Judge Qin bowed deferentially before the inspector. "I look forward to that day."
WiFu nodded indulgently, patting the man's shoulder. "Then my pawn and I shall keep you no longer." He gazed coldly at the officer, whose breath was coming in shuddering gasps. "I believe your methods might need a little polish, Officer Wan. I fear you have been overzealous in your attempts to play your role."
"My deepest apologies, Silver Fox," the man whispered.
WiFu shrugged. "It's nothing the healing potion that I know you keep on your hip can't heal."
The man paled. "My lord, that potion is worth… yes, of course, my lord." Grimacing, the man pulled out a crystal flask filled with brilliant red liquid, glaring daggers of absolute hatred towards Alex.
WiFu grinned. "Well, boy? Drink up. We have a city to rescue and no time to waste."
Alex blinked. "Yes, my lord. I would be happy to, but my hands are still tied."
And as soon as he said the words, his bonds had been removed, Officer Wan stepping back so fast Alex was halfway certain he had imagined it. "Or perhaps..." Very carefully, he took the now uncorked flask to his lips and drank deep. One sip, two sips, three.
Medium Wounds have been stabilized as Light Wounds. Light Wounds have been healed. You have recovered 50 Health!
Alex shuddered with exquisite relief, the awful throb of his wrists and ribs was now no more than the ache he'd get after a good sparring session.
And just in time, as the mysterious inspector who had probably just saved his life was already off, gripping Alex's left hand in a steel grip as he led them back out the courthouse.
Paradigm shift fully incorporated! You have made physical contact with a Cultivator. Imprint user's matrix for further study? A cultivation path cannot be chosen at this time. Further study is needed before class options can be chosen.
Yes!
Alex spared one last glance back at the horrid compound they were leaving, his eyes meeting the hopeless gaze of one of the prisoners, his scrawny desperate hands gripping the window bars of the leftmost building.
Alex shuddered to think how close he came to either being executed just outside that very building, or drowned in the nearby sea. "Inspector WiFu? I just wanted to say..."
The man held up one gloved hand. "Quiet! Crouch down behind this bush just like so… the trick is to be both discrete and yet so innocuous no one thinks twice, should they catch sight of you. Yes, checking the laces of your footwear is perfect."
Alex's eyes widened to find himself wearing a pair of finely tailored boots, strangely certain he had been barefoot not that long ago. Then he noted the sudden tension in his savior's stance. "What's wrong?"
The man's jaw hardened, his leftmost hand clenching in a tight fist. Alex shivered, appreciating once more how perilous the situation was, how easily his mysterious benefactor could drop him in a heartbeat, not daring to say another word as they both gazed upon half a dozen men wearing uniform sets of lamellar armor and helmets reminiscent of the warring states period, all of them armed with crescent bladed halberds, who were rapidly approaching the courthouse.
The moment the six men entered, WiFu was off, pulling Alex along so fast he feared his arm would be wrenched out of the socket as they left the compound, darting through numerous alleys overshadowed by looming decrepit-looking buildings, losing themselves amongst people dressed in threadbare robes or worn-looking jackets and faded pants.
It appeared they were taking a detour through the slums, though it seemed the buildings were marred more by poor upkeep and apathy than any flaws in construction, and it was only in contrast to the magnificent buildings that Alex had seen from a distance that made this area seem worse than it truly was.
But all those thoughts were pushed aside by the burgeoning panic Alex felt, finding himself once more on the run. He thought his mind would be numb to any more terror, having been just heartbeats away from being brutally executed so corrupt officials could advance themselves further in the local power structure atop his rotting corpse.
It seemed he was wrong, as tension knotted his stomach once more.
"What's wrong?" He managed to breathlessly ask as his savior quickly darted into an open store filled with used cloaks and robes, throwing a hooded wool cloak that smelled like horses over Alex's shoulders while flipping a fat copper coin at an old man who appeared to be snoring away, though the wizened hand caught the coin as adeptly as any 10-year-old playing ball, giving the tiniest nod of appreciation. But WiFu was already off once more, seeming to flow through shadows like a fox hunting prey, a now disoriented Alex suddenly finding himself in a far nicer part of town after a maze of alleyways were passed. He was barely able to collect himself and gaze in awe at the sight of numerous men and women dressed in the finest silk being attended to by servants lifting them up in palanquins as they chatted to one another while raising teacups to crimson-dyed lips, gazing with bemused contempt at the merchants and passersby darting past them.
