A Thousand Li

by Tao Wong

  “It’s not leaving us,” Wu Ying said. “I don’t think it’s intending to let us go.”

  “I don’t think running is working,” Tou He said, gesturing at their horses. “Our horses don’t seem to want to move.”

  “We could get off and run on foot. It might eat the horses and leave us alone,” Er Gu offered.

  “No,” Yu Kun and Wu Ying said at the same time. When Wu Ying raised an eyebrow at his friend, Yu Kun flashed a quick grin. “I can’t afford to pay for a horse.”

  “Fine. Then we fight,” Tou He said, leading his over to a tall tree. He clambered off the horse, tied it off, then walked to stand in the middle of the pathway, extracting his staff from his storage ring at the same time. “This is better. I would be concerned if we left these monsters for others to deal with.”

  Wu Ying copied his friend’s actions, standing near him. He didn’t bother to draw his sword yet, though he kept his hand on the weapon. Yu Kun copied their actions, though he kept hold of his bow while stabbing his hooked swords into the ground. Only Er Gu and Wan Yan stayed on their horses, staring down at the trio.

  “Joining us?” Wu Ying asked the pair.

  “I’m not a fighter,” Er Gu said. “I have a few protective talismans, but I don’t… do that.” He gestured at them.

  Wu Ying frowned, but turned his attention on Wan Yan.

  She sniffed and hefted her spear. “I prefer to fight astride.”

  Wu Ying eyed her position behind the trio, wondering how she intended to get around them, how she’d make the lackadaisical and doped horse actually charge. Unlike their rented horses, hers had been brought all the way from the Sect and was obviously better trained. Before his musings could continue, a sharp spike in the stench made him pivot.

  His gaze locked on the other side of the simple dirt road they stood upon, one that was barely large enough to drive a pair of wagons astride. It was big enough for such occurrences because it was a trafficked merchant road, and as such, the road itself had been well kept. Only a few potholes could be seen.

  The first visible sign of the problem was movement along the forest edge. Shrubbery and fallen leaves shifted, leaves swayed, and branches creaked all along one side. In a space nearly twenty feet long and reaching up to nearly the height of a man, the foliage moved.

  Next came the sight of the creature itself, an arm-sized lizard with dark green frills of skin that glittered with sparkling dust. The creature was soon followed by another, and another, the entirety of the rustling forest soon filled with the monsters.

  “Hun dan!” Wu Ying swore.

  “Also, sometimes they might grow more aggressive and work in packs,” Er Gu said, his voice quavering. “Like the Dust Lizards.”

  “Now you tell us.” Wu Ying’s eyes narrowed as he spotted one of the creatures with a still-twitching tail in its mouth, masticating the animal as it watched the waiting group.

  As if on cue, the creatures all flared their frills wider, the sparkling dust within exploding outward, sweeping toward the group as they channeled chi. The sheer volume of chi being used made the unnatural flow of energy easy to spot, as it even manifested as a strong breeze that pushed the dust forward.

  Tou He whirled his staff, igniting the weapon with his own fire chi. It burned, combating the dust and leaving the ex-monk untouched. Yu Kun, on the other hand, just growled, firing his bow and pinning one of the Dust Lizards to the ground while ignoring the attack. He immediately nocked another arrow. Metal-aspected as he was, the dust would be unlikely to affect him anyway. Behind, Wu Ying sensed the flaring of power as a talisman was invoked to protect Er Gu.

  As for himself, Wu Ying clamped down on his aura barrier, ensuring it kept out the air-influenced chi and blocked the intrusive dust. At the same time, seeing that there was a visible physical component to the entire thing, he raised one hand and its long sleeve to cover his face.

  The dust swept through the group, leaving their vision mildly blocked and Wu Ying a little dizzy. Yet other than the mild pressure, he felt nothing from the attack. Still, he kept his sword in its sheath, content to wait to see if the creatures would attack. Other than a pair of nearby lizards tearing into the arrow-pinned and dead friend, the monsters stared at them without movement.

  A series of chirps suddenly erupted, the Dust Lizards speaking to one another. As the dust cloud disappeared behind the group, Tou He stopped spinning his weapon, the flames banking. Again, the undergrowth rustled as the lizard swarm talked.

