For endless moments he just stood there, perfectly still.
Normally, now would be the time for a change in shift, Sun Sun taking over for Li, which amounted to circling around the encampment once before plopping himself before the fire and actually cultivating, if Alex hadn’t been mistaken about the sudden flux of Earthly energy he had witnessed the few times he had stayed up this late, memorizing the guard’s patterns. Still, he hadn’t once thought to look above his head, let alone to where Alex had perched above him in the trees those previous nights, spying down upon the camp in perfect stillness.
But tonight, there was no change in guard.
Just midnight gloom, the fire allowed to die to embers as the youths slept in the locked coach and the guards were lost in deepest slumber around the dying embers of their fire.
Slowly, carefully, Alex lowered himself to the back of the wagon, and with the most cautious of slits where the fabric crumpled against the frame, he slowly opened it enough to peer inside, allowing his eyes to adjust and make out the objects his Qi Perception had already placed.
Hao Zei slept upon a silk-lined mattress he had manage to fit atop the crates and barrels filled with precious trade goods, snoring deeply without a care in the world it seemed, with his tent flap open wide as if to catch the evening breeze. Then Alex’s eyes widened as his Artificer and Qi Perception made out a netlike structure of silvery shimmering Qi, no doubt invisible to the naked eye, that guarded the front of the wagon from intruders.
The greedy merchant had a spiritual treasure of some sort, it must be. Unless he himself had cast that odd Qi ward of elements Alex couldn’t quite determine, though he wasn’t so much of a fool that he’d actually risk triggering the trap to find out.
Instead he let his eyes roam the wagon, until at last they alit upon that which he most wanted to see.
A small metal chest that looked perfectly innocuous, save for the faint glow around the lock that Alex’s Qi Perception picked up.
And somehow he knew that the answers he sought, all the dark secrets he feared, could be found within.
Heart racing, he carefully considered his situation, shifting his weight so carefully between hands and feet, wearing nothing more than the exquisite attire Silver Fox had left him when first he had entered this world, absolutely perfect for the skulduggery he was embracing, his toes all but feeling the grain of the boxes he scurried along, so exquisite was the quality of the leather shoes his patron had left him.
And when the bloated merchant abruptly snorted and turned over, Alex froze for endless racing heartbeats, debating whether or not he should just flip back into his ring when the man’s restless murmurs softened into true sleep once more.
Alex, throat bone dry and doing all he could to ignore the sweat dripping into his eyes, crept so close to the merchant that he could feel the man’s body heat, the chest finally before him.
But Alex was no fool.
He flashed a rueful smile, thinking of how much trouble he was embracing with this burst of madness before the faintest touch of the ring against the metal chest caused it to vanish, Alex disappearing just a heartbeat later.
And Alex couldn’t help grinning with a certain amount of cold satisfaction. The moment he had placed his finger upon that metal container and felt its presence, its mass, was the moment he could claim it, transporting it and himself into a miniature storage world where he essentially made the rules.
He proceeded to examine the object within what was now his apothecary and all around muck-about lab that he had imagined into being inside his ring, looking like a cross between Liu Jian’s apothecary and the science labs in his old high school, complete with marble counters resistant to most caustic compounds, and the ability to summon fields of force by will alone, should anything truly untoward occur.
And with such precautions in place, he opened his senses to the utmost, allowing his psyche to sink into the complex weave of Qi used to manufacture this artifact.
Artificer check made!
And what he sensed as his mind raced along currents of Fire and Metal Qi turning dark, twisted, and corroded, truly sickened him. He already knew his gifts gave him surprising advantages, but his unique way of using them to overcome the limits of his rank also had their limits. He sensed cords of Qi resonating at frequencies alien to his gifts, but recalled Lady Jin Yu’s unique cultivation matrix, the cords of Fate and Shadow as well as Wood being her domain, and the shimmering cords of Fate, tied to Wood, Fire, and raw corruption, were all twisted into this artifact.
