There was a time when the thrill of battle was enough to get Yan’s heart racing, blood boiling, and spirits soaring, but now it seemed like those times were long past.
Difficult to say when she started feeling this way, for it felt like just yesterday when her promotion to Major had her walking on clouds for weeks without end. A rank she earned with her own merits no less, largely in part due to her performance during the withdrawal from JiangHu. Now there was a tale for the ages, one which she would tell her children and grandchildren until they grew bored of her repeated ramblings. JiangHu was the first time Brigadier Hongji went head-to-head with the Traitor General Bai Qi, though they had yet to learn the identity of the cunning Enemy commander. This made the good Brigadier’s accomplishments all the more impressive in hindsight, for he remained vigilant and focused throughout the entire battle against one of the most brilliant minds in three generations. Bai Qi had long since proven his skills in combat, governance, and command as the Lord of Martial Peace, but Brigadier Hongji was a late bloomer with minimal accomplishments to date, so there were few who would’ve believed he had what it took to match wits with a Living Legend.
No doubt Bai Qi thought the same, for upon arriving at Castle JiangHu in the dead of night with his army of Chosen and tribesmen, his forces wasted no time encircling the castle before launching their first assault. Waves upon waves of tribesmen and Chosen had crashed headlong into the walls, where the fighting was hard and fast as the Enemy sought to tear through the Imperial defences in a single pass. Arrogance? Not entirely, for the walls might well have fallen in that first night if not for Brigadier Hongji’s superlative command. Though war was ultimately a game of numbers, battle was about more than just throwing soldiers into the fray and letting them fight until victory or defeat became clear. Soldiers were a limited resource, with limited stamina to fight with, so a good commander took steps to utilize the resources at their disposal in the most cost-effective manner possible. Kill the most using the least, that was the mantra a good commander lived by, and Brigadier Hongji was more tight-fisted with the lives of his soldiers than a fisher-wife with her coin. Every decision he made was with the intent of reducing casualties as much as possible, whereas other commanders made their decisions based on the costs and benefits of the expected outcome. A minor distinction in the grand scheme of things some might say, but Yan would argue differently, for there was a stark disparity in intent. Most commanders approached a problem with the intent to spend lives in order to solve their issue, while Brigadier Hongji looked to minimize costs in pursuit of the same goal, which was one reason why he proved so effective at command.
Repair the roof before the storm arrives, that was the idiom the good Brigadier used to describe his mindset, or as Rain put it, a pinch of prevention is worth a fistful of cure. Rather than react to Bai Qi’s probes and feints, Hongji already had his countermeasures worked out and in place long before the Enemy army arrived at his doorstep, and it showed in his stunning execution. Any fool could dispatch reinforcements to where they were needed, but it took careful planning and in-depth preparation to make sure they also arrived at the perfect time, neither too early or too late, and encountered no obstructions or impediments in their routes. An obvious detail to account for, yet so few commanders cared to work out the most efficient paths to take when defending a fortification, but this was a skill Brigadier Hongji had long since mastered.
Against a lesser opponent, minor interruptions and late arrivals might well have presented Bai Qi with a weakness to exploit, which was likely his plan from the start. Thanks to ample preparation and a superb sense of timing however, Brigadier Hongji denied the Lord of Martial Peace an easy victory at Castle JiangHu, which might well have been the turning point in the overall war.
Of course, there were other reasons the war went the way it did, and Brigadier Hongji used all manner of tricks and stratagems to keep castle JiangHu from being overrun. Concealed Wraiths sent to open the gates were foiled by stringent countermeasures put in place. Everyone was kept to a strict shift schedule to ensure the soldiers had time to rest in-between long bouts of fighting, while using the combination of the counter-weight catapults and roaming bands of Imperial cavalry kept the bulk of the Enemy forces at arm’s length. More than once, Brigadier Hongji had allowed one section of the walls to be overrun, only to reveal that it was a trap meant to clear out whole swathes of the Enemy in one fell swoop with help from the Irregulars’ crossbows. What’s more, he also saw through Bai Qi’s feints multiple times and responded appropriately, committing just enough forces to make the Lord of Martial Peace believe his foe had taken the bait, but holding back just enough reserves to throw at the true target once it was revealed.
There were many more virtues to extol and accomplishments to admire, but as Yan fought atop the walls of Meng Sha, she found that she missed Brigadier Hongji’s sense of timing the most. In stark contrast, Commander OuYang Min Jun’s orders showed that he possessed no sense of timing whatsoever, nor had he made any preparations since taking command. The battle had only just begun and she could already see reinforcements streaming in to bolster the defences, a panicked decision made by an inept commander who thought more was always better. Far from it, for despite being built much wider than your standard fortress walls, there was limited room to stand atop the battlements. Most of the space along the inner side of the fortress was meant to be kept clear for wounded and traffic, allowing reinforcing units to flow freely from one section to another, but now the entire wall was packed to the brim with soldiers on deck, most of whom had nothing to do besides twiddle their thumbs.
