She tilted her head to him, Alex bowing low in response to a superior’s grace. “I regret the delay, Alex, but there were numerous things I had to attend to.”
Alex smiled in response. “I understand. My father ran a very large organization once upon a time, and as he would often say, the greatest advantage smaller competitors had was being able to pivot in an instant, a small operation having far fewer moving pieces to manage than a larger one. And I can only imagine how large a network a noblewoman as enlightened as yourself must manage.”
Something in her wry grin made it clear she knew exactly what he was thinking. “Was your father truly the master of an organization like my own? It would explain so much about you, dear Alex.”
Alex had the grace to grin. “He was something of a merchant prince, mastering seas far different than the ones beyond Yidushi’s shores, but I suspect many principles of a sound enterprise are immutable, no matter the nature of your… organization.”
The kitsune nodded thoughtfully. “Clever and practical. You will make my charge an ideal mate, should you two survive the storms to come.”
Alex’s flushed grin matched Hao Chan’s own. He swallowed and denied nothing, merely bowing his head. “I hope you’re right. And there is a major storm coming. And it’s one that I fear I must face head-on.”
Lady Jidihu’s expressive brown eyes widened. Alex couldn’t help admiring how they seemed to change color like the seasons. “Alex, to face the howling winds aimed for you is to founder upon doom’s rocky shoals. And I, for one, have no desire to explain to my newest disciple why I allowed her protector to die for folly’s sake alone.”
Alex smiled, gently squeezing a nervous Hao Chan’s hand as she slipped beside him, softly pleading for him to do nothing foolish, but simply flee with them all that very night.
Alex’s words addressed them both as he breathed deep, gazing off into the distance, sensing the brooding storm building in the distance even in the dead of night.
“There’s something I have to do here, first. A door I must unlock at all costs.”
Hao Chan frowned. “What are you talking about? Alex, please, come with us. Now’s not the time to be skirting any extra danger!”
Lady Jidihu nodded. “Our little expedition will be taking us beyond the common hunting grounds of spirit beasts and spiritual herbs within just a few days of the city. Instead, we will be taking the High Road towards Baidushi. If one were to step off halfway between cities, one could find hundreds, if not thousands, of pristine nexi of spiritual energy alive with thousands of Qi-infused blossoms that would be any alchemist’s or cultivator’s dream to harvest.” She flashed a teasing smile. “If only they had a kitsune’s finely attuned senses for aromatics and power both.”
Alex blinked, lips slowly curving in a smile of comprehension as he got it.
Suddenly appreciating just how clever the kitsune before him was.
Schemes within schemes. Plans within plans.
Informing the key players in her organization of her intended whereabouts alone, those crucial go-betweens between the school and her city-wide organization. But even that was based on a deception.
She had no plans of harvesting any priceless spirit grass or Qi-infused cuttings.
She wasn’t jumping off the bridge at all.
She was heading straight to Baidushi, the capital of the entire principality, and now home to a newly-risen prince of the Cui clan, whose daughter, also newly-elevated, just happened to be a kitsune.
Alex could only wonder at how very much a newly-risen noble to a House of Golds could use the eyes and ears of a kitsune noble who had mastered an entire underground network.
Or mayhap the exquisitely elegant fox-woman before him, for all that she looked like she would be perfectly at home in the most sophisticated and classy of environs, intended a ruthless coup over all the underground powers that were.
Perhaps to secure her own reign, or perhaps to assure the safety of the only kitsune to ever be recognized by a family just a single step away from royalty. Perhaps the only kitsune to ever be so recognized and elevated in all of the Golden Realms beyond the city of Yidushi.
And the intensity of her gaze and the words she said next left no doubts in Alex’s mind as to her intentions. “We could really use your assistance, Alex. I think your skills would prove exceedingly useful with what’s to come.”
Alex flushed and lowered his gaze, suddenly burning with the bright hope of seeing Liu Li once more. Even if she was now a world away, so far above him in rank that he had no words. Just to know that she was safe, to see for himself that she had survived her horrible ordeal, would send his spirits soaring.
