For long, breathless moments, the entire caravan stared at the backs of the retreating cultivators. Not a one dared even a whisper, let alone utter any talk of following or bringing the fight to those enchanted crossbow-wielding killers.

Alex was just relieved they had survived the ordeal. He hadn't expected Dui Zhong’s powerful grip upon his shoulder.

“Well done.”

A simple pair of words uttered by a near stranger.

Alex was surprised by how good it felt to hear them.

“How is everyone?”

The caravan captain smiled at the question. “Far better than they might otherwise had been, had we not been given warning. Had a hidden master not taken pity on us and offered to hire on as an extra caravan guard.”

“I’m no ‘hidden master’”, Alex assured those twinkling eyes, realizing he was still painting for breath… and in pain. He gazed down at his own injuries in odd disbelief. “And those fuckers actually managed to cut me up, several times.”

The captain nodded. “They did. And don’t think I missed the way you weaved and ducked around so many desperate jabs. The few times they pinked you, they barely scraped your skin!” He gave an approving chuckle. “We are definitely sparring, you and I. I’d like to better study the techniques employed by your Ruidian clans. Clearly we could learn a thing or two from them.”

Alex smiled awkwardly, biting back words too easily said in the post battle jubilation that was taking over half the caravan of people whooping and celebrating after surviving what so easily could have been a slaughter. Alex nwasn’t blind to the handful of curious looks being sent his way, and more than one nod of approval, even gratitude, when their eyes caught his own. But after sacrificing so much for a chance to live life outside the eternal frigid cold purgatory where he had already lost so many years tormented by bitter cold regrets and the malice of the gods… he’d be a fool to let poorly thought words befoul a clean break from his past.

If Dui Zhong believed him a Ruidian with clan ties, it was as clean a start as any to his life’s new tale. The best tales and lies, after all, were uttered by others on your behalf who truly believed the story they told.

“And don’t think I missed the way you spun around at least twice to intercept raiders attempting to take you from behind. Had I not had my hands full protecting the other wagons, I would have been on Qing Wu and Reny’s cart in a heartbeat! But my path isn’t exactly suited for blocking cursed crossbow bolts forged by blood cultivators,” he said with a sigh, giving an angry shake of his head.

Alex blinked at this. “Blood cultivators?”

The man solemnly nodded. “The talismans used against us were powerful. I have no doubt the blood of innocents was used as the ink upon their velum-wrapped quarrels. But still, you’re shield!” He gave an impressed nod. “To find a young cultivator so far along the wujen’s path already that he can forge multiple elemental wards.” He frowned thoughtfully. “Or are you a body cultivator? Your strength is beyond most in the Body Cleansing stage. I would think you a second tier Bronze, like me, were you not clearly still shy of starting your third decade, with the strength and skill you demonstrated. But those were a wujen’s arts, were they not?”

Alex blinked at this, now curious as to exactly how old he looked. Did he appear twenty, eyes wise beyond his years after several years forging himself in the Golden Realm’s bitter trials? Or did he appear a fresh-faced youth, barely 18, who had just awoken from the hold of a raider’s ship, if perhaps a bit more muscular? Until he had access to a water basin, glass, or just a shiny piece of reflective metal, he had no idea how he looked now. And how much about his cultivation history did he dare give away?

He settled for a shrug. “My masters taught me many things, besides how to properly use a spear.”

“They certainly did!” Dui Zhong said with a chuckle. “Though I thought Ruidians tended toward elemental masteries according to the gems on their brows?”

Alex chuckled at that. “It seems some things never change, no matter how much time has past.”

Dui Zhong raised a polite brow.

Alex cleared his throat. “Not all Ruidians favor those jewels. Some have mixed parentage that affords them strength in other areas,” he said with a cough. Knowing he was just perpetuating so many assumptions people used to have about him. Best of all, it was a believable excuse, as Dui Zhong’s nod seemed to indicate.

“More than a few caravaneers and the best traders tend to have some exotic parentage somewhere in their family lines. It’s certainly useful to have family connections when trying to form trade relations with the more reclusive desert clans, after all.” The captain’s supportive smile turned to a concerned grimace when the cries of the injured drowned out the last of the post-battle exuberance.