Better if those idle soldiers had been kept in reserves, but it was clear OuYang Min Jun lacked the confidence to deploy his troops in such a manner. The situation was made all the more frustrating by the fact that he’d also decided Yan was best utilized as a rapid response unit of one, dispatching her from one end of the wall to another in a desperate bid to keep control of the battlements. Flattering that he thought her so capable, but despite her best efforts to explain the limitations of the Forest Clearing Gale and her need to rest and restore Chi between each use, he steadfastly ignored her Sendings and expected her to single-handedly clear whole sections of the wall with little more than a wave of her hand. Five times now, she’d unleashed her signature Chi skill upon her foes, which was one more than what she previously believed was her limit, and yet the battle had only just begun. Exhausted from her efforts and sprinting this way and that, Yan pushed her way through the press of soldiers to the back of the battlements, and even went so far as to crouch between the parapets just so she wouldn’t be surrounded by sweaty, armoured soldiers on all sides. A fun prospect in theory, but not in these current circumstances as she fought to catch her breath and refill her Core while ignoring the mounting pressure threatening to burst out the back of her skull. Taking deep breaths to ease her growing migraine, she squatted between two crenellations and took a moment to see how the overall battle was unfolding.
Not terribly, but not great either, which was admittedly better than she expected. The Mataram heavy infantry spearheaded the centre, while Defiled tribesmen braved the waters on the flanks in a determined effort to circumvent the walls, but commander Min Jun had acted quickly to keep the beleaguered defenders from being overrun. The walls were packed with soldiers who had no choice but to fight to the last, since their only escape now would be to jump off the wall into the courtyard below, while the Irregulars were free to lob stones and bolts into the press of Defiled with near impunity.
Though Yan still believed he’d squandered her potential, it was clear now that he’d been using her talents to buy time for his soldiers to get into place. Though not ideal, it was an effective response to the unexpected army appearing on their doorstep, though Yan maintained that he wouldn’t have needed the extra time if he’d simply worked out a more efficient deployment plan beforehand. She also maintained that the defenders would be better served with fewer soldiers on the walls, but since it was clear the commander lacked Brigadier Hongji’s impeccable sense of timing, this would have to do.
To be fair to OuYang Min Jun, he wasn’t a completely inept commander, just not up to Yan’s admittedly high standards. It wasn’t entirely unjustified for someone to fail to match up to Brigadier Hongji, or any of the other superlative commanders Yan had either served under or studied in great length. The aged Society Adherent was passable, having acted quickly to keep the walls from being overrun, and though his tactics were outdated and not wholly suited for the modern fortifications of Meng Sha, he still managed to cobble together an effective defence. Seeing how she had yet to receive new orders, it was clear he also knew that he’d pushed her as hard as he could and was now giving her some much needed time to rest. This told her that Min Jun demanded much from the soldiers under his command, meaning there would be a hefty butcher’s bill to pay when all was said and done.
Alas, her kids would have to weather the siege without her for now, a prospect which had her beside herself with worry. Sutah was an able second, but he lacked the strength and charisma to lead a five-thousand-man retinue unaided, to say nothing of her woeful lack of true elites to help shoulder the Heavens. Had she known this was the sort of commander in charge of Meng Sha, she would’ve asked Brigadier Hongji for time off instead of a transfer to the harbour fortress, but it seemed like the right decision at the time. At worst, Rain would still be comatose when she arrived and she’d have her duties to help distract her, and at best, her husband the Legate could authorize her time off with little more than a wave of his hand. There was no cure for regret however, so Yan’s kids would have to make do with the circumstances, just as she would have to grit her teeth and endure until battle’s end.
...
Why was she so miserable about being asked to step up? At the very least, it meant commander Min Jun had acknowledged her strength, else he would not have tasked her with so pivotal a role. A year ago, this revelation would’ve had her jumping for joy seeing how so many soldiers and Warriors spurned her achievements for one reason or another. Sometimes it was because she was a woman, or a half-beast, or because they believed she was using her feminine charms to get ahead, or any number of irrational justifications others used to discredit her achievements. Now, she was serving under a commander who trusted her enough to shoulder the burden of holding the line with martial skill alone, and all Yan could do was bellyache about how tiring the effort had been.
