6
“So, how badly do you want to be free?”
Peng’s deceptively inert form froze when Alex uttered those words to the man as he feigned sleep, voice soft enough not to carry to the other captives.
The man turned to stare at Alex, brows furrowed, dark eyes intently locking upon Alex’s own. “What game are you playing at, boy?”
Like the tiles of fate clicking into place, Alex could all but sense how everything would change, the peril he was risking, should he dare to speak. “If I can free you from the power of that collar, if I can render it inert, will you be willing to fight by my side when the time is right?”
“Can you really do this, boy?” Peng hissed, a look of incredulity upon his roughened features.
Alex grinned. “There’s a slight chance you will burst into flame, but a very good chance that it will work.”
Peng frowned. “I recall the poultice you had upon your own neck at first light, discreet as you were to hide it from the guard. And I see you still wearing your own collar.”
Alex winced. “Actually, I was my own test subject, but I think I have the technique down. And rendering the collar inert and popping the lock are two different things. I can do both, but my own collar is now inert, and the lock is irreparably damaged.”
Peng locked gazes with Alex, peering deeply into Alex’s eyes, as if searching for something. At last, he nodded. “If you can truly do this… yes, I will accept the risks.”
Alex grinned. “Fantastic. Alright, turn around, pretend you’re asleep, and I’ll do the same. If you sense it becoming hot, tell me.”
“I don’t find that last bit reassuring,” the man muttered, but Alex was already deep in trance, fingers subtly touching the artifact, doing all he could to visualize grabbing ahold of the fierce storm of Fire Qi so cleverly locked inside, using his Dark Qi to flood and destroy the incredibly intricate structure holding all that power in place before drawing it into himself, praying he could draw it all away before his friend literally cooked alive.
You have suffered 5 Damage from Fire Qi flood.
You have suffered 5 Damage from Fire Qi flood.
You have suffered 4 Damage from Fire Qi flood. Your companion suffers 1 Light Wound.
Fire Slave Collar has been successfully rendered inert. Fire Slave Collar clasp has been broken.
Congratulations! You have successfully used Artificer to fully comprehend and destroy Fire Slave Collar. You have gained experience in all related skills.
And though he had a few panicked moments where Peng was softly cursing and Alex almost imagined he could smell the man’s cooking flesh… it was done.
Peng froze, his cursing stopped. “The collar is now inert. I can feel that!”
Alex grinned, discreetly palming a bit of the beeswax he had carefully harvested that day after a stream of foul smelling brew effectively smoked out the hive he had claimed. “Use that on the clasp, so we give nothing away.”
Peng nodded. And perhaps it was appreciation and respect that had the larger, older, and obviously much more experienced man ask his next question. “So, Alex, what’s your plan?”
And Alex quietly told him, earning a grunt in turn and quiet whispered words of council from a man who clearly had a lot more experience with these sorts of operations than Alex had, which begged the question, who was Peng really? But one glance into the man’s hard eyes and Alex immediately dropped the question, knowing there were far more important matters at hand.
“It’s a good plan, Alex,” he said at last. “And assuming your control improves, my poor neck might even survive it.”
Alex grinned at that, grateful that he could rely on Peng to know exactly who he could trust not only to keep confidence, but to give absolutely nothing away until the time was right, however long that took. And after a long, anxious night of him and his companion carefully watching for guards, clamping hands upon the mouths of fellow captives and making sure they understood before giving everything away, they went to work.
Congratulations. Artificer is now Rank 2.
Qi Absorption – Fire Qi is now Rank 2.
Dual Path Purification Technique has reached 95.6% efficiency.
It wasn’t until the end of the second night after he had begun to put his daring plan into motion that Alex could finally breathe a sigh of relief, the tension easing as the core of their plan clicked into place. And the oddly solemn nods and unspoken looks of gratitude Alex got left him feeling both touched and embarrassed, made all the worse as they didn’t dare say a word aloud, lest guards or the many oblivious slaves found their interactions odd.