He tried to ignore the flush of guilt he felt at catching Hao Chan’s confused gaze, no doubt sensing something of the storm of his emotions, if not exactly what he was feeling.
He squeezed her hand in gentle reassurance. He adored her, and the thought of one day claiming her as his own filled him with a surge of joy. He couldn’t deny it. He wouldn’t deny it. He hungered for her even now.
But in the depths of his heart, there was a certain fox-girl who had already claimed a piece of his soul. And what the future had in store for them all, he could only guess.
Yet there was one thing he knew for certain.
He had to get stronger. At all costs.
No matter how perilous the risks, before he left this school and all its potential behind, he had to embrace one final mad gambit, strive for one last breakthrough…
Or his doom was all but assured.
And if Alex had had any doubt as to Lady Jidihu’s intentions, his suspicions turned to iron hard certainty when the final guest of the evening made her appearance, led by a bubbly Yinzi.
Lightning flashed over brooding skies as Lady Ning Jing herself made her appearance. Features perfectly calm, for all that the deadly pressure of Steel and Voidal Qi washed over them all.
“Hello, little fox.”
Lady Jidihu gasped, her serene mask suddenly left bare and exposed to reveal the features of a woman filled with sudden hope and longing as she flowed forward, a hand tentatively reaching out for the deadly Steel cultivator before softly dropping back to her side.
“You came,” the kitsune said. “You came.”
Ning Jing scowled. “What you’re attempting is madness.”
Lady Jidihu sighed. “And if I don’t, just how long do you think that poor girl will be allowed to live?”
Alex hissed, heart hammering with a sudden killing fury, instantly understanding.
Enemies in the Baidushian court would not take kindly to a kitsune princess shaking up the status quo, and he recalled all too well Silver Fox’s warning.
An entire city would soon be in desperate peril, vile forces wishing to send them all spiraling to hell actively advancing their own pieces forward.
Even worse, it now seemed like everyone Alex had ever cared about in this world would be placed in that same awful peril. A massive storm was in their future, and they were all charging right for it.
Alex shook his head in helpless horror as he gazed at Hao Chan, catching sight of a sleepy-looking Hao Yin behind her, ears prickling at the sudden tension as she stepped out of Jidihu’s luxurious manor, along with several other kitsune girls, all with the stamp of WiFu somehow upon their features.
And all of them would be joining their mistress in the exodus to Baidushi.
If the city fell, it would take away everyone Alex had ever loved.
He had already lost everyone in the life he had lived before.
Alex choked back his frustrated howl, all but sensing dark infernal laughter as if he found himself upon a massive game board, his enemies advancing all their pieces in gambits designed to assure the most savage of victories.
Alex swallowed, forcing himself to raise his gaze, to swallow the choking terror he feared the kitsune and Silvers could sense nonetheless.
It was time to move his own piece forward.
&nbs
p; No matter how risky the gambit.
“There’s something I have to do.”
Lady Ning Jing furrowed her brow. “How much does he know?”
Lady Jidihu’s piercing gaze hid nothing. “Everything.”
“Really? You trusted him with your mad gambit?”
The kitsune noble slowly shook her head. “He figured it all out himself, just now. You can see it in his eyes.” Her smile grew. “Our Alex is a clever one. Of course, to survive what he has endured so far, he almost has to be.”
Alex pretended not to hear the last bit. “I have to go back,” he said.
Ning Jing frowned. “Back to your master’s pavilion? You do know the alchemist and his stooges seek your death, no?” She flashed a cold smile. “You did destroy his nephew’s meridians, after all.”
Alex’s smile was equally cold. “The expected consequence of breaking one’s cultivator’s oath, or so I’m told.”
Ning Jing’s harsh laughter echoed across the clearing. “No longer playing the humble gardener, are we?”
Alex sighed, gazing off into the city. “I can taste that I’m on the cusp of a breakthrough, and perhaps the only way I’ll ever transcend my limits, when absolutely every piece is arrayed against me in this school, is cultivating on the very spot where Silver Fox and his disciple first took on a thousand enemy ships, a thousand years ago.”
