A Thousand Li: Descent from the Mountain: A Cultivation Short Story by Tao Wong

Author:Tao Wong [Wong, Tao]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Starlit Publishing
Published: 2021-12-15T06:00:00+00:00

***

Huang Shen had not needed Ah Shu to show him the way. He could pick his way through the busy streets of the city with ease. And if he had not guessed that the Core cultivator – Boss Wang – was the man involved, the gambling nest that now boiled like an ant nest kicked over would have been clue enough. Runners had taken off, collecting the various members of the Yellow Sash group together at the gambling hall, all to wait for him and Ah Shu.

He had not needed the rat-eyed man-boy, but his presence was not unpleasant. Not once had he stopped fearing for his life, and he started answering questions about his dao, at least.

“I did have a moment of enlightenment, Old Master.” A bobbed head, a sheepish smile. “It was when I was striking a member of the Black Tortoise. We were fighting to take over the north quarter and the Black Tortoise, they all have this style, makes them stronger. My stick kept bouncing off his arm, you see, and I couldn’t strike him hard enough.”

“Then?”

“Then I did!” A wide grin. “It wasn’t about how hard I hit, you see. It was about how hard I hit.”

“And that was all?” It would have been nonsense for any other, but Huang Shen could sense the fluctuations in Ah Shu’s aura when he spoke, in the threads of Dao. It had been a moment of enlightenment, but so shallow he could not even explain it properly.

“Well, that was the first time. I had another one a few months ago, when I was practising, you know? Just against the board… but the way it shifted, the dents in the cloth…” A shrug. “It wasn’t just the speed and weight of my stick.” Said stick hefted up. “It was how the cloth looked – how the body was angled. Each kind of hit, it’s not just about pain or breaking things. You sometimes just want to make noise or make people fear, you know?”

“Not really,” Huang Shen admitted. “It is not my dao. But it is all part of the same thing.”

A series of furious nods. “Yes, exactly!” Then Ah Shu’s face fell. “Everyone else laughs though, when I talk about that.”

“Perhaps if you broke through meridians…”

“No, no way. That’s dangerous. I won’t do that,” Ah Shu said, immediately.

Won’t instead of can’t. How fascinating. They had no more time to talk though, for they had arrived. Even without Ah Shu noticing, the crowd had parted for them, subtly pressured to step aside to allow the pair to move unimpeded through the city. A slight flex of Huang Shen’s will.

In front of the gambling house, a large group of thugs. A full score on the street, another dozen in the now-empty-of-gamblers building. Those were stronger, nearly half of them in the Energy Storage stage. It was quite surprising how strong this entire group was. Numbers enough to make the guard consider an all-out fight for sure.

“Do you think you can–” Huang Shen’s question was interrupted by the hiss of crossbow bolts fired at him.

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