Gazing out at the sea of assembled warriors, Lu couldn’t help but feel intimidated even with an Elder walking at a leisurely pace just ahead. Low shadows had long since started to cover the land, and each step seemed to deepen the imposing atmosphere.

They were an eclectic horde, obviously composed of dozens of different clans welded together, and it was difficult to pick out any two who looked similar as they approached. Only the uniformity of their ki and armaments – they were almost all armoured in some manner, and carried long firearms with pointed speartips tied to the ends – gave them a consistent theme. It was only when Lu unfocused his eyes and looked at the army as a single unit that patterns began to emerge.

These people aren’t being kept together in clan groups, but rather deliberately spread apart. Is the Ancestor not confident in his leadership skills? The only reason I can think to do that is to keep competing leaders from forming their own foundations.

Whatever the reason, it made the army seem even larger than it was. As their paltry group of six approached what must be multiple thousands of invaders, a strange numbness spread over Lu’s thoughts.

Well, this is it. The scouts couldn’t find any ways in, the reinforcements are in place, and they obviously noticed our movements hours ago… Lu wasn’t sure how, Winding Wind’s illusions were immaculate, but the appearance of the goading empty path couldn’t be anything else. I just have to believe in our diplomatic acumen. It all worked itself out at the big sit, right? …Mostly?

His nerves jumped slightly as an unexpected movement disturbed the air to his side, but they settled back down to cold stillness as his spiritual sense revealed the interloper to be Tai Sho.

“Disciple Sho, good of you to join us.” Winding Wind’s voice was untroubled, as though they were simply taking a walk in the countryside. In contrast, his sense was tightly wound, like a cobra rearing back to strike. “Any last-minute adjustments from your master?”

“No, Elder,” Tai Sho replied. “Everything is going as smoothly as can be expected.” Ah, that’s good, that’s good. That means that in the event we fail, we’ll have a number of patriarch-tier Elders ready to strike.

…Although I can’t imagine they’ve remained hidden, if we couldn’t. No, positive thoughts only, Lu! We’ll either reach an equitable understanding as gentlemen, or wipe them away in a storm of spellfire, those are simply the only two options.

The warriors on the edges of the path were eerily silent – actually, the entire invasion force had been startlingly well behaved from what Lu had observed so far. The Junk Dog army had been rowdy, with minor brawls erupting any time they were left to rest for more than a minute, and the Moving Waters nee Horrible Swamp forces were even worse. The army in front of them, in contrast, stood stock-still. Waves of ki flowed from one man to the next in concentric circles, expanding to the edges and then reversing to return to the centre like a beating heart pumping blood, or a pair of lungs supplying breath.

It was an inverted mirror held up to Junk Dog the Immense’s rallies; where Junk Dog had stoked his clansmen’s wild urges, whoever was standing at the heart of this army – One-Man, if Lu had the right of things – was instead holding their troops still not unlike the metal plates riveted together into the suits of sturdy armour they were wearing.

Tai Sho was not the only one to join them in the last possible moments. As they walked slowly and calmly down the wide field of cleared land, their numbers tripled, men and women appearing through some means opaque to Lu’s senses. Elders and core disciples, some from sects Lu recognised and some he did not.

White Knuckle, of course. Elders Mountain Rain and Sun-Dappled Cloud from the Golden Sun sect. Patriarch Jade Fire the Third, and his inheriting disciple. Top-tier martial artists from Green Ocean, Emerald Plain, Sea-Green Jade, Autumn Red Forest… You know, I’ve never had cause to think about it, but Greengrass really does have a bit of a theme with our sect names.

The numbness settled thicker and thicker over all of Lu’s thoughts as their advance deepened, calm permeating down to his bones until he felt like the outside world was no different from a picture in his mind’s eye. As they reached the end of the cleared space the warriors finally moved, a line of them parting to each side to reveal their leader in the soft, scraping murmur of steel-on-steel.

He was a monstrous being, though not to nearly the same scale as Stingy-Eye. Skin like polished copper exuded flames from every pore, and his eye sockets were empty pits where thick black smoke issued forth. Lu knew immediately that this was the real Ancestor; he was the source of that startlingly dense not-quite-ki, a solid cloud of it shrouding his internals from Lu’s Comprehension. Is this the Salt equivalent of Heaven’s light? It doesn’t seem nearly as potent, at least… He was the only man not wearing armour on his body, though Lu would eat his shoes if he wasn’t the most heavily defended person in the entire army.

