Chapter 8: Dynasty Traveller

I went back to the tavern to rest and get ready for day two's festival match.

"Quite a day, eh?" I looked at my hand and said to myself.

A lot happened since I came to this world, too much for me to digest. But this is no time for digestion, I thought.

Just when I was getting ready to sleep, sounds of pounding came from the neighbouring room.

"Oh, great," I rolled my eyes. "Man, kids these days are thirsty."

"They're not doing what you think they are," Moye replied with a disdainful voice. "You make that sound when you train too, in fact."

"You're right. Still, it's really annoying," I stood up and headed for my loud neighbour's room.

"Hey-" I was about to knock on the door, but it suddenly flew open right at my face. I swiftly moved back.

"Who's there?!" From inside the room came a male's voice.

I coughed and waved in front of me to get rid of the dust he made. After the dust settled, I looked up and examined the situation.

In front of me stood a boy wearing a white Chinese gown, his somewhat long white hair tied behind his neck. His right arm was extended, his palm perfectly mirroring a deep mark on the door.

I looked behind his shoulders. There lay a piece of log with a bunch of punch marks, seemingly pummeled all around.

"This one's strong," Moye nudged me.

The boy stared at me with his gleaming golden eyes. I turned my head to meet my eyes with his.

We glared at each other for a few minutes. Finally, he opened his mouth slowly.

"道友，进屋一叙?" He asked with an expressionless face.

"Hah?" I tilted my head.

"Oh, sorry," He scratched his head. "I spoke my language by accident. Tea?"

"No, I do speak some Mandarin, but why are you inviting me for tea all of a sudden?"

"Us Taoists heavily weigh the inner being," He replied solemnly. "I see that you have a strong psyche, so I'm asking if you want to have a chat."

"Uh..." I was about to decline, but Moye nudged me again.

"Take him up on his offer," Moye spoke in my mind. "You can get some information."

"You first!" I extended my arm to hold open the "door" for him.

"I go by Shin Kasumi," He introduced himself after we sat down. "My Chinese name is Qin Hua. I'm a *Doushi from Fengmingsi."

"Ah. I figured," Moye said. "He's from the Dynasty, or Donghuang."

"Isn't that basically China?" I asked Moye telepathically.

"Well, that's partially true," Moye replied. "I'd say it's more like a clone of the Song Dynasty from your world."

"And why do you sound so 'So it turned out'?"

"I was surprised because most Doushis don't have much physical strength, but he says that he's from Fengmingsi," Moye explained. "Fengmingsi is famous for its Phoenix Palms, so it explains why he's that powerful."

"You have yet to introduce yourself," Kasumi waved in front of my face.

"Sorry, I guess I'm quite tired from today's match," I shook my head. "My name is Kitano Reiken. Pleasure meeting you."

"Likewise," Kasumi stood up and poured me some tea from a covered cup. "This is Longjing tea. It'll help you stay awake."

"Thanks," I nodded and gulped down the tea from the small Chinese teabowl. "Wait, this is nighttime. How do I sleep after drinking this?"

"You don't," Kasumi tilted his head. "I thought we were going to converse for the entire night."

"Uh..." I started sweating. Does this guy never sleep?

"Just say yes," Moye reminded me.

"Y-Yeah, of course!"

"So, are you native to Sakura?" Kasumi asked.

"Ahh, yes! I'm from Sakura, though this is my first time in Mantamachi," I scratched my head.

There's no way he'd believe me if I said I'm from another world.

"Anyway, why are you here? Just for the Sakura festival?" I asked.

"My master told me that I need to travel around the world and practice my inner self by assimilating into the secular society," Kasumi explained as he took a sip. "Sakura is my first stop, and I just happened to land here in Mantamachi. And I thought this festival was cool, so I'm doing it now."

"You better pray to not get paired up with him," Moye said lazily. "His Phoenix Palms will beat you to a pulp."

"No, I better hope I get to have a fight with him," I replied telepathically. "I haven't tasted a loss in a long time."

"I thought Doushis focus on practicing the ways of Daoism and forget all the vulgarity in the world," I snapped out of my imagination and said to Kasumi.

He gave a slight smile and didn't say anything. Staring into my eyes, he slowly put down his teabowl and opened his mouth.

"Reiken, what is Dao?"

I pondered for a few seconds.

"Dao is a way of doing something," I replied.

"Then, what can Dao be applied to?"

"Hmm... there's Kendo, which is the Dao of the Sword, and then there's Nindo, which is the Dao of ninjas, and-"

"Dao is everything," Kasumi cut me off. "Everything is Dao, anything is Dao. You can be good at Kendo, and that's one of an uncountable amount of Daos you mastered. But there's no saying that someone who masters the way of... say, sewing, is less powerful than the Kendo master."

"Of course," I nodded. "Everything has its use."

"That's right. So instead of practicing one 'Dao' of my own, I'm traversing the world to take a different perspective at Dao."

We chatted for the entire night as he predicted, without even realizing the passage of time. We talked about Dao, we talked about the world, we talked about everything we knew and thought we knew.

"Well, you succeeded in giving me insomnia prior to the match and therefore lowering my psychological strength," I chuckled as I peeked at the rising sun.

"I have no intention of the sort," He smiled back and arched his hands.

*Doushi: Taoist priest