Like a Ray in My Night

44 A Big Failure?

Mei Chao Bing and Yun Bei Fen stayed on that road in the forest for another three days, relentlessly training Yun Bei Fen's ability to control his spiritual energy. Only when Mei Chao Bing saw that his little bunny had made improvements, did he agree to continue moving forward.
This time, they didn't stroll leisurely through the forest though. Instead, Mei Chao Bing made them pause every now and then and had Yun Bei Fen take out his sword. He demonstrated for Yun Bei Fen how to use the spiritual energy he imbued to raise the sword into the air and step onto it. These were the basics of using a flying sword. Only if Yun Bei Fen managed to learn them would he be able to fly on his own later on.
Yun Bei Fen tried to imitate what Mei Chao Bing did but making the sword levitate just with the help of his spiritual energy was already hard enough. In fact, with his current level of control over his energy, it was almost impossible. There was no need to even talk about wanting him to stand on the weapon to float in the air.
He couldn't help but be dispirited when he didn't manage to learn this next step. Even though he had taken quite a bit of time to learn how to sense the energy in his surroundings and how to imbue his spiritual energy into the weapon, he hadn't felt that it was impossible. Now, he wasn't sure though. He couldn't understand. Hadn't Mei Chao Bing said that even disciples in the Qi Refining stage would be able to do this? If that was so, then why couldn't he do it? Could it be that he just wasn't talented enough to do something like that? Was he really that bad? Then maybe his Master had never tried to teach him because of that ...
Mei Chao Bing couldn't help but smile when he once again saw his little bunny with pursed lips and pitiful looking eyes. For the past few days, Yun Bei Fen had circled through these kinds of moods in an endless loop. One moment, he would be ecstatic because he had made some progress and then the next moment, he would be devastated because he thought of himself as the biggest failure in the world. It might sound a little mean but Mei Chao Bing couldn't help but admit that he thought of it as entertaining. It certainly was cute to watch.
For the maybe hundreds time he reached over and gently brushed through Yun Bei Fen's hair with his fingers. "You're already doing good. Much better than in the beginning. Let's take a break for now so that you can recover and then we'll try again later."
Yun Bei Fen nodded, still looking quite dispirited. Even if they tried again later, would it really make a difference? Probably not. He just was a failure! No amount of training could make up for this.
Mei Chao Bing gently gripped his little bunny's hand and looked around. Even though he thought it was cute to see Yun Bei Fen's mood change like that, he still liked his little bunny best when he smiled happily. So shouldn't he try and cheer him up a bit?
He finally took out his own sword again and held it in front of Yun Bei Fen. "How about flying with me? Even though we've already flown together once or twice, I don't think you've had enough time to get used to the feeling. Maybe it'll help you with learning if you can pay a bit more attention to the details. Furthermore, we can go to the place that I thought of for getting a spiritual beast a little faster. What do you think?"
Yun Bei Fen indeed cheered up at the thought. Flying with senior martial brother Mei? Didn't that mean they'd be super close again? And then, they would even go and look for a spiritual beast for him? He was really curious what kind of beast he'd get! Thus he instantly forgot about his worries and nodded eagerly. "Mn! Of course, you're right. That's a great idea!"
Mei Chao Bing's smile broadened and he kissed Yun Bei Fen's temple, before once again demonstrating how to imbue his spiritual energy into his sword to make it rise into the air. Then he stepped onto it with a smile, his sleeves swaying in the breeze.
Even though he had seen the very same thing hundredth of times already, Yun Bei Fen still watched with rapt attention once again. Ah, senior martial brother Mei was so handsome! It was completely irrespective of what he did. He was just always handsome. The way he smiled and how his hair had sparkled in the light just now and his robe ... Mn. Senior martial brother was the most handsome person in the world!
The handsome senior martial brother Mei Chao Bing pulled his little bunny onto his sword with a smile and wrapped him into his arms. "Alright, I'll go more slowly this time so you can pay more attention to the feeling of flying and my use of the spiritual energy. If there's anything you don't understand, you can always ask, alright?"
Yun Bei Fen nodded eagerly. Of course, he would do that! He hadn't forgotten how senior martial brother Mei told him that he wanted to teach him, after all! So if his senior martial brother wanted to guide him, then he needed to ask lots of questions.
With that, the two of them set off toward a place that was only more or less in the direction of the border region.
Had Yun Bei Fen's Master known that his disciple was actually taking a detour ... But right now, he could only stare at the disciple that arrived one after the other gloomily, wondering where his little disciple had run off to. He didn't worry too much though. After all, Yun Bei Fen hadn't disappeared on his own. There was still that Mei Chao Bing that hadn't returned either.