One-Man opened his mouth, and Lu cast Interpreter- but it failed, the qi melting down the moment it touched the invisible shell of energy. But he needn’t have bothered; when the Ancestor spoke, Lu understood his words exactly as he had understood his peers’, or Junk Dog’s.

“Humans of Earth. Is this parley, or have you assembled to meet Me in battle?” His voice wasn’t anything like Lu would have imagined; it was thin, almost wavering, the voice of a much smaller man than the four-metre giant standing before them.

It was White Knuckle who answered. “The former.” He released his sense, and it unfurled from his body to press against the burning aura of ki that surrounded them, pushing it away. The other disciples did the same, and Lu joined in only a moment later. Pain erupted where the edges of his sense began fraying against the ki, but it was nowhere near as bad as in Salt proper. The Elders held no hint of pain on their features, and Lu endevoured to follow their example. “Though I must say, you seem to have extended us a… perhaps unwise amount of courtesy, allowing us to approach so close.”

The giant shook his head minutely. Sparks danced deep in the depths of his skull, promising all the world’s knowledge, and Lu looked down to his neck, uncomfortably reminded of the Rotting Sun’s terribly enticing whispers.

“Do you think Me undefended?” He made a sound, something completely unanalogous to human speech, and Lu’s spirit felt as though it would melt away into something different. Even the sound of his voice carried that solid, implacable energy, regardless of how unimpressive his tones were. “No. Let us not posture; I have come here to impose My rule upon this land, by right of conquest. You wish to stop that same conquest. Can there be anything other than war?”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

White Knuckle weathered the wave of divine ki without moving. “That is up to you. Do not misunderstand things; this army you have gathered is impressive, but you cannot defeat this single continent, let alone the entire Earth. And the moment our Heavenly Emperors become annoyed enough to move…” His lips quirked upwards, but it would be wrong to label the expression a smile. “They are not so dissimilar to you, Great Hero. There is no reason for Salt to pay for a moment’s transgression; return to your lands, and let us attempt to coexist peacefully.”

For a long moment One-Man was silent. His warriors looked on, eyes of many shapes and colours fixed unblinking on their leader and opposition. The path hasn’t closed. Is that strange? I would have thought it was a trap… Maybe he’s leaving an escape route open to keep us from fighting to the death? Or perhaps he’s actually an honourable sort? Finally the giant opened his arms wide, his head scanning from side to side.

“Well, My warriors? What do you say to that generous offer? Shall we retreat, and live to fight another day?”

The sound and ki were like a solid wall, both battering at their overlapping senses like stones striking at castle walls. The roar was cacophonous; Lu often thought of their voices as similar to rocks grinding together, but the terrible chant was truly akin to an avalanche. Lu’s spirit retracted involuntarily, and he struggled to keep it pushed out as he drew out forms in his mind.

Lu’s Interpreter! This time the spell took, and a single armoured soldier, his head crowned with a helm of twisting horns, became comprehensible. “[One thing!]” he chanted, “[One thing! One thing! One thing!]”

“My people have spoken!” One-Man lifted his arm, and a small hammer appeared – but then flames snaked up from the man’s skin, encircling the head and sprouting upwards until the tool had become a strange and ephemeral blade. Straight and actually quite short, even by human standards, it was nonetheless intimidating. As ki continued to pulse in time with the still-echoing chant, One-Man lowered the fire-sword until the tip pointed at White Knuckle’s face.

“I am not a beast, and so I shall return your offer to you in the spirit it was given: retreat. I will allow you to go, that you might amass greater strength before we clash in truth.”

A trap. This has to be a trap. There’s no way he would let us go, we represent a good chunk of his enemy’s strength- but at the same time, it might be that his invasion is currently built on sand; almost all the Salt warriors fell terribly ill when they first entered Earth, there isn’t any reason to believe his own forces are at the top of their game. Lu’s senses scanned the soldiers, but there were no signs of sickness. What should we do? My instincts say to attack now, but I’m no warrior…

Unexpectedly it was not White Knuckle who answered, but Elder Mountain Rain, the male inheriting disciple of the Golden Sun. He stepped forward together with his wife, Sun-Dappled Cloud, and the strength of their senses was only the smallest bit less intense than White Knuckle’s.

