Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior's Oath: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 4

by M. H. Johnson

  Bullrush!

  Perception check made!

  And before he could even feel the shockwave of the now-abandoned window ledge exploding in metal shrapnel, he was already Bullrushing through the air, pivoting and zigzagging as he dodged and wove through the air like a falcon before racing under the cover of nearby buildings even as he felt surges of metal shrapnel tear through the air.

  Heart pounding, his lips widened in a fierce grin of both terror and exhilaration as he ducked behind a massive pagoda just before the top-heavy roof collapsed in an explosion of stone and wood. Then he was zipping as fast as he could through half the city, burning through a ridiculous twenty Qi points and grateful beyond words that his interface had so perfectly mapped the portions of Erjizhen he had strolled through in far calmer times. Above all else, he was grateful that he had embraced maddest impulse and invested two full cultivation levels boosting his Qi reserves alone.

  Alex had absolutely no doubt, as he finally burst upon the docks, having blinked through half the city in just seconds, catching sight of dozens of confused sailors and alarmed inspectors frantically working to extinguish blazing masts before they became ship-sized funeral pyres, that had he chosen any other use of his points, he would already be dead.

  He didn’t even bother turning around, knowing it would be absolute madness to think any Silver, one even quicker and deadlier than Yinzi’s mother, Lady Ning Jing, could have possibly kept up with him.

  While having absolutely no doubt that such was the case.

  So he did not stop running even when he leaped off the pier, racing across the calm waters of the ocean-sized lake in a desperate zigzag pattern just like a panicked soldier employing basic tactics to avoid sniper fire.

  Water Walking embraced! Qi Perception active! Quickness check made!

  Because that was exactly what he was doing when a sudden bolt of terror made him dart a hard left, Bullrushing like mad as the water behind him exploded in a storm of shrapnel and water.

  You have dodged death yet again! You have expended 21 of 40 Qi Points.

  “I saved your city, you idiot!” Alex screamed as he dashed across the waves. “Bingwen’s dying curse was to rob me of karma, so you would strike me dead instead of rewarding me!”

  He knew the words were fruitless and stupid even as he hollered them, probably beyond his enemy’s hearing, and were only in the loosest sense anything like the truth. But he could hardly explain that the gods themselves wanted him dead. Most mortals and cultivators would probably just take that as an excuse to kill him and expect divine reward in the next life, and probably receive just that.

  But one terrible truth only now dawning on him was that his word now meant nothing in the karmic scheme of things. He could lie and deceive like the vilest of infernalists and never have it resonate karmically, or, he suspected, affect his cultivation base.

  He shook away the pointless thoughts as he continued to zig and zag across the massive lake, racing for deeper waters. And for all that water no longer exploded in concussive bursts of steel shrapnel, he still felt the deadly weight of that Silver assassin’s gaze.

  He had to assume his words meant nothing to the man, and that his own mad ability to effortlessly race across the lake’s surface and the limits of the Silver’s range were all that kept death at bay.

  But Alex didn’t trust that seeming reprieve. Not for a second. And without wasting another moment risking his life while his enemy concentrated on what was no doubt the deadliest of Qi abilities building to fruition, he dove under the water, swimming straight down just as fast as he could.

  For a few brief seconds he was taken in by the solemn beauty of crystal blue waters shimmering with shafts of light and numerous brilliantly colored schools of fish before kicking squarely for the deepest depths, girding himself to endure agony once more.

  Eternal Fox Rank 10 embraced! You have saved versus disorientation!

  Your cells are currently surviving on Dark Qi alone! Metabolic processes are sufficient for survival and physical exertion at one fourth of maximum aerobic intensity. Your nerves are suffering cascade reactions! You are currently suffering a -4 on all skill checks due to Extreme Discomfort!

  The words flashing across his mind’s eye meant nothing. The horrific agony of drowning without end was very real, and for all that he tried to revel in the miracle of his cells surviving on Dark Qi instead of oxygen and glucose, it did nothing to alleviate the horror of drowning without dying.

  But it was nothing, absolutely nothing compared to the blind terror he felt for the glaring presence of the Silver cultivator above.

