Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reforged: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 2

by M. H. Johnson

  The man frowned, giving an angry shake of his head. “That… that’s not the dance Master Pitiao taught you. I’ve seen you dance before. You performed the dance perfectly before you met this Ruidian! This? You disappoint me, daughter.”

  Hao Chan’s cheeks flushed. She lowered her head.

  He flashed a placating smile for the elegant lady peering so thoughtfully at an embarrassed Hao Chan. “She knows the dance perfectly, Lady Laobao. I assure you! She’s had a less than perfect influence, but with the slightest touch of discipline, I know she would be overjoyed, more than overjoyed, to embrace the original dance once more. Embracing that, and all the other delightful variants you will no doubt show her!”

  Hao Zei’s grin showed too many teeth.

  But Lady Laobao paid him no mind, instead circling her prize, long lacquered fingernails caressing hips, thighs, and shoulders. The briefest of touches, Hao Chan too polite to shy away or even say a word in protest, only flinching slightly.

  The voluptuous cultivator frowned as she bent down to examine Hao Chan’s heels, insteps, and most especially her shins, before perhaps revealing far more of herself than she had intended as her dress rode up her legs, or by the bemused look her too-knowing eyes flashed Alex, as she had very much intended, at which point she gracefully rose to her feet once more, giving a thoughtful nod.

  “Her shins are rough and calloused. As are strike points at heels, knuckles, and the sides of her hands. Her limbs have all been toughened by a striking board, and all this no doubt brought to bear by a rogue mentor who cares nothing for a girl’s elegance, because her former master wouldn’t dare.”

  Laobao frowned at Alex, and he could feel his cheeks burn. “Finally, her hands are calloused for grappling, and a bit too square. Still, all that aside, she is a striking specimen. Absolutely striking!” She flashed a bemused smile, a lacquered finger gently raising Hao Chan’s chin, gazing into her eyes. “You will go far under my wing, child. For all your flaws, I like what I see.”

  Hao Chan blushed and smiled. “You do? I mean, I know I altered it. I was struck by so much inspiration during my trip, and I trained every single day until the movements were as natural as breathing, and I could just sense the gaps in the form Master Pitiao had taught me.”

  Lady Laobao gave her an indulgent chuckle. “Really! Are you telling me you had a breakthrough while traveling on a wagon? How very curious. Did you train with every guard?” She flashed a teasing wink. “Or did you embrace other dances to wile the wee hours away?”

  Hao Chan flushed beet red, adamantly shaking her head. “No, ma’am. I stayed true to my form. I know if I’m going to master Silver Swan, I have to stay pure until I at least hit Silver! As for guards, I only trained with my friend Alex.”

  She swallowed, her eyes widening, as if realizing she had said too much.

  But all her prospective mentor did was raise her gaze, violet eyes peering thoughtfully at Alex before she flashed the faintest of smiles. “How interesting. Your father tells me you were just about to make your third breakthrough in his correspondence with me. Have you truly cleared your third meridian channel so quickly?”

  Now Hao Chan flashed a confident, almost joyous grin. “No, Lady Laobao,” she said. Far from being disappointed, the woman’s smile actually grew.

  “I cleared my fifth!”

  Hao Zei and Lady Laobao both froze, peering carefully at Hao Chan.

  “That’s impossible,” Laobao said. “No matter that you were near your third breakthrough, to endure three within a month’s time, even if you had spent an absolute fortune in cultivation pills, would be near impossible without crumbling your foundation. But yours appears strong.”

  She closed her eyes, inhaling Hao Chan’s scent, smiling with obvious delight. “More than strong, your foundation is perfect! It has been a long time, a very long time, since I smelled anyone as innocent, pure, and potent as you, child.”

  She flashed a pleased smile, bowing her head at a suddenly exultant Hao Zei. “You were right. I concede the point. She is worth every penny.”

  Hao Chan furrowed her delicate brow, the bare skin revealed by her performance dress prickling with goosebumps in the cool breeze. “What do you mean by that?”

  “What I mean, dear, is that I absolutely adored your performance! I would dearly love the opportunity to take you under my wing and lead you upon a secret path that will lead to bliss and transcendence unlike anything you’ll ever learn at this pathetic excuse for an academy.”

