His sleepy thoughts wandered to the library and all the wondrous secrets he would claim from cultivation manuals as soon as he was able to without putting anyone else in jeopardy. He all but shivered in delicious anticipation, absolutely certain that they were chock full of exotic body cultivation and striking techniques he was now eager to master.
He chuckled ruefully, not being embarrassed to admit that the hardest aspect of his studies back in that miniature garden of Eden had been focusing himself solely on forging the perfect set of meridian channels, cords of power without compare, without once giving into temptation and losing himself in the study of countless exotic techniques that would no doubt see him the master of any battle fought with similarly ranked Bronze cultivators. Easy as it was to resist the temptations of imperfect Bronze techniques, pristine Silver and sublime Gold had called out to him like potions of free experience would compel any adventurer in any game he had ever played.
Yet resist he had. Because his ultimate goal hadn’t been to become the best Bronze cultivator with the most exotic attacks imaginable, but to be able to ascend the ranks without any limitations at all.
And now, finally, his cultivation base was secure. Beyond secure. He had taken the first crucial steps in forging a foundation that truly had no limit, worthy of the gods above, it seemed. And how they despised him for it, save for the god of chaos and change himself.
Alex couldn’t help grinning in sublime satisfaction, feeling almost like a character in one of his favorite childhood games, having finally unlocked the ultimate prestige class, now at last able to devote his time to learning the elemental attacks and abilities that would truly let him shine.
But that was an adventure for another day, he thought with a smile as he let the delicious languor of the first safe, comfortable rest he had had in ages carry him away to dreams gentle and peaceful, a brief reprieve from the chaotic world he had temporarily left behind.
The gods knew he would return soon enough.
29
When Alex woke from peaceful dreams feeling utterly refreshed, gazing out a window filled with the warm golden light of his divine artifact nurturing the wondrous garden he kept in the heart of it, he couldn’t help but savor the surge of exultation he felt, grateful just to be alive.
Somehow he wasn’t at all surprised to find the same old fashioned bone-button changshan shirt, pants, and leather shoes waiting for him in a carefully folded pile at the foot of his bed that he had first entered the world with, artifacts that took neither stain, odor, nor lasting damage, no matter how long he wore them or what he was forced to endure.
Donning the familiar attire, he imagined a door in his bedroom leading straight to his garden and took a few brief moments happily gazing at the gloriously blooming display before him, breathing deep of the scents of countless exotic wildflowers and beaming with pride at how well his transplanted specimens that held the secrets to hundreds of alchemical formulae blossomed within his sanctuary.
Of course, he was equally happy with his apple and chestnut trees, heavy with mystic fruit rich in vital spiritual energy, each delectable morsel just as nourishing as any mundane meal could possibly be.
And for all that a part of him would love to tinker about in the alchemy lab he had assembled from perfect memory deeper inside his ring, he knew it wasn’t quite time for that.
There was an entire library of wondrous secrets encased in a protective layer of stone that he had laid claim to, thanks to a few poorly chosen words by his enemy that Alex had been all too happy to use against him.
For all that Alex’s desperate gamble had nearly cost him his life.
Or perhaps daring that warded door securing Dragon Academy’s backup library in the bowels of a much humbler building truly had killed him. At least enough to momentarily stop his heart, Alex thought with a shudder, recalling all too viscerally what it felt like to crawl free of the River of Souls.
And for all that he dreaded the thought of a certain serpent god’s spirit water touching his flesh and transforming him into a ghost for all time, somehow Alex was certain that was a fate he need never fear again, after having broken free of Calamity’s doom and a divine general’s vicious gambit.
Yet still, there was one dark fate he knew would doom him for all time.
Should he ever slip again into a certain river’s dark waters and lack the will to break free, he would sink beneath the surface for all time. Rebirth denied, his death would be permanent and eternal.
For Alex had dared the forbidden, and the spite of angry gods was no small thing.