One exquisitely beautiful young woman being led into what looked like a magnificent palace of bronze and marble caught Alex's eyes for just a heartbeat, and he felt his cheeks flush crimson under her regard before a powerful hand lowered his head and he found himself being led into an odd two-wheeled carriage that was little more than a couple of cushioned seats being driven not by a horse but by a powerfully built man.
"To the cliffs," WiFu said. "How fast can you go?"
"Faster than any horse, my lord, do you have the copper to spare."
WiFu raised a curious brow. "Interesting. What's your Cultivation?"
"I have achieved the second rank as a student body cultivator, my lord," the young man said with a grin. "I meditate as I run, earning food for my family."
"Excellent. To the cliffs, then, lad. Do you know what you will do, should you manage to open your Third Meridian Gateway?”
"The Royal Army, sir. For then I can walk the High Road and help defend the kingdom!" The young man smiled enthusiastically even as Alex hissed in surprise, head snapping back as the young man dashed into the lane apparently reserved for carriages and rickshaws, going as fast as a racehorse, which left Alex speechless in amazement.
WiFu grinned. "Your first time in a rickshaw?"
Alex gulped. "How the hell is he going so fast?"
His benefactor frowned. "With all you have endured this night, you would curse the rickshaw you ride in?"
Alex blinked. "It's just an expression, sir." He turned, gazing intently at the bemused-looking inspector. Alex swallowed, feeling acutely embarrassed, but forcing himself to say it. He owed the man that much, and hell, far more. "I think you saved my life back there."
The man smirked. "You think?"
Alex flushed. "You did. No question. I just… thank you." He forced a bitter chuckle. "As bad as my life's been these last few months, even if this isn't even real, and I'm just a simulated AI matrix based off my body's former template… I'm still grateful to be alive." He shuddered. "Even if this is just a program, somehow I don't think I'll get unlimited lives if I perish. That pain. It just felt way too real." His stomach churned as his brooding thoughts got the better of him. "Maybe once I die, another projection steps in my place. But somehow I know that the me speaking to you right now will never be again." His eyes widened as grim thoughts took hold. "Hell, for all I know I've lived and died a dozen times. Maybe had this very conversation a dozen times before perishing from whatever comes next."
His host raised a bemused brow. "I seriously doubt it, child, for I only recall having this exceedingly odd conversation with you once." Alex winced, sensing the steel beneath the man's inviting gaze. "I sense you have an interesting tale to tell, Alex Nameless. If you would like to thank me for my timely arrival, let us start there."
Alex jerked a quick nod, smiling with gratitude when WiFu handed him a flask filled with water as cold and refreshing as any he could ask for, his eyes widening when the curiously heavy flask didn't seem to lighten no matter how much he
drank. He gazed at it in wonder.
"Yes, it is an artifact, tied directly to the Deep Blue Lake. But enough on that. The hour is growing late, lad, and time is one thing we do not have in abundance."
Alex wasted no more time, quickly sharing his experiences from the moment he woke up, naked and disoriented in an empty cask in the hold of a ship filled to the brim with toxic brews and caustic chemicals that could burn even in water.
WiFu's gaze grew increasingly grim as the story went on. Remarkably, he seemed to take it all in stride, giving a certain grin of satisfaction when Alex recounted how easily he took out the wizards, whether by claiming those gems or spitting poison in their faces that he had gained immunity to after painful controlled exposure. Only when he was done his tale did he wonder if perhaps he should have kept some cards closer to his vest. But something about those mysterious silver-green eyes compelled him to speak without reservation. Alex had no doubt the man could measure his every word, and the penalty for lying would be swift, and severe.
