Immortal Connections - Chapter 40 preview

Chapter 40 - Wu Ying

“Who are you?” the leader of the heavenly realm entrants cried out. “Are you truly an Investigator in hiding?”

"Just because you're weak doesn't mean you need to praise me that much." Wu Ying said as he eyed the group. Many were injured, the poison master holding on long enough to provide the pair who had been poisoned by him with antidote pills. Even so, both were looking the worse for wear, the brawler’s skin showing the marks of the blackening veins that only receded a little. Droplets of bleed fell from the others, wounds accumulated in the brief battle dripping freely through the sky.

“Do you normally act so arrogant after being beaten? If so, your father must have worn down quite a few willow trees.” 

“You surprised us, but we’re not done yet!” the leader snarled, stepping forward. He hesitated when none of his people joined him in the threatening posture. “We can still beat you.”

“Maybe. But is it worth dying for? Because some of you will definitely do so, if you try me.” Wu Ying looked up to the gate that hung there, having at some point closed its doors such that a wooden exterior faced them now instead of the open skies of the 36th heaven. “I assume this is what you people do, hang around and try to beat down new Ascendants sent to this realm?”

A lot of shuffling and silence was his answer. More than a few were looking away, back into the distance or down to the earth below, searching for an escape.

“What of it? You interlopers always come, acting as though you’re owed everything of ours.” The leader bristled.

“Bandits are bandits, no matter the time and place it seems.” He sighed. “Well, I’ve always felt that one good turn deserves the other.” He watched the group tense before he gestured with his sword. “Hand over your valuables and weapons then.”

“Are you robbing us!”

“I could loot your bodies instead, if you wish?” Wu Ying let his voice harden, the gentle ease he had showcased before fading away. “That was what you intended, was it not?”

“We don’t kill!” the young boy shouted, then at the look Wu Ying gave him, quailed a bit. “Not if we don’t have a choice…”

“And still, the bodies are dead, the Ascendants heads crushed. I’m sure your excuses are great comfort to them.” The boy looked down, unwilling to meet Wu Ying’s gaze and he made note of it. Perhaps he was, among them all, still salvageable. The others either looked dismissive or uncaring about his admonishment.

“If you do that, you leave us no better than dead. There are beasts in the wilderness.”

Wu Ying shrugged. “I find myself with very little empathy for your plight. Now, enough stalling.”

“Agreed.” The leader punched forwards, a massive serpent-like creature exploding outwards from his body, his aura turning brown-and-yellow as it formed the scaled creature that struck at Wu Ying. If he had not been underwater before, Wu Ying might have even mistaken the creature for a snake, but as it stood, the massive spirit moray eel’s mouth widened as energy poured from the leader’s glistening rings and core to fill the attack.

At the same time, the poison master cast a dozen silver needles in the air, all glistening with dark oil at Wu Ying. Three others struck out, one with a flaming punch, another with a blade strike and the third throwing his spear at the wind cultivator.

When he retaliated, Wu Ying no longer held back. 

Rather than wait for the attack to arrive, he exploded forwards in the second movement of the Wandering Dragon, a passing lunge that crossed the space between himself and his opponent in the blink of an eye. He shattered the spirit moray eel, the spiraling wind aura around himself shredding the monster before he even contacted it, plunging deep within the spirit creation. 

By the time his attack was done, he had thrust through the leader’s simple defensive enchantments and poor leather armour, feeling only the slightest tug of resistance as he extracted his weapon. Another motion cut the head of the immortal before he could heal, and then he was moving onwards, attacking those who raised their hands a second time.

One body after another fell by the wayside, slain with two or three motions of his blade. He catalogued the attacks, the lack of finesse in their movements or the basic martial styles they used, not even a single member of these bandits having even the Sense – the most basic standard towards mastery – of their weapons.

