“Look, there’s Wanshi below, Alex. Isn’t it beautiful?”
Alex’s lips curved into a gentle grin before Sunlay’s bubbly enthusiasm, her relief and excitement palpable as her home was finally in sight. It was another beautiful caldera sparkling like a jewel in the endless desert sands as their magical carpet soared across the deep blue cloudless sky after a full day’s travel, the sun’s warm rays reflecting off the lake at the heart of the bulwark against the baron wastes, though Alex couldn’t help but furrow his brow. Because if the dearth of crops and the distance from the surrounding buildings of white sandstone on the lip of the caldera was anything to go by, their lake had shrunken considerably from what it had once been before.
And that wasn’t the only troubling sign.
“My lady, those bandits are ambushing a caravan!” Zichen hissed, pointing a distance along the eerily straight desert road, in that regard at least, it was no different from any of the grand highways that he suspected were ley lines as much as anything else, crossing the Golden Realms, surprisingly free of the sand that otherwise streamed through the desert. Just as the roads bisecting the great forests were free of all growth, for all that the lush canopy of trees spreading out on either sides of the road would do wonders for keeping caravanners cool and comfortable. Not so here, where the road provided no shelter from the suns rays... or the eyes of bandits.
Quing Da cursed. “My lady, that’s no bandit hoard!”
Alex frowned, realizing that the Silver Giant was right. For all that the caravan was desperately trying to circle and defend with crossbows and spears, the attackers had sprung up from camouflage with fast desert ponies, weapons instantly at the ready.
They moved with the grace and deadly efficiency of experienced soldiers, many of whom had clearly broken through to Bronze.
Alex’s senses seemed to sharpen, taking in every detail of a distant cold-eyed soldier expertly darting under a caravanner’s panicked lunge before skewering the man with a wicked thrust of his dao. And there was no mistaking the nature of the caravan being struck.
“That’s a grain caravan,” Quing Da said with a curse. “It’s a calculated assault to starve and isolate us. It must be!”
Alex’s heart began to pound. “Alright, take us down, now!”
“Alex!” Sunlay’s voice hitched, an anxious plea in her eyes, and Alex already knew what she was going to say.
“Alex, we need to get the water core to my father as soon as possible! For all we know, this is just one prong of a multifaceted approach. They could be trying to pressure him even now for access to our city!”
Alex clenched his jaw, but he couldn’t deny that she had an excellent point. “Alright. Go on ahead. We’re still party linked. I’ll catch up with you later.”
Sunlay’s eyes widened. “Alex we don’t dare sto—”
Her words cut off with a disbelieving cry when Alex leaped off the side of the rug, summoning his Fangtian Ji as he glared down at the too disciplined band of soldiers taking orders from a man crackling with a wujen’s might from the rear.
The Wind he now embraced so easily as he swooped down like a bird of prey kept no secrets from him, not even from this distance. He could now make out the desperate screams and cries of the caravanners, and the barked out orders from the smug faced asshole with scarred cheeks and crimson scaled armor revealed when his dark cloak was blown back by the desert winds. Alex’s eyes widened in dismay.
There could be no doubt.
They were the Red Prince’s colors, even if everyone else was wearing the local armor.
“Strike them down, all of them! No slave collars and no survivors!” The wujen roared, sneering his contempt for the desperately struggling caravanners, before cursing his fury when one of their number actually managed to put up a swirling Sand ward.
“A desert charlatan would dare to match arts with me? You will pay the ultimate price, fool!” The sneering wujen declared, before erupting in an explosive flash that momentarily froze the entire company of soldiers as half a dozen screamed and collapsed as lightning blasted them off their feet.
You have successfully embraced Wind Walking! You are now flying faster than any falcon!
Your foes fail to sense your presence.
Piercing Strike has synergized with Storm Strike to EFFORTLESSLY rupture all enemy wards!
Storm Strike has successfully OBLITERATED enemy Wujen!
Experience earned!
Lightning Blast has struck an additional 6 hostile soldiers marked: Enemy Reds!
You have stunned 2 Bronze tier cultivators.
