Chapter 22
Wu Xien shifted his powerful bulk, resilient enough that his steel didn’t freeze him, despite the deadly chill in the air.
Though, he had been the first to acknowledge to both the beautiful flying faerie and the near pure-blooded Ruidian girl how useful their mastery over wintry gusts and soothing flames had been in helping them set up camp against the side of the massive spirit drake, as much serpent as beast, actually comfortable.
Especially with the tarp providing much-needed shelter above their heads.
He exchanged a glance with Tang, not quite as big but certainly faster, both of them turning to meet Kuaisu’s gaze as she watched over Lao Tie, who presently sat in a lotus position much like their eccentric blond Ruidian companion. As if he, too, were having a breakthrough.
“Thoughts?”
Kuaisu’s scowl softened when she took in the trio of exhausted girls.
Ya Ling cultivated behind the Ruidian boy while focusing on her wind ward, Linnea looked lost in the fiery trance that allowed her to warm the entire dome of quiescent air, and the petite Ruidian girl with the dark curly hair was curled up in furs like a cat.
Certainly none of them were paying any mind to their comrades-in-arms.
“We were ambushed by a pack of spirit wolves. Half-step Silver spirit wolves so much deadlier than any winter wisp, ice crab, or odd automaton that we had been led to expect would be the worst that we would encounter, so long as we didn’t go too deep.
With no warning whatsoever, save for a howl meant to distract us from the ambushers that tore so cleanly through my calf.
” Kaisu shook her head with a sigh. “And that’s never happened before.
As bad as Winter is, I’ve never heard of any party not getting the drop on their prey. At least, not at first.”
Tang flashed a hard smile. “Survivorship bias.”
Kuaisu blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Sorry. It simply means that we’ve never heard of it happening because all those who dared Winter who faced ambush hunters so close to the entrance might have been slaughtered without a single survivor.”
Wu Xien’s eyes widened. “So, wait, you’re saying those accounts of steady progression in difficulty and rich fortunes with the bitter cold were just luck? That anything can happen, and we only hear about the most fortuitous of Winter delves because they’re the only ones with survivors?”
Tang shrugged. “Perhaps. But let’s be honest. It’s been years since anyone dared Winter. Or at least… that we know of.”
“That’s because the fatality rate is so high.”
“Exactly.”
Tang chuckled, gazing fondly at their employer. “And here our dear Lao Tie cultivates on the cusp of ascension, so eager to be a part of the story defining our lives, and not the side character that most of us will always be.”
“Watch your words,” Kuaisu hissed.
Tang shrugged, sipping ale from his flask and taking a bite of crispy spirit beast meat from the skewers cooking before their impromptu fire.
“I’d never call him a fool. He was wise enough to snatch up an entire party of Ruidians that Sun La was so ready to kick to the street.
Why, because her silly pride had been pricked? ”
Wu Xien snorted. “The Ruidian boy might have been stupid to let the situation unfold as it did. But at least he thought fast on his feet, saving face for them both, and got what he wanted in the end.”
Tang nodded. “He’s clearly a dreamer, just like our Lao Tie.”
“True,” Wu Xien agreed, both ignoring Kuaisu’s warning glare.
Tang gazed thoughtfully at the blond-haired youth. “Alex can’t be any older than my oldest, who still attends the academy. Which is absolutely insane, considering what we’ve seen so far.”
Kuiasu’s scowl softened into a look of gentle concern. “How is she?”
Tang’s jaw clenched before easing into a sigh. “Well enough, Kuaisu. Her master’s getting her ready for closed-door cultivation.”
Kuaisu frowned with concern. “She’s still quite young though, isn’t she? Barely eighteen summers old. Normally, meridian-cleansing tinctures aren’t given unless one is still struggling with blockages after two decades, right?”
Tang shrugged. “She’s otherwise in pristine health and has been striding a very safe path. She should be fine. And just as importantly, Master Wong believes this is the best way for her to ascend past a girl’s regrets and reforge herself anew into a woman who can hold her head up high.”
Wu Xien nodded. “It’s exactly what my master did when one of my kung fu sisters… Anyway, it makes sense. Especially since she’s never forced open any nodes before. It will be her final one, right?”
Tang’s grim countenance softened into a look of pride.