He smiled at the odd looks he was given. Some brows furrowing with confusion, others widening with awe. “Yes. It’s exactly where WiFu and Long Wang had their brotherly spat, conveniently destroying an entire armada of enemy vessels. I can only hope for some final burst of inspiration, cultivating upon the lip of that precipice. God knows I’ll have absolutely no luck finding whatever it is I need in this academy’s libraries. It’s not like I’ll find any librarian not wishing for my destruction for the benefit of my enemies, or even be allowed to earn any credits to do anything save be exiled into the waiting arms of a merchant who would do anything he could to destroy me.”
Hao Chan paled at those words. “Oh no.”
Lady Ning Jing nodded. “I won’t even ask how you know what you know, because I’m almost afraid you’ll tell me. But I can tell you that this is Long Wang’s city, and his disciples have long since claimed this school as their own. Only because of Lady Jidihu’s power and influence have the kitsune been left untouched for these last few decades. But I fear your enemies are our enemies, and wish to cleanse the board of all kitsunes, Ruidians, and my daughter as well.” She flashed a cold smile in perfect time to the lightning flashing. “I’d happily kill them all.”
“You swore an oath! Our daughter’s life depends upon you keeping it!” snapped Lady Jidihu, hugging Yinzi fiercely, no longer gazing at the former assassin with a lover’s eyes, her crackling gaze and hard tone that of a commander.
Surprisingly, Yinzi didn’t seem at all surprised to find she had two mothers and no father at all, though Alex and Hao Chan shared an extremely confused look. The crimson-eyed girl smiled happily, snug in her second mother’s embrace.
Lady Ning Jing bowed her head. “I did.”
The kitsune nodded, as if that was that. “And the headmaster will do nothing to waylay our departure. He knows the cost, if he dares cross us in that.” She turned to Alex, then. “I don’t suppose you have any idea what cultivation manuals could possibly help you? Your insanely fast mastery of Silver Swan, an echo of Hao Chan’s steel variant, makes it clear that you will need both a Water and Metal cultivation technique. Fortunately, not every tome of worth is caged in the academy libraries, despite the best efforts of countless cultivators over the years.”
She flashed a wolf-like smile. “In our efforts to find a technique that might actually be of use to my girls, our own residence here has an extensive library that includes any number of cultivation manuals. We have limited time, but perhaps your salvation need not be found in the heart of your enemies after all.”
Hao Chan gave a happy nod. “Oh yes, Alex! Mistress Feng Huang already found the perfect cycling tome for me! She said it should fit right into Silver Swan. It even includes a Steel variant! And seeing the way you sparred and danced tonight...” She flushed, gazing so intently at him. “Of course it will turn out to be the perfect cycling manual for you as well. It’s like we’re two halves of a whole!”
Alex flashed Hao Chan a gentle smile. “I would love to take a look at that tome,” he said, before turning to Lady Jidihu, realizing the time for keeping all his cards so close to his vest had passed. “And any other tomes you might have on cycling multiple techniques.”
Lady Jidihu frowned. “Do you know what you’re asking? Even my library contains cultivation manuals for those few cultivators who can cycle three, four, even all five elements. We might lack the most prized, jealously guarded specialist manuals, but of competently written treatises, we have them in plenty, costly as they were to acquire.”
Alex smiled. “I would absolutely love a chance to peruse them. But you and I both know there’s more than five Qi elements in play.”
The kitsune went stock still, Lady Ning Jing’s deadly aura returning.
“What are you talking about, child?” asked an exasperated Feng Huang.
Lady Jidihu smiled. “I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have you by my side, Feng Huang, but young Alex speaks the truth. So I will ask you one final time. Are you truly sure you wish to join us? The path is perilous, and you will find far stranger truths and paradigm-shaking revelations than to realize there are not five, but a dozen elements, the ways of most forever out of our reach.”
