Alex quickly made note of his surroundings, including half a dozen pagodas and numerous squared off buildings that were the closest thing to town homes or apartment blocks that this city had, all of them covered with thick red flames from which the screams of countless citizens could be heard. It was with horror and fury that Alex realized as well that of all the countless buildings now filled with hard-eyed archers and crossbowmen doing their best to shoot him dead were filled with countless victims already cut down by soldiers who cared nothing for victims caught in the crossfire as they lined their crossbows up for killing shots. Twisted smiles reigned upon their features as a hundred crossbows were released with a single gutteral order upon Alex fully revealing himself. Features that twisted in surprise and agony as their owners abruptly stumbled back an instant later, as scores of quarrels reflected right off the invisible barriers Alex had used to square off the open air market in the center of the block injurying many shooters and killing just a few. Of course, only those buildings free of soldiers were set ablaze.

Meaning that the fires weren’t simply the result of hotblooded soldiers and panicked civilians.

They were a deliberate calculated effort to purge the city of Ruidians right here, right now.

And his calculating enemies were more than happy to use him as the catalyst of their deliberate act of genocide.

Alex’s heart pounded with something beyond fury as Svetlana’s cries of dismay as she spun around with horrified eyes, making it clear she understood what was happening just as well as he did.

An act of bloodthirsty brutality worthy of the gods above.

“You’re breaking covenant, brothers.” Alex could so clearly imagine WiFu’s ice-cold voice, above the screams and crackling flames.

And the billowing smoke could have been the wheezy laughter of Shalu himself. “Your vile pawn has no one to blame but himself, WiFu! Daring to insult my pawns in their own city, destroying Grandfather Zheng Yi’s beloved pieces for all time at not one but two academies! He has no one to blame but himself that my tools and their associates have sworn to purge their cities of all foul-born creatures with your or your pawn’s thrice-damned blood running through their veins!”

Alex shook away the horrifying vision, no more material than the thick black smoke billowing in the wind as he pulled up his interface in the corner of his minds eye and sensed four bright aerial reds now deliberately flying away from the hundreds of soldiers still trying to enter the square.

His blood ran cold as he sensed exactly where they were going, from his long apprenticeship as a runner and delivery boy for Liu Jian, former general; hidden prince, and apothecary owner, and so knew roughly where at least half the Ruidian blocks were in this quarter of the city.

And the quartet of flying Wujen were heading to a second at that very moment.

“Shit!”

“Please, my lord, my baby!”

Alex choked back his own growing panic and outrage, locking gazes with the panicked girl before him, forcing himself to take a deep breath and think!

Already knowing what he had to do to stop this tragedy.

Closing his eyes as he visualized the depths of a vast and mighty lake outside the trade town of Erjizhen that had almost become his grave… recalling all too well the intense pressure he had felt as he had sunk deeper and deeper into its depths, desperate to avoid the killing gaze of Lord Wan Duan, a Wujen who had been about to honor Alex for rescuing his trade city before Alex’s divine enemies had cleaved his fate for all time, assuring that the man would feel no ties of karma, debt or gratitude to Alex whatsoever. Which to that jaded man had been a red flag that Alex had been no hero, which to him had meant that the near destruction of the entire city had, in fact, been Alex’s own fault, at which point Lord Wan Duan had done his absolute best to kill Alex.

Though he had failed, Alex’s enemies above had still managed to assure that he would never again know the glory of divine karma accrued from saving countless lives and communities over countless lifetimes.

Now as far as fate was concerned, he would accrue no honor at all, even should he save the entire quarter from the genocidal flames of madmen.

Yet none of that would stop Alex from doing what he had to for the sake of those who had absolutely no one else fighting on their behalf… and he’d damn well make use of all the lessons he had learned since then. Including the virtues of a high-pressure water hose, feeding directly into a lake hundreds of feet deep.

You have successfully accessed Worldseed!

You have summoned 2 additional gates!

Svetlana’s despairing wail turned to an awed curse when the air turned to thick billowing white smoke just beyond Alex’s barrier. As roaring hot flames were quickly replaced with a crashing downpour of water slowly changing shape from building crushing torrent to a narrow slit spraying waters back and forth over multiple pagodas and apartment buildings until at last, minutes later, all the flames had been extinguished and the air was thankfully clear.