“And now I have to get the injured to Reny, and with all of us depleted… it will be bandages alone.” The captain gave a frustrated shake of his head.

Alex frowned. “I’m sorry, what do you mean, depleted?”

Dui Zhong looked momentarily discomfited. “Treachery from before we even left Qianshi. Stew that really didn’t agree with us, especially those of us pursuing The Way.” He gave a shake of his head. “But never mind that. Come. Best you visit the healers and have her clean your cuts if nothing else. The last thing you need is an infection, since you’re going to be pulling guard duty for the next three weeks.”

Alex winced at that. “No good deed goes unpunished, I see,” he said cheekily.

The captain snorted. “Get your wounds cleaned fast, then you can help me with the others.”

Alex nodded and headed towards the wujen’s wagon, the formerly warded door lowering itself like a ramp as he approached, revealing the worried-looking countenance of the young woman he had rescued before. Anxious kohl-lined eyes met his own. “By the warm desert sands, you made it!”

Alex grinned despite sensing the tense atmosphere within, catching sight of the herbalist tending to her husband. “I did. And the four surviving cultivators playing at being bandits have already fled.”

The girl’s worried gaze hardened. “Those traitors were the farthest thing from bandits.”

Alex nodded. “I had figured as much. But the dozens of wild-eyed men who had thrown their lives away trying to take this caravan were the farthest thing from clever schemers.”

“Cutouts and easily disposed tools,” she declared, her imperious clipped tone giving away her origins as much as the quality of her attire and flawless, blemish-free features.

“That was my guess as well,” he said, blinking in surprise but not resisting when she dragged him up the ramp and turned to present him to an anxious-looking Remy.

“Quit fighting me you old fool, and drink the tincture. It’s all we can do for now,” the harried-looking middle-aged woman said, before frowning as she gazed Alex’s way.

Alex immediately flowed into a bow. “This one greets the honored cultivator and apologizes for disturbing you. I can see you’re busy. I can trouble you another time.”

“It’s alright, boy,” Reny assured. “After what those Qianshi bastards did, poisoning our stew and ambushing us… I doubt my arrogant, too proud for his rank husband would even be with me now, were it not for you.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Qing Wu insisted, having the strength to swat his wife’s fussing hands away from his bandages before immediately collapsing back on the mattress that could fit an entire family, cleverly laid out in the center of the wagon his attempt at a smirk twisting to a rictus of pain.

Alex winced at the fever sweat he saw on the Silver’s brow, able to smell the man’s sickness even from where he stood. Just one foul scent among scores of absolutely delightful, enticing aromas.

His eyes immediately flicked to the selection of dried herbs and tinctures perfuming the air from the racks of carefully preserved cuttings and freely growing plants in addition to a compounding table Reny had managed to put together in the far half of the wagon serving as both living quarters and apothecary. Alex was surprised to find that he recognized as many as he did, and to a remarkable degree, thanks to Biochemical Mastery and 18 Perception.

Multiple alchemically potent ingredients detected. Blackap Head: 150% Yidushian median market potency. Silvermeadow: 125% Median market potency. Sageroot: 50% Median market potency. Silverblade stalks: 162% Median market potency. Tincture of Laudanum: 233% Median market potency.

His exquisitely sensitive nose and interface also highlighted dozens of tinctures, dried leaves, and cuttings which he didn’t recognize at all, or his interface provided strange names for, but with no clue at all as to what their standard market potency might be. Of course, he was clueless about the great majority of her carefully tended potted plants, the lush green garden covering so much of the interior of the wagon radiating potent Wood and Water spiritual energies that were no doubt vital for any apothecary in this realm at this time… ingredients and techniques which he had no experience with at all.

Reny’s gentle words of assurance died on her lips as Alex found himself staring perhaps a bit too intently at her collection of exotic plants. It was several seconds of processing the overwhelming flood of information utterly ignoring the clearly distressed cultivator worried for her husband before he finally realized how rude he was being from any Golden Realms standpoint.

He immediately flowed into dogeza matched by the girl by his side.

“Please don’t be mad at him, aunty. I think he’s still in a daze, after all he’s been through.”

“Perhaps,” Reny said, her frown more curious than angry. “I saw the way your eyes lingered over my prizes. Tell me, boy, are you by any chance a healer?”

