Chapter 144: This Young Master Wishes He Had Easy Choices
"Damn you!" Pan Gong roared. Admirably or foolishly, depending on how you looked at it, he didn't halt his charge when one warrior became a hundred.
The Vine warrior flicked his spear and sent the body of the Formation specialist soaring toward Pan Gong. The specialist's body exploded with a wave of liquid qi. Rather than dodge, Pan Gong weathered the Final Flood directly by wrapping himself in liquid qi. Even so, he was delayed long enough for the rest of the Vine Warrior army to cross through the barrier. They marched with military discipline, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a block formation. Small circular vine shields wrapped around their left arms, and in their right hands, they clutched short spears. Not a single face could be seen, their heads completely covered in vine helmets fashioned to look like grimacing faces and with two unearthly green lights glowing from where there should have been eyes.
Through the Yellow Dragon's sight, Chen Haoran could see the barrier part before the warriors touched it. The warriors themselves were all a uniform, twisting green mass of qi. Some, however, were a touch brighter shade, and others had blue undertones Chen Haoran recognized as water qi. Despite these minor differences, Chen Haoran recognized the qi of the warriors as the same variety as the killers the Yellow Dragon had drawn his attention to before.
Chen Haoran felt cold. He grasped the hilt of his sword in search of security.
Pan Gong growled like a lumbering bear, and a tsunami of yellow liquid qi burst out and swept toward the Vine warriors. With soundless cooperation, the Vine warriors in the front ranks held their shields forward and allowed the giant wave of qi to crash upon them. They were not swept away. They didn't even step back. Instead, the wave of qi grew smaller and their shields grew larger, sprouting more vines as they absorbed qi and interlinking to become a single wall of vines.
Pan Gong immediately pulled his qi back with an ugly look and leapt backward. The wall of vines shifted and began moving closer. The sound of lockstep marching beat Chen Haoran's heart like a drum.
"Fire Qi!" Pan Gong roared.
Seven Liquid Meridians stepped forward at Pan Gong's call, and Chen Haoran was left abruptly breathing dry air as they erupted with red and orange liquid qi. It was a good call. Of the Five elements, Wood fed Fire, like how Water fed Wood. It was the same principle as what the Vine warriors used to turn Pan Gong's liquid qi against him. Now it was turned back on them.
At least. That's how it should have gone.
The burning liquid qi fell on the vine wall and scorched it black, but the warriors did not stop. Acrid black smoke rose but failed to hide the fact the wall was still moving toward them. The Garrison soldiers weren't slow on the uptake and immediately manipulated their liquid qi to flow around the wall. Chen Haoran looked through the smoke and fire and found that the warriors on the flanks filled their shields with qi and blocked the liquid qi flames with more vine walls.
"Metal Element!" Pan Gong bellowed.
Chen Haoran clutched his sword tightly but didn't pull it out. Phelps clutched Chen Haoran's side as if telling him not to go. He didn't. Chen Haoran stayed in place while two soldiers stepped up behind the Fire Qi soldiers. At an unseen cue, the middle soldiers cut off their liquid qi, and the Metal qi soldiers immediately released two thin streams of white liquid qi that blasted toward the vine wall like cannons. Blue liquid qi seeped from the vine walls and pushed forward, pushing the fire liquid qi away and meeting the metal liquid qi in a stalemate. Metal beats Wood. Metal boosts Water. It was a game of elemental rock paper scissors, and they were losing—a fatal disadvantage on top of the number disparity.
Pan Gong recognized the poor situation for what it was and raised a closed fist. "Retreat."
Patriarch Qi looked ready to bolt as soon as the words left Pan Gong's mouth, but he glanced at Chen Haoran, who had yet to move and paused. Smart man. The deadliest part of the battle was always the rout. The Fire and Metal soldiers calmly walked backward while still flooding their qi, the rest of the Garrison stepped back at the same time, and Chen Haoran and Patriarch Qi followed them.
Pan Gong raised his hand. "Earth."
There was no visible flood of liquid qi, but Chen Haoran could see the qi in the ground spike and move as a single mass toward the vine wall.
Pan Gong slashed his hand down. "Cut."
The soldiers ceased their floods at once. Blue liquid qi rushed forward from the Vine warriors but a towering wall of earth rose from the ground and intercepted it.
"Go!" At Pan Gong's order, they turned their backs and sped off into the jungle. The Earth qi soldiers served as rear guards, raising another wall of earth behind them. The Fire qi soldiers set the jungle on fire for good measure to hamper the Vine warrior's advance.
Chen Haoran cut his connection with the Yellow Dragon. Using it while running was just too much for him. Phelps clutched Chen Haoran tightly, finally giving up his bamboo to be put in Chen Haoran's storage bag. They ran and ran, and given that they were a whole group of Liquid Meridians, the answer to how far was a safe distance was quite a bit different compared to Qi Realms. Eventually, after what felt like an hour, they approached another pyramid. It wasn't quite a defensible position. At least not if you were planning to survive the battle. It did, however, offer a line of sight with a perimeter of open space not overgrown with trees. Pan Gong raised a fist, and they halted at the base of the pyramid. It served as a cue for the Garrison soldiers to finally break ranks and voice their burning questions.
"What in nine hells was that?"
"Did anyone recover the Formation Compass?"
"Those vines weren't fire element. I've never seen non-fire plants resist fire qi like that."
"The damn communication medallion still isn't working."
"They let us go too easily."
A core of the strongest and presumably highest-ranking soldiers gathered around Pan Gong.
"They might have been a defense mechanism of the secret realm," one of the Eighth-Layers said. "Some kind of Puppet."
"Impossible," The other Eighth-layer said. "That many? That organized? Without a visible controller?"
"That's why I think there could be an Artifact Spirit like I said before."
"How much qi does it take to support both of those things? You saw the array map. There was nothing that could support defenses that complex."
"There was nothing about a barrier either, and yet, there it is. You heard the specialist. The barrier isn't directly connected to the secret realm. The same is probably true for the Puppets as well. It's no wonder we missed it."
"Even if they only rely on the ambient qi, they would still have maintenance costs. Given how large they are, there should have been an obvious concentration of qi in the Outer Ring."
Pan Gong remained silent as his fellow officers debated and theorized. His face had been stoic ever since the retreat. His eyes stared off into the air, deep in unblinking contemplation. Chen Haoran was thinking too. Stay or go? He already didn't care to help the Garrison, and he'd gotten the answers he wanted. His priority right now was finding Xie Jin and Bao Si, not fighting random tree people.
Pan Gong blinked. "They were men. At least the one who killed Officer Fu was."
"Could it be a lost tribe?" a Seventh-Layer asked. "Wouldn't be the first time a secret realm had its own natives."
Pan Gong looked at Chen Haoran. Their gazes met. "Song Yuelin, did you see anything?"
Twenty presences fell on Chen Haoran's shoulders as agitated soldiers turned their full attention to him. Patriarch Qi quailed while Phelps clutched Chen Haoran's shoulders tighter. Chen Haoran weathered the presence as best he could. They weren't really what bothered him, actually. The stares they represented did. Even with as strong as he'd gotten, having a bunch of people putting all their focus on you was unnerving.
Chen Haoran mustered all the grace he had and didn't let his nervousness show as he walked over to Pan Gong. "They all looked similar, but that might have been due to the armor. I didn't see anything that connected them to the Secret Realm or implied they were controlled from somewhere else."
Pan Gong nodded. He didn't look surprised. "When we first found the barrier, you saw something before we left. What was it?"
Chen Haoran started. Pan Gong had noticed that? Chen Haoran had originally intended to keep it to himself. He couldn't exactly refuse to answer now, however. "I saw people fighting on a pyramid. I could only see their qi, but the killers looked exactly like the Vine warriors that just attacked us."
Pan Gong hummed. "So there are more warriors outside the barrier hunting the other trialists."
"Do you think the others are trapped inside barriers too?" One of the Eighth-Layers asked.
