?
?
The day the new inspector of the entire province came to The City of Deer, I was out among the foothills on the trail of a snow leopard. Having slaughtered everything in its local region, the beast had grown large and powerful enough that it felt confident stalking the herds and herders that made their homes in the rolling hills around the city.
I had little interest in protecting weak herders of their livestock, but an alchemist friend of my late father had insisted that such a creature’s blood, teeth, bones, and claws would all be filled with naturally gathered Qi. They could thus be used in the creation of powerful pills and tinctures.
By this point in my life, I had come to understand just how many such concoctions my father had plied me with whilst I was an infant and even before my birth. Given that I had always been stronger than those my own age, and I only continued to grow in power. I had no intention of stopping the practice of empowering myself with potions, poisons, and pills now.
Hunting such a beast was a challenge to anyone's abilities, even mine. If my father's friend was right and the creature had developed the rudimentary cultivation certain special animals somehow acquired, it would be a nightmare to face in combat alone.
I had brought Yi Ming with me, but his usefulness would end when the tracking did. My friend had grown taller than me in the last few months, but he remained stick thin compared to my steadily growing musculature. As the son of a farmer, he knew a technique or two for rapid plant growth that could, in theory, be used to restrain a person or animal.
I didn’t have much faith that such an attack would be worth the Qi it took to create once we found the leopard. Still, Yi Ming was better at following animals than I was, so I would make use of his skills to deliver me to my target and then take things from there. If I failed to contain the beast, or was defeated by it, my friend would be all but certain to die under its claws and fangs.
Naturally, I wasn’t worried. I had the bow I’d purchased four years earlier with my wrestling winnings, I had my father’s halberd, I had a small but powerful collection of techniques I’d been honing, and I had my physical strength and speed that no man or beast had come close to matching since I had turned fourteen.
Even I was not so arrogant as to think that the coming hunt would be easy, but I knew I would win the fight if it came to one. Of course I would, I always win. Especially back then, the competition around The City Of Deer was weak as the strongest warriors and best horsemen inevitably took their skills south.
Having figured that it made no sense at all to hunt a leopard anywhere near dark, we set off to find the beast an hour after the sun had risen. Even while he channeled Qi to his legs, I found Yi Ming to be incredibly slow. Which is probably why we didn’t find our first sign of the beast until after midday.
The sign in question was a pair of half-eaten travelers accompanied by a pony in a similar state across a foot-worn path among the grass. They were far too torn up to gauge much about the people themselves, and their belongings were utterly covered in blood and internal organs. None of this stopped me from rooting around until I found their coin purses.
Whilst I did, Yi Ming, who was clearly queasy at the sight of the bodies, set about seeking a trail for our prey.
The long grass of the steppes beyond The City of Deer was an excellent hiding place for the beast, though I hoped it would also mean we would be able to follow a trail of broken strands. Yi Ming had laughed and insisted leopards were far too graceful for it to be so simple a task.
My friend was proven right in a rather devastating fashion. Mere minutes after we had left the bodies on the trail behind, we discovered that the creature we had been hunting had similar ideas about the pair of us.
The only warning was a particularly violent rustling of the grass before the beast struck. It was the leopard, I know that now. At the time, I couldn’t be sure, though, rather than a large feline, what exploded from the grass was a barely visible blur. It resembled nothing so much as one of those strange air things that happen sometimes on hot days…just sort of shaped like a big cat.
A few seconds later, it would occur to me that the leopard had obviously worked out some sort of invisibility technique with its Qi. In that moment, however, I just knew we were under attack by something or other that I couldn’t properly make out, something fast.
Claws with seemingly no source burst from the haze of invisibility, lashing toward Yi Ming. To my surprise, my friend managed to throw himself out of the way just in time, even if he fell over his own feet doing it. The hazy blur didn’t stop its movement after the attack was foiled, instead surging back into the cover of the long grass.
Ripping my bow off my shoulder with my right hand, I pulled an arrow from my hip quiver with my left. I aimed the weapon high so the arrow would arc down upon the general area I believed the creature to be. Just as I loosed the arrow, I channeled Qi into my fingertips and then split it into shards just as my father had taught me.
