Kindling, page 12
part #6 of Painting the Mists Series
A week later, Cha Ming switched to the single dot. He thrust out with his staff and used it like a spear. He used his brush to make single points in the air. Yet no matter what he did, nothing yielded any results. Helpless, he could only shift back to the vertical stroke. He casually struck down with his staff, but this time he noticed a small amount of gray light trailing behind it.
Is it really a staff strike? he wondered as he struck ten thousand more times. Each time, the afterimage grew stronger and remained longer than before. Or is it a blade strike?
He slashed out with a blade of qi and then switched back to his brush, leaving a thick line of ink in the air, but the effect was the same. Repetition caused the afterimage to deepen and focus.
Ten thousand times turned to twenty thousand. Twenty thousand turned to thirty thousand. He soon lost himself in the process. One hundred and twenty thousand brushstrokes later, he reached a bottleneck in the vertical stroke and shifted to the horizontal one. Then, after reaching his limit in the horizontal one, he perfected the simple dot.
Before long, a full month had passed. Although it initially seemed like he was getting nowhere, Cha Ming realized that his horizontal, vertical, and stabbing staff strikes could generate a frightening amount of power. They greatly outstripped his initial self-made staff arts. In fact, he felt that they wouldn’t lose out to the royal uncle’s techniques.
Unfortunately, I’ve reached a bottleneck, Cha Ming thought. It’s time to face the puppets again.
He walked toward the central circle and observed his surroundings. Any damage that had been dealt to the blue stone walls from their previous efforts had long since healed over.
“Strange,” Cha Ming said as he observed the markings inside the runic circle. The three puppets still stood guard like the moon stones had never been stolen. Yet the places where they stood was exactly where the strangeness lay. The floor within the circle was covered in runic lines, but the location where they stood was strangely empty. His instincts as a formation master itched when he saw three clear imperfections that he’d missed before.
Cha Ming summoned ten combat formations and calmly stepped inside the circle. The first puppet’s eyes lit up as it hefted its axe and struck down toward him. The other two puppets didn’t move an inch.
As I suspected, Cha Ming thought. There’s more to these guardians than meets the eye.
Although he spotted an opportunity to act against it, he used ten defensive combat formations and his Clear Sky Staff to defend against the puppet’s axe. He coughed up blood as he was thrown outside the circle with half his bones broken. Yet there was a sparkle in his eyes now. He allowed his wounds to regenerate before executing the vertical strike with his Clear Sky Staff once again. A faint trace of gray caused the line to linger in the air for a full five seconds before finally disappearing.
Cha Ming’s eyes sparkled once more. This is what I’ve been looking for.
One strike after another, the line deepened. One-tenth, one-fifth, one-half… the trace of gray grew until it almost encompassed the entire afterimage. Finally, Cha Ming approached the circle once again. The puppet gripped its axe and prepared to bat him away once more, but Cha Ming was faster. He struck down with his Clear Sky Staff, executing a perfect strike that glowed with a gray light. His staff crashed down onto the puppet, which shattered into thousands of pieces.
The residual vertical line plunged into the floor and completed the diagram where it once stood. The puppet’s body burst into motes of light and agglomerated into a green jade stone and a gray runic fragment. The stone added onto his aura while the runic fragment plunged into his spiritual sea. He flew out of the circle and struck out vertically—the technique resonated with the runic fragment in his spiritual sea and greatly increased its might.
Having experienced such ample rewards, Cha Ming recuperated before facing the second puppet. It slashed out with a swift and unforgettable horizontal slash. Instead of blocking it forcibly like he did before, he used his own version of the horizontal strike in an attempt at parrying it. He was knocked back fifty feet, but the blow deepened his understanding of the strike.
Instead of crushing chaos, it feels more like splitting heaven and earth, Cha Ming thought.
