Aki had taken the time to watch the group of cultivators who had gotten off the ship. There were half a dozen of them, led by a big bear of a man. The guy stood at least a head taller than Aki himself, and Aki could swear he was twice as broad.
Aki had found out the man’s name was Mao, and that he was much further along in his cultivation path than Aki. So much so that if a fight were to break out between the two, Aki would be hard-pressed to win the battle. He had found out that Mao was a metal cultivator and was aiming to become a herald. That only made sense, considering the size of the man.
Heralds were more physical than Saints. They focused on the body cultivation side of things as opposed to Saints, who focused on spirit cultivation. Heralds could transform themselves into their element. This bear of a man coated in metal was something Aki definitely did not want to fight. He was the same though. Aki wanted to become the wind. To transform into the wind and move unseen and anywhere. It really was Aki’s entire goal in cultivation.
Since the group had shown up and gotten off the ship, Aki decided he needed to try to get information. He started wearing denim pants and shirts like the locals wore. He even got a pair of the boots they had worn and wore them. Endra had given him some clothing once they started to get closer in an attempt for him to fit in a little more. She said it would help with the customers.
He had tried when she first gave him the clothing. The problem was, everything was so uncomfortable. His jeans were worn a little looser than the norm, and the shirt was a bit too baggy so he’d have extra room. Everything was still way too confining for him compared to the robes he was used to wearing. Then there were the boots. How anyone could walk around with these hugging your feet and suffocating them, he couldn’t understand.
Now he had no other choice. With the Akutamori Temple here, and Aki trying to figure out why, he had to get them to relax around him. Aki had altered his accent to fit in more, picking up a bit of the drawl when he spoke to and around the newcomers. They had stayed at the inn since it was much nicer than the rooms at the tavern across the street. The tavern also catered more to customers looking to rent the room for an hour or so with a female companion found in the bar. This was something cultivators weren’t looking for. Aside from the Moon Lotus Pavilion, they had their own things going on.
At first, the guests were wary of Aki. He had obvious roots in the Sasaki Empire, and he still wore a common hairstyle found in the Empire. After a few days, however, they relaxed. He had helped Endra with the chores around the inn. They all even had to put their cultivation on pause for the time being, wary of being found out. Liam was the most upset by this, since he had just formed his core and was looking to expand on his knowledge and further his martial training.
On the third night of their new guests’ stay, Aki and Endra were sitting on the bed getting ready to go to sleep. Aki took off the boots with a loud groan of satisfaction. He may be a cultivator in the spiritual realm of his cultivation, but sore feet were a curse even for the most powerful. He set the boots beside the bed and stared at his feet. His big and baby toes were both starting to blister on both of his feet. Aki sighed and shook his head, figuring he’ll try to find a bigger pair he could buy.
He shook the thought away and looked back at Endra. She was already in her nightgown and laying in the bed patting the spot next to her.
“Come on, our new guests are leaving tomorrow and you’ll be able to wear your normal clothing again,” she informed him with a smile.
“They are?” Aki asked her, raising a brow. He hadn’t heard them say anything like that. “Do you know where they are going?”
Endra shook her head. “No, I don’t know. They just mentioned they were leaving and meeting someone out in the desert tomorrow. They’ll be leaving shortly after breakfast, I think. So we’ll be able to go back to normal around here.”
Aki looked at her with a soft expression. No. He looked at her longingly. Ever since coming and staying with her and Liam, he had decided he didn’t want to spend another night away from this bed with this woman. He sighed and looked back to the floor, shaking his head.
“No, I’m going to have to leave as well. I need to figure out what they’re doing here. My master doesn’t know why they are here. He is very suspicious about how they chose now to randomly show up after that stranger in the red robes a few months ago,” Aki told her, shaking his head.
He had gotten another paper folded crane earlier that day while he was helping clean one of the rooms. The note from his master, The Old Man, said as much as he just told Endra in his short and to-the-point note.
