The nearest bandit’s eye widened, clearly seeing better as dawn’s first rays graced the battlefield. “There she is! Kill the servants and get her!”

Alex’s heart began to pound as the trio raced toward him, doing the only thing that made sense. He charged right into their racing forms, taking full advantage of the wagons by his side as his shield of spiritual energy refused to budge before even a horseman’s charge, sending two spears careening free of a pair of surprised bandits’ hands, their cries of dismay soon replaced by screams when his flicking dao kissed their wrists, leaving bloody stumps behind.

The third bandit didn’t panic, smart enough to angle his spear for Alex’s feet, actually managing to tear open his pants, though leaving only a flesh wound that burned like fire in its wake.

Draconic Ancestry reduces all physical damage by 1 full tier! Medium Wound mitigated to Light Wound!

Unfortunately for the bandit, the clever attempt at tactics resulted in his spear wedging into the ground, forcing him to surrender it with a curse. It was a spear Alex happily claimed for his own as he switched dao grips to his off hand, setting his spear to receive the bandit eagerly charging him from behind.

If the man had been thinking, he would have realized that charging a skilled spearman with a dao was a losing proposition, even when doing it from horseback. As it was, the lesson only truly sunk in after three feet of steel had already plunged through the man’s abdomen, multiple iron links of an unseen mail shirt bursting under the combined impact of a charging mount, Rank 2 Bronze Strength, and 10 ranks of a military martial art that most definitely included knowledge of how to best brace a spear to receive a charge.

You have successfully impaled 1 Raider upon your spear!

Experience earned!

Alex wasted no time on the groaning soon-to-be corpse writhing in his own entrails, racing after the trio of women Qi Perception could effortlessly spot scurrying between the wagons that the raiders, lost in the heat of battle, paid absolutely no attention to. Of course it helped that the girls were protected by deepest shadow and dozens of distracting spears held by caravaneers fighting with all they had.

Fighting for their lives.

Alex flashed a fierce smile when he sensed them arriving at the correct wagon, his grin going all the wider when the reinforced back, sealed up tighter than any carriage, abruptly opened to reveal a middle-aged lady with chestnut hair and soft brown eyes radiating the power of someone a half-step away from Silver. Alex’s gaze widened, catching only a glimpse of what looked like a miniature garden claiming most of the carriage the woman obviously shared with the ice wujen still launching bolts of ice from above.

“In here, Ya Ling. Now!” she snapped. The three girls immediately scurried inside, and whatever fantasies Alex had had of a gentle matronly instructor wilted under the harsh crack of a drill sergeant, now pinning him with her gaze. “And you, initiate. Get back on the rooftop and ward my husband!”

“Yes, mam!” Alex found himself replying, making full use of his strength to leap to the lip of the giant wagon and scrabble to the top. “Don’t shoot, Qing Wu, it’s me!”

Of course he was prudent enough to keep his Qi shield before him, for all that he was already down half his now limited Qi reserves. Fortunately, Qing Wu felt no need to pepper him with ice spears.

Unfortunately, that was because the man was presently hunched over, gazing stupidly at the quarrel now lodged in his belly.

Alex’s grin was instantly replaced by alarm. “Qing Wu!”

Much to Alex’s relief, the man had the strength to turn Alex way with a snort. “I’m afraid I underestimated our opponents just a bit.”

Alex clenched his jaw, immediately positioning himself to protect the wujen from another flurry of crossbow bolts, though he was pleased to see that what had been volleys of ten had been reduced to four.

He gazed in the distance with more than a bit of satisfaction to behold the broken bodies of half a dozen snipers. Some had been frozen into blocks of ice. Others impaled with countless slivers of frozen crystal death.

“Careful, boy!”

Despite the words, Alex braced himself just as before, though angled this shield a good fifteen degrees… just in case.

And boy was he glad that he did, when a fresh volley of bolts hit with stunning force that came painfully close to bursting his stone shield before ricocheting away.

He locked gazes with one of the crossbowmen glaring at him from well over a hundred yards away.

Alex smiled and gave the man the finger, earning a furious snarl in turn.

“Yes, that’s it, boy. Goad those bastards even further.”

Alex smirked. “I can’t even tell if you’re being snarky or serious, but at least one of those assholes is a cultivator… or at least has an enchanted crossbow.”

This earned a wheezing chuckle. “Foolish boy. They all are.”

Alex felt a chill with those words. “Shit.”

“That’s right. And all of them are protected by Ice ward talismans! Why do you think four of the bastards are still upright, despite all my efforts?” Qing Wu said a bit too gleefully. “All ten of them have broken through to Bronze. Ten! To think that Ya Ling’s bastard half-brother finds us worthy of such effort. We should be flattered!”

