Alex’s heart began to race, feeling her warm curves snug against him. “It’s alright,” he soothed. “Believe me, that bastard is in no shape to hurt you now.”
Hao Chan flashed a grateful smile. “Thank you, hero,” she whispered, her lips gently caressing his own. “Thank you for saving me, yet again.”
A soft kiss became so much more than a friendly peck, Alex’s heart pounding with a desperate need as she held him in a grip just as fierce and tight as his own before he found himself flying through the air, Finesse check alone keeping him from crashing in a heap.
“Are you really that much of a fool?” scolded Feng Huang, shaking her head at a furiously-blushing Hao Chan who had never looked more beautiful to Alex’s eyes, before the Silver turned her deadly gaze his way. “And you! All that effort to save her from an infernal cultivator, just to ravish her now?”
Alex swallowed, cheeks blazing, mouth opening in protest, before he closed it in shame. “You’re right. I’m nothing but a fool.”
The Silver snorted. “And from what I hear, you actually managed to learn the fundaments of a technique only women should be able to master. If you were to seduce her before Silver, your foundation will be as jeopardized as her own!”
Alex winced, now feeling even more the fool.
For some reason, however, Feng Huang’s gaze had turned from scathing to curious.
“Show me.”
Alex blinked. “I’m sorry?”
But Hao Chan had already taken his hand, smiling despite her chagrin.
“Come on, Alex. Just like we practiced on the carriage-top for weeks! When you fused the two styles, and helped me master my art!”
Alex blinked, then grinned. “I’d love to,” he said, and after a few moments of gazing into each other's eyes, they exploded into a furious dance of spinning kicks, twists, knee strikes, elbow slashes, and a dozen different flips and holds, flowing together as easily and naturally as if they were dancing as much as fighting, a grinning Alex soon lashing out with the reverse roundhouse and spinning heel kicks that were such devastating components of Silver Swan style.
Only now, with the advantage of months of White Crane kung fu, finally feeling the storm of Qi all around him, he began to incorporate the flow of that technique into his demonstration. Hao Chan’s eyes widened momentarily as Alex deliberately went wide with the first few strikes, before she instinctively adjusted for his increased speed and power, the two of them soon flowing in perfect tandem once more.
Both of them reveled in the sweet exhilaration of their mock battle, and Alex began to feel the faint shiver of steel-blue Qi tingling through his legs and spine, just as he had when channeling an entire beast core, just days ago.
“Stop!” said none other than a glaring Feng Huang. “Neither of you fools are pulling your blows! Were you to lose focus for even an instant… And you two did this for weeks on end? And both of you are actually channeling your Qi through your peripheral meridians!”
Hao Chan’s instructor crossed her arms and shook her head. “That should be impossible for basic cultivators, yet you have done it since the day I first took you on, Hao Chan, so attuned you are with your chosen art. But here I find your betrothed capable of the same remarkable feat, even as he struggles to blend three arts into one!” She shook her head. “I begin to think far more than Silver Swan attunement is at play.”
Hao Chan bowed and flushed her head after flicking a quick guilty glance Alex’s way.
Jidihu flashed Alex a secret smile but said merely, “I always enjoy discovering young cultivators with potential. Don’t you, Feng Huang?”
The powerfully-built cultivator flashed a humorless smile. Despite hair silver with age, her face was unlined, her body as sleek and powerful as any Olympic gymnast with a six-foot frame. “Yes. The children are lovely, for all that they’ve stumbled upon dangerous techniques that were sanctioned for a reason.” Feng Huang scowled, shaking her head. “And now that you’ve finally told me what her foster father was intending, it all makes sense. Too much damned sense. And the school still allows predators like that in our vicinity?”
