Alex flashed an icy smile. “So sure of that, are you? Perhaps you’re a lot clumsier than you thought. But I’m enjoying the dance. Shall we spar some more?” He clenched his fists tight, glorying in finally getting a clear sense of his opponent. With Qi shield and deadly spiritual whip in play, Alex had feared that charging right in and unleashing all his attacks would reveal all his cards to his greatest enemy, as well as leave him utterly exposed to vicious assaults by an attack he hardly understood, that his Soul Sight and Qi Perception couldn’t quite deduce.
But it had looked so familiar. He was almost able to taste what it reminded him of.
Then it clicked and he smiled, realizing exactly what he had to do to test his theory, cautiously, lest he get himself killed.
But he had been right.
It had been yet another Qi attack using a poison vector, only this time it was not a physical opioid laced with Dark Qi and the horrors of addiction which even the most powerful Silver might fall prey to, but a far more nimble vessel, Qi carried in a spiritual echo of venom which had the advantage of being able to pierce several types of cultivator wardings, and explained why alchemists were both revered and feared.
But such attacks also had a serious weakness.
Anyone able to process or synthesize poisons or biochemical compounds who could also cultivate were uniquely suited to countering those attacks.
Though Alex doubted he’d ever be completely immune, the fact that he was still upright and smiling, and not writhing on the ground, made it clear that he had already defied all expectations.
“No! I will not be mocked by the likes of you!” a now-furious Shu Yao roared, suddenly lunging forward, attacking all-out with his whip.
Like clockwork, Alex thought, already charging forward, seeing Shu Yao’s eyes widen as if in slow motion as Alex dropped down and whipped out with his right leg, instep slamming against his foe’s heel as he swept the startled cultivator off his feet.
Sweep kick strikes target! You have bruised your opponent’s left calf!
Alex glared down at the furious cultivator now screaming curses at him, actually having the gall to demand Lai Leng call off the fight and whip Alex as punishment for daring to strike a noble cultivator, as if the fool was oblivious to the true nature of their match. But he was least savvy enough to quickly raise his shield of Qi and curl up in a ball underneath it, for all that it had done nothing to save him from being sent flying off his feet by Hao Chan’s favorite sweep, one that Alex had taken as his own.
“You will not beat me, Ruidian worm, I will see you dead first!” the challenger roared from his back when it became clear by the head alchemist’s cold stare that he would receive no reprieves for this fight. His whip of Dragon Viper Venom was quickly replaced by scorching flame.
A caustic gout of fire that Alex easily dodged, the shield of force large enough to disrupt Shu Yao’s ability to hit Alex as much as it did Alex’s ability to strike him directly with his fists, so instead he lashed out with foot stomps and whipping kicks, pummeling the man’s legs when he could, savoring the satisfaction of shattering the Shu Yao’s nose the one moment he was vulnerable, suffering only light wounds in return as fire repeatedly grazed Alex’s side, scorching his flesh, searing his uniform, but not slowing his assault for a second.
You have struck Earth Shield. No damage penetrates!
You have struck Earth Shield. No damage penetrates!
You are unable to shift Earth Shield. Opponent is unable to shift Earth Shield!
And even as Alex dodged caustic flame, biding his time for his increasingly panicked, furious foe to make the single deadly miscalculation Alex hoped for, valuable secrets became his own.
He now understood the nature of his opponent’s defense. Earth Shield was inherently flexible, giving slightly against Alex’s most powerful blows, blows which, with multiple cultivators peering so intently at him, were nothing but manifestations of explosive power and honed skill. Even his bone-cracking axe kick, perfectly set up, though it cost him five health as he singed his inner thigh, did nothing but make his foe grunt, shield giving only a fraction of an inch but no more, much like kicking rubber as opposed to hard stone.
Alex frowned, wondering if Adderstrike had any hope of penetrating, or if his trump card would simply knock his opponent back several inches, good for putting his foe off balance, but not much else.