Alex’s anxiety grew as he peered at his distant foes, easily able to make out their pitless glares as they readied their crossbows once more. They were well out of his Qi Perception range, but Alex had a bad feeling nonetheless. “That last bolt nearly blasted through my Earthern Shield. No mortal should be able to do that!”

Qing Wu snorted. “Spoken like a true cultivator.” Alex flinched when the man groaned, turning to him with concerned eyes. The man waved him off with a glare, for all that his abdomen was red with blood. “Never mind me, focus! You had deduced it yourself. Their quarrels are blessed, or cursed, by element-canceling talismans. They don’t need to be wujen to use magical treasures, after all. They need merely be cultivators of pretty much any rank. A single meridian cleared is all that’s really needed, even if the burden cripples anyone that weak. It’s much to my dismay that they have ice-canceling wards, and I shouldn’t be surprised, because of course our enemies have studied both me and my wife and know how to counter us both.”

His gaze grew painfully intent. “But you, I’m assuming, are a complete unknown.” He flashed a weak smile. “And if your true intent was to kill me, now’s the perfect time.”

Alex would have rolled his eyes, but that was when he felt it. The release of four bolts hissing through the air, promising death. Alex knew it was madness, but trusted his instincts, having only a split-second to act.

He embraced the most basic of all elemental wards he had learned as the most novice of body cultivators. An elemental shield he had learned so thoroughly and utterly that it’s Silver tier variant had been, for him, just a single revelation away. Even if all advanced techniques were, for now, closed off to him, a final unbreachable barrier between a life so clearly remembered that was no longer his own… it’s roots, it’s origin, he understood so thoroughly that he could still summon it in the blink of an eye.

You have summoned Thorn Shield!

Critical success! You still remember your connection to the ancient forest you have communed with over countless lifetimes… and it remembers you!

You have instantaneously cast Thorn Shield at 0 Spiritual Energy cost!

Thorn Shield has successfully countered Bitterwood Volley!

Qi Pool has been partially depleted. Qi reserves are down to 66% of baseline! (10)

Alex grimaced as the words washed over him even as he toppled over under the weight of multiple cursed bolts that looked as much like massive thorns as quarrels, radiating dark corrosive energy, Alex instantly understanding.

“These are counters to Earth. Any shield of stone, clay, or earth would be pierced right through!” Alex’s eyes widened. “These aren’t bandits at all. They’re assassins sent to wipe you out!”

Qing Wu snorted. “It took you this long to figure that out? Of course they are!” The cultivator winced and groaned.

Alex’s eyes widened with alarm, his biochemical mastery and acute senses making clear that the cultivator had been poisoned.

“Elder Wu!”

“Don’t worry about me, boy. Look at our enemies! They’re trading Wood for Fire!” The wujen immediately began tapping on the roof. “Wife! Open the damned...”

The trap door immediately sprang open, revealing the exasperated countenance of the Wood aligned cultivator radiating a warm, motherly beauty despite the care lines upon her brow. “What is it, you fool of a husband? I just got the girls to...” Her exasperated expression turned wide-eyed with horror. “Wu, you’ve been hurt!”

“I know that, woman!” He hissed. “Get the Fire Wards up now! They’re holding nothing back. Her brother’s willing to risk all-out war!”

His wife blanched, eyes filling with panicked tears she didn’t bother hiding. To her credit, she didn’t hesitate to act, her head darting back in, the early morning air ringing with her desperate chant.

But it would be too late, Alex feared, getting a painfully good look at the distant weapons radiating Fire Qi so potent that his dragon-enhanced senses could spot it, even well over a hundred yards out. Alex’s heart hammered in his chest, already knowing that the true contest wasn’t with the remaining score of so of bandits that by some miracle the caravan guards were actually holding off, despite the din of the battlefield, the ululating cries of the raiders and the panicked roars and shouts of the spearmen doing a damned good job of holding them off from the tops of their fortified wagons.

The real battle was between Qing Wu and the band of cultivators clearly assigned to take him out and capture or kill the three females now being guarded by his wife.

And if Alex’s sense of the fiery magics now tied to the latest round of bolts…

They were no longer worried about taking those women alive.

You have successfully summoned: Water Shield.

You are doing your best to infuse Water Shield with the endless waters of the ocean itself!

Alex took a deep breath, taking what he somehow knew was a risk. Channeling not the force and fury of the ocean itself, but his memory of what that earlier version of him had felt like, channeling the power of an entire ocean in spinning heal kicks and devastating strikes that had once shattered Gold Giants.

