I ignored Cabbagy’s continued insistence that I kiss Qian Ling and helped her stand on her own feet. She had qi and training, so she was strong enough that she didn’t need my help. Fortunately, the silver-haired cultivator ignored Cabbagy’s crude remarks, though she didn’t stop blushing.
“You should make your way back to the village,” I said.
“I knew it couldn’t be true,” she said hurriedly.
“What?”
“That you’re a demonic cultivator,” she said as she pointed at Ghost Fang. “That monster told us all manner of lies about you.”
“Oh, he did?” I said as I turned to Ghost Fang. “Why would you say that?”
The demonic ape flinched under my gaze.
I had no idea why he was so terrified of me. I might have defeated his monkeys, but my victory over the yellow monkey was a fluke, and I hadn’t even come close to defeating the black monkey.
Maybe Cabbagy could win that fight, but my battered vegetable friend was close to falling apart. Good thing it wasn’t humid, or he’d be rotten by now.
“I’m sorry, brother,” Ghost Fang said. “I wanted them to know who to fear.”
Even as battered as she was, Qian Ling’s qi empowered muscles made lifting her friend easy. She supported Mu Min on one shoulder, the dark-haired cultivator barely able to stand and keep their eyes open.
“He keeps calling you brother,” Qian Ling said. “Why is that?”
There were all kinds of answers she could conjure if I didn’t answer. Some might even be true.
Qian Ling turned so that Mu Min stood behind her. Despite her earlier apologies, she stood on the edge of a combat stance, as though I might lash out at any moment.
“Gaslight her,” Cabbagy whispered. “Deny everything.”
“I don’t know why he calls me that,” I said to her. “He’s a crazy, demonic spirit beast, and I have no idea what lies he’s trying to spread.”
“Great job, kid.”
That wasn’t even technically a lie.
I could tell Qian Ling wasn’t quite on board, but whatever she thought — she didn’t think I was a monster. So long as I could bluff my way through this encounter and fulfill whatever she expected to happen, I would be fine.
“Let them go,” I ordered Ghost Fang. “And return the storage rings you took from them.”
Ghost Fang’s eyes glowered.
“I defeated them,” he said. “Those rings belong to me, brother.”
“Stop calling me brother!”
The ape flinched and slammed his head into the floor in a viscous kowtow.
“Yes, master! This one is sorry, master!”
Qian Ling gasped.
“You truly are this monster’s master,” she said as she recoiled with horror, barely keeping a hold of Mu Min. “You’re a demonic cultivator!”
Fuck.
###
Ghost Fang hadn’t been aware of himself for very long, merely a few years, but in that time, he had avoided cultivators. Of course, he still ate the occasional mortal, and Body Tempering cultivators were basically mortals with extra seasoning, but he knew to steer clear of the Shining Mountain Sect. He was proud, but he wasn’t stupid. Angering that hornet's nest could only lead to his destruction.
Then came the demonic qi, like a signal that flooded his brain with light. New hungers awoke, and he was no longer satisfied with his motley troops of monkeys and a ruined pagoda. No, what he had was but a tool with which to acquire more!
But his efforts killed his children, most of his monkeys, and led to three cultivators standing in the center of his domain.
Two of the cultivators were women. One with silver hair and weak strings, and another with dark hair and annoying mists. The third was a man who was a total enigma. Was he a brother, or a master? Ghost Fang wasn’t sure, but he knew the stink of the demonic… even if this particular stranger had no stink at all.
Curious and confusing. If his mind were still half-asleep, Ghost Fang might have let them pass through his forest without interruption. But he was no longer half-asleep…
Alert and awake, Ghost Fang sat inside the mind of the large silver-furred ape, and he watched, and he waited.
He might not be strong enough to take out a sect, but he could handle three cultivators. No matter that the stranger had defeated his yellow-furred daughter. Ghost Fang’s qi was far more subtle and dangerous than hers.
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The life-giving fumes rose from the cracks in the ground, and Ghost Fang filled his lungs and relaxed. All would work out in his favor so long as he was cunning.
He merely had to watch and wait for his time to strike.
“What have you been planning for us?” the silver-haired cultivator asked the demonic enigma.
“Nothing,” lied the demonic cultivator.
“You think my cultivation isn’t good enough to use for resources?” the silver-haired cultivator demanded.
She wasn’t wrong. Ghost Fang would love to make a meal of her.
“I have no idea,” the demonic cultivator said with exasperation.
Ghost Fang didn’t know why the demonic cultivator was lying to the sect cultivator. In his opinion, the two Shining Mountain disciples were worth keeping for their delicious flesh and the sweet marrow in their bones. Who knew how that might push his cultivation along?
But it was not worth interfering with their argument. He would gain nothing from questioning the lie, except for antagonising the demonic cultivator pretending to be his superior.
Which would expose Ghost Fang’s own nefarious deception.
This mysterious, demonic fool didn’t have the strength to back up his posturing — if he did, Ghost Fang’s head would already lie on the floor several feet from his shoulders.
No cultivator’s pride would permit any other outcome.
Though Ghost Fang didn’t recognise the demonic cultivator, he could count. His silver ape body still had all his fingers, toes, and teeth. He had no reason to fear the stranger if he wouldn’t even maim someone to make a point.
Sure, the stranger could defeat Ghost Fang’s soldiers, and he could even conjure impressive illusory flesh that fooled his troop’s tongues and stomachs. That illusion was interesting. Ghost Fang would have to see if he could find that technique amongst all the pieces after he broke the demonic cultivator.
