Hao Chan nodded, eyes bright with excitement, neither of them touched by the slightest trace of fatigue after their terrible battle the night before. “And best of all, Alex, I finally did it! Thanks to your lessons and the Qi flowing through me, I can finally sense the dangerous flaws in my former master’s techniques! I understand what he failed to teach. Best of all, with each breakthrough, I can see so clearly what was missing!” She chuckled throatily. “You gave me all the missing tools I needed. You gave me back my wings! With the knee and shin strikes you taught me flowing so well into spinning heel kicks not even you see coming, finally feeling the flow of Water and Steel through arms now able to send my opponents tumbling, or redirect any strike with forearm or polearm, like currents guiding tridents away from their targets, I now feel no shame in my art.”
Alex’s eyes widened when he sensed how true her words were.
Soul Sight perception check made! Spiritual Teacher check made. Your pupil now understands and compensates for the flaws inherent in Clipped Wings kung fu. Limitations transcended. Core techniques discovered. Hao Chan has achieved Rank 5 in Silver Swan kung fu.
You have aided one cultivator in transcending the limits of Flawed Technique.
You have aided one cultivator in transcending the limits of Rank: Adept status achieved in Silver-Ranked style by non-ranked cultivator.
Spiritual Teacher Rank 4 achieved!
“When you fought with the spear, you hardly even thrust with it, but it barely seemed to matter! You just, well...”
“Incorporated it into my technique?” She nodded. “That’s one useful thing my master taught me, though before now it had always been the motions of a, well, performer’s dance. But the lessons you gave Hao Yin and I let it all click into place. And the inspiration I felt, watching you dance the killing dance of the spear and fangtian ji against spirit wolves, boars, and bulls? Well, let’s just say it let me see everything in a whole new, wonderful light. And my spear use is, in some ways, so much simpler than yours. Save for straight thrusts at maximum range like any good infantryman knows how to do, I use it for parrying, trapping weapons, and disrupting attacks.”
Alex nodded, now understanding perfectly. “You ward with your arms and kill with your feet. A shortspear like the boar spear you used, or even just a staff, would be perfect for you, using it to clear the path before unleashing your incredible kicks.” Alex couldn’t help grinning. “It’s really nothing like Golden Realms kung fu, save for the lunging at maximum range part. But the rest of it? Totally suits your style. No doubt. Just don’t ever try to use the long spear for those maneuvers. Parrying with those beasts is a different matter entirely.”
She grinned back. “A short staff or spear is best. I know. Longer spears work best with the military style you were taught. But last night? Heavens know I was inspired!”
Alex couldn’t help nodding in agreement, feeling inspired himself as their grand carriage made its way through the central boulevard of the magnificent city springing to life all around them, the many-tiered pagodas, gardens, and brilliant bronze domes of grand buildings comprised of graceful lines and curves glowing in the waning afternoon light all served to captivate his senses. The crowd comprised of swirling, bustling people wearing a riot of silk, cloth, and color, so many women with their hair wrapped in tight buns with pins of silver, others with their glossy manes secured in elegantly knotted ponytails, their cheongsams adorned with fluttering pieces of cotton or silk attached at the hem, or wearing long gowns or loose flowing pants that went to the tips of their sandals or boots. Often the attire was paired with short silk coats, many women holding the hands of, or outright carrying, small children looking upwards at their wagon in awe.
The men were more uniform in their attire. A few scholarly robes or silken shirts paired with vests could be seen, but most wore changshans that looked very much like the collared jackets in some of his favorite kung fu movies last seen a lifetime, or perhaps lifetimes, ago. They were paired with either loose, flowing pants or fabric that tightly hugged hips and calves, boots more common than sandals, but both in evidence.
And darting between the finery of scholars, merchants, and the well-to-do were any number of men donning far simpler attire, the plainest of robes and tunics, though their smiles were brilliant as they tried to hawk wares to the steady flood of merchants and travelers that were the lifeblood of this magnificent city.
