Pure Jade

by Patrick Laplante

  Meanwhile, a black clone shot out from Huxian’s figure. It dove into the ground, merging with the countless beast shadows that littered the bloody forest floor. Whenever a beast approached a human, its shadow would also attack. Each blow it landed damaged the humans directly.

  Huxian wasn’t satisfied with these meager results, however. He looked toward Guo Jia and Xiao Heilong and charged at them with his white clone.

  “You’re courting death,” Guo Jia snarled. He pulled back his ice formation and laid down thirty-six green flags in addition to thirty-six green sigils. Hundreds of lines spread throughout the area.

  Huxian didn’t care. Even if it was a high-grade formation, he would still tear it apart with impunity. He was a noble half-step core-formation Godbeast. Even initial core-formation experts would be hard-pressed to resist him.

  “Xiao Heilong, head back here this instant,” Guo Jia shouted. Xiao Heilong, who had been fighting a sovereign earlier, retreated toward the pale, black-robed man. In addition, a purple blur of lightning shot in front of Huxian.

  “Lei Jiang!” Huxian shouted. He was infuriated. He tried to sidestep Lei Jiang, but the small critter was much faster than he was. He couldn’t avoid its attacks. Purple lightning rained down from the skies. Lei Jiang, his former subordinate, hissed wildly as he attacked his former master with wild abandon.

  It’s all that Guo Jia’s fault, Huxian thought. If I don’t kill him, I don’t deserve to be called a Godbeast. Huxian recalled his purifying aura from the battlefield and directed it to the much smaller space in front of him, which was covered with a formation. Massive vines flew out toward Huxian, who was forced to bite and claw them away. Meanwhile, Xiao Heilong arrived.

  He and Lei Jiang attacked in tandem, forcing Huxian to defend himself and take significant blows from both parties.

  Didn’t Cha Ming say he’d run away from that guy? How did he get so strong and so fast? That’s when he noticed an additional mental attack from Guo Jia’s direction. In his peak condition, it would have been like scratching an itch. However, in this heated battle, it forced him to make mistake after mistake. Cuts began to accumulate on his body, poisonous cuts that sapped away at his strength.

  I can only buy time, Huxian thought. Perhaps an opportunity will come.

  Meanwhile, the tides of battle had shifted in favor of the beasts. The fast infusion of energy and their soaring morale caused them to unleash far more of their potential than they thought possible. The geomantic boa, in turn, used this to her full advantage. She exhausted herself, abusing every opportunity, every crack in her opponent’s strategy.

  It was only a matter of time before they won the battle and the humans were forced to retreat.

  If looks could kill, Zhou Li’s would slaughter. He was so close to securing a victory. Unfortunately, he knew the trade goods would arrive today, and there was nothing he could do about it.

  If only I hadn’t gotten greedy, Zhou Li thought. If only I’d given them a larger piece of the pie.

  It wasn’t that he was incapable of mounting a larger force; it was that he had taken a calculated risk by bringing the right amount of forces. His calculations had shown that they had an eighty-percent chance of success. But to boost their chances by an additional ten percent, he would have needed to spend 100,000 high-grade spirit stones on additional forces.

  Now he would have to spend 300,000 additional spirit stones to capture the mine. Not to mention all the forces he’d already lost in the struggle thus far. But on the bright side, they could extract the ore very quickly, and illegally. They wouldn’t need to pay taxes. It just wouldn’t count as merit for the crown prince, which was a shame but still a tolerable outcome.

  Wars are fought with money, Zhou Li thought. Money, money, always money. If I had as much wealth as the Wang family, this war would already be over. Money bought weapons, medicines, and fighters. It bought political influence. Which was why he was hesitant to spend the extra 100,000 high-grade spirit stones in the first place.

  He used his core-transmission jade to connect to a contact in another country.

  Ring. Ring. Ring.

  Young Master Zhou, I’m so pleased to hear back from you, a voice transmitted from the other side. What can I do for you today?

  I need those forces we spoke of, Zhou Li transmitted. I need them here as soon as possible.

  A pause ensued before the voice replied. They can be there in three days, and not a moment sooner. I trust you’ll have our payment delivered before the forces arrive?

