Abyssal Road Trip - 660 - Battle lines (Patreon)

Amdirlain’s PoV - Eastern Edge of Xīfāng (formerly the great gorge region)

As Líng Xī’s cultivation sucked qi in from their surroundings, Amdirlain stepped back. With no sign how long it would last, Amdirlain replaced the track from the knoll to the river with a new road. Its stones bore the same phoenix motif as the others she had constructed. Rather than rush, she used a slow transformation to escape the watchers’ observation.

Even with that done, Líng Xī still continued so Amdirlain turned part of her attention elsewhere. Listening carefully, she followed the thin karmic tie to Yuxuan and took in the ruins to the northeast. The outer walls of the once sprawling city were a crumbling mess, the structures within in varying states of collapse. Those buildings that remained upright were mostly rot-infested and showed lingering traces of qi wards throughout their construction.

Among the falling residences, Yuxuan had settled in the remains of a palace at its centre; hidden within a stark room that robbers had emptied of valuables long ago. Tool marks showed where they had pried walls apart in search of further valuables. Yet, despite the carelessly strewn debris, not even insects nested in the trash. Though the air was clear, a cold miasma clung to the underside of the earthly plane, and from it a thick despair brushed Amdirlain’s focus. A despair that possessed similar energies to the Prince of Rot, and grim curiosity enticed her to explore further.

In a vast chamber beneath the palace lay a distorted prayer gate; its frame held cracked inscriptions dedicated to Di Yu. Sealed by heavenly banners stretched taut across the damaged gateway, the stone archway still dripped with malice, and shrill songs screamed agonies fit to flay mortal skin. Shadows of a ring of supplicants stretched across the floor and seared into the walls; their bones were still there, arms outstretched in the pools of ashes.

In a careful retreat, she eased her attention back past Yuxuan, passively listening to the offered songs rather than probing for information. The host’s youthful features twitched and twisted as Yuxuan kept his body in the lotus position, though his body spasmed with erratic tension; his hands remained resting on his knees. Two melodies thrummed within his frame. Ugly, off-key thumps pulsed across the entwined songs where their themes clashed. While the inner muffled melody cried out for oblivion, it still pushed on, refusing to drown under Yuxuan’s control. 

Wedged uncomfortably in the body’s dantian, an ill-fitting nascent soul sat turning. Shaped like a stone Noh mask, its cracked surface disrupted the qi flow and buffeted energies against the boundaries of organs, disrupting gains. A tyrannical grip held the meridians tight, forcing them to siphon ill-matched qi from their surroundings. The process sent sour notes through flesh and bone, even as the alien nascent soul layered patches across its flawed framework. That mask drank up the pain of the restless dead and turned their refined energies into its own strength.

Memorising the songs, Amdirlain carefully withdrew.

Shrouded by the deep night, she patted a nearby bamboo stalk. The wild network of roots linking the forest’s growth rubbed against her awareness, a clean, natural version of the convoluted knots that linked Yuxuan to his unwilling host.

I don’t know enough, but if we don’t act, Yuxuan will get stronger.

The nearby wild beasts kept their distance from the steady presence of two energy cultivators, but still Amdirlain kept watch.

An hour before dawn, Líng Xī jerked back to awareness, the last sour foulness of the newly opened meridian’s corruption oozing from her skin. In the pre-dawn light, she blinked up at Amdirlain in confusion and slowly shook her head.

“Well done, Líng Xī. You’ve been having a string of breakthroughs recently,” Amdirlain said.

“Thanks to you.”

“Inspiration can’t find purchase in a closed mind.”

“Your defences are like trying to fight a storm.” Líng Xī paused and let out a slow exhalation. “Yet you’re right here, teasingly within my grasp if I were just good enough.”

“Is that what inspired you?”

“Yes. Though being beaten black and blue wasn’t fun.”

“We need to toughen our bodies,” Amdirlain returned Líng Xī’s blade.

“Not only my body, as I’ve also passed the midpoint and not worked my meridians enough.” Líng Xī rose and sheathed the blade, her gaze tracing the road to the hamlet. “You’ve given up on being discreet?”