"It would be stranger if we were the only ones stuck behind a barrier," Pan Gong said. Suddenly, he sharply turned his head. "Soldier Jiang. Are you feeling well?"
Chen Haoran followed Pan Gong's gaze and found him staring at the Third-Layer Peachblood who'd accompanied them to study the barrier before. The Peachblood was pale, becoming all the more paler as the attention that was on Chen Haoran was shifted to him instead.
He quickly clasped his hands and bowed. "Captain Pan, I believe I know the origin of our attackers."
Pan Gong nodded. "Go on."
"I believe they're Rattan Armor Soldiers."
Pan Gong frowned. "That's a name I never expected to hear outside my military history classes."
The majority of the group hissed and nodded in recognition of the name which surprised Chen Haoran. Patriarch Qi and the weaker Liquid Meridians looked confused. Pan Gong swept his eyes over them and elaborated. "The Rattan Armor Soldiers were the Southern Regions' premier military force 400 years ago. Studying their battles is a mandatory part of the officer curriculum." He glanced at Soldier Jiang. "However, it was my understanding that they were dissolved after the war ended, and the techniques to create their arms and armor were lost."
Translation: The Empire killed them all and buried them in history.
Soldier Jiang didn't raise his head. "This is just my theory based on the stories I've heard, sir. I've never seen a Rattan Armor Soldier myself."
Pan Gong shook his head. "No, I've long heard of the Rattan Army's legendary vine armor, and what we saw today matches their appearance in the Palace School's books. Although resisting fire is a new one."
Chen Haoran's heart fell. A famous force thought destroyed in Zumulu's conquest. Appearing in ruins abandoned for 2 thousand years. All while a rebellion was brewing throughout the region led by another ancient legend of Zumulu. Coincidence? Impossible. Would he be recognized? Would he be spared if he was? Did Xi Wangmu know he was here? Was she here?
What had he gotten himself involved in?
Chen Haoran kept his face blank. Pan Gong was far too keen-eyed, and he didn't need to be grilled while surrounded by so many Garrison soldiers. Needless to say, if his identity were revealed, the Garrison would quickly become his enemy. That didn't mean the Rattan Armor Soldiers were his friends, though. Should he shout his identity to them? Would that make things better or worse? He resisted the urge to reach for his sword.
"Maybe they're a remnant placed here to serve as trial guardians?" A Liquid Meridian asked. "It would make more sense than them being survivors of the Southern Suppression War."
"It does not matter what they are or how they got here," Pan Gong forcefully said. "What matters is that we have an unknown amount of enemies hunting for us in prepared terrain. Our objectives have changed. We need to break out of this barrier and rush to the Center Ring to end the trial as soon as possible."
An Eighth-Layer frowned. "That's too drastic, no? While the situation is unfavorable, it's not beyond our ability to salvage so long as we rally the others. If we leave like this, our superiors and peers will both be dissatisfied."
"If it comes to that, then I alone will shoulder the blame," Pan Gong said. "I stand by my words. We must end the trial now." He looked at the two Metal qi users. "Do either of you have any large-scale metal techniques?"
"No sir, only single-target," the soldiers answered.
Pan Gong asked the same question to the Water and Earth spirit roots but didn't get the answer he wanted. Chen Haoran didn't so much as even twitch toward his sword. Finally, Pan Gong turned to Chen Haoran. "Song Yuelin, your eyes will be invaluable for scouting and breaking the barrier. I will make sure you're properly rewarded for your efforts."
Chen Haoran noted that Pan Gong left him no option to say no. Typical. He would have to make it work, at least until he knew more. He plastered a fake smile onto his face. "I'll follow your command, of course, but I have a question." A very, very important question. "Are there a lot of officers participating in the trial? Or did we luckily find most of them?"
Pan Gong said that the Rattan Vine Army was taught in the officer curriculum, but most of the Liquid Meridians here recognized the name, and all of them were Sixth-Layer and above.
Pan Gong, at first, acted as if he hadn't heard the question, but he couldn't stop the reactions of the other officers. The Eighth-Layer visibly paled and shook as realization dawned on him, and a domino effect soon followed as the others began to put the pieces together.
Pan Gong sighed. "More than there should be, given the circumstances."
His words served to confirm the worst thoughts everyone was holding, and the atmosphere became heavy. Chen Haoran imagined it couldn't be easy for the soldiers. He didn't feel any better than they did, knowing his fears were correct. That was probably why Pan Gong had been holding onto his suspicions rather than voicing them. It would have come out soon enough, however, once they gave some thought to it.
This was a trap for the Garrison.
And someone in the Garrison threw them right into it.
Chapter 145: This Young Master's Headshot
Among all the injuries a military force could suffer, a strike against morale was a most lethal blow. Learning that you were sold out by some high-ranking official and led into a trap for the express purpose of killing you all would leave even the most cynical soldier feeling rattled. Sure, perhaps power-wise, every single Liquid Meridian here could be replaced with a few Crystal Transformations, but the middle officers were what kept things moving. Losing so many of them at once would be a grievous blow to the Garrison and Reservoir Town.
The fact that someone had led the officer class of the Garrison into a killing field wasn't the worst part to Chen Haoran. The real dread for him came from thinking about what would follow it. Or rather, what might be happening right now. This was too big an action not to follow up on. What sort of world would he be going back into once he escaped from the secret realm? He'd severely underestimated just how far along Xi Wangmu was in her plans.
Pan Gong clapped his hands. The sound was like a gunshot going off. "Look on the bright side, at least we're not Navy." His joke was met with laughter that proved yet again that two things were truly certain in life: Death and Interservice rivalry. "I don't know about you all, but personally, I'm looking forward to how good this is going to look on my annual evaluations. We might even get a raise."
There were a few groans and low chuckles from the assembled soldiers. Even Chen Haoran huffed a small laugh. Hating yearly evals and performance assessments was truly multiversal.
Pan Gong allowed the chuckling to go on for a few more seconds before clapping again. "Alright, let's get a move on. Our priority is to break through the barrier and rush for the Center Ring as quickly as possible."
"Do we have a means to break through it?" an Eighth-Layer asked.
Pan Gong clenched his fist. "We have our means right here. My knowledge of Formations isn't as extensive as a specialist, but it will suffice. We'll target the Emission Node. Those are more prone to failure, especially once enough pressure is applied." He turned to Chen Haoran. "How far can your technique see?"
"As far as the eye can see," Chen Haoran answered. "But the jungle blocks it for the most part. These trees are all filled with qi. The enemy's vine armor blends in too well for me to spot them. I only caught them before because they were literally right in front of us."
"Any other limitations that will hinder us?" Pan Gong asked.
Chen Haoran took a moment to consider. "It can be disorienting to use it for a while and stop. I can't fight effectively while using it either." It wasn't entirely a lie, but it wasn't quite the truth either.
Pan Gong nodded. "We can work with that. Pack it up. We're moving out."
The soldiers stood up, their anxieties and frowns peeled off and replaced with masks of professionalism and stern lips. They arrayed themselves behind Pan Gong and under his lead, entered the jungle. Say what you will about the quality of character someone like Li Mou had, but the Garrison soldiers weren't a slack force by any means.
Chen Haoran had been placed in the center of the group. Ostensibly being one of the weakest here, just looking at his cultivation level. Patriarch Qi, the actual weakest person here, was relegated to the flank. Not quite outside the group but clearly far too open to danger than the good Patriarch would have preferred. Such was the reality of being weak, however. The people with power didn't care for you or for what you wanted.
They were silent but quick as they traversed the jungle. It was impossible for them to be truly stealthy. The knife trees were too sensitive and quick to drop their dagger canopies for that to be the case, so they dispensed with the pretense altogether. Plus the enemy had obviously been here long enough to know the terrain better than them. It was only a matter of when they were discovered, not if. Chen Haoran regularly scanned the trees, or rather the Yellow Dragon did. It grumbled a fair bit at the constant work interrupting its cultivation, but even it knew the seriousness of the situation. Phelps hung off his shoulders, stiller than a statue. Chen Haoran could feel his qi thrum like a coursing river, however, and he knew that Phelps was using all his newly enhanced senses to watch his back. It was a comforting reassurance.
