And how well he could imagine the rustling leaves of the trees all around carrying an echo of the bloated general’s laughter in the heavens above at having outfoxed the Ruidian yet again, turning sweetest victory into bitter ashes. Alex choked back a growl, having no doubt that Shalu would do everything possible to hound him till he was drowning in the River of Souls, his final life come to an end at last.
“The hell it ends like that!” he hissed, earning a contemptuous smirk from the Silver Giant.
The tree’s animated rustling grew louder.
But it was Bang Jiao’s comment that jolted Alex out of his furious despair.
“Doomed to embrace the bitter after all.” The man seemed to sigh like the rustling leaves.
Abruptly, Alex burst out with laughter, realizing how absurdly silly he was being.
“Forgive me, master, I’ll be right there!” he said, spinning on his heel and racing alongside the trees, away from his fellow aspirants.
“Fool! You can’t outrun a Silver!” Dineng taunted.
Duo Ko’s mocking chuckle followed Alex from the other side of the trees demarcating the safe zone from Alex’s certain peril. “There’s only one way this can end, Rat.”
Alex grinned back. “I quite agree,” he said, darting around and up just as the giant tripped over a stray root and crashed to the ground with a furious roar.
Forest Flight skill check made!
Before Duo Ko had even finished falling, that split second where sudden lack of balance and gravity held sway over even inhuman quickness, Alex was already leaping to the highest cherry tree branches and springing from tree to tree, gaining speed as each branch propelled him forward with every greater momentum, the rustles now feeling like an echo of laughter as the buffoon below cursed and roared.
“You’ll pay for that, Ruidian!”
But he was now laughing in concert with the rustling trees as he catapulted through the air after leaping off the final cherry tree that had somehow bent back just like a bow at the best possible moment, sending him soaring dozens of feet over a roaring Duo Ko, generating looks of awe, disbelief, and frustrated fury as he tumbled to the ground and landed beside his friends, before springing back to his feet and bowing to Bang Jiao.
The look of pleased satisfaction his mentor flashed him, apparently angry no longer, more than made up for the bruised muscles and scraped skin he had suffered with his mad leap. He had refused to use Bullrush before potential enemies, allowing Strength and Finesse alone to transform his wild leap into a graceful tumble.
Fortunately, by the time he was finishing patting the dust from his changshan shirt, his minor cuts and scrapes, only a loss of the tiniest fraction of a gram of his living flesh, had already healed. The marks of what one might have thought an ugly blood-smeared abrasion were wiped away just as easily as the dirt it now seemed to be.
And the only things Alex found sweeter than Bang Jiao’s pleased smile of satisfaction were Dineng’s furious scowl and Duo Ku’s cold glare.
“Savor this day free of broken bones and pain that never seems to abate. Savor it with all your might. For those days will soon come to an end!” With a glare that promised unending suffering, Duo Ku spun around and walked away, two other scowling cultivators following in tow, like the lackeys they so obviously were.
“And what did we learn with that little demonstration, class?” Bang Jiao asked the group at large.
“That Alex is a Wild One?” opined one student, gazing at Alex with a certain amount of awe.
“Clearly that. What else?”
This time it was Zhang gazing at Alex with a bemused smirk. “That this Ruidian has the fool’s own luck?”
“That this fool’s days are numbered,” snarled a glaring Dineng.
Yingpei Lin’s eyes widened with sudden insight. “That people take so many things for granted when calculating odds and the probabilities of success. But it all means nothing if you can somehow send the pillars of people’s expectations crashing down upon their heads.”
Their mentor chuckled. “You are all absolutely correct! And now that we are finally here and properly accounted for… it is time to begin your training in earnest!” He flashed a cold smile. “We will now be running back at a sprint. You will not find the path to be the one you expect. Those who can’t keep up will pay a price for their weakness, the same as any soldier on campaign.”
