As I fell toward the grove below, cold night air rushed past . The crescent moon was high in the sky, and I bathed in its light, intent on soaking up as much as I could before Bill and his army of seagulls blocked it out. As I considered the mass of gulls, I shook my head, smiling to myself. This night was shaping out even more chaotic than I’d anticipated.
I hoped they were all having as much fun as I was.
I landed silently in the grassy grove, and still releasing a steady stream of chi, I wasted no ti in collecting my prize. Thanks to the intel—from Trent, of all people—I knew the Passiona bushes were tiny things that barely reached my knee. I unfurled a bag Ruby made , shook it out, then bent down to pull a bush from the earth. I froze when I felt the chi radiating up its stem. The trickle of chi was thickest at its base, separating into thin strands as it went out towards the leaves and berries. Furrowing my brow, I traced it back down to the ground. The chi flowed between all the bushes, shing out in every direction in a complex web. Not only the bushes, either—it connected to the lemon trees too, the chi running up and along their thick branches, hair-thin strands going into the few lemons present.
“And what do you think you’re doing?” ca a demanding voice.
Raising my gaze, I stared in the speaker’s direction with more than a little disbelief. For the second ti in so many days, soone had managed to sneak up on despite my enhanced awareness.
In the lone gate to his courtyard, an aged man stood. He had white, close-cropped hair and a neatly trimd salt-and-pepper-beard. His robes were immaculate, their deep-purple more rich than any clothes I’d seen since coming to this world. His hands were calmly crossed in front of him, each finger adorned by pearl-encrusted rings.
“G’day, mate. I was just stealing so of these bushes. How’s your night going?” In the ti since we’d started weighing each other, multiple explosions had occurred in the city. I gestured all around, pointing in their general directions. “Seems like so crazy shit is going down in the capital, huh? What’s a man of your evident stature doing calmly checking on a few bushes?”
He smirked at and started removing his ornate rings. “I knew you’d co for the capital’s strength,” he stated, completely ignoring my question. “Unlike you, I wasn’t born yesterday. I won’t fall for your distractions, child.”
He spat the last word, and I was keen to continue the banter, but then the rest of his statent pulled up short.
“The capital’s strength...?” I glanced at the bushes. “These things? They’re tasty, yeah, but surely their comrce isn’t what keeps you goons in power.”
“There’s no point in playing dumb. You know their purpose as well as I do.” He waved all around himself, encompassing not only the bushes, but the lemon trees, too. “That’s why you’re here.”
I held up my hands in surrender. “You got , mate. I definitely know what’s going on here, and I ca to steal your—er—source of power?”
“Finally, so truth.” He was on his second hand now, the first completely free of the pearl rings. “Would you like to know a secret?”
“I love secrets.”
He snorted, the condescending smirk never leaving his face as he removed another ring. “Your mission was pointless. These grounds are ancient, having stood as long as the royal castle. Longer, perhaps. Even if you take these bushes, they’ll wither to nothing without the chi present here.”
“You know what chi is? Neat. What if my mission was to destroy them, though? That would shatter your source of power, right?”
He rolled his eyes. “You could try, but I don’t think you’ll live long enough to find out.” He removed his last ring, and as it ca free of his finger, my mouth dropped open.
Chi roiled from the man, bristling and chaotic. Unlike the slow, steady stream I was releasing, his was like a forest fire, lashing out and consuming whatever it touched. He snapped his fingers, and shapes erged from the shadows around us, dozens upon dozens of cultivators appearing atop the surrounding walls.
“Do you have any last words, child?”
“Last words? I’ve got plenty of life and words ahead of , mate.”
He raised a brow, anger clear in the lines of his face, and then burst into laughter. It was an ugly thing, filled with superiority and misplaced confidence. He shook his head. “I can’t believe the king was worried about you.”
“Why?” I asked, giving him a genuine smile.
“Because you, peasant, are a moron.” He clenched his fists together, water rushing from his skin and coating them in a pale blue light.
“What’s your na, bloke?” I asked the still-smirking dickhead.
His lip twitched. I thought he might attack, but he shuddered, forcing his fury down and holding up a hand to halt the collared cultivators. “Lord Tom Osnan. Keeper of the grove and lord of Tropica.”
Well, I thought. Isn’t that sothing...
Before I could ask if he had a similarly dickheaded son that lived in a coastal village, he flew at .
Dozens of cultivators followed his lead, so launching forward, others unleashing ranged attacks. One and all, their cores humd with power. I closed my eyes, focusing on each individual cultivator. My mind’s eye traced the lines of their powers, painting a view from above as they drew closer.
Unlike the lord who had managed to sneak up on , I’d felt the cultivators there from the beginning. I registered every step as they’d slowly arranged themselves around , thinking to be cornered prey. Just like the purple-robed lord, all of their chi was a wildfire. It was chaotic, unfocused, hungry.
When a grin ca to my face, I was forced to admit sothing: as much as I wanted to fish in peace, having almost fifty cultivators unleash their power and descend upon at once made excitent course through my veins. It was a direct challenge—a clashing of two powers in which there could only be a single victor.
Though, I also admitted. It would probably be much less exciting if they actually presented a threat...
With my grin turning predatory, I tore the floodgate to my core open.
***
Flying like an arrow launched from a bow, Bill rocketed groundward, and his flipper connected with a cultivator’s chest.
Oof! the man moaned, flying to hit another of his kin.
Bill held no remorse for the fools; they had launched attacks at his seagull brethren. The gulls weren’t spirit beasts, but that was hardly their fault. His actions had placed them in danger, so it was up to him to protect them.
Such was the way of the warrior.
