Then he paid them no more mind, arrowing right for the training dummies, utterly ignoring Qiang’s dark smile and Dineng’s scowl as he strode up to the Silver-ranked mannequin and began pounding it with a hot fury that surprised him.
Power Healing engaged!
He envisioned Duo Ku’s smirking countenance with every blow, feeling the fiery Qi roar and surge through his veins and meridians as he sought to become one with the fires of his hate to master this deadly strike. He pummeled fists against the strangely malleable but still painfully hard metal countless times, pausing only to embrace the searing pain of torn skin and bruised flesh repairing itself between strikes.
Congratulations. Flame Fist is now Rank 2!
But it wasn’t enough. His shield wasn’t nearly hot enough.
He took deep breaths, imagining his lungs like bellows, pumping blazing spiritual energy into a spinning vortex of flame.
Whether he was focusing for minutes or hours, he didn’t know, only that he felt no reservations about pushing with all the intensity that his massive Qi Pool allowed, while embracing a meditative state that cycled his Qi like White Crane, yet left him feeling one with the flame he could sense throughout his surroundings.
Whether it was due to the slow burn of a cultivator’s metabolism, or the potential inferno locked within the swaying pear trees that had stored the sun’s fiery energy over countless seasons, he had never felt more attuned to the element of Flame than he did at that moment.
And when his shield finally blazed so hot that it began to make even the Silver mannequin’s face sweat metallic tears of warping metal, Alex chuckled with a fierce sense of exultation, crashing to his knees with an exhausted sigh. He felt both vindicated and surprised by how low his Qi resources were, and the fact that he had suffered at least a bit of meridian strain.
Breakthrough made! You feel the flames blazing inside you like never before! Qi Absorption synergism detected! You can now absorb more Fire Qi than ever from your opponent’s blows. White Qi synergism detected! You feel your affinity at absorbing and assimilating the potency of all positive elements increase!
Qi Absorption is now Rank 5!
Flame Fist is now Rank 3!
Fire Shield is now Rank 3!
Alex took deep breaths, feeling suddenly dizzy and needing long moments to focus himself once more.
When he slowly got back to his feet, he did his best to embrace the image of a cultivator enlightened by deadliest wisdom, firing a taunting smile at the student who had looked so eager to challenge him before.
He couldn’t help smirking when the youth blanched and quickly turned away.
He had clearly been up half the night, goading himself to challenge Alex at his weakest, only to flinch when push came to shove.
He had no idea just how exhausted Alex truly was.
How much he had to struggle just to keep from collapsing, his very core oversaturated by the intense bounty of spiritual potency he had absorbed from overcoming so many trials, with no safe place or opportunity to channel those experiences and the power he had accrued into the pristine breakthrough that would allow him to ascend at least one additional Bronze rank forward, if not two.
Just as his enemies no doubt intended.
Crashing into his bed with a whispered command for his door to close shut behind him, Alex promised himself he’d take the next necessary steps just as soon as he could.
27
It was the faintest tapping, more a scratching, really, that jolted him out of the awful nightmares he had thought finally fading as he embraced all the challenges this school had to offer.
Somehow, he was certain that were it not for the insistent tapping, he would have woken with no memory at all of the desperate face flashing across his mind’s eye, and he was forced to wonder if his now-frequent nightmares could be more than just the buildup of stress after being forced to endure the crucible of constantly struggling for any scrap of privilege, prestige, or enlightenment, even when not desperately fighting for his own life. Because even with Eternal Fox, Alex already knew from his first life that some scars went far beyond the physical.
Yet with a single shake of his head, he forced such wandering thoughts firmly out of mind, feeling an odd frisson of excitement, somehow certain he knew the source of that scratch so faint it could have been a tree branch. His heart swelling with a feeling he could only call brotherhood, he swallowed the lump in his throat and opened his door to find not a lone branch scratching against his entryway, or an empty silent field, or the glittering smiles of his enemies…
But rather the grinning countenance of a man whose fierce sense of honor and devotion was matched only by the perfect symmetry of his features, the epitome of noble perfection, more an ideal of what the perfect gentleman or cultivator should be than a flawed vessel of flesh and blood that forever struggled against their own inner darkness, like everyone else.
Alex’s spirits instantly lifted at the sight of the smiling features of his kung fu brother.
The low chuckle he received when he quickly ushered his friend inside goaded him to laugh in turn, and quite unexpectedly, they were both laughing so hard that tears flowed from their eyes, pounding each other’s backs and sipping finest sake that, of course, his resourceful friend had securely kept in a priceless drinking flash by his hip.
“We did it, Cheng Lei! We truly did it!”
The Blue Prince grinned and nodded. “We did indeed, kung fu brother. To slopes undreamed, tasting sweetest victory, as our crimson foes foundered upon the shoals of their own folly.”
Alex flashed a fierce grin. “It is good to see you! I had been wondering what had happened to you, but, well…”
His friend chuckled softly. “Found yourself somehow stuck in the Aspirant’s Quarter with a whole host of Spirit Wolves out for your blood?”
Alex smirked at that. “Because no good deed goes unpunished.”
