“Something that will hopefully keep you from bleeding out. Take a sip and tell me how you feel.”
She did just that before handing the potion back, suddenly stumbling as if drunk, and Alex’s heart lurched, fearing he had poisoned her, for all that the potion radiated so much life-giving Qi.
Then, much to his relief, she flashed him an awed smile. “It’s gone. By fortune’s grace, the pain is gone!”
Alex grinned, placing the remainder of the vial she had sipped back into his pouch. “I’m glad to hear that. Do you think you’re up for walking back to the caravan?”
She gave a hesitant nod.
“Good. Alright, we’re done here. Let’s go back to the caravan and warn the captain before it’s too late.”
The girl nodded, soft brown eyes finding the courage to gaze into his own. “Alex?”
“Yes?”
“Thank you for saving my life.”
Alex chuckled, feeling a sudden weight off his chest. “I should be the one thanking you!”
“Why is that?”
He shrugged, leading them back to the road just ahead. “So often I’m either running for my life against things that would give you nightmares just thinking about, or I’m having to play the grim reaper, covered in my enemy’s blood. It’s a nice change of pace, getting to play the hero every once in a while.”
She blanched and stumbled, shivering even when Alex steadied her.
“I guess I said too much there, huh?” He frowned, then, Forest Sense picking up faint tremors growing ever fainter, knowing that if he was going to save his three friends, he didn’t have a lot of time.
“How dare you show your face here again, Ruidian!” This from one glaring guard fully kitted in lamellar with his hand squeezing the hilt of his dao as he glared at Alex daring to approach the captain’s carriage. Countless other traders, herdsman, and guards were also present, giving him looks ranging from surprise to relief to cold hostility, much like the man before him. He spat on the ground by Alex’s feet. “I never did like your kind, worm.”
Alex tried for a smile. “This isn’t about you or me, Bo Bo. This is about protecting the caravan from an ambush, just two hours up the road.” Alex kept his voice low, having no wish to alert any other agents or spies that Alex was on to them. Not until the captain gave the order, and they all flooded into the woods at once.
Bo Bo, however, just met Alex’s words with a sneer, beady black eyes glaring into Alex’s own. He curled his lip in contempt. “Like I’m going to believe your lies, Ruidian. If anything, it’s you and your band of cutthroats setting us up! Now get out of here before me and my men hunt you down like the cur you—”
Quickness check made! You have successfully disarmed Bo Bo!
The guard’s voice abruptly cut off when he found his arm twisted behind his back, his own blade held under his chin.
Ye Lam gave a breathless gasp. “Please don’t anger him, Bo Bo! He’ll slam his fist down your throat and tear your soul right out if you cross him!”
Alex rapped on the door. “Captain! We need to talk, now!”
And a second later the carriage door was yanked open, the powerful Dui Zhang glaring down at Alex. “Unhand my man. Now.”
Alex gave a cool nod, doing just that. Bo Bo huffed and glared, jerking his blade back when Alex offered it with one Dark Qi-covered fist. Alex smirked as the man stumbled back, still muttering curses under his breath.
The captain’s hot anger cooled ever so slightly. “You made it clear you wished for only my censure and contempt, and that you shall receive! So why are you here now, Alex? Realizing you acted the fool and come to beg for forgiveness?”
Alex gazed coolly at the man, slowly shaking his head. “No, Dui Zhang. I’ve come to warn you. The Red Prince’s men are coming.”
Dui Zhang’s angry gaze widened. “Alex, do you even know what you’re saying?”
“One hundred Bronze cultivators and a Silver or two besides. They set up an ambush point two hours down the road.”
Dui Zhang swallowed. “By all the gods!”
“I get the feeling you’re playing a far deeper game than simple caravan captain, and you know what? I couldn’t care less. My patron’s offering me a boon to warn you, so I am. If you’re smart, you’ll all ride your wagons into the woods at least a short distance, assuming you can find a break in cover and... yes, I think I see a promising spot just a short distance ahead. That will buy you extra time before they realize you’re on to them.”
“Preposterous!” Bo Bo said, angrily sheathing his blade. “Like we’re going to trust a word you say. You’ve probably got bandits waiting in this ‘clearing’ up ahead!”
