The Initiate Brother Duology Read Online Free PDF Page A

within the pattern. Chi will strengthen in you, but you must never try to become its master. Offer it no resistance, only allow its flow. Chi can never be controlled. You can only make your will synonymous with it.”
    If his master had not said this, Shuyun would not have believed it possible. But now that his Seclusion was complete, he began to understand. He also began to see the wisdom of his teachers.
    I must meditate upon chi, Shuyun thought. I must become a breeze so soft that even a butterfly cannot push against me.
    After a timeless time a bell rang and Shuyun brought himself out of his meditation. He rose and walked calmly through the garden. It was time to bathe in the hot spring and then partake of the evening meal.
    He paused at the gate to look again at the splintered board and his earlier joy at his teacher’s demonstration became complete. The shattered board had been replaced and into the new board a monk had carefully cut a hole the shape and size of a butterfly. From his position, Shuyun could see the blue sky through this hole. With a last look, the young Neophyte hurried off. All the senior Neophytes would want to hear about the butterfly-punch which he alone among them had seen.
    *   *   *
    Brother Sotura, chi quan master of Jinjoh Monastery, mounted a stairway which ended in a hall leading to the Supreme Master’s rooms. He had bathed and changed into clean clothes, taking time to compose himself before meeting with the head of his Order. The instructor knew of the nun’s visit and was concerned.
    He tapped lightly on the shoji of the Supreme Master’s study and waited.
    “Please enter,” came the warm voice Brother Sotura was expecting. He slid the screen aside, knelt, and touched his forehead to the grass mats. The Supreme Master sat at his writing table, brush in hand. He nodded, as his rank required, and then began to clean his brush.
    “Come in, my old friend, and sit with me. I have need of your counsel.”
    “You honor me, Supreme Master, but I fear that in the matters you consider, my counsel will be of little value.”
    “Take a cushion and dispense with this fear. I need you. That is that. Do you desire food?”
    “Thank you, but I have eaten.”
    “Cha, then?” He reached for the ivory hammer.
    “Please, cha would be most welcome.”
    The gong sounded and immediately there were footsteps in the hall.
    “Please open,” the Supreme Master said before the knock came. “Cha for Sotura-sum and me. And please, see that we are not disturbed.” The boy bowed and slid the screen closed without a sound.
    “Well, Sotura-sum, I had a most interesting visit this afternoon with the old cow.” He paused and smiled, then shook his head. “She very nearlyextracted a promise from me that certain members of her Order would be allowed to be present at our next examination of the scrolls.”
    The chi quan master remained silent.
    “Very nearly but not quite. I told her I must confer with the senior members of my Order, which is what I am doing now.”
    Brother Sotura shifted uncomfortably. “It seems they will plague us until they have seen the hand of Botahara. I hesitate to suggest this, Supreme Master, but under the circumstances it may be wise to satisfy this curiosity. We have in our possession very ancient scrolls, perfect copies in fact. There are none living but perhaps four members of our own Order who could possibly know they are not real. I realize this is hardly an honorable path, but…” He shrugged.
    “Honor is a luxury we may not be able to afford at this time, Brother.” The Supreme Master looked down at his hands, examining them as though they were mysteriously changed. “We dare not raise suspicions about the scrolls…not now. I will consider your counsel, Brother, I thank you.”
    The server approached, though he had barely had time to go to the small kitchen and return. The Supreme Master cocked an eyebrow at the other monk.
    “They have begun to anticipate