“You what?”

“I let him go.” Alex gazed calmly at the older cultivator.

Qing Wu’s fists clenched, trembling with outraged disbelief. He revealed for a single fluttering heartbeat the true power of his killing gaze.

For a moment Alex tasted genuine peril, realizing how dangerous a game he was playing. It was one thing to earn the indulgent affection of a powerful patron fully in alignment with his choices and path. Quite another to cross a powerful Silver as a basic and expect anything save the harshest reprimand.

“Stop it, husband. You are no fool, and neither is he. So before you risk making a mockery of our oath or slapping karma in the face, let’s hear what the boy has to say.”

Qing Wu clenched his jaw for a long painful moment, before his anger faded like steam from a kettle as he seemed to deflate into his battle-stained robes. He even managed to crack a smile, even if it didn’t quite reach his too sharp gaze. “Very well, wife. I must confess that I too am most curious as to what twisted whim or chain of logic… ahem, I mean cogent thought process resulted in my disciple releasing the one man responsible for poisoning the entire caravan, twice over!”

Alex bowed to Reny. “Just as she said… a matter of karma.”

Qing Wu impatiently furrowed his brow. “Explain.”

Alex opened his mouth before standing there, slack-jawed, realizing that explaining that, with the restoration of his karmic ties to the world around him, he could see the golden cords of karma more clearly than he ever had before, from the thin gold threads tying the four of them in this life, to the thousand hair-sized filaments tying Ye Pan to the thousands of desperate souls whose lives he made just a bit better almost every day, back in Qianshi. Because he didn’t need an interface message with WiFu’s snarky side-commentary letting him know that that would be a VERY bad idea for someone trying to hide from the animosity of an entire pantheon to stick out with such a unique skill. One reason why, he suspected, he had been reborn with all but the most generic elemental channeling skills close off to him. That, and all of he exquisitely useful perception skills, which, by their very nature, gave nothing away.

The elder cultivator’s exasperated gaze hardened to something colder. “Are you truly so witless that you can’t even justify your actions, or are there other elements at play, Alex?”

Alex’s eyes widened in alarm, furiously shaking his head in protest at even the tiniest implication that he was any sort of ally of Ye Pans, or that they had originally been on the same side before Alex had a change of heart, or any of the other half-dozen ugly possibilities Alex could sense flickering inside the powerful wujen’s skull.

“He and his apprentices are keeping hundreds if not thousands of mortals from starving to death every year,” Alex said, rapidly going over his conversation with the man he had, quite to his own surprise, ended up sparing. He took a deep breath by the end of the tale, realizing he had been racing to its conclusion because he couldn’t bare the cynical jaded looks he was giving, their estimation of him seeming to fall from that of hero to well-intentioned fool, with a single choice made.

Ya Ling’s hurt gaze stung most of all. “He was working on that monster’s behalf to put us to sleep, Alex, so my brother could kidnap me again!”

Alex lowered his gaze. “I know. I never said what he did was right. Or that you had to forgive it. Only that he was sincere when he was using his odd path to assure a minimum of casualties, and thought your brother was a fool thinking he could keep a desert queen from fleeing when and how she wished. Because sleeping people don’t need to be turned into corpses and he had a pouch full of gold he could then turn around to feed a cities worth of poor for literal months.”

Ya Ling crossed her arms and glared, before her exquisite features softened from imperious glare to disappointed sigh. “So he wasn’t the agent holding the dagger at our throats, but the silk sheath trying to mitigate the blow, who’s no more responsible for Tan Guan being a bloodthirsty demonic cultivator than we are for refusing to bend our knees and bare our throats at the man’s initial sneer. That doesn’t change the fact that he was willing to sacrifice my freedom for… what… grain sufficient to feed a thousand starving waifs for a month?” Her glare became a conflicted frown.

She shared a solemn look with Reny. “Nothing’s ever simple, is it, aunty?”

Reny folder her arms and glared Alex’s way. “It’s not for her to bear the burdens of her brother’s selfish policies!”

