But Alex was already moving as a coldly-smiling Hao Zei abruptly jutted outward with a crimson whip of fire and blood, meeting Alex’s gaze not at all as his whip lashed out, only turning Alex’s way when he yanked his target off his feet with a scream.
“Fool! So easily misdirected, so easily destroyed!” roared the powerful Silver, now far more graceful and coordinated than he had been while trapped in his former bloated merchant’s body, smashing down his prey who gave one final shriek as his internal organs and skull exploded with impact, just as if one had whipped a snake around to smash against the stony ground.
Then Hao Zei’s pig-like features widened with disbelief and mounting fury as he realized he had not snagged Alex at all, but the man who had been approaching to stab what they had thought was a predictably retreating Alex in the back.
Which was why he had Bullrushed to the side.
Hao Zei roared as Alex flashed a furious smile, understanding so much in those moments as he Bullrushed thrice more across the field in the blink of an eye.
Quickness check made!
He snatched up the infernal lead chimes as his glowing fangtian ji tore through the grasping Wonang’s hand.
Adderstrike!
Of course the infernal cultivator was a Silver and a dangerous one at that, Alex already gaining hints just in the few seconds the battle had played out that his enemy was protected by wardings far more potent than what even a recently transcended temple-trained Silver could hope to match, though Alex didn’t need Soul Sight to sense it had been at a terrible cost, the foolish cultivator burning all of his many lifetimes’ worth of karma, assuring he would be reborn as no more than the weakest of hungry ghosts or worse, for the lure of a single lifetime’s rapid ascension.
But not even those terrible crimson wards could prevent a newly-risen Bronze, still embracing the final crackling remnants of temporary enlightenment, from tearing the unprotected leaden chimes free of warded fingers with a perfectly timed Adderstrike that blasted the dark prize free of the man’s grip, chimes hooked on the end of Alex’s magical weapon like a spear fisherman’s prize.
“No!” Wonang roared in frustrated fury even as Lady Ning Jing, glaring daggers of hate at the infernalists and racing forward with shimmering scythe in hand once more, abruptly crumpled over with the briefest ring of deadly chimes already disappearing from sight.
“Mother!” screamed a panicked Yinzi as the handful of infernalists she had been charging toward hooted in delight before lashing out with obsidian axes.
Bullrush!
Adderstrike!
Finesse check made! You have successfully snagged infernal artifact! You have successfully placed it in an instantly-imagined chamber walled off from all others within your divine artifact. Good thinking! Enchanted Fangtian Ji resists corruption!
And the trio of dark cultivators a heartbeat away from striking Ning Jing were all knocked off their feet when Alex smashed into the closest one shoulder first and sent him careening into the others, though not without cost. He hissed in surprised pain when his shoulder was wrenched out of alignment, failing at what had come so naturally for so long; temporary invulnerability at the moment of impact.
Of course, he was shoulder checking his foes in a way he never had before, his goal not being to kill with weapon, shin, or fist, but to knock all three off-balance like bowling pins.
Which he had succeeded at admirably.
But at a painful price.
Worse, he could feel the black claws of exhaustion reaching desperately to take his transcendent state away, just a temporary gift thanks to his incredible breakthroughs, replacing it with the crippling weariness so eager to claim him even now.
Yet as a roaring Hao Zei raced for Alex with scimitar and infernal whip raised high, Alex knew the fight was far from over. And with just a fraction of his Qi Pool remaining and only one good arm in play, he had to fight smart and hold off exhaustion for as long as he could.
Yet the three knocked-over cultivators would soon be on their feet, and Alex dared not waste another second on horror, hesitation, or mercy for foes who so clearly wanted him dead.
The air rang with shrieks and pleading screams as Alex jammed his gladius-like infantry blade into the open-faced helm of first one, then a second infernalist struggling to his feet.
Silver Swan skill check made!
Adroitly dodging the desperate lunge of the third screaming infernalist who had raised his blade in a desperate effort to avoid a torn throat, Alex pivoted and struck his foe from behind, channeling the force and fury of the howling storm into his heel kick, blasting through imperfectly placed armor backplates and shattering his foe’s spine.
