The Third Cut - Chapter 2 preview (Patreon)

Wu Ying watched the battle below him with mild interest, standing on the swaying branch of the tallest tree nearby the fight. In most Core Formation battles, such a perch would have be vastly insufficient, as Core Formation cultivators had a tendency to wreck the nearby environment in large swathes of space. However, even though two of the four Spirit Beast stalking them had been at an equivalent level, their own techniques focused on movement, hidden attacks and a high level of defense. Not widespread, destructive techniques.

As for Yang Mu…

She spun on her bottom foot, a pair of fans in either hand as she dodged a leaping shadow, her movements erratic and leaving her open. Even so, she swung down with one hand, the tips of her fan scoring against the shadow hide the attack cat, moments before it landed and plunged into the shadow itself.

At the same time, another shadow leopard bunched its feet, ready to spring after the woman. Yet, even as it leapt at her, Yang Mu collapsed the rest of the way, dodging the attack as she brought her fan upwards, striking the revealed under belly.

“Drunken fairy…” Wu Ying muttered as he watched her. He had seen portions of such a technique in use before, amongst cultivators who leaned into the unpredictable martial style of the drunken masters. Such techniques emphasized unpredictability, flexibility and strikes from unusual locations, enforcing a constant of assessment and surprise on its opponents.

It was – mostly – favoured by men, so seeing a young lady wield such a technique and wield it with a pair of metal bladed fans was a surprise. Even more of a surprise was the lack of dao, killing or blade intent infused into her attacks. It left the wounds she dealt to the monsters superficial and light.

“Are you holding back because of me, I wonder?” Rubbing his chin, Wu Ying noted the growing annoyance among the spirit beasts. Not being able to land an attack on their prey was leaving them frustrated, and being leopards, their energy levels were fast being exhausted.

Soon, they would either go all out to finish her or leave to hunt something simpler.

He had to admit, he was rather impressed. Four spirit beasts, used to working together, two are the Core Formation realm – even if near the beginning – was powerful enough a force to overcome the majority of Core Formation cultivators.

Flipping through the air, he watched as she landed on top of a beast, riding it down as it submerged into the shadow it had aimed for before rolling to the side. Her fan opened with a snap, forming a glimmering shield of jade and gold over the same shadow as she rolled away. It forced another beast that had attempted to leap through it backwards with a scream, the creature falling off the branch it had been crouching upon.

Wu Ying shook his head a little. “What are those? Saint? Immortal fans?”

He had never seen immortal level weapons which meant that he had no idea how powerful they were or how they functioned. Not in reality, though he had learnt about them in seminars offered by the Verdant Green Waters of course. Unfortunately, due to the amount of time he spent outside of the Sect, he had only the most basic of courses and information to understand.

At the Immortal level of weaponry, the weapons no longer were just hardened and strengthened to handle massive amounts of chi but also were able to absorb chi itself. Such weapons accumulated energy from the surroundings, bolstering the strength of the chi poured into them by their owners. In this way, weapons like Nezha’s Wind Fire Wheels and the Heavenly Sage’s stick were able to overcome the base limitations of the materials they were made from.

Then again, he realized, staring at the weapons that she wielded, Wu Ying realized perhaps he had his answer. Below, Yang Mu swung one fan down, wind forming at the edge of the fan and blasting outwards to throw another leopard away as it stalked to the side. For all their strength, they were not the storied weapons of the immortals.

So…

“I wonder how she got them to do that?” Wu Ying murmured to himself. He touched his own sword by his side, a simple Saint weapon that had no abilities like hers. It cut well, it was incredibly strong and using it with his own wind chi allowed him to send blade strikes of wind and chi outwards that could topple trees and kill beasts.

Fans snapped cut, her hand sweeping upwards as she struck with the closed fan at a biting mouth that leaned down from a branch. Then the fan snapped open when the lunging body stopped, tearing open a wound along retracting neck, fur falling to the ground as the creature yowled.

Another cry, and then another, as the quartet retreated in grumbling assent. Yang Mu chose not to attack, instead standing beside the tree she had used for protection, sharpening her own senses. Wu Ying could feel as she concentrated her spiritual senses down, retracting her aura such that she could track the four leopards as they ran away, blending into and through shadows as they fled.

