Er Bao put five stones into a basket and handed it to Xu Hao.
Xu Hao examined the basket, then the hill behind the camp.
"You're not expecting me to carry these all the way to the top, are you?"
"To the boulder and back," Er Bao replied. "Don't worry about being fast. I want you to learn how to keep your footing while carrying something heavy."
Xu Hao lifted the basket. Five stones didn't seem particularly heavy until he considered the distance.
"Couldn't we find something useful to carry? At least then we'd have something to show for our trouble."
"We will. Once you can manage these without falling."
Da Bao, who had been watching from a flat rock, looked amused.
"If it gets too heavy, little brother, you can always carry one stone at a time. Though you'll have to climb the hill five times."
Xu Hao tightened his grip on the handles.
"Suddenly, the basket seems much lighter."
He set off before Da Bao could think of any other suggestions.
The slope was steep enough to make his injured heel complain. He managed the first half with reasonable dignity, but by the time he reached the boulder, sweat had soaked the collar of his coat and his forearms trembled from holding the basket.
He put it down and took a grateful breath.
From below, Er Bao called, "Remember, you have to bring them back!"
Xu Hao looked at the five stones. He'd rather hoped that part of the instruction might be forgotten.
The descent proved more troublesome than the climb. Halfway down, loose dirt shifted beneath his shoe. He lurched sideways and grabbed a branch, narrowly preventing the basket from swinging into his knee.
Er Bao was waiting at the bottom.
"Did you hurt yourself?"
"Only my dignity. Though I'm beginning to think the stones have something against me."
Er Bao smiled, then asked him to show where he'd slipped.
They walked a little way up the slope. Er Bao crouched and brushed aside a thin covering of grit, exposing hard stone beneath.
"See this? The loose earth can't grip the stone underneath. When the ground looks like that, take shorter steps and keep your knees bent. Leaning backwards only makes it worse."
Xu Hao tried the last few paces without the basket. It was easier when he followed the advice.
"That would have been useful to know before I nearly fell."
"I could have pointed it out from the start," Er Bao admitted. "But you need to learn to recognise dangerous ground for yourself. In the forest, we won't always be standing beside you."
Xu Hao looked back at the slippery patch.
He disliked the method, but he couldn't argue with the reasoning.
Unfortunately, Er Bao then handed him the basket again.
---
Four mornings later, Xu Hao reached the twisted pine without asking to stop.
He was so surprised that he nearly did stop, simply to appreciate the achievement.
Instead, he forced himself onward until he reached the fallen log beyond it. There, he bent over with his hands on his knees, struggling to catch his breath.
Da Bao caught up a moment later.
"You're getting stronger, little brother. Last week you couldn't even make it to that pine without complaining."
"I remember. I was the one doing the complaining."
"Another few days and you might manage the whole route without stopping."
Xu Hao straightened slowly.
"Let's not become overambitious. I've only just persuaded my lungs that running won't kill me."
Da Bao laughed and gave him an encouraging pat on the back.
Er Bao arrived with the water skin. He had been watching Xu Hao's progress for several days, and he seemed satisfied with what he'd seen.
"You're recovering faster between runs," he observed. "Your balance is improving too. You don't stumble nearly as often when you're tired."
Xu Hao took a drink.
He had noticed the changes himself, although they were less impressive than the feats of cultivation he'd imagined when he first arrived in this world.
He could climb farther. His hands were beginning to harden around the staff. The blister on his heel was closing, and his legs no longer ached quite so terribly after every training session.
There was no spectacular display of spiritual power.
Still, it was progress.
And for the first time, he found himself looking forward to discovering what his body might eventually become capable of.
---
After breakfast, Da Bao took him to the clearing for footwork practice.
"Watch my shoulders and hips this time," he instructed. "You've got into the habit of watching my hands. By the time you see them move, you're already too late."
Xu Hao raised his staff.
"I've been watching you for days, Brother Da Bao. You're a rather difficult man to overlook."
Da Bao grinned but said nothing. He stepped forward and reached for Xu Hao's shoulder.
Xu Hao shifted aside before the hand arrived.
For one wonderful instant, he remained standing.
Then Da Bao tapped his forehead with two fingers, and Xu Hao fell backwards into the grass.
"You avoided the first strike," Da Bao said, offering him a hand. "But you stopped moving as soon as you thought you'd succeeded. I still had another hand."
Xu Hao accepted the help.
"Yes, I noticed. Shortly before meeting the ground."
"Come on. I'll show you what I mean."
Da Bao demonstrated the movement slowly. This time, Xu Hao concentrated on his brother's feet and the subtle turn of his hips.
It was astonishing how much information he'd been missing by watching only the approaching fist.
"Again, please," he said. "A little slower this time."
Da Bao repeated the movement.
They practised it several times. Xu Hao still couldn't avoid the second touch, but on the third attempt he managed to recognise where it would come from before Da Bao moved his arm.
His body simply wasn't fast enough to respond.
Strangely, that didn't bother him as much as he expected.