They still weren't prepared when the trees exploded.
Three blew up in front of Pan Gong, and he disappeared in a storm of fire, and knife leaves turned shrapnel. Two more exploded on either side of the group, the force strong enough to throw the Liquid Meridians to the ground. Chen Haoran dropped, pulling Phelps underneath him and covering him with his body. Knife leaves and wood shards zipped overhead, one scoring a line through his robes across his back. It didn't break his skin, but it did break his heart. These were nice clothes.
Liquid qi surged up from multiple soldiers and covered the group in a hasty swirling shield as the different qis collided. They stayed low, weapons clutched and techniques building, but there were no follow-up explosions. Chen Haoran craned his neck in every direction and saw nothing but trees.
"Clear," Chen Haoran said, slowly rising with Phelps clutched to his chest. "No enemies."
They slowly rose, the qi shield stabilized as the soldiers balanced their qi out. They looked toward the front, still obscured with black smoke. The explosion there had been strong enough that the Eighth-Layers following Pan Gong were thrown back and freely bleeding. One glowed green with Wood qi and their wounds disappeared. Another soldier ran up to the other and performed a Wood element healing technique.
"Captain Pan," the Third-Layer Peachblood called, crawling back to his feet. He wasn't much further behind the Eighth-Layers. "Are you alright?"
The smoke shifted and was blown away from within, revealing an unscathed Pan Gong save for a few scratches in his uniform. "I'm alright. Status?"
"We're alright," the Eighth-Layers said. There were other sound-offs as injuries were reported. Overall, however, there was nothing serious. Liquid Meridians were a hardy lot. What would have crippled a normal unit back on Earth just caused minor injuries here.
Pan Gong brushed soot off his shoulders. "Song Yuelin, was there anything different about those trees?"
Chen Haoran shook his head. "They were normal when I looked at them."
Pan Gong sneered. "These bastards have prepared for a long time. We'll have to assume all the trees are compromised." Liquid qi burst out from him and swept all the nearby trees away. Two more trees exploded, their force absorbed by Pan Gong's flood before they could harm the group. "Clear out all the trees. I don't want any within a hundred feet of us."
Pan Gong pulled his qi back and directed it in front of him, barreling into the forest like a human bulldozer. Liquid qi in all five colors erupted one after another, and they became akin to a walking multi-colored tsunami flooding across the jungle. Trees were felled by the hundreds, knife leaves and chemical gas durians fell uselessly across the wave. Chen Haoran kept his focus on the trees and really couldn't see what had been done to them to cause them to blow up. One moment they were normal; the next moment, they were bombs. For the sake of conserving energy, there was no liquid qi covering their heads, and so detritus and shrapnel was flying overhead. High enough to not put them in harm's way, low enough that Chen Haoran and Patriarch Qi instinctively ducked regardless.
Chen Haoran was thankful he'd connected his vision with the Yellow Dragon, seeing things in qi was easier on the eyes than the flurry of carnage everyone else was squinting through. He kept Phelps tight to his chest and focused his attention in the other directions. Pan Gong was more than capable of responding to anything they might run into. The Yellow Dragon swirled around in his core. It seemed not being able to see the traps had bruised its pride because now it diligently scanned the jungle without a fuss.
The Yellow Dragon narrowed its eyes.
Chen Haoran looked behind him and did the same.
There. On the track, they'd cleared out. Green figures flitted out from the trees. One group ran along the cleared path. Chen Haoran could only scarcely make out the others as green-on-green movement in the jungle.
"Enemies coming in behind," Chen Haoran called. "At least twenty."
"Speed up," Pan Gong ordered. "Song Yuelin, warn us if they catch up."
"There's a pyramid ahead," Chen Haoran said.
Pan Gong grunted in acknowledgment.
Their pursuers kept a steady pace, not approaching too close, but not falling too far behind. They were sitting in the Goldilocks zone of pressure, always near enough for them to feel their presence but never close enough for them to do anything about it. It was the type of action that had a purpose behind it. Chen Haoran wasn't looking forward to finding out what the purpose was.
When they broke into the pyramid clearing an Eighth-Layer looked at Pan Gong. "Do we ambush them?"
The Yellow Dragon glared up at the green qi that emerged from within the pyramid.
"Ambush!" Chen Haoran shouted.
"Talisman!" Roared keen-eyed Pan Gong. His liquid qi flew into the air and doubled in size. The other Eighth-Layer covered himself in yellow Earth qi and took out a small shield from his storage bag that expanded and chased after Pan Gong's liquid qi.
Bright red qi bloomed atop the pyramid like a small sun before falling down atop their heads. Pan Gong's liquid qi boiled and evaporated. The shield glowed brightly and caught the flames on its face. The world went painfully bright, then terrifyingly dark, as Chen Haoran was thrown off his feet by the explosion that followed. He blinked open dizzy eyes, normal colors restored to him. The Yellow Dragon released an invigorating roar that saw him back to his feet in time to receive the first volley of arrows from above. He flooded liquid qi to raise a cover over himself. The soldier next to him flooded metal white liquid qi at the same time that collided with his and rose higher. Chen Haoran followed the flow. Water and metal qi rose and exchanged energy, stretching to cover the entire group and blocking the arrows.
The soldier nodded to him. "Good jo—"
A six-foot-long arrow shot out of the jungle behind them and pierced through the back of the soldier's head and out his front, splattering Chen Haoran with blood. He only had an instant of horrified reaction to turn his back and jump away as the corpse exploded in a deluge of white liquid qi.
Chen Haoran was sent tumbling as the edge of the flood clipped his back. Phelps's qi swept out and covered them, halting his roll. When Chen Haoran stood up again, he found their entire formation had been thrown into disarray from the Final Flood. The archers in the jungle were vicious, their arrows targeting those whose deaths would cause the most chaos and scatter the soldiers further. The other Metal Root soldier roared and sent a long blade of metal energy careening into the jungle. His response was a bright green arrow that punched a hole through his shield of liquid qi and took off his arm at the shoulder. As he fell, two more lodged themselves in his chest. Another man took an arrow to the neck. The woman next to him caught him up in her liquid qi and threw him to where the arrow came from. Another soldier threw a wave of liquid qi and erected a rock wall between them and the jungle while the man exploded.
In front, the Wood Root Eighth-Layer opened his palm and tossed a whole tornado of crushing wind up the pyramid, forcing the archers atop it back. A dusty Pan Gong flooded out more qi and charged toward the jungle.
"With me!" he thundered.
The other soldiers sprinted after him, casting long walls of rock and wood to block the archers' line of sight. Patriarch Qi scrambled past him.
Chen Haoran gripped his sword and cast his eyes in other potential directions. He wasn't dead set on helping the Garrison. He was nominally on the Rattan Vine Soldiers' side, given who was leading them. Technically it was them he should be helping. Assuming they knew that and believed him, that is.
Chen Haoran let go of his sword and ran after Pan Gong. He only took a few steps before an arrow broke against his back with the force of a cannonball and sent him sprawling. The fleeing Patriarch Qi was immediately by his side. One hand went to his back and brushed over where the arrow hit him. The other went to Chen Haoran's storage bag and froze.
"You're alright?" he blurted out.
Chen Haoran rose and pushed him away. "Move."
He sprinted into the jungle. Another arrow was sent his way, but this time the Yellow Dragon was ready and deflected it with a rush of liquid qi. A pillar of yellow liquid qi rose into the air before disappearing, and Chen Haoran reoriented and ran toward it, Patriarch Qi hot on his heels. When they caught up to Pan Gong, there was an obvious difference in their number. They lost five people in less than the same number of minutes.
"Set a fire," Pan Gong ordered.
The Fire Root soldiers bloomed with burning qi and set the trees behind them ablaze. They continued doing so for the better part of three miles before stopping to conserve qi.