Not only clear, the air was both chilly and strikingly fresh, an awed Svetlana gazing up at him in disbelief as her auburn locks were ripped free of multiple hair pins with the cold northern winds of a mountaintop blowing all the smoke away within seconds of all the flames being put out.

“What did you do?”

Alex shrugged. “Well I couldn’t let everyone suffocate to smoke inhalation after going to all that trouble putting out the flames, could I?”

She gazed at him for long moments. “I’d ask how you managed to put out the fires and clear the air, but if you’re anything like the storybooks...”

“Sheer awesomeness. How else?”

She smirked. “You’ll give me a nonsensical answer that tells me nothing at all.” She then turned her gaze to the buildings surrounding them, looking as relieved as Alex felt, to see that as scary and wild as the fires had been, lit up by a wujen’s dark arts, they hadn’t had the chance to burn deep, or asphyxiate or burn hardly anyone at all.

“The buildings have nothing worse than scorch marks, save for where those bastards had deliberately unleashed their dark arts. Thank the disciple.”

Alex smirked. “You’re welcome.”

The girl beside him paled and trembled, as if only at that moment truly appreciating who, or what, he was.

A revelation which left Alex at least as uncomfortable as the girl by his side now looked.

“Alright, enough flippant bullshit,” Alex said, suddenly feeling the weight of countless lives upon him baring him down far heavier than the countless soldier’s eyes glaring his way still. Men who, as far as Alex was concerned, no rated no higher than serving as a corrupt administrator’s pet thugs.

“We need to get out of here.”

“You’re damn right we do. Those bastards want your head!” She pointed to a furiously gesticulating man wearing a heavily embroidered administerial robe and a gold-rimmed and tasseled squared hat on his head, jabbing a stubby finger right at Alex, his thin stringy beard and mustache fluttering madly in the chilly breeze as he shivered and screamed incoherently at the stoic-faced commander by his side who looked like he’d rather be anywhere save next to the popinjay beside him.

Alex nodded. “You think all the Ruidians and everyone else on this block will be okay once we leave?”

This earned a bitter snort, far too cynical for any girl in her early twenties, Alex wanted to say, did he not also know firsthand how jaded and cruel this world could be, in stark contrast to its fantastic wonders and striking beauty. “Of course they will. You put out the fires, the pretext they were going to use to burn down this entire quarter and everyone in it, and place the blame squarely on your feet. Now they almost have to play nice.” She swallowed, shaking her head. “For a while, at least. Until that bastard Ruizhi come up with some other pretext to round us all up and put us in camps.”

Alex felt a cold chill with those words, as aware as any former Terran just how significant, and terrible, such a phrase was. And he knew they weren’t out of the fire yet.

He locked gazes with Svetlana, trying not to wince when she flinched before his stare. “The fire was started by a quartet of YanTu Wujen under the command of Prince Dongfang Hong who’s looking to annex Baidushi at the very least, and probably all of QuiJing Province.”

Svetlana’s eyes widened. “And we’re the closest city to YanTu nation, save for Baidushi itself!”

Alex nodded. “And those bastard reds aren’t stopping at this block. They’re heading to another one of the poorer areas of the city right now.” He glared the administrator’s way, almost surprised to see the man, who was a Silver tier cultivator, after all, however absurd he looked in his outfit, pale and flinch before his gaze. “I think Ruizhi’s already sold out. He doesn’t even have the courage to meet my eyes. And I’ll bet that purging this city of so-called undesirables is part of the price he’s demanding for his alliance.”

The artist desperately clenched Alex’s hand. “My lord, please, we have to save them!”

Alex nodded. “That’s my plan. But I also have a promise to keep. Where is you family?”

“Do you know mapsign?”

Alex nodded, the tiny ink paper she showed him imparting nearly a map’s worth of information in the blink of an eye. “Got it.”

He couldn’t quite hide the lurch in his chest when the location pinged perfectly with where his enemies were headed.

Because of course they were.

