After scanning every nook and cranny in the house, feeling both the flow of qi and the disturbance of the elements that built the wooden walls and the furniture, Xin detected a small leyline near an almost empty wooden box. The only thing inside was a worn-out old rag with some rotten parsnips.
They had checked this place before, yet now Xin was sure that something was fishy.
"Sure you didn't blunder?" Lei was slightly confused. He didn't feel the things Xin was talking about.
"The area here breaks the natural flow of qi. It has the gravitas of a magical object, yet there is no such object in sight."
"There is no secret passage underneath the floor, no empty pockets in the wooden walls. The ceiling is thin, no secret stash there, I'm sure. Where do we look?"
Xin looked at the box again. The box was wooden, so it resonated with the element of wood. Still, its qi was weak and inconsequential. That's not it.
The parsnips were dry and dead; maybe they were qi active? He quickly took a small bite from one of them and regretted it. They were mundane and rotten. The rag? Normal linen, barely emanating any energy.
Am I getting tunnel visioned? Wait. Tunnel. Entrance. Wood element isn't just literal wood, it also represents expansion. He picked the rag up, poured out the rotten vegetables, and turned it inside out. He then put his arm inside.
It disappeared without touching the bottom of the rag! Instead, he felt the touch of something made out of wood.
"No way!" Lei exclaimed. "A bag of holding, turned inside out, can be used as a normal rag? I'd never guess. Clever."
Xin made a dignified facial expression, as if it was obvious to him, and triumphantly pulled out a small oblong chest. It carried a lock indeed, and a fancy one, with reinforced red metal creating a leyline leading from the lock to the chest itself.
"Good stuff, mate! Step to the side and let me deal with it. This lock can burn the contents inside if we try to break into it forcefully."
"Huh? Be careful, then."
"Not my first one. And I've seen the key."
Lei pulled out some instruments. One of them looked like a wooden version of a key that Jun wore around his neck sometimes, except clearly missing some details. Lei stuck it in, pulled out a lockpick, and some other "thingie" that Xin didn't know the name of, and another one. Xin didn't understand what was going on, but found this display of skill mesmerizing. Lei's fingers deftly worked the lock, producing clacks and clicks.
"Oh, spread your legs for me, young maiden. I've been lonely, lonely, lonely..." Lei whistled, as Xin rolled his eyes. When he turned his gaze back on Lei, he heard another click.
"That's it! Twenty breaths! Haha, eat shit, lock master!"
"Stop bragging, you chimp. Open it!"
"Got you excited with my singing, huh? Check this out!"
He opened the chest, and the pair saw the treasure: a metal bracer big enough to cover most of the wrist, the disassembled parts of a huge crossbow, with wide metal shoulders, a sturdy reloading mechanism and expensive animal glue reinforcing the wooden parts. An arbalest, thought Xin. Good. A quiver of bolts. Two spirit stones.
That's... it? The pair looked at each other, disappointed.
Lei grabbed the bracer, looked at it carefully, and concluded, "Eh, the armlet could cost a silver coin or two. Something, I guess? The metalwork is decent."
Xin had a wild guess, yet he was reluctant to share it. On the other hand, he chose to be honest. Need to be consistent with my strategy, right?
"Look, I have this thought... When Jun hunted, he usually carried some big game with him. Much older than my dad, he still didn't look too tired. He often hunted by chasing, and his trips took days sometimes.
Thought that he was just built differently, me and pa, because he certainly had no qi powers. Yet he always wore arm wraps or sleeves when he hunted and never when he went to town. Suspicious, no?"
Lei squinted his eyes as well. "But I don't feel any power emanating from this bracer."
"I don't think your senses are too reliable. Maybe your elements conflict with it."
"Fine, take a look." Lei hated being reminded of his elemental nature. It made him feel weak and worthless. He handed the bracer to his partner in crime.
