“This is all your fault, you damned Ruidian!” Hissed a voice laden with malice and pristine hate as a surprised Alex gasped and crumpled as his would-be killer twisted the blade.

“You cost me a fortune in priceless ingredients. Now there’s no way I’ll be able to complete my mission without all suspicion coming to haunt me. I’ll have to flee back to that damned bastards arms, and it’s all your fault!”

You have taken one additional Medium Wound.

You already enjoy 100% Immunity to Dragonbane Root, Yellowbane Extract, Foolsbane, and White Willow Venom.

You suffer no further detrimental effects.

Strength Check: Success! Your foe is unable to twist her blade against your tightened Bronze 2 Tier muscles.

“Gods damn it, now my blade is stuck in this oversized corpse!” The woman cursed in the rain before crying out when Alex’s elbow slam sent her cartwheeling back, blood spurting out of her shattered nose.

Her cry ended in a gurgling gasp as panicked brown eyes met blue as pitiless as the blade still stuck in Alex’s back.

“Wait, please… you don’t have to do this!” Said Ya Ling’s second handmaiden, the girl who had been seemed so carefree and above it all, just a short time ago, content to stand by Ya Ling’s side. Even if she had been conveniently sick the day everyone else had eaten tainted soup.

“It’s a fifty spirit pearl bounty if we finish the job. But only I know how to collect.”

Alex’s glare didn’t abate, doing his best to ignore the throbbing pain in his back. He forbore from calling himself an absolute fool, daring the cusp of revelation in a caravan full of strangers when he should have guessed that it was an inside job. But this wasn’t the time for recriminations. Only preparing himself for the wrench he’d no doubt feel when he did what he needed doing.

Kileetra flinched before his gaze and stumbled back, feet instinctively navigating the muddy ground as her rain-soaked fabric caressed curves that would never know a lover’s touch again.

“Fifty spirit pearls! We could live like royalty for years, with that fortune!” She flashed a desperate smile. “There’s no chance that that spoiled bitch would warm up to you, no matter how many times you saved her. But me? I can appreciate a hero coming to my rescue. I’ll give you a night, hell, a lifetime you’ll never forget, Ruidian. Just help me finish the job, and we’ll both be filthy rich!”

Alex ignored the blood flowing down his legs in the rain. He flashed his fingers.

The girl paled. “No. There’s no way you could be… That wasn’t in the contract!”

Qi Perception check made!

Alex forced himself to stand strong, sensing another presence approaching.

“Who initiated the contract?”

The girl’s desperate plea turned to a hard glare. “That’s not your concern. Especially not if you’re Jiang Hu! The only thing that matters is whether or not you want to split the take with me, or walk away with nothing. I’ll even give you my oath to never raise my hand against you again, so long as you swear the same. All you have to do is stand guard while I add some spice to the morning stew and get the hell out of here. That’s 25 spirit pearls for you, and I’ll even throw enough silver your way so you can take a whole train of caravans and disappear into a city far, far away from here, without having to cash a single one. No one will ever suspect a thing!”

Alex gazed at Ya Ling’s companion for long moments, seeing not a trace of regret, remorse, or hesitation in her features. He was certain that she meant every word. She would split the take, and wasn’t phased at all at the thought of killing dozens of of innocent caravanners.

She blinked in dismay when he unsheathed the dao he never did surrender. “Who initiated the contract?”

The girl blinked and swallowed. “I poisoned you with enough toxin to kill a dozen spirit beasts! If you want the antidote… you’ll stand down and let me walk away.”

“Sorry Kileetra, that’s not happening,” whispered a voice fierce with hate, a flash of lightning reflecting off the blade of the razor sharp jian that Ya Ling was now holding against her trembling former companion’s throat.

Kileetra stiffened. “Lady Ya Ling, please, you don’t understand! I was trying to draw the boy out, to see if he was working against us!”

“By stabbing a dagger in his back?”

