Chapter 15 #2
“It’s all right. You trusted your underling while doing your part to save this city by Sunlay’s side.
Chaoxiang was the one responsible for helping to facilitate the kidnappings and allowing the women who did work under your roof by choice to be so badly taken advantage of that they effectively had no choice at all. That’s his fault, not yours.”
“As if you knew exactly what I was going to say…”
Alex grinned. “Just a hunch. I could be—”
“You’re right. Dead right. Though I now have a full dozen former employees eager for a fresh start, with half of those girls deciding that they’re all desperately in love with a legend come to life, the hero of their dreams, each and every one eager to fill your nights with bliss, should you care enough to grace them with your patronage. ”
Alex forced a chuckle. “I hope they can all find professions and paths that fill them with contentment, and men who appreciate the healthy, empowered women they are blossoming into, without judging the follies of their pasts.”
Nili gave him a curious look. “You do have a unique perspective on these things, Alex.” She sighed sadly. “Truly, an idealist and a dreamer. Bringing to life so many ancient tales.”
Alex flushed and lowered his gaze, carefully taking in his surroundings, most definitely not paying attention to Nili’s comment or the sad look in her eyes.
“So, what’s the plan?” he asked, eager to change the subject.
“A great question, Alex. First, I assume the Silver you alluded to taking care of earlier was the one who had been leading the operation?”
Alex gave a curt nod.
This earned a fresh snort. “A man who, by all accounts, is a powerful speed cultivator who, if he had half a mind to, could have probably broken into the palace and eliminated any number of key players, even if traps and countermeasures are in place that would have ensured his death, along with his targets’.
” Her gaze hardened. “A man who should never have been able to slip past the gates without being held to the strongest of oaths. And you dealt with him as easily as exterminating rats from a granary.”
“First of all, it’s actually a pain in the ass to purge a granary of any kind of rodent.”
“I know.”
“And secondly, it was a damned close fight. Close enough and perilous enough that I had another breakthrough and only came back to myself minutes before we met up.”
Nili looked him over with a measuring gaze, lips pressing together in a frown.
“Nili?”
“I believe we might have a bit of a problem, Alex.”
Alex felt a twist of apprehension but forced a laugh. “When are we not dealing with problems? So spit it out, and let’s deal with it.”
His semi-flippant remark earned him a pointed a look, before her features eased into odd approval. “The problem is you, Alex.”
“Me?”
Nili nodded. “We need to get you some fresh attire to wear at court. His Grace will be giving commendations to the bold caravanners that dared the deadly sands to bring a considerably hefty grain shipment to our fair city, and both sponsoring merchant and the pair of Ruidians who managed to fend off bandit raiders will be feted by the court. Of course, His Grace is hoping that such awards and commendations will inspire ever more merchants to dare the sands, as should the premium rate he’s now willing to pay for produce, grain, and livestock. ”
Alex slowly nodded. “Sounds logical to me. So, what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that you’ve grown almost two inches, Alex.
And the way you flow forward with your every step and gesture…
gifted with the exquisite grace of a master cultivator.
It’s as if your every movement is an extension of the dance.
Whether that of art or combat hardly matters.
What I’m saying, Alex, is that you now radiate a spiritual pressure that will leave most mortals breathless, and no experienced cultivator will see you as anything other than what you are.
An extremely powerful and talented body cultivator with multiple elemental affinities who’s managed Deep Silver while barely twenty years old! ”
Alex blinked at that. “Okay, first of all, I’m only Rank 2. Even if my stats are, well… yeah. No complaints there.”
Nili furrowed her brow. “You’re saying you’ve only had one breakthrough since you first ascended to…
” She shook her head, looking more than a little bit awed.
“And how could it be otherwise? We first met when you were Bronze, and you were no weakling then, either. We only sensed your Silver pull when…” She paled, slender fingers instinctively reaching up to her neck before she forced her hand down.
She shook her head in disbelief. “Whatever your supposed ‘rank,’ or whatever paradigm you use to define yourself, you’ve still managed to hit Deep Silver potency in less than a week.
And that, dear Alex, isn’t just shockingly absurd, it’s outright impossible…
No. It’s outright legendary.” She gave him a pointed look. “Do you see the problem, Alex?”
He winced, then forced himself to nod, conceding the point.
