When he sensed all but a final handful of caravanners far too wrapped up with each other to worry about anyone else sleeping, he judged it time to meet the de facto captain of the night guard. Springing to the ground with a casual leap that would have left all his friends open-mouthed with awe a lifetime ago, he made his way to where Sha Shou was standing sentinel, cool gaze meeting Alex’s own.
The man said nothing as Alex approached, merely eyed Alex’s sheathed dao and fangtian ji.
Alex bowed low before the man. “It is this one’s hope that he will be permitted to train in the night, as his duty permits.”
Sha Shou finally flashed a cool grin that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I was wondering why you were so eager to embrace a shift most despise, spending all your waking hours near men you clearly fear.”
Alex said nothing, though he neither flinched nor looked away with the man’s declaration, merely standing at calm attention.
Sha Shou gave a considering nod of his head. “You are a strange one, Ruidian, in all sorts of ways. This pleases me! You are a puzzle, and I do enjoy solving puzzles.” He chuckled softly. “By all means, Ruidian. Train to your heart’s content. You are superfluous in the grand scheme of things, but it never hurts to have another man alert and ready, should your services actually be required.”
Alex didn’t rise to the bait, merely bowed and said. “This one thanks you, Night Captain.”
Sha Shou smirked. “There is a price for my forbearance, of course.” His genial smile flashed with a certain dark mirth. “You will spar with me every night you dare embrace our watch. You will endure my lessons, savor my teachings, and do your best to inflict upon me that which I inflict upon you. In return, I promise not to break too many bones, or inflict such agony that you die before we reach Baidushi. Are we agreed?”
Alex chuckled softly, flashing a smile every bit as feral as Sha Shou’s own. “This one looks forward to whatever lessons you wish to teach, Captain.”
And with a final bow, Alex turned around and strode further down the path, well out of sight of a softly chuckling Sha Shou, a part of him chilled to the quick even as another part of him was filled with fiercest glee, imagining honing himself in the crucible of conflict and pain, just as Panheu would have wanted, his former mentor somehow knowing exactly what was needed to forge Alex into a deadly killing blade worth the wielding.
But before he surrendered to whatever torments Sha Shou wanted to put him through, Alex was determined to spend as many hours as he could improving himself on his own terms, in his own way, savoring the sheer joy of becoming one with his weapons and his Qi.
A few hours of growth through transcendent insight, as opposed to the crucible of pain.
And when he began his dance of blades, the pair of dao flowing from Golden Realms to White Crane to Silver Swan forms with the grace of a dancer or a student who dared to think he could one day be a master fencer, he had never felt so connected to the forest all around him, the earth under his feet, the star-filled sky high above, and most of all, to the swirling storm of Qi all around him.
By the time one hour had flowed into a second, he felt more connected to his chosen weapons than ever, wheel kicks and roundhouse strikes whipping about with so much power he was shattering deadwood and branches from willing trees without using his power attacks at all.
He took ragged exultant breaths, throbbing muscles recovering fully in mere seconds, feeling closer to the razor edge of enlightenment than ever before, on the cusp of such exquisite clarity it was almost an agony of delight begging for release that just wouldn’t quite come. Alex knew he needed to push himself in ways beyond simple martial forms and Qi flow to truly transcend, so began embracing the part of his training that came with a price.
But not before opening himself up to a sense of his surroundings that had unexpectedly expanded that very night, Forest Sense now Rank 3.
Alex abruptly slipped deeper into the woods and away from probing eyes before leaping through the trees with Forest Flight. For all that he was somewhat hindered by his armor and fangtian ji, he was still far faster than the night watchman who had been shadowing him.
Utterly invisible to his Qi Perception the sentinel had been, a chilling revelation all on its own, but the man’s shadowy secrets were ones the forest, home to countless predators and stalking prey, could sense perfectly well. And those secrets became Alex’s own.
