The Elder leaned forward over the table, loomed, and Giro couldn’t help but react. He swallowed, blood rising to his face as adrenaline flooded his veins.
Winding Wind was often sardonic, and occasionally cruel in a very detached way. But Giro had never seen him absolutely furious, until this moment. “Disciple Giro, please explain to me how this has happened.” Giro could only offer silence, his lips trembling, sweat soaking into his robes. “Speak! You are my personal student. Not even a master illusionist could have snuck past you, not with your guard up. So I ask again; how has this happened?”
Two important disciples were missing. Two disciples who were attending a heavily guarded festival not ten minutes from the front gate, who had tracking formations placed inside their bodies, and who were specifically watched by him every time they stepped foot outside the sect, were missing.
It should not have been possible. “Teacher, I have no excuse. I do not understand what has occurred, so I cannot explain it.”
Winding Wind’s fingertips sunk into the edges of the stone table. “Make an attempt.” The man’s greenish-brown eyes, usually placid to the point of dullness, flashed like lightning.
“The disciples…” You’re panicking. Calm down, and explain it properly. He took a breath, cycling his dantian for a fraction of a second. “The disciples’ last known location was an open field next to the fairgrounds. The first indication that something was wrong was a dome of light, which sustained itself for two seconds before I forcibly dispersed it.” I thought it had been an errant Dancing Fire spell. “None of our security formations were breached, either before or after the light.”
“The tracking formations?”
“Registered a small amount of damage to disciple Guanyin, then ceased functioning properly – we can tell they still exist, so the disciples are alive, but we cannot pinpoint their location beyond ‘somewhere on the continent.’ Presumably they were disrupted at the same moment they teleported away.” A wince, again involuntary. “The spacial hardening arrays were still present, and did not lose function at any point.”
His teacher’s face had not changed expression, but the agitation in his sense had decreased by a small amount. He took another breath, then continued. “I cannot even begin to speculate on how they were bypassed. The kidnapper was identified as a local farmer, but that was obviously a cover identity. We tracked him back to an isolated farmhouse, which yielded no further clues.”
“Did you detect his realm?”
“Seventh, right at the end. Before that, he was cloaking himself as a mortal somehow.” Which should have been impossible; methods to obfuscate qi existed, but they weren’t effective enough to shroud a dantian of that size and density. At most, the assailant would have appeared to be in the outer realms.
Winding Wind was silent for a time, before he withdrew his fingers from Giro’s desk and exhaled. “Find them. Use all the resources you require; if anyone attempts to bar your way, invoke my name.” He straightened up, and Giro felt space begin to twist.
“Teacher! Where are you going?” Surely, your skills at tracking are superior to my own!
The Elder grimaced. “It is my duty to inform the patriarch of our failures. I will join you when I am able.”
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Lu had been… Fibbing, slightly. It was true that there was no door, but there was something that could theoretically be used to escape: a formation carved into the floor, right in the centre of the room.
Lying to Bull in this situation, even by omission, left a bad taste in his mouth. But if I told him… He’d insist on trying to use it, even though the chances of it being unsecured are basically zero. So it had been the pragmatic choice, telling his friend to give up.
…No, that was another lie. It was true that their chances of using the formation were low, but the real reason he’d said that was because he simply… Couldn’t do it. Couldn’t maim Bull for an infinitesimal chance of escape.
No, I’m still deflecting. Even if it were a fifty/fifty chance… I don’t think I could do it. I just don’t have it in me.
They hung in silence for a few minutes, Lu stewing in his shame. Not another word was exchanged, up until Bull started to whine in pain.
“Bull?” I’ve seen him break his jaw and barely flinch. How bad is it, to make him sound like that?
The whine tapered off. “Just the gathering formation.” He panted. “There goes a few years of work. Heh.”
Ah. “You’ll get it back. We’ll make it out of this somehow – they must be keeping us alive for a reason, right?”
“…Yeah.”
Another minute of silence passed. The gathering formation might have been broken, but whatever was supressing his spiritual sense was still active. He couldn’t fish around and try to find any of the other formations – not that that would help, since they'd be buried in the walls most likely. But it would be something to do.
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When Sen entered the prison, it was different from how he had left it. One of the prisoners – Lu, first realm – had somehow managed to remove his head covering. Sen was mildly surprised; that had never happened, not since they had installed the improved restraints.
The man saw him, and bared his teeth. It was more a grimace than a snarl, though Sen commended him for the effort. “Greetings, senior. I assume we have you to thank for the accommodations?”
The other prisoner – Bu Guanyin, formerly sixth realm – began struggling. Sen took note of the bite mark on his shoulder. It wouldn’t have worked – the teleportation array was keyed to specific individuals, and the neck collar was the one to hold the draining effect – but he could respect the man’s resolve.