Jump!
And Alex did, leaping back just as a roaring Hao Zei’s scimitar cleaved his crippled lackey completely in half in a shower of blood and gore, the furious infernalist doing absolutely everything he could to vivisect a wounded Alex, who was surviving his foe’s assault only by dodging and draining his few remaining Qi points into Bullrushing backwards before he could be whipped or cleaved in twain.
A quick glance to his right caught Ning Jing’s fierce smile of gratitude even as her voidal scythe began slicing open the remaining cultists as violently and viciously as if they had been thrown headfirst into a wood chipper.
Then, to his horror, Alex saw that Hao Chan’s teacher was down, Lady Feng Huang’s face locked in a rictus of agony.
A quick glance to his left as he dodged the roaring Hao Zei’s lethal blows, and Alex saw a snarling Wonang glaring hate as he peered all around.
“You want your toy? Come and get it, shit for brains!” Alex shouted, earning widened eyes and a hate-filled roar as the Silver made a beeline for him, all his hatred focused on the Ruidian buzzing about the periphery, just as Alex had hoped would be the case.
But he hadn’t expected the curse hurtling through the air, utterly impervious to any attempt to dodge or ward it off via reflexes or will, and not even Bullrushing back allowed him to dodge dark doom, the horrific infernal curse striking his body with a jolt.
Silver-ranked Infernal Curse cannot be warded or dodged! Saving throw versus Corruption at -4! You know a Divine cultivation technique at Rank 9! +9 modifier to all survival checks! Saving throw made! You have avoided instant death! You have avoided Internal Corruption!
You are temporarily stunned!
But the desperate distraction came at a terrible cost, Alex holding back a scream as he froze as if shocked by sudden, awful current, his nearly inhuman resiliency and bitter experience with extreme pain allowing him to shake free of the crippling agony far faster than would otherwise be the case.
But it had been more than long enough a distraction for a roaring Hao Zei to get back into range, lashing out with his vile weapon, the infernal whip skittering across Alex’s injured shoulder despite his best attempts to roll and dodge, Alex smelling the sudden sickly stench of his own flesh instantly rotting.
Hao Zei’s face lit up in a hideous smile. “A moment’s distraction is all it takes, fool! And now you shall feel the sweet agony of my infernal rot searing your flesh from within!”
And then the shrieks of the damned pierced all their skulls.
Alex forced a smile through his pained hissing, his nemesis’s confused blink making it clear he too had been caught off guard by the stereoscopic scream, eyes widening as he turned with a hiss, seeing a sight that made even him snarl and lurch back.
Jidihu. The strikingly beautiful Kitsune who so enjoyed displaying such graceful poise, never losing her serene, unflappable smile, always elegantly dressed in brilliantly embroidered qipaos that hindered her movements not at all. She was forever a pristine example of noble femininity and exquisite grace.
Only now she had revealed her true self at last, flashing a killer’s dark grin from behind her target as a wide-eyed shrieking Wonang, the source of that awful cacophony, collapsed to his knees, blinking in horror as his body began to rupture, one limb at a time. One meri
dian channel at a time.
First his right hand erupted in a spray of shattered bone, muscle, and blood, then his left. Then his feet ruptured in gory explosions of shredded flesh and splintered bone, and from there, the cascade only intensified.
Qi Perception check made! Critical success!
Alex’s eyes widened, sensing that it wasn’t just Wonang’s body that was being systematically destroyed, but his meridian matrix in its entirety. He was being obliterated by a technique so deadly it had pierced even that man’s terrible wards.
His shrieks grew so loud Alex thought his ears would bleed, before Wonang’s throat abruptly choked off, eyes bulging as his neck and torso became hideously engorged and inflamed, before at last erupting in a hideous shower of blood and gore, Lady Jidihu already one with the shadows once more.
Hao Zei snarled, giving a furious shake of his head. “No! After all this time, Black Death was you? A lowly kitsune bitch? Terrorizing my noble customers for decades? Impossible!”
