Aurel held his breath, holding the spear out behind his back, poised in the air. He stepped forward.
Thunder broke as red lightning erupted. Aurel flashed forward, almost teleporting with a single step. But he was not done. Chaining each step, Aurel began to step, akin to teleportation, appearing and reappearing around the grassy knoll.
When he was done, Aurel stopped, leaning against the rock face that surrounded his makeshift training ground. Various small impact craters, where his feet had landed, lay laced on the ground.
It was finally time. With his training over for the day, Aurel left through the small crack within the boulders.
The woods sang with frightened life, with a silence only broken by the underbrush that whistled in the small wind. It seemed the earth, perhaps the world, knew what was to come. Aurel walked, his spear around his shoulders, whistling as he walked through the forest.
Above, in the sky, the clouds loomed grey, threatening to pour at any moment.
As the tree line faded, Aurel saw Blood Feather City before him, its concentric circles erupting forth in the grey sky.
He passed the city guards, through the city proper. The crowds had yet to thin, waiting for the storm that was to fall. Instead of walking to Shen Jilan's herb shop and the merchant district on the other side of the city, Aurel made his way closer to the center.
Walking, he soon passed more and more cultivators of the Heavenly Blossom Sect, until he finally found himself before a recruitment building.
He entered. It looked almost like an inn, with various wooden tables, a counter, and lit by torchlight. Various patrons, all armed, all wearing the signature light blue of the Heavenly Blossom Sect, sat in groups.
As Aurel entered, a few gazes traveled his way, but most resumed their conversations. Aurel approached the main counter, where an elderly man stood. From his energy, it seemed that the old man was at least at the foundation stage.
"Senior," Aurel said.
"Hello," the old man said. "What brings you here?"
"I want to join the Pure Blossom Sect," Aurel said.
"Hmmm. A newcomer?" It seemed the old man's voice became more respectful. "May I see your identification tablet?"
After the old man checked Aurel's tablet, he nodded before speaking.
"Thank you. Well, if you want to join, there will be an entrance exam held next week. Of course, may I ask you a few questions?"
"Yes."
The old man nodded. "Then—apologies for the intrusion. What method did you pass into this world?"
Method? The old man was most likely asking about reincarnation.
"Reincarnation," Aurel said simply. That seemed enough for the old man.
"And—what realm, in this world, did you accomplish?"
Aurel hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Foundation stage."
The old man seemed to relax upon hearing that Aurel had just reached the foundation stage. After a moment of writing upon a piece of paper, the old man extended a bronze coin.
"This is the entrance ticket," he said. "When you enter, this will verify that you have been checked. Thank you." He bowed.
Aurel nodded in kind.
As he left, his vision passed over the various patrons sitting in the building. All robed like cultivators, with swords and spears. Smoke from hot tea wafted around them. Most, he could see, were below the foundation stage.
Aurel soon left the building, returning to Shen Jilan's shop.
It was the beginning of dusk as he reached Shen Jilan's shop. Yue Yue was sleeping when he entered. He nodded to Shen Jilan, then walked to the back of his store to his room.
As he sat upon the wooden bed, looking up at the sky, Aurel thought of death. Presumably, unlike him, these cultivators had already died once. This was their second life, their second chance. Did they feel regret? Anger? He had seen both in those that he had killed.
But what of their world, except that they would destroy this one. Aurel pictured the man from yesterday, this Grand Mage Arksan. He who had most likely been a powerful mage in his own world. He had died twice.
While in his thoughts, the rain outside began to patter upon the clay roof. Like small drum beats, they seemed to resound around the room.
Aurel took the spear, switching his white robes for dark ones that blended into the shadow. He took a bit of cloth, ripping it to form a mask.
As he was about to leave the store, Shen Jilan walked up from his own room. Upon seeing Aurel's attire, he faltered, desiring to speak something, but relenting. Instead, he walked over to the counter.
"Here, take this," Shen Jilan said, passing over a wide-brimmed, bamboo hat. "For the rain and your endeavours."