“What do you mean? Clearly, this wasn’t me,” Amdirlain fluttered her eyelids. “If I could do something like that, why would I meditate outside a tent in a tiny hamlet?”

“Eccentricity is a possibility,” Líng Xī drawled.

“Let’s loop south and approach from a different direction.” Amdirlain flitted to the river and started south with Líng Xī beside her as they covered the rough ground beside the new road.

“You looked very relaxed helping in the field, Amdirlain.”

She’s losing ‌formality. I didn’t expect her to admit to sneaking peeks to see what we were up to.

Amdirlain patted her arm. “I need to take time for calmer activities.”

“I don’t find travelling all that calm,” Líng Xī said. “Interesting, but not calm.”

“It depends on how you treat it.” Amdirlain smiled. “Drakon is looking forward to us having some shared experiences.”

“Shared experiences between you and him.” Líng Xī waved at herself. “It’s not my company that he’s holding out to spend time with.”

“Oh?”

“Over the years he’s made the occasional comment, wondering if you’d find something funny, pretty, or silly. I got the impression only a few of them slipped out.” Líng Xī skipped from one boulder to another and glanced back at Amdirlain. “Can he hear us right now?”

“His melody isn’t changing. So he either isn’t listening or is unconcerned,” Amdirlain replied. “You’re free to express your views, but hold off on sharing specific details about Drakon.”

Líng Xī blinked. “Why? You’re his sister, and he already knows it.”

“On people you’ve met or places you’ve been together is fine, but details on Drakon are his to share only when he’s comfortable doing so himself.”

“What makes you think he isn’t comfortable around you?”

“I hear more than just the music of flesh, Líng Xī,” Amdirlain said. “And like everyone, some things are easier emotionally to talk about than others. I hated it when people told embarrassing stories about me.”

Amdirlain resumed the lead, and a li south started to curve westwards, dancing through the gaps in the bamboo.

They had turned north when Líng Xī spoke up. “It’s going to take a while to set things up here. Are you planning to remain here for a while after dealing with the trouble?”

Does she cultivate and train only? I need to get this girl a hobby or interest.

“The bamboo provides a good obstacle course, and I’m not in a hurry. However, if you want to move on to somewhere larger, I can cheat.”

“I’ll act astonished by the road and river,” Líng Xī said, racing on after Amdirlain. She twisted and turned, awkwardly slipping through gaps that Amdirlain flowed through.

When they reached the outskirts of the settlement, Drakon waved from his perch before the tent.

“Did you have a nice talk?”

“Amdirlain is much like an elder auntie requiring proper respect,” Líng Xī said.

Amdirlain sighed and dramatically planted a hand against her chest. “Woe is me. It sounds like I’m going to have to take extreme measures to get you to relax properly.”

She bit back her next words as a translucent serpent wiggled into existence next to her feet. “Things haven’t quite worked out. Let me know when we can meet you. I’ll bring everyone.”

An image flitted between the siblings as Drakon waved farewell to Líng Xī, who vanished with an objection on her lips.

“You just gave things away,” Amdirlain said, nodding up to the wide-eyed watcher.

“I’m more concerned about dealing with the nearby trouble than being discreet.”

“We’re ready when you are.” Another translucent songbird carried Amdirlain’s reply and an image with it.

Five figures appeared on the slope: Mùchén along with Jiayi, Lord Panlong, Lady Yunxian, and Baiyan. Despite the mud-splattered surroundings, Mùchén’s flowing silk robes and Jiayi’s tight red dress gleamed brightly, while the dragons, adorned in silk and jewels, held themselves with graceful pride, as if no setting could diminish their grandeur.

They held their auras in check, radiating only the strength of energy cultivators, though the ladies’ blue eyes held an extra unnatural glow. A gasp from the man in the watchtower drew Panlong’s grey gaze upwards before he fussed with the cuffs of his white robes. Yunxian’s gold-veined gown swirled in the wind radiating from her skin, adjusting its fit to lift it from the soil. With the lightning flickering down the length of her dark grey robes, Baiyan stepped forward to bow to Amdirlain.

“It is good to meet you again, Lady Amdirlain,” Baiyan said, the rich warmth of her voice making the watcher’s hands tremble.