“Again!” he yelled, executing the technique once more. This time, he was only forced back forty feet. He continued to trade blows until finally, his staff quickened. It became faster and faster until a gray beam bisected the guardian puppet before plunging itself into the floor beneath it. A second moon stone and runic fragment rushed toward him. He wasted no time and flew toward the third guardian, which was already ready for him.
Cha Ming traded blow for blow, using formations to strengthen his defenses as they both stabbed at each other. If the previous strikes embodied Crushing Chaos and Splitting Heaven and Earth, this one resembled chaos itself, the origin of the universe.
With this thought in mind, his staff strikes grew increasingly strong, and before long, he could trade blows with the puppet without needing to rely on formations. It wasn’t long before his staff left a small gray mark on the puppet’s chest. Gray tendrils spread out from this initial point until they fully encompassed its sturdy body. The puppet broke apart, and the gray spot fell into place within the runic circle.
A glowing runic fragment and a moon stone rushed toward Cha Ming and entered his spiritual sea. At the same time, the formation circle where the guardians once stood glowed brightly. It shone with a blinding light before fading.
Ten gray line groupings appeared where the puppets and the platforms had once stood. Like the three strikes he’d seen in the starting area, these groupings also appeared like runic fragments. And like the three before it, each of the ten fragments contained their own unique charm.
Do I need to learn these to pass the next phase? Cha Ming thought.
His heart bubbled in excitement as he realized that snatching treasure wasn’t the only way to obtain rewards on the Bridge of Stars. Moon stones aside, these mysterious staff arts were worth their weight in jade.
Huxian sniffed around curiously as he appeared inside a small room. He glared menacingly at the walls before stepping outside a transparent blue membrane. More walls greeted him.
“Do you think you can confuse me with these petty minions?” he said. “Do you think I don’t know a clear path to the center when I see one?” he asked a blue stone pillar. It didn’t respond.
“Fine, wait here all day for all I care,” he said, strutting away proudly. He continued walking toward the center, where two cultivators appeared. One smelled nice, while the other didn’t. They were separated by a small runic circle filled with three statues. In the middle, he discovered three delicious-smelling stones.
Those must be the moon stones Cha Ming told me about, he thought.
Without waiting for the two cultivators to introduce themselves, Huxian quickly spread his dual force field of light and shadow. He used his powerful teeth and claws to bat away the three annoying puppets that barred his path before gobbling up the three shining objects. They melted in his mouth in a symphony of runic flavor.
“Just how I remember them.” He sighed as he licked his lips. The two cultivators looked at him liked they’d seen a ghost.
“The one on the right can scram,” Huxian said, looking toward a gentle pale-skinned woman. “The one on the left can stay.”
He pulled back his ears and bared his teeth as he walked toward a cultivator with an ochre aura. The lone man didn’t stand a chance before being devoured whole. Or almost whole. Huxian made sure to collect his spatial artifacts. It was a hard world out there, and one didn’t just throw away perfectly good lunch money.
Huxian rolled his eyes as he saw that the beautiful white-skinned cultivator had fainted. He ignored her and proceeded back to the statues.
“If I recall correctly, these are made of moon stones as well,” he said. His frame grew until it spanned 333 feet, the maximum length he could grow to before surpassing core formation. Then he opened his maw and rained light and darkness down on the runic circle.
The guardian puppets tried to fend him off, but he pressed two statues down with his two massive paws and bit down on the third one. It resisted for a moment before crumbling into moon stone fragments that were quickly gobbled up by the black-and-white fox. He then ate the second and the third in quick succession.
Finally, the circle on the floor glowed and revealed three gray runes. Huxian sniffed at them suspiciously.
“Runic fragments in the air, are you tasty, are you bare?” He licked his lips before cycling his black-and-white aura around him like a vortex, dragging the nearest runic fragment shaped like a log into his mouth. To his surprise, it couldn’t be crunched. He swallowed it whole without any hesitation and was rewarded with a warm, delicate flavor.
“These fragments are far too tasty,” Huxian thought out loud. “I dare the others to try taking them away.”