Then, he was done, a single breath to slay five brigands, leaving the same number quailing at the explosion of violence. Wu Ying wondered what it said about him, that even now, in the slaying of so many he felt little but pity and frustration at being forced to this stage. He could not - would not - give them another opportunity, because though he might have the skills to dominate the battle, it would only take one skill, one formation or enchanted item that he did not expect to turn the tide of battle.

That was the truth of fighting, that one might never know who was the winner till the battle itself was over. A lucky break, a twisted ankle, a dip in the earth that one might not understand; it was enough to leave even the most illustrious of fighters crippled. At their level now, it might take more - enchanted items, new skills, a poison - but the same principles held.

"Now, shall we finish this or are you gentlemen willing to comply with my mild request?" Wu Ying asked, gently.

The group as one began to shed their valuables, allowing Wu Ying to hoist them together on platforms of air. He conjured a large bolt of silk from one of his older rings, rings that were even now beginning to fray apart under the onslaught of immortal chi. Eventually, they would break entirely, but for now it would work. Utilizing the bolt of unrolled cloth, he gathered the various valuables from those still living before redirecting them to strip their friend's body.

Only once, did he have to speak up once more.

"Really? I'm standing right here and you're trying to steal from me?" He stared at the staff wielder, utilized the wind to create a mini-cyclone filled with razor sharp winds that cut his clothing apart. A ripping motion as the winds dispersed left the man standing in nothing but his small clothes, the pair of rings that he had successfully concealed floating into the pile and the scroll that Wu Ying caught him at coming directly to the wind friend.

The new Ascendant caught the scroll, unrolling it long enough to realise that it was no cultivation manual but a map before he let it roll shut. He ignored the stammered excuses sent to him, instead utilizing the wind to push the other man away, separating him entirely from the other four as he was cast downwards.

All too soon, the bodies were stripped. For a moment, Wu Ying considered storing the bodies - after all, bandits often had bounties on their heads - but discarded the idea. If he had his World Spirit Ring, that enchanted item that carried a singular world within, he might have chanced it. 

As it stood, the immortal chi present in the bodies would crack his other spirit rings while the singular one he had managed to trade for in the palace was nowhere large enough to store five bodies. Nevermind the potential damage their bleeding bodies might leave behind.

“You may leave.” Wu Ying gestured, relaxing his hold on the bodies at the same time, such that corpses would fall away. He noted how a number of the freed bandits charged for the bodies, scooping them up as they fell towards the earth far below.

He let them all leave, all but one, blocking the way of the boy who was the slowest to react. As Wu Ying wrapped his loot up in the cloth, floating the entire grouping close to him, he also lifted the stick and flipped it back to the boy.

The child caught the weapon, nearly fumbling the grab through sheer surprise before recovering. “Why?” he asked, plaintively.

“I need a guide and I’d assume you need a new job.”

“I just tried, we just tried, to rob you.”

“And kill me.”

“I would never-!”

“And that’s why.” Wu Ying shrugged. “The choice is yours, but I assume that your little group was going to try their hands at other forms of criminality since there will be no one else likely to come from the Lesser Harmonies palace in the next few decades.”

“There’s always someone coming through, though mostly from other realms. We don’t try them, unless they’re low enough level…”

“We. Interesting, you’ve done this long enough to know what the routine is then.”

The boy looked away, not willing to answer and Wu Ying eventually shrugged. “Well, your call.” Eyeing the distant rain clouds and the playing dragons, he debated traveling over to speak with them. While these dragons were younger, he knew they were likely strong. The creatures were born strong and just grew more powerful as they aged.

However, with that age and strength came knowledge too – and he desperately needed that. On the other hand, he had quite the haul and knowing exactly what he had on-hand seemed the better idea.

Decision made, he noted a mountaintop not so far away. Pulling on the wind and his own chi, he flew over to the mountain with his haul on the way. A small smile danced across his lips as he wondered what he might find, corpses and brief bout of violence set aside for now.

Only idly noting that he was being followed by the boy, a long distance behind.