How frightening, he thought. And Huxian and I will have to fight nine of these? This part could be considered a warmup. He looked over at Huxian curiously, only to see him yawn as he waited for the next bolt. Alas, not everyone is created equal.
The next bolt gathered for a quarter hour before crashing down. It was as thick as a leg, and it caused the formations to tremble as it traveled through them. Cha Ming increased the weight of his staff to 500 jin. He coughed out blood as the bolt struck him, searing several portions of his flesh. He instantly activated Healing Flower Manifestation with his rosary, recovering from the serious wounds. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about the charred flesh.
However, he didn’t have as much time to recover as he expected. The next bolt came down after a single incense time. This one was as thick as a human body. The air screamed as the lightning passed and struck the shield with full force. Cha Ming manifested a fiery shield atop of himself before barely defending with his staff. The might of the impact finally made him realize the severity of the situation. If the red-bearded man hadn’t made these formations, he would have died by now.
One incense time later, the sixth bolt rushed down from the heavens. It roared as it descended, taking the shape of a flood dragon. The lightning flood dragon’s power and speed were frighteningly stronger than the last two bolts, and Cha Ming was forced to defend once more. This time, he felt his insides sear as the lightning traveled through him. The formation above them cracked slightly with the latest blow.
Brother, this is bad, Huxian warned. This was as strong as the final bolt of a Calamity Lightning, and this is only the sixth bolt! I don’t think the formations will be able to last for very long. Use everything you have and hang in there.
Cha Ming focused his eyes on the sky above. His pupils contracted when he saw that the lightning in the sky was no longer white, but red instead. The sky rumbled for three quarters of an hour before a single, finger-thick peal of red lightning struck down four times as fast as the previous one. Cha Ming felt death approach with this bolt of lightning. He didn’t hesitate to pour wood qi and fire qi into an Earth Shield Manifestation above him. He increased the weight of his staff to 756 jin and increased the length to double its original. This small bolt of red lightning shattered the top formation as it passed through. It weakened while passing through the circle of protection, but it took Cha Ming’s full strength to ward it off. Despite this, he suffered grievous injuries in the process.
Cha Ming gritted his teeth as he noticed that a second peal of red lightning rained down on them half an incense time later. He didn’t hesitate to send out 36 pearls in advance as a giant sword. The lightning impacted the circle of protection, shattering it. The sword slightly weakened the lightning before it hit on Cha Ming’s earth shield once more, breaking it apart like crumbly bread. Cha Ming used his strongest physical strike to resist once more. He felt his heart stop for a full three breaths before starting up again.
How on earth am I going to resist it? He looked over to Huxian, whose fur was singed. The fox was otherwise all right. He looked toward Cha Ming worriedly.
Don’t worry about me, brother, Huxian said. This last lightning bolt is the least threatening for me. I’ll use my powers as a Bagua Fox to first purify then swallow the bolt of lightning. The energy will form the basis of my advancement as a demon beast. Just focus on yourself, and don’t hold anything back!
The last bolt of lightning accumulated for a full hour before coming down. It was a red bolt as thick as a fist. Cha Ming gulped as he saw it rushing down. He was practically helpless without the aid of the formations. Yet he didn’t give up. First, he imbued twelve pearls with all five types of qi. They glowed with a white light as they flew into the sky. As the bolt of lightning flew toward him, Cha Ming decisively clenched his fist and detonated the pearls, slightly weakening the bolt in the process. He then threw up thirty-six pearls. They hovered together in a circular formation. As the bolt approached it, he detonated them as well.
Finally, he threw up the last seventy-two pearls. They flew to the sky in a formation that looked very similar to the circle Sun Wukong had drawn. This was a last-ditch effort by Cha Ming, an imitation of the Circle of Protection formation. He had no idea if it would work, but it was worth trying!