There was a difference between failing because he didn't understand something and failing because he hadn't yet developed the ability to perform it.
He'd spent enough years teaching students to appreciate that distinction.
Da Bao nodded approvingly.
"There. You're finally starting to see it. Keep practising, and your body will eventually learn to follow what your eyes are telling you."
Xu Hao brushed grass from his trousers.
For once, the prospect of further training didn't seem entirely unreasonable.
---
That evening, Er Bao brought up something they had been putting off discussing.
"We need to decide what you'll tell people about yourself when we eventually go into town."
Xu Hao looked up from his bowl.
"Are we going to Hibiscus Town soon?"
"Not immediately. But we can't remain on this mountain forever. When the time comes, people will ask questions. You're living with us, yet nobody knows where you've come from."
Da Bao seemed to think the matter was simple.
"We tell them he's our little brother. We've already adopted him, haven't we?"
"That's not the problem," Er Bao replied. "It's everything that comes afterward. He doesn't look like us, he didn't know our language when we found him, and he was wearing clothes nobody around here would recognise. People will naturally become curious."
They were right to be cautious. In his former life, he'd often seen how a seemingly harmless question could lead to several more. He certainly didn't want to stand in front of a town official trying to explain how he'd arrived from another world.
"Then perhaps we should stay as close to the truth as possible," he suggested. "I was lost in the forest. You found me and took me in. We needn't explain everything that happened before that."
Er Bao nodded.
"That's what I was thinking. If anyone asks about your family, we can simply say you don't know where they are."
Xu Hao lowered his gaze to his bowl.
He hadn't expected to find the words so unpleasant to hear.
Da Bao noticed his expression.
"You're our brother now, Xu Hao," he said, more quietly than usual. "Whatever happened before, that hasn't changed."
"I know, Brother Da Bao. And I'm grateful."
Er Bao waited a moment before continuing.
"As for your cultivation, we shouldn't tell anyone about the cards. If you're questioned, say you've only recently begun learning. That's true enough, and it won't draw unnecessary attention."
Xu Hao agreed.
The fewer people who knew about the strange brush and blank cards in his mind palace, the better.
Da Bao glanced at Xu Hao's worn white coat.
"You could tell people you were a scholar before coming here. That would explain why you know so many strange things."
"I was a scholar," Xu Hao replied. "Though whether anyone here would recognise my qualifications is another matter."
Da Bao looked interested.
"Did you have students?"
"Quite a few. Some even listened to what I taught."
"Then you must have been an important man."
"I had a respectable position at a university. Mostly, I spent my time teaching, researching old civilizations and trying to convince young people to read the books I'd assigned them."
Da Bao shook his head.
"All that studying sounds exhausting. I'd rather go hunting."
"I'm certain several of my former students would agree with you."
Da Bao laughed.
Er Bao smiled, but he had noticed something in Xu Hao's expression.
"You miss your home, don't you?"
Xu Hao ran a finger along the rim of his bowl.
"Yes. More than I'd like to admit."
He thought of his parents and the ordinary evenings he'd spent with them. His father's kitchen, the smell of tea, his mother scolding Sia for begging beneath the table.
Such insignificant memories, yet they had become some of the things he treasured most.
"I don't even know what happened to them after I left," he continued. "Or whether time passes the same way in both worlds."
Da Bao's expression grew serious.
"Your parents were alive when you last saw them?"
"Yes."
"Then maybe they're still waiting for you."
Xu Hao wished he could share his brother's confidence.
"I hope so. But I don't know whether there's a way back. For all I know, I could spend the rest of my life here without ever finding an answer."
Neither brother spoke immediately.
Er Bao understood better than most what it meant to lose one's family. Xu Hao had heard enough about the Wang estate to know that some of those wounds would never fully heal.
Da Bao finally put down his bowl.
"Then we'll help you look."
Xu Hao raised his head.
"Look where? We don't even know how I came here."
"Not yet," Da Bao replied. "But there must be people who know more about strange powers than we do. Maybe someone in Hibiscus Town can point us in the right direction."
Xu Hao looked at him for a moment.
It was hardly a plan. They didn't know whom to ask, where to begin or whether the answers they needed even existed.
Yet Da Bao had offered his help without hesitation.
Er Bao nodded.
"We'll start by getting you settled somewhere safe. After that, we can ask around carefully. We can't promise we'll find anything, Xu Hao, but there's no reason to give up before we've even begun."
Xu Hao looked from one brother to the other.
"Thank you," he said quietly. "Both of you."
Da Bao reached across the table and placed a large hand on his shoulder.
"That's what brothers are for."
They sat together for a while longer, talking about more ordinary things. Da Bao wanted to know whether scholars in Xu Hao's world ever learned to fight. Xu Hao admitted that most had considered climbing stairs sufficient exercise.
By the time they went to sleep, the conversation had turned to the next day's training.
Xu Hao was fairly certain Da Bao had already thought of something unpleasant involving the basket of stones.
For once, he didn't mind quite so much.
