Chapter

No matter that he surrendered to oblivion, Alex’s enchanted bed allowed him to control his dreams, even enter the dreams of another. It was part of how he was able to project himself to Hao Chan’s side while undergoing the crucible of his own reforging, and hers as well.

But so too he could allow himself to just drift off, dreaming whatever flickering broken dream his brain chose to touch upon as it rejuvenated itself fully from ordeals suffered and trials endured.

Which was exactly what Alex did, taking advantage of the bed’s spiritual bonuses, sensing at last when he was fully recovered after what seemed an endless series of dreams as quickly forgotten as they were viscerally lived that were the simple products of a mind rejuvenating itself. Such that by the time he was done flying in giant icecream cone and singing camp songs with Hao Chan, Yinzi, and all his friends and lovers of countless lives before, he found himself feeling more clear-headed and focused than he had in a very long time.

It was only then, Alex fully self-aware and on the cusp of waking once more, that he dared to embrace the blessings of his Silver tier quarters to the fullest. Deliberately plunging back into the depths of nod, dreaming visceral dreams of deliberate focus and design, recalling in as much detail as he could the fiercely intense training sessions with Hao Chan and Yinzi, stalking and hunting and being ambushed by the predators in the Netherhells below, and his own fierce battles within the forest, hours or days ago, viscerally recalling the sweet hot surge of exultation he felt when his Qi infused weapons and limbs struck his targets at just the right angle to slip past ribs and pierce hearts for near instantaneous kills, infusing his weapons with unimaginable potency, and his mind with the ideals of perfection.

Until his glorious sage-like insights had finally begun to fade, his focus wobble, and a single series of tiny mistakes nearly led to his death.

Springing off his branch just a heartbeat before his was fully in tune with his surroundings.

A discordant note becoming a cacophony of regret when a too expensive ko-naginata made of exquisitely fine spring steel and skywood struck Alex’s suddenly springing target at just the wrong angle. Forcing wood to twist and steel to bow as hardest bone caught and deflected the tip of a blade that then shattered with an Adderstrike that yanked Alex further off alignment, his first fumble with that skill in months.

And that, of course, was when death struck.

As would always be the case.

The glorious victor of a thousand battles needed only one moment of weakness to be but a notch in their opponent’s belts and food for their foe’s bellies.

And how awful and furious with himself he had felt even as his foe snapped his neck and sent him flying, Alex’s gorget and helmet alone saving him from drowning forever in the River of Souls below.

Death coming so close from a chance encounter he had pushed himself too hard for too long to realize could spell his doom like any other.

He’d like to think the spear that dazed hands jerked up in time for the fearsome alpha’s lunge, tingling with potential like a rod to the heavens, would have spared him from the most horrific of endings.

But he could never be sure.

For a Silver Giant’s Earth Qi infused quarterstaff had forever left unknowan the awful question… would Alex’s shaft have pierced his foe’s heart, or would he even be now embracing eternal torment in that beast’s belly? And as to whether or not Eternal Fox and his gorget would have allowed his mangled remains to survive for any length of time was a question too horrifying to contemplate, so he didn’t

Instead, he force himself to accept the debt he owed Zha Shi. A debt he was determined to pay.

Before forcing himself to replay those woodland battles endlessly, re-imagining a dozen similar scenarios.

Now perfectly visualizing just how he should have sprung to strike his foe and infuse his third ko-naginata with vital spiritual energy, and just how to spin to meet the deadliest of threats head on… or spring for the trees and not meet it at all.

Even in his dreams, he meditated upon the puzzle of it. The way the monstrous beast had coaxed trees and shadows to cloak him so utterly that he was nigh undetectable before leaping for his kill.

But over time, Alex thought he understood. The subtle shifts in vibration and tremor in the trees nearby. The deadly void of muffled sound that, to the most highly attuned hears, would register as the loudest, deadliest sound of all.

And over time, Alex thought he understood.

At least as much as someone born without the blood of kitsune or woodland predators in his veins ever could.

Insight check made!

Congratulations! Days of obsessing over a battle that nearly cost you your life have made you just the tiniest bit better at sensing your long overdue death. Lesser Shadow Affinity bonus has been raised from +5 to +6!

