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Chapter 60: "Standing Under Pressure."
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Shae took slow and cautious breaths, feeling for her mental lever to push away the Dao's effects. She found it already working to keep the domain out of her body. It felt easier than the last time she felt Long's Dao. She pushed it harder to stretch it to just above her skin, letting her safely move deeper into the domain. She still moved slowly and carefully, being wary of how she held her bow and arrows, and constantly fearing the string would get cut.
She wasn't sure if Long or the pangodile had seen her approach, but she knew they were aware of her when she felt the tension of their conflicting killing intents and qi pressure shift to her.
The gigantic spirit beast flicked its eye to her, then back to Long.
She shuddered at the feeling of its intent, and nocked an arrow in response. Applying tension to the string, she stepped further into the domain.
"Shae!?" Long's voice was surprised, but he controlled it quickly. "What are you doing here?"
"Trying to figure out why you haven't killed this thing yet, Long."
"I can't protect you and fight at my full strength. You need to leave, now."
"Were you planning on fighting at your full strength? It sure doesn't look like it. And don't worry about me, worry about killing that thing. How long do you need to prepare for a lunge?"
"These things take time, child. You cannot simply fire an unstoppable attack from a bow to pierce an unbreakable shield!"
"Wah-wah-wah! All I hear from you is excuses. That sac of meat isn't unbreakable, it's literally already broken. Apollo did more with just three mortal arrows than you have all fight."
The gigantic pangodile huffed quickly a few times and bared some teeth at her.
"And you!" Shae quickly fired off a shot at its exposed gums. "Roll over and die, you overgrown dirt turtle."
It twitched before the arrow hit it, guarding itself so the arrow bounced off harmlessly.
"You can see your arrows are not needed here. Please leave so I can continue layering mantras."
"Oh, excuse me! Am I stopping you? Here let me help you get back on track." She nocked another arrow and started sarcastically chanting, "Sharpness good, pressure good! Oohhhmmm! The deeper the water the stronger the pressure! Oohhhmmm!"
Long scowled at her.
She was slightly surprised when she felt his domain react to her sarcastic intent, layering more pressure warping across the whole bow and arrow. She mentally nudged it off the bow and towards the arrow tip. "Pressure squished to a point is even better than ever! Oohhhmmm!"
While her words were very sarcastic, she was careful to hold her intent on the arrow tip as she set her stance and drew the bow back. She swung her aim across the pangodile and it hunched down; tightening its domain enough to make the air waver around it.
Except... there! She saw that it wasn't guarding its injury and she could also feel that its domain was failing there. Right where the large gray rock pierced through its arm and hobbled it enough that it could hardly move. Maybe a piece of slate or flint? She wondered about the grey rock as she released the arrow.
The stretched and warped arrow streaked across the short distance with a whisper of sound. There was no dramatic bang or spurt of blood at the impact, just a barely noticeable *tink* of steel on stone.
"What? How did you do that? No, doesn't matter, just stop that, leave before it attacks." Long's voice was clearly more annoyed than anything.
"Why don't you just kill it before it attacks, you old geezer? What the fuck are you waiting for?"
"I am a master swordsman and an advanced elder of the -"
"Cut to the chase!"
"I am trying to do something here, stop interfering!"
She glared at him, and pulled another arrow from her quiver. She hummed a few short notes, then started singing a cappella to a rhythm she barely remembered.
> *dun dun dun da-da dun dun*
>
> *dun dun dun da-da dun dun*
>
> Pressure!
>
> Pushing down on me...
She sang in English. Skipping lines and mumbling over words she barely remembered, doing it just because it fit the theme.
> *dun dun dun da-da dun dun*
>
> *dun dun dun da-da dun dun*
>
> Under pressure!
>
> Pushing down on you!
>
> *mm- ba- da- bep*
As she sang and watched the beast, it hunched lower in preparation, practically covering its remaining eye with its claws. Then she found another target, another weakening of the creature's domain, and she fired the held shot.
The arrow landed with another anticlimactic *tink* and yet the beast still groaned as the new wound bled. She thought that it couldn't be that painful, considering its size it was comparable to a bee sting at most, or more of a small wood sliver or needle prick. The arrow didn't even stick in, it seemed like the sharpness from the domain was doing most of the work.
"Why do you feel the need to mock me? Do you realize you are endangering multiple lives right now?" Long said with anger in his voice. More of his killing intent spilled over to her.