"Song Yuelin, where's the next pyramid?" Pan Gong asked as he cleared a path.
"Directly ahead of us."
"We'll go around it."
Chen Haoran scanned the pictures the Yellow Dragon sent to him carefully for even a hint of movement from the Rattan Vine Soldiers. It made the colorful and decidedly not green qi that suddenly came into view all the more stark against the jungle's background—particularly a red qi just as large as Pan Gong's.
"People on our right. At least ten. They don't look like Rattan Armor."
"Are they approaching us?"
"No, but our paths are going to merge."
Everyone tensed, weapons held tightly in white knuckle grips. Pan Gong frowned and peered into the distance. Chen Haoran mentally counted down the seconds as both groups drew nearer to each other. Crashing sounds of trees being pushed away and traps being triggered came closer and closer.
Pan Gong relaxed and raised his hand. "Hold. They're one of us."
A palpable sense of relief could be felt throughout the group. Soon enough, ten worn down Garrison soldiers led by a bedraggled Ninth-Layer appeared.
"Captain Pan," greeted the bald Ninth-Layer. "For once, I'm glad to see your ugly mug."
Pan Gong nodded in return. "Captain Liu. I'll be blunt. Do you have any Metal Roots?"
Captain Liu scowled. "Look at me. Does it look like I have any? The bastards are targeting them. I've been chased from damn near one end of this place to the other.
Pan Gong frowned. "We're being funneled." He snapped to Chen Haoran. "Song Yuelin, can you see the end of the barrier from here?"
Chen Haoran could, in fact, see another barrier wall directly in front of them and informed Pan Gong of such. Pan Gong made the immediate decision to begin veering left, straight to the corner of the barrier and where he'd estimated the Emission Node to be. Along the way, they met up with more fleeing Garrison soldiers, each with their own harrowing tales of ambushes and relentless pursuit. They numbered up to fifty now. Who knew how many had been lost before this point however. The lack of any independent cultivators was also telling, a fact that had Patriarch Qi much more grateful that he'd chosen to throw his lot in with the Garrison.
Their change of direction allowed them to avoid any more ambushes from the front, but the hounding from the rear only intensified. As the Garrison soldiers gathered, so too did the hunters chasing them. Arrows whizzed past their heads even as they blindly and futilely returned fire with techniques that had no target but direction. Phelps wreathed Chen Haoran and himself in blue liquid qi. The floating energy attached to it greatly negated the force of the three arrows that struck Chen Haoran and rendered them harmless. They continued this back-and-forth exchange for a while, fortunately avoiding casualties but inevitably being forced into a literal corner.
The Emission Node of the barrier was a giant pillar of swirling white energy. Energy left it in a constant flow, the currents and ripple visible at the places closest to the pillar before evening out further away. Pan Gong and the strongest officers laid into the pillar with a combined force greater than any artillery barrage. Meanwhile, Fire Spirit Roots were setting the jungle alight, and Earth Spirit Roots were opening deep trenches in the earth, all in an effort to delay the Rattan Vine Army for even a second more. They did not get those seconds they wanted.
From the burning jungle appeared rows upon rows of Rattan Armor Soldiers as if from thin air—200 strong to their 50. The flames licked their calves but crawled no further. Vines sprouted across the trench and created a living bridge for them to cross. As one, they locked their shields together, and a vine wall grew and endured the fire, water, wood, and earth the soldiers threw at it. Glinting spearheads stuck out through the vine wall like nails in a board. They marched, a solid wall of spears and vines, while volleys of arrows harried the defending Garrison.
The Garrison soldiers gritted their teeth and flared their qi. Patriarch Qi clutched his little bone charm bracelet and muttered hushed prayers. Captain Liu pulled away and stood in front of the troops, fire climbing across his arms. Pan Gong kept hammering the Emission Node.
Chen Haoran clutched his sword. His options were few. Run and hide? So long as the barrier remained a problem, that was impossible. An arrow clipped his shoulder and bounced off of Phelps's qi. Either the Garrison had to break it, or the rebels had to take him through it. Two choices: the Garrison who were hunting him or the rebels the Chen Family was bankrolling. He flexed his qi and slapped to pieces another arrow aiming for his chest. The rebels were clearly winning now, but that was only in the secret realm. The world outside belonged to the Empire. If Chen Haoran left this place, would an Empire army greet him? There were still two potentially very angry Crystal Transformation Realms to consider. Did the rebels have a plan to deal with that? An escape route? Were they sacrificial pawns? He also had to consider Xie Jin and Bao Si's safety. His decisions would undoubtedly affect them even more. A too-fast arrow bounced off his chest.
Should he take the risk and put on his armor now? His decision on who to choose would be a lot easier to make if it weren't for these annoying arrows—
It was a green blur. Blisteringly bright. It displaced air as it flew, and Chen Haoran heard the sound of it before it actually hit him. Phelps's liquid qi was pierced through like a hot knife through butter. Chen Haoran's vision was filled with green light and intense pain. He could feel his neck wrench so far back there was a cracking sound. Phelps fell out of his arms with a heartrending squeal as his feet left the ground, and he was tossed through the air and into the pillar hard enough that ripples spread out from his impact in the hundreds. He slid down the pillar into a heap on the ground.
Pan Gong rushed to his side and quickly sat him up. "Song Yuelin? Song Yuelin!"
Chen Haoran dazedly gazed at Pan Gong's concerned face. Despite the fact his eyes were working, it felt like what he was looking at wasn't real at all, as if he were looking through a screen. Pan Gong leaned him against the pillar, one arm steadying his shoulder because Chen Haoran scarcely had the strength even to sit right, let alone move. Something was sticking out just in front of his nose. It was a bit hard to figure out what it was given the awkward angle it was set at, but he could just barely make out…. feathers? The Yellow Dragon roared. Chen Haoran's arms found strength again, and he grabbed the feathers.
Pan Gong grabbed his wrist. "Wait. Don't try pulling it out." He shouted behind him. "Healer!"
The Yellow Dragon roared.
Pan Gong let go of Chen Haoran's wrist like he'd been electrocuted.
Chen Haoran pulled the arrow out of his head.
Blood ran down his face. He cast his sense to the wound and found that the tip of the arrow had just barely cracked open a gap in his skull. His qi set to work at once, closing the skin and filling the bone until it grew over smoothly. Chen Haoran watched the process in silence. If he didn't have the Stygian Lotus. If he didn't eat the Banquet Peach. If Phelps's qi hadn't absorbed some of the force.
Chen Haoran grabbed his hilt.
For the second time since becoming a Liquid Meridian, he drew his sword.
Interlude: The Silkworm/The Centipede Princess/The Damned Archer
Friends. Fame. Fortune. What more did a man need in life? They weren't necessarily things that required one to travel and adventure to retrieve. If Xie Jin holed up in the Basin and quietly cultivated till he became a Crystal Transformation, then all three of those things would inevitably flock to him.
But what was the point of a life lived like that?
There was a whole world out there. Places far and near that occupied the same threads in the tapestry of history as Zumulu did but wove entirely different pictures from them. There was so much amazing depth to their home that many declared they would never leave it and were not interested in any other place. Xie Jin had butted heads with these elders more than once. Who in their right mind would stand in front of art and only look at one corner of it rather than the whole? Zumulu was so amazing already. What of the rest of the world? His grandfather had chided him on his opinion before, that he wasn't seeing the trees for the jungle. Xie Jin would counter that even in colorful Zumulu with its myriad flora, fauna, and forms. The trees still looked the same.
Though he had to admit, it could still surprise him every now and then.
It had been a rough start to the Trial. The forests were lethal, and the air poisoned the lungs. Brother Chen and Bao Si were nowhere to be found. That Garrison bastard had really misled them. It wasn't surprising, really. Trust the Empire not to know how to interpret his people's ruins. For any other Qi Realm, it would be a bad situation. Fortunately, Xie Jin was far from being a normal Qi Realm. This place was almost like a second home. He breathed worse poisons while cleaning his grandfather's sheets. As for the trees, knife leaves? Hardly unique. Teeth leaves were worse. He'd collected two interesting durians he'd found. Their chemical gas was okay. He'd made similar during his etiquette classes when he was younger. They'd make good makeshift bombs once he infused Gu poison into them.