His friend nodded. Alex didn’t even bother questioning how Cheng Lei knew what he knew, even when he commented, “But the Blue Pagoda considers you a true friend. Should you find the healer’s path calling out to you, and you survive the trip to their tower… that is one path forward that not even the most rabid wolf can counter.”
Alex dipped his head, saying simply, “Thank you.”
“Of course. What are friends for?” He tilted his head, and Alex flushed under the regard of a man gazing at him as fondly as he would a younger brother, as fondly as Alex had once gazed at his sisters. As if in a world this cold, this ruthless, this mercenary, he already considered Alex his kin. “How are you, Alex?”
“I’m fine,” he assured the prince, then chuckled ruefully. “However useful I was on the Gold and Jade steps, the truth is, I’m a Bronze who managed to learn very few elemental techniques, save a few mad insights gleaned in the desperate moments between perseverance and peril. It truly is a treat to finally be in a position where I can learn the basics and gain a foundation in striking and warding techniques that might actually be of use to me. My cultivation path might be superior, but I still have so much to learn in regards to harnessing the elements themselves.”
Alex winced, suddenly realizing how arrogant that might have sounded, though he received only a contemplative nod from his friend.
“Considering your achievements by my side, I have no doubt your foundation might earn a nod of respect from even my grandfather.” Cheng Lei frowned thoughtfully. “Or at least, he wouldn’t obliterate you outright for being an offense before his gaze.”
Alex paled at what his friend said so offhandedly.
Cheng Lei chuckled at Alex’s expression. “Forgive my words. Of course, should you ever journey or adventure with me beyond the glorious steps we ascended together, no ally of mine would ever treat you as anything less than my brother in all things.”
Alex flushed and lowered his head with that reassurance, more touched than he dared let on.
He said only, “It’s great to see you, Cheng Lei.�
�
This earned him a genuine smile. “And you as well, my friend.”
The man Alex was certain was a prince of the LanTu nation gave him a warm clap on his shoulder. “I had heard rumors… and feared the worst. However, seeing that you are not trapped on the servants’ levels, or worse, eases my heart. For the thought of one such as you perishing on those steps…”
The look in his friend’s eyes suddenly brought Alex’s scattered thoughts into sharp focus. A mind dazed with the heady exhaustion of multiple breakthroughs and the darker burden of haunting dreams finally understood that this was more than a social visit, for all that he had no doubt that his friend’s interest was sincere and heartfelt.
“I’ll admit to taking an unexpected tumble, but I assure you it was a flaw in strategy, not balance, that was responsible for my sudden turn of fortune. But you needn’t worry. Humble as the lessons in this part of the school might be, they are exactly what I need.”
He took a deep swig of the fine double-distilled brew, handing it back to his friend, his sheepish smile inviting confidences every bit as much as his friend’s warmth did. “It’s good that you consider me your kung fu brother still, for I feel entirely the same. Which means you can share anything with me in confidence. Even why you chose this, of all nights, to come hunting for an old acquaintance, and one you feared permanently relegated to servant status, at that.”
Alex couldn’t deny the surge of vindication he felt when Cheng Lei’s perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised in polite misunderstanding, before he broke the illusion with warm laughter. “It is good to see you sharp as ever, Alex.” His gaze turned serious. “So long as you know I meant every word I said.”
Alex dipped his head. “I have no doubt of that.”
“Good. Actually, my discreet visit has absolutely nothing to do with the greater game afoot within this school, and everything to do with you.”
He raised a conciliatory finger before Alex could say a word. “You were half right, my friend. I was indeed looking forward to serving as your de-facto benefactor, should you need one, to see you clear of the servant’s quarters, regardless of whether or not you could be of assistance to me, as the least of favors for a friend who saw me through the greatest trial any man could hope to overcome… and saved my life in a far more direct fashion as well.”
Cheng Lei’s intense gaze, irises now a jade green so deep it awed Alex, was something he didn’t have the heart to lie before. He lowered his head, too choked up to say a word. And why he felt suddenly so awkward before a man he’d happily fight beside upon any battlefield under the heavenly sun, a man he was honored to call kung fu brother, he had no idea.
And why his friend’s opinion meant so much to him, relieved by the soft chuckle when the prince’s powerful grip patted his own shoulder once more, was again one of those questions that had no easy answers. Alex only knew it was with relief that he saw the smile in his friend’s eyes when he dared look up once more, both of them sharing a quiet laugh.
“And you need never say a word on it. Just know that I will always have your back, to the extent that I am able.”
“And I yours,” Alex declared, surprised to sense how sincerely he meant it, in a world where ruthless exploitation and manipulation seemed to be the norms, and he put himself in such peril declaring himself before strangers that could so easily be walking paths sending them both spiraling into death’s endless chasm. But all he said was, “So, what’s the play?”