She stepped towards him. "I'm not trying to mock you. I'm trying to show you how easy this is. You are making it hard, you are holding back."
"Stop trying to tell me how to use my Dao, my domain."
"Then use it." She pointed to the spirit beast, which was growling at them now. "Its domain is failing. Its Dao is falling apart because we've proven that it's not effective. Just fucking kill it, Master Long."
He kept his scowl focused on her. "Please, Miss Shae, clear the area before you get seriously injured."
"Fucking coward." She cursed him in English and shook her head. Then threw her hands in the air and turned to walk away.
"Make that statement again if you are ever at the same stage as me." He said quietly and began muttering a chant under his breath.
She took a few more steps then looked back, watching him complete the mantra and layer his Jian with more of his Dao. So slow. She kept moving and stepped out of his domain. Hoping he would finally act if she was clear of it.
She relaxed and shook out her limbs, glad to be free of the dangerous Dao. She looked up at the sky, trying to see if her earlier enlightenment chance was still there.
She couldn't tell, so began cycling her qi like she would when cultivating and meditating. It wasn't nearly as effective, if it worked at all while she was awake, but she felt better while cycling her qi anyway.
She watched Long complete his mantra, layering a thin film over his Jian. It only appeared as a slight visual warping that settled over the blade like a piece of cloth pulled tight against the piercing tip, then disappeared again as it stopped moving. He took a breath and started the next mantra.
She huffed and shook her head.
Checking on the spirit beast, she saw it remained just as it was. However, Shae thought, it looks more relaxed now. It had settled into a defensive stance that seemed to adequately guard against the falling debris the town's cultivators still rained on it.
She glanced up to see small specks moving around and hurling the rocks from the canyon's top edge.
She blinked when she returned her eyes to the pangodile. Something was just slightly different. Something in its domain, maybe?
She tried to extend her senses, like she had just before but felt nothing new. Ah, I'm not in Long's domain anymore. She sighed. I should figure out what it's doing, Long's too focused to notice... Or he's waiting for it to do something.
She hesitated at the domain's edge. I need a plan. She shifted uncomfortably and checked over her possessions. Counting a baker's dozen arrows, a pocket knife, two talismans, and her peace-bound sword.
If only I had an attack talisman that I could attach to an arrow.
She looked at her kit again. Then shrugged, worth a try.
A few scratches with her knife on the arrow tips produced very poor talismans. She could tell they were not working, the symbol too small or too inaccurate to gather any fire qi.
She tried again with the concept of sharpness. Trying to add to what the domain would do. Of course she had no formation symbol to go with it, and she was unsurprised when it didn't seem effective.
A *clink* drew her attention while carving another idea, the arrow head clicking against her ring. Oh! My lightning hairpins!
She immediately hesitated. I'd rather not lose these. If one gets stuck inside the beast I might not get it back, especially if it escapes.
The living pin proved the idea possible, readily wrapping around the arrowhead with just a thought. The rustic wire bent like rubber and tightened close to match the arrow's tip with its own needle-sharp point.
One will have to be enough. She nodded to herself. It was an easier decision after she recognized that the other two pins would be much harder to attach, and more likely to fall off on contact. She ran qi through her right hand to charge the spiritual tool with lightning, then clutched it in her left hand with her bow. I'll have to make it count, which means waiting for the right shot, and getting better at using Long's domain.
She breathed slowly to calm herself. And being better at finding cracks in the beast's guard.
She stepped back into the scratchy, uncomfortable domain. Taking a few steps towards Long again. He was layering another piece of paper-shaped pressure over his blade.
She flexed her will, pushing the Dao away from herself and sighing in relief. She then reached out towards the pangodile's domain and searched for a better sense of what it was.
Readying another arrow, she felt the film of pressure and sharpness across her clothing. Hmm... If Long can do it... She awkwardly gripped the new arrow with her left hand, squeezing it and the bow to free her right hand. Then pinched and plucked at the film on her clothes, peeling away some of the pressure domain. It dissolved away before she got it to the arrowhead.
A couple more attempts and she made it last long enough to settle over the arrowhead. Then a few more before she felt she didn't need to mime the action with her hand anymore. A dozen layers and she shifted her focus to the spirit beast's defenses.