He immediately sucked up the last two before sitting for a whole week to digest them. After completing the process, the dissolved runic fragments floated outside him like some sort of protective talisman. Yet he instinctively knew that it was far more than that. Rather, he sensed this his ability to utilize demonic qi had increased substantially. All his domainlike techniques had received a healthy boost.
Wait until Cha Ming learns about this, Huxian thought as he trotted toward the next room. This time, he didn’t wait to digest the fragments after stealing all the moon stones, eating the guardians, and absorbing the fragments. There were snacks to be had, and he’d miss them if he didn’t hurry.
Chapter 11: A Familiar Face
“Get ’im. He’s just one demon,’” Huxian said, rolling his eyes. “Can’t these guys come up with something original?”
He carefully organized his loot and stowed it into his collar before devouring the puppets and runes. It was the second batch of cultivators he’d run into—one of the side benefits for hurrying rather than taking one’s time like Cha Ming did. After absorbing the next group of runes, he ran through the blue corridor toward the next location. As a Godbeast, it took him only a few hours to cross it. When he arrived, he was surprised to discover an empty room with a small white rabbit. It was carefully mixing ingredients in a large cauldron, and one of the ingredients was moon stones. A bunch of them were piled up on the side.
“What, you want a go?” the white rabbit said as Huxian approached.
Huxian frowned. “I don’t want to fight, but to be fair, shouldn’t we at least split these moon stones fifty-fifty?”
“Why should I split them?” the white rabbit said, placing a small paw on her hip in a very humanlike pose. “I got here first, fair and square.”
Huxian was caught off guard. “Maybe we could share the next batch,” Huxian offered.
“And why should I share what I can take by myself?” the white rabbit said.
“I could say the same,” Huxian replied, casually walking over to the runes. Shadow and light danced around him, forming a small maelstrom that swiftly devoured the intangible objects.
The rabbit’s eyes widened. “So you have a bit of skill,” the rabbit said. Her ears twirled, and the contents of her cauldron floated into the air. Space distorted as a yellow batter was pressed into tens of thousands of small cakes. Their smell wafted to Huxian, whose mouth watered.
“You wouldn’t mind sharing some of those, would you?” Huxian asked. A glob of saliva dripped to the floor.
“What a rude kid,” the rabbit said. She flicked a small cake over to Huxian, who gobbled it up and looked at her once more with a pleading expression. The rabbit’s eyes narrowed. “You want more moon cakes?”
Huxian nodded expectantly. The rabbit looked at him strangely before tossing a thousand over. Huxian ate ten before burping loudly.
“These are so delicious, but so filling,” Huxian said with satisfaction. He tossed the rest into his collar. “I’ll have to save the rest for later.”
“You like my moon cakes?” the rabbit asked. She tossed the remainder of the cauldron of moon cakes to Huxian.
“I really like moon stones, but I’m willing to trade them for moon cakes,” Huxian said. “They’re the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted.”
“No need,” she said cheerfully as she retrieved her cauldron and loot. “Since you like them, I’ll make as many as you like. But moon stones are moon stones, so we’ll need to rely on our respective skills to compete for them. Let’s see if you can keep up, slowpoke.” She left behind a white afterimage as she left the room through the shimmering blue portal.
Huxian immediately chased after her. Seeing that she was slightly faster than his raw speed, he channeled light and shadow to catch up. They were soon neck and neck, and nothing either one did could break the ongoing stalemate.
“Okay, so you’re fast,” the white rabbit said. “But let’s see who can fight faster.” They crossed the blue corridor in half the time Huxian usually took and entered the next room.
The fox didn’t hesitate. He split into light and shadow doppelgangers and dashed toward the pile in the middle of the ten puppets. He weaved through them in a confusing pattern, joining and splitting as he pleased.
The rabbit, on the other hand, bounced off the puppets like a pinball. After a few quick dodges and deflections, they reached the pile at exactly the same time. Seeing this development, Huxian sent out a mouth of shadow and a mouth of light that tried to swallow the pile in a single gulp.
