Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior’s Path

by Johnson, M. H.

  Contest of skills versus Kitsune Shadowcloak + Diffuse Movement Perk V.S. Gaze of the Hawk: Success! +4 bonus for well-timed distraction!

  Alex could barely hold back the screams as the scorching gazes of his enemies washed over the rustling branches of all the pear trees occupying the tiny hollow grove, the leaves’ gentle susurrations covering their movements and allowing the shadows to hide them all the better. And just before any of the scowling cultivators could wonder why the trees were rustling when there was hardly a breeze, the sound of stone cracking against wood and dark shadows that could have been someone slipping inside and sealing the door of Alex’s retreat had them all charging the pagoda with pounding fists and howls for retribution.

  Bang Jiao roared for students to race for the nearest healing pagoda before stepping close to give succor to the maimed Duo Ku. Yet reassuring words only enraged the maimed monster, smashing Bang Jiao’s wrist with a blow that splintered the cultivator’s bones and sent the healing potion he had been holding flying away to shatter against an unforgiving tree trunk a short distance away.

  “Alex?” Xun Hu anxiously whispered, hidden in the gloom and the gentle susurrations that protected them both. Alex just shook his head, biting his lip so fiercely it bled, allowing the crimson liquid to dribble only now, when the deadly dance was so close to completion, as he endured exquisite agony drawing from the beast cores around his neck while Power Healing dozens of breaks, contusions, and deadly circulating splinters of bone.

  You have successfully Power Healed 15 compound fractures. Your circulatory system is now cleared of all major bone fragments. Vascular bleeds have been repaired. All dislocated joints have popped back into their sockets with minimal complications! Note: You are currently suffering the Brittle Bones flaw. Contusions and muscle lacerations have not fully healed.

  After what seemed like the most agonizing minutes of his life, still covered in bruises he dared not heal, Alex forced himself to stand, catching sight of the young kitsune's shocked gaze.

  “It’s not finished yet,” he declared.

  Xun Hu tightened her lips before giving a curt nod. “Please be careful, hero.”

  Alex didn’t say anything, merely accessing one of the storage pouches he had claimed to pull out the lightest of the razor sharp spears within. It wasn’t a fangtian ji, since he’d failed to claim any from his foes, but it was still a weapon he was well versed in. And frankly, he doubted his limbs could handle wielding anything but the lightest polearms, knowing he would have to depend solely on the storm of White Qi around him to wind and bind his opponent’s weapons, if he didn’t want to risk his barely healed finger and arm bones splintering again under the strain.

  But he could sense Zha Shi’s Gaze of The Hawk come ever closer to piercing their cover. Despite his agony, his frailty, he still needed to seize the initiative while he could, if he didn’t want to be ruthlessly cut down in mere seconds or imperil his realm.

  Because as early as this had played out, jolting him out of sleep closer to midnight than true dawn, Alex was still held by the weight of the doom he had embraced so readily just the day before.

  “The monster dares to return!” declared a furious Zha Shi when Alex stepped back into the clearing, as he knew he must, sparing a quick glance for his fallen foe. Duo Ku continued to shriek, dripping blood and pus and pieces of tattered flesh from between his desperately clawing hands. It appeared almost as if he was trying to prevent his ruined face from tearing free and revealing the pockmarked bone and bright red muscle underneath.

  To little avail.

  “We must strike him dead, right now!” shouted one of the students who had always looked down upon Alex, no matter that he was a Basic cultivator and Alex had long since broken through. The student began drawing his curved blade in fiercest anticipation, eyes bright with caustic hate.

  Alex flashed a cold, pitiless smile as Zha Shi raised his blade in a high hanging guard and closed the distance.

  “I always knew there was something wrong with you, Ruidian. Our arts came too easily to you. No proper respect, mocking us all with your smile. The Fox’s pawn and chaos’s mad little servant, causing ruin and destruction wherever you go!”

  But before Zha Shi could goad himself any further, Alex’s words cut through the haze of their fury, stilling former instructor and students with bitter truths that froze them where they stood.

  “I have bested your champion, Zha Shi. There he lies, writhing and screaming, with his face melting off, leaking pus, putrefying flesh, and a hell of a lot of blood.”

