Peking Opera Cat: I Became A Zi's Brother

After the morning mist cleared, the sunlight in Ningshui Palace became brighter and shone on the water mirror inside the palace, filling the entire palace with shimmering water light.

"Uh, have I really not exercised in too long? How could this happen?"

Xiaoqing had just mastered the basic form of the "Wind-Breaking Sleeves" and was about to try to mobilize her rhythmic power to perform the "Frost Arrow".

His wrist suddenly sank, and the condensed ice aura dissipated as soon as it took shape, leaving only a few pieces of ice fragments in the air. They fell on the bluestone ground and instantly turned into water.

"It's gone again..."

Xiaoqing pursed her lips and lowered her hand a little disappointedly, with a hint of coolness still lingering on her fingertips.

"If they saw this, they would definitely laugh at me again, hum..."

She clearly remembered the key points of the "Frost Arrow" technique, but every time she used her rhythmic power, it seemed as if there was a layer of fog between them. Either it could not condense, or it shattered as soon as it took shape, without even half of its previous power.

"..."

"It's not a matter of moves."

A clear but somewhat serious voice came from the side. Mo Zi had walked to her side without her knowing. Her lavender sleeves hung at her sides, and the hem of her skirt swayed gently with her movements.

"You, you..."

She looked at Xiaoqing, the gentleness in her eyes faded a little, and she looked more serious.

"You haven't practiced properly for too long. The flow of your rhythmic energy has become clumsy, and you've even lost the 'meaning' in the formula."

Xiaoqing raised her head, a little unconvinced:

"I didn't lose it! 'Bend without bending, go and return', I remember it all..."

“Remembering doesn’t mean understanding.”

Mo Zi interrupted her, raised his hand and gathered a ray of rhythmic energy - it was a lavender light, glowing softly in the sunlight.

But if you look closely, you can see a very light ice-blue color hidden deep in the light, like crushed ice crystals, quietly melting into the purple.

"Brother~"

That was the water rhyme that Mo Yun left for her. Now it had long been entangled with her own rhyme power, and they were indistinguishable from each other.

She moved her fingertips, and the lavender energy drew an arc in the air. It did not disperse or break, and it circled around her wrist naturally like a stream of water. Finally, it gently fell on the water mirror, stirring up a circle of extremely steady ripples.

“You see, ‘bend without breaking’ doesn’t just mean that the movements should bend, but also that the rhythmic force should be like the flow of water, with ‘resilience’. Even if it encounters obstacles, it can flow along with the force instead of forcing it to break.

When you were concentrating the 'Frost Arrow' just now, your rhythmic energy was too rapid and too rigid, like a frozen ice ridge that shatters at the slightest touch. This is simply 'form' without 'meaning'."

"..."

Xiaoqing looked at the steady and undisturbed purple rhythm, and her cheeks felt a little hot - she really didn't notice this, she only thought about doing the moves correctly, but forgot that the "smoothness" of the rhythm power was the foundation.

"And 'Flowing Water Leads to a Secluded Place'."

Mo Zi took two steps forward, stood in the center of the water mirror, turned around and looked at Xiao Qing.

"When you used 'Frost Arrow' before, the icy energy flowed from your fingertips all the way to the tip of the arrow, launching it with speed and stability. But when you tried just now, the energy only gathered in your palm and didn't sink downwards, like water remaining on the surface of a river without seeping into the soil. How could it possibly be powerful?"

She paused, and her tone softened:

"I know you're anxious to recover and become stronger quickly, but 'haste makes waste.' When my brother was around, he always said that cultivating rhyme power is like making soup; it needs to be simmered slowly to bring out its flavor. Now that my brother isn't with us, I'll help you find it again—just like when we first returned to the Shen Sect. Let's compete again. This time, I won't crush you. I'll help you smooth out your rhyme power and regain the 'intention' of the 'Frost Arrow.'"

"Again?"

Xiaoqing was stunned for a moment, then her eyes lit up - she still remembered that when she just returned to the sect, she was beaten by Mo Zi's sleeves and had no ability to fight back.

At that time, she only felt frustrated, but now when she heard that Mo Zi wanted to compete again, she felt a surge of energy in her heart:

"Okay! I definitely won't be like last time this time!"

"Um……

Molan and Rong Mama in the corridor looked at each other without saying a word.

Rong Mama tightened her grip on the ebony stick and said softly:

"Mo Zi is much calmer than before. He has even learned a bit of Young Master Mo Yun's patience."

Mo Lan nodded, her eyes falling on the light purple mixed with ice blue charm on Mo Zi's body, and a hint of warmth flashed in her eyes:

"Um……"

"That's because she and Mo Yun have been connected for a long time. She not only inherited his strength, but also his thoughts. She knows what Xiaoqing's problem is and how to help her."

Inside the hall, Mo Zi had retreated to the other side of the water mirror. She took a deep breath, and the pale purple light on her body gradually brightened. Ice-blue lines appeared faintly in the light, like ice silk in the water, quietly spreading out.

"Are you ready?"

She looked at Xiaoqing with a serious tone,

"This time I won't be using the water sleeves. I'll only be using rhythmic force. Try to unleash the 'Frost Arrow' and I'll help you find the problem."

