A Beginning's Continuation

by Tony Tran

  “If you want proof then I shall show proof, if you can survive tonight and help me rid the province of the Jiangshi then perhaps I’ll leave this province in your care. Take these and use them if you are in trouble, also we only managed to make about a thousand of them so first come first served.” Zhang said as he waved his hand and a thousand talismans appeared and fell down from the second floor of the hotel.

  “Boss are we really going to waste our time and go along with his charade?” Qian Sheng asked.

  “We will play along for now, if nothing happens I’ll make sure he knows not to mess around with me even if his cultivation is on a higher level than mine… He may be stronger then me but not everyone around him is.” Ran Kaitou said as he grabbed one of the talismans that Zhang had tossed down.

  While Ran Kaitou was talking to his men, Zhang and the four beauties had made their way to the top floor of the hotel and Cheng Yu could be seen standing behind them.

  “Cheng Yu gather up all of the actors, and noncombatants in the hotel and disperse them on the top floors of the hotel and the other buildings we rented out and arm them with bows and arrows. Although they won’t be too proficient with them they will be able to help a bit while staying relatively safe up here. Tonight, I will lure the Jiangshi here.” Zhang said as a blood red sword appeared in his hand, this blade was the Slaughterer sword that he had acquired some time ago.

  In front of Zhang was a mid-sized clay pot that had some rope tied to it. Once the sword appeared, Zhang tied the rope attached to the pot to the sword and then the purple energy of the Underworld Heart enveloped the sword.

  Zhang could have simply just enveloped the clay pot with the purple energy but he found it much easier to manipulate objects with a point or edge to them. Such objects were more aerodynamic.

  It was not long until the moon was high in the sky and the creatures the lurked the night roamed about. Especially a certain horde of undead, that were currently roaming the streets of New Moon City.

  While focusing some essence around his finger, Zhang poked at the clay pot, creating a finger sized hole on its side. From this hole a stream of blood flowed out and stained the wooden floor boards underneath Zhang’s feet.

  Moments later the Slaughterer sword shot out of the Silver Swan hotel and carried the clay pot with it. A trail of blood was left in its path as it cut through the night sky. Zhang was going to lead the Jiangshi straight toward the hotel and into his home field. The hotel and its surroundings had been specifically outfitted to suppress the Jiangshi and would give Zhang and those of the living an advantage when facing these soul eating undead. The trail essence enriched blood would soon draw the undead horde to Zhang’s doorstep and perhaps their end.

  “Ran Kaitou, get ready to meet a real live Jiangshi, or well should I say a real dead Jiangshi.” Zhang yelled.

  “No just no brother…” Ai said as she patted Zhang on the back after witnessing his horrid attempt at cracking a joke.

  Disheartened Zhang descended to the first floor of the hotel and began issuing orders.

  “Everyone move outside of the hotel; we will engage them outside. Ran use some of your fancy earth magic you used during the dice game to make us some walls. Also, make sure not to damage any of the talismans on your way out.” Zhang said as he carefully took off one of the talismans stuck to a door and opened it.

  Soon four thousand and five hundred men along with four outrageously beautiful women were standing in front of the hotel. While hundreds of actors, storytellers and people of the sort stood on the upper floors of the various buildings that

  Zhang had rented with weapons drawn. At first these people were panic stricken when they were told that tonight they would be facing a real live Jiangshi.

  But there wasn’t much that money and pep talk couldn’t do to convince some people to fight for their lives. There was also the fact that if the Jiangshi wasn’t stopped then all of them would die anyway, be it sooner or later.

  “All of you stand back.” Ran Kaitou said as he bent over and placed his hands atop the ground. A blue glow soon enveloped his body and then it turned to a yellow earthen one. Moments later the ground began to twist and turn, then dozens of earthen walls rose out of the ground. A miniature maze was soon constructed in front of the hotel with many of the runes that Yuying had drawn appearing on them.

  “Whoever or whatever walks into this will be pounded to paste.” Ran Kaitou said.

  While the miniature maze rose from the ground, Zhang’s blood red sword could be seen shooting across the night sky and behind it was a trail of blood and a horde of monsters.

  At the front of this horde were three Jiangshi jumping from place to place trying to get at the clay pot that was filled with blood. Soon they arrived at the miniature maze but they didn’t seem to even notice what was in front of them and kept going for the clay pot instead.

  But the instant one of the Jiangshi jumped atop a red rune that was drawn on the ground it was pushed back and couldn’t move forward. That was when ten throwing knives shot through the air and honed in on it. With deadly force the throwing knives shot through a single Jiangshi, leaving ten holes inside of it.

  However, that was when it turned back and jumped at one of the lesser Jiangshi, in an instant the lesser Jiangshi was turned into ash while the ten holes were completely gone.

  “Lure them into the maze!!!!” A voice rang out in the night.

  Chapter 11: Living Vs. Undead

  “Prepare to engage the undead!” Zhang yelled out toward the men behind him. The people watching the scenes happening below were horrified, as they could clearly see the Jiangshi and the horde of lesser Jiangshi.