Kileetra blinked rapidly, her mouth opening wide, no words coming out. She lowered her head in sudden defeat.

Only Alex was in position to see her malevolent smile.

“I fear your forgetting something, princess, beyond even your strained cultivation base.”

The girl paled, her glare growing ever more fierce. “How dare you say that, after all you’ve done!”

“Your champion’s kidney was lacerated with an anticoagulant. I don’t think he’s going to be standing up for too much longer,” she said with a certain amount of saccharin sweetness. “Though I sense you’re so infused with righteous passion right now that you forgot your own predicament.”

Ya Ling furrowed her brow. Before she hissed and stepped back.

But Kileetra had already darted forward. “You’re in the rain, fool. Anathema to your element!”

With a snarl, Kileetra had grabbed the flat of a stunned Ya Ling’s blade with a calloused hand that knew exactly what it was doing. And despite the Bronze tier Finesse Alex knew Ya Ling possessed, her legs seemed to snag helplessly in the boggy ground sucking up the desert rains so greedily as a freshly poisoned knife darted unerringly for Ya Ling’s abdomen.

Before slipping free of suddenly slack fingers as Kileetra’s head tumbled through the air in a fountain of crimson drops mixing with the rain, the would-be assassin’s bulging eyes having time for a final despairing blink before smacking face first in the ground as her body collapsed in a spurting heap.

Skill-modified Quickness check made: Critical Success! You have decapitated your foe!

A portion of her endless potential is now forever your own.

Potency partially channeled into instant healing!

Serious Wound has become Medium Wound.

You have strained Medium Wound. Additional 5 points of damage taken.

Alex winced and groaned, having forgotten in the heat of the moment that he had been stabbed in the back, and that he no longer had access to Eternal Fox to regenerate his injuries at a superhuman pace. Though he did still have the benefit of his foe’s potency for a burst of rapid healing that he was grateful for… even if it was just a fraction as effective as it would have been, before so many skills had been locked away.

A trembling Ya Ling gazed in horror at the decapitated body still spurting blood. Clearly stunned by all that had transpired as her former companion went from trusted confidant to treacherous serpent to would be murderess to decapitated corpse in the span of just seconds. Then her dismay turned to concern as she stumbled back to her feet, oddly clumsy in the downpour as she raced to Alex’s side.

“You’re hurt! Come, let’s get you back to Reny’s tent, before you bleed out!”

In very short order, a drenched Alex found himself being poked none too gently by a glaring Reny as she placed liniment over his injuries that stung like mad before a few moments of Biochemical Mastery took out the irritant while allowing the strongest healing salve ever to grace his flesh to do its thing.

Healing Liniment infused with Water & Wood Qi. Potency is 320% of Yidushian market average, years ago.

Biochemical Skillcheck made: You intuitively understand all the components that comprise this product!

Cultivation Skillcheck made: You have a 75% chance of replicating the spiritual energy infusion within this liniment at the expense of 20 Qi.

Alex blinked, surprised and pleased to find that his increased skills meant he could not only replicate the compounds of Reny’s poultice, but the spiritual energy infusion that distinguished alchemist from apothecary as well. Even if the Spiritual Energy cost was downright prohibitive for him if he didn’t have the infused ingredients on hand, at least for right now. Practically speaking, if he could eventually learn the healing arts, that would probably far more effective and cost effective, but he would take what he could get. Frankly, he was grateful just to sense his skills and potential continue to evolve and grow.

“Foolish, boy,” Reny tutted. “Leaving our wagon at such a crucial moment, only to come back hours later covered in blood and dying of a kidney wound!”

“While saving our charge and revealing the poisoner by sheerest coincidence. Quite a remarkable turn of events, no?” Qing Wu noted, his hard gaze locked onto Alex’s form with an intensity that made him more than a bit uncomfortable. Nothing compared to the sting of the wound to his side, of course.