He flashed a fierce smile at having slipped free from the sight of too curious night guardsmen who Alex had no problem with watching him master his three martial forms. But his hidden aces he would keep hidden just as long as he could, Alex soon finding himself in a small clearing dominated by a pair of ancient, recently-fallen sentinels. And if the strangely inviting rustle of the leaves overhead were anything to go by, the surrounding trees were more than happy with a dedicated cultivator who wanted to chop them down to kindling that would quickly be absorbed by the forest, giving space for new shoots to blossom forth with fecund life and reach for the heavens as their fallen elders had, years before.
Adderstrike! Adderstrike! Black Swan!
Your increasing mastery of Black Swan has minimized meridian strain!
Alex closed his eyes, embracing the flow of Qi swirling around him once more, exquisitely measured katas executed with greater and greater speed and power until his fangtian ji felt like it was riding a literal whirlwind of spiritual energy, spinning Alex around as much as he was spinning it around, and only in that perfect moment did he embrace the full fury of the storm, roaring with all the power of a tidal wave as his fangtian ji exploded through a trunk thicker around than he was tall.
And so potent was that killing technique that no Bronze cultivator should ever have been able to embrace, that his weapon took absolutely no damage. A shimmering aqua edge of force more than capable of cleaving through lesser wards as easily as a knife through warm butter kept his weapon as indestructible as Adderstrike itself when it made contact with and obliterated its target.
Perception check made!
Then Alex blinked, his roar of exultation turning to a yelp when his face was pelted by wood fragments as the massive trunk toppled over, in the direction he was standing.
Quickness check made!
But Alex embraced the moment, grasping glory from folly as all good soldiers must learn to do, pivoting around the massive trunk and immediately lashing out with another Black Swan attack and yet a third, embracing the crumpling roar of exploding wood, learning to instinctively duck his face without it affecting the flow of killing Qi roaring through him, relying on his Qi Perception instead of his now-closed eyes to sense the trunk lurching at odd angles yet again as he continued to leap and dance about the collapsing tree, howling like a madman as his weapon exploded into the massive trunk again and again, fresh chunks of wood exploding from the tree every time it smashed down to its new lowered height, and only after nine blows capable of felling any Bronze cultivator Alex had ever faced did he finally leap away, a mere 4 Qi remaining, his peripheral meridians pushed to the limit yet again.
Alex couldn’t help smiling in sweet triumph as the tree was finally allowed to crash over on its side into the forest, its much-reduced length assuring far less damage to the trees it knocked into than what would have otherwise been the case. At least he was able to take some comfort in the soothing flow of the woodland’s own Qi as he spent an agonizing hour embracing the most painful of all disciplines, restoring his tortured peripheral channels, now stronger than ever as he reforged them in the crucible of his own training.
But he wasn’t done yet. And once he felt that, yes, his meridian channels were well and truly recovered, he pushed himself in other ways, weaving and darting around the now-fallen trunk, shadowboxing as he tried to capture the body memories of those perilous fights he had embraced in the Underworld, feeling such a fierce sense of exultation that he had dared expand his potential in the most unorthodox ways, his Qi Pool now the absolute maximum that even an Ogre Ma
gi or Bronze wujen could hope to achieve.
And he would channel it all in the most efficient way possible.
Flashing a fierce grin as he visualized the massive tanks Wu and Xien racing after him once more, or Tang the barbarian with his wicked cleaving axe arcing out for Alex’s head.
He mimed an ever-increasing number of duels against each of them. Only now, for every explosive punch, for every roundhouse kick, for every thrust of his dao or fangtian ji, he traded the storm of Qi all around him for the lightning fast internal attacks that even the most perceptive of cultivators would have trouble tracking, hitting with more explosive force than any of his blows, save for Black Swan itself.
Forty times he struck the fallen trunk of that massive tree with his fists alone, chaining his Adderstrikes just as fast as he could.