  For most of these people this would be said to be one of the most terrifying experiences of their lives. Had it not been for the fact that Zhang had reassured them if they ran away tonight they would surely die, then most of these people would have fled. As for the four thousand and five hundred men, down in the streets, they had not caught sight of the Jiangshi yet due to the miniature maze obstructing their vision.

  “The-they’re here!” A shriek came from one of the women standing behind a window inside the Silver Swan Hotel.

  “You lot, fan out! I don’t care what is coming but if it makes it through my maze then you best prepare to fight it!” Ran Kaitou yelled as he could sense the horde of lesser Jiangshi swarming into his maze.

  Fully focusing on manipulating the maze, Ran Kaitou closed his eyes. Although it was called a maze, there wasn’t really an exit to the series of walls that Ran Kaitou rose from the ground. Of course, such a strong technique required a lot of concentration and essence to pull off, or else it could not be maintained.

  Once the parade of undead made its way into the maze, spikes would shoot out of the wall and impale them, or walls would begin moving and crush the lesser Jiangshi to paste. As for the Jiangshi themselves they were many times more powerful than their minions and would move through the maze undamaged. They would try to jump over walls of the maze, but thanks to

  Yuying’s runes being on some of the walls, they would simply get repelled. The same went for the lesser Jiangshi, but instead of being knocked back they would turn into dust.

  However, Yuying’s runes only managed to deal some damage before expending their power and fading away. Unlike what she had used on the chicken cage the other night, these runes were somewhat mass produced and thus, less powerful. While the full-strength talismans and runes were placed on the hotel and the buildings surrounding it. But the mass production runes made up for their lack of strength in numbers.

  “Thankfully we have an earth mage on our side.” Zhang thought with a grin while standing beside his four wives. He could tell that if Ran Kaitou not been here, then he and the beauties would have had to face the horde head on with only five hundred men to aid them. Had it been that way, then perhaps Zhang wouldn't have been confident enough to lure the Jiangshi toward them and would have waited, or come up with a different plan.
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br />   From their encounter at the casino Zhang could tell that Ran Kaitou was a fairly high level mage, perhaps a level seven. Thus, when he decided to lure the Jiangshi toward the hotel he had accounted for Kaitou’s earth magic, which usually specialized in defense or earth manipulation.

  Sadly, what he could not account for was the number of lesser Jiangshi that showed up. What Zhang didn’t know was the horde had increased to roughly four times the numbers that it had possessed a few days ago. This meant that there weren’t enough of Yuying’s runes to annihilate them.

  The undead horde continued through the maze until they finally reached the end. They could sense the breath of the living on the other side of this last barrier and one of the Jiangshi hopped to the front of the horde in preparation for the feast of souls that would soon begin.

  With a terrifying roar the Jiangshi’s smashed against the earthen wall that Ran Kaitou had raised not too long ago.

  “Ran use your earth magic and make trenches and barriers for the men!” Zhang yelled out as he saw the wall in front of them crumble.

  “You think I have an unlimited supply of essence here or something?!” Ran Kaitou complained as he opened his eyes. The maze had taken quite a bit of power to maintain and manipulate and he didn't have too much left in the tank. But thanks to the maze about one fourth of the lesser Jiangshi had been turned to dust.

  “Drink this and quit complaining, I didn’t pay you to complain.” Zhang said jokingly as he tossed a bottle full of essence water toward Ran Kaitou.

  “You didn’t pay me at all! Rather you robbed me…” Ran complained as he drank the contents of the bottle without questioning what was inside of it. Moments later he could feel that the essence that he had used was replenished, rather he felt he had a bit more than he did when the battle began.

  “For him to toss around such medicines without a care, obviously means he’s very powerful or his backer is, so if we make it out of this alive I should be making a big harvest.” Ran Kaitou thought to himself as he looked at Zhang from the corner of his eye before turning toward the incoming horde of undead. Although it took a moment to describe all of this happened in only a few breathes.

  Not long after drinking the essence water, Ran Kaitou made dozens of earthen walls that were as tall as a person's waist rise from the ground, and pits that were roughly ten feet deep soon followed them.

  “Let's do what we had talked about earlier.” Zhang said to the four beauties before a pair of twin swords appeared in his hand and he charged toward the three incoming Jiangshi.

  Without saying a word, the four beauties quickly dispersed and began enacting the plan that they had come up earlier.

  “Sis hop on.” Ai said to Ling as the Queen of the Night Whip in her hand shot into the ground and turned into vines, lifting her up into the air.

  Grabbing Ai’s hand, Ling quickly arrived at the top of the Silver Swan Hotel. Zhang had arranged for hundreds of barrels filled with water to be placed at the top of the buildings that he had rented out. These were all placed here for Ling’s use.

  While Ling and Ai were at the rooftop, Yuying pulled out dozens of talismans and quickly began sticking them to the earthen barriers that Ran Kaitou had risen from the ground. These talismans would help give the barriers the power to repel and turn a few lesser Jiangshi into ash. Once these talismans were stuck on the barriers, Yuying ran back into the hotel to prepare in case the people outside had to fall back.