The seventy-two pearls glowed brightly as they came together, forming an intricate circle with complex geometric symbols. Cha Ming had imbued them with all his remaining five-element qi, in addition to all of his creation qi. They shuddered as the lightning tore through them, though it had clearly weakened in the process. It only took an instant for them to crack and finally shatter from the power of the red lightning bolt.
Cha Ming looked at the bolt with determination as it came down. He took his 756 jin, 18-foot-long staff and swung it out with perfect timing. The staff struck the bolt with the most power Cha Ming had ever imbued in it. It shook slightly but did not shatter. Instead, it winked out of existence and flew into Cha Ming’s body.
Cha Ming stayed calm as the lightning approached. A red lotus brooch on his shirt glowed slightly as it activated its one-time defensive function. This was the brooch that Hong Lai had crafted for Cha Ming as compensation for pointing out a flaw in his craftmanship. It didn’t do much to weaken the lightning, but mosquito meat is still meat . The lightning struck Cha Ming square in the chest. He felt intense pain as the lightning devastated his body. His internal organs cooked, and his meridians began burning and tearing.
Blood burst out of his mouth, and he was forced to kneel and catch his breath. Simply existing at this point was pure agony. By his side, he saw Huxian turn into two gigantic foxes, one black and one white. They calmly swallowed the lightning just as he had said. The calamity was now over. The clouds quickly dispersed, and Huxian trotted over to Cha Ming and began licking his wounds. His brother had survived. Barely.
Then there was the sound of clapping.
Both Cha Ming and Huxian looked up to see a floating armored figure.
“Congratulations, my friends,” the figure said. It’s not every day you see someone passing a tribulation prior to entering Foundation Establishment.” The figure floated down to the top of the mountain. Cha Ming forced himself to stand up, despite his grievous wounds.
“Does Senior require anything from us?” Cha Ming asked. He understood that people could barely manage to fly at the foundation-establishment realm. But even then they had to use flying swords. This figure didn’t use any such treasure.
“Ah, thank you for asking, young friend,” the man replied amicably. “You see, Cha Ming, I am here for your life.”
Cha Ming paled when he heard this. They were clearly not this man’s match, so he struggled to find an answer that could buy them time. It was so unfair. They had survived Heaven’s wrath only to be killed by a cultivator.
“Why might you be needing my life, sir? I can’t say that I’m acquainted with you,” Cha Ming said.
“No, you aren’t. But you see, my Young Master Zhou Li’s older brother perished recently. The Young Master has determined that you are the culprit. So guilty or not, I must kill you. Any last words?” The armored man drew his sword as he spoke and pointed it toward Cha Ming.
Cha Ming held out his injured left hand and put it on Huxian’s head. Then he reached inside his bag of holding and retrieved a badly damaged piece of paper. It was the ruined talisman that he had purchased at the trade meet. After Sun Wukong had laid out the protection formation, Cha Ming was destitute. All his spirit stones, crystalized elemental essence, and ink had been utilized. After using the brooch to defend against the Calamity Lightning, all he had left was this worn-out piece of paper.
Where’s all my good luck when I need it? he said to Huxian mentally. I gave the last of it to Feng Ming, so I can only trust fate will get us through this. Get ready. I’m going to use the talisman. We have a ninety-eight percent chance it’s a dud, and a one percent chance of success. If it’s the other one percent… at leas
t we’ll have a great way to commit suicide.
The armored man frowned when he saw the talisman but didn’t stop them once he saw it in its wretched state. “Are you sure you want to risk using such a wasted object? How about you just give up, and I’ll leave you a complete corpse?”
Cha Ming smiled at the man before pouring what remained of his qi and spiritual force into the talisman. “Tell Zhou Li I’ll come back to collect our debts.”
Protector Song grunted and sent his sword flying toward Cha Ming, aiming to impale him.
Cha Ming felt a small prick on his chest as the sword stabbed into him. But it didn’t continue. It was as though time and space had frozen. He tried to communicate with Huxian, but to no avail. Then he noticed the space around him breaking up, piece by piece. A storm of mysterious black energy was heading toward them like a whirlwind.