You have slain 4 Basic tier cultivators.
Rank 4 Potency Mastery is now in effect! You enjoy 4 Qi Recovery per second for 240 seconds!
The air cracked with the boom of thunder as thought became action, Alex now blitzing cross the gap between the shredded remains of the wujen and the scores of soldiers ruthlessly attacking the desperately defending caravanners. Which meant that all their focus was on their would-be victims, not the roaring monster tearing into their flanks, Alex’s crackling fangtian ji, tearing through flesh, bone, and steel as effortlessly as the dirk of the chortling soldier just ahead tore into a screaming child’s abdomen, just a heartbeat before Alex sent the would-be killer to hell.
“Tan! We’re being attacked!” Cried the closest of the soldiers, finally cognizant of the threat that had torn through their flanks. Yet the looks of alarm and furious resolve as dozens of distracted soldiers turned their focus to the new threat meant nothing to Alex, his ears ringing with the desperate sobs of a mother cradling her mortally wounded child.
Despair turned to fury as the blood pounded through his veins.
“There he is! Ruidian gem master! Kill hi—” Words grew tinny and slow as Alex tore into his prey, Rank 2 Silver Quickness and Rank 10 in multiple martial skills allowing him to weave past furious thrusts and sweeping blows that would have been a fearsome thing to face for any mortal soldier. But now it was as if they embraced the moves of a carefully choreographed dance. Desperately swung swords missing by inches while plunging spears kissed nothing but air before the air rang with the sheering screech of steel tiles exploding in showers of blood. Faces filled with cold disdain slowly morphed into expressions of consternation, then fear before the monstrous speed cultivator effortlessly tearing through their ranks.
“He’s a monster. He’s not human!”
“He’s a desert spirit! Run!”
The words meant nothing. Nothing compared to the sobs and laments of the surviving caravanners, so many cut down so ruthlessly in just the handful of seconds it had taken Alex to fall from the heavens. And if these MOTHERFUCKERS thought he would just let them flee…
“No, no, leave me be! Leave me be!” Shrieked one wide-eyed soldier, freed of both helm and dao as he stumbled through the desert sands that pitilessly sucked at his leather boots as he stumbled to the ground with a panicked cry. He desperately scurried back to his feet before blanching back in horrified dismay to see the wild-eyed Ruidian covered in spattered gore, holding a massive fangtian ji drenched in blood.
“Please don’t kill me! Please!”
The blond-hair executioner’s cold lips twisted in a bitter smile. “Wow. The very same words the caravanners were screaming before you assholes began slaughtering them.”
The soldier froze, eyes widening in horrified dismay. “No, wait, you don’t have to do this! I could serve you. Pledge my life to—” His words were cut off in a shower of shattered steel, ruptured organs, and blood.
You have successfully bisected your opponent! Experience earned!
“Fu Tan! Strong resistance! Get your ass over here and deal with it!”
Alex’s lips stretched in a fierce rictus as the grizzled voice of a sergeant filled the air, and he could sense it. The weight and pressure of Silver.
Good.
He spun around to catch sight of a giant of a man radiating power dwarfing all the other soldiers present, quickly surging up from the sands as the surviving soldiers all gave relieved shouts, pumping their fists.
“You show that bastard, Fu Tan!”
“Bring me his head!” The grizzled sergeant with his salt-and-pepper beard and hooded gaze roared, jabbing a crooked finger a smirking Alex’s way.
“With pleasure!” Roared the giant seven foot Strength cultivator now lumbering forward, wielding a massive obsidian hammer in one hand, devouring a roasted pig in the other. He glared at Alex as spittle and food sprayed from his cavernous maw.
“You interrupted my meal, fucker! And for that, you’ll pay!”
And suddenly in a move so fast that it clearly caught the entire regiment by surprise when the pig abruptly disappeared, replaced by a whirling shield of stone as the man roared and raced forward, the ground suddenly as hard as granite beneath his feet as the clearly Earth aligned warrior able to harness spiritual energy in ways few body cultivators could, lashing out with his hammer and striking the ground Alex had been standing upon in an explosion of sand and stone shrapnel.