And the look Svetlana gave him made it clear she understood as well. Because unlike him, she was no fool. And by her own admission, had read too many stories involving larger-than-life idiots just like him not to suspect just how malicious the authors, and perhaps the gods themselves, would be to the anti-heroes in all their tales.

“Alex...” Her word was a desperate plea more than anything else, already knowing they were far too late to race halfway across the city in the time it would take for a quartet of airborne pyromaniacs to get there first.

Unless, of course, one had made a point of visiting all the Ruidian quarters of the city as a messenger boy taking a bit of comfort in exotic cultures within cultures, and in the faces and smiles of people who might sometimes feel like strangers in a strange land, just like he did.

Though he was surprised to find that, when he opened a gate in the cover of Svetlana’s stall and stepped through, it looked exactly like he remembered it, a lifetime ago.

Or perhaps a decade back, or maybe just a handful of seasons ago.

Svetlana sobbed with relief when she stepped through a second later, Alex closing all his portals behind him, freeing up an additional five, but not before having claimed every last trace of Svetlana’s portraits and supplies, most especially the painting an entire city might burn to keep from his grasp.

The hell with that.

“We’re not too late!” She whispered, racing through the crowd of bemused city-goers from all walks of life, all of them taking their ease and enjoying the puppet shows, street performances, crafts, and street foods being offered by the Ruidian population and more than a few discretely dressed kitsune in this stretch of the city, clearly not aware of Ruizhi’s genocidal intentions several miles away.

But they soon would be, Alex realized as kitune ears perked out of berets and coifs towards the heavens, cute brown eyes widening with sudden alarm, all the more so when one or two caught sight of Alex himself and paled, as if realizing they had all suddenly become characters in tales that rarely if ever had happy endings.

Fortunately, Alex would rather write his own tales, and had absolutely no problem breaking with tradition.

World Seed Interface accessed.

You have closed one gate.

You have formed five additional gates! Bottom gate is impermeable to all forces and fields below jade tier, save for yourself! Four additional gates have been made permeable.

Four enemy reds spotted!

Alex gazed with fearsome intensity his enemy’s way, glad to find he could hear every word they were saying, despite the impermeability of the barrier he had deliberately established.

“We’re at the target sight, Captain.”

The lead flyer gave a cold nod, sneering down at the city block below. “Good. You and Zhong know what to do.” The captain turned to the one female among them. “No survivors, Ruolan. I’ll keep us hidden in shadow and darkness. If any mixed-bloods escape the flames… eliminated them.”

“With pleasure, captain,” said the coldly smiling girl who’s eyes lit up with a dark hunger as she saluted her superior officer.

Basic Soul Sight Skillcheck made! You sense the karmic merit of the last (6) lives lived by all your targets!

Alex shivered with the weight of malice he sensed in the air above, which made him feel somewhat better about what he was about to do.

Especially when the captain’s face lit up with an bloodthirsty grin as he gave the order, and the skies grew bright red with unholy flame.

“WiFu’s mercy, they’re trying to kill us!”

“Run for your lives!”

“Eternal Disciple, please save us!”

Alex blanched when a sobbing kitsune holding her two infants was suddenly prostrating herself before him, immediately pulling the eyes of countless confused purebloods and panicked Ruidians within twenty feet, with every single kitsune across the entire block now gazing his way.

A dozen young women, half with husbands and children, pinned him with their gazes.

Before blinking with awe when Alex took a single step and disappeared.

“He’s abandoned us!” A young kitsune holding her children sobbed, crying towards the heavens with despair as the afternoon sky lit with crimson flame.

A young freckled Ruidian gently squeezed the arm of the sobbing kitsune. “No, little fox, he has not,” said a smiling Svetlana, now holding her wide-eyed son protectively close as she pointed to the heavens, the panicked crowd only then noticing that not one ball of fire had landed on the closely packed buildings or the plaza and fountain at the heart of their block.

For all that the afternoon sky was now lit up with fire, streaks of light, and darker forces still, it was all contained in a massive floating pyramid that the light reflected off of like glass, containing four flying cultivators and a single Ruidian who appeared to be walking on the air itself, armed only with a fangtian ji against a quartet of wujen who immediately jumped at the chance to wash the foolish loner in a torrent of flame.

