Mana 6 Chapter 17 (Patreon)

I kicked a rock at the edge of the canyon. “Well, this makes things difficult.”

We’d have to fly to cross the canyon, and the area was open enough that we would likely be spotted by the Bishou.

We’d already killed hundreds of assassins at this point, and it was making me anxious that the Bishou had more forces than I’d anticipated. The last thing I wanted was to send up a ‘I’m right here’ flare by flying over the canyon.

“Maybe we could climb down and back up at night?” Jonny offered.

But before we could argue more, Steve grabbed us both by the shoulder and pulled us down to a crouch.

“What?” Jonny hissed.

Steve scooted forward and nodded down the canyon. “Assassin.”

It took me a moment, but then I didn’t see it. I heard something else. “That’s too rhythmic to be natural. There’s people down there.”

Steve nodded and pointed to the left and about halfway down the canyon.

There was a curve in the canyon that could hide a cave and not far from it, a Bishou had crawled into a crevice, waiting like a spider for its prey.

“Let’s walk this side of the canyon and see if we can’t get a better look at what’s happening down there.” I rose from my crouch and faded back into the jungle. “Good catch Steve.”

He nodded and then mimed shooting an arrow at the hiding Bishou.

“You think you can hit him across the canyon?”

Steve’s grin was answer enough.

“Okay, let's get in position first.” Darting through the jungle, I kept the bend in the canyon in view. The canyon pinched perfectly to hide the cave from either side, unless you were looking for it. The cave had a sharp, square entrance. Either it was entirely man made or they had squared off an existing pocket in the canyon.

“At least the assassin isn’t too strong.” The Bishou near the entrance was a fourth rank cultivator.

Steve shrugged, tearing up a leaf and scattering the bits into the wind. He watched them flutter, using it to calibrate his aim as he pulled out a bow made of bone and knocked a normal arrow.

“Wait, no spells?” I asked, surprised.

Steve shook his head. “It would alarm them too early.”

He sighted down his bow and then lifted his arm carefully into the air before drawing back swiftly and loosing the arrow.

From the other side of the canyon, we all waited quietly as the arrow punched through the air as fast as any spell. It arched over the canyon and sank down right into the hiding Bishou’s head.

The assassin dropped lifelessly from his hiding place with an arrow sticking out of the top of his head.

“Well, that might have alerted any other scouts they have on the other side.” Jonny pointed out.

“The ones on this side are dead from our trek here, and the other side wouldn’t have a great line of sight.” I pointed out.

But it didn’t solve our immediate problem of the canyon itself. Investigating the cave would be as difficult and risky as crossing it. Though there might be a way to use that to our advantage.

I stroked my chin in thought. “I don’t think we are getting across here without our position getting back to the Bishou. We still haven’t seen their base of operations, and I wonder if this can’t help us.”

“What are you thinking?” Jonny asked.

“That we bait them with one of us while another stalks the messenger running back to warn others.” I laid out my plan. We needed to make progress, and it wasn’t going to happen by wandering the jungle and killing assassins.

We would have to take a risk.

Steve pointed to himself and walked his fingers slowly across his other forearm.

“He’s right. Steve is the sneakiest of the three of us, and you don’t have to worry about him talking.” Jonny agreed that Steve should be the one to stalk the Bishou.

And I was the strongest; if showing myself put me in immediate danger, I was the most likely to survive. “So I’ll be the decoy. Jonny, you’ll watch my back from here while I go explore that cave?”

The rhythmic tapping continued to echo off the canyon, and I wanted to figure out what it was.

Steve nodded, flashing five fingers, and sank back into the jungle. I was concerned that Steve wouldn’t be able to find an assassin to follow, but Steve was resourceful. And I’d provide some cover as I made enough noise to get a few of them to come out of hiding.

“So, this girl. She’s worth all of this?” Jonny asked in a rare moment of concern.

“I think so. Besides, I just can’t leave her to whatever fate the Bishou have for her. It was because of me that she got in this situation in the first place.”

“You can’t save everyone.” Jonny pointed out. “Your family hasn’t exactly treated you fairly either. Do you need to help them, too?”

I shook my head. “No. I don’t. And my family might not have been fair, but they’re still family. I still have a tie to them, I don’t have to the Leon family. If I’ve learned anything over my years, it’s that community is important. I want to give them a chance.”

“And the Leon family has done plenty to piss me off, even if they weren’t an enemy of my family. I need to send a message. Touch what’s mine and I’ll burn everything to the ground.” I gave Jonny a chilling smile.

He laughed. “You haven’t changed. When I would steal a single kebab, you would eat my entire plate. But that was kids playing in the diner. This is battle, Isaac.”

