“Should we even help them?”
I blurted the question out of nowhere, and instantly felt a little guilty about putting the pressure on Chen Ai’s shoulders. Well, not too much, since I didn’t even have shoulders yet. I was still just a head and a spine and the start of a pelvis. My regeneration was going full tilt, but I didn’t have enough in my reservoir to fully reconstruct my body — especially since my flesh and bone reservoirs remained untappable. So, I set about creating skin to cover myself.
If I were careful, I could fill my skin with blood and use my manipulatory powers to pretend I was an anatomically correct human until I could find some flesh to consume.
Chen Ai pondered my statement as we listened to the clash of blades in the distance.
“I don’t want to protect people who might stab me in the back.”
“I agree,” I said. “I don’t want to have to keep my head on a swivel to keep ourselves alive.”
“So we let them die?”
I grimaced.
“There is one thing…”
One tiny thing.
“What?”
Chen Ai deserved to know this much. Depending on how she responded, I could decide what else to tell her.
“The Butcher Bird promised it would answer one question for every cultivator I brought alive to the Myriad Tree at the northern end of the Howling Blossom Valley.”
“What?! That’s an incredible offer! We must save them!”
Chen Ai hurtled through the grass.
“Why did you change your mind?” I asked.
“Because you’re going to give me half of the questions,” she said with a massive grin and a glint like gold in her eyes.
“Oh… fair enough!”
“But why would you have let them die if you want those answers?”
“Because I was worried about you.”
She dug her heels in and skidded to a halt. Her powerful grip squeezed my skull as she brought me up to her eye level. I dangled in front of her, my skin rapidly forming my arms and legs.
Tears brimmed in Chen Ai’s eyes.
“Thank you, senior brother.”
I had shoulders now, and so I shrugged.
“Forget it.”
“I will not forget this.”
“Alright.”
“Can you walk?”
“I can fight!”
She raised an eyebrow but dropped me. I flopped to the ground as the last of the skin formed on my fingers and toes, then it was just a matter of sucking in enough blood to fill my body…
I didn’t have enough blood.
It was a miracle I’d even been able to create all this skin.
Drawing inspiration from the Mustard Oil Bomb, I inhaled and filled myself with air. It wasn’t ideal, and my body definitely looked wrong, but so long as nobody looked too hard, I would be fine.
The sounds of nearby fighting told me everyone was distracted enough. Chen Ai charged through the grass with a roar as I pulled myself to my feet.
My limbs moved a little oddly, but I could still manipulate my skin enough to fight. Though without my blood tendrils or enhanced muscles, I wasn’t sure exactly what I could do to contribute.
Also, I needed to ensure I didn’t get punctured. I would hate to pop like a balloon.
Thus, I carefully made my way through the tall grass, hoping that it wouldn’t suddenly become blades. I emerged into a clearing created by the fighting. The stalks were torn and the ground all torn up, and the members of the expedition stood heaving for air. She Botao was on his knees as Shen Tongtong bound a wound across his chest. Despite the blood, it didn’t seem a deadly injury.
Song Shuai spun his spear.
“Nobody thinks we should go after that thing? No? Just me?”
Everyone ignored him. I saw no trace of the demonic spawn that attacked them, besides the words they muttered.
“What was that thing?”
“How could the heavens allow something like that to exist?”
“Did you feel that aura? I felt as though I were boiling in demonic qi!”
After scanning for a moment and ensuring I could walk properly, I interrupted.
“Is everyone alright?”
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They turned towards me in shock, which gave way to embarrassment as they continued to swivel away.
“Why are you naked?” Song Shuai asked me.
“Oh, I’m sorry!”
“I actually forgot about that as well,” Chen Ai said as she leaned on her club. “My pack is over there, senior brother. Get some clothes before that thing returns.”
I nodded and made my way over to her bulging pack. How she travelled with that and the ridiculous weight of her club was a true mystery, but I suppose I was to blame for the club. Strapped to the side of the pack were two jian: the ones that formerly belonged to Chen Ai and the Dreaming Blade.
I quickly dressed and grabbed my disciple's old blade. Chen Ai nodded at my decision, and mouthed the words:
“Do you know how to use that?”
I shrugged.
She shook her head and turned away, but I could tell she was smiling.
It almost felt good for a moment before Ran Qin and Shen Tongtong approached me.
“How are you alive?” Ran Qin demanded.
“What is your plan, expedition leader?” Shen Tongtong asked, far more demurely, at the same time.
Both glared at each other.
“How are you alive, expedition leader?” repeated Ran Qin. “I was sure the Butcher Bird killed anyone it snatched up, but you’re fine while my young master is…”
Tears filled her eyes as she stopped talking.
“I’m sorry about Ran Cong,” I told her. “I hoped nobody would die on this expedition, and I will do everything I can to protect you now that I’m back.”
She sniffed and looked away to hide her grief.
“You haven’t answered my question.”
I sighed.
“I have a bloodline,” I said loud enough for all to hear. “It allows me to survive greater physical injury than a normal person. After the Butcher Bird tortured me, it let me go so I could complete my expedition.”
The others nodded, taking my words at face value as they kept their eyes fixed on the tall, swaying grass. Fortunately, cultivators kept so many secrets from each other that nobody asked me any follow-up questions.
“Fascinating,” whispered the Butcher Bird directly into my ear. “I wonder how long that lie will hold up in the face of what is to come?”
