Abyssal Road Trip - 654 - Learn a Lesson (Patreon)

Amdirlain’s PoV - Nán Tiānjǐng - Grasslands

An itch clawed its way across Amdirlain’s scalp, carrying an urgency combined with a sense of distance. A quick check among her karmic links found the ties to Toko and Minzhe flaring.

Is someone still after them?

Scrying for the siblings, she found them encircled protectively by fourteen warriors whose attacks flailed against an enfolding darkness; among the warriors, a lynx beast-kin desperately clamped a hand around her throat, trying to hold shut a cut that ran from ear to ear. Her uninjured opponent dissolved back into inky blackness.

Using water and wood qi strains the meridians less than primordial flames.

With five of the other guards also carrying various wounds, Amdirlain yanked the entire group to the apartment, cluttering a sparsely furnished workroom on the floor above. Her will created stitching that pulled the edges of wounds together and cast a greenish-blue glow to merge the damaged flesh. With the injured held in her aura, Amdirlain shifted herself to the outside of the room and knocked before she stepped inside.

As she entered the room, a guard still lunged at Amdirlain, only for the blade to be caught in her bare hands and twisted from his grasp.

“Hold!” Toko yelled.

“Evening, Toko. It seems your enemies have decided not to stay placidly in the background,” Amdirlain said. “If your guards would relax, I’ll finish healing you all.”

In the shadowy zone she’d pulled the group from, the darkness continued to writhe and churn; even without people present, beasts formed and dissolved. The place seemed a strange reflection of the earthly plane.

“It’s just bruises, Lady Amdirlain,” Toko replied.

“Lady Amdirlain, were you watching out for us?” Minzhe asked as he dropped to one knee and bowed his head.

“Do I have to scold you about that, Minzhe? Stand on your feet, youngster.”

Minzhe jerked upright as if jabbed in the butt with a needle. “Sorry, Lady Amdirlain. How did you find us?”

“Don’t be sorry, just don’t do it again. Precognition warned me something was amiss, and the ties of fate flared between us,” Amdirlain replied. “Someone pulled you into a shadowy space like that your mother travels through for her quick jaunts.”

Amdirlain dug into the songs of the karmic ties, catching at the pieces that showed the person at the far end. Though Toko had no fresh additions to her collection aside from the guards, five new people showed up in Minzhe’s karmic meshwork from the first time she’d checked on him.

“Thank you for the rescue. I just do wish you’d let me repay the debt beyond future instruction,” Minzhe said.

“Once you’ve caught your breath, I’ll fetch your mother.”

“If it was just me attacked, I’d first want to learn more first,” Toko said. 

“True, your brother is underage and needs more years to mature.”

“I’m foundation ranked,” Minzhe protested.

“You just proved my point,” Amdirlain chided gently. 

“General Máo Guàiyáng will want to know what has occurred,” the guard whom Amdirlain had disarmed said. “Toko, will you introduce us?”

Toko flushed and introduced each of the guards to Amdirlain, who nodded politely as she memorised each new name.

“Do any of you know of the technique that was used to shunt you into the shadow dimension?” Amdirlain asked.

The guards exchanged glances, but despite discordant tones from two of them and the growing strain in the silence, no one spoke up.

“Toko, I’m curious if your guards can identify the ones keeping secrets,” Amdirlain continued, and acknowledgements flared in the contingent’s minds. With no warning, she sent all the guards back to their tent city.

“They were all lying?” Toko gasped, bracing herself against the edge of a bench.

“No, but they all could smell the concealment on two of their friends and had no intention of helping me. Thus they were surplus to discussions.”

“It seems my father’s people aren’t the refuge I hoped.” Toko squared her shoulders and let out a slow exhalation. Scrubbing a lone stray tear, she turned to Minzhe. “You should have stayed with Lord Han.”

“He wasn’t interested in protecting you,” Minzhe declared.

“What did I miss?” Amdirlain asked.

“I gave my father an ultimatum, and he cast me out of the family,” Minzhe said, holding himself ramrod-stiff, his expression resolute. “After the attack on Toko, I say good riddance.”

