Cai stared at the cup and the cup stared back.

He had thought the man was drinking tea, but that turned out to not be the case. The man had offered him a cup of water. It had a strange dark green tint to it, as if it had been gathered from a lake or a river of some sort.

"Master?" Cai asked while holding the cup.

"I've diluted it by a lot, but you can't dilute it infinitely past a certain point," Bill mumbled.

"Should I drink it?" Cai asked.

"Yes, but first a question Cai, do you want your arm back?"

The question took Cai by surprise, but the answer surprised him even more.

"No," he answered.

"Why?" Mister Bill asked.

"I- I do not know."

"Would you mind having it back?" Mister Bill asked.

"I- I would not mind but I do not want it back."

Mister Bill nodded, as if he already knew the answer.

"Well, when you're ready then, drink the water."

Cai nodded, still thinking about the question. But he didn't want to keep the man waiting, at least not for too long. So he raised the cup, put it to his lips, gulped down the nervous saliva and then washed it down with the water.

It was nothing special. Cai thought it would be some magical water of some sort or maybe some cultivation potion. But it was instead, just water.

But it was refreshing, and flowing and quenching.

He gulped it down some more, eager to quench his thirst, and the water kept on flowing.

After a moment, he realized something.

He put the cup down and looked at it. It was half full, as it had been when he first started.

"Remember when we first met and you asked me about daos?"

Cai Xuin nodded. That felt like a long time ago. It felt like it had been centuries since then.

"Remember when I said that the cup could be more than a sword?" He asked.

Cai nodded.

"Well, there's that cup. And the water in it is precious as well."

Before Cai could express his confusion Bill took the cup from him and turned it upside down, and for a moment, Cai drowned. Water overtook him like an ocean and he was swept away in a wave of eternity.

Then it all went away.

Cai was dry and so was the place around him, and the honored master stood there, the cup half full and right side up.

"Daos, much like laws, are concepts. They are an expression of ourselves and as much as they shape us, we shape them. Where they start and we begin is hard to tell. What is a traveler without a path? And what is a path untraveled?"

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Cai listened intuitively, trying to derive meaning from the immortal's words. But then out of nowhere, the honored master frowned.

"There I go, being vague again. I hate vague explanations, don't you Cai?"

Cai nodded, passively agreeing to whatever Mister Bill would say.

"Well, its hard to explain so I'll use analogies and such to get the concept through much easier. But plainly speaking, you losing your arm is a part of your dao. Its an experience that is tied to your world view and ties in with the moment you discarded something. In your mind, you threw away your opportunity to become a cultivator because the cost of cultivating would be too much for you, yes?"

Cai nodded.

"Well, scars in some ways are as important as what was cut off. They symbolize a loss, an attack of some sorts, and your missing arm means something to you. If you were just a mortal it would be a symbol, nothing more. But you are a cultivator, Cai, and as I have recently learned, you can not stop cultivating no matter how hard you try.

"So, I thought that you probably wouldn't like a sword considering what swords have done to you and made you this cup. Its a cup in the truest sense. It's a cup that can hold an incomprehensible amount of water."

"Is it a weapon?" Cai asked.

"It can be," the man replied. "But it'll always be a cup. And the water is the most important part, Cai. It can teach you about water laws to a higher degree than any water in this world or most others."

"Is it special?" Cai asked.

"It was a gift and I've only given you a drop. But it isn't special per say, just useful. Some things can be of a higher rank than you but are incapable of being changed. Its like a dead seventh rank spirit stone. Its something beyond you but its also somewhat useless as well."

Cai nodded and held the cup tighter.

Then was this seventh rank water? Was there such a thing? What would water of the seventh rank even do?

Had drinking it been the right thing to do? Well, Mister Bill had been the one to tell him to drink it so it must have been the right thing to do.

"But most importantly, it is what you make it. It can be a weapon, it can be something to be studied or it can be just a cup with a whole lot of water in it. The choice is yours, Cai. It will guarantee your growth if you want it too, but you'll have to want it too, otherwise its a cool party trick, power without purpose is what that cup is. Once you give it a purpose, you can use that power."

Cai's mouth clung shut as he studied the cup in anticipation.

"Oh and Chin is technically your senior disciple now, so be sure to address him as such. Publicly if you can, in front of a whole bunch of people."

"Yes Master," Cai said with a quick bow.

"Alright, oh and some homework as well. Capture a few desert crabs from somewhere nearby and set up a pond for them."

"Homework?" Cai asked.

"Yeah, its work you take home. Oh and tomorrow we'll have the first official gathering of the Oasis Sect, that's what they call us right? Or is it the Immortal Oasis Sect? Nah, I like the Oasis Sect more, Immortal is a little bit of a…stiff word. Alright, I'll see you at my place around noon tomorrow, see you then!"

Then the immortal disappeared into thin air.

Cai sat down, the cup still in his left hand.

Disciple, cup, sect, homework.

A host of strange words wobbled around in his head.

It took a minute, but eventually he did notice that the cup was tilted over in his hand. Not too much, but enough to cause a small flowing stream that traveled through the ground, down the hill and into the valley below.

It hadn't gotten far but when he raised his cup and stopped the flow, he noticed that the ground below looked greener and more lively. Plants bloomed along the path of the water and small insects made their way to pollinate them.

The earth had been enriched and changed. It had been quenched.

Why was that?

The Honored Master hasn't mentioned anything about thirst or fulfillment, only Cai had experienced that when he drank the water. And when the Honored Master had flipped it and turned it over, it had drowned him completely. It overwhelmed him like an ocean.

Cai took a second and turned the cup over, and water flowed like a pump. He didn't feel depleted or drained of qi as the water flowed, but he didn't drown either.

It took a few minutes but eventually, the ground around him was entirely drenched. Then Cai flipped over the cup and saw it was still just half full.

He looked down and saw flowers blooming at his feet. The grass reached for the skies and all manners of insects came into the blossoming field.

In the hands of an immortal, the cup overwhelmed. In his own hands, the cup quenched and fed.

But most importantly, it is what you make it. It can be a weapon, it can be something to be studied or it can be just a cup with a whole lot of water in it. The choice is yours, Cai.

He took the cup and stared at the water within. It was clear now, akin to the water of a clean stream.

He saw the cup and in the rippling reflection he saw himself. It rippled and danced and refused to hold still in his ever still hand, but even a rippling image was an outline.

"I see," he said to himself.

He didn't see it clearly, but he saw something and that itself was enough.

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