The sharpness of spear points drew lines through Chidi’s position, and his body moved to negate their intent. A half step to the side on the scree, a twist of his blade to deflect a trajectory, and many other small movements in rapid succession. Then when the time came, he would step inside the range of one opponent and make his own attack, creating his own line through them. Often enough it was successful, and when it wasn’t it forced his opponents to retreat to a non-optimal location. Such as closer to the giant snake, which was still present.

Occasionally the battlefield shifted under the will of the giant snake, either pushing or pulling some of the magnetic scree and many weapons and armor. Lesser members of the Harmonious Citadel were the first to fall, while the Essence Collection cultivators were only just realizing the danger they were in. Though the Scarlet Alliance squad couldn’t assume the snake would assist them, keeping their opponents between them and it was sufficient to pressure them.

Chidi got locked in battle with one for a few short moves. His body reacted more than his mind, and a moment later he had a large gash on his left side as the spear grazed past with energy extended- but his opponent lost an arm in the exchange. The wound on Chidi’s side wouldn’t matter that much if he immediately treated it. But first the battle had to be won.

Captain Tiras as well as the vice-captain Denitsa had each taken out another of the Essence Collection cultivators. The snake crushed one beneath its body, and then wrapped itself around the remaining one, crushing his bones.

There was a tense moment of groups facing off with each other. Chidi tried to determine where the snake was looking, but he could only feel its motions. A tongue sticking out, detecting heat. Further up its rather large head, he felt… trails of blood. So the creature’s eyes had been stabbed out. Chidi felt a bit of pity for what it had lost, though he didn’t know sight himself.

A roaring growl came from Aconite, not one with meaning besides the obvious. A threat, and intimidation. Neither side moved for a moment, before the serpent began to retreat, cultivator still clutched in its tail. They let it go, because they had no reason to hunt it. Material wealth wasn’t worth the very real risk to their lives, especially if they couldn’t reach anywhere that would make use of the materials.

Chidi pulled out a medical kit, ready to stitch up his side, but he stopped. He wasn’t the only one injured. The squad had lost a few people as well, despite attacking an enemy who was already engaged with a powerful opponent.

The one that stopped Chidi was Ida. A survey of her physical form might have made Chidi think she was dead, a hole through her chest. And certainly, she would be soon. However, her body still pumped blood and retained heat.

The things taught to Chidi by Grandmaster Chikere did not make him a doctor, but he was qualified enough as a basic combat surgeon. Needle and thread found their way into his hands, where he began to stitch up the worst of the damage. It wasn’t going to be enough. Chidi also pulled out a medicinal pill from his bag, only to wonder how she was going to swallow it. There was a hole right through her sternum, which went through her trachea and esophagus along with damage to her heart. She couldn’t swallow it, but he could shove it straight towards her stomach.

It began to dissolve naturally, but it would be better if it was consciously circulated. Unfortunately, Chidi couldn’t do anything about that. All he could do was stop the bleeding- he was very good at ‘undoing’ cuts, as his training had made him quite familiar with them. It was only a short time directly under Chikere’s tutelage, but the comparison to the offensive end of things made it stick with him. And it was better to try than not.

The blood of Chidi’s first scouting student was all over his hands as he frantically tried to get it back in her. If he’d been relying on sight, he would have been completely incapable. His access to inside of her closed up with muscular action, but his energy wielded needles like tiny rapiers, drawing patterns that held the body vaguely in shape.

When he finally got to stitching up her outer wounds, Chidi was honestly shocked she was still alive. That could only be partly his own efforts and the medicine. Proper body tempering training made people more durable, but there were still limits. This required determination to live, and probably a good bit of luck.

Ida did not open her eyes, and Chidi did not want to force her… but they had to move. So he hoisted her onto his back, the same as other squad members were doing for those who could not move. Those who did not survive had received quick burials- the enemies were left for beasts to consume.

Chidi realized he hadn’t yet worked on his own side. Fortunately, the blood had clotted, partly because of his undershirt. It was going to be a royal pain to disentangle that without ripping open his side, and there was still some internal bleeding, but Chidi circulated his energy and focused on promoting recovery as he moved. This was another sensation he only wanted to experience once. It hurt much worse than the cleaner cuts of the grandmaster.

-----

So far, Anton had not needed to kill anyone on his own. While techniques to reveal the true cultivation of the Twin Soul Sect weren’t perfect, Anton had a cultivation advantage. Twisting a jolt of energy into an arrow that moved near the speed of light, he turned heads to focus on the targets in the most inopportune of circumstances. Just now, he had done his deed at a meeting of four local sects.

“What is this?” demanded the woman of the hosting sect. “The energy of invaders!”