He would need it. There were too many Liquid Meridians crawling around. The bastards were practically occupying the pyramids. Besides observing how they worked at a distance, Xie Jin steered clear from them. He would just find some closer to the center. He doubted those high and mighty Garrison bastards were paying attention to the pyramids anyway. If they did then they'd know that where the stone oroboros's heads met tails represented North and South. Using that combined with his Gu and it didn't take Xie Jin long to figure out the direction the center of the trial was in. He did run into a weird barrier on the way but it wasn't blocking him. Probably another feature of the trial, he'd leave it to the Liquid Meridians to figure out. He made his way deeper into the trial grounds and luxuriated in the rising ambient qi.
There were way more available pyramids here. Conversely, that meant he had no one to challenge to complete them quickly. Waiting them out wasn't entirely bad, at least until his Gu alerted him to an approaching Liquid Meridian, and he was forced to bug out. He was fortunate enough to wait out the timer on a few pyramids, however, and got some decent rewards. The edibles were eaten immediately for his advancement push. The non-edible and not immediately useful were stored away. It would hurt to be forced to give them up to the Garrison once he left the Trial, but it was a trade-off he was willing to accept. They weren't that good anyway. The best rewards would come from actively challenging people, not waiting. In a way, it was representative of Xie Jin's own beliefs. Truly the ancients were wise.
Hopefully, Brother Chen and Bao Si were faring better than him. With their strength, they were in a better position to benefit from the Trial than he was. It was a bit frustrating that he'd have to scavenge his way between stronger cultivators so that he could advance, but such was life. He could only blame himself for the sin of being weak when he needed to be strong. Fortunately, Lady Luck still loved her weaklings. He found an occupied pyramid and, miracle of miracles, it was occupied by a Ninth-Layer Qi Realm.
Perhaps he, too, was the first Qi Realm the woman had seen thus far because she seemed relieved at the sight of him ascending the pyramid. Her bones marked her as a native. The butterflies decorating it spoke to her being from the Eastern jungles. Her stance and butterfly swords marked her as a warrior. Xie Jin would oblige her. His sleeve glowed purple. The women lunged, feathery blue qi dancing its way up her blades. Xie Jin leapt, his hand swinging. They met in the air for a brief before their jumps carried them past each other. Xie Jin adroitly landed at the top of the pyramid. The woman's body landed heavily on the steps, covered in a swarm of purple insects, and rolled down. Her blade work was fine, but it was no match for his Swarm Control Skill.
Xie Jin turned his back on his fallen foe and went in to claim his prize. The light pillar collapsed unto itself, and the silver light collected around the altar. Xie Jin's breathe hitched as a perfectly round, glass-like fruit with five perfect leaves materialized.
"Liquid Core Fruit." He couldn't keep the awe out of his voice.
This was it. His big break. He would become a Liquid Meridian and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Brother Chen. He could hold his head high in front of his grandfather and say his way was not wrong—look at how he advanced. He gingerly took the fruit in hand.
The warning of his Gu came too late.
Not that it didn't sense the incoming presence in time. It absolutely did. It just didn't matter. By the time his Gu warned him, the cultivator had already closed the distance and appeared atop the pyramid. A vicious, animal-like qi washed over him, causing every single nerve to stiffen and every sense of his to scream at him to run.
The Ninth-Layer Garrison cultivator smirked and crossed his arms. "I thought I smelled something good, and I was right." He sniffed the air. "Not you, though. Poisonous little bugger, ain't you. Really did a number on that bird outside."
Xie Jin quietly ordered his Gu to slink away while he adjusted his grip on the Liquid Core Fruit. The Garrison monster's eyes were riveted on the fruit. Fat drops of red liquid qi dripped from him as if he were salivating, falling on the stone bricks and hunting for prey before turning on themselves.
"I am Captain Lu Aotian," the Liquid Meridian suddenly declared.
Xie Jin struggled not to gulp. "In these sorts of situations its a bit suspicious to declare your name first. Someone might think you're going to kill me."
Lu Aotian nodded. "I am."
Xie Jin measured the distance of his Gu. "But why?" he asked. "I haven't done anything. If it's the fruit you want, I have other things to exchange for it. If you let me refine it in peace, then I promise to be like a dog and horse for you throughout the entire trial."
"You misunderstand," Lu Aotian patronizingly said. "I'm not going to kill you for the Liquid Core Fruit. I'm going to kill you because you're going to run and make me chase you. Don't even lie to me. I can see it in your eyes. Rats like you all have the same face. I'm just saving myself a few seconds by getting it over with."
He took a single step.
"I'm a Black Bone Shaman," Xie Jin blurted out.
Lu Aotian paused. A real look of consideration crossed his features. "A Black Bone Shaman? Interesting." He took another step. "I'll just have to kill your Gu first, then. Call it out."
Xie Jin forced himself not to move. Just a little bit more…. "If you don't leave me any room for escape, then I'll just kill myself and curse you. You're Trial will be ruined, maybe even your life."
Lu Aotian took another step. "You said so yourself. Maybe. If it were any other Liquid Meridian, then I'm sure they'd be scared, but our power difference is too high for you to be sure. I'm a cut above the common rabble, you see. My father is Commander Lu of Stonebridge."
Beast Disaster Lu, the Crystal Transformation Realm. No wonder he was taking his time. The son was just as much an animal as the father.
"Well? What is it you want to say?" Lu Aotian asked.
His Gu was ready. Purple miasma bloomed around Xie Jin, and he raised his middle finger. "Fuck you."
Lu Aotian accelerated, but his hand clawed through nothing but air. Xie Jin appeared outside the pyramid and immediately started running away. Through his connection with his Gu, he could feel the danger it was in as it avoided Lu Aotian's angry liquid qi and fled. The Substitution Technique was an advanced and little-utilized application of a Gu's theft ability but just like any other Shaman skill once the right moment was found it was impeccable.
Unfortunately, he was too weak, or else he would have been able to fling himself a greater distance. It was only a matter of time before Lu Aotian found his trial and caught up to him. At that time he'd be well and truly screwed.
He looked at the Liquid Core Fruit.
He needed to advance.
Age. The only thing that killed more cultivators than cultivators themselves. It hung like a heavy chain around every neck, and each new year only added another link. Cultivating to higher realms allowed a cultivator to carry that weight far easier than someone who hadn't stepped foot on the path. Being able to bear that weight, however, did not make it any less heavy. A cultivator's lifespan was a hard-earned reward given upon their reaching new heights of power. The stronger the qi, the longer the life—100 years for a Qi Realm, 200 for Liquid Meridan, 500 for Crystal Transformation, and 2 thousand for Star Core. Those were averages, however, not absolutes. Injuries and quality of qi had the final word on how long a cultivator lived, and certain natural treasures and powers could see a cultivator's lifespan drastically increase.
Like Xi Wangmu's Longevity Elixirs.
At Grandpa Xie's behest, Bao Si had sat in the meetings between the clan's elders as they conferred regarding the Peach River Sword School's invitation to meet. The junior River Swordsmen who had relayed the message had been vague on the specifics as to why they were invited, but the identity of the sender was enough for them to guess. For the face of Xi Wangmu and the history of the Peach River Sword School, they were compelled to meet with them. Grandpa Xie had been very clear however, there were to be no deals to be made, especially with her Master being incommunicado, even if the Peach River Sword School offered a longevity elixir. Grandpa Xie, in his wisdom, had foreseen what they would say in advance as well as the means they would use to convince her.