I think there was a bit more to it than that, but it’s not my business.

“You would have been safe if you hadn’t been so headstrong,” Toko grumbled.

The muscles in Minzhe’s jaw bunched. “We can face whatever dangers come together.” 

“If Lady Amdirlain hadn’t rescued us, we would have died tonight.” Toko grasped his shoulders. “Can’t you see that?”

“So we have to get stronger.” Minzhe clasped Toko’s hands and offered a brilliant smile. “Now you’re able to do that again.”

A distant view of Xuelian showed her gathered around a table with Máo Guàiyáng and a group of other lynx beast-kin. Amdirlain sent a message with space qi to whisper in Xuelian’s and Máo Guàiyáng’s ears.

“Someone tried to kill Toko and Minzhe. Stand if you wish to come to discuss the matter, or remain seated if you’ve other priorities.”

When both parents surged to their feet, Amdirlain teleported them to the workroom. Though startled, they bustled to check the youngsters, and Amdirlain stepped back to give them space. 

Xuelian held them with an arm around each, as Guàiyáng visually checked the pair for injuries, fussing over bruises that Toko had dismissed. His hands glowed with silvery energy as he washed them over with reiki.

“You look different to our last exchange, Lady Amdirlain.” Guàiyáng glanced over at Amdirlain, his hands still aglow.

“You said a golden woman fought you,” Xuelian said.

“Her scent is the same,” Guàiyáng replied.

“I showed up without one of my usual guises, and Guàiyáng insisted on an exchange of pointers. Could you look at a few images for me and see if you recognise any of them as capable of using that shadow realm technique?” Amdirlain held out a hand and cycled through displaying images of the people who had recently joined Minzhe’s karmic net.

With each one, Guàiyáng shook his head.

“The process of elimination continues. Minzhe has a large group of karmic ties to the tribal lands. I imagine they are people who Toko introduced him to or aided Toko, but they’re not so easily isolated,” Amdirlain said. “It seems we’ll have to look back through time and trace the energy of the technique. Would you care for some tea or something else? It might be morning before my brother returns, and I’m unsure about copying his temporal folding approach.”

“Where is your brother now?” Xuelian asked.

Exhausting his dao mates.

“He is involved in some personal matters and, given there is no immediate risk to Toko and Minzhe, I’d hate to disturb him,” Amdirlain replied.

“I fear I’m unable to repay even my existing debt in the requested fashion,” Xuelian replied. “My former husband severed my ties to the Han Clan.”

“Can you show me the shadow place and the beasts you rescued the children from?” Guàiyáng asked.

An image of the situation Amdirlain observed hovered between them. A low growl rumbled from Guàiyáng’s chest as the veins around his temples and neck throbbed.

“You have a suspect, I take it?”

“I’ve read of this technique, and I know someone who has studied it. However, she’s come with me various times on my trips to the Han Clan, so I can’t believe she’d act against them.”

“And someone else couldn’t have learnt it?”

“Yes, but it’s a shadow lynx technique. If someone outside the tribe learnt it, then someone in the tribe has betrayed us.” Guàiyáng clasped Toko’s shoulder. “I’ll pursue the traitor.”

“I don’t want to create trouble for the tribe with everything else changing, Father,” Toko replied.

“You didn’t create the trouble, and someone started this years ago,” Guàiyáng said. “Lady Amdirlain, could I impose on you to shelter Xuelian and the children here until I have the matter settled?”

“There are various tasks they can assist me with,” Amdirlain replied. “There have been attempts at misdirection before, so whoever this latest attempt points to might not be the guilty party.”

“Father, arguments among your family could still weaken the tribe.”

“No, a hidden flaw is a dangerous weakness, and someone who attacks children is flawed indeed.” Guàiyáng put his foot atop the shadow of a workbench and disappeared. Amdirlain split her attention and found him back in the beast-kin tent city.

Nice shadow teleport trick.

“Mother?” Toko groaned.

“He hasn’t changed. No matter what evidence he finds, there will be tension,” Xuelian said. “Lady Amdirlain, while I can’t arrange for the Han Clan to teach anyone, I can take on students myself.”