Was this not her dream all along? Thousands of Imperial soldiers had seen her efforts first-hand and would share the tale with thousands of others, and within a week everyone across the Empire will have heard about how Du Min Yan unleashed five Forest Clearing Gales to kill countless Mataram Chosen in quick succession. This was an accomplishment comparable to the feats which set Grandpa Du on the path to becoming an Exarch, and he never stood out like this until he was closer to forty than thirty, whereas Yan was not yet twenty-five and still considered a young Talent of the Empire.
So why was she so bitter and jaded about all this? Sure, OuYang Min Jun was no dragon among men, but he was capable enough to muster an effective defence. More importantly, he appreciated her talents and put them to good use, though she still maintained it wasn’t the best use of her skills. Regardless of her doubts however, this was all preferable to being left to languish in obscurity, or worse, set up to fail, intentionally or otherwise.
Something was amiss, for Yan knew herself well, and though the fighting in Shi Bei had worn her down, she should not be so dispirited in the opening minutes of battle. Some sort of subtle working of Aura perhaps? Though she’d long since deployed her own Aura, Rain had proven that there was more to this seemingly unremarkable Milestone than what the people of the Outer Provinces previously believed. Perhaps this was something similar to the Demonic Dread Aura only Li-Li and Rain could defend against, but something more widespread and slower acting meant to quietly chip away at morale without anyone noticing. Out of an overabundance of caution, Yan Sent word not only to commander Min Jun, but also to Yaruq who she knew would pass the message along to more worldly Peak Experts like Naaran and Binesi. Though she did not hear back from any of them, aside from a brief acknowledgement from Yaruq, Yan paid it no mind for this was not something she could fix or prepare for. Perhaps Commander Min Jun would ask Li-Li to lend aid in the defence, or maybe the monks would have something to add, but regardless of what came next, her part was over and done with.
Or maybe not. Since she had nothing better to do while gathering Chi and waiting for new orders, why not see if she could solve this mystery herself? Rain spoke often of his frustrations regarding Aura and how it didn’t ‘fit’ in the grand scheme of things, but while she never really understood his explanations, she always thought he put too much weight on logic and rationality. For untold millennia, countless Martial Warriors had endeavoured to understand the laws of Heaven and none had yet to succeed, yet Rain thought he could unravel the mystery by simply thinking it through long enough. In all likelihood, no one had come across the right answer because there were still too many unknowns to account for, but this didn’t mean understanding would forever be denied them. Even if the secrets of Aura were too complex for mortal minds to comprehend, Yan figured there was no harm in asking the Mother Above if She had any Insight to spare.
Something Rain almost never tried anymore, simply meditating on his problems. Probably because he always took it personally when the Mother Above didn’t descend from the Heavens to personally answer any and all of his questions.
In contrast, Yan had no qualms with asking for help from the Mother Above, but doing so was easier said than done. Dangerous as it might be to meditate so close to battle, she knew she had at least six hidden guardians keeping watch over her, even if she didn’t know who they were or who put them up to the task. These were merely the ones she’d found, using Grandpa’s trick of deploying Wind Chi in all directions to uncover Concealed individuals, and while she lacked his ability to keep control of Chi passing through another person’s body, losing connection with her Chi was enough to give her a general location of any hidden individuals. Though she didn’t have the Chi to spare to check if they were still there, she knew Grandpa would never allow her to go into battle without a guardian, so she wasted no time in seeking Balance.
Others spoke of closing their eyes and opening them again to find themselves ensconced within their Natal Palace, but in Yan’s admittedly limited experience, it didn’t work like that for her. The reason being was simple. Most Martial Warriors based their Natal Palaces on physical locations in reality, or an approximation of reality at the very least. Their Natal Palaces often had sunlight shining down from overhead and grass or flooring beneath their feet, as well as walls or horizons to block out the infinite darkness of the void, and cushions, chairs, beds, or other furniture to seat themselves upon. In contrast, Yan’s Natal Palace was made up of the wind and nothing else, a constant and ever-present breeze that set her skin to tingling and her mind at ease. When she closed her eyes, there was only the Void to greet her, which visually was no different from what she saw before she Formed her Natal Palace. The true change was something no human eyes could see, the hidden presence of the wind flowing all around her, filling the limits of her invisible Natal Palace as it whispered indecipherable messages for her to hear. The messages were not new or unique, but rather a repetition of the messages she first heard when meditating in Medical Saint Taduk’s mysterious bamboo grove, messages which had existed since time immemorial. Unbeknownst to her, she’d committed those messages to memory and could now hear them inside her Natal Palace, and though she’d spent many a night musing on the meaning behind those ineffable tidings, she was no closer to understanding those whispers now than she had been when she first became aware of them all those months ago.
