The Third Cut - Chapter 13 preview (Patreon)

Grumpily, Wu Ying came to a stop as they neared the edge of the forest to the east. After discussion as they exited the city, the pair had chosen to deal with the elephants that were plaguing the forest. Not only were they more dangerous to the mortals who needed to work amongst the vast trees, Wu Ying was curious. He had read of these creatures before in passing, but had never met one in-person. Doing so would scratch his curiosity, and provide safety. It did not, of course, hurt that the additional members meant that the pair of them could acquire additional tainted core samples for their own use.

“Did you choose that qinggong method just to continue to be lazy?” Wu Ying crossed his arms, watching as Tou He landed as the wind died down, hopping off the staff he had been standing upon to snatch it as he kicked it into the air.

“I’m not lazy. Just smart,” Tou He said.

“What is it called, anyway?”

“The Flickering Flame.”

“It borrows my wind to move. Does it do that with all chi?” Wu Ying asked.

“It does,” Tou He replied. “So long as another is nearby, it consumes the energy they leave behind to aid in movement.”

“Like a flame, burning away a wick to continue onwards, allowing another’s chi to fuel your movement.” Wu Ying frowned. “What happens when there are no others going in your direction?”

“Then I must provide the fuel, of course.” Tou He grinned. “I must say, your wind chi is much simpler to follow than other forms. Earth chi is the worst.”

“I can guess.” Wu Ying could not help but remember the elemental chart and their interactions. Air as an element derived from wood and fire after all, with fire having a greater control over wind than he liked to admit. Not as bad as fire would dominate wood, though not much better. And both wind and fire would struggle with metal and earth. “So, what do these elephants look like?”

“Big. And strange. Like an oxen, but bigger.”

“Bigger than an oxen?” Wu Ying said, not too surprised. After all, he had a massive, multi-story snake that had dwarfed a hill once. Spirit beasts had a tendency to warp and grow. “How much bigger?”

“The normal ones are at least twice the size,” Tou He replied.

Even as they spoke, the pair were extending their spiritual sense over the surrounding region, blanketing the area to pick up traces of their prey. Wu Ying’s wind was the first to provide clues of what was to come, as he pointed further north.

Together, the pair departed, with Wu Ying picking up the threads of the conversation as they flew low to the earth. “Normal ones? You mean the creatures are the size of a… a house, normally?”

“Maybe a small hut,” Tou He replied, holding his hand upwards as though trying to measure invisible elephants and buildings. “You’ll see.”

Wu Ying shook his head. He knew they had been described as big, but he recalled dismissing the description as exaggerations. All too many explorers had a tendency to take poetic license to descriptions, rather than provide factual details of the wonders they encountered.

Still, if the wind that spoke to him were clear, perhaps in this case, the wonder did not require additional praises. It spoke of feet that struck with the strength of a rockfall each movement. It murmured of ground crushed, trees cracked and broken, branches from the tallest tops stripped. Of gusts of air, shifted by simple movements and massive fans in the shape of ears that flapped in the air, tongues that twisted in the air ahead of them and trumpet calls that set bird and predator aflight.

Inwards, through the forest the pair skimmed across the earth, staying low beneath the overhanging branches and yet higher than the dense undergrowth. Wu Ying shaped the wind before him, pushing aside branches and thorns that grasped at clothing, armouring his aura to deflect and break when necessary. Behind, Tou He flew higher and hunched, choosing a less destructive route as he followed his friend.

Haste, to carry them deeper towards one of the many lakes. This land was wet, the river dominating the landscape but it was insufficient to soak up the deluge. And so, lakes formed in the bowls between hills, fed from flowing water and blocked by fallen timber.

At one such lake, the herd rested, drawing in liquid nourishment and stripping nearby trees. Wu Ying floated higher, taking him to the branches of a nearby tree to watch the group, even as his friend alighted nearby.

