He was floating in soothing darkness, free of all pain, when he heard the distant voices.
“That bastard, thinking he can get away with maiming Alex. How dare he!”
“You know who his father is, my child, and Lai Wei has already opened his Sixth Meridian Gateway. One more rank, and he’ll be ready to ascend to Bronze. So I forbid you to challenge him to any kind of duel! I halfway suspect this was planned by that monster Lai Leng or his cronies. They will do anything to obtain my alchemical secrets, seizing our assets by fair means or foul. And no matter what tricks they try to play in the Lord’s Court, my record and distinguished service are impeccable. So those rats will stoop to the most loathsome acts to get what they want. I suspect my enemies seek to goad you into making a foolish challenge, all to give Lai Wei an opening to kill you!”
“They’ve already taken everything!” she sobbed. “My mother, your status as an alchemist, destroying your good name when they were the monsters! Now you’re forced to work for the Jianghu sect, just to survive!”
“Hush, child. The choice was always mine. And as dark a path as they walk, they alone welcome cultivators who step afoul of the corrupt fools at the college. It is our association with them that assures our enemies never dare strike at us directly, only taking out their hate on a helpless foreigner who I had no business sending out into the city.” He sighed sadly. “Truly, this old fool should have known better, and now our young friend is paying the price.”
“They maimed him, Father. He was so beautiful, and they tore free half his scalp! If that blade had cut any deeper...”
“He’d be dead.”
“I need to train harder. I need to be stronger. If you’re not strong in this world, you’re nothing! Everything you struggle for can be taken away in a heartbeat!”
Liu Jian sighed. “You’re right, daughter. Bitter a lesson as it’s been, strength is everything in this world. But remember, there are many sources of strength. Remain true to the path you have chosen, and remain true to yourself.”
Liu Li quietly sobbed, and Alex’s greatest regret was that he couldn’t find his way out of the darkness to comfort her.
Alex blinked, finding himself in his father’s study once more, propping himself up on the supple leather chair he used to love dozing on before catching sight of his father perusing the tomes in his collection.
For a dizzying half-second, he thought he was 15 again, and everything that had happened since had been nothing but a brilliant dream. His heart raced as his father was about to turn around.
Maybe Alex could warn him in time. Maybe now his father and sisters would be safe. Maybe…
His father turned around.
It was WiFu, smiling sadly at him, bringing over a leather-bound tome.
“I’m sorry, Alex. One thing beyond even this fox's power is the ability to spin back the hands of time." He flashed a wry grin. "Can you imagine how much trouble I could get into if I could rewrite the entire universe from the moment of its conception onward? It gives me delightful shivers, just thinking about it!"
Alex chuckled softly. “For a heartbeat, there, I so wanted all this to have been a dream.”
His patron nodded. “Understandable.”
“Mr. Fox?”
“Yes, Alex?”
“How long have I been away from my family?”
The deity's gaze grew reflective and sad. “It’s been over a thousand years, Alex.”
Alex swallowed. “Can you at least tell me what happened to my mother? What happened to, well, the human race back on Earth? Did we start colonizing the galaxy? Build better computers? Kill ourselves off in a holocaust?”
To all of these questions, WiFu just smiled sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Alex. Some questions I'm not permitted to answer. But I can tell you this."
Fathomless orbs attuned to the endless depths of space looked back into his own.
“You need to become stronger, Alex, and the tools to do so are before you.”
Alex swallowed, his heart racing. Despite the genial smile, he felt as if his very soul were being measured under WiFu’s piercing gaze.
“I figured it out. Your first test, I think. How to use your cultivation technique, purifying my Qi by separating it, storing all the Dark Qi in my ring until I’ve advanced to Bronze and am ready to forge my meridian pathways anew.”
Silver Fox grinned, dipping his head in approval. “I can see that,” he said, gazing at the glowing black ring spinning lazily in the air on the stand Alex had dreamed up for it weeks ago when he had first started cultivating.