Unfortunately, it was for the sake of that wisdom that Bao Si ignored his warning and sat down to negotiate with Xi Wangmu. Grandpa Xie was approaching the end of his life. How many years he had left she couldn't say. Everyone knew it was coming however, and everyone was dreading and preparing for the day it did. Grandpa Xie had served as a source of sage wisdom and stability in the tribe for centuries. Without him, their recovery after the Empire's invasion would have been nowhere near as smooth. Losing him now would mean losing a top combat power and font of experience, a serious blow to the tribe's strength. There were also emotional reasons, of course. Grandpa Xie had raised her since she was a little girl and taught her what he knew. Any moment she could buy for him was incomparably precious. Emotional reasons alone, however, were no way to make decisions for the tribe. He had taught her that.
She was beginning to see his point. She'd made too many emotional decisions recently, and now look where it got her. She was going to wring Xie Jin's neck once she found him. The fool was probably having the time of his life right now. Gallivanting across the Trial and pretending he actually shared anything in common with a dead culture on the opposite side of Zumulu. He was probably even risking his life exploring those damned pyramids. It was him. Always him that she had to worry about. After all, Grandpa Xie would be sad if something ever happened to him. At least she knew Chen Haoran could take care of himself. Ever since he'd gone from something fun to something serious his strength had been a concern. In these circumstances, however, he was more reliable than Xie Jin would be. Linking up with him was a priority.
At least, it was until she ran across a barrier. It was suspicious. Incredibly so. They were already in a Secret Realm. Why the need for an additional barrier cordoning off a separate area? She sent her Gu out to scout further down and found that the concentration of ambient qi grew higher further away from the barrier, so it wasn't like it was in a particularly powerful area. Her question was soon, unfortunately, answered when a wounded Garrison Liquid Meridian appeared on the other side of the barrier. When he saw Bao Si, he seemed to see salvation, and he ran over and began pounding on the thin energy pane.
"Help me!" he urged. "Go find the other soldiers. Tell them its a trap—"
Bao Si looked coldly on as the soldier's chest burst open and splattered blood and viscera across the barrier. A long, thick vine trailed from his chest and back into the jungle, where his killer revealed himself. He was covered head to toe in vine-woven armor. Atop the armor were even more vines wrapped around it, stemming from two lotuses that sat atop his shoulders: one ice blue, the other a fiery red. His Ninth-Layer Liquid Meridian cultivation did not target her but his using of qi weighed on her shoulders all the same.
Bao Si's Gu slid out from her sleeve and hovered in front of her protectively while her tattoo writhed.
"Oh? A Black Bone Shaman?" The impossible vine man said. He pressed a fist to his chest and bowed his head. A Southern Jungle tradition. "It is an honor to meet a shaman from such a prestigious order. I must profess I did not expect to meet one here today."
"Nor did I expect to meet a Rattan Armor soldier," Bao Si neutrally replied.
How could she? If three things could be said to be unique to Zumulu, then it would be the Tenth Green Hell, Gu, and Rattan Armor Soldiers. The method of crafting the armor was a technical affair, part Technique, part real skill, with the craftsmen also growing and harvesting the Rattan vines used. This knowledge was precious, only passed down within families from parent to child, all to create a class of soldiers that could overcome the biggest strategic issue in mobilizing Liquid Meridians and create proper armies of them again rather than small warbands and loose, scattered formations. They were the highest standard of soldiery in Zumulu, even at times bringing the overmighty Orchard cities of the Peachwine to heel.
Naturally, the Empire made sure to kill every last one, loot their armor, steal the secrets of their crafting, then kill anyone else who knew how.
So why was one standing in front of her?
It was a question with an obvious answer.
"How are you related to Xi Wangmu?" she asked.
"Did the Queen Mother send you here?" The Rattan Soldier suspiciously asked before shaking his head. "No, impossible. She would have stopped this if she knew."
"What?"
Knife trees rustled behind her followed by the sound of leaves sinking into the earth. Bao Si turned around to find a red-clothed Third-Layer Liquid Meridian emerge from the jungle. A cat-sized Mosquito Gu buzzed in the air around him.
"To think there was another fellow shaman so close to me. Should I count myself luck—" He stopped dead in his tracks and stared with wide eyes at the Rattan Armor Soldier and the bloody corpse at his feet. He then looked at Bao Si's Gu. "You—you…."
"Ah. My apologies." The Rattan Soldier easily passed through the barrier. "I'll take care of this now, Lady Shaman."
Bao Si pinched her brow. "Don't say it like that. He's going to misunder—"
"Murderers!" The Gu Department Shaman bellowed. He fiercely glared at Bao Si. "Is the Black Bone Tribe rebelling against the Empire?"
Well. Not a complete misunderstanding, really. Bao Si sighed. Her centipede tattoo writhed and crawled up and down her neck.
Then it peeled itself off.
Ink filled in and expanded into black carapace. Tiny etchings of 177 pairs of legs lengthened and dagger-sharp. A metal-like gleam shined through sharp mandibles and an unearthly purple glow filled its tattooed eyes. The centipede released an ear-grinding screech that no bug should ever be able to make, and its aura rose, blowing away dust and dirt around her.
The Shaman paled. "How—how can you control a Liquid Meridian Realm Gu!?"
"Lady Shaman?" The Rattan Soldier said. Curiosity, not fear, was clear in his tone.
"Stay out of this," Bao Si ordered him.
Despite having no reason to do so, the soldier nodded his head and stepped to the side.
The Shaman paced backward. His Mosquito Gu's proboscis elongated to the length of a lance and dripped with blood. "Do you really think you can cross realms and fight?"
"I don't plan on crossing realms," Bao Si said. "I plan on advancing." She pointed to the Shaman.
"Devour."
No matter what anyone had to say about the matter. Duan Ye would maintain with his dying breath the truth and nothing but.
He had shot him.
As a Seventh-Layer Liquid Meridian he was not like the lower layers that were made to drill and march in formation. His strong cultivation and arrow technique had seen him join the skirmishing force to pick off the critical Metal Element users and harry the high-layers of the Garrison while the regular forces ground them down. At first it had been going well, critical Garrison personnel had been dropping like flies and were fleeing like the dogs they were. He'd heard some soldiers gleefully exclaiming that they were successful beyond their wildest imaginations. Duan Ye allowed them their idiotic statements for the sake of morale. Their success was not a surprise. It was expected. Only fools and amateurs allowed themselves to be that surprised. They were merely reaping the benefits of a well-laid plan, nothing more, nothing less.
He was not lucky enough to slay the formation expert, but Duan Ye was proud to say that it was his arrows that laid low two Metal Spirit Roots. It was by happenstance afterwards that he loosed an arrow at the fleeing back of a random unaffiliated cultivator. He was an easy spot against the red uniforms of the Garrison and he'd recalled the Second-Layer had somehow noticed their presence at the last moment when they first ambushed the group. That sort of scouting ability could prove annoying even in the hands of a trifling ant so getting rid of him would be further credit. Duan Ye had already moved on after watching the arrow hit its mark and it was only after one of his fellow archer and competitor for glory ribbed him over not checking his marks that he realized the ant had survived and escaped, which was ridiculous to Duan Ye.
He had shot him.
It was a minor irritation all things considered. The ant would end up dead either way under their encirclement but him not dying was an affront to Duan Ye's skill. The other archers might not have dared say anything where he could hear them but their mocking thoughts couldn't be hidden from his keen eyes. Every arrow they fired after the ant during the chase had been an insult toward him. He was thankful the ant's strange spirit beast blocked their arrows and dispelled their attempts to steal his prey from right in front of him. Duan Ye scoffed at them for their failure. The more difficult the ant was to kill the better he looked, lessening his own failure and magnifying his triumph when he finally killed the ant.
Once they'd trapped the Garrison dogs against the barrier it was only a matter of time. Their futile attempt to stall for time were brushed off by their superior soldiers. Duan Ye's had to pick his shots carefully, he'd sent one to the ant and focused the rest on the stronger cultivators assaulting the emission node. No reason to let the enemy potentially escape. He found the ant still standing so he sent another. Then another. He'd underestimated the damn spirit beast's liquid qi. It was really quite an annoying defense. The first snicker from the fools he'd just insulted was the last straw. He flooded qi to his arrow and engaged his Hidden Dragon Arrow Technique. Seeing it shoot across the battlefield and nail the ant in the head and carry him back into the barrier was cathartic.