A dozen elephants, the smallest standing five feet tall, the majority around nine feet at the shoulders. They were broad, easily double the width of an ox and grey-brown in colouration. Their feet were not the dainty hooves of horses or goats, but tree trunks that reached deep into the earth to bear their massive weight. Their nose – hah, not tongue – was the

Of course, that was the majority of the creatures. A child, about eight of the adults and then, of course there were the massive creatures that dominated the clearing. These were no stone turtles, large enough to carry a small village on their back. Even so, these were massive – easily twenty to thirty feet tall and about two thirds as wide. Their path through the undergrowth from deeper within the forest was clear to tell, shattered trees and torn up earth marking their passage.

Most of all, Wu Ying felt the solidity of the group, their connection to the very earth they travelled towards. Not just their elemental connection was present to his spiritual senses but also, the marking of the changes on their body, the brownish colouration, the toughened hide that spoke of a defensive addition not just in their aura but flesh as well.

On top of that was the smell, the twisted, burnt energy scent of their chi. It was mixed with the slightly sweaty, pain-filled acrid odour that the creatures gave off, earthen spirit and something somewhat familiar and twisted in it.

“This is going to be difficult,” Wu Ying said, shaping the wind before them so that their words and scent would not reach the herd. “Those three, the largest ones, they are all in Core Formation or close to it. The biggest is mid-grade or so, for a beast. The other two are early Core Formation or peak Energy Storage.”

“I concur,” Tou He said.

“This is going to cause a lot of damage when we fight.”

“Good thing we’re a distance away from the loggers,” Tou He said. “Though we might want to angle our attacks from the northwest.”

“Easy enough to do.” Wu Ying touched the blade by his side, two fingers on the top of the hilt. “I can deal with the biggest three. Can you help with the rest?”

“Just the biggest three?” Tou He said, slightly mockingly. Then, more seriously, he added. “Of the remainder, only four are tainted. The others don’t need to die.”

“I’ll leave you to decide.”

Tou He smiled at his friend’s trust. “On you, then.”

A slow nod, as hand moved to wrap around the sword. There were many options to Wu Ying’s opening strike, from a blade draw to a lunge. There was quite the distance between the two groups, though it would not be that difficult for him to cover the ground.

Wu Ying quickly reviewed his goals in the battle. Minimise damage to himself, his friend and the environment. That meant finishing the fight fast in all cases, in particular targeting the Core Formation creature. The problem was that it was earth-aspected with a preponderance of the endurance and stability that the element was known for.

Decision made, Wu Ying drew the Saint-jian from his sheath. He brought it up and then down, positioning his feet. Then he focused, eyeing the swaying branches in the way, the distance between them. Turning his head to Tou He, he noted the cultivator had his staff out too.

A single nod, and a heartbeat’s pause to ensure that the passage was correct. Then, the battle began. Wu Ying ran, feet touching upon swaying branches and leaves, the wind guiding a few recalcitrant wooden limbs into the correct position. At the same time, the northern wind gathered at his back, pushing him onwards as the cultivator gained speed.

The last distance between Wu Ying and his target was bare of trees and impediments. Feet touching down upon wooden branch, he flexed his energy downwards, sending chi through his feet with such force that he shattered his launch point and the branches around it.

Sword leveled into a straight line, Wu Ying tightened and lengthened his form such that he became an arrow in flight, wind chi and sword intent forming a corona of energy around his body as he extended himself into the second cut of the Wandering Dragon.

Bestial instincts had the massive elephant begin its turn, Wu Ying’s attack meant to catch it in the side and blast through the massive body foiled. Earth rose up from the ground to form a secondary protective layer too late, even as its aura darkened.

Impact. Dao and killing intent warred against earthen element and creature’s impervious body. Wu Ying pierced through the layers of aura reinforcement, slowed down only a little before he struck hardened skin eve as earth rose to protect it. Blood drawn, flesh pierced, muscles tore and then hardened bone. There the tip of his weapon skidded off, his body angling higher as the combined energy shattered the reinforced skeletal front hip.

