The captain tilted his head in mock consideration. “Really? Are you entirely sure of your recollection, Mayumi?” The man’s mocking smile twisted into something hard and cold as his open fist smacked Mayumi’s jaw and sent the kitsune woman tumbling to the ground with a cry.

“Mother!” Shrieked the youngest child.

“No, stay back! Mother’s fine” A desperate Mayumi cried as the captain flashed a fierce, predatory smile, crouching down to gaze into Mayumi’s eyes.

“Sure, you claim to have done what you were told. Every JiangHu safehouse you revealed surrendered rich bounties of wealth, and a handful of rogue merchants my master will be happy to have purged. But I can’t help but note that there were none of your kind, and no Ruidians at all. The true backbone of organizations like your own.”

A nod of his head and the largest of the soldiers snapped up the youngest child, now shrieking in the giant’s hands.

“Please!” A desperate Mayumi shrieked. “Don’t hurt her!”

“I’m not the one hurting her. You are! With your treachery and obstinance! With thinking you could play with the prince like he was another one of your pawns, using him to clean up the competition while keeping your own little paws perfectly clean.” The captain flashed a vicious smile. “Oh yes, we interrogated those ‘merchants’ after collaring them and seizing their assets. They made it clear, perfectly clear that they held your kind in as much contempt as we do!” He smacked his fists together, looming over the trembling woman. “And then we find the Ruidian quarter empty, regardless of affiliation, a final distraction before your mongrel kind flooded the Highroad, led by the Blue Prince himself!”

“I had nothing to do with any of that!” Mayumi screamed. “Neither Ruidian nor Kitsune are fools, knowing that the entire world hates them. Of course they fled when you began purging safe houses. I warned you to be discrete when you began dismanteling! I did everything you asked! Now please, let us leave in peace and I’ll make it worth your while in gold and spirit pearls both! For you and your men!” She sobbed., a flick of her hand and the air was filled with the lusturous sheen of pearlescent treasures and coins flashing the warm burnished hue of gold, catching the greedy eyes of more than a few of the guards, including the one holding up a child who had frozen still with terror. “I will give you ten times that amount, if you just let us go. My cultivator’s oath upon it! Now please, return my husband and son, and just let us leave!”

The guard went breathless at the sight of the fortune.

Even the giant holding the child slowly put her down before flinching at the captain’s gaze, but the child had already run to her mother’s arms.

The captain sighed and shook his head. “Ah, poor Mayumi. Just as much of a fool as your ultimate sire.” His mock pity turned to a truly vicious smile. “Are you truly such a fool? Did you really think they would still be alive with so many delicious secrets in their head?”

His smile grew positively vicious as the woman paled and shook, gazing at him with horrified disbelief. “No… please, no!”

The captain smirked and nodded. “Oh yes. I have no doubt you had hoped to hear they were safely hidden away as we had implied, and feared at most that they had been collared and in the prince’s employee. But you see, those two had so many delicious secrets our seers wanted to pick from their skulls that I fear my associates got a bit too… enthusiastic in their work.”

His smile was truly vicious as Mayumi crumpled to the ground with a sob by his feet.

Before the captain's smile disappeared altogether when Alex ripped his head off.

The trembling Kitsune mother of six gave a startled cry when she was spattered by hot viscous gore as the decapitated body crashed to the ground.

Tier 2 Gold Strength utterly overwhelms Tier 1 Silver Vitality. You have critically struck your opponent!

His interface shot other messages across his mind’s eye in short order as time seemed to stretch and slow, Alex's cold gaze passing judgement at the half dozen armed and armored men, frozen in shock at the sight of their now headless captain slowly toppling over as his neck spewed a veritable geyser of blood.

He had held back for endless agonizing moments, hoping against hope that he wasn’t too late. That his enemies would reveal a precious clue that would reveal the location of more lost kin.

That would allow him to save precious lives forever in the cold gazes of those eager to commit genocide, an endless echo of vicious, bloodthirsty gods above.

Yet the captain, with his mocking laughter so like Shalu’s own, had made it clear that there was no hope of that whatsoever.

So all Alex had left was towering fury, and a desperate desire to paint the entire chamber in the blood of his foes.