His gaze hardened. “Now quit playing the fool, Alex Hammer.” A pale finger touched Alex’s brow. He felt a cold shiver course through him. “Be as clever as you were when we first met. You already have all the tools you need.”
Alex swallowed, flushing, realizing he had indeed been playing the naive fool.
There were so many other steps he could have taken, had he been playing for keeps, not lost in the fantasy of an apprentice’s peaceful journey to a fairy tale ending.
He already knew this was one of those stories that would end in a river of blood.
“I will never let myself be caught so off guard again.”
“Good,” said the fox, lips quirking into a wry smile. “But without even a single meridian gateway opened, you’re still a dead man, no matter what else you do.” His gaze hardened. “You are not permitted to leave the Liu family compound until you have cleared your First Meridian Gateway. Understood?”
Alex blinked and nodded before finding himself deep in another dream, one where Liu Li was dressed in a beautiful silk cheongsam with her ebony locks finally allowed to hang free, an ebony waterfall cascading down her back, her pert little fox ears at last free of all concealment or constraint as she desperately tried to coax Alex into eating.
He smiled in his dream, boldly reaching out to stroke a surprised Liu Li’s frost-tipped ears. “They really are quite beautiful, you know. And you look just like her, by the way. I’ll bet you match her father’s affinities perfectly. You have four, right? And I bet they don’t all fit the standard five element paradigm, for all that you preach it like everyone else here.”
Liu Li’s expression was as shocked as it had ever been in real life, caught between outrage and wonder, and Alex couldn’t help but laugh as she finally found her voice.
“Who do I look like?”
Alex grinned. “Silver Fox’s daughter, of course. The lady who saved this city a thousand years ago. Beloved daughter of Qing Bai and the god who got me into this mess. Who else? Though her eyes were silver, and yours are a perfect jade green. But sometimes I can see the silver sheen when we spar, or when the morning light catches your gaze.”
Liu Li’s outraged expression turned into a sad smile. “Lady Jin Yu. She’s the reason why all noble fox ladies are revered, said to possess her spirit, even as the rest of us are scorned, said to be cursed by our ultimate father’s rebellious ways. If only your story were true, Alex, I could look in the mirror and smile at the girl gazing back at me.”
Alex grinned. “It is. I adore you far too much to ever lie to you. Not that it matters what you believe, since this is just a dream. But if this were real...”
Her eyes widened as he winked, before drifting off to dream of the library once more, training by Silver Fox’s side as he did his best to teach Alex the secrets of the Dual Path Purification techniques, explaining that even though he couldn’t cultivate in his actual storage ring without a source of spiritual energy, since this was just a dream of his ring, it should work wonders for speeding up his healing.
“Excellent. You are finally mastering my techniques! Soon you’ll be ready to properly savor all those ancient trapped souls that have been begging for release for centuries!”
Alex grinned. “My mastery of the Dual-Path Purification technique has finally hit 85% efficiency! I’ve gone up ten full percentage points, hovering between life and death with a cracked skull these past few d
ays.”
WiFu gave an approving nod. “My technique is the only reason why you’re still alive. Lai Wei was paid good money to hunt you down, and was promised a bonus if he could force Liu Jian to flee the city or kill someone close to him. Your master was burdened with a number of fake orders designed to put you in the area Lai Wei was patrolling. Yet he fears the Jianghu sect, which even his father respects, so for all his bluster, he didn’t dare cut your throat outright. So he settled for ‘accidentally’ striking you too hard, expertly enough he could easily claim that intimidation, not malice, had been his goal. He would have paid the Jianghu blood price for accidentally killing a favored servant without batting an eye. With his father’s clout, he might not even have to pay an official fine. And their ugly scheme would have worked, had you not had such a wonderful mentor by your side.”
Alex clenched his fists. “I can’t wait for a rematch. I’ll make that bastard pay. And who was pulling his strings?”
Silver Fox winked. “All in good time, my young friend. Vengeance is well and good, but it’s a foolish cub who dares to hunt game beyond his strength. And you threw little Liu Li for a loop, as bold as the fox claiming his hen.” He flashed a wicked grin. “I think you two would make a lovely pair.”
