by Tao Wong
By the time they were done, the dawn light had increased sufficiently that tracking the injured monster would be simple enough. Together, the pair took off, Li Yao in the lead. One of the many surprises Li Yao had sprung on Wu Ying was her competence at tracking. She did not track the same way the village hunters did, not exactly. While Li Yao used the blood, the broken branches, and other mundane signs of passage, she also relied on her ability to sense the escaping chi from the wounded monster.
Three hours later, the pair crested a hill to look down at the den. Wu Ying hissed under his breath, eyeing the clan of dhole spread before them. The dhole hunted in packs, but they lived in clans of up to twenty. Luckily, this group was only ten. But they were all demon beasts, including the monstrous dhole lying in the sun, too large to fit into the smaller holes of their original den. The dhole cavorted and played, the group barely paying attention to their injured compatriot as it returned sans meat. All around the clearing below, remnants of prior meals lay.
Wu Ying stretched his senses, allowing himself to passively soak up the chi radiating from the monster. Sensing and touching it, judging. Body Cleansing 12, pinnacle. Ready to break into Energy Storage. Dangerous. Very dangerous. The only good news was that three of the remaining dhole were pups, which meant the cultivators only had to deal with seven full-grown monsters. As Wu Ying watched, a pair of the pups worked over a piece of meat, pulling on either edge. Narrowing his eyes, Wu Ying realized the covering he’d taken to be fur was torn and dirty cloth. When Wu Ying saw the cloth, he could not help but see the rest of the hints—the torn meat, the all-too-familiar hip bones, a shattered portion of a skull. Fresh too.
The cultivator gulped, bile and rage warring within his body as he struggled for control. Drawing a deep breath, Wu Ying exhaled gently, forcing himself to take the time. Calmed, Wu Ying considered their options then looked at Li Yao, who gestured him back. The pair moved back far enough that a stray gust would not carry their voices to the dhole, then they planned their next steps.
“Can you take the larger dhole?” Wu Ying.
“Easily,” Li Yao said, smiling. “But the others will be a problem. Can you handle so many yourself?”
“We could take two out with our arrows,” Wu Ying said contemplatively.
“Three.”
Wu Ying inclined his head, accepting that Li Yao’s faster reload speed would add a third. That left four grown adults and three kids. “Maybe. I’m worried they’ll scatter and come after you.”
“Fair,” Li Yao said. Pack animals and smart hunters, the dhole were unlikely to group up on Wu Ying exclusively. “Depending on how many attack me, fighting the twelve could be tough.”
Wu Ying frowned, considering their options, then made a face. There was another option. “I’ll take the twelve when it charges. I should be able to win. If I can’t, I can delay it.”
After few brief words to hammer down the remainder of the details, the pair crept back to where they had watched the clan.
Wu Ying nocked the crossbow, sliding the bolt into place and taking aim. He saw Li Yao raise three fingers, their predesignated signal for three breaths, then counted down. Almost in unison, the pair released, Wu Ying a little faster than Li Yao. Close enough for their plan to work.
Both bolt and arrow took the resting adult dhole in their chests. Wu Ying’s dhole fell down but staggered upright, the bolt sticking out of its chest, while Li Yao’s never even let out a whimper as it died. Already, the female cultivator was nocking another arrow as the massive dhole looked around and locked on the pair of attackers. It howled and yipped, altering the clan, which spread out. The youngest dhole ran back into the den while the adults scattered and turned towards the pair. The massive monster led a pair of adult dhole on a direct rush while the remaining pair tried to circle around.
Li Yao’s next arrow was aimed at one of the charging beasts, only to be blocked by the monster dhole, its mouth snapping shut on the arrow as it zipped by. Crossbow discarded, Wu Ying was on his feet with his jian drawn. Once again, Wu Ying lamented the lack of heft and cutting edge to his weapon, knowing that a dao or halberd would have been better suited. Once he reached Energy Storage stage, it would matter less. Already, Wu Ying was working on releasing sword chi, adding a longer and more powerful edge to his weapon. But for now, the jian was a less-than-perfect weapon.