  Alex smiled as their eyes widened with renewed outrage. But at least their feet had stilled.

  “And if you recall, the match was to first blood, the prize being everything of worth he owns that I wish to claim. And win or lose… win or lose! Duo Ku is forbidden from maliciously lashing out with pawns, pieces, or person, unless he would willingly challenge Dongfang Hong himself!” Alex’s smile took on a bitter edge. “And we both know that's one thing he would never do."

  Zha Shi paled and stepped back, eyes alight with caustic hate… and fear. "There is no way you could know that. No way!"

  Alex laughed in their faces. "And you all know damn well that the cost for oathbreaking in this school is both profound and immediate. Your foundation doesn’t weaken over time; it corrodes within seconds. As the first cultivator I put down while ascending the golden steps could tell you, if he weren’t already dead.”

  His smile widened at Zha Shi’s look of horrified disgust. “So, let me ask you this, Zha Shi. Do you think the Red Prince will be happy when he finds out that you or anyone else at this school dared to interfere with me and thus rupture the foundation of his favored agent, a man you and I both know must be kin? Because, as Duo Ku made exquisitely clear while snapping my bones with unholy glee, he now owns this school, and everyone here is his puppet, his pawn!” Alex laughed into the resentful silence. “So, by his own admission, you are all his pawns.”

  He turned to lock gazes with Bang Jiao, presently nursing his own pulverized wrist, and Alex could sense the elder trying to send his own Water Qi energies to heal his injury. But whether because of shock or pain, or because the seething hate he felt for Alex was distracting him, his wrist was still a crumpled mess.

  Alex didn’t bother hiding his contempt. “How does it feel to have sold your soul so cheaply? That whatever dreams of honor, prestige, or nobility you might once have had, being a revered elder adored by the students he nurtures and guides, you now have to look at the bitter coward in the mirror every day who happily betrayed the trust of dozens of souls, simply because he was afraid of risking his own?”

  Bang Jiao’s furious gaze bore into Alex’s own.

  It was all he could do not to crumple before the man he sensed such a fierce killing aura from. Yet all Bang Jiao said was, “Your bones were shattered. Your body broken. I saw the way your arms flopped. Your ankle was distended so badly that any weight upon the limb should have had you screaming upon the ground, twisting upon your own broken limbs. I saw the despair, the agony in your eyes. So how is it that you are walking once more, wielding a spear so lightly, Ruidian?”

  Alex gazed down at his still shrieking opponent. “I think you already know the strongest of all elements, Bang Jiao, for those who have mastered its deepest, darkest secrets.”

  Bang Jiao hissed, brow furrowing. “Water magic. All of it! You poisoned Lord Duo Ku with a forbidden Water discipline. Admit it! You’re no Bronze, Ruidian.” He tilted his head. “You work for the Blue Prince. You’re the Ruidian who ascended by his side. At least to deepest Silver, before he disappeared.”

  Alex felt an ice-cold shiver race down his spine, realizing how deep a game they had all played with each other these past few weeks. Both suspecting so much and giving absolutely nothing away. Until now, at least.

  He just smiled and shrugged. “Who can say?” Alex did his best to hide the agony he felt as torn muscles continued to mend, ligaments reattach, and
brittle bones fuse properly once more. He endured it all and forced himself to speak on. Because every second his opponents were distracted increased his chances of actually getting out of there alive.

  “So tell me, Bang Jiao, why are you wearing the Red Prince’s jewelry?”

  This earned a bitter chuckle. “Because I wanted to survive. Now look around you. Who don’t you see?”

  Alex blinked, instantly getting it. As unexpected as the vile YanTu officer had been, Alex had noted that they had seemed to be one man short, and Zhu Bi’s words had made it all too clear what had likely happened.

  “Not all of us chose prudence over idealism, Ruidian. Nong, for one, was surprisingly resistant to the idea of putting you all in your proper place. You tell me, Ruidian, where is dear Nong now? Can you guess his reward after countless decades of doing all he could to better hundreds of ungrateful mongrels, his saintly reward for all his selfless efforts?”

