The King's Mate - Part 2: Yaoshi

Chapter 10

It's my birthday today so you're getting a present xD

I hope you enjoy it :D

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At first, YanLi was thrown off a bit, because she obviously hadn't expected Hua Cheng to be done with his first assignment so quickly, but she didn't let it faze her too much, and simply continued the training.

"Do you notice anything odd when you concentrate on your centre?", she asked.

Before Hua Cheng replied, he made sure to get back into his meditative state, just so he could give a confident answer that he felt normal.

However, once he properly concentrated on it, there was indeed something odd.

Hua Cheng had undergone physical training since he was a child, so he had an excellent grasp of how his body worked, and where his centre of balance was. It was in his abdomen, he was very sure of that. It was also the point from which the warmth of his magic had started to spread out.

However, weirdly enough, there was a feeling right between his shoulder blades that was very similar to the point of balance in his abdomen, and once he noticed it, he felt very much off-kilter for a moment. He even got dizzy.

In fact, he was about to tell YanLi that there was indeed something very odd, when he noticed that somehow, his appearance had changed once again.

To Hua Cheng's utter horror, when he looked down at his hands, what he saw instead were black paws .

He was so startled at the discovery that he didn't quite know how to react to it, though he could feel the hairs on his back rising. Which was also odd, because he didn't even have hairs on his back to his knowledge. Hua Cheng realised he'd subconsciously started growling, and stopped doing it the moment he became aware of it. If he scared YanLi off, he might not be able to change back into his former appearance, after all. So he forced himself to be calm, despite his instincts telling him to scurry off and hide under a table or bed.

YanLi had taken a step back the moment Hua Cheng had started growling, though the moment Hua Cheng got his instincts under control, and just kept sitting there like a statue, she visibly relaxed.

"Well, I have to admit I didn't expect you to shapeshift on your first try", she said sheepishly. "I assume you felt that spot between your shoulder blades?"

Hua Cheng nodded stiffly, still confused about how in the world he had apparently just shapeshifted.

"For us huli jing, shapeshifting into our fox form is a natural ability that we're born with. It doesn't require any training. For halfbreeds such as yourself, it usually takes a few hours of meditation and a few tries to properly shift once that spot is found, so I'm surprised it comes as naturally to you as it does to me. I can only theorise that it is because your mother was on the verge of immortality, and therefore passing on a higher concentration of her powers to you", YanLi mumbled, mostly to herself.

"How do I change back?", Hua Cheng asked, startling himself when he noticed he was still able to talk like usual. He honestly hadn't expected that.

"It's easy. Just find your other centre again and concentrate on it", she smiled.

Hua Cheng did so, and within the blink of an eye he was back in his previous form; not a single hair left on the back of his hands, which he checked thoroughly.

YanLi simply nodded approvingly, before giving Hua Cheng a bit of a lecture.

"Shapeshifting is something that comes to us naturally, but there are still limits and rules one needs to follow in order to avoid unfortunate accidents. The only form we can change into from birth is our fox form; everything else, even we need to train for. Our general rule is to practice transforming into a human form first, albeit step by step. We usually go about it by changing the appearance of our nose or mouth or the shape of our eyebrows first; anything you can train while seeing your face in a mirror