  Alex deliberately shifted his gaze to a still-glowering Zhao Doushi, though the cultivator said not a word to contradict Laobao’s claim.

  Lady Laobao chuckled softly, her sensual gaze suddenly capturing Alex’s own. “Fear not, boy. That foolish man who plays the self-righteous cultivator until his hungers get the best of him cannot hear a word we say. Discretion is our watchword, lest you dare to cross us.”

  Alex’s eyes widened at that revelation, forced to wonder just how powerful this cultivator was. For all that she radiated a decadent sensuality so at odds with the spartan discipline he would have expected, Alex could sense the sweet corruption coiled within her. Far more than what any basic cultivator should be capable of. Perhaps more than most Bronzes as well. He wasn’t really sure. Yet Hao Chan had not reacted at all, the revelation just washing right over her, so excited she was to have earned her prospective master’s approval.

  “Really! A secret cultivation path? You’d be willing to teach me? Oh, that sounds fantastic!” Hao Chan said.

  “Wonderful!” enthused her soon-to-be master. “Now go grab that beautiful red-ribboned scroll your father’s holding out to you, and we will be on our way.”

  Hao Chan smiled and nodded, before stopping and frowning back at Lady Laobao. “Mistress?”

  “Yes, child?”

  “Is it okay if, well, I know it’s not my place to make requests as a novitiate, but would it be possible for my friend Alex to visit me… if he wanted to, that is?”

  Laobao gazed Alex’s way, flashing a bemused smile. “Once you have completed your basic training, nothing would please me more than seeing Alex or any other friend you have visiting you as often as they like,” she assured.

  Hao Zei flashed a beaming smile that never quite reached his eyes. “Wonderful news, wonderful! Now hurry up and take your scroll, daughter. You too, children. Very good. Now go take them over to our dear friend Zhao Doushi waiting so patiently by the gate. Ha ha, look at his expression as he is forced, I mean, eager to open the gate and accept your scrolls!”

  Alex’s heart raced, throat suddenly dry as an excited Hao Chan raced over to claim her scroll. As did both her cousins, elegantly tied lacy ribbons fluttering in the breeze.

  Until there was just one fine vellum scroll left, midnight black ribbon of finest silk fluttering in the breeze.

  “This one is for you, Alex,” said the merchant, flashing the widest of smiles as the siblings raced over to the gate just a few feet away, for all that the cultivator was frowning as the children gushed animatedly before the Silver guardian, though Alex couldn’t hear a word being said, the pair having crossed whatever barrier had silenced their words. “We have a had a fantastic conclusion to our shared venture together, and I am eager to see how you will profit with the boons before you!”

  Alex forced himself to take a deep, calming breath, flashing a smile that was just as sincere as the merchant’s own. “I think I’ll hold off on that, sir,” Alex said, thinking fast. “You and I still have a bet, remember? An entire purse of silver, if Hao Chan can excel in the trials and gain admittance to the academy. And it occurs to me that we haven’t actually witnessed Hao Chan fight at all.”

  The merchant’s oily smile turned to a contemptuous smirk. “A purse you lost by default, as my daughter has elected not to attend the trials at all!” He snorted. “Did you really think you could get the best of me, boy? Now take your scroll and be glad I’m willing to forgive your insufferable arrogance, sloth, and absol
ute disregard for my authority!” His eyes crackled with sudden heat. “Had you not proved yourself capable of at least an animal’s savagery, had you broken before the pitiful trials that did in your foolish fellow guards, I’d have you on the block this very moment!” The man roared, thrusting the scroll in Alex’s face… before stumbling forward, hundreds of hours of practice ingraining instant reflexes as Alex effortlessly dodged aside so adroitly he seemed simply to flow away by chance, the very moment the merchant had surged forward, eager to thrust his final scroll into Alex’s hands.