More interesting was the fact that he couldn’t shift or yank it away like he could a real shield, which would have allowed him to totally dominate. But equally interesting was the fact that his foe couldn’t shift and pivot it when Alex pitted his will and weight against it. The Earth Shield his opponent was trying to hide under was not frictionless. Alex was able to grip it as if it were rubber in truth, though he couldn’t penetrate it directly or shift it at all.
Alex then smiled, hit with a delicious idea.
“What’s that fool doing!” hissed a furious Lai Leng.
Panheu flashed an approving smile. “Testing the limits of your disciple’s Qi disciplines, and using them to his own advantage.”
“The fool’s standing on Shu Yao’s shield!”
Panheu chuckled. “That he is.”
Shu Yao’s inarticulate scream of outrage could be heard from underneath the raised Qi barrier, now bearing Alex’s full weight, the Earth Shield finally responding to the inexorable pressure of gravity, millimeter by millimeter, the limitations of the discipline not letting Shu Yao shake Alex off any more than Alex could maneuver the shield. Perhaps it was just a phenomenon of Earth and Sky, but whatever the case, Alex was now more tied to the Heavens than the Earth below as he crouched upon that disc of Qi, and the furious assistant alchemist was feeling the burden.
It seemed that Alex had found the limits of his foe’s technique.
“You can’t do this!” his opponent declared.
Alex smiled coldly, saying nothing, knowing one of two things would happen. Either the shield would disappear as his foe sought a desperate blitz attack, or he would try to roll away a split second before the shield was dispelled. Alex was ready for either one.
When the shield abruptly disappeared, and gouts of flame and shards of acid-tipped metal penetrated his flesh, Alex was already slamming down his heel against his foe’s solar plexus.
The sudden crack of shattered bone rang through the arena as the furious final barrage ceased, the cultivator’s arrogant eyes suddenly wide with terror as he spasmed, clenching his chest.
Soul Sight skill check successful! You have critically struck enemy cultivator. Enemy cultivator will perish without external aid.
Alex smiled coldly as he lifted up the dying man, glaring at the furious red-faced alchemist above.
“Your pawn is dying, alchemist!” Alex roared as he tore free the man’s jacket, claiming not one but three silk pouches he found on the man’s person as his dying opponent spasmed and shook, glaring at the pair of healers about to enter the ring, the pair of men blanching and lurching back from Alex’s killing glare.
“How fortunate you are that since he is a Bronze and not an aspirant, I’m not tied to my earlier oath to kill him! Now he and his bounty are both prizes of war. So what will you offer for his life?”
He grinned at the crowd who gazed at him with looks ranging between awe and disgust.
“Let the audience see how much you value the lives of those cultivators who devote themselves for you.”
“Please, honored Ruidian, he has but seconds!” hissed one healer urgently.
Alex smirked up at the alchemist choking on his own fury as Panheu smugly smiled, sipping his rice wine.
“One hundred gold,” the cultivator hissed.
Alex shook his head sadly. “See that, friends? Your lives are only worth one hundred gold to the man you would entrust your future cultivations to.”
“One thousand gold, Ruidian worm, and not a silver more! And if you do not surrender him right now, I will not rest until I see you and all your kind purg
ed from Yidushi forever more, my cultivator’s oath upon it!” Lai Leng roared.
The entire audience was gazing at him, some in awe, others terror, the furious alchemist no longer holding back any pretense of sportsmanship or fairness or even smug contempt. Just the hostile killing glare of a man who would do everything he could to wipe out every Ruidian from the face of the Golden Realms. A hate so intense that absolutely everyone could sense it.
Before shaking his head with a snarl, for his disciple was already in the hands of the pair of cultivators working desperately to save him.
“Done and done, alchemist!” Alex smirked. “Now why don’t you be a good boy and toss down my ransom?”
A part of him delighted in the terrible glare Lai Leng gave him, tossing down the jade slip Alex adroitly caught before discretely slipping that prize away with his others, reveling in the furious hate they both felt, neither bothering to hold back.
He had made a dire enemy of one of the deadliest instructors in the entire school, simply for the crime of surviving.
A Silver that could probably turn him to dust.
And Alex wanted nothing more than a chance to take his head.
Instead, he settled for a bow.