I nodded. “But it isn’t our first, and it likely won’t be our last. The path we are on isn’t one of tea parties or trading for our resources.”

We’ve always fought tooth and nail for what we wanted.

I squinted off into the direction that Steve went, trying to find him, but he was out of my range. “Time to go.” I patted Jonny on the shoulder before jumping high up into the air, creating a pair of kunpeng wings out of mana on my back.

I worked to appear like a fifth rank cultivator as I glided into the cave, making sure that my wings were big enough to draw some attention.

Gliding down into the cave, I stayed alert for another assassin inside.

But as I landed, I was surprised when I saw the structure. It wasn’t a cave; it was a mine. Large wooden beams braced the smooth cut walls.

The rhythmic noises I’d heard made much more sense. Picks were chipping away at the earth within.

The mine shaft stretched out before me, and I walked, careful to avoid creating more noise. Eventually, the shaft curved and split.

A weary man with a body hardened from labor pushed a cart before me, and I snagged him, covering his mouth and dragging him further up the mine shaft along with his cart.

“What is happening down here?”

He struggled against me, but calmed after my question, trying to turn and get a look at me. “Mfmh.”

Lifting my hand, I let him try again.

“Mining.” He said with a tired face. “You aren’t one of the tongueless bastards.”

“No. They attacked my wife, and I’ve been hunting and killing them.” I frowned in confusion. The man didn’t seem too put off by me or the assassins.

Whatever they’d done to him had worn him down. He’d been crushed under so much fear that he seemed almost lifeless.

“Oh. That’s nice.” He replied simply.

“What are you mining?” Instead of waiting for him to answer, I pulled his cart closer and picked up a fist-sized mana crystal.

Mining them out of the ground would be extremely valuable, but not enough to go to these lengths.

“Take a closer look.” He pointed at the crystal, and I held it up, peering closer. There was a small vein of black, thinner than a hair, traveling through it.

Turning the crystal in my hand, I realized that at some angles; it disappeared entirely.

The tiny black strand made me feel uncomfortable. It was like my body was repulsed just by holding it close.

But if he hadn’t said anything, I wouldn’t have noticed.

“What is it?”

“Tainted mana crystals.” He took it back and put it in his cart. “We are told not to use them or they will damage our cultivation. Saw a guy a while ago who didn’t believe them and tried. At first he was okay, but after using them for a while, when he went to use his mana, it wreaked havoc on his body and he died a very painful death.”

I froze, thinking about the implications of that. Ruining somebody’s cultivation could destroy the entire next generation, the foundation of an ancient family.

If they managed to work it into a family’s economy, not only would they lose their wealth, they could lose their strength.

“How long have you been mining?” I frowned. He’d said the person before had died from using these a while ago.

“Not sure. I’ve lost count of the days.” He gave me a lopsided smile. “But I’ve seen boys turn into men down here.”

I grimaced, but tried to make sense of the information. If the Leon family had been collecting these for so long, I wondered why the Yunpi family hadn’t been feeling any effects.

“Can I go back to delivering these? Then I’m done for today.” The man swayed slightly on his feet.

I felt awful for what I was about to do, but I couldn’t risk him reporting on me. I wasn’t sure I could take on all their forces at once.

My hand slashed through his throat, severing his head. I made the kill quick, slowly lowering his limp body down and placing it carefully on the ground. “I’m sorry. I can’t leave witnesses. I hope you find peace.”

I stored his body and the tainted crystals in my spatial ring.

Looking back towards the entrance, I had a feeling it would take a while before Steve found the assassin base and returned. And the cave didn’t seem too heavily guarded, so I took the chance to explore the mine further.

Stepping over the small pool of blood, I continued deeper; the shaft opening up into a cavern that wound down deeper into the earth, lit by small sconces with mana crystals set in them.

The cavern had a winding ledge, and there were a number of shafts branching off of it in many directions.

But what really caught my attention was the flow of the workers; there was another exit. I wondered if the worker I had found was lost of if he’d really had a different route.

Other men with similar carts were pushing them out another mine shaft to my left.

Bishou were everywhere now, so I stayed low in the shadows of my current tunnel, watching.

Based on the number at that this operation appeared to be at the center of their purpose for being in this damn jungle, I figured there was a good chance that the other tunnel led to some sort of base.

I wondered if Steve was being led to a different location, or if he’d end up in the same place.

Most of the traffic seemed to be exiting the mining operation. The man I’d found had said it was the end of his shift. I wondered if they all rested at night.

If that were the case, it might be easier to sneak through without being detected.

I sensed an assassin creeping up behind me, and I decided to deal with him before he was able to alert any others. I moved backward, feeling the expected prick against my neck as the assassin held a blade against me.

He wasn’t strong enough to take me on; he just didn’t know it yet.