Xin took and instantly wore it, and he felt a stream of qi that tried to touch his essence. Indeed, it seems Lei's fire nature made it harder for him to attune with this artefact.
The armlet's ability was probably stamina. How strong was it? Need to gauge it somehow.
"Good morning, gentlemen!" A deep, playful voice called from outside the house. It carried a slightly snarling tone.
Lei and Xin looked at each other, their minds quickly turning to full focus. Someone sneaked up on them!
"You shoot well?" Lei asked. Xin nodded. "Assemble the crossbow. I'll win us time."
"And then?"
"Then we'll see."
"Good."
"Good."
Wu Lei approached the window shutters, firmly locked for now, at least. There was a small chink that he could use to look outside.
A man was standing there proudly, his only clothing being linen pants. No boots, no shirt, even though spring had just begun and it wasn't that warm. But why would he need clothes, with all that fur?
A yaoguai! And a tiger at that. Black and orange stripes, face a mix of human and tiger, leaning tiger, human arms with tiger claws, tall and lean, yet with very defined muscles.
"A tiger yaoguai..." He whispered to Xin.
"Fuck, keep him busy." He whispered back.
"You two coming out or what? I am talking to you. Show some respect! We are friends, after all!"
From the bushes behind him emerged three more figures. One looked ordinary, another looked like an island foreigner, short and bearded, and another looked like a southern barbarian, tall and tanned. Most foreigners like that came from beyond the Mists and had no memory of their previous lives, but some were born in this world, to Mistborn children.
These three all looked like some painfully stereotypical bandits, with spears, axes, bandanas, and a lack of thought in their facial expressions. Lei showed Xin a gesture: "three," then another one, "men."
"Good morning, good sir! What do you want with us on this fine Friday day?" Lei chatted the yaoguai up.
"I was walking towards Tealstone, heard the call and all. Haven't you?"
An islander called him out from behind, "I think only you heard it, boss, being a yokai and all! No one else did!" Yokai? What a weird pronunciation.
"Shut your crooked mouth, son of a whore! You, in the house, respond!"
"Heard no call, frankly! All we know is that Tealstone got attacked by a beast tide, so you better turn back. We are leaving too, once we collect our things."
"A beast tide, huh? Interesting, just like in my dream. Anyway, let's talk about 'things.' Can we buy some supplies from you?" The tigerman probed the waters.
"We only have waterskins and clothes, dried meat, and some berries. None of that would interest you, I assume. Hey, how about you tell me more about yourself?"
Lei understood that it was smell that allowed the tiger to detect them inside, yet his hearing wasn't good enough to hear Xin assemble the arbalest, or he would have already gotten suspicious by now.
"Me? Tell you about myself? No way. You first." The tigerman crossed his arms and furrowed his bushy eyebrows.
"I am Xian Duoshan, a Fist sect trainee, and a friend of mine is master Tu. He doesn't talk. An oath. We were going to Tealstone to recruit some new serfs, I mean outer disciples, but then the beast tide happened. What about you? Could you tell me a story of your life?" Lei was blabbering nonsense to win some time.
"A story of my life, huh? Quit wasting my time! It's a robbery! I don't give a fuck about your weakling sect! A mere human's fist will never rival a paw! I need your belongings, and I need them now! Come out and I'll spare you. Stay in this house and perish!" This short exchange had already made the beastman lose his temper.
Xin finished assembling the crossbow. He was nervous, yet excited. He quietly approached the chink of the window shutter and looked at the yaoguai.
Young. Recently turned. Not very strong, then. Still, a hundred years of qi absorption, most likely. Should be physically exceptional and should have kept his catlike reflexes.
"Can you fight, man?" He handed Lei a spirit stone.
"Fucks sake, man, are you crazy? I can fence pretty well, know martial arts, can spit molten metal, like, twice, but that's it. Should we fight? There should be an easier way out."
"What I saw this afternoon, there is no turning back from it. The only way is forward, and if that means killing, so be it. We have a choke point, so it's not that bad. I'll never get stronger shying away from the fight. You with me?"