Yet for all that Peng and he had carefully forged their plan, agreeing on what needed to be done, still Alex couldn’t help glancing Yong Ming’s way, his heart breaking whenever he caught her hopeless gaze. The way she tried to summon at least a wan smile for his benefit, her grateful nod for the apprentice apothecary who had at least given the woman beside her a second chance at life, even as she herself was all but doomed, tore at his resolve.
When he caught Peng’s gaze that night, both of them quietly eating stew together as they so often did for the evening meal, no one thought anything of it, though the man’s gaze hardened. “No, Alex. It’s a stupid risk. She, more than everyone else, would put us in jeopardy if anyone had the slightest clue.”
Alex lowered his head, focusing on his stew. “I know,” he said, before looking up at his companion once more. “But she can cultivate.” He swallowed, gazing intently at Peng’s scowl. “Just like you and me.”
The man snorted, shaking his head, their words so soft not even the night air carried them, Alex’s Qi Perception detecting no one else with potency nearby. “And how unbelievable is that? A Ruidian able to advance along the path of self-mastery, transcending the earthly limits of his mortal shell.”
Alex nodded. “And we both know what will happen if everything doesn’t go as smooth as clockwork, if our enemies sense even the slightest potential for things to get out of hand.”
Peng scowled, then shrugged. “I can’t fault the truth of that, but as to whether or not she can be trusted, or has or lacks simple discipline, or won’t simply run off, making things so much harder for the rest of us…” He shook his head and sighed. “I leave it up to you, Alex.”
And it said so much, Alex thought, that Yong Ming didn’t do more than flinch, for all that he sensed her sudden brilliant terror when he slipped behind her and brushed her shoulder before stepping back into the gloom under the wagon she was chained to, even in sleep.
“Do you trust me?” was all he said, Yong Ming shivering with those words.
To her credit, she nodded. “With my life.”
Her words set his cheeks flushing with sudden heat, feeling utterly unworthy of such trust. But he didn’t let it affect his focus, intent gaze firmly on the collar even as he freed it with a click… earning a gasp of awed disbelief, before it was replaced with another, a quick flash of consternation coming over her features.
“I don’t understand,” she whispered, taking a gasp, eyes wide as Alex’s arm reached out to touch the collar clasp from under the wagon she had slowly scooted herself to rest just beside. Pulling it back as soon as he had secured it with a dab of wax.
“Your collar is now inert,” he said, earning such an incredulous look as he quickly when over his plan. “And as for your manacles… try not to inhale,” he said, slowly dripping the few drops of highly caustic fluid he had been able to generate with his Biochemical Mastery skill, well capable of hissing and bubbling even through links of steel. But there had been a price, of course. Lacking the ingredients to make this caustic agent or his deadliest poisons, he had had to use his own body’s nutrient reserves, enduring dizziness every day and worrying about depleting himself too far, his double-sized dinner portions and the fruit and vegetables he had foraged all that had kept him going, giving him the fuel and the compounds, he supposed, to generate the caustic agent searing through her manacle
s at that very moment.
And after careful moments of hissing and bubbling, with the young cultivator facing away and breathing through her furs, it was done. Alex flashed a relieved smile at his handiwork, considering the results worth the dizziness and the cost of all the poisons he had to defer making to give Yong Ming a fighting chance.
After cleaning off the link, the caustic compounds of course having no effect on him, he then pressed wax and dirt upon the ring before making sure she could feel where it was with her fingers in the dark, since she was even forced to sleep with her arms bound behind her. Her cultivating abilities were probably all that were saving her from constant pain and growing impairment.
“Right now, the links are sealed. When the time is right, you just pop this link through the hole in the adjoining one, and your wrists will no longer be bound. Then pop this other link free, and you’ll be free of the chain binding you to the wagon. The weight of the chains will keep them from popping by themselves in the meantime, but try not to jostle or rattle them too much, lest the chain part before its time, and we give the game away. Do you understand?”