Alex paid the yammering man no mind, keeping his focus on the captain.
“After you ditch the wagons, I recommend just cutting through the forest and putting as many miles as you can between the road, the Red Prince’s men, and yourself.” Alex closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, feeling his Forest Sense like never before, almost like a massive map of possibility popping in his mind’s eye.
Congratulations! Forest Sense is now Rank 5!
“If you head south for an hour or two, you’ll hear the sound of a waterfall, and there’s a drop-off into the canyon below. There are a couple steep paths leading down, but you have to be looking for them, or you won’t see them. Heading down there and losing yourself in the thick, jungle-like terrain might be your best bet. I’d recommend splitting up into groups and having some fighters with each group, in case you encounter lesser spirit beasts. But that’s up to you.”
For long moments, the captain peered into an increasingly impatient Alex’s eyes. “You’re not lying.”
“Of course not. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some friends to save.”
“Wait, Alex!”
Alex turned around.
The captain sighed. “Please show me where exactly I can hide these wagons?”
Alex nodded, quickly jogging just a few hundred yards ahead. The captain’s eyes widened, spotting the opening within the underbrush only when Alex lifted some overhanging branches, as if a massive spirit boar had torn a path through it in the recent past. But it was at such an angle that most wouldn’t give the area a second look, if they weren’t actively hunting for something unusual.
“What, by all the powers, could have caused such a break?”
“Spirit boar,” Alex said. “But don’t worry. I’m not sensing any spirit beasts in the area.”
Bo Bo spat. “See? He’s making up lies, Captain! No man could sense such a thing. If they could, they’d be worth a fortune in beast cores!”
The captain ignored the man, gazing curiously at Alex. “Are you a Wild One, then?”
Alex blinked. “You mean like a cultivator in tune with the wilderness? Like a druid?” He shrugged, then grinned. “Not sure. Maybe I am. But that’s neither here nor there. I’d get moving if I were you, Captain. For all that it’s first light, I doubt your would-be ambushers will be patient for too many more hours.”
The captain gave a frustrated shake of his head. “We don’t need this.” Then his eyes fell on a nervous looking Ye Lam who had tagged along, though she looked like she’d rather be anywhere else. “What’s your place in all this?”
She paled and swallowed. “A man surrounded by swirling knives found me while I was, well, relieving myself. He was going to... then Alex stopped him.”
“A scout for the Red Prince’s company,” Alex quickly explained. “So, the good news is that he won’t be reporting in. But the bad news is, of course, that he won’t be reporting in. So best you all get going.”
“But wait, Alex, what about the night watch? Shouldn’t they have intervened?”
“Funny how that worked out,” Alex said before losing himself in the forest once more, leaving the frustrated curses of the captain far behind.
It was strange, Alex thought, how he could all but taste Fangsu’s terror in the back of his mind, the young cultivator desperat
ely making her way through thick undergrowth just behind Master Yan, who was himself carrying an injured Tung who couldn’t quite hold in his terrified sobs. Because none of them were fools. They all could sense laughing death, just behind them.
“Three juicy rabbits close by. If they play their cards right, they won’t even have to die!”
Tusha Zhe’s manic voice rang through the forest, and for all that Alex sprang from tree to tree, one with the woods all around him, a part of his mind was right there, catching sight of his former mentor’s dark grin as he and his companions stalked the three panicked cultivators.
A distant cry quickly cut off was all Tusha Zhe needed to pinpoint his prey, suddenly breaking into an area filled with wide, stately trees and comparatively little undergrowth, catching sight of a panicked Fangsu who had tripped and stumbled, just before the face of a vine-covered ravine her master was trying to scale with Tung hanging on his back.
Fangsu stumbled back to her feet, back against the ravine wall, visibly wincing in pain, armed with nothing more imposing than a dao at her waist, her naginata nowhere in sight.
“Fangsu!” Master Yan immediately stopped his retreat and sprang in front of her after carefully putting down his young charge, both Tung and Fangsu now visibly limping.