Xin's resolve inspired Lei. How many times was he suppressed by his elders? By rival criminals, higher than him on the pecking order? Every inch of his body rebelled against this lifetime of humiliation, and an occasional win in some tavern brawl or a successful mission did nothing to quell the fire burning inside.
He looked into Xin's green eyes, determined and serious, and made a breakthrough in his way of thinking, unleashing his true spirit. Not a rule-breaker, not an urchin. A rebel. Fuck half-measures, all this crime and beating up drunkards for a coin or two, let's have some real fun!
"Let's do this, man!"
"Now I am pissed! I heard you two talk! Oath of silence, my ass! Now I am angry, aaaagh!" He roared and started moving forward, and his companions followed.
Suddenly, the window shutters opened, exposing Xin's silhouette. He aimed right at the tiger's chest and pulled the trigger. Twang. The shoulders of the arbalest unleashed their power, and the arrow penetrated the winds, whistling as it reached for the tiger's heart.
Yet it missed, even with a surprise advantage. The yaoguai dodged to the side, dropped to all fours, and rushed towards the shutters.
The bolt didn't stop, and after missing the tigerman, it impaled his islander homeboy right into the abdomen, dropping him to the ground like a bag of rice, groaning helplessly.
Other bandits followed the tiger, who furiously charged towards the shutters on all fours, yet Lei quickly closed them. Annoyed, the yaoguai realized that trying to squeeze into the shutters, even if he broke them, would leave him too vulnerable, and started banging at the door instead.
With every punch, he roared in rage, and it seemed as if the whole building shook. Xin kept reloading, but the doors started cracking too rapidly for his liking. He only had to put the bolt into the track now, yet his time ran out faster than he anticipated.
Another roaring punch and the lock was knocked out of the bolt, as the tiger leaped into the room and charged Xin, not even waiting for his allies.
Need to make a choice. Activate a technique or finish my shot with a point-blank advantage?
Without hesitation, Xin threw the bolt and the crossbow to the side and rubbed the edges of his palms at each other several times, injecting them with metal element qi.
Resonance Palms!
Xin anticipated the beastman's combat style. Should be focused on punching and biting, with dangerous swipes and probably some innate qi techniques on top. Despite not having a weapon, my style should give me a reach advantage. Need to be careful not to kick him too recklessly, he might knock me over or stab my artery.
Xin felt a cold excitement. Just killed a man, and a yaoguai is charging me! Lei is just standing there, not trying to intercept him but looking for an opening instead. Hope his strategy pays off.
Palm stab. His fingers were sharp as knives, and his palm edges could take a sword slash. The yaogai's chest was penetrated, and Xin could feel his ribs as he stabbed through his fur and skin. Yet it didn't stop him. As if willing to make this sacrifice, the yaoguai delivered a nasty swipe, aiming to slice Xin's neck with his fangs, emanating a barely visible orange aura. A palm edge block. He felt his palm cut the tendon of the tiger's wrist, transforming his defense into an attack.
The tiger was freakishly fast, stronger than a seasoned warrior mortal, had amazing reflexes, and probably strong durability as well, yet his foundation in martial arts was lacking. The only reason Xin predicted his stab was not his reflexes, but his ability to read hip and shoulder movements of the opponent. Too telegraphed.
And that's when Lei struck. He delivered a jump that no mere human could make without accelerating first and tried to stab the beastman's neck with a dagger.
No way! The beast, even surrounded, outplayed and outskilled, was still freakishly strong. He reacted to the stab and took it with his mane, forcing it to slip and injure his shoulder instead. Then he avoided Xin's piercing uppercut that might have left him with spilled guts and bent his knees lightly, preparing for a counterattack.
Xin read this move and punished it with a stab to the chest, trying to throw him off-balance, but it wasn't enough to seriously injure or push his opponent. The counterattack it is.