Of course not all froze in terror when Alex roared and struck with his fist, Tier 2 Gold Strength propelled by Rank 5 Silver Quickness and so many combined ranks of his unified martial art and Blackswan meant that his enemies’ torsos didn’t just crumple on contact with his fists.

They exploded.

The air quickly filled with crimson mist, shattered steel, ruptured organs, and so very much blood.

One or two of Dongfang Hong’s elite Bronze troops, clearly in shock by the horrific death of their Silver Captain, still had enough discipline to at least partially draw their dao.

Before looking stupidly at their shoulder stumps spurting blood when Alex contemptuously tore their arms off.

Just a heartbeat before ripping out their throats.

And then it was done. Alex’s fury at being forced to hold back, allowing that monster to abuse and terrify one of his very few living descendants, no matter how many lives ago it had been, only to find that yet another child of his blood, Zhu Bi’s brother, had been callously butchered at the hands of their enemies by a man who laughed as he said it.

Alex glared at the headless corpse, all his previous idealistic bullshit burning away to ash in the fires of his hate.

Were there not four trembling children spattered with the blood of their would-be killers now gazing at him with wide-eyed horror, he would have done far more than kill the monsters among them in less time than it would take to say their names.

But he wasn’t such a monster as to risk an innocent child slipping into the river of souls that his darkest act would summon.

“Alex, the front door!” He gave a curt nod as Jidihu’s voice brought him back to his senses, discretely opening the door just in time to see a single guard, no doubt there to glare at any would-be customer who would know better than to approach, only now turning his head in concern at the cacophony of startled cries and shattered steel that had come from the chamber within before dying off just a second later.

The guard only had time for a single startled look into Alex’s wild silver eyes before he was abruptly yanked and tossed inside.

Alex cracked his knuckles, glaring at the man whose outrage transformed to terror as he noted the charnel house the dining hall had become as a gobbet of flesh chose that moment to drop from the blood-soaked ceiling right into the man’s face, at which point he began screaming.

A glaring Alex strode toward the now desperately crawling man, shrieking for mercy as death inevitably approached.

“Alex, don’t. I need to question him,” an exasperated Jidihu said, before looking pointedly at Mayumi and the four horrified, blood-spattered children. “And they’ve seen their ancestor embrace enough carnage on their behalf, don’t you think?”

Those words instantly chilled his wrath, and when he caught the flinches of the children it quickly turned to shame. “You’re right,” Alex softly said, making quick use of biochemical mastery to clean his skin as the viscera of his foes was naturally shed by his ancient attire. Such that within seconds, he was just as spotless as he had been before entering the inn. Yet this did little to still the trembles of the four children, two boys and two girls, staring his way still.

At least not until a sobbing Mayumi fell to her knees, before Alex. “Thank you, great grandfather, for coming to our rescue in our hour of greatest peril. This lowly kitsune reveres and worships her ancestor with all her heart!”

The four children’s gazes transformed from horror to wonder as their mother’s words sunk in.

“Come over here, children, and greet your ancestor! It is only by his mercy that you draw breath, and that those damned guards aren’t laughing over our corpses!” She hissed, and Alex pretended he hadn’t seen a mother’s cautious eyes making damn sure Alex looked suitably chastised and humbled by Jidihu’s waspish commentary, the farthest thing from the wild-eyed monster he had been less than a minute ago, before commanding her children to step forth.

The youngest girl, sobbing, crawled in her mother’s arms while the oldest girl who looked so much like his friend Zhu Bi, tilted her head in confusion. “But he can’t be our ancestor, no matter what Zhu Bi’s letter said! The boy who helped her escape had blond hair and blue eyes. This one’s eyes and hair are silver!”

Mayumi blanched at her daughter’s words, even as her two boys quickly bowed. “Thank you for saving our lives, honored ancestor. We will forever be grateful and honor you every night at our shrine!” Declared the older boy who couldn’t have been more than twelve, as if hoping a show of respect and gratitude would diffuse any ire at his sister’s words.

Alex couldn’t help smiling at the boy’s instincts.

“Nice diplomacy check,” he said with a smile. “And your sister’s right. The Silver hair and eyes are new to me too. I came pretty close to biting off more power than I could chew, and I’m sort of, well, still processing it.”

