Against all expectation, he actually squatted, gentle silver-blue eyes peering into Alex’s own. Alex blinked, struck with an odd sort of wonder. For all that the powerful Silver radiated kindness, his aura was as strong as steel and his hair a brilliant silver white seen only in the most ancient of souls, for all that it was as thick and full as any young man could hope for. His expression was somehow that of a bemused elder, for all that his skin was unlined and his face was flush with the vitality of youth. Yet Alex could sense the age just underneath.
Elder Panheu could be fifty years old, or close to a thousand. Alex truly had no idea.
He gave Alex a gentle pat on the shoulder. “In deference to your unique accomplishment, I will give you a final chance to declare your boon. You may claim your weight in silver, to say nothing of the prizes you have claimed already, paid in full or left in an account in your name, so you never need fear being robbed. And you may walk out the temple gates with your head held high, never having to fear a cultivator’s grudge or an assassin’s dagger, just as you will never breathe a word about how exactly you earned your fantastic fortune, over forty spirit pearls and thousands of gold, a greater fortune than that of any Ruidian before you.”
Alex, head still lowered, could all but sense the alchemist seething with fury, just behind Panheu, yet even he supported the offer. “Leave this place, Ruidian. So long as you never again sully these grounds with your presence, I will send no seekers for your head.”
“For all his flaws, my dear friend here knows better than to break that oath,” Panheu assured. “Should you leave, you may do so with a light heart and endless hope for your future, knowing you will suffer no repercussions for having the temerity to survive as Arena Champion this day.”
The Silver cultivator paused, giving Alex a moment to truly appreciate the offer, before speaking on.
“Alternately, you may claim your original boon. Your success shall be counted as if you were a participant of the trials, and you shall be allowed admittance within our glorious school proper.” He gently raised Alex back to his feet, flashing a smile that was almost apologetic. “Even if you do so only as my servant, seen as the lowest of the low, whatever odd talents you might possess declared trickery and luck by any witness who should ask about what went on this night. Because no matter your odd Ruidian talents, all that matters here is one’s ability to ascend the heavenly ranks of cultivation, strengthening one’s foundation and inner potential. Those who cannot properly cultivate will always be seen as utterly inferior, and the price for offending those with rank when you have none can be… severe.”
Alex’s heart raced as Elder Panheu solemnly held out his hand. “And your first act as my servant would be to surrender your purse, to do with as I saw fit. Whether that would be holding it as collateral until the day you left my employment, or using such for my own whims. So long as I filled your belly with rice and gave you even the meanest shelter, all would deem it an acceptable trade. Are you truly willing to sacrifice so much, simply for the right to enter this school?”
Alex swallowed, gazing up into those fathomless silver-blue eyes as a dozen students looked on, feeling the weight of the fortunes about to shift hands. Spirit pearls, any one of which was worth at least a handful of platinum in the right hands, alongside jade slip promissory notes worth thousands of gold. A fortune that could buy him the most exclusive manor to be found in the Ruidian district, he was sure, if not an entire block, securing himself a degree of wealth and prestige undreamed of by even the most avaricious of Ruidians.
For a heartbeat, Alex couldn’t help but smile at the thought of what he could do with those assets, with his father’s mercantile savvy running through his veins, recalling all the summer hours he had spent by his father’s side, learning the art of judging, purchasing, renovating, and eventually leasing out homes, buildings, even entirely renovated city blocks, making a killing where others only saw headaches and eyesores.
His father had been a wonder with such things, teaching Alex the basics and more almost since he had been a toddler, even if the more abstract economics courses had done little to catch his interest as he had matured. But the heart of his father’s business, the secrets to winning confidence, contracts, and running an efficient operation, that Alex could all but feel singing in his blood.