  Then a last, urgent cheep and the lizards rushed the group, sprinting across the bare ground, jumping on branches, or launching themselves into the air in long, gliding jumps. The shift from stillness and inaction to attack was sudden, but the team was ready.

  When the first lizards were close enough, Wu Ying dropped to a knee and drew. Dragon unsheathes its Claws combined with Dragon’s Breath, a simple and favored opening, launched blade energy at the monsters. He caught three in its wake, a couple managing to jump aside with minimal damage before his attack ground to a stop in bone and flesh.

  Yu Kun fired one last arrow before he stored the bow, sweeping up his swords as the monsters reached their first line of defense—Tou He’s flaming staff. Each motion of the swirling staff caught monsters as they attacked, battering and crisping them. But it was so large a group that many just ran around the monk, launching themselves at those behind.

  Wu Ying found himself spinning, using the scabbard in one hand and his sword in the other to cut, bat, and block attacks. Footwork from the various styles allowed him to keep his balance and combine elbow strikes and kicks, giving up a fixed position to help keep monsters off him. Not that he entirely succeeded. Still, the majority of those that launched themselves at him were cut apart. The few that crawled upon him, digging their claws and teeth into his skin, left him bleeding but standing.

  As he spun and fought, Wu Ying spotted the rest of his team. Tou He did well, keeping to a fixed position but spinning in circles within that, both ends of his weapon swooping down and up, striking and brushing aside monsters. Few managed to make their way past his defense, and those that did fell away soon after, crisped by the surging flames that shrouded his body.

  In contrast, Yu Kun was completely encased by the creatures. His swords plunged and rose, tearing and chopping in sharp, short strikes but doing nothing to stop the monsters from clambering over his skin. Yet in the few gaps that Wu Ying spotted beneath the crawling green carpet, a bronze sheen covered Yu Kun’s body as he activated a cultivation defense.

  Much like Yu Kun, Er Gu’s position was covered with monsters, all attempting to clamber over and on top of the defensive position he had created with his talisman. Words scrolled up, disappearing into the sky before reappearing again at the bottom in a continual series of lines, shrouding Er Gu and the horses from the swarm. Each line was written in dark light, the color of good soil and burnt earth, mimicking the chi that gave it strength. Behind, Wu Ying glimpsed the sweating and pale face of the cultivator who clutched another pair of talismans, ready for use.

  But worried or not, Er Gu was not the most in danger. Instead, that position was left to Wan Yan on her horse. The horse bucked and twitched, irritated but unnaturally calm. Even under the encouragement of the woman, it barely defended itself, stomping its feet, shifting in position out of irritation as its drugged state was overridden by commands and self-preservation instinct. The Dust Lizards clambered on its body, leaving long lines of blood, attempting to reach its rider, who struck out with her spear. The long weapon dipped and stabbed, batting aside monsters but failing to pick them all off as they clambered ever upward.

  “Die! Die! Die!” she kept screaming as she struck, Dust Lizards clinging to her body.

  Yu Kun and Tou He could handle themselves. Yu Kun was killing with calm efficiency and Tou He was fighting the kind of fight he excelled in. Given enough time, they might run out of chi, but that would be a while away. Er Gu had his talismans. None of them could help W
an Yan.

  Quickly, Wu Ying parsed the information and made his decision. Chi gathered around his sword as he finished the last motion of Dragon paints the Sunset. Stepping clear of the splashing blood, Wu Ying bent his knees and lunged forward, the Sword’s Truth sending him across the bare ground in a flicker as he used a modified passing lunge with the motion. Energy gathered around his weapon and body, his entire form a single blade that cut and sent small leaping lizards aside.

  Then he was by the woman, his sword flashing. Wu Ying danced, sword tip cutting small necks, lopping off tails and legs as he used his scabbard to defend himself. A thrust upward, piercing a Dust Lizard that hung off a head, missed Wan Yan’s eye by inches. As he retracted, Clouds parted by Claws drew the false edge of the blade along the back of another pair of monsters, peeling off skin and muscle with a single stroke. Then a hilt strike to a monster that attempted to clamber up a leg, one that jerked leg and horse beneath it before Wu Ying tucked in her supporting foot, dropping into an elongated lunge and kick. Slide under the angry, rearing horse, missing the feet by inches as Wu Ying rose on the other side.

