A man ran through the forest, his breath ragged and his clothes torn.
Every few seconds he looked at a small clay tablet in his hand, its painted surface devoid of life. However suddenly, a small shimmer went through the flat stone and the man sighed with relief as he came to a sudden stop.
“Finally…”
He threw the tablet at his feet and it shattered as it struck the ground. A swirl of energy erupted from it, and in a flash of light, he was gone.
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Somewhere far, far away, in a sprawling city, a small raised stone platform sprang to life. Carved runes and arrays flashed brightly for a moment, and from a swirling mess of energy that formed on top of it, a man stepped out. He stumbled down the stone steps and looked around, quickly orienting himself in the new environment by the familiar sights.
He pulled the torn hood of his damaged cloak over his head and with quick steps, though not quite running, made his way through the side alleys. He shoved his body past people in his way, various hooligans and beggars, and avoided the paths controlled by criminal gangs. He had no time or energy to be dealing with them.
Shortly, he came to a simple stone house and placed his hand on the door, and with a simple push, the glyph carved on the wood flashed and went dim, revealing the entrance.
“Alexandra, I’m home!” The man called after stepping inside. A hallway stretched from the entrance with doors on either side. A coat rack and a shoe shelf stood by the door. It was a simple yet elegant wooden construction without any unnecessary flair.
He heard a sound and a beautiful young redhead in a simple white dress came out to meet him, hugging him with excitement.
“You are back…”
They held each other in a tight embrace, not saying anything for a while. Then the woman let go first and took a step back.
“So… Judging by your look, no luck?”
The man shook his head.
“Who did you fight this time to leave you in this state? Just look at your cloak…” Alexandra sighed, looking at the torn strands of the expensive fabric.
The man shook his head. “It’s not from the fight. At least, not most of it…”
“Oh, don’t tell me you overused your techniques again? I’m telling you, one of these days you will lose a finger or something. You should stop messing with that thing, it’s dangerous. How far can you even go? Any improvements?”
“No…” The man shook his head, appearing disheartened.
Alexandra helped him remove the cloak and rubbed him on the back with her free hand. “It’s fine. I’ll fix this, just give me a few days. But really, you should stop going on such dangerous hunts, those people have high bounties on them for a reason.”
“No, it’s… It wasn’t one of the targets.” The man looked into her eyes with a tinge of fear. “Alexandra, that there was a monster. I knew those woods were trouble, but I never thought they were that crazy. If there’s more of them in there, I don’t ever wanna go back.”
Alexandra laughed and gave him a quick peck on the lips before turning away and gently shaking her hips as she returned to the room she came from.
“Finally you said something sensible for once.” She called from the other room.
The man shook his head, murmured something under his breath, and then went to the bathroom to take a shower. He had been on the run for quite a while and though he wasn’t too dirty, a good scrub always felt nice.
“Oh, yeah… Did John come back already?” He shouted while taking off his clothes.
“No, not yet. But he did send a message. He got a lead on an old ruin that was buried until just recently. He said it’s going to delay him.”
“Hah, a shame. I really need to speak with him in private.”
Alexandra came into the bathroom and took a sponge. “Want me to wash your back?”
The man nodded. “Thank you.”
He then sat on a wooden stool and let her soft hands do the work. As she slowly scrubbed his skin with the sponge, she began humming a song. A song whose name he had long forgotten, but it reminded him of his youth in a cold mountain village. The warmth of her hands brought comfort to his tired Soul. He closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling.
“You know…” He began. “When I fought that beast-”
“Sssh. Not now.” She whispered in his ear and hugged him over his broad back, leaning her head on his shoulder. “Let’s just enjoy this moment.”
“This is serious, Alexandra. That beast felt familiar, almost as if I had met it before.” He said, pausing for a moment. “Now that I think about it… It kind of felt like you.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Alexandra opened her eyes and her gentle smile hardened into a thin line. She grabbed his head with both hands and spun him around, staring straight into his eyes.
“Are you… cheating on me? With a wild beast?”
The man groaned and pushed her face away. “It’s not a joke. I really did feel something. I can’t explain it. I feel the same with John too. I thought it was just because were were so close to each other, but...”
Alexandra’s silly smile at her joke being seen through froze, and she turned serious.
“You don’t think it could be… another? A long-lost survivor?”
The man swallowed, the memory of the clash still fresh in his mind.
“It said something… When we first met, after I shot at it.” He licked his dried lips, looking into his partner’s eyes. “It said…”
While he spoke, he watched as Alexandra’s mouth parted just slightly, and her eyes shifted over and she began staring into the space, her mind preoccupied with a myriad of thoughts brought upon by his words.
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The arena incident was quite eye-opening. I got to see and experience dozens of interesting and powerful techniques, all of which I successfully disrupted. Some were a bit more difficult than others, but my Disruption never failed me.
