Kindling, page 25
part #6 of Painting the Mists Series
“Lei Jiang, give us some light,” Huxian said.
“You got it, boss,” Lei Jiang yelled. The small puffball, several times smaller than even the smallest hedgehogs, sent out a two-dimensional field formed with purple runic fragments. Dark clouds suddenly appeared above them and summoned lightning onto the densely packed fiends. One hedgehog after another was burnt to a crisp.
“Sixth through fifteenth squads, stop them!” the hedgehog leader yelled. A violet glow surrounded fifty-odd hedgehogs. They doubled in size and flew up toward Silverwing and Lei Jiang.
“Silverwing, Lei Jiang, hold out until I finish off their leader,” Huxian said. His large form suddenly split into thousands of tiny black-and-white foxes. They charged at the hundreds of hedgehogs, who unleashed their spikes like volleys of arrows. Half of the small foxes perished in the initial charge; they had only managed to fell a quarter of the hedgehogs.
“Is that everything you’ve got?” the hedgehog leader said mockingly.
“That was just an appetizer,” the remaining foxes said in unison. The corpses of the deceased foxes suddenly turned to motes of light and shadow. They converged on a central point and formed a yin-yang symbol. The symbol tightened, until finally it shattered in the middle and burst into thousands of foxes once more. Their initial number was much greater than last time as Huxian had absorbed energy by devouring the deceased fiends. They clashed once more, and two thirds of the remaining hedgehogs fell.
“How is this possible?” the lead hedgehog roared. “You shouldn’t be so powerful at the peak of core formation.”
“You believe whatever you like,” Huxian said from thousands of mouths. The black-and-white clones swirled together in the shape of a black-and-white maw that began attacking the surviving fiends. Their small spikes were devoured the moment they touched it.
“Why do you have to cause me problems?” the hedgehog said. “Didn’t I feed you enough fiendish demons? Didn’t I yield many lands to you over the past few months? Those were the richest lands, and I did this all to keep you off my back. Why do you need to betray my kind intentions?”
Huxian grinned. “Which devil sovereign are you, and what makes you think I don’t know that you’d devour us all without a second thought? The best time to fight someone like you is when you’re still weak and consolidating your grasp on these devil seeds you’ve sown. After all, it’s very draining for you to project so many devils onto a planet protected by the Jade Emperor. It’s only a matter of time until you’re found out by him, so you’re working on limited resources.”
“I’m not here for you!” the hedgehog yelled. “In fact, I just need to mine a few resources. You can have anything else you want. Hell, I’ll send out fiendish demons to get them for you. Then, I’ll even allow you to leave the world by breaking your talismans. I’ll even sign a contract with you. You have everything to gain, and nothing to lose!”
“Not here for me, huh?” Huxian said, walking over to the hedgehog, who was bleeding all over. His minions had all been defeated and lay dead beside him. “What are you up to? You must be playing a very big game if you’re willing to squander so much of your devilish essence.”
“Like I’d tell you,” the hedgehog said coldly. “Think carefully about my offer, because I’m only offering it to you once. If you don’t take it, you’ll experience true despair. I’ll send out hordes of fiendish demons to chase you down to the ends of Jade Moon Planet. You’ll be buried along with all the others.”
Huxian pondered for a moment. “I have a better proposition.”
“Oh?” the fiendish hedgehog said. “Do tell.”
“You see, I have a huge appetite,” Huxian said. “I’m a big fan of eating. You happen to be able to provide something very nourishing for me and my friends, and it requires very little effort on your part.”
“And what would you like to eat, esteemed Bagua fox?” the hedgehog said.
“It’s quite simple, really,” Huxian said. “The best nourishment you can provide me is in the form of devil seeds. This one is a good start. I won’t ask for much. Hundreds of high-quality seeds like this one and a million of the others shouldn’t be too troublesome for you.”
The hedgehog’s expression darkened. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”
“I wasn’t asking,” Huxian said.
Mouths of light, shadow, wind, lightning, and swamp suddenly appeared all around the hedgehog. It howled as the mouths took one bite after another until nothing more than a small black spark remained.
