As she gets deep in this flow state, swinging and moving without thought or pause, she can almost feel the weapon she's holding on the edge of her spirit. As if it doesn't matter that the glaive is wood and metal; Why should her existence be limited to the once-fleshy shell of her body. She can be part of the weapon, too.

She has a bare moment to react to this fact, realized more than noticed, like peripheral vision: There is a swing coming for the tip of her existence. It's going to parry, twisting her blade to the side. 

—she flicks her blade first on reflex, enough force to knock anything out of a weaker opponent's hand—

Her glaive meets her opponent's sword, and their intents and presences clash, sword qi pushing against sword qi and neither yielding.

But hers is more unyielding than Cao Lan's.

In this state, it's almost like punching someone rather than wielding a blade.

Cao Lan accepts the deflection and backs off before attacking again with a wide smile.

Oh, they're getting to the fun part.

She takes a few long seconds defending and sticking to the textbook forms, allowing herself to be pushed backwards as she assembles an intuition of this new dance, then surges forward when a gap opens in his guard, abandoning what distance she's maintained with her longer reach to carve out a furious counter-offense.

Can she feel her weapon? Can that state of extended-self, of laminar-flow awareness continue into this spar?

Well, that's up to her, but the Spirit gives her plenty of advantages at it through Anything You Can Do and Battle Demon.

She's good at not being distracted while she can counter with formulaic katas, but whenever she has to actually pivot her moves or twist out of the way to avoid getting struck, she loses the flow. She can't maintain it at all when she attempts an offense, to her annoyance. It takes too much attention to execute the assault plan she derives.

Wen isn't even participating, really.

Eventually, Cao Lan calls a stop.

"I see you've had a minor enlightenment, Reb Ka. I could feel you becoming one with the weapon."

"There's a reason she is the young mistress," Wen declares confidently. "She has talent."

"Indeed. I'm honored to watch a prodigy learning."

"Your instruction was illuminating," Rebecca says.

"A productive day for the both of us, then. I'm always glad when righteous cultivators can come together and grow. This is only one way in which we're superior to the demonic paths."

"Indeed."

"I think my fate might not lie with weapons. I'm too used to moving on my own, and with my preference for fighting in diremonster form..."

"I wouldn't say that you necessarily have no fate with weapons, miss Huli, even if you want to retain that shape more than most ascended animals seem to..."

"I am not of human blood, but nor am I entirely beast. Like the yang of my yin, I am yet a fox."

Cao Lan nods smilingly. "The 'slipspace' you mentioned certainly sounds useful, so I can see why. But it's an impediment for swords."

"Indeed."

"Ah, but we've been at this for hours now, trying to solidify that breakthrough... I do have sect duties to attend to."

Rebecca offers a last bow. "Thank you very for your guidance."

Slipspace?

She traces a little circle with a fingertip. 'Portals'.

"My thanks to you and to the Three Jades Sect. There was one more matter we'd hoped to discuss, the elder did mention availability of the basic versions of manuals..."

"Those are not my purview, I'm afraid. You should bring Senior Brother Ning another hospitality gift and discuss it with him."

"Where might one find Senior Ning?"

"Library, such as it is. It's obvious from the central courtyard."

Once they're on the way, she asks,

"Can you not use slipspace in human form?"

Her ears and eyes swivel around before she answers, though she keeps a casual affect.

"It requires more focus and effort. Significantly more. Significantly more, in the sense of face-saving understatement, not bald fact, even. The walls might have ears."

She nods. She'd thought, since Cao Lan seemed clued in, that it was just more common knowledge she was lacking, but it seems it's not quite that simple.

What's the library like?

It looks more like a quartermaster or armorer's office than a library, and scrolls are indeed not the only things stored here. There are weapons, talismans, and pills- All on display behind a high counter and a visibly shimmering shield, hovering in the air in the manner of an obvious security feature that covers up the less obvious ones.

An overly-smiley attendant is behind the force field. "Greetings, honored guests of the sect, Wen Huli and Reb Ka! Welcome to the treasure hall! I regret to inform you that services for non-members are limited!"

She bows a calculated amount. "Greetings, honored clerk. As you know our names, surely you have heard of our meeting with the Martial Pavilion elder just yesterday? As fellow walkers of the heavenly path, I had hoped to discuss the finer arts with Senior Ning."

"I'm afraid Senior Ning is very busy and dislikes being interrupted."

"I'll have to give you this for your troubles, then."

She doles out two smallish spirit stones.

The attendant's grin turns genuine as he grabs the stones. They vanish into a pocket, moving one way through the visible energy field.

"Please wait patiently. I will be back with news momentarily."

And he walks away from the desk, through a side-door with a curtain hanging from it.

She's no stranger to places where this is how it works, but it still strikes her how shamelessly they're doing it, even in a site of the "righteous" national sect.

Are the weapons, pills and talismans significantly more advanced than the ones she saw in the markets?

If anything they're plainer- Almost standardized in an understated-display-of-quality sort of way, and with fewer explanatory labels.

They are invited back for a discussion with Senior Ning without much fanfare, a moment later. Wen compliments the treasure room and makes small talk for a while (with Rebecca welcome to join in, and compliments all around). She listens patiently to the bookish disciple's anecdote about how annoying it is to keep accurate mission records when sect juniors embellish all the time. Wen offers a gift of some spiritually charged tea that Rebecca bought from the Immortal Chefs earlier before asking about technique manuals.

"Our backers would prefer that the young mistress goes her own way and finds a method that calls to her, so I'd be interested in hearing what metal-aligned arts you have to offer..."

"...I can understand that, but it's difficult for us to just list them, you know?"

"Of course. I know some by reputation, and Ardent Mirror's Edge seemed particularly suited."

"We do have a copy of that art, but of course, if you don't we must be careful of how we spread it. We have obligations..."

"Naturally. We'd only need the qi gathering phase, to evaluate it."

"Even that much is asking a lot..."

"I don't suppose you have an idea of what would ease your seniors' concerns?"

"Why don't you suggest something?" Ning shrugs helplessly, unwilling to be the first to propose a number.