end of the aisle, then into one that was all swords, stopping in front of a rack that was mostly the broader machete-like dao.

"A-ha! Here." Shu pulled out a dao that had a full sized blade but with a much longer handle. She stood it up next to the shorter cultivator. "Half a hand too long, but you'll grow into it." She nodded and couldn't resist a smirk.

Shae briefly frowned at the short-joke, then looked up at the tip of the blade that was just above her head. "I'd better. Not a day too soon for that either."

"Heh. This podao will be a good halfway mark between sword and polearm. It should let you figure out if either is right for you. Oh, and podao is the general style of weapon, so you'll be able to get it in different sizes. Come on, let's try it out."

"Huh? In here?" Shae looked around, then jumped to follow Shu.

They walked to a cleared corner of the shop, in view of both the cashier and guard, and opposite the shop entrance. A pair of chairs sat around a small sideboard. Nothing was set out, but Shae caught the scent of tea leaves and cinnamon. The corner itself had a space about eight paces across clear of everything and with a chalk line drawn over the paved stone tiles.

"Alright, let's do a few basic stances and swings. Slow, like with qigong. Just to get a feel for it." Shu started by demonstrating a stance and then a slow swing. She stopped in a second stance, then handed the blade to Shae.

The young cultivator tried to mimic her movements and was corrected constantly for it. "-More weight on your left foot." - "Balance the blade's weight more." - "No, you're still off balance." Finally, after completing the full movement with only one correction, Shu nodded. "Not bad."

Shae huffed. "Really? After all that?" She relaxed and nearly put the point of the sword into the ground.

Shu grabbed the weapon and flipped it over. "Ah, ah, nooo. Put the hilt end down, if you have to."

Shae took a breath and exhaled noisily, then repositioned the heavy sword with just her right hand.

One of Shu's eyebrows jumped slightly. "Uh-huh, you said your right side was stronger?"

"Yeah." Shae nodded. "Mostly the limbs, but I'm spreading it out and hoping to get it everywhere."

"Hmm..." Shu stepped in and grabbed Shae's right arm, then stopped her sudden motion and asked, "Um, may I?"

"Heh, sure?" Shae shrugged.

Shu began a rather rough investigation where she mostly squeezed and pinched the larger muscle groups while asking Shae to flex them. She jumped back and forth between all four limbs, testing each multiple times.

Finally, Shu huffed and stepped back. "Wow, you're a mess."

Shae rubbed at some of the newly sore spots and rolled her eyes. "Thanks so much for that wonderfully helpful assessment."

Shu scrunched her face and grimaced slightly. "Sorry. It's just: I'm surprised you could move well enough to do qigong and your own style. That kind of imbalance would throw most people off."

"Heh. Like kicking myself across the floor by accident?"

"Hah! Okay. Fair enough. You said that was from doing tar practice? Were you doing it with reinforcement too? Strengthening your other muscles?"

"Yeah, I was doing both at the same time that morning with Apollo."

"Both?" Shu's eyebrows went up. "That's impressive for someone so new."

Shae shrugged. "My qi kind of moves on its own, so it's not hard to multitask."

"Right, lightning. That would be helpful. Though, it's also a crutch that could bite you later. Make sure you can do most things with neutral qi, just in case."

Shae nodded. "Yeah. Makes sense."

"Hmm, that also explains why you're having trouble with the weapon. Just a beat," she spun as she said that and jogged over to the guard.

Shae watched and breathed slowly, then cycled a little bit of qi to her bruised muscles. Shu had been a little rough, yet she had asked for permission to squeeze harder. Shae only agreed after realizing she could heal herself. Unsurprisingly, her mortal muscles suffered much more than the divinely cleansed ones.

"Okay, we have permission for a little qi use." Shu said when she returned. "Oh, you've started already? Ah, did I hurt you too much?"

Shae looked up and saw the woman looked worried. "Not really. Just a little tender, cycling is helping."

"Huh, really? Is it because of the lightning aspect? It's not just numbing your pain, is it? That's not good."

Shae shook her head. "No, it's fine, really. So, can I test it with reinforcement?" She hefted the podao.

"Yep." Shu nodded with a smile. "Still go slow but give yourself just enough strength to move comfortably. Okay?"

Shae nodded. "Okay, I can do that."