At least it was.
Why did the ant get back up again?
He had shot him.
Duan Ye's eye's stung as the world flashed white.
His temporary blindness only enhanced the screams and bone-chilling sound of falling bodies and when Duan Ye cycled his qi and restored his vision he was treated to the horrifiying site of their vineshield wall chopped to pieces and the front line of their formation decimated.
The ant. Ant? Was charging toward them wielding a pure white sword. Why was he fast? The fallen front line began dying and losing control of their qi. Their Final Floods were absorbed by their armor and fueled the growth of masses of grasping vines that formed a new wall. The cultivator raised his sword and sword shadows scythed the earth and vines like they were naught but air. Their Water Spirit Roots flooded their liquid qi to form a barrier to block the clearly Metal Element attack. Why was it so strong? They had two hundred Liquid Meridians. The enemy was only a Second-Layer Liquid Meridian Realm. Even if his power was exaggerated beyond belief, alone there was no way he could defeat them.
He wasn't alone.
Dogs that they were, the Empire's soldiers were much like their masters in that they never let go of opportunity once they had it in their jaws. Their Earth Spirit Roots were quick to flood their own liquid qi, not enough to overwhelm their shield but enough to disrupt it in certain places. The cultivator was quick to capitalize on the opening, swinging his sword down like an executioners blade and releasing a long scythe of white energy that cleaved through liquid qi and armor alike. The cultivator dove into their ranks without care, surrounded by white shadows that obscured his face.
"Kill him!" His rival roared, drawing his bow back to its limits.
Their archers were impeccable. Their aim beyond reproach and their speed such that every second they released three arrows. Their Rattan Armor soldiers were brave and disciplined comparable to their forebears whose heavy legacy they shouldered. In the face of the incomprehensible they raised their spears and stepped forward to slay it.
White sword shadows flashed and split their archer's arrows. Their soldiers spear fell on his flesh and broke. His pace did not stop in the face of man or vine. Where his sword swung a farmers harvest was reaped and the proud Rattan soldiers were like so much wheat. The Ninth-Layers around Duan Ye cursed and abandoned their bows to move in and deal with the cultivator personally. They were met by the Ninth-Layers of the Garrison. A bear-like man and one of pure fire flanked the cultivator, behind him the Garrison rushed into the gap and tore into the Rattan Armor Army with techniques.
"Duan Ye!"
Duan Ye instinctively knocked another arrow and filled it with qi.
Hidden Dragon Arrow
It flew like a green blur, invisible to the naked eye. Duan Ye had never shot a finer arrow in his life.
The cultivator twitched his sword and his proud arrow was split in twain. Both halves flew off and dug trenches in the earth behind him. The cultivator snapped his head over and his ruined face locked eyes with Duan Ye. His sword flashed and there were suddenly no more soldiers between them.
"Duan Ye! Shoot him!"
"I shot him," Duan Ye said. He knocked another arrow.
The cultivator sprinted over, liquid qi pouring off him like a writhing dragon. A dragon's roar filled Duan Ye's ears and his grip slipped. A sword shadow flashed in front of him. His Profound-Rank bow was sliced cleanly in half. The hands holding it fell from his wrists. Duan Ye stumbled back, liquid qi and blood bleeding freely from his stumps that, for some unholy reason, he could not stop. The cultivator pounced and grabbed Duan Ye's throat carrying them into the jungle in one bound. Behind them, Duan Ye could see his rival's headless corpse explode into liquid qi. Why? How? As the Rattan Army and the Garrison disappeared from view, he could only wonder how this was possible.
He had shot him.
Chapter 146: This Young Master Was Jumping At Shadows?
Chen Haoran pumped as much qi as his legs could bear and put as much distance between himself and the Garrison as he could. He crashed through trees and deadly leaf rain, the damn archer groaning as Chen Haoran had no hesitation in using his body to do the breaking. He was a Liquid Meridian. He could take it.
Chen Haoran eventually stopped when he realized just how much blood and liquid qi the archer was bleeding. He released his chokehold and threw him against a tree hard enough to crack it. The tree immediately dropped its whole canopy of knife leaves. Chen Haoran waved his sword and the leaves and top half of the tree evaporated into white light, along with the tops of several other trees around them. When he brought his sword back down, the arc threw out a ghost-white aura that carved a trench into the earth behind him, extending back from where he came and swallowing more trees.
He'd held off using the White Tyrant's Harmonization for the longest now for lack of a good weapon and a worry that it would be too destructive. His concern was justified. Chen Haoran had theorized before that he was the one holding back the power of the Harmonization. He could confidently confirm now that his theory was correct. It was less that the Harmonization grew stronger and more that Chen Haoran was more worthy of wielding its power. Only barely, however. Even now, he had to keep a firm grip on the hilt lest his sword be bucked out of his hand by the energies flowing through it. He was grateful the Hundred-Thousand Refinement Iron Essence Sword focused on toughness above all else. He would be worried it might crack within a few uses otherwise.
The archer groaned again and drooped forward. Chen Haoran harshly grabbed his head and yanked it up so that they locked eyes. He clicked his tongue in annoyance when he found the archer's eyes dilated and unfocused. It was a good thing he had personal experience with this. Chen Haoran's hand glowed with yellow qi and sank into the archer's head. Clarity returned to his eyes, and Chen Haoran watched them fill with shock, confusion, fear, and anger.
The archer let out a wordless howl, raised his amputated wrists toward Chen Haoran, and blasted liquid qi from them like water cannons. The Yellow Dragon roared. Liquid qi burst from Chen Haoran's chest to block the attack while the roar traveled through Chen Haoran's arm and into the archer's skull. The archer lost control of his qi, and his eyes rolled up into his head. He was lucky Chen Haoran still needed answers and had the Yellow Dragon tone itself down. It could have been worse otherwise. Chen Haoran flexed his qi and raked it across the qi in the archer's head, bringing him back to consciousness through the searing pain it caused.
"What's your plan for if the Garrison escapes the trial," Chen Haoran demanded.
Pale and sweating, the archer spat blood in his face. "Rot in the Green Hell."
Chen Haoran didn't react to the insult or the blood. He could see he wouldn't have long to ask questions. He needed something that would get the archer to start talking. A quick judge of the archer's qi revealed it was Profound-Rank. Not the best, but given he still nearly killed Chen Haoran, it wasn't the worst either. With a Seventh-Layer cultivation base on top of that, he couldn't be that unimportant.
"Does Xi Wangmu know what you're doing?" Chen Haoran coldly asked. "Do you even know who you were shooting, you dumb bastard?"
The archer's eyes went wide. "How do you know that name?"
Chen Haoran sneered. "Because I just had a meeting with her last week. This fucker. Of all the people here, you just had to shoot me. Were you told nothing?"
"No," the archer mumbled. He was shaking now. "No, you're lying! If she sent you here, then everything would be in the palm of her hands!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Chen Haoran asked. Genuinely. What the hell was he talking about? "This whole rebellion is led by Xi Wangmu. It's all in her hands."
It was the archer's turn to sneer. "There are more rivers in Zumulu than the Peachwine."
Chen Haoran shook him. "Forget that nonsense. How do you plan to escape from this mess? You couldn't have made all these plans just to throw your life away."
The archer laughed. Chen Haoran could feel his fading pulse through his grip. "That's what you and the Queen Bitch will never understand. The both of you can…. go to hell…. everything…. for Zumulu."
Chen Haoran stepped back in disgust as the light left the archer's eyes. His body exploded in a torrent of liquid qi a scant second later. His armor fed off it and deformed into a grasping mass of vines. Chen Haoran slashed his sword and a scythe of metal-white energy tore through the vines and annihilated both it and the jungle before him.