He took a deep breath, allowing the delicious fantasy to play through his mind for a single beautiful moment. He had no doubt that should he put his all into it, he could win over the regard of property owners, builders, and merchants within the Ruidian quarter, and from there, the city as a whole when he was judged a man who always kept his word. Further, his own ability to formulate the most potent of healing tinctures, even without using cultivation-enhanced alchemy, would serve both as a valuable second source of income, and perhaps as an inside track to gaining the interest, regard, and one day the trust of the true mercantile movers and shakers within this city.
Were he to take the Merchant’s Path, he sensed there was almost no limit to just how far he could go.
Alex choked back what was almost physical pain as he surrendered jade slips worth the equivalent of forty priceless spirit pearls, as well as 2400 in gold, and the prizes he had claimed from Shu Yao as well. He solemnly bowed his head, doing his best to gird himself for the final trial he was to endure.
Perhaps he was playing the complete and utter fool. But when he had locked gazes with the elder before him, he had seen all he needed to see. The beaming smile of Hao Chan, gazing down at them all from the box seats, making it clear that he had made the right choice after all, no matter the horrific pain Elder Panheu’s solemn gaze had warned him was coming.
Because just beyond this arena lay a school of endless possibilities and wonder, where secrets Alex now suspected his soul had been hungering for over countless iterations, a struggle of a thousand years, were being kept. And he would do whatever he had to, suffer any burden placed before him, to enter the academy and finally discover his true path.
Compared to that, all the gold in the world was like dross in his hand. What mattered to Alex were the wondrous prizes of knowledge and lore waiting for him in the heart of this academy, where he would do everything he could to finally make his way forward, to somehow take those first, precarious steps of ascension as a cultivator finally able to embrace his destined path.
Because if there was any record to be found anywhere of an eight-fold path he himself could use in a world that recognized only five elements, it would be in the academy founded by the Dragon God whose divine cultivation matrix Alex had imprinted as his own, over a thousand years ago.
But first, the final trial those silver-blue eyes had warned him was coming.
Panheu chuckled softly. “I believe the day has finally drawn to a close, friend Lai Leng,” he said, his voice too soft to carry to the students still gazing their way, though one or two were already making their way free of the arena stadium, from what Alex’s heightened perception could gather, though others stayed, still staring raptly at the tableau of a pair of revered instructors conversing over a single kowtowing servant.
Alex’s Qi Perception was now strong enough that he could sense the bitter bob of Lai Leng’s head, the tightened expression and surly gaze upon the man’s face, for all that Alex didn’t dare look up and directly use Soul Sight on the man, lest the powerful streams of Qi blazing through the man’s meridians sear Alex’s eyes like the sun. But he sensed enough as he knelt once more and bowed before a pair of masters who could kill him as effortlessly as breathing.
“Yes.” Lai Leng’s voice was raw as he finally acknowledged his opponent’s words. “The day is done.”
Panheu gave a sympathetic nod. “Regrets, old friend?”
The alchemist gave a bitter laugh. “I regret the cards fate dealt me were those of ash and ruin. I regret that the abomination before me is still alive!” he hissed.
Panheu sighed. “You knew this day would come, Lai Leng, the day you tried to make Li
u Jian’s wife your own.”
“I loved her!” the man hissed. “I’m not responsible for what happened next! If that damned fool Liu Jian had just...” Lai Leng gave a bitter chuckle. “And none of that matters now. I haven’t seen my daughter in twenty years, and this damned Ruidian, representing chaos and discord as all their kind do, has turned my life to ash! Ah, how you profit from my folly, old friend.”
Alex’s eyes widened with shock, thoughts and heart racing at frantic speed at the revelation that should never have reached his ears. Terrible secrets he feared meant the pair of men saw him as less than nothing. Alex’s heart quailed, now suddenly terrified everything had been a pretext, that the only reason why Lai Leng had not reacted to Alex overhearing those words is because he really was worth no more than a wooden piece on a chessboard that was now about to be thrown into the fire.
Then he blinked, shocked to discover a truth so profound he had only noted it at this moment.
The pair of men were not speaking the tongue of Yidushi, but the distant language of a faraway city.
A language Alex could somehow understand perfectly.