Alex winced, sensing the desperation underneath the question. “I do have a rudimentary background as an apothecary,” Alex admitted.

Reny flashed a pleased smile. “Excellent. I know we have injured, and I could certainly use an assistant for the rest of this trip.” Her gaze grew hopeful. “I don’t suppose by some miracle you were actually taught the Path of Healing in between whatever secret masters taught you how to summon multiple elemental shields and fight like a dervish?”

Alex flashed an apologetic smile even as the girl beside him gazed at him with something close to awe.

“You can summon shields, fight, and make poultices? If only my true-brothers were half as well-versed as you,” the girl beside him whispered.

Alex bowed his head once more before the healer. “I’m afraid not, honored cultivator.”

Reny sighed, but nodded.

Qing Wu found the strength to snort. “The very question was ridiculous. No one who fights like that at his age walks the Healer’s Path. The fact someone found the time to teach him anything of a compounder’s art shows a warrior’s competence, best treating soldiers after battle. The boy’s clearly a prince of some Ruidian desert clan, I have no doubt.”

Reny pinched her wincing husband’s cheek. “Hush, you.” She favored Alex with a sympathetic smile. “Now please step forward and let me have a look at you. We’ll clean your cuts and then you can assist us in treating the others.”

Alex bowed his head. “I would be glad for your ministrations,” he said honestly.

“Good. Ya Ling, if you and the other girls will organize the injured and get the captain?”

The girl beside Alex bowed her head. “Of course, Aunty.” Giving his hand an unexpected parting squeeze, she quickly made her way out the wagon. Two girls wearing simple if spotless robes who had been assisting Reny and her husband with water flask and compress so well that they blended into the background as well as any master of Shadow Qi immediately flowed into dogeza and followed suit, both of them giving Alex frank stares, the shorter whispering “thank you,” before slipping free behind Lady Wu.

“Well, don’t just stand there, boy. Let me have a look at you!” Remy, or Lady Wu, commanded.

Alex held back a smile and calmly stepped forward, his bemusement at her rough, good-natured appraisal of him turning to momentary awkwardness at her brusque demand. “Well, take off your changshan and your pants. How the hell do you have multiple cuts on your legs and your pants show no tear at all? Quite wincing like a baby, this poultice will ward against fever and puss!”

Yet whatever chagrin he felt was quickly replaced by a worried frown for her husband.

For all that the man was playing at having one up on Alex, smirking at the sight of him without his changshan tunic, Alex could tell the man was just fronting past his pain.

“Ha! That’s the build of a body cultivating Ruidian? You’re downright scrawny! Best give up that false path and embrace a wujen’s art, boy. Who needs stronger shoulders when the elements can lift an entire palace at your command?”

“Hush, husband,” Reny said. “They boy’s physique is exceptional. Especially for one who hasn’t...” she frowned. “Or have you actually broken through to Bronze? You’re certainly no clumsy giant, but your aura is strangely faint.”

Alex flushed. “Honestly, I’m not sure what exactly I am, at this point,” he admitted. “My master was a bit… eccentric in his teachings. And now that I’ve left home, I could definitely use some guidance.”

Both husband and wife were gazing at him in wide-eyed disbelief. Alex flushed, suddenly afraid he had said far too much.

“What kind of insane master doesn’t even explain the path his disciple is on? The boy radiates potential. For that to be wasted on a twisted path that goes nowhere is a crime!” Qing Wu huffed, before wincing in sudden pain.

“Hush, husband,” his wife hissed, eyes wide with anxiety that her exasperated tone couldn’t quite hide.

Alex felt an anxious twinge in his gut, too easily sensing the wujen’s peril, despite the couple’s attempts to make light of the man’s condition. His Biochemical Mastery and exquisite sense of smell, not to mention Qi Perception made it clear that the man had been infected with multiple poisons, and seemed far more vulnerable than any Silver should be.

Alex could see it in the creases of their eyes. There was no denying it.

Qing Wu was running out of time.

He felt like dice were rolling in his head. That any dream of blending in without a hitch into peaceful mundanity would always be thwarted by his own desperate need to butt in.