“Not going to answer? You’re being a terrible host, senior.”
Before he could move to transport either of them, he received another mental transmission from Black Cloak Long. [Take the short one first. I want to speak with the other, alone.] The man’s transmissions had always been clean, but lately they had become immaculate. Their entire cell had been buoyed up slightly through interaction with the benefactor, their mental destruction arts reaching entirely new levels.
[As you wish, sir.] Said shorter one was now ranting at him. The usual death threats, nothing of note. He touched a finger to the man’s chest, and for a second time that day shredded his ego.
“Bull!” Lu struggled, but the shackles held him too tightly to even bang against the wall. “You! Villain! I’ll- don’t think you’ll get away with this!” The man’s eyes were wild, desperate. “The Steadfast Heart will crush you, whoever you are! Don’t think you can hide behind a mask, cur!” Spittle flew from his mouth.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Sen remained silent as he extended Guanyin’s shackles, lowering him off the wall while still keeping him restrained. He clicked them together at his wrists and ankles, then removed the chain binding them to the wall; he could now be moved, while still remaining under the various restraining arrays. Hmm. Been a while since I’ve been called ‘cur.’ Usually it’s old men, not young people. What is he, twenty? Somewhat old-fashioned, this one.
He carried the unconscious man to the teleporter, and sacrificed a drop of his blood to activate it. The other man’s pejoratives cut off, as Sen and his burden were moved several hundred kilometres away, to the main facility.
…Main for their cell, that is. The actual headquarters of the Black Cloak Group, if such a thing existed, were unknown to even elite members such as himself. Perhaps even to the cell leaders. He carried the prisoner through winding halls, and up a narrow staircase, to Long’s private quarters and the spacial treasure it contained. Long himself was not present, likely having slipped past Sen without his notice.
The man really enjoyed discretion for its own sake.
Sen set the prisoner down inside the array. [Shall I send him through, sir?]
[Yes.]
Sen flicked a toggle, and retreated to the edge of the room. Lights and bursts of steam emanated from the machine, and lightning arced around it as a wave of caustic qi flowed into the room. There was a distortion around the centrepiece, and then-
The prisoner disappeared. In his place were neatly stacked ingots, a handful of sharp octahedral crystals, and a tightly bound scroll. Precious metals, strange spirit stones, and the instructions on how to make use of them properly. Sen resisted the urge to swipe some of the stones for himself; Long was doubtlessly still watching, and he would receive some for his part anyway.
Greed was all well and good, but even the unorthodox knew not to bite the hand that feeds.
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There was a presence in the room. It had entered less than a second after the first man had departed, and it was standing about a body length away.
He hadn’t detected it with his spiritual sense – it was still locked inside his body. Nor had he seen or heard anything; the presence was invisible, and had yet to make any sounds.
No, he had detected it using his gut instinct – that is to say, his ability to sense ki. In front of him, in a roughly human shape, was a blob of diffuse ki. It was sending out incredibly weak fluctuations, but with nothing else to focus his senses on, they were obvious. I didn’t think fluctuations could exist in this world. I haven’t been able to make any – does that mean that this mystery individual is using a technique an order of magnitude stronger than anything I can do? Or is it something about the technique itself?
Lu was leaning towards the latter. Or more accurately, he was hoping it was the latter; an enemy with weak-but-mysterious arts would be vastly preferable to someone too powerful to outsmart.
Lu just stared at the presence, hoping he could unnerve it by rendering its invisibility pointless. Over the course of a minute, he tracked at from one side of the dungeon to the other, keeping up his stare as the presence circled from his left to his right.
[You can see me?] The voice jolted him, his eyes widening.
“Telepathy?” Moments passed, but the figure refused to answer. “No, I can’t see you. But I know where you are.”
[Interesting. You’re telling the truth.] Lu shivered, recognising the light brush against his mind from visits to the administrative wing. Lying was one of very few weapons he had access to, and it seemed it would be useless here.
“Who are you? Why have you captured us?”
The figure materialised, a long black all-concealing cloak congealing out of the air between one breath and the next. He looked identical to the other captor, down to the height and shoulder width. Even the creases in the fabric were the same. Matching enchanted clothing, or an illusion? Or is it the same man?
“Someone was willing to pay a lot for you. An exorbitant amount.” The man was soft-spoken, his speech almost cultured. Lu felt the fire in his belly grow hotter; a villain should sound like a villain, not a gentleman! “Do you know why that is?”
Lu bit his tongue. As though I’d say anything. You’re obviously fishing for information!