Alex’s eyes widened. He knew he had affinity for eight elements plus Dark Qi, and he knew those with the blood of gods in their veins, or at least a certain god, might have affinity for Shadow and Fate as well. But a twelfth element?
Hao Chan’s mentor snorted. “You’re stealing away my prized disciple, and your kitsune proteges understand my arts far better than a school full of boys who have no interest in arts that strain their hips and thighs the way mine do. And I’ve seen the hate-filled looks that damned alchemist has flashed my way. I haven’t bothered purchasing his pills for over a year, now. Really, I have no reason to stay.”
“Good. Then accepting that there are more elements than those embraced by mortal cultivators should be the smallest of shifts in your world-view. If fortune favors us, perhaps the cultivation academies in Baidushi can provide answers that are sadly lacking here.”
Hao Chan’s eyes widened. “You make it sound like we’re leaving Dragon Academy forever.”
“That’s because we are,” said Alex as he drew Hao Chan into his embrace, kissing her forehead, still amazed by how tall she was with boots on when she grinned impishly and turned his peck to a full-on kiss.
Without limiting herself to silken slippers, she was now every bit as tall as he was, her powerful legs even more gracefully curved than before, though it wasn’t just soft, voluptuous padding, but tightly coiled muscle hard as steel underneath that had forged her exquisite figure. It was as if she truly had blossomed in the most wonderful of ways under her teacher’s care.
He shook away his momentary distraction, her teasing smile making it clear she was quite aware of the effect she had on him, and reveled in the fact that he wasn’t hiding his desire for her any longer.
He swallowed and stepped back, catching Hao Chan’s questioning gaze with his own.
“What was said to all the pawns moving about the board was so the wrong ears don’t hear.” A careful look around, and Jidihu’s approving smile made it clear it was safe to speak at last.
“A kitsune now dares dance among royal circles far beyond Yidushi itself. But as it stands, even with a Gold alchemist by her side, there are numerous parties who no doubt object to shifting tides of power within the Golden Empire. Most especially people who hate those who aren’t of pure blood, like so many of the cultivators at this school do.”
Alex smiled into Hao Chan’s awe-filled gaze. “A girl in tha
t kitsune’s position could use allies she can trust not to stab her in the back. She might have access to power, but what she needs above all else is good intel. A force to crush those who would move against her before they can strike. And what better source of intel than the mastermind behind Yidushi’s Jianghu sect?”
Instructor Feng Huang chuckled softly. “I did find it interesting how my clan’s enemies disappeared within days of you hearing about my troubles, Jidihu. I didn’t realize I had such powerful connections, however.”
The kitsune winked. “I, of course, have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, though it always pleases me when my allies prosper. Let the would-be lovers enjoy their stories, since they won’t be enjoying anything else until they both reach Silver.”
Feng Huang nodded. “I’ll make them bleed with training, and they’ll be hungry for even more abuse, if it helps them advance.” She flashed a wicked grin at a blushing Hao Chan. “I’ll be keeping an eye on you, girl. I recognize that look all too well. At least this trip won’t be boring.”
Hao Chan completely ignored the ribbing, gazing anew at her gentle patron, her soft lips parting in a surprised ‘o.’ “You’re not kidding. Lady Jidihu, you hold such power? And now you’re pulling up your roots for the sake of a kitsune princess?”
Her patron did nothing but flash the most enigmatic of smiles.
Hao Chan flashed an excited grin. “Then I can’t wait for our journey to begin! I’d love to meet a princess and serve a higher cause!”
Alex nodded. “I think you’ll like her clever wit, should you ever get to meet her. She’s very down-to-earth, and has friends in all sorts of places.”
Hao Chan blinked. “You sound like you know her.”
Alex grinned. “I can’t wait to see you blossom in Baidushi. I’ll join you there when I can.”
Alex took a deep breath, looking Lady Jidihu in the eyes, knowing he was revealing so much with his next words, but his gratitude to the lady pulling up her entire life to come to the rescue of the beautiful kitsune he had risked his own life to save knew no bounds.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Forsworn: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 3 Page 34