Alex heard more than one groan as Bang Jiao began racing across the lush green grass, ignoring the stone path entirely. Whispered curses soon became desperate whimpers from the more frail students, many still basic cultivators, when they noticed the cold smiles of at least a couple powerfully built cultivators keeping pace with them.
Alex shivered, suddenly feeling like he was caught in an episode of International Geographic with gazelles being herded by a pack of lions. Only now, he thought he had a pretty fair idea of what it had been like for the gazelles.
“What is the point of this?” huffed a breathless Zhu Bi after everyone had gone several minutes at a dead sprint.
“No doubt our master seeks to instill a sense of urgency within us,” opined an equally breathless Yingpei Lin. “Especially for the basic cultivators. To push them all to be as fast and as strong as they possibly can be, with the dreadful knowledge that death is all around us, and that a single misstep…”
With those words, Alex heard a sudden cry as one of the girls stumbled and fell, a heartbeat from being left behind.
He could already taste the sharp spike of hot glee from at least one nearby male cultivator, but he was already in motion.
Finesse check made. You have successfully claimed fifth rank basic cultivator.
“Please!” She gasped with a sob before realizing it was a classmate, not a predatory outsider eager to challenge her, that had snatched her up.
Grateful, terrified eyes gazed into his own. “I think… I think I hurt my ankle.”
Alex nodded. “These things happen.”
Bang Jiao’s voice cut through their desperate gasps. “Who dared slow us down, claiming a straggler?”
“I’m slowing no one down, and no true legionnaire leaves his brothers and sisters behind, sir!” Alex all but roared.
Bang Jiao’s cold chuckle washed over them all. “And how long will you be able to keep up this pace with the girl in your arms?”
Alex laughed. “Until my commander tells us to stop and prepare for camp or battle, sir!”
The girl in his arms shuddered. “Please…”
“Legionnaire blood in your veins, Ruidian? Your father claim your mother during campaign?”
“Who can say, sir?”
Bang Jiao snorted. “Well, the pace is about to pick up. Are you all ready for that?”
This declaration was met by a number of groans.
Zhu Bi’s snow-tipped ears wilted, despite her effortless loping stride, her bushy fox tale actually helping her to keep perfect balance. Alex’s eyes widened to see that it was she who was helping to brace Yingpei Lin over an unexpected burrow in the dirt that she could sense as clearly as Alex somehow could, both of them seemingly more in tune to their environment than the others.
She shot a glance back his way.
“Think it’s a test?”
Alex nodded. “It almost has to be.”
Before tearing his eyes from Zhu Bi’s entrancing gaze when another girl collapsed with an exhausted cry.
This time it was Dineng, of all people, who helped her back to her feet.
“Thank you,” she gasped.
He just grunted and glowered, though Alex noted how protectively he held the petite girl who had somehow proven worthy of the golden steps, even if she had only cleared a mere three meridian channels. Even still, Alex could tell that her physical attributes, like those of most of the basic cultivators among them, were little better than an athletic college student’s back on Earth.
There was no way they could keep up this sprint for long.
Qi Perception c
heck made! Soul Sight skill check successful!
Alex could suddenly sense the flood of Earth Qi flowing through Dineng, like the power of a crashing avalanche, one he was presently harnessing to propel himself forward, one foot crashing to the ground after another. What should have been an exhausting stride was somehow perfect for him, even as he left indentations in the ground more worthy of the massive Duo Ku. Alex felt an icy tingle down his spine when he sensed the deadly Silver now loping behind them once more, as if he had known beforehand about this death march and had every intention of taking advantage.
The girl in Alex’s arms clung tightly to him. “My name’s Jing Le.”
“Alex Hammer,” he said without thinking, earning a sudden flinch.
“Are you alright? Is your ankle hurting you?”
She quickly shook her head. “No. It’s just…” She bit her lip. “Master Bang Jiao is actually sprinting? Will you be okay carrying me like this?”
Alex grinned. “Not a problem.”
Which of course was when two other young basic cultivators collapsed with a cry, unexpected potholes claiming yet more victims.