Cha Ming looked down toward Huxian, who now had an expression of fear in his eyes. The storm of black energy blew them apart, and they flew off into the distance. Cha Ming felt his body being torn apart by the strain. His damaged meridians were being chopped into tiny pieces. He felt his bones shatter and his skin break.
And then his mind went blank.
* * *
1 As mentioned in the previous book, Ko is a special situation in Go where a board position can’t be repeated. A back-and-forth exchange ensues. However, it takes many steps to return to the original position. Each back-and-forth exploration for weakness takes about six moves.
2 Western culture romanticizes never giving up no matter what. However, in Go and chess, not giving up when the result is guaranteed is considered rude. In fact, professional-level players in Go can “calculate” the end score with extreme precision. The higher the skill level, the higher awareness they have, and the ruder it is not to resign when there is a clear difference.
Epilogue
Zhou Li frowned as he saw the latest note in his little black book. Many messages had popped up over the last few hours since morning. They arrived once the ink on his notebook had faded. He saw many notes about updates to the plan, warnings about potential intruders, and finally, some notes about the failure of the operation in Fairweather.
The latest note he received was the most infuriating. Protector Song had located Du Cha Ming and the little fox. They had just survived a calamity, but they somehow escaped using a heavily damaged spatial-transmission talisman. Who knew if they were dead or alive? Unfortunately, he discovered a few short minutes later that the thread of karma between him and Cha Ming had vanished.
Lightning, the nemesis of karma and evil. What rotten luck I have. What’s worse, this confirms my guess. That the little fox is a Godbeast descendent. It now has a second tail, and its growth rate is astonishing. Well, on the bright side, this court case is going well.
Zhou Li continued his plotting and planning as he waited for the court procedures to wrap up.
“Wang Jun, I regret to inform you that your case has been rejected from the highest court with no chance for appeal. The trade laws and regulations in the Song Kingdom are not for you to question, and the termination of the contract was perfectly legitimate.” The old judge’s announcement didn’t surprise Wang Jun.
He calmly looked over to the other side of the room with a pleasant smile on his face. Zhou Li was smirking while engaging in what Wang Jun could only assume was congratulatory small talk.
Smug bastard. He doesn’t even know he lost yet.
“However,” continued the judge, “I advise the plaintiff and the defendant to note the recent trade agreement and its impacts on matters discussed in court these past few days. Of course, this has no bearing on the current case, as the case was filed before the agreement was made. Court is adjourned.”
Wang Jun and his group calmly walked out of the courthouse, past the frowning Zhou Li and his entourage.
“Congratulations on your monumental victory, Zhou Li,” Wang Jun said before exiting. He didn’t walk for long before he heard a yell from the courthouse.
“Why do you look so happy, Wang Jun? You just lost. Do you know something I don’t?” Zhou Li had walked ahead of his entourage and stopped only a few feet from Wang Jun. Protector Ren began stepping up, but Wang Jun held him back.
“Of course I do,” Wang Jun said, still smiling. “You didn’t really think I cared about this court case, did you? It was all just a smokescreen to eat up your time. A black cover on a window, or ink on a notebook. Whatever way you want to put it. But since I’m in a charitable mood today, I’ll share a bit of information.
“A trilateral trade agreement was just ratified last night by the Song Kingdom’s ambassador between the Song Kingdom, the Xia Empire, and the Ming Empire. The Song Kingdom has just agreed to eliminate trade barriers for alchemical products in exchange for the unrestricted trade access to products containing significant portions of soul alloy, blue gold, cold iron, and elemental dust. Therefore, the court results were meaningless. The Song Kingdom Alchemist’s Association is now a sinking ship, and you’re the captain. Congratulations!”
