Chương 39: "He was the only one who could save them"

Ch 39: "He was the only one who could save them" Zhen pulled qi into the meridians around his throat and lungs. The wolf's head formed in an instant. Zhen waited for a fraction of a second to ensure that Borin knew what was coming for him. Then he released it. It raced across the pit floor and dissolved into Borin. The large langren froze part way through a lunge, locked in place. His eyes bulged and flicked from side to side, but nothing else moved.

Zhen tilted his head and looked at him appraisingly for a moment then, with a flex of his will, he pushed a pulse of qi into the ground. Two walls of stone erupted on either side of Borin. Then spikes emerged from their surfaces and angled toward him. Zhen poured qi into the walls and two of the spikes slowly extended until their points hovered millimeters from Borin's wide, panicked eyes.

If there was anyone who would know how much skill and control it would take to use Earthen Citadel like that, it was the soldiers around the pit. Their silence said it all. Zhen glanced over at Gaarch. The War Leader just shrugged. Zhen turned back and, without rushing, he crossed the pit floor. He stopped directly in front of Borin. The langren followed him with his eyes but otherwise couldn't move. Without warning, Zhen lined up his hammer with Borin's chest, and swung.

The langren flew backward, tumbling through the air in a graceless arc. He slammed into the far wall with a wet crunch that echoed off the stone. The boundary ring flared crimson as he crossed it. He slumped onto the pit floor, gasping as Zhen released him from Growl of the Crushing Maw. Blood spattered from his mouth with each cough. Zhen lowered his war hammer and turned toward Gaarch.

"I hope that didn't take too long, War Leader." Gaarch's expression remained unreadable, but something flickered in his eyes. Zhen walked across the pit toward Jatrix, who stood at the edge with her arms crossed.

"I'm sorry for delaying us, but we still have a few things to do before we leave. Maybe we should head over to the Quartermaster." Jatrix blinked once, then nodded slowly. Zhen glanced at Sill. Her her ears tilted forward in what might have been shock. He gave her a nod, then he and Jatrix walked out of the fighting pit. The crowd remained silent as they headed down the stone corridors and left the arena behind. Jatrix kept pace beside him as they walked.

Neither of them said anything as they passed empty barracks and storage rooms. When they turned a second corner, Jatrix stopped walking and turned to Zhen.

"You got all the bloodline techniques in the Ordeal?" Zhen nodded. Her brown and white fur bristled along her shoulders.

"All of them?" Her voice rose.

"And you mastered them well enough to beat Borin. How is that even possible?" She shook her head sharply, her muzzle twisting in frustration.

"Never mind. It's the Ordeal. It's not as if you're going to answer my questions." She carried on walking, and Zhen followed trying to rationalize what he had just done. Picking that fight with Borin, never mind ending it the way that he did, wasn't something that he would have done before the Ordeal. Apparently, it had changed him in more ways than he had realized. Fighting and dying that many times had tempered his attitude, as much as his skills.

The Quartermaster's depot was a low-ceilinged chamber lined with shelves and crates. The Quartermaster himself was an older langren with grey streaking his muzzle who gave the impression that there was nothing that he hadn't seen before. His staff had already prepared packs for them with sleeping rolls, food and other essentials neatly stored. He had even found a slightly smaller pack that would fit Zhen better than the langren-sized ones. After quickly checking them over they headed toward the scout barracks.

Sill waited outside with three other langren. Kames stood to her left. He had a bruise on his jaw from where Zhen had knocked him out, but clearly harbored no ill will and greeted him with a friendly grin. Varth and Nessra, the other two Stone-Arms Sill had called out earlier, were with them. Borin, unsurprisignly, was a no-show. Sill looked at Zhen and her expression might have been one of grudging respect before it settled into professional neutrality.

"It will shock no one to hear that after recent events, Borin is in no position to join this mission." Her tone carried no judgment.

"His role in the unit was to hold the center of the line in any fight. The human, Tie Zhen is an adequate substitute." Varth snorted at that, but as Sill's ear flicked toward him he fell silent.

"Scout Captain Jatrix. You have command. Go well. Return with honor." The unit fell into formation and headed deeper into the settlement. Langren watched them as they passed and Zhen caught some of their whispers. It would appear that word of the Ring Brawl had already spread. Jatrix brief them as they walked.

"We'll head to the Fortress of Rockhold first. Get a report on the state of the Deadlands before we head into it." This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. She turned to Zhen.

"Rockhold is the last outpost at the edge of our territory. At a steady pace we should get there in around half a day." The settlement stretched further than Zhen had realized. They passed residential warrens, shops and workshops for various trades, as well as schools and training yards. To Zhen's craftsman's eye, the architecture was rather beautiful. The builders had worked with the stone instead of against it, to follow the natural contours of the cavern.

Two hours of walking brought them to the outskirts of the settlement. The cavern ceiling lowered here and the path ahead narrowed to a single tunnel entrance. Jatrix raised her hand and the scout unit paused.

"Water and food break. Ten minutes. While we're stopped, Stone-Arm Kames, teach Zhen Lope." Kames saluted casually and stepped forward.

"You're going to like this Zhen. Let me show you what it is first." He began moving his legs in an exaggerated pattern, like warming up for a sprint. Then his breathing shifted, becoming deeper and more rhythmic. Qi flowed through his lower body and chest in a pattern that Zhen could follow with the Eye. Kames started to run at what looked like a slow jog but he moved far faster than any human could maintain for longer than a minute or so. He showed no sign of strain and his breathing remained steady.

He circled back and stopped." Lope is a langren bloodline technique like the ones you somehow used on Borin. Unlike those, all langren are born knowing how to use this. It's instinctive for us. This is just a more advanced version that we use in the scouts to keep going longer and faster." Kames' tail lashed once.