Reny snorted. “The Wild One’s luck for certain.”

Alex felt a chill at those words, promising himself right then and there that he’d never ask who the ‘wild one’ was referring to.

“Please, aunty. He saved my life!” Ya Ling declared.

This earned a glare from Reny. “And why were you out there in the middle of that thunderstorm? It’s one thing for this boy here on the cusp of revelation to play the fool, but you know better! Or were you perhaps looking to catch a revelation of your own?” There was no mistaking the pointed look she gave Alex then.

Ya Ling flushed, lowering her gaze.

Reny Wu gave a tired shake of her head. “You know better than anyone why that isn’t advisable. Especially not now.”

“I’m not some broodmare,” Ya Ling muttered under her breath.

“True,” Qing Wu said. “You’re a woman who needs allies at her back and a safe place to secure her foundation and blossom into a force so potent that none can force your hand.”

“But right now you’re just a newly forged Bronze who will soon be at the mercy of any number of powers who would love to claim a prize like you for themselves,” Reny noted. “A school might offer shelter, but it’s only the promise of your unsullied potential that leaves you a valuable enough prize for outside forces to allow you time to bloom to your full potential.”

Ya Ling’s brow furrowed. “That’s ridiculous. They should be all the more willing to leave me alone if I choose a consort of my own.”

Qing Wu snorted, shaking his head. “Wrong, girl. That’s when they’ll know the false mien of grace and kindness they wore to assuage and entice you is pointless. That you were too dense to understand the unspoken rules of the dance, where your purity is a promise and elegance will be your cage, but only for so long as you exercise graceful forbearance. The moment you step out of of line and make a mockery of your expected role, that is the moment they will strike.”

Ya Ling paled and shook her head. “I hate this, Elder Wu. I hate having to play these games at all!”

“Yet play them we all must,” Qing Wu said fatalistically. “And since we must, best you learn to play them well. So that one day you may seize the board and claim both your piece, and your independence from all the other players on the board.”

Alex shook his head, recalling all too well how it felt to be a pawn in someone else’s game, even if the stakes had been far higher and more horrific than the political machinations of rulers and cultivators. Nothing compared to the malice of gods.

Shortly thereafter a somewhat chastened Ya Ling was taking her ease behind the bamboo divider she was now sharing with Lady Wu. But not before flashing a final smile for Alex that was both embarrassed, grateful, and direct. “Thank you again for my life, hero.”

Reny snorted, but Ya Ling still held his gaze for long moments. “Perhaps you’d be willing to show me some of your techniques in the nights to come.”

“To bed, child,” Reny tisked, gently pulling Ya Ling back behind the divider as Qing Wu shook his head and sighed. “There goes half the fun of this trip.” Qing Wu then turned to stare hard at Alex. “Sun’s almost up. I think we should head topside, don’t you?”

Alex gave a slight nod, having lost himself once more in the glorious feel of all eight elements twining about one another as they cycled through his major and peripheral meridian channels, leaving him feeling refreshed, invigorated, and at one with his environment.

Yet he still couldn’t help smiling with wonder at the spectacular sunrise as the heavens were painted in a glorious patina of fiery reds and heavenly golds. It was mother nature at its grandest, a divine work fit for gods that actually appreciated the jewel of their creation.

It brought tears to his eyes and a renewed connection to his Fire Qi that resonated so profoundly with his draconic bloodline and grounded his technique like nothing else.

Congratulations! Your breakthrough has evolved into a profound appreciation for your environment and the elements that comprise it, inspired by nature’s canvas from which gods have forged entire worlds!

Desert Fox Cultivation Technique is now Rank 2!

Warning! You have reached the end of your breakthrough. A Sage’s Insight is at risk of becoming a Fool’s folly!

Qing Wu sighed, flashing a pearly white smile. “It never gets old, does it? The majesty of a brand new sunrise against the distant desert horizon.”

