Groaning, he flopped over to one side.
Moira’s head popped into view above his face.
Her big yellow eyes watched him curiously.
“Moira, I need you to… take my clothes off. Please,” Ash said, unable to really move. “Then drag me off to one side.”
“Mm?” Moira mumbled, her head slowly tilting.
“Please,” Ash said softly, closing his eyes. He needed to focus his effort internally.
Reaching down into his Dantian, he looked into his Qi Sea.
It was filled to bursting. It looked more like a bubble filled with cement than a Qi Sea. Making sure to block it up so it didn’t rush into his meridians until he was ready, Ash’s conscience seemed to settle over his Dantian like a blanket.
Focusing on a single threadlike stream of his Qi, Ash began to guide it into the first of his meridians.
He guided it back to his Dantian after he had followed it to the extent of his meridian, then moved on to the next one.
After he passed the sixth meridian back to his Dantian, Ash cracked open an eye.
Moira had dragged him off to one side underneath several trees. She was currently working at stripping him of his underwear.
Blushing darkly, Ash closed his eyes.
Get it together. Not a virgin. Haven’t been in years.
Just a… just a pretty lady with giant eyes stripping me so I don’t ruin the clothes.
That’s all.
No need to act like a stupid kid.
Ash channeled his thoughts into his work and busied himself with looping his meridians with his Qi.
No sooner had the last meridian been looped back into his Dantian with the ultra-fine filament of Qi, Ash opened up the pathways for his Dantian.
Letting it flow out like a broken dam.
As the pressure in his Dantian fell off rapidly, Ash felt better. Like he wasn’t going to explode from the inside out anymore.
Gritting his teeth, he lay there. Waiting.
Waiting for the black day to begin.
“Moira, you might want to move away from this,” Ash said, his tone soft.
“Move away?”
“Yes. My body is about to cleanse itself. It’s… not going to be pretty. In fact, it’s… it’s going to be pretty awful.”
“Mm… alright. I’m going to go hunt,” Moira said. The sound of wings flapping was the only indication that she’d left.
Ash was so tired, he couldn’t even turn his head at the moment.
That’ll change in a second, I suppose. From what I hear, the bl—
The Qi that had flowed into his meridians was now reentering his Dantian. Immediately afterward, his Dantian shuddered. Shuddered and violently rebelled at the dirty, filthy, stained Qi that had come back.
All the Qi that had entered his meridians had washed them clean of the impurities his body had collected in them, along with the nearby areas in his flesh surrounding the meridians.
Turning to his side in a flash of energy, Ash started to dry heave against his will. His body shuddered with the strength of the violent upheaval.
Then his Dantian expanded in size and immediately contracted on the Qi coming back.
And a lot like toothpaste being rolled from one end of the tube, the filth only had one direction to go.
Out.
Black putrid vomit spewed from Ash’s mouth. At the same time, he evacuated his bowels.
The taste and stink of it all was more than enough to keep Ash throwing up, even if he wasn’t being compelled to against his will.
Oh god, it’s worse than they ever said it would be.
After several more seconds of looking like a fire hose from both ends, Ash gasped for breath.
Spitting, he rolled to one side, trying to get away from the black ichor he’d sprayed out everywhere.
“Fuck me, oh god,” Ash said, still spitting.
“What… just happened?”
Stumbling up to his feet, Ash grabbed a tree and took a wide stance. Before he was ready, he started urinating. Black liquid that reeked of rot and blood rushed out of him.
Groaning at the burning pain it caused on its exit, Ash waited. He could do nothing till he was finished, really.
Twenty seconds in, his urine suddenly turned pale yellow instead of black.
“Thank heaven,” Ash said. Sighing as it finally ended, he stumbled back into his camp. Naked.
Taking the pot of water he’d boiled the previous night, he set about cleaning himself up.
Especially his rotten mouth.
“Would the Chosen One be so kind as to offer an explanation?”
“Was my black day,” Ash said, spitting a mouthful of water out. “My Dantian needed to grow bigger, but it needed to get rid of some Qi to do so.
“In the process, I cleaned out my meridians. Though… no one ever told me the black day was this bad.
“Ugh… I want a bath.”
Ash washed his mouth out yet again, then started walking shakily in the direction of the small stream that was nearby.
Two hours later, Ash made it back to his tent.
Sitting down next to his long-dead campfire, Ash closed his eyes with a groan.
No matter how many times he scrubbed and scrubbed, he felt filthy.
Even if he did feel amazing at the same time. Having his meridians cleaned out as well as his Dantian gave him a fresh feeling.
Spiritually, at least.
“Let’s talk about abilities and techniques,” Ash mumbled. “Were you able to complete my previous request?”
“Yes. I assembled everything you asked for. I also created a low-level ability specifically for you.”
“You created one? Is that even possible?”
“I imagine so, but it would take infinitely longer for a mortal.”
“What’d you make?”
“A cultivation type of ability. A technique that will provide you with a steady influx of Essence without actually cultivating. It can’t pull in a large amount, but certainly more than any other cultivator out there, I would think.”