The boy blinked, slowly looking around at the grizzly remains. “Those sons of donkeys made our lives a study in fear for weeks. They’re so strong that poor YanYan couldn’t even budge their hands when one tried to ‘escort’ her in back, before mother bribed the captain a fortune in silver.” The boy shuddered in awful memory and Alex clenched his jaw, glaring at the remains of the captain. “Yet you tore through those bastards like they were rice paper mannequins filled with warm butter. Even steel armor ruptured like nothing before your fists.” Eyes filled with desperate hope met his own. “If this is what it means to walk the Path of Peril…” the young lad crashed to his knees, eyes lit with a desperate hope. “Please take me on as your disciple, honored ancestor!”

Alex blinked at that while Mayumi blanched, glaring at her son. “You take that back right now, Xuwu. You’re twelve, and the Path of Peril is death!” She then kowtowed before a bemused Alex. “Please forgive your many times great grandson’s impulsive words! He is a foolish, headstrong boy, and I couldn’t bear to lose him along Peril’s Path. Not after losing so many I loved already!”

Alex flashed her a sympathetic smile before turning to Jidihu, presently hovering over a shrieking guard who had suffered no injuries at all that Alex could see, for all that he writhed like he was trapped in the fires of hell. Yinzi’s mother flashed him a cold smile. “He sees and hears nothing save what I wish him to. Do as you feel best… son in law.”

Alex smirked at that, before turning back to a trembling Mayumi, who froze when she heard a voice that filled her with tears.

“Mother? Is that you? Angel’s mercy, what happened!?”

Mayumi immediately turned around, as did her children, beholding a shimmering golden portal from which two familiar faces peered at them from a luxuriously appointed bedroom, Zhu Bi and Yingpei Lin in the middle of eating what looked to be a grand feast of gustatory delights, including Alex’s favorite deep dish pepperoni pizza juxtaposed with a dozen classic dishes, Zhu Bi’s cousin Su Xiao and his partner Zha Shi also in attendance, though all their eyes were now riveted on the horror before them.

“Zhu Bi, it’s you!” A sobbing Mayumi cried. “I had feared I’d never get a chance to see you again before...” she paused and shuddered, gathering her children up in protective arms as Su Xiao and Zha Shi cursed at the sight of so much blood and death.

“Alex, what happened?” Zhu Bi cried.

“It looks like you’re grandfather’s been busy again,” Zha Shi said, smirking as he smacked his smaller partner’s back.

“Dongfang Hong’s men,” Su Xiao noted in a no-nonsense tone.

“Correct,” Alex said, dipping his head Su Xiao’s way before turning to Zhu Bi and Yingpei Lin. “The jackass captain and his cronies were about to tie up loose ends. I objected to their proposed course of action rather strenuously, and in the end, we did it my way.”

“He saved our lives!” Mayumi sobbed, glancing back at Alex with undisguised awe. “You were right, my daughter. Our beloved ancestor really does walk among us once more.”

Alex gave her a thumbs up in turn. “So long as you promise to do your best to cause no deliberate harm to others outside of agreed upon sparring matches, you and yours are free to enter.” He gave Zhu Bi a gentle smile. “Can you take care of them and settle them in?”

Zhu Bi, now visibly trembling, for all that Yingpei’s arm was gently wrapped around her shoulder, gazed imploringly Alex’s way. “Alex, where’s my father? Please don’t tell me that...”

Alex swallowed and lowered his head. “I’m sorry.”

Zhu Bi immediately broke into sobs, her mother wasting no time in gathering her children and all of them stepping through the gate, and whatever sense of awe and wonder they felt at the Gold tier otherworldly accommodations was muted by the horror and grief they felt at the loss of their kin.

Su Xiao shook his head and cursed, after greeting and passing his condolences to his aunt. He didn’t hesitate to step through the gate, Zha Shi by his side.

“Care to tell me what’s going on, ancestor?” Su Xiao said as his gaze fixed upon Alex, and then Jidihu. He rubbed his temples and shook his head. “Of course. Yidushi’s most notorious assassin. Why wouldn’t she be involved?”