“Agreed,” Alex quickly said. “Again, I’m not justifying what he did. Or saying that there aren’t probably a dozen better ways to help those in need without anyone being forced to bear a cross against their will. All I’m saying is that Ye Pan’s twisted path was the farthest thing from Tan Guan’s utterly corrupt one and… well, I didn’t want his sad gaze haunting me for eternity upon taking his head.”

Surprisingly, it was Qing Wu who bowed his head. “A sentiment any warrior with a conscience can appreciate,” he softly said. “But you know as well as I the risk we take, when he...”

“He swore a cultivator’s oath. In great detail.” Alex flashed a mirthless smile. “Almost as if he knew it was exactly what I’d ask, and his only path to redemption.” Alex’s gaze grew solemn. “And I saw the respect he paid the man I… took down. He even took the time to bury it and whisper a few words, as opposed to just leaving it out in the open. That’s not the action of a man who cares nothing for his fellows.”

And with those words, Qing Wu’s solemn acknowledgment became a bemused snort. “That’s what you used to reassure yourself of the merits of your mercy? His properly burying the dead?”

Alex blinked at the incredulous looks they were now all giving him. “Um… yeah?”

Ya Ling and Reny exchanged a long look before pinning him with their stares.

“Do you truly not understand why he did that?” Reny asked.

Alex blinked. “He was paying his respects?”

Ya Ling crossed her arms, shaking her head. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve taken care of things here, already. Everyone who isn’t already a shattered block of ice has been dismembered and buried already.”

Alex blinked. “Yeah, I was wondering why ye Pan felt the need to, well, separate the arms. I thought maybe that was just a funeral right your culture followed?”

Ya Ling’s eyes bulged, looking at Alex like he was the biggest fool in the world.

“Why would we go to the trouble of dismembering our enemies’ bodies, Alex?”

“I… honestly, I don’t really...”

“It’s so they don’t pose a threat to the living.”

Time seemed to freeze for one breathless, awful moment as Alex stared at the three cultivators before him… forcing himself to take in the bombshell they had just dropped.

“Are you saying that the dead walk here?”

Reny nodded. “They do.”

A single affirmation and Alex’s crumbling foundation of familiarity completely collapsed, leaving him adrift on a stormy sea of uncertainty, forced to wonder just how drastically the world had changed.

The healer’s gaze grew strangely intent. “Are you saying things are different in Ruidian communities?”

“That’s a tough question for me to answer,” Alex hedged. “Let’s just say that, among my close circle of friends and family, walkers were never an issue.”

Ya Ling snorted. “Well it sure as hell is an issue now. And if burnable materials weren’t so scarce and precious, everyone would be cremated. But as it stands, all we can do is be cleaved and blessed, and pray we aren’t one of the unlucky ones too restless to return to the wheel.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Alex blinked. “You don’t mean river?”

She shrugged. “Call it what you will. It’s all a metaphor for eternity anyway.”

“Hardly a metaphor,” Alex said with a smile. “So what’s our plan now?”

“Our plan is we ride through the night and on through the next day. Hard as we can, with half the men on night duty,” said none other than Dui Zhong, making an appearance and giving them all a pleased nod. “It looks like the damned baker’s wagon is a good fit for you, Lady Reny Wu.”

“It is indeed,” she allowed with a smile. “Much to my own surprise.”

“Excellent! Keep it,” the man said with a wave of his hand. “Saves me paperwork and it’s the least we can do, since I know damned well we’d all be dead if it weren’t for the Wu clan and their clever Ruidian friend.”

The man flashed a smile, clapping a bemused Alex’s shoulder. “How are you feeling, lad? With shoulders as strong as yours, I’m guessing the baker was no trouble.”

“Everything’s handled,” Alex assured the man, earning a pleased nod.

“Good. Then get some rest, Alex, as we’ll be riding nonstop save for high noon, and you’ve been selected for nightwatch duty.”

