STNS: Chapter 561 (Patreon)

They reached the village with the only truly permanent structure several days after the storm had passed. This village was just like all the others, except it was built alongside a cliff. According to Töri Qiang, this village was the only permanent one--the rest were nomadic in nature. Known as the City of Kings, this one remained as a symbol for the people.

Unlike the other villages they traveled through, this place was a true city, though not as large or sprawling as many he had seen. All the buildings were made of stone instead of hide. The village was still something of a disorganized mess, though. There didn’t seem to be any uniformity to the buildings or their placement.

Just like in the other villages, they gathered a lot of attention as they walked. At first, Wu Jian thought it was because he kept company with a lovely flower garden. Wu Meiying, Hou Jingshu, and Zhou Lihua were all gorgeous, but he soon realized that most of the looks they were getting were of disgust. That’s when he realized they were looking at Youmei. He had already heard that the White Tiger Clan was very racist toward other feline magical beast species, but it was one thing to hear about it and another entirely to see it.

He did his best to ignore the looks she was getting. Letting it bother him when she didn’t appear to even care was just stupid.

They continued on their way and eventually reached the fortress-like building. It was built into the sheer canyon walls, the top of which was a bone-strewn plateau. It was the only building that appeared to have been positioned. Wu Jian realized that all the roads in the village led to this hall, making it impossible to approach unseen unless someone decided to fly in from behind.

The structure itself was a fusion of carved stone, beast bone, and hidework banners. Standing on either side of the entrance were fang-shaped towers that rose into the sky. They were made from the petrified tusk of some kind of massive magical beast. The main gate featured a pair of colossal ironwood doors reinforced with steel. Claw marks raked their way across the surface as though someone had tried to breach it and failed.

“So this is the King’s Hall?” Wu Jian mumbled with his arms crossed.  “Pretty impressive.”

“It’s the only structure that has withstood the test of time,” Töri Qiang said. “This hall has never once been breached by enemies, though many have tried over the past one thousand years. Anyway, that’s not where the Duel of the Fang will be taking place, so we have no need to go there.”

“Actually, we do,” Wu Jian said.

“What?”

“We’re not gonna wait for the Duel of the Fang to take place,” Wu Jian declared.

“WHAT?!” Töri Qiang shouted.

Wu Jian laughed. “I never said I was gonna wait for the Duel of Fangs to take over, did I?”

There were a group of guards by the gate. They stood lengthwise before it. None of them wore armor. He had learned from Töri Qiang that armor was considered a sign of weakness among the White Tiger Clan. Anyone who needed something other than their own body to protect themselves was weak and ought to be ashamed of themselves, according to them.

As he strode up to the gate, the guards noticed him and shifted into a ready stance.

“State your name and purpose for visiting,” they said in unison.

Wu Jian did not stop walking.

“Youmei?”

“Is it my time to shine? It is! Shaaaaaaaa!”

Youmei raced forward, then leapt into a shadow, and then proceeded to leap from shadow to shadow until she was right in the midst of the guard detail. She appeared like a wraith and attacked with the swiftness of lightning.

One guard took a foot to the face, and there was so much power in her kick that he was launched clean through the air. Her attack had also been to the temple. His brain rattled, the guard did not get up after being struck. Before they even had a chance to figure out what was going on, Youmei attacked two more. The first had his feet swept out from under him. As he fell, she punched his face. Even Wu Jian winced when he saw the way the man’s face caved in. The guard was then launched clean away, slamming headfirst into the ground and tumbling across it.

“What the--”

“A black panther?!”

“Get her!!!”

The remaining three guards finally gained the wherewithal to act, but it was far too late.

One of them attacked with a claw swipe. Youmei ducked underneath him, then came up, jabbed him in the eyes with her fingers, then struck him in his unprotected throat when he covered his eyes with his hands. He gagged. She ducked just one of the other guards tried to attack her from behind. His clawed hands, covered in glowing Qi, raked across the face of the gagging guard. The man screamed in agony as five slash marks tore bloody trails across his face. In shock, the other man froze, and Youmei used that moment to knock them unconscious. Her attack was swift, brutal, and sent the man into oblivion near instantly.

She’s gotten so strong.

Wu Jian had seen her strength back when they all reunited after everyone had gone out searching for ingredients to heal his missing legs, but she had gotten even stronger since. It was more than her cultivation. She had learned refinement. Once, long ago, Youmei had been an all or nothing brute strength attacker. Yeah, she had been strong, but she had lacked technique. Now, she combined strength and technique to turn herself into an unstoppable force. These guards were all at the Seeker Realm. They were the elite of the elite, and she was crushing them without effort.