His blood ran cold, knowing it could mean only one thing.
He shook his head, realizing his instinctive abhorrence for a certain simpering individual had been spot on. And as much as he instantly despised the artifact with its endless cords of tortured Qi that seemed to squirm like a thousand maggots to his Qi Perception, he was more troubled than ever.
Sensing, somehow, that terrible secrets were kept within, sealed with a lock for which he had no key, before flashing a dark smile, knowing there was one key that trumped all others.
And Alex froze, heartbeats before touching the tainted artifact.
If it worked perfectly, his Dark Qi would corrode crucial links that would short out the artifact without triggering any unexpected Qi surges he would have to drain away, making it clear to anyone and everyone that the object had been tampered with. And that was the best-case scenario. More than likely it would result in a surge of released Qi that he would have to ground.
Alex froze at the thought of wild, tainted Fate Qi, Qi which he had absolutely no understanding of, or resistance to, flooding through his body.
Qi which he sensed could destroy him utterly, doom him in ways that transcended a single lifetime, even.
Heart hammering with sudden cold dread, Alex slowly backed away from the terrible artifact, finally realizing just how perilous a game he was playing.
Perhaps there was a better way.
Being extremely careful not to even jostle the internal matrix, using his gifts to feel out the weft and weave of the Qi flows without affecting them in the slightest was an anxious business.
Instinctively, he did his best to sense the underlying structure of the artifact before him, seeking to sense its shape, the natural flows of Qi within it, and how, perhaps, one might redirect the Qi as a whole, should the fragile, delicate matrix be disturbed.
Artificer skill check made! Find Weakness (Artifact) skill check made!
Alex was chilled to the quick to finally deduce its purpose.
It was a trap.
And upon closer examination, the path of both diffusing the trap and revealing the prizes were one and the same.
It needed a key. Any key could be put in, the pin and tumbler configuration was actually quite crude, requiring only two teeth lining up with the pins to unlock the prize.
But any key inserted would be flooded with the damning curse within.
Alex frowned.
No wonder the unspeakably greedy and penurious Hao Zei was content to leave this metal chest exposed in a wagon guarded by nothing more than canvas. Any thief who dared to pick or force open the lock would instantly be hit with whatever dark trap guarded the prizes held within this artifact.
A trap that would only be grounded if one used a very special key to twist open the lock. A key that Alex had no doubt Hao Zei kept very close to his oily person.
Alex spent long moments glaring at the chest, more eager than ever to discover the secrets within, but knowing as well that there was no way he would be able to claim that oily merchant’s key without spilling blood.
And what kind of monster would that make him?
He gave an angry shake of his head. No matter his suspicions, all he knew for sure was that he had rescued a conniving, penny-pinching merchant without a grateful bone in his body.
But that didn’t make him a criminal. It didn’t make him a monster.
And if Alex were to strike him down just because the man had rub
bed him the wrong way, just because Alex wanted the treasures locked within his artifact, what would that make him?
Alex winced, suddenly ashamed of what he was doing.
He shook his head, chuckling ruefully at the magical chest. “With how conniving he is, he could have gotten this anywhere. Who knows? Perhaps he had even gotten the best out of whatever infernal cultivator fashioned this ugly little thing.”
He prepared himself to pop back into the wagon, scurry back to his tree, get what rest he could, and resign himself to a long couple weeks before they finally reached Yidushi, for all that he knew that he would never get a second chance at uncovering the secrets buried in this expedition.
Knowing, no matter how he made things look in the morning, that he dare not try ever again to fool so conniving an enemy with the gambit he had this night.
Because somehow, those cold, soulless eyes would know.
Even if he didn’t know exactly why his head pounded and everyone would seem so groggy the next morning, he would know something unexpected had occurred. And he would take steps.
What those steps would be, exactly, Alex had absolutely no idea. But he surely didn’t want to find out.