She stood, watching for a long time, her eyes narrowed in thought. Long enough for Wu Ying to make his way down carefully, to check on the damaged garlic shoots and pick out two more for use later tonight in their dinner and pat back the rest.

When he stood up though, she was beside him, a closed pan pointed at his nose.

“What did you think you were doing, leaving me to fight them alone!” she snarled.

“Exactly what I told you I would do,” Wu Ying said. “Letting you handle your problems alone.”

“Is this how the Verdant Green Waters treat other cultivators? Abandoning them in their time of need?”

“You did not seem to be in much need, from what I could see.” He gestured upwards at the fan she still had leveled at him, as though it was a sword. “Not with those. And better to learn the standards you were trained to, now, than later when it truly mattered.”

“Four shadow leopards were not a real threat?”

“Not to you.”

For some reason, she actually looked mollified by that statement. Yang Mu lowered her fan, then with a flick of her hands, they both disappeared back into the storage rings they had been held within.

Perhaps if she stopped reacting, she would also grasp the other lessons he had hoped to impart. Lessons about silence, and the dangers of the journey that they faced. He had never taken another into the deep wilds, and whilst she might cover her aura well, it was more than plain woodcraft and aura control that was required to survive in such places. His way, of moving silently, quietly was for the best.

If he could get her to understand it.

“Now, shall we get going?” Wu Ying gestured in a new direction, then suited action to words. She followed after him after a brief hesitation, falling into line beside him. The man cocked his head to the side, eyeing as she unconsciously flexed her wood chi, transmitting her energy into the surroundings and bending nearby undergrowth around her as she moved to make travel easier.

“What kind of movement technique is that?”

“A good one.”

“Really, are we back to that now?” Silence greeted his words and he sighed.

The woman was pricklier than a cactus. And weren’t those desert plants a revelation. He had an entire section in his World Spirit Ring for the hardy vegetation, though he had yet to ascertain their uses. Perhaps a proper alchemist might find the answer to that question for him.

Now, if he could find a use for his companion…

***

Twice more, they stopped for Wu Ying to gather. Once, it was from a tree that he dug deep amidst its roots before extracting a single root itself before piling the dirt back once again. The second time, he tapped a tree, cutting deep lines along the body of the tree itself before placing a small bucket by its side. It was at that point that Wu Ying also started the process of setting up their encampment, placing formation flags to conceal their presence. To Wu Ying’s contentment, Yang Mu did not stand around sullenly or shirk her share of the work, instead joining him once she had ascertained his purpose.

Of course, that did not stop her from questioning him. “Why stop now? There are a few hours left of light that we could travel under.”

“The tap will take hours to complete.”

“I could hurry the process along,” Yang Mu offered. “Coax the sap to pour out faster.”

“And damage the tree?” he shuddered. “No. We are in no hurry.”

“I would think my mother would object to that characterization.”

“Perhaps, but I think she knew what to expect when she charged me with her goal,”

A thoughtful pause at that comment.

“Still, would it not be better to cover more ground?” she finally said. “While we might cut short some distance by traveling direct through the deep wilds, surely a li traveled is a li traveled, no?”

“It would be. But haste makes waste, and would defeat the purpose of our visit.”

“Purpose?” Yang Mu said, throwing her hands up from where she had been gathering bundles of leaves for the pair to lay their sleeping rolls upon. “We go south, locate the source of the corrupted beast stones and put a stop to it.”

“Yes. And exactly how did you think we’d locate the source?” Wu Ying said, curiously.

“We ask around, of course.”

“Attracting unwanted attention at best, sending our prey to ground at worst.”

“Then what is your plan?” she challenged then.

“Trade.”

“Huh?”

“I shall do what the Verdant Gatherer does. Gather supplies and trade with the sects in the south. If the corrupted cores are as common as your mother said,” that got a firm nod of confirmation from the woman, “then we shall gather some immediately. Innocent questions about the provenance of such stones will lead us towards the source, whilst I ply my trade.”

“And then?”