Jing Le gasped when Alex swooped down, scooping up the closest one, a groaning young student who couldn’t have been more than sixteen, hating the fact that he was leaving someone behind, yet knowing he had to keep moving with at least one Silver psychopath eager for his blood.
“Jing Le, can you pivot to riding my shoulders?”
“I… yes, Alex.”
Within seconds, Alex was keeping pace at a mad sprint, the lactic acid buildup in his legs eliminated so quickly, thanks to his Bronze Rank 3 Vitality, Endurance, and Rank 12 Eternal Fox, that all he felt was a gentle burn that sometimes spiked, but never slowed him down.
“Lin!” Zhu Bi cried out. And just when Yingpei Lin began to wheeze and stumble, Alex sensed salvation at last.
“Pear trees ahead!”
“Where?”
“What are you talking about?”
Alex frowned, wondering what was wrong with everyone’s sight when they began to curve around their sanctuary.
Then he shuddered, suddenly getting it.
He could feel the sedate presence of the trees.
But he couldn’t see them.
No one could.
Insight check made! Qi Perception check boosted by insight. You sense wujen ward in play!
And there a serene Bang Jiao awaited them all, smiling at their expense as they continued arcing around their sealed sanctuary.
“Master Bang Jiao?”
“Yes, Aspirant?”
“Permission to return to the Aspirant’s Quarter?”
This earned him a bemused chuckle. “Certainly, Alex, if you think you can get there without my…”
Alex nodded his thanks and immediately began to turn.
The girl Jing Le screamed when Alex twisted around, forcing himself to somehow slide between directions left and right, up and down. Perhaps it was his experience jumping into his now-destroyed copper ring. Perhaps his soul had been marked by his heavenly ascent in more ways than even he had realized. Or perhaps it was just because he could sense the mirthful rustles of the pear tree’s branches, wishing to discuss something with him.
Perhaps it was just because he was tired of playing his master’s game.
For whatever reason, he only felt dizzy and as though he was falling straight down for an eyeblink when he slipped past the trees, earning a pair of screams from the girls he was carrying, before their eyes widened with wonder, finding themselves back in the inviting shelter of the swaying pear trees, rustling grass, and the handful of pagodas and bunkhouses that made up the aspirants quarter. Truly their sanctuary in every sense of the word.
“Thank you!” sobbed the bruised girl still in Alex’s arms, smiling with such relief as he carefully put her down before kowtowing thrice before him and stumbling for the safety of the nearest bunkhouse with a choked off whimper.
Jing Le adroitly sprung from his shoulders, landing with surprising grace, even if all her weight was only one leg, holding back a wince as she flashed Alex a grateful grin of her own, squeezing his hand. “Thank you, hero.” She chuckled ruefully through her tears. “I had come so close to Silver. Had I just been able to push just a little harder…” She summoned forth her triple-sigiled Bronze Talisman and gave a dismayed shake of her head. “And now I will always have to fear those wolf-like cultivators, so eager to test themselves against me.” She swallowed. “To take everything that I have, if they can.”
Alex didn’t deny it. “The Path of Perseverance was a test. But it doesn’t mark the end of your journey, only the beginning.” He met her warm brown eyes with a gentle smile. “Now you know just how perilous your position is, how perilous a path all of us walk at this school. Have you ever wanted to train harder, to make something of yourself more than you do at this moment?”
Jing Le’s cheeks flushed as she slowly shook her head. “I… you’re right. As much as I want nothing more than another chance to push past that waterfall and ascend to Silver… I know there’s no way in hell I can go back in time. All I can do is push myself as hard as I possibly can now and do my absolute best to break through to Bronze—and one day, Silver in truth—so that I’m strong enough to choose my own path through life, and not just serve as a pawn in other people’s games.” Her jaw hardened. “And so that I never need fear predatory bastards like the ones that chased us ever again! I want those motherless jackals to be the ones running in terror from me!”
Alex beamed. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
“Alex?”
“Yes?”
“Why did you do it?”
