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2.8 - Encountering the Ox King
🕑 Added 2024-01-13 22:41:39 +0000 UTCLi Heng’s guess about the bandits’ location turned out to be correct; on the second day, they crossed the northern border of the Shrouded Peaks Sect territory. The only demarcation was a large stone carved with the characters for the sect. The stone was weathered and old, and the lands here in the north were far more wild than any they’d moved through up until this point.
It took them another three days to track the bandits to their camp. They moved swiftly, the prospect of hunting beasts forgotten despite being so deep in the wilds. The easy chatter they’d come to share on the journey subsided as well, replaced by a grim silence.
“Ahead,” Yan Shirong said, jerking his chin to indicate the direction.
“Any lookouts?” Li Heng asked as he drew to a halt in the path the bandits had cut for them.
Yan Shirong shook his head.
“Why would they?” He Yu asked. His anger had cooled over the past three days, but it hadn’t left completely. “Nobody’s coming for them, as far as they’re concerned.”
“Spirits, beasts,” Li Heng answered. “There are plenty of reasons to post sentries, even if you don’t expect an attack.”
“There’s quite a few of them,” Yan Shirong said, bringing them back to the matter at hand. “Thirty or so at a minimum, if I had to guess.”
For the first time since the ruined village, He Yu hesitated. Thirty bandits was a tall order, but they should be able to handle a ten-to-one fight. All three of them were immortals, after all.
Li Heng hummed and stroked his chin. “That’s a bit too many.”
“Agreed,” Yan Shirong said. “I didn’t want to risk using any perception techniques through the construct, so I couldn’t get a sense for their advancement, but at least we know their leader is only Body Refining.”
“Wait, what do you mean advancement?” He Yu asked. “You think some of them are awakened?”
“I’d be certain that nearly all of them are,” Li Heng said, voice grave.
He Yu looked from Li Heng to Yan Shirong, searching for some indication that this was some sort of joke they were playing on him in a misguided attempt to lighten his mood before the fight. It only took a moment to realize they were completely serious.
“Even as part of a group, even led by a Third Realm cultivator, you wouldn’t live long out in the wilds without at least some cultivation base,” Yan Shirong said. “Did you really think they’d send sect disciples after a bunch of mortals?”
Placing a reassuring hand on He Yu’s shoulder, Li Heng said, “I wouldn’t worry too much. There will likely only be a handful of Foundation stage cultivators among them. The majority will be in the First Realm, and except for perhaps their leader, none of them will have any proper techniques or arts.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“Well, it’s like Yan Shirong said for starters. The fact that they’ve managed to stay alive all the way out here is enough to guess they’ve awakened. But you don’t get to stay on top of a group like this simply because you’re a likable sort. If their leader is in the Third Realm, that means the rest will probably be Second Realm at best. Unless he’s close to forming his Golden Core.”
“Do you think he is?” He Yu asked, his resolve now all but shattered.
“Answer me this,” Yan Shirong said. “Do you think Senior Sister Zhang is trying to kill you?”
He almost simply said “no,” but then he remembered everything Zhang Lifen had said about her training and the way she’d already pushed him into conflict with Sha Xiang. She’d even told him that she’d fully expected him to lose when he’d last fought Sha Xiang. So now that he considered it, he couldn’t be certain that Zhang Lifen wouldn’t simply see this as something that would ultimately benefit him, rather than as certain death.
After another few moments of silence, Li Heng said, “I don’t think the Commission Hall would have let her accept the job on He Yu’s behalf if Hao Niu were that strong.”
“Okay,” He Yu said, beginning to feel a bit better. “But why won’t they have proper techniques?”
“They’re bandits,” Yan Shirong said as if that were explanation enough on its own.
“They were most likely former disciples of some sect, maybe even the Shrouded Peaks Sect,” Li Heng said. “Or perhaps they were students of a school like the one that charlatan ran in your hometown. Regardless, they awakened but didn’t have any talent, or they lacked the resources. Whatever the reason, they were either kicked out or left on their own. If they were the sort of cultivators who could make anything of themselves, they wouldn’t have turned outlaw.”
“Still,” He Yu said, “We’re just going to fight through thirty or so First and Second Realm cultivators, and then do battle with their Body Refining leader? If I recall you and Tan Xiaoling didn’t fare too well against Xiao Jun, and he’s Third Realm.”
Li Heng scowled at the reminder. “That was different.”