Angling his body to the right, he swooped around, slamming his wings into the last two cultivators standing. They hit the floor bonelessly, their consciousness fleeing like the receding tide.
“A... An Entire Flock of Birds, sir...” the handler sputtered, averting her eyes.
Bill peered down at her with disdain. She had ordered her cultivators to attack the seagull homies, a cri most foul.
“I... I’m sorry. Please spare my life—”
Bill smacked her over the head hard enough to knock her out, yet soft enough to ensure no lasting damage. With one beat of his wings, he took to the air once more, zooming around the battlefield and herding the gulls so they remained above the city.
Power swelled from his master’s position to the south, and just as Bill shot a glance that way, white light exploded outward. Bill shielded his face, blocking out the blinding aura. When the shockwave hit his body, it knocked the breath from him for a mont, his core seizing. The surrounding gulls were thankfully unaffected, their cores nonexistent. Shaking his head as he stabilized himself, Bill couldn’t help but smile—it seed as though his master was enjoying himself.
***
As the bubble of pure white chi shot out from , it was like finally scratching an itch I’d been long ignoring. It was enjoyable to use my chi and I’d done so daily since my last awakening, but it had never felt anything like this. For the first ti, I truly understood that my chi wanted to be used, wanted to be expended. I was rely a vessel, a conduit for the chi held within to experience the world. Letting it out made feel... useful. Alive.
I could do more, I realized; I could better serve the universe by opening the gate even wider. With building euphoria urging on, I cracked it wider. The pure chi built, illuminating the surrounding grove and everyone in it.
I gave over control, letting the universe take hold.
***
Lord Tom Osnan, keeper of the grove and water-chi cultivator, had prepared the perfect trap.
Though his highness the king had been stricken with lancholy following the news of an outside force, it had filled Tom with nothing but glee. Over the course of his long life, there had been attempts by countless enemies to steal the kingdom’s power. Most of those misguided fools weren’t even cultivators, though. To the average person, challenging Gormona was akin to challenging the heavens, and every single one of the attempts had been snuffed out by the kingdom’s agents long before reaching his doorstep.
So, when multiple spirit beasts had awakened and joined so sort of alliance, even gaining enough power to generate a Domain, he wished them luck. He wanted their power to grow—needed their cultivation to advance.
When this lone cultivator appeared in the grove, it was a bitter joy. Excited as he was to spring his trap, the outside force hadn’t spent long enough cultivating to present the sort of threat he craved. The chi flowing from the young man before him was barely worth notice, only detectable because of Tom’s relative strength.
Most disappointing of all, the man’s chi seed unaspected. He hadn’t even cultivated long enough to specialize in an elental affinity.
Frankly, it was insulting.
A lesser man than Lord Tom Osnan would have stretched out the conflict and let the adolescent cultivator think he had a chance. A lesser man may have even guarded the grove by themselves without the aid of other cultivators. Tom, however, was no lesser man. He was a lord of Gormona and the keeper of the grove. It was his duty—his very purpose—to crush anyone foolish enough to stand against his kingdom. So, the trap had been prepared. Over half of Gormona’s cultivators had lain in wait for weeks, poised to strike the mont the enemy moved.
Still, Tom wasn’t against a little fun. He’d launched himself at the cultivator first, knowing that his strike would end the fight before it even began. As he glided over the grass toward the enemy, propelled by jets of water chi, a snarl crossed his face. The enemy cultivator was even more foolish than Tom had assud; he grinned back, not yet understanding that his demise was sealed.
Then, the bubble of white appeared.
Unaspected chi flew in every direction, the cultivator not even experienced enough to direct his attack. It was so pitiful that Tom almost felt sorry for the fool. An echo of the bubble’s power brushed up against him, making Tom raise an eyebrow. It had a decent amount of chi behind it, surprisingly. The moron must have shattered his core in panic, releasing enough chi all at once to rebuff the first wave of attacks. It was useless, of course; they’d just attack again. Tom considered pulling back and bracing himself, but imdiately dismissed it—the bubble of white didn’t present a threat. He extended his fist, prepared to break through it, but then another echo hit his awareness.
Though it was only a reflection of the bubble’s power, it was strong enough to make Tom’s core vibrate. His breath caught in his throat as if physically struck, and as his eyes refocused, they were drawn into the man before him. It didn’t make sense—he’d already shattered his core, hadn’t he? How was he releasing even more chi?
It increased again, hitting Tom so hard that his entire body was jolted back an inch. It was as if he were a mortal man that had struck a brick wall. His montum was arrested instantaneously. His instincts kicked in and he rerouted his chi, shooting himself back from the bubble. He didn’t have any contact points with the ground, so his retreat would be slow, but he should be able to get out of the way in ti to save himself-
The power doubled, tripled, doubled again, each strike hamring against Tom’s core. The white light was blinding now as it expanded from the intruder. He could still see the man the chi exuded from, still make out his face. And what Tom saw there made his blood freeze. The cultivator’s smile remained, not at all changing over the fraction of a second since Tom had launched himself forward. The eyes, though... they weren’t the eyes of a peasant.
They were the eyes of a king.
No, hethought, the ice in his veins crystalizing.
They were the eyes of a conqueror, soone with the utter confidence and surety that they could do as they pleased.
The bubble’s chi increased again, gaining so much strength that the surrounding air warped. The cultivator hadn’t shattered his core at all. That first increase in power, so strong that Tom had assud he had ruined his cultivation, was a re drop in the ocean. This man, this attacker, was no peasant. He was a wolf, a force of nature, that Tom had stumbled directly into the path of.
As the bubble of white burgeoned outward, Tom saw his death, and all he could do was watch.
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