Aurel nodded, taking the hat and donning it. He made eye contact with Shen Jilan. The man was afraid, he could see, but also resolute in that he did not seem to stop Aurel.
With a single nod, Aurel left the store and went into the stormy night.
It was dark, with the last of the sun's rays bleeding out into the street. The rain formed a dark curtain around the city, with vague shapes running to escape the water that Aurel could see.
Aurel jumped up, the wind rushing beneath him, onto the top of Shen Jilan's store. He began to run toward the central city.
Inside, Shen Jilan looked up, hearing the thump of footsteps. He sighed, looking back at Yue Yue's sleeping face, before shutting out the light from the fires. It would do him no good to worry.
Aurel skipped into the black of night, stepping lightly across the building's rooftops, his footsteps masked by the rain.
He was going to kill a cultivator today.
Although his training was proving fruitful, as the Will had told him, there was nothing that could supplement killing. Someone powerful. Aurel knew he could take down at least a foundation stage, entry-level cultivator, if he tried. But he had to be careful.
Someone of the Heavenly Blossom Sect would suffice.
In the rain, Aurel slipped across the slick wooden tiles, the water beating like drums on his hat. Slipping across the small city, Aurel ran toward the home of the cultivator he had picked out during the day. He didn't know the man's name.
It was a decent home that the man lived in, a wide courtyard of low walls that Aurel saw as he jumped over silently. As he came to rest, standing on the edge of the roof, he saw gentle fire's glow from within one of the complex wings.
Before he stepped down, however, he felt himself pass through an invisible barrier. It felt as though the energy within him reacted. Was it a warning? Aurel paused, retreating, as he watched for any movement. But there was nothing.
He slipped down onto the earth, his feet brushing against the crumbling dirt. Ever so softly, he began to step, one by one, toward the light brushing out from beneath the wooden door's gap. It seemed the barrier had been one for sound. Cries of fear and murky words echoed from the room, and he could see from shifting shadows that the man was not alone.
He stepped forward, spear outstretched, as he stepped onto the wooden terrace where a pair of sandals lay in disarray. Kneeling, Aurel closed his eyes, focusing deeply on the emanating sounds. He heard murmurs of the man's dark voice that he recognized, as well as soft female cries of distress, not pleasure. As Aurel prepared himself to break in—
A vicious tip of sword, glinting silver in the moonlight, crashed through the wooden door, splinters cracking as the force thrust a gushing, visible air in the courtyard. Aurel had jumped back, lightning crackling underneath his step and his spear raised with one hand. The sword had just missed his throat.
The iron tip retracted, almost begrudgingly from the wood, before the broken door swung open.
The cultivator revealed himself. He wore only white undergarments, an ivy-patterned sleep robe open and waving in the wind. He held the sword aloft against his shoulder, with one hand. The other held a woman, only a flimsy robe covering her nudity. Her black hair was matted with sweat or blood, chaotic as it hid her face.
"Are you a, a mage? Come to assassinate me? F-foolish!" The man swayed on his feet, his other hand lecherous and embracing the cowering woman. "Me, Li Fan, of the Pure Blossom Sect?"
Despite the man's stumbling steps, his eyes were clear and narrowed, his sword hand steady upon his shoulder.
Aurel motioned toward the woman.
"Who is she?" he said.
"This?" He bunched her hair, revealing a bruised face. "Just, just a mortal. Ah, what do you call them again? Natives, yes. Native. Why do you ask? Curious? This daddy shall teach you, if you desire." The man, Li Fan, spat on the ground.
Aurel thought for a moment whether he should make the man release the woman. But it was clear to him that these cultivators felt these lives were just like livestock. No point in raising more attention to it.
"Are you willing to die?" Aurel said.
"What kind of question is that? Are you a psycho? Old fogie who lost his mind?" Li Fan shook his head, his cheeks wide and filling with shadow. "Do you know how old I am?"
Aurel felt as though the man was waiting for something. Reinforcements perhaps. He had underestimated the man. The barrier had indeed most likely been both for sound and warning. And still, despite his drunk demeanor, Aurel could tell that this man was leaving no gaps. He had to learn from this. But first—he had to kill him.
