Chương 18: The Four Winds Smell of Garbage

Free Gale's power whipped against the defensive formations as he nocked a bone-tipped arrow and fired it at the caravan. Golden light flickered around the encircled wagons, shielding both the mortals within and the cultivators from Free Gale's spiritual pressure.

"Handle the Distillators! I will put down this mad dog," Master Wan barked at Hao and Xing Jia.

"The Four Winds send their trash here. They should be easy prey once they're grounded. Support your juniors! Our people will be a little safer when we're done." Hao rather thought they'd all be safer if Master Wan had stuck to the Lonely Road, but who was he to complain? Free Gale seemed like a right bastard. He wouldn't mind taking a swing at the Ruminator. They'd have to sweep up the garbage quickly if Hao wanted to get a shot at him. Master Wan didn't seem like he was in a playful mood.

"Come at us, you little shits!" Hao bellowed at the gliding Four Winds warband, fighting down a little surge of envy at the sight of their wings. Flying Arts usable by low-stage cultivators were rare in Sunbeam, although not entirely unheard of. Most were jealously guarded by whatever sect pioneered them.

"Come throw yourselves on my spear!" Hao paused.

"Just like your mothers did last night!" Xing Jia looked spectacularly unimpressed by Hao's crude comment, but Master Wan's pupils roared out their own insults in turn, only to be met by a vulgar barrage, most involving the Sunbeamers' mothers and their intimate relations with donkeys. Then Free Gale nocked another bone arrow, leveled it at Master Wan, and let it fly. Qi snapped from the bow, wreathing around the arrow like a tornado.

The projectile loosed with the howling of a storm's arrival, darting forward so quickly that Hao could barely track its approach as it shattered the defensive formations— Master Wan plucked the arrow from the air and seared away its propelling winds with a faint starburst of light. The Ruminator examined the arrow, then waved it at Free Gale.

"Free Gale! Scourge of the Lonely Plains." Master Wan pointed the arrow right at Free Gale.

"I will cut the wings from your back. I will sever your limbs and leave you bleeding on the ground, unable even to crawl. And when it is over and you beg for the Emperor's mercy, I will kill you with this arrow." Free Gale cursed Master Wan, who flicked his sword from its sheath. A crescent of golden sunlight swept at Free Gale and his airborne warriors, forcing those nearest to him to scatter, and the Four Winds leader thundered.

"Attack!" Master Wan blazed with golden light as he vaulted over the wagons and thrust his palm at Free Gale. A searing ray burst from the Ruminator's hand and struck the Four Winds leader, though a swirling gale broke it. The two Ruminators swiftly took their battle elsewhere, darting across the plains at speeds that even Hao struggled to track. He didn't bother trying for long. They had their own foes to attend to! Ten cultivators dove down on cloudy wings, howling as Master Wan's students met them in battle.

The Calcinators met them evenly, though many of their faces were white with fear as steel flashed, blood splashed, and qi flew. How sheltered were Master Wans' pupils? It was time for Hao to teach these juniors how it was done!

"Face me if you dare, Four Winds!" Hao bellowed out his challenge to the five Distillators who still flew in circles around the wall of wagons. He vaulted over the wagons, leaving the confines of the broken formation. Distillators fighting around a bunch of Calcinators was a surefire way to end up with a bunch of dead kids.

"I, Xiao Hao, think you're a bunch of—" Apparently the Four Winds warband had taken offense to his earlier comments about their mothers, as five of their six Distillators changed direction to face him in the open fields just a short distance away from the caravan. Hao grinned, embracing the Wildfire as it swirled within him. The Cheng Spear was warm in his hand.

"Ready to taste some Four Winds blood?" The spear gave no response. Oh well, it was worth a try. Xing Jia leapt over the caravan and stood next to Hao with her sword raised.

"Good thinking leading their main force away from our juniors, Brother Xiao! I didn't think you were capable of it."

"The occasional thought leaps through this thick skull," Hao said, tapping his forehead briefly before returning his hand to the Cheng Spear. A wild grin carved across his face as the Distillators swept down. Any second now!

"But I'd usually rather be killing things."

"Here's your chance!" Xing Jia grimaced at the sight of a Four Winds Distillator with a crippled wing rushing across the grasses.

"I'll take these two! We need to split them. Converge on the others once we've won!" With that, Xing Jia leapt to the side, luring two of the Distillators to face her. Hao only cared for those poor bastards who chose to fight him.

"You took one of my wings!" The burly man roared, preparing to thrust as he sprinted closer.

"Taste the wrath of the South Wind Thrust!" The burly Distillator lunged. Air swirled around his spear, forming a mighty cyclone that launched at Hao even as two other Distillators dove at him. Each of the Four Winds raiders wielded spears. Hao's grin never faded. This was his first real battle—he'd killed plenty, of course, and slaughtered scores of bandits and beasts under Master Bolin's tutelage. Violence was the finest whetstone. What better motivation to train when you knew your life was on the line?