And then Alex were pulled into dreams that were not his own.

Chapter

“You’re hurting her!” sobbed Hao Chan as she struggled with the silver manacles at feet and ankles, splayed on a slab in an underground stone chamber. And only the fact that her clothes were intact and the slab lined with cotton, even a pillow for her head, kept Alex from flying into a rage.

Then Jidihu’s fierce, cold features—elegant, beautiful, and supremely deadly—came into view.

Hao Chan sobbed and winched her eyes shut.

But the deadly words did not doom her, merely informed.

“Your spirit sister is asleep. She feels nothing. Probably dreaming of the foolish idiot who nearly destroyed you both.”

Jidihu sighed, gazing at the other girl secured to a rack of silver, apparently fast asleep with an expression of blissful repose as the silver-haired Wujen who had dueled Alex and lost, whispered words of dark enchantment over the comatose girl.

The former head of Yidushi’s ancient order of rogues and assassins gave a bitter shake of her head. “I was wrong to think Alex would make a good mate for the both of you. He’s too dangerous. Too wild. Too much like Yinzi’s father, enticing you both on a madman’s path, with no more care or concern than WiFu ever showed for your beau.”

Hao Chan blinked, now fully taking in the hypnotic glare of the kitsune before him. “What happened to Alex?” treacherous lips whispered, surrendering to her weakness.

But the powerful mistress who could butcher her in a heartbeat just flashed a sad smile.

“Have you never read the tales starring the idiot who would claim your heart? How many have ended in triumph, and how many in tragedy? At least for him. The fox always manages to escape, and a city, a town, or perhaps a single small family might be praying to a new patron when tragedy is averted when the fox’s wild adventure is done. But Alex?” She sighed. “He rarely lives to see the final act of their plays. And still, like a puppy, or perhaps a fool, he never hesitates to walk beside his master, every time he is reforged.”

Lady Shi’s sonorous chant built to a crescendo and she placed both hands upon a body now glowing a sparkling collage of steel and amber with a sheen of absolute blackness.

A scream cut through the air.

“Yinzi!” Hao Chan cried out, struggling against her bindings.

Jidihu gave a sad shake of her head. “I wish you would just accept that this was for the best.”

Then her kitsune ears perked, tuffs standing on end as she darted around, gazing with wide-eyes at the sight of her Wujen seizing on the ground, eyes black as midnight, screams ripping from her throat.

And as for Yinzi, Hao Chan gave a relieved sigh to find her closest friend, a girl she now felt almost as close to as the man she yearned to claim, slept on, her flawless skin a normal pale white hue once more.

And for a heartbeat, Jidihu favored her daughter with a look of absolute despair, before picking up the spasming Wujen and dashing out of the chamber.

Hao Chan squinched her eyes shut, she and her closest friend together and alone at last, and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do against the tyrants determined to rule their lives.

Sobs that jolted Alex out of his bed, knowing instantly what he had to do.

Chapter

Party link affirmed. You are presently partied with Yinzi (comatose) + Hao Chan (immobilized).

You have synergized spirit link with party link.

You have successfully shifted interface point (Kitsune Hideout Arena) to interface point (Underground Torture Chamber)

You have opened 1 Golden gate! (2 remaining)

And over the longest fifteen seconds of his life, Alex formed a door with his mind, leading from his luxurious quarters to a room that even Alex’s interface considered a torture chamber, for all that it was a well-ventilated domed room, airy and spacious and no doubt perfect for Wujen rites of one sort or another.

Which Alex spared only the briefest of glances for as, heart hammering, he dared to enter the heart of the deadliest guild of assassins and cutthroats he could imagine, instantly sensing Hao Chan’s surprised, disbelieving gasp as he cautiously entered the room.

“Alex. Alex, oh gods, you’re actually here. Alex, please… you have to get out. You don’t understand, you have to get out!”

Concentration skillcheck made!

Alex remained perfectly still. Doing nothing to alarm the stalking death quietly approaching.

Second by second, until Alex got the second notice he had been waiting for, another too long fifteen seconds passing as Alex innocently shifted, forcing his would-be predator to shift her stalkin movements, ebony hued serpentine blade ready for the kill.