Jidihu’s smile did not reach her eyes. “Lady Laobao has made it clear that she and Hao Zei have had a parting of ways. She will confine her predations to her quarter of the city alone, and has been gently reminded of the price to be paid, should she fail to follow the edicts she herself helped establish, centuries ago. As for Hao Zei…” She turned her gaze to a suddenly-blushing Qie Qie. “I believe my son and his father have pushed for a moratorium on the use of slaves for training purposes. They had the perfect opening to do so, once Hao Zei himself admitted before witnesses that most slaves are just hapless victims who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and we all know how certain families like to embrace their dark harvests.”
Jade-green eyes peered thoughtfully into Alex’s own. “The Lai clan in particular have profited from the ruthless harvesting of hapless villagers from the more isolated farming communities, so perhaps it is no wonder why they despise our Alex so deeply. If he actually manages to prosper and rise above the disdain so many shower Ruidians with, to say nothing of my own kind… he both vindicates his own tribe and shames the Lai clan in the worst way possible.”
Alex couldn’t help but shake his head. “So my very existence offends those bastards. There was absolutely no move I could make without having them as sworn enemies.”
“Correct!” enthused none other than Yinzi. “So it’s a good thing you took out two of your enemies while you had the chance! The merchant’s son might heal within weeks, but Lai Wei will be months or years, if ever! It’s always best to destroy your foes before they can do the same to you. Right, Lady Jidihu?”
The kitsune noble gave a gentle chuckle. “There are some things it’s best not to say aloud, my dear. No reason to upset our friends with grim particulars most are fortunate enough to be sheltered from.”
“But not Alex,” noted Yinzi, her gaze far more mature than her often childlike demeanor would suggest, for all that she looked the same age as Hao Chan.
Lady Jidihu flashed Alex a sympathetic smile. “Not Alex. But I think he understands the hard truths so many of us keep close to our hearts, however gracious our smiles.”
Qie Qie frowned. “I think there is a lot being said beyond the words I hear.” Just then she hissed, seeing a tall thin man slide past them so smoothly his presence was only noted thanks to the ebony changshan he was wearing being such a striking contrast to the light floral colors all the girls save Yinzi wore.
The man bowed deferentially before Lady Jidihu, whispering a few quick words before hurrying off with a final respectful nod to her guests, Alex seeing far more in the man’s eyes than perhaps he had intended.
His gaze was that of a killer. Of that, Alex had no doubt.
Lady Jidihu’s brow had furrowed, looking more troubled than ever. “I fear your concerns are spot on, dear Alex.”
Alex’s guts twisted with sudden anxiety. “What exactly is going on?”
“Lai Leng is at your master’s gate at this very moment, radiating a killing aura and demanding entrance.”
Alex winced. “That’s not good.”
“No, it’s not,” Lady Jidihu agreed, frowning thoughtfully at an increasingly disconcerted Qie Qie. “Dare I say it, your name is floating around certain circles as well, Qie Qie. It would not be safe or prudent to let you go home unescorted. And to be quite honest, you’re better off not going back to your quarters at all.”
Qie Qie paled. “That means… oh no.”
The kitsune flashed a reassuring smile. “It just so happens that my girls and I will be going on an herb gathering foray, quite soon. All sorts of wondrous spiritual treasures are hiding in all sorts of woodland nooks and crannies. Treasures which are worth an absolute fortune, if sold to the right people, though proper cultivation and care will assure an even better prize than that.”
“And what’s that?” Qie Qie asked.
Ji
dihu smiled. “Freedom from the tyrants who would master us all.”
Insight gained! “You’re hunting for the key ingredients for cultivation potions you can make yourselves, is that it?” Alex said.
The kitsune shrugged and smiled. “Perhaps. Or perhaps I just wish to teach the girls under my care the rudiments of woodland survival.”
Yinzi grinned. “Or perhaps you just want to be absent from school, should a gang of the alchemist’s cronies abruptly decide to hunt down anything or anyone they don’t like. And you know half of them would shed no tears if fox pelts joined Ruidian skins in the purge to come.”
Intent jade-green eyes peered into irises the color of blood and flame. “We find ourselves in interesting times, beloved child of chaos and shadow, and we will do what we must to survive them.”
