“Match has ended! You will both step back from the other!” the man roared at the wild-eyed Adept who was glaring so fiercely at Alex. “The match is over, Tie Tan. Release your Qi!”
The muscular adept fixed Alex with his hot glare for several long moments before finally giving a frustrated shake of his head, totally ignoring the students either grimacing stoically or, in several cases, sobbing in pain after falling victim to the furious cultivator’s careless swings. “We are being played for fools, Master. He cannot be what he seems. He is no transcendent sage! There is no way this Ruidian could match my speed or ward my blows like that!”
Zha Shi’s cold laughter made the scowling Tie Tan wince. “Are you so sure of that, Tan? I saw no trickery in his movements, nothing to indicate he was anything but a young Ruidian riding the crest of some strange insight. He’s been in a daze since he started watching, then emulating, your movements. And his shield. You saw his shield transform as well as any of us!”
These words elicited a number of awed whispers.
“What does it mean?” asked a curious Zhu Bi.
“It means that, somehow, this Ruidian, this natural Wild Cultivator, who admitted to us all that he traveled through the forest by the trade roads, actually summoned forth a Silver-ranked Ward! A feat that should be damned near impossible, he does in the space of a single fight!” declared Bang Jiao with a curious chuckle, his eyebrows furrowing as he looked over a dizzy Alex.
“And I do believe our wild cultivator prodigy is on the tail end of his breakthrough. You all should know how I feel about interfering with a man in this state.” He turned to Yingpei Lin. “If you would be so kind as to escort your friend back to his quarters?”
An awed-looking Yingpei gave a deferential bow. “I would be honored to, Master Bang Jiao.”
And before Alex knew it, he was being gently coaxed back to his pagoda with the warm words and smiles of two of his closest friends, for all that the grass rustled delicious secrets against his bare feet, which he could just barely fathom the meaning of… before he sunk into a dreamless sleep.
30
“I will not allow you humiliate me a second time, Ruidian filth!” snarled Tie Tan the next day, the man glaring at him from underneath a mop of sweat-soaked hair secured only with a silver topknot. The cultivator’s formerly politely neutral expression had been replaced with the haughty countenance of a Yidushian noble, which Alex utterly despised, a striking contrast to his communion with the forest they both loved, which remained the single priceless point in his favor.
Yet Alex paid the Adept’s words no mind, having been both prudent and daring enough to summon forth and meditate upon his Shield of the Grove for the entirety of the morning meditation, losing himself in the soothing rustle of a certain ancient grove that had blessed him with a golden apple, which he had honored in turn with his blood.
Even now, he could feel those titanic trees calling out to him, so vast and mighty that they soared over the forest like guardian sentinels, the surrounding trees no taller than grass in comparison.
A grove that none but flying cultivators were ever likely to see, nestled deep within the massive eldritch woods that covered this world, their splendor blocked by the countless trees that stretched their canopies above even the ley lines that served as trade roads interconnecting the cities, providing shade for long stretches of miles and offering a bounty of succulent fruit rich in spiritual energy for those with the will to climb the branches or compel them to drop with a Wild One’s gifts, so long as one left gifts of midnight soil in turn. Yet as strikingly beautiful as it all was, it meant that most traders and travelers who dared those roads saw little more than the gently rustling trees to either side of them, and perhaps a sliver of bright blue sky just overhead. Certainly they would see no sign of majestic groves comprised of gargantuan trees taller than any Terran skyscraper, even if such wonders were just a handful of miles away.
And Alex could hear the whisper of an offer caressing his ears as he meditated, sensing the flow of Qi pouring into his form from the whirlwind of spiritual energy flowing all around him, which was more than enough to maintain the Silver-ranked shield that had half the class staring wide-eyed at him when they should have been cultivating, but he refused to pay it any mind. If anything, their intense regard, their distraction, and risk of distracting him, was just one more test to overcome, one more pressure point that could be used against him in the crucible of combat.