All this Alex experienced, feeling not unlike a tourist arriving at a new country as Hao Lin gently clicked at the mounts he so masterfully controlled.
Of course, Alex had been a resident of Yidushi before. But he had arrived by magic, or perhaps the harbor, and had left by the High Road. He had never made his way to the Merchant’s Gate before, their group and scores of others having just made their way through the city gates at a sedate pace matching far smaller carriages, wagons, and grander trains still.
Belatedly, Alex recalled that this massive city comprised ten million souls, so it made sense that traffic flowed unimpeded past the raised city gate and into the central boulevard serving almost like an artery. Though he still found it strange that no guard had even bothered checking theirs or any other trade wagon or carriage, not even a cursory contraband check, merely waving everyone through.
Then he shook his head, chuckling ruefully. It wasn’t strange at all. He was thinking in terms of small, walled-off European villages and towns with only tens of thousands of citizens, or the surly or pugnacious guards he would encounter so often in what had once been his most favorite of all games.
This was a different world entirely with heavenly Qi filling the world with endless bountiful crops and spirit beasts that would kill you as soon as look at you.
A very different world than his own. Though there were numerous villages filled with daring, hardy folk, most people gathered in the massive cities for comfort, culture, and protection from spirit beasts, and perhaps slavers as well. Thanks to apothecaries, bountiful nutritious food, gifted cultivators, and clean water and sewage systems, the massive cities of this world avoided the shrinking populations that had been the bane of most larger cities on Earth until just a couple centuries ago.
Yet no matter how bountiful the crops or clean the city, when you had ten million souls to feed, one didn’t interrupt the flow of commerce for any reason. One didn’t dare.
Hao Chan flashed a thoughtful smile as they made their sedate way to one of a massive series of warehouses in the quadrant of the city closest to the grand central market, Chan and Yin and Alex sitting comfortably atop the wagon, for all that the trappings of a training ring, even the extra reinforced flooring he had put down to protect against all their flips and throws, were already safely stored inside his ring, had been when they had first caught sight of the city, and in less time than it had taken Chan and Yin to take seats beside Hao Lin, all of them laughing and promising not to look, and by the time they had turned around, there had been nothing to see but a grinning Alex smiling back at them.
“You look lost in thought, Alex,” Hao Chan said, leaving him momentarily speechless, captivated as he was by her questioning gaze, as if she could peer right into his heart. Which was strange, considering all the times he had stared her down, taking her measure over dozens, no, hundreds of bouts. “How are you?”
Alex swallowed, meeting her gaze. “Just wondering what will happen next, and if I will ever see you again.”
He blinked as Hao Yin blushed, gaze flickering between them as she fiddled with her muffin cap, the graceful fox ears she had reveled in freeing once she had trusted Alex now hidden from view once more.
The cap seemed an odd article of clothing for this era, so reminiscent of Renaissance Fairs a world away, but he had seen them donned by numerous elegantly dressed women in the crowd below. At first it had seemed a conscious fashion choice that somehow worked perfectly with their eastern attire, but he suddenly wondered how many hats, both eastern and western by Earth norms, were in fact hiding their kits
une wearers in plain sight.
Alex shook away the stray thoughts, still surprised by the words uttered by his lips.
Hao Chan favored him with the warmest of smiles. “I certainly hope we will, Alex. It’s only thanks to your timely rescue and all you have done to aid us in our time of need that we have made it this far. And it’s only thanks to your wonderful instruction, offering to be my sparring partner for the entire time we journeyed together, that I have any hope of making it through the trials at all.”
She took another deep, steadying breath, pushing sudden nervousness away. “With the blessings of good fortune, if the fates are kind, I will be attending Dragon Academy, where I will probably be staying for years.”
She flashed a teasing grin. “I can only hope for instructors half so insightful, competent, and thoughtful as you have been, while I was training my heart out with you these last four glorious weeks!”