“No, it’s-” the man frantically searched for an excuse. “I felt something. I was poisoned!”

The quick thinking saved the man for the moment- but it did not stop the other three from restraining him. They were able to verify the path of the arrow as it pierced into the building, but following that trajectory they would never spot Anton. He was a hundred kilometers away, not quite on the opposite side.

“I heard there is a technique being distributed that can detect the Twin Soul Sect…” one of the others said. “I can have my contacts verify the information and see if we can get our hands on it.”

“It’s just a temporary fluctuation,” the man pleaded. “You know I’m not one of them.”

“Do we?” said the final one. “I’m sure you can see why we would be hesitant. Until we can verify one way or another, you will be taken into custody. Should this truly be a mistake, we will apologize and help you hunt down whoever framed you.” Nobody sounded convinced, of course. But they didn’t want to kill a Life Transformation cultivator or the head of a sect without sufficient proof. It might bolster their positions slightly, but it would weaken the province with respect to other sects that might want their resources.

Anton could imagine that was how they were thinking, at least. Hopefully he could continue helping In’istra rebuild and prosperous enough they wouldn’t default to conflicts. That would require some other sorts of guidance as well, though hopefully some of that could be done by the burgeoning Order of One Hundred Stars branch. Varghese was a fine young fellow, of strong character that would hopefully lead others to be the same.

-----

Everheart was bored. Normally that would lead him to go do something to relieve his boredom, but he was at a critical juncture of setting up his little system. It wouldn’t be fully done for a decades, but the basic components necessary to fight a few Augmentation cultivators were there. He was confident in beating saints one-on-one, of course, but they were traveling in batches. And there should be a couple other Augmentation cultivators that wanted to take him out. Rather than having to fake his death again, spending a bit of time to prepare was best. If the Harmonious Citadel thought he would stop with just one, they didn’t know him that well. Their whole empire needed to collapse in embarrassment as their leaders were publicly shamed. Or killed, he supposed. Whichever was convenient at the time.

-----

How much further to Shutoll? That was supposed to be the question answered by Chidi, but he couldn’t help but wonder himself. It shouldn’t be far, but it felt like forever. At least Ida could walk again. If barely. He had no idea if she would ever recover to a point she could fight. Or if her wound might get infected. Usually cultivators didn’t have to deal with such a thing, but when severely weakened it could still be trouble. On the other hand, sometimes there were infections that could harm even otherwise healthy cultivators. Just one more reason to get to a city and a proper doctor, not just someone who would stitch things closed and barely shift bones back to where they should go.

Just as Chidi was about to ask Aconite if she could see the city, he felt something coming. This time, he was fully ready for it and found it comforting. A large number of now familiar swords, and thus the person who came with them, bounding along the ground. Which was weird, since she could fly.

“Nice scar,” Grandmaster Chikere said.

“... Thanks?” Chidi tilted his head. It would have been better if he could have avoided the big scar on his side instead. That was going to take a lot of work to properly recover, since the early healing process wasn’t optimal.

“I’m both glad and disappointed it wasn’t from a sword.”

“Because…?”

“It would mean you failed to avoid an attack properly, but it also means you were fighting people who barely matter.”

“Harsh.”

Chidi could feel her looking around, specifically the way her energy senses roamed. “You left a needle in there.”

Before Chidi could ask more, Chikere had stepped a hundred meters over to Ida’s location and slapped a palm on her back. There was a tiny shimmer as a needle came out of her. Then Chikere held it in front of him. “Don’t lose it.”

“Dammit. Was that why she’s not healing well?”

“Nah, probably didn’t matter. Looks like she got it pretty bad. But you really have to pay attention to those things.”

He had been paying attention, of course. As much as his mind could process at the time. But even now, he was still in a daze, wondering if he would survive. Though at the current moment his body was already wilting with relief. Maybe too soon, though.

“Grandmaster, are you able to tell if Shutoll is still under Scarlet Alliance control?”

“Who and what now?”

“... the city that way,” Chidi pointed. He really hoped there was still a city there.

“Oh, yeah. I recognize those swords. Not held by the Citadel, either. So you’re probably good. And if not, I guess you can settle there anyway.”

“Yeah, as if we can defeat a whole city.”

“I mean, I don’t plan to fight your battles for you. But it’s not really out of my way, and its easier for me to train you if you settle down.”

“... Right.” For the sake of Shutoll, Chidi hoped they had not been taken over by the Harmonious Citadel. Otherwise, he wasn’t certain the buildings would survive. He could see Chikere just slicing the whole city in half at chest level to kill an occupying army and wondering why everything toppled over. But that was just his view of the woman he mostly knew about from legends.