Your hours of intense focus and meditation have led to a breakthrough! Shield of the Grove is now Rank 2! Time to Summon Shield reduced by 5 seconds. You may now maintain this shield indefinitely while cultivating!
Or so he had told himself as he bowed to a wide-eyed Master Nong before leaving behind the rest of his group as they headed to weapons practice, instead making his way to the Qi discipline training area. The class was now comprised of dozens of aspirants who had been here for some months, still fine-tuning their skills.
“Why are you here, Ruidian? You’re with the introductory afternoon class,” said Bang Jiao, though his quiet smile made it clear he already knew the answer.
“I already know the dance of spears and ji, Master Bang Jiao, well enough that I dare not fight my friends full-out. So, with your permission, I’d rather learn all I can by watching the honored Adepts showcasing their skills while meditating upon my own.”
Bang Jiao’s smile grew as more than a few students glared Alex’s way, whispering quietly enough, yet Alex still heard every word.
“Who does this Ruidian think he is? He hasn’t even been here a week!”
“That shield is no basic cultivator’s trick. He maintained it for the entire cultivation period! How is that even possible?”
“He’s a warped Wild One. Any fool can see that,” sneered the bitter voice of Qiang. “He has a few tricks with trees and soil, but he’s no true cultivator at all.”
Alex ignored them all, locking gazes with none other than Tie Tan, honoring him with a bow. “This one is grateful for your earlier lessons, Master Tie Tan, and hopes to be worthy of further instruction.”
For some reason, Tie Tan’s aristocratic features filled with rage. “You would dare speak to me after what you did? Standing tall and proud as if you were a True-blood, as if you were worthy of being my disciple? As if you were anything other than the Ruidian filth you so clearly are?”
“Tie Tan.” Bang Jiao’s smile hardened, his voice as well.
The Adept clenched his jaw. “You know he doesn’t even belong here, Master.”
Alex’s projected warmth grew as icy cold as the metaphoric smack to his face. He had sensed that the man before him held only contempt, not just for Alex, but for all the students he resented having to watch and instruct, believing in his heart how much better he was than they, and hating that he had been goaded into challenging Bang Jiao for such sweet prizes, only to be utterly humiliated and forced to train a fresh batch of hopeless idiots.
Alex shook his head, Soul Sight and his Spirit Qi affinity revealing far more about the thoughts and drives of the man before him than he really wanted to see.
“Oh, I don’t know about that, Tie Tan.” Bang Jiao’s smile was inexorable. “I, for one, think much can be gained from a lesson with Alex.”
“You would have me instruct him personally, like a student gifted with highest Silver potential?” Tie Tan hissed, eyes widening with outrage.
Bang Jiao chuckled. “You mean coddle him like the handful of spoiled noble whelps whose fathers you hope to impress? Heavens, no! I expect you to fight! Channel that bitter hate! Break through Alex’s shields and send him crashing to the ground!”
Alex’s guts lurched at the command, icy apprehension racing down his spine. He caught just a glimpse of Bang Jiao’s implacable eyes, their perceptive calculation so similar to Master Panheu’s own.
“Watching you demonstrate these lessons which our slower students have spent over a month witnessing will do little to bring addition
al insight to those who lack greatness. But seeing two cultivators compelled by ambition or hate? Striving to best one another in the crucible of battle? That is a sight that will grant even the humblest of students at least a flash of illumination! As the saying goes, ‘Even the least of cultivators may transcend all perceived limitations in the crucible of war.’ Witnessing the struggle of life and death firsthand compels warrior cultivators to master the struggle within themselves like nothing else ever could.” He shrugged. “Either that, or they never come home at all.”
Tie Tan responded with a cold smile, immediately summoning forth his own shimmering shield of pristine oak, his right fist vibrating with Wood Qi. “It will be as you say, Master Bang.”
“But no killing blows,” Bang Jiao’s command cut through Tie Tan’s fierce smile. “Oak Fist, just as before.”
Tie Tan smirked. “Fair enough, Master. Very well, Ruidian halfblood. You wish instruction from me? You shall get it! May the crucible of pain teach you your place amongst your betters!”
