Chương 51: Death Reborn, IV

In the middle of the night, as Wu Hao's eyes began to droop, a loud thud reached their ears. Old Qin had fallen asleep despite his best efforts, finally crawling into his sleeping bag with a few grunts of discontent, and from thereon out no one had offered to share a watch. The man on watch - Chu Bidao, Wu Hao remembered - woke up from the trance that he'd been in by the fire. He risked a look around, seeing that everyone else had fallen asleep, and stretched.

"Wait," Wu Hao hissed, and Chu Bidao nearly leapt into the air from right. Wu Hao had kept his arms clear of the sleeping bag on purpose, allowing to quickly shimmy out of it easily, and then he sprang to his feet.

"Don't go," Wu Hao said.

"It's bandits." Chu Bidao looked at him in silence, then shook his head in dismay. He wasn't the greatest thinker Wu Hao had ever known, but he did seem to be considering something for a long moment before he spoke.

"Fuck off," he mumbled.

"I'm just going for a piss." And he lumbered off while Wu Hao watched, stunned. Cursing, Wu Hao wondered if maybe he should follow that idiot, but then decided that he'd done what he could for Chu Bidao. Fuck him, Wu Hao decided. He needed to go do what needed doing. First, though, he breathed in as deeply as he could and then shouted, loudly, into the quiet of the night: "Ambush! Bandits! Attack!"

Several of the men shuddered as they abruptly were ripped from their sleep, but Wu Hao started kicking them, pushing them, until they started getting to their feet, casting him angry looks. Even Old Qin looked like a bear who'd been awoken in the middle of winter. Wu Hao couldn't let himself care, though. Instead, he ran - not towards where the raiders would come, but instead towards the carriage, where his secret weapons lay, waiting for him.

With strides that still felt infuriatingly short he ran up to it, tried to kick open the door and failed, needing a few good kicks before it finally gave way, and then he stared into the surprised face of Liu Zhiyi. Odd how familiar that felt, Wu Hao thought, and then Liu Zhiyi opened his mouth and screamed.

"Bandit!" he roared.

"Bandits! Old Wang, help me!" Wu Hao ignored him and instead his eyes scanned the carriage. Something was familiar about this entire scenario but he ignored it and he was busy pushing away that persistent thought when a fist slammed into his face and stunned him. It wasn't a heavy punch. Liu Zhiyi had punched him, and he still stood there with his fist extended as if surprised he'd actually dared. Growling under his breath, Wu Hao ripped the knife from his sleeve and took it into his hands. Then he advanced.

Liu Zhiyi retreated every time Wu Hao made a random stabbing motion, but finally Wu Hao's patience was gone at the slow going and he stomped on the man's feet. With a squawk of pain, Liu Zhiyi fell back and fell, draping himself over the far bench and hitting his head against the driver's side window. Seizing the moment, Wu Hao pulled open the bench and sent its cover clattering over the carriage floor.

Liu Zhiyi made a sound of protest, before that changed into a noise of horror as Wu Hao threw out several of the bags of snacks, a bottle of wine and a cheap-looking booklet depicting red lanterns. Finally, Wu Hao found what he'd been looking for. Hidden beneath several of the bags, a wrapped box lay that had the Golden Lotus Company printed on it, and he pulled it out of its hiding spot to begin tearing the package away.

"No!" Liu Zhiyi screamed, but it was too late. Wu Hao had found the peaches, and he hauled ass as fast as he could out of the carriage. Liu Zhiyi's whine followed him out, where he took a few quick breaths, stuffed the peaches into his pockets so that they hopefully wouldn't fall, and ran for where he heard the noises of combat. The first thing he saw was Old Qin and several others, back to back facing a circling set of bandits. Nearby, near the fire, the bandit's Boss Li stood.

His grin might have been hideous in the daylight but in the dark it seemed downright demonic. He turned, though, at the sound of Wu Hao approaching, and held his saber into a defensive position. Then he saw it was Wu Hao and relaxed.

"Look at him," he jeered.

"Little brat thinks he's a hero, huh?" Wu Hao rose to his full height, little though it felt like, and then pulled out the first of the peaches.

"Boss," one of the bandits said.

"That's -""A Three-Seed Peach," Boss Li grunted.