Then forty more times, until he collapsed, utterly drained, even if his half cost efficiency and mad reserves gave him eighty blows, determined to push himself to the breaking point repeatedly, not stinting on tapping into his beast cores to restore his peripheral meridians as fast as possible over and over again, alternating Black Swan with Adderstrike until deepest night turned to the first light of false dawn and he howled with exultation as he got the messages he had been hoping for, caring not in the least that he was pouring a massive amount of his as yet unclaimed experience into the skills he was determined to improve and eventually master.
He counted it the sweetest of victories when his series of six chained Adderstrikes became seven, and seizing hold of sudden inspiration, finished the maneuvers by whipping the heel of his foot around in the deadliest of attacks, channeling the power of a mighty flooded river through his reverse roundhouse kicks just as well as he could with his dao and fangtian ji.
Congratulations! Black Swan is now Rank 3! You may now use this skill with all kicks that encompass a 180-degree arc or more!
Adderstrike is now Rank 8!
Golden Realms Kung Fu is now Rank 6!
You have fully tapped into the power of seven high-grade Lesser Beast Cores and all previously unassigned experience! You have elected not to embrace transcendence with captured Soul Stones at this time!
Alex fell to his knees, shivering with exultation and release, savoring his breakthrough.
Still, he couldn’t help wincing when a full eight of his remaining beast cores, and the highest-grade ones at that, crumbled to dust from his leather choker. And he knew he had earned a ton of experience since surviving that deadly fight with the former headmaster of Dragon Academy and the Silver assassin of a cultivator who should have felt such gratitude towards Alex, after he had rescued an entire city from a madman’s flame. But thanks to the spite of a handful of competing gods, the deadly administrator had seen Alex as nothing more than an insect to be destroyed.
Yet one thing the fates had not denied him was all the locked potency of every cultivator and spirit beast to die by his hands, or simply his own blossoming under the crucible of conflict, earning experience even from dodging what should have been inescapable death from assassins and divine catastrophe cards alike, so very much power and potential now flooding into just a few of Alex’s key skills.
And he sensed that both Golden Realms and Silver Swan kung fu were on the cusp of Rank 7 as well.
But the training needed to make those breakthroughs would be a hell of a lot more than one mad night of transcendence. He knew that already.
Not to mention the fact he had only a small handful of vital beast cores left, and he was loath to spend them on anything save using them as the backup power healing cores that could save his life in a pinch. That, and the shimmering brilliance of the Gold, Bronze, and Silver Soul Stones he sensed glimmering in his mind’s eye.
Alex already knew he was ready to break through to Bronze Rank 4. But knowing just how perilous the world around him was, even the forest he felt a growing affinity for, he was loath to leave himself so vulnerable when he lacked either a trusted school with secure quarters afforded to anyone on the cusp of a transcendence, an oathbound master’s sanctuary, or at the very least, his divine treasure, which would solve so very many problems, should his patron manage to repair that ring before too many seasons or centuries passed.
Alex winced at the thought, wondering how long it had taken to forge the treasure in the first place, before deciding he didn’t really want to know.
Then he hissed, the rustling forest cueing him into his surroundings once more, sensing not one but several powerful potencies closing in on him.
Alex quickly dashed off using Bullrush and Forest Flight in tandem as he raced away from his practice site before arcing back to the main road, slipping quietly from the foliage with his back sack full of spirit fruit that now all but glowed to his eyes in the darkness, waving at a scowling Sha Shou.
“You’re late,” he snapped, cracking his knuckles. “It is nearly first light, and our lessons are not for the likes of the caravan fools to see.”
Alex blinked at this, sensing the fiery heat of the man beneath his icy gaze, immediately dropping into a low bow. “Then this lowly guard will do his best to honor all future obligations before he seeks the woodland bounty to share with his friends.” With those words, Alex solemnly opened his pack, revealing the treasures he had gathered.
Sha Shou’s eyes lit with pleasure as he beheld the succulent prizes within, plucking free a golden grape as big as any apple and taking a bite of its exquisite flesh. For just an instant, Alex saw the man shudder with pleasure before his features became a disciplined mask once more. “It will do, disciple,” he said. “You will leave the pack here as an offering to your fellow night watchmen, displeased with no spectacle to watch. Now strip off your armor as I accept your offering, and then we shall embrace the sweetest hour of training you will ever know.”
