His gaze hardened. "But amused divinities will eye you ever more carefully as you ascend the ranks, and your trials will grow accordingly. So have a care who you choose as allies, lest your enemies be more fearsome than what even a trickster's luck can counter. Now study what I dared to leave you within that ring, and make sure you have a strong foundation before you ascend too many steps, boy." He then winked. "The techniques within are powerful, but a crucial step you will have to figure out for yourself, and even my own gifts can only do so much. You walk a divine path, after all, and you'll find opening your meridian channels far, far more difficult than those who dare lesser paths."
Alex swallowed. "So, I'll need to spend years cultivating just to get started?"
WiFu laughed. "Years? If you're lucky it will be years, perhaps decades before you're even ready to ascend to Bronze and forge sacred channels between your meridians in preparation for merging with your core. And by then I sincerely hope you will have found the affinity cycling technique you will need in order to take on such a herculean task, or I fear you shall find your growth vastly stunted. If that is to be your folly, then I pity you. You would have been far better off taking the golden ring instead!"
He then winked. "But you have a knack few others can match. Your soul having harvested so many opponents while playing endless virtual games, that it has become a part of your nature in truth."
Alex swallowed, instantly understanding what he meant. Recalling how he had claimed the spiritual potential of all those pirates he had killed, just like he would in his favorite online games.
He had been filled almost to the bursting point, having chosen no class till now. A burden he now found curiously absent. Either the souls were gone, or his capacity to store them had somehow increased.
Alex squinted his eyes as the light seemed to flash off the laughing fox’s teeth, and then utter silence as he opened his eyes wide, finding himself naked and shivering at the entrance of a tomb dug into a steep cliff face adjoining the city, though it was surrounded by a lush little garden comprised of medicinal plants and wizened trees. He squinted, catching sight of the closed gate just beyond, no doubt leading to the city proper, his desperate eyes noting how several of the old trees grew right up to the lip of the walls surrounding it.
“Hey, you there! You’re not authorized to be here. Surrender immediately!”
Alex's eyes widened as he caught sight of a glowering man of middle years wearing a rawhide vest over silken doublet and pants, with a saber and truncheon at his hip. He drew the club as opposed to the blade, but still Alex's heart lurched in terror as he got up to dash for the wall before slipping on his ass while the guard rapidly closed the distance, only then noticing the pair of soft leather boots, linen jacket and silken doublet and hose that had been left for him.
“Store!” he cried out, putting his ring against the clothes and not even looking as he dashed, buck naked, for the far trees, darting around the guardsman who stopped, staring in slack-jawed disbelief at Alex’s naked state, probably the only thing that saved him from a sound thrashing.
“Ouch!” Alex hissed, wincing as bare feet and palms scraped against bark as he scurried up the highest tree, out of sight of the guard, and only then did he appreciate his situation.
Utterly naked and without resources in the middle of a strange city he still didn’t understand, with a guard roaring about taking his head, and he with absolutely no idea how to access the clothes he could only hope weren’t lying back in that tomb.
He closed his eyes and chuckled wearily.
It seemed like the curse of the Fox was in full effect already.
Interesting times indeed.
6
Alex wasted no time, placing his right hand upon the ring on his left pinky. “Come out, shirt!”
His stomach fell when nothing came out, the guard below working himself into a tizzy, demanding he surrender at which point he’d cut off Alex’s balls and make him a eunuch as punishment for desecrating this sacred site.
Alex’s heart started to race. He halfway thought the man was serious. At least the language hadn’t changed that much, which was odd, considering the evolution of a thousand years.
Or maybe the fox had given him a gift as important as any other. Either way, he did his best to drown out the gesticulating man below, recalling Silver Fox’s words.
Anything could be put in, if it wanted to badly enough.
Could he put himself inside the ring?
Alex swallowed, knowing it was madness, and no longer caring.
He closed his eyes and visualized himself falling into his own ring.
Congratulations! You have successfully figured out the second riddle of The Hidden Ring.
Alex frowned at this notification before he gave a breathless holler, feeling himself spin as if caught by a whirlpool into an endless vortex, screaming when his guts plummeted in free fall, before blinking his eyes open to find himself upon what looked like a dusty study, complete with crackling fireplace, old stuffed leather chair, and burnished red oak bookcases.
Alex furrowed his brow, seeing no exotic Eastern influences at all. In fact, it looked just like his father’s study.
Beside the chair were the clothes he had somehow ported in, and he dressed himself within seconds, smiling into the full-sized mirror he suddenly noticed on the wall, the dark hardwood frame very much like the dressing mirror he once used back home.
Having somehow transported to a world as fantastic and marvelous as it was strange, he had no doubt that a life of adventure and excitement lay before him. But he already sensed that life was far more precarious, and strangers were far less tolerant, than any fantasy reference point his years of gaming had given him. If he wanted to survive long enough to appreciate and explore this world’s customs and traditions, he needed to master every tool at his disposal.
With that resolution firmly in mind, he went over to the bookcase, giving it a thorough examination.