Alex flashed a killer’s grin of his own.
Despite exhaustion clawing for his psyche, he and his foe’s deadly dance had revealed his enemy’s true nature at last.
Soul Sight skill check made! You sense the flow of dark, corrupt Qi within your foe!
And when Hao Zei abruptly pivoted and roared, lashing out with his deadly cleaving scimitar, Alex had already rolled under the blow, before springing forward, ignoring the awful pain in his sprained arm as his one good limb plunged forth with everything he had, knowing exactly where he had to strike before exhaustion and injury claimed him at last.
Find Weakness skill check made! You sense your opponent’s weakness!
Bullrush! You have slipped past your opponent’s guard!
Poison spitting skill check successful! Hao Zei’s eyes have been directly hit by Caustic Brew!
Foe is caught by surprise!
Caustic Brew fails to penetrate Infernal Wards!
Hao Zei roared with sudden laughter as Alex was smashed off his feet and sent flying before he could even tap into his final point and lash out with Adderstrike once more.
“Fool!” Hao Zei roared, laughing like a madman as Alex’s toxic brew of deathwort, crimson parsnip, eldritch hogweed, and half a dozen other toxins dripped down the bloated monster’s cheeks. A deadly concoction that had been Alex’s secret trump card in taking out so many of his foes.
Yet it had done absolutely nothing against the infernalist before him now, save perhaps overwhelm the man with the same awful stench that had just killed Alex’s olfactory senses and left his mouth tasting like a midden, Hao Zei’s ire now so great that he roared like a madman as he approached Alex, lashing out with his whip and scimitar as one. And it was only by dint of Alex’s Soul Sight that he was able to parry with his sword in time, for all that it instantly corroded with the touch of the weapon, and there Alex was, gazing up at his looming foe smiling with vindictive satisfaction as clawed hands reached for the exhausted young cultivator just a heartbeat from collapse.
“Fool! Did you think alchemical arts could possibly save you? Oh, how good it will feel to feast upon your soul!”
Alex smirked. “Actually, I knew it wouldn’t. I already know that’s not your weakness.”
Hao Zei furrowed his massive demonic brow. “What are you talking about, worm?”
“It’s your stance. Your wardings make you all but indestructible. No weapon will pierce your skin. Your massive blubbery body will absorb the force of any blow.”
Hao Zei’s laughter was low and cruel. “And now I know your darkest secret! Lady Jidihu, former consort to the most deliciously corrupt nobles, is actually Black Death, once the most feared assassin in all of Yidushi!” He flashed Alex a vicious smile. “And now I will tell you a secret as well, you vile little insect whom I will soon crush under my boot. The Yidushian Jianghu are forbidden to strike me or my clan directly, save in self-defense! Contract forbids it!”
He turned and flashed a furious-looking Jidihu a mocking bow. “Now everything becomes deliciously clear. Who you really are, what you really represent! And now you know who I am as well! The famed merchant Hao Zei, who gets the best of all his foes! You are forbidden to strike me, wench, now that you know who I am, just as I am forbidden to strike you! But I am well within my rights to claim my property. And even the Jianghu sect recognizes all progeny as property of their sires and dams, and Ruidians are recognized by your sect as nothing but property!”
Lady Jidihu hissed and glared. “If you think for one second...”
“You are bound, fool!” roared the infernal cultivator, seeming to grow before their eyes. “Your former master himself signed the treaty giving special rights to my clan, and my clan alone! Now I will take my daughter, and I will take this foolish Ruidian who dared to challenge me, and I will make sure all my allies know who you are and what you are and where you are going! All without harming a single hair on your head.”
A pale-faced Hao Chan gasped from the carriage rooftop, a soft keen slipping free of her lips, looking for all the world like her worst nightmare had just come to life.
Hao Zei’s cruel grin widened when he caught his stepdaughter’s gaze. “It will be such a pleasure to teach you your place, wench. How I will revel in making you pay for all the trouble you have caused me!”
Strength check made!
