“You better not go falling in love with any Ruidian village girls,” said a pouting Hao Chan.
Alex chuckled softly at that, letting his eyes convey the feelings in his heart as he wrapped the girl he was falling so hard for in a tender hug, feeling a painful ache in his chest at her sudden sobs.
He gently kissed Hao Chan’s brow. “I’ll meet up with you when I can,” he promised, before gently letting her go, blinking but discreetly palming the small slip of paper the silent mastermind behind the local Jianghu branch passed him. “Locations our people frequent, and a few names that, mentioned at the right place and time, will catch my ear while alerting no one else’s. Keep the note safe, for I have no doubt you’ll soon be in a position to make use of it.”
Alex bowed low to the noble kitsune who had helped him and the girls precious to his heart so very much, even flashing a worried-looking Hao Yin a farewell smile she answered in kind as she gathered a suddenly sobbing Hao Chan in her arms.
“Keep safe, Alex, alright?” demanded the kitsune girl who had taken to Golden Realms kung fu almost as readily as Hao Chan had, the girl’s fox ears perking as if for emphasis. “You won her heart, now don’t you dare break it.”
Alex bowed from the waste. “Your wish is my command, lovely Hao Yin,” Alex declared to her relieved smile before turning around, gazing toward the front entrance gate some distance away that he noted with a chill now had several hard-eyed cultivators trying to peer past the fruit trees, though they winced and frowned, glassy eyes seeing nothing.
“Don’t worry about them, Alex,” soothed the mistress of the Jianghu sect, flashing him a bemused smile. “I could open the gate and they would lose themselves in the double handful of fruit trees you passed so readily.” Her mischievous smile grew. “They could lose themselves in there for years without harm, taking sustenance from the endless fruit that feeds upon their Qi to trap them forevermore.”
Alex felt a sudden chill, the deadly woman beneath the beautiful kitsune exterior at last revealing herself for just a heartbeat, Alex suddenly certain that mystic miniature forest held more than a few souls even now who had displeased the Jianghu headmistress and been trapped for months, years, perhaps centuries.
Lady Jidihu sighed. “But I’d rather not give up all my secrets, so we will leave at the appointed time and they will touch nothing within, at least for a time.” She tilted her head. “Now we need merely slip you past, though I hate to reveal the fact that you took shelter here...”
Alex gave a gentle shake of his head as his eyes caught sight of the leaves swirling from the tiny grove, far more leaves than a double handful of trees could lose so casually, brushing against them as the sea began to churn with the brewing storm, the first drops of rain caressing them all.
“No need, Lady Jidihu. I think, for me, there might be another way.”
Alex breathed deep, embracing his newly-combined techniques, sensing the storm of Light Qi all around him, literally now, as well as figuratively.
Perception check made!
And beneath that as well, yes, he could sense the brilliant flood of blue Water Qi crashing against them ethereally, the surf roaring against the rocky cliff’s edge just a short distance away, eager to follow the storm’s promise and sweep all the lands into the sea.
Alex flashed his friends a wild grin, squeezing tight one of his lesser beast cores before leaping up into the sky, his steadily-evolving Bullrush allowing him to skip weightlessly from leaf to leaf, and a moment of terror as he ascended hundreds of feet upon the cloud of leaves and petals kicked up from the storm, truly feeling the fusion of Light and Water Qi swirling in mad concert together, somehow perfectly echoing his forms.
“Alex! What are you doing?” Hao Chan shrieked.
Alex’s heart was hammering in his chest, flooding him with equal parts exhilaration and terror as he approached the point of no return, knowing if he didn’t skip back down upon swirling leaves fluttering in the air within heartbeats, he would be tapped of Qi and crash to his death.
Qi Perception check made!
But he wouldn’t stop now. Couldn’t stop now. He closed his eyes in that endless, weightless moment, floating upon a single wildly-whipping leaf, knowing if he moved an inch his weight would come crashing down…
Insight check made!
He opened his eyes wide, drawing in the full power of his lesser beast core even as he simultaneously drew in the power of the storm all around him.