But he'd never gotten to run free against so many foes! This was sheer unadulterated, bloody chaos. Hao felt right at home. The South Wind Thrust was complete shit. Hao laughed as he sidestepped the Distillator's lunge, avoiding the cyclone by a hair. The other two Distillators swept down, thrusting their spears at Hao as he dodged, but his Awakened Wildfire Physique granted him speed that they couldn't imagine.

Hao lazily flicked the thrusts aside with the Cheng Spear, sending the gliding warriors off to his left and right, and indulged the Wildfire as he realized the pitiful level of his opponents. Did they even have an Awakened Physique? Surely they'd at least ingrained a Concept into their spirit… If it weren't for Yuchen's spiritual storm cloud lurking just a few miles away, Hao would've let himself become drunk on the Wildfire as it swirled in his gut, aching for blood.

"Come on!" Hao's eyes sparkled with delight as the three Distillators circled around him. They all shared glances, clearly uneasy. Sister Xing engaged her duo, flowing between the two with a shining blade that constantly pushed the spear-wielding warriors back.

"Show me what the Four Winds are capable of!" Not much, as it turned out. Cinders swirled around Hao as he lunged forth towards the opponent directly ahead of him. He crossed a hundred feet in a second, laughing as the dumb bastard tried to shove Hao's spear upwards with the shaft of his own weapon. Unfortunately for him, the warrior's body cultivation was piss poor. His arms seemed like noodles in the face of Hao's strength. He couldn't even budge the Cheng Spear as it thrust towards him.

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"Brother!" One of the other warriors cried as the Cheng Spear punched right through the first man's chest, skewering through the spirit beast leather that he wore as if it were paper. Hao tore the Cheng Spear free, ripping through bone and muscle, and turned to grin at the other two as the corpse collapsed behind him.

"You'll pay for that, Sunbeam scum!"

"Master Wan was right," Hao remarked, leveling his spear at the man who'd just spoken.

"Only the Four Winds' trash makes it to the Lonely Plains." This was little more than a training exercise for Xiao Hao. Master Bolin had forged Hao into a weapon. These half-rate cultivators didn't even deserve to share the same battlefield! Both Four Winds warriors hissed in response, lunging forth in tandem, trying to pin Hao down with complementary spear thrusts. They were faster than the first Distillator, at least, but still painfully slow. Even a good Calcinator might be able to survive against these two!

They were stronger than just about any Calcinator thanks to the distilled qi flowing through their bodies, but fought clumsily. They were all ferocity and no skill.

"My old master claimed the Legion of the Four Winds is one of the fiercest fighting forces in the world," Hao remarked, chuckling as he batted aside his foes' clumsy strikes. He wasn't enjoying this so much that he didn't pay attention to the battlefield: fighting sounded from within the ring of caravans, and Sister Xing had cut the thigh of one of her enemies, leaving them to limp after her as she drove her two enemies apart.

"You poor bastards must be whatever's left."

"May the Emperor's gales be forever at my back!" One of the warriors howled, suddenly blitzing forward with incredible speed. Hao cackled as he batted the man's spear thrust down with the Cheng Spear, then stepped down to snap the weapon's shaft.

"Oh, wielding your distilled qi against me already?" Hao teased them, opening himself wide as he invited attack. The one whose spear he'd broken gaped at his shattered weapon, then tossed the broken spear aside in favor of a long knife sheathed at his side.

"Don't waste it! You'll need it all." Both warriors took heed. They blurred forth, wind howling around them as they burnt months—perhaps years—of their cultivation.

"I'm flattered!" Hao grunted, leaping backwards to avoid a spear thrust which would have plunged through his flank. He spat an Impure Exhale at the two as they frantically chased after him. Their winds parted the smokescreen, but he knew exactly where they were.

"All this for a White Rivers runaway!" He lunged forward, stopping just before he would have torn into the duo. Flame spewed from the Cheng Spear, searing his foes, and he relished their screams as they retreated. The wind buoyed their every step, aiding their escape.

"The strong take from the weak! Such is the natural order. It's expected," Hao called out, enjoying the heat of burning grasses as his cinders caught flame around him, igniting the field. The two warriors blanched as if they'd just seen a demon.

"But tell me, Four Winds…why would you ever consider yourselves to be amongst the first category? Your Emperor is said to value strength above all else. He would spit on you." Hao leveled the Cheng Spear, fire billowing from his skin. Smoke spilled from his nostrils. The world burnt and the Wildfire sang in his spirit.

"Tell me what you think of the Dawn Lord Spear Art!" Hao boasted, relishing the fear filling the Four Winds raiders' eyes. The closest one fled into the plains. Cloudy wings erupted from his back, flapping as he leapt for the safety of the sky.

"First Form: Sunrise Thrust!" Fiery qi rippled behind Hao as he lunged forward in a blur. The pathetic Distillator screamed as the Cheng Spear erupted from his front, its tip burning red. His wings vanished in a swirl of boiling steam.

"How many travelers have you made scream like this?" Hao twisted the Cheng Spear within the Distillator's chest. Unfortunately, the warrior was too busy screaming and clawing at the bloody heavenly jade tip to give a proper response. Rude, that. Hao punished the man's poor manners by ripping the Cheng Spear from the man's spine.