Even now, saying more than he should. Hinting at so many things he should be keeping quiet. But the barely concealed pain in Qing Wu’s features, the tremble Reny tried so hard to hide underneath her smile… putting on an act for Alex’s benefit as she girded herself to treat an entire caravan of injured. And once Qing Wu passed on… the slow-moving caravan would be sitting ducks along what the captain himself implied was a three week journey. For all Alex knew, this bandit attack had just been the opening feint, their only goal to cripple the cultivators, and later go in for the kill.

Or at least that’s how he justified sticking his neck out like a proper fool once more, even if it just broke his heart, knowing that Reny would soon be a widow, wondering how many women over how many lifetimes were forced to sob over his grave as well.

“The captain had mentioned tainted stew?” Alex bit his lip as his tongue seemed to speak of his own accord. But when Reny’s anxious eyes met his own, he didn’t flinch or look away.

She gave a tired nod. “Yes. Before our journey, a number of us were guests of the royal family of Qianshi. It’s now certain that someone poisoned a course we all shared. The symptoms only manifesting the next day.”

Alex raised a polite brow. “A full day’s delay in activation, even an elite Silver Wujen and an alchemically specialized Bronze just a half-step from Silver herself missed it, and the only one fallen is Qing Wu?” Alex shook his head. It was like nothing he ever heard of. “What’s the nature of the poison? Does it merely enhance injuries already suffered?”

Reny’s glare could have frozen him solid. Alex winced and bowed his head. “This one apologizes if he spoke out of turn.”

This earned a snort. “No you’re not. Speaking to your elders without an ounce of deference, with a Silver Tier wujen just feet before you. As if we were equals, or a prince before his associates. And if you think you’re fooling anyone that you’re just a simple traveler who was at the right place, at the right time, free of any exotic origin… you’re no better at it than my niece is.”

Even Qing Wu chuckled at that, before wincing and biting his lip.

Alex couldn’t quite hold Reny’s too perceptive gaze, but wisely said nothing.

Reny glared at Alex for several awkward seconds before lowering her own gaze with a sigh. “Our food was tainted with a tincture made from Darkbane Venom,” she whispered at last. “Or at least, that’s what the symptoms suggest.”

Alex blinked. “Darkbane Venom? I’ve never heard of it.”

“That’s because it’s extremely rare, and few outside of royalty force-ascending mortals for his army would dare make use of it, lest they incite every sect to declare war against the offending party!”

Alex’s eyes widened. “A poison that would insight cultivators in particular to a murderous frenzy, yet still valuable enough for a noble to make use of it, giving it to his mortal levies in times of war. So it must be something perilous for cultivators… yet is also capable of forcefully awakening mortals with even a lick of potential?”

Qing Wu nodded. “I knew the boy wasn’t a fool. Yes, that’s exactly right. It will corrode pristine meridian channels, or corrode the waste blocking an unawakened mortal with clogged meridians like the crudest of cultivation pills. And even they pay a price in the long run, if the excess isn’t purged. Regardless, that poison and planning in advance with the appropriate counters to my element is the only reason why those damned Bronzes got the best of me! They were absolutely covered in protective wards specialized to counter my element, and my channels had been so subtly weakened that I only noticed it after I unleashed icy oblivion that still froze over half those fools, no matter their pathetic excuses for talismans!”

Qing Wu flashed a pleased smile that immediately turned to a grimace. “The damned poison’s so subtle, you don’t even feel the strain to your cultivation base. Not until it’s already been damaged! Even worse, it’s almost impossible to replenish your spiritual energy reserves with even a trace of the poison within you!”

Reny’s eyes were red with unshed tears. “Which means the moment I try healing the toxins on the bolts with my arts, my weakened foundation will crumble just like my husband’s. It will take months or years to repair without the assistance of spiritual treasures, and I won’t have the Qi for more than a single healing attempt!” She choked back a sob, and Alex could only imagine the pressure she was under. Having to swallow her panicked frustration, to focus herself on one desperate healing that must be perfect, all the while knowing that her cultivation foundation cracked even if she was successful. And it would be months to heal for both of them. Yet the despairing look she gave Alex made it clear a simple Bronze tier healing wouldn’t be enough to save her husband.

Alex gazed at the pair for long moments. “Were all the crossbow bolts poisoned?” He asked at last.

Reny sighed. “The pair that hit my husband both were.”

“So the bolts still stuck to the wagon...”

