by Tao Wong
Having properly consoled himself and eaten a warm meal, Wu Ying took off once more at a leisurely jog. While he received more than a few strange glances over the fact that he was running with a big bag slung over his back, since none of those individuals managed to overtake him, it was of little concern to Wu Ying. And really, while his cultivation and body were strong, that was only in comparison to the base ranks of the populace. Older and more experienced cultivators were able to do what he did with ease, and even among the commoners, the occasional gifted genius cropped up. As such, Wu Ying’s actions, while unusual, were not entirely uncommon. Especially since Wu Ying had yet to study or master any qinggong[21] skills to move lightly at superhuman speeds.
Along the way, Wu Ying paid attention to the traffic on the road. Even if travel by the canals was both faster and more convenient, many locations were not connected that way. As such, everyone from merchants, beggars, scholars, monks, government officials, cultivators, and more used the roads. The conveyances used varied depending on the individuals’ stations. Everything from simple wagons to carriages, horses, and rickshaws were seen on the road, though just as many were like Wu Ying, making do with nature’s most popular form of transportation.
Even though Wu Ying found himself surrounded by people, he spent no time talking to them. And while there were numerous kinds of travelers, the roads weren’t packed. More often than not, he saw people at clearings resting, or he would pass another group as he ran. On a few rare occasions, he was passed by those on horses or in carriages.
Wu Ying found the entire scene endlessly fascinating. This was a life that he had never been exposed to, and the traveling community seemed to have a series of mores that he was slowly gleaning. Many of these wanderers seemed happy, free from the social and economic restrictions that kept farmers locked to their land. It was an eye-opening sight for the young man, much like his first city. Once again, Wu Ying was forcefully reminded that the world under heaven held marvels and wonders galore.
***
Day after day, Wu Ying found his life repeating the same pattern. Run, eat, train his aura strengthening techniques and his martial art forms, eat, get attacked by spirit beasts. Not that he was attacked every night, but the attacks were more often than common sense would have suggested. On one particular day, Wu Ying found himself leaning on a shop counter, nursing a sore rib while talking to the rest stop’s proprietor.
“Are there a lot of demon beast attacks on the road?” Wu Ying asked, somewhat exasperated. If not for the fact that his body required less sleep due to his higher cultivation, there would be no way for him to keep to his current pace.
“Attacks? No more than usual,” the owner said, twirling his long white mustache. The old man cocked his head to the side, considering Wu Ying and his dirty peasant garb. “The weather has been good, so the berries and fruits should be blooming. But I did hear that a new spirit beast took residence on Mount Heng. Might have driven down a few more demon beasts.”
“A few?” Wu Ying said, shaking his head. “This is the fourth demon beast I’ve killed!”
“You’re staying alone in the wilderness, aren’t you?” When Wu Ying nodded, the proprietor snorted. “Of course you’re being attacked. The beasts know to watch the trails for people. They might not be intelligent, but demon beasts are cunning—and peasants with low to no cultivation are the best prey. Especially when they’re alone.”
“Alone…” Wu Ying blinked, realizing what the owner was saying. Between supressing his cultivation with his aura strengthening techniques and camping alone, Wu Ying was basically placing a giant sign above his head that said “easy prey.”
“Well, you’re obviously very skilled with that sword. But a young man like you, you should work on your cultivation more,” the owner said kindly. “It’s not seemly for one so young to have so little presence.”
“Presence?”
“I might not have the eye of insight of a real cultivator, but I’ve served enough of them in my time. The real ones have a presence. If you pay attention, you’ll realize that all cultivators have that too,” the proprietor said, smiling. “The stronger the cultivator, the stronger their presence. And yours is, well…”
“Weak,” Wu Ying acknowledged.
Of course it was weak. He was suppressing his aura! But thinking on the matter, Wu Ying frowned as he tried to sense the proprietor’s aura. After a time, Wu Ying shook his head, having failed. Perhaps he should do as the old proprietor recommended and test his sensing ability on an on-going basis, especially when he went back to the sect. His ability to read cultivations would naturally grow when he achieved the Energy Storage stage, but there was no reason not to practice it now.