Chen Haoran let out a long breath. He hadn't learned what he wanted, and what he did learn was a problem. From the archer's words, Xi Wangmu didn't know anything about what was happening here. Was that really true? She was clearly involved with the Rattan Armor Soldiers if her learning about the operation here would be a problem. The whole trap involved who knew how much time of work and setup, plus the involvement of Garrison officials with enough pull to have almost the entire Reservoir Town officer corps be lured into it. It was a massive operation on every level down. One that would, at minimum, put the Garrison on high alert if not completely expose whatever veil of secrecy the rebellion had been operating under, along with the extent of their infiltration into the highest levels of the government and military. Could Xi Wangmu truly be unaware of such a massive operation? Or were the planners so careful that it was even hidden from her?
Chen Haoran sighed. "Factionalism and revolution. Name a more iconic combo." He dragged a hand across his face to wipe off the blood and came away with strips of skin. He stared at it, stupefied, until the adrenaline died, and he realized his face felt weird. A quick sweep of his sense revealed his Human-Skin Mask was in tatters and next to useless. The arrow to the head he'd taken must've damaged it. He tore off the mask with a sound of frustration. "Damnit."
A distant squeal came from the air. Chen Haoran looked up in relief to see Phelps floating down. Suddenly Phelps accelerated his descent and fell into the jungle. Chen Haoran narrowed his eyes as his sense picked up Phelps and a peach-colored qi that wasn't there before rapidly approaching. The Peachblood Soldier Jiang sprinted into the clearing Chen Haoran created with a growling Phelps chasing him. He skidded to a stop when he saw Chen Haoran. He cast a worried glance behind him at Phelps, practically drooling liquid qi, the back to an expressionless Chen Haoran.
Soldier Jiang held up his hands. "Sir… Song Yuelin?"
"How long have you been there?" Chen Haoran asked. A white shadow split off from his sword and opened another trench within the trench he made.
"In Peach Blossom Valley there is a peach blossom cottage," Soldier Jiang said.
What? Chen Haoran turned the random sentence over in his head, trying to make sense of it. Unfortunately, there was no sense to be found in it. Some poem, maybe? Chen Haoran flicked his sword. A shadow of energy flew above Soldier Jiang's head and took off the tops of twenty trees behind him. "I don't have the energy or the care to play twenty passwords with you. If you're with Xi Wangmu, then speak before I bury you here."
"I am, I am," Soldier Jiang hastily said.
Chen Haoran sheathed his sword and motioned Phelps to be at ease. "Do you know what's going on here then?"
Soldier Jiang cautiously lowered his hands. "I'm afraid I don't…. sir. May I know what your position is?"
Chen Haoran took one look at Soldier Jiang's reserved appearance and mentally sighed. "Jiang, was it? Are you related to Jiang Lei at all, or do you just have similar names?"
A look of joy crossed Soldier Jiang's face, and he visibly relaxed. "You know, Senior Brother Jiang?"
"We became acquainted," Chen Haoran said. "I take it your not family then."
"Oh no, we're both part of the Jiang Generation of Peach River Swords, so we just happen to share a name." He clasped his hands and bowed. "I apologize for my earlier rudeness, sir. My name is Jiang Aiguo."
Chen Haoran waved off his apology. "Don't worry about it. You really don't know anything?"
Jiang Aiguo shook his head. "I'm as clueless as you are, sir. I received no orders about this. My best guess is that certain factions decided to…. take matters into their own hands."
Chen Haoran snorted. Understatement much?
"Well, that's just peachy," Chen Haoran said. Phelps floated over to him, and he tucked the sloth into his arm and turned to leave. "Well, best of luck. Hopefully, we can make it out of here alive."
"Sir? Where are you going?"
"Away. I'm going to hide until this barrier comes down, then go find my people. If you happen to run across two Black Bone Shamans, make sure you protect them. They're very important."
"Excuse me, sir, but do you think all of the independent cultivators in this trial won't be detained and investigated after the exit is triggered? If you help, you'll have less suspicion directed toward you."
Chen Haoran paused and looked back at a serious Jiang Aiguo. "Are you implying the Garrison will actually get out of here?"
"The best talents in the entire Garrison are gathered here," Jiang Aiguo said. "From what I've seen so far, I can't say the best of the Rattan Armor Army has been sent here. If they planned to rely on superior numbers and preparation to win, then the Garrison has a real chance to turn things around once they rally together."
"Do you really think talent alone is enough to make up for the disadvantage they're at?" Chen Haoran asked.
"With all due respect, sir, are you yourself not an example of that?"
That brought Chen Haoran up short. Was he? He didn't think so. What he was doing couldn't really be called talent. He was just souped up on magical super steroids. If it weren't for the Gifting Power, then he would have never made it as far as he had.
"At the very least," Jiang Aiguo continued. "Captain Pan is a student of the Palace School. He absolutely has cards he hasn't played yet, and I know Captain Lu has a treasure that can ward off Crystal Transformations for a short time."
"Aren't you part of the rebellion?" Chen Haoran asked. "Why do you seem so deadset on helping the Garrison now?"
"Ah, well." Jiang Aiguo rubbed his neck. "Sure, I'd give my life for my home, but I'd like for it to have some meaning, you know? I feel like I can still be of service as an informant anyway. My scouting skills are valued by several Captains. Plus, I don't really want to take my chances on switching sides and trusting that a rogue element that's already proven unreliable won't kill me."
Chen Haoran…. couldn't say he wasn't moved by Jiang Aiguo's words. Sure, technically, he and the rebels were on the same side, but going with them would make it inevitable that he'd run into someone who recognized him and ran the risk of the Chen Family getting word of his whereabouts. Helping the Garrison ruin their plan wasn't a good look either, however, if he were unlucky enough to run into Xi Wangmu again. Or was it? He could potentially turn it around into Xi Wangmu's lacking leadership that saw him attacked by her own people. He just really, really didn't want to get close to anything or anyone connected to the Chen Family.
"That sounds good and all," Chen Haoran slowly said. "But there's still the issue of…. this." He motioned to his face.
"No one will be too surprised that you were wearing a Human-Skin Mask." Jiang Aiguo said. "It's not uncommon for these sorts of places."
"No, I mean my face," Chen Haoran corrected. "They'll recognize my face."
As soon as Chen Haoran saw the look of perplexion on Jiang Aiguo's face, he knew something was wrong.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I've never seen you before." Jiang Aiguo actually sounded embarrassed as he said it. "Is there a reason the Garrison would recognize you?"
"Is there no wanted poster for me?" Chen Haoran said. "No details of my description or my pets? No orders to watch the roads leaving Zumulu?"
Jiang Aiguo shook his head. "I'm a jungle patroller, and I'm friends with many who patrol the Peachwine and the official road. I've never heard about any warrant like that."
"Nothing?" Chen Haoran asked again. "Not from the higher-ups to be on the lookout for a fugitive with a Heaven-Ranked Technique? Not anything from— what were their names?" Chen Haoran snapped his fingers repeatedly. "Commanders Lu and Han! Nothing from them or their subordinates?"
Jiang Aiguo looked at Chen Haoran strangely. "Sir, Commander Lu is stationed in Stonebridge, and Commander Han is even farther away in Piranha Lake. Reservoir Town is beyond their remit. Commander Lu's son is here, but that's because he's a captain attached to Headquarters. If they tried to do anything like that, then the Garrison Commander would be the first person demanding an explanation."
Chen Haoran…. didn't know how to process that. Could it be that Jiang Aiguo just hadn't noticed it? It didn't sound like he was lying, though. If there were a search being done around Reservoir Town, then surely the soldiers stationed there would have heard about it. If he was telling the truth, however, then just what were those Commanders doing? What had he been running and hiding from all this time? Surely they were hunting the Heaven-Rank technique. Did they take it upon themselves to personally search for it? No, that didn't make sense either. That would probably be even more noticeable than just having their subordinates do it. Was the search just centered in the area near Stonebridge? Maybe? But then again, he didn't remember the security being particularly tight or stringent when he returned.
Chen Haoran pressed a hand to his suddenly throbbing forehead. "Were they even looking to begin with?"