“Alex!”

Bullrush!

And before the would-be assassin could blink, Alex had spun and struck, near superhuman speed and Silver tiered strength making the parrying and subsequent disarmament of a poisoned longknife nearly effortless, particularly when his limbs were covered in Dark Qi.

Finesse check made! Unified Martial Arts skillcheck made!

You have successfully disarmed Kitsune Assassin!

Find weakness skillcheck made!

It was almost nothing to flow behind his foe as she gasped with pain-filled surprise, his arms clamping around her neck in a Hadake Jime the now desperately squirming kitsune fought against for a handful of panicked seconds before finally slumping… Alex only holding it for several more moments before rushing at a mad pace for the exit and throwing her through.

Second Golden door is now impervious to all those not of your party!

He was relieved to see her take a shuddering gasp and scream, getting up on wobbly feet and glaring his way. “You’ll pay for that, outsider!”

Alex tossed a small vial through the gate she couldn’t see, between the bars of the steel door she could, which she slammed closed with a fierce smile.

“You might want to rub that on your neck. Just in case you suffer swelling.”

Hard dark eyes glared into Alex’s own. “I can’t wait to see my mistress take your head!”

Alex just gazed calmly back. “Please tell Jidihu I’m sorry it’s come to this. My only goal is to help her daughter ascend as far and high as she possibly can. But since I can’t have your mistress’s pet wujen killing my disciples…”

Alex walked over to a wide-eyed Hao Chan still desperately struggling to free herself from the manacles.

“Alex, please, we have to get out of here now. Jidihu’s changed! She’s so angry, so dark…”

Her words were abruptly cut off when hungry lips latched upon her own, her cry transforming into something else entirely as Alex slid his hands down to her manacles, and set her free.

Qi Perception successfully maps out internal lock. Dark Qi Projection successfully aligns pins.

Congratulations! Lockpicking is now Rank 2!

Bright amber eyes widened, and never had Alex found Hao Chan more exquisitely beautiful, more ravishing than he did at that moment, almost certain he could feel his Lower Dantian squeezing uncomfortably just at the sight of her, so bad was his need.

The fiercely blushing cheeks and the way she bit her lip made it clear he wasn’t the only one feeling more than was good for them. “Alex! Heaven’s mercy, it’s good to see you!”

Alex smiled, carefully unlocking her ankle manacles, Dark Qi both excellent for diffusing both wards and traps as well as popping open locks.

“And now you’re free,” he said somewhat breathlessly, lifting her off the concrete slab of a table that had been her unwanted resting place for far too long.

Hao Chan, now exactly as tall as he was with long legs that went on forever, just smiled. “I won’t be truly free til we hit Silver.” She swallowed. “So, what’s the plan, hero of my heart? Beg Jidihu for mercy? I hope not. She’s seemed less and less like the merciful type since the moment Yinzi and I, well…”

“Woke up from the trance of training and cultivation I sort of immersed us in for a good two weeks?”

She furrowed her brow, favoring him with an arch look. “Yes, Alex. That. Do you mind telling me what that was about?”

Alex winked. “Later, Chan. Just as soon as we figure out how to free Yinzi of her stupor and get out of here.”

“Where are we going?”

“Through there,” he said, making sure the portal to his private little world was now fully visible to the love of his life, as well as Yinzi, once she woke up.

Hao Chan’s eyes widened. She turned back, flashing Alex a beautiful smile. “Alex, it’s a palace, sparkling like a vision in a faerie tale!”

Alex grinned. “It is pretty epic, isn’t it? And I can’t wait for you to taste the food! Hold on just a minute...”

It took only seconds for Alex to free Yinzi of her manacles, pleased by his rapidly growing sense of how locks worked and how to pop them open with a minimal amount of effort, using Dark Qi in ways he never would have dreamed, months ago.

Congratulations! Lockpicking is now Rank 3!

“Now it’s just about waking her up,” Alex said, frowning down at the girl now sleeping in his arms.

He looked up at the girl of his dreams. “Do you know what she was drugged with?”