  The ancient cultivator flashed a hard bitter smile, still nursing his broken wrist. “He got exactly what he deserved when the headmaster himself sent for him, too foolish to understand how this game was truly played. His unforgivable act of clemency assured his own doom, after he risked everything for selfish aspirants who care only for themselves.” Candid as his words were, there was no way they would be heard over the screams of the mutilated Duo Ku.

  Alex clenched his teeth at the bitter, self-serving cowardice Bang Jiao had embraced, mocking Nong’s incredible grace and courage when a better man would have worked by Nong’s side to save as many charges as they could before it was too late.

  Alex was forced to accept that he had done Nong a major disservice, taking him so lightly before.

  He glared down at the person whom he knew in his heart of hearts was responsible for so many betrayals at this school.

  And Alex wasn’t proud of the cold rush of glee that twisted his snarl into a feral smile as the screaming giant whimpered and thrashed in a pool of his own blood, pus, and putrefying flesh. Somehow Duo Ku was still cognizant, still aware, burning with Alex’s every word even as the caustic brew seared through his body, the opioid concoction Alex had drugged him with doing absolutely nothing to mitigate the agony that had reduced the man to desperate gurgling howls.

  Then they all heard the panicked shouts of several returning students wheezing for breath, eyes filled with hopeless despair.

  “Well, where are the healers?” snapped Bang Jiao as Duo Ku continued to shriek so loudly that the remaining cultivators winced as if physically pained.

  The runner collapsed to his knees and sobbed. “We went to the Blue Pagoda as fast as we could! They… they said they can do nothing for Lord Duo Ku, Master Bang Jiao. The injured students and Adepts who followed us were the only ones they were willing to treat, and only because they removed their ruby pins!”

  Zha Shi’s eyes widened with horrified disbelief. “Are those fools mad? The Red Prince will have their heads!”

  Bang Jiao clenched his teeth, glaring Alex’s way. “The fool of a wolf who tried to put the Blue Pagoda in its place instead nearly killed one of their prodigies and thus earned their unmitigated contempt. They still refuse to wear our master’s mark. But Duo Ku himself forbade us to risk an all-out academy war, so a softer path was chosen. We showed leniency, but they were still warned! Warned what would happen if they actually denied us! Damn those stubborn fools!”

  He turned his glare to the wide-eyed students. “Well, imbeciles? Two of you to each healing center at this academy, and the rest to the library! Explain the situation and get back here as fast as you can. The last group to arrive without help will earn shattered wrists, the mirror of my own. Am I clear?”

  This earned any number of horrified glances as all the youths raced off. The pair of panting runners, exhausted from their sprint to and from the Blue Pagoda, glared in Alex’s direction in helpless fury.

  “You made your choice. Now live with it,” was his only comment to the pair, though the despair in their eyes moved him to unexpected pity. But he paid them no more mind, all his focus now on the pair of former instructors who could probably kill him nearly as fast as Duo Ku himself.

  Bang Jiao chuckled softly, for the moment ignoring the Silver Giant’s screams. “You have proven to be a most… enlightening distraction, Ruidian. I suspect your master will reward you handsomely for your bold gambit, for all that I fear it will cost you your life, in the end.”

  Alex smiled, his mind only half on his adversaries as he scanned his interface with his mind’s eye. “And why would that be?”

  “We should kill him now. I’m no one’s puppet, and there’s no way he’s fully healed!” hissed Zha Shi.

  Bang Jiao turned his icy rage upon a suddenly pale-faced Zha Shi. “We took his coin and we kowtowed before him, Zha. You may tell yourself whatever lies you like, if it soothes your pride, but if you dare to strike this most annoying pawn now, it is Duo Ku who will suffer, and you who will pay with your life!”

  He then turned to Alex, an obsequious smile locked woodenly upon his goateed features. “Come now, Ruidian. You can’t be such a fool as to be completely unversed in the history of our great land. To not understand the ultimate fates of those insignificant pawns that dare to get caught between factions, rulers, and kingdoms.”

  “You mean like all those Basic and Early Bronze cultivators who risked their lives ascending the Path of Perseverance, only to find their instructors leading them like sheep to slaughter, unwitting slaves soon to be trapped in the Red Prince’s personal army?”

