Chapter 147 (Patreon)

When gambling, no matter how well you stacked the odds in your favor, the old adage always rang true. The House always wins. Unfortunately for Zumulu and the rebels, the Empire had been the House in the south for the last 400 years. It wasn’t that he didn’t think Xi Wangmu didn’t have a long and carefully prepared plan to fight the Empire. He just put more weight on Lan Fen’s and Song Yuelin’s opinions than he did her planning. They had impressed the simple rule upon him about attracting the Empire’s attention.

Don’t.

So he wouldn’t. He would help the Garrison. Get Xie Jin and Bao Si out of here. Then hightail it out of Zumulu. It was a simple plan, but simple was good. He’d had enough of the complicated stuff. Perhaps it was a bit wishful, but Chen Haoran would take what he could get at this point.

He and Jiang Aiguo made their way back to the Garrison. Along the way, they ran into fleeing Rattan Vine Armor Soldiers. Or rather, the soldiers ran into them. More accurately, they ran into Chen Haoran. Though their faces were obscured just going by the way the soldiers flinched in the opposite direction, Chen Haoran could tell they were going through the worst case of being caught between a rock and a hard place in their lives.

Chen Haoran opened his mouth to speak, but Jiang Aiguo had already drawn his blade and was striding toward one of the soldiers. “Leave this one to me, sir.”

Naturally, the soldiers attacked.

Phelps flew off his shoulder and barreled into another one. Vines whipped out of the soldier’s armor like pythons and sought to wrap around Phelps, only to bounce uselessly off his liquid qi. The soldier only had time for a single startled shout before Phelps crashed into him.

That left three for Chen Haoran. Unlike their previous tight formations, they spread out spears and shields at the ready. Three floods of green liquid rushed toward him.

Chen Haoran sighed.

In one motion, he pulled out his sword, and a flurry of cutting blades flashed and diced the soldiers and their liquid qi to pieces. Final Floods erupted and the struggling vine armors turned on their owners and rapidly devoured the qi to grow and carpet the ground in a blanket of vines. To his right, Phelps sank his claws through the Rattan Soldier’s helmet and into his eyes before flipping away into the air as the soldier exploded into a mess of vines. To his left, Jiang Aiguo had broken through his target’s blue liquid qi with a single powerful blow before flooding his own peach-colored qi into the gap and overwhelming the soldier. The soldier tried to struggle, but Jiang Aiguo seized him with his liquid qi, ripping away his armaments and his balance. Peach qi glowed along Jiang Aiguo’s sword and neatly pierced the soldier’s throat before swinging his blade and removing his head entirely.

Chen Haoran watched both masses explode into vines, noting the black marks on the surface of the vines after Jiang Aiguo pulled his liquid qi away. “I know they’re not really on our side, but you’re still pretty…. decisive.”

Jiang Aiguo shrugged and sheathed his sword. “It’s not like I knew they existed before this—compartmentalization of information and all that. It doesn’t bother me too much. Fighting Rattan Armor Soldiers is practically tradition for Peach River Swordsmen.”

Chen Haoran raised an eyebrow. “Really? The Peachbloods never used them?”

“We can’t,” Jiang Aiguo said. “Our qi is too caustic to use the vines properly, and they were never able to take to the Peachwine’s water and soil for us to grow our own.”

“I’m surprised you guys weren’t called forward to fight earlier,” Chen Haoran said. “I think I remember there being a few more Peachbloods.”

Jiang Aiguo pointed at the black marks along the vines. There were a few of them, but they were surface level at best and even now were healing. “Peach Qi isn’t much better at fighting Rattan Vines. When I say our qi is too caustic, I meant for infusion. The vines can still resist us on the surface. The other River Kingdoms wouldn’t have invaded us so much if we could kill Rattan Vines that easy.”

“It would have been better than nothing,” Chen Haoran said.

“Well, that’s the Empire for you. Their training focuses on their experiences with the Rattan Armor Soldiers, not my people’s. I’m surprised they mention it at all. They’ve got more current enemies they need to study.”

Phelps floated over to Chen Haoran with a squeal and bloody claws. Chen Haoran coated his hand with qi and proceeded to clean them before letting Phelps nibble on his bamboo stick as a reward. Meanwhile, Jiang Aiguo picked up the mass of vines that used to be a severed head.

“We have to split off here,” he said. “Captain Pan is too observant, so it’s better if we don’t return together.”

“Well, you’re the experienced one,” Chen Haoran said.

