Chapter 34

"Form two adjacent vedges! Create pockets for the creatures to get lured into!" - Xie Taowei was barking out orders. Xin stood at the edge of one of the wings, his crossbow pointed at the horizon.

"Around a dozen targets! No visual contact yet, there is a small patch of lowland down there!" - Outrider Lu was reporting the results of his scan, his pointing finger in the shape of a bud again.

"Grasshoppers?"

"Yes, sir! Ranks unknown!"

Lei was breathing heavily. I somewhat mastered this technique by now, but there is still a chance I fail it, being a mortal. It's a huge gamble, using it, it could give me a quasi rank one battle strength, or make me a tired mortal with no qi reserves! But I'm unimportant, the group can afford the risk, so it's better that I try and seize the chance to raise my prestige!

Lei stressed his meridians, pushing the fire qi inwards, creating a flow of fiery energy. Now to donate the metal qi. Control the heat. Breathe out. Lei's sweat started steaming.

Suddenly, something grabbed his chest! It was yellow and transparent, and looked like a wire, stretched between his chest and Xie Taowei's palm. A formation flagellum. That fucker! 

"Fire feeds Earth! Donate your energy immediately!" 

"Master, I've used my Molten Heart technique! You'll absorb toxic qi!" - This was grating for Lei. His qi reserves were a drop in the bucket for a rank two master, why would he exploit him like that?

"I'll be fine, kid! Don't resist the suction!" - Lei suddenly had an unpleasant memory pop in his head, but quickly repressed it. He had a strong urge to just push all of the molten metal qi into the flagellum, poisoning master Taowei, but restrained himself. 

"Tu Qiang, get ready to reinforce my stance! Use the grounding method! Lei, donate your qi! Get ready, everyone, I can feel them coming!" - his skin was now covered in stone, and his mallet had a big, sharp white crystal growing out of it.

"There they are!" - Outrider Lu shouted. "I'll use the snaring technique, my wood attacks won't be very effective!"

His arrows were covered in brown vines, and he whispered at them gently, making them grow new sprouts. He unleashed some shots, entangling several grasshoppers with spreading vines.

Xin aimed his crossbow. He saw a head pop above the tall grass and dive back below. Pony sized. That's a mundane grasshopper, should be mindless, and runs in a straight line. Aim, fire. 

Twang! The bolt bent as it escaped the crossbow, then straightened itself and rode the wind, piercing the grasshopper's head. 

Good. Reload.

"Nice! Reload, I cover!" - Rui Ming encouraged him as he also shot from his bow. Boom! A huge stone, human head sized, emerged from the white crystal of Xie Taowei's mallet, and crashed the grasshopper Xin just shot. 

"Hahaha! Get smashed, bug!" - It was a middle aged man's voice, filled with a childlike enthusiasm.

"That bug would die from its wounds! Refocus fire!" - Xin shouted.

"Huh?" - Xie Taowei didn't bother to answer this audacious comment. "Eat this!"

Several more stones smashed the bugs. They got close enough to be fully seen now. Beady faceted eyes, chaotically twitching rudimentary wings, uncanny movements of their numerous legs - an untrained fighter might have gotten terrified by the sight, but everyone here had killed before. Except for Yao Nang.

The usually stoic young girl was filled with irrational fear, her head refused to even recognize giant insects as something that existed. She was afraid of even the common locusts, cannibal grasshoppers looked like the stuff of nightmares to her! Pure terror. 

Smash! Smash! The bugs were dropping dead before reaching the party. Xie Taowei's method completely outmatched these mundane, mindless creatures, and he drowned them under a shower of stones. Only one bug got close to the party, near Lei's space in the wedge. He braced himself, preparing to enter the melee.

"Come at me!" - He raised the saber, finishing the activation of his Molten Heart technique. 

Swish! The arrow pierced the "shoulder" of this pony-sized bug, and the vines emerged from it, pulling its front legs together. Outrider Lu.

Swish. Swish. Xin pierced the "neck" of the creature, and Rui Ming shot the side of its chest. The holes they made produced a loud whistling sound. The breathing gateways are disrupted, and that whistling is the air coming out, Xin concluded.

The twitching bug couldn't break the wines restraining its legs, and was suffocating to death.

Smash! Xie Taowei threw a smaller rock, crashing its head.

"Master Lu, was it the last of them? I need your confirmation!" - Xie Taowei shouted. His face was red like an exotic pepper, and he was breathing heavily.

Master Lu raised his tree bud pointing finger. It was pulsating actively.

"Seems so. Let's investigate the corpses. Are you alright, master?" 

"Better than ever. Get to business." - He waved a hand, and his flagellum disappeared.