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The beast's Dao was nearly fully manifested, much like Elder Ghon's had been back on the mountain. The difference was that the spirit beast used it to coat itself. Adding even more layers of armored scales and plates over its own. Shae could also see evidence of what it was doing earlier. Crystals grew from its armor, covering its injuries and the small holes Shae had made. Yet, she could also tell it was weakened and tired.
She glanced at Master Long. His endurance was now in question as well. She could see sweat on his brow, not a lot, but she thought any was a dangerous sign.
He completed another mantra and looked up at her, not holding back any of his killing intent. She felt the domain tighten around her, responding to its owner. "Miss Shae. I'll not ask again."
"I think you will. You don't really like to act, do you? I gave you the perfect chance to strike and you waited instead." She peeled a bit more of his domain away from where it was most uncomfortable for her, not even bothering to layer it onto the arrow. "Now the fragile beast has filled the gaps in its armor," she turned to it and yelled, "with delicate glass! And you both are working yourselves to exhaustion."
"Progress in cultivation requires great effort. Willingness to push yourself and risking great failure to challenge the heavens themselves." He tilted his head back, looking down his nose at her. "Not that I would expect a lost child to understand that."
Her rage sparked inside her, prompting her qi to match it with angry red lightning. She could almost see it arcing through her own veins, and the living metal pin responded with its own small arcs of red lightning. She inhaled stiffly, channeling the anger. Controlling it so it couldn't control her. "You forget my title, Master Long. I have challenged the heavens. I didn't simply dodge or block the lightning of my tribulation. I caught it. I took it into myself."
She glared at the pangodile. Its attention was on her, its lone eye peering through its claws. She smiled when she saw its domain mirrored it: eyes appeared on the metaphysical layer of scales, the layer she could feel with her strange Dao sense. It was peering at her with its divine sense. She took aim at the largest eye and loosed the normal arrow she had nocked.
The beast flinched at the impact and she felt a crack in its domain form. It groaned in pain, vibrating the ground with its wails while shifting position and tightening its domain armor around itself.
She glanced back at Long and drew another arrow. "If you won't act, then I will." She quickly peeled more of his domain away from her clothes and layered it onto the arrowhead, trying to add sharpness to the sides as well, maybe a broadhead will do more damage?
"Miss Shae-"
"Title please." She interrupted, still focused on the arrow.
"Wise-"
"No, the longer one." She glared over at him.
He scowled and inhaled carefully. "Heavenly Shae. Please stop tearing apart my domain, it is very distracting."
She gestured outwards with the arrow. "Stop leaving it all over the place and maybe I wouldn't be able to."
He practically shouted through clenched teeth, "It's a domain. Focused on pressure, which is everywhere. How could it not be everywhere!"
"It's not the same everywhere, just like how you're layering it on your sword? Oh, sorry!" She gasped and switched to dramatic sarcasm, "Maybe I'm saying too much! Wouldn't want to explain your own Dao to you and deprive you of a precious enlightenment."
She paused as his jaw worked to summon more words.
The ground rumbled and Shae thought the pangodile might have been laughing.
That was enough for her to spot another weak point and she took a quick shot. It flinched as the arrow bounced off with a *tink* and she frowned. Hmm, either I missed or broadhead doesn't work.
"Clearly you don't have as much comprehension over it as you think. Fret not over the pressure of the watery depths and how that applies to weapons," he gestured at his sword with his free hand, "it is quite the deep subject, heh heh heh."
She sighed. "And yet, here I am, trying new things, experimenting in an effort to understand. While you are still layering mantras and what? Surface tension? All that effort when you really only needed a dozen stray thoughts to execute a sitting duck." She gestured to the giant spirit beast, then casually drew an arrow and forced a few layers of sharpness onto it.
"This is the way my style works. How dare you question it!"
"Oh? Really?" She couldn't resist the sarcasm, "You regularly get a quarter-hour to slowly assemble a single powerful attack? If this is how duels at the sect work I'll be top of the class by next spring."
"While you're very intelligent, I hardly think you'll be able to handle yourself in a proper duel. What will you do with your mortal bow when a swordsman lunges across the arena at you?"
Shae sighed and muttered, "this is going nowhere," dropped her head, and put the back of her right hand against her forehead. With her hands full it was the closest she could get to massaging her temples in frustration. Long's words had also brought to mind the assailant in Flame Well. The man that leapt from the crowd to take her arm while she was struggling against the shadow qi. The man that was now dead because of her retaliation. She shuddered as the memory made her queasy.