His friend’s eyes widened in genuine surprise, though his smile only grew. He gave a gentle shake of his head. “No play at all, my brother. For as much as I was hoping you might just be able to guide my footsteps along certain cavernous paths, or point me to someone who might know…”
“Liqin’s your best bet for any and every location in the servant’s wing. She’s a good-natured girl who falls in love a bit too quickly, but that’s no crime where I’m originally from. And I have no doubt she’d fall for you just as quickly, eager to gain worth in your eyes in an eyeblink and…” Alex cleared his throat. “She is not at all shy about making a special boy’s dreams a reality.” He flushed on her behalf under his friend’s measuring gaze. “Though I know you’re too honorable to ever take advantage, if you’re looking for a particular servant, or a backway out of this college… she would be able to help you as well as anyone, probably better than most.”
Cheng Lei nodded in perfect agreement. “Liqin is indeed a dear, will only have my gentlest respect, and is everything you have said. She, in fact, was the one who informed me of both your miraculous rise and present location, and I do believe she would happily light a candle in her window for the grace of your smile, should you give her any indication at all that you yearn for her, friend Alex.”
“Oh,” said a suddenly embarrassed Alex. “I see.”
Cheng Lei’s smile grew. “And once more you show your worth, aiding me as much as you are able, when you have already done more than any man could ask of another. So be at ease, embrace your lessons here, and never leave these grounds, should you fear the threat of another.” His gaze sharpened, sliding Alex a tiny silver ring he already knew he’d never use. “You have but to twist the sigil twice, and I or my second will come for you.”
Alex swallowed, once again feeling awkward and clumsy before this sleek, graceful, and far too kind noble, showing the lie in the cynical, ruthless perspective from which Alex so often viewed this realm. “I… thank you.”
His friend flashed a reassuring smile. “Though my hope is that you won’t just persevere, but will flourish, one day soon, perhaps, blossoming into a Silver fierce and strong. And once you do manage to graduate from the Aspirant’s Quarter, I will make sure gifts are waiting for you to mark the occasion.” Cheng Lei’s smile turned sad. “Even if I myself am not able to attend.”
With those words, his friend bowed his head. “It was good to see you, Alex. I’m glad you’re well.”
And with a final clap on his shoulder, his friend was off, just seconds from fading to the final flickers of a dream the moment the door closed. Alex sensed he was no more real than halcyon dreams that faded at first light, unlike his all-too-corporeal nightmares which so tormented him with fragments of broken memory that he’d wake up in a heart-pounding daze, before he recalled exactly where, and when, he was.
So, before this tranquil vision faded back into Shadow and Spirit Qi, Alex forced himself to speak, fighting against the subtle pressure that seemed to fill his mouth with wool and his eyes with weariness that left him too dazed to say a word.
Willpower check successful!
Until he did.
“Cheng Lei, wait!”
The moment he said those words, his friend froze before the door. Alex’s odd sense of dizzying weariness instantly passed, and he could almost imagine a silent roar from something impossibly far away.
His friend slowly turned around, graceful movements impaired not at all by the tight-fitting cultivator’s robes the darkest shade of blue imaginable, his questioning gaze now locked with Alex’s own.
“Alex?”
Alex licked suddenly parched lips, knowing that what he was going to say was probably madness, an anxious man’s dreams, and what anyone who had been hounded by multiple psychopaths should expect. He dreaded the bemused, sympathetic smile his words would earn him… but if there was even a chance, the slightest chance that it meant something…
Then that meant he had been lost in his own pursuits for countless days when he could have, should have, been following a different path. And the surge of guilt he suddenly felt…
“Alex?”
He shook his head, forcing himself to say what he must.
“This… does this, whatever gambit you’re determined not to involve me in… have anything to do with the tunnels underneath the school?”
The sudden, absolute stillness was all the answer Alex needed, forcing himself to meet his friend’s too-intense gaze.
“Alex? What do you know
?”
“I know that Liqin was suddenly anxious after we went off the beaten path to avoid any… misunderstandings with a certain other party. And while we encountered no problems—no one at all, actually—her heart only calmed down when we were back in familiar territory.”
Alex squeezed his fist, forcing himself to say it. “I know she said that representatives of a certain powerful faction were carving up a piece of that underground network for their own use, and that they could make the servants’ lives miserable, if they dared to go where they weren’t welcome.”
His friend’s gaze focused intently upon him, as if Alex’s words were as precious as gold, or were anything more than what his friend had no doubt already deduced. Alex had simply verified what Cheng Lei already knew.
Alex took a deep breath, willing himself to speak on, because perhaps his friend didn’t know everything. Not yet.
“Cheng Lei? Here’s the thing. The corridors you can reach by the main servant’s entrance? They don’t penetrate too far into that particular set of tunnels. But I know for a fact that there is another corridor wall perpendicular to the one Liqin and I walked along, with only a few feet of reinforced stone between us. Corridors that don’t connect at all… but should.”
His friend’s gentle smile was long gone, his expression that of a commander gazing intently at a favored scout. “Is there anything else?”
Alex clenched his jaw, compelling himself to continue. “For just a second, I felt a surge of something dark. I… I imagined I heard a scream.” He winced. “Of course, there was no scream. No way I could have heard anything, really, but… still. I’ve been having nightmares off and on since I got here, replaying bits of my own bitter history, haunted when I think I hear any man’s or woman’s cry.” He shook his head bitterly. “And why the hell have I been pretending it was nothing at all, these past few days?”
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior’s Path Page 42