The wet ground squished softly beneath his feet as he settled into the first form of the Rising Golden Crane clan, an important Heavenly Realm clan whose techniques had sparked a revolution in the mortal ranks of the Divine Immortal Heaven-Scouring Affray sect which… was so far beyond anything germane to the situation at hand that he discarded the thought with slight amusement. Either way, it was one of the best combat schools for mortals he knew, and— why use anything but the best? “Perhaps,” he said slowly, raising an arm in front of him and holding another beneath— “it would be best if I showed you.”

Lily gulped, clearly afraid. Good. Showed that she had healthy danger instincts, at least…

He beckoned her forward. “Go on, attack.” Lily circled him for a long moment, before hesitantly reaching for talisman and holding it out in front of her. With a slight flare of qi, it burst into immaterial flames as it disintegrated, a burst of air slicing towards him— a burst of air he easily swayed out of the path of, stalking towards Lily.

Then she tried a water bolt of similar make to the one she’d used on Avyr earlier. Then, when that missed, slightly panicked but finally taking him seriously, she tried the same three-part glittering missiles spell she’d used earlier. It was simple enough for him to dodge the brunt of the blow, letting most of the energy skitter obliquely off a weak— far weaker than Lily’s— shielding talisman he’d built specifically for the purpose… about two seconds prior.

Then he was close enough to reach her, so she did the smart thing and threw up a shield, a shimmering dome of translucent qi— powerful enough to stop a blow from a Shedding cultivator. Maybe not one of Avyr’s standards, but still…

Too bad it was useless. A wave of his hand summoned a talisman out of his ring— cleverly hidden from the two of them via mere mortal sleight of hand— and with a single seamless movement he dropped it on the ground and stomped on it, hard. The natural qi around them shivered as the talisman’s force vented straight into the earth and mud— and then a second later Lily was swept off her feet, mud fountianing up around her as the explosion was forced up from beneath her

. It made a bit of a funny sight, watching the dirt splatter on the untouched barrier from within.

“I think that’s enough.” He hadn’t even gotten dirty the entire fight long. Pulling out another cleaning talisman— made on the spot, because obviously— he triggered it with a subtle pulse of his domain, bidding all the dirt to slough off Lily again. “Do you know what you did wrong in that scenario?”

“Uhh…” Lily chuckled nervously… “I uh, tried to fight a super awesome supreme master who was always going to destroy me from the start?” She didn’t even need him to tell her before she continued on. She knew that’d been a stupid response. “If I had to guess… I didn’t take you seriously enough at the start.”

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He nodded. “There’s that, but that’s not the only thing you did wrong. The most obvious error was that you failed to plan for every eventuality. A formations master’s strength lives and dies in their preparations. If you’re fully prepared for a fight, you will win.”

“But— but—” Lily scowled. “How could I possibly

prepare for every eventuality?”

“By making sure your shield doesn’t have obvious vulnerabilities, for one.” Lily flushed in embarrassment. “Of course, that was only the most obvious error. As a talisman and formations user, you will essentially always have more versatility than your opponents. One of the most important things you can do is to leverage that. I’m only a mortal—” total lie— “and you knew that I can’t simply leap out of the way of attacks like Avyr can. Why didn’t you use a binding formation, or a wide area effect technique?” He’d totally have done something else to teach her the lesson if she had, but either way— it was just a little satisfying to see her eyes widen in sudden enlightenment.

Now, some might say that, as an Immortal Sovereign, offering pointers to mortal teenagers was bullying children. In his defense, he’d point out that it was really funny.

He turned to Avyr next, folding his hands behind his back. “You should take note of this too. Just because you have an advanced cultivation doesn’t mean that you should become lax. Power beats weakness, cunning beats power— but powerful cunning? You’ll find it difficult indeed to fight a powerful, smart cultivator. For example, the talisman I used to blow up the ground was merely a strong pulse of activated atmospheric qi. Even a Shedding cultivator could do that if they put their minds to it.”

Avyr’s eyes widened in turn before he hurriedly bowed. “Thank you master. I’ll make sure to meditate on everything you’ve told us today.”

“Not your master.”

“Of course,” the cat mewled back unconvincingly, and Mingtian just sighed. Whatever… at least he’d gotten what he’d wanted to tell him. That’d be good enough.

“Keep practicing.” He gave them one last glance, then turned to leave. If everything went well, they’d be prepared enough to sweep their exams. It would be a sight to see, everything coming together like that at last…

He smiled softly as he walked away, contemplating the future— and knowing, even without looking, that the two of them had already gotten up and once more begun to practice. They were determined, after all. Very, very determined.

He admired that.