Still, he had little choice. Wu Ying dashed down the slope to meet the monstrous twelve dhole, sword pointed toward the sky as he scrambled down. The pair of opponents closed in on one another in a rush and Wu Ying made a snap decision at the last moment, dropping low and sliding rather than risking a lunge. The instinctive decision saved his life as the dhole lunged at nearly the same time, snapping at where Wu Ying would have been. The monster’s attack left its chest and belly wide open, a fact Wu Ying used to great effect. He swung his jian to tear the tender flesh. Unfortunately, the massive monster’s fur was nowhere near as soft as it looked, having transformed into a coarser, hide-like toughness. Wu Ying’s attack scraped and scratched the creature’s body, leaving the barest of wounds.
As Wu Ying came to the end of the monster’s body, he rolled out from beneath it as hind claws thrashed the ground. A blow caught him high on the hip, flinging Wu Ying away and tearing his robes, leaving him injured. As he rolled to his feet, Wu Ying rushed after the monstrous dhole continuing its charge uphill.
“Li Yao!” Wu Ying called in warning.
The female cultivator had discarded her bow for her jade quarterstaff, using the weapon to fend off the other adult dhole. As the monstrous twelve arrived, she smashed down the end of the staff. The attack opened Li Yao to another attack though, forcing her to throw herself back in a flip, moving along the edge of the hill as the remainder dhole attempted to surround and finish her.
Li Yao’s attack was more than sufficient to delay the largest monster, allowing Wu Ying to catch up. As he closed in on the creature, Wu Ying threw himself forward with the Sword’s Truth, the lunge targeted and finding the edge of the monster’s jaw. It slid in, bypassing bone and cutting tendons and ligaments as it found the hollow of the creature’s jawline. A jerk of his arm drew out the jian, then Wu Ying kicked the monster in the side. The attack barely budged the monster, but it allowed Wu Ying to somersault away from the howling, injured creature. Landing on his feet, Wu Ying saw the glimmering, baleful eyes of the monstrous dhole leader fix on him.
He found himself smiling grimly. “Have your attention, do I?” Already, his feet were moving, circling the creature.
The plan was simple. Attack with quick strikes to distract and injure, shift directions and attack types to confuse the monster. Create openings with feints and target the monster’s weaknesses—limbs, tendons, and sensory organs.
Easy.
“Come.”
Tongue lolling out of its injured jaw, the dhole glowed with a deep brown color as it activated its chi. As if it understood Wu Ying’s challenge, the monster lunged forward to meet the cultivator in battle.
“Owwww,” Wu Ying complained as Li Yao finished cleaning his wounds and wiped away the blood and dirt.
The fight with the monstrous dhole had been hectic and surprising. Wu Ying had finally won, only to find Li Yao still caught up in her own battle. Rather than take on the more powerful cultivator directly, the monsters had been delaying her, harassing the cultivator to allow their leader to finish off Wu Ying. Unfortunately for the monsters, the result had been the opposite of their expectation.
Together, the pair of cultivators had finished off the dhole and the final pup without adding to their injuries, leaving them to tend their wounds in peace.
“You should learn a defensive cultivation style,” Li Yao said, shaking her head as she tightly tugged the bandage. “You’re not that talented.”
“I have,” Wu Ying said, ignoring her last truthful, if hurtful, statement. “But it’s slow going.”
“What are you working on?”
Wu Ying hesitated b
ut decided to trust her. Knowledge of another’s martial and cultivation style could be used against a cultivator, but they were from the same sect after all. “The Iron Reinforced Bones Technique.”
“Never heard of it.”
“It reinfo—”
“Bones. I understand it’s intent, but I can offer no advice,” Li Yao said. “It doesn’t seem like it’s a good technique if you are still getting this hurt.”
“All skin,” Wu Ying pointed out.
It was true he had not broken any bones, though a few likely had minor strains. The last time the massive dhole had smashed Wu Ying aside, it had done so while reinforcing its attack with chi. If Wu Ying had not blocked and rolled with the majority of the attack, he would likely have broken a lot more bones.