The rabbit, not wanting to be outdone, sent out a gray cyclone that perfectly countered Huxian’s devouring force. A black, white, and gray wave front moved back and forth, oscillating between one-third and two-thirds of the pile.
“You think your brute force can outdo my skill?” The white rabbit chuckled. “You’re a million years too early.”
“You think your skill can outdo my appetite?” Huxian barked back. “You might be the best cook to have ever existed, but I was born for eating.”
The pile of moon stones shifted back and forth between them, with neither of them gaining the advantage. Then, to their mutual surprise, the pile of moon stones broke apart, exactly in half. Huxian swallowed his while the rabbit combined hers with her aura.
Now for the guardians, Huxian thought. He leaped up and increased in size, using his paws to crush two puppets while devouring another. He then picked up the crushed puppets and tossed them in his mouth before approaching two that he had already bound in shadows. He lashed out with these three massive tails, and the three successive blows rapidly demolished the fourth and fifth puppets, whose moon stones he immediately devoured.
“How will you deal with that?” he barked, glaring at the white rabbit. To his surprise, she too had demolished five puppets. The formation activated and revealed ten glowing runes. Huxian swaggered over to the mysterious images and swallowed them without restraint.
“Fine,” the rabbit said. “We can split them fifty-fifty. To save energy.”
“What about human cultivators?” Huxian asked anxiously. He didn’t want to pass up any delicious evil cultivators or their loot.
“Only if they attack us first,” the white rabbit said. “And then fifty-fifty. That’s my bottom line.”
Huxian relaxed. “My name’s Huxian,” he said excitedly. “What’s yours?”
The rabbit rolled her eyes. “I’m Xiao Bai, the one and only Jade Rabbit.”
Huxian blinked in confusion. However, he soon saw the rabbit glare and understood what he needed to do. “Ah, yes, the Jade Rabbit. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“And what exactly have you heard?” Xiao Bai asked. “I love hearing about myself.”
“Ahem, in a second,” Huxian said quickly. “Cultivators are coming.”
They immediately collapsed on the ground with open wounds, adopting an appearance of easy prey as twenty cultivators walked near them. To their surprise, however, the cultivators took the long way around and proceeded toward the exit.
“Isn’t that cute?” a female cultivator said in the distance. “A wounded fox demon and rabbit demon are helping each other as a team. They’re much nicer than most cultivators on this bridge.”
“You’re right,” an elderly cultivator said. “We should take this lesson to heart.” Then they disappeared in the distance.
Both Xiao Bai and Huxian gaped at their behavior. “My baiting isn’t working anymore,” Xiao Bai said.
“Neither is mine,” Huxian said. “Humans usually can’t resist attacking a wounded demon.”
They both scratched their heads for several moments before Huxian had an epiphany.
“I’ve got it!” he said. “Next time, I’ll hide in the shadows while you do your thing. Not only will they take the bait, but we’ll have the element of surprise!”
“Isn’t that entrapment?” Xiao Bai asked.
“Isn’t pretending you’re wounded entrapment?” Huxian pointed out. “Actually, what they do when we’re wounded and alone is much more telling about who they are as people. I’d say we’re just screening the good from the bad much more harshly.” He grinned ear to ear as he recited his idea.
“I like it,” Xiao Bai said, leading him toward the blue tunnel. “Now let’s beat that group of cultivators to the next batch of moon stones.”
Cha Ming shook his head as he observed a large runic circle. Its runic patterns were much sparser than the original, and it was occupied by ten puppet guards. While they were substantially stronger than the first three, he’d managed to strengthen himself using the forty-three moon stones he’d gained before. While he couldn’t defeat the guards, he could hold his own against them as he gained enlightenment on their techniques.
He summoned a Stormchaser Formation before rushing into the circle. The puppets responded in an instant, forcing Cha Ming to use quick strikes to deflect their blades, swords, axes, and staves. His feet left behind runic fragments with every step.
