Looking surprised, he centered himself and stared down at Jia.
Tala stabbed out with her blade, flames licking up around the edges of it. The Rabbit woman herself was a raging inferno, fire wreathing her from head to toe.
Turning his focus to Tala for a second, the old man blocked her sword with his forearm. Stopping it cold in its tracks.
The old man smiled at his block, and then his face turned strange as the fire started to climb up his arm toward his shoulder.
Knocking the blade to the side in an obvious attempt to stop the fire, the man seemed confused as it continued to creep higher.
Mei was working her way around to one side of Ash’s view. Then she threw out a hand and closed it.
A crack sounded and the stones around everyone in the courtyard slammed together around the elderly gentleman. The force involved was significant enough to shatter the stones themselves.
Moira waved a hand over the massive impromptu stone tomb, and molten metal began pouring down over the top of it.
Ash hadn’t been idle during this time. He’d been moving around behind where he felt the old man would be looking.
There was no way this was over. Power levels varied from cultivator to cultivator.
The problem here was that the elderly man was a mortal refiner. No matter which way one looked at it, a mortal refiner should be able to kill a body refiner with no problem.
Up to this point, Ash had the impression the older man hadn’t been given a chance to fully attack. The moment he did, Ash truly believed someone in his group was going to die.
“We cannot fight him one to one—we must continue to keep him unable to attack. That is our opportunity,” Jia called out.
Moira and Tala rapidly advanced, putting themselves on either side of the bubbling metallic mountain of paving stones.
Jia and Mei did the same, creating a four-point cardinal around it.
The metal rapidly turned yellow and fell to the sides, the stone it had been covering moving with it.
“Enough of this!” shouted the old man as everything fell down around him, revealing him to be naked but unharmed.
Ash agreed.
Moving forward, Ash punched out at the man’s spine. Right behind where his Dantian would be.
Everything came down to this strike, and Ash focused in on it. His entire being, put into a single spike.
Ash launched the entire depth of his Qi Sea in the blow.
A needle-thin stream of Qi hardened to the point of a diamond skewered the old man through his back.
And it slid out the other side of his stomach.
There was no movement, and everyone stood still. The world froze for the moment, it seemed.
Ash retracted his Qi, pulling it back into his hand, and he backed up several steps.
“It’s destroyed. This man will never cultivate again, and there is nothing that would ever fix it.
“Even your gifts or an alchemist could not fix this,” Locke said. “You crippled him for life.”
The old man slowly sank to his knees, his hands pressing to his stomach.
“No,” he said, his voice soft. Whisper thin. “My Dantian.”
Ash blinked once, then came to a slow realization.
This wasn’t just a moment the old man would remember going forward. It was one Ash would forever remember as well.
I must remember this moment. And think back on it.
“No. You split my Dantian. It’s simply no longer there. It’s as if it never were,” the old man said, his voice sounding like pure agony.
“You’ll remember my warning,” Ash said, coming to his decision. “I told you to remember that moment.”
“My Dantian,” the old man grieved.
“And that moment is long past. This is where you pay for your choices,” Ash said. “And where I have to take from you.”
“You’ve taken everything from me!” the old man shouted.
“Not yet,” Ash whispered as he glided forward, activating Spring Step. As he stepped up to the old man’s back, Ash unsheathed his butterfly sword.
Holding it in his right hand, he used Spring Step again, his shoulder and body flashing.
With a wet squish, the old man’s head rolled forward off his neck. The sword had severed it cleanly with one blow.
As arterial spray arced up into the air, the headless body slumped forward into the ground.
“As Master Gen said,” Ash said. “It would be a pity to do it, but we do what we must. This is war.”
Ash leaned down and wiped the bloody blade against the dead man’s clothes.
“And we can’t leave someone alive who could speak to what we’re doing, and our goals,” Ash finished. “Or who my companions are.”
“Good. Now let’s see if he has anything on his corpse. He won’t need it anymore, after all.
“It’ll also be a good cultivation tonight. Maybe we’ll move up to the peak eighth rank!” Locke said eagerly.
The rest of his group was staring at him. Ash wasn’t really sure what to do or say about it.
“Thank you,” Mei said, taking shuffling steps up to him. “I know… I know my family is evil. I’ve seen what they’ve done and what they’ve been doing. I know what people see when they look at me.
“Thank you for seeing only me.”
Leaning in quickly, Mei kissed Ash on the cheek and then fled away.
Thirty-Two
Gen had been nonplussed to return later in the day to find his disciples had killed someone.
Thankfully, Ash had stored the head and the body in his storage ring.
It was morbid and mildly disturbing, but the alternative of leaving a corpse around was worse.
Bringing in a middle-aged man, Gen sat him down in front of Ash and Yue.
“Now, you already know why we’re here,” Gen said to the man, taking a seat halfway between Ash and the new man.
“You’re recruiting,” said the man without any actual care. “Recruiting cripples and the broken.”
“The first part is right,” Gen said. Holding a hand out to the man, he made a neutral gesture. “Tell me, if I offered you the chance to take your vengeance out on the Deng clan. Would you?”