By the end, some of the guys begged me to teach them the magic, while others were deep in thought, clearly disturbed by the fact that their ultimate techniques could be so easily countered.
I had to promise to write the instructions down and get the book into the library so they could learn, or they wouldn’t let me go.
Of course, my technique had many weaknesses, such as the limited range and short duration with high energy needs, but it was perfect for me. It was created with one goal in mind, and it did that perfectly. As long as I was close to the opponent, nobody under the Spirit Realm could use their magic.
And even then, it might not be impossible to disrupt a Spirit Realm Cultivator if they didn’t expect it. If I used it sparingly and only at a crucial moment, it could be the difference between victory and defeat.
Another trump card was added to my collection.
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The war was a great motivator for more folks to step on the path of combat. The participation at least doubled and the training going on in the open arenas had many young men exchanging ideas and tricks of battle. It was beautiful to watch. Such a variety of techniques.
After exhausting my energy and getting my testing done, I sat at the edge of the arena and began writing the book as I promised.
I split my attention and observed the fights while writing down the steps required to achieve proper Disruption. As we were all beastly Cultivators, most of us fought up close and personal, liking to get into a fistfight more often than not. While there were some guys who specialized in long-range techniques, if it ever came down to a life-or-death situation, relying on your fists was still the best option.
It was especially so since we were going against Sword Cultivators. They were close-range opponents as well. Having a counter for their magic was incredibly important.
The fact that nobody learned any of the many techniques we had in our library just showed how little people thought about such a tactic. Some might even call it cowardly, but after experiencing it themselves, I could see just how many quickly changed their minds and realized their real worth.
Just imagine how frustrating it would have been when some man-turned-monster attacked you and you couldn’t even use Qi to fight back. I bet many Sword Cultivators would soon be crying bullshit after my little demonstration.
People really liked to focus on the attack too much. While I was once of that mind as well, experiencing death just showed me how fragile our lives were. Focusing on defense was better because you could go slower, and could delay and defend while looking for opportunities.
When attacking, you just had to go, quickly and without fear, or you would lose momentum, and then you would be the one retreating, only without the ability to resist the attacks.
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I closed the first book just as the ink dried and then looked at the robust, strong bodies of my Brothers. They were laughing and having fun sparring against each other.
I wondered how the Elders were doing. Haven’t heard much news in the last few months. Apparently, they pushed the fight further away from the Sect, meeting the enemy at the border, which wasn’t surprising. No matter how you looked at it, the Myriad Beasts Sect was strong, incredibly so.
Still, I wondered how long the calm would last. I wondered if we would have to defend our home. From what I knew, the Brilliant Sword Sect wasn’t one to give up lightly.
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The sky suddenly darkened and I felt a feeling of static electricity in the air. My hair rose up and I looked at the sky as a thick blue barrier quickly formed in the shape of a dome above us. I looked around at other people exclaiming and pointing at the sky. I stood up and looked around.
There was a quake and the ground split up in various places as glowing stone pillars rose into the sky, spewing out colossal amounts of Qi.
The air immediately became saturated with it and some people began celebrating. A perfect environment for Cultivation. I instead frowned.
A second later the entire mountain shook and we were thrown to the ground. The barrier above us shook with tremendous force as a bright light exploded on top of it. The sound of explosion and the light coming through were muted, diminished to near irrelevance, yet we could still feel their residual effects and see the destruction as everything outside the barrier was immediately obliterated, the trees, stones, and earth practically evaporated in a blast of apocalyptic proportions.
I jumped on the roof of a nearby building and looked towards the edge of the barrier. Anything further down from the Inner Sect was gone. The newby villages, the ancient forest, the mighty mountain, everything was just… gone.
The barrier shook again as another blast painted over it in a blinding white, that one a bit to the side of the first one.
Then there came another. And another. And another.
Like raindrops on a glass window, the explosion intensified, from a light drizzle to a full-out storm.
Explosions sounded all over the Sect, all over the mountain range, about one every second and sometimes more. The ground shook like the strongest earthquake was underway, and I lifted off the ground, standing on a golden step to keep steady. I noticed many of the gathered Cultivators do the same as we watched the magnificent destruction fail to penetrate the barrier.
The nearby stone pillars shone even brighter and I noticed the concentration of Qi gradually drop despite them spewing out more of it. I then realized that the barrier, though impenetrable, was quickly using up the energy, and I felt a tinge of worry run through my mind.
Immortal or not, I was pretty sure I couldn’t regenerate if my body was atomized. The barrier must have been consuming more energy than I possessed every single second!
As if that wasn’t enough, I noticed black dots filling the sky. They were gradually becoming bigger, and the bombardment intensified.
Through the empty spaces between the explosions, I realized what I was looking at. They were Cultivators. Hundreds, thousands of green-robed Cultivators. The Elders of the Brilliant Swords Sect.
And they didn’t come to play.