“Thank you, Uncle,” Wu Ying said with a bow.
“Not at all. Now, for this wolf meat, it’s not the most popular. Especially the heart. But I can buy it for six taels,” the proprietor said, gesturing to the meat arrayed across his counter.
Wu Ying rolled his eyes but got down to haggling, while a portion of his mind continued to go over their conversation. Presence, eh?
***
Another day, another long run. Days blended together, the only change for Wu Ying the progress he marked on his map. What should have been a two-week journey by boat had become a two-week marathon trip through hills, forests, and plains with no end in sight.
As the sun crept toward the horizon, Wu Ying chewed on a stick of sugar cane as he ran. As a child, he had always loved the treat, and having found a grove of unattended sugar cane earlier in the day, he had chopped a plant down to take with him. It made the entire run more manageable. When a scream resounded through the low hills, Wu Ying dropped the piece of cane with surprise.
“What is that?” Wu Ying said with a frown. He slowed down as he looked about but saw no danger in his proximity.
Of course, the scream had originated from a distance ahead of him. Wu Ying considered shifting directions or just slowing down, but he shook his head. Those thoughts were not something a cultivator should have. Having resolved to help, Wu Ying sped up.
The first thing Wu Ying noticed was the crowd. Next was the merchant’s wagon that the crowd surrounded. Wu Ying quickly realized that the crowd was no ordinary crowd but a group of bandits, all of whom had swords and other weapons as they threatened the merchant. He frowned, seeing no women. But that high-pitched scream should have come from a female.
“What’s going on here?” Wu Ying said as he arrived. Eying the group, he exhaled and untied the knots around his bag as he readied himself. Best not to be encumbered if things went as he expected.
“This is none of your business,” one of the bandits said, turning around and sneering at Wu Ying. The balding bandit wielded a simple spear, which he leveled at Wu Ying. As Wu Ying looked at the group, he noticed that many of these bandits wielded hooked spears, nets, and daos. “Just wait there. We’re collecting our fee.”
“Your fee? It looks like you’re attempting to collect their lives,” Wu Ying said, eyeing the bruised and bloody merchant on the ground, a bandit straddling the prone body.
The employees stood pressed up against the wagon, fear in their eyes. A quick sweep of Wu Ying’s gaze told him that there were a half dozen bandits, plus the one speaking with him. Of those six, one held the horses still, leaving only the one beating the merchant and four others an immediate threat.
As he confronted the group, Wu Ying found his heartbeat speeding up and his palms growing sweaty. It took all his hard-won self-control to keep his breathing low and slow as the group moved to surround him. Faced with the bandits, Wu Ying realized he might have to actually kill another person. Was this how Fa Hui felt when they had clashed with the army? Somehow, the way Fa Hui had described the event to him, Wu Ying kind of doubted it. Perhaps he wasn’t…
“Are you listening to me?” the balding bandit snarled as he jabbed his spear toward Wu Ying’s face.
It was not an actual strike, just a threat, but the spearhea
d came so close to Wu Ying’s face, he reacted without thought. Wu Ying sidestepped, and the sword in his hand unsheathed in the first move of the Long family style.
“You dare!” the bandit leader who held the merchant in his hands snarled.
All around the bandit, his comrades recoiled in surprise as their friend staggered back, the spear falling to the ground as his arm separated from his body. A moment’s shock, before the formerly belligerent bandit screamed. Clutching his arm, the bandit fell backward as blood spurted from his arm, coating the area around him in scarlet droplets.
“Move,” Wu Ying whispered. Whether it was said to the bandits or himself, even he was not sure. But now that blood was drawn, this was no time to stop.
Another spear jabbed toward him and Wu Ying blocked it with his forearm, catching the blade as it slid above his shoulder before he pulled its wielder toward him. A quick kick and twist of his arm as he grabbed the spear sent the bandit stumbling into another, giving Wu Ying time to spin toward the last bandit. A quick clash of blades and a failed attempt at a wrist cut forced Wu Ying to fall backward as the three bandits recovered.