I looked about, but didn’t even see so much as a blur to indicate it was flying away. Of course, the damned spirit beast was so powerful that it could be anywhere and do anything in this valley with none to stop it.
“We must head north. The Butcher Bird told me to meet it at the Myriad Tree if we wish to escape this valley.”
Everyone nodded, and though they remained vigilant, they started moving north.
“Why isn’t anyone questioning this?” I whispered to Chen Ai as she secured her pack.
“Why would they? The tales of ancient, powerful cultiavtors acting on a whim or out of boredom are so many that they couldn’t all be told in a lifetime.”
That made sense, but part of me wondered if part of their silent agreement came from the old Shen swordsman who led the way. His sword was back in his hand as though it had never left, but even without his weapon, he’d suffered no damage fighting the demonic spawn.
What was his name? I couldn’t remember if I’d forgotten or never been told…
Everyone moved carefully; their fight with the demonic spawn had filled them with caution. I still only knew that it looked like a man with long dark hair, but it must have truly fought with skill to leave them all so shaken.
We walked a little while longer, the sun steadily sinking, and the eastern sky growing dark.
“Wait.”
Everyone stopped and looked at me.
“This grass is too dangerous, and I plan on marching us through the night. Is anyone not up to that?”
“Of course, we can all achieve that,” said Shen Tongtong dismissively. “Even the Ran are capable enough.”
The Ran bristled, but said nothing. Fighting together was cooling the blood of their feud. I nodded along to Shen Tongtong’s words.
“Of course, I am sorry to underestimate any of you… But, while I have your attention. You, what is your name?”
I pointed at the old Shen swordsman.
He seemed surprised that I had singled him out, and his hand moved to rest on his sword… or had it always been resting on his sword?
“My name?” he said with a grandfatherly smile. “You don’t need to know my name.”
The others nodded and looked at me as though I were rude.
Was I being rude?
“Why won’t you tell me?”
He frowned, but, to my surprise, it was Shen Botao who answered.
“Who are you to demand such things? You may be the expedition leader, but you have not helped us with a single obstacle! Why does his name matter if he can hold a sword with a steady hand and face danger without flinching? He is Shen, and that is name enough for the likes of you!”
“Thank you, youngster,” the old Shen swordsman said.
The others looked between us, slowly frowning. A silence built, filled with the rustling of blades in the growing dark.
“Shouldn’t we be moving?” Shen Tongtong said. “That demonic monster is still out there, and not even a Ran would think it won’t attack again.”
“I actually agree with the barking of a Shen dog,” Ran Yaliu said. “This grass is dangerous enough without us standing still.”
Others murmured words to the same effect, but I kept my eyes locked on the old Shen swordsman’s gaze. His eyes seemed to ask me: What do you think you know?
Chen Ai said she suspected him, and after watching how he behaved, I suspected him as well. Everyone else seemed to have already forgotten about the argument.
“Let’s keep moving,” I said.
Stars burned into existence one by one, and strange, ethereal moonlight fell upon the valley as we continued through the grass. The old Shen swordsman used a lodestone to find north, but I couldn’t help but wonder what secretive plans he was following. The only thing that stopped me from attacking him was the potential question he represented. Now that Chen Ai had committed to taking the Butcher Bird up on its deal — and now that I was splitting that deal with Chen Ai to my merchant self’s eternal shame — I would do whatever I could to make sure every member survived.
Besides, I think that if I attacked him, I would need to do it where nobody else could see. Perhaps I should make a move before we left the tall grass…
The wind changed.
I could smell it: grey walls, a stone bed…
“Everyone get down!”
True to their instincts and training, the entire expedition dropped to the floor. A sound like the wind rushed through the blades of grass. Each blade grew still before sliding aside and falling.
The smell grew stronger: a dripping tap, dust, tubes…
“Run!”
The wind rushed again, and the ground cleaved where we’d all been lying just before. We rushed away through the grass, but the smell followed. It grew stronger, no matter how fast we ran.
“Let’s fight!” Song Shuai shouted out, but nobody turned back, and so he kept running.
The grass whipped to our sides, and the wind rushed behind, and we moved aside with the barest amount of time before being slashed apart.
“It’s faster in the dark!” shouted Shen Tongtong as she turned midstride to launch a flaming arrow.
Her shot exploded behind us, but the smell didn’t fade.
“The grass is ending!” Ran Yaliu called out from where she led the pack in our escape.
We broke through the grass one by one. I counted us out, hoping that nobody was slain unseen in the grass. Fortunately, we all made it out.
We found ourselves on a shore of glittering quartz that extended down to a wide, roaring river.
“Should we keep running?” Ran Yaliu asked.
“We should kill it,” Song Shuai said as he looked at me. “Right, expedition leader?”
“I wouldn’t mind some revenge,” added Shen Botao as he rubbed at his wound.
I glanced at Chen Ai, and she seemed as determined as the others.
“Let’s fight,” I said. “Prepare yourselves.”
We stood on the beach of stone and faced the grass. Minutes passed as we waited, and I wasn’t even sure that the creature would come until the haunting odor preceded it like a wind, and my body told me it was the smell of home.
Not home, the facility.
That place was not my home!
A shiver raced down my spine as the tall grass grew still and dark. Everyone tensed. Quiet footsteps padded closer, and the demonic spawn stepped out into the moonlight, wearing nothing but a smile as it drew three long swords.
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