Yinzi’s playful grin hardened, serious as death. “You should ask my mother to join you. You know there is no one better to guard your back for what’s to come.”
Lady Jidihu gave a sad shake of her head. “Your mother made it exceedingly clear that she never wishes to work for me again. It is only through the greatest of ironies that we find ourselves walking such similar paths, and it is only through the most exquisite courtesies given and received that we both pretend the other is nowhere near. And I am, quite frankly, astounded she tolerates you visiting me as often as you do.”
Yinzi smirked. “She knows what I am, and so do you. It’s not like she has a choice, really.”
Qie Qie was gazing at the pair of them strangely. “Okay, why do I feel like the shallowest of puddles between your words could drown a city?”
Yinzi flashed a teasing grin. “We could tell you, but then we’d have to kill you.”
“Behave,” the kitsune said, flashing a suddenly nervous-looking Qie Qie the gentlest of smiles. “Our dear Yinzi does love to tease. May I offer you some green tea, my dear?”
Hao Chan flashed Alex an impish smile once everyone was served soothing mint tea. “Your Silver Swan form is improving, and you have to start showing me how to fuse it with your White Crane style! But you need to learn to twist your hips just a bit more when you feel the Qi flowing through you.”
Alex blinked, slowly nodding, realizing she was right. “I guess part of me shies away from that, as if I know the Qi’s flowing in odd ways it shouldn’t, but… yes, it does make the kicks just that much more deadly, doesn’t it?”
Lady Feng Huang nodded. “That it does, Alex. You and my disciple have already dared the forbidden, fusing your cultivation with an unorthodox art. So you might as well learn to use it to the fullest, and not fear a cost which you have already paid.”
Lady Jidihu nodded her approval. “It will be some time before we can make our next move. I have arrangements to make, and I can think of no better way for a young pair of cultivators to pass the time than by training as if their lives depended upon it.”
Yinzi winked. “But don’t break your cultivation bases while you’re at it.”
Hao Chan blushed at that. Alex chuckled nervously.
“Not a chance,” said none other than Feng Huang, all but glaring at Alex. “By the time I’m done with him, he’ll be too exhausted to do anything but heed the commands of his betters.”
Lady Jidihu flashed Alex a sympathetic smile. “We’ll speak when I return.”
Alex bowed his head. “I look forward to it. If I may ask, how is Hao Yin?”
“She is well, Alex. She just had a breakthrough, and is meditating upon her enlightenment even as we speak. I believe she’ll be very happy to see you on the morrow.”
Though Alex already knew he wouldn’t be there come sunrise, he dipped his head respectfully, soon finding all his worries and cares fading to a single desperate need to please the hard-eyed taskmistress before him, criticizing his technique and form in a dozen different ways, demanding Alex alter his stance, position, even breathing; bending and stretching his muscles to the point of definite strain before compelling him to go through his Silver Swan forms with exacting precision, only then embracing ever-increasing speed.
Alex groaned when bamboo cracked into his flesh for the dozenth time. “Balance, Alex! Perfect symmetry and balance with every movement! This art is as much dance as battleform, and it is all the deadlier for it!”
Alex stiffened before quickly nodding, ignoring the sharp sting of discipline as he forced himself to shift and pivot the slenderest hair, praying for the breakthrough of understanding he was desperate for as he repeated the same sweeps and kicks that he had countless times before.
Stubbornly he pushed on, for all that he sensed no improvement, taking little comfort in his beau’s gentle smile.
It was only when he surrendered to the moment, only when he accepted Feng Huang’s promised pain not with a flinch but with the serenity of hard fought wisdom valued all the more for its cost, only when he sensed the underlying thrum of steel-blue current echoing through the white whirlwind of Qi he could feel swirling around him even now, that it all began to click into place
He could feel the surge of steel-blue Qi finally begin to flow harmoniously through him; whatever odd eddies had been generated by his gender and hesitancy smoothed over at last as he finally accepted and embraced the true potential and peril of this art.
