Book 6: Chapter 19: Assailable Positions

Book 6: Chapter 19: Assailable Positions

Li Yi Nuo waited to the side and watched as Sen and Laughing River stood a few feet apart, gesticulated wildly, and yelled at each other like a pair of bickering siblings. It might have even been amusing, like some kind of comical theater performance. That is, it might have been if not for the fact that the bickering pair were two of the most powerful beings shed ever personally encountered, and they were standing in one of the most dangerous places on the face of the planet. The total disregard that the pair showed for the possibility that some insanely powerful spirit beast might attack them was a more telling and chilling expression of their strength than any claim either might have made. She didnt dare speak for fear of drawing down the wrath of either man or fox.

She would never, ever have ventured this far into the wilds for any reason except the kind of dire, if implied, threat that the fox had issued. When they first entered the wilds, she had assumed that they would all move with utmost caution. Oh, how wrong she had been. The fox had treated it like a social outing with friends. But she supposed that was to be expected from the elder nine-tail. She had turned to Sen to find a kindred spirit in her fear. His reaction had almost been worse. While he spoke about being so deep in the wilds as though it should be treated as very dangerous, his behavior told a different story. He wasnt afraid. At best, he was mildly wary of their surroundings.

He'd come back from scouting a few times covered in blood and injured in ways that made her cringe. Then, hed make an offhand comment about dealing with some beast, drink one of those impossibly potent elixirs as if it wasnt a priceless treasure, and just ignore the injuries like they were minor inconveniences. Every time he did something like that, treated the impossible like the commonplace, walked off injuries that would have left anyone in her sect calling for aid, or yelled at the fox, it made her look back at their battle and realize how lucky she had been that he hadnt wanted a real fight. He would have crushed her. It was only in hindsight that she realized that she hadnt felt a whisper of killing intent from the man. It wasnt until he came storming back from locating what theyd come so far to find that she finally felt a little of it. It had been bleeding off of him and that had been more than enough for her. It wasnt even aimed at her and had left her shaken.

When hed grabbed her hand and said they were leaving, she hadnt even entertained the idea of saying no. Li Yi Nuo had been wanting to leave ever since they started this journey into madness and death. Even if shed been completely on board, though, one look at his face would have silenced any protest. Granite cliffs in the depths of winter had more give and warmth than his face had shown. They hadnt gone ten steps before she felt a qi platform manifest beneath them and start to carry them back the way they had come at speeds she couldnt have produced and wouldnt have wanted to either. Shed been terrified that a stray tree branch would cut her in half, but Sen created a technique she couldnt even understand that moved ahead of them like some awful hand of destruction. Anything that might impede the straight line he had chosen was shredded, pulped, shattered, or blown aside.

They traveled for miles that way before the fox finally caught up with them. Laughing River had positioned himself in their path. She was sure that Sen was simply going to drive that destructive technique into the fox. He might have intended to do so, but it seemed the fox was able to disrupt the technique if not the qi platform they stood on. Or maybe the fox had chosen not to disrupt it. Doing so would have sent her and Sen tumbling through the ancient forest. While Sen might have survived it, Li Yi Nuo was certain that she would not have lived to tell the tale. She might be as resilient as most cultivators, but she wasnt the all-but-indestructible tower of muscle and strength that Sen had somehow become through his body cultivation method. Given the choice between stopping or ramming the qi platform into the fox, Sen had thankfully chosen to stop.

Laughing River did have the good sense to look a tiny bit relieved at that. While his ability to disrupt Sens technique had been a display of truly awesome power, getting hit with anything moving that fast would still hurt almost anyone. What was more perplexing was the fact that Sen had not suffered any apparent backlash from having the technique disrupted. Either the fox knew how to do it in a way that wouldnt result in a backlash, a secret that any sect would bankrupt itself to learn, or Sen had simply ignored it. She wasnt sure which of those choices she preferred. Laughing Riven had given Sen a patient look when the qi platform stopped a bare foot from foxs chest.

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We should discuss this, Sen.

She glanced over at Sen and saw him working his jaw so hard that the muscles in his face looked like they were twitching. The qi platform had dropped to the ground, and shed moved to get out of both mens direct line of sight.

Discuss this? You want to discuss this? Do you know when the time to discuss this was? demanded Sen, who immediately cut off the fox's attempted answer. The time was back on the road when you first arrived!

Ill admit that I probably could have been a tiny bit more forthright about what wed be doing.

A sacred ruin? Really? You actually thought that you could trade a favor for offending the very heavens and damaging my karma? Let me guess. You cant go inside, can you?

The fox had gotten a very frustrated look at that point. No. The monks who used to live there took steps to make sure my kind couldnt enter.

What a shocking level of good sense on their part! shouted Sen.

Li Yi Nuo thought her heart would stop at those words. She was certain that the fox would kill them both on the spot. Instead of the instant murders she had expected, the fox started yelling back that the only reason the monks did it was because some overzealous initiate had stolen something from a fox in the first place. Sen made the accusation that the fox had probably stolen it to begin with, which made her heart pound in naked terror again. The fox had put on an affronted face and said that wasnt here or there. Things had only devolved from there to the point where Sen and Laughing River were mostly just throwing insults at each other. It was an activity that Li Yi Nuo could only interpret as some bizarre workaround to the duel to the death that any one of those insults should have demanded. Death by a thousand insults, perhaps? Still, Li Yi Nuo remained silent. While those two might have some obscure reason not to kill each other, she felt supremely confident that she was not included in that unspoken bargain. And then, damn him, Sen pointed at her.

Li Yi Nuo spun to stare at Sen. Is all of that true?

She watched as the absurd man hemmed and hawed before he finally spoke.

Theres a lot of context missing.

Are you kidding me!

Why are you yelling at me? asked Sen while waving a hand at the Laughing River. Go back to being mad at him.

Hey! said the fox. That was just mean.

You did drag her hundreds of miles into the wilds with the sole purpose of using her to shame me into doing what you want. Then, you basically told her that the, I dont know, probably decades of relentless work she put into advancing mean nothing and have absolutely no value in a serious situation.

The fox gave Sen an exasperated look. You felt it was necessary to remind her of all that right now?

It was an opportunity. Waste not, want not.

You always were damnably sharp.

Li Yi Nuo locked eyes with Sen. Are we leaving?

He nodded. Oh, were definitely leaving.

She marched over to him and grabbed his hand with the intention of pulling him along. She never got a chance to even take a step.

Im dying, Sen, said Laughing River.

Li Yi Nuo felt Sen stiffen at those words and knew the fight was over. Shed lost. Sen had lost. She just didnt know if Sen knew it yet.