Soul Sight in play!
Find Weakness skill check: Critical Success!
Alex’s heart began to race as he met his opponent’s killing gaze. With every breath, he could feel the gentle rustle of the leaves, the sway of the grass tickling his bare feet as they raised him upon a carpet of green, the promise of violence to come. He was humbled by the flood of spiritual energy all around him, Wood ascendant, that he now sensed just as well as he did the gazes of contempt or awe from his peers, the derisive hate of the man before him, and the calculating watchfulness of the master behind.
And when Tie Tan roared and charged forward, shield of shimmering Wood Qi lashing out to slam him down before a fist echoing with an oaken heartbeat sought to crush his ribs, the Adept’s movements almost a blur, at the upper reaches of Bronze at the very least, Alex’s shield was waiting.
Ducking low as his enemy’s hammer-fist whipped over his head, he caught a flash of the man’s alarm when crashing oak failed to move the shield before him. Tie Tan’s eyes widened, and he hissed with surprise, if not pain, as Alex whipped his shin around to slam into his opponent’s left leg, just above the knee.
Alex darted back, already knowing his opponent’s deadly speed, having struck only in the heartbeat his opponent was off balance. A roar burst from a furiously charging Tie Tan, and for long seconds, it was all Alex could do to parry the onslaught of furious blows.
Yet Alex couldn’t help but smile, even as his heart raced and his skull rang with the deadly force of a single punch that had briefly skimmed the side of his skull and nearly tore his ear off.
He ignored the pain and his peril, savoring the delicious sense of knowing where Tie Tan would strike, merely having to raise and twist his shield fast enough to counter the furious onslaught of blows.
Angle kick strikes target! Target is now suffering mild impairment!
Doing his best to attune himself to the lush grass at his feet, the swaying pear trees just a few yards away, he could still sense the killing gaze of Duo Ku, who so wanted to break him.
He refused to let the man’s cold smile make him flinch.
Not when Tie Tan was so eager to land a single killing blow that could finish him off, whatever their instructor said.
On and on they danced, Alex’s roundhouse kicks repeatedly slamming into his opponent’s legs. Only once was his limb struck in turn with a fist that nearly cracked bone, causing Alex to lurch back. The couple of seconds his opponent wasted on cold laughter was all he needed to Power Heal and chill the man with a smile before circling him once more, with a very deliberate limp.
And then Alex felt it.
That surge of possibility tickling purposely bare feet, toughened shins bleeding far less than they should be after repeatedly kicking legs toughened by at least one Wood body cultivation technique.
Focusing on the feel of the grass beneath his toes, he recalled the memory of roughened bark during the endless hours he had fairly flown through the forest, leaping from tree to tree.
“You will fall, Ruidian. Even now, you tire and weaken, your leg too damaged to do more than limp as you cower before my blows!” roared Tie Tan, stumbling forward. His movements were now so obvious as he crouched down in preparation of hooking his shield under Alex’s own and jerking it up, intending to pummel Alex’s vulnerable abdomen with lethal, organ-rupturing blows.
But Alex had already spun to the side, using the momentum to whip his mostly healed leg around in a spinning heel kick that slammed into Tie Tan’s temple, hitting not just with the force of the swirling storm of Qi all around him, but with the might of the roaring river like a dozen hardwood logs ripped downstream, bursting open a dam that just happened to be Tei Tan’s head.
Breakthrough made! You can now cover all of your limbs in Wood Qi! Oak Fist has transcended to Oak Strike! Oak Strike is now Rank 5! You are an Adept user of Oak Strike! Specialization may now be chosen! You have deferred the perks of Added Damage and Reduced Qi Expenditure and have chosen Heightened Synergism! You have increased your ability to synergize Oak Strike with all other elements and martial forms!
Oak Strike successfully synergized with White Crane & Silver Swan Kung fu!
Weakness found! You have critically struck your opponent!
Your opponent has collapsed!