  Alex had met cultivators he had bested with ruthless ease, and cultivators it had taken every desperate trick in his arsenal just to survive.

  For all that he was Silver, not Gold, Alex feared the hunter he had left behind worse even than Bingwen when Alex had a working ring and was hot with the need for vengeance. He feared him even more than Panheu, who he had been terrified of, muted only by the fierce admiration he had for the man. The dread he felt was greater even than the terror he had once had for the vile, murderous Lai Leng, before mastering the alchemist’s most toxic poison and finally taking him down.

  But this Lord Wan Duan... Alex had seen his death in the man’s gaze, had felt the man’s killing aura.

  If his old mentor Liu Jian had once been the Sovereign Princess’s right-hand man, Lord Wan Duan had certainly been her left steel fist, and that alone emphasized just how important Erjizhen city was as a gathering hub for countless farmers growing their crops for Baidushi’s markets. That alone told Alex that he had probably saved more than Erjizhen with his daring intervention. Had the city fallen, he had no doubt the capital of Cuijing Principality would soon be suffering from hunger normally quite alien to the well-fed people of this world.

  Which would have probably made them even riper targets for insurrection, discord, and the war so many bloodthirsty gods craved.

  Plans within plans. Schemes within schemes.

  And after all Alex had endured, all the perilous scrapes with mortality he had somehow survived, he refused to let a little discomfort, or even the screaming agony of his burning lungs, deter him from swimming ever deeper into the cool depths of the dark blue lake.

  Only twice did his Qi Perception detect a spirit beast approaching him, and weaponless and near naked as he was, his divine clothes alone surviving the hideous ordeal with the phoenix that had been a Gold Dragon-ranked cultivator, he was taking no chances. Even as his pain increased sharply, he slowed down his swimming while drawing deep on his cultivation reserves as he forced his pores to sweat out an oily version of his Caustic Brew toxin, knowing the oil would coat his skin and his clothes, despite being nearly a hundred feet deep in the waters he swam through.

  And whether it was the strangeness of his presence, the fact that he swam away from any creature of power the minute it came within seventy feet of him, or the deadly taste of the oily poisons now coating his body that warned them off, he was grateful that no spirit beast tried to take a bite out of him.

  And such luck seemed almost unnatural now.

  He had been almost certain that one of those monstrous players above would have been all too eager to gloat and chuckle as Alex was devoured by sharks or barracuda or the like.

  Only then did he hear his divine mentor’s voice, bitter, raw, and triumphant all at once.

  “You’ve played your last cards, brothers. I now claim the remainder of this turn.”

  General Shalu’s mocking laughter echoed in the grand palatial chamber they played in. Alex could so clearly imagine him sneering at his far smaller brother. “What card can you hope to play, fool? That damned Ruidian is broken and powerless! We have hounded him mercilessly and defeated him utterly! He holds no weapons, his ring is destroyed, his fortunes lost! Every cultivation treasure and tome he once claimed, we have ripped free of his desperately grasping paws. Even the sacred cords of virtue and karmic fate have been forever torn
free of his pathetic little soul. Now he has no allies, no resources, and Fate herself cares nothing if he lives or dies!”

  The bloated god spat, and Erjizhen’s largest buildings collapsed and crashed to the ground under the weight of his contempt. “At this very moment, he is all but naked and hiding in the depths of that lake, and it is only a matter of time before the man whose city he saved uses his seers and remaining ships to hunt that filthy cur down and invoke the darkest, most delicious of curses, turning the waters into an inferno and a final end to your vile pawn that had the gall to waste no less than seven of our cards!”

  “You have lost, you sick little mutant! Accept it, and begone from our sight!” roared Long Wang, pounding the table while Zheng Yi blew a whirlwind in WiFu’s direction, the lake shaking with quakes felt even in the city Alex had fled so desperately from.

  Then deathly cold silence seemed to fill the palatial game room.

  Alex could all but imagine the widened gazes filled with surprise, and outrage.

