~~~

“Too late?” The commander of Fort Blackwind asks, looking at him with confusion. “Are you trying to intimidate me? Threaten me? Stop speaking in riddles!”

It is only natural that he wants an explanation. The man would have to be utterly incompetent to take him at his word.

And yet, Liu Jin can only bite his tongue. There is no telling what will happen if Liu Jin tells him he is infected. The Fleshcrafter could have arranged for his creatures to become active the moment they are exposed. Once that happens, there is nothing Liu Jin can do to prevent the people in the fort from being killed.

Thus, he must turn to someone who can.

“Big Sister Bai,” Liu Jin says, using only his aura to communicate with her. “Is it possible for you to safely extract all the civilians like you did when you fought Duke Lai?”

When Big Sister Bai fought Duke Lai in Stone River City, the man’s castle was destroyed. Many people could have died, but Big Sister Bai safely evacuated everyone from the collapsing structure using ice. Liu Jin hopes she can do something like that again.

She shakes her head sadly.

“There are far too many people inside the fort, and they’re all too close. I can take some of the civilians, but far from all,” she replies, also using Qi to speak to him.

“I see.” Liu Jin takes a deep breath and looks up at the commander, who keeps shouting at him to explain himself from the top of the wall. “In that case… Big Sister Bai, if it is not too presumptuous of me to ask, can you create a dome around us? My soldiers and the fort?”

At least that way, they will ensure the infected don’t enter the city.

“What is presumptuous is that it has taken you this long to ask,” Big Sister Bai says with a smile. “But I suppose I was no better at your age. Now that I think about it, I must have made my master quite worried several times.”

Liu Jin smiles in self-deprecation.

“Apparently, I’m more proud than I thought I was,” Liu Jin says. “Please, Big Sister Bai. Whenever you are ready.”

In the blink of an eye, Big Sister Bai’s Qi spikes to such a degree that even the ring she is wearing to hide her cultivation cannot conceal her power. The temperature drops sharply, and frost forms over the ground, rising to form huge walls of ice. Everyone watches in awe as the walls close around them to create a dome over their heads.

“Hold!” Liu Jin says with his voice and with his Qi, raising his hand to prevent his men from panicking. “Do not act until I say so!”

“What is the meaning of this?!” the commander shouts, alternating between looking at the dome and glaring at Liu Jin. “I knew it! You’re worried reinforcements are coming to stop you!”

[Art of the Roaming Thief]

“Is that why you have been trying so desperately to make time?” Liu Jin asks, startling the commander as he appears before him. “You were expecting to be saved? No. I am afraid there is no one coming. Even if the combined might of General Nie Dan and Murong Bang’s soldiers weren’t stretching your army to their limits, there would be no merit in saving you.”

The commander lets his Qi roar around him. He’s in the Seventh Level of the True Realm. An impressive achievement, but it’s only that. There is no point in comparing his presence to someone like Han. Even if Liu Jin were to compare him to Huang Shing, the man in front of him would come out lacking in quality.

“Spoken like a brute from Murong Bang’s army,” the commander yells at him. “It is because of a great man like General He Bin that cities like Blackwind have flourished! He’d never let them be trampled over by a savage like you!”

“You have been infected.”

“What?”

“You have been infected,” Liu Jin repeats. “Surely, some reports must have reached your ears by now? The name of the Death Fashioning Scripture is on everyone’s lips, and their creatures now roam your lands. You and your men have been infected by them. The civilians here are all in danger because of that.”

Part of Liu Jin expects the parasite inside the commander to go wild as soon as he utters the name of the Death Fashioning Scripture. Thankfully, no such thing happens.

“Ha! I was wondering what tale you would try to weave,” the commander laughs. “I have heard those lies already! You savages have sent Spirit Beasts across the border for years! Now you blame them on some made-up Sect and dare imply General He Bin is working with them? Preposterous!”

Liu Jin grimaces. Unfortunately, Murong Bang’s army does have the annoying habit of sending out dangerous Spirit Beasts across the borders.

How can he get this man to believe him?

“My name is Qing Jin,” Liu Jin says.

“What care do I have for your name, you…”

The commander trails off. There is no way he can remain calm after seeing sparks of purple appear around Liu Jin.

“My name is Qing Jin,” Liu Jin repeats to the stunned commander.

“....so it is true,” the commander says, his voice almost a whisper. “There really is someone of royal blood traveling with Murong Bang…Why would you betray the legacy of your family like this? Or… are the tales true? Are you the spawn of the vile–So your name is Qing Jin. I see. I see.”