Alex flushed. “I don’t think that’s exactly in the cards.”
Silver Fox nodded. “It is highly unlikely. Destiny has different paths planned for you both. It would be a move worthy of me if you could steal her card from Fate's hand, however. But even so, you have it within you to grant her a great boon, as you yourself figured out in your dream that wasn’t a dream.”
Alex frowned at that, not quite sure what his patron god was hinting at.
WiFu rolled his eyes. “Never mind that. A rule was bent, so I may bend one in turn, but only one more hint am I allowed to give you. So choose, child forged of Earth and the Golden Realms both. Is love or power the path you would take?”
Alex winced, suddenly on the spot. He knew the ideal everyone was supposed to have in their hearts, the noble cause, the noble spirit. But as he had overheard Liu Jian and his daughter confess, that in this harsh world, strength was everything.
What good was finding the perfect angel and one’s destined bride, if a powerful cultivator could rip her free of your arms before sending you spiraling to hell?
“Strength,” he said at last. “So, I can be strong enough to make a difference in this world, or at least protect myself and the girl I might one day love from tyrannical cultivators like that vile Lai Wei. If I can prove myself worthy of the Dual Path, I can protect the ones I love, even if it takes me a lifetime to find the girl I’m destined to be with.”
WiFu flashed a cold grin of approval. “Good choice, little fox. If you are powerful enough to intimidate even a mastiff, all the chickens in the coup are yours.”
He tapped Alex between his temples. “Though for you it was no more real than a dream, scores of duels had been held over your tomb, using combinations of affinities and techniques never witnessed outside of those matches, all for the rights to cultivate on land so incredibly rich with the spiritual energies of Heaven and Earth, inspired as you were by insights that allowed you to synergize two Divine Paths into one, for all that it took you a thousand years to do so. And the sacred land above your tomb is no less potent today than it was at the height of your rapture and torment.”
His patron snorted. “It’s amazing what one mortal soul can do, trapped between life and death for a thousand years, your tortured spirit left wide open to the mysteries of creation and destruction in all their glory. I would never have the patience for that.”
WiFu flashed a wicked grin. “I’d happily let my disciple embrace that burden instead, penning all the delicious insights dribbling from his mind.
“But don’t think I’m ungrateful. How, after all, do you think I was able to forge those tomes that suit you and so many of my daughters so perfectly? Except for the eight elemental affinities part. That piece of the puzzle you'll have to figure out on your own, with the single hint I’ve already given you.”
Alex blinked. “I hardly remember it like that.”
WiFu rolled his eyes. “Of course not. You’re mortal. But rest assured, your soul was caught somewhere between eternal bliss and torment, howling with insights and agony. If you ever wake up screaming in a cold sweat, you’ll know why. Of course, now that you are finally cultivating properly, you can channel all of those blockages to good use.”
Alex blinked. “Wait… what I endured, that’s why my meridian gates are larger than normal?”
Silver Fox snorted. “Larger than normal. That’s one way of putting it. For your mortal body to be capable of walking a Divine Path, rules had to be bent, tweaks made. Perhaps a few of Destiny’s strictures were brushed aside, and your exquisite suffering was the price to be paid for admittance upon the path you now walk.”
Alex shivered. “Thank God I don’t remember any pain, then.”
WiFu smirked. “You’re welcome. And a tormented soul never remembers his anguish in the next life, for when he rises as a newborn once more, his penance has already been paid.”
Alex blinked. “But I’m, still, well, me. Seventeen. Or is it eighteen, now?”
WiFu waved his words away. “1018, to be precise, but why quibble over details? Like I said, a few strictures were bent for the greater good. Now it’s time for you rest, Alex, and enjoy a wonderfully awkward conversation once you wake up.”
Alex blinked. “But wait, there are so many questions I wanted to ask you...”
