“Evil gods!” the woman behind him cried out, then she went down in a tangle of limbs as Auntie Ling threw the body of her dead comrade at her.
Hong Fei had drawn the sword he’d taken from the One in Charge, but there was no need of it. Auntie Ling followed after the toss, and her claws made short work of the second Tiger Mask.
“Well done,” Hong Fei whispered, moving past the giant badger. He saw that the tunnel ahead was lined with open doorways.
Padding forward, he scanned the interiors of each, finding the remnants of what once must’ve been a fully functional administrative and logistics center: old rotten barrels and shelves, shards of pottery of all sizes, rusted chains hung from hooks driven into the ceiling, and furniture too broken to salvage.
In one such room, the mess had been cleared and screens put in place to create a semblance of privacy for the Tiger Masks’ latrine. Across from it was a barracks with twelve cots, each accompanied by a footlocker.
A pair of Tiger Masks slept across the room from each other, both of them snoring loudly. Hong Fei blinked in surprise at the buzzing’s volume. No wonder their comrades forced them to take the night shift. Otherwise it’d be like trying to sleep inside a beehive.
The man on the left turned over and a white 1 came into view above his head. That’ll make four points, Hong Fei thought, excited. He gestured for Auntie Ling to go right, while he took care of the Tiger Mask with the number.
The badger nodded, then paused partway to cast The Fox Eyes the Hens. The cots had been placed close together, and there wasn’t an easy way for her to walk quietly between them.
Hong Fei felt a pride in her swell in his chest. He set the feeling temporarily aside and continued on to the sleeping Tiger Mask. He hovered the tip of his sword above the enemy’s heart. Glancing toward the other side of the room, he saw that Auntie Ling was also ready.
The snoring Tiger Mask snorted himself awake. His eyes shot open just as Hong Fei plunged the sword into his heart. “Urk!”
Surprise, shock, and anger—Hong Fei read the emotions as they passed across the enemy’s face. Qi surged within the Tiger Mask’s body, and the man grabbed a hold of the sword to twist it aside. Hong Fei had to withdraw the blade or lose control of it, so he chose to pull the weapon free and retreat a handful of steps.
The Tiger Mask began to pant; his face turned red like he was being boiled alive. Instead of bleeding out, the wound above his heart sealed itself. The cuts on his hand where he’d grabbed the blade did too.
What a useful spell, Hong Fei thought. The stray observation didn’t interfere with his movements; he’d already begun to lunge at this red-faced enemy again. The tip of his sword slid aside on contact as if meeting a layer of bone beneath the man’s skin. The cost of that can’t be small or easy.
A flourish brought the sword back to a guard position. Another lunge sent it toward Red Face’s right eye. The enemy threw himself back to keep it from landing. He scrambled upright and grabbed the nearest cot to throw it at Hong Fei, who dodged aside.
Sword once more at the ready, Hong Fei ducked again as a footlocker went flying past him. A shot of essence sent him surging forward, sword licking toward the enemy’s neck. Red Face retreated from the attack, and he clubbed aside Hong Fei’s follow-up strike with his own arm. The blade’s edge barely left a welt on it.
Hong Fei saw that the whites of the man’s eyes were turning red from blood vessels rupturing. Upper realm Qi Gathering, tier seven or eight, and using a spell that’s outside of his ability to control.
The enemy roared in animalistic anger.
It’s affecting his judgment, Hong Fei noted, and his breathing settled. He’ll charge me next.
The assessment proved correct. Red Face dropped his head like a bull and came after Hong Fei, who in turn withdrew by flowing between the cots and putting them in the enemy’s way. He led the Tiger Mask toward the other side of the room.
Wood shattered and cloth tore, including the sections of the cots that tangled Red Face’s legs. Like a boulder falling from a great height, he wouldn’t stop coming. Not until he encountered an even greater weight: Auntie Ling slammed into his side.
“Eyes, neck!” Hong Fei called out, and the giant badger shifted from attempting to claw through the man’s chest to tearing open his throat.
Blood sprayed, the stream visibly congealing in the air and landing on the ground in thick, steaming ropes. Hong Fei stepped back to keep any from getting on him.
Red Face was somehow still fighting, attempting to pull himself out from underneath the giant badger’s bulk. Eventually, the top of his head became visible. His eyes came next. They widened upon seeing Hong Fei waiting for him with sword raised. The tip smashed down through the left socket to pierce the brain.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
The white number 1 faded. A cool energy flowed into the space above and behind Hong Fei’s own eyes. “That’s four,” he whispered, and Auntie Ling nodded in reply.
He gestured and the pair of them quickly moved to the doorway to check the tunnel. The fight had been a noisy one, so if there were other Tiger Masks present, they’d surely come to investigate.
Yet, no one appeared. “Let’s go,” Hong Fei eventually said. He stepped into the corridor. “Let’s search for anything of value—” The rest cut off as he weighed the risks involved. He quickly changed his mind and decided on a different plan. “No, you head back to protect the captives, especially that red 3. I’m sure he’s Rock Head.”
Auntie Ling frowned. She very clearly huffed at him, though no sound emerged. The silence spell she’d cast earlier was still in effect.
“Do as your ordered,” he commanded. “I won’t take any unnecessary chances, I promise. But we need to look for clues to the Tiger Masks’ plans, as well protect what we’ve already gained. That means splitting up.” He gave her nudge with his knee. “Now, go on. I’ll be as quick as I can.”
