Chapter 40:

Chapter 40

~~~~~Tai Su~~~~~

I can feel that something is wrong. Even as my friends and the civilians are leaving, even as my blood sings for combat, even as the vast majority of my conscious mind thinks it right, I know that what I am doing is not something I should be doing.

The water deer is doing something to me.

My eyes narrowed, the consciousness reacted to that, my body acting on the information the other part of me fed into it.

“Pheromones.” My lips said, using a language this world has most likely never seen.

It would explain the overpowering smell of roses, so this is how the thirst for combat feels? It smells soft, inviting… addicting, righteous, empowering and so much more. No wonder the cherries and the other animals went mad if this is what they are feeling every time.

Many animals have a secondary way of communicating, beyond sight, sound or even normal senses, that being pheromones, a concept I know no equivalent to in Imperial.

I’ve suspected that this was what I was sensing, but now as what I feel to be my soul has been driven off from the steering wheel of my body, it was up to my mind and body to act in whatever way the pheromones are driving me to act.

‘Mating pheromones. Bucks are driven wild during mating season and fight each other in duels until one wins. This creature did this to me-us, it drove me-us mad and made us take on a duel.’ I shouted.

Spirit-me could no longer influence things, it was up to flesh-me to hopefully deal with it, flesh me who’s now dealing with having his mind taken from him by battle pheromones and has absolutely no defense if the thing has more of them.

I am not surviving this am I?

My smile grew wider, my body moved in position and my hold on my spear grew firmer as it was pointed towards the deer.

‘Prepare to be turned into stew.’ My soul declared.

“Prepare to be turned into stew” My body mirrored.

Like hell I am letting this life end like this, I promised Bao I am getting her a family, I promised my parents I will return home and make life better, I promised to myself that this life will be one worth living. I am not letting it end at the fangs of what will be my next meal.

The water deer’s clicks mocked me and it started preparing itself, our grandstanding against one another now done. All that was left was battle.

The water deer jumped at a speed far in excess of what I could achieve, it’s hind legs producing a thunderous sound on the ground but I wasn’t the target, no it jumped to a tree?

‘So Huang’s voice can’t cause thunder.’ I wondered in amusement.

Unfortunately, his voice does bring the man trouble wherever he may be.

The water deer bounced off the tree, leaving behind another sound of thunder, but this time it jumped towards me, it’s fangs ready to stab me.

My body reacted fast, but instead of using it’s spear to stab through the animal that’s shorter than our spear is long it decided to deflect the attack.

The parry was at least done well, which is enough to wash away the shame of having such a pitiful body.

“That’s annoying.” My body mumbled, annoyance obvious in it’s tone and emotions.

It then proceeded to shame me further by launching a flurry of attacks on the creature, which the beast dodged.

‘Stop wasting energy, let it attack if you can’t finish it in one move.’ I transmitted to the annoying sack of useless flesh.

I could feel the blood vessels in our head hurt and heat up from our anger, mine from my body’s poor showing, and my body’s from my constant nagging.

It proceeded to do none of what I wanted it to do, instead it started launching a flurry of attacks as it started chasing the small beast.

Each of it’s hits were deflected by the fangs, dodged or turned into small cuts.

I could feel the strain in my body, and most importantly I could feel my body trying to get more Qi to empower itself, however little, which I was not providing.

‘We don’t have much Qi, keep it for when we need it, not for when you are angry.’ I said.

It’s only answer was a shout as it redoubled it’s efforts, both in attacking and in trying to draw upon Qi, but I was controlling both the Dantian and Meridians still. My body could not use Qi, I needed to release some to it and I’ll only do that when I felt was needed.

“Raargh!” The body shouted and redoubled its efforts to kill the water deer.