“Watch your tongue, pup!” Jidihu snapped, glaring down at her shrieking prey. “Now’s not the time for philosophical debate on methodology or technique. We just confirmed Dongfang Hong’s attempt to purge multiple cities of Ruidians, Kitsune, and yes, the JiangHu sect, which you’re wise enough to know that your ultimate masters leave alone for a reason, and serve as a last resort for all too many, including our own kind… inspector.”

“She does make a point,” Zha Shi said with a thoughtful nod. Before his brow furrowed at the continuous drip from the gore-spattered interior.

“Very thorough as always, Alex.”

Alex’s return smile was all teeth. “I try.” He then turned to a teary-eyed Zhu Bi. “I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, Zhu Bi.”

She forced a smile through her tears. “Thank you for saving them, Alex. You have no idea...” She choked back a sob, her arms filled with siblings and her sobbing mother. “I’ll take care of them, don’t worry about that. And Alex?… thank you.”

“Always,” he said, heart in throat as he closed the portal with a wave, before turning back to a surprisingly sympathetic-looking Zha Shi. “Alright, long and short of it is that I’m looking for an old friend who just so happens to be the Crown Princess’s niece. I caught sight of her at the headmaster’s palace after the fights, taking Dongfang Hong’s lead like a deferential mannequin, and I think it’s suspicious as hell, so me and Lady Jidihu are looking for clues.”

Zha Shi pointedly looked at the blood-spattered interior.

Alex shrugged. “What can I say? These things happen.”

Su Xiao gave an angry curse, glaring Alex’s way before lowering his head. “Thank you for rescuing my kin, Ancestor.” He pointedly looked at the shredded remains. “Thorough as always, I see.”

“I’m happy to play good-natured hero all day, believe it or not.” Alex smirked at the looks this declaration earned him. “But when people threaten the lives of my friends and family, I will put them down. Hard.”

“Clearly. So what’s our next move?”

“Our next move is you and I make use of our contacts,” Jidihu interjected. “And find out what there is to find out about Baidushi’s political situation. Just as soon as I escort Alex to our accommodations while we’re in the city.”

Su Xiao furrowed his brow. “You all are attending the competition? That is solid cover. I hope you picked a location with lookouts and back exits.”

Jidihu smirked. “Teaching an old fox her craft, cub? Of course I did. I happen to own the inn… and most of the block it’s situated on.”

Alex blinked at this. “Wait, we’re splitting up?”

Jidihu gave Alex a pointed look. “Our goal is surveillance and discrete information gathering. A craft you clearly lack any proficiency with, and we’re running on a clock with all these...” Her eyes widened when Alex gently led all three of his companions back from the dining area, for all that Zha Shi was gazing at Alex in outright disbelief.

“I have Rank 3 Silver Strength. How the hell are you shoving me back like I’m nothing?”

He blinked when his view of the dining hall became overlaid with a golden shimmer before his eyes widened like saucers when he caught sight of the howling Sea of Ghosts, just a heartbeat before the chamber beyond filled with crashing waves and the entire dining area was effectively swept out to sea before Alex closed his gates.

Alex smirked Jidihu’s way. “You were saying something?”

The kitsune huffed. “Alright. I have three possible contacts that might know… something.” She turned to the solemn-faced inspectors. “We’ll meet up and compare notes at the Silver Moon in. But we won’t be out too late. Alex here will be in the competitions tomorrow.”

Su Xiao shook his head. “I almost feel sorry for his competition. Almost.” He then dipped his head. “We’ll meet up at Silver Moon and compare notes.”

With that they separated by the back entrance, but only after Jidihu and Su Xiao made sure there were no lookouts or guards waiting for them, and Alex spend the next two hours shadowing Jidihu as she shared the very basics of her craft while reaching out to old haunts and contacts… only to find that she had been completely cut off.

When one business owners gruff insistence that an old friend had packed up and left long ago, to shop keepers swearing they had no recollection of a stand that had been right by them, to entire areas utterly purged of riffraff and beggars now terrified for their lives… it was clear that Dongfang Hong had done everything he could to shatter any and all information networks, save his own. Or perhaps they had all fled with the Ruidians and Kitsune who had vacated just weeks ago. Either way, an increasingly dismayed Jidihu found herself utterly out of the loop, and things didn’t look any better for Alex’s inspector friends when they all met at the Silver Moon inn later that night, an establishment that thankfully hadn’t been raided, burned down, or abandoned, making it clear that Jidihu really was a master at staying out of sight, both personally and with her business concerns.