He could all but hear WiFu chuckling merrily in the back of his mind as the elders spoke on.
“It was only a matter of time, Lai Leng,” Panheu said with a sad shake of his head. “And the folly, as is always the case in these things, was of your own doing. You were so afraid the Ruidian would spell your doom that you bet near your entire family fortune attempting to destroy him. You were the warrior attempting to force his opponent off a ledge, only to fall to your own folly when your chosen foe did naught but evade your blows.”
“You cannot let this creature enter the school!” Lai Leng hissed. “He is a Ruidian! And he looks like a pureblood with those eyes, those features. You know who their patron god is! You know why I had to at least try to destroy him, for the sake of our school!”
“For fear of your own doom!” Panheu snapped. “You so assumed he was your direst foe that you made him so! You gave him no recourse, no middle ground, no way to survive, save to embrace the darkness, the chaos of destruction, you so rightly fear!”
Elder Panheu sighed. “The chaos of change, of destruction, isn’t inherently evil, Lai Leng. No more than the cultivator’s fire that he uses to forge treasures of steel, heat we continue to use to warm the floors of the chambers above. Chaos directed and manipulated for our betterment. It is only when you seek to contain chaos, to squeeze it so tightly that it is left with no outlet, no channel of controlled release, that you end up ensuring the destruction of everything around it.”
He gazed off in the direction of the Bronze Ogre Alex had slain, whose cultivation path had led to such rapid potency before revealing its fatal flaw. “As we saw demonstrated so aptly for us today. And though he is only worshiped by some Yidushians, such as those with the blood of Ruidian ancestors flowing through their veins, the God of Mischief is still a member of our pantheon, and is the sworn enemy of the invaders whose fleet smashed helplessly against our rocky shores, so many centuries ago. And I don’t need to remind you of the pawn he used to remove their pieces from the board.”
“He used one of their own, I know!” hissed the alchemist. “A wild-eyed Ruidian, just like this boy. A threat to Dragon Academy itself!”
Panheu chuckled. “This exhausted boy whose sires and dams intermingled with Yidushians for so long that he can now cultivate like one of us? I see no jewel upon his head, do you?” The cultivator shook his head. “No. It is simply his misfortune to be born with such striking features that look so much like his ancestors from across the sea. But you’re no fool, Lai Leng. You recognized the techniques as well as I. He is a member of the True People. He must be, or he could never make use of techniques beyond what even most newly-forged Bronzes can manage. Especially those fools so eager to specialize before finding their true center.”
He gazed coldly at the defeated alchemist, silken bags juggling in his hand. “Three hundred and forty spirit pearls and a bit of gold as well. Such would put quite a dent in your clan’s coffers, were you forced to draw it directly, no?”
Lai Leng paled, his eyes glittering with caustic hate as he began to kneel.
Before he could lower himself an inch, Panheu had gripped his shoulders. “Don’t be a fool! Do you truly think I’d force you to abase yourself before aspirants?”
Lai Leng trembled, haunted gaze meeting his peer’s. “So, you would ruin me utterly, is that it, Panheu? Do you truly despise me so much?”
Panheu smirked. “Though I would have hated to give up my cultivation spot, there are others almost as nice, for all that they lack the wonderful view. No, Lai Leng. You were a fool to cross WiFu when you so clearly love his daughters, but that is between you and the gods, not I.”
He flashed an enigmatic smile at the alchemist before pocketing the jade chips. “As far as I’m concerned, I have just secured the devoted services of the most talented alchemist in all of Yidushi, and I have no doubt that he will provide me with the most potent cultivation pills and elixirs designed to the most exacting specifications, for which he will be credited prime market rates.”
Lai Leng blinked, a look of impossible hope in his eyes. “You would secure my services to the tune of three hundred and forty spirit pearls?”