Though he didn’t feel like he was any taller than he had been before…
more like he had somehow corrected something that had felt just the tiniest bit off since he had first woken up to his new life, regaining the height he had had when daring to defy the heavens, a lifetime ago.
“I’m radiating too much of my killing aura.
” He forced a smile that was more a grimace, eyes glaring in all directions.
“After coming so close to… not being here after my last fight, I feel this need to truly be in the moment, to sense my connection to everything and everyone around me. To be ready for extreme violence the instant something feels off. Because the slightest mistake, the tiniest miscalculation…”
“I know,” Nili softly said. “Believe me, you’re not the only cultivator who’s ascended along Peril’s Path.
Far from it. Myself in more perilous times included.
Yet the disadvantage is that it can be very difficult to pull oneself in.
To not feel like one has to be utterly connected to everything around them, even if we use but a metaphor.
But equally true, if we allow the pressure of our anxieties, alarm, or outrage to fade, if we instead concentrate on flowing into our environment instead of dominating it, I find that such does wonders for helping to hide one’s natural killing aura. ”
Alex nodded, taking a deep breath, trusting in the competence of the companion by his side.
He was safe. Their foes were defeated. All was well.
No need to glare so fiercely into the dark, daring all foes to fight or flee for all they were worth.
No. He was just a former apothecary’s assistant enjoying an evening walk with a beautiful kitsune companion.
A youth awed to have earned royal commendation and excited for a chance to see the wondrous palace for himself.
Alex closed his eyes for a couple seconds, recalling so viscerally the innocent joy he had experienced with a certain young apothecary who had seen him as little more than a charming fellow herbalist who had been there for her when she had needed him.
A warmhearted friend who had set her up with a fortune in priceless potions, only to fade away days later, never to be seen or heard from again.
Nili gave him a curious look. “Remarkable.”
“What?”
“You hide it so well… so naturally. Are you sure you have no Shadow Qi Affinity?”
Alex smirked. “As a matter of fact, I do have a lesser affinity. But only in terms of detecting it. I have no ability whatsoever to manipulate it.”
Nili shrugged. “Either way, you now give off the spiritual pressure that’s precisely what one would expect from a newly awakened disciple.”
Alex grinned. “Yup! It’s all about drawing it in. All you need to radiate is your smile and the warmth of your good intentions.”
“Sure. Though I’m guessing there’s not much we can do about your walk?”
“What’s wrong with my walk? It’s a perfectly normal walk… I think.” Alex sighed. “Please don’t make me stumble, overanalyzing my own two feet!”
This earned a snort. “The problem is how you move, not your walk, per se.”
“How I move?”
She nodded. “Eerily graceful. Like a cultivator who has absolutely mastered his own body.”
“But my Finesse is only Rank 3 Silver. We don’t hit normal Silver-tier maximums until Rank 5, right?”
Nili gave him a strange look. “What’s so bizarre is that I think I know what you’re saying… Alex, do you even know how rare it is for any Silver-tier cultivator to survive and train and evolve long enough to earn three breakthroughs in a single aspect of themselves?”
Alex nodded. “Mongoose had Rank 3 in Quickness. Rank 5 when he boosted himself later in the fight. And he was a monster.”
Nili’s gaze hardened. “Mongoose. That was his name?”
Alex nodded. “That’s what he called himself. Why?”
The kitsune squeezed her eyes shut before shaking her head with a sigh.
“I fear things might be even more dire than we thought… No, Alex. Please don’t brood.
Keep your thoughts light. Light as any aspirant dreaming of a perfect, glorious cultivator’s life.
A fantasy free of hardship and struggle.
There. Better! And to answer your question, yes, achieving five miraculous breakthroughs in a single, highly focused aspect of one’s physical or spiritual being is supposedly what unlocks the gate to shockingly powerful growth, should one actually manage to break through to the next tier.
Which, in your case, is Gold. But such a feat is borderline legendary.
Were it not for the monstrous presence of Xien Tang that had come so close to claiming Liushi, I’d wonder if Golds themselves were just idealized dreams of cultivation, much like the gods themselves were ideals of concepts, or metaphors for the avariciousness and petty power squabbles of man…
” Her cheeks flushed when she caught Alex’s gaze.
“Apologies.”