“Well, it’s your dao,” Li Yao said. “You retrieve the demon stone from your kill. I’ll get the rest.”
“I was hoping to spend my time harvesting,” Wu Ying said, gesturing around the den. “This is a gathering space for chi energy. We’re likely in a natural chi reservoir, or perhaps where some minor dragon lines[22] branch off.” That demon and spirit beasts gathered and lived where the chi density was greater, in an effort to improve their own cultivation, was common knowledge. “There’s likely some valuable herbs around.”
Li Yao made a face, looking at the massive monster she would have to cut into, then at the injured Wu Ying. She hesitated, searching for an excuse to not complete the work alone.
“Unless you want to sit around while I harvest, Senior,” Wu Ying pointed out.
“No. No, this is more efficient. I’ll harvest the stones and get the villagers to come and butcher the beasts,” Li Yao said decisively.
Immediately, the noblewoman moved away from Wu Ying, heading for the corpses. Getting up gingerly, Wu Ying pulled up the top of his robes and flicked his hand, making his harvesting gear appear from his storage ring. Time to get to work.
“Can I ask a question?” Li Yao said to Wu Ying as the pair lounged in the village elder’s hut later that day.
Rather than riding for the sect immediately, the pair had elected to stay for the day. The elder had insisted, offering to cook up a portion of the demon meat for tonight’s feast while buying the rest from the cultivators. Since the Elder had offered a much better rate than the sect would, the pair had happily traded the meat for taels.
“Of course, Senior.”
“Why did you not take all the yellow vein primroses? Also, you took the majority of the other flowers, but left the plant. You didn’t for some others,” Li Yao said.
“There is no additional reward for bringing the full plants since the sect grows them already,” Wu Ying explained. “The flowers are worthwhile and can still be sold, but the plant itself is worthless. This way, the plant can continue to grow out here, in the wild. It’ll even be ready for harvesting next year.”
“Ah…” Li Yao shook her head. “I never knew it was that complicated.”
“Neither did I till recently.”
Li Yao sighed. “You’ve found a better occupation than the one my family made me take before I entered the Sect.”
Wu Ying made an encouraging noise as he sipped the tea offered by the village elder. Good tea, he would have thought once. Now, Wu Ying knew it was of poor quality. The leaves had been left in the sun too long for drying, making the tea a strong, bitter brew but which held up after multiple brewings. It was so different from the delicate, layered tea Ah Yee made for Wu Ying.
“Terpsichore.”
“That’s… the dancer occupation?”
“Yes,” Li Yao said, lowering her head as she tried unsuccessfully to hide a blush.
“It might help with the martial styles.”
“Oh, it does,” Li Yao replied, sounding grumpy. “It really does, which is the worse thing.”
Wu Ying could think of no rejoinder, so he said nothing. Better to enjoy the day off. He would cultivate, but his wounds still leaked traces of demon chi, something time or a good pill would fix. Till it was gone, cultivating was a foolish idea, since drawing in external chi would draw in the demonic chi too. He would have to spend as much effort cleaning and ejecting the demonic chi once it polluted his body as just waiting. So for now, he and Li Yao could rest, relax. Enjoy their time after the battle, away from the sect.
Chapter 15
“Seniors.”
Green-clad bodies bowed and stepped aside, the outer sect members clearing the way for Wu Ying, Li Yao, and Tou He as they made their way back from another mission. It was their sixth—no, seventh—mission since the start of summer. The monsters might have changed, the harvest altered, but the demand on the martial specialists had continued to grow.
Wu Ying shook his head as the trio clambered up the stairs. Time since Li Yao’s and his inaugural mission had flown by as quick as an arrow loosed from the cultivator’s bow. So much had happened that a bare few events stood out in Wu Ying’s memory. Elder Li’s first words of praise when he brought back stalks of Celestial Marsh Grass in good condition. A demonic hippopotamus as it bore down on Wu Ying, its mouth wide as it threatened to swallow the cultivator whole. Training beside one of the many waterfalls during spring, while a light rain fell and his jian cut apart drops of water.