He howled as his soul was suddenly tossed and turned by the surging storm of Qi, daring to cultivate the madness of a thousand-fold streams of wild Heaven and Earth spiritual energy even as he danced upon the wildest of storms.
And ride it he did, suddenly dashing through the air even as he focused every iota of his will in sending that mad cacophony of howling energy into the disciplined whirlwind of Light Qi that was the heart of White Crane, its deepest secrets slowly revealing themselves to him.
Insight gained! You can feel the flow of Qi that could destroy you in a heartbeat! You’ve often ridden that storm of power before. Now you’re doing it literally!
You have discovered the Qi discipline Wind Running! Now you can race through the storm of Qi flowing all around you! Qi drain: significant, unless accessing a spirit pearl, beast core, or in the middle of an actual storm!
Wind Running is now Rank 1!
You have discovered the Qi discipline: Water Walking! Now you can race upon waves crashing almost as hard as your forbidden Silver Swan technique! Or, if you’re clever, ride the very raindrops in the air! Qi drain: minimal! Synergizes with Wind Running during stormy weather.
Water Walking (Raindrop Specialization) is now Rank 1!
Alex ignored the wry voice in his head he was almost positive was Silver Fox’s own, and not his long dead AI interface that now held his character sheet, map, and little else. Yet he couldn’t help laughing with sheerest exhilaration as he raced above the school, sensing the faint presences of cultivators below like fireflies upon his mind’s eye, skipping lightly upon the countless drops of what was now a physical storm following the confluence of Heaven and Earth spiritual energy that made up all storms in this world using the power of the storm and his own Qi reserves alone, all cores and treasures now tightly packed away in a single circle of copper, so no foe could get any sense of the anomaly racing above them all. And Alex had no doubt that had he not dared this impossible feat upon this night of all nights, he would have crashed to the ground long ago.
His face lit up with a fierce grin as his interface pinged his master’s residence just ahead, and he began his descent.
“There he is! The Ruidian abomination! He dares to ride the skies like a master? Strike him down! Show that vile abomination no mercy!” roared none other than Lai Leng himself, Silver-infused eyes glaring such terrible hate Alex’s way.
It chilled Alex to the quick to sense that terrible animosity, his potent enemy sensing him when those around him saw nothing, save the storm-covered sky the color of liquid ink in the dead of night, felt and heard nothing, save the pouring rain and the howling wind.
But Lai Leng saw his nemesis through the pitch darkness. Alex could feel those terrible eyes upon him still, and Alex knew he was racing toward his death.
Yet he still had a gambit or two left to play, his peripheral meridians more infused with wild Qi than they had ever been before.
“I’ll make you pay for all the chaos you have wrought, servant of our order’s greatest enemy!” hissed the alchemist, and somehow, Alex could hear him perfectly.
Hear his foe through the storm.
Taste his smile.
Sense the awful cords of malice and hate that bound them.
Knowing if he was going to survive, he had to act now.
You have unleashed Caustic Surprise!
You have linked one dozen simultaneous Bullrushes in four heartbeat’s time!
Suddenly the night was alive with screams as half a dozen basic and Bronze cultivat
ors were splashed by a caustic mist Alex had spent many dizzying hours slowly accumulating, not any single poison but rather a deadly caustic brew that seared flesh as much as it poisoned, using every exotic and modern toxin he had mastered. A deadly mist diluted and dispersed through the rain, yet more than enough to sear the eyes and then the flesh of the half-dozen cultivators eager to claim his head.
Save for one.
A deadly Silver, an experienced killer, well able to act in the blink of an eye.
Flashing an icy grin, eyes crackling with malice, he unleashed a storm of poisonous crimson Qi Alex’s way.
It would not kill quickly, nor was it meant to.
But it would burn endlessly through its prey, searing flesh and meridian channels alike, and eventually, after endless agonizing hours bled into days with no cure save that which a true master could forge, the victim would perish with each and every nerve aflame, as if the poor fool was burning alive, endlessly, for hours on end.