  Strike again.

  Move.

  Strike.

  Move.

  A flare of heat as Tou He released the built-up energy of his attacks, burning the lizards around him. The shattering urn noise of a talisman giving way. Only for a series of wind blades to erupt behind it, catching monsters and throwing them aside.

  Dust Lizards fought and died. They scrambled to pull down their larger prey with their sheer numbers as their greatest resource. They fought, maddened by losses or hunger, until a shrill chirp and hiss was sounded. It cut through the noise, the stench of spilled blood and guts. The next moment, the monsters were fleeing, the majority leaving their aggressive prey. Only a few too stubborn or rage-induced stayed behind to be struck down swiftly by the cultivators.

  Leaving them the winners of a blood-and-body-part strewn road, victorious but bleeding.

  ***

  Clean up was a simple, if tedious and painful, matter. Wounds were washed and dressed, in some cases stitched close. The stitches would have to be taken out in a few days, as accelerated healing from being cultivators would otherwise cause damage.

  Wan Yan glared at Tou He, who was stitching her shoulder, lips pressed tight. “Make sure to use the cream I provided you. And I’ll need you to rub it in every morning and evening until it heals.”

  “Of course,” Tou He said, smiling happily. Of them all, he was the least injured, though a single cut ran right above an ear where a Dust Lizard had managed to snag him.

  Surprisingly, even Yu Kun had been injured, the cultivator muttering something about variant elementals.

  Wu Ying glared at the woman as he finished rewrapping the bindings on his feet. He rather preferred it when she had kept herself away from the group. At least then she hadn’t insulted them with every other breath.

  “That was a large group,” Yu Kun remarked as he walked the road, pulling apart lizards in search of demon stones. He only found them occasionally, the majority of the monsters too young to grow proper stones. Still, considering the sheer number of monsters they had slain, he was gathering a decent handful.

  “We’ll be sharing that equally, yes?” Wan Yan said, eyeing the handful Yu Kun had gathered.

  “Equally? I don’t think we all helped equally,” Yu Kun said. But he was not looking at Wan Yan when he spoke but eyeing Er Gu. The scholar had been found cowering, hands over his head, at the end, a trio of Dust Lizards savaging him.

  Now, the cultivator walked out from the bushes, straightening new, cleanly pressed robes. “I’ll let you know those talismans were expensive!”

  “Which you used to hide behind,” Yu Kun said, “while the rest of us were injured.”

  Wan Yan nodded, happy to cut out Er Gu. The scholar frowned, turning his gaze to Tou He for support.

  “I find an equal share acceptable,” Tou He said as he finished tying the bandage on Wan Yan’s shoulder and stepping aside. “We all travel together.”

  Next, Er Gu and Yu Kun stared at Wu Ying.

  Wu Ying returned the pair’s stares before he shook his head. “I don’t care either way. If you are going to collect the stones for a while more though, I will meet with you all in an hour.”

  “Where are you going?” Yu Kun asked.

  “Gathering,” Wu Ying said as he walked over to his horse.

  Er Gu’s eyes narrowed as he glanced at the backpack Wu Ying pulled down from his horse, then straightened. “Good, good. We’ll keep an eye on your horse for you. If you want to range a little more, we can wait too.”

  Wan Yan’s smiled at Er Gu’s words then nodded at Wu Ying. “Yes, it’s good for you to gather more.”

  Wu Ying snorted, already understanding the angle they were going for. He slipped the pack on his shoulders, strode toward the vegetation in the corner of the road, and called out as he left, “We’re not sharing what I gather.”

  He chuckled as he wandered the woods, searching out the hint of a particular scent he had caught, leaving the outraged squawking behind. They might object, but he certainly would not share his work with the others.

  Well, maybe Tou He.

  Smiling, Wu Ying walked quickly, keeping an ear out for further trouble, and got to work. This was a long trip, and he was sure they’d have even more encounters before they were done. In the meantime, he could add to his supplies, his funds, and his World Spirit Ring.