Dropping from above, Wu Ying was forced further down, tearing a furrow that opened even further as the cyclone of wind and sword energy parted skin and flesh. Shards of bone were pulled from the body as well as Wu Ying slammed into the ground, the creature’s foot only hanging on tendrils of flesh and aided by the monster’s massive aura.

Retracting his sword and sword chi moments before crashing, Wu Ying extended his opposite hand, taking the impact with it even as he bent the hand and elbow, dispersing the energy of his strike. It was not something he would have chosen to do as a mortal, the amount of time and reaction speed required was not something a plain mortal could handle. Now, with his wind body and Core Formation soul, it was a simple matter.

Rolling over and over before springing upwards, he twisted through the air and around, releasing a blade strike as he spun like a top, robes flaring out behind him. As the arc of sword energy impacted the Earth Elephant, he noticed that the creature was still standing, its damaged foot and chest covered by earth to replace the destroyed flesh.

As Wu Ying fell, he felt the creature act. Environmental chi was flooded with core chi, entering the soil below him. From the earth, shards of black stone, jagged and twisted erupted outwards to aim at Wu Ying’s back. Only his sense of the shifting chi and the disrupted air informed him of what he was about to land upon.

A surge of chi sent him higher, his spin ending as he landed upon the jagged spikes. A moment later, he hissed as additional spikes birthed from the completed spikes, tearing into the foot that he had landed upon. A flex of will tore himself free from the spike, even as the newly shifted soil drank in his blood easily.

Another flexing of his body and chi had the open wounds seal themselves, blood vessels closing and the skin tightening around himself. In the air, floating far above the ground through manipulation of the wind, Wu Ying darted sideways as he dealt with his injury. Around him, flung stone spikes targeted him as the elephants tore free the earthen spikes to lob at him.

From the trees, finally caught up, his friend swung his staff downwards. Body coated in flames, the bald cultivator struck hard against one of the larger normal elephant, crushing its head and dropping the creature with a single strike. Rather than follow up though, Tou He slowed for a brief moment to whisper a prayer over the body, barely escaping as the nearest elephant swung its trunk in the space that he had been.

Brightening with each moment he was in battle, such that it was hard to even look in Tou He’s direction, the cultivator danced across the ground, batting and battling the elephants whilst leaving Wu Ying to handle his own problems.

And problems there were. Realising that the fast moving cultivator floating above them was not going to be struck down by the thrown stone spikes, they had begun to embed chi into the projectiles. Upon reaching near him, the embedded chi had caused the earth to explode, pelting Wu Ying with sharpened obsidian and granite shrapnel.

In retaliation for the spikes, Wu Ying had lashed out, sending blade strikes of sword and killing intent into the scrum of five elephants below him. The others were at the edges of the battle, one of the larger elephants having chosen to leave the leader to take on Tou He rather than cluster.

Like the thrown shards though, Wu Ying’s own attacks were doing little damage. Even fast moving as the wind and blade chi was, the lead earth elephant had time to reinforce its brethren, protecting them with walls of dirt or just hardening their auras with its own. All his attacks had done were leave shallow wounds across bodies and scatter blood across the plain.

Now, with stones shattering around him, he conjured a globe of wind that caught the shards and redirected them around himself. The smallest pieces and those coming in at an acute angle were easily deflected, though the larger projectiles and those thrown with greatest force required more effort. Even then, not all were caught, leaving the shards to pepper his body and tear into his robes.

Beneath his robes, the magical scaled armour protected his vitals, allowing Wu Ying to ignore the attacks for now. Yet, the battlefield de tente would not hold forever, and already the very clearing and lake they had been fighting next to was torn apart, scattered stoney projectiles and sudden dips in the earth lowering the lake level and leaving behind but churned mud.

He had failed in his goal of finishing the battle quickly. Now, it was only a test to see if he could finish the fight at all.