***

The Yan Tu captain’s eyes widened with surprise and excitement as he caught sight of the Ruidian who had suddenly sprung up among them. “There he is, soldiers! The Ruidian we were warned about! New priority! Kill the Ruidian scum, tear free the jewel he’s using to manipulate the air and present it to our commander, and we will be rewarded spirit pearls and glory!”

Of course the actual bounty was far higher than the piddling 50 spirit pearls their newest pawn, Administrator Ruizhi, who had a taste for the most succulent slaves his squad could collar, was offering. But no need for his men to worry about that. They would serve him, and he would make sure they were never trapped in a suicidal assignment. Only subversion and, when the mood suited them, glorious destruction. Like right now when his liutenants Zhong and Fan

“I got him! He’s mine, Zhong! The bounty’s mine!” The closest cultivator roared in triumph as the sun flashed off the well polished bronze tiles of his armor, as he filled the afternoon sky with spirit flame, seager to deliver bitter hot retribution to the Ruidian who had dared to interfere in their nation’s affairs.

“We both got him, Fan!” Snapped his partner Zhong, who unleashed a swirling inferno of living flame radiating even more blazing potency than Fan’s own, even if it had been a heartbeat slower to summon.

“I don’t care who struck him, as long a he’s...” The captain’s voice cut off, rubbing his eyes and glaring at where the pair had struck. Massive whirlwinds of caustic fire that should have left charred ash and bone in their wake to float down to the city below… but there was nothing at all. “You fools missed him. He’s a tricky bastard, you were warned!”

“He’s over here!” Shrieked the short-haired woman known as Ruolan. “Now he will pay for daring to offend the great Dongfang Hong!” she declared while unleashing a stream of molten stone. An odd synergism of Fire and Earth that was not quite as effective in areal combat as some, but Alex was well aware of just how deadly sticky fire that burned hotter and longer than naphtha could be. Excellent for torching the ships of invaders, or perhaps, setting recalcitrant towns, farming communities, or, if need be, entire cities ablaze.

Soul Sight skillcheck: Critical success! You understand your foes and their thoughts as well as they do themselves!

Alex was surprised by how easy it was to sense Ruolan’s overconfidence, as he did the entire squad, seeing a glimpse of his reflection in their gaze, all of them seeing nothing more than an obnoxiously smiling Ruidian armed with nothing but helmet, stone tiled armor, and an absurdly oversized fangtian ji. The kit of a struggling legionnaire at best. In their minds, the fight would be over in seconds.

Captain Hu eagerly gazed at the Ruidian about to be burned alive, before lurching back, heart pounding with something the man refused to call dread when those cold, sky-blue eyes locked with his own. Effortlessly tearing through spirit wards and overweening pride, Hu horrified to see his own reflection in that terrible gaze. Chilled by the sight of the petty malicious man dark with the weight of so much karmic debt glaring back at him like a twisted old root that refused to die.

“No, no! Your Ruidian magics won’t work on me, fool!” Captain Hu roared, reveling in the sweet hot surge of flame that only tasted the slightest bit off, after the infernal price he had been all too eager to pay as a struggling Bronze that could never quite break through to Silver. But he cared nothing for night sweats, even if his dreams now left him a shaking wreck every morning, scaring away all the jinu who had once happily warmed his bed.

His fires burned sweet and hot as sin, and he had never felt more powerful in his life. Powerful, with more room to grow. Ever more. All he had to do was keep finding assignments that allowed himself and his men to burn their pray alive. Such a simple requirement met, and all four of them would continue to grow in ways glorious and grand.

“You would dare to gaze so boldly at your better, Ruidian worm? Then taste the fires of my wrath and beg with all your might for mercy in the next life, for you will surely find none in this one!”

The captain began laughing maniacally as he washed the Ruidian in killing flame. Letting loose a part of himself he would never dare reveal in the tightly regimented ranks of the capital. But here, in a neighboring province soon to be consumed by the great and mighty YanTu nation? He could finally let go, and no one with a lick of authority would bat an eye. The wouldn’t dare to.