Panheu applauded. “What a wonderful performance! Don’t you think so, my dear?” He turned to a pale-faced Hao Chan, now sitting just behind the pair of Silver instructors, gazing at Alex with hope and worry both clearly written upon her features. Alex jerked a quick nod when he saw it, so fast that only someone who had spent countless hours learning his every movement and gesture could possibly have read it, feeling a surge of relief when she schooled her expression, hopefully before Lai Leng saw the tell.
“I am still in awe by all the fights I’ve seen today, Elder Panheu, Master Alchemist Lai Leng. In truth, I don’t know what to think, save that I must train diligently, with all my heart, and be worthy of my sponsorship to this wonderful academy.”
Alex was beyond grateful that his enemy dismissed Hao Chan as if she were no more than eye candy, unworthy of any notice beyond her pretty displays. Perhaps as had been intended.
Panheu’s smile for his opponent was a far more predatory affair. “And now, dear Lai Leng, I believe it’s time we called it a night, don’t you?”
The alchemist paled. “He fought a Ranked Bronze. There is no way he should have been able to best him. He should be writhing on the ground in his death throes, Shu Yao’s Dragon Viper Venom searing his veins! That attack can break Bronze Ogres! Few Qi wards can counter poisons, wards only the most elite Bronze have mastered! His shield can counter Fire, Metal, and even trap Earth Qi attacks between them! No Bronze could possibly punch through, and that pathetic boy isn’t even a cultivator!”
Panheu nodded. “Truly an absurd match. Who can explain the vagaries of fortune and folly? I could point to clever leg sweeps and resting upon air like a hawk to wear down a prone shieldman before stomp-kicking vulnerable ribs in a Bronze alchemist who disdained almost all martial training, save the most rudimentary whip and shield techniques, thinking pill-enhanced cultivation would somehow overcome his many failings, but what does this old Silver know, after all?”
“But that still doesn’t explain how that Ruidian survived venom that should have left him dead! Trickery, it must be!”
Panheu smiled and nodded. “No doubt. What else can you expect from a Ruidian? But he survived. And in the arena of life and death, survival is everything, by any means necessary. Now, about our own little wager…”
The alchemist blanched and grimaced. “Yes, about that...” he said, before jerking away from the coldly-grinning Panheu when a roar shook the stadium.
37
“You summoned me, alchemist?” declared a hulking brute of a man choosing that moment to leap into the arena, and Alex quailed before the sight of the broad-shouldered giant with his massive jaw, ridged brow, and muscles like an Olympian.
Lai Leng’s desperate grimace turned to a fierce hot grin. “Yes, Huang Kuong! I have another Ruidian for you to kill! Forty spirit pearls if you can tear him in half!”
Then Alex caught a look at the ugly smile filled with massive gray teeth, shivering with horror and mounting fury when he realized where he had last heard that voice.
Tearing free the life of a helpless and confused Ruidian boy, caught and sold by slavers, butchered for sport.
Alex’s heart pounded. Terror transformed to blackest fury as he gazed upon the massive giant that had to be just a half-step away from breaking through to Silver.
Huang Kuong flashed a cruel grin, his mocking laughter setting Alex’s soul ablaze with something that transcended mere hate. “Ah. Another Ruidian brat. I see this one actually has steel in his spine. Wonderful!” His twisted smile turned to a sneer. “It will be my great pleasure to tear this piece of Ruidian filth in half!”
“Hold!” roared a voice that froze everyone to stillness, Panheu glaring daggers at Lai Leng and Huang Kuong both. “The Ruidian has already bested a Bronze. By ancient precedent, he has achieved a cultivator’s standing, and is permitted entrance into the school with no further test nor trial needed to prove his worth!” He flashed a cold smile. “Even if he can accomplish no more than serve as my house boy, he has proven himself worthy of that honor, at least, having taught your favorite tool a much needed lesson in humility.”
Lai Leng’s icy grin never left his face. “If you recall, Panheu, the terms of our agreement made it clear that the bet will only be won, can only be won, if the Ruidian slave bests all challengers this night!” He chuckled coldly, quickly pressing both his forehead and a bloodied fingernail to a fresh jade slip. Artificer skill check made! Which Alex could tell would bind the man to a blood debt he would be loath to break.