“Such a modest place,” Panlong rumbled.

Four people in spirit transformation rank, yet Mùchén still sounded unhappy that his experts had bailed.

“Thank you all for coming along to help,” Amdirlain said.

“We owe you a considerable debt, Lady Amdirlain. That you’d allow us to contribute to removing this affront to the heavens is an honour,” Panlong said. “His lair is to the northeast of here?”

“Yes, a ghost-filled place that has a closed gate to Di Yu at its heart.”

“Lingering souls or merely phantasms crafted by last moments?” Baiyan asked.

Amdirlain’s mouth twisted with sourness. “Souls. Not as many as the city could have held, but thousands of them.”

“It must have been a dire place for the heavens to hold them back from the wheel.” Yunxian turned to Mùchén. “Perhaps it is as well your formation masters backed out.”

“What happened to your experts, Mùchén?”

“After I told them you’d located him in a ghost-haunted ruin, they declined to accompany me,” Mùchén replied. “They feel taking him on in such an environment is too dangerous. They provided me the formation banners to use if I opted to pursue the matter.”

“What’s our primary goal?” Drakon asked.

“Free Yuxuan’s host, and send Yuxuan to his rest,” Amdirlain said.

“We don’t know if that’s possible or if the fellow would be sane,” Mùchén said.

“Yuxuan stole his life from him.”

“Amdirlain, you told me not to play around in a fight,” Drakon said. “Since we don’t know if we can even free him, aren’t we going to increase our risk for no potential gain? Lord Panlong and Lady Yunxian, do either of you have knowledge of body hoppers to share?”

“The surest method to stop them is to kill the new host as soon as they’ve jumped,” Panlong said. “There seems to be some limit on the frequency they can hop. Though they leave a trail of corpses, theory says that stems from them harvesting victims for already refined qi to stabilise their control of an unfamiliar dantian rather than continually jumping bodies.”

“How big a region can the formation enclose?” Amdirlain asked.

“It depends on the skill and energy available,” Mùchén replied.

Yunxian extended a hand. “May I?”

A long, open box filled with sixteen rolls of silk appeared across Mùchén’s forearms as he held them out to Yunxian. She briefly stretched her hands above them, then frowned.

“They didn’t make this easy on us. They’ve gone for a powerful but easily detected barrier, so I won’t be able to put it up in advance without warning him.”

“How long will you need him restrained to establish it?” Drakon stepped towards the box, looking over the gold calligraphy set on the black silk.

“There will be a haze in the air showing the limits when it starts to form; that will turn glassy when complete. If you can keep the fighting within that perimeter for a few minutes,” Yunxian said. “Which will feel like an eternity at the pace a nascent soul can move.”

“Are the banners worth anything compared to your own strength?”

“Their crafting will magnify my strength.” Yunxian traced a finger across the silk, a trickle of qi leaving her. “Any advantage so he can’t slip away is good.”

“We’ll still have to watch that he doesn’t possess one of us,” Baiyan warned. “I think it best you and Drakon stay away.”

“There are cracks across his nascent soul.” Amdirlain put out a hand and created an illusion of it sitting on her palm. “Though he draws qi from the ghosts, so I don’t know if that will help him in battle.”

Panlong straightened. “How did you learn this? You might have alerted him.”

“The energy in everything generates a music I can hear at a distance. Do you alert someone when your sense of smell tells you what herbs someone has consumed?”

“You sniffed out his nascent soul,” Baiyan said, covering her mouth in amusement.

“You absorb what the environment already contains instead of pushing at someone,” Panlong said. “That feels safe. He is sure to have enough surprises for us.”

“What do you mean?” Jiayi stiffened. “I thought the main threat was possessing someone.”

“There are accounts of these parasites in haunted locations displaying great surges of strength,” Panlong warned.

“Can we banish the ghosts?” Drakon asked.

“Ghosts manifest in a few ways. If they are actual souls that he can draw qi from, then they’re bound to this place because of heretical deeds against the heavens.”

“It means when the barrier goes up, some of them might be inside it with him.” Yunxian took the box from Mùchén.