"I know." Wu Hao pushed it into his mouth and bit into it. It was fantastically sweet, sweeter than he'd expected or ever tasted, and the flesh was incredibly juicy. He worked his way through the peach as quickly as he could, stuffing his face with the thing. Juice dribbled over his chin and left stains on his clothes. For some reason, he couldn't help but think of Du Linglong. His lips twitched, and he didn't even have to put any effort into his smile for the first time since he'd returned to this time.

And then he felt the peach's qi begin working, rushing outwards from his stomach into the rest of him. Heat blazed through his throat, not the uncomfortable heat of a blazing fire but a loving heat, a gentle heat. It hurt slightly, but it was the good pain of healing. Qi, Wu Hao thought. Glorious, glorious qi. He knew that it hadn't been long, but by the same token it felt like it had been ages.

As it burned through his meridians Wu Hao's senses began to regain their former sensitivity, his muscles finally twitched the way he wanted them to, and his mind felt clear. He'd missed this. His fingers twitched, and he couldn't stop himself from twisting the knife in the air a few times. It cut through the air with satisfying sounds. Taking a step forward, feeling confidence burn through him as qi worked to cleanse his meridians, he let the smile on his face fall as he looked at Boss Li.

Boss Li grinned to hide his anger. His qi bubbled up from his skin.

"You think a fucking fruit is gonna make you my match? You wasteful little fucker. How dare you waste what's mine to take?" Wu Hao breathed in, breathed out, tasted the lingering sweetness on his tongue. Then he pushed the rest of the qi of the peach around, tearing it away from his nonexistent core, and forced it up against his fingers. They began to tingle, but then he pushed his knife forwards, using every shred of qi that the peach had given him.

"Rending Dagger Art," Wu Hao said softly, and Boss Li's evil smile froze on his face.

"Void Rip." The qi pooling at his fingertips rushed through the knife and poured out. Threads of yellow-tinged silk ripped out of his knife, forming into a long silver line that was far less scraggly than any he'd managed before, and he sent it flying forwards. It bit into the bandits, the line breaking into segments as it encountered obstacles, and it inflicted deep wounds. One man lost fingers, another had deep wounds in his back as he'd turned to run from the Void Rip.

It cut through the leather vests that the men were wearing with relative ease, much moreso than Wu Hao had even expected it. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Boss Li, unfortunately, had only thin lines that ran up his arms from where he'd blocked with his saber and his arms. Wu Hao could see the traces of the man's qi having burned up from his skin in order to protect him. Silence fell, several of the bandits stumbling.

He hadn't managed a kill, unfortunately.

"Martial artist!" one of the bandits screamed, and then he broke and ran into the night. A few followed him, but half of them still remained. Even Old Qin and the others remained, rooted to the ground as if mesmerized. The look in Boss Li's eyes was inscrutable, but Wu Hao could read his qi. He saw indecision warring with caution, unwillingness, pride, and he saw fear. Fear of Wu Hao. The giant said nothing, but his hands gripped the hilt of his saber so tightly that they seemed almost bloodless.

Wu Hao grinned, spat out the peach's three seeds, and with the hand that wasn't holding the knife, he took another peach from his pocket. It'd smashed slightly on the run over and it'd left a mess inside his clothes, but Wu Hao didn't give a shit.

"Run," Wu Hao said.

"While you still can." Then he shoved the second peach into his mouth. A few of the bandits did turn, but Boss Li broke from the trance. He took a few running steps, his qi swelling, and roared as he brought his saber slamming down onto Wu Hao's head. But Wu Hao wasn't there anymore. With another surge of qi burning through him, he first forced half to his feet and blasted it outwards.

He couldn't manage the acrobatic leaps that he'd done before - this was more of a quick hop that took him out of the saber's path, and with a few rushed steps he'd managed to race to behind Boss Li's back.

"Rending Dagger Art," Wu Hao chanted again.

"Long Hook!" That same yellow-tinged qi flushed through the knife, bursting out of its tip and forming into an edge far sharper than the knife itself had ever been. Gossamer-thin, it was the best Long Hook Wu Hao had ever managed to create. He slashed outwards, trying his best to cut through all of Boss Li.