He saw only two exquisitely bound tomes filled with text he squinted to understand before the calligraphy came into focus, eyes widening as he realized the significance of these tomes. He gave a soft chuckle. “That wily fox!” he whispered, quickly understanding that the tomes taught WiFu’s own cultivation techniques for Cycling and Refining his Qi.
Alex understood at once that purifying and refining his Qi was the first crucial step along his path as a cultivator. And WiFu had given him a priceless treasure, describing a technique that went beyond simple Qi purification as most of those who had access only to positive Qi would perform it, essentially expelling Dark Qi as waste. His techniques seemed to indicate a way to separate both streams and have them circulate within separate but conjoined meridian pathways. His eyes widened as he sensed the complexity involved, but he knew that with the right cycling techniques, these lessons would be incredibly useful.
But therein lay the first trap before him. The techniques were wonderful for separating his Qi and locking into their separate overlapping meridians. His brief perusal seemed to suggest that since they would be of different polarities, different energy states, he could bypass the normal restrictions. And really, what else would he expect from someone he could only assume played the role of a god of mischief or at least innovation and change? Finding ways to slip past the rules that otherwise bound everyone up in inflexible conformity and rigidity was probably second nature to his patron.
It immediately made him think of dualism and the Yin and Yang. Separate but equal, together in balance.
However, his first step would be opening his meridian gateways, and for that he needed a purification technique that expelled what was, for most, unusable and even dangerous waste and impurities, if the little bit of Xianxia he used to read in his hospital bed had been any indication.
Silver Fox’s Qi gathering and refining techniques wouldn’t be useful to him yet, because he was not yet of Bronze. He had formed no meridian channels with which to harness the flow of both Dark and
Light Qi, like alternating currents. He first needed to open his gateways, so obviously he needed a basic technique that would dispel the impurities just like everyone else used. And an anxious perusal of the tomes before him made it utterly clear that the brilliant fox hadn’t bothered with basic purifying techniques at all. It all had to do with separating and refining the Dark and Light Qi in unison.
But right now, he had no place to put that Dark Qi. Only expel it as waste, just like almost every other mortal cultivator.
Alex groaned, rubbing his head.
It looked like this was going to be a lot harder than he had thought.
Even worse, once he took his first footsteps along the Bronze path, he would have to be ever mindful of a specific meridian pattern he wished to establish that would eventually synergize with his core, and folly here could stunt his growth forever.
He feared he wouldn't even be able to use this divine Qi refining tome until he had already opened all his meridian gateways and somehow figured out what cycling pattern would match his elemental affinities best, which seemed to include all the basic elements, but with significant limitations in regards to targets and range.
And herein was yet another difference from the Xianxia novels he had read and the reality he now found himself in. Here there seemed to be 4 major elements and 4 minor ones that joined the major ones together, not 5. Though the 5 classic Chinese elements were incorporated and seemed to complement each other much as they did in the novels he had read. And now that he thought about it, he had read of extra elements in various works that fit very much with the paradigm he seemed to have gained a basic understanding of upon waking up, implanted with knowledge that now seemed second-nature to him.
He groaned when he perused Silver Fox’s Qi Cycling tome. It was specifically tied to WiFu’s affinities, which were different from Alex’s own.
He took some small comfort from the fact that at least the cycling tome would allow him to forge perfect Dark Qi channels between his meridians, which would be half the task before him, once he had opened his meridian gateways.
But the core of any cultivator was not simply refining, but properly cycling his Light Qi. The only Qi most mortal cultivators would even think to use, considering the chaotic, destructive potential of Dark Qi to those who did not dare a divine path. And that required finding techniques perfectly suited to his Light Qi affinities, which seemed to incorporate all 8 elements, and there Alex was at a complete loss.
He sighed and shook his head.
So that was what WiFu had meant by Alex having to find his own way forward.
He could only hope that exposure to enough tomes or cultivators would give him the insights he needed to forge his own cultivation path, hopefully without taking a thousand years on the journey.
What was painfully clear to Alex at that moment was that he had an incredible opportunity to achieve glorious heights of accomplishment, embracing powers the equivalent of those wielded by the gods that fateful night a thousand years ago. But the path would be fraught with peril, and right now he lacked even the most basic purification techniques that he could use for the very first steps of his journey.
And he was an utter novice, not even knowing all the things he needed to know.
It was obvious even to him that he needed to find some way to attend a school of cultivation or otherwise uncover tomes or teachers that could instruct him in the very basics, building upon his knowledge slowly but surely, taking no foolhardy steps. Because unlike any other game Alex had ever played, he was absolutely certain there were no restarts to this journey he had embarked upon.
Glory or death.
There were no other options.
Then Alex winced, realizing how utterly stupid he was being.
He had disappeared, or at least he thought he had disappeared, in front of a witness who wanted to castrate him.
What if he hadn’t disappeared? What if he was outside right now, limbs frozen upon the tree he had climbed, utterly vulnerable?
And if he had somehow ported himself into his ring, was it now ownerless upon the ground, easily claimed by anyone who spots it? Could the guard touch it and enter? Would he now be a possession of the guard? Could the guard enter and kill him in this mock imitation of his father’s study?