I felt my body anger, both at the fact it could not control its Qi and the fact its prey refused to stay still. Each stab was stronger than the last, each attempt at a cut wilder, and despite not managing to hit it properly, my body was still more skilled than the deer.

The cuts were mounting and I could smell it’s fear, it wanted to run or perhaps get some room.

This gave me an idea, a wild idea to get my body to listen to me and stop wasting its energy.

‘I must conserve my energy. If I don’t, I won’t be able to catch it when the coward tries to run.’ I thought.

I prayed to whatever it would listen, the Ancestors, the Empress, the Spirits, I even threw a prayer to God, to hopefully get my body to listen and start conserving our energy. It’s wild swings were tiring us and I had a feeling we were tiring ourselves faster than the water deer.

That seemed to work, my body stopped swinging as wildly, its eyes narrowed and movements became more measured.

The thunder returned in the space we’ve made for it, but it was softer now, closer to a thump than the rumbling sound from before.

We looked into its eyes and we could feel caution. Its ears started flickering and eyes were moving wildly as it sought to flee.

‘Sway, pretend to weakness and skewer it when it think we are weak.’ I implored.

We needed to draw it back in because if we don’t kill it, then it will return. All enemies you do not vanquish when given the chance will return when you least expect it and make you regret any mercy you might have given them.

Better to deal with them decisively, lest you regret it.

My body listened to my pleas and I released Qi into its muscles to strengthen them in preparation for the deer’s attack.

The sway in my body mimicked tiredness, my mouth panted in tiredness and my spear stopped being a spear and became a walking stick. To the world it looked as if I had grown tired and could barely stand, but my muscles were prepared, my Qi settled deep into them as I waited for the buck to take the bait.

I could smell it, the thing thought it had gained an advantage and it made a click of glee as it looked at me.

I hid my smile as I steadied my breath. A single move will determine the result, all I needed was to prepare properly and we will be eating venison tonight.

The thunder returned and the swaying of my body stopped and in less than a heartbeat, the facade of a tired warrior which had overextended itself was gone. All that was left was a young warrior of the lemon banner and it’s spear ready to turn its prey into food.

All but a few slivers of my Qi were spent strengthening my body and preparing for the water doe to strike, and strike it did.

First it jumped on a tree behind me and I turned as fast I could towards it and as I turned thunder cried across the forest louder than ever before as the water deer put it’s all into this attack.

A smile split my face as I saw the thing throw itself at me and my spear met its chest and the thing died.

My spear did not hit its ribs, instead it slid in-between them straight into it’s flesh and what I assume to be its heart before moving past it and hitting it’s spine.

The impact hit me and was stopped by my spear hitting bone, but the strength transferred still in my body, the laws of physics being able to be bent only so much by the first tier beast and myself as I flew and fell on my back.

“Ah!” I cried out in pain.

The separation between soul and body was broken by the pain I felt and two once again became one.

“Damned creature.” I said as I looked on the creature bleeding on me.

I moved the corpse from my body and rose up looking down on it and then on my very bloodstained clothes. I scowled at the fallen creature as it cost me a good shirt.

I hope it tastes good at least, because it cost me a change of clothes as I am not wasting water to clean my shirt.

I went down and proceeded to try and remove my spear from the corpse.

“Stupid beasts, they get the ability to thunder across the earth and strange mind control abilities and I get to smell emotions and be debilitated by them. The Heavens truly are unfair.” I muttered as I pulled the spear out of the water doe’s corpse.

At least the spear was still in one piece.

I drove the spear into the ground and removed my bloody shirt and used the still dry parts of it to clean the stains of blood from my body and pants as well as my spear.

“Now to wait for the others to return and turn you into a good meal.” I declared and proceed to sit down.

Hopefully it won’t take too long, the fight made me hungry.