Alex was surprised as a tense pressure he hadn't even been aware of feeling against his heart lifted with WiFu's approving smile. "A boy dying of an incurable disease is frozen in ice by charlatans, only to be reborn into this world after who knows how long a time spent in the River of Souls. What is truly remarkable is that Grandmother Yi Wang seems to have forgotten to bless you with forgetfulness when you were born into your new life. And as you remember so well the life of a 17-year-old boy, perhaps it's understandable why your soul forwent coming into this world the usual sort of way."
Alex blinked. "How do players normally enter this world?"
A gentle chuckle. "From between their mother's legs, of course. How else?"
Alex grew strangely still, their rickshaw moving as smoothly and swiftly as a car through mist and fog kicked up by the ocean they were rapidly approaching. He swallowed, forcing himself to ask the question. "Is this world real, then? Not generated by some computer program?"
"I assure you, lad, I am very real. As to whether you're real or a confused ghost, I suppose we'll know that when morning's light touches your spirit-flesh."
Alex blinked, suddenly chilled. "Will I disappear?"
"If you're just a confused boy born into this world too abruptly? No. If you are but a confused ghost?" The man's eyes twinkled strangely. "Yes."
Alex winced. "So. I've been meaning to ask, why were we in such a hurry to leave? I mean it certainly seemed like you got Judge Qin by the short hairs," Alex said with a chuckle.
WiFu grinned at that. "Yes, well, you see, I am working under a slight disadvantage at the moment."
Alex gazed, nonplussed, at the awkwardly smiling man.
"I'm sort of, not to put too fine a point on it, on the outs with dear Lord Zheng. My nominal, ahem, boss as it were."
Alex felt the dreadful knot in his gut, recently loosened, tighten fast more.
"Meaning you're in hot water the minute you cross paths with either of those characters again?"
WiFu chuckled softly. "I have no fear of Wan's cultivation level. He was barely eligible for the Royal Army. And Judge Qin is a self-serving hack who's shilling for his family. He knows that I know. He just didn't know that I was, ahem, in my current predicament, until now." The man sighed, gazing forlornly at the mist-covered sea.
"Beware where your heart takes you, lad. As noble and virtuous as poetic love may be, certain avenues of expression, no matter how artistically exquisite, should be left to the gods alone."
Alex blinked. "Please don't tell me you slept with the ruler's wife?"
The inspector's eyes bulged, the fog ringing with the man's sudden laughter. "Lady Zheng? Of course not! Preposterous! Beautiful and exquisite as she is, her fierce temper and cultivation level are not things I wish to contend with."
Alex chuckled along with him, only then realizing how utterly offensive the question might have seen, and how thin the ice he was skating on might be. "My apologies, Inspector. I didn't mean to offend."
The man smiled. "Quite alright, lad. The city's dear patron also had suspicions when his exquisitely precious granddaughter, kept in a pristine marble tower and tended to only by divine maids and female cultivators, mysteriously quickened while her destined husband was away, a secret our beloved ruler did his absolute best to suppress. But rumors will be rumors, even when heads containing wagging tongues might roll."
Alex swallowed. "I see."
WiFu coughed politely. "And just because the girl carefully groomed for divinity gave birth to a child with the most adorable little fox tail, well, you can see how the curse of a too apt moniker used to intimidate the ne'er-do-wells within the city could all too easily turn around to bite the tail of your favorite inspector sitting before you."
Alex suddenly grinned as the rickshaw came to a stop, the young, panting man smiling wide when the inspector known as Silver Fox tipped the boy a silver, with a wink and a pat on the shoulder. "Your third gate will open wide before you know it," he assured.
"Thank you, Silver Fox!" The young man gushed, his cheeks flushing a sudden crimson. "I mean, mysterious, unknown stranger whose conversation I don't recall a single word of, my life on it!"
The runner paled as he caught WiFu's gaze.
"You're more right than you know, lad. Now go." Ice-cold words at odds with the charming care-free rogue the inspector had seemed but moments ago. The young man jerked a nod and he was off in a flash, not even bothering to look for fares close by.
