~Chapter Ten: A Small Skirmish~

"You know, for all that the average cultivator is rather unimpressive, your little sect leaders do take things to their logical extreme. I suppose there is some value in brute-forcing things until something works."

***

I was never terribly good at reading social situations. When I was a much younger man, a mortal, I didn't have the patience to learn how to navigate the treacherous waters of social niceties.

As I grew older and more powerful, those niceties took a backstep. Power acts as a wonderful social lubricant.

I'll admit that I probably should have taken a moment to truly study the intricacies and psychology that led people to act the way they did, but that was time I could better spend learning how to manipulate the basic building blocks of the universe, and that took a bit of priority.

I wasn't completely inept, mind you. I always tried to maintain a certain level of decorum and politeness. More often than not, asking nicely for something would get it to you without you having to march an army to someone's door.

All of this is to say that as the remaining elder ran away with his figurative tail between his legs, I took a moment to scan the courtyard and put my limited social observation skills at work.

The younger disciples were the ones whose reactions were the most interesting. They seemed fearful, undecided, and most interesting of all, uncertain. They were eyeing their older counterparts, and for the most part, didn't seem angry about the situation.

The older members were quite different. There was plain, unmasked anger there. I recognized it as the anger of someone whose pride had just been casually stepped upon, and who couldn't do anything about it.

Pride was, of course, a stupid thing to have. I had a bit of pride, but it was always rooted in my experiences and my little accomplishments, not those of a nation or group I was part of. That kind of pride wasn't something I ever felt was earned by those who held it.

These people seemed ready to attack me, but they were held back. Perhaps they had a lick of common sense split among the lot of them.

I spun around on the tip of an oxford and walked over to Alex. "This is rather interesting, but I do hope we can move things along," I said.

"It's kind of taking a long time," Alex agreed. "These people should just give Bone Papa his books."

"Now now, Alex, they're hardly my books. We need to earn them first. There's nothing wrong with that. I just wish they would accept an easier method of payment than outright pain and the occasional bit of dismemberment."

Alex nodded. "We could have made tea and talked. But they only want to fight. It's very rude."

"Yes, yes it is."

A gasp ran across the courtyard, and I noticed a few initiates quickly backing up to hide behind some pillars or around the corners of buildings.

The reason for the sudden reaction was rather obvious. Someone had just stepped out into the open. He was a relatively short man, his hair shaved off and leaving his scalp bare. The man wore a pair of goggles over a mask that had a pair of tubes running out of it and over his shoulders.

Otherwise, his clothes were similar to the senior disciples. A long-sleeved jacket, with a long tail and a collar that reached up to nose height.

As he moved, it was easy to make out dozens of finger-width canisters hidden under his coat, all within easy reach.

I stood a little taller and pat Alex on the shoulder. "It seems that we've found someone important at last," I said. "Do be careful. If this turns into a fight it might be ugly."

Alex nodded. "Yes Sir Bone Harold."

I walked closer to the man. We both paused some dozen necrometers away from each other, keeping about half the courtyard between us.

"You have killed some members of my sect," the man said. His voice flanged bizarrely, likely a byproduct of wearing his mask.

"I have," I said. "For the right price, I could return them to you. Resurrection is hard all that complex a spell."

"No," the man said. "They have died in defence of the sect. Dishonourable though their loss maybe, they did die for the most righteous cause."

That was a load of bollocks. The only righteous cause for death was in the quest to uncover more knowledge, that the next generation may be one step closer to defeating death itself. Still, if this man wanted to believe that, it was his prerogative.

"Very well," I said. I wouldn't even ask to keep the bodies for research out of common decency. "I don't know if you learned why I came here?"

"You wish to steal the secrets of the Four Venoms," he said.

"Hardly. I merely wish to learn. I'm willing to pay, to make a legitimate transaction out of it. Unfortunately, your subordinates seemed to think that this was meant as a sort of insult."

The man nodded. "It is an insult to even try this much," he said. "What is your name?"

"I am Harold," I said.

"Weiyuan," he returned. He shifted one leg forward, his arms coming up before him, each hand still hidden by its opposite sleeve. "Master of the Four Venoms Sect."

"A pleasure," I said. "Unfortunately I've never been keen on titles myself. Are we going to battle or are your motions part of some elaborate greeting?"

Weiyuan scoffed. "I will kill you, yes."

"Ah, very well," I said.

"Observe."

Grand Master of the Four Venoms Arts, and the Four Dao of Inevitable Death, Weiyuan, Level 542.

"Before we begin this," I said. "Would you mind if I set a barrier around us? I wouldn't want to harm your disciples, or the city, for that matter." And the books, of course.

"I would appreciate that. May I observe?" Weiyuan said.

"Certainly. It's never too late to see some new application of the arcane. Are you certain that we must fight? I sense something of a scholar in you."

He nodded. "Yes. You have soiled the reputation of my sect. I could not live knowing that I let such insults pass."

"You could learn to live with enough humility that an insult or two wouldn't matter," I said. "It might be difficult initially, but you would certainly live longer for it."

"You will not convince me, Harold."

I shrugged. So be it. Raising a hand to the side, I carefully moved it through the prescribed gestures. A step I would usually skip, but if I was being observed then it could serve as a teaching moment.

"A shield from times ageless

To protect hearts courageously

Against evil, reflection

Against peril, protection

A bulwark I provide for thee: Aegis!"