Endra frowned and laid her head down on her pillow, still looking at Aki. She looked like she was trying to hide a hurt expression. Her lips went tight, and she nodded her head. “Okay,” was all that she had said to him.
“I don’t want to. That man in the red robes, he didn’t feel right. There was something off about him, and if the Akutamori Temple has something to do with him….” Aki trailed off for a moment, thinking of the words.
“Well, it’s probably nothing. The Akutamori, while I have their issues with them, is a reputable sect. I just need to find out for sure. My master thinks something is going on, and I’m here, so it’s up to me to find out what,” Aki explained a few moments later. He then stood and undressed to his shorts and laid in the bed next to Endra.
She was still frowning and looked unhappy, but she crawled close to him on the bed, pulling the simple sheet over the pair of them. “Just be careful. Liam really likes you and looks up to you, you know?”
Aki put an arm around her smaller form and pulled her in close to him. “I know. Don’t worry, it’s nothing.”
The next morning they woke, and their day had started like it had the past few. They set about and set up the small dining room for the guests they had in the inn. Ava came by and delivered some crusty bread and sweet sticky buns and some boiled eggs and berries. Things people could easily eat in the morning for a quick breakfast. Aki spoke with her, and she had asked about the Chens. Sadly, Aki had heard nothing from them. While Aki was speaking with Ava, Endra was getting tea and fresh water and setting plates and such in the dining room.
By the time everything was set, people were coming downstairs. Some left saying nothing besides a simple goodbye. Only a few, including the group of Akutamori, stayed and had breakfast. Since there were so few of them, they pushed a few of the tables together and ate together. Liam stayed in their little apartment and practiced his forms with Aki’s dagger.
Endra did the fishing for information while Aki drank his tea and stayed silent. “Where are you guys headed?” Endra had asked.
Mao, the leader, looked down at her and smiled. “We’re meeting our contact just outside of town, and then we’re heading into the desert to do some exploring. Beyond that, I don’t know. I’m just following orders.”
Aki studied the man for a moment and then looked at his companions. They all looked like northerners. Not from the pale milky skin the stranger in red robes had, but similar to Aki. None of them looked like anything special. There were three males and two females. The only one who stood out to Aki was one of the males, and honestly, Aki thought he looked a little like a monkey. He had hairy mutton chops as sideburns and even had some hair poking up through the neck in his robes.
Endra and Aki both nodded amicably, listening to Mao explain the plans. “Be careful out there in the desert. It’s pretty treacherous out in the sands,” Aki had said.
Mao’s companions all gave each other a look, and Mao just smiled and nodded his head, setting his cup of tea down on the table. “Yeah, the man we’re meeting with said he’s figured out safe passage. It shouldn’t be a problem,” Mao told them.
Endra and Aki just nodded their heads again, and that was that. They ate the rest of their breakfast in silence. When everyone was finished, the guests stood and thanked Endra and Aki for the hospitality. The couple followed them out to the little lobby, and Mao turned and handed some coins that the Empire used as money. It was a good sum, and even though they weren’t in the Empire, Endra could still use the money with the traders that passed through and used this town as their port of call.
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Once they were out the door, Aki went into their little apartment and came back moments later out of the jeans and boots and into his normal cultivator robes. His sword was back on his back in its cane sheath, and his dagger on his belt at the small of his back. Under his robes, he wore the wyvern scale armor. The fabric that the scales were sewn into fit over Aki’s body like a glove. Fitting seamlessly over his body. It would provide ultimate protection against blades and all sorts of other attacks.
When he came back in, Endra went towards him, and Aki wrapped his arms around giving her a small kiss on the forehead. “Don’t worry. Like I said last night, it’s fine,” Aki assured her.
Endra nodded her head and lifted a bag for Aki. “Here, some supplies for you,” she said when she handed him the pack.
Aki opened it and looked inside. There were a few containers of water, some dried meat, and other travel rations. He closed the pack and slung one strap around his shoulder and smiled, looking down at Endra. “Thank you,” he said, smiling at her.