"Honestly, I'm not quite sure how to explain it to someone who isn't langren."

"Don't worry." Zhen watched the qi flows still cycling through Kames' meridians.

"Let me see a couple more times." Kames ran a couple more times. Zhen used the Eye to log how he moved his qi through the meridians in his legs and lungs, and then around his chest to support his breathing. Almost harder was understanding how Kames was able to navigate moving at that speed without stumbling over rough ground or into a pillar. It took a moment but Zhen realised that Kames was just using his natural langren senses and instincts.

Zhen frowned for a moment while he tried to work out how to replicate that. The best he could do was fully utilize his enhanced senses both from reaching the second stage of Qi Condensation and from the infusion of langren blood from Gaarch. That should hopefully allow him to keep up for now. Once he thought he had the pattern memorized, Zhen closed his eyes and moved qi through the meridians in his lower body and chest in the same pattern that Kames had used.

Using the Eye he watched the flow critically until it was a perfect match to what he had observed. Compared to the intricate patterns he had mastered in the Ordeal, this was trivial. In fact, it shared structural similarities with the speed component of Stalker's Prowl, just focused more narrowly. Zhen opened his eyes, stood, and then ran he managed the technique at his first attempt. His legs moved faster than they should, eating up the distance with each stride.

His breathing remained steady and he pushed his senses out as far as he could to avoid an embarrassing tumble. It took some concentration and a few laps of the cavern, but he managed to work it out. As he returned to the group, Kames looked at him and started to laugh.

"We'll make a Duskmane scout of you yet. How did you pick that up so fast?"

"Good job, both of you." Jatrix's voice cut through the laughter.

"We use Lope from here to Rockhold. Move out." She glanced at Zhen one more time, then turned and started running. The scout unit moved at a steady pace through wide tunnels that had clearly started naturally but had since been shaped by the langren over generations. Zhen settled into the rhythm of Lope. as he moved he used the Eye to watch how the other used Lope. There were a few minor differences in the qi flow that he spotted that, when he incorporated it into his own Lope, made it feel even more natural.

They passed caravans passing in both directions that were pulled by sturdy ponies moving carts laden with crates of ore, sacks of grain, bundled tools, and more. Langren merchants walked alongside their goods. Each one offered a respectful nod to the unit and, more often than not, looked curiously at Zhen. A column of soldiers marched past. Their officer raised a fist to his chest in salute to Sill, who returned it without breaking stride.

"We're picking up a lot of attention," Zhen observed. Jatrix's ears flicked back toward him.

"Only because we choose not to hide. No one would see us if we didn't want them to. Duskmane scouts specialize in stealth, particularly operations deep in enemy territory." She adjusted her pack straps as she ran.

"We're respected because we do the work no one else wants to do." Varth snorted from behind them.

"We're respected because we're damn good at what we do."

"That too." Jatrix's tail swished once.

"As for you specifically, a human is a rarity down here. Once they find out you beat Borin in a Ring Brawl you'll draw even more attention." The tunnel opened up into a vast cavern. Terraced fields of mushrooms covered the floor and cavern walls in neat rows, their caps ranging from pale white to deep purple. Langren farmers tended the crops, moving between the terraces. There were clusters of crystals in the ceiling that lit the entire space.

"Two days is too little time to teach you proper tracking," Jatrix continued.

"But we can work on your stealth skills while we travel, and Lope will help you get through hostile territory fast." She glanced at him again.

"As for combat, I'm not sure you'll need a lot of help from us." Kames laughed.

"Did you see Borin's face when those spikes appeared?"

"Focus on the mission." Jatrix's admonishment carried no heat. They passed through another large settlement built around a mining camp. Langren worked at forges and sorting stations, processing raw ore into refined metal. The settlement sprawled across multiple connected caverns, each lit by those same bright crystal clusters. Zhen activated the Eye as they ran. The crystals drew qi from nearby ore veins, converting earth-attuned energy into light.

Most of them appeared naturally, but a few had clearly been grown at specific points to ensure none of the main travel routes would be in darkness. The path led steadily downward, deeper into the mountain's heart. Zhen tracked the ore veins as they passed, following the flow of qi through stone and metal. It felt like a lifetime ago when he and Ruo-Chen had first descended into the langren lands, tracking the sluggish qi in an iron vein.

The pattern he had observed higher up in the mountains was even more marked down here. The qi flowed more lethargically in the veins that came up from below. Zhen narrowed his focus. The original iron vein he had traced with Ruo-Chen was lost somewhere behind them, but plenty of other veins showed the same symptoms. The lower they went, the worse it got. They passed through several more farming caverns and the consequence of the weakened flows of qi was clear.

Those caverns where the ore veins pulsed with clean, strong qi coming down from above had healthy crops. In caverns where the flow of qi in the veins were dull and slow, the crops looked stunted. I was clear how it worked. The affected veins fed less qi into their surroundings, which meant the crops that depended on ambient qi grew weaker. As he looked at the dying crops Zhen felt an anger building inside him.

Even if the Duskmane couldn't see the flow of qi in the ore veins was weakening, they surely must be able to see the crops failing in the lower caverns. He couldn't understand why they weren't trying to fix this themselves. It would take time but, unless something changed, the path was set. The langren farms in affected areas in the lower caverns would fail first before spreading to the other settlements. At that point the Duskmane would have to move or starve. Either way their way of life would be changed forever.

He nodded to himself. He had come here to save himself and to get Shuo and Chul out of Ruo-Chen's hands. That hadn't changed. But watching those stunted crops, and knowing what was coming, it was no longer just about that. The Thirsting Veins were dying from within, and he was the only one who could save them.