Four runes appeared in every cardinal direction, each as tall as the sect's grandest building. They thrummed with power and glowed bright a moment bursting and cutting through the air around us. Each rune connected to the one next to it, forming a massive semi-transparent wall around and above us, as though we were now in the centre of a large egg. I knew that it cut down into the ground below as well, a thin slice cut apart by protective aether.

"It's an older spell," I said. "I never liked morality-aligned magics like that, but it is quite useful at times."

Weiyuan eyed the barrier all around us, then turned narrowed eyes onto me. "You are more powerful than you seem."

"Why thank you."

"Are you prepared?" he asked.

"Of course--"

I flung myself to the side, a minor levitation cantrip yanking me out of the path of a dragon's head made of condensed mist and fog.

"Interesting," I said as I settled down a little ways from the now-dissipating creature. "Made of some sort of aerosolized poison, I presume?"

"Yes," Weiyuan said. He flicked a tiny canister to the side, no doubt empty. "There are four paths in our sect, as you can imagine."

I nodded. "I had presumed as much."

"The first is the path of poisons, of knowing how to bring death using ingestion and subtlety. The second is the path of venom, to bring death by puncture and assault. The third is the alchemical path, to understand nature and transform it at one's will. And there's the fourth path, of the engulfing earth. Four dao that only the greatest of our students will ever learn."

"You're rather forthcoming about your skills," I said.

"You revealed your own," he replied easily.

That was fair. "Only the one. Perhaps I'll show you some others."

"That is enough," Waiyaun said. Then he disappeared.

I tracked his movements across the battlefield utilizing arcane sight, something that I used as a matter of course, seeing as I have no eyes in my skull. He was using some form of elemental manipulation to skim over the surface of the earth at rather startling speeds. In a blink he was right behind me, hands reaching out towards my chest.

I hesitated a moment before allowing his blow to hit. His fingers plunged into my back.

"First strike. Poison Body Palm," he said.

Waiyuan shifted around to my front and applied his palm, almost gently, against my chest.

"Second strike. Soul Rend Palm."

And with that, the man appeared before me once more and pressed his hand over my face.

"Third strike. Flesh Transmutation Palm."

He appeared directly above me, mid-way through a leap. His arm snapped out and he pressed his hand atop my head.

Fourth strike. "Palm of the Engulfing Earth."

Weiyuan landed in a roll and walked away, his hands sliding into his sleeves once more.

His fourth strike sent me crashing into the ground. That was until I set my feet and stopped my downwards movement with a minor adjustment of my momentum.

"Interesting," I said.

Weiyuan turned to face me. He didn't show any obvious emotions, but I could feel some surprise radiating from him. "You lived," he said.

"Not quite," I said as I pulled my feet out of the ground and shook my shoes clean. "See, your four arts, while interesting, only apply to me in very specific circumstances. Your poisons are quite useless, and your soul manipulating abilities are rather wasted on me."

"How so?" he asked.

I allowed my illusion to dissolve. "Well, the undead has a natural resistance to poisons and the like," I said. "And my soul isn't exactly around to be tampered with."

Weiyuan scowled. "A skeleton."

"A lich, actually," I said.

"You are forbidden," he said.

"That's nice." I bent forwards and brushed some dirt from my pants. I'd have to get Alex to wash them later.

Waiyuan rushed at me again. He was a clever enough man, eschewing the use of his poisons and instead of creating a cloud of some sort of caustic vapours around himself that shot out towards me.

"I can use a bit of alchemy myself," I said.

"You dare!"

I may have angered him, I thought as I ducked under a spinning kick.

"Transmute."

The smog of caustic gasses turned into pure hydrogen.

"Create Flame."

I stood in place as a wash of heat and fire engulfed me, and made the air in the bubble of my aegis become tight with added pressure.

Weiyuan popped out of the earth a little ways ahead of me, only mildly singed. "Wyrm Strike!"

Two serpents of stone formed in a blink and struck out towards me.

Two Frostbite cantrips cast instantly froze them in place.

Weiyuan bit the top off one of his little canisters and swallowed the contents in a gulp. In my arcane sight, I could see his soul writhing and begin to burn. A self-damaging skill? No, he wasn't that foolish. A sort of buff then, with a component that harmed the user.

The boost to his strength and movement speed was downright incredible, but at the cost of tearing apart the very fabric of his soul.

He wasn't holding anything back.

"Invulnerability."

The sect's Grand Master punched me.

The crackle of the bones in his fist was at once satisfying and annoying. I wanted his body to be more or less intact. "You were more impressive than I would have expected," I said.

"I will purge your heresy from this land," he said.

"I doubt that."

"Power Word: Kill."

The man glared at me until the very end.

"Well done," I said. "When I raise you, you will act as a wonderful book guard," I said.

I let my aegis dissolve and took a moment to look around me. The members of the sect did not seem all that pleased at the sight of their leader dead by my feet.

"Attack him!" one said.

And with that, they started to run my way.

I sighed. The idiocy of these people.

"Mass Teleport."

Somewhere over the lake, some hundred-odd members of the ex-sect of the Four Venoms appeared in a flash.

"Now Alex, let's find that library."

***

Answer to the last riddle: A skull

Today's riddle: What can you hold in your right hand but never in your left hand?

Thank you for reading!

Sorry, yesterday I was sick.

Please do comment.