There is little that could have prepared Liu Jin for the sight of someone’s nervous system being taken over. The commander’s body simply stops. All the dozen minor movements people consciously and unconsciously perform at any given second of the day. His breathing. Even the flow of blood through his body. All of that stops.

Only his eyes are the exception. They are wide and full of panic. They move around wildly, trying to search for an explanation, yet the rest of his face remains slack. Motionless.

Corpse-like.

“They told me your name already, you see.” The mouth of the commander moves to form the words, opening and closing awkwardly. Like a hand inside a cloth puppet. “However, I do not make it a habit to trust the words of those beneath me. People from this side can be so unreliable. They made no mention of you being of royal blood. I suppose it makes sense for you to be someone blessed with an Inheritance. No normal cultivator could have done what you did.”

Liu Jin’s Qi rises as he takes up a stance.

“You are from the Death Fashioning Scripture,” he says.

“Correct,” the commander's body says. His mouth stretches into a wide, unnatural smile, all while his terrified eyes beg Liu Jin for help. “And you… You are the wretched little pest that stole my creations!”

Blood bursts from the commander’s pores as his blood vessels explode. His nerves become visible against his skin, and his flesh starts rippling like water. The flesh bud inside him has gone wild, and it’s not just him. Liu Jin can feel every single parasite inside the fort activate at once.

[Ground Contraction]

By the time Liu Jin takes the first step, Big Sister Bai has already encased as many civilians as she can in ice. By the time Liu Jin takes his second step, the orbs of ice break through the walls of the fortress, carrying them to safety.

Unfortunately, it is not all of them.

White poisonous Qi glows around Liu Jin’s right arm.

He drives it through the commander’s chest.

Strong as the Fleshcrafter is, the commander’s body is not faster than Liu Jin’s. In a fraction of a second, Liu Jin identifies the affected areas of the man’s body and sends his poison into them. He can see the pain in the commander’s eyes, but he does not have the luxury of alleviating it. Liu Jin can only focus on moving his poison inside the man’s body, annihilating all the infected areas with brutal efficiency.

A second later, the commander screams.

It means the man’s voice belongs to him once more.

Liu Jin pulls his hand out of the commander’s chest. Immediately, the man falls over like a puppet with its strings cut. The pain was so great that he lost consciousness. He has numerous internal wounds, but his regeneration should heal him eventually.

He’ll live.

His soldiers are not so lucky. Liu Jin feels as the transformation overtakes them one after another. He feels as the Fleshcrafter’s Qi rises into the night like the howling of a thousand ghosts.

It’s already too late for them.

“Qing Jin!”

“Qing Jin!

“QING JIN!”

Chants of his name rise into the sky as the Fleshcrafter speaks through his creatures. Liu Jin swings his arm. One of his Qi snakes rushes out and slams into the fort’s gate like a battering ram, breaking it down with corrosive poison.

“The time for talking is over!” Liu Jin roars at the top of his lungs. “Let not a single of these wretched creatures leave this place alive!”

The pack of murderers that he is somehow in charge of roars and charges into battle without giving it a second thought. They are immediately met by the creatures of the Death Fashioning Scripture, all former soldiers twisted beyond recognition.

Liu Jin dashes down the wall and enters the fort, quickly overtaking his subordinates. His Qi glows and manifests in the shape of a massive snake that slithers through the fortress, ramming into all the monsters there and clearing the path for his soldiers.

He moves through the fort with lightning speed. Any monster that gets in his path is flattened by his Qi constructs. It’s not nearly enough to kill them, but there is no time. He knows where the civilians are being kept. Big Sister Bai has kept evacuating them, but there’s still more. He needs to get there while there’s still time!

Fifty.

A little bit faster.

Thirty-nine.

More. There’s still time left.

Twelve.

Just a little more…

One…

The last person dies before Liu Jin’s eyes. His body melts into the monster biting into him, becoming little more than flesh-colored sludge. Big glops of it drop all over the ground. All around, flesh churns and bones break. An eye without an owner rolls softly and bumps into a wall.

Liu Jin’s Qi turns white.

“Are…”

“...You...”

“...Angry?”

Multiple mouths appear around Liu Jin. They are grotesque things with far too many teeth that speak in the same echoing voice.

“Were you hoping to save these people? Why? I wasn’t even trying to kill them, and look what happened to them,” the creatures say. “Even you should be able to snuff them out by merely expressing your power. To be part of my creations is a higher purpose than they ever would have had. You should rejoice for them!”

