London, 1703

A chill swept through the capital streets, but the incoming winter wasn’t harsh enough to force the local commoners into their homes. Even at this late hour men wondered the streets, some with their heads down walking with purpose, while others drunkenly sang and proclaimed their prowess for all to hear. All this combined made it the perfect time to move if you weren’t looking to attract attention. Slipping into a crowd of people leaving a tavern at closing, one man had his hood raised. The arms wrapped around his hunched body made it clear he was feeling the cold, and he was easily dismissed as another elderly fool trying to avoid a nagging wife at home. If one was motivated to follow him, they would have been shocked when instead of stumbling into the slums like so many others at this time of night, he instead made his way for the inner city. Even stranger, he did not head for one of the gates, but instead the man walked straight up to the wall itself. It had been 15 years since the British forces had sacked the island of Tianhui, and yet the secrets they had uncovered were still hoarded by the noble classes. The common classes would whisper tales, but even those that had seen the acts in person did not really understand them. Therefore even if someone was watching, they wouldn’t have been prepared for the elderly man to bend his knee and leap over the wall as if it were a minor obstacle. They would have been even less prepared to see him suddenly stand up straight upon landing, his hood falling back revealing the face of a seemingly young man.

Wei Shen was not enjoying his time in London. It had taken a year just to make it this far. Far longer than he found acceptable really. For a nation that seemed to feel international borders were just suggestions, they definitely guarded theirs well. Wei eventually had to allow himself to be captured as a slave, brought over the borders in a cage of all things. Of course the fact that when the ship finally reached the capital its crew were all dead, and his fellow slaves freed and long gone would have to go down as a mystery. It had taken him a further 2 weeks to get to the capital from there, now he was done wasting time. As he ran through the streets he tried to remember everything his source had told him. Wei had been lost after the fall of his people. As the youngest of the 9 elders, he had never really enjoyed the day to day life since ascending to the highest realm. Sitting around governing was a supremely boring existence. So he had naturally jumped at the opportunity to track and destroy a spirit beast which escaped from their island. Never in even his most terrible nightmares would he have imagined returning to find everyone he knew dead, his culture erased for no purpose other than mankind’s greed. Over a decade of aimless wondering later, and it was only a fortunate coincidence when he stumbled onto those same forces. That they had been in the process of attacking a small village on the main continent only annoyed him more. Thrilled for the chance to vent some anger, Wei had jumped straight in. The entire front line of their force was wiped out with his initial attack, with many more injured to forced to step back just to survive. That was when he got his second big shock, when from the back of their army came a man on the path. He was low levelled, laughably outmatched really, but the very fact he could cultivate at all was alarming. Wei had destroyed the mans army, then interrogated the arrogant fool. His prisoner was only too happy to pronounce himself a noble in the British empire, and it took only a day to learn everything relevent. That was when Wei began his current mission. Hidden in their capital, in a building open only to the so called nobles, were many of the secrets stolen from his people. The noble had been insistent, only the royals had anything taken, and they distributed it out to the noble families when translated and understood. His peoples secrets may have been out, shared amongst the invaders, but he knew 15 years was nothing in the life of a cultivator. Without an experienced teacher, even the most talented would only be touching the peak initiate realm now. If he could destroy or take back what was stolen, they would be forced to find their own paths forward. Wei smiled to himself as he hurried through the posh noble district, darting from shadow to shadow. His speed as an elder made this largely unnecessary, but it was never too late for training. Finally he came within sight of the giant mansion his source assured him was the royal families research base for all things cultivation. Using a fraction of his strength, Wei cast out his senses through both the earth and air elements. Both concurred with a total of 40 guards patrolling the building. That didn’t include any that might be inside. He felt no mana from any of them, meaning none of the guards were cultivators, and probably had no idea what they were actually guarding. He did feel mana from inside the building, but it was distorted, either by artefacts or something on the wall itself. He supposed both were possible depending on what had been stolen. Rather than make his presence known, he used speed alone to dispatch the guards. Even working in pairs they could do nothing as he shot around the grounds. Sadly their weapons were no better than scrap. Wei had always favoured a pole arm, but so far the British he thought carried either poorly maintained swords and small metal contraptions that worked like powerful bows. He no idea how they had managed to kill his fellow elders, but assumed they must have something more powerful in reserve. That or they just got exceedingly lucky. He had examined their bodies, so knew it wasn’t the bows at least. When the final guards fell, Wei approached the building itself and scanned again. As before, he got simply an echo. It was concerning but not enough to stop him. If he wanted to he could simply blow up the building now. But that wouldn’t tell him what they took, or give him a good idea of what to expect from them in the coming centuries. Opening the door a fraction he cast a small gust of wind inside. Two guards. Reversing his gust, he instead pulled all the air out the room, creating a vacuum. He couldn’t see, but he knew what the panic would look like on the mortals faces. Waiting another 30 seconds after he heard the second thud hit the floor, he let go of his control. Even if they weren’t dead, it would take time before they could muster any defence. Stepping into the room Wei was surprised to see one of them had made it a few feet towards the exit. That one was also still alive. Bending down he retrieved the blade strapped to the fallen mans waist, and ended his misery. The other guard had fallen from the lack of air, forcing Wei to step over his body to leave what he assumed was a security checkpoint. Now he was inside he let his senses run free, scanning the environment constantly. What he found surprised him massively. The building rooms were full of cultivators, at least a hundred of them. Most were in the novice realm, barely worth counting, but there were a good dozen in the initiate. All of whom were clustered together in a room below him. A basement? Wei scanned the building again, then stopped to plan. Any cultivator in the initiate realm would have at the bare minimum opened their hand and foot meridians. They may have more, but 4 would be required just to cultivate enough mana to evolve their bodies within this time frame. Interestingly he couldn’t sense any elemental affinities in them. They were there, he was sure of it, but whatever was blocking him from the outside was now preventing him from reading the men in the basement. The novices upstairs were an open book to him, not that it mattered. It was interesting to see how many of them were cultivating fire mana. Was that a natural affinity of their people, or just a limitation of their understanding? Coming back into the moment, he decided on his plan. Reaching through the ground, he send out his mana. A giant wall of earth, infused with both fire and air properties, shot out the ground around the building, blocking any escape. The complicated element mix would meant it would need either three cultivators working together to remove it, or one who had command of all at once. Given even he had taken nearly two centuries to reach the realm of master, the second option was definitely off the table, and he doubted these fools had the experience to even try the first solution. Not in the time it would take him to deal with the people downstairs.