Not because her comprehension was lacking, but because these were messages left by the Divine Air itself, one of the four Prime Children who helped the Mother Above form the very world Yan lived in. How was she, a mere mortal, supposed to understand the whispers of a Divine being that had taken part in the greatest act of Creation known to humankind? The best she could hope for was a smattering of Insight to help guide her along her way, so Yan made no effort to parse through the messages and simply stilled her mind to listen to what the Divine Air had to say.
The wind gently kissed her skin and rustled through her hair as she focused on nothing but awareness itself, and it brought to mind the understandings she’d stumbled across the first time she heard its voice. The wind sang as it traversed through the bamboo grove, an ever-changing melody with highs and lows that were both loud and quiet, while evoking sensations of harmony and dissonance all at once, but this song was merely the by-product of the true message hidden underneath. Yes, the wind didn’t exist to make sound, it merely did so in passing without conscious effort, so the message was not in the sound itself, but rather its source. Why did the wind fluctuate in speed, pitch and volume while passing through the bamboo grove? Various different obstructions for one, for the wind went through and around the hollow bamboo shoots while traversing through the flowers and branches interspersed through the grove, but how was this knowledge of any use?
No... Yan was making the same mistake Rain made so often, demanding answers that would only lead to more questions ahead. The wrong sort of questions to boot, for the Divine Air was more than just physical air, but something more, something... well... in a word, Divine.
Still immersed in her Natal Palace, Yan opened her eyes in reality and took her Battle Fan in hand, and just as she did when she first heard the Divine Air, she twirled and waved it about in an effort to understand this most capricious and changing of Elements. The wind was wild and untamed, yet had rules to abide by, blowing east one moment only to shift west the next, yet always with good reason. The wind was always flowing, sometimes so weakly you couldn’t feel its touch against your bare skin, and other times with power enough to tear apart buildings of heavy stone and steel, yet if given enough time, even a gentle breeze was enough to smooth out the most jagged of mountains.
Light as a feather and heavy as a mountain, gentle as a kiss and sharper than any sword, this was the wind Yan sought to wield, yet these were only the physical characteristics of the wind itself. What of its metaphysical characteristics? A word Rain used often of late, but one Yan only understood as ‘not physical’, and he described as anything outside the range of human perception, but if the end goal was to merge the physical and metaphysical into one, why was he so intent on differentiating between the two in the first place?
Yes, that was it. Physical or metaphysical, the properties of the wind remained unchanged, so all Yan had to do was emulate the wind, and the rest would sort itself out.
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Standing up on a whim, Yan peered out over the battle and took in everything she’d missed, for even in the throes of Insight, she did not lose focus on her surroundings. It was a little like hearing someone speak without paying it any mind, only to register their words after the fact as your mind filled you in on what you thought you’d missed. Not much time had passed since she first sat down to meditate and her Core still had a ways to go until it was even one-fifth full, but the battlefield had undergone a myriad of swings and changes in her absence. Mataram Yu Kong, the traitor clan’s foremost young talent, had been slain by none other than Bulat, the stout, self-important gambler of Rain’s retinue. In response, Mataram YuChun made a move to avenge his son, only to be stopped by none other than the Immovable Binesi. Alas, he proved no match for the Ten Thousand Spears and might well have died if not for the timely arrival of the Azure Ascendants.
With an Enemy Major General taking the field against the foremost Runic Craftsman of the North, matters only escalated from there as all manner of elites made their presence known, including sweet Li-Li who came to Jorani’s rescue. The young monk named Yuanyin was formidable indeed, having shrugged off five bullets to the face with almost careless ease, but Li-Li was not so easily defeated. Though she was far from the strongest of her peers, she excelled in one on one duels against foes surpassing her in skill and strength, consistently able to eke out a victory so long as the odds were not too too stacked against her. A beautiful sight to behold, the gorgeous woman putting her mastery of the Forms on display, and Yan could clearly see Grandpa Du’s influence on her style. It wasn’t as obvious as it was with Kyung, whose Movements were a perfect match in every way except speed and power, but the similarities were still undeniably there. The biggest difference was that while Kyung strove to emulate Grandpa’s domineering style, Li-Li had taken what she’d learned and transformed it into something more suitable for her, without impacting the underlying effectiveness. Grandpa’s style was all about domineering decisive attacks, singular strikes meant to control the flow of battle and decide the outcome of a match in as few exchanges as possible. Though Li-Li’s style retained these domineering elements, she lacked Grandpa’s overbearing strength and thus had to use other means to take control of the pace, namely superior skill, timing, and finesse. She still had the ability to deliver those same battle-ending strikes, but she wove them in between other attacks meant to create openings for her to exploit.