No matter how tough the nameless, demonic cultivator thought they were, they wouldn’t survive the room below.
Ghost Fang did his best to hide his grin as he prostrated himself before the lying stranger. The noxious fumes trickled into his nostrils and empowered his lungs.
Soon, he thought to himself, it will be you who bows in craven terror.
###
“Why did you send us here to die?” Qian Ling asked.
“I never sent you here,” said the hidden master who was actually — maybe — a demonic cultivator.
Even though she was weary, Qian Ling prepared to fight for her life.
She had only scraps of qi, but still she cycled her cultivation. It strained her mind to maintain an intake of qi while also carrying her friend and talking to the fiend made flesh. Every little drop would be needed.
The man who had pretended to be a hidden master stood before her, flatly denying every accusation she threw at him. He had been so charming and so insistent, but now he revealed his true, duplicious nature.
She couldn’t decide if she was more afraid for her life or outraged at the dishonor. He had insulted her, endangered Mu Min, and offended her sect.
If she didn’t leave, there would be a fight; she could feel it building in the air. Violent anticipation filled the room, enough that even the demonic ape was cowering.
But the demonic cultivator appeared unfazed.
He just stood there with a half-broken cabbage tucked under his arm. More than anything, Qian Ling wanted to ask about the cabbage. But she knew that if she did, all pretence of civility would end. The man standing before her was both insane and insanely powerful.
Even if he attacked, there wouldn’t be any fight. She only hoped she could get Mu Min to safety.
He raised his hand, and Qian Ling ran.
She carried Mu Min over her shoulder as she pushed her meager qi into a movement technique, springing toward the door. She waited for the pain of a qi technique ripping into her back, but nothing came. Curiosity overcame good sense, and she looked over her shoulder when she left the pagoda doors.
The demonic cultivator stood at the base of the roots with one hand rubbing the back of his head. He gave her a gentle wave.
“I hope you make it back to your sect quickly,” he said.
Qian Ling’s eyes widened.
What did he mean by that?
She passed through the doors and out of the noxious fumes, and for a terrifying heartbeat, she thought she would emerge to see the demonic cultivator waiting amongst the pines with that blank smile on his face and eyes of icy death as he reached out to her with open hands.
He wasn’t there, and so she ran into the trees, using all her effort to run away from the pagoda. As she ran, she pulled the half-eaten spirit plum from her storage ring. This little fruit had given her the confidence to attack Ghost Fang. It almost got her killed. It almost got Mu Min killed.
She almost hurled the fruit into the dark forest, but her body ached for qi. Delicately, she nibbled from the plum and felt qi swirl into her dantian. Her strides lengthened as her injuries faded enough that they were manageable. There was just a scrap of plum left, and she fed it to Mu Min before hurling the pit against a nearby tree.
The pit shattered, but Qian Ling didn’t feel any better. Mu Min stirred as her qi replenished, and woke enough that she could hang on Qian Ling’s back, but she was quickly unconscious again. Qian Ling made sure her friend was secure as she aimed for the south. She was in the 8th Stage of Qi Condensing, and she wouldn’t stop running until she reached the Shining Mountain Sect.
###
I said nothing as I stood in the pagoda with Ghost Fang and Cabbagy. It was quiet, with only the creaking of the pine and the hissing of the fumes as we all watched the doorway.
The way Qian Ling glared at me before storming off into the forest was truly terrifying. Despite her and Mu Min being cultivators, I hadn’t really disliked either of them. Apparently, the feeling wasn’t mutual.
No matter what I said, it only seemed to make me more guilty in her eyes. If I’d kept talking, I’m sure that she would have attacked me. Which would have been disastrous. There was no way I could defeat a cultivator as capable as her. Once she incapacitated me, she could take me back to her sect to be cut apart, studied, and destroyed.
Unless Ghost Fang took her from me.
I couldn’t decide which fate would be worse.
“You think she believed me?” I asked Cabbagy.
“Reminds me of my wife,” Cabbagy said. “She just needs to work off some stress, but she’ll be back.”
Somehow, Cabbagy’s advice always made me feel worse.
I just had to hope Qian Ling believed I wasn’t a demonic cultivator.
“An interesting strategy,” Ghost Fang said to me.
The demonic ape had finally stopped kowtowing and now stood at his full seventeen feet. Despite his bulk, he watched me cautiously.
“What’s interesting?” I asked.
“You send two disciples back to spread the seeds of chaos and fear in their sect.”
“What, no…”
“It’s truly genius!” Ghost Fang said with his flaming eyes pulsing with stark white light. “Fear and distrust will spread between disciples and elders as everyone watches for any clue or trace of demonic cultivation. Aberrant behaviours will be punished. The sect will eat itself and fracture.”
I shook my head and really hoped that wasn’t about to happen. If I thought it would help, I’d run out after Qian Ling and Mu Min. But, even if I could find them or catch up to them, I doubt I could say anything to change their minds.
Especially since there really was a link between me and demonic cultivation. Only, I didn’t know the nature of that link, which was why I was here.
“Ghost Fang?”
“Yes, master?” said Ghost Fang.
Thankfully, he didn’t bow and scrape this time. I'd had enough of that.
“I want to know about the demonic cultivators in this area.”
“Of course, master."
The ape's lips curled back to reveal his long fangs, but I only cared about the answers that would follow.
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