As Li Fan felt Aurel's aura filling with wild energy, he too released his full presence as a foundation stage cultivator. Throwing the woman to the ground, he raised the sword, pointing it at Aurel.
"A fellow cultivator? Do you cultivate an aura-hiding manual? No matter."
Aurel burst, and Li Fan burst forward. Wind seemed to push Li Fan's feet forward, as though a whirlwind had formed, while lightning thundered beneath Aurel.
The two met with a distinct clash of sword and spear. A flurry of blows, almost instantaneous between them, were met before the two separated. Loose gravel and leaves flew against the walls, drifting down. Aurel had not gone full out, nor had Li Fan, both testing each other.
Li Fan wore a slopped smile, one that hung off his face as if everything was hilarious. He jumped forward, his sword sweeping toward Aurel. He parried and thrust out with his spear, but Li Fan slipped away, the wind aiding his step.
As though gliding on the ground, Li Fan circled Aurel, sword weaving between his spears like a snake, attempting to find an opening. He was fast as well as strong, each blow coming instant before the next with strength to match Aurel's. All Aurel could do was await, using the reach of his spear to keep him at bay.
He had underestimated him. Aurel admitted his mistake. But he would not yield.
The sword thrusts became faster, and Li Fan's smile blurred into a monstrous wideness that slipped everywhere. Blood began to spurt from Aurel's back and arms, small cuts as the metal bit against his skin.
Aurel used his thunderstep, flashing around the courtyard. But Li Fan's footwork manual was not weak. He followed like a shadow, meeting his raised spear before counterattacking and closing the distance.
Li Fan began to laugh, his sword strikes coming in a storm of blows, thundering against Aurel's raised spear. Small knicks within his skin threw blood around onto the ground. But he awaited. The sword strikes were becoming wild and unorganized as Li Fan began to stylize his fighting.
Aurel thunderstepped across the courtyard, Li Fan yelling and close. He parried the first blow. Then he revealed an opening to his arm, a feint that even a sober Li Fan would have fallen for; after all, in Aurel's state, who in their right mind would give such an opening? Li Fan's blade, true as they came, thrust into the gap, cutting deep into Aurel's arm.
Thunder crashed as Aurel fed all the remaining lightning, the power of storms contained within himself, into the spear. He swept the spear in a wide sweeping blow, from the blind side of Li Fan.
With a crash of thunder, echoing with dust around the courtyard, the spear cut through Li Fan's neck. The smell of burning flesh sizzled as Li Fan's head rolled off into the ground. Surrounded by trails of Aurel's blood, it stalled in the middle, surrounded by blood.
Aurel breathed in, and his breath calmed within the silence of the courtyard. Perhaps the barrier had been a boon. From the commotion, still none had come to inspect Li Fan.
Aurel walked, his whole body crawling with blood, to Shen Jilan's hat, which had long fallen off his head, picking it up and redonning it.
Pain pierced through his right arm. The blade had cut deep into his skin. He walked through the cratered courtyard, beginning to exit through the main entrance.
"Please! Stop!"
Aurel raised his head, looking back. He had forgotten the woman amidst the battle. She had donned clothes and stepped toward Aurel.
"Please. Let me help you."
"I do not need help," Aurel said. He turned away, beginning to go on the street. He felt something within his leg had torn. Pausing, he clenched his jaw before moving ahead.
He felt exhaustion rush through him. The energy had fled, as had blood, and his mind felt hazy. He did not feel the woman, as she rushed toward him. He almost did not have the strength to fight back as she supported him by the arm. She threw a cloak over them.
"Where shall we go?" she said.
Aurel almost said something. But blood spurted out from his mouth. He was suffering internal injuries. Taking a deep breath, he spoke.
"Eastern district. Moonriver Street. Herb Shop."
The unknown woman supported him through. They met a few on the road, but the hood covered them both. As they stumbled up the steps of the herb shop, Aurel felt his head light. Though he struggled with all his might to remain conscious, he fell to the ground as he entered, blackness coming.