I barely released my domain, trapping only his wrist as I spun around, my sword appearing in my hand and cleaving him in two.

His body didn’t even hit the ground before I absorbed it into my spatial ring.

Crouching, I waited quietly to see if he had set off an alarm or if my small use of power had been detected.

I breathed slowly, sensing around me, but nothing happened.

Letting my body relax slightly, I turned and left the way I’d entered.

I needed to meet back up with Jonny and Steve, and we could combine our information to decide the right course of action. We needed to be careful. We were in their territory, and they had the numbers.

Slipping back out of the mineshaft, I reached the exit just as the sun was kissing the horizon, washing the clouds orange.

Waiting there at the edge, I paused until I spotted Jonny and Steve stepping out of the jungle and waving me over.

Doing my best to remain concealed, I darted across the canyon and up the other side.

“You were inside the cave a long time.” Jonny raised an eyebrow in question.

“It’s an opening to a mine, though not well traveled.”

“Probably ventilation.” Steve grunted.

I realized that would make sense. Nodding, I pushed to find out what he’d learned. “Did you manage to follow one all the way back to a base?”

Steve nodded. “Small outpost. Killed him before he reported.”

“Good work. I also spotted a number of Bishou in the mine. I’m wondering if they have a base connected on the other end?”

“That would make sense.” Jonny agreed. “They’d want to protect whatever valuable material they were mining, and keep on top of all the workers. What are they mining?”

I pulled out the tainted mana crystal. In the dark, I couldn’t even make out the tainted sliver. “You can look at it in the morning, but there’s a very faint vein of something in these mana crystals. The workers believe it disrupts cultivation. All I know is whatever is in it feels off to me.”

Then I voiced the part that had been nagging me. “What I don’t understand is why this hasn’t shown up anywhere. I haven’t heard any struggles with cultivation that would come from this, but it sounds like this mine has been in operation for years. Why are they waiting?”

Steve tilted his head, waffling it side to side before pinching his fingers together.

I thought about what he’d implied, letting it sink in. “You’re right. The workers here are low-level cultivators. It would affect them much faster than the dose needed for a sixth or seventh rank immortal. They either have worked it into the supply and it’s just too weak of a dose, or they’re saving it up, trying to refine it to make a much more immediate impact. If they figured that out, they could take out the Yunpi family in one blow.”

Steve nodded.

“We have to stop them from getting more of it into the market. Slow their supply.” The idea of progressing so far only to have it immediately broken shook me. Lifetimes of achievement, work, and sacrifice, all wiped out. I couldn’t let the Leon family have that kind of power. “Let’s start with the outpost Steve found.”

My quiet friend grinned back at me as he slipped back into the jungle. Jonny and I followed him through the foliage.

With the sunset, the jungle became nosier. Bugs and birds clamored for attention. And predators were moving about, hunting their prey.

“You know, maybe it isn’t the best time to fight assassins. The dark and all.” Jonny kept looking over his shoulder.

“Just stay close. I’ll keep my senses pealed, and if needed, I’ll use my domain.”

“Want to carry me?” Jonny asked.

“Hell no.” I laughed, working to stifle the noise. “But new rule. No joking when we are sneaking around a jungle full of assassins.”

Steve paused and turned back to us with a dour face.

“Steve agrees. No joking while stealthing.” I said.

Then Steve turned his attention to me and zipped his lips.

I read the message loud and clear.

Despite the danger, moving through the jungle with my friends felt safer. I trusted them so deeply that I wasn’t on edge like I`d been in many of my other adventures. I knew they had my back, and I’d have theirs.

Steve held up his hand for us to stop and pointed through the leaves.

I would have missed it if he hadn’t pointed it out. Blending in wonderfully with the treetops was a four story building covered in vines, like many of the trees.

We crouched down and made our way through the foliage, coming up to a small fenced area.

Steve paused, pulling out his bow again and drawing it three times in quick succession.

There were a series of soft thumps matching the number of arrows, but they were lost to the sounds of the jungle at night.

But then one of his targets crashed through a few branches, making more noise.

Steve winced, ducking lower.

I waited. “Maybe—”

Black-robed figures landed on the tower like flies flocking to a fresh carcass.

“Pretty sure they heard that.” Jonny whispered, and I had to resist the urge to smack him upside the head.

I drew my sword, knowing they might see the light reflecting off of it, but I didn’t have a better weapon option for nighttime.

The new Bishou on the tower made a hollow, guttural sound before reaching over his companion and smacking a gong. It boomed through the night, cutting off all the buzz of insects and quieting the birds.

For a moment, it was like the jungle had receded into hiding.

And it was time for us to emerge. Leaping high into the air, I readied my sword.