“Yes,” the man said immediately, finally expressing some emotion. He suddenly looked to be full of fire and rage.
Anger.
“They took everything from me. I’d burn them all. All of them! From elder to infant,” hissed the man, foam flecking his lips.
“Yes, I imagined as much,” Gen said. From somewhere, he produced a cup that looked to be filled with wine. “Here, take a sip. And as you do, I’d like you to think what you’d give up to take that revenge. We’ll give you a minute.”
Ash, Yue, and Gen immediately started moving away. Giving the clearly distraught man a chance to get his composure.
“He looks… very angry. Angrier than anyone else,” Yue said, her hands pressed to her stomach.
“Yes… he was a rather gifted young man. Talented, strong Qi, signs of extreme brilliance at a very young age.
“He would have easily made it to an Inner Sect elder by now. At the least, if not higher,” Gen said. “The Deng family tried to recruit him and he declined, so they killed his family and ended his path of cultivation.”
Ash nodded slowly. Locke had already evaluated the man’s Dantian.
Much like so many others they’d seen, it was damaged. Damaged, fractured, crumbling, breaking apart.
“I think there’s something the Deng family practices that seems to do this type of damage. It’s the same thing over and over.
“The same damage, the same problems. Sometimes a little different, sometimes better, sometimes worse—but always the same,” Ash said.
“So it would seem,” Gen said. “Though thankfully, we have the means to counter it if it should occur again.
“How are you doing on reagents, by the way, Ying Yue?”
“Ah, I’ve gotten very good at making this
medicine now. I don’t fail very often anymore. I’ll never say no to more ingredients, but we should have more than enough to finish the job. I think.
“I’ve only been an alchemist for a month or two,” Yue said, shrugging her shoulders.
“And you’re doing wonderfully,” Ash immediately said, wrapping an arm around her. For whatever reason, Ash always felt like he needed to reaffirm Yue and build her confidence up. “Amazingly so. Just because I provided you with the info doesn’t take away from your aptitude to apply it.”
Yue looked down at her boots, smiling and nodding her head. “Ok.”
“Just to make sure,” Gen said, getting their attention again. “His problem is the same as all the others?”
“Yeah,” Ash confirmed. “It is. That’s why it feels like it’s an ability the Deng family is using. There hasn’t been anything that needed my work.
“For this to keep happening in almost the same way really only leaves that, right?”
“I would imagine so. Ok, let’s go take care of him and get him sworn in. After that, we’ll break for the day. I think there’s only a few more after this that I’ll want to recruit.
“We’ll have more than enough to challenge the Deng in the Outer Sect, and probably close to enough even for the Inner Sect,” Gen said.
Smiling his feral Deng smile, Gen happily moved back to the table.
“I’m exhausted,” Yue said, pressing a hand to her brow. “I think I just want to crawl into bed and sleep. How do you do it? Cultivate, train, and do everything else? You never seem to stop.”
“Mm. I make time to rest in my schedule,” Ash said, arm still around Yue. “If you don’t take care of yourself, you’ll be no good to anyone else. Me included. So I make sure to force some time into my schedule where I just… sit and recover.
“Sometimes even just lying down helps, even if I don’t sleep. Now, let’s go solve this guy and get going. We need to practice for the next tournament, and Jia has our next practice set. We won’t be doing that as long as we’re here.”
***
Ash sat in one of the chairs in the courtyard between their rooms. He hadn’t done much really, other than constantly assess and recommend treatments for people, but he felt mentally drained.
Listening to the constant stories of cruelty committed by the Deng family had taken a toll on him.
On top of that, Jia was drilling them on how to work together at every level. If they weren’t able to physically train, she wanted them mentally going over the scenarios she’d put together for them.
All in all, she was an excellent strategist and planner for them. Ash wasn’t going to believe for a second he could compare to her in that regard, and so he wasn’t going to bother to try.
He didn’t have to lead, anyways. Nor did he want to.
Without his meaning to, Ash’s eyes were drawn to the paving stones at the center of the courtyard. The red pool was long since gone. The blocks cleaned and refit by Mei.
It was as if nothing had ever been there.
Other than the rotting corpse of the old man in Ash’s storage ring.
There would be no way to dispose of it till they were on the road back to the sect.
I did what I had to do.
He forced my hand.
But I still killed him. Without remorse or a second thought.
Even now, I don’t regret his death. But I regret that I was forced to kill him.
I wonder if that’s selfish.
“It is. But understandably so,” Locke offered. “Eyes up, Jia is on her way to you and she looks… determined.”
Ash blinked twice and then looked around.
Everyone was still about what they’d been doing. Except for Jia. She was now on a straight path to where Ash was sitting.
“Let us have that serious match,” Jia said. “I would like to know the extent of your capabilities, so I can plan for them.”
Ash stared at her evenly. It was an excuse and a poor one. She already knew his capabilities well. She’d seen them many times.
“I don’t really see the point in it,” Ash said, shrugging. “You’re already well aw—”
“Have a serious match with me,” Jia said, interrupting him. Her eyes were unyielding, and Ash realized he wasn’t going to be able to decline her. Not without making a point of it that was beyond reasonable.