WiFu was all business when he pointed to the cliff's edge they were rapidly approaching, and Alex was awed by the sound of waves roaring and crashing against the shoals far below, understanding how the sharp dropoff made an excellent barrier, and realizing that they had, in fact, been going uphill since he had first left the docks and as far as his eyes could tell in the misty gloom, the city had been built upon a massive plateau that formed a natural barrier between it and the sea, save for where the harbor was located, with its own towers and chain barricades, assuring no enemy ship would find this city a soft target.
"You have told me your tale, lad, and I can taste the truth of it. Now listen closely. More than magic, Qi, and spirits inhabit this world. Fate, karma, and destiny all play their role. You had mentioned that the city seemed to shine oddly to your eyes in a way that did not glare. Yes?"
Alex frowned, finding the question strange, for he had managed to leave that part out. How brilliantly gold the city looked to his eyes, and the black tinge that had somehow dimmed the raging inferno pyre the one ship had become, a darkness that the fallen customs inspector had also radiated before him.
Alex swallowed, heart racing, realizing there was no point in lying. If WiFu wanted him dead, he never would have intervened at the courthouse. Even now, a single shove off the cliff by the sea, just a few feet away, would instantly solve all his problems.
"Yes," he whispered, looking back at the faintly glowing city just behind him, bronze domed palaces and soaring pagodas as tall as any redwood a magnificent sight to behold, the strange otherworldly glow not dimming the brilliantly glittering stars high above, as if it was something other than light that shined so warmly to his eyes.
He then turned back to the sea.
Insight gained! Who says the ship you fled isn't the only one that shines darkly? And Mr. Fox, crafty player that he is, definitely needs something to get back in the City Lord's good graces.
Alex felt a strange chill racing down his spine. That didn't sound like Ali's voice echoing inside his head. Not at all.
"There is a thing called karma that affects all of us, for better or worse,” WiFu said. "For most who can sense karma, it is seen only as a compass pointing to where they will go in their next lives: reborn as celestials or men, beasts or hungry ghosts, or worst of all, demons. And since it is a compass that no one not a cultivator can hope to sense, very few trouble themselves over the tribulations of the next life when this one holds so many immediate trials to bear."
Alex no
dded. "Live a good life and be rewarded with Heaven or an even better life, next time around. Hopefully. It's a nice theory."
WiFu smirked. "Isn't it? What many don't realize, not even those foolish cultivators who actually think they can transcend Fate's mark in a single lifetime, is that karma can affect us even in this life, if our actions are significant enough, though social reinforcement for most is a far stronger motivator. A kindly neighbor generates a tiny bit of positive karma every time he helps his fellows, but for him, the more immediate reward is the satisfaction he gets from the gratitude and trust he inspires in those around him. But if one's deeds are significant enough, should one play, for example, a key role in saving a city from disaster, then karma might take a more visceral role."
Alex blinked. "Like almost getting killed by a pair of psychopaths who wanted to take credit for stopping those raiders?"
The inspector known as Silver Fox grinned. "Perhaps, or perhaps like the captivating scent I caught a whiff of when I just by chance happened to cross paths with Officer Wan while giving Zheng Yi's men the slip as I always do." He coughed awkwardly. "My men, actually, which makes them chasing me down now rather awkward, but what can you do?"
"Not seduce your employer's granddaughter?" Alex quipped.
Ice-cold eyes that could kill him in a heartbeat crinkled with warm laughter. "True. But where would the fun be in that?"
And before Alex could say a word in rebuttal, the man was intently pointing at the sea shrouded in mist. "Tell me, lad, what do you see?"
He was about to say nothing but fog when a strange chill raced up and down his spine.
He and Mr. Fox were not as safe as Alex had thought.
Intent eyes were peering at them even now.
Ali Interface detecting crystalline emanations.
But Alex already knew. It was as if, after having absorbed so many of their souls, with the potential of so many classes now open to him even if he refused to fall into the trap of what had, after all, been a class with a terrible weakness, at least against someone like him, he could now sense the weight of their crystalline regard.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reborn: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 1 Page 6
