Chapter 2: The First Lesson

The book was a disappointment at first. Siu-Bak had expected secrets—diagrams of impossible postures, ink drawings of men with glowing meridians, maybe a warning about the dangers of over-cultivation written in crimson ink. Instead, page after page was filled with the kind of advice his grandmother might have given, if he'd had a grandmother. 'Sleep where the wind cannot find you.' 'Eat only when...