The man smirked, clearly feeling no need for a direct hit. It was a Silver-tier killing blow radiating the potency of Avalanche that would have no doubt proven lethal to any number of would-be opponents.
“You got him, Fu Tan!” Cheered one of the soldiers as the air was filled with sand and grit.
“Make that Ruidian pay!” hooted another, the entire regiment celebrating the kill, their relieved laughter and excited shouts an awful counterpoint to the panicked sobs and pain-filled moans of the caravanners themselves.
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Yet when the dust cleared even Fu Tan was furrowing his brow, gazing down where he struck. “Doesn’t make sense. I’ve killed dozens with that technique. There should at least be traces of…”
A smirking Alex, positioned right behind the man, chose that moment to clap.
“Nice one, Fu Tan! Let me guess, you’re an Earth aligned Body Cultivator who found a path that lets you enhance Strength and Speed, am I right? Because that was at least Rank 1 Silver Quickness and that blitz attack might have caught even me off guard a while back.” Alex chuckled into the disbelieving silence before his mocking grin turned hard as ice. “But that’s the thing about life. It’s all about choices. I chose to get stronger, you chose to attack a caravan full of innocent traders. Now we get to see how all our choices play out.”
The seven foot giant hissed, before spinning around with a snarl, his obsidian hammer radiating crushing energies Alex knew he’d be an absolute fool to let himself be struck by, so he didn’t.
“You think to mock me, worm? You won’t be the first Speed Cultivator I’ve faced!”
Alex cracked his neck, fangtian ji in hand as the desert wind whipped back his blond locks, tricorn hat and cloak safely stored away once more. “That may be, but I promise you I’ll be your last.”
Fu Tan furrowed his impressive brow. “What?”
Find Weakness skill check made!
Soul Sight Perception check successful! You sense the flaws in your opponent’s technique!
Golden Realms & Wind Crane Kung Fu have been fully synergized.
You have mastered the bind!
Fu Tan’s eyes bulged in disbelief as Alex effortlessly trapped his furiously descending hammer, Wind somehow countering the massive weight of Earth that had gone into the blow, sending the hammer flying as impossibly sharp steel kissed the man’s forearms now covered in his own blood. Even if the surprisingly resilient Silver tier monster as too tough for Alex to cleave right through bone without using advanced techniques.
“No, impossible!” Fu Tan roared, glaring at Alex as if he had committed some monstrous affront.
Alex’s smile grew. “Don’t worry, we’re not done yet.”
“You’re damn right, we aren’t! Spirits of the Ea—”
“BLACK SWAN!”
The look on Fu Tan’s bloated face was one of utter confusion when Alex’s fangtian ji, now howling with a swirling storm of Wind, Water, and Dark Qi-infused Steel, tore through the giant’s Earth infused bones as if they were glass.
Rank 9 Black Swan has been boosted by MULTIPLE modifiers! Your fangtian ji successfully cleaves through all Silver tier Defenses!
“You cut through Fu Tan as if he were nothing!” The man giving sergeant vibes that Alex took for their de facto commander now that the wujen was dead, declared. “No Ruidian cur should have that kind of power! You’re an abomination! An affront to the gods and the natural order!”
Alex chuckled coldly. “So says the soldiers playing at bandits, happy to slaughter innocent caravanners just so they can expand their cold-blooded master’s power.”
The man’s face twisted in helpless fury. “Kill him! Kill that monstrous abomination! Follow my lead, men, we strike now!” He roared, drawing his own dao and charging right for Alex, his men roaring in concert, joining his charge.
Artificer skill check successful!
Alex flashed a bleak smile even as he prepared to meet his enemies’ charge, not at all bothered when the sergeant seemed to get lost in the swarm of soldiers. Soldiers that Alex wasn’t even considerate enough to let surround him, instead coldly picking them off one by one as furious shouts were met by singing steel and the clang of split helms, the crunch of shattered bronze and steel tiles, and the screams that came from disemboweled torsos and cleaved limbs. All of it forged into a dark dirge of exquisite complexity, a song that could have only one end.