Endra just nodded in response and then watched Aki leave the lobby now as well. He checked the windows and made sure they weren’t standing there waiting for him. When he got outside in the cool mid-morning sun, he looked around and watched them turn a corner at the main intersection of the little town.
Aki gritted his teeth. He had done no actual cultivation in days since he was trying to hide the fact he was a cultivator. He wanted nothing to give him away to these people. Now that they were on their way out of town, though, Aki had to catch them. The wind kicked up a little around the cultivator. Aki took the aura in, converting it to mana in his channels, letting it fill his core and fuel him.
He ducked and ran through alleys in the town. Running between some businesses and smaller houses that were inside the town proper. He stopped himself from reaching out with his spirit. Sensing out and reaching for them, to make sure he was on the right track. He grunted and jumped over a few goats that were in someone’s yard, grazing on some grass that had managed to grow.
Aki reached the edge of the town when the landscape turned into open land full of farms and ranches. He peered out and asked the wind to give him direction. He scanned to the north, and sure enough, found half a dozen small figures running at a good clip towards the skyline. Aki stared out and gritted his teeth. He closed his eyes for a moment and regulated his breathing, beginning to churn the mana in his channels.
He had read about another technique in his Blossom’s Breeze manual. It was something that was supposed to help him move over greater distances quicker and exert less energy. The idea was that you created a small, manageable tornado and then sat on it. Then, channeling your power, you just made it move whichever direction you wanted to go.
Since it brought the wind powerfully around you, it was also supposed to be a way to quickly refill your core and mana stores. This would be doubly useful for him to compact and concentrate his mana, which would lead through a breakthrough. Which Aki could use at the moment. He could feel himself getting close. It was kind of irritating that he wasn’t able to compress and thicken his mana enough to do so. Something was blocking him.
Aki pushed the anger and annoyance aside and went back to regulating his breathing. He hadn’t actually practiced this technique yet, and according to the manual, you had to be jade in order to even use it. Still, though, he wanted to try. It would be a boon for him to follow the group. The trick to this was, he not only had to cycle his mana through his channel, but he also had to do small whirlpools with the mana while it cycled.
The cultivator closed his eyes and visualized his mana. The glowing white with soft blue undertones in his channels. It was flowing like a rapid river through his channels. No. Aki thought. It was blowing through the wind. He worked on trying to create the small tornados. He started to sweat a little and grunted from the exertion.
He forced the mana out, trying to do the technique. It was a pitiful attempt. Not much more force than when he drew the wind towards him when he cultivated regularly. He opened his eyes and looked. The only difference was that, instead of around him, the wind was in a little tunnel in front of him. Aki frowned and let the technique die, letting the strain of moving his mana in such an odd way to die.
He grunted a last time and shook it off. He had to work a little to get mana cycling in his usual way. Letting it run through the channels, powering him. He took off running to the north, where he had seen the group of Akutamori running. Thankfully, the scales were light as feathers, so they didn’t slow him down in the slightest. The pack bounced along as he ran. The wind swirled around him, fueling him, keeping his mana full as he ran.
They ran for days through the desert. The sun blared down on Aki, and he couldn’t help but think when he was lost back in the Sands before he met the Chens and they saved him. He was rationing out his water and the travel rations, but he was running low on supplies. They must be keeping stores of supplies in various spirit rings or amulets.
On the third night, they had reached a small mountain range. The group of Akutamori had made it down the mountains. Aki, however, stayed on top of the mountain. He would use the height advantage for as long as he could to watch the group. The cultivator looked up to the moon for a moment, drinking the last of his water. He sighed and shook his head, throwing the container in his pack in case they happened upon some kind of spring or something.
He looked back down, and the Akutamori had set up a small camp, a fire surrounded by three tents. The group of cultivators was sitting around the fire and roasting animal meat they had caught earlier in the day. They had caught some rabbits earlier in the day, and while Aki could have gotten one or two himself, he didn’t have a way to cook it. He couldn’t risk lighting a fire at night, so they would see it. Then they’d know they were being followed.