Willpower check made!
And just like that, the fight was over. Alex found himself gazing down upon a groaning Tie Tan, lurching and trembling, as Bang Jiao roared in his ear.
He frowned, puzzled as to why his mentor was shouting at him, before realizing he had lifted his leg in preparation to deliver an axe heel strike that would have shattered his fallen foe’s already cracked cranium.
A killing blow.
Alex’s eyes widened. He lurched back and lowered his leg, earning a fierce glare from Bang Jiao, which immediately turned into an amused chuckle.
The master bent down, peering into a groaning Tie Tan’s face. “How do you feel, boy?”
Tie Tan’s fluttering eyes snapped open. One pupil was dilated, the other a pinprick. But injured as he was, he still had the strength to glare Alex’s way. He sprang back to his feet before collapsing with a cry, grabbing his spasming leg.
Alex flashed a cold smile. “I’d put some liniment on that and rub it down with warm oil, if I were you. More importantly, though, I’d be very careful about moving your head too abruptly for at least the next week, and maybe go to the Blue Pagoda as soon as you can. Seriously.”
Alex did his best to ignore the wide-eyed stares and hot whispers of the students either staring at him openly or sneaking furtive glances his way.
“Did you see what he did?”
“How the hell did he whip his leg around like that!?”
“Tie Tan should be dead. That kick would have shattered stone!”
Bang Jiao shook his head and tsked, placing his hands upon the Adept’s skull and sending a surge of gentle healing Water Qi into the grimacing cultivator, whose expression became one of profound relief as the spasm rocking his whole body faded to the faintest tremble, and then was gone, bruises healing before the eyes of the entire awed class.
“His bruises are already disappearing!”
“Master Bang Jiao’s a healer? I thought he was just a body cultivator.”
“Do you think he’ll ever teach us his techniques?”
A furiously blushing Tie Tan quickly lurched to his feet, glaring furiously at Alex.
“He should be on the ground, screaming in pain! I struck his skull so hard, it should have cracked! And I felt the bone jolt when I struck that fool’s leg! How the hell could he kick with it? It must be wujen trickery!”
Alex said nothing as Bang Jiao chuckled.
“And so what if it was wujen trickery?” the elder retorted. “It would be a blessing if wujen trickery was what he used to best you, for our nation’s armies could use more cultivators able to master the powers of the storm or wash our enemies in flame, rather than simply
channeling it through their bodies like most do.”
Tie Tan swallowed, visibly nonplussed and pointedly ignoring the intent gazes of the students who had seen him fall. “But how is he even standing? The blood on his shins is trivial. I don’t even see a bruise upon his flesh!”
Alex’s smile grew, but he carefully said nothing that could be construed as mocking. He merely gave a respectful half bow. “Thank you for the most invigorating match, Master Tie Tan. Our sparring practice has helped me to understand my art that much better, the greatest gift any student could ask from their instructor.” He then turned around, taking in the students gazing at the pair so raptly. “And if my fellow aspirants fail to see how valuable the lessons you taught me were, then that is their loss, I’m afraid.”
And no one knew better than Alex just how vulnerable he had been, how close he had come to folly. It could so easily have been him collapsing to the ground, crying out in agony, if that blow to his leg had been any harder, or if his opponent hadn’t wasted a couple precious seconds to gloat that had allowed for a desperate moment’s Power Healing to fuse cracked bone that still throbbed as his body now finished mending. And if the glancing blow to his head had struck dead on… he might be dead in truth, or spasming on the ground at the very least, as Tie Tan would be, had it not been for their master’s Water Qi healing.
Although he was victorious, no one was more aware than he how deadly was the game he dared. How desperately he needed a body strengthening technique that wasn’t in utter conflict with his Dual Path cultivation technique embracing all eight positive elements and Dark Qi as well... and how stupid it was to risk making more powerful enemies at this school.
Silver Fox & the Western Hero: Warrior's Path: A LitRPG/Cultivation Novel - Book 6 Page 44