“Very well, there are some communities we’re establishing. There is little danger, but you and your children can help teach the children cultivation and martial arts,” Amdirlain allowed. “The locals are only in the first tier of body-rank.”

Amdirlain transported herself and the trio to a hillside covered in low shrubs. They sat on the outer curve of a wide river bend, red glows showing the unshuttered windows of stone buildings. The wind carried the aroma of campfires and cooking food to them from downriver, and in the other direction there was only darkness.

“That town at the base of this hill is the closest settlement. If you continue upriver, you’ll find only wilderness and increasingly steeper mountains. If you go downriver along the line of towns, you’ll find a gate that connects this region to the Silver Wall Sect Headquarters.”

“What happened to the town?” Minzhe asked.

“It’s brand new. We provided materials, set up the walls, fields, and their town halls; now the rest is up to them,” Amdirlain said.

Xuelian twitched and looked towards the mountains. “And the presence further out?” 

“That’s my son,” Amdirlain said. “He wants to make sure demonic beasts don’t get close until the new settlers have themselves in order. The boundary runs along the mountains and the steeper hills away from the river.”

“So anything to challenge ourselves against would be beyond the boundary he’s set?”

Amdirlain nodded.

“Could we impose on you for partial structures like you provided the townsfolk?” Xuelian asked.

“Is there any type of dwelling you’d prefer?”

“A shrine with buildings for attendants. I’d dedicate it in memory of Xuan Wu, and train people in this area until I’ve repaid my debt to you threefold,” Xuelian replied.

“In that case, you might want a mountain south of here, just outside the barrier.” Amdirlain turned and pointed to a peak, setting marker stones from the river to its base. “It is a close match for Wudang Mountain. I’ve set distance stones so you’ll know when you’ve found the right one.”

Atop the mountains she’d indicated, the walls of Xuan Wu’s palace rose from the stone.

“Amdirlain, how do you know that?”

See.

As the motes of qi sank into Xuelian, Amdirlain released new spirit blades for the three of them and vanished. She reappeared in the corridor outside the reading room and took a moment to breathe in the scent of wood polish and wax used to maintain it. The urge to dig into the problem immediately scratched at her, and Amdirlain forced herself to stop and contemplate the cause. With rage curdling in the back of her mind, and no precognitive itch, she opted to leave it to Máo Guàiyáng for now. Only once the urgency to vent her rage had flowed away from her, rather than being forced down, did Amdirlain tap the doorframe and push the door open.

“I’m back.”

Still seated where Amdirlain had left her, Ling Xi’s brows lifted. “Where did you rush off to?”

“Someone was again trying to murder the youngster I rescued.”

“Did you learn anything more about who is responsible?”

“No. At present, her father is having just as little luck as I am in trying to uncover the party. The last attempt used a technique that his younger sister learned, but she claims no knowledge of the attack,” Amdirlain shrugged. “I couldn’t hear a lie within her themes, and he sniffed nothing out. In the morning, I’ll dig into the latest attack with Drakon.”

“Are you going to set more places on fire?”

“Hopefully, just one person, but I doubt I’ll be that lucky,” Amdirlain said. “On the other hand, it might not take me as long to find them as I feared. Is there anything I can help you with at present?”

“Would you teach me about wielding a jian, Lady Amdirlain?”

“Now?”

“Whenever you have time.” Ling Xi raised her hands. “I didn’t intend to put you on the spot.”

“Shall we claim a rooftop or go outside the compound?”

Ling Xi smiled shyly. “A rooftop is fine. Maybe you’ll cause more breakthroughs. You’ve quite the legend among the students.”

“My first stay here, the breakthroughs were unintentional,” Amdirlain huffed.

“But not now.”

The pair wandered down to the top of the martial hall, where Amdirlain set an illusion to hide their presence. From across Nán Tiānjǐng, the evening breeze carried the sounds of the evening’s activities. With people returning to the duty hall atop spirit blades and other devices, she was glad she’d used an illusion. As they squared off, Amdirlain drew a core-rated jian from her storage ring; a tiny push of metal qi gave the weapon a writhing aura of metal fragments.

