?

  A line of the vehicles had come to a stop when a pack of them not too far from where I stood angled themselves upwards and took to the air. I was so surprised by their sudden flight that I almost dodged out of the way. Not that I was ever in any danger, I simply had not been ready to see such large vehicles flying like they were Qi-infused swords.

  “Spirit, you can show me the way to things in this city, correct?”

  The spirit informed me that it could, but it was refusing to give me further directions unless I stayed where I was and awaited the local security forces.

  While the spirit assured me that I was in no danger, I needed to go through a brief introduction and processing procedure. I simply couldn't do it; the thought of being taken into a sort of custody by a group of soldiers made my blood run cold.

  The memory of my execution was too fresh in my mind. I could still feel the hands around my neck, the infused chains burning into my arms and sapping my strength, the haughty way that motherfucking sandal weaver had impassively watched it all. As though the greatest warrior in the world being strangled to death like a woman or an assassin was the most normal of things. As though my death hadn’t been his fault for interjecting as I had pleaded my case before the victorious ‘King Of Ambition’.

  Thinking of the last moments of my life filled me with both terror and rage. No, it didn’t matter what assurances the spirit or anyone else gave me. I Lu Bu, would never allow myself to be held in someone else's power again.

  “No,” I said simply and started walking.

  “I must insist!”

  “I don’t care.”

  The street might be filled with pedestrians by the thousands, but just as I had observed among the crowds of Luoyang, there was a dance to the chaotic seeming movements. I guess it didn’t matter what city you entered; there was always a rhythm that the locals seemingly followed, allowing them to flow around each other like streams of oil and water, no matter the number of people.

  Inserting myself into that same rhythm, I did my best not to gawk at the operatic parade of gaudy outfits as I, too, flowed among the walking people. It has been said that I was a vain man, flaunting as I did my feathered headdress and lion-faced belt. These people made even my grandest concession to vanity seem like the dullest of monk robes.

  As I moved, a heat shimmer like those you see in the desert appeared about ten feet ahead of me in a gap among the crowd I had been heading for. Immediately, I knew this must be some interference from the spirit, as the night was far too chill for the air to do such things naturally.

  The shimmer quickly resolved into a figure that stood at eye level with me. I say figure as it was certainly no person, but rather a featureless, genderless shade in the shape of a person. Honestly, it looked like someone had taken a shadow puppet and given it a physical form.

  The figure held up both its hands in a motion imploring me to wait.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Please, master Lu Bu, I really must insist you stop ignoring my requests. I assure you nothing untoward will take place while you are in custody, it is simply a- “

  I backhanded the figure. To my surprise, my arm went right through it like the figure wasn’t there at all. Given my rising irritation at this thing, I had put perhaps too much force into the blow, as finding myself without resistance put me off balance and sent the blow into the face of a passing man.

  The pink glowing tattoos that covered the man’s face scrunched up as his nose shattered, and he was sent tumbling over the street’s railing and onto the road. Before he could recover or do anything more than yell his surprise, one of the cars struck him with enough force to convert his upper body into mostly mush.

  The rhythm of the street came to a screeching halt as the people around me, who of course could not see the spirit I had tried to strike turned their shocked and horrified gazes upon me. Eyes wide, I looked at the featureless spirit which managed to convey a surprising amount of its own shock without words or expressions.

  Flashed before my vision, then a small cyan coloured bar appeared at the bottom of what I could see. It was marked [Soul Expansion Gauge 0/500]. After a few moments, the bar filled by the tiniest of margins, and the number changed to [1/500]

  “Uhhh,” I said, looking about at the increasingly hostile crowd that was building.

  “Well, you have put me in a difficult situation.” Said the spirit in a tone I recognized as rising panic.

  “I don’t care,” I hissed, backing away from the people.

  “You don’t understand.” Continued the spirit. “ I am supposed to report any crimes I witness, but my prime objective is to serve and protect you. If I do serve you to the best of my ability, I must deactivate the protocols that force me to follow the law; I will be beholden to nothing but my own sense of morality and what I perceive as best for you.”

  I understood virtually none of that, but I think I might have just managed to wrap my head around the end.

  “So do you still think it is best for me to allow the local soldiers to arrest me?”

  “Not now that you are a murderer! Now it's a terrible idea, but I’m still supposed to tell them where you are. AHHH!!! I am supposed to have years of experience before dealing with this sort of moral quandary, not forty-five fucking minutes!”

  I have to admit the spirit's discomfort was more than a little entertaining to me, and I repressed a grin as I continued to run.

  “I uhhh well maybe if I...” I don’t think the spirit was talking to me, so much as panicking out loud.

  “Oh, would you look at that, no time to make moral decisions with far-reaching consequences for both of us now. I simply cannot put off analysing your memories a moment longer.” I don’t think the spirit even believed what it was saying, but it fell silent, and the featureless figure vanished entirely.

  ‘Yeah fuck this,’ I thought to myself and began pushing my way through the crowd of people with a force that my lithe body belied.

  I figured a bit of distance and a change of clothes should protect me from being identified as this man’s killer, and I was about to break into a full sprint when a woman behind me screamed, “Over-Surge!” And the world around me went berserk.

  When you are roughly as strong as Eddie Hall you gotta watch where you are swinging those arms!