This particular technique was just about the only thing of use he had taught me. Well, that and the knowledge that it would be I who engraved the name of Lu into history so all knew its greatness.
“Ten Thousand Arrow Mirage!”
The name of the arrow duplication technique was perhaps a little grander than it deserved. While it did create multiple copies of my arrow that mirrored its flight to create a one-man volley. There were only sixteen of them, and my father had been able to create twenty-four if he pushed himself.
It might be a far cry from ten thousand arrows, but as I watched the projectiles fly in a curved arc, I felt confident the leopard or whatever I had just seen wouldn’t be able to avoid them all.
As though on queue, there was a fierce yowl as the arrows plunged into the waist-high grass.
“I think you got him.” Said Yi Ming as he pulled himself back to his feet.
“I did,” I replied almost absentmindedly. I wasn’t truly listening to my friend; rather, my eyes had focused on a bob of movement dozens of feet away. One of the temporary Qi arrows was sticking out of something that was both on the move and keeping low.
Yi Ming was saying something else, though he didn’t get the chance to finish.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“Wait here,” I ordered and dashed further into the long grass. I couldn’t let this opportunity go to waste. The arrow that had found its target wouldn’t last long, and once it vanished, the beast would go back to being virtually invisible. Especially as the near-perpetual winds of the steppes would keep the grass rustling whether my quarry was moving through it or not.
As I ran, I launched more arrows towards the one I could see moving. These were mundane arrows with no technique to aid them, as I could only perform two more Ten Thousand Arrow Mirages today before exhausting myself.
It was a cost that simply wasn’t worth it when I was already myself. Making use of my speed and strength with a little bit of Qi running through my muscles was often far more devastating than a mere seventeen arrows. Despite the fact that I was obviously an excellent shot with my bow, the partly ascended beast had miraculous enough reflexes to avoid each of the four shots I sent directly into its path.
If the bobbing arrow was anything to go by, that path had curved back around and was presently surging towards me with the speed of a localized hurricane. The velocity of the invisible creature didn’t even seem to dip when it evaded my arrows.
‘Good,’ I thought with a grin and dropped my bow behind me. Outside of a raining volley that covered a wide area, my projectiles were simply too slow for the creature. I, on the other hand, was not too slow.
This would be a task for the halberd.
I adored the range, power, and versatility of the halberd; it was honestly almost the perfect weapon. However, something about the way the head of my inherited polearm was weighted had never quite sat right with me. Obviously, I was still excellent with it, but if I had a choice in the matter, I would change the design of the weapon ever so slightly.
The obvious move would be to swing low for where the legs or main body of the surging blur would likely be. However, if it was indeed a leopard, a fact of which I was increasingly confident, it would simply leap over the attack and onto me.
It had already proved it had the reflexes for such a maneuver. As the arrow stuck, the blur closed in on me, I considered my options further.
I didn’t think this animal had yet cultivated enough to begin its transformation into a human being. So really, it was still just a dumb beast with delusions of grandeur. That all sounded right to me, so I stood my ground and faked a swing towards where I thought its legs were. As predicted, the vaguely leopard-shaped blur leaped upward to avoid the blow.
As I had planned for this, adjusting my swing was a matter of simplicity. Especially as even a cat can’t change its direction once it's in the air…well, one further along its journey towards humanity might be able to, but I was pretty confident if the beast were that powerful, it would never have been hit with my arrow in the first place.
The head of my halberd bit deep into the side of the leaping blur, and I felt the telltale sensation of my weapon cutting flesh. Blood sprayed into the air as the invisibility technique failed, and the now fully revealed leopard was knocked aside by the force of my blow. It crashed onto its uninjured side before twisting back onto its feet with an explosive grace.
The mountain cat was the largest of its breed I had ever seen and evidently at least smart enough to know when it was overmatched. The leopard let out a low growl in its throat before taking a deep breath. When it did, the vicious wound I had left just behind its front shoulder glowed bright green for a moment, and the flow of blood pouring from the animal slowed dramatically.