  I will, Zhou Li said. I always do.

  Zhou Li finally turned his attention back to the battlefield. They were losing, and it was time to cut his losses.

  “Retreat!” he yelled. Failure had a bitter taste. Fortunately, the bitterness would soon be soothed by the sweetness of success.

  Huxian was struggling. He was at the end of his rope, despite having retrieved his second clone. Both were fiercely struggling against the vines, against Xiao Heilong, and against Lei Jiang. It came as a huge relief when he suddenly heard the call for retreat from the human encampment.

  We made it, he thought. The vines continued entangling him, but the three figures he had been fighting with previously began running away.

  “Not so fast!” he yelled. He gathered the power of light to flash through the formation with ease. His target was Guo Jia. If he could kill him, Lei Jiang would be set free.

  Unfortunately, a purple flash appeared in front of him, blocking off his approach to the dreadful sigil master. The very creature he was trying to save was giving his all to fight him.

  Very well, Huxian thought. If I can’t kill him, I’ll collect a consolation prize. His jaws snapped on Lei Jiang’s struggling body as Guo Jia and Xiao Heilong escaped. He used his powers of light and shadow to restrain the small creature.

  First, I’ll free you, he said. Then we’ll get your revenge.

  “Second Young Master,” said voices from above. Two blond-haired men, core-formation experts, landed inside Wang Jun’s encampment.

  “Uncles,” Wang Jun replied while traveling from his tent. “I trust everything is in order?”

  “Of course,” one of the two said. “We wouldn’t dare neglect our duties. The funds have already been transferred from your account in Songjing.” The other threw out a ring, which Wang Jun caught and placed on his finger.

  “Everything is in order,” Wang Jun said. “You may leave.” Then he sped off toward the minister’s tent.

  “The goods have arrived,” he yelled. Soon, Prime Minister Rong sped out and joined him. They went out to the battlefield, where only beasts remained.

  “Huxian!” Wang Jun yelled out. A black-and-white fox immediately descended from the mountain. “We’ve come with the trade goods and the contract.”

  “About time,” the fox grunted. “Sovereigns, to me!” he yelled. The mountain trembled as the seven sovereigns that had participated in the battle arrived.

  “Here is the contract and peace treaty,” Wang Jun said. “Pre-signed by myself, the third prince, and the prime minister.” He then emptied out the storage ring. “The first delivery of goods, as promised.”

  Huxian looked them over before declaring that everything was in order. Then, a drop of his blood shot out from his glabella and imprinted itself onto the contract. The other seven sovereigns followed suit. Shortly after, the geomantic boa arrived, dragging a pile of glittering jade. She then spat out a tiny drop of blood, imprinting it on the contract.

  “Silverwing!” Huxian bellowed. An incense time passed before a tiny drop of blood flew from the mountain, ratifying the contract.

  “On behalf of the Song Kingdom, I welcome an era of peace between the beasts of Silverwing and our kingdom,” the prime minister said joyfully.

  “I also look forward to five hundred years of peace,” Huxian said. However, it was evident that he was less than pleased by the carnage that had ravaged his people.

  “Prime Minister,” Wang Jun said,
“please excuse me while I discuss with Sovereign Two Tails. Meanwhile, can you please order the soldiers away? We have a peace treaty now, and it’s important to show our good faith.”

  “They’ll be gone by the end of the day,” the prime minister promised.

  Wang Jun followed Huxian’s gloomy figure to the peak of the mountain.

  “Speak. What is it you want?” Huxian asked. He was tired of this war, tired of all the death and carnage. When he was younger, he thought little of death and destruction. Now he was filled with regret. He could have simply excavated the jade and dumped it beside the mountain. Maybe that would have spared them much heartache.

  “Two things,” Wang Jun said. “First, I’d like to warn you. Don’t let your guard down. I have a hunch that Zhou Li won’t let this defeat lie, so I invited Cha Ming and some of his associates to come. They’ll be here in three days.

  “Second, I’d like to complete our private deal.”

  “Inside my cave,” Huxian said dismissively. “That can wait, though. I won’t give it to you unless you help me with something.” He spat out a small, unconscious ball of fur. “I need your help breaking his slave sigil.”