“Were they always this young?” Tou He asked, eyeing the group of new outer sect members who bowed and scraped. “Were we?”
“Look at the bearded elder speak,” Li Yao teased Tou He. “Oh, wait. You’d need hair first to be bearded.”
Tou He sniffed as they continued to climb, the outer sect members scurrying off to classes or their tasks. “It is a choice to be beardless.”
“And bald?” Li Yao shook her head. “You’ve been in the sect for a year, and you’re already putting on airs.”
“Are we?” Wu Ying recalled his impression of the inner sect members, the nobles, when he first arrived. Wu Ying looked back, searching the faces of the outer sect members as they left. Looking for what, he was not sure. Disdain? Disgust? Disappointment? He found nothing but deference from those who met his gaze, few as there were.
“Are you what?” Li Yao said, poking Wu Ying to get him moving again.
“Arrogant.”
“My confidence is not arrogance,” Tou He said. “We are, as Chao Kun says, one of the better, younger teams.”
“You do realize he had to add the younger before he said one of, right?” Li Yao teased again.
Tou He shrugged, his confidence unshaken.
“He has been insistent we take on more missions.” Wu Ying grew gloomy. “Though it’s partly because so many of the martial specialists have had to leave for the war.”
“Wei has really pushed their armies this year,” Li Yao said.
“If General Shen had managed to stem the enemy at the river, it would not have mattered,” Wu Ying said. “Now, they’re in the plains and threatening three cities.”
“Please stop. You know talking about war bores me,” Tou He said. “And I just want to get the mission reported and have a proper bath. We’ve been on the road for a week this time.”
Wu Ying sniffed but sped up as Tou He pulled away from them. The man was right—faster was better. If nothing else, depositing his heavy bag filled with the plants he had harvested would be a relief. Wu Ying dreaded the upcoming meeting, knowing he would be spending the remaining daylight and quite possibly a chunk of the night arguing with the attendants over the quality of the items he had brought back. As he grew better and more competent at harvesting, the volume and quality of his harvest had grown. Now, the attendants had become parsimonious in their payments.
As they finally ascended to the inner sect, the trio split up. Li Yao and Tou He would go to the assignment hall to turn in their assignment token and let the sect know they had completed the job. Wu Ying went straight to the apothecary’s shop to deposit their harvest. As he walked, Wu Ying could not help but look around, taking in his surroundings and marveling at how a single year could change things
and his view of it.
Now, he was an inner sect member. A rise so fast that some of the other outer sect members were of a higher cultivation base than he was. Yet even those members had to pay him deference, societal and sect rules reinforcing the rigid social structure. As he passed, outer sect members stepped aside, allowing Wu Ying to traverse the pathways without issue. Now, he recognized and was even on nodding basis with many of the other inner sect members. He no longer felt lost in the sect, knowing his way around the grounds.
Still, some things stayed the same. Elders were still existences that towered over the rest of them. The Elders in charge of the various halls were of even higher prestige, though their presence was rare. As for the Protectors, Wu Ying had yet to catch a glimpse of the famed guardians. Which, considering what they did for the Sect, was probably for the best.
It was strange to think, but a year in, Wu Ying was settled. Even his interactions with Elder Pang were coolly cordial. Wu Ying had begun to hope he could, like so many others, exist in quiet solitude and cultivate.
Well, he could hope.
Wu Ying smiled as he walked into the apothecary hall, heading straight for the end of the hall and smiling at the attendant. Even the attendant’s slight flinch when she caught sight of Wu Ying and his large bag could not shake Wu Ying’s contentedness.
Sunlight filled Wu Ying’s courtyard, basking the cultivator’s shirtless and sweaty body. It gleamed off his well-developed pectorals, glinted off drenched muscles that were tight with exertion as they strained to keep Wu Ying’s body aloft. On a pair of suspended rings, Wu Ying hung inverted, arms spread as wide as he could, forming an inverted T. In that suspended position, the cultivator breathed in slow metronome, muscles trembling as he practiced the strength-building exercises his manual had provided.