Alex chuckled as he gazed upon countless wildflowers opening their petals before the dawn. “Sands which are even now awash in color, morning blossoms greeting water’s midnight caress.”

The older cultivator nodded. “The desert will soon be as rich and fecund as any plain… for a few weeks, at least. Of course, we’ll be heading for the deep desert for our own journey, far from the underwater basin that keeps Qianshi’s oasis rich and fecund and the surrounding lands good for raising goats, if little else.”

Alex carefully nodded as he repressed a yawn, feeling strangely dizzy, as if he could topple over at any moment. The farthest thing from the brilliant vessel of profound insights that he had been just hours, even minutes before. He turned to the quietly smiling cultivator beside him, looking at Alex with eyes far too perceptive for Alex’s taste, even if his mien was that of a gentle instructor and nothing more. Alex was already well aware of just how deadly an opponent the Silver before him could be when pushed, as over half a dozen Bronze tier opponents warded with talismans could attest, even with Qing Wu’s foundation strained by poison and treachery. No matter how gregarious, friendly, and open the cultivator sitting in the lotus position by his side as they both drew inspiration from the sunrise might be, Alex already knew he was the farthest thing from simple.

Just as he knew he was in no shape to spar with him right now, mentally or otherwise.

“Student greets master under morning’s blessing,” Alex quipped, earning a soft chuckle.

“Mentor greets aspirant. Congratulations on forging an eight element unified technique capable of both purifying and cycling spiritual energy in a single night, Alex. What you did was utterly impossible, yet you glow with the infusion of spiritual energy my wife can now sense flowing through your meridians. Worthy of any ‘young master’ after multiple years of study under a loyal family retainer.”

Alex grinned. “All the credit goes to the loyal family retainer, then.” His gaze turned solemn. “And the treasure they dared to reveal to one who only hopes he was worthy.”

Qing Wu’s tolerant expression instantly hardened. “A treasure which we will never speak of again, if gratitude truly is a virtue within you.”

Alex lowered his head, instantly ashamed. “Master is right. Student cries exhaustion.”

Qing Wu’s hard demeanor faded with a chuckle. “That’s right! A Sage’s Wisdom for a Fool’s Folly. Best you get some rest, lad. We’ll discuss training and our plans for the caravan in the month to come after you’ve had a chance to recover.”

Alex nodded, taking a grateful sip of the water flask Qing Wu handed him.

“That would be lovely. Only problem is, I don’t really have any place to sleep.”

Qing Wu gave him a look. “Best behavior, Alex.”

“Of course.”

And a very short time later, Alex found himself sinking into sinfully soft linen sheets and a pillow he would have thought forbidden, so plush and comfortable it was.

He was exhausted enough to surrender immediately to slumber’s caress, and when he later jolted awake to feel a soft feminine form press tightly against him, whispering sweet enticements into his ear… he was wise enough to feign sleep once more until exhaustion claimed him in truth and he awoke to a thankfully empty bed.

He enjoyed a jaw-cracking yawn and stretch, before wincing at what his interface clarified as a Medium Wound on the verge of becoming Light. As he took in his surroundings, noting the exceedingly clever use of space and split decks that allowed for a comfortable bed easily divided by rice paper and bamboo slats that a certain nimble girl had proved was no real hindrance at all, Alex still grinning at the sweetest compliments paid to a form a certain girl had been halfway certain was asleep… before swallowing the sudden lump in his throat as the memory of a certain priceless portrait blazed itself upon his mind’s eye.

A pair of jade queens had stolen his heart, and as much as he could see a fast friendship forming with Ya Ling, a quick summer fling couldn’t begin to compare.

He swallowed, whispering a soft promise to himself. “I will hold out hope. Not until I know for certain that my queens are lost to time’s endless ages, will I surrender to this life completely.”