Alex swallowed as she solemnly clasped his hand, bowing low before him. “This one thanks you from the bottom of her heart for all you have done for her. Should the tides of fate and fortune ever see me at the helm of Father’s enterprise, please know that you will always have a place by my side.”
Alex flushed, caught like a deer by the intensity of her gaze. A soft hand raised to clasp his chin for just a heartbeat, before she lowered it once more. “I mean it, Alex. Wherever life takes you… I hope you won’t forget me.”
Alex swallowed. “Not a chance of that,” he assured her.
She flashed an impish smile. “Then wait for me. I’ll ascend the ranks of cultivation in record time. I’ll become Silver no matter what it takes, even if I must ascend past a million other souls. And then...”
“And then you can marry her!” Hao Yin squealed, before covering her mouth with both hands, gazing at the pair in horror.
Alex and Hao Chan exchanged awkward laughter at that.
“It’s a journey that will take me years, little cousin,” Hao Chan softly reminded. “You too. You’re attending with me, remember? With the blessings of a noble lady’s privilege. The best way for a kitsune to attend.”
“The only way,” Hao Yin wryly noted, her intent gaze making it clear that even if she sometimes played the naive lass, she was wise enough where it mattered.
Her cousin nodded solemnly, refusing to disagree. She squeezed Alex’s hand, gazing up at him with her soft amber eyes, and Alex swallowed, unable to deny that with her exquisite features, flawless skin, the amber-gold sunlight giving her light bronze complexion a burnished glow, she looked positively breathtaking.
He felt his cheeks flush, heart racing at a mad clip, feeling like he was gazing upon a priceless treasure.
One he hungered for even now.
He flushed and lowered his gaze to Hao Chan’s sad chuckle.
“Don’t worry, Alex. I won’t ask you to wait endless years for the foolish girl who actually dares to think she has a hope of reaching Silver. That I can count you friend and confidant, that is enough. More than enough.”
Alex grinned, blinking away the hot sting in his eyes, giving her a fierce hug even as he fought the warring tides within him. “I love you, kung fu sister.”
Her throaty chuckles sent shivers down his spine. “I love you too, kung fu brother.”
26
At last they stopped before the entrance to the massive, gated warehouse, a pair of men wearing what Alex took to be house uniforms and a pair of dao at their sashed waists immediately opening the gate and bowing as Hao Lin urged the massive horses to a stop and Hao Zei jerked open the carriage door, wearing what looked to be his finest robes, bringing nothing else with him save his enchanted chest with the innocuous-looking lock that now glowed evilly to Alex’s growing Qi Perception even from here, and started barking orders at his men.
“You fools have loafed about on my coin long enough! You know where all my goods are kept, so get unpacking! Now where’s Gong Lan? Your supervisor should be here ready to attend me at a moment’s notice!”
One of the men bowed deferentially at the waist. “This one apologizes, esteemed master merchant, but our supervisor has been attempting to secure supplies at as favorable a rate as possible as our reserves have fallen to almost nothing, and we will soon be completely out of stock.”
Hao Zei clenched his meaty fists, simmering with obvious rage. “What? That’s impossible. We should have months’ worth of supplies. Months!”
Both men bowed in unison, a tremble in their voices. “We are sorry, master. We did our best to prioritize our orders and secure what we could. We swear it!”
Hao Zei’s gaze hardened. “What are you hiding from me, fools? You’d best tell me, or a whipping will be the least of your concerns!”
The shorter man blanched and swallowed, but said nothing.
The taller shook with a terror that chilled Alex to see in an employee… as if he feared the executioner’s block, not simply getting fired.
“Please forgive us, master, it was out of our hands. We dared not offend the orders of he who rules when you are away!”
Hao Zei’s eyes widened. Then he snarled. “We’ll discuss this later. Don’t you fools think this is over for a moment! We will go over every purchase made, every expenditure accrued, and if I find a single copper penny out of place that he didn’t authorize...”