Poison expands around Liu Jin, silencing the mouths. The ground melts, the stone crumbles, and the Fleshcrafter’s creatures are eroded as the poison engulfs them.

“However, now that I know this bothers you…”

Flesh rises and breaks through the fort, becoming a featureless giant with a hole where its face should be. Across its chest, a massive mouth opens up, and two long, vicious tongues run across its lips.

“I’ll gladly kill more!”

A massive hand slams down on him. Liu Jin immediately leaps away, dismissing his Poison Qi to stop it from spreading to his soldiers.

A glop of flesh lands on his hand the instant he does.

It drops down from the giant’s body and looks little different from a rotten plum. It pulsates and quivers. The moment it touches his skin, Liu Jin feels it trying to infect him. It’s not the only one, either. The giant’s every movement is scattering those things around the battlefield.

Almost by instinct, Liu Jin’s Qi reaches into the corrupted flesh to subvert it.

His hand explodes.

“DID YOU THINK YOU COULD STEAL FROM ME AGAIN!” Every single creature in the fort screams at the same time while Liu Jin cries in pain. “Did you think that you… a child from this land…”

“Who can only boast of an Inheritance…”

“Without understanding…”

“Without suffering...”

“Did you think you could shape death like I can?!”

The voices come from all around him. Multiple creatures take turns speaking at a time. Liu Jin pants as he holds the bloodied stump where his hand used to be. The Fleshcrafter had been more than ready for his attempt to usurp him this time, choosing to destroy his creation the moment he sensed his interference.

“I admit I am inferior to you,” Liu Jin says as he quickly ascertains he’s not infected and seals his wound. Only then does he numb his nerves. His regeneration will give him his hand back eventually, but not now. “However, that’s only if you were actually here.”

His Qi raises. Lightning rampages around him.

“No matter how fierce your Qi might feel, you are not actually here. You are limited by the biological matter at your disposal.”

The giant tries to kick him, destroying huge chunks of the fortress in the process. Liu Jin easily moves out of the way. The glops of flesh that rain from the giant are burned down by his lightning. One of the golden bolts takes the shape of a snake and wraps around the giant's legs to bring it down.

It's not enough. The giant easily escapes Liu Jin’s construct by splitting into smaller creatures. One of them is big and fat and lumbers towards him like a wave of flesh.

“More than that,” Liu Jin says, looking at the wave without fear. “You’re outnumbered.”

A wall of golden flames rises and carves a path through the fortress, meeting the wave of flesh head-on. Lu Mei’s eyes are gold as she glares at the burning flesh. Immediately after, lightning from Lei Cheng strikes, and the disciples of the Eternal Flame Clan rain down fire from above.

Liu Jin grits his teeth as his Qi snake opens its mouth and swallows one of the Fleshcrafter's creatures, incinerating it with pure lightning. The soldiers of Murong Bang roar and charge, destroying all the lesser monsters on their path.

“Fine,” one of the creatures says as it slowly disintegrates. “It seems this is the most I can do with these materials.”

Its mouth twists into something resembling a smile.

“However, I know what bothers you now. I will be waiting for you at the palace...unless you want this entire country to become like this.”

Liu Jin narrows his eyes.

“I planned on going there anyway.”

The Fleshcrafter laughs as his creature collapses into a pile of burned flesh. All around, the Fleshcrafter’s creatures are met with fire and lightning.

Before long, it is over.

For now.

~~~

“This is not possible…”

The Commander of Fort Blackwind is the only survivor left. It is a testament to his regenerative abilities that it only takes him a few hours to regain consciousness.

“A trick. A lie. It has to be,” he says. His face is ashen and covered in cold sweat.

“You!” He points a finger at Liu Jin. “It has to be you who did it! It cannot be! General He Bin… he wouldn’t… He’d never…”

Liu Jin looks at him sadly.

“I do not blame you for refusing to accept what happened. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to try to change your mind,” he says. “Your body will heal eventually but do not overdo it. Stay in the city. I doubt any soldiers will come here.”

“You… you are not going to kill me?”

“I saved your life,” Liu Jin says to him. “Why would I do that if I wanted to kill you? You have no soldiers left, so there is no need for us to do anything here. There’s also little point in taking you prisoner.”

“I…this is a trick…It has to be a trick,” he says desperately, mostly talking to himself. He refuses to accept what has happened, what the implications are.

Liu Jin walks away.

“I...Wait! I know… Please, understand that I know,” the commander desperately shouts at his retreating back. “But if I believe you… If I believe you… then what have we all been doing all this time?!”

Liu Jin looks down.

That is something he would like to know as well.

~~~