Hao Chan sighed and shook her head. “No, Alex. I’m afraid I don’t.” She swallowed. “I know it was strong. Incredibly strong. But Yinzi and I have been walking slightly different paths through your tome, absorbing things at different rates. So whereas she’ll happily stick her hand in acid, an act I wouldn’t dare… poisons hardly effect me at all,” she whispered, before lowering her head in shame. “I was just so terrified of Jidihu staring at me like a predator before her chosen prey that I couldn’t even move when she bound me!”

Alex flashed a sympathetic smile. “I don’t blame you. Not a bit. Now no jealousy, okay?”

And before Hao Chan could do more than nod… before fixing him with a killing glare Alex could now feel cutting the back of his neck, he had just given Yinzi what was perhaps her first and only kiss.

“Let go of my daughter if you wish to see the next sunrise, Alex Hammer,” said a voice cold as death, glaring at them from the prison door of thin steel bars that hid nothing, and how grateful Alex was that he had taken additional measures as well.

Alex gave a polite nod, and slowly stood up.

Biochemical Mastery skillcheck: success! You now fully understand the innerworkings of the poison Shadowsleep.

Jidihu’s glare was a painful thing to see, Alex thought, regret more than fear spearing his heart.

“If you think I will ever forgive you, daring to kidnap my daughter…”

“Agreed,” Alex hastily said, raising his hand. “And that’s something I would never do.”

The deadly assassin looked only the tiniest bit mollified by his response. “You still committed a crime I can scarce forgive, destroying my daughter’s most sacred gift, cleaving free her very shadow!”

Alex just sighed, shaking his head. “You know that’s not what happened,” Alex said, looking Jidihu dead in the eye while sticking his finger between Yinzi’s soft, rosebud lips.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Giving her the antidote,” Alex said, while Yinzi coughed and gasped for long anxious moments before finally letting loose a choked scream, turning to glare at her mother.

“I can’t believe you did that!” she shrieked, the look of hurt betrayal in her eyes enough to make even her jaded mother flinch with shame.

“Yinzi, I—”

“You could have killed me! I was struggling just to breathe, but you were so blind to my plight that you just let your stupid little clown chant and sing and stick stupid talismans that didn’t do anything but slide off my impossibly slick and absolutely perfect Pearlescent sheen of pure Midnight Qi with shiny Wood and Metal layers that get stronger and stronger the more I train, the more I tighten and condense my foundation. But you can’t understand that, you refuse to understand that, because I’m not you!” Yinzi screamed. “And I can never be you! Or my birthmother. Or any of you!”

She wiped eyes red with tears, just glaring at her mother who had lost the heart to even raise her head. “I was dying! I couldn’t breathe! If I hadn’t known Eternal Fox… if I hadn’t slowed down my metabolism so all this seemed like an awful, never-ending nightmare… I’d be dead! And it would have been your fault! Not Alex, but yours!”

And now both Jidihu and Ning Jing were gazing at Yinzi with horrified regret as their daughter glared at them both, before turning to Alex. “I assume you have a way out of here?”

Alex nodded toward the gate. “Yes, but I really think we need—”

“We’re done here! Hao Chan? Come on!” She grabbed her friend’s arm, gave her parents one final glare, and stalked to the golden portal, before her features widened in a bright child-like smile as she stepped through, now squealing and pointing to a dozen things at once, becoming the animated Yinzi Alex and Hao Chan knew and loved the moment they crossed that barrier between worlds.

Alex and the two JiangHu assassins stared at each other for long moments.

It was all Alex could do, not to shrivel under the weight of their unforgiving glares.

In an eyeblink, Ning Jing tore free the metal bars of the door supposedly locking Alex in, as if it were no more than rice paper.

Only to find her snarling progress stopped by an impenetrable barrier all her screams and furious curses could do nothing to budge.

“You stole our daughter!” she sobbed. Wiping away hot furious tears, screaming her hate.

Jidihu said nothing.

Alex slowly shook his head. “I did nothing but free her from the chains you had placed upon her, neutralizing the neurotoxins that had nearly killed her. And I have done nothing else, save help her find a path forward. A way to excel as a Kitsune not cursed and damned by a thousand false starts that go absolutely nowhere, trapped tomes containing twisted paths that Shalu and his ilk have purposely poured into the world, like landmines with which they hoped to destroy countless Kitsune cultivation bases.”