“Forty spirit pearls will be yours! Your purse, honored soldier,” said Lai Leng, tossing down the jade slip. “Now bring me my enemy’s head!”
Panheu froze, cold silver-blue eyes glaring daggers of outrage.
Alex only smiled. “It’s alright, Elder Panheu. I pray you’ll allow this unworthy Ruidian to showcase the folly of overconfidence in the fools I face one more time.”
Huang Kuong, however, chuckled coldly. “You’re a fool if you think you can best me, boy. I’ve fought dozens of men and witnessed the mockery of a fight when you, lowest filth, crushed Lai Leng’s pathetic excuse for a disciple! Clever footwork and a sense of the battlefield might serve you well in your nameless village battles, but here in Dragon Academy, mortal tactics will avail you nothing!”
He chuckled coldly as a trembling Alex kissed his ring, controlling his fury, watching his enemy stride forward with slow, confident steps, as proud as any king.
Soul Sense skill check made! You now sense the flow of Qi rippling through your foe!
“I know your tactics, worm. I’ve already seen you fight.” Huang Kuong’s cruel grin widened. “I watched them all. From the very cell where you watched me rip the life out of your brother Ruidian!”
He flashed a cold smile as Alex hissed and lurched back. “Oh yes, I did that for you, boy. Hoping you would prove worthy of my special attentions, glorying in each fool you broke, so my glory would double when I tore you in twain! And soon I shall have forty spirit pearls and thousands of gold from a mortal fool who can do nothing, save endure poison’s caress.”
He chuckled coldly, cracking massive knuckles. “I know all your secrets already, boy. The fight is already won!”
Alex nodded. “You’re right. It is.”
Holding nothing back, Alex finally put his deadliest cards in play.
Launching off his back foot on an explosive tide of fury, he was compelled by the screams of countless slaves tormented by Fang, the panicked cries of chained nobles about to be devoured by demons, the desperate dying gaze of a boy throttled before Alex’s horrified eyes by the very monster smirking down at him even now.
Even as his heart roared, Alex waited for the single eyeblink he needed.
Bullrush! Bullrush!
&
nbsp; He pivoted behind his foe whose massive frame swam with body cultivation Qi infusing every muscle, sinew, and bone.
You have successfully pivoted behind your foe!
Adderstrike! You have critically hit your target! Massive resistance counters strike! Patella ligament ruptured; knee joint intact. Your foe loses his balance!
And Alex was no fool. No matter how fiercely he had trained, he was still a basic cultivator, and Huang Kuong was just a half-step from Silver. If the man grabbed him, he was as good as dead.
But Alex didn’t need to break bone, merely break his foe.
And when his foot stomp smashed against the back of Huang Kuong’s knee, the explosion of Qi-infused power forced even his enhanced foe off balance, a barking roar making it clear that Alex had done more than just surprise him.
Quickness check made!
The giant was fast, however, spinning around with a roundhouse kick, using his injured leg in an attempt to smash Alex, having instantly calculated that the damage to even his injured body would be far less than what his opponent would suffer.
But Alex had already darted away, Bullrush-teleporting behind his opponent once more to the amused laughter of Panheu and the outraged protests of Lai Leng, wasting not a heartbeat to charge forward, as the roaring giant’s backside was vulnerable once more.
But then it was Alex who was wide-eyed with surprise as the coldly-smiling cultivator spun around with his massive fist coming down in a powerful overhand blow, smashing Alex to the ground the very instant Alex’s heel slammed against what was now a bent and braced knee that hardly gave an inch when he smashed into it.
It appeared that even the power to crumple bronze armor and shatter thick wooden stumps was insufficient to break the bones of this massive beast.
But the snarling cultivator was just as surprised to find Alex with his skull far from caved in, the giant glaring at his own sore fingers as Alex took advantage of the heartbeat of time his life was spared and immediately rolled away.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reforged: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 2 Page 48