Panheu chuckled softly. “For myself or my chosen, yes. And I am not so crass as to flood your operation with personal orders and ruin you. I have always been a better… friend, than that.” Smiling, he clapped his colleague’s shoulder. “And each and every pill forged will be of absolute purity, free of any bane or curse, whether made by you or one of your assistants. With the edge of conflict always between us, allies and opponents with every breath, I could ask for no stronger pill than cycling and refining my potency against the bitter fires of conflict, the hard steel of honor that binds us.”
Panheu’s gaze hardened. “But should those pills prove flawed, should my analysis of your dignity and honor proved flawed, should me or mine perish or suffer permanent injury… the entire balance between us will be payable in full and immediately by you or the head of your clan. Do you agree to this?”
Lai Leng’s eyes flashed with wrath when he glared down at Alex. “I do. But I will never make a single cultivation pill for that vile little worm, no matter whose blood runs through his veins!”
Panheu nodded. “And I will never ask you to.” He frowned. “And I would have no bad blood between my servant’s clan and your own.” He then bowed his head, saying words that chilled Alex to the quick. “And I know this young fool dared to insult you, no matter that he was forced to fight death matches orchestrated by a man who wanted him dead. He still dared to bait a master, when he is but the lowest of students. And for that folly, a price must be paid. So let me present you with a gift.”
Alex’s heart raced when the alchemist was solemnly handed a whip by Panheu himself, whose cold words suddenly washed over Alex, speaking the common Yidushian dialect once more.
“Strip!” Panheu commanded.
And Alex paused for only a heartbeat, feeling the sudden terrible tension, knowing if he made the wrong move, he would lose absolutely everything.
Swallowing his pride, quelling his growing dread, Alex lowered his head and did just that, doing his best to ignore the whispers of the double handful of students staring so intently at his shivering form.
“This Ruidian has dared to mock his superior! He has been stripped of all material boons and treasures, and will now be punished accordingly! Let this be a lesson to all of you! No matter your circumstances, no matter the pressures you face, proper decorum and respect for your superiors is expected at all times!” Panheu said aloud before turning and dipping his head towards a glaring Lai Leng.
“Let there be no bad blood between our clans, Lai Leng. You and I have enjoyed a most exciting series of wagers, and have come to a mutually beneficial arrangement. My servant who has caused you such ire has surrendered his wealth, and is now penniless once m
ore, his boon now part of the balance between us. But you have suffered insult, for which your wrath is more than justified. So discipline my lowest servant by whip as you see fit, so long as it’s understood that your wrath ends when the whip is lowered, and our young disciples will see firsthand the justice of a Silver.”
And the seething, hot-eyed alchemist glared down at Alex with such contempt that it shook him just to sense it, not daring to meet the man’s gaze.
“He will bleed for it, Panheu! He will bleed for his redemption!”
Panheu nodded. “Then by all means, make him bleed, so long as your intent to destroy him ends the moment you put down that whip.”
And he did.
As streaks of lightning blazed across Alex’s soul with each crack of the whip, his flesh tearing free with each vicious stroke, Lai Leng vented his fury upon Alex’s exposed back with absolute abandon.
His world quickly became a sea of unimaginable pain as red as the sea of blood pouring from his tattered flesh. He bled like never before, biting his lip so hard it burst, desperate to hold back his screams.
Then he couldn’t stand even another second, howling like a creature in torment, as one moment bled into another in an endless maelstrom of pain.
Until at last it was finally over, Alex collapsed on the ground, a sobbing wreck, a heaving Lai Leng glaring over him.
“It is done!” the alchemist spat. “I will consent to allowing this worm and whatever maggoty kin he has to live. May he remember the sound of his own broken screams the next time he even thinks of raising his voice to his betters!”
Panheu nodded, gazing up at the audience. “The wisest of you have learned much from all you have witnessed here this day. Keep these lessons close to your heart. You are all dismissed!”
As one, the audience solemnly bowed and left as quickly as they could without actually running.
Panheu gazed down at Alex’s form with what seemed like utter indifference. “Can you walk?”
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reforged: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 2 Page 50