"Better luck in the next life, friend." He grinned over at the last of the Four Winds Distillators, who froze at the sight of his dead ally. Hao pointed the Cheng Spear's heavenly jade tip at him.

"You're next!" The Distillator ran. Hao paused to check on Xing Jia, smiling as he saw that she'd cut one of her enemies down and was currently circling around to hunt the crippled one. He couldn't see the Calcinators, but he trusted them to fend for themselves. Master Wan had invested far more into them than most minor sects did their disciples, let alone wandering cultivators. They could easily handle the Four Winds warriors if they were of similar quality to the Distillators here.

Free Gale had some power to him, but the rest were pathetic. It was no wonder they'd been sent to harass caravans traveling through the ass-end of Sunbeam. It was just time to finish cleaning up the trash. Hao sprinted after his prey. Cinders sprayed from him with every step, leaving a trail of burning grass in his wake, and the Wildfire ached for blood.

Smoke poured from his nostrils as he chased down the fleeing Distillator, mocking his foe even as he bore down upon him, intent upon snapping his neck with his bare hands instead of stabbing him.

"Feel the same fear you inflicted on others!" Hao snarled, closing the gap. He carried the Cheng Spear in one hand. His other clenched into a claw shape as he prepared to snatch the tall man by the neck and— Spiritual thunder pealed. Hao's instincts screamed. He leapt away, tumbling through the smoking grass as he caught himself and watched his foe die to a single blow. A fist plunged through the terrified Four Winds Distillator's head.

Blood, brain, and bone splattered across the fields as Cheng Yuchen's punch reduced the warrior's head to pulp. The Four Winds Distillator's body collapsed with a meaty thump.

"That was supposed to be you," Yuchen sneered, standing tall and proud despite his tattered White Rivers robes. His pale skin had acquired a slight tan from his travels. He flicked his wrist to shed the dead man's viscera.

"But I'll settle for putting down a Four Winds dog. You won't die so quickly, Xiao Hao. Not after leading me to the ends of the Empire!" Yuchen's thunderous aura exploded across the plains, dwarfing Hao's own power. The fighting ceased for a long moment before the sounds of clashing steel began anew. Fury rippled through the young Ruminator's spirit. Hao's heart pounded in his chest as he glared at Yuchen. He adopted the initial form of the Rising Phoenix Spear Art taught to him by Master Bolin.

The Dawn Lord Spear Art he'd taken from Master Wan was beautifully compatible with his Wildfire Physique, favoring simple, efficient motions for maximum ferocity, but it was still too new to be used against a foe like Yuchen. Where was Sister Fu? He needed her. Xing Jia was finishing off her last opponent, though she fought with newfound ferocity as she sought to come to Hao's aid. Master Wan was still miles away fighting with Free Gale, brightening the horizon with flashes of light.

The Calcinators were close, but less than useless against Yuchen. He needed time, damn it! Hao clutched the Cheng Spear, which quivered in response to the bloodlust gushing through Hao's spirit. It took all his self-control to wear a mask of forced casualness.

"Ah, Yuchen! What excellent timing. I'd expect nothing less from the Cheng Clan's heir. My thanks for your generous assistance. I was really struggling with that last one," Hao added. He kept the Cheng Spear leveled on Yuchen, his earlier fun forgotten. Black rage simmered in his gut.

"Isn't it nice to put old grudges behind us?" Yuchen adopted the first form of his White Surging Current Style. He still hadn't picked up a weapon. Only the Cheng Spear would do, no doubt.

"You always thought you were so clever," Yuchen said in a voice cold enough to make Senior Brother Jun proud.

"Playing with words like a kitten with yarn. Your tricks won't help you now!" Hao whistled.

"Yuchen, was that a simile? I'm impressed. Congratulations, Senior! This puts your achievements in the West Lake City Tournament to shame." Yuchen scowled, fumbling over that for a moment, but Hao didn't shut up. He made a show of sniffing the air.

"Ugh, I should've known you were close. I knew I smelled monkey shit." Yuchen's eyes widened. His pale cheeks flushed red. Hao wondered if Yuchen would ever learn that stopping to trade barbs with him before a duel wasn't a good strategy.

"I told Sister Fu that was your doing!" Yuchen roared, forgetting the harmony that Ruminators were supposed to strive for. Wild qi arced around Yuchen like lightning, gouging shallow pits into the soil.

"I knew you put that filthy beast up to attacking me—" Emperor's Sunny Sack, that golden monkey actually came through! Hao was going to pay that dumb beast's tax a hundred times over the next time he passed through the Corelands. His little jape bore better fruit than he could've imagined. Yuchen was distracted for just a moment. That was all Hao needed. He burnt a droplet of distilled qi without a thought, clutching the power close as it burst through his meridians, fueling the Wildfire in his spirit.

The Cheng Spear's tip burned. His legs launched him at Yuchen like a flaming arrow. It was time to settle his debts!