Jiang Aiguo flashed a smile and hooked a thumb toward himself. “Don’t worry, sir. I may not be the strongest spy in the Garrison right now, but if I called myself second in skill, no one else could claim first.”

Chen Haoran was suddenly assaulted with a strong feeling of deja vu. Those words were familiar. When he finally recalled where he had heard them before, he shook his head and chuckled. “You remind me of Jiang Lei. He said something like that before.”

Jiang Aiguo brightened. “Thank you, sir. It’s an honor to be compared to Senior Brother Lei.” He clasped his hands in a bow. “I’ll be off, sir.”

Chen Haoran mimed a salute. “Godspeed, soldier.”

Jiang Aiguo looked confused but accepted the salute in the spirit it was given and took off. Chen Haoran waited until he could sense he was out of the range of his sense. Then waited a few more seconds on top of that. Then he hung his head back and sighed.

“Complicated.”

—————————

The Garrison was cleaning up the battlefield when he returned. Two Metal Root soldiers, the only two surviving ones, and an Earth Root with a Metal Technique were going around and chopping the tangles of vines into more manageable pieces. The vines were then taken and burned in piles with Fire Qi or buried deep in the earth by Earth Roots. A group of Peachbloods were off to the side, Jiang Aiguo among them. They were wrestling with something covered in Peach-colored qi that Chen Haoran soon realized was a living Rattan Armor soldier. The Peachbloods were holding him down and attempting to pry his vine armor off.

“Friend Song!” Pan Gong’s voice boomed, drawing his attention.

Chen Haoran nervously watched Pan Gong and Captain Liu approach him. Jiang Aiguo said that there was no search warrant for Chen Haoran, but what if he was wrong? Or worse, what if he was lying?

Pan Gong stopped in front of him and gave Chen Haoran a thumbs-up. “Nice! Very handsome.”

“Super handsome,” Captain Liu added, giving his own thumbs up.

“What the fuck?” Chen Haoran would admit that being complimented by two extremely buff men was incredibly validating but seriously. What the fuck?

Pan Gong saw the confusion on his face and laughed. “Sorry, we assumed you’d be uncomfortable after having your mask destroyed. It was either we compliment your face or your manhood. I will say, though, rushing to fight 200 men alone does require a very large pair.”

“There’s a saying in my town. ‘The Empire has as many heroes as there are stars in the sky,’” Captain Liu said. “You’ve opened my eyes to that saying today. Who would have thought we’d be lucky enough to have a friend with such a strong Metal Element Technique when we needed it most.”

“Right….” Chen Haoran slowly said. “How goes it over here? I ran into a few soldiers on my way back.” He cast his sense around, but it was hard to get an estimate of the fallen Rattan Armor Soldier.

“We killed eighty,” Pan Gong said. “A good portion of that being yours. The vines of the dying got in our way and gave the rest of them time to flee. Since this whole area was trapped, we decided it would be safer not to give chase.”

There was a scream of anguish and rage. They looked over and saw the Peachbloods jumping back from a grasping shamble of vines. The Metal Elements rushed over and cut it to pieces before it could grow too far.

Ji Aiguo conferred with the other Peachbloods, then walked over to them with his head hung low. “Sir, the prisoner self-detonated before we could remove his armor.”

Pan Gong nodded, and Jiang Aiguo retreated. Captain Liu sighed. “What a shame. It would have been useful to get a complete suit.”

“Losing the armor isn’t a complete loss,” Pan Gong assured him. “I’m sure the Imperial Academy will be more interested in the vines anyway.”

“It’s not like there won’t be more opportunities once the other Rattan Armors regroup,” Chen Haoran said.

Captain Liu grinned. “They can regroup all they like. Captain Pan and I beheaded most of their elites.”

“And I plan for us to be long gone before they have them time to regroup,” Pan Gong said. He waved for Chen Haoran to follow him and then to the other Metal Roots, and they all walked over to the Emission Node. “Song Yuelin, can your Metal Element Technique be focused on a point?”

“It can,” Chen Haoran confirmed.

“Good. That makes this more feasible then.”

“This being?”

“When you used your pupil technique on the barrier before, you saw it absorbing Water and Wood Qi, correct?” Pan Gong asked.

“Yes.”

Pan Gong punched the white energy pillar in the corner where the barrier emerged with a hand wreathed in liquid qi, sending ripples across its smooth surface. “The barrier is Metal Element. It’s not complicated as formations go, but it utilizes the ambient energies of the Secret Realm effectively, which means even if we bombard it with Water and Fire Qi, we’ll be here all day before it finally goes down.” He turned to Chen Haoran. “With you and the other Metal Roots all focusing your Metal Qi onto this point, then we can resonate with the Metal Qi of the barrier and open a hole to escape. What say you?”