The black shadow where a face would be stared at him. “Not talking? How about this: tell me why I’ve captured you, and I won’t kill your friend.”
Lu grit his teeth. “You just said. Someone payed you.”
“Hmm, true. But why are they paying me so much, for a disciple of the first realm?” The mask of cloth drew close to his face.
He’s bluffing. He won’t kill Bull, not if his life is still worth something.
Unless this information is worth more, a traitorous part of his brain pointed out. His teeth grit harder. “Who knows, senior? I’ve recently become something of an industrialist, perhaps they merely wish to steal some business secrets.”
“Hmm. No, I don’t think so.” Suddenly, a fluctuation jostled him, hard. Only Junk Dog’s demonstration during his sermon had hit harder, and he couldn’t help but draw his eyes to the source-
Nothing. It was an empty patch of air. “Ah, so that’s how you knew I was there.” Lu looked back to the cloaked man. “I think I understand. Not that I didn’t have an inkling before, but confirmation is always nice.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Lu could feel the man’s smile. “Liar. And we were doing so well, too.” The man placed his finger to Lu’s chest. “I will give you an ultimatum. Tell me everything you know of the other world, or suffer the consequences.”
He’s bluffing. A bead of sweat rolled into his eye, forcing him to blink. The tip of the man’s finger, as darkly clothed as the rest of him, pushed harder and harder into his chest. With his back pressed against the wall, he couldn’t retreat. His chest began to bruise. He’s bluffing! You have to believe he’s bluffing! Lu’s skin broke. His breastbone pushed in, forcing air from his lungs. “Ah!” He won’t- he won’t kill you! Stay silent! You have exactly one bargaining chip, don’t give it away!
The man’s finger was imbedded in his chest, up to the bed of his fingernail. The pain was excruciating. He couldn’t even draw breath to scream. It’s not lethal! It’s not lethal! If he went any further, Lu was sure his breastbone would start to fracture.
His composure broke. He flexed his stomach, and a blade of wind manifested almost touching the man’s face. He bent and twisted, dodging by a hair, but in the process removed his finger from Lu’s chest.
“Oh.” His voice remained mild, as though he had had only a minor startle. He was bent backwards, looking to the side where the blade of wind had passed him by. “You can cast? I knew the gathering formation had broken, but…” His head tilted towards Lu, without his body moving a millimetre. “Are you really first realm?”
Lu began unleashing techniques, throwing all the combat arts he had laboriously translated over the months, one after the other.
The man dodged each technique by the thinnest possible margin, even when they were cloaked in illusions. He contorted himself into increasingly wild shapes, finally landing in a ridiculous one-handed handstand pose when Lu’s ki ran dry. It happened swiftly; none of his combat arts were very compatible, and over half his stomach had been pulled out by the formation, diffusing until it had annihilated itself reacting with the environment.
Lu screamed. “Are you toying with me?! Mocking me?! If you know there’s another world, then go there yourself! What do you possibly think I could teach you?!” He panted, winded.
The man was still as a statue for a moment, before he twisted back into a standing position. Like nothing had happened, his voice remained soft and even. “You’re quite talented. I’ve only figured out how to adapt three of my spells.” Again, his mask drew close to Lu’s face. “And that was with a generous benefactor. Did you have assistance?”
Lu tried to remain silent, but when the man extended a finger he answered. “A bit. Most of it was private experimentation.”
The man hmmed. “The truth. Very interesting.” He stepped back. “I think I’ll keep you for a little bit. Here, I’ll even give you a gift, for answering me honestly.” The man snapped his fingers, and the shackles – all five of them – popped open. Lu dropped to the ground, striking it with his arms and knees.
He looked up, but the black-cloaked man was gone – or possibly invisible again, and simply not using any techniques. Lu crawled away from the wall, doing his best to avoid the tattered remains of his vomit-soaked former head covering.
He rubbed his wrists. Then, tentatively, he extended his sense outside his body. The suppressive effects of the shackles were gone. Why? Is he just messing with me? Building me up so he can knock me down further?
He eyed the formation in the centre of the room, illuminated by a hanging lantern affixed to the high ceiling. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter. I’ll make him regret it.
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As usual, the cell leader appeared at his side without warning. “Keep an eye on the prisoner.”
Sen had been doing that exact thing already, though he chose not to point out the redundancy. “May I ask why you released his restraints, sir?”
Long plucked the scroll off the slightly raised section of floor. “We find ourselves with a great many mysteries, and only so many hands to put towards solving them.” He broke the seal on the scroll, unfurling it. “Why not let someone disposable try their hand? I’m curious if he can alter formations, in addition to breaking them. Ah, an actual mind control art? Benefactor, you spoil us.”