"it is good!"

Xiaoqing nodded, clenched her fists, closed her eyes, and tried to recall the feeling of using the "Frost Arrow" before.

She followed the Shenzong's mantra, first lowering her shoulders and elbows, allowing the rhythmic force to sink from the "Shui Xin Point" in her chest, along the meridians of her arms, and flow to her fingertips little by little.

But just as it flowed to the wrist, the rhythmic force began to shake again, as if it was about to fall apart.

"Don't panic, just follow my rhythm."

Mo Zi's voice came at the right time. She moved her fingertips, and a wisp of light purple mixed with ice blue energy floated over gently, like a thin stream, and wrapped around Xiao Qing's wrist.

The rhythmic power was very gentle, not at all aggressive. Instead, it was like a hand, gently supporting Xiaoqing's rhythmic power and helping her to stabilize the swaying rhythm.

"Oh no, Yunli is going to...sister again!"

Xiaoqing felt a warmth in her wrist, and the rhythmic power that was about to dissipate suddenly stabilized. She followed this momentum and continued to push the rhythmic power to her fingertips.

This time, the rhythmic force did not waver, but flowed out slowly along the fingertips as if being pulled, and condensed into a slender ice spike in the air - the prototype of the "Frost Arrow"!

But just when the ice spike was about to take shape, Xiaoqing's arm suddenly shook, the tip of the ice spike tilted, and the rhythmic force dissipated a little. Only half of the ice spike was left, hanging alone in the air, looking fragile.

"Anxious."

Mo Zi withdrew that wisp of rhythmic power and pointed out the problem in a calm tone.

"'Go and Return' doesn't mean you should send all your rhythmic energy out at once. You should retain a third of that strength in your wrist. When the arrow is about to take shape, you can use this strength to 'push' it out. You were so eager to release the arrow just now that you lost all the remaining strength, and the arrow naturally won't be stable."

She walked over to Xiaoqing, pulled up her wrist, and made her palm face the water mirror:

"Come on, try again, follow my rhythm. First, sink the rhythm, let the force of 'Flowing Water Through the Secluded Places' sink down, then slowly release it. Remember, keep the force in your wrist, just like drawing a bow, first draw it fully, then release it."

Xiaoqing nodded and followed Mo Zi's instructions to concentrate her rhythmic energy again.

This time, Mo Zi did not use her rhyme to support her, but stood beside her and whispered the formula:

"Bend without bending—don't let your rhythm be stiff, let it flow along with the strength of your arms; flow like water—sink down, sink a little deeper, and let the icy rhythm seep into your fingertips..."

As the incantation sounded, Xiaoqing's fingertips gradually became cold, and the icy charm was no longer as impetuous as before, but condensed steadily at the fingertips like a stream of water.

She could feel the rhythmic force sinking down along her fingertips, as if diving into the water, becoming more and more stable.

"That's it,"

There was a hint of approval in Mo Zi's voice.

"Now, try to incorporate the form of the 'Frost Arrow' and the meaning of the 'dragon' into it. Don't you want to upgrade it to the 'Frost Arrow Ice Dragon'? Don't think about turning it into a dragon directly. First, add a bit of the 'dragon's' toughness to the ice arrow—just like my brother taught me before, imagine the ice arrow is the dragon's body and the rhythmic force is the dragon's bones, so that it has a 'living' energy."

"Dragon's tenacity?"

Xiaoqing was stunned for a moment, then she remembered that Mo Yun had told her before that although the power of the body sect was soft, it could be like a dragon, soft yet strong.

She closed her eyes and tried to imagine that the icy rhythm at her fingertips was not an icy arrow, but a small ice dragon. The dragon's body was the arrow, the dragon's scales were ice patterns, and the dragon's strength was the rhythmic power.

At this moment, she felt the rhythmic power on her wrist suddenly move. It was not caused by her, but by Mo Zi. Mo Zi quietly sent over a strand of rhythmic power mixed with ice blue, like a fuse, which instantly ignited the icy rhythm on her fingertips.

"Om-"

With a slight sound, a bright ice-blue light burst out from Xiaoqing's fingertips. The originally slender ice edges stretched instantly, and ice patterns spread across the arrow, layered like dragon scales.

Immediately afterwards, a small dragon head suddenly protruded from the tip of the arrow. The dragon's horns and eyes were clearly visible, and one could even see a wisp of cold air exhaled from the dragon's mouth.

"This is……"

Xiaoqing opened her eyes and looked at the ice arrow floating at her fingertips. She was so surprised that she couldn't speak. It was no longer an ordinary "Frost Arrow", but an ice arrow in the shape of a dragon. The arrow body was shining with a cold blue light, and dragon-shaped patterns were gently flowing on the arrow body, as if there was really a small ice dragon wrapped around it.

"Frost Arrow, Ice Dragon, done."

Mo Zi breathed a sigh of relief, and the light purple light on her body gradually dimmed. Only that trace of ice-blue rhythmic power was still gently dancing on her fingertips.

She looked at Xiaoqing with a smile in her eyes.