Words filled with bitterness that was more hunch than anything else, given added weight by flashes of memory that were not quite his own. Visions of broken girls and bitter tears that he nonetheless knew to be true. Acts of sheer malice that fit that bloated monster perfectly, for Alex knew the depths of Shalu’s petty spite and inconceivable hatred more than anyone still alive. He was damn sure of that as well.

He took a deep breath and spoke on. “To the best of my knowledge, in addition to the tome WiFu and I forged together somewhere between ascension and hell, there lies but one additional tome containing the Element of Shadow written centuries ago that is pristine and uncorrupted, that might be of use to Yinzi, all on its own. Lost in an ancient city countless miles away. And even if I knew the exact location, it still might take me a century to uncover.” Alex flashed a bleak smile. “Somehow, knowing Yinzi, I don’t think we have that kind of time. She dared to embrace Silver Swan long before I guided her footsteps along the Pearlescent Path, and it will be a miracle if she holds off from forbidden fruit for even a couple more years, let alone the time it normally takes anyone to reach Silver.”

“I’d rip off your head if I didn’t know you were right,” Ning Jing hissed, her glare alone near freezing Alex where he stood. And it was Jidihu who took a deep, stilling breath, eyes still crackling with ire, but her voice as well-modulated as ever.

“Then please explain to me why my Yinzi can’t simply make use of your wonderfully clever cultivation tome that actually incorporates Shadow? Or is it because it is presently in a certain princess’s possession?”

Alex flashed a regretful smile. “I will tell you a secret for the sake of a girl I cherish, and friendships perhaps forever lost. And I will trust you with it, regardless. That particular tome was written by WiFu as much as I. I, mostly as a catalyst of suffering…”

“As you always have been,” murmured Jidihu, smiling sweetly. “Do go on.”

“Fire and Earth, Metal and Shadow. Those four elements alone does WiFu’s tome grant illumination to any reader. And for any Kitsune with that particular configuration, the tome will take them just as far as their potential allows. Even to the heights of Jade. It will also have precious insights, but no perfect path forward, for any kitsune with a different configuration, so long as Shadow reigns supreme. But for a girl like Yinzi, gifted with the blessing and bane of all three Dark Qi elements, not just Shadow, I fear it will do very little indeed.”

Alex paused, taking in Jidihu’s piercing stare. At least she was willing to listen. Whereas Ning Jing, on the other hand, still looked like she wanted to tear his throat out.

“But it’s even worse for Yinzi than that. Because her dark trio is balanced by only two Light Qi aspects. And Metal, as you know, is toxic to Wood, requiring very specialized refining cultivation techniques. Techniques no one ever developed for a Kitsune, let alone one trying to balance the gloom of Shadow, Darkest Destruction, and the twisting fabric of Fate, all at once.”

Jidihu’s eyes flashed crimson and jade. Windows into a soul filled with fire, fury, and despair. “So, what you’re saying is that with only a single academic semester under your belt, you saw fit to both diagnose and treat my daughter with the most unorthodox and insane cultivation techniques imaginable!”

Alex said nothing for long moments, just holding their gazes. “According to the rules this universe follows, Water is in harmony with both Metal and Wood. And by following a path of compression, one that foregoes strands, fibers, cords, and cables of tension to hold a hundred techniques over a Golden core altogether, a path that instead builds upon a single pristine ideal from which a core is forged… I was able to fuse all three of her Dark gifts into a liquid medium so potent that she alone, out of all those in the realm of the living, might one day walk by my side upon the River of Souls.”

Jidihu blanched. And for the first time since meeting her, he saw genuine horror upon her features.

“No!” Ning Jing hissed. “Do you even know what you are saying? You speak of abominations! No mortal can survive the realm of the dead. To touch those waters directly is to drown endlessly in their depths before all memories are wiped clean and you awaken in your mother’s arms with the screams of all your sins tormenting your freshly born soul. And did a child not forget their sins and torments before they learn to speak once more…” she shuddered. “Not even the gods dare take those waters lightly!”