And so great was their connection that Alex could taste the man’s malice, his awful intent, the very flow of Qi through his immensely powerful and hate-filled soul as he blasted Alex out of the sky.
22
You have been struck by Doom Venom Qi Blast! Blow partially mitigated by friendly aura field. Blow partially mitigated by beneficially-aligned Qi storm! You have saved versus instant death! Save versus Lingering Doom automatic fail! You will endure continuous slow degradation to spirit, meridians, and physical form until pain transcends mortal coil.
Alex shrieked as he crashed the remaining twenty feet to the soft, loamy ground.
He had been so close to making it, flickering down almost faster than his opponents could track, just over the lip of the barrier into the heart of his master’s sanctum, the property automatically welcoming him past its wards.
But not before that vile bastard of an alchemist had struck, an inch before he had achieved sanctuary. Safety.
An eternal chasm yawning between the fiercely fought-for life of ascension he craved, and the most agonizing of deaths.
Alex screamed, nerves already blazing with unthinkable pain. He had clawed desperately for success, achievement, to make something of himself, only to smash against the shoals of opposition, contempt, genocidal hatred; his enemies determined to do all they could, everything they could, to grind him to dust. To assure no Ruidian, no disciple of the Silver Fox, could ever ascend, no matter how many lives he lived, no matter how many times he tried.
He could taste that terrible truth, for a instant seeing himself upon an ancient chess-like board, with Inspector WiFu frowning at one end, Long Wang and Lord Zheng Yi glaring coldly at the tableau of Alex’s fallen pawn as he screamed and sizzled and burned upon the rain soaked grass, Lai Leng roaring his victory and his promise to single-handedly butcher every Ruidian that had ever lived, on the other.
“Again your piece falls, WiFu,” said Long Wang, sneering at his foe from across the board. “You stole my Qing Bai, and I will steal every piece you ever cherished, ever valued! I will steal away every impure mongrel offspring with which you tainted my perfect wife!”
Silver Fox’s gaze hardened. “And that is why Qing Bai has refused your touch and your apologies for nigh on a thousand years. Those are her children and grandchildren as much as my own; your son’s siblings, that you are so set on cutting down.”
Lord Zheng Yi grew melancholy. “They do not languish in purgatory. All my granddaughter's mortal descendants rest peacefully in Qing Bai’s precious garden that has flourished since the world’s beginning. She is welcome to visit them whenever she wants.”
Long Wang furrowed his brow, glaring at the pawn writhing and screaming upon the board, daring to gaze up at them even now, too stubborn to die from toxins that should have killed any Silver within minutes. “She sneaks in all the time. I know this, for I feel my wife’s presence, guiding her daughters back to the River of Souls. But never does she make herself known to me! To her son alone she gives her blessing. Never to me, her husband!”
WiFu gave a sad shake of his head. “It is at times like these, more than any other, that I pity you, my brother. For you do not see what is clearly before you, truths that even my pawn can see.”
At that very instant, the weight of three divine cultivation auras, three impossibly sharp gazes, lanced Alex’s soul, inspiring screams that transcended even Lai Leng’s caustic poison, searing him from within.
“It’s your move, Alex.”
Alex shrieked with the weight of WiFu’s words, the tight vice of fate clamping down upon his soul.
“No pressure, but the lives of everyone you love and countless souls you’ve never even met are sort of in the balance.”
Zheng Yi sighed. “I don’t know why you force that pathetic spirit through so many trials. He was a fool not to accept my boon. You already know his doom, just like every time before.”
“Yes, but sometimes he comes so close!” enthused WiFu. “Maybe this time he’ll actually break through.”
But the words Alex heard were meaningless sounds, vibrations among a cacophony of agony that demanded all his focus, all his attention, his enemy’s mocking laughter rippling through his very soul as he endured agony without end.
“Alex! Don’t be a fool. Focus!” So great was his agony that for a second he thought he had heard Liu Li’s voice, scowling at him so prettily in a wedding dress his wife had last worn a thousand years ago.