  Alex flashed a cold smile. “You were so eager to take that bet, already planning to have Hao Chan meet Lady Laobao before she even had a chance to attend the trials. I think that renders the bet null and void at the least. And that you would so eagerly connive to swindle the guard who rescued your caravan and saved your lives says more about you than anything else. Now I’ll take back my bag of silver and the payment you promised me, Hao Zei. The entire payment promised to the contingent of guards, as we had agreed, and I will be on my way. And I better not get anything but glowing referrals. Because I did get you back alive, facing extreme peril in doing so. That I’m the only guard who made it back, with your personal lackey Sun Sun hiding in the wagon with you during that last fight, is all the proof you need that I was worth every penny.”

  Lady Laobao’s melodious laughter washed over them. “Has that lad gotten the better of you, merchant?” She smirked Alex’s way. “Well played, boy. Few get the better of that trader, and once you get your bag of silver, I hope you will consider spending it on women who would delight in hearing all about your adventures traveling with such a colorful merchant as our dear Hao Zei.”

  Hao Chan frowned. “That sounds like a brothel.”

  Lady Laobao gave a throaty chuckle. “It does indeed, my darling. Of course, I refer only to the most exquisite of high-class brothels, where every night is an adventure in rapture and bliss for explorer and mistress both.”

  Hao Chan blinked, a look of confusion upon her features, as if unable to believe what she was hearing. “But shouldn’t that be discouraged for, well, cultivators?” she asked, before immediately flushing and glancing furtively Alex’s way, as if afraid she had said too much, as her would-be mistress’s laughter washed over her once more.

  Alex flashed her a sad smile, immediately forgiving her reveal, feeling a fierce sense of sorrow for the innocence about to be lost.

  But not innocence of the flesh, thankfully, but of the soul. Their opponents hadn’t secured their pieces quite as well as they had hoped.

  Lady Laobao gently tilted a questioning Hao Chan’s chin with a single lacquered finger. The girl shuddered at whatever she saw in the exotic woman’s gaze. “Why would I ever want to do that? And more importantly, why would you? We walk dark delicious paths together now, child, ascending to decadent heights of bliss that those fools stuck in bitter abstinence below can never hope to achieve. And what greater bliss, while walking along our Purple Path, than to share the heights of ecstasy with another?”

  “Wait.” Hao Chan shook her head, lips pressing in an anxious frown. “I don’t understand. What’s the Purple Path? I’ve never heard of that style of cultivation.”

  And like magic, the lady presented a small glass flask filled with a dark liquid that gave off the headiest and most decadent of aromas. Alex’s gut clenched as he recognized the odor, knowing it from the whiff he had caught from a certain dreamy-eyed young woman, dolled up for what could only be one profession, whom he had met at the end of his first day desperately hunting for a job, what now seemed like a lifetime ago.

  “Breathe deep, my darling, and savor the Path of the Poppy, her purple mauve petals promising exquisite delights which billions of desperate souls struggle every day of their lives to reach. A state of bliss and joy, free of all pain. A state which can be yours, to savor and embrace, as you delight in the exquisite rapture you will give and receive for many, many years to come.”

  Hao Chan froze, eyes widening with horror, understanding at last.

  She stumbled back, all her dancer’s grace gone. “No. Please, no. Not that. I never wanted that!”

  Lady Laobao gave a sad tsk and a shake of her head. “And why ever not, child? Why wouldn’t you want to savor delightful seas of rapture, knowing only the joy and laughter of your customers and your fellow sisters as you all strive to make each other’s most decadent fantasies a reality? You would never know pain, child, I promise you that.” She flashed a teasing smile. “Not unless you hungered for just a taste of it. Many girls do. It does make the sharp euphoria of ecstasy that much sweeter, after all.”

  Like a seductive serpent, she moved with fluid grace, flexing and strutting her lithe, muscular figure as she crouched down, smiling into Hao Chan’s terrified gaze. “I can all but taste your racing thoughts. That you’ve somehow fallen. Surrendered. Lost your way. Nothing could be further from the truth! You but walk a different path, now. A dual path. You have nothing to fear, child, I promise you!”

  She tilted her pristine features, gazing into Hao Chan’s eyes with surprising sympathy, softly rubbing her cheek. “What frightens you so, child? Share with Mother Laobao.”

  Hao Chan swallowed, as if desperate to find the words to stave off horrific doom.

  Alex clenched his fist at the dark chuckles just a foot away, the merchant having put aside his quarrel with Alex as he savored the horrific spectacle that was his daughter’s fate.