“Bullshit,” Zhou Li spat. “There isn’t a vein for any of these products in the kingdom, and these are all highly restricted trade products. The Song Kingdom might have the skill to forge these, but we have no access to raw materials. I refuse to believe that the king would authorize this. I’ll make sure the Crown Prince tears this agreement apart.”
“Go ahead,” Wang Jun said. “Coincidentally, it’s no great secret that the Wang family has begun developing a mine for these very products in conjunction with the third prince. We’re very happy to be conducting business jointly with the royal family. The mine is located near Greatwood Bridge. But you should already be very familiar with that area, shouldn’t you?”
Wang Jun walked away calmly after saying these words. He was in a very good mood. His obstruction had been successful, his trade deals had been established, and Zhou Li was now extremely upset. This was all small news, of course. After all, he had just divined the fate of his dear friend before arriving at court.
Cha Ming was alive.
Gong Lan dragged her feet as she hopped off a wagon and entered Green Leaf City. She felt so tired, so empty. Something was missing from her life, but she just couldn’t put her finger on it.
Oh well, she thought. I’ll go see Brother. He always knows how to cheer me up.
Feng Ming had entered the city at the same time. Apparently, he needed to report to his father as quickly as possible. It was understandable but tedious. She sighed as she realized that there were many tedious things she should do soon. Like eating and showering. She didn’t like showering. It washed away her natural fragrance, covering it with smelly perfumes and herbs.
She continued walking lifelessly down the street. A few blocks down the road, she bumped into a young street urchin, who was sent flying a few feet backward as a result of their collision.
Whatever, that’s his problem. He should look where he’s going.
Suddenly she realized that her belt pouch was missing. In a flash, she appeared beside the young street urchin and pressed her saber to his cheek. A dribble of blood leaked out from the small cut.
“You should watch where you’re going!” she said in a heated manner. The street urchin gulped and kowtowed in apology. “All right, all right. Leave the belt pouch, stop robbing, and scram!” she said. After dropping the pouch, the little boy scampered off in the distance and didn’t look back.
All of a sudden, she felt refreshed. She began running off toward her brother’s place. Several people on the streets gave her a quick nod as she flashed past. Life was wonderful. Or was it?
Fatigue hit her once again like a sack of bricks. Is it excitement that’s missing from my life? She limped a few more blocks before sitting down on a bench to rest. Just in front of her, she saw several people moving barrels of wine into a bar nearby.
“Liu Bai, make sure you get me the thirty-year barrel next. I need to stick it in the back of the cellar,” a
n older man said from behind a large cart.
“Are you sure? It’s a little awkward to get to you. How about you wait until we get a few barrels out?” a younger man asked.
“No need. Just pass it over the rest. I’ll catch it,” the old man replied. The younger man complied and began rolling the barrel.
Gong Lan rolled her eyes as she saw the scene. They were practically begging to get hurt.
Predictably, the young man tumbled as he struggled to push the barrel over a few others. The barrel clanked down the ramp, and the old man screamed as he was pinned between the barrel of wine and the earth. The momentum ensured that it rolled over his face, leaving him with a crushed, bloody nose.
Gong Lan’s heart thumped when she saw the scene. She felt her emotions stirring, like life was worth living. She looked at the scene painted in red. It was beautiful.
That was when she realized why she was down. It’s not excitement I’m missing, she thought. It’s blood. She had chased after power and lost herself in the process.
Feng Ming was standing at attention in front of his father. The latter was massaging his temples as he read the report. It only took him an incense time to finish.
“In short, you discovered a sinister plot and escaped miraculously. Then, instead of reporting to your commanding officer, you ignored the chain of command and fled to Green Leaf City to report to me, your father. Then, when you were ambushed halfway, you didn’t even bother to finish your report and rushed back to the city. According to the report, you saved the situation. You even brought a letter of recommendation from Zhang Yifeng, the master alchemist in Fairweather, or what’s left of it.” Feng Ming’s father paused for a moment before affirming the obvious.
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