  Wang Jun raised his eyebrow. “And what makes you think I’m capable of that?”

  “My intuition,” Huxian said. “Besides, I don’t need you to break it. I can take care of that myself. What I need you to do is reveal the flaws in the sigil to me.”

  Wang Jun rubbed his chin. “Let me give it a try.” He flicked his sleeve, revealing a large mural of shadowy text. Then he pulled out a particular piece of text. It closely resembled the sigil on the small mouse’s forehead.

  “This is the ‘subject’ portion of the monarch/subject sigil,” Wang Jun said. “You have two options. You can either destroy it by attacking its weaknesses here, here, and here… Or I could obscure the formation, transforming it into something else.”

  “Transforming it into something else?” Huxian said. “What would it transform into?”

  “It wouldn’t be a big change,” Wang Jun answered. “I know nothing of sigil arts, but I am confident I could obscure the perception of who the monarch is. If I make you the monarch, Lei Jiang would serve you as his monarch, a very normal behavior for a beast. It will be like nothing happened to him.”

  “Absolutely not,” Huxian said without hesitation. “I’ll take my chances on breaking the sigil.”

  “But you’ll be risking his life,” Wang Jun said. “Sure, it will influence his way of thinking, but it won’t be that different from the normal beast hierarchy.”

  Huxian closed his eyes. “He’s my friend. I saw him when I removed his soul seal. I saw the fear in his eyes. I can’t let him remain a slave. He doesn’t want such a fate.”

  When Huxian’s eyes opened, a majestic aura burst out from him. Eight trigrams spread out from his fur, surrounding the small purple mouse. His fur lost its color and faded to gray. But he didn’t care.

  Bagua Fox Technique—Eight Trigrams Rune Extraction!

  The eight trigrams spun around the small creature’s forehead, peeling the sigil from it. Eight Trigrams Rune Extraction was a powerful formation-breaking technique developed by his ancestor. At its peak, it could pull millions of runes from their origin for him to devour.

  Unfortunately, he was still weak. With his half-step core-formation cultivation, he could barely execute the technique. All he could do now was peel it off, but he couldn’t eliminate the connection to Lei Jiang.

  “The flaws,” Huxian said in a weak voice.

  “Here, here, then here,” Wang Jun said confidently.

  Huxian nodded and summoned three sharp gray needles. He coughed up blood as he summoned them, overdrawing his strength. This was the second part of the technique, Rune-Breaking Needles. Extracted runes could not be eaten directly. They often needed to be broken before consumption, like chewing food. Unfortunately, summoning these rune-breaking needles exceeded the limits of his purification-realm body.

  “Break!” Huxian yelled. The runes pierced the sigil in these three locations in order, and the sigil crumbled. Huxian lost consciousness soon after.

  “Boss, boss!” a high-pitched voice yelled. “Wake up, boss!”

  “Who’s your boss?” Huxian said groggily.

  “Boss is boss of course,” the high-pitched voice yelled.

  “Lei Jiang?” Huxian muttered, opening his eyes. He was exhausted. His eyesight was blurry, but soon he was able to make out the small shape of a purple mouse.

  “Of course it’s me,” the mouse said.

  “Don’t call me boss,” Huxian said. “I’m not your boss.”

  The mouse looked hurt. “You’re my boss if I say you are.”

  Huxian sighed. “How could I possibly be my friend’s boss?” he said, smiling with his foxy muzzle.

  The mouse looked at a loss. “Why can’t you be both?” the mouse asked, confused.

  “This…” Huxian wasn’t sure how to answer that. He’d always taken their boss-minion relationship as a one-way street. But then he thought more about it and realized that he was slightly subservient to Cha Ming. Cha Ming and he were brothers, but Cha Ming was the elder brother.

  “I suppose you’re right,” Huxian said. “You admit that I’m your friend, even if a bad one?”

  “You’re the best of friends,” Lei Jiang said. “When you took away my soul seal, I was scared. My thoughts became confused. I had a lot of time to think before they finally caught me. That second time, I thought I would never escape.” The little mouse sniffed. “But who would have thought that when I woke up, I would see the boss? Not only that, you were wounded. Your blond-haired friend said you spent a lot of strength to save me. How could anyone but the best of friends do that?”