Much to Alex’s surprise, when he entered the library, filled with excitement for all the secrets he would soon uncover, he found he was not alone.
A certain charming rogue with a tricorn hat, master inspector’s uniform, and a foxlike grin was currently saluting Alex with a golden cup filled with wine from the comfort of one of the plush stuffed leather chairs his father had once so treasured. The former inspector gestured toward a similar chair, the table stand beside it lit by an old fashioned reading lamp with a plate of Alex’s favorite pastries and a cup of the sweet cacao-flavored coffee so favored in the southern part of this empire, so many miles away it might take a walking man a century to get there by his own two feet.
Alex swallowed, instantly understanding without a word being said why he was being given coffee instead of rice wine.
He needed to keep a clear head for whatever was to come.
“Congratulations, disciple! Truly, I never thought I’d see the day one of my pawns countered three Calamities, all in the same turn.”
Brilliant eyes of silver and jade twinkled and flashed with the miniature explosions of dying stars as the ancient deity chuckled. “Truth is, I never thought to see pawn or player escape even one of those cards, and my bloated brother who thinks himself such a brilliant tactician was keeping three in reserve!”
Alex peered thoughtfully at his mentor. “About your brother…”
WiFu flashed a knowing smile. “Go on. Ask. Don’t be shy.”
“I can’t help but notice that he’s…”
“Grotesquely fat and bloated?”
Alex just shrugged. “Whereas almost every other cultivator I’ve ever seen looks to be in perfect health, with the body of an Adonis underneath their robes.”
His mentor’s smile grew. “Ah, but there is more than one path to ultimate ascension, dear disciple. And for all that you and I embrace the bitter and the unorthodox, others choose orderly discipline symbolizing absolutely crushing monotony. And still others, like my dear genius of a brother, made what he assures was the purely tactical decision to laugh off whatever looks his physique earned him as he embraced a path of unparalleled gluttony, clever enough to finesse unspeakable quantities of resources from every other player he competed against, consuming everything with absolutely ravenous abandon.”
WiFu sighed and shook his head. “A miracle of gluttony. Of appallingly epic proportions. So grand a feat that he actually managed to ascend while savoring every victual, every vice, draining everyone who dared conjugal relations with him absolutely and utterly dry. He feasted on everything and anything, and laughed off our growing dismay.”
WiFu shrugged at Alex’s horrified expression. “What can I say, disciple? It worked. He’s a fat, corpulent, arrogant monster of a brother who surpassed all who stood against him while feasting upon every excess imaginable and countless souls claimed as prizes of his endless wars. Consuming more than you can possibly imagine. And whereas the rest of us paid a price in pain and sacrifice that you have only begun to savor, he was clever enough to avoid any sacrifice at all, with the single caveat that he wear his corpulence like a badge of honor, and never see himself as the grotesque slug of a man that the rest of us do.”
Alex frowned. “But still…”
“There is nothing more to say on it, disciple,” said his mentor, voice suddenly chill as the void. “He has chosen his path, and his path has led to his ascen
sion. A grand feat that has gifted him with divine immortality. Any mortal with the arrogance to judge any path whatsoever that leads to immortality had best judge himself, first and foremost.”
Alex bowed his head. “You’re right. It’s not for me to judge any man, or god’s, ascension. I can only hope I’ll find that path that fits me best, no matter how eccentric and winding a path it might be.”
WiFu airily waved his words away. “It is good you understand that, Alex. And for all Shalu’s flaws, his string of conquests and ability to port our troops when and where needed did secure us an awful lot of land on which to plant the seeds of our clan’s empire. Even if we did have to repopulate countless thousands of square miles after he consumed every living spirit beast to fuel his own growth. But for his tactical victories alone, he’s been shown tremendous forbearance. Why, we even allow him his ridiculous title, ‘The General,’ and if he wanted to cover himself in ribbons and medals, none of us would bat an eye.”