“Ah… so does it involve me channeling or—”
“No. It’s much like Spring Step, by your request. Activate it and then leave it alone.”
“Is there a limit to how many of those I can have?”
“I wouldn’t say more than two more medium ones, or one larger one for now.”
“I see… could you transfer it to me now?”
“I would recommend not doing that. In fact, I would suggest for the Chosen One to select all his skills first and then attempt to sleep.”
“Since it’ll put me to sleep anyways to learn all these.”
“Correct.”
Rubbing at his face, Ash couldn’t disagree. It was very probable he’d end up incapacitated.
Just like last time.
“Alright. What other abilities did you think would work?”
“I have seventeen.”
“Alright. Go ahead and start.”
“The first is a melee attack that focuses the power of your Qi into a single strike.”
“Uh… one strike? What if I miss?”
“The Qi is wasted.”
“Pass. Skip any others that have a similar risk.”
“A series of strikes that generate a moderate amount of damage. If the chain is broken, however, there is feedback from the Qi that is unused.”
“Pass. Lump that in with the too-much-risk category.”
“An attack where a Qi blast is launched from the palm and leaves a piece behind that burns the target.”
“Hold onto that one. Next?”
“Qi Thorns. If turned on and the user receives an attack, whether blocked or not, the Qi Thorns puncture the enemy’s defense and burn away some of their Qi.”
“I like that. Put that on hold, too.”
“A strike of the hands or feet that leeches a small portion of Qi from the one struck.”
“I want that one. Next.”
“A long-range attack that locks on to the enemy, allowing one to track their movements. Though it costs Qi constantly.”
“Pa-” Ash stopped suddenly, a thought striking him. “Actually. You combined two abilities earlier, yeah?”
“Correct.”
“Can you do that again for the… the Qi blast that burns, the strike that leeches Qi, and the long-range attack into one?
“So I could… strike or throw a long-range attack that’d latch on to the enemy and steal their Qi for myself with each strike, or just as time passes?”
Locke didn’t respond immediately, leaving Ash sitting there.
Last time this happened, he came back with an answer, but he had to process it first.
I wonder… how much of Locke is alive anymore… and how much is… well… a program.
Gritting his teeth, Ash tried to remain patient. The tournament was approaching, someone was trying to kill him, and he was out in the wilds while his parents were defenseless in the city.
The problems were piling up, and he didn’t have an answer that didn’t involve just waiting for the examination.
“Yes. The task is also complete. Please note, Chosen One, that learning anything more than this at this time will tax your own cognitive abilities.”
“Which ones can I learn, then, from what I already picked out?”
“The one I created, the Qi Thorns, and the one you requested be made.”
Ash clucked his tongue. Three abilities wasn’t quite enough, but if he did this right, he could probably interchange them with his martial arts and make it work.
“Alright. Transfer it over to me and—”
Ash blacked out before he finished the sentence.
***
“…bandits.”
“Huh?” Ash asked. Opening his eyes, he looked up to find Moira kneeling over his head again.
He felt like he was coming up from a deep dream. One that had held him down in its depths for a while.
“Bandits. On the road nearby. They’re attacking a small group of people,” Moira said.
“Oh. I see,” Ash said, his voice sounding dull even to his own ears.
“Do you care?” Moira asked, blinking slowly.
“I think I do.”
Ash slowly sat up, putting a hand to his brow.
I was talking to Locke and—ah! My abilities.
Immediately pulling at the strange memories he’d experienced last time, he tried to dig up any new ones with his received techniques.
They were there. And he knew how to use them. Knew how to use them perfectly. It would just be a matter of actually getting his body used to them.
Chained Leech Blast, Leech Strike, Qi Thorns, Battle Cultivation.
Ok… so that’s everything, let’s go practice on bandits.
Maybe.
Getting to his feet, Ash shook his head from left to right quickly. Trying to clear the strange cobwebs that always seemed to settle in his head after learning abilities.
“Which way?” he asked
Moira pointed away from the campsite. He knew there was a road in that direction, but it was over a hill and several minutes away at a walk.
“Huh. If it’s that way… it’ll probably take too long to get there. Pity there isn’t a faster way.”
Moira’s nose twitched once as she considered his statement. Then she leapt into the air with a flap of her wings.
As she passed over him, her clawed feet clamped down on his shoulders and he was physically lifted off the ground.
“Holy shit!” Ash screeched, reaching up to hold on to her ankles.
“I will not let you go. You’ve done no wrong to me and I value my life,” Moira said, flapping ever higher into the sky. “Should you perish, I will as well.”
Not trusting her words, no matter how reasonable they sounded, Ash gripped her ankles as if they were holy relics.
“There were six bandits and nine defenders,” Moira said. “Only two of the defenders looked like they were cultists. Four of the bandits were cultists.”
“Uh… cultists?”
“What you are. Cultists.”
“You mean… cultivators?”
“Cultists,” Moira said firmly.
“Right,” Ash said, looking down at the ground far below himself. He didn’t like the idea of arguing with her right now.