“Now then. Let us see how they greet an Elder.”

Wei smiled to himself. He had always been considered the least serious of the elders, one more likely to teach the children games than mediation. He had no idea what to do with his life now, but knew that he couldn’t allow these people to use his peoples secrets to conquer other nations. The very fact they had risen so many to the second realm was alarming enough. If left unchecked. He shuddered and pushed through the next door, finding himself in a large hall. There were huge staircases on either side of him, each heading up. Not seeing a way down, Wei released dozens of small air currents, looking for the way to the basement. As he followed after them, he kept an eye on the cultivators upstairs. If he had to guess, they were all asleep. Was this a school? Jogging lightly down the stairs, he was greeted with large ornate doors. Clearly these people weren’t saving money on the little things. Through the doors he sensed two more guards. Rather than take a careful approach, now he knew they couldn’t escape, he simply opened the door.

“How did you get in here?”

While one of the guards was shouting out, the other man, to his credit, reacted immediately. He was a novice level cultivator, and rushed straight for Wei at what he assumed must have been the mans top speed. Not wanting to waste the opportunity to practise, Wei called up his fire mana and launched a small amount towards the man who shouted. The man charging he simply caught by the throat, crushing it in the same action. As he dropped the body to the floor he turned his focus to the now burning man. He was a fire cultivator, not surprisingly, so while the burst was too strong for him to stop he had at least managed to avoid feeling the worst effects. That was where his good luck ended. Using the sword he had stolen from upstairs, Wei removed the mans head in a swift move. He commanded the flames to extinguish, promising them a chance to shine later. Right now he didn’t want to risk anything being damaged before he could see it for himself. He knew the cultivators were now aware of his presence, the screaming man on fire had seen to that, but he wasn’t particularly worried. Opening the final doors, he found it was a kind of conference room. There was a huge wooden table, littered with objects and books. Around it stood 14 men, the cultivators he had sensed.

“How dare you. This building is property of the Royal family, you will hang for your actions today.” Declared the man at the table head, an elderly looking individual in an obscene looking outfit of green and yellow. Wei himself still wore a beer soaked cloak, stolen from one of the slavers, but even so felt he was the best dressed in the room. Running his eyes around them, making sure each of them made eye contact with him, Wei spoke.

“This one has come with an opportunity. A, test. If you will.” The smile he offered was feral, and he enjoyed the flash of fear he sensed from each of them “There are 14 thieves in this room. Whichever of you kills the others first will be granted a boon.”

“How dare you. We are all masters of the Royal arts. How dare a mere peasant make demands of us.”

He felt several of the men pulling mana. It was rough, untrained. Like trying to reroute a river with just a spoon. He could have ended their efforts with less than a thought, if he channelled for even a moment then none of these men had the understanding to preserve even the slightest bit for themselves.

“I see. This one will ignore the insult of thieves calling themselves masters. Children should not be blamed for failing to understand the world around them. However, this one needs to know how many have been started on the path?”