“It will, indeed. Somehow, five perfectly cleansed nodes became six, and far from any trace of strain, her foundation has never been stronger. And with this final node being all that she needs to clear… Master Wong’s already picked out the perfect cycling technique for her, aligned to the element of Sand, just as she is, with the potential to ascend all the way to Silver. ”
“Impressive!” Wu Xien commended. “I’ve always said that she has a strong gift.”
Kuaisu gazed pointedly at the Ruidian boy once more. “Was it him?”
Tang flashed a hard smile. “Without a doubt.”
Kuaisu nodded. “Honestly, the stories I heard… about some golden-haired boy coming to the rescue of our city’s lost girls like a character right out of the oldest tales—I thought it all just a bit of poppy-inspired fantasy.
A way to put a gentle spin on life’s tragic play.
But after seeing him take out that absolute monster of a Deep Silver…
” She gazed pointedly at the monster they were resting in the lee of at that very moment. “I could almost believe it.”
Tang nodded. “He can run through the air, his fangtian ji crackling with the might of the storm. And his fist, when he struck that wyrm…” The man peered thoughtfully at Alex for long moments.
“He struck like a Gold. A boy who should still be cleansing his meridians striking like a true legendary monster.”
“Or like someone who has truly mastered a Silver-tier technique, since Golds are probably a myth from the before times,” Wu Xien declared. “Before the world was set ablaze and endless forest transformed into desert.”
“With the moon goddess’s mercy giving us these final bastions with which to battle the eternal sands,” Kuaisu whispered solemnly, before flashing a game smile.
“I used to believe that too. But this foul Dongfang Hong, with so many rumors that he had once ruled a massive empire beyond our ability to comprehend, who now intends to forge himself a new desert kingdom upon the desiccated bones of any city that dares to oppose him, makes it clear that at least some of the world avoided the fiery doom that cooked so much of our land to desolate sand. Besides, it’s said that this ‘Red Prince’ has actual Golds in his employ.
And that would explain how he’s gained so much influence so fast.”
She turned her gaze to Lao Tie. “Do you think he knows?”
“Without a doubt,” Wu Xien declared. “It explains why he was so very eager to have the boy and his harem join us on this mad little bit of folly.”
“Folly that’s netted us two deep Bronze cores and a Silver’s worth of mixed Ice slivers that are far, far better than nothing in less than an hour,” Kuaisu softly noted.
“Exactly. Our master’s a dreamer, but he’s certainly no fool,” Tang declared, before his features tightened with worry. “Of course, if things truly are as we suspect—if ancient tales are truly coming back to life in our city’s final hour—I can’t help but recall a certain ancient proverb.”
Kuaisu took a bite of sizzling-hot spirit beast meat. “And what would that be?”
Tang chuckled ruefully. “It’s one thing to catch the Fox’s tale. Quite another to let it go.”
When Alex’s eyes snapped open minutes or hours later, he wasn’t sure to what extent he had slept or cultivated. To what degree the voices he had thought he had heard—secrets revealed that he feared meant he dared spend only a tiny sliver of time here in Wanshi—were real, or the echoes of his fears.
Yet regardless, he couldn’t deny feeling as refreshed and alert as ever, his earlier insights crystallized into comfortable familiarity, and he now felt the furthest thing from a Sage’s Revelation or a Fool’s Folly.
Instead, he took a deep breath of air far warmer than it had any right to be, absolutely delighting in the sight of actual ferns growing on the bed off moss and lichen that both the ice and most especially the fallen drake had become.
“Well done, Rachel!”
Rachel positively beamed, looking at him shyly from the little group that she, Ya Ling, and Linnea had formed.
“Thank you, battle leader. I’ve been, um… practicing. Feeling so alive with energy. And I actually ranked up!” She looked on the verge of squealing, eyes bright as Linnea rubbed her soft curls with a sister’s fondness. “Twice!”
Alex chuckled, clapping in approval. “Well done. I’d love to see your build, sometime.”
“Oh, I put it all into key stats! Perception, Finesse, Quickness, and Vitality!” She gently squeezed a smug-looking Linnea’s hand.
“My battle sister’s advice. She said it was exactly what you would recommend, since I already boosted my Strength and Vitality one point each, just with grandfather’s exercises and helping out so much with our crops.
And now the world is so much clearer, so much brighter!
And I can think faster, even if I didn’t increase my Scholarship, which I might do next level, so I can conceptualize a bit better and recall more of the rich, vibrant tale that is our lives. Right, Linnea?”
“Exactly!” Linnea enthused.