Just a taste of that memory, carried over how many years… a gap of a lifetime, was all he hoped for. Somehow he knew it would be a very bad idea to tear free that ancient latticework of walled off abilities somehow keeping the past at bay, lest he pay a far steeper price than he could afford.

But to learn from those ancient memories? To borrow their insights and infuse an entirely new version of himself with ancient wisdom, free of the taint of bitter lives doomed to the saddest of tales?

That he could do.

And the cost was one he was more than willing to pay.

You have successfully fused ancient insights while avoiding its peril!

You have infused metallic salts within Water Shield. Water shield circumference has doubled!

Water Shield is now Rank 6!

You may now modulate Water Shield diameter for increasing Qi expenditure. You may now infuse Water with the Salts of the Sea.

Your Dantian has saved versus Unorthodox Shift as you skirt Perilous Arts!

Alex’s eyes widened as the true significance of that last message caught up with him… just as the false dawn lit up with streaks of abyssal flame.

Four Silver Tier Fire Talismans have been Countered by Enhanced Water Shield!

Alex bit back a hiss as his Qi Pool dropped yet again, now hovering around eight points. As grateful as he was to sense powerful talisman enhanced bolts of death fizzling to nothing in his waters, it appeared that his Qi Pool was going down a half point per fire talisman countered.

As worried as he was by the four distant assassins glaring his way, the voices from the chamber below brought a smile to his lips.

“Well, are the wards holding, woman?”

“Shut up, you old fool! You’re lucky I actually have the antidote to this poison, and if you think our daughters will ever let you out of their sight after this fiasco, you’re even dafter than I thought!”

“That’s hardly fair, Reny,” Qing Wu muttered. “You were as eager to go on this ‘diplomatic mission’ as I was!”

Alex smirked, almost seeing the air quotes in his mind’s eye before time seemed to slow as he braced himself once more, four additional bolts of fiery death streaking through the air, and this time his shield neutralized only three.

Carriage Wagon has been struck by Flame Talisman!

You have been struck by Fire Blast!

Fire Blast partially countered by Opposing Element!

Dragon Blood reduces Serious Burns to Light Burns!

Alex squeezed his eyes tightly shut and bit back a curse, keeping his lips pressed in a thin line as the world exploded into flame. He could sense whatever wards were around the wagon crackling to life, and as tempting as it would be to jump off the now blazing wagon rooftop, he instead embraced the swirling disk of water in his hand, deliberately pressing it into the flames, almost surprised to find the fires near instantly snuffed out as the air filled with black sulfurious smoke that thankfully cleared in seconds with the constant desert breeze.

He held back a grimace as his Qi Pool sunk even lower, instinctively understanding the cost to putting out the magical flame.

He took small comfort when the excited whoops of the bandits below immediately cut off with the fire, turning to glare at the handful that had broken off from the other wagons, now pouring all their energy into taking this one, their true target, as the distant quartet of crossbowmen blew some sort of whistle.

“Qing Wu, they’re swarming the wagon!” Alex roared, flipping the spear he had left on the wagon top to an overhand grip, thankfully suffering no more than a single blackened mark from the flame.

He kept half his focus on the quartet of crossbowmen whose killing glares he could feel like a hate-filled curse on his back as the bandits began trying to ascend the wagon.

His heart began to pound with a mix of exhilaration and terror, earlier fatigue forgotten as he darted forward and struck, slamming down with his spear point for the snarling faces of bandits glaring up at him with wild hate in their faces before being ripped open and spurting blood from his furious spear thrusts as Alex sent one after another crashing to the ground in sprays of blood and ugly spasming deaths.

For the moment, Alex knew he had a crucial advantage. While the bandits were ascending, their hands were occupied and their upper bodies in perfect position to receive the full force of a descending thrust with all the power one could hope to muster. But the minute they ascended, they would swarm and could very likely take him down if his footwork wasn’t perfect, or he didn’t juts leap off the wagon… leaving an herbalist, a poisoned cultivator, and three vulnerable girls at the mercy of men clearly sent to kill them.

Leaving clearly wasn’t an option, he thought, when one spear thrust to the face turned into two then three, and he finally woke up to the advantage of causing fear and hesitation in his enemies, his shield of water becoming one of flame.

You have successfully summoned Fire Shield!

Fire Shield has caused Serious Burns to two Ascending Bandits!

You have kicked one flaming bandit off Wagon Roof.

Experience earned!