  “You have been dismissed, Fox! Leave our presence at once!” roared Lord Zheng Yi, hammering the ground so hard Alex saw the flash of lightning streaking through the air to strike the waters high above. Only the faintest charge touched his skin, for all that the chill racing down his spine, exhilaration and awe in equal measure, was like nothing else he had ever experienced before.

  For Alex could now sense, just as if he were truly there, the fear and alarm in all the gods present as WiFu slowly flashed the darkest of grins, slamming down his card atop all seven of their own.

  “Fog of War is now in play.”

  General Shalu’s eyes bulged, his grotesquely-bloated face blotching with inhuman fury. “What? No! How dare you play that card! It is forbidden! It is impermissible! It can’t be done!”

  But Zheng Yi’s furious gaze paid no attention to the game at all. “You have been dismissed, Fox. How is it that you are still here?”

  “What’s the meaning of this, WiFu?” demanded Long Wang, glaring his hate at Alex’s piece and the cards now stacked upon it. And it was Long Wang alone whom WiFu bothered answering.

  “Simple, brother. What it means is that you fools can neither see nor interfere with this piece ever again.”

  “You cannot play that card!” roared the general. “Remove it at once, Fox. Remove it, or I will remove it myself!”

  WiFu’s cold laughter washed over them all. “You can try, brother. Are you sure you wish to risk decorporealizing this late in the game? You are expecting a war, after all.”

  “No. You are bluffing!” snarled the bloated god now looming over a smirking WiFu. “You are hoping we won’t challenge. You are hoping we won’t have the courage to call your bluff!”

  Silver Fox’s deadly smile grew. “If that’s what you think, brother, then go ahead. Do what you must.”

  “WiFu.”

  “Yes, Grandfather?”

  Zheng Yi’s voice had grown quiet. Formal. Free of the condemnation and scorn of just moments ago. “Explain to me how it is you have free use of this card.”

  “Very well, Grandfather. Since you were gracious enough to actually ask, I will tell you.”

  WiFu tapped the first card played atop Alex’s piece, a seemingly insignificant chip that was the color of midnight on one side, and white jade on the other. “First you played Pariah, forcefully severing Alex’s ties to allies and friends, dooming anyone who knowingly helped him get to Baidushi for the purposes of influencing the princess’s doom. Then you played the Pauper card, severing my piece’s ties to every possession he owned, even technically his life, as he woke up in the River of Souls with not a single treasure to his name, not even the ring he has worn without interference through countless lifetimes. Had he not found the strength to pull free of those waters... But never mind that.”

  He glared at the bloated god dressed in ancient armor sneering back at him.

  “Then you dared to play not one but three Calamity cards, so deep was your hate for my daring to oppose your stupid hunger for war, that Alex’s cultivation and soul were nearly destroyed. Then he had to fight his way through Hades, overcome its guardian, and face off against a greater spirit beast and fallen Silver merchant who never should have been brought back from the dead. The infernalist was more than happy to torture Alex’s friends and steal their souls while the very wolf who claimed his ring charged Alex head on, eager to swallow him whole.”

  General Shalu snorted. “And the look on your pawn’s face when his future wench died before his eyes. Priceless! Now he knows that anyone he gets close to will be taken from him, just as he’s forced to accept that all his treasures will forever crumble to ashes in his hands. We broke that fool so badly he didn’t even dare claim the greater spirit beast core that was his right! Ha! At least that cowardly merchant did something useful before fleeing his doom.”

  WiFu’s knuckles rapped the impossibly vast table, and Alex felt the water shudder around him. “Nonetheless, three Calamities were played, and my piece overcame them all. Instead of saluting his victory and drinking to his success as we have always done before, whenever any of our other pawns twisted free of our traps, your hatred for him only grew. So Grandfather played a Knowledge card just as if it were a Nemesis card, knowing only a Gold cultivator was available. And to top it all off, after my piece survived even that assault by the most miraculous of saves, my dear brother decided it would be the perfect time to rip free even karma’s blessing in the hopes that Sovereign Princess Cui Zhe’s favorite retired assassin would do away with my piece, once and for all.”