  Chapter 9

  As Wu Ying expected, they continued to encounter additional demon and spirit beasts as they traveled. In fact, outside of his own solo journey, he met more monsters with the team—and more beasts with stronger cultivation bases—than he ever had before. Then again, the group did not shelter under the aura of an Elder this time. It was only halfway through the journey overland that Wu Ying realized that part of the issue was Yu Kun and Er Gu.

  By the time Wu Ying had returned from his first gathering expedition, an agreement had been reached by the remaining cultivators. In return for Er Gu’s more active participation and safeguarding of their animals, he would receive an equal share of whatever spirit stones or materials they acquired when attacked. Wu Ying’s gathering would be excluded, as he declined the offer of an hour’s delay to allow him to work with ease. Among other things, he had no desire to let his body continue to degrade.

  Unknown to the others, a wave of weariness and deep aching pain had struck him after the lizard battle, one that had left him slumped against a tree out of sight of the group. He had been forced to meditate and swallow a healing pill, to patch himself together slowly. Thankfully, he had been left alone by any predators during his period of incapacitation, though Wu Ying made note about the increased danger of gathering alone, especially after battle.

  A note that Wu Ying had found himself deploying all too regularly. After one of the numerous attacks, the team realized the issue. Er Gu had baited the attacks using a simple talisman, restructured and amended, as a lure. It drew demon beasts to them from a wider radius, pulling them from the deep forest and encouraging their aggressive behavior. A minor act of betrayal that had been encouraged by the ex-wandering cultivator.

  “We are not doing that anymore,” Wu Ying snarled, pointing at Er Gu and Yu Kun as he stood, swaying ever so slightly in the aftermath of the battle. Corpses of the half-snake, half-horse spirit beasts that had crept out of the deep forest lay around them, the small family slaughtered by the cultivators. “And if I catch either of you trying it, we’re parting ways immediately.”

  “Oh, come on, look at how much we’ve earned!” Yu Kun said, waving the pouch of spirit stones he’d extracted. After each battle, they had divided the stones with the undivided portions being kept by Tou He by common agreement. “Tell me you don’t need the stones and I’ll stop.”

  “You’ll stop now or we’re breaking up,” Wu Ying said.

  By Wu Ying’s side, Tou He nodded.

  “But why?�
�� Er Gu said. “I’m only using a minor variant talisman, so it isn’t reaching deep into the wilderness. It would be truly unlucky to draw anything like a Core-level demon beast. And if there is one out there, it would have sensed us long ago.”

  Wu Ying shook his head then stopped, the growing headache as his body desperately drew in chi—in whatever form it could get—making him wince a little. The constant attacks, the need to push energy through his body in defiance of the rest he needed had increased the buildup of bad chi. And while the others knew that he was going to the Double Soul, Double Body Sect to solve a problem, he was unwilling to reveal the level of weakness he was inflicted with. Not yet at least. “You do realize that we’re traveling to the sect for a reason?”

  Yu Kun hesitated while Er Gu shrugged blithely. “A better cultivation manual or exercise. Of course.”

  “Yes. And why do you think we need it? Because what we’re doing right now is good enough?” Wu Ying snapped. “You’re putting our lives in danger, forcing us to make use of cultivation methods that aren’t an exact fit. You’re basically harming our cultivation bases!”

  Er Gu had been nodding along at the start but slowly grew paler. At the end, when Wu Ying was nearly shouting at him, Er Gu’s face had grown as white as any ghost. Yu Kun had a stricken look on his face as well.

  “I didn’t… we were just trying to earn a little more…” Er Gu croaked out.

  “I thought you’d want it too. I mean, you’re as poor as we are,” Yu Kun said hastily.

  “And that’s why you hid it from us?” Wan Yan said, her voice dripping with scorn. The noblewoman was still seated on her horse, not deigning to get down even after the battle. Still, it was useful as a scouting position, so the others had not commented. “You knew we’d say no.”

  Wu Ying was a little surprised she was backing him up. But then again, perhaps she too faced a difficulty like him. Tou He at least was not being injured, just stymied in his progress.

  “I’m sorry.” Yu Kun hung his head.