Alex winced but didn’t hesitate, stripping to his changshan and pants, the night watch captain flashing a cold smile with Alex’s bow. “Come closer, apprentice, and show me what you recall of last night’s lessons. And I pray, for your sake, you remember it all.”
And for all that Alex had reveled in his power just moments ago, he was very quickly put in his place, struggling against deadly serpentine hands that flowed past all his desperate parries and counters, squeezing Alex’s jugular, knuckling his spine, gripping his throat in ways that had his head roaring in blackness before he switched immediately to Dark Qi metabolism, which caused him agony as his nerves screamed and he faked the feint his enemy expected, actually suffering more as he switched back to aerobic respiration, wheezing and gasping for too long in a real fight to survive unscathed. And for all that his vicious mentor might have found his continuous consciousness odd, he seemed to delight in the agony Alex was forced to endure.
“I fear you’ve forgotten everything I taught you just the night before. And now we shall repeat those lessons again and again, until you can ward just as fast as I can strike. Until your hands can strike my flesh as surely as mine strike your own.”
And for all that Alex wanted to sob when the hour was done, he received the tiniest of nods when his spear hand finally struck the pressure point between his instructor’s throat and jaw.
Before his opponent’s hand whipped out, snapping back Alex’s wrist just shy of breaking it, his finger joints throbbing with pain.
“Tomorrow you had best strike faster, Alex, and pull away just as quickly, or this will feel like a lover’s kiss in comparison.” The man flashed a cold smile, nodding at the pair of silent observers Alex had sensed watching them from peripheral woodland cover, some time ago.
“Now rekit yourself and stumble back to your hammock. You may leave your pack here. We will return it sans our just payment for your deficiencies tomorrow.”
“Yes, Night Captain,” Alex slurred, stumbling into armor he had thankfully learned to kit up in by instinct alone, though it took far longer than it should have, Alex dragging his weapons and weary body into a camp that was only now waking up.
F
ortunately, the clusters of herders and farmhands ignored him for the most part, more concerned with the grumblings of waking up and ablutions or tending to their flocks than a stumbling fool of a night guard. And it said something about his fatigue that Alex was too tired to register Ehuang’s concerned face now before him, a gentle hand reaching out to steady him, soft brown eyes gazing so deeply into his own. He noted the violet rose he had plucked, now adorning her elegantly pinned up hair.
“Alex, you look exhausted! Was there trouble? Are we safe?”
Alex smiled. “No trouble. Just training with my new friends.”
Her eyes widened. “Alex, you’re missing a tooth!”
“I’ll be fine by tomorrow, trust me.” He was, in fact, surprised that it hadn’t already healed. How many times had Sha Shou pushed him to the point of unconsciousness, forcing his body to snap back and forth between aerobic respiration and Dark Qi metabolism? It was hitting him worse than if he had just embraced Dark Qi survival for the full duration! Of course, then he wouldn’t have had the energy to do much more than walk or swim slowly and just try to endure.
And that’s when he forced himself to accept a very ugly truth he had been desperate to avoid looking at too closely.
As fun as it had been to master skills he was already growing quite proficient with, Adderstrike being just one example, what he truly needed to strengthen were the weaknesses in his skillset that a ruthless enough enemy could use to kill him.
Black Swan alone had been the only truly grueling challenge he had forced himself to endure during his solo training that night. But what would hurt far worse than Black Swan straining his meridians, what he truly needed to level up and master, even if technically it was just a perk in an underlying skill, was Metabolic Mastery.
In truth, Rank 10 in Eternal Fox aside, he was just an initiate at that most grueling of subdisciplines.
If he truly wanted to be able to survive and endure any hardship, he needed to push himself.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Redeemed: A LitRPG/Wuxian Novel - Book 5 Page 17