In a giddy rush, Alex found himself twisting and striking and leaping with a grace that would have left him dumbfounded just hours ago, his legs whipping around just like Hao Chan’s, finally accepting the deadly art as the dance it was.
He couldn’t help but savor its grace and form, along with the raw power now coursing through him, sensing truths fundamental and profound as a grunting taskmistress pointed him to the leather-wrapped pells whereupon he surged against them with what seemed, for just an instant, like the surging power of the crashing sea itself.
You have successfully channeled steel-blue Qi through peripheral meridians! Resilient peripheral channels take superficial damage!
You have successfully channeled steel-blue Qi through peripheral meridians! Resilient peripheral channels suffer no damage!
You have embraced Eternal Fox cultivation technique! Meridian strain eliminated!
Silver Swan kung fu Rank 4 achieved!
Hao Chan was cheering Alex when he finally left his battle trance, giving a surprised grin when the beautiful girl abruptly hugged him, soft warm lips pressing against his own.
Before she pulled away with a throaty chuckle, flashing her scowling instructor a teasing grin. “I’ll behave.”
“See that you do, lest you render all my hard work worthless.”
Feng Huang favored Alex with a thoughtful nod. “Hard discipline suits you. I was right to push you just as hard as I do my disciple.”
Alex took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts, realizing he was still halfway in a cultivator’s trance. And that he had spent not timeless minutes, but many hours training with everything he had. Almost half the night, pushed to the breaking point before Hao Chan’s instructor would abruptly give him a five-minute reprieve, all he needed to regenerate the strains and micro-tears to ligaments, tendons, and muscles forced to endure the hyper-intense training session thrust upon them. For him, every five-minute break was the equivalent of several days rest and stretching between the most extreme of workouts. And somehow Feng Huang knew this, knew exactly how hard and how far she could push him.
As much as that truth chilled him, the payoff for all his pain and effort was both wonderful and profound.
Though he had been on the cusp of rank four after the incredible insights he had gleaned harnessing the power of multiple disciplines into one synergized whole, just days before, only now did he understand all the minute flaws that had been present within his Silver Swan form.
Focusing on this deadly art alone had been exactly what he had needed to do in order break through to rank four, finally accepting his own fear of channeling his Qi just as it needed to flow in order to maximize this killing art. It was as if he had always instinctively
known just how perilous a dance he was embracing. But by accepting the risks, and knowing exactly what he had to do to prevent disaster, he now no longer feared channeling his Qi for maximum effect, whipping his legs around with the speed and power he had so envied in Hao Chan, who was grinning at him even now.
He couldn’t help grinning back, knowing how perilous falling in love with her was for both of them, but at least there was one thing he could say for certain. The extreme training he had endured was nothing compared to the sweet satisfaction of feeling what almost seemed to be the power of the entire ocean crashing through his soul.
Whereas White Crane tapped into a swirling whirlwind of devastating Qi all around, Silver Swan channeled the force and fury of a roaring river washing away everything in its path. And if he could somehow synergize the pair together… he couldn’t help grinning at the thought of just how potent a combination that would be, uniting the clouds and sea in one titanic storm of wrath and fury.
He then gazed almost longingly past the tiny fruit grove facing the gate, before turning around to look towards the sea, a plan as bold and daring as it was insane clicking firmly into place.
He couldn’t hold back his rueful chuckle, knowing he’d soon be skirting death once more.
But with enemies coming at him from all directions, he knew he had no choice.
He had to grab the initiative and strike boldly with his plans.
If he dared let fear or hesitation hold him back, he was as good as dead.
20
Alex turned to smile at a strangely solemn Lady Jidihu apologizing softly for being unavailable for half the night.
He nodded. Of course he understood.
If one was the secret mastermind of a powerful underground organization, there were no doubt scores of issues that needed tending before one could disappear as one’s home base descended into chaos and flames, metaphoric or literal.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Forsworn: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 3 Page 33