The Third Cut - Chapter 34 preview (Patreon)

Wu Ying moved as quickly as he could, sweat gathering on his brow that even the cooling flow of the winds that constantly surrounded him could do little to relieve. He capped the clay bottle, pushing it aside before moving to the final container, cursing as his injured off-hand began trembling again. Overuse and damage was making it less reliable than ever, causing some of the potion dust to spill as he tried to insert the funnel spout into the bottle.

“Give it here, you idiot,” Phuong Vy snatched spout and scoop from Wu Ying’s hands, pushing him aside with her hip. “Go use your blade. All you’re really good for after all.”

“I…” The wind cultivator shook his head, stepping aside and gripping his still shaking hand at the wrist. Under his fingers, he could feel the cool metal of the Brocade Green Vest, the emerald scale mail that he had taken as payment ages ago. Even here, in the heat of Nanyue, it provided protection and a cooling effect on his body. “Fine.”

Striding away from the scholar, he cast his gaze about. Neither Yang Mu nor Minh Trac could be see. He knew the pair were busy planting the last of the formation flags, burying them as they deep as was viable. In any other time or place, he would have been informed of their presence by the wind. Now, he was reliant on his stunted spiritual sense, stymied by the corruptive energies that coursed through the air. More to the point, he had trained Yang Mu too well – he had no trace of her in his spiritual sense, unlike the other formation master whose occasional lapse in control showed up on his stunted senses like a sharp jab of a pin.

“I hope he intends to use another talisman before we leave…” Wu Ying muttered, mostly to himself. That had been the way that Minh Trac had managed to keep his overall presence hidden till now, even in the deep woods they travelled within.

“What?” Tou He, resting against his staff asked Wu Ying. When his friend looked over, the ex-monk offered him a meat stick that he had somehow managed to conjure and cook through the day. By the curl of smoke and the warmth of the meat, the entire thing had been freshly barbecued too.

“How?” Wu Ying said, around a mouthful of juicy meat. “Why?”

“My aura,” Tou He said without shame. He even extracted another thin, pre-marinated slice from his ring and held the hand out from him, letting his aura concentrate on the piece of meat at the edge of the stick. The flame chi intensified around his hand, the smell of roasting meat filling the air. “My master suggested it was good training for me at first. Useful for focusing my energies.”

Thien Giang, standing with her guan dao resting on one shoulder let out a loud snort. When the pair looked at her, she explained. “Unorthodox training method, but smart. It’s obvious it worked well at teaching this one to control his aura.”

“Oh yes. No one wants to eat burnt meat,” Tou He said, making a face. “Such a waste.”

“I’m sure I’d like to eat some meat, right now.” She looked straight at Tou He as she said it, daring him to make something of her words.

Wordlessly, the cultivator offered her the newly cooked stick before turning his gaze to the front once more. Bich Trang was further back, helping set up the last of the dispersal mechanisms – clay urns and pots with talismans situated upon them and tied to trees high above – while Phuong Vy finished her own preparations. It left the three as the front line for what was incoming, even as Dinh Don’s cries of warning and pain drifted towards them, the crack of broken branches and the thunder of thousands of feet filling the air.

“You know, he was supposed to bring the fastest to us,” Wu Ying said, idly. He could feel his heart beginning to speed up, but he kept his breathing slow and controlled. The pulses of energy, the unreleased chi of the creatures coming to him was confusing to his spiritual sense. It rocketed up and down constantly, from as low as nothing stronger than a Body Cleaning cultivator to all the way to a Core Formation cultivator, mixing and twisting together like the aura was not one the scores he felt but one unit. “Not a herd.”

“Nest.” Thien Giang said, shifting her feet. “It’s a nest.”

“Of what?” Tou He asked, curiously as he took a defensive stance like her. As he did so, his aura flared a little brighter and the pair of cultivators on either side of him edged away reflexively.

“Ants. He brought a nest of fire ants,” she answered.