“Never did get a weapon,” Ash muttered.
“Why not?” Moira asked immediately, with apparently extremely good hearing.
“Forgot. Is that them?” Ash asked, pointing up ahead at what looked like a road.
“Yes. We’re going in now. I will remain airborne.”
Before he could argue, Moira had dropped down low in the air. She only pulled up at the last moment, depositing him on the ground. Moira had managed the whole thing with seemingly no effort at all.
Though she’d dropped him within twenty feet of the battle.
So obvious was their entrance, both sides turned to look at Ash.
From what it looked like to him, there were four people fighting five. Though it looked as if the four people were the ones being attacked by five bandits.
Unsure what to do, Ash raised a hand up meekly.
“Hi…” he said.
A scruffy-faced man wearing tattered leather armor pulled a knife from his belt and threw it at Ash.
Though the action seemed to slow down as the knife left the man’s hand.
Stepping to the side long before the knife reached him, Ash threw out his left palm, channeling his Qi to respond.
A ghostly azure metal Qi ball with teeth on the front of it shot out from his hand. It was attached to his wrist by a blue chain.
Before the knife had made it halfway to Ash, the ball bit into the man’s stomach.
Taking a step forward as the knife finally passed by, Ash pressed his hand to his belt, attaching the chain there.
Activating his Battle Cultivation and his Qi Thorns, Ash smiled as the man the ball hit bent over in half.
Apparently he’s not a cultivator, so taking what Qi he had… put him down?
A woman with a club smashed it down over the head of one of the bandits in front of her, and the battle was rejoined by both sides.
Two men separated themselves out of the group, leaving two bandits to fight the others.
Ash looked from one to the other, finding that both were cultivators.
They were also both peak seventh-rank body refiners.
The one on the left jumped forward, swinging a sword at Ash’s face.
Ducking under Lefty’s blow, Ash could feel he’d only managed it by a hair.
Triggering his Spring Step, he lashed out with a punch into the man’s stomach. At the same time, he blew a metal ball into the man’s gut and tied the chain to his belt.
Dancing away before the man could react, Ash came up as the man from the right lunged forward at him.
Firing Spring Step again, Ash hoped it had enough juice to get him away.
It turned out to be a false hope. He barely got a single step away before the tip of the blade pressed into his sternum.
Stumbling backward, Ash felt his chest tingle. He knew he was bleeding, but he had to get up and get back to fighting.
Righty dropped his sword suddenly and looked to his hand angrily. There was a mass of misty blue thorns around it, and a chain leading from it to Ash’s hand.
Pressing it to his belt next to the other two, Ash struggled to his feet and got back in a defensive posture.
Moira appeared out of nowhere, smashing into the man who had dropped his sword.
She somehow managed to snatch it up in the same attack. Her left hand yanked the man’s head back as her right hand began sawing the sword back and forth across his neck.
No sooner than she’d gotten it to pass through his windpipe, she looked up to Ash and the other man. Her pupils were pinpricks, her eyes a sea of yellow.
Ash hesitated for a second, then lashed forward at Lefty.
Striking the man’s wrist, he knocked his weapon to the side. His next strike took the man in the chin and spun his head around.
Grabbing the man by his head, Ash used Spring Step on his knee as he brought it upward. With a sickening crunch, his knee smashed into Lefty’s face.
The man dropped to the ground unmoving. He was out of the fight.
The two bandits who remained were looking between Ash and Moira, and the people they’d attacked.
Suddenly, they both turned tail and ran as fast as they could.
No one chased after them.
A woman and three men remained standing from the party that had been attacked. Those on the ground around them were clearly no longer among the living. One of the dead men was in rather rich clothing.
The three men who were alive had the look of guards, and the young woman looked like she might be the daughter of the dead man.
She was short enough that it seemed she still was still growing, and Ash guessed she was about sixteen. She had long black hair, dark eyes, a delicate face, and not an ounce of muscle on her. It was apparent she’d lived the life of a child of wealth.
Her eyes were already bright red, tears trailing down her cheeks.
Unsure of where to look or what to do, Ash looked down to the man he’d knocked out.
His entire face was crumpled inward, as if he’d been struck with a sledgehammer.
Brains oozed out from between the broken chunks of his forehead.
Blinking several times, Ash froze.
Then he turned to one side and promptly threw up for the second time that day.
Nine
Before the survivors could do anything about it, or him, Ash had already left the area.
He didn’t want anything to do with them, nor did he want to stick around.
Right now, all he wanted to do was sit down in his campsite and… do nothing. Walking at a decent speed, he was trying to make a beeline back so he could do exactly that.
Sit.
“Was that your first kill?” Moira asked him, bouncing along next to him.
“What? Yes. Yes, it was,” Ash said, frowning. “I’ve fought and injured people before but… never killed someone.”
“Death is no different than injuring someone. They just don’t get up again. The world is full of death. Often, we find that we must kill others or be killed ourselves,” Moira said, bouncing at his side as if it were the most normal thing in the world for her.
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