A variety of abilities activated, throwing different elements his way. They were tediously slow, and a basic air shield blocked any from damaging his outfit.

“So be it. As Elder I shall help educate you why sticky fingers can often be, burned.”

Wei moved. To observers it was like he flickered, he was there and then he wasn’t. All of a sudden he reappeared, standing against one of the side walls. Seconds later all the men on that side of the table fell to the floor.

“Now, I believe my demonstration was sufficient. My test, and the offered boon, are still on the table.” He didn’t ask, his point was made.

The men suddenly turned on each other. To Wei, it was laughable. The kind of display he was used to seeing from small children in their first tournaments. Martial prowess had long been the backbone of cultivation. In addition to training young bodies to handle the excess energy and power the arts installed, it also provided an excellent way to vent excess energy and encourage competition for the lower realms. Asking children to embark on a lifetime of quiet meditation was not a reasonable request. Clearly whomever had been teaching these fools had misunderstood and thought the various martial forms were necessary for elemental control. It was a fundamental misunderstanding, and one that would always limit them from true mastery. Wei smiled, the basis of an idea forming in his head. As the battle continued, more and more of the men were falling, until only the colourful man from the head of the table remained.

“As expected. What is your name thief?”

The man was panting, trying to draw recover his breath. “Frederick Lord of Sussex.” He said that like Wei should have known.

“Well Frederick, congratulations are in order. Your country seems to like its slavery, so you should know what I meant when I say you now belong to me.” He watched as the mans eyes widened “Or would the thief prefer to join his fellow disciples in rejecting my offered boon?” He watched as the man nodded, clearly not happy. “Now tell me. Is this the only location your fellow thieves have stored cultivation texts and resources?”

The man looked around and then turned back “There may be some in the royal palace, but this is the only building where people can be taught. By Royal decree none of the texts can leave this room, its why we have a second set of guards.”

Wei nodded and looked around. “That is good. As a middle tier of the initial realm would you consider yourself one of your nations strongest cultivators?”

“I was chosen to head the academy here, so yes.”

“Good. You may choose 5 books, and 5 books only to come with us. These will be your teaching aids. You will be teaching a lot more people going forward, so choose wisely.”

The man panicked, and rushed to the shelves pulling off book after book. While he did so, Wei looked around himself. Most of what was here he recognised. They had clearly managed to raid one of the lower schools on the island. He stopped when he saw a small metal disc. Pulling it off he smiled and slipped it into his cloak. That would be useful for his plan. He made another circle of the room, stopping to read every so often. None of it was new of course, but it was nice to be reminded of the earlier paths on occasion.

“I have chosen.”

Wei spun and saw the man clutching 5 books to his chest. He held out his hand and waited the several seconds for the mans inner demons to force him to comply. When he had them, Wei walked over to the table and looked at the choices. There was a guide to martial forms, a guide to the body and meridians, a journal of a man who had documented his own cultivation, from day one through to forming his well. Finally were two different cultivation guides. Both were lesser forms, used until a child had opened enough meridians to try something more advanced. That was fine. Wei didn’t want them getting too powerful after all. Still, he turned and walked to the shelves. It took several minutes but he eventually found what he wanted. It was crude, outdated really. Technically a medical text, it would at least give a basic understanding of a cultivators body.

“Acceptable choices, but you will take this one as well. Now hold still.”

He walked up to the man and with a tiny amount of fire mana, burnt a patch on the back of his neck. Central enough that he could never see it himself. “That mark is linked to my own mana. If you attempt to escape. If you attempt to betray me, I can kill you without even needing to hunt you down.” It was no such thing, but Wei was enjoying himself. “Now wait outside this room, I have things to attend to.”

The man, who had gone pale as a sheet, rushed out, quick to follow orders. When he was alone, Wei scanned the room. It was a terrible thing he was about to do, killing the very last records of his people. It was terrible, but needed. These people would use his heritage to conquer the world if left unchecked. He couldn’t turn back time, but he could slow them down. Give others a chance to catch up. With a sigh, Wei pulled on his fire mana, releasing it into the air surrounding him. Thousands of lines shot out, enough to hit each book individually. When he was confident he had done his job, Wei walked to the door and unleashed a wave of earth mana, sealing it behind him. The fire would burn until there was nothing left to feed it, which based on the amount of mana he had used, would be a very long time. Feeling generous, Wei left the students alone. Without teachers or resources, they would be no better than blind children stumbling in the dark. Heading back through the entryway, Wei waved a hand, letting the wall he had built reform, a doorway opening to let him out. He would leave it there, a lesson to those that needed it not to risk following him. Wei felt a little excited. He almost couldn’t wait to see how this worked out.

“Come Frederick Lord of Sussex. It is time for us to locate your next students.”