"Now, there's no gain without some pain but I'm not just gonna pound on ya. I can already tell from the way you're walking you don't know proper stances or anything yet, and frankly there's no real way to learnin' except repetition. We should go to one of the training fields, one of the smaller ones. You don't have any fighting magic yet and I'm not gonna use mine - I got a head start, like most'a these nobles - but it's a good habit to show enough strength to get respect but also keep some trump cards hidden."

"I ... know how to punch someone without breaking my hand? I think? I was not expecting combat training to be painless. A small training field sounds sensible, do you know the way?" 

"I sure do, there's a bunch around here, like, just out of sight."

It's about a ten minute walk.

"Now, if you know anything about fighting you gotta know that physical brawls are fast. There's not much room for thinking. You have to just move and have it be the right move. So talking about fighting, sharing pointers, is useless without practice to back it up. You practice picking the right move and doing it, right away, and when it comes down to it your body already knows what to do. Like a lot of things in life, hard work and repetition, and insight and advice, ya need both."

Wen Huli holds out her two palms next to each other, arms extended.

"Punch my palms, let's see what your habits are now. No need to go easy, I've started body cultivation."

Mei Cao will nod and not bother formulating a cogent or insightful response. 

She will punch. It is an unexceptional punch. Neither the punch of someone totally untrained nor the punch of a martial artist, with hard earned muscle behind it but not really the right sort of muscle.