When Song awoke from meditation, he immediately jumped to his feet and began taking off his fur jacket and deel.

  “What’re you doing?” Master Crane asked curiously.

  “I think I reached enlightenment, Master!” Song declared. “But I need my Sign!”

  Song stripped down to his bare chest and got into the Stellar Crane stance. He closed his eyes and began to cycle his qi. But this time, rather than just sending it to his legs, he also pushed it through his dantian. Faster, and faster.

  When he opened his eyes, the pool was lit up with a flickering starlight – enough to be noticeable even under the lotus moon. Song looked at his reflection, where a brightly glowing star sat right below his navel. The shaft of radiance that connected him to the water was so bright as to be nearly solid, like a bridge made of starlight.

  A bridge of countless tiny particles, and I just need to step across it. Song marveled, then closed his eyes.

  “Starlight Bridge,” Song whispered. He cycled his qi, connecting it to the light streaming from his Sign.

  He stepped–

  And splashed, blubbering into the pool.

  [“Okay, I have to say.”] Cyrus commented as Song flailed about. [“Starlight Bridge sounds way cooler than Crane Reflects on Still Waters.”]

  —

  Song sat beside his hastily constructed fire. Horse dung argal went up quickly, but didn’t last for too long. It would do for now.

  Not that he even needed it, what with the warmth welling up from within his heart.

  He’d done it! Not just once, but three out of six times! He hadn’t mastered it yet by any means, but he could do it! He, Lee Song, had succeeded in using a martial arts technique on the first day!

  Master Crane came alongside, shaking his head. “I’m pleased with you, disciple. Tell me what lessons you learned.”

  “From you, Master, I learned that an unorthodox cultivator should use their Sign to make their techniques stronger, and the forms of Stellar Crane style. From Hunter An I learned how to cycle my qi. From Cyrus, I learned that light is a particle, and that I could step across light from my Sign like it was a bridge!”

  [“That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind,”] Cyrus said brightly. [“But I’m glad it worked”!]

  “I was wondering if you’d remember to use your Sign, or if I’d have to tell you! When I was first learning I too had to rely on my Sign to use Crane Reflected on Still Waters. But as time went by I was able to comprehend the light of the Void through other means.” Crane preened happily.

  “What next, Master? Can you teach me the next technique before you go?”

  “I can teach you the forms, but not the technique, you need to properly master Crane Reflected on Still Waters first, and fill your meridians. Speaking of which – “ Crane walked over to the pile of rocks in the rier where they’d left the moonscale carp, and pulled it out. “I have a gift for my dutiful disciple.”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  He flipped the fish out of the water with a lazy claw and it flopped onto the ground with a wet slapping sound.

  [“Ew. Gross. Day old fish?”] Cyrus gagged.

  “It’s not some mere ‘fish’, Cyrus. Master…” Song gasped, his eyes wide. “That’s your treasure fish.”

  “It was always meant to be yours,” Crane said with an air of melancholy. “Eat it, my little chick, and grow strong. It should be enough to bring you nearly to the expert step of refinement. When you’ve properly solidified your current channels, the next meridians to fill will be the upper Shao Yang running through your arms.”

  Song bowed deep. “Thank you, Master.”

  He stared at the carp, which stared back with dead fish eyes. It was a priceless treasure.

  [“Is that still good to eat? After helping you fight a monster to the death, it would be real ironic to have you die to food poisoning.”] Cyrus sounded worried.

  “It’s a treasure. It doesn’t go bad so easily,” Song reminded him.

  [“You’re not going to eat it raw, right? I’m gonna hurl all over your mindscape if you do.”]

  “Of course not.” Song grabbed a stick and unceremoniously shoved it through the carp. It made a wet *schlooping* sound as he did so. He checked to make sure it wasn’t going to slide off, then pulled some salt out of his bag and liberally covered the fish with thick flakes of white rock salt. Then he placed it over the fire.

  Crane choked.

  [“Okay, cooking it is definitely better,”] Cyrus commented. [“But isn't that fire made of literal horse-shit?”]

  “I’m not going to let there even be a chance that something keeps me from this,” Song declared. “I’m cooking and eating it now.”

  Song had roasted enough fish-on-a-stick with his brothers over the years, though it was usually done slowly over a bed of charcoal, not quickly over an airag fire. He doubted that a treasure carp would have anything so mundane as the awful worm-parasites that river trout could have, but he’d let it cook a little longer to make sure. He hummed while he slowly spun the fish over the fire, marveling as the silver of its scales slowly charred in the bright flames.

  When the fish was half-blackened, and more than fully cooked, Song removed it from the fire. It smelled… like burnt fish and glory.

  It tasted like burnt fish, and sadness.

  “Does that taste as bad as it looks?” Crane asked, glancing askew at his desperately munching disciple.

  Song dantian was soon full to the brim with pure Void qi, and he cycled it straight to his Shaoyang meridian. His bottlenecks melted away in an instant. In a single night, he was going to surpass his second brother’s twelve years of cultivation, and he was even faster than Wook! Tears streamed down his face as he forced the vile meal down and declared, “It’s delicious.”

  [“Doubt.”] Cyrus muttered.

  Crane came up beside Song and laid a claw on his shoulder. “After you fill your lower Shaoyang meridians, move onto the lower Shaoyin, then upper Shaoyang. I don’t think you’ll get much further than that.”

  Song sat into the lotus position to better focus. His Shaoyang was already fully cleared, and he forced the first trickles of qi into the lower Shaoyin. At that moment a black, suppurating, foul ooze emerged from his skin – the accumulated filth of his mortality being forced out of his body by the sheer speed of his cultivation. Song had heard of the phenomenon, but never expected to ever see it!

  [“Dude. This is the grossest thing I’ve ever seen,”] Cyrus said with fascination.

  Song ignored the ignorant Canadian. It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

  –

  Inside Song’s mindscape, Cyrus sat in a well of darkness, his loneliness kept at bay only by the sights and sounds that he could perceive from outside. His attention was pulled upwards by a sudden bright sparkle, and his attention fixed on the single constellation hanging on the black tapestry.

  Beside it, a series of stars were beginning to shine brighter than the others around them. One by one, a faint constellation of nine stars took shape – a crane standing in the river of the cosmos.

  Cyrus stared in fascination. “Huh, neat.”