The final notes were put off only for seconds when the final dozen soldiers, sensing just how precarious their own odds were before the blood spattered Ruidian now striding atop the mound of corpses he had wrought of their men, all broke ranks and ran.
Only to collapse in agonized screams as they crumpled to the sands, their spines shattered with blows of Alex’s furious fist.
Shadow Qi affinity enhanced Perception check made.
You successfully spot your prey!
Alex allowed himself a tiny smile as he flew just above the desperately running man who thought himself camouflaged so well by a cloak that perfectly matched the sand. Though Alex felt the anxious weight of the imperiled caravan behind him, he needed to be sure.
The tension he felt at wasted time turned to anticipation when he spotted the odd looking dune just ahead, before realizing it made sense. A company so skilled at striking from camouflage no doubt had both scout and commander outposts similarly set up, and this was apparently such a one when a flap abruptly opened, revealing a saturnine featured man with a half-sneer on a face that screamed Yidushian pureblood.
“What are you doing here, fool? You’re breaking proto—” The wujen’s words died out when he got a good look at the panicked sergeant’s face.
“We were ambushed, Captain. We have to get out of here, now!”
The captain’s eyes flashed. “Control yourself, Erlu, and tell me the nature of this threat! How many men were present? Were they wearing the city’s colors?”
“No, Captain. It was a lone Ruidian.”
“What?” The air grew chill with the wujen’s clear disapproval.
“Sir, he fought like a monster! Commanding storms of lightning, striking us with a magical fangtian ji, moving so fast I couldn’t even see him.”
“And that’s why I assigned you Fu Tan,” the captain said acidly. “Don’t tell me you were too cowardly to kick him out of his food stupor?”
Erlu trembled. “Fu Tan’s dead… sir.”
The wujen’s eyes widened. “Impossible. With his earth affinities and resilience? There’s no way any mere elementalist could have…”
“He was cleaved in half. Sir.”
The captain froze, gazing at the sergeant with desperate intensity. “And the culprit was one Ruidian, you said. Tell me, soldier. Was his hair blond, by any chance?”
The man jerked a nod. “That is correct, Captain.”
But the wujen had already turned around. “This changes things. You will gather the survivors and hold your position here. I’ll bring word to the city contingent.”
“But sir, everyone else is dead!” The suddenly panicked sergeant screamed, but the Captain was already putting distance between them, flying for all he was worth.
A part of Alex wanted to laugh in cynical mirth at the pristine act of cowardice being shown, an officer desperately fleeing the scene, his troops seen as no more than stumbling blocks to their own personal safety. But most of him was filled with horrified dismay, because now there could be no doubt. These soldiers were identical to Dongfang Hong’s troops in every way. Even if it was troubling to realize that, unlike what had been the case in his most recently past incarnation, his foes had at least a sense of what he looked like.
Because a certain bitter hand was no longer in play. Or at least… suspended.
Which meant, if he was very, very lucky, that he was free of a certain dark game and the spite and ire of those so much more powerful than him. So long as he forbore from certain acts. So long as he toed an unspoken line. Everything that had happened so far, even word of his actions on the desert sands, could have easily spread even this far in the time he had been here.
So long as he embraced this new life and made sure never to directly cross certain enemies from the one he had left behind.
The Sergeant flinched when the air flashed with the crack and boom of thunder and lightning, expression unreadable as a coldly smiling Alex slowly floated down before him.
The older man crashed to his knees and bowed his head, knowing that his time was at an end. Still, the words he sobbed through clenched teeth were filled with furious dismay.
“You butchered him. Our captain, the dread bane of a dozen battlefields, slaughtered like he was nothing!”
Alex shrugged. “I had the drop on both of you and came in at him from the sun’s angle. Since I can’t Bullrush through the desert or air this time around, I couldn’t take the risk that he’d outmaneuver me with his flying boots and pepper me with who knows how many spells he might have had at his disposal. So embracing the element of surprise and taking out his self-destruct collar with Piercing Strike seemed like the most expedient way to get rid of any backlash. Even if the collar’s location meant that I had to decapitate the bastard to do so.”
