That night, Sheung retreated to his Heart Palace, the peach blossoms glowing softly under starlight.
Longyin awaited him there, perched on the stone railing above the pool.
"So the Taoist becomes a warrior, hmm?" she teased, golden horns glimmering. "Are your arms falling off yet?"
"Nearly," Sheung groaned, flexing aching shoulders. "But I need to get stronger. The dragon said so."
Longyin's eyes softened.
"Then let us strengthen not only your body, but your spirit."
She leapt down and, with a swirl of golden ink, summoned a magnificent staff.
It was crafted of black wood inlaid with delicate runes and talismans glowing along its length. The ends of the staff were bronze dragon heads, one with a shiny black ball in its jaws, the other with a white ball.
"This once belonged to your grandfather," Longyin said. "He used it both as a weapon—and as a tool for shaping Fu in combat."
Sheung took it, feeling a strange warmth spread through his hands and up his arms.
They began training beneath the peach trees, the staff weaving luminous trails in the air.
Longyin corrected his posture, showed him how to spin the staff one-handed, how to channel spiritual power through each motion.
"Remember," she said, voice ringing like a temple bell, "the true staff is an extension of your spirit. In time, even your brush may transform into staff or spear. Your ancestors all carried such weapons."
My brush… a weapon?
The idea thrilled Sheung—and frightened him.
In the Sect Grounds
During the day SHeung attended his classes including alchemy, enchantments, seals and martial arts. When they were done, Sheung returned to the Dragonblood Sect. Elder Hua would sometimes visit him in his home, where they would drink tea, and Sheung would tell her about what happened during the day. She often gave him useful tips and advice which helped him understand the depths of some of the more complex topics he was studying.
Weeks passed. Alchemy skills improved, basics of seals were mastered and how to enchant magic tools was beginning to show some practical results.
With his staff training, bruises blossomed and faded. His footwork grew sharper. His staff spun faster. Every night, Longyin pressed him further, teaching him both physical forms and the secret ways of focusing his spirit into the weapon.
One evening, after doing some basic drills, Longyin paused and said "OK. I think it is time for you to learn to project FU, the way they were intended to be used."
Sheung stopped what he had been practicing, listening.
"You've learned the basics of staff fighting, as well as the basic 10 FU in your grandfather's book. What we are going to do now is install each of them into the staff."
She instructed Sheung to make the basic 10 FU, which by now he had made so many times it was easy to do.
"Good. Now hold the fifth FU, for defensive shielding so it touches the staff and say " by the power of the dragon bloodline I install this FU into my staff." Sheung did so and immediately the whole FU glowed gold and then got sucked into the wooden staff, forming a faint golden pattern along the shaft.
"This one's simple in theory," she said. "A Shield Defense Fu. It's a containment-type normally used in fixed wards or stuck onto surfaces. But now it has been installed into your staff…"
"You want me to activate it?"
"Yes," Longyin said, stepping back. "All you need to do is call out the name of the FU, which we can say is "Shield!" Guide the effect you want with your mind and let the staff become the bridge."
Sheung planted the base of the staff against the ground, inhaling slowly. In his mind he visualised a golden shield of light forming an indestructible dome around himself.
"Shield!" he called out.
Sparks gathered faintly at the tip. A thread of power wove outward, hesitant.
Longyin narrowed her eyes. "Good. Now, reinforce with more qi. It needs power or the shield will collapse under pressure."
Sheung tightened his grip and visualised the shield being more solid and dense. The tip of the staff flared bright, and for a moment nothing happened.
Then, with a soft boom, a shimmering dome of translucent golden light blossomed around him, like a soap bubble caught in golden sunlight. Hexagonal facets rippled across the surface. A shield.
Longyin grinned. "There we go. You just made your first projected defensive shield."
She picked up a nearby training dart and tossed it at him. It hit the shield and bounced harmlessly away with a faint hum.
"Nice," Sheung muttered, impressed despite himself.
"Still needs refinement," Longyin said. "Right now it eats too much qi. But once you upgrade your power so you are not using your own power, but the power of the Dragon, it'll be unbreakable."
Sheung tapped the staff on the stone floor, feeling the after-resonance hum along its length. "This... opens a lot of doors."
Longyin's expression softened. "Your sect's style was never meant to be just rituals and ink on scrolls. This is what it can be, living magic. Moving magic."
Sheung nodded, eyes distant. Already, his mind was leaping ahead imagining how this could be used in sparring, in battle, in protecting others.
Longyin grinned, tossing him a second dart.
"Alright," she said. "Let's see if you can hold it while under fire."
He learned that a staff could channel FU into barriers, deflect energy attacks, or strike directly at magical constructs. Each day one of the first 10 FUs from his grandfather's book was installed into the staff, so that by the end it was no longer just a piece of wood to fight with, but a sophisticated magical weapon.
Slowly, the pieces of his two worlds, Taoist cultivation and martial skill, began weaving into one.
I'm getting stronger, he thought one evening, staring up at the stars above the Heart Palace. Maybe… strong enough to protect those who believe in me.
He didn't yet know how soon he'd be tested.