“Finish him, damn it!” the bandit leader growled as he kicked the merchant toward his servants and stood up. “And you people, move and I’ll kill you.”
Wu Ying stepped back lightly as the group continued to attempt to encircle him. He dropped his bag with a shrug, letting it land beside him as he moved backward constantly. As the bandit on his left moved around the discarded bag, breaking up the formation, Wu Ying acted.
A single quick step took him close while he spun. Clearing the vermin from the doorstep, followed by greeting the rising sun. Then the dragon stretches to back off as the bandit on his left collapsed on his newly injured leg while the one in the middle blocked Wu Ying’s retreating cut. Another quick forward step, a kick to the temple of the downed bandit before Wu Ying twisted, his blade blocking the attack while positioning itself to allow Wu Ying to gently extend his hand. The blade plunged into the attacking bandit’s neck, sliding in with such ease that Wu Ying almost believed he’d missed—until the sudden explosion of blood as his jian exited. Then, close, grapple and upset, kick and stab.
As quickly as it started, the fight was over. Wu Ying’s hand trembled slightly as blood dripped from his jian. Around his feet, the bodies of the badly trained bandits lay, slowly bleeding to death. After kicking aside a weapon a dying bandit scrabbled for, Wu Ying walked forward to where the bandit leader looked on in fright. The rest of his opponents were either injured enough that they were dying or in shock as they stared at Wu Ying’s retreating back. The bandit leader stared at his fallen men then Wu Ying, who no longer hid his cultivation. The pressure of his advanced cultivation made the bandit leader’s lips tremble.
“You’ll pay for this. When Boss Chao finds out, he’ll hunt you down!”
“Only if you survive,” Wu Ying said as he stalked forward. Internally, Wu Ying marveled at the dispassionate calm within him. Unlike his fight with Yin Xue, where he had been a bundle of nerves, or even in his struggle against the boar, Wu Ying found himself casually analyzing the bandit leader. He noted the way the bandit’s throat bobbed as he swallowed, the cold sweat and darting eyes, the way the bandit’s feet were angled away from him and the hostages. It all added up to…
“Go!” Wu Ying shouted.
Startled, the bandit leader’s eyes widened before he darted off, followed soon after by his remaining follower from the front of the wagon. Wu Ying smiled slightly in satisfaction. Good. He had no desire to kill if he did not have to. And with the leader being so much closer to the merchants, if he had chosen to take a hostage, Wu Ying would have been unable to do anything. Though as Wu Ying turned around to stare at the injured bandits who slowly bled out, he found his respect for the bandit leader reaching a new low. Abandoning his own people. Despicable.
“Benefactor!” The merchant and his servants quickly scrambled to bow to Wu Ying. “Thank you so much.”
“It’s fine. It was nothing,” Wu Ying said, waving his free hand casually. As he did so, Wu Ying realized how heavy his jian felt, the way blood dripped from the newly christened blade. Wu Ying casually waved the weapon, sending the majority of the blood sliding off, before he turned to his pack for a spare cloth. Best to clean it before it rusted.
“You’re hurt, benefactor!” a voice exclaimed, making Wu Ying pause.
He frowned, looking down and seeing a slowly growing spot of blood on his left side. As he stared at the spot, Wu Ying’s body finally allowed the full extent of his injuries to make themselves known. Pain flared in his side, the way a fire ant’s bite did. “Oh.”
It hurt, but not too badly. For a second, he debated what to do, but considering the wound did not seem to be bleeding quickly, Wu Ying decided to finish what he’d started. A few moments later, he had cut off a piece of cloth from one bandit’s clothing and cleaned his sword, then he returned the blade to its sheath.
“Please, benefactor, let us see to it. My servant has some small skill in healing. And we can carry you with us to the next stop!” the merchant said, wringing his hands as he eyed Wu Ying.
Wu Ying opened his mouth to reject the advances then reconsidered. Beyond gratitude, the merchant probably figured it was safer to have Wu Ying with him. And while Wu Ying could travel faster than the slow wagon—that was, if he was uninjured—right now, he needed to treat his wound and cultivate to speed up his recuperation. In this case, still cultivation was obviously superior. If he was going to cultivate, he might as well do so while traveling toward his destination.