“It’s possible.” She gave an angry shake of her head. “Our opponents aren’t fools. It’s no fast acting poison easily cured with one of my ready-made remedies. The poisons are targeting his pancreas, spleen, and liver.”

Alex’s eyes widened. “So if we can’t find a cure within the next couple of hours, without the assistance of a Silver Tier healer...”

“Precisely,” a tired-looking Qing Wu said with a sigh, his wife sobbing and looking away, and somehow it was Qing Wu gathering his trembling wife in his arms.

“We should never have agreed to this mad bit of intrigue. We knew better, husband!”

“We had no choice, and you know why,” he softly said in turn, before turning his tired gaze to Alex. “I trust that what you see or hear here...”

Alex forced a smile. “What was that? I didn’t hear a thing. If you’ll pardon me, however, I have a crossbow quarrel or five to hunt down.”

Qing Wu chuckled softly, patting the back of his sobbing wife. Clearly neither cared that much for propriety at that moment.

“And I’ll pass out the healing compresses and sterilizing cloths to Ya Ling and her assistants.”

Qing Wu’s eyebrow widened slightly but he didn’t seem that surprised when Alex immediately knew what to grab before heading out the wagon.

Infused Healing Compress: Uses the latent healing Qi within a select group of steeped mushrooms, flowers, and lichens to speed up healing. Healing Compress has been further infused with spiritual energy to allow for a 20-fold increase over standard healing rate. Has natural antiseptic & wound-cleansing properties.

“Boy’s clearly an experienced apothecary,” Alex heard the approval in Reny’s voice as he left the wagon and raced for the captain and Ya Ling, the pair already attending to the injured men as best they could.”

“Ya Ling, Reny, I mean Lady Wu, would like you and your companions to apply these compresses after cleaning any wounds with these treated cloths. Are you comfortable doing such?”

The captain frowned. “People were seriously injured, and Reny has responsibilities for the entire caravan. Several of the injuries are severe.” but Ya Ling quickly nodded. “Of course, Alex. We’re happy to help.” She gave him a curious look. “Will you be joining us?”

Alex shook his head. “She put me to work doing something else.”

He ignored their curious looks as he immediately headed back to the wujen’s wagon, a cursory check finding it absolutely pincushioned with bolts that had lodged into the wood, finding it quite remarkable that not one was able to penetrate completely through the warded wood.

Within several minutes he collected every bolt he could find.

He gazed down at the deliverers of death now in his hands as he sat cross-legged on the rooftop, taking a careful sip from the flask that one of the caravanners had handed him just minutes ago with the oddest look in his eyes when he gazed Alex’s way.

Alex grimaced, not sure what to make of it, but had found the water fresh, clean, and utterly untainted.

He was surprised by just how thirsty he had been.

He frowned down a the collection of venom-covered bolts. If his pounding heart and the stings on his arms and legs were any indication, this constituted a VERY BAD idea.

He was about to experiment with poison, hoping that an old gift was fully intact, with no Eternal Fox to regenerate him, at least for the moment.

“Am I really going to do this?” he muttered to himself, before answering his own question by gently touching the tip of one bolt with a flick of his tongue.

You have deliberately exposed yourself to Deathwort, Crimson Parsnip, Yellowbane Extract, and White Willow Venom.

You currently have 100% immunity to Deathwort.

You currently have 100% immunity to Crimson Parsnip.

You have taken 10 points of damage and are suffering a -6 to balance and perception from Yellowbane Extract!

You have taken 15 points of damage from White Willow Venom done directly to Internal Organs!

Internal Organs have saved versus Cirrhosis!

You have achieved 20% Immunity to Yellowbane Extract.

You have achieved 20% Immunity to White Willow Venom.

You are currently under the effects of Extreme Nausea & Cramping.

Alex groaned and nearly toppled over, surprised by how rapidly the poisons were hitting him.

He soon found himself panting, just trying to keep his guts from heaving all over Reny’s nice wagon top, knowing he was in no shape to safely tumble over.

After a hellish handful of minutes just keeping his gorge down, feeling like his organs were burning from within, he finally got the message he had been praying for.

You have achieved 40% Immunity to Yellowbane Extract.

You have achieved 50% Immunity to White Willow Venom.