  “I guess we’re friends,” Huxian muttered. “Well, as the older brother in this relationship, you need to listen to what I say.” The mouse nodded. “However, I promise to always protect you. I should protect my friends. You’ll support me, and I’ll protect you. Deal?”

  “Deal!” Lei Jiang said.

  Suddenly, the trigram on Huxian’s tail lit up. It was the same lightning trigram as before, and a character appeared on it. On Lei Jiang, a symbol appeared on his forehead. It wasn’t the character for “general.” Rather, it was the character for “friend.”

  And to Huxian’s surprise, they had the same abilities as when Lei Jiang was his thunder general. Except now, he had an obligation. But he also had a friend.

  To Huxian, that made a world of difference.

  Chapter 35: Alabaster Corps

  Cha Ming’s awareness returned to his surroundings after briefly cultivating. He retrieved a set of freshly painted talismans from his desk before heading out to the Alabaster Group courtyard. It was dark out. The first rays of sunshine had yet to illuminate the night sky. In the courtyard, several figures sat cross-legged in meditation, improving their conditions one last time before the upcoming battle. They all wore white, making the entire group seem like a funeral gathering.

  I suppose it is a funeral gathering, Cha Ming thought. Many of those who would accept the mission have lost family members and friends to devils. These people accept missions every day to defend the helpless and destroy those who persecute the innocent.

  After further reflection, he changed his clothes to the same alabaster white. He had lost acquaintances as well. The deaths of Han Jinlong, Bei Ling, and those many people near Fairweather were reason enough.

  “You’re finally here,” a familiar voice called out to Cha Ming. It was Luo Xuehua. Her silver hair and permanently closed eyes did not take away from her smile.

  “How many people are participating?” Cha Ming asked.

  “Forty foundation-establishment cultivators, including us,” Xuehua replied. “And six half-step foundation-establishment cultivators, as well as seven core-formation protectors.”

  Cha Ming raised an eyebrow.

  Xuehua chuckled. “Surely you don’t expect the Obsidian S
yndicate to remain honest, do you? These core-formation cultivators are there both as insurance and to cash in on this chance to clash with the Obsidian Syndicate. It’s not beneath them to kill a few foundation-establishment juniors if we are outnumbered, but this is also considered a tempering exercise to us juniors.”

  “Fair enough,” Cha Ming said while surveying the blanket of cultivators. “Who is in charge?”

  “As Lu Tianhao’s apprentice, yours truly fills that role,” Luo Xuehua replied. Now that Cha Ming looked around, he noticed many looks of admiration directed toward her.

  Cha Ming faintly heard something in the distance. It was the sound of the wind. Xuehua clearly heard it as well. A white shadow flashed and landed before Xuehua, briefly bowing before reporting.

  “I’ve been keeping watch on the Obsidian Syndicate,” he said, panting. “However, everything was strangely quiet. To be certain, I checked the city gates, and sure enough, a large group of them left the city a few hours ago.”

  Xuehua’s look hardened. “They want to play such tricks.” Then, amplifying her voice, she spoke to everyone present. “The Obsidian Syndicate has already departed. We are leaving now.” All white-clothed figures present stood in attention, while several people flew out of their residences. Then, turning to Cha Ming, she asked, “Did you learn the Wind Walk Formation?”

  “Only to lesser grade,” Cha Ming replied. “But I can do you one better. If I consume high-grade spirit stones to keep up the energy, that is.”

  Xuehua tossed him a few dozen high-grade spirit stones, which Cha Ming shamelessly accepted. He was far too broke to afford the steep transit cost.

  Cha Ming breathed deeply before floating up above the courtyard. He threw out eighteen Dao sigils, nine purple crystals, and nine azure stones. He poured his personal qi into the gray sigils, transforming half into lightning sigils and half into wind sigils. Then he took out the Clear Sky Brush. It glowed light purple as he painted large connecting lines with the lightning essence he had recently prepared. Just like the five-element evanescence, wind and lightning evanescence could also be mixed in with liquified elemental essence. Unfortunately, it was much rarer and could only be harvested in the high mountains. The price was exorbitant.