Alex flashed a quick grin at the men flinching back from the swirling disk of fire he could effortlessly pivot to sear any man getting too close as they ascended the wagon, setting hair and faces ablaze a heartbeat before silencing them forever more with a spear through their throat.

But as six fallen men became seven, Qi Perception made it clear that his time had run out as a handful stumbled to their feet at the far end of the wagon

It was at that moment that he heard Captain Dui Zhong’s sharp whistle cut through the air in a short series of bursts, praying it meant what he thought it did when Alex spun around, flipped his spear to hold parallel to his body, and roared and charged in the time it took the farmost man to draw his dao.

He crashed into the group without hesitation, knocking all three ascending bandits with his momentarily expanded shield, this time of rigid stone powered by 25 strength and sufficient martial mastery to send the trio flying off the wagon, covered in flame.

He snarled as they all crashed to the ground. None of them were mortally injured, all of them were groaning from broken bones.

Even if it had cost him the spear, and the sudden fire of a gash on his side made it clear that he hadn’t gotten off scott-free either.

“There he is, kill him!”

He spun around to see a pair of snarling bandits that had just ascended on the far side of the wagon, now glaring his way, both with their blades raised high.

That was when his instincts flared and he crashed to the ground, earning a contemptuous sneer.. a heartbeat before the larger of the two bandits crashed to the wagon roof, groaning as a pair of crossbow bolts tore through his chest.

The second bandit spun around, screaming at the cool-eyed marksmen. “You idiots hold your fire! We’ve got th--”

You’ve successfully struck bandit from behind!

Find Weakness skill check made!

Ridge-hand Strike shatters opponent’s spine!

Opponent has fallen from wagon rooftop.

You’ve successfully tossed all mortally wounded opponents from wagon rooftop.

You have cleared the field of all enemies.

Experience earned!

“They’re backs are to us! Finish them off, men. Now! Now!”

The captain’s words were a delight to hear, Alex sparing a glance to see that the once overwhelming number of raiders had been winnowed to less than a dozen still upright, the survivors now the ones crying out in panicked desperation as they pivoted desperately around, but it was already too late. The furious cavern guards had charged them in a surprisingly well coordinated spear formation, multiple rows of caravanners, including women and adolescents, were holding their spears in professional grips, two rows of spearmen plunging into the poorly positioned bandits who had given up everything but the blades at their hips in their desperate attempt to overwhelm the wujen’s wagon, now being absolutely pincussioned by twenty odd spears ramming repeatedly into their flesh.

Perhaps not surprisingly, their screams for mercy and quarter, even promises of ransom, died on their lips.

Alex glared at the quartet of distant crossbowmen, almost certain he knew what was coming next, and the bastards didn’t surprise him a bit when the air blazed with yet another quartet of blazing quarrels, now aimed right for the score or so of vulnerable caravaneers that had positioned themselves perfectly to overwhelm and slaughter disadvantaged bandits, had also made themselves utterly vulnerable to bolts covered in talismans of exploding flame.

You have successfully summoned Enhanced Water Shield! Water shield extended to maximum area.

You have successfully countered 4 Fire Talismans!

Alex took small comfort in the message as he stumbled to his knees and rolled, barely keeping his back from being pincushioned by panicked mortals as the captain screamed at them to halt.

“Stop it you idiots! He’s shielding you!” Dui Zhong roared, Alex hardly paying attention to the apologetic winces he received from the pair of men who had almost speared him in the back as several others looked on in horror at the quartet of crossbow bolts that had by some miracle missed them before drilling into the side of the wagon, all of them soaking wet and jutting out black caustic smoke from water-logged talismans… and no worse than that.

“That boy saved us!”

“He’s Qing Wu’s hidden disciple. He must be!”

“How? He’s a Ruidian.”

“Are you blind? Look at that massive disk of swirling water!”

It was all Alex could do to lurch back to his feet, surprised by how dizzy he was. Yet he refused to lose focus on the true threat to them all, the four surviving crossbowmen fixing Alex so intently with their killing glares.

Alex forced exhausted lips into a bloodthirsty grin.

“Bring it!” He roared, surprised despite himself by how well his words carried, as if the wind itself would do his bidding.

It was a bluff, of course. But if he showed weakness now… Alex shuddered to think what would happen if those four cold-eyed killers equipped with talisman-tied quarrels unlike anything he had faced before in the Golden Realms decided to press their attack. With Qing Wu poisoned, his wife occupied trying to save him, and Alex almost utterly tapped of spiritual energy…

The quartet of cultivators glared at Alex with matching sneers, chins held high as they turned their mounts around and cantered off.