Yong Ming nodded emphatically, soft brown eyes gazing intently into Alex’s own. “You could escape at any time, couldn’t you? So why?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you even still here, risking your life like this for me?”
Alex just swallowed, oddly speechless, gazing into her eyes. “Just be ready, okay? I’m sorry I’m not able to smuggle you any weapons. The quartermaster’s wagon is guarded at all times, but a few of us have a plan. Whatever happens, it will be obvious when things go down. That’s when I’d recommend breaking for cover, when those bastards are distracted. Maybe come back when it’s all over. Whether or not we’re all dead, there should be weapons and armor you can quickly gather and run off with, so you’re not traveling through the woods defenseless when you make your way back home and hopefully run your bastard of an uncle through.”
Yong Ming flashed a mirthless smile. “If only. And I’m not going back, Alex. Like I told you, even before my uncle turned out to be a treacherous snake, I had every intention of going to Yidushi and gaining entrance to Dragon Academy. And if you think I’m going to let you fight these bastards alone, you’re crazy. Now tell me the rest of the plan, Alex, and maybe I can help.”
Knowing he was taking a risk, but unable to resist those soft brown eyes, he did just that.
Yong Ming gazed thoughtfully his way, for all that he was mostly hidden by darkness and the inky shadows around the wagon. The entire caravan was asleep, save for a single pair of patrolling guards.
“The plan’s pretty good. Alright. You can count me in.”
“But Ming...”
“No buts.” She glared at the surrounding camp. “If our enemies didn’t have cultivators among their number, I’d say strike right now. But being as things are the way they are...” She sighed. “I’m not stupid, Alex. I won’t play the fool. But if I can find an opportunity to help without risking my own neck, I’m taking it.”
Alex grinned. “Alright. Sounds like a plan.”
A soft snort and a bemused grin lightened her whole face, revealing a striking beauty that left Alex just a bit in awe of her. “Alright, would-be hero. Best you get some rest. Even the pathetic excuse for a pair of guards is going to notice your absence sooner rather than later, and if you snake under the wagon back the way you came, you’ll be out of sight until you’re back where you belong.”
But Alex was already moving, knowing the guard’s patrols like the back of his hand.
“You do what you need to?” Peng quipped when Alex discreetly slipped under his furs, just in time for the guards muttering about brothel conquests to pass him.
Alex gave the slightest of nods.
“Good. I think you’re a damned fool, but you’re certainly at an age for it, and that girl’s pretty enough for any idiot to play hero. Just try not to get yourself killed, Alex.”
Alex chuckled in the darkness. “Believe me, avoiding death is a definite priority. Hopefully I’ll be better at it this time around.”
And if Peng had any comment to that, Alex didn’t hear it, already lost in the deepest of slumbers.
Before being woken up by a desperate cry.
7
It was a scream that echoed in his mind.
Yong Ming’s cry.
Yet strangely, the slaves around him stirred not at all, as if they didn’t hear a thing.
Alex jerked his head around in the darkness, just making out muffled struggles some distance away, by the women’s wagon, as he thought of it.
“Don’t be a fool, boy!” Peng hissed as Alex slowly rose. “They’re armed and armored and outnumber us. And this is not the time to try to take them by surprise!” Peng glared Alex’s way. “You know what this is, Alex. You’re lucky your innocence lasted this long, never tormented at night by the cries of the innocent, Scar reigning in his men after they nearly killed Yan Yan. But it’s been three days, and that bastard knows the importance of morale. Of course things will go back to the way they were.” He sighed. “You’re just lucky Scar can’t see you now. The things he did to the last man to try to interfere… the sheer savagery of it, and all to break the will of any other slave that would think to fight against them or resist!”
Alex’s blood boiled with desperate fury. He had been a naive fool, or a deliberate coward, never letting himself truly appreciate the degradations a chained woman at the hands of these monsters would be forced to endure, endlessly. He had put it out of mind for far too long, just trying to survive and bide his time.
