Chapter 9 #2
Alex shuddered and nearly stumbled as he collected both bodies and blood, making it all disappear, even if his Spirit Qi and affinity with those waters gave him a far more visceral sense of his foe’s plunge than he necessarily wanted to see.
Yet he hardened himself as he slipped down into the bowels of the corridor that had been so well hidden by the sentinels’ Shadow arts.
Fortunately, no one was in the corridor he now walked along, and it was only when he found himself navigating it effortlessly, dim light, Qi Perception, and Wind Sense giving him a near perfect sense of the layout, that he understood that the hallway above had been a chillingly exquisite Shadow trap.
At the time, he hadn’t even completely appreciated how odd it was that his visibility and senses had all been so completely limited to that of a confused mortal making their way through the gloom to the stairs beyond.
Which wouldn’t have been at all unusual for a mortal courtesan being led to please and entertain her masters, but for a cultivator, it was unusual, indeed.
And Spirit Qi… to cloud even his mind, however temporarily…
He shivered, jaw clenching as he tasted the barest whiff of an infernal taint in the air, forced to wonder just how dark and corrupt was the game now being played, more anxious than ever to hunt down the source of the desperate plea still ringing in his head.
His jaw clenched, heart hammering with genuine worry as he proceeded down the corridor with its roughshod brownstone walls.
A part of him was desperate to feel ahead for Nili’s well-being with his senses, but he didn’t dare split his focus, having come so close to being ambushed.
Even if a pair of Rank 1 Bronze should prove no threat, with poison needles that smelled quite similar to toxins he already had full immunity to, he refused to play the overconfident idiot that had been the defining characteristic of so many Silvers he had taken down himself.
No. He’d proceed with caution, fangtian ji traded for a dao and a swirling shield of ebony liquid darkness as he slipped through to the end of the corridor, still fully infused by Potency Mastery.
He only realized the significance of what he had stumbled onto when he reached the corridor’s end, finding himself before a bronze-plated door.
Alex frowned and took a moment to carefully survey his surroundings as Qi Perception gave him a sense of the reclining guard in the chamber just beyond. He felt an uncomfortable chill when he sensed just how deep he was and the nature of the rock overhead.
His eyes widened with alarm when he sensed the deadfall trap, just above his head. He cursed softly under his breath, more than a bit tempted to sprint back up the corridor behind him just as fast as he could.
Instead he braced himself, slowly slipping the essence of Water Qi infused with steely resilience and liquid darkness into the lock he faced, carefully lining the pins to the sheer line as he slowly pulled down the latch of the reinforced door before him.
The air filled with the softest of clicks.
“No, stop! Please, just let me go!”
And he was through.
Qi Perception check made!
Time seemed to slow with the racing of his heart as Alex poured his focus into his swirling shield of Wind, Water, Metal, and saturated Dark Qi while taking in his environment with desperate focus, ready for absolutely anything.
He halfway expected a blast of Gold-tier God’s Fire that he feared would obliterate even his Storm shield.
Yet relief that he had not been turned into a blazing pyre transformed to icy outrage a heartbeat later when he caught sight of a guard forcefully tearing the clothes of a shrieking young woman begging him to stop.
“You thought you could use your Shadow arts against someone like me, foolish half-breed? Well, now you’ll pay the ultimate price before I cut your…”
The man’s words died off in open-mouthed confusion, the powerful Bronze cultivator completely unable to find the words he wanted to say as the young kitsune girl shrieked in the man’s confused grip.
He opened his mouth one final time, blinking the blood out of his eyes as trembling fingers reached for the top of his skull that was no longer there.
With a look of confused horror, the doomed guardsman collapsed, the remains of his lobotomized brain tearing completely free of its skull as it smacked against the cold stone tiles, his soul crashing into a colder river still.
You have successfully sliced free the top of your foe’s skull!
A shearing strike carefully calibrated to minimize risk of collateral damage allows your foe to appreciate his final moments of lobotomized awareness before embracing the death he so richly deserves!
For a long moment there was only silence as Alex gazed into the frightened wide eyes of the kitsune wearing leather armor that seemed to naturally blend in with her surroundings.
Fortunately, the guard had managed little more than damaging a single strap and yanking it off her shoulders, which she quickly put to rights.
“Are you okay?”
Alex inwardly cringed, knowing it was a stupid thing to say. Of course she wasn’t okay. But far better an awkward query that showed his concern than to stare at her with the cold eyes of a killer.
The girl’s cheeks flushed, her carefully pinned bonnet torn free, revealing tangled curls and ears that perfectly matched those of Alex’s ultimate mentor.
The young kitsune lowered her eyes before giving a quick nod.
“I… yes.” She swallowed. “He did no worse than beat me and tear my mother’s leathers.
But a few seconds longer… and it’s the Fox’s own luck I’m not already carrying that bastard’s child.
Or worse, since he would have probably cut my throat, once he did the deed. ”
Alex winced. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. You killed the bastard, after all. A gift for which I owe you my life. And believe me, I’m a girl who always pays her debts. Just not—”
“I understand,” Alex said with his gentlest smile.