He bent down to peer intently into the eyes of the trembling sergeant gazing up at him with helpless dismay. He might have been corrupt, but he was no fool. He had to know what it meant, that Alex was willing to speak of such matters so freely.
Thus, Alex’s next words came as quite a surprise.
“So, this is where you come in, Erlu. Congratulations. You’re the last man standing. If you’d like to keep it that way, you’ll answer my questions.”
Erlu’s eyes widened with sudden hope that quickly died off with a bitter chuckle. “Then I suppose it’s time for me to fall beside my men. For I will answer none of your questions, no matter how desperately I wish to flee these desert sands for all time.”
Alex furrowed his brow. “Wait, you’re not from around here at all? I mean, the armor was a dead giveaway that a certain asshole’s influence has spread pretty damn far and wide, but I would have thought your master was training local troops.”
The soldier blanched, before giving a furious shake of his head. “I have nothing to say to you.”
Alex nodded solemnly, before whispering in the man’s ear. “Because Dongfang Hong had you forcefully bound to serve him via an infernal contract. Didn’t he?”
The man lurched back in horror when Alex dropped him back to the desert sands. “No. There is no way you could know that. No way!”
“Are the rank and file similarly doomed? Or is it still just his officers and noncoms?”
His foe flashed a bitter smile. “As if you cared.”
Alex shrugged. “Believe what you like.”
“Are you going kill me now?”
“That depends,” Alex said, tossing the man a water flask Erlu drank from greedily. “I know you can’t reveal anything about the Red Prince, but maybe you can tell me what hmm… lets say, changes a visitor to Wanshi city could expect?”
His grizzled opponent froze, breath turning ragged as he dared allow a flicker of desperate hope to mar his stoic countenance, before giving a slow nod.
“Yes… this… this I could say. New travelers should be careful coming to Wanshi. Especially traders. The roads are no longer safe. And all that will pass just as soon as the royal family authorizes exclusive trading rights with Zuihaoshi merchants.”
Alex flashed a cynical smile. “Exclusive trading rights made all the sweeter as a tributary state?”
The man flashed a sickly smile. “Certainly it is true that any good protectorate would honor the fiduciary interests of their… benefactor.”
Soul Sight Perception Check made! You sense the irony before you!
Alex nodded. “Thank you. And for what it’s worth… I don’t think you or your men have to worry about damnation, save for the decades of purgatory you’ll be enduring when your souls is scrubbed free of all the sin you accrued in the final hour of your lives.”
The sergeant blinked. “But I was bound. We all were!”
Alex flashed a cynical smile. “Recruiting and maintaining the loyalty of native soldiers is a lot different than forcefully recruiting the elites of a neighboring nation. Hao Zei is dead, and it’s far cheaper to make a man believe he’s bound to sin than to actually pay the cost in infernalist time and effort to make it so.”
The man blinked, gazing at Alex with wonder, as if he had just gotten a new lease on life. “That means I’m free!”
Alex nodded, before moving so fast he was an exercise in explosive power before the exhausted soldier could even form a smile.
“Free to start your next life without all the nightmares of this one tormenting you all your days,” Alex said as he took to the skies and raced to Wanshi for all he was worth.
His already distant form was glimpsed for a final agonized moment by the doomed head as it toppled to the ground in a shower of crimson rain, and how fitting it was that the sergeant’s final sight before roaring blackness consumed him was the glassy-eyed stare of the decapitated wujen who had ordered the ruthless slaughter of all the caravanners they ambushed in the first place, before trying to flee the blond-haired Ruidian just minutes before. Most surprising of all, the doomed wujen was still alive, barely, eyes gyrating as his mouth gulped for air in a silent scream right before he faded into the blackness alongside his sergeant, the doomed pair now walking in perfect step as they embraced the ice cold waters together. The screams of the innocent women and children they had struck denied them the mercy of warmer currents or rest. They were forced to endure in perfect wakefulness the agonies of their own bitter cleansing until they were reborn once more.