Grandpa Du and Kyung were like typhoons, tyrannical and oppressive to the extreme. Most of their opponents could only struggle against the odds until the wind carried them away to be dashed upon the rocks. In contrast, Li-Li’s style was more akin to running headlong down a mountain, in that her opponents felt like they were firmly in control until they were moving too quickly to avoid the tree in their path, the tree being Li-Li’s killing blow. It could come as the opening attack, on the heels of a deceptive feint, in the aftermath of parrying your strike, or in the middle of an otherwise standard combination.
In both instances, you were only ever one overpowering strike away from defeat, but with Grandpa, his foes at least had time to rest and reset before each subsequent exchange, assuming you survived the first. With Li-Li, her attacks came hard and fast, and you never knew when she would pull out the deciding blow, and thus had to always be on your guard. While Grandpa’s overwhelming, single-hit victories earned him a reputation as a domineering duellist, Li-Li was domineering in her own way, so full of calm aggression and calculated destruction. Truth be told, it was difficult not to be envious of the beautiful half-cat’s comprehension of the Forms, but while Yan herself was unable to emulate Grandpa Du’s fighting style, she would do his legacy justice through their shared Blessing of Air instead, and that was good enough for her.
Glancing over at where Li-Li was still fighting and now reciting poetry, Yan was surprised to see how far away her dear friend and potential future sister-wife really was, almost a full two-hundred metres away. How was that possible? There was no way Yan could have seen or heard what she did, but that was far from the end of it. Here on the northern parapets of Meng Sha, Yan had unwittingly taken note of events far beyond her sphere of perception, the information filtering into her conscious mind as soon as she knew to look for it. Mila was fighting now too, on the southern beaches no less, riding Zabu into battle with Paragon in hand and running roughshod over the Defiled with little to no opposition. Zian fought valiantly on the wall with his twin sabres a whirling, but his movements paled in comparison to the show his dapper Uncle Yang put on in his duel against the Whirling Dervish, Mataram Minzhe. Difficult to say who held the upper hand in their match, which was surprising considering their reputations, but Situ Jia Yang’s impenetrable defence was proving to be the bane of Mataram Minzhe’s relentless assault.
Situ Chi Gan. Tam Taewoong. Teng Hong Chuan. Dastan Zhandos. Dong Ping. These were but a handful of the faces Yan recognized who stood out from the rest, but there were many more Imperial Heroes revealed today. There were too many to take note of one at a time, but she saw that some still fought valiantly to defend Meng Sha, while many were now resting in the arms of the Mother. These deaths were not without cost, for it was clear Imperial morale was fast flagging, a fact made all the more evident as the Tyrant, OuYang YuHuan came plummeting down from the skies. Bleeding from a half dozen serious wounds and countless smaller ones of no consequence, the formidable woman might well have died if Daxian hadn’t been there to catch her. Even then, the force of her descent was enough to crack the concrete battlements beneath his feet, and Yan could see the pain flash across his eyes, pain which he transformed into sheer rage as he glared daggers at the man who dared injure his Mentor.
Slowly hovering down from on high in a display of Lightening even Grandpa would’ve been hard pressed to emulate, the seemingly indomitable traitor Mataram YuChun descended back down to the battlements with unworldly grace and limitless confidence, his nose pointed so high it was a wonder if he could see anything in front of him. “Is this all the North has to offer?” he asked, and his words swept through the Imperial ranks in a wave of cold terror. “A backwater bumpkin with delusions of grandeur and an unruly woman who doesn’t know her place. How disappointing.”
Much as Yan wanted to send a scything Wind Blade over to cut his throat, Mataram YuChun was too far out of range, not that she expected her attack would land even if he wasn’t. Though invisible to the human eye, Peak Experts were able to perceive her Wind Chi through their Domains, and possibly even through something Rain called ‘Spiritual Sense’. Perhaps that’s how Yan was able to divine how the battle unfolded while meditating within her Natal Palace, though she felt that wasn’t entirely right. It was as if the wind was speaking to her once again, informing her of what took place in her absence, the same way she heard it whispering the secrets of the Divine Air in Medical Saint Taduk’s bamboo grove. Again, her conclusion didn’t feel entirely correct, and she quickly realized why. It wasn’t the wind whispering secrets to her this time, but rather her Chi mimicking the properties of wind. How else to explain how she could understand it now, when she still couldn’t make heads or tails of what she heard before? Somehow, she’d utilized her Natal Palace to... not Scry, not Listen, but take in the happenings around her, gathering so much information that it took her mind long seconds to process it all in full.