Xin prepared for a block, yet the tiger's hips moved weirdly, which made Xin alert. Is he about to unleash his trap card?
An orange spirit paw manifested around the tiger's left arm, making it look slightly bigger and longer, and Xin instantly jumped back. Lei used this moment to stab the tiger in the right bicep, but it was as if he wanted to get stabbed!
The yaogai's left arm unleashed a powerful slash, previously hidden in Lei's blind spot, as Lei was stabbing from the tiger's right, and sliced his arm off at the shoulder! Just like that!
Xin was astonished, yet his first instinct commanded him to punish the tiger for opening up. And he did, stabbing his chest muscle, the beast's growl of pain blocking his ears.
Xin seized the moment and punished the opponent by slashing, stabbing, and kicking some more, yet the yaoguai, free from the threat of Lei, who lay on the floor in agony, moaning, blood dripping from his severed arm, managed to successfully get on equal ground with him, and even cut Xin's chest with a nasty slash.
Xin's mind raced. Could I have warned Lei in time? No, the whole exchange took just a moment, and Lei was caught off-guard. Nothing I could do.
This whole exchange happened in just a few breaths, and two other figures have finally entered the room, following their leader. Terrible.
"Get 'em, boys!" The yaoguai shouted to his comrades, with the tall tanned foreigner rushing to kill Lei, and an ordinary looking bandit trying to flank Xin.
Lei looked at the tall foreigner approaching him; his vision was blurred by spots, and the agonizing pain was invading his whole being.
No fucking way I'll die!
The foreigner tried to finish him before he stood up, yet Lei grabbed his own severed arm from the ground, soared upwards as if his legs were springs, and trapped the opponent's axe in the bones of his former limb!
Unyielding martial spirit!
His enemy wasn't a coward, yet the sight of a man wielding his own arm as an improvised weapon, with blood still gushing from his shoulder like a crimson waterfall, was enough to stun him for a moment.
And it was enough for Lei. He front-kicked the man, pushing him right into the corner of the room, collected his saliva with a loud swirl, then spat on him! The spit was infused with two elements, of course, and was hot enough to start melting his face.
Now it was the man who was in agony. He tried to grab his face to get rid of the source of pain, yet Wu Lei had already grabbed his dagger and stabbed him in the heart. Good job, me, he thought. Now I need to stay conscious somehow.
Meanwhile, Xin kept exchanging blows with the beast, mindful of both the spearman flanking him. When he engaged him, he didn't expect the yaoguai to be that durable. By now, he penetrated his ribs in several places, tore his wrist tendon and chest muscle, delivered two kicks to his crotch, and left him with several more minor stabs and slices.
Yet the beastman seemed unaffected.
Xin's cold killing intent emanated in the air as he methodically moved around, attacking and blocking with no concern for energy preservation, not taking a single pause in his movements. He gambled on the Endurance Bracers to restore his energy if he ran out of breath.
The situation was certainly complicated by the bandit circling him with a spear. He wasn't very well-coordinated with the tiger yaoguai, and his attacks were maybe a bit too careful, yet it was still a nasty drain on Xin's attention and positioning.
In ten breaths or so, things turned sour. Xin ran out of space to exploit, the opponent managed to impose a closer-range exchange, and the wounds he inflicted weren't enough to lower the yaoguai's combat strength. He was backed into the corner.
It was now easy for the yaoguai to deliver that spirit paw attack, and since Xin would be forced to block, the spearman would be able to stab at him freely. The bandits were setting this up the whole time, but now it was all about the execution.
Need to make a sacrifice. The yaoguai raised his paw-hand, coated in orange energy, and prepared to drop it on Xin's block with the strength of three men's sword slashes.
Xin crossed his Resonance Palms and leaned closer, choosing to take the real hand instead of making contact with the spirit paw.