~~~~Bao Xiaoli~~~~

Mother told me I should not let my man out of my sight for too long.

‘Men get up to foolish things without their women to tell them no Bao, don’t let Tai Su out of your sight or he’ll go hunt dragons and when he succeeds he’ll find something worse to hunt.’ She told me once when I was twelve.

I didn’t understand the words then. What could be worse than a dragon and why should I want Tai to hunt them?

I certainly was glad when Tai Su and the others returned with the water deer, Tai even gifted me one of its fangs even and I kissed him deeply for it. Then he started telling me of his fight with it and my smile died.

What do you mean the deer took your mind? What do you mean it made you fight it alone even as your mind was screaming at you to ambush it with the others?

How can a deer do that? Why can it do that?

I trust Tai Su and the thought of him lying to me was unthinkable, but the creature was too strange and the idea he would leave go hunt more of them filled me we dread.

“Never do that again Tai!” I all but shouted at him.

He had the good sense to look embarrassed still.

“Not like I wanted to do it. I was screaming at myself to stop being stupid, but my body would not listen. It was a strange thing to experience.” He answered.

“Beasts get the ability to use Qi techniques early, but they don’t get more than what they start with and thank the Heavens because external techniques are things humans get only at the third tier.” Ya Xue said from my side.

“You knew beasts could get abilities?” I asked accusingly.

I did not appreciate my junior hiding things from me! Not when it could Tai and the rest of us!

“Yes? The information was in the material we studied to be allowed to attempt the Trials. Humans learn to use internal techniques at tier two and external ones at tier three and can learn as many as we desire. Beasts on the other hand get theirs at tier one, but are weak and don’t get many of them. I thought this was common knowledge” She declared with a nonchalant shrug.

Why is she so unbothered!? Tai could have died! Tai could have died and left me alone. I shivered in fear and dread. Tai put his big, warm arm around me to calm me down and shortly after I started calming down.

“Ya Xue, only you and the Lins come from the city, we have no pre-trial examinations. In the village it is difficult to even pass the written Trial due to how little access to information we have. Do you know what abilities each beast receives?” Tai Su asked, far more calmly than I was feeling he should be.

“Oh, I think you mentioned that your written exams were easier, but I don’t remember you saying that you don’t do pre-examinations, is it truly that bad? Also no, each technique animals develop is unique to them. Deer more often than not develop techniques that assist in movement, but the exact details are not something we were tested on so I didn’t study that.” She answered with a shrug.

So the reason she said nothing, was because she thought we knew. Somehow that made me feel worse.

“There were three trial sessions for roughly thirty people, I think around ten of us passed the written trial.” Tai Su answered.

“We were the only ones to get a perfect score among them either, the examiner said it was rare among the villagers and townsfolk.” I continued.

I could have injected some pride in that statement, but I was still rattled by Tai Su’s tale. Also there was little to be proud of apparently. To city folk the written trial is mostly a formality and getting anything but a perfect score was a sign of failure.

The test itself was… not difficult, but I wouldn’t call it easy. There were points where I had to guess the answer because I didn’t know the answer and others where I was lucky to remember the answer, because I did not have the time to study as much as I should have. The fields don’t care about my future, they still need work done.

“So what’s the plan now? Do we stay with the group?” Haoran Lin asked and tried to divert the conversation away from its current topic.

Mei Lin probably instructed him to do so, I could see it on his face that he did not like asking that question.

I looked down at the food, I already knew the answer to that. The answer was that we would be leaving tomorrow morning and all of us knew or suspected it.

However, his words made me think of my second junior and I proceeded to ignore the following conversation.

Mei Lin was an ice blooded, a creature without virtue, without any compunctions, taboos, regrets or loyalty. They are creatures of utility and thought and to keep one near you is to run the risk that if one is to ever make their existence even marginally less useful than troublesome for even a day then they will find their back filled with daggers.

And Tai Su managed to get said woman to be loyal to him. The sect itself too has a way to keep them loyal judging by the fact they have special cultivation manuals prepared for them.

And now Mei Lin is my junior together with Ya Xue. How do I deal with that?

It is the duty of the woman to keep the house in order, but how do I do that when the only one that can keep that woman loyal to the household is Tai Su? I’ll have to talk to her and Tai about how her being part of the household will work until she fixes herself.

At least Ya Xue is easier to deal with, as Yu Zong decided to be selfish and was not willing to share Da Xiu with anyone else. I would normally look down on such selfishness but this time it was to my advantage.

“No, we won’t bother with the Cherries unless they attack us, we already have a big enough issue to handle with us needing to find the sect.” Tai Su said, and his words pulled me out of my thoughts.

“What do you mean, don’t we have it on the map?” I asked, a feeling of dread creeping down my spine.

That map will haunt me for decades, it was too useful to ignore and yet there were enough issues that something always cropped up that made me doubt myself.

Tai Su huffed and ruffled my hair lightly.

“We know where it is yes, but not how to reach it. I’m not sure if any of you bothered to look at the mountain now that we’re in a clearing, but regardless of where we are exactly, we can see both mountains and the sect should be visible on either. It isn’t visible, both mountains are noticeably empty of any man-made structure on the surface.” He replied.