  “Darling take this.” Lingqi yelled as she tossed Zhang a clear vial. This was the poison that she had concocted to use against the Jiangshi. Although it hadn’t been tested before, Lingqi assured Zhang that at the least it would cause some damage to the Jiangshi. Of course, he had to promise to keep his promise to her regardless if the poison worked or not.

  Zhang spun, mid dash and grabbed the vial in his hand despite already holding a sword in it. Then he quickly tore off the paper sealing on the vial and sprinkled its contents on his swords.

  The undead had swarmed out of the hole in the maze that the Jiangshi had made and were amassing in huge numbers. But as long as the three Jiangshi don’t join the battle right away, then Zhang felt assured that he could help dwindle the number of undead a bit.

  While Zhang charged toward the horde, Ran Kaitou and the rest of his men stayed behind the barriers and pitfalls. Their jobs were to fortify their position and confront all of the undead that made it past Zhang. Of course, Zhang being only one person meant that the vast majority of undead would just move past him so in the end they would face almost the entire horde.

  With his poison soaked twin swords, Zhang dashed into the horde of undead and began slashing away. Fighting large groups while brandishing twin swords was his forte and what he had been taught by his teacher as a child. Like a formless river, he flowed through the enemy ranks and used their numbers to his advantage.

  If he could extinguish the lesser Jiangshi army than fifty percent of the threat to the city would be gone. The most terrifying thing about a Jiangshi was its undead horde that can grow to astronomical numbers. Unlike zombies, Jiangshi drained essence and did not eat flesh, so most of its victims turn into lesser Jiangshi, instead of being torn to pieces.

  “Fighting undead is way easier then fighting live soldiers, they don’t have formations, nor do they wield weapons.” Zhang thought as he cut away at the lesser Jiangshi. Thanks to Lingqi’s poison, whenever he slashed into a lesser Jiangshi, it would scatter and turn into dust. Like a fighting god, wherever his blade went death followed or rather salvation from their cursed fate.

  Although some of the undead tried to swarm him, Zhang spun and like a tornado of blades everything around him was cut to pieces and turned to dust. While he was occupied, the bulk of the horde of undead that walked passed Zhang made their way toward the hotel.

  Ai and Ling sat on the roof of the hotel watching the battle below, since it was not time for them to act yet. Not long ago Yuying and Lingqi had also joined them.

  “You think brother had us all come up here because he doesn’t want us to fight?” Ai asked the other three beauties.

  “You think so? That would mean he cares about us and doesn’t want us to get hurt.” Lingqi said with a big grin on her face.

  “If you want to fight then wait until the three Jiangshi join the fight.” Ling said with a laugh as she looked at Ai.

  “I almost forgot! You guys take these.” Yuying said as she withdrew a dozen or so talismans from her interspatial ring.

  “Each talisman will allow you to block a single attack from the Jiangshi.” She added as she handed her sisters each a few talismans.

  “With these I, can shield darling from an attack from the Jiangshi and make him love me more.” Lingqi thought as a devious grin crept on her face. One could say she was a true schemer and can use any situation to her gain.

  Lingqi was the sort of person who would see a dying rich man, and use the fact that he was dying to her advantage. She was also the kind of person to help save a dying poor person without asking for a thing in return, which was somewhat contradictory, but that was just how she was.

  Down below fierce fighting had broken out between the living and the undead. Thanks to the pitfalls and barriers that Ran Kaitou had erected, the four thousand and five hundred men were able to hold the undead at bay. Perhaps the horde tripled or even quadrupled their numbers, but with the barriers up only a small number of undead were able to squeeze through and engage in battle.

  “Follow the boss’s lead! Send these fuckers back into the ground!” One of Ran Kaitou’s men yelled as his sword slid into the body of a lesser Jiangshi. However, his confident face soon became filled with despair because the lesser Jiangshi continued moving toward him despite the fact that it was ran through by his sword. He could smell the monster’s breath as it tried to sink its teeth into him and drain him of his essence. Fear filled this man’s heart as his life flashed in front of his eyes.

  Unlike when Zhang attacked, the less
er Jiangshi did not turn into dust. This was of course, because none of these men had the poison that Lingqi had concocted, so the only way they could kill a lesser Jiangshi was to slash off its head.

  “Idiot! Slash off its head! Don’t even try stabbing them!” Ran Kaitou yelled as an earthen spike shot out of the ground and impaled the lesser Jiangshi, lifting it into the air.

  “Th-thanks boss…” The man said in a shaken voice.

  The rest of the men gulped as they saw their comrade almost join the ranks of the undead.

  Dozens of the undead had fallen into the pitfalls as they pushed forward toward the hotel, however, this did not make that much of an impact on their numbers at all. But thanks to the barriers, the undead were not able to overwhelm the living, while the living were also not able to overpower the undead. The two sides were temporarily locked in a deadlock without any progress being made, but of course, the living would soon run out of stamina while the undead had an unlimited supply of it.