---
By the end of the week, checking the warning line around the camp had become Xu Hao's responsibility.
Er Bao showed him how to arrange dry grass over small stones around their sleeping area. If something crossed the line at night, the stones would shift against one another and make a noise.
It wouldn't stop an intruder, but it might give them enough warning to react.
The first evening, Xu Hao walked the entire circle and declared it satisfactory.
Da Bao inspected it afterward.
"You've missed something near the stream."
Xu Hao followed him to the bank. Beneath the grass, one of the stones was missing.
"I'm certain I put one there yesterday."
"You did. I moved it this morning to see whether you'd notice."
Xu Hao stared at his brother.
"That was rather underhanded."
Da Bao looked thoroughly pleased with himself.
"Better I find a gap than something with teeth."
Xu Hao couldn't argue with that, although he suspected Da Bao had enjoyed the exercise far more than necessary.
The following evening, he checked the stream side first.
The grass was undisturbed and the stones remained in place. He was about to move on when he noticed three narrow marks in the damp soil beyond the circle.
They were too regular to have been made by falling twigs.
He called Er Bao over.
The giant crouched beside him and examined the marks.
"What do you make of them?"
"Something came through here recently. The stream was higher this morning, and these marks cut through the mud it left behind."
Er Bao touched the nearest impression.
"A small beast. It probably came up from the water and went back again. Fortunately, it hasn't crossed our warning line."
Xu Hao studied the roots overhanging the bank.
"Would the stones have made a sound if it had tried?"
"Most likely. But look over there."
Er Bao pointed to a thick root stretching towards a nearby rock.
"A light animal could step from that root onto the rock without touching anything we've laid down."
Xu Hao stared at the gap.
He had checked every stone carefully, yet it hadn't occurred to him that something might simply pass over them.
He fetched another length of dry grass and arranged a second warning line beneath the root.
When Da Bao returned, Xu Hao invited him to test it.
The giant approached from the stream, stepped onto the rock and reached towards the root.
Then he stopped.
He tried a different angle, but his boot brushed against one of the stones.
A sharp click broke the silence.
Da Bao looked down.
"That's better," he admitted. "Though I could still jump over the whole thing."
"You could probably jump over our house if you tried," Xu Hao replied. "I'm hoping whatever comes through here is considerably smaller."
Er Bao laughed.
"The point isn't to stop every creature in the forest. It's to make them work a little harder to approach us unnoticed. You've done well."
Xu Hao looked at the warning line with renewed satisfaction.
It wasn't much, but it was something he'd improved through his own observation.
And unlike the basket of stones, it might actually be useful.
---
Two mornings later, Xu Hao carried the basket all the way to the boulder without stopping.
His arms still ached by the time he reached the top, and he had to bend over for a moment to catch his breath.
But he'd done it.
Da Bao arrived behind him and looked into the basket.
"All five stones. You didn't lose any."
"I've grown rather attached to them."
Da Bao laughed and gave his shoulder a friendly squeeze.
"You've done well, little brother. A few more weeks and you'll hardly notice the weight."
Xu Hao sincerely doubted that, but he was too pleased with himself to argue.
Er Bao arrived with the water skin. He took one look at Xu Hao's trembling legs and pointed towards a patch of shade beside the boulder.
"Have a rest. We'll carry them down together."
Xu Hao sat gratefully.
From the summit he could see the distant ridge where the strange bird had circled during their first days together. Beyond it stretched an endless expanse of forest, hiding the road to Hibiscus Town somewhere to the south.
He looked at his hands.
Calluses had formed where the basket handles and his training staff rubbed against his skin. His arms had grown firmer. He could climb the hill, recognise the beginnings of an attack and notice dangers in the terrain that he would once have overlooked.
These were small achievements, but they belonged to him.
Still, somewhere inside his mind waited a dark hall, a floating brush and a deck of blank cards.
No matter how much stronger his body became, he had made little progress in understanding what they were.
He turned towards Er Bao.
"Brother Er Bao, when you first started cultivating, how long did it take you to understand your element?"
Er Bao considered the question.
"Quite some time. I could sense my Spirit before I understood how to use it properly. Father spent months correcting me whenever I tried to force it."
Xu Hao looked out over the treetops.
"And someone like me? Have you ever heard of a Card Drawer who couldn't even touch his own cards?"
Er Bao sat beside him.
"I've heard stories about Card Drawers, but I've never met one. I wouldn't know what was normal for your power and what wasn't."
Xu Hao nodded slowly.
It wasn't the answer he'd hoped for, but he appreciated his brother's willingness to admit what he didn't know.
"Then I suppose I'll have to work it out myself."
"You might," Er Bao agreed. "Just remember that you don't have to work everything out at once."
Xu Hao looked down at his calloused hands.
A few weeks ago, he hadn't been able to carry a basket up this hill.
Perhaps understanding the cards would simply take longer.
He rested his hands on his knees and looked out across the forest.
For the first time, the thought didn't seem quite so discouraging.