Alex chuckled. “A role I know well.”

The captain quirked his brow. “Done caravan guard duty before, have you?”

Alex nodded. “A time or two.”

“Perfect. We’ll be counting on you, then.” With those words, the man took his leave, Alex sensing the bustle of dozens of men and women given reprieve from certain death, and anxious to make that second chance count.

Reny flashed Alex a sympathetic smile. “It’s been a long night, hasn’t it Alex?”

“It has indeed, Lady Wu.”

She gently squeezed his hand. “We’re grateful for what you’ve done for us tonight, Alex. Even if Tan Guan’s ex poisoner did just play you for a soft-hearted fool.”

Alex sighed and shrugged. “I guess time will tell, one way or another.”

Warm arms wrapped about Alex and held him close, Ya Ling’s husky words were an unexpected balm to his ear. “But we’d far rather the fool in our lives who risked so much to save us, than a far more practical cultivator, who would have been racing the other way, toward the wagon, eager to claim what prizes he could while we perished to mischance and folly.”

Alex swallowed the lump in his throat. “Daring to risk myself for three just and noble souls who make the world a brighter place just by being here? Yeah, that’s not the mark of a fool, but someone wise enough to know what truly matters.”

Alex’s eyes widened when Ya Ling gave him an unexpectedly fierce hug, definitely Bronze tier strength, before stepping back, her heart in her gaze. “Thank you then, Alex, for being such a wise fool as to come to our rescue. We’ll never forget it, or give you cause to regret your choice.”

Alex blinked, cheeks flushing when he realized what had just happened.

Because in the time it had taken Ya Ling to make her declaration, Reny and Qing Wu had left the wagon.

Ya Ling’s dusky cheeks flushed, when she noted his observation, but her soft brown eyes stared boldly into his own. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you stumbled into our lives, Alex. And how deeply, how profoundly, you’ve shown us your worth. Not just as a cultivator, but as a friend. The best of friends. A worthy companion along life’s treacherous path.”

She flushed and lowered her gaze, soft fingertips running down his chest. “And perhaps a worthy companion for the heart.”

Alex’s breath hitched as soft, suddenly mischievous eyes peered deeply into his own, her dusky lips curving in a smile. “I think it was more than chance that we met, Alex. I think maybe, well, it was destiny.”

She grinned, bringing his unresisting hand to her chest, as she raised her palm to his own naked flesh, Alex not quite sure where his changshan tunic had gone. “Sometimes I think the wisdom of the heart far exceeds a cultivator’s flawed grasp of the dao, or what truly matters.” She bit her lip, soft brown eyes gazing up into his own. “What do you think, Alex? Are the hearts pounding so rapidly in our chests wiser than us?” She flashed a teasing smile. “Maybe it means we’ve found our dao companion, and there’s only one thing left for us to do.”

Alex swallowed his too dry throat. “What is that?” he asked in a far too ragged voice.

Her warm sultry smile said all that needed saying. “Dual Cultivation,” she said with soft warm lips that tilted up to claim his own as graceful arms twined about his neck, drawing him close.

And the twinge of shame he felt as his ears roared with the sound of his own pounding heart, finding Ya Ling’s lips so terribly sweet, wanting desperately to wash away all the pain and bitterness of two lifetimes in the arms of someone he could actually cherish and claim… was the sudden twinge in his Dantian, a sharp pain that was only a fraction as bad as it had been when he had last kissed Hao Chan. The one who had already claimed his heart, a lifetime ago.

Alex couldn’t deny how hard it was to break away with a gasp, like a drowning man clawing at control, or how guilty he felt, seeing the look of hurt on Ya Ling’s exquisite features.

“Why?” The beautiful girl lowered her head, cheeks flushing with sudden shame, her petite hands clenched into trembling fists. “I saw the look in your eyes, Alex. Felt your heart, pounding against your chest.” Tear stained eyes glared into his own. “I know you want me as much as I want you!”

