Relaxing before training

Left behind with the barrier released, Ryu got a moment of hesitation, thinking he should follow Feng Po or try to flee. Despite Feng Po's crazy act of locking him and his ruthless behavior, it was obvious that the man was everything but common, and find a master as strong as Feng Po isn't something a person can do at will.

Of course, Ryu hadn't forgotten about the night in the cold snow, but the talk about improving his cultivating capacity was enticing enough to awake his curiosity.

In this moment of hesitation, Ryu looked back to the mountain, thinking.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Feng Po said, his tone wasn't of someone giving advice, but a warning.

With such motivating words, all of Ryu's doubts disappeared, and he decided to follow Feng Po to see what kind of training the man had prepared for him. But before leaving, Ryu went to pick the golden egg, safely placed at the side.

When he touched the egg, Ryu felt the bond become deeper, and a notification erupted from the system.

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In front of Ryu's eyes, the egg started to disappear, scaring him. But he could still sense its presence, and when he focused his mind on the egg, it appeared. So he stored the egg another time and went after Feng Po.

Near the shore, Feng Po took from his space ring a pair of wood chairs, which he placed side by side facing the lake, a jug of wine, a small round table, and two ceramic cups. Feng Po removed the stopper of the wine jug, making a sweet aroma fill the air, and he served the two cups pushed one to Ryu.

It wasn't the kind of breakfast Ryu was expecting, as drink this early in the morning was something he has never done, but still, he decided to accept just for the sake of creating intimacy. When the first sip touched his lips, a rich flavor passed through his mouth, arousing his senses to tastes that he couldn't even imagine existing. Although Ryu wasn't versed in wine, he could tell that this wine was of quality only experts can afford.

And they remained seated, enjoying the cold breeze of the mountain and the beautiful view of the lake. Ryu finished his first cup of wine, and he felt his head spinning, while Feng Po was in his fourth cup, and he was starting to get worried if there will be really training or if it would be only drinking, so he asked.

"Senior, you mentioned improving my meditation. Can you tell how?" Ryu asked, his voice slightly slurred.

"Tell me more about your skills. And you shall call me Master. I am not your senior." Feng Po said, serving the fifth cup.

"There isn't much to tell. I just got the skill normally. Sometimes, when someone teaches me how to use a weapon or when I am trying to do something, a skill appears by itself." Ryu said.

"And what kind of skills did you got?" Feng Po asked.

"Most of them are weapon mastery, and there is a tracker skill and a movement skill, and one combat skill too." Ryu said.

Although Ryu knew he should keep his immortal-grade abilities a secret, he decided not to hide them entirely because he felt Feng Po would be suspicious if he didn't mention them.

"Was that the case for your martial art style and that movement skill too?" Feng Po asked.

Before answering, Ryu decided to take a break and pour another cup of wine, gaining time to think about how to answer this question by creating the least amount of suspicion.

"Yes, I got those in a life and death fight. Though I can't use their full potential yet." Ryu said.

"It would be surprising if you could. And this is another thing we should take care of in your training." Feng Po said.

"You mean, train to use them to their full potential?" Ryu asked.

"This will happen naturally in time. We need to make that someone that sees your combat would not discover that you have two immortal-grade skills. Every cultivator that is in this business for too long would tell from just a glance that this was not a normal skill." Fen Po said.

"And how did I do that?" Ryu asked.

"Calm, kid. We have a lot to work on with you, but I confess that I wasn't expecting that you could learn skills so quickly. In all my years, and it is a lot of years, I've never seen something like this." Feng Po said.

"So, you are saying that I am a genius after all?" Ryu asked.

But he was received with Feng Po bursting into a loud laugh that echoed far into the lake surface, making all the animals around look at their side. Five minutes later, Feng Po was still laughing, making Ryu angry with embarrassment.

"You are funny, kid. Let me explain so that you can understand. You have a way to get skills easier than the other, this is great, but you still can't cultivate fast enough to keep up with the others. No matter how powerful the skills you get are, if your level is far below your enemies, you are doomed to lose." Feng Po said.

"But, since I don't need to buy skills like the others, didn't I can keep up with their advancement?" Ryu asked.

"If you don't buy a single skill with essence, you will still get behind the top geniuses. So your first task is to forget about the shop, if you need a skill, you will learn it with me, the old fashion way." Feng Po said.

"And how do I hide my skills?" Ryu asked.

"That comes later, first, we will teach you how to meditate properly. For now, you rest because your training starts at noon." Feng Po said.

And silence settled over the place as Feng Po continued his drinking session. Until Ryu remembered broke it with another question that kept hammering his head.

"Senior, how did you know about the dagger? It is okay if you sensed it to be something powerful, but you knew exactly the power it had." Ryu asked.

However, Feng Po continued staring at the lake as if he had heard nothing.

"Okay, master. Satisfied, I called you, master." Ryu said.

"That was a knife I used in my youth. It is an ancient object created by a supreme expert. In my time that knife scared my enemies like hell, as in the middle of I threw it when they less expect. Even Leon Umuk passed by some close call with it." Feng Po said.

"And how did it ended in a village?" Ryu asked.

"A long time ago, when I... moved in, I gave it to a man, a friend, moved to a house in the forest, the knife wasn't useful for me anymore, so I gifted him for protection since he wasn't much strong." Feng Po said.

"So that's the case." Ryu said.

Then, he went to the cave to rest until noon, when his real training was scheduled to begin.