“Right. The big ones not going to be finished anytime soon,” Wu Ying said, launching himself higher as another large stone spear exploded beneath him. He let the wind grab at the shards and shrapnel, the wind shield swirling around him now three layers thick. “Time to change plans.”

Swinging wide and around as additional shards exploded, he dove down low. As Wu Ying neared the ground, he unleashed the various layers of defense at those beneath him, sweeping earth and wind ahead to rain the projectiles at his opponents.

His target was no longer the massive cow that led them, instead he directed the rain of shards at the smaller cows. Even as he fell though, Wu Ying could sense how the matriarch cow wielded her command of earth chi, the twisted and tar-like feel of her earth chi clotting his skin as she took control of the falling earth. Unable to control the direction or speed of the falling projectiles, she instead broke them apart, creating a choking cloud that swept over her people.

It was no real surprise to the cultivator that his initial gambit had failed. It did not stop him from releasing the rest of the earth and his wind shield at the elephants though, wary of keeping the creature’s own element so close to him.

More important, he was below and amongst the monsters. The second jian appeared in his hands, as he darted between monsters, skimming along the ground, ducking underneath, above and behind the creatures as he imbued his weapons with wind and killing intent.

Blades pierced toughened flesh, flensing skin and tearing into veins and arteries with impunity. The elephants twisted and wielded their trunks and bodies with impunity, attempting to strike the flying gnat that tore into them and failing again and again.

Blood blossomed in the air, mixing with the cloud of dirt even as it choked sight, muffled the growls and squeaks and snorts of anger and choked breathing. Rather than lashing out and expecting to end the fight in a single blow, Wu Ying tore into the group to distract them, bleeding out his opponents. A single, immediately fatal strike would slow him down too much as the matriarch elephant reinforced her brethren, so he attacked with the intent to bleeding his opponents out.

Within minutes, three of the creatures were staggering around, bleeding from deep wounds or already collapsed, hamstrung and unable to empower their bodies via their earth aspects any longer. Even the matriarch was worse for wear, the massive wound down its side still leaking blood into the very earth holding it upwards.

A single other opponent left, Tou He caught in a duel with the other Core Formation creature, Wu Ying flittered backwards as another explosion of stone blocked his next entry. Again and again, the earth erupted, pushing him over the very lake itself from the water’s edge where they had fought.

Frowning, he realized his friend had been forced to retreat as well, a rolling column of muddy earth rising above the water to push the fire cultivator back. Only when the pair were floating over the water did the attacks stop, Wu Ying taking higher to the sky as his senses were attenuated by the liquid below. Moments later, hanging onto his staff, his friend joined him.

“I thought you’d deal with the three largest,” Tou He teased, dimming the flames and light that surrounded him.

“I thought you were dealing with the smaller ones,” Wu Ying pointed out.

“You were too fast.”

“You’re too slow.”

“That was a nice attack though. Second form of the Wandering Dragon?”

“Yes.” Wu Ying confirmed. “What’s with the bright light?”

“Sun Form.” Tou He paused, then added, softer. “Chi-intensive. So we should end this fast.”

“I’ve been trying, but that cow is tough. I need to get close and strike at her properly.”

Before his friend could answer, the earth chi that had surrounded them and permeated the entire clearing flexed. It caused the pair to stumble in the air, dropping a few feet before the reasserted their own control.

At the same time, a dome of earth began to form, rising throughout the edges of the clearing, blocking off the sun and clouds. It moved so fast, the pair already trapped over the lake that they had not the time to flee before it enclosed over them, leaving the only source of light the brightly burning Tou He.

“Hun dan.” Wu Ying cursed. “That’s new.”

“Now what?” Tou He muttered, moments before the dome of earth began to shrink, more earth pulled upwards to reinforce the dome itself as the entire structure began to collapse inwards.

“You had to ask,” Wu Ying replied.