But Yong Ming’s desperate cry had burned away all hesitation.
He would not stand idly by and let the cackling hyenas of cowardice and fear freeze him in his steps when someone he cared about was being tormented by monsters.
And why the hell hadn’t she just fled?
Alex spared only a second to glare Peng’s way. “I thought better of you,” was all he said to the man’s surprised countenance before he slipped into the darkness.
Bullrush!
In an eyeblink, he was beyond the dim light of the campfires and anyone who had been glancing his way. Skulking through the woods, desperate to put into play all Master Liu Jian’s lessons in stealth, watching his steps and any beams of light that might betray him even as he fought against the desperate need to hurry.
He quickly circled around behind the camp, making out at last the sight of a dozen women bound with ropes and terror to the far-most wagon and the horrific sight of one woman utterly still, lying in a pool of darkness that could only be blood.
Alex gasped with horror, a stray beam of moonlight catching the dying gaze of the woman he had treated from the most savage abuse the three guardsmen even now surrounding a collapsed Yong Ming had inflicted.
“You bastards, you killed her!” Yong Ming screamed as she fought to breathe after a powerful blow from none other than Zeng Zeng, the giant thug that had first collared Alex.
The giant of a man spat in her face, his meaty palm cracking against her cheek, sending her reeling as the brutal looking pair of guards beside him mocked Yong Ming with their laughter.
And Alex instantly understood as a stunned Yong Ming struggled with her chains. What he had gone over in brief terse whispers might have been intellectually understood, but they had had no time to practice, and for all that she might figure it out within seconds under calm circumstances, in those frantic moments of terror, fury, desperation, movements not long ingrained were utterly forgotten, leaving her as helpless as she had ever been.
But not utterly helpless, Alex saw, a furious kick seeming to have cracked one groaning guard’s skull, leaving him twitching on the ground as blood poured from a face oddly distorted in the gloom.
But a single furious kick against an unsuspecting guardsman was all the still-chained cultivator could bring to bear before the monstrous gang of slavers brought her low.
Zeng Zeng yanke
d a dazed Yong Ming by her hair, snarling into her face. “What we did to that whore was nothing compared to what we’re going to do to you, you cultivating bitch!” His lips curled in a smile revealing blackened teeth. “We’re entering prime spirit beast territory, and Scar’s decided you’re worth more to him dead than alive. They’re going to burn your soul, girl.”
He laughed at her horrified gasp. “That’s right. My master’s infernal prize demands the flesh and pain of the broken to come to true fruition. And it is your strength, your despair that will allow us to triumph in the hunt ahead. In every hunt ‘til the next red moon takes its due!”
His guttural laughter was echoed by the pair of guards. “And our master’s a generous man. He’s given us leave to do whatever we like to you. All that matters is that this life becomes too much of a burden for you to endure.” He turned to his men, a gleeful dark smile upon his features. “And I think we can take care of that well enough, don’t you, boys?”
His mocking smile was met by guttural laughter, before being replaced by cries of sudden pain.
And Alex’s view was suddenly tinged with red as fury overwhelmed him.
Simultaneous use of Bullrush and Adderstrike successful! Guard has been critically hit! Sternum shattered. Guard is incapacitated. Guard has perished!
Adderstrike shatters all seven cervical vertebrae! Bone fragments lacerate jugular & esophagus! Second guard expires in his own blood!
Zeng Zeng has been struck by Adderstrike. Qi-infused breastplate still intact!
As fast as thought, Alex streaked through the air, fist and fury coming together in one terrible glorious explosion of violence, his fist caving in one surprised guard’s chest, Alex snapping around, fist already streaking forth, slamming into the back of the neck of the second guard who had been gazing so rapturously at the sight of Yong Ming’s humiliation, the sharp stench of blood and gore perfuming the air as fragments of bone ripped through his throat in an explosion of blood, the man dropping instantly.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reforged: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 2 Page 9