“An interesting development, no doubt,” Panheu declared between sips of broth. “Though it pleases me to hear how thoroughly our disciple has blossomed,” he declared with a fierce smile Alex’s way that he happily returned, Yinzi and Hao Chan beaming in turn.

“We’re going to totally kick ass in the tournament tomorrow!” Yinzi declared, before looking across the private dining room that Jidihu was keeping cloaked in shadow to peer thoughtfully at Su Xiao. “So, are you really Alex’s descendant and an inspector?”

Su Xiao smirked. “Yes to the latter. As to the former?” He shrugged, smirking Alex’s way. “I must admit, whether or not he’s actually kin, Alex is handy to have in a fight, though things do tend to get very interesting. Perhaps too interesting, when one is in his company for any extended length of time.”

His bemused smile turned perplexed when Yinzi boldly sauntered up to him, running her fingers through his hair.

“May I help you, child?”

“Hardly a child,” Yinzi grinned. “I’m probably stronger than you.”

“Don’t push,” Alex warned. “Remember how easily your competitors folded to you and Hao Chan today. So I’d appreciate it if you didn’t maim him.”

“Of course not!” Yinzi huffed. “I’m just fascinated to find he doesn’t have either ears or tail. And I hated not having them for so long. Yet he smells like one of my kind still.” She tilted her head. “I meant to ask you back in the palace but you always avoided me whenever I came close. Do yours only come out on the full moon, like mine used to?”

Su Xiao’s gaze flattened. “No male kitsune has those traits, full moon or no. None, save for our ultimate sire. Don’t you know that, girl?”

“Nope! I’ve only known female kitsune like me!” Yinzi happily declared.

Alex turned Zha Shi’s way. “Did you and Su Xiao learn anything?”

The larger man sighed even as he refilled his rice bowl. “Not enough to be of any use. Our most upright contacts assured us that all was well, and that Dongfang Hong’s men were great customers. Our more shady contacts are gone, as if they never existed at all.”

Su Xiao nodded. “Dongfang Hong’s men have been zealously purging this city in one form or another since they arrived. It’s only by the fox’s own luck that you stumbled upon Mayumi’s place just when he was about to tie up loose ends there as well.”

“It probably was,” Alex was forced to admit, ignoring the looks this earned him. He sighed and shook his head. “I only regret that I couldn’t save all of Mayumi’s kin.”

Zha Shi flashed a cold smile. “Considering all our dead ends, I’m feeling better and better about your own mini purge, Alex. Clearly it was justified.”

“Yeah, I’m not even going to apologize for that bit,” Alex declared between mouthfuls of pork. “Still, at least we know that the Red Prince has been taking out any power base that could pose the slightest threat to the flow of information or his rule. And we’re not the slightest bit closer to finding out what, if anything, happened to my friend.”

“Who happens to be the Crown Princess’s niece,” Su Xiao noted.

“Correct,” Alex said. “The question is, what’s our next step?”

“That one’s easy,” Panheu declared, pointedly looking at Alex, Hao Chan, and Yinzi. “You three will rest and prepare yourselves for the day to come. If the rest of us find anything of note… we will be sure to fill you in.”

Panheu chuckled at the look Yinzi was now giving Alex.

“Separate rooms for you and your disciples, Alex. It would be a shame to undo so much good work in a moment of weakness,” his mentor declared while happily leading Alex to separate sleeping quarters before claiming a feather-stuffed futon. “Still, a certain amount of decorum should be maintained, don’t you agree, disciple?”

Alex rolled his eyes. “Of course, master. We will share the room, and the floor mat is mine. Let me get you your tea.”

Panheu smiled in approval. “You always were my favorite disciple. Did you know that?”

Alex chuckled. “To the best of my knowledge, you only have two, and Peng Dan barely even qualifies. She’s far too busy trying to look pretty for you to bother with martial arts or cultivation. A true noble lady in every sense of the word.”

His mentor positively beamed. “You see, Alex? You understand perfectly! Now get some sleep, disciple. I have the feeling tomorrow will be the day you hone your skills like never before!”