“Well, then we shall see, shall we not?” Wu Ying finished planting the last formation flag, placing his hand on the control flag in the center and began pouring in his chi to trigger the formation itself. “I know not the source of these stones, but it seems to me that they are either a manmade calamity – at which point, we might have to fight the individuals involved – a natural calamity. At which point, we might have to cleanse the corruption.”

“You’re good at that,” Yang Mu said.

“What?” Wu Ying said, surprised.

“Your chi control.” This time she gestured towards him and the control flag, where his energy continued to flow into the flag itself. Her comments made him aware of what he was doing, how tightly bound his control of his chi had grown. “It’s still easy to sense a short distance away, but ever since Uncle Song taught you the proper Never Empty Wine Pot method, you’re much less noticeable. It’s not like metal chi, which flows in a straight line and under rigid control, but something more natural.

“It’s good. Interesting.”

Caught out at the sudden praise, Wu Ying was silent before he managed a subdued, “Thank you.”

“No need. It’s but the truth.” Yang Mu finished weaving her own chi into the leaves and underbrush she had gathered, pulling out her own bedroll and placing it upon the vegetation. Looking upwards, she hummed idly in thought. “Is it going to rain, you think?”

Wu Ying drew a deep breath, and then whispered the question to the winds. They blew away from him in a slight gust, coming back soon after with the answer, hints of moisture and clouds from around him, from the east wind that would take over soon enough.

“No. Not this night.”

“Good. I like sleeping under the stars.” She then flopped on her bed, which to Wu Ying’s surprise did not collapse under her weight entirely. He raised an eyebrow, while she grinned while she placed her hands behind her head. “It’s not my first trip away, Cultivator Long.”

“So I see.” Wu Ying walked over to the center of their encampment, conjuring a spade and digging into the ground. In short order, he had a fire pit created. “Could use some wood though.”

Yang Mu grinned, raising a finger and floating over a bunch of wood from nearby. Even as she did so, Wu Ying could see how the wood itself was shriveling a little, water and sap flowing out from the wood itself as she pulled it to him.

“I… see.” He hesitated and then glanced at the wood, before pulling out some metal pit sticks to place around the fire along with a pot. “You do seem to have a few tricks, it seems.”

“I do.”

“Good. We’ll take turns cooking from now on.” He grinned. “Unless you want to do it all?”

“Because I’m the woman?” she said, sitting upwards and staring at Wu Ying, weighing his answer.

“You’re the daughter of an innkeeper, are you not? Or are you telling me he didn’t teach you to cook?”

“I did. And what are you doing with that herb?” She stared as Wu Ying finished peeling the garlic, pulling individual bulbs out. “You’re not going to add that to our meal, are you?”

“Of course.”

“Raw?” She said, as she watched him toss the garlic bulbs into the pot that had yet to boil. “What are you doing? What are you making?” She watched, wide eyed as Wu Ying pulled out some dried black fungus mushrooms and threw it into the pot.

“What’s wrong? Once I add the rice and cook it together, it’ll be fine.” Next, he conjured a bag of rice, dropping it beside him. “So, garlic, fungus, rice? I’ll roast some meat on the spit too.” He started untying the knot around the bag, continuing. “I have some chicken I bought from your parents.”

“Are you just going to throw the rice into the pot?” He nodded and her eyes widened further. “Are you serious? You haven’t washed the rice.” Her voice growing ever more horrified by the moment, Yang Mu sat up. “Is this how you cook?”

“What’s wrong with it?” Wu Ying said. It tasted fine. Not as good as a restaurant of course, but that was the point after all. And it was not as though he needed that much sustenance now, as a Core Formation cultivator. In fact, he could go for weeks without eating, if necessary. Though the drain on his Core energy made that less than ideal unless he was cultivating too.

“I…. You…” Yang Mu just stared at Wu Ying and then blurred across the space when he was about to tip the rice into the water. She grabbed at the rice bag just before it tipped over, pulling out of his hand. “Just… I’ll cook. You wash. And finish setting up the camp, will you?”

Wu Ying stared at what she held before he sighed. “Fine. It’s still fine, you know.”

“Just… wait. You’ll see.”

Hours later, when she was done, he had to admit. She was right. Her way was better. And tastier.