You have taken an additional 8 points of damage from combined toxins. Internal Organs have saved against direct impairment. Balance and Perception penalties have been reduced to -4.

Alex forced a smile as he spat out bile as the pain and dizziness began to subside. At least it was working!

How the hell Qing Wu had managed to hold his shit together as long as he had, with no skill like his, was a definite mystery. Clearly Alex wasn’t the only one with pain tolerance and a Willpower off the charts.

But to be hit that strongly from the tiniest taste… there was no way any poison should have been hitting him like this...

His eyes widened, finally spotting what he should have seen right off.

The bolts, all twelve of them, were now completely free of poison, and he could sense the faintest traces of spiritual energy wafting away in the warm desert breeze.

It instantly clicked what was happening. The bolts had been enchanted by what what was effectively the tiniest amount of spiritual energy. Less than needed to propel a sip of water a single foot.

More than enough to propel the full quarrel’s worth of poison into living flesh, the moment it made contact.

And Alex had gathered all twelve.

Qi Percpetion check successful! You detect traces of spiritual energy aligned with Water & Unfamiliar Element upon multiple bolts!

Alex’s eyes widened, realizing why he had missed it before. According to his Interface, in addition to making use of talismans and poisons with their quarrels, they had also used arts he had never seen before, which made absolutely no sense! There were only 12, and only five recognized by all cultivation schools. Water, Wood, Fire, Fire, and Metal. For those enlightened enough to recognized 8 elements, there was Lightning and Air between Water and Earth, and Spirit between Earth and Fire, representing the soul between the fires of life and the clay of creation, according to at least a few of the tales he had read. Additionally there was Time, Fate, Shadow, and Dark Qi often labeled as waste but could as easily be called entropy or a catalyst for change. At its most pristine state, properly manipulated Dark Qi , along with Light Qi as a whole, could be channeled into reversing destructive cycles, even rejuvenating the cells of an entire living organism. For what was Anti-Aging but entropy in reverse? He understood it better than any of the other exotic ‘dark’ elements because it was his own.

Or at least it had been, for countless ages. Only now it, along with so many other skills and abilities of his past, had been closed off to him for reasons he could guess all too well.

He could push, he knew that. Even as he grimaced and closed his eyes, counting down the seconds as the cramps slowly ease and his interface continued to ding with messages, he sensed that if he wanted it desperately enough, if he pushed hard enough… he could reclaim everything he had ever lost.

At unimaginable cost.

The very thought made him shiver with dread the equal of the pain he was feeling.

Like a young child leaving the warmth, light, and laughter of the bright house behind him to go outside into the bitter winter snows, with hot eyed predators glaring at him every step of the way.

No. He didn’t need to face the hellstorm waiting for him out there quite yet.

And if he was truly smart and respected the strange barrier between himself and countless skills and memories that should have been washed away by Grandmother Yi Wang a lifetime ago… he would never have to deal with those psychopathic monsters ever again.

He lurched away from memories of bitter laughter, howling despair, and a god’s dying scream, pushing it all aside as he closed his eyes, took slow steady breaths of fresh desert air with just a hint of spilled blood greedily drunk by the parched sands, and did his best to lose himself in meditation. To feel the newly risen sun gently warm his skin as traces of the spiritual energy all around became his own.

You have achieved 100% Immunity to Yellowbane Extract! This poison has been mastered.

You have achieved 100% Immunity to White Willow Venom! This poison has been mastered.

You may synthesize antidotes or doses of any poison mastered at will.

You have successfully correlated the differences between multiple toxin spectrums incorporating unfamiliar spiritual energy markers and biomes

Congratulations! Biochemical Mastery is now Rank 7!

Alex flashed a fierce smile for all that he knew he had played the fool, taking such perilous risks, multiple times, only hours after waking up in a brave new world, or era, or whatever it was. Certainly it was a desert, he thought, with only sparse foliage, save for the richly cultivated grounds by the city growing ever more distant as the caravan got a move on once more, clearly wanting to put as much distance between themselves and the sight of the original ambush as they could.

“But that’s twice my skills were thrown off a bit, by what seems to be an entirely new element.” Alex shrugged with a rueful chuckle, his cramps, dizziness, and nausea of just minutes before already a distant memory. “At least it earned me a skill rank, and might just help save a life or two.”