“Thousand hells…” Wu Ying whispered. Then there was no more time to prepare, for Dinh Don had burst out of the vegetation into the clearing, leaping high in the air to dodge a bite from a particularly fast beast and loosing a half-dozen bolts from his crossbow in that single motion, his hand blurring. “Here we go.”

***

Fire ants. Except these weren’t just the big, red and overly aggressive invertebrates that made sitting down in the jungle without checking a foolish idea. No, these were fire ants that had been warped by the corruptive forces in the air and gained new traits. Amongst them, every tenth or so monster had a squirting attack, unleashing fiery liquid from their behind that struck at Wu Ying as he floated in the air. That kept the wind cultivator moving even as he unleashed blade strikes into the living crimson carpet of monsters beneath him.

On the ground, unable to fly and fight at the same time, the pair of polearm users held back the living wave with long sweeping attacks of their weapon. Individually, each insect was weak. Some as weak as a Body Cleansing cultivator, though many stood at the peak of that stage or low Energy Storage. Of course, being beasts, the comparison was only approximate at best. Even so, they were no threat to the Core Formation martial artists below.

Except in their quantity. For each monster that the struck aside, for each sweep of burning staff or bisected body of a guandao, another half-dozen monsters clambered closer. If not for the fact that the creatures still lacked a single guiding mind, the pair would have been overwhelmed immediately.

As it stood, they held the wave back by dint of stubbornness, skill and large expenditures of chi. And the occasional wind blade from above, as Wu Ying cut and crippled the monsters still pouring out of the jungle, clambering up trees and falling to the ground without care.

Dinh Don, having retreated to the edge of the clearing was loosing more bolts from his handheld crossbow, striking at the ants that had wandered to the sides of the clearing. Each attack tore wide swaths of vegetation clear, widening the clearing and opening even more to their view. Whilst the majority of the beasts concentrated on the pair below, the disparate nature of the ants themselves lent them to a disjointed approach, forcing the scout to pick those few he could off lest the team be swarmed.

Yet, each moment saw more and more of the creatures pour out, trampling and destroying vegetation. Auras that had been leashed exploded forth, blackening earth and withering greenery. A disturbing trend began to show, as the intensity of their combined aura began to climb.

It strengthened further with each passing moment, the amalgamated aura combining on a more regular basis. The strengthened aura meant that chi attacks like Wu Ying’s wind blades or the fiery waves of flame that Tou He released did less damage, blunted by the creature’s own protective life force. Thankfully, the sharpened edge of Thien Giang’s metallic dao and the killing intent that both Wu Ying and her wielded helped cut through the defenses of the invertebrates with ease, even as the earth churned beneath their attacks and drew even more monsters to them. They were doing well.

So far.

“You done yet?” Wu Ying snarled, left hand flicking upwards automatically, fingers splayed open. He caught a burst of acidic liquid squirted at him in a ball of wind, then threw it back, a last minute spasm by his hand sending the wind attack off course. Luckily, the ground was so covered by monsters it still struck someone.

“Done!” Bich Trang roared. She hopped to the side, extracting her dao and cutting down some of the ants there. With the ants on the edge not part of the main aura combination, they were much simpler to finish off.

Phuong Vy was floating at the back, choosing not to waste her own energy. Her needles were utterly useless and the chitin covered ants, and rather than attempt to poison them slowly, she let the cultivators better suited to the fight deal with them.

Mieng Thiang let out a scream as pincers closed in on her arm. She reached sideways and tore the ant off her body, the head still attached to her upper arm. Then, she hopped back, booting a leaping ant aside before she began swinging her weapon again.

““Where are the other two?” she snarled.

No answer, even as the living carpet of insects neared them. The two polearm fighters backed off reluctantly, step by step, weapons swinging. They had covered nearly half the clearing, when Wu Ying heard something different, something louder.

A creature with a single horn, glowing black and dangerous came rushing in. It crushed and shattered ant after ant as it charged, tiny beady eyes set in thick gray hide searching for more victims. Something was off around the creature too, something subtle that Wu Ying instinctively understood, but could not pin down.