“My energy techniques are all ranged attacks,” Ling Xi admitted.

“We’ll see if we can figure them out together,” Amdirlain snuffed out the aura. “Given that, let’s keep it to just blade work for now. We can work with energy techniques when we’re away from others.”

“Thank you, Lady Amdirlain.”

Amdirlain met her gaze. “If you insist on using a title, then Sifu or Sensei are the ones I prefer.”

“I’ll endeavour to do so, Amdirlain Sifu.”

Blade lifted into a ready stance. Amdirlain gave her a grin. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Ling Xi sighed. “I’m sure you can hear my heart pounding.”

“Begin.”

Amid the flurry of probing attacks that Ling Xi unleashed, Amdirlain slid each aside without a shift in stance or counter.

The lack of observers after a dozen ringing exchanges narrowed Ling Xi’s gaze. After a few hours of sparring, Amdirlain finally lowered her blade and stepped back.

“Your style is very unpredictable, Sifu,” Ling Xi noted.

“I’m sure to some people my behaviour is very predictable. I’ve already let down a bunch of people who hoped to learn from me, so I’m trying to avoid that mistake a second time.”

“The students you arranged through the duty hall gained other teachers.”

Amdirlain shrugged. “Them getting new teachers wasn’t my doing, so I let them down.”

“What will you do about the lady you rescued then?”

“I’m not completely sure, but she and her brother have learnt some life lessons about preparation.”

♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫

Minzhe’s PoV - Created Space - North of Wudang Mountain replica

No sooner had Lady Amdirlain vanished than a cultivation spiral formed around their mother, and he and Toko moved back in surprise. The spiral’s force drew in streams of qi, which put pressure on their dantian. As it accelerated, a live blade appeared in Toko’s hand, and she signalled him to keep his attention on their surroundings.

“What triggered Mother’s breakthrough?” Minzhe asked after a while. “Hadn’t she given up trying?”

“She gave up with all the other impossible changes going on. Until proven otherwise, I’d credit Lady Amdirlain,” Toko replied, gaze skipping between clumps of foliage.

“Do you have any food with you?”

Toko spared him a glance. “You don’t have any yǎngfèn pills?”

Though he fought it, the flush darkened his neck and cheeks until it threatened his ears. “General Máo Guàiyáng said there would be a feast when we returned to camp.”

“When you leave a camp, always have essentials with you,” Toko scolded.

“I got changed and left most of the things in my tent,” Minzhe admitted.

Toko stepped closer and mussed his hair before she handed over a pill. “That should hold you until tomorrow night if you circulate the energy from it properly.”

“How many do you have?”

“Enough to last us a week.”

Minzhe handed her back the pill. “I’ll see what I can hunt.”

“Use the pill.” Toko forced his fingers to close around the pill. “We can hunt and forage when there is light to see. I’m sure the town is another option, as I don’t think Lady Amdirlain would have just put it here without supplies. You can go down in the morning and see if they’ll trade cultivation lessons for food to supplement these pills.”

“Trade for food? Oh,” Minzhe murmured. “I hadn’t even considered that.”

“Food just shows up on our plates, right?”

“Yeah,” Minzhe said, turning his attention to the foliage on his side, and put the pill under his tongue. Its sharp herbal warmth filled his mouth, and he moved that energy through his meridians, saturating his body.

“Do you know how to cook?” Minzhe blurted the random thought once the release of the pill’s energy had died away.

Toko laughed; the burst of noise filled the cooling night air and sent creatures emerging from their burrows back into hiding. “I think we had better hope Mother has supplies or that Lady Amdirlain returns to check on us.”

“I never considered myself spoiled before,” Minzhe said.

“We’re children from noble families, so of course, we’re pampered. I also don’t know how to cook,” Toko responded.

“Maybe we should trade for lessons as well.”

“That’s a problem for tomorrow.”

An owl hooting from deeper in the hills made them both spin around and try to spot its source.

“I think we’re in for a long night,” Toko said. “Do you think Lady Amdirlain is watching over us?”

“That’s not something we should count on.”

“Agreed.”

A low growl rumbled from the bushes as bright yellow eyes fixed on Minzhe.