Drakon frowned. “The barrier stops something leaving. How about anything entering?”

“No.”

“Then let’s set the formation up somewhere and move him to us,” Drakon said.

“What if he resists and then gets away?” Baiyan said.

“He’ll still be away from these ghosts.” Amdirlain smiled. “I can trace the karmic tie leading to him now. Though there are apparently ways to sever them or prevent them from forming.”

“Preventing them from forming is easier than severing them. My understanding is that the latter is risky since the tie connects to the soul,” Panlong said. “When you touch souls, you are risking the ire of the heavens.”

Drakon shot Amdirlain a concerned look.

I stopped using rebirth.

“Lady Yunxian, what size area would you like for the formation?” Drakon asked. “And are there any particular conditions that would strengthen it?”

“Since your sister doesn’t favour titles, let us dispense with them between us,” Yunxian said. “The smaller the space, the stronger the barrier. However, we need enough room to fight.”

“If you believe you can move him, then let us withdraw from here,” Panlong said. “Somewhere with a couple of li of open fields would be sufficient.”

The five of them vanished from the knoll and reappeared on a small isle in the middle of a wide ocean. They arrived at the summit of the sole granite peak, which offered a view of the palm-covered lowlands; the isle was barely eleven li at its widest, from the rounded curve of white beaches to the crag-ringed peak at the sharpened point. From the island it was a few thousand li to the closest shore, where a massive long bluestone cliff hosted a sprawling city carved into its face and running inland from its lip. Further along the coastline in either direction, small fishing settlements dotted the coast.

The fisherman’s simple lifestyle rang a bitter, homesick chord through Amdirlain, only for distraction to come as a square of archways appeared and rooted itself in the grey rocky slope.

“This is a constructed space I made for practising techniques,” Drakon offered. “You could put the barrier around the arches or inside the space. I can even secure it so only we can get in and out through the exit. If Yuxuan doesn’t have the space aspect, he still might have a device to move himself out of it.”

“Why did you think of locking a constructed space in that fashion?”

Drakon glanced at Amdirlain. “It was Amdirlain’s idea. Or at least she had done it in our realm.”

“Are you talking about the training demi-planes?”

“Deeper.”

The abyss has a banishment pit for troublesome gods that has no exit; it lets me poison their promotion with a nasty catch.

“Oh, yeah.” Amdirlain rubbed a thumb across a palm. “Preference for the barrier, Yunxian?”

“Outside makes sense. That means he won’t be able to attack the banners,” Yunxian replied.

Panlong stepped close to Yunxian and touched their foreheads, then stepped through the archway and vanished into the constructed space.

“I’ll come through once the barrier is established,” Drakon said.

Though Baiyan started forward, Amdirlain slipped into the space ahead of her. White flames lit the perimeter of a clear dome that enclosed the large circular expanse of black stone. Though the fading stars decorated the sky, a void surrounded the arena.

“Drakon made his playground where the techniques couldn’t hurt anything. A very sensible preparation,” Panlong said.

Mùchén entered the region on the tail end of her reply. “While hopefully all this preparation is unnecessary, if it allows us to crush Yuxuan for the obscene betrayal of his juniors, it is time well spent.”

A delicate hand on his shoulder pushed him forward, and Jiayi slipped into the arena as well. “Baiyan and I need to enter as well.”

With a quick nod, Mùchén slipped aside, letting Jiayi clear the entrance.

“A suitable space,” Baiyan said. “Not big enough to let me freely use my real form.”

“We’re going for overwhelming force?” Jiayi asked.

“Absolutely.”

Rings and primordial spirit coins floated from Amdirlain’s hand to hover before each of them, with one ring saved for Drakon. “No qi flows out here, so use these as reserves if necessary. If you don’t need them, they can be a token by which to remember the day. The ring is an emergency escape in case he pulls a surprise.”

A flow of qi ran from Jiayi into her ring. “It feels like there is a door in this. Where does it lead?”

“For you, back to the Vermillion Tiger Sect mountain,” Amdirlain said. “I tailored the location for each of you, so consider them a token of thanks.”

Drakon appeared beside her and plucked his ring from the air. “We yank him here. Hit him hard. If he surrenders and leaves his host, all good; otherwise, we keep hitting him until they’re dead.”

