A Thousand Li Book 11 - Chapter 5 preview (Patreon)

“Idiot boys,” Fairy Yang Fa Yuan said, arms crossed underneath her breasts as she stared at the bandaged patient and the hovering friend beside his bed in the physician’s hut. “Were you trying to kill one another?”

“We were trying to be careful!” Wu Ying protested, guilt driving him to attempt to justify what they had done. “I wasn’t even using Ren.”

“Would have been easier to treat, if you had,” Physician Gu said, packing away the ointments and bandages he had pulled out. “The steel slivers were much more numerous to locate.” He tapped the bowl where he had dumped the slivers which he’d extracted out of Tou He’s body as he continued. “What do you want to do with these?”

“Do with them?” Tou He said, surprised.

“Yes. Do you want to melt them down and wear it around your neck? A mark to showcase your foolishness and ability to survive such idiocy?” the Physician said, waspishly.

“Some do that?” Wu Ying said, surprised.

“Foolish children, of course.”

Tou He could not help but snort in amusement at the elaborate set-up. He waved dismissively at the bowl and the Physician nodded, taking the entire thing with him to dispose of properly. Likely to be washed carefully before it was melted down for the blacksmiths.

“I never knew Physician Gu to have such a low sense of humor,” Wu Ying said, shaking his head in mock seriousness. He moved aside as Fairy Yang tried to strike him in the arm, easily dodging her casual attack. He caught her frowning as she brought her hand back and changed what he was about to say, asking instead. “Something wrong?”

“Nothing wrong. Just different. The way you dodged…” She trailed off as she stared at his arm.

“What?”

Instead of answering, she shook her head. When he made to ask again, Tou He raised a hand to bring attention to him. “You didn’t move.”

“I’m pretty certain I did. I don’t have a dao of space,” Wu Ying said, firmly. “I dodged by shifting myself, not space itself.”

“Not the only way they use space, but that’s not it,” Tou He said. “You dodged by drifting yourself to the side instead of leaning. And you don’t seem to have noticed yourself doing it.”

Wu Ying hesitated, replaying the events. He had sensed the beginning of her attack, the way her eyes had shifted, the slight tilt of the closest shoulder that had preceded the movement. Even the beginning of the attack, when she first parted the air and caused a breeze. He’d felt that immediately and moved, or perhaps it was better to say he willed himself away.

He no longer consciously had to extend his aura, not in the surrounding area. Surrounding now seeming to encompass at least a few hundred feet in all directions, so long as there was a way for air to fit within. It was a sphere of perception that extended around him, that connected Wu Ying to the air and its movement at all times.

It was not an aura sense but a spiritual and dao connection of the basest form. When one understood that all was part of the dao, and that it was only human limitation, mortal mindset that failed to grasp the entirety of the dao, it was only a small matter from there to comprehend that all matter was connected. A wind started in the east over ocean waves was connected to the stirring of a leaf in the west, or a forming storm in the south.

Knowing such basic principles was simple. Understanding it, in a soul deep manner, that allowed one to connect to the very wind that made part of Wu Ying’s very form now was another. If he completely understood that principle, he would have been able to sense even the farthest change.

As it stood, his minimal range of a few hundred feet around him strained already his mind; if he thought to consciously take in this wider range of perception. However, if Wu Ying just allowed himself to exist within that sphere of perception, to accept those changes in the world without judgment or consideration and to only react to the portions that were of concern – a threat, a new presence, a motion – then, he was fine.

Much the same way an individual might disregard the feel of clothing on their skin or the myriad scents that permeated the surroundings until one became of notice, Wu Ying had instinctively shuffled his newfound perception to the background.

Just as interestingly, he had also instinctively adjusted his own reactions to such threats and presences. Whether shifting his body a little or dodging an attack, Wu Ying was utilizing his wind and the upgraded Wind Body to his benefit without consciously pushing it further.

“I guess I have much to train,” Wu Ying muttered. Overall, this was a good thing though he had to make sure he remembered and consciously noted his own movements so that he did not fall into another’s trap.