The man was no fool, Alex thought, his fists suddenly radiating deadly Earth Qi. With two injured charges and the ravine to their back, he knew there was no running now.
Master Yan’s eyes widened with dread and determination when Tusha Zhe boldly strode forward, hands behind his back, jian still sheathed, seemingly armed with nothing more than his deadly smile.
“Why! Why are you doing this? Why are you hounding us? We’re less than nothing before anyone or anything of import. Is it wealth you seek? My winnings during the evening matches?” The man glared. “It’s a fortune in silver and gold. And it is only because it was money won in sport that I am willing to part with it freely, without either of us having to risk killing the other. Because as fierce as you may think yourself to be...” Yan forced a confident smile to his features, banging his fists together like a gunshot. “You might find your victory is nowhere near as certain as you thought.”
Tusha Zhe chuckled. “Oh, well played!” he said, slowly clapping. “As if you were nothing but a temple recruiter forever stuck as a low-ranked Bronze, assured a comfortable academy life only for so long as you’re willing to find fresh recruits.”
“Don’t say such things! Master Yan is a great man!” declared a glowering Tung, shaking his fist. “He’s just, strong, honorable, and would never betray his friends!”
Sha Shou’s bemused smiled widened. “Is that so, boy? Is that why your master so willingly threw every match he ever fought with the Ruidian, all so he could get in a few more fights, hustling hungry merchants and desperate guards out of their last silver coin?”
“What of it?” Fangsu demanded. “He and Alex are friends! He never minded our training sessions, and unlike you three, he’d never betray us!”
“Though he did leave you in the end,” Sha Shou noted, his smile almost sad. “And you’re right, Lady Fangsu. Alex was a good sort. He’d never betray anyone.”
Fangsu paled, eyes widening with sudden dread. “How did you...” She froze, even as Tung gazed at her in confusion. “You used the past tense.”
Sha Shou shrugged. “Did I? How odd. Now, if we are through playing games and you’re willing to give me your unconditional surrender, all three of you might just be permitted to live.”
Fangsu lowered her head. “You know who I am.”
“Of course! Though it was highly amusing watching you play the naive country bumkin.” His smile grew at Tung’s growing look of confusion. “You never told your cousin...? But of course. It’s perfect! His genuine naivete covers for any lapses in your facade. Well done, my lady.”
Tung scowled. “Fangsu, what’s he talking about?”
“Never mind!” snapped Master Yan, powerful hands all but throwing Fangsu at the vine-covered ravine wall. “Make your way up, Fangsu! I’ll hold them off for as long as I can!”
He stepped protectively forward, fists raised, forearms covered in the Earth element equivalent of Alex’s own Dark Qi gauntlets. “Run, Tung! Run for your life! You mean nothing to them.”
Sha Shou flashed a predatory grin. “Save as the leverage he gives us over a certain wayward princess.” As fast as thought, his jian was unsheathed, the straight, double-edged blade held in a high hanging guard, pommel higher than tip, which was aimed right for his opponent’s throat, Sha Shou slowly circling the scowling Master Yan like a cat stalking a massive turtle, and Alex knew with cold dread that if any man could pierce Master Yan’s defenses, it would be the deadly assassin that had taught Alex so much in the span of a single month.
“Tusha Zhe! Get the boy! Cansha Zhe, secure the princess!”
Finesse check made!
Alex had slipped so deep in the waking dream of his vision, more real than even his visions by WiFu’s side. Perhaps not so surprising, as it had happened in the here and now, with the forest’s gift heightening WiFu’s own.
But when he snapped back to himself, suddenly seeing with real eyes what had registered so strongly with his vision, he had almost stumbled out of the tree he had sprung upon, having darted through the forest in a dream-like fugue he could now scarce remember, chilling him if he dared think about it for too long.
But now wasn’t the time or place for reflection.
Only doing whatever he could to save his friends as he quickly darted back behind the massive trunk that hid him so well. Tusha Zhe, the youngest of the three, snapped around and frowned, exquisite hearing or sense of smell picking up something as Alex braced himself behind the closest of the massive trees before the ravine clearing.