  “Well of course,” Long Wang declared. “It’s your own piece’s fault for not accepting Grandfather’s offer of seven golden lives, which would have only cost us one damned card!”

  WiFu’s icy gaze made even the powerfully-built Long Wang snort and look away. “Thrice you have cleaved the cords that bound Alex to the world around him, to the people that could have loved him, to the items and honor he earned by blood and fortune both. And so I complete the suit and trump you all!

  “I cut the cords of connection between Alex and all of you! Just as you have destroyed Karma’s connection to my piece, so that no good deed will ever be sensed by those who would otherwise become his allies, or rewarded in future lives he will never even have the chance to live, so too no deed foul or fair committed by my piece will you lot ever be able to witness again! Whispers of divine punishment or favor will fall on deaf ears regarding my piece, and no spy working at your behest will ever be able to receive or convey an accurate account of Alex ever again!”

  WiFu flashed a beatific smile at their outraged expressions. “And thanks to our dear beloved general, I have achieved a double trump. Thrice you have played Calamities against my piece and now, fully hidden from you all, and having taken his first successful steps upon a path transcending even Jade, he is very much a calamity for all your future plans and schemes.”

  WiFu threw his head back with laughter as Long Wang pounded the table in frustration. “Suck on that, chumps! I’ve just quintupled my points with a single card, and I’m now ahead of you all!” WiFu then flashed the scowling Shalu a positively icy smile. “Of course, you’re always welcome to try to remove a double trump bound to the cards you yourself chose to play, if you like.”

  Other words were said then, Alex so clearly seeing his patron drinking deep of a golden goblet now in his hand while contemptuously laughing off all their attempts to dispel him for a few final moments before both words and images faded from Alex’s mind as he swam ever deeper in the chill blue waters. Exhaustion slowly but steadily took its toll as the shafts of deep blue light faded to darkness in truth, and Alex was forced to accept that even after his latest breakthrough, he had only taken the first few steps towards truly mastering Dark Qi Metabolism. After countless hours swimming across the massive lake, he needed to come up for air and rest. Because if he lost focus for more than a moment...

  It didn’t bear thinking about.

&nb
sp; Heart hammering with mounting dread about whatever traps or cultivating assassins were waiting for him, extending his Qi Perception just as far as he possibly could, Alex finally surfaced, taking a joyous life-giving gulp of air, fighting sudden spasms and panic as every cell cried out for the oxygen they favored above all else, and it was all he could do to float on his back and regulate himself for countless seconds, tears of agony and exhaustion turning the starry night sky into rainbow flashes of color until vicious leg cramps finally passed and he took a sweet breath of pristine fresh air, finally feeling like himself again, realizing how truly lucky he was that no predator or ambushing bastard had snuck up on him during those perilous seconds.

  Then he blinked, slowly shaking his head, realizing exactly where he was.

  Just feet away from where the lake met the ley line acting as a perfectly straight trade road cutting through the wilderness and connecting so many villages and farming communities out here, in the true wilds of the kingdom.

  Alex didn’t dare hesitate a moment longer, slipping free of the water and losing himself in thick foliage as fast as he could, letting the earthy aromas of rich loamy forest leaves and soil and the sharp tangy scents of countless wildflowers tantalize his senses as the sound of night owls and crickets washed over him, eyes reflexively darting up to see dew-covered apples rich in spiritual Qi dangling from a nearby tree, and it was effortless and exhilarating to use his cultivator’s strength and grace to dart up to the topmost branches and grab half a dozen apples before realizing he had no place to store any prize or bounty. He shrugged his shoulders at life’s odd twists and turns and worried about it no further, happily eating his fill.

  It was only later that he thought to reflect upon all he had seen and endured since fleeing Yidushi at his former master’s behest, and only after traveling as deep into the woods as he could while the night was still young, climbing up a stout tree and bracing himself with his own tied off pants as a harness while allowing his changshan to act as a nightshirt. That, along with his Bronze-ranked Vitality and Eternal Fox metabolism, kept him more than comfortable as the cool evening breeze rustled the canopy all around him.