“Idiot.” Fa Yuan looked at Tou He, ranging over his muscular and bandaged body briefly. There were no traces of blood anymore, the cultivator’s new bloodline and his higher cultivation level having begun the healing process already. “You’re just lucky it was not more damaging.”

“I’ll be fine,” Tou He said, then amended his comment at the look she gave him. “In a few weeks.”

Again she shook her head before turning to stare at Wu Ying. When he did not, immediately, understand what she meant, she spoke. “Do you not have someone else waiting for you?”

“Someone else?” Wu Ying blinked slowly as realization struck him. He gasped and nodded, turning to Tou He. “I-”

“Have to go.” Tou He waved a hand languidly, leaning back against the edge of the raised wooden bedframe with a half-smile. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine,” he amended as he glanced at Fa Yuan.

Wu Ying had not waited, pushing with his aura and his newfound sense of the wind. He reached outwards until he located his mansion and then shifted himself along the branches of wind between, reappearing outside the dining room within his own residence. A dining room that contained she who’d been waiting upon him.

In the background, in the room that he had been within, Wu Ying sensed his friend and martial sister having a conversation. In the background, he could tell that the conversation had turned to him immediately, the group expressing concern about the sudden change in his strength and knowledge.

And then, with a flexing of his will again, he discarded the extended senses, drawing it backwards to the immediate area. Even if he might have continued to listen to what had been said, he would not impose his own curiosity over the pair’s privacy.

Anyway, there were conversations – even between friends – that one was better off being ignorant about. In the end of the day, some knowledge was best left behind.

***

A slight twitch of his shoulders to release the tension that had gathered there and his hand paused as it reached for the door handle. He breathed in, exhaled, and opened the door. He stepped within, eyes locking on Yang Mu where she was pacing, fan tapping against the edge of her wrist.

The moment he stepped within, she spun. “Ah Ying. How is he?”

“Well. The injuries were minimal and none fatal or debilitating,” Wu Ying said. “He will need to rest for a few weeks but will recover fully.”

“Good, Very good,” Yang Mu said, her voice softening with each word. She crossed over to him, a hand reaching for his. “And you?”

“Well.”

“Good.” She breathed in, then kicked him. “Idiot.”

This time around, Wu Ying forcibly suppressed his reactive dodge, allowing her to kick him. He did find amusing though that his obdy yielded a little even as he refused to move, muscle and bone compressing a tad before springing back.

“Do all of you get together to choose insults?” Wu Ying said

“All of us?”

“Yes, Ah Yuan was cursing me out too with the exact same term.”

“If the scales balance…”

He pulled her closer, releasing her hand to slip an arm around her waist. A blush threatened her complexion, the sudden intimacy throwing her off. He bent down, hovering over her lips, as he spoke. “Well, then I should probably tilt it in my favor again.”

She gulped to clear her throat, not moving as she returned his ardent gaze. “And how… how do you intend to do that?”

Mischief appeared in his eyes and she felt his body shift as he released his grip behind her back and loosened muscles. She tensed, expecting him to pull away to tease her, and was all the more surprised when he closed the rest of the distance. Hungry lips met pliant ones and took her breath away. She found herself melting into his embrace, even as he tightened his grip on her once again, cradling her hip and upper back in his arms.

The kiss lasted for an interminable time, lips and tongues embracing one another with great passion before the pair broke away at last, the flush on Yang Mu’s cheeks fully risen and the hunger in Wu Ying’s eyes fully revealed. When she tried to speak, she found her throat dry, and she had to swallow a few times to clear it.

In the meantime, Wu Ying eyes danced with mischief and passion. Still holding her close, he drew in a breath of her unmistakable scent, a mixture of the jasmine and rose perfume water she utilized and something else, something deeper and more primal beneath. It connected with portions of his mind that bypassed the rational, making his grip tighten along her hips.

“Dinner is cold already,” Yang Mu said, gently.

“Then, it won’t hurt at all for it to continue to be cold,” Wu Ying finished the thought for her. Wrapping the pair of them in his aura, he utilized the wind to shift the pair for further privacy, leaving the servants behind closed doors startled at their sudden disappearance.