The Liu family's main gate opened to admit a small procession, led by a young man in the azure and silver robes of the Soaring Phoenix Academy. Liu Chen had returned for the family gathering, his Qi Condensation Fourth Stage cultivation creating subtle pressure waves as he walked.
Zǔ Zhòu observed from his study window, analyzing his second brother with predator's interest. Competent but unremarkable—the academy's assessment had been accurate. Liu Chen possessed decent talent hobbled by conventional thinking, making him a perfect source of formal techniques.
"Third Brother!" Liu Chen's voice carried genuine warmth as he spotted him. "Come down! I want to see these improvements Father mentioned."
Amusing. The sheep wanted to inspect the wolf's teeth.
Zǔ Zhòu descended, arranging his expression into appropriate fraternal pleasure. "Second Brother! How was the academy term?"
"Educational." Liu Chen clasped his shoulder, spiritual sense probing gently. His eyes widened. "Body Tempering Fifth Stage? Father said Fourth Peak... Wei'er, this advancement rate is extraordinary!"
"The deviation changed things," Zǔ Zhòu replied, allowing shy pride to color his tone. "And I found something—Elder Feng is helping me study it."
"The temporal manual Father mentioned? Fascinating. But first—" Liu Chen stepped back, assuming a combat stance. "Show me your progress properly. Friendly sparring, cultivation suppressed to match yours."
The training ground quickly filled with family members eager to watch. Liu Feng observed from the elevated platform, eyes calculating. Liu Mei bounced excitedly, cheering for her third brother.
"Standard rules?" Liu Chen asked. "First to three touches?"
"Agreed."
They began slowly, Liu Chen testing with basic academy forms. Clean, efficient, predictable. Zǔ Zhòu responded with the family's Raging Tiger style, modified with his temporal insights but kept deliberately imperfect.
"Your timing has improved dramatically," Liu Chen noted, barely deflecting a palm strike. "These modifications..."
Zǔ Zhòu pressed the advantage, using perhaps 30% of his true capability. Enough to show marked improvement, not enough to seem impossible. The comprehension lock helped, preventing him from accidentally displaying knowledge beyond his supposed limits.
First touch to Zǔ Zhòu—a finger to Liu Chen's ribs during an overextended punch.
"Excellent!" His brother laughed, genuinely delighted. "Again!"
The second exchange lasted longer. Liu Chen adapted quickly, academic training serving him well. But adaptation meant predictability, and Zǔ Zhòu had studied human patterns for millennia.
Second touch—a palm to the shoulder as Liu Chen tried a complex academy combination.
"You're reading my movements," Liu Chen realized. "How?"
"The deviation... I see motion differently now. Like echoes of what you're about to do." Truth wrapped in mysticism. He did see the movements—fifty thousand years of combat experience made Liu Chen's intentions transparent as glass.
The final exchange drew real effort from his brother. Liu Chen combined academy precision with family techniques, creating genuine unpredictability. For a moment, Zǔ Zhòu felt the faintest echo of interest. Not in his brother—the sheep remained sheep—but in the puzzle of seeming competent while being superior.
Third touch came through deliberate imperfection. Zǔ Zhòu overextended just enough for Liu Chen to counter, then converted the counter into victory through 'lucky' positioning.
"Third touch, Wei'er wins!" someone called.
Liu Chen panted lightly, eyes bright with surprise and... pride? "Incredible progress. You've surpassed what I achieved at your age." He clasped Zǔ Zhòu's shoulder again. "I want to help. The academy taught me supplementary techniques that might complement your temporal insights."
"You'd share academy secrets?"
"For family? Always." Such naive loyalty. Liu Chen genuinely cared about his younger brother's progress, seeing only the surface transformation from waste to talent.
"I'd be grateful for any guidance, Second Brother."
That evening, Liu Chen visited his chambers with jade slips and manual copies. "These are foundation exercises the academy uses. They build flexibility in thinking, preparing students for advanced concepts."
Zǔ Zhòu examined them with apparent wonder while mentally critiquing their inefficiencies. Typical academy methodology—sound theory crippled by conservative application. Still, the formal structure would provide excellent cover for his impossible techniques.
"This meditation method," he pointed to one diagram. "Could it be modified for temporal circulation?"
"I... don't know. Your insights are beyond my understanding." Liu Chen's admission came easily, without jealousy. "But perhaps we could explore together? I have two weeks before returning."
"I'd like that." The lie flowed smoothly. Two weeks of a naive brother teaching him techniques he could improve in his sleep. But also two weeks of documented brotherly interaction, building reputation as a grateful student rather than inhuman monster.
After Liu Chen left, promising tomorrow's training session, Zǔ Zhòu's anchor servant emerged with prepared materials.
"Academy dropouts acquired as requested. Three students who failed first-year examinations, one expelled for conduct violations."
"Excellent. Bring them to the secondary chamber."
The dropouts knelt in chains, terror mixing with confusion. They'd expected death or slavery, not methodical extraction of their muscle memory.
"You attended the Soaring Phoenix Academy," Zǔ Zhòu began, circling them. "Failed to meet standards but absorbed the basic forms. That failure makes you valuable—your bodies learned what not to do."
He started with the expelled student, inserting needles at neural junctions. The extraction revealed three years of academy training compressed into bioelectric patterns. Formal stances, precise breathing methods, philosophical frameworks that turned raw talent into refined skill.
"Academy foundation style emphasizes control over power," he noted while the student convulsed. "Interesting contrast to family methods. Integration possibilities multiply."
Each dropout provided different perspectives. The examination failures had pushed too hard, their bodies remembering the breaking points. The conduct violation had modified techniques for cruel efficiency, earning expulsion but creating innovations.
"Your failures birth my success," he told their drooling forms afterward. "Be proud—your incompetence serves greater purpose."
The extracted patterns integrated smoothly with his existing framework. Academy precision married to demonic innovation, formal structure supporting impossible applications. By dawn, his body moved with the muscle memory of seven years' academy training he'd never attended.
"Tomorrow, Liu Chen teaches me basics I've already mastered," he mused. "But his instruction provides witnesses, documentation, plausible advancement paths."
"The brotherly bonding serves your reputation."
"More than that. It's aesthetic appreciation for dramatic irony." He smiled coldly. "The kind brother helping the struggling genius, never knowing he's training a monster who sees him as ambulatory teaching materials."
The next morning, Liu Chen arrived early, eager to begin. "I've been thinking about your temporal theories. What if we applied them to the academy's Flowing River Palm?"
"Show me the standard form first?"
Liu Chen demonstrated, movements precise and powerful. Zǔ Zhòu watched with false fascination while mentally improving every aspect. When his turn came, he performed a degraded version that showed promise but not mastery.
"Good instincts! Let me adjust your stance..."
The sheep positioned the wolf's paws, teaching the predator to hide its claws. Such beautiful ignorance, worth preserving until the perfect moment of revelation.
"Thank you, Second Brother. Your guidance means everything."
The lie tasted sweet as honey poisoned with truth.