Only a single guard remained after her assault. The only remaining guard stood petrified. He fell onto his bottom as Youmei turned to him. She took one look at his face, then sniffed derisively and turned away. The guard, face turning red from embarrassment and rage at being dismissed, stood up and screamed incoherently as he attacked her. He didn’t get far. She struck the underside of his chin with her heel. The attack caused him to slam into the gate, which rattled only a little as he fell unconscious to the ground.

Youmei went back to Wu Jian and smiled proudly. “Did I do good?”

Wu Jian rubbed her head. “You did very good. Excellent job.”

“Heh heh,” Youmei smiled broadly.

“Y-you.. Just what are you doing?!” demanded Töri Qiang.

Wu Jian turned back to him with a sidelong glance. “What’s it look like I’m doing? I’m about to bust this gate down, beat up your king, and name myself king instead.”

“You can’t just… we have laws!” Töri Qiang shouted.

“Fuck your laws.”

If the strong made all the rules in the White Tiger Clan, then it wouldn’t matter if he took over this way or not because beating the snot out of their king, their supposed strongest, meant he was the most powerful person there. That meant their laws didn’t mean a thing in the grant scheme of things. Whoever was the strongest made the law.

Wu Jian stopped just before the door and placed a hand on it. He could sense qi running through the door. He furrowed his brow. It felt different than a simple qi-infused gate. Those used qi to strengthen themselves, but this didn’t feel like it was using the qi to enhance itself. Whatever the case, this was no mere gate. A simple iron entrance would never be able to withstand the might of a cultivator.

“E-even if you wanted, it’s not like you can just break in,” Töri Qiang tried to say. “That gate is made from meteorite ore! It’s an extremely powerful ore that absorbs qi!”

“Oh… well, that explains why I sense so much qi running through it,” Wu Jian said. “So that means I can’t use qi to break it down… which means I have to use nothing but my own physical strength.”

“Are you listening to yourself?!” Töri Qiang looked like he was at his wits end. “Yes, you could theoretically break down this gate with pure brute strength, but it’s simply not possible. This gate is one of the strongest in existence. You’ll never be able to break it down without qi.”

“Oh, yeah? Want to make a bet?” asked Wu Jian, grinning.

Töri Qiang was brought up short. “What?”

Wu Jian took in a deep breath as he shifted his stance, spreading his feet apart and bending his knees until he was in the horse stance, which gave him greater stability. He placed one hand on the door and pulled his other into his torso. He clenched his hand into a fist, closed his eyes, and held his breath.

“HHHHAAAAAAAAA!”

With a shout, Wu Jian slammed his fist into the door. Nothing seemed to happen at first. Time stood still as everyone watched a gentle ripple pass through the door. A deep but resonant boom rolled out, like a mountain being struck by a divine hammer, but that was it. Maybe a bit of stone and dust came loose as a result of the compressed shockwave but little else.

Töri Qiang sighed. “You see. It’s useless--”

He didn’t get any further.

At that moment, the gate distorted under the pressure, vibrating like a gong. The sound was deep, wrong, like the groan of a mountain about to collapse. A second shockwave spread outward--dust and gravel exploding away. Töri Qiang’s body shook as the shockwave ran through his bones. The others were lucky. They were at a high enough cultivation that it didn’t affect them.

A hairline fracture appeared at the point of impact. It raced outward like a lightning bolt across stone, spreading faster and faster, spiderwebbing until the entire gate was covered in fissures. Then, with a final metallic scream, the gate shattered, pieces launching off the hinges in a rain of ore fragments. What remained of the gate was a twisted hunk of metal that hurtled through the air, slammed into the ground beyond, and created a crater that sent shards skipping across the ground like thrown knives. Dust clouds billowed, curling into the air like smoke from an explosion.

There were people on the other side of this gate. Several had come over to the gate upon hearing the commotion on the other side, and those poor unfortunate souls had been blasted away. They were fortunate to even be alive. The initial shockwave from the strike had sent them back--good thing since they would have died if they’d been hit by that gate. A few were sitting on their butts, gawking at what had now become a breach in their walls. Those further out, who’d not been as affected, also stared in shock, too stunned to raise a defense.

A heavy silence now hung in the air. Töri Qiang looked like he was going to have a conniption, but the others in his party were calm as always. Perhaps they had expected this, or maybe they didn’t understand the gravity of what they had witnessed.

And in the silence, Wu Jian stood there, fist outstretched, body steady, not even a hint of qi radiating from him.