He gave himself a quick sniff, grateful to see that even faded by however many millenia it had been, WiFu’s gifted attire still repaired itself and deflected dirt and grime like no-one’s business, looking like it had come fresh from the cleaners. As for himself? A moment’s biochemical mastery had him smelling like roses as well. Literally. Even if he would have really loved a good hot soak, he was luckier than most enduring what would be a month-long caravan ride in the desert, he knew that already.

His nose then perked up at far more appealing scents than even roses as Qing Wu knocked on the bedroom compartment and came bearing a bowl of stew and fresh-baked bread, of all things. Alex knew better than to ask questions, merely headed back up to the wagon rooftop after taking care of his necessities, happy to watch the world go by as the wagons sedately made their way across what was once more baron desert as he filled himself with fresh baked bread and mutton stew.

“I guess it wouldn’t be that hard to rig a stove together, and I’ll bet flour keeps extremely well in this hot and dry climate, even more than fresh produce did back home.”

Qing Wu nodded. “One of the traders joining us makes half his coin just supplying the caravan with fresh baked bread. Dipped in olives and spices, it’s some of the best fare you can hope to have on a trip like this.”

“Especially with the stew!” Alex opined, earning a chuckle and a nod.

Qing Wu gave him a thoughtful look. “Is there anything Reny and I should know?”

Alex blinked, before he froze, instantly understanding what was being said. He solemnly shook his head. “Only that I’m still eager to learn whatever you’re willing to teach.”

Qing Wu gave him a pointed look. “I have plenty to teach. The question is, how are you feeling? That was an ugly wound, Alex. And from what Ya Ling let slip… her former companion was an accomplished JiangHu assassin. It’s a miracle it wasn’t far worse.”

Alex furrowed his brow. “We only have her word on that. The JiangHu are professionals and in many cities have a role many actually find beneficial. They’re hardly psychopaths who would kill dozens of people just to take out a singular target.” He instantly stilled his tongue at the odd look this declaration earned him. “Or at least, that’s what I heard.”

Qing Wu raised a thoughtful brow. “You seem awfully familiar, and sympathetic, to a group of known murderers and cutthroats for the innocent naive Ruidian you purport to be.”

Alex sighed, took a bite of bread dipped in hearty stew, and gazed off into the sunset.

“I fell in love with a girl who had ties to the JiangHu, once upon a time. She was beautiful, sweet, fiercely loyal to those she cared about… and not above fighting for what she believed in.”

Qing Wu gave a thoughtful nod. “I see. Perhaps that explains it. Love often bridges the gaps between hero and villain, for all that those plays too often end in tragedy, as is the way with most theater performances in the cities.”

Alex f lashed a bitter smile. “That they do. All too often. In plays and real life alike.”

Qing Wu grinned a that. “True. And our only path forward is to enjoy life’s precious moments, no matter how dark the path we take… and of course, to do whatever we can to get stronger, so we may better weather life’s downpours, and survive to glimpse a fresh clean dawn once more.”

Alex chuckled softly. “I’m all about getting stronger. So what’s are first lesson, Master Wu?”

The Silver cultivator’s expression grew serious. “Are you finished your stew? Good. Today’s first and only lesson is the most important one you’re likely to embrace this trip, lad. And that is to tightly grasp the wondrous revelations you savored the night before. Hold them tight and squeeze every scrap of insight you can from them.”

Even as he said the words, a dozen massive ice crystals began forming between the man’s hands, once more inspiring a certain amount of awe from Alex, the cultivator tapping into sub-elements outside of his own paradigm.

But Alex didn’t let it stop him, recalling so viscerally the flash of lightning, the burst of flame, the surprisingly chilly rains of the summer storm turning the sands to mud as the howling wind blew all scent away, until Alex felt the sharp tang of bitter steel plunge into his back… and in a heartbeat, the connection had been made.

You are now embracing Desert Fox Cultivation Technique. Qi Pool has been fully saturated!

You have already cleansed and reinforced your Meridian Channels.

You have already formed your Divine Silver Supercable.