The fanged bastard had used a self-healing technique! Obviously, not an overly powerful one, as it still bled, and most of the wound still remained. I was still so shocked by what I saw that it took me a few heartbeats to give chase after the leopard turned and tried to flee.
“Hey!” I roared in indignation. “Get back here and fight!”
It's hard to say whether or not the leopard had advanced far enough to understand me. I can however, confirm that it did not obey my demand, so I set off in pursuit.
I should have grabbed my bow.
No longer able to maintain its invisibility, nor move with its previous speed I ran the beast down in time to see my arrow duplicate vanish.
The leopard was pumping its legs frantically, cutting a path through the long grass as it tried to escape me.
‘This is the difference between a man and a predatory beast.’ I realized.
‘A man will fight and even sometimes win a battle where he is outmatched. A predator will never know if it could achieve such a feat, as it fights only battles it believes it can benefit from.’
I genuinely wasn't sure which idea was superior: Man or predator?
It didn't really matter in that moment, though. This was a battle I was both going to win and benefit from.
With a wordless cry, I leaped forward to cover the last of the distance between us. My halberd swept down from above my head in a two-handed strike that would split the leopard's spine.
I probably shouldn't have yelled as I launched my attack. In hindsight, it simply let the beast know what was happening, and it twisted out of the way in the final moment before my weapon's blade struck home. Spinning to face me, the oversized cat came to a skidding stop with its extended claws, leaving deep grooves in the earth.
My eyes met those of the beast, and I could tell it knew outrunning me had ceased to be an option. Even if it still had the ability to maintain its previous invisibility, I would be able to keep track of it via its wounds.
The moment of shared understanding lasted an impossibly short amount of time as we both knew the next moments would be critical. I surged forwards, bringing my halberd across in a diagonal slash towards the leopard’s wounded side.
For its part, the beast let out a furious roar and lunged to meet my assault with a swiping paw. The huge claws that extended from its limb glowed a burning crimson as it channeled its Qi into a third animalistic imitation of technique.
I screamed in defiance and poured Qi into my halberd. I wouldn’t call it a technique exactly, though it was the beginning of one. Moreover, I simply extended my own power into my weapon in the hopes of countering the beast's attempt.
This too proved to be a mistake as the wooden handle of the halberd couldn’t withstand the sudden onrush of Qi. Before the leopard had even reached me, my weapon exploded in my hands.
Shocked at having suddenly disarmed myself, I dropped the ruined weapon remnant and raised a warding arm to catch the leopard’s blow. Even for me, there would be no avoiding the beast’s strike now. Those glowing claws bit deep into the flesh just above my elbow, and I could feel a surge of the leopard’s Qi as it attempted to explode my limb with a rush of scorching life energy.
It would have worked too if I hadn’t already pulled my all-purpose work and fighting knife from its sheath and rammed it directly through the neck of the attacking leopard before its claws ever made contact with my flesh. The beast spasmed and made one last pitiful attempt to fight me off. I allowed none of it, driving the blade deep into the animal’s neck before vigorously ripping it through the beast’s throat and windpipe. It died not long after that.
Cursing the leopard, the Heavens, the Emperor, Yi Ming, and everyone else I could think of, I tore the straps off of my now empty quiver. These I used to bind the wound of my almost limp arm, before stuffing my quiver in the dead leopard’s mouth and hefting the beast over the shoulder of my good arm and heading back to find Yi Ming.
Locating my scrawny friend didn’t take long. In fact, it was even easier than I’d anticipated. Yi Ming stood out quite a bit as he was accompanied by a group of men on horses. I want to be clear now, these were true horses, not steppe ponies, but enormous beasts of war whose hooves glowed with the power of their own cultivation.
The men riding these magnificent beasts were the most ornately dressed people I had ever seen. They had high plumes, and fine armour, and they carried themselves like they ruled everything that had the misfortune of falling within their sight.
“Bu!” Called Yi Ming. “You killed it.” I blinked at the astoundingly obvious statement and looked at the strangers. After a moment’s hesitation, I offered a respectful bow as even I could see we were in the presence of someone important, someone powerful.
how do you feel about the Memory Fragments?