“One more bite, and I’ll never let you leave this place alive!” the spark yelled.
Huxian’s main body gulped it down without any hesitation. As soon as it entered his mouth, its aura was purified before evening out between him and his two brothers.
“Holy hell, that’s a lot of energy,” Silverwing said. “In fact, that’s much more than all those other fiendish demons we ate combined.”
“And the guy dares to threaten us on the Jade Emperor’s home turf,” Huxian said, shaking his head. “Little does he know they’re just giant meal bags waiting to be eaten.”
“Where to next, boss?” Lei Jiang said, collapsing on his back. “I feel like I lost 500 jin in that fight.”
“You don’t even weigh 500 jin,” Huxian said. “Now let’s get going. I think there’s a reason the custodian told us to go to Jade Moon Garden. That must be where it’s centralizing its defense.”
“And how will we get there?” Silverwing said.
“I’m not really sure,” Huxian admitted. “But I know someone who does.”
They hopped onto Silverwing’s back and headed toward a neighboring mountain peak, where they were greeted by an extremely cranky fiendish worm. He didn’t give them directions before they swallowed him whole.
“Why are we always climbing mountains instead of flying?” Lei Jiang asked as he collapsed on the steep incline.
“Because we’re trying to get you to lose weight,” Huxian said. “And until you lose weight, we’ll be climbing mountains. Because that’s what brothers do. We help each other.”
“Boss, you’re the best.” Lei Jiang groaned. He picked up his four paws, gritted his teeth, and continued the arduous climb.
Do you think we’re taking this joke a little too far? Silverwing sent to Huxian. You and I both know he won’t lose weight by doing this.
All right, this will be the last one, Huxian sent back. How do you think he’ll react when he finds out we made him climb a few mountains for no reason at all?
Not well, so let’s never speak of it, Silverwing said. I know we’re bored, but he’ll get fed up soon. That’s not how you treat friends. If you’re so bored, how about we add someone else to the group for variety? How about that sinfully ugly toad we found that other time?
Have you heard that monstrosity speak? Huxian said incredulously. He’s toxic. I won’t have it.
I happen to think he’s funny in a weird way, Silverwing said. Besides, he matches one of your elements.
I’ll consider it, Huxian sent. Then, he perked up his ears and looked down into the forest, where thousands of bulls were running at breakneck speed. His eyes followed the current path of the stampeding horde and locked onto two tiny figures running through the trees.
Speak of the demon, he sent. One of the figures was the toad they were discussing, and the second figure was a small white rabbit.
“Lei Jiang, you’ve lost enough weight,” Huxian declared. “Let’s hop onto Silverwing’s back. We have to rescue a damsel in distress and a friend in need. In that order.”
“Salvation!” Lei Jiang shouted. He joined Huxian on the rapidly expanding Silverwing, who zipped across the forest before arriving above the two running beasts.
“I’m not sure how we’ll get through all those annoying crows,” Silverwing said. A swarm of a million small birds had appeared in the sky.
Huxian’s eyes narrowed. “They’re not here to stop us. Look at their demonic energy. It’s off the charts. They’re preparing to do a sacrificial divebomb.”
“Then what do we do?” Silverwing said. “We’ll be toast if we try to break through.”
Huxian frowned. “You and Lei Jiang will need to distract them while I sneak in. Execute Operation Pinball.”
Lei Jiang and Silverwing’s eyes brightened.
“Do you mean it, boss? Can we really do it?” Lei Jiang said.
“I thought you said it was our trump card?” Silverwing asked.
“We don’t have time to think about these things,” Huxian said gravely. “I’ll be diving down now. Get ready on my mark.”
He hopped off Silverwing and spread his four legs out. The wind ruffled his fur as he descended, carefully concealing his presence in shadows.
Now! he yelled just as he passed into the swarm.
On the other side, Lei Jiang and Silverwing had assembled a peculiar formation. Azure and violet runes shifted around a small sphere, enveloping Lei Jiang in Silverwing’s claws. Silverwing poured most of his demonic wind qi, leaving just enough from him to stay afloat. “Let’s let ’er rip!” he said, launching the small ball toward their flying enemies. It rapidly accelerated until it reached halfway through the cloud of crows. Then a violet bolt of lightning shot out of it and roasted tens of thousands of black birds.