“We wouldn’t dare, master!” one of the men breathlessly assured him.
“We will see about that soon enough. Now don’t say another damned word! Just get my city carriage ready immediately!” he snapped, the pair of men hurrying to obey.
Hao Chan’s eyes widened. “Father, is everything alright?”
Her father immediately snapped his head around to the rooftop of the massive carriage, fury of moments before gone as if it had never been. “Of course, my dear! We arrived at the city successfully, and everything is as it should be. Now how about you change into your performance attire. We will be leaving for the temple immediately, and it will soon be time for you to give your demonstration!”
Hao Chan gave an enthusiastic nod. “I can’t wait, Father!” Not hesitating a moment to leap adroitly to the cobblestones below, bouncing to the carriage that the pair of assistants had the sense not to unpack yet, under Hao Zei’s glare. Alex couldn’t help frowning at how excited and at ease Hao Chan seemed. And Hao Zei was now favoring her with the most indulgent of smiles, an impassive Sun Sun standing by his side as she darted inside the wagon.
Hao Chan acted without a care in the world. As if she and the others hadn’t done everything they could to avoid catching the gazes of merchant and manservant for the couple weeks, as if her father hadn’t been stepping along very dark paths even she had started to sense, just knowing to intervene before the man could trap Alex in a bargain he had sensed would have been very bad indeed.
But now? Everyone was acting as if the suspicion, threat, and ever-growing potency they had all sensed from each other had been no more real than a dream.
And when a concerned Alex glanced down at the doorway his friend had so blithely entered… he sensed no dark miasma. He sensed nothing untoward at all.
Hao Zei’s brows furrowed, catching sight of Alex. “You. Stay up there. I’ll call you when it’s time.”
Alex blinked, quickly slipping into the passive role the man no doubt expected. As if the last three weeks hadn’t even happened.
“Of course, master merchant,” he said, as Hao Zei snorted and shook his head, muttering about boys being boys, as if Alex were an amusing wayward guard, not someone he had seemed to despise just days ago, while simultaneously letting Alex sleep upon the carriage rooftop beside his daughter for the past three weeks with nothing but a pair of cousins for chaperones.
It was, when Alex actually thought about it, beyond strange. But then again, when had anything truly made sense since he had first been cryogenically frozen into a popsicle either one or a thousand years ago?
And a heartbeat later, when a young powerful baritone voice addressed the
merchant who immediately turned to answer, Alex was infinitely grateful he had done just what the merchant had requested as an icy chill raced down that spine.
He recognized that voice.
For all that he had been gasping in agony, scalped by a mad sadist who despised Alex’s race and would see him dead for daring to defy the youth, Alex still remembered with pristine clarity the laughter and mockery as well as the booted toes of the young cultivators who had accompanied the one who had scalped Alex and left him to die those many months ago.
It wasn’t the voice of Lai Wei, the despicable bully who was a half-step from or perhaps had already achieved Bronze rank cultivation status and looked every inch the arrogant noble that he was. But it was definitely one of the students who had been by his side, and not one of the few who had thought Lai Wei had gone too far.
No. The arrogant voice even now trying to justify to his father the dip in warehouse supplies was one of the ones who had been egging Lai Wei on.
Alex put fingers over lips as he caught sight of Hao Yin also lying instinctively flat against the carriage rooftop, her wry smile making it clear that of course she was not going to be stupid enough to draw attention to herself, though an anxious look into her soft brown eyes made Alex think of a caged animal desperate to be free.
He tried to flash her a reassuring smile before daring a quick peek… catching site of a powerfully-built youth with saturnine features and a brooding gaze, though where the father’s face and body were packed with fat, the son was powerfully built with his hair cut close to his scalp and muscles that strained against his short sleeved jacket, biceps bulging as he crossed his arms and glared down at his father.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reforged: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 2 Page 33