He nearly managed it - felt flesh and blood explode out of the man's back as the Long Hook tore through his left shoulder - Boss Li let out a roar that was in no way human - but then the Long Hook smashed against thick bone, buzzed repeatedly, and ground its way to a stop. Wu Hao pushed, pled, pumped all the qi the peach had to give him, but then even that fizzled out. He stared at his knife for a moment before one of Boss Li's arms smashed him aside and hit the ground, rolling before he came to a stop.

Then he raised himself to shaking feet. Boss Li stared back at him, the saber held in the shaking fingers of the giant's working hand. Knowledge of Anatomy that he'd picked up somewhere told him that he'd ripped through enough muscle and bone that the other arm was a total loss, but he hadn't managed to confirm his kill. That was fine, he told himself. He just needed the third peach to finish this. His grasping hand felt nothing in his pocket.

The wetness of the previous peaches, but no soft flesh, nothing bursting with life and with qi met his fingers. Fuck, Wu Hao thought. The third peach was missing. It must have rolled out of his pocket when Boss Li had hit him before. His eyes darted from side to side, hoping to see it, but then his entire view was taken up by the sight of Boss Li rushing at him with ungainly steps and another loud roar. Wu Hao juked back and stumbled back in equal measure, trying to escape from the madman hunting him.

Unfortunately, even Boss Li's ungainly steps were twice the size of Wu Hao's, and when they met there was a confused instant where Wu Hao's feet nearly tripped over a tree root. Boss Li's eyes gleamed in the moonlight reflected off Wu Hao's knife and then there was pain. He stared downwards, at the saber that had managed to cut into his belly, too surprised to even feel it yet. But then the pain came, and Wu Hao bit down on the high-pitched wail of pain.

This body wasn't used to punishment like this yet, hadn't built up the scars and the resistance that came with them. His mind had felt this all before, but his body felt the shock of knowing he might die soon for the first time. Worse, Boss Li mumbled more desperate nothings as he twisted the saber. Wu Hao tried to yank it out of his belly, but with Boss Li's larger hands in the way there was nothing he could do to get it out of him. It seesawed to the side and Wu Hao gasped in pain.

But with his other hand he clutched at his knife with pale fingers, tore the vital qi from his ribs in an immediate reflex, and wove it into a loop. He set his eyes on Boss Li's, finding a mirror to his own hate in there.

"Rending Dagger Art," Wu Hao panted.

"Grand Sting." Qi poured from the knife as he thrust it forward, hands angling just the way that they needed to be, qi forming itself into a few blurry ghost-like tips that resolved and cohered into one single sharp edge that flashed past Boss Li's throat and then was gone. Boss Li's eyes opened wide and he choked on his own blood, trying to speak, trying to say something. His gaze stared off to something at the side - Liu Zhiyi let out a plaintive whine - and Boss Li died.

Wu Hao kicked himself away and fell onto the ground as the giant's massive corpse fell backwards. Wu Hao didn't bother checking his kill, though, and instead his eyes turned to Boss Li's saber. It wasn't embedded deep into him, but that didn't mean it was any less fatal of a wound. His ribs were screaming like he'd been hit by a hammer and his heart was shuddering irregularly in his chest, but in equal parts that was his own fault for draining his vital qi.

And with that thought, the last of the vital qi that he'd been holding onto slipped from his grasp. The knife too skittered to the ground, escaping from fingers that felt numb and boneless. His eyes shuddered closed unwillingly. So he'd died again. He'd do better next time, he thought as he was fading. He'd - A hand took a firm grip of his forehead and jerked his head back slightly, pulling his mouth open, and then he heard the soft sound of something being pulped.

He had only the time to wonder what the hell was going on before something watery and sweet began to drip into his mouth. He sputtered, ripped from the comforting darkness of death by the sheer surprise, and his eyes flew open. He stared directly into Old Qin's worried eyes and the remnants of the last Three-Seed Peach, which was being held directly over Wu Hao's mouth. Behind them he heard the cries of fleeing bandits being cut down, Liu Zhiyi's desperate pleas for his servants to tend to him, and general chaos.

Wu Hao choked out a surprised laugh, and Old Qin's eyes lit up to see him awake again, but then a wave of tiredness like he'd never felt before washed over him and his eyes fluttered shut again. This time, though, when the darkness embraced him, he knew it was only the embrace of sleep.