Feeling a sudden frisson of horrified wonder that transcended pain, gazing into Liu Li’s eyes, the memory of his wife’s eyes, recognizing a soul reborn countless times before.
Just like his own.
And whether it was truth or delusion brought about by hideous agony didn’t matter.
Her words had gotten through.
Agony was consuming him, body and soul.
He burned with the most caustic venom imaginable, designed to torment as much as execute, and so deadly only a Gold could hope to counter.
He flashed a grim smile, already knowing that by any rule or measure, he was the farthest thing from Bronze, let alone Gold.
But when had he ever been one to play by the rules?
Saving throw versus agony made! Eternal Fox body cultivation technique embraced! White Crane cycling technique facilitated! Perception checked failed! Doom Venom disrupts focus! Agony is too great for you to counter! Doom Venom overwhelms Biochemical Mastery! Doom Venom overwhelms Eternal Fox!
Soul corroded to 90% planar resonance! Physical Body has suffered Medium Wound.
Soul corroded to 80% planar resonance! Physical Body has suffered additional Severe Wound!
Death imminent!
Alex groaned, desperate to focus himself, to squeeze tight to his agony, to somehow contain it. Contain it long enough to focus, to dare the unthinkable.
Grimly, his mind flashing to mental exercises a too cheerful pain specialist had coaxed him to practice what now felt like a lifetime ago, Alex imagined himself with stage four cancer once more, his body consumed with pain.
Pain so very like the agony he was enduring at that very moment.
“That’s right, Alex, visualize it!” said the doe-eyed therapist Cynthia, gazing gently down at a doomed Alex as he groaned and gasped just to breathe. “Feel that sea of pain splashing inside you. Acknowledge its presence. Accept it.” Then after long endless moments of Alex sobbing, forcing himself to relax, to accept the pain, to absorb it head on, came the words he had been desperate to hear.
“Good. The pain has had its say. Message received. Now it’s time to understand it. To sense it as nothing more than a sensation, like the coolest of touches. Imagine all the pain flowing into this leg replaced by a cool numbing tingle, just like what you’re feeling right now.” Even as she said the words, she had placed an ice cold metal instrument against his thigh, her hands gently rubbing it back and forth, faster and faster, until a vibrating numbness left his entire agonized leg refreshingly chilled, as if he had dipped it into an ice bath
, and washed all the pain away.
“Can you feel that, Alex? Imagine you’re jumping into an ice-cold winter stream, feeling all that heat, all that fire flow through you, your body now healthy and vibrant and full of energy, eager to embrace an invigorating swim in the cool chilly waters near your home.”
And the strangest thing was that Alex could feel it, closing his eyes and remembering refreshing autumn dips on a dare with his friends just a handful of years back, feeling fit and vibrant with health as he savored bonding with his closest companions, late night chilly dips, even colder beers, and the sweet hot warmth of a girl he had adored what felt like a lifetime ago, when his whole life had been ahead of him and he had thought his future would be so very sweet.
What had been her name? He could remember her kisses so well, the dimples in her smile, the delightful way she’d squeal when he snuck her out of her prudish Chinese parent’s household for a weekend of passion in his arms.
Before his eyes widened with wonder and awe, recognizing those features at last.
“Hao Chan?”
His girlfriend had given him such a strange look when he had uttered those words out of the blue after they had talked of rings and college together and so many things, but her Hong Kong accent had been the farthest thing from the soft lilting voice he had expected. “Who the hell’s Hao Chan? Are you cheating on me already, lover?”
He had shaken his head in confusion, he remembered that much, suddenly dizzy, not sure where or when he was, and before he could say a word to clarify what he had meant, he had abruptly shivered, losing the odd train of thought, and it had been a wild weekend earning her forgiveness, even as he snapped back to the present, awed and shaken by what he had seen and heard in a memory, a dream, a sliver of time connecting a life he had lived over a thousand years ago.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Forsworn: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 3 Page 36