With a rueful shake of his head, he prepared to return the chest to exactly where he had found it before, hoping he could blend in with everyone else the next morning.
Then his fingers stopped cold, just before touching the artifact.
He smiled, noting the Dark Qi gloves he had instinctively made for his hands, a protective layer between himself and this deadly prize that he could only hope to fashion here, in this divine treasure where he could bend so many rules, as long as he never took out more than what he had brought in. And his protective gloves, which he gazed at with a momentary flash of awe, having forged them purely by instinct, were a protective measure that was utterly and completely unnecessary.
The metal box was safe for anyone to handle, so long as they didn’t dare try to pick the lock.
As soon as he realized what he was doing, it suddenly took all of his concentration to hold onto the mental sense of the pair of Dark Qi gloves.
So of course he kept it up for some time, the practice serving as both a visualization exercise and a training focus, before finally relaxing his will, smiling as the black liquid flowed back to the spinning globe of Dark Qi whistling and whirling away like the dark anchors in a Skydragon game he had enjoyed playing a lifetime ago.
He frowned, returning his attention to the box. Now that he had gained an understanding of it after what felt like hours of intense study, he felt out the exact dimensions of the pin and tumbler configuration with his Qi Perception before taking a deep breath and willing by deliberate design what had been almost instinct before.
Willing a twin-toothed key of absolute darkness into existence.
A key of the precise dimensions needed to trip the lock.
Heart hammering with cold dread, knowing that if his hunch was wrong, he was about to pay an unthinkably awful price…
He inserted the key into the lock…
And turned.
He suddenly felt an incredible flood of violent caustic energy roaring through the hideously potent trap.
Where it was instantly grounded by the Qi of entropy and change, of catalyzation and motion. His Dark Qi was in full effect as the lock clicked harmlessly open.
He let out an explosive breath he hadn’t even realized he had been holding, hammering heart easing to a far saner pace, and gazed upon the prizes within.
16
Within he found several felt-lined pouches of silk, revealing brilliant silver, the rich burnished luster of gold, and more priceless treasures still.
Alex’s eyes widened and he gasped, pouring into his hands a shimmering fortune in precious coins. Each was round and polished to a shimmering gleam, save for exquisitely rendered busts of a general wearing a crown of lotuses on one side, and the proud head of an eagle on the other.
Within another bag was an assortment of heavy silver coins, each with the pristine stamp of a cluster of buildings representing a city, the name of the city it had been minted in stamped underneath, the reverse side etched with the image of two crossed spears and an eagle’s claw.
But what really sent his heart racing were the prizes in the third small felt-lined pouch, filled to the brim not with coins of gold but actual platinum, which he had only seen once in Master Liu Jian’s hands when Elder Ying, the leader of the Jianghu sect in Yidushi, was placing an order for twenty cultivation pills.
He swallowed through his suddenly-parched throat, recalling Liu Li’s offhand comments about what a silver coin was really worth, or how much gold would be needed if someone wanted to buy a cozy little house in some out-of-the-way nook near one of the better city neighborhoods, or how much it would cost for an up-and-coming apprentice to rent a hovel in one of the more rundown areas. Liu Li would only laugh off shared fantasies of one day owning a manor in the lord’s quarter of the city, though she had seemed particularly earnest when observing that there were actually some nice homes for purchase within the Ruidian district that he might be able to purchase for his future family, should he make it in life as a highly-valued Alchemist’s assistant.
Just from using his copper pennies purchasing any number of culinary delights in the food stalls he had loved, he knew each was worth roughly two dollars. He’d pin their worth at closer to five or ten, but he knew food was relatively cheap here, thanks to the lush, fecund land so rich in spiritual energies that allowed for bounties of crops and fattened livestock far beyond what any ancient culture of Earth could boast. Further, the inherent balance of Water, Wood, and Earth Qi in produce kept it from spoiling anywhere near as fast as it would on Earth, unless someone deliberately buried it in the soil once more.