The ground shook lightly as another boulder splashed off the pangodile's back.
"I hope..." she began, but trailed off when she caught sight of Master Long's imperious expression. She wouldn't call it smug, exactly, yet it exuded a sense of smug self-satisfaction that can only be learned by the truly delusional.
She thought the line to herself instead. I hope I never have to fight someone's child. I hope someone steps in to stop me. "I hope I have control of the power I've stolen." She heard herself say the last out loud, and felt a tear run down her cheek.
"Tsk," the old cultivator clicked his tongue in disgust. "You'll not be keeping my power. It will destroy you if you try."
"Uuugh!" She exhaled loudly, completely unable to expel any of her exasperation. "Long, could you at least try to read the situation correctly. That's like the fifth time you've missed the point entirely."
"No it isn't. You're lying, I can tell you're lying." He somehow managed to say this without breaking out of his self-satisfaction.
"For fuck's sake, I'm exaggerating!" She shook her head and forced herself to laugh. "But hey! You want to show me the power of a scary swordsman? Go ahead," she gestured at the spirit beast, "attack! Go for it! I'll even give you a hint: its defenses are wide open at the base of its spine." She yelled the last sentence and gestured wildly with her bow.
Long looked at the spirit beast, and it began shifting its defenses, though not with the speed or precision it used when Shae hit it with arrows.
A third party had heard her callout. Making their presence known with a rather large boulder that crashed down on the beast's rear, and caused it to cry out in pain.
"Oh, dang, looks like you missed your chance." Shae mocked, "Guess you'll just have to wait for another-oh! There's one!" She called and stepped into her archery stance and snapped off a shot, causing the beast to flinch and groan again.
"I'm so glad your stolen power is so effective. Imagine if its owner used it properly." Long seethed.
"Aaah-uaagh!" She shouted and threw her arms up. "Am I fucking stopping you!? Stop complaining and do it! Why are you so desperate for a dramatic moment? Do I need to-" she froze for a beat, "Yes! Yes, that is clearly what I need to do: force your hand." She checked her arrows, "I have ten arrows left. If you don't kill that thing before I shoot them all at it, you do not get to claim any kill rights after this. Two cultivators with bows weakened it and the town's guard killed it with falling rocks."
"Pah, you can't just demand that. Even if it was a wager, what would you be able to offer up?"
"If a stray child has to do your job for you then you get nothing. But if you really need more motivation, how about: I'll never yell or swear at you again."
He raised an eyebrow and turned his attention to the spirit beast. His feet shifted slightly, and for a heartbeat Shae thought he was actually going to act.
Then he huffed, shook his head and started another mantra, slightly quicker this time. His change in focus also dropped all the added pressure from when he first looked up at her.
The younger cultivator shook her head in disappointment and drew the next arrow from her quiver. The reduced pressure let her relax a little, so she stretched the tension out of her neck, and shook her limbs a little while planning out her next experiment for the domain's sharpness.
Instead of moving the layers of pressure from her clothing to the arrow, this time she mentally peeled the layers off, just far enough for them to detach, and then passed the arrowhead through them. It seemed to work just as well as the other way. With about a dozen layers complete, she set her stance and fired the arrow at the beast's mouth, just below its damaged eye. It had left an opening there as it tried to guard from more falling rocks.
With the next arrow she quickly tried a few variations, like peeling one continuous sheet of pressure and moving the arrow through it slowly. That didn't work at all, which she found odd.
Skipping the peeling step did work. She simply imagined several small ripples of pressure in mid air, then ran the arrow through them. She fired that arrow and the following two off in quick succession, repeating the ripple trick, and nearly matching her focused firing pace from the previous night.
Hah! Has it only been a single day? She shook her head as the third rapid-fire arrow harmlessly bounced off armored plates. "Tsk" This awkward grip is messing with my aim.
She was forced to slow down more as the gigantic pangodile shored up its defenses. Tightening the gaps and revealing fewer weak points. Overall, she thought it was spreading itself thin, but knew her arrows wouldn't pierce it without hitting a weak point in its domain.
She reset her grip and took a few steps to the side, away from Long. Moving mostly to catch a glimpse of her arrows; to see if they were staying stuck in its flesh. The beast shifted slightly to follow her, presenting more of its injured side to Long. She glanced over to see if he would take the clear opportunity.