He swallowed his own words as Silver Fox’s genial expression suddenly turned hard and cold.
Alex quickly bowed his head, feeling an icy shiver racing down his spine. “Forgive me, Lord Silver Fox. I meant no disrespect!”
He heard a quiet sigh.
“I’m not going to bite your head off for being a silly cub, Alex. Now I have already said far more than I should. Goodnight.”
10
It wasn’t until the next morning when he saw Liu Li frowning down at him, hair carefully done up once more, that he wondered if the night before had been anything other than a dream.
“Hi,” he managed, rubbing his eyes, noting how hard she was staring at him. “Um… is everything okay?”
“Your hair.”
Alex blinked. “What about my hair?”
Liu Li furrowed her brow, jade green eyes flashing.
“Do you remember anything?”
Alex blinked. “What, exactly, should I be remembering?”
“I don’t know, the fact that you came damn close to dying? Or that you touched my… oh, God, I can’t believe you did that!”
Alex felt his cheeks blaze with sudden embarrassment, wondering how much of what he had thought was a dream wasn’t.
“… or about how that bastard Lai Wei actually dared to scalp you? People call him a genius, but really, he’s a monster!”
Alex smirked. “Now that sounds like a line straight out of my favorite Wuxia novel.”
Hard eyes glared into his own. “You think this is all a fairy tale? If I hadn’t spent the last week trying to nurse you back from the brink of death, I would beat you silly!”
Alex lowered his gaze. “I’m sorry about… you know. It’s just, I thought I was dreaming and I—”
She sighed. “You were under the influence of multiple tinctures and compresses. You really weren’t in your right mind. I know, Alex. It’s okay.”
She braved a smile. “Actually, Father thinks you might have had a breakthrough, or at least, an insight worthy of a cultivator. Whatever odd breathing technique you were using, you seemed to be cultivating in some way that boosted your vitality sufficient to get over the worst of it. That bastard sent bone fragments into your brain! Frankly, it’s a miracle you aren’t a vegetable right now.”
Alex paled, horrified by those words. “If I didn’t have the Complete Healing perk, I guess I would be. But after a thousand years spent meditating o
n the edge of death, I guess my body and soul can pull back from the brink in better shape than most people can.”
Jade green eyes gazed sadly into his own. "For someone with ten centuries' worth of wisdom, you're very good at acting like a seventeen-year-old idiot."
Alex grinned. “Because I’m that too. Honestly, I might joke about it, but the entire time I was dreaming of, well, cultivation insights, I guess you could say, it was only a thousand breaths long to my mind. An endless restless night I finally woke up from.”
“Odd dreams aside, I’m glad you woke up no more of an idiot than you were before. And don’t even think you’re going out on any more drop-offs. Broken Fang’s taking up your old route.”
Alex’s eyes widened. “Really.”
She nodded. "Really. He's actually not such a bad sort. He has a soft spot for old ladies, and for some reason, they warm up to him like a wayward grandson they hope to reform. He was actually angry that Lai Wei had dared to scalp you, when, as far as he was concerned, you were now under Jianghu protection. I think Father was charmed enough he actually agreed to help Broken Fang, and now the guy’s treating Father like his beloved master.” She sighed. “Hopefully he’ll be able to break into the next rank soon, finally clearing his third meridian and thus become strong enough to walk the High Road and join the Royal Army and make something of himself. That’s what Father’s hoping for, anyway.”
Alex smiled, feeling strangely pleased. “Well, good for him, then. I guess I don’t hate Broken Fang anymore, if he’s turning over a new leaf.”
Then he thought of Lai Wei’s mocking smirk after shattering Alex’s ribs, the way his mouth had stretched in a feral grin when his dao had sliced through the air, doing his best to sentence Alex to a slow, humiliating death.
He clenched his fists, burning with a hunger for vengeance.
Liu Li’s eyes widened. “What’s with the killing aura?”
Alex winced, grimacing in apology. “I’m sorry. I was just thinking of Lai Wei.”
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reborn: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 1 Page 18