Alex’s eyes widened. What was it WiFu had said? He could visualize anything in this odd realm of infinite space and dream, but would only be able to take out what he put in.
He closed his eyes and smiled, visualizing his heart out, opening his eyes once more in pleased satisfaction as he gazed upon his refreshed surroundings, now wishing only to leave.
He then furrowed his brow, glancing down upon the same ring upon his finger, wondering if he was being a fool trying to enter the ring a second time, or if it was, in fact, the way out.
Quickness check failed! Finesse check made! 10 Health and Minor Wound suffered. Effects of twisted ankle mitigated by adrenaline surge.
Alex hollered as he found himself balanced precariously upon a branch, failing to grasp it in time but at least positioning himself to land on his feet, which happened to be over the startled guard’s head.
His left ankle throbbed as he limped away from the comatose guard now crumpled in a heap.
Unlike the mercenary mindset he took on when playing his favorite computer games a lifetime ago, Alex had absolutely no desire to rob the poor man, grabbing only the brass keys on the guard’s belt, just grateful the man was breathing as he limped his way to the gate. He took a furtive glance at the street just outside, seeing nothing but the occasional passerby, most of the men dressed in either monk’s or scholar’s robes, or attire quite similar to Alex’s own, and far too busy and self-important to bother glancing Alex’s way.
He quickly unlocked the gate, securing it once more behind him before tossing the keys back inside. He pitied the poor guard, but he aimed for thick shrubbery beside the cobblestone path, not wanting the guard to have too easy a time following him, hoping he’d be concerned enough about losing face that he wouldn’t cry for help, so long as he found the way out eventually.
Alex turned around, doing his best to look for all the world like he belonged, allowing his feet to take a random direction. He could just imagine Mr. Fox flashing his mischievous smile and recommending that Alex play to his strengths, and he had every intention of doing just that.
He soon found himself awed and captivated by his surroundings. The cobblestone path was perfectly flat and didn't discomfort his feet at all as he strode past soaring pagodas, shops, and manors, the wide boulevard separated in twain by an army of trees forming a peaceful green canopy in the middle of the city, a steady stream of pink and white blossoms floating down, giving off the exotic smells of honeysuckle and cherry blossoms.
He found himself smiling with wonder, and whenever he caught the gaze of one of the exquisitely beautiful women gazing in his direction, he couldn't help but think of his favorite supermodels from a lifetime ago; high cheekbones, crimson lips, and pearl white skin causing his heart to skip a beat before they would quickly lower their gazes.
The attire they wore was an odd fusion, at least compared to Earthly historic norms, many wearing what looked like cheongsams, but with fluttering pieces of cloth tied to the high hem of their dresses, giving them an air of elegance and modesty, though with slits to allow their wearers full range of motion. Other girls wore long gowns paired with short coats and either dresses or loose flowing pants that went down to the tips of their toes. Still others wore various combinations of blouses and long gowns. Many girls had their hair wrapped in tight buns with pins of wood or silver sticking out of them, other girls left their hair in elegantly knotted ponytails. None gazed hostilely at him, but none smiled when they caught his gaze, only looking away, their cheeks flushing prettily.
Perception check made!
“Watch your gaze, foreigner!”
Alex blinked, just barely shifting his balance in time as he sensed the powerful palm abru
ptly shove him aside. A hot-eyed powerfully built man in a black changshan was glaring at him, the woman accompanying him looking away in embarrassment. Alex could feel power radiating off this man in waves, having absolutely no doubt he was a cultivator.
As if the shove that had felt like an iron rod slamming into his shoulder hadn’t been evidence enough.
Alex winced, flushing with sudden embarrassment, quickly bowing at the waist. “This one is new here, and apologizes for his mistake,” he said, not knowing why he was speaking about himself in the third person.
But apparently it was enough. The larger man smirked, shook his head, muttering about foreigners and fools, and went on his way.
Alex breathed a sigh of relief, heart still pounding. He couldn’t help chuckling ruefully to himself, keeping his eyes on the beautiful city he found himself within, careful not to meet anyone’s gaze until he understood the people and customs better. Though he might have welcomed the challenge of a fight if this had just been a computer game, he had sensed that man’s power. His very aura had pressed against Alex’s own, and right now, on the very beginning of his path, it would be nothing for even the lowest ranked cultivator to kill him, which, for all Alex knew, would have pleased Zheng Yi as a fitting end to the arrogant fool too proud to take his offer of a charmed life.
But Alex was determined, perhaps much like the fox, to live life on his own terms, to go just as far as he could.
And for now, that meant keeping his head down, appearing as friendly and inoffensive as possible, and avoiding trouble.
And his growling belly made it clear that he had best put his sight-seeing on hold and play to his strengths.
His eyes widened with relief as he at last found what he had been seeking, farther along what seemed to be the main thoroughfare through this part of the city, an apothecary shop.
“You what? Are you insane? Get out of here with your foolishness, foreigner. Transient beggars are not welcome here!”
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reborn: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 1 Page 10