Before he could call out a warning, the rhinocerous spotted his friends. The creature was bulky, the size of a wagon and so much heavier. It lowered its head, even as ants, taking that brief moment of its inactivity to clamber or fall upon it tried to tear through its tough hide. And then it charged.

Watching a falling ant, Wu Ying was caught by the shift in its trajectory as it entered the creature’s sphere of influence. Understanding blossomed, but all too late. Headed straight for Thien Giang, the cultivator had set herself to attack and leap aside at the last moment. But that creature’s sphere of influence affected her upon contact, making her movements, her reactions slower than ever. Timing that was so important to avoid injury was sabotaged and her leap and swing came all too late.

A horned head dipped and twisted, catching the woman as she leapt away. The tusk shone with solidified energy, but in reaction, Thien Giang concentrated her own metal aura around the impact point. Sparkling dust motes drew together, blunting and slowing down the impact even as her own aura solidified in an attempt to protect the cultivator.

By the spray of blood and the scream, attenuated and then sped up as she was thrown clear of the monster’s aura, it had failed. She sped through the air, taking out trees and bushes on the way, bouncing out of the clearing to disappear from sight for the moment.

“The beast has a slowing aura!” Wu Ying cried out, finally. “Some time dao or something.” Had to be, since it had even affected the movement of the creatures. Maybe space? Sometimes, things like that were hard to tell.

“Then, he’s mine!” Waves of emerald crescent energy preceded the cry, slicing into hidebound flesh and drawing the creature’s attention away from the two martial cultivators. In the western corner of the clearing, emerging from the forest, Yang Mu wielded her fans, slicing sideways and cutting apart air, skin and chitin alike. The monster snorted, turned to her and beady eyes narrowed.

Wu Ying would have objected, for the creature they fought was at mid-Core Formation at least by the pulsing energy of its center. But he had his own problems. From the sky, a couple of birds swooped down upon him, long, hooked beaks and white tufts of fur on their head speaking of their scavenger status. To his surprise, one bird launched a series of water orbs at him as it flew, swinging upwards long before it came close to Wu Ying’s blade and forcing him to twist and dodge from the marble-sized orbs that tore through ants and ground alike when they impacted.

Its partner on the other hand was much more traditional in its attack, flames coursing through its body as it swept towards Wu Ying. Blade met claw as he battered the creature away, unable to cut it and finding his face and hands scorched by the proximity of the monster. Even the quick impact sent him careening towards the earth, his control over the winds tenuous.

Bare feet from crashing to the ground, Wu Ying caught a sudden updraft that threw him and a half-dozen ants into the sky. Thinking quickly, Wu Ying bounced between ants, creating footing in the air to allow him to boot the monsters at his opponents, spoiling sight and aim alike.

A quick series of wind blades followed the attack, before the wind gave away beneath him suddenly, dropping him amongst the ants. Surprised as he was, the creatures were quick to converge on him, forcing the wind cultivator to employ sword and sheath alike in defense, the Dragon turns in Slumber formed a whirlwind of steel and leather to beat back the invertebrates before the wind threw him into the sky once more.

One bird was down, the fire bird screeching its dismay as it winged around. Not from his kicked ants, Wu Ying was certain, but the bird was still gone. No idea where, not exactly, though he assumed the fact that Sao Choi was nowhere to be seen once again had something to do with it.

Without another target, the fire bird focused its ire on Wu Ying, tucking in its wing to dart towards the man. Cursing under his breath and hoping his friends had the other creatures – rhinoceros, ants and was that a warthog? When did that arrive? – handled, he focused on his own battle.

Already, the clash between Core Formation cultivators had widened the initial clearing by half a li. Auras clashed below, a rainbow light show of competing energies and daos that churned the earth and saw vegetation torn down and blooming in separate order. From his height, Wu Ying could see Thien Giang returning to the battle, a cat hanging off one upraised arm that she used to batter her way through trees as she sped over.

No more time to focus on others. His opponents were returning and he would need to concentrate. After all, this was just the start of a long day. Until enough of the corrupted beasts arrived, they had to hold.