WiFu gave a sad shake of his head, taking a sip of his drink. “And for all that he thinks himself a genius, he wasted priceless cards trying to destroy you. What a truly stupid waste of resources. We could have used each and every one of those cards for the war to come.”
Alex shivered, feeling a sudden an icy chill with those words. “WiFu?”
His patron airily waved his words away. “Never you mind that, Alex. Matters of far more immediate import call for your attention.”
With those words he rose from his seat, gesturing to what seemed a whole new wing of Alex’s library. Alex frowned, certain there had only been wood paneling there before... then abruptly froze, recognizing at last the gold-bronze rune encrusted door that he just knew led to the entire hidden collection of Dragon Academy’s tomes that he had been so eager to claim, just a handful of days ago.
WiFu flashed a sympathetic smile. “Actually, it’s been months, Alex, since you claimed that library from under our enemies’ noses, and your Hao Chan has just cleared her seventh meridian channel. Even now, she is furrowing her brows just as hard as you were, struggling to find a cultivation tome that won’t stifle her potential.”
WiFu gave a sad shake of his head. “It’s a shame, really. She’s an incredibly gifted dancer, and if there ever was a path that allowed one to achieve transcendence through dance alone, the dear might actually reach Jade in just a few short lifetimes. As it stands?” He gave a forlorn shrug. “Not even my dear Jidihu has a tome ideally suited for the girl.”
Then he flashed Alex a conciliatory smile. “But fear not, she will end her life a powerful Silver, if things continue as they are. There is your Eternal Fox cultivation manual, of course. But she, like most human beings, lacks the patience to spend hundreds of years as a Bronze before advancing to Silver and then, millennia later, finally achieving Gold. Not that we’ll be permitted that much time before we are all put in play, but still. It’s the thought that counts.”
Alex gritted his teeth. “If there is nothing I can do about it, if I am forbidden from even entering Jidihu’s kitsune sanctuary, why bother telling me this?”
WiFu flashed a beatific grin. “Why indeed? Best focus on what we can change, no? There is the lost library hidden in shadows over yonder, which you know will doom your friends utterly, should you dare glance at those books now squarely ensconced in Jidihu’s underground library. And of course, there are all the tantalizing secrets hidden away in tomes of Silver and Gold just on the other side of this wondrous door, which won’t doom your friends at all to look at,” WiFu said, knocking on the entrance to the vast library Alex had effectively pilfered, smiling at the sonorous gong of his knuckles.
Alex flashed a hard smile. “I’m surprised to see you here wasting your time with me, when you could be trading cards and insults with your asshole family. I can’t help but think there must be something important you want to tell me.”
WiFu’s bemused smirk instantly hardened. “Have a care, Alex. They are my kin.”
Alex’s gaze grew equally cold. “Kin who have done all they can to butcher your own mortal offspring! Kin who played three Calamity cards trying to send me straight to Hell, and assure my doom for all time!”
WiFu gave a rueful shrug. “Fair enough. Well, you’re free to call them whatever you like inside this ring, but have a care what the wind carries when outside.”
Alex swallowed, jerking a nod, realizing he was being a complete idiot, picking a fight with the single divine power who seemed to give a crap about his fate. No matter that Alex wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for the deity of Chaos and Change and all-around mischief staring so intently at him, even now.
Heart lurching in his chest, Alex kowtowed before his patron. “I pray you will forgive your foolish disciple, WiFu. My tongue wags with exhaustion and bitterness. My apologies if I have caused you any offense.”
Silver Fox’s eyes widened. He burst out in bitter laughter. “Offend? Oh, Alex, if you only knew all the slimy, underhanded, vile things those pathetic excuses for gods have done over the millennia.” He flashed a bitter smile, locking gazes with Alex for an endless moment that left his disciple’s heart hammering as Alex desperately swallowed a silent scream.
“But you do, Alex. In your heart of hearts, you already do.”
And for just a moment, Alex’s heart was racing with terror and despair, the cries of little girls he had cherished since the day they were born a torment to his ears. His precious wife, whose silver-green eyes and radiant smile had captivated his heart from the very moment they had met under her father’s roof so many years ago, now sobbed and shook in his arms.