Alex closed his eyes and choked back a despairing chuckle. “Your right. As much as it shames me to admit it… you’re damn right I want you.”

“Then take me!”

Her words were both a demand and a plea. His gut twisted, even knowing what his answer had to be. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

“Not good enough, Alex!” She said, suddenly before him, a storm of sand, heat, and desire. A storm it was all he could do not to answer in turn, Water and Wind blending with Sand along a path that would hone and strengthen them like nothing else. Such was the power of dual cultivation. Such was the power of the most profound alliance imaginable. Two hearts beating as one, growing in power, and multiplying in number, assuring the essence of their path and all their potential would live on for countless generations, no matter how brief their personal cultivation journeys might be. Such was the power of passion and family. Such was the life Alex could all but taste, so tantalizingly before him.

A beautiful promise he was already denied, paradise becoming teasing mockery for him once more.

“I can’t because I’ve already dared a forbidden path. Again!” He said the last with a bitter chuckle, shaking his head at the look of confusion upon her features. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that my Dantian has shifted.”

Alex paused, allowing the words to sink in as Ya Ling gazed at him with horrified dismay. “No, Alex… you’re just a basic, a half-step Bronze at most. By your own admission, and you told Reny your foundation was strong! There’s no way you could have… already?”

Alex sighed and nodded his head. “Yes. Already. You have to understand, Ya Ling, that eight element shield isn’t something you’ll find in any cultivation manual. It’s something I’ve been working on in the back of my mind for a very, very long time, and only now did I dare to put it into effect.”

Ya Ling gaze at Alex with a fascinated sort of horror. “You managed to twist your path before our very eyes, with no corrupted manual or tainted alchemist brew…” Her eyes lit up. “Reny. She can devise a cure, I’m sure of it!”

Alex flashed a tired smile. “I’m afraid not, Ya Ling. And my path is hardly corrupt. To be honest, it’s not even crooked.” He smirked at her look of confusion. “In fact, it’s as straight and true a path of power as one could imagine. It’s humanity’s own base roots, our need to divert so much of our life force into procreation that prevents us from being perfect cultivation vessels. Which is a damn good thing, for the sake of future generations. But we still pay a price for our fecundity.”

“So, what… you’re saying you managed to channel so much power that you shifted your dantian like rocks being shifted under the flash floods of a river overflowing its banks?”

Alex tilted his head in thought, before nodding. “Pretty much, exactly that. But the good news is that it was a minor shift. And the more I practice, the more stable I’ll be. Trust me, it could be so much worse, if my Dantian shifted to the extremes of Deep Silver or even Gold.” He flashed a reassuring smile. “The twinge I felt with you was a Bronze deviation at worst.”

Ya Ling pinned him with a deadpan stare. “And you’re an expert on deviant cultivation paths and how they effect one? Or have you actually studied this in detail? Is this the crooked path Ruidian clans teach their gifted? Is this why there are so few of you?”

“All very good questions,” Alex dodged. “The important bit, the bit that gives me hope… is that once I finally ascend, however bloody long that takes, I’ll be as stable as granite bedrock.” He winced in apology. “But until then...”

“Until then all you can manage is the occasional chaste kiss?”

He sighed. “Honestly, Ya Ling, it would be best if I avoided even that.” He apologized as best he could with his heartfelt smile. “Because it would be unfair as hell to lead you on for what could be months or years or who knows how long before I’m even able to break through. If I’m able to break through at all. Because trust me, it’s going to be a massive accomplishment if I manage the feat. I sense that truth already.”

Ya Ling gazed at him solemnly for long moments. Long enough for his smile to feel forced and pained. Long enough to make him second guess everything he had said since her relatives had been graceful enough to give her privacy with the man she would claim. In the end, she flashed a sad smile that broke his heart, before seeming to vanish in a particularly strong gust of desert wind.

Alex groaned and did what he had been putting off for far too long. What he should have probably done the very second he got back. He allowed himself to sink into the bed of surprisingly grit free furs and near instantly fell asleep.