  The man chuckled coldly. “Even Silvers who think themselves incredibly clever, yet are too foolish to sense which way the wind is blowing, will be ground up fine as buckwheat and spat out as nameless corpses to be consumed by the endless forest, each one a marker sacrificed without a second thought, when it is convenient for those in power to do so.”

  Alex smirked. “And what does that tell you about your own destined fate, Bang Jiao?”

  “It tells me that I’m not such a fool as to make alliances with powers ten thousand miles distant!” he snapped, before carefully modulating his voice once more. “You are an associate of the Blue. Don’t deny it. We already know.”

  Alex shrugged. “Think what you like.”

  “The point, Ruidian, is that you’re far more likely to survive the coming storm if you ally with a power that already has all his pieces in play and happens to be our neighbor. A player who can forgive almost any transgression, if you make it worth his while, and who could easily crush you under his heel when he annexes this entire province!” Bang Jiao gave a scornful shake of his head. “Do you truly think the Azure Kingdom will save you once our master claims the entire board?”

  There was so much Alex wanted to say. Words that would send these greedy fools stumbling back, realizing they were but the most insignificant pieces in a board whose vastness and scope they couldn’t possibly comprehend. But he knew they were trying to get a read on him just as much as he was them.

  “You can claim I’m the Blue Prince’s agent all you like, but I really did come here just to learn.” He turned his head to gaze down at Duo Ku, whose pained howls turned to desperate gasping squeals as the Universal Solvent finally overwhelmed the man’s remaining defenses and began to dissolve his throat. “But things don’t always go according to plan.”

  Zha Shi’s panicked eyes widened. “He’s dying, Bang Jiao, and those neophytes have no idea what they’re doing!”

  Bang Jiao scowled and slowly rose to his feet. “We’ll take him to the Yellow Pagoda ourselves!”

  Alex cleared his throat. “Aren’t you two forgetting something?”

  Two pairs of cruel, dark eyes favored Alex with killing glares.

  “You’d best be gone before we return, Ruidian,” snarled Zha Shi, showcasing his deadly strength as he attempted to shift the dying cultivator, before giving it up as the man’s panicked struggles and flailing limbs made it clear that coming close enough to aid him could resul
t in a crushed skull.

  “You have two choices, Zha Shi,” Alex declared. “One: you can strip your faceless master bare of his prizes, put them in a pile for my pleasure, and rush for any healing center other than the Blue Pagoda, the only one closed off to you, which you were too stupid to recall in the first place! Or two: don’t surrender everything of value that sadistic monster has on him, assuring that his foundation is utterly ruined, and I’ll make absolutely certain a mutual acquaintance knows just who to blame.”

  Zha Shi, still hovering over the fallen Silver Giant, looked ready to challenge Alex with his fiery dao, despite all the warnings he had been given and the significant reach and leverage advantage the lightweight spear would give Alex, before the choking gasps of a dying Duo Ku made his mind up for him. Panicked, clawing hands tore free rings and belt pouches, which Alex could sense radiated the powerful spiritual energy of priceless treasures before the monster emitted a desperate, gurgling squeal that Alex’s interface actually translated as a language. Or perhaps it was the unwanted Spirit Qi link he had forged with his tormentor while forced to suffer, much like the Silver Giant was suffering now.

  But even Alex had his limits.

  He gave a curt nod. “I consider Duo Ku’s obligations met, and his items of worth surrendered. Now, why don’t you get that dying fool out of my sight?” Alex eyed Zha Shi with a cold smile. “And I would think long and hard before revealing the details of what happened here to anyone within this school.”

  “How dare you give orders to us!” snapped Zha Shi. “The entire academy will be informed of your crimes before nightfall!”

  Alex chuckled softly at that. “Really? You’re going to inform one and all that the head of the Spirit Wolves was utterly bested by a lowly aspirant surviving on pure trickery, supposedly unable to cultivate at all? Do you really think Duo Ku will thank you for making him lose face before the whole of the academy? Frankly, I think it’s more likely he’d destroy you fools utterly, no matter your rank, if even so much as a single rumor slips free about our skirmish today.”