“Xiao Jun is late Third Realm,” Yan Shirong said. “Besides, he’s had access to sect resources, too. Not only is his advancement greater, but his cultivation base is of a much higher quality. To answer the more pressing question though, we are absolutely not going to fight thirty bandits. It would be a waste of resources. We’re going to challenge Hao Niu, kill him, then go home.”
“What, we’re going to run at him one at a time, then? Simply wear him down?” He Yu asked.
“Of course not. He’ll fight us all at once. I doubt he’d stay king of all these bandits for long if he refused,” Yan Shirong sniffed.
“He’s got a point,” Li Heng said. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
As they pushed towards the camp, a sharp whistle came from the trees. In the space of a breath, they were surrounded by a dozen rough-looking men, all brandishing weapons. Their clothes were dirty, the weapons were of low quality, and a quick sweep of the group confirmed that all were of the First Realm. He Yu’s guandao fell into his hands and he made ready to strike.
“We are here for your leader,” Li Heng announced, sounding as self-assured as ever. He hadn’t even produced his jian. Nearby, Yan Shirong had at least drawn a pair of his daggers.
“What makes you think you can just walk in here and demand to see King Hao, pretty boy?” one of them asked, taking a step forward.
Li Heng inclined his head to stare down his nose at the bandit. “We are representatives of the Shrouded Peaks Sect. You lot have trespassed in sect lands and terrorized people under the sect’s protection. We are here to deliver justice to your leader.”
The gathered bandits burst into raucous laughter. A couple of them even turned and began wandering back in the direction of their camp. Li Heng’s jian fell into his hand. “This is your last warning,” he said. “Deliver Hao Niu and you will be allowed to live.”
A crack of wood splintering came from nearby, and a tree toppled towards Li Heng. The noble deftly avoided it, but to He Yu’s judgment, he did seem a bit shaken. Where the balau tree had once stood, there was now a large man standing with a massive two-handed bronze mace propped on his shoulder. The man wore an oft-mended lamellar vest and a cloth headscarf. His scruffy and unkempt beard was split by a jovial grin that was at odds with his otherwise fierce countenance. With a laugh, he took a single step forward that carried him several dozen feet to stand before Li Heng.
“So the sect finally sends its dogs after King Hao!” he said with a booming laugh. “You want to fight the Ox King? I shall give you what you want.”
King Hao hefted his mace. The haft was nearly as long as King Hao was tall, but the bandit leader wielded it as easily as a child’s toy. The head, a knobbed bronze sphere several feet across, sailed through the air in a wide arc. It carried no technique that the Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment could detect, just the power of a Body Refining cultivator’s raw physical strength.
Li Heng brought up his jian. The bronze mace struck the blade, and the Winter Moon Reflection flared a brilliant silver white—brighter even than when they’d fought the awakened serpent. Li Heng stumbled back, knocked off balance by the sheer weight of the attack. A brief moment of panic spiked in He Yu. He’d never seen his housemate fail to weather an attack with the Winter Moon Reflection before. Li Heng held the now-gleaming jian at his side, almost as if he were struggling to lift it. With a roaring laugh, King Hao readied his mace for another strike at the now-helpless noble.
There was no time to think, no time to hesitate. Only time to act. He Yu rushed forward, carried on wings of wind by the Sky Dragon’s Flight. He poured yet more qi into his guandao, forming the Rushing Wind as he charged King Hao. The bandit leader flashed He Yu a smile and shifted the direction of his own weapon’s swing, once again wielding the massive bronze mace as if it were weightless. The Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment showed him the arc of the attack—King Hao wasn’t bothering to defend. The mace was coming right for He Yu, and his Peerless Judgment technique left no doubt as to which fighter would land their blow first.
He Yu dropped his Rushing Wind and used the Sky Dragon’s Flight to yank himself up and away from King Hao’s counterattack. While his movement technique couldn’t grant him true flight yet, it did allow him to remain in the air long enough to ready another strike at the bandit. As He Yu let himself fall, bringing the Crashing Wind with him, King Hao laughed once again.
With a large meaty hand, King Hao grabbed He Yu’s guandao just below the blade. “Is this the best the Shrouded Peaks Sect can send?” he asked.
Then, he simply tossed He Yu into a tree. With nothing to push off of, and his techniques disrupted by the sheer strength of King Hao’s throw, He Yu slammed into the rough bark. Dimly, he heard wood crack and splinter. Then he hit the ground.
“I’ll be sure to send your remains back to the sect,” King Hao said with a grin that held far more malice than humor.