Alex flashed a cold, cold smile. “I know. It’s their one weakness. And Yinzi, whether you’re willing to accept it or not, is as much divine as she is mortal. Now, do either of you know any other path forward that won’t poison her Wood, or otherwise cripple her?”

“That you would even dare to say such things allowed!” whispered a horrified Jidihu.

Alex shrugged. “What lair could possibly be more shrouded in Shadow than that controlled by Yidushi’s deadliest assassins, the secret shadow head of the JiangHu chapter as well?”

“The gods above, you fool!”

“See nothing past the twin fogs of Fate and Folly their own desperation put into play.”

He said nothing as they gazed at him with looks of horrified awe, allowing them to fill the silence.

Because there was nothing they could say, save the obvious.

“Her shadow is gone!” Screamed Ning Jing.

Alex nodded. “And her cultivation base is stable. More than stable, it’s strong. Stronger than any amount of steel could hope to nick or scratch. Strong enough to resist even a Silver Wujen’s attempts to corrode and destroy her, and she has only just begun her journey.”

He gazed at them both for long moments, before bowing solemnly and low. “I regret the discord that now lies between us. Your friendship would mean the world to me. But until Yinzi is ready to forgive… my gate is closed to you.” He flashed a sad smile at their looks of mortification and bitter regret.

“But knowing Yinzi as well as I do, she might have completely forgotten and forgiven inside a week. If, by that time, you are willing to swear an oath to cause no deliberate injury, death, theft, or destruction, save for self-defense, accidents, or training, but absolutely not out of malice… my door will be open to you both. For all that I know that here and now, you could both kill me with ease.”

Alex dipped his head one final time and turned to leave.

“Alex, wait!”

He froze and turned around, almost surprise by the anxious tone he heard in Jidihu’s voice. “Please, at least tell us this. Where did you take my baby?”

Alex blinked, then shook his head. “I didn’t take her anywhere. It was entirely Yinzi’s choice. But I can tell you this. She has taken her first steps within a fresh new realm filled with more spiritual herbs and resources than you can imagine, with a storybook palace that truly is a magical wonder.” He flashed a rueful smile. “And getting very, very crowded. And remembering what I now do about just how vindictive certain players are, maybe I’ve been putting off certain improvements for far too long.”

Jidihu just blinked, a look of awed confusion so strange to upon her normally confident features. “Alex, what exactly are you saying?”

Alex winked. “Have you ever wanted to forge your own realm out of the bedrock of infinite possibilities? Turns out you can, if you don’t mind tearing free the beating Soul Stones of your enemies.”

Jidihu froze, a look of stunned disbelief upon her features. “My husband’s forbidden art… countless years spent enticing, seducing, and corroding our greatest foe for one glorious dark act that was the key to my mate’s ascension, and what I fear terribly might be his damnation, for all that he now blazes with a Golden core.”

Alex nodded. “I know. I was there. The pawn you used to make it all possible. Remember?”

Jidihu shook her head, gazing at Alex with a look that sent chills down his spine. “There is no way you could have learned that art.”

“Not even I would dare embrace that art!” Ning Jing hissed. “My bones already so heavy with sin. And I’m the one who forged his path!”

Jidihu nodded. “All three of us are, or were, deepest Silver. With decades spent triangulating our path. And you, my dear mad boy who is as much friend as foe, have only walked the cultivator’s path for a handful of seasons. How could you possibly…”

Alex flashed a sad smile. “What can I say? Panheu taught his disciple many, many valuable lessons for the precious season I served as a catalyst for his ascension. I suppose he equally served as a catalyst for my own. And I will never be your enemy, Jidihu. I hope you know that in your heart, at least.”

With those words he turned to the rift and closed it behind them, but not before Jidihu’s parting words caressed his ears.

“Make my daughter into a cultivator worthy of your daring. Forge her into a titan even the gods would fear! Do this, and we will forgive all your sins, and happily allow you our daughter’s heart! But should you be found wanting, should my daughter fall to your folly, best you fear the shadows all your days, for they will be clamoring for your soul!”