Still, he pulled back far too soon for his tastes, wanting to personally fry his prey to a writhing hunk of charred meat. But he was a better commander than that. He and his men had taken the dark oath together. Together, they would prosper and continue to grow, and Captain Hu was nothing if not a good commander, always willing to share his kills with his lessers for the sake of the squad.

"Alright, fools. Finish this up and let’s get back to burning those damn—“

His words were cut off even before the storm of fire had eased to a stop, control being another aspect of his gift that had paid an unfortunate price with his dark ascension.

“Is that the best you fools can do? Really?”

A suddenly panicked Wu spun around, shocked to see the Ruidian right behind him, flashing the same cold smile Wu saw in his own mirror every time he whipped his slaves.

“He’s going to kill the captain!” Ruolan cried.

“Captain, back away so we may fire!” Zhong urged. But Hu was having none of it. He was beyond incensed to find himself being so thoroughly mocked by the smirking fool of a boy with eyes like the sea and hair of spun gold. A youling fool sprung whole cloth from a book of tales. And if there was one thing Captain Hu could not tolerate, it was being made to feel afraid, especially by a member of an inferior race.

“You think you can pin with with your eyes, Ruidian? All you have assured is your own death!” The man roared, drawing and striking with the dao at his hip in a single well-practiced move, because no one became an officer in Dongfang Hong’s army without having mastered the weapons of war, and he was one of the few Silver Tier Wujen who had achieved Bronze in all of his physical attributes. Another dark gift for which the incineration of countless farmers and rebels was a very small price to pay.

Which made it not only puzzling, but infuriating that the coldly smiling Ruidian managed to escape harm so readily! All of Hu’s lunges missed by the smallest fraction of an inch, as if the smirking Ruidian knew just when to lean back to avoid a flurry of feints and crosscuts that had won him multiple duels and spelled the end of the careers of no less than three of his most hated rivals.

And this youling fool had the gall to let go of his own fangtian ji!

Blocking Hu’s flurry with nothing but a dancer’s movements and his unforgivable mocking grin!

“You think to mock me, fool? You will pay for that!” Hu roared, charging forward once more. Only this time, he made sure to distract his enemy by locking gazes with the foolish youth before infusing his sword with his trump card.

Pristine black flame kissed by his secret master’s sworn might.

It was a sight that would have gotten him court-marshaled, had he dared to reveal his deadly secret before his superiors in YanTu. But here? Again, no one cared. Even if his lieutenants hissed with dismay, as if pained by the reminder of just how far they all now walked along their crooked path.

It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that his master’s black flame would burn through any defense before Gold!

Ruolan cried out with what happened next.

It was a blur to Captain Hu as well.

The smiling Ruidian didn’t move a muscle, yet Hu’s blade still managed to miss. Not only miss, it was cartwheeling through the air, his hand still attached.

The captain spent long moments blinking in dismay before the pain finally hit.

He gazed down at his own spurting wrist, then began to scream.

"The captain’s in trouble!” Ruolan cried. “We have to—“

Hu instinctively tried to fly Ruolan’s way, scrabbling for a potion with a hand that wasn’t even there before finding himself tumbling through the air.

His eyes widened with horror when his mastery over air abruptly left him, gazing down to find a pair of spurting stumps cut off at the knees, his feet actually flying off without him as he gave one final despairing cry and knew only helpless terror before he crashed to the ground.

For long moments Hu just gazed at the heavens, in so much agony he couldn’t breathe, let alone think, as his soldiers released brilliant red streams of flame while they danced and spun through the air, facing off against that monster in human form.

Their far off cries and desperate struggles were the only sounds Hu heard save for the distant sound of crashing waves and the far more worrying sounds of dark scratchy whispers slithering into his dying ears, eager to claim that which he was suddenly desperate never to surrender. Yet the fire he tried to visualize to defend himself instead wrapped him tight in its tainted embrace, searing his soul and flaying his mind.

Hu could do nothing but howl in the tortured caverns of his own mind as he was forced to pay a bill he had thought could be delayed for countless centuries before it finally came due.