“You tread on our land, and expect us to allow you even a single day of respite? Do not be foolish!” His sense struck out, adding emphasis to his words by parting the clouds of ki between the group and the Ancestor.

Sun-Dappled Clouds added her own words. “As if we had the luxury of retreat. You grow by eating – if we leave you to your devices, will there be a single blade of grass left after we repulse you? Will the mortals be spared the edge of your swords?” She raised her chin, jade-white skin radiant despite the dwindling light of the setting sun. “No. This continent of Greengrass has not once been conquered by any foreign force; we shall not allow that legacy to be tarnished.” From a gemstone ring set on her middle finger came forth a sword of her own, a long and thick weapon that curved wickedly like a winding river. She pointed the blade back at One-Man, her eyes hard.

Ah, this isn't going very diplomatically so far. Think, Lu, think! There has to be a way out of this! From every side a storm of ki was building, the warriors continuing to chant “[One thing! One thing! One thing!]” In his state of strange clarity, Lu could see the flecks of spittle building up on shallow chins and jowls, hear every scrape as the invaders became more animated by the promise of violence. Some trick. Stingy and Cobo? Patriarch Still Water? Lu didn’t think the horde surrounding them would hesitate to devour even their kinsmen; Junk Dog certainly hadn’t, and that had been a war with far lower stakes. The splinters? Can I secretly close the breach – or the opposite, make it large and pull the whole army in? No, he had nowhere near enough qi, or more importantly the mental effort necessary to hold such a thing open for even a fraction of a second.

“Please, seniors, is there no way we can reach an accord?” Tai Sho stepped forward, and though his words held unnatural weight neither Sun-Dappled Cloud nor One-Man turned to acknowledged him. “You desire greater strength, do you not? Our world is a bounty, true, but is it not better in the long run to milk a cow, rather than slaughter it at the first opportunity? Each of us has treasures the other covets; we should trade as equals, rather than expend each other with the terrible burden of war. Would your peers not seek to capitalise on any percieved weakness, the same as you would do to them?”

My imparted foundation? My bag of treasures? My unorthodox mental arts? Every idea he had came up short – in the end, even the cleverest plan he could come up with required impossible levels of strength or luck… or for One-Man to act like a drooling idiot, which seemed even less likely than him somehow convincing the entire army to abandon their God with words alone.

Again there was a long moment where the Ancestor was silent, the giant and the woman in sunshine-yellow robes seemingly content to point their swords at each other, while the sound of a collapsing mountain rumbled in the background.

Then, a sentence that echoed through the air with an otherworldly cadence. "Strong Crops are Born of Scorched Earth."

Then something in the air twisted, and Lu was flying away. Everything seemed to move all at once; Elder Sun-Dappled Clouds meeting One-Man’s descending sword with her own, her husband calmly layering shields over eight core disciples as they cast spell after massive spell into the suddenly sprinting warriors. White Knuckle disappearing, only to blur back into reality behind the Ancestor, his fist wreathed in darkness. Elders and Patriarchs gesturing, each motion scything down men like wheat.

With effort, Lu dragged his head against the torrential winds. “Bull? What are you-?”

“Did you think we would stay? Winding Wind gave me the duty of escorting you from the battlefield.” His eyes met Lu’s own, a wan smile appearing even as the last of the lingering sunset disappeared. “Not that you won’t have to pull your weight…” His eyes returned forward, and Lu followed them – back the way they had come, the path was already half-closed despite not a second passing. Synchronicity. They move even without orders, communicating through the waves of ki. “We’ll have to fight our way out. You good to go?”

Rather than answer verbally, Lu only flared his sense as he built out forms. Dancing Blade drew six treasure swords from his purse, and a long firearm appeared in one hand while the other suddenly held a glowing paper talisman, its sixth realm Ultimate Thunder Punishment formation already half-activated.

“Good man.” They slowed, and Bull let Lu drop to the ground so they could both fight properly.

A wall of steel and flames advanced, and Lu stood with his back pressed against Bull’s own as both qi and ki surged through his body.