Xin stood there, observing the battlefield. Everyone looked fine, other than Yao Nang, who looked absolutely crushed. Lei stood there, his face red and his sweat emanating steam amid the morning chill. What would the other fighters do, if it came to an open fight? Wait a second...

Did Lei inadvertently poison master Taowei by activating his technique? Is this why he looks so tired? That's a weird situation. Why did he even need to take Lei's energy in the first place? Is his qi pool weak? Some of his stones took two hits to kill the bugs. Rank two master's moves should be more effective than this. It looked impressive, but it was actually a very suboptimal performance, compared to what Xin saw from the top-tier rank two masters during the tournaments. 

"Kid, stop eyefucking the earth. Come here." - Outrider Lu called Xin up. Xin approached him and bowed.

"Master, what kind of help do you envision me providing?"

"Huh? Whatever, just riddle me this: do you see anything unusual with these corpses?"

Xin looked around, then thoroughly analysed several corpses.

"Looks very mundane to me. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"So, the bugs are completely ordinary, do we agree?"

"Yes, master." 

"But the situation is pretty unordinary, don't you think?"

"You mean this attack doesn't work like it usually does?"

"I didn't expect these young bugs to hunt in packs. Higher ranks are a bit smarter, but overall, they've got no brains for pack tactics. Thoughts, disciple?"

"Beast tide anomaly. A mutation. New subspecies? Some sort of pheromone ability on one of them?"

"Nah, the bugs are normal. The easier explanation is that something compelled them to attack. Or someone." - Lei suddenly interfered from behind.

"You! Don't interrupt the scouts! Come here!" - Xie Taowei called Wu Lei up. 

"Yes, master?" - Lei felt the danger of this interaction. He was still slowly turning off the Molten Heart technique.

"What was this shit? You pissed into the river! Some sort of alchemy?"

"That's Molten Heart technique, I've even included it into my disciple profile. Haven't you read it?"

"Are you implying I didn't do my job properly?" 

Fuck, I dug my grave with this comment, thought Lei.

"I'd never, master."

"So tell me, why the fuck did you use this technique when we were connected? That's why we should ban the dual element cultivators in the first place! We are a formation oriented sect, not some wandering hero club."

"Forgive me, master, it won't happen again! I didn't expect my meager qi to have any impact on your physique, I am sorry." - Lei bowed. "As your student, I also have a question, if you would be so kind! Please enlighten me!"

"A question? Go on." - His eyes said "be careful". Everyone else gathered, observing this interaction.

"Isn't there a qi loss when you move the qi from one element to another? And isn't my qi pool pathetic compared to yours? Why did you need my qi?" - Lei felt like he'd be punished the second no matter what he did, so he decided to at least stand his ground. Was it a wise decision?

"Ha! Look around, all the bugs are dead! And none of you are hurt! You should be thanking me!"

"If this was a serious group, there was a risk of you and me both running out of qi. What then? Maybe others should have contributed directly with their qi abilities?"

A dead silence emerged, as everyone was shocked by Lei's audacity. But the situation was also complicated by every single person silently agreeing with Lei. An open challenge to a rank two master, at least twice his age and sevenfold his cultivation experience!

"That's not a question, son." - He approached him and looked him in the eyes. His shoulders were wider than Lei's, but he was shorter and nowhere close to Lei's league in terms of looks. When they stood face to face like that, the contrast was evident. "This won't happen again, it's true. If you ever use this technique in combat again, I swear I'll burn the metal qi out of your body myself, I've got the materials for that! Now, if you ever raise your shit opinion again and challenge me, I'll cut your tongue out, I swear by my ancestors! I am deducting three contribution points out of your salary for this mission, for endangering us and for open insubordination. Did I make myself clear?"

"Yes, master." - Lei felt elevated. He took this punishment as a reward. His technique and behaviour are recognized as dangerous. A mere mortal made a rank two master insecure. He carried his new status with pride.

"Forgive me, master, may I humbly ask you to reconsider?" - Xin intervened, but was surprised at himself. In his head, he was bashing Lei for this stupid insubordination, but his "heroic" aspect compelled him to stand up for his friend.

"Xin. No." - Wu Xiaoyun pulled his sleeve. Outrider Lu also had a saddened expression.

"Speak." - Unnaturally red-faced Xie Taowei looked like he was boiling inside, but responded in a calm voice.

Xin was confused. He didn't know what to say. Blurting out was as far as his plan went.

"What, did you eat a dick? Got anything to say to cover for your faggot friend?"

"I... Um... Please consider an alternate perspective, sir. Molten Heart technique is indeed too dangerous for a mortal to use, I concede that. I agree that he should be banned from using the technique, and it's also true that he should have dispelled the technique as soon as the flagellum connected, but…"