Despite his overwhelming exhaustion, Alex lurched himself forward, putting himself between the giant and the path back to the carriage, thankfully still a good fifty feet away.
Hao Zei gazed down at the injured and exhausted Alex in bemused disbelief. “You have already over-extended yourself! And now you dare to think you can do anything to stop me? Fool! I will crush you here and now!”
He then raised one titanic foot to smash Alex’s pelvis into a pulp, delighting in the thought of causing Alex such lingering agony before death finally claimed him. Alex sensed it perfectly, just as he sensed his foe’s shift in stance and balance, pivoting his weight on his right knee just before plunging his left foot down with sufficient strength and force to shatter a horse.
Only then did Alex dare unleash his final blow.
Adderstrike!
Find Weakness skill check made! You have successfully struck your foe’s patella while limb is fully extended! Bone has saved versus breakage! Kinetic force transferred! Your foe’s leg has been forced to bend backwards! Ligaments and tendons fail to save versus rupture!
You are temporarily deafened by your foe’s screams!
Your foe is crashing down upon you!
Quickness check made!
You have teleported inside your ring!
And for just a split-second, Alex took a shuddering breath of relief, popping into his garden, the awful rotting agony in his shoulder from the vile infernal whip momentarily soothed as he basked in the glowing golden light of his saintly fangtian ji.
But he knew he had to go back. Immediately. And do what needed doing, no matter who saw him.
Because the monster that threatened his friends and the girl he loved needed to be put down at all costs.
You have successfully braced yourself for what comes next!
You have teleported outside the ring!
You are surrounded by infernally-tainted viscera! Saving throw versus Corruption with +9 modifier made!
Your enemy has crashed upon the very spot you occupied just a second ago! Your foe has suffered a Fatal Wound as you castle inside his body! Your opponent’s lungs and liver have traded places with you inside your garden!
Your foe’s demonic form has perished! Tainted spirit has been captured by unknown third party. The cords of fate have been made infinitesimally cleaner with your enemy’s death. Experience earned!
Alex repeated the awful maneuver twice more before he managed to tear free of the massively bloated demonic cultivator who must have weighed close to a ton. It was all he could do not to retch as he had his ring spit back out the Alex-sized chunks of corrupted flesh he had torn fro
m the exceedingly dead Hao Zei’s surprised-looking corpse that he most definitely did not want in his garden, having literally hollowed his most hated foe from the inside out.
Hao Zei’s vacant eyes, filled with the horror of death, stared blankly on as an exhausted, cursing Alex popped back into the outer world once more. He was grateful to see that the only people left standing were his friends and the young kitsune wards they had been so fiercely protective of, doing his best to ignore the ghastly sight of his fallen nemesis while quickly freeing himself of slime-covered clothing. He then lifted up his ring-laden hand and summoned forth the tiniest fraction of the near lake’s worth of water he had stored inside his artifact to wash his body free of blood, viscera, and other bits of matter he tried not to look at too closely.
A terrible weariness overcame him as his mind flashed upon all he had been forced to see and endure in just a handful of days, without break or rest.
In the end, with so much on the line, he had been forced to play his final trump card. Because even infernal defenses were no match for whatever allowed Alex to disappear and reappear within his ring, a divine artifact given to him by WiFu himself. Which meant that when he had timed his strike just right to cripple Hao Zei and send the man crashing down upon him, that spelled the end for the vile former merchant. Of course, it had required expert timing, arranging for his foe to occupy the space he had been in just a heartbeat before. Timing that had required him to get a sense of his opponent’s movements and intentions, learning to read him as he had learned to read the vilest of greater spirit beasts that had nearly killed his friends once before. Only then did Alex dare make his move.
Yet there were reasons why he had shown absolutely no one, save his earliest friends and allies in this world, just what his ring was capable of. Capabilities that went far beyond the simple necessity of having to perfectly time his attacks. For if the secrets of his ring got out, wars might be waged for the rights to such a prize, and being killed off as an unworthy complication by whichever noble or military faction discovered his secret was almost a forgone conclusion.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior's Oath: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 4 Page 2