What could he say?

“I will be getting paid, right?”

Pan Gong paused, then chortled. “I’ll pay out out of my own funds if I have to.”

“Works for me.”

Chen Haoran stepped forward and drew his sword. Pan Gong and Metal Roots stepped back as white sword shadows cut across the ground before them. Chen Haoran gripped the hilt of his sword with both hands and cycled his qi. Ever so slowly, less and less cutting energy escaped from his sword, and it grew brighter and brighter. The Yellow Dragon continuously drew in more qi to replace what Chen Haoran was expending to point, not control, point the White Tyrant’s Harmonization. Phelps encouragingly squealed at him from his back.

The Metal Roots flinched. Pan Gong frowned. “This isn’t a Technique.”

Chen Haoran ignored him and pushed his sword into the Emission Node. The tip of the sword pressed against the barrier.

The energy pillar rumbled.

Chen Haoran flexed his qi for dear life as a vibration ran through his sword and threatened to fling him away. His liquid flooded around his arms and legs to hold them steady even as Phelps was flung off his back with a startled screech. Chen Haoran could feel the sword shifting across the surface of the barrier despite his attempts to keep it in one place. The calm surface of the pillar was now a stormy sea of rippling energy in every direction as Chen Haoran fought to keep the White Tyrant’s Harmonization condensed and focused on the pillar. Two large hands landed on his back and pushed him forward, applying enough pressure to barely keep the sword still.

“Change of plans,” Pan Gong said from behind. Yellow Liquid qi spilled from his hands and pushed against Chen Haoran. The Yellow Dragon was quick to react, releasing liquid qi across Chen Haoran’s back. Where Pan Gong’s qi met his own, it was seamlessly absorbed into Chen Haoran’s body and into the Yellow Dragon’s waiting maw.

Pan Gong grunted. “Five Elements Formation,” he commanded with a deep voice.

Through his sense, Chen Haoran could feel the other Garrison soldiers rush over. More hands were placed on Chen Haoran’s shoulders, more still were pushing Pan Gong, and further beyond that were soldiers pushing them. What was peculiar however was the order they did it. Directly behind Chen Haoran were the Water Spirit Roots. Behind them came the two Metal Spirit Roots. After that were the Earth Spirit Roots. Captain Liu led the Fire Spirit Roots to push them in turn and at the very end were the Wood Spirit Roots. The only ones who didn’t assemble were the Peachbloods, who stood on guard around the perimeter.

“Push,” Pan Gong bellowed.

The Wood Spirit Roots flooded their qi, which fed the Fire Spirit Roots, who flooded their qi to bolster the Earth Spirit Roots, which then flooded forward to push the Metal Spirit Roots, which then heightened the Water Spirit Roots, who all pressed Chen Haoran. The sword stopped moving. Then it pressed into the barrier. Barely a millimeter, but it was movement, and they all sensed it.

“Push.”

Another millimeter.

“Push.”

Phelps dropped down onto Chen Haoran and added his own liquid qi to their efforts.

“Push.”

The tip sank in.

“Push.”

The Emission Node was trembling, the whole pillar disturbed and rippling with energy. Chen Haoran’s sword was shaking as if it had become a giant tuning fork, and he started to worry that he would be ruining another weapon. The White Tyrant’s Harmonization wasn’t making things any easier. It bucked and raged at Chen Haoran’s control, offended that he dared try to direct it. It would break through the barrier, or it would break through him, and it didn’t care which happened first.

“Push!”

Phelps squealed.

The Garrison soldiers shouted.

The Yellow Dragon, now fat on Pan Gong’s qi, squeezed itself into Chen Haoran’s arm and lent its power. Its roar carried with it a sense of natural kingship, a wordless command that to hear its voice was to obey, and that refusal was blasphemous. The proclamation rang through Chen Haoran’s arms and led his qi in a battle charge into his sword.

The White Tyrant’s Harmonization stilled.

For some reason, Chen Haoran pictured the time the White Tyrant turned his head and looked in disbelief at something Lan Fen had said.

Then the Harmonization exploded with anger. His sword sank into the Emission Node up to the hilt, causing Chen Haoran to stumble forward. He instinctively pulled back, raising the sword as he did so. Cutting energy flashed, and the barrier easily parted before the blade. A long, metal-white crack ran up along the pillar, stark even on the white background.

“Brace!” Pan Gong shouted.

The Emission Node exploded.