Before the crows had any chance to react, the ball glowed violet and sped into another grouping, rapidly extinguishing them. It bounced from murder to murder, slaying them with impunity. Over half of them died before they realized what was happening. As soon as they did, however, they didn’t fight back. Instead, they all dove down in unison toward the jade rabbit and the toad.
While the crows were roasting, Huxian landed in the thick foliage and zoomed through the trees. It wasn’t long before he caught up to Xiao Bai and the ugly toad, Gua.
“Fancy seeing you here,” Huxian shouted. “Might you be needing a rescue?”
“Possibly,” Xiao Bai said. “Though I’m afraid you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. It’s best if you leave me and hide until this is all over.”
“Hi, I’m Gua!” The ugly toad waved.
Huxian ignored him. “Are you the main target?” he asked Xiao Bai.
“One of them,” she said. “It’s a rather complicated story, so I’d rather not say. But given your background, you must know that a devil sovereign is commanding these annoying pests.”
“Why haven’t you run back to the shelter yet?” Huxian said. “And how the hell did you meet this ugly mutt?”
“How dare you insult me,” Gua said indignantly.
“Boys, now’s not the time to be fighting,” Xiao Bai said, looking behind. Trees were steadily falling around them as the bulls were gaining ground. “I need to get to the mountains and find an earth source to supplement the defense shield. We can use it to buy us enough time for the Jade Emperor to realize there’s a problem.”
“Sure, I can help you with that, for enough moon cakes,” Huxian said.
“Deal,” Xiao Bai said. “I’ll give you as many as you’d like, but first you need to get us out of here.”
“I have a plan,” Huxian said. “But before that, we need to dodge a half million exploding crows. Hop onto my back and support my suppression formation.” Xiao Bai nodded and complied. “You too, you unreasonably ugly tadpole.”
“How dare you!” Gua shouted.
However, after looking around and seeing the black swarm approaching them from above and the bulls closing in on them from behind, he leaped onto Huxian’s back. Five large bubbles immediately spread out from him, encompassing both of them and Lei Jiang and Silverwing. Bolts of purple lightning began zapping various crows, and gusts of wind repelled them. A swampy bog slowed their movements while thousands of tiny illusory black-and-white foxes appeared beside the crows and forced them to detonate prematurely. They squawked loudly upon spotting Xiao Bai on Huxian’s back, immediately darting toward them.
“Silverwing, rescue plan!” Huxian barked. “Lei Jiang, provide cover fire. And Gua, for the love of god, I hope I haven’t misjudged you. Sign this contract and slow these crows down as much as you can.” A golden piece of paper appeared in front of the toad.
“Friends?” the toad said, teary eyed, as he read the writing on the golden document. “You want to be friends?” Two streams of water dribbled down his snotty nose and onto his warty lips. “And we’ll be inseparable forever?”
“Oh God, what have I done?” Huxian said, shaking his head. “Just as Huxian was about to retract his offer, the toad spat a glob of source blood on it. As he did, Huxian’s runic fragment formation shifted to include him. His murky, swampy demonic qi combined with Huxian’s Bagua formation, and the power of Huxian’s swamp domain increased fourfold. The air became viscous and gritty. Thousands of crows accidentally collided with solidified chunks of air and detonated.
“Good suppressive strength!” Huxian said in admiration. “What’s your lineage?”
“I don’t have a lineage,” the toad said proudly. “I’m a one-of-a-kind beast with no ancestral memories, but among swamp creatures, I’m unmatched.”
“No ancestral memories?” Huxian said, shocked. “With your bloodline density, how is that even possible?”
“Nothing is impossible with the power of beauty!” Gua shouted. He held out a webbed paw, causing the swampy air to reform into a frog avatar. Thousands of crows gasped upon seeing him, choosing to self-destruct rather than be subjected to his appearance. He held out another hand, and this time hundreds of mirage duplicates appeared. Half of the remaining crows instinctively self-detonated before even having a chance to realize what was going on.