Slash! Xin blocked successfully, avoiding the worst scenario of being hit by a spirit paw. Yet he still felt the pain in his shoulder and wrists, and he probably broke his little finger despite the metal qi infusion.
Misery loves company.
The bandit unleashed his spear attack, his circling around like a vulture finally paying off, exploiting the fact that both of Xin's arms were occupied with the block. Xin raised his shin, infused with a relatively large amount of metal qi, and transformed what would be a fatal stab into a nasty scratch.
This was another sacrifice, and he gave up his balance and all but a little drop of his qi to survive this exchange. The beastman seized the opportunity and grabbed Xin by the collar, threw him on Uncle Jun's bear hide bed and mounted him, trying to bite his neck.
Xin stabbed his fingers into the tiger's wrists, pushing them into his shoulders, preventing his bite attack. The tiger's grip wasn't as strong as Xin expected from someone who destroyed a metal lock on a door in just a few punches. The animal was probably half-dead and most likely spent in terms of qi. This brawl was perfectly winnable. Except for the spear guy about to finish him off.
Xin's heart had never raced like that before.
No longer calm and focused, he was genuinely worried. The beastman would only need to hold him for one more breath before the spearman stabbed him again. Do I have any options against this? Think. Try. Struggle. Improvise. No? Nothing? It's over then.
Twang. Swish. The spearman fell, his neck penetrated by an arbalest bolt. Xin's relief was impossible to put into words. Lei managed to finish loading the arbalest with just one hand, aim it despite his horrific injury, and remove Xin's only obstacle!
"When fate gives you a gift, grab it by the balls! Or the tits, I'd rather it be tits!" Uncle Jun had once said, another of his attempts to play mentor after Xin's father died. He always considered him a primitive man and mostly brushed him off, but he was still company in this lonely forest, and he meant well, so Xin reluctantly accepted his occasional visits.
Now that he had brawled a tiger yaoguai on top of Uncle Jun's bed, bestial blood leaking on him from several holes he and Lei had made, with everyone in Tealstone including Uncle Jun probably dead, and the beast bandit breathing on him with a pungent fish breath, this whole situation reeked of dark farce. What did I get myself into?
Xin turned his eyes to Lei for a moment and saw him press his gushing wound with his healthy arm, looking like he would soon faint. He won't help me any more than this. Need to deal with the tiger on my own.
The fight lasted two more minutes, and Xin just turtled and defended, patiently blocking the beast's arms and teeth. Xin considered weaving a plant strand to invade the beast's eyes, nose, and mouth, but it would take his attention away from defending, and his qi had almost run out, so he discarded this idea.
In the end, the yaoguai was powerless to outbrawl Xin, whose endurance was superior. Without qi, with cut tendons, and having lost a lot of blood, it was soon over for the bandit. To his credit, he tried to run away and made it fifty steps before Xin caught up with him, a looted spear in his hand.
He drove the yaoguai to the foundation of a hill, and the tiger leaned on an old tree, breathing heavily. Prideful, the yaoguai wouldn't surrender. He couldn't run, he couldn't fight, and Xin gave him no chance to attempt a last resort attack as he kept his distance.
"Humans are endurance hunters, you see? The audacity to challenge me in my element. You should have stayed a tiger. This moment you are in, it's the furthest you've ever been from being human. Ironic, isn't it? Now perish." Xin was drunk on martial spirit, as he taunted the enemy before finishing him off.
The yaoguai raised his finger, still leaning on a tree. Let me take a deep breath in, I'll tell you something, his expression said.
"I cultivated a hundred years to reach this moment. You have no idea what I went through. And I got you good, too! Injured you! Maimed your friend! Don't act like you've outclassed me! You got lucky, that's it!" He wanted to say, yet he had no air in his lungs. Just one more moment. Please, his gaze begged.
Xin threw the spear, and it penetrated the tiger's chest. He had no interest in what the beast had to say. With great satisfaction, both as a hunter and a warrior, he watched his adversary meet his end.