He did not.
The falling rocks did what her glancing arrow could not, striking hard and eliciting a loud cry of pain from the beast.
"Tsk." She clicked her tongue again. I should really be working with them, instead of enacting this stupid contest. Of course, Long will probably get pissy if I start yelling targeting directions. And the beast clearly understood some of what we were saying, so it might still defend itself.
She took another shot when the opening came, practically not thinking about adding the ripples and even adding some in front of the bow before she fired it. She held up the next arrow as the beast groaned in pain. And these need to do more damage.
"Meridians?" She asked out loud as the thought came to her. Are a beast's meridians the same as a humans? Does it matter?
She tried to sharpen her Dao senses, expecting to see a clear map of the beasts qi channels pop out at her. Nothing happened.
She rolled her shoulders and shook off the failure. Her memory of Elder Ghon's advanced meridian book scrolled through her mind as she tried to give names to the weak points slowly growing across the spirit beast's domain and flesh. They might not be thin enough for her arrows, but the rocks could easily do more damage.
She glanced at her arrow-based acupuncture spiritual-tool, that will also do a lot more damage at a meridian point. Probably.
There were even points that her arrows couldn't reach, like along its back. "Stomach, two-one." She called out and aimed her bow at the beast's snout, not even bothering to layer Long's domain on it.
She counted her breaths, and saw the streak of gray above her. Her intent reached out, trying to create Dao pressure ripples for the rock to pass through, but she was too slow. The rock still did its job magnificently, slamming into the backside of the pangodile's right kidney. As it reacted with a cry of pain, she sharpened her held arrow and took her shot, aiming for its remaining eye.
The arrow caught on its claws, a simple twitch of its fingers enough to block the shot.
She called out another meridian and sub-point, the meridian name designating a line along the body and the number indicating exactly where to place the strike. She timed her arrow shot for just before, hitting a separate weak point and causing the beast to flinch. The flinch seemed to open up its defenses for a heartbeat, and the rock landed close enough to her callout that Shae felt a distinct crack form in the beast's Dao. Another one! There were already a few thin ones, probably from Apollo's work, or even before this. Yet, they all seemed shallow to her.
She felt the two remaining arrows in her quiver, and looked at the last, tied with her hairpin and still gripped awkwardly against the bow. So, last or second last? She wondered to herself. If it's last, Long might act before it's fired, but it might be the one he's waiting for.
She heard the spirit beast shift again, stomping the ground to create that familiar tremor from the beginning of the battle. She flinched at the noise more than the unbalancing. At this distance it felt deafening. "Ow." she tried to say, but only heard ringing.
She didn't hear the beast huffing in dust, but saw the same arched-back posture and torso-convulsing movements that Apollo had fallen to. Its change in stance opened several weak points in its domain. Fuck, now is fine too. She grabbed the lightning infused arrow and flooded qi into her body from her Dantian. "LUNG-FIVE," she shouted without being able to hear herself and nocked the arrow.
Her muscles twitched as she drew back and she nearly lost the arrow to a misfire. Mental focus asserted control over the rush of energetic qi in her channels and she began layering ripples of sharpness and pressure domain in front of her and above the called-out meridian point.
The lung meridian line ran across the body as the lungs brought energy across the body. The fifth sub-point was one of the larger ones and was located on the beast's right elbow. As its left arm was severely damaged by Apollo's attack, it only had its right to support its upper body weight. Crippling it should drop the beast to the ground and remove most of its offensive and defensive ability. All that without counting the effects of her lightning qi invading its channels, which Shae couldn't even guess at anyway.
She didn't consider any of these tactical advantages as the beast's own domain revealed the critical weak point to her. She released her arrow as soon as she had a stable shot, unwilling to wait for the rock from above, or the exhale of breath to spread crystalizing dust all over her.
She held her stance for a single heartbeat longer, then turned and sprinted to the side, aiming to put wagons between herself and the breath attack. The rushed movements caused sharpened clothing to dig into tender flesh and she nearly dropped from the sudden pain, only her strong right leg and arm able to catch her fall so she could continue. She cried out in pain but didn't hear herself scream.
She did hear and feel the impact of the falling rock, so quickly strengthened her left leg and used both to lunge clear of Long's domain, her muscles remembering some of her morning training. Mid air, she threw aside her bow to not land on it, then painfully rolled behind the nearest wagon.
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