“Thank you,” Wu Ying finally answered, agreeing to it.
“No, thank you, benefactor!”
The merchant waved to a servant, sending him to pick up Wu Ying’s bag, while the others helped Wu Ying to the wagon. Servants sent off, the merchant collected the coin purses and weapons of the bandits, a small dagger making an appearance in his hand as he finished off the injured. In short order, the group was ready to travel with Wu Ying seated on the wagon back, cross-legged and his chest bare. The servant applied a poultice and wrapped a bandage around Wu Ying’s chest.
“I will be cultivating to recuperate. Inform me if there’s an issue,” Wu Ying said softly.
At the merchant’s quick nod, Wu Ying closed his eyes, his attention turning back to his dantian. In the churning sea of chi, he slowly exhaled and focused. Best to start.
Chapter 13
Power. Enlightenment. Skill. All of that was required for a cultivator to progress. At that moment, Wu Ying was finding that he had, inadvertently over his journey, accumulated a little enlightenment. Through the struggles with the demon beasts, through his grasp of the bandit’s demeanor, through watching the world as he ran, his world view had widened. And in so doing, his ability to draw more chi expanded as the heavens itself approved.
Chi flowed into his body in growing torrents, entering his dantian and swirling in the growing pool. Even as he leaked some of this chi from his body and exhaled even more, it accumulated. Chi swirled, circulating through his body, and raged through his open meridians. Afraid that if he did not act, his meridians would break under the new stress, Wu Ying pushed against his sixth meridian. Already mostly cleansed, the impurities within gushed out as black blood from his open wound.
“What is that?”
“Is something wrong?”
“Should we do something for him?”
“Don’t disturb our benefactor while he is cultivating. Don’t you know any better!”
Words swirled just outside Wu Ying’s conscious thoughts. But none of it had any killing intent, no bodies moved toward him, so he sat, undisturbed, as Wu Ying felt the sixth meridian break open. Another push, and the chi within his body gushed through the newly opened meridian, bringing a moment of ecstasy and release for Wu Ying as the pressure within his dantian lessened. Even his aura trembled, his newly achieved level straining the seal on it.
Wu Ying had no time to
focus on that as the chi, rushing through his dantian, continued to build up. He groaned slightly as his wound throbbed and impurities were pushed out even as his muscle and skin knit under the influx of new energy. In the meantime, Wu Ying did the best that he could to corral the energy within his dantian, sending it spinning in circles as it flooded in and returned from his meridians. Rather than attempting another breakthrough immediately, it was better to allow the raging water of his chi to balance itself. In either case, the newly increased flow would cleanse his other meridians anyway, helping him ready himself for the next step.
Hours later, Wu Ying finally opened his eyes to note that the wagon had long ago come to a stop. Now, they were no longer on the road but in the stables of a rest stop. Tilting his head, the cultivator squinted in the wane light of the lanterns that hung in the stables, spotting a dozing servant a short distance away.
“Where are we?” Wu Ying called as he stood, stretching tired muscles. A slight pain in his side informed Wu Ying that the injury still existed, though a quick internal check showed it was significantly less dangerous.
“We are at the Fuxi rest stop. We passed the other one mid-day, but because you were still cultivating, my master pushed on to this one,” the servant said, scrambling to his feet and bowing. “Congratulations to benefactor for breaking through.”
Recalling the matter, Wu Ying quietly reached out toward his aura, sensing the difference. He mentally groaned, realizing that he was once again “leaking” chi. As Wu Ying attempted to seal the leaks, his stomach rumbled, reminding the cultivator that he had not eaten since this morning.
“My master has paid for your room and board, benefactor. If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you within,” the servant said, bowing once again.
“Thank you,” Wu Ying replied and followed.
Thankfully, dinner was quickly served and the patrons within the rest stop were willing to allow Wu Ying to eat his dinner in peace. Even so, the young man spotted the inquisitive looks and whispered conversations directed at his presence as he ate. Perhaps his actions against the bandits had been a little impetuous. But what else could a cultivator do when faced with such a situation?