Alex could sense the young man slowly approaching, and it took every bit of Alex’s concentration to hold the sense of him in place, the youth nearly fading from Alex’s mind’s eye even as he turned around the trunk, keeping it between Tusha Zhe and him, just like a squirrel would.
“Tusha Zhe, what are you doing? Move!” snapped Cansha Zhe, as he raced up the ravine to intercept a desperately climbing Fangsu.
Tusha Zhe scowled before locking gazes with Tung, fleeing in this very direction, who immediately trembled and collapsed to the ground.
“Please don’t kill me!” the boy sobbed, completely unmanned before the killing glare of the assassin he faced.
Tusha Zhe held a collar glowing with dark magics. “Snap that around your neck,” he ordered, slowly approaching, now crouching over the trembling boy too terrified to look in the face of the man about to collar him.
Bullrush! Bullrush! Adderstrike!
In an eyeblink, Alex was before the kitsune assassin so well trained he was spinning around in that very instant, jian unsheathed and lashing out.
Finesse check made!
Only to cry out and crash to the ground when Alex’s ebony coated fist slammed into the man’s shoulder. And for all that Tusha Zhe immediately flipped away, rolling with the blow, his eyes widened with his scream when the pain finally hit him, his collar bone shattered with the force of Alex’s blow.
Because no matter how good your ability at mitigating strikes, Bronze 3 Strength combined with Adderstrike could blast apart dummies of bronze or pillars of solid stone. Because no matter quick or clever the young assassin was, Alex doubted that anyone other than a Silver Giant body cultivator, specializing in resiliency and toughness, who had mastered any number of specialized techniques, could have resisted the full force of Alex’s blow. As it was, Tusha Zhe’s reflexes had probably saved his life, rolling with a blow executed faster than most people could blink.
Shocked as the cultivator was to be so struck, his eyes widened all the more upon seeing who had unleashed the blow. “But... no! That’s–”
Alex wasted no time, knowing that the first rule in genuine combat was to always seize the initiative and control the flow of battl
e. And the moment you had an advantage, you didn’t let up for anything.
Bullrush! Adderstrike! Your opponent’s arms have been crippled!
Tusha Zhe shrieked when Alex blinked behind the young assassin, Dark Qi-covered forearms effortlessly deflecting the assassin’s fearsomely fast swing, controlling the sword and using it to twist the youth’s wrist to the breaking point and beyond, tearing the weapon free with the snapping of fingerbones and the tearing of countless ligaments.
Tusha Zhe crumpled to the ground, broken right hand held tightly to his abdomen, hissing in agony as much as terror as his shattered left shoulder tortured him with every movement he made.
“Tusha Zhe! What happened!?” roared the gruff-voiced man who had so readily ran Alex through his neck.
Alex winked and leaped into the tree, sending Tusha’s jian into his divine ring, surprised to get a notification making it clear his available storage space was rapidly running out.
Not that he’d had any time to do anything about that, let alone actually examine whatever secrets it might hold.
And none of that mattered at that moment as Alex readied himself for what he feared might be his most perilous encounter if he didn’t play his cards exactly right, a furious-looking Cansha Zhe racing so fast he almost seemed to blink forward as fast as Alex, eyes widening in shock when he gazed at his brother’s broken body, entirely ignoring the terrified Tung, who was scrabbling away as fast as he could.
“Brother! What happened!”
Alex took a deep breath, waiting for it…
“Alex! The Ruidian! He’s alive, brother. Somehow, he’s alive!”
Cansha Zhe hissed and lurched back, shaking his head in denial, utterly focused on his brother.
“No. That’s impossible. You know just how deadly my blade is, Tusha, and I pierced the back of his skull!”
Tusha Zhe’s eyes widened in horror, inhumanly acute senses this time picking up on Alex instantly. “Brother, look out! He–”
But Alex had already crashed into them, lashing out with a furious barrage of Adderstrikes. Yet somehow the oldest of the trio was surviving Alex’s onslaught, moving so fast he was constantly darting out of Alex’s range by a hairsbreadth, his arms jerking uncomfortably every time he missed.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Redeemed: A LitRPG/Wuxian Novel - Book 5 Page 31