Though she failed to glean anything about the suspected Aura pervading Meng Sha, one thing was clear. The Enemy was hell-bent on overwhelming the defenders of Meng Sha with quantity and quality both, and thus far, the odds were moving in their favour. While Naaran battled with the Mataram Patriarch, YuChun stood unmatched upon the battlements, and if no one stepped forward to keep him in check, he would be free to run roughshod over the elite defenders. Knowing this, three Peak Experts stepped forward to attack him together, Warriors Yan recognized as Adherents of the Society thanks to the sigil emblazoned upon their armour, but their names escaped her for the moment. That being said, if they were willing to abandon face and attack YuChun together, then this meant matters were far more dire than they appeared, for it was akin to admitting they no longer had any one Warrior able to match him. The effect on morale was almost visible as Imperial soldiers all across Meng Sha trembled in concert, their pride trampled in the face of the traitor’s strength, but while Yan understood why they might feel this way, she also recognized that there was something foul afoot. This was more of the same subtle influence she’d noted earlier, the Aura that wasn’t really an Aura, but one instead infused with the essence of... what exactly? Foreboding? Despair? No, nothing so distinct and compelling, but something else altogether, a defeatist attitude and almost melancholic atmosphere permeating throughout the harbour fortress.
Surely the monks of the Brotherhood could recognize what was happening, but aside from Monk Happy watching over Jorani in Concealment, the rest of them were chanting quietly along the shoreline, as far from the fighting as they could be. Their voices were so subdued Yan couldn’t even make it out using her newly awakened senses, but their efforts were being matched by the traitor monks chanting on top of the battlements themselves, so either the loyalist monks were losing slowly or they didn’t notice the subtle working Yan had long since identified. So what could she do then? Ask Li-Li to use her Emotional Aura to counter it? Perhaps, but she was still embroiled in a bitter life and death match against the young monk Yuanyin and Yan didn’t dare distract her. Withdraw to Rain’s side to try and convince Kukku or Rakky to counter whatever the Enemy was doing? Putting aside how she had no idea how to even convey her request to the animals in a way they would understand, she wasn’t even sure if they could do anything about it.
If only Yan had an Emotional Aura of her own, but alas, all her efforts to Condense one had failed to bear fruit. Not for lack of trying either, because she wanted nothing more than to show sweet Shana how much she loved her, and spoil the poor rabbits Rain often neglected in favour of Mama Bun and his other pets. Drawing deep on emotion and pouring it into her Aura had resulted in a normal Aura emerging, meaning there had to be some trick to it that they had yet to understand, but now was not the time to test wild theories.
No matter. When facing an attack, you were never solely limited to blocking. You could dodge, parry, or counter attack as well, and Yan favoured the last more than the others. If some Defiled working was bringing down Imperial morale, then she would just have to work that much harder to raise it back up once again. Leaping off her perch atop the battlements, Yan flourished her battle-fan and six-pointed shield both as she marched into the fray, her Aura blazing with standard courage and determination. It wasn’t flashy or unique, but it was something, and somehow, the soldiers barring her path sensed her presence and parted to make way as she approached. It was gratifying to see the look of relief in some of their eyes as she passed, and she marvelled at how far she’d come. Somewhere along the way, she’d become a pillar in the Imperial Army without even noticing, a Hero to help shoulder the Heavens when they came crashing down, and though there were still taller shoulders to bear the burden for now, that didn’t mean she was utterly helpless to act.
While she could do nothing to affect the battles between Peak Experts, Du Min Yan was more than capable of running roughshod over the Enemy chaff, maybe even enough to send them running for the dunes.
Making her presence known as soon as she arrived, she delivered a scything Wind Blade to the throat of the first Chosen she encountered. The second and third shared the same fate, while the fourth caught her spinning six-pointed shield with his face. Willing the weapon back to hand, Yan laughed as every Mataram Chosen in sight identified her as the greatest threat to their lives, and tried her best not to giggle as they charged headlong towards her. A logical move, as closing the distance limited her ability to kill from afar, but if they thought she would be easy pickings in close combat, then they were all in for a surprise. After all, she’d Awakened for less than a handful of years, but she’d been practising the Forms for as long as she could remember, and she put those countless hours of practice to good use here.
Unlike Kyung and Li-Li, Yan’s Movements lacked any and all resemblance to Grandpa Du’s, for she was a woman grown by the time they met and had already taken her first few steps along the Martial Path. Where Grandpa Du was graceful and elegant in execution, Yan was raw and crude to the extreme as she swung her battle-fan like a butcher’s knife and brought it down on the head of her closest assailant. The wide blade failed to slice through the Runic helmet, but the subsequent uppercut saw her six-pointed shield punch clean through his jaw and kill him almost instantly. Slipping around the falling body of the first combatant, she used it to hinder the two Chosen on her left and charged the one on her right instead, only to turn back at the last moment to throw a Wind Blade at the unsuspecting foes she’d left behind. The surprise attack landed before her target even had time to scream, so easily killed despite wearing so much Runic armour to protect him, armour which her Wind Blades easily flowed over without triggering the defensive mechanisms. Why this was the case, she had no idea, aside from an inkling that this was just how the wind worked. It didn’t hit a steel plate and stop moving, but instead continued to flow along the surface until it found a way around it. For this reason alone, her Wind Blades and Forest Clearing Gale were exceptionally effective at killing armoured Chosen, something Commander OuYang Min Jun had clearly noted in advance, so Yan felt compelled to forgive the man for not being a stand out genius of his generation.