“You’re forcing this, then?” Ash asked, hoping that maybe being direct might just poke her hard enough to get her to step back.
Everyone was watching now. The atmosphere had changed. Everyone had eyes on Jia, and she was staring Ash down.
“Yes. I am,” she confirmed.
Ash sighed and looked to the ground.
He’d always wondered if Jia could overcome whatever it was that was driving her to this. Her seeking out confrontation to have someone declared a victor in their relationship.
Win or lose, this would change things. And likely it would be permanent.
“Remember this moment, Jia, because this’ll be the point you look back to,” Ash said, getting to his feet.
“You think you can beat me that easily?” Jia said, her body falling into a neutral posture.
“No. I don’t. But you wouldn’t hear me if I said it, and you’d argue with me if I said anything else.
“So… we’ll do this, as you’ve asked, and at some point in the future, you’ll look back to this,” Ash said, “and realize it was exactly what I said, and I never wanted this.”
Getting into a defensive stance, Ash activated his abilities one by one. He began to plan out his attacks. His plan for battle.
His goal wasn’t to kill her, of course, or to permanently harm her. Which eliminated making anything solid out of his Qi that might harm her.
He’d have to do his best to control the momentum. The flow.
To become a wave in motion. Ash needed to be ready to crash with force, or to recede.
Jia gave her arms a whirl, and Water Essence Qi flowed out rapidly from her hands. Dark-blue power formed and coalesced into large walls of what looked like water.
Question. Do my attacks latch to Essence? If I attack her Essence, can I leech it?
“Ah… no. That’s a gap I hadn’t thought of. I can fix it, but not for this fight,” Locke said.
Great. In other words, if she is able to retain her Qi Sea while utilizing her Essence, it’s unlikely we’ll be able to beat our way through it.
“Correct. You could always use your own Qi Essence to break through it, but it’d require you attacking her directly. Due to the purity and strength of your Essence, it’s likely it could kill her. After putting her abilities together for her, I can honestly say I’m not certain she’d survive a direct hit.”
Ash thought quickly. Jia had planned this out, it seemed. Which meant she’d be on the lookout for the other abilities she knew he had.
Not waiting for him to make the first move, Jia drew her right arm around her front. A tidal wave of Essence smashed down toward Ash.
Drawing his Qi through his palm, Ash created an angled and smooth-faced shield. Bracing it to the ground, Ash waited for the impact, coiling himself up.
When the attack struck, Ash moved with the force, activating Spring Step at the same time.
He dove toward Jia. He needed to close the distance and start landing hits. Jia was moving much slower as Ash dipped into his speed.
Her left hand came up two inches at her side, and suddenly the wall of Essence on her left lifted her up into the air, taking her twenty feet up off the ground.
Ash blew through the column of Essence, splattering it outward in an explosion. Turning on his heel, he lashed out with a Spring-Step-enhanced kick to where Jia should have ended up.
Only to kick the same column of Essence he’d gone through after it reformed.
“As her elemental aspect is Water, she can keep it bound together quite tightly. I do not believe she’s lost much of her Qi Sea,” Locke said.
Ash took sev
eral steps backward, knowing Jia was one to counter-attack.
A tendril of Essence smashed down into the spot he’d been in, then immediately flowed back into the wall and reset.
Ash began to slowly pad around in a walk, trying to think of a way through this. The fight hadn’t been going on long, but it was fairly obvious to him that his chances of winning were rapidly declining.
A section of the right wall peeled off of itself and splashed down around Jia. It rapidly formed a lake around her, the Essence writhing as it sloshed around.
Needing to know what it did, and figuring he’d only get one chance to test it, Ash leapt forward.
Jia reacted predictably, the wall of Essence moving between himself and her to protect any type of launching attack.
Ash landed a single foot on the lake of Qi and felt his boot stick hard to it.
Damn, it’ll lock down my speed. I might have to Spring Step just to get through it, or out of it.
Shaking his foot free, Ash took two steps back and then started throwing out a rapid set of chain-linked Qi chompers.
The glowing balls of Essence sped off toward Jia.
Only to hit the wall she’d kept in front of her and stop dead.
“Need to make sure we can change the targeting of all your attacks to be whatever it hits, rather than whatever it was aimed at,” Locke said. “Probably alter your Thorns as well so that they’ll burn whatever the last link available is. In other words, burn the Essence itself, since it can’t seem to get back to Jia.”
Ash didn’t think Jia knew about his ability to constantly refill his Qi, nor his passive ability to Heal. Which was to his advantage.
Except this was going to be a battle of wills and time. If he could hold out long enough to drag Jia down through persistence, or if she could break him before that happened.
We can win this. It just isn’t a guarantee, and it relies on our passives. But that’s how the tide goes.
Recede for now, build up our strength, then crash.
“Is that all?” Jia asked suddenly.
Frowning, Ash looked up to Jia’s face, and he saw what he’d been afraid of all along.
Disdain.
Condescension over what he’d done so far, his inability to win—and more than likely to her, the apparent eventual win.
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