“Why are they doing this, Alex? Why?”
Awful words he couldn’t possibly answer, all of them trapped in a house they had thought a sanctuary, betrayed by once loyal allies and hounded by fanatics and inquisitors who had been screaming for the death of all kitsune from the very moment sneering priests had declared Silver Fox banished, the gods themselves demanding the heads of all his former followers.
Men roaring for their deaths even now, as Alex’s innocent children shook with terror, wheezing and coughing as the black acidic smoke began to rob the life from their fragile bodies. Alex swore with his dying breath that he would never forget the horror of that day, never forget the look of despair in his wife’s eyes, would never forget the dark oath he swore to avenge himself on the bastards who had taken away everything and everyone he had ever loved.
“Enough!” Alex cried, breaking eye contact with his ancient mentor, clenching his fists, eyes stinging with the agony of memories ancient beyond reckoning. Memories he wished he could say were never his own. “I hate those bastards, WiFu. For what they did to me...” He swallowed, locking gazes with the former inspector once more, recalling so viscerally that ancient chamber awash in light so intense it would sear flesh to ash, power-healing like mad as he peered inside a metal cage at the remains of a boy huddled in lonely despair, reduced to crystalline bones, countless years ago.
“For what they did to you.”
He jerked his head away, turning to look squarely at the golden library entrance, almost terrified to meet his master’s gaze.
Much to Alex’s relief, WiFu’s words showed not one iota of vulnerability, no timbre or inflection one would expect of a mutated child left to die in a sterile lab, as if he was worth less than nothing.
And maybe Alex’s suspicions were meaningless and totally off.
He prayed it was so.
Which was ironic. The only person he could pray to was the roguish charmer gazing so intently at the back of Alex’s skull.
“Alright, Alex. Let’s cut to the chase. Because you’re right. I don’t have a lot of time. You have a choice, disciple. You can turn away from that library, touch not its golden door, and forget it was ever here. I will close this corner of the library in stone and shadow, and you need never let it trouble you again.”
Alex blinked. “But what about all the secrets it holds?”
WiFu
sighed “You won’t even remember it. In fact, when next you slip out of this ring, should you choose to ignore this library, you won’t remember anything about Yidushi at all. Not about the horrors you embraced, nor the friends you have left behind. You will simply have the knowledge of a truly lucky soul to have stumbled upon transcendence and found a path that will lead to a wondrous future of endless potential, whether you choose to transcend to Gold or beyond, or settle down and marry some lucky Ruidian, kitsune, or Golden Realms girl, and fill this world with as many beautiful children as I have striven to over the years. Either way, you can be happy. Free of the burdens of guilt, duty, and despair that you have been plagued with for far too long.”
Alex swallowed. “But what about...”
“Baidushi? Yidushi? Everyone and everything weighing down your heart and soul? You would be free of all that, soon enough. Free to finally put those burdens aside. To walk away along a winding road that just feels right to take, and find yourself deep in the wilds far from all the major cities and their madness.
“Before you know it, after numerous adventures hunting spirit beasts and aiding small communities over months or years, you’ll find yourself in a safe haven, a united fellowship of towns both a part of and totally separate from the empire, where farmers raise bountiful crops and healthy children, and the people have an almost druidic connection to the land. You could be happy there, Alex. Happy for centuries. Maybe even longer.”
Alex blinked, heart racing. He couldn’t deny that a part of him would absolutely love to do just that. To go forth like a fresh new adventurer without a care in the world, eager just to explore this beautiful realm, take on achievable quests that actually had happy endings, cultivate with secluded masters who might actually welcome his presence, and slowly grow in power and skill while having the time and adventure of his life. His growth might take centuries, even longer, but what did it matter if he could live in the body of a young man in the peak of health forever, while savoring every minute of his life’s journey?
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior's Oath: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 4 Page 51