At least he had a good eye for talent and knew how to utilize the soldiers under his command. That was already better than most, so why quibble about the minor details?
The wind coursed around Yan as she flowed across the battlements unchecked, her speed and savagery wholly unmatched. Forget grace and dignity, for war was a dirty and ugly affair. Who cared if she had blood and gore smeared across her armour from garroting a Defiled throat, or brain matter splattered across her hair from bashing someones head in with her horns? Not her, and not Rain, and that was all that mattered, so she would do as she pleased until someone came to stop her. Most fell easily before her shield and battle-fan, but if someone proved bothersome to defeat, then she simply disengaged and struck again when they weren’t expecting it. Many a Chosen died to a Wind Blade to the throat, but she wasn’t above butting heads or kicking groins from behind if that’s what was needed. If Li-Li’s movements were like a dance, then Yan’s were akin to a bar-room brawl, and truth be told, she wouldn’t have it any other way, because this was how war was fought. Duels had their place on the battlefield, but it all came down to numbers in the end, and Yan was determined to kill the Enemy Chosen until there were none willing to face her in combat ever again.
So what if she couldn’t spare the Chi to unleash a Forest Clearing Gale? Du Min Yan was no one-trick pony, but a Warrior of the Empire and Sentinel of the People.
A disruption in the flowing wind warned her long before her Concealed foes revealed themselves, and Yan cleanly retreated as the Demons made their presence known. Hardly surprising considering the Chosen and tribals were making little to no headway with their assault, for the soldiers of the Empire were made of stauncher stuff. Blasting the two most dangerous Demons with a Wind Blade each, she silently attracted their attentions and claimed them for herself while leaving the rest for the other elites to fight over. Though she didn’t know it before attacking, she quickly realized why they’d caught her attention as her Wind Blades dissipated into nothingness upon impact with their chitinous skin, for these Demons were both Awakened. Both were roughly humanoid in shape, but that’s where the resemblance ended, for one had a body akin to a rotting tree with at least eight extra wooden limbs and six multi-faceted eyes like a spider, while the other was a misshapen aberration bearing no less than five mouths across its pale, sleek, sinuous torso and no eyes or head to speak of.
Wood and... Mother in Heaven, Yan didn’t even want to guess was its Blessing might be, but the second Demon was horrific to behold, and both were able to counter her Wind Blades, which were arguably her strongest and most versatile attack. Sure, the Forest Clearing Gale possessed more killing power, but it was wasted on a single target, especially a Demon considering the individual Wind Blades produced by her Gale was weaker than one she conjured herself. What’s more, Yan lacked a Domain to enable her to damage the Demons with her weapons, but somehow, this didn’t concern her in the least, for she approached her foes with nothing but confidence and a grin stretched across her face.
Yes, this was far more like her, enjoying the thrill and challenge of battle as she fought the good fight. Glory, fame, reputation, and rank, all that fell woefully short in comparison to the sheer exhilaration of fighting the Enemy.
Though unable to utilize her Blessing directly against these Awakened Demons, the wind was more than capable of bolstering Yan’s speed to staggering heights. Using this to her advantage, she ran circles around her foes while avoiding their multi-limbed attacks, all the while shrugging off their attempts to utilize their Blessings against her. A good thing too, for if left to run amok amongst the Imperial soldiers, these two Demons might well have overrun the battlements by themselves. The tree Demon’s Blessing of Wood was well-suited for supporting his allies in battle, mostly by hindering his enemies with barbed branches emerging from the cracks in the stone. Wood Chi, and it was similar in nature to Shuai Jiao’s Grasping Vines, the titular move which earned him his moniker, but with Yan’s Wind Chi negating them wherever they spawned, the tree Demon could do naught but flail its many limbs about in hopes of catching her with a lucky strike. With the wind at her back, it would need far more than luck to hit her however, so she focused more on the headless, multi-mouthed aberration.
Who regrettably expressed it’s Blessing by vomiting some foul-smelling, brownish sludge out of its many, multi-fanged, barbed-tongued mouths.