A fat silver coin could purchase a sturdy workhorse, though perhaps not one of the giant monsters struggling with the wagons every day of this trip, and two could secure a man a well-bred Rouncey, able to race along the Trade Roads as fast as any steed. A half-silver would also buy a man a well-made spear, and a silver would secure a sturdy fangtian ji, hardened steel edges assuring it would bite through bronze or spirit hide with a powerful enough blow. Two silvers would buy a man a well-balanced dao or jian forged from the equivalent of spring-steel by a weaponsmith who cared about his work. And a full gold eagle would buy one a sword forged by a master smith that no noble would shirk from using on the battlefield.
A gold eagle would also buy a warhorse trained for battle, and three gold eagles would secure a man a full set of custom-fitted steel armor, the standard wear of all noble-born scions embracing the honor of fighting in the front ranks during their time in the Royal Army.
A double handful of gold could buy a man a modest-sized home anywhere in the merchant district, and the pouch brimming with platinum would, Alex suspected, be able to purchase him a luxurious, fully furnished home, complete with bath, sauna, and cultivation garden, even in the lord’s quarter. Not a palatial manor, of course. Few save lords of the city or highly-ranked cultivators with access to priceless spirit pearls would be able to afford anything so grand. To say nothing of all the expenses a laughing Liu Li had run by him when they were entertaining their silly fantasies.
But to secure the initial purchase of a distinguished home in the richest quarter of the city? The wealth before him would allow him to do just that.
His hands trembled at the fortune he now held, before slowly lowering the sacks back into the metal chest. It was an incredible fortune, perhaps representing a lifetime’s worth of trading, accrued one hard-fought silver at a time. And perhaps that amount of coinage could justify such a dark treasure being used to guard it, especially if the merchant in question knew that no one save him would ever be able to open it. And what well-to-do man wouldn’t secure his fortune as best he could?
It was Hao Zei’s wealth, not his. Alex had done nothing to earn it. Though he had performed that rescue…
He clench
ed his fists, somehow sensing that were he to steal coin for his good deed, he would be tainting both his conscience and his karma. And the former troubled him at least as much as the latter.
He had saved the Hao family because they had needed him, not expecting anything in return.
He refused to taint that virtue with the avarice now filling his veins. It was a hunger that suddenly made him think of Hao Zei’s glittering eyes, cavernous pits filled with never-ending need, and it sickened him for just a heartbeat. Just long enough to place all three silken bags exactly as they had been positioned in the safe, turning his attention to the true prizes within.
Qi Perception skill check made! Qi Artificer skill check made!
The bundle of scrolls, each secured with a neat bow of silk ribbons, several red, several soft blue, many others jet black, seemed almost to call out to him. He suddenly froze, his trembling fingers just inches away from claiming them, noting in that moment what should have been immediately obvious to him.
The ribbons were lined with an incredibly complex web of interwoven Qi strands and were far beyond his Artificer’s ability to decipher, let alone unwrap without unleashing whatever traps might lie in wait.
He froze, trying to think of a solution, before the obvious occurred to him. Each scroll was wrapped tightly about a capped wooden pin about one centimeter thick, and wrapped with a ribbon. The ribbons were a form of talisman he dared not unravel. He sensed that already. Yet they were tightly bound to the scrolls, and so would be impossible to slide free without tearing the document.
But this was his ring, where he could manipulate mundane objects pretty much as he pleased.
And he sensed no magic at all from the plain wooden pin the scroll was wrapped around.
And as for what he could accomplish in here… if he could apport armor off and on his body in a desperate heartbeat of time, he should have no trouble forcing the wooden pin to narrow and stretch, the caps slipping off so he could effortlessly slip the scroll free before using his mastery to spindle and wind the scroll tighter and tighter until the diameter had narrowed to the point the ribbon was ready to slip off.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reforged: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 2 Page 22