Reluctantly, the badger shuffled back toward the entrance.
Hong Fei briefly watched her go, then turned his attention to the task ahead. About five zhang deeper in from the barrack were a pair of iron doors on either side of the tunnel, though neither were unlocked when Hong Fei checked them. The rooms appeared to be workshops, each containing several marble slabs left propped against the wall, as well as blocks of stone that had been carefully broken apart to see if they’d contained anything valuable.
Notably, behind the stone block in the room on the right was a rust-colored patch in the shape of a lopsided butterfly—dried blood. Whether the injury that had spilled the blood was a result of accident or violence was impossible to tell.
The tunnel continued for about another ten zhang before opening up into a meeting room the size of the Yu family’s visitor’s hall. A large table sat at the center with only four lonely chairs around its circumference.
The left and right walls each held two wooden doors apiece, and there was an iron door on the wall opposite the entrance. A pair of desks were stacked one upon the other in the corner.
Hong Fei padded into the room, and he instantly locked onto a map that had been left atop the table. Looking more closely, he saw that it was a near duplicate of the one he’d found in the Ma’s residence. Alas, this one wasn’t marked with notes to give away the Tiger Masks’ plans.
Also on the table was a schedule for deliveries to be made to the base. There weren’t any names attached, but it was clear that another party was keeping the Tiger Masks supplied in food and drink.
The desks in the corner didn’t reveal any clues other than they’d been left somewhere wet in the past—the legs were soft from having being rotted through.
The iron door was locked, and so were the wooden ones. He listened at each and heard nothing from the other sides. Feeling more confident that he was alone, Hong Fei picked the weakest-looking door for testing. He pressed against the wood and felt it bow. The artisan who’d made the door had meant it for privacy more than protection.
Hong Fei listened again, waiting ten long breaths to make truly sure nothing moved inside the room. The spell Mountain Hares are Righteous was still active, so he ought to be correct in his assumption that it was currently unoccupied.
He readied his sword just in case, then kicked the door open. The room was indeed empty, so he spun around, dashing toward the exit. Yet, none of the other doors were flung open; no enemies appeared.
Hong Fei grinned. He really was alone while inside the enemy’s base. If only he had a jug of poison, he’d be able to do so much good here. Where is their water supply anyway? He wondered. Do they have to eat and drink out in the main chamber?
Shaking the stray thought away, he returned to the door he’d broken open. Inside was a proper bed whose style didn’t match the furniture in the rest of the base. On one wall was a painting of a river flowing down a mountain, but the rest of the room was otherwise empty.
Hong Fei checked under the straw-filled mattress, he tapped on the walls and floor, but there was nothing of value. “Tsk,” he muttered under his breath.
Walking across the way, he kicked the opposite door open. Immediately, a wave of heat rolled over him. For half a breath, he thought he saw Scarlet standing before him once more, but the figure was actually a stream of smoke rising from a lit brazier on the floor. It was surrounded by a circle of stones glowing red.
Fire-aligned qi, Hong Fei thought. He checked and saw that the smoke was collecting into a ball hovering just below the ceiling.
A bed sat to one side, the sheets left rumpled, and the shelves built into the far wall were empty. There didn’t appear to be anything else of note.
With his sword, Hong Fei carefully nudged one of the glowing stones out of alignment, and the magic keeping the brazier lit flickered and faded. Arrays and other kinds of magic formations could be incredibly dangerous, but this one didn’t appear to have any traps built into it.
Above him, the ball of smoke lost its cohesion, and a thick cloud dispersed across the ceiling. Some escaped through the open door.
Hong Fei brought his hand close to the brazier’s surface, which let him know the metal was much too hot to touch. The stones on the other hand were merely warm, so Hong Fei happily gathered them up. His pouch was currently empty, having been robbed during his capture, so he put the stones there.
A search of the rest of the room turned up a series of charcoal sketches hidden under the mattress. Hong Fei eyed the naked figures with interest, then put the papers back. Fire-aligned cultivators… he thought, always so hot-blooded.
At the next door, the hairs along the back of Hong Fei’s neck rose as he got ready to kick it open. He immediately dropped out of the stance and placed a hand against the wood. Nothing seemed unusual about it. He also continued to hear nothing of note from inside the room, nor any of the other rooms for that matter.
He pressed against the surface, yet the door barely budged. There was a marked difference in the quality of the craftsmanship between this one and the two previous.
Hong Fei stepped back to ponder the barrier in front of him. He couldn’t not open it—the whole point of exploring the base instead of fleeing was to dig up information and steal resources. At the same time, one must respect their instincts. In this case, his screamed at him that the door was trapped.
He stepped closer to sniff the wood. There was something at the edge of his senses; he was sure of it.
Back on the Askalousan Steppes, there’d been a scout in his unit that went by Old Quan, famous for finding magical traps ahead of everyone else. The man had been proud to explain that the nose was the most sensitive organ for detecting qi. That was why Hong Fei had trained his own sense of smell so rigorously.
Old Quan had also said that using the nose alone was like trying to walk on one leg. That, really, the nose was best paired with another of the body’s organs.
Hong Fei looked left and right to make sure no would see him… He extended his tongue and licked the door. There came the taste of rock dust and wood, of course, yet underneath it were notes of something bitter, sharp, and tingling. There’s metal qi active on the other side.
ten chapters ahead. :)