Never before had Yan felt so fortunate to have been Blessed by Air, for after catching a single whiff of its noxious fumes, she set to work blowing away the stench before it could reach her. The smell was worse than rotting shark mixed with the shit of a million soldiers, which she knew because she’d experienced that particular stench first-hand back on the beaches of Nan Ping. That being said, she could hardly dance around the two Demons forever, as she’d come into the fight at a disadvantage considering she had less than a fifth of her Chi. A tenth now, though she was frantically fighting to channel more into her Core, but she was not as talented as her handsome husband who could fight and meditate at the same time. If only she had her Domain, then she could pierce through the Demons’ defences to cause some actual damage, but she only knew how to form a quasi-Domain, which she wrapped around her Wind Blades to keep them from dissipating back into unclaimed Heavenly Energy once outside of her Core.
...
So what was stopping her from forming a pseudo Domain around her shield and battle-fan?
Striking even as the thought came to her, Yan directed her Chi to do more than Hone the edges of her weapons, but also adhere to their forms like an invisible sheath. Battle-fan met clawed arm of the headless stink Demon, but alas, failed to bite deep. Reeling from the impact, Yan retreated even as her shield bounced off the steely bark of the tree Demon before returning to her hand. If only creating a Domain were so easy, but the problem was, one’s Domain was tied to the Natal Palace, and Yan’s Natal Palace was tied to her Blessing of Air, so how was she supposed to Develop a Domain that was independent from her Blessing?
Then again, why did she have to?
There was no need for Yan to envision or externalize her Natal Palace, for the wind had always been there to support her ever since she first Awakened to her Blessing. Before then even, for she had been favoured by the Divine Air, chosen to wield its power in the eternal battle against the Enemy, and now it would guide her yet again. Instead of the invisible sheath from before, she wrapped her weapons in a curtain of flowing air, not Wind Chi, but something more akin to the wind within her Natal Palace, the hidden presence which flowed all throughout her very being. Again, her shield flew out, this time targeting the stink Demon, which opened the fanged mouth on its belly in a bid to catch her weapon in flight. A grievous mistake, for it had not sensed the presence of her pseudo-Domain lingering upon the spinning shield. The Honed blades shattered fangs and lacerated flesh with ease as the Demon shrieked in an inhuman cry of pain and rage, but Yan was not yet done. Usually, she summoned Wind Blades using the edge of her Battle-Fan, but this time she summoned one using her six-pointed shield instead, and the results were more spectacular than expected. Rather than a single, invisible blade, the spinning shield was enveloped in a disc of cutting Wind, one the stink-Demon did not negate in time. The disc surged and expanded as the shield spun and dug itself deeper into the Demon’s flesh, bisecting it from hip to hip and sending a spray of Ichor in all directions. Quick to react, Yan summoned a gust of Wind to carry the Ichor away from the Imperial lines and out into the Enemy, and she was rewarded with a smattering of screams as the Demon’s caustic life’s blood ate away at unprotected flesh.
Though unshaken by the death of its comrade, the tree Demon proved no match for Yan’s newly discovered pseudo-Domain technique. Before the second Demon’s corpse had yet to fall, she’d already turned her mind to how she could use this knowledge to Develop a Domain in truth, but while she felt like she was on the cusp of understanding this next milestone, the Enemy was not willing to sit back and give her time to ponder the Dao. While her Chi reserves were dangerously low and her headache nigh unbearable, the thrill of the fight was still surging through Yan’s veins and she continued to fight with all her worth. Two more Demons fell to her weapons, and she was riding a high unlike any other, but alas, her mood was not as infectious as she’d hoped. Though the day could still be won, most Imperial soldiers were fighting as if the battle was already lost, their fear and desperation mounting even as the Enemy died in droves at their doorstep.
A shame Yan’s Insight only helped her awaken her Spiritual Sense and form a pseudo Domain, for this maleficent Aura that wasn’t an Aura was wreaking havoc on morale. No matter how brightly she shined, she could not carry the day on her own, for her shoulders were not yet tall or sturdy enough to bear the heavy burden. To make matters worse, Yan noticed Mila trading blows with the Demonic Gen and faring none too well, while Li-Li’s battle against Yuanyin could still go either way. As for Mataram YuChun, he clearly held the upper hand despite being outnumbered by three Society Peak Experts, while the battle between the Mataram Patriarch and the Unyielding Naaran was anybody’s guess, as Yan could not make out who was winning even with help from her Spiritual Senses.
All of which meant that if matters continued to devolve in this manner, then Meng Sha would fall before sundown, an outcome Yan was powerless to stop by herself. If only Rain were awake and ready to fight, because as things stood, they would need a miracle to hold Meng Sha, and if anyone could deliver one, it would be her husband, Falling Rain.
Chapter Meme