A Gathering of Heroes series: Anhu

Chapter 9 (Zhang)

"Inhale and become one with each breath. Empty the mind and feel your qi flow through your body as a river. Then allow the river to open the twelve meridians as it flows through the body," Zhiguan-fashi intoned patiently as he led us through the qigong exercises. Following his graceful movements, I felt a slight tingling in my palms and gradually my muscles relaxed as my qi began to circulate freely. An and Ganzorig had naturally excelled at these techniques within a few days and were sent to the intermediate level. Meanwhile Wei, Shen-shaoye, and I were sent to study in the beginning class, in which we learned how to harness our qi to become neigong.

"Harnessing qi," Zhiguan-fashi had explained in a previous lesson, "falls hand in hand with Buddha's teaching of letting go of one's anxieties and desires. By emptying one's mind, one enters ziran, the state of naturalness that heightens one's awareness to their surroundings. One is able to sense surrounding qi and focus their qi to become neigong in battle or for protection." A drop of sweat slid down my face, but I continued to follow the movements of each form.

"Focus, focus!" Zhiguan-fashi's voice called out as he noted someone's concentration wavering. After what seemed to be the hundredth repetition, we were allowed a brief respite. I sank gratefully onto a nearby bench and dabbed away the sweat with my cloth. I was simply content to close my eyes briefly. Just then Wei came up to me, offering a cup of water. I smiled my thanks and drank the proffered cup. She sat down beside me, drinking her own cup. Training was as difficult as I imagined it to be, but this was the only way to get stronger.

Excited cries from the acolytes in the courtyard drew our attention. I exchanged a look with Wei, who shrugged, before rising to my feet. Drawn by curiosity, I found myself at the edge of the crowd. I craned my head above the acolytes in front of me to witness an odd sight: Fuxin and Shen-shaoye were engaged in a battle of dexterity called jianzi. Each was juggling a weighted feather shuttlecock from foot to foot, giving the impression of dancing cranes. Fuxin was expertly maneuvering the object with ease and even spinning into the air to catch it with his feet. Shen-shaoye, to his credit, was managing to keep up with a few tricks of his own. "More like fighting roosters," a burly acolyte commented drily next to me. Another acolyte snickered.

I was not sure what happened first; whether it was my eyes locking onto Shen-shaoye's momentarily or the loud, distracting comments from the acolytes around me. A feathered object was sent flying in my direction. Instinctively, my left hand reached out to protect my face. My hand closed around the object. All around me everything seemed to stop and all fell silent.

Slowly, I lowered my hand that held the object. Acolytes snickered and jeered as they looked from me to the two remaining individuals: Fuxin, whose eyes were wide in shock and Shen-shaoye, whose guilty look said it all.

"I... I am so sorry, Zhang-xiaojie. I did not mean to..." he trailed off as I made my way through the crowd. He cringed a little but held his ground. I looked up into his puzzled eyes momentarily. Then I flicked his forehead with my fingers. "Now we are even," I whispered into his ear. I smiled innocently and handed him the feathered object, which he took wordlessly. Bewildered, he - along with everyone else - watched as I turned away and rejoined Wei at the bench. Wei glanced at me but wisely did not say anything.

***

It was our tenth day at the monastery. After a harsh session of channeling neigong, Wei, An, and I were having lunch in the dining hall. An was telling us a hilarious story about Ganzorig's antics during class when Fuxin came to us. He told us that the zhuchi wished to see us in his study after our meal. He seemed a bit flustered than usual, fiddling with his sleeves. "Is something the matter, Fuxin?" Wei asked, concerned.

"I'm not sure how to explain it, but the zhuchi has not been himself lately. He seemed to be having serious thoughts about something," Fuxin tried to explain. His brow furrowed. "I did hear that some of the other masters were displeased with... your coming and were voicing their concerns to the zhuchi. I don't think that it's fair! You are all nice people. I don't even sense anything bad about you guys!"