A fire would be good for more than just cooking. It wasn’t quite summer again, and it still got cold at night in the desert. Each night Aki just bundled up as well as he could in his robes and a blanket Endra had thought to pack for him. He found a spot partially behind some rocks with a good view to the bottom of the mountain, and he got as comfortable as he could. He laid on his side and kept his down on the group and could fall asleep.
He woke early in the morning, clutching the robes and blanket tightly around him. Aki blinked his eyes blearily and looked down the mountain. He nearly jumped to his feet when he saw the tents were pulled down. He only calmed when he saw the cultivators were still sitting around a small fire. They had broken camp but stayed.
Aki sat up and put the blanket away in his pack and just kept watching. Was it finally time? Were they finally at their destination? Aki hoped so. He was out of water and the salted beef. All he had left was nuts and berries to eat. He had purposely saved the berries for last. He figured he would need the little juice the berries gave when he ran out of water.
Nothing happened for most of the day. A little into midmorning, a couple of the cultivators broke from the group and came back a while later with fresh rabbits for them to cook and eat. Aki’s stomach groaned and broke into his nuts while he watched. Still, nothing happened. He resigned himself to relaxing into the rock he had made in his bed the night before.
The sun was well past its zenith before anything else happened. Aki rolled backward off the rock he was lying on, ducking behind it. Three horses advanced from the west. Aki could recognize those red robes anywhere. The left arm sleeve pinned up, Aki could see the bulge against the chest that must have been the man’s limp arm.
There were then two figures following on horses behind the man in red. He supposed it would have been the man’s same companions from when he had met him at the Inn. The three newcomers climbed down from their horses.
Aki willed the wind to bring their words to him. So he could get some insight into what they were discussing. What their plans were. Where they may be going. Anything. The wind failed him, though. It brought him no knowledge from below, and Aki wanted to curse. The wind was fickle.
Then he saw the man in red, Axel, look up and started to look around. Aki ducked even further below the rock. He even held his breath. Axel was powerful. Very powerful. Quite frankly, the man made Aki a little scared. Aki wasn’t sure if anyone had become a Saint yet in the world, but he was almost positive this man had to be close.
He stayed like this for several minutes. Hiding behind this rock. Pressed up against it like a scared lizard hiding from the sun. Eventually, he started breathing again. Breathed in through the nose and out through the mouth. It was hard for him to keep his breathing steady. He then peeked around the rock. One eye peeking around and then the second.
Aki groaned. They were gone! He still lingered, but he looked around. Eyes darting around, still like that same scared lizard, making sure there wasn’t a predator lurking about waiting to eat him. Aki stood and now looked around quickly.
They were gone. Aki gaped and squinted his eyes, even searching the smells and asking the winds to help. Of course, they were again of no use. Axel may have some measure of power over the wind. It was possible he was also a wind cultivator. Aki couldn’t get a sense of the man at all when they had met before. Still, that didn’t seem right. Aki pulled on his beard in thought, mulling it over.
No, he wasn’t a wind cultivator. He wasn’t sure what element the man cultivated, but this was just because of the man’s control over the aura. Deft aura and mana control could command elements that weren’t your own. Further proof the red cultivator was beyond powerful.
Aki supposed he was going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. With his eyes. He collected his belongings and packed them away in his pack. Then slung the sword over his back and adjusted his dagger where he liked it, on the small of his back. He ran down the mountain and made way for the area the group set up their camp and met the red cultivator.
Aki took a knee in the footsteps that they had all left in the dirt. Then the hooves the horses left packed in deeper than the feet. Aki even crouched down and inspected and sniffed. The obvious solution was that they went west. Back to wherever Axel and his companions had come from. He stayed like this, inspecting the sand for several moments before standing back up and brushed off the knees of his robes.
He looked to the west and squinted. There was no hint of where they went off. Aki could see that the hooves went back in that direction. How fast could those horses possibly have been? The three horses couldn’t have carried all nine of the cultivators that quickly, could they? There was no way. Aki took off running in the direction, hoping he’d get more answers than questions as he chased the direction he thought they went.