“Yes,” Amdirlain sighed.

“Are you going to use the same technique you used to teleport foes?” Mùchén said.

“No, he might leap away as it forms,” Drakon replied. “I thought the three of us together could teleport him here the same way we move others.”

“You’ve not done this before?”

Drakon shrugged. “It’s just a different application of the same technique. We can do some trial runs moving inanimate objects.”

A pillar of stone appeared next to Drakon, released from his soul void.

“How do we coordinate?” Mùchén asked.

“Worst case, you mess up and pull him apart,” Baiyan said.

Mùchén frowned. “No, worst case could be that our techniques clash, and the feedback of my greater strength rips Drakon and Amdirlain apart. Amdirlain, if you’d provide me with his image, I’ll drag him to us.”

“That makes sense,” Amdirlain projected a translated image of Yuxuan’s location to Mùchén. She broadcast to him alone, moving rocks outside the constructed space along the isle’s shoreline.

“I think I see how you do it,” Mùchén finally said. “Give me a little while to practice moving things here. If the effort is too flimsy, he might disrupt it before it forms properly.”

The others settled down to wait, while Mùchén experimented. Phantasmal outlines and shattered objects slowly manifested faster and turned into solid retrievals.

♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫

Líng Xī’s PoV - South Sendai - River Gate of Shānxiá Township

The pre-dawn gloom blanketed the nearby hovels; at the corner of the closest building, a marker stone indicated Shānxiá was a li ahead. The stench of rotting fish guts and nightsoil clung to her nostrils. Despite the stench, a pristine road ran straight from the riverside to the stone walls and fortified gates that bore the town’s name. Her approach drew low calls from the guards. The banners of the kingdom of Sendai flying above the town hinted why Drakon had chosen this destination.

Lady Amdirlain created the roads even here? We were three kingdoms away!

Though flickering torches ruined their night vision, those on duty peered toward her. From among them, a growling voice demanded she announce herself.

“I’m Líng Xī of the Golden Maze Sect. Would a Duanyuantou named Pán Shí be posted here?”

An inner door banged open, and a helmeted guard, his insignia flashing in the torchlight, rushed to the centre of the gate’s walkway. A familiar,r tanned face peered down at her.

“Little Lín, is that you? Your skin is all aglow.” Her uncle hopped over the battlements and landed cleanly before enfolding her in a hug. Though the ridged plates of his armour dug into her, Líng Xī clung to him. “It’s so good to see you, youngster.”

“Aren’t you going to get into trouble for doing that?”

“I was off duty ages ago. We were doing an audit in the armoury when you called out,” Pán Shí replied. “They can’t let you in until the sun is properly up. How long will you be in town?”

“I wasn’t told. The sect founders are dealing with a rogue cultivator, and Master Drakon wouldn’t allow me to take part.”

“Where are they fighting?”

“We were in Xīfāng,” Líng Xī said, calm and reassuring. “He sent me here.”

“I know the frustration of being kept from a fight, but for me it's good to see you.” He pushed her out to arm’s length to look her up and down, and Líng Xī laughed at his beaming enthusiasm. “How did you progress so fast?”

“You won’t believe the things that have happened,” Líng Xī laughed.

“Things are pretty crazy here. How many temples and roads have you seen simply growing?”

Líng Xī laughed harder. “Yeah, crazy times, right?”

“Have you been well? How did you really end up with your sect?”

Amusement spilled from Líng Xī, and the surrounding stench sat heavier on her tongue. “I've been very well. What did Father say?”

“Only that your new master recognised your talent; he wouldn’t say how you met,” Pán Shí replied, suddenly wary.

Líng Xī forced a smile as the remembered pain throbbed through her muscles. “Let’s ‌wait to discuss those details somewhere private. Is there an inn outside the walls?”

“Not any that you’d want to visit.”

“Do you have a morning watch?”

“My next shift is tomorrow night.” He clasped her hands.

“Then, once the gates open, breakfast is my treat, and we can discuss family matters.” She held his hands in silence as memories spiralled. Fighting them back, she questioned him about life in the town.