Moments later, Silverwing swooped down. Huxian hopped on his back, and Lei Jiang joined them soon after. The bulls chasing them roared in anger as they flew away. “You despicable Bagua fox, how dare you slight me again!” they shouted in unison. “I’ll hunt you to the ends of the universe. The ends of the universe!”
“Wow, what did you do to him?” Xiao Bai said.
“We ate a few hundred of his devil seeds and stole some really big immortal-jade stones from him,” Huxian said. “And then we ate them so he couldn’t even steal them back.”
“And you’re not afraid because…” Xiao Bai said.
“What’s he going to do?” Huxian said. “Send down thousands of devil seeds? Put a spatial blockade on the planet while wantonly destroying all living beings on it because it’s convenient?”
“Point taken,” Xiao Bai said. “By the way, this silver-winged friend of yours is quite the find. It’d be hard to find someone with a stronger roc bloodline than him in the Primal Demon Realm.”
Silverwing screeched with pleasure. Then Xiao Bai looked to Lei Jiang, who looked at her expectantly. “You’re okay too,” she said to him. “And so are you,” she said to Gua, suppressing her disgust at his warty appearance. The toad practically danced with joy at the attention.
Chapter 24: Kindling
A wave of lava gently rocked Yu Wen and Cha Ming as they lowered themselves into a small forest of lava vents. They meandered among the large plumes that slowly but surely spit ashes into their surroundings. Many tentacled demons latched on to each vent and stuck their mouths over them, filtering out the debris to feed on. Meanwhile, many colorful fish took refuge from frightening predators roaming on the outside. The lava sharks looked at them hungrily, waiting for them to come out to forage.
How long until the next iteration? Yu Wen asked as she looked above warily. Three shadows circled over them, using their strong demonic senses to map the area with echolocation. The fish and tentacled beings cringed as their natural predators combed their surroundings.
Soon, Cha Ming said. His Clear Sky Brush was busy dancing around them and painting runes of fire and earth on their skin. These runes allowed them to move through lava with uncharacteristic ease. They also provided camouflage against the deep denizens of the volcano.
An incense time passed before the runic fragments combined and melted with the formation on their skins. They transformed into a lavalike cloth that covered them from head to toe.
How does it feel? Cha Ming asked.
Yu Wen leaped up from the small “forest” and swam at a rapid pace.
It’s twice as fast as the previous one, Yu Wen sent. And it’s much more comfortable. And I think my qi is replenishing. What did you do?
I added energy conversion runes, Cha Ming sent. It converts the energy sources into the five elements in equal proportion. Although fifty percent of the energy is lost in the process, it’s much easier for us to take in than volcanic qi.
After ensuring that his qi absorption capabilities and his swimming speed were up to snuff, he warily approached the three lava sharks. After confirming that they hadn’t seen him, he crossed the 100-foot boundary they’d previously been able to detect them in.
One hundred feet is still good, he sent. Get ready to pull me back if things go bad.
Ready when you are, Yu Wen sent. She held on to her special silver strings that traveled all the way to Cha Ming’s location. Having obtained her confirmation, he took a proverbial deep breath before heading toward the nearest shark. He came within fifty feet of the monstrous creature without signs of detection.
I’m going to try getting closer, Cha Ming sent. He edged forward ten feet, carefully timing the lava shark’s motions. No response. He edged ten feet closer, bringing him a total of thirty feet away from the shark. Still no response.
You should head back, Yu Wen sent. Thirty feet is plenty.
Cha Ming shook his head. Who knows what kind of dangers we’ll encounter, he sent. Let’s test the limits. Pull me back as soon as you see movement.
Then he rapidly swam toward the shark. As soon as he passed within ten feet of the shark, it wriggled its body, sending waves of lava toward Cha Ming. He tumbled through the turbulent lava as the fierce wave buffeted his qi shields. The blow caused him to crash down toward a nearby obsidian shoal, whose daggerlike surface threatened to impale him.