I looked at the mountain and now I recalled that he was right, there were no buildings on each. My eyes only confirmed what I remembered.

‘Why can’t anything about this Trial be simple?’ I cried silently to myself.

The only visual expression of my emotions was a simple sigh.

The trial was supposed to have us learn how to cultivate, then trek through the woods managing our supplies and being wary of animals. Instead, we need to deal with our minds being taken from us, animals with demonic powers, deranged bannermen that would probably want to kill us on sight, ice blooded being added to my household, and I also need to teach civilians how to use weapons because none of them thought to learn when trying to join a sect.

“Yes, the sect is underground according to the texts. Most of them were built like that to get cultivators more used with fighting and navigating underground to be able to better invade the Spider Holds.” Cheng Lin said.

I am starting to hate the old archive too now. Years ago I saw it as a near endless source of knowledge, more than I could ever read truly, but little of it was useful.

Tai said that the knowledge in it is shallow, but I didn’t understand it then, not truly, as one could drown in the scrolls and books and yet I now do. The examples Tai gave me then, told me that the knowledge there was incomplete, but that it was still better that nothing.

The texts said that the sects are where the most elite warriors rest, it waxed poetically about how well defended they are, of how strong their defenders are and of the nobility inherent in them.

None of the texts I read let me to ever believe that the sects were underground. I imagined them to be vast fortresses carved into the edges of cliffs or on top of mountains, not holes in the ground. If the other first and second tier texts are as useful, then those that wrote them might as well used the paper to start a fire and the ink to squash it.

It would have been a more useful use of resources than writing that garbage.

I breathed out in frustration, a move mirrored by Tai, Yu Zong and Da Xiu. It seemed their town’s archives weren’t much better than ours.

“We’ll need to find a path towards it, or some tell-tale sign of where it is.” Da Xiu said, his voice thick with frustration.

“Yes and that's why I can’t be bothered to join the hunt for the cherries, or really care much about what the civilians are getting up to. We have little more than a week to look over the mountain and search it and hopefully we can find the hole in the ground we’re meant to find. If we’re lucky it’s obvious and we might finish a week earlier, and if we’re not we might not find it in time.” Tai Su answered, his own voice thick with frustration.

That was a much better reason to not bother with the other Aspirants than mine, I just hate how crowded and disorganized they make everything feel.

“Do we bother with the rotation?” I asked.

We were away from the other groups that were celebrating their latest good fortune, instead taking our own share of the stew and settling away from everyone else and the distant celebrations. The civilians however were a threat, one we needed to consider seriously now as they had ranged weapons, spears, axes, javelins and more.

We made those weapons for them, even taught them how to use them somewhat and I knew very well that it meant little.

We are strangers to them, we are not a part of their struggles and we still hold resources they might need and all it takes is for a few of them to think themselves entitled to what we have or think they would server better if they were spread around and we would find ourselves in danger.

All it takes is one idiot to wash away the good will we created today after all.

“Yes, either myself or Ya Xue will be awake at any given time to ensure we get a warning in case they decide to start anything. Ya Xue you can go to sleep first, the rest must separate yourselves in three groups of two in whatever way you want.” Tai Su ordered.

It was said in a friendly matter, but all of us knew quite well that doing as he said was incredibly important. Our lives depended on it after all.

“I’ll take Mei Lin.” I declared.

Might as well talk to her about her exact position in the household.

The other two groups split about in the only way they could, Da Xiu and Yu Zong on one side and Haoran Lin and Cheng Lin on the other.

“We’ll take first shift.” Haoran Lin declared.

None of us had anything against it and so we each started going to sleep. I proceeded to go hug Ya Xue who yelped cutely at my touch. We might not be in the same watch group now, but that was no reason not to sleep near one another.

The poor girl was still unused to sudden intimacy being directed towards her.

“Good now stay still my cute junior I need a good pillow to sleep well and you are the best pillow in this accursed forest.” I declared proudly.

The other woman giggled at my words and there was no hesitation in her next words.

“Yes senior.” She replied with a smile as she returned my hug as both of rested on the blanket.

I was already asleep by the time it ended.