“Do what?”
Jing Le bit her lip, lowering her gaze as she nervously adjusted her sky-blue qipao. “Bother rescuing us? We’re complete strangers. And I know… well, most of us weren’t thinking too kindly of you, after you delayed us for so long.”
Alex winced. “I am really sorry about that. But like I told Master Bang Jiao, I was only studying that tome for a single hour, and I was told that I’d have at least two before everyone was ready to go.”
She solemnly shook her head. “No, Alex. We were there for a total of three hours. Bang Jiao even took the time to show us how to make use of the Bronze section of the library, including setting up accounts for us linked to our talismans, so we could deposit earned credits into library credits that would then be inviolate to challenge. There are even miniature security boxes we can rent at the library to store whatever we like for research purposes, but those cost an entire Spirit Pearl to rent for a year.”
Jing Le smiled sympathetically at his look of consternation, gently squeezing his hand. “Your merchant friend was clearly worried about you, always finding reasons to delay the master, and Bang Jiao played host far longer than he should have.” She shrugged well-toned shoulders, gazing sadly at the bunkhouse where the other girl had fled. “I understand that professors are… limited in what they’re permitted to do to protect students. And when Dineng and a few others darkly wondered aloud if the delay was out of pity for a certain lost Ruidian…”
Alex furrowed his brow. “I see. Thank you for letting me know, Jing Le.”
She gazed at him with wide, curious eyes. “What were you doing, anyway?”
Alex smiled. “I managed to track down a tome I was curious about.”
“Did it teach you some exotic new techniques? Is that how you were able to spring through the trees?”
Alex laughed at that. “Nope, that I got from simply living in, communing with, and being respectful of the forest.”
She nodded in thoughtful acceptance. “Were you part of a Ruidian hunting commune? Is it true that you’re a Wild One?”
He shrugged. “I’ve certainly done my share of hunting. As to what that makes me, who knows? Your guess might be as good as mine.”
It was then that he heard cold, dark laughter, exhausted gasps, and sobs.
Alex frowned. “Wait
here a moment.”
You have successfully pierced Misdirection Ward two consecutive times. Silver-Ranked Ward is based on Wood, Earth, and Spirit Qi. 20% Comprehension achieved. You are now impervious to the effects of this particular ward!
Ales sprung past the trees just as a humming Bang Jiao led his sobbing students around the perimeter of their sanctuary yet again, Alex spotting several exhausted aspirants being mocked by what Alex surmised was a gang of Spirit Wolves.
“It’s only a matter of time, newbloods! You’re going to fall and collapse, and then you’re ours!”
Alex caught sight of a heaving Yingpei Lin being essentially dragged by Zhu Bi.
He whistled, Zhu Bi’s ears instantly orienting upon him, her haunted gaze locking onto him an instant later. He didn’t hesitate to grab her sweat-covered hand before yelling out to everyone present. “Link up with me! I’ll pull you through!”
Within seconds, almost everyone except for a heaving Dineng and a smirking Bang Jiao had linked hands.
“We’re going on three! One… two…” And with a single jerk, he pulled them across the ward.
22
“Alex! How… how did you know?” asked a panting Zhu Bi, the nearly three dozen exhausted—and in many cases, terrified—students panting for breath on the soft, loamy grass.
The Misdirection Ward had finally dissipated to reveal the taunting grins and outright howls of a handful of Spirit Wolves looking on through pear trees that no longer loomed like an endless forest, yet the boundary they represented was just as inviolate as ever. For all their mocking, not a single Spirit Wolf dared step past them.
Alex could feel the weight of everyone’s eyes now upon him.
“That is an excellent question,” declared none other than Bang Jiao himself. “How did you manage to break through a Silver-ranked obfuscation ward?”
Alex grinned. “I just used my ears. The rustling of the trees gave it away.”
This earned him a number of hard stares and frowns.
“He heard the leaves? Impossible. All I heard were those damned Spirit Wolves.”
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior’s Path Page 33