  “I’ve seen what happens...” the girl swallowed. “I’ve seen what happens to people who frequent opium dens. How they seem to wither away, youth and joy transforming to desperation and despair, slowly sacrificing everything they valued. Precious heirlooms, their family’s respect, their own dignity. And even those who manage to break free… they bear the scars for life. Their eyes always shifting, anxious, filled with a desperate need they can only hope will lessen over time. But it never truly goes away.” She choked out a sob. “Not even cultivators are immune. Even they… even they can fall. And even if they can find the strength to break free… they’re never the same!”

  “Your fears are valid, child,” Lady Laobao said, her gentle smile not flickering for a moment. “For those who dare the poppy without embracing the Purple Path! A journey promising transcendence and bliss without end, for those who learn and understand its delicious secrets. Secrets no mortal can hope to embrace!”

  Lush lips dyed a crimson so deep it was almost purple whispered into a Hao Chan’s ear. “Secrets which only those who walk my path have mastered. Secrets open even to the most basic of cultivators, so long as they can open even a single pair of meridian channels, no matter how malformed their gates might otherwise be.”

  She gently kissed Hao Chan’s surprised lips. “Secrets which I choose to share with you, as I do all the exquisite, sensual darlings possessing a beauty so striking, an elegance so refined, it will send spears of desire sharp enough to pierce even a magistrate’s iron-hard resolve. And that you’ve somehow gleaned insights transcendent enough to evolve your Clipped Wings kung fu to the Silver Swan style it was derived from, that you’ve actually managed to clear your fifth meridian gate in an inconceivably short period of time, tells me that you will ascend to heights undreamed, in pleasure and power both, once you embrace darkest nectar and savor all her mysteries.”

  With surprising speed, she uncorked the bottle, dipping her finger inside before rubbing her lacquered fingertip all over Hao Chan’s lips. “Can you feel the warm tingle? Sweetened with chocolate liqueur and orange zest, it is a delight to tongue and senses both.”

  For a heartbeat, her smile turned cold, calculating. “Does it soothe the ache you felt growing inside you? A nameless hunger that grew throughout the day? I commend your discipline, hiding it so well from me during your performance, but I know.”

  Hao Chan blinked in confusion. “What are you talking about?” she whispered.

  Her soon-to-be mistress smirked. “The special wine your ‘father�
� gave you every night, to help with sleep while on the road, and assure you the sweetest of dreams.” The mistress gave a throaty chuckle. “And that it certainly does. But I find our chocolate infusion to be best for our newest initiates, and worth a pretty penny, I promise you. But don’t worry. No matter how much you hunger for it, how much you crave to consume, you will never have to pay a single silver for any of it, so long as you remain under my care.”

  She gently clasped a stunned Hao Chan’s hand. “Now come, darling. I promise you we will begin with gentle indulgences first. A week of sweetest decadence and exploring the city with a sister who will become your closest companion while we initiate you into the basics of our art, and then sybaritic delights to savor and enjoy, one gentle step at a time, as you revel in sweetest adventure with the handsomest men in the city! Your crippling inhibitions will quickly melt away as you embrace a life filled with excitement, adventure, and sweetest ecstasy!”

  But Hao Chan, her face a mask of horror, refused to budge. “Wine? Was that what was in it? I was wondering why I felt so strangely peaceful every night.” Her cheeks flushed in shame. “Why I felt so off those first few days when I really started training, and Alex insisted we drink nothing but water.”

  Laobao frowned, peering coldly into Hao Chan’s trembling gaze, before glaring at Alex and Hao Zei both. “She bears no trace of poppy’s caress. How could you fail in something so basic, Hao Zei?”

  The merchant snorted. “Talk to the trouble-making brat interfering with the girl’s training from the moment we met! The first few days of our trip were easy enough, and I knew she was growing a taste for it.” He glared down at Alex, who stared coldly back.

  With every fiber of his being, he wanted to strike down the vile monster before him then and there. But since his goal was cultivation, not committing murder in the only city he knew in front of the very temple he hoped to attend… he forced himself to lower his gaze, no matter the hot fury coursing through him, his most horrific fears fully and utterly confirmed.