“Still, there’s a workaround. By increasing your control over the elements, you’ll be stronger, faster, and tougher. You’ll regenerate faster too. And it’ll make a world of difference with your alchemy. Now, are you ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Cha Ming said. The moment he spoke, the world of white lurched around him. A viscous, clear substance appeared. It was like water but thicker. Sometimes, however, it was thin as air. Boulders floated all around him, some big, some small. Their densities varied, but through his transcendent force, he could barely tell the difference. As one of the boulders headed his way, he summoned his Clear Sky Staff to bat it away; to his surprise, it was shaped like a glaive. Frowning, he tried slashing at the boulder with the swordlike staff. The blade cut into the boulder but not completely through it. He was forced to yank his glaive out as another, denser boulder struck him in the back, breaking several ribs in the process.
“Is this some kind of joke?” Cha Ming asked, wincing as his strong bones healed.
“No, it’s your training ground,” Sun Wukong said, appearing behind him. “I didn’t want to waste time with three separate training grounds since you’re good at all these elements. Meanwhile, we need to fix your hand-to-hand skills. They’re garbage. Complete garbage. I mean, I’ve literally seen newborn monkeys fight better than you.”
Cha Ming glared.
“Anyway, I’m sure you’ve noticed the chaos in your environment, yes?”
Cha Ming nodded in apprehension.
“The goal is to last as long as possible before passing out,” Sun Wukong explained. “To succeed, you’ll need to do three things. Firstly, you’ll need to sense the relative threats of the boulders hurtling toward you at breakneck speed and use your control over gravity to navigate, repel, or attract them. Second, you’ll need to sense the relative viscosity and density of the fluid around you, which will be constantly changing due to my direct manipulation of the fluid.
“As a note, that’s also how I’ll control the rocks and how they hurtle toward you. If you don’t sense the changes on time, the fluid will affect both your reaction speed and the speed of the boulders. It will be impossible to avoid them all, which brings us to the third part of the training—evaluating the relative hardness of the boulders and judging how much slicing power is required to cut them in two or more pieces. Many situations will arise that make it optimal to choose between lopping off a chunk, completely shattering a boulder, or just cutting it in two. Or evading. Any questions?”
“You’re really pulling out all the stops on this one,” Cha Ming said. “How long do you expect me to last on my first attempt?”
“The first?” Sun Wukong thought while rubbing his chin. “Seven seconds. You ready?”
“Born ready,” Cha Ming said. He gripped the glaive and dove into the field as the boulders were hurtled at him. He barely had time to react before the first one reached him. He cleaved it in two before pushing off one half toward another one. As he floated toward it, the currents changed, and suddenly he saw a boulder heading at him from the bottom.
He activated his control over gravity and repelled three more boulders headed toward him from the sides while manipulating the turbulent fluid around him, neutralizing it. He struck down with all his power, reducing the boulder beneath him to rubble. He grinned triumphantly. Then he noticed a small metallic orb heading for the back of his head. He tried pushing it away, but to his surprise, it completely ignored his gravity field. He tried increasing the fluid’s friction but realized it was impossible to stop the fast-moving object with friction alone.
Finally, he realized it was too late to slash with his glaive. He did his best to cut it down, but the glancing blow wasn’t enough to stop the golden orb from crashing into his skull. It threw him into a large boulder that happened to be heading in the opposite direction. It seemed like a failure, but as he closed his eyes, he smiled in satisfaction. He’d lasted nine seconds. Two seconds longer than expected.
Chapter 9: Shark Bait
It’s nice to finally get out and stretch our wings, Silverwing said. He effortlessly pushed through the water using his morphed wings, a crude but essential trick when navigating the watery terrain. Lei Jiang darted around him, carefully limiting his electric powers to his own body. You didn’t fry friends, only food.
This feels just like home, Gua said, floating around. He hadn’t changed his body in the slightest, and his webbed feet were perfectly suited for navigating the cold high-pressure environment. I hate being away from water. It’s terrible for my beautiful skin. This saline water is just the right thing to revitalize my youthful, unblemished appearance.
I’m going to need you to stop for a second, Huxian sent, using his now-webbed paws to travel through the dark waters. Okay, you can keep going now. I threw up a little when I heard you bragging so much.
You’re just jealous that you’re not so good looking, Gua said. Though I’ll admit, your fur coat looks wonderful down here. If you weren’t my friend, I’d consider skinning you here and now and taking it for myself.
Huxian rolled his eyes. The toad’s interest in fashion had bloomed after he’d met Ling Dong, one of Cha Ming’s apprentices and technically Huxian’s apprentice nephew. He wasn’t sure if today’s business would tone down Gua’s itch or spark a lifelong obsession. Huxian hoped it was the former; he hated shopping.
Their surroundings grew lighter as they approached a lonely bubble in the distance. Ten miles away from it, they began hearing the clanking sounds of a hammer on metal. It was a melodious song, far easier on
