The Third Cut - Chapter 29 preview

Tou He was on his feet and moving under his own volition. While he might have been injured, the injuries were mostly superficial – at least for a cultivator at their rank. A few long cuts down one side, a limp from bloody thighs on the other. Healing pills and a few days rest were sufficient to fix all of that.

No, what caused Wu Ying concern was the unconstrained flames that erupted from his aura. The ex-monk moved slowly and ponderously, more living flame than man, an elemental that might consume the very world itself if left unattended. A cleansing flame to set the world aright, that swept through a forest and in its passing, allowed new growth and new life to emerge.

Much like what was happening now.

Around him, the rest of the unit moved, each of them bearing a formation flag. They strained as they walked, their faces deeply troubled as they contained the heat from the single cultivator, allowing the inflow of air and the occasional burst of energy outwards, but also mitigating the damage to the surroundings.

“How is he not exhausted already?” Yang Mu asked, cocking her head to the side. While Wu Ying had to strain to keep his own winds growing, she had not faced the same level of problems. And yet, even Wu Ying could sense that she was low in the chi within her dantian.

“Fire feeds on itself and others,” Wu Ying said. “You need only offer it a spark and it burns, continually.”

“Except it is not just plain fire, is it?” Yang Mu said. “And I know how fire works.”

Fire, one of the more common elements for those who were in the martial side of cultivation. It was the element of destruction and cleansing, it was the most directly damaging of the elements. It was a question that philosophers debated endlessly, whether fire cultivators ended up as martial cultivators because fire lent itself best to martial methods, or martial cultivators were fire based because the element was destructive.

“No.” Wu Ying glanced over at the floating and silent Phuong Vy. He knew why his friend had lasted so long, above and beyond the propensity of fire itself to spread. His journey to Core Formation had been difficult, requiring him to open and utilize a second dantian. It gave him a much larger store of energy – though how that worked with having a core to grow a Nascent Soul, Wu Ying had no understanding of – but the secrets were not his to tell. Even if he might trust Yang Mu enough to want to do so.  “It’s not. A cleansing fire.”

“One taken from a fire dragon.” Yang Mu’s lips qwirked. “What is it with you and dragons? Most cultivators spend their entire lives, never having to interact with a single Heavenly beast, whether it be golden carp, regal phoenix or majestic dragon. You…”

Wu Ying shrugged. “Maybe like calls to like?”

“It’s just a name.”

Wu Ying grinned a little, with amusement and she rolled her eyes, sticking a tongue out. He understood that she was distracting him, as they made the last few feet to join the group. Wu Ying came to a halt near his friend, eyeing him as he strode forwards, eyes lost it seemed as he moved forwards.

“What is wrong with him?” Wu Ying asked the others as they finally closed with the group. The team continued to strain as they imbued the formation with their own chi, containing the flames that threatened to sweep all asunder and consume the world.

His friend himself looked less like a person and more a living elemental, his eyes blank, his steps carrying him forward senselessly and slowly, even as  his aura beat upon the containment field at every moment. The air howled inwards, to be consumed with each passing moment, molten lava footprints left behind as he walked onwards.

“The demon realised what we were about to do and sought to escape. Rather than allow it, your friend met it headlong, doing battle with his aura and that thing that lives in him,” Dinh Don replied.

“A fire dragon.”

“A fire demon perhaps,” Thien Giang replied. “He injured that hanged demon easily, nearly doing half the job for us before the formation finally activated. If we’d known…” She shook her head. “But afterwards, the demon refused to go to sleep. It kept attacking, destroying the buildings, the hanged demons all around.”

“You?” Yang Mu asked, curiously.

“No.” The polearm wielder shook her head, long hair swishing in disarray. Rather than the helmet that the team normally wore, he realised that hers had been knocked free at some point, letting the sweat and strain of holding the formation showcase itself as droplets on her brow. “He avoided attacking us, thankfully.”

“Then he’s still in there,” Wu Ying said.

“Why did you stop him anyway?” Yang Mu said, curiously. “I cannot see you caring for the Ma Than Vong.”

“I don’t. But running away while the city burns might have been a problem,” Be Long replied. “If you’re ready to leave, we’ll drop it and let the monk do what he wants.”

Phuong Vy, raising her head and opening her eyes gestured at Wu Ying’s arms where he held the box. “We have it. I had to damage the specimen, but it should do well enough.”

“Good. Then, on my command…” Minh Trac said.

Wu Ying lips pursed, then he ducked to the corner of the street, dropping the box off before moving to place himself before his friend.

“What are you doing?” Yang Mu asked.

“Get the box, go. I’ll deal with him,” Wu Ying said.

“Let them burn, boy. They’re demons,” Dinh Don said. “No less to us, what the monk does. In fact, it’ll probably save lives in the long run if we wipe them out.”

“Probably,” Wu Ying said. “But that’s not my decision to make. Or yours.” He nodded to the blank eyed cultivator before him, whose flame seemed to roar and beat the air as he stood before him. “It’s him who has to make the decision and live with the consequences. And it’s not a decision he would make.” All life was important. All life sacred. And demon or human, Tou He would regret taking it; especially in the state that he was in. So he would not let his friend do so.

“Fool.” Dinh Don replied.

“Leave them,” Bich Trang commanded. “We have what we need. On Guardsman Thi’s command.”

Yang Mu looked back and forth, indecision warring on her face. Wu Ying caught her gaze and shook it, flicking his gaze to the group and narrowing his eyes, trying to communicate his desire for her to watch over their erstwhile allies. Whether she understood the unspoken pantomime or just came to a decision, she nodded in reply to him.

Her fingers dipped and then came up, flicking a half-dozen talismans at him. He watched them take position around his body, much like Phuong Vy’s own protective talismans though he caught sight of the words ‘fire’ and ‘protection’ in the enscriptions in these.

“Be careful,” she said.

“Always.”

That elicited a snort from her. Then Yang Mu chose to leave, joining the already fleeing Phuong Vy on her floating cauldron.

One more command, a quiet countdown by the formation master. Then, like sugar candy dissolving under a puddle of water, the formation came apart as the cultivators stopped feeding it power, fleeing for the hills; Dinh Don pausing long enough to pick up the wooden box before running.

Leaving Wu Ying to face his friend, his ally, his brother, alone. As the fires burnt, as the winds howled and a demon roared.