Excess potency will be channeled into Harmonious Refinement.

Alex froze at the words that had flickered across the mind’s eye as Qing Wu gave an approving nod and stood up.

“I’m pleased to see that last night’s breakthrough wasn’t a dream-like revelation we would have to spend the rest of the trip, if not months beyond, helping you to bring to practical use. You can summon it as effortlessly as any Silver can summon their own.” The man gave a pleased nod. “Excellent. Well, your assignment for the rest of the evening is to reinforce your technique. Tomorrow we’ll introduce you to the rest of the caravan and see if you’re more suited to the path of the Body Cultivator, or the Wujen.”

With those words, Qing Wu headed back inside, and Alex didn’t even think to follow up on what was itself a revelation… did he have what it took to be a wujen? Was a body cultivator’s path in this realm utterly different from what he expected, and why couldn’t he walk both paths?

Yet as quickly as those questions flittered across his mind’s eye, they were drowned out by the even bigger concern. What his interface had just revealed.

Despite being ranked, and having the health pool of a Rank 5 Basic Cultivator…

His interface made clear what he had already suspected the night before.

His meridian channels weren’t just clean, they were absolutely pristine.

Save for waste quickly removed with a single purification session, there were no blockages of any sort at all.

That should make him the equivalent of Rank 7 Basic, ready to break through.

And as far as winding strands to fibers, and from there cords that were the hallmark of Bronze,

He already had a Supercable that was itself in the realm of Silver.

How?

What exactly did it all mean?

He took advantage of twilight slipping into a brilliant star-lit sky to open his mind’s eye to gaze into the heavens of his own mind… or perhaps a place far more vast and grand than he could fathom.

At first, all he saw was the tiniest pulsating light in the star-filled nighttime sky. A silvery pulsation that grew every brighter as he soaring through the heavens to get closer to that pulsating object that, much to his awe and wonderment. A brilliant shimmering ring of power and potency and degenerate matter revolving at ever greater speeds around a point of ever growing darkness that might have been the size of his own heart… or perhaps the very sun.

Around it all was a vast cloud made up of countless millions of individual flickering flames of silvery light. Like countless snowflakes, every flickering spark was different, united only in that they were trapped in the orbit generated by the revolutions of an impossibly vast supercable that was somehow compressing them all into an accretion disk around the event horizon of oblivion.

Alex felt a shiver caress his soul as he sensed the ring’s orbit growing ever faster as minute wobbles and imperfections were smoothed not with the advent of yet more power into the system… but by harmonious balance.

Perfection.

He was hit with the sudden odd certainty that every skill he learned, every rank up he earned, every perilous insight gained while fighting for his life was the key to perfecting his own mind, body, and path as a cultivator. It would push him as far as any Basic cultivator could go.

“But what happens when I’m actually ready for Bronze?”

That was the kicker, he thought to himself, equally aware that he was riding on the slat boards over a massive wagon rooftop now traversing an enormous desert… and soaring upon wings of revelation, gazing upon a path of ascension that promised such potency at such horrific cost, that it was all he could do not to look away.

Even as he was fascinated by the power before him.

The rival of any god he had ever seen.

Power that could be his… perhaps had once been his.

So long as he followed the path of perseverance and growth.

So long as he never surrendered.

Which still begged the question…

What exactly where those flickering lights, and why did they remind him so much of the stream of lives glimpsed upon the river of souls? And just how boundless was this Boundless Path he now found himself on?

So lost in thought he became that he forgot to pull his eyes from that obsidian darkness at the heart of it all. He was more shocked than horrified when the abyss chose that moment to stare back at him. Revealing not ebony darkness, but eyes as blue as the summer sky.

His own.

He felt the scream bubble in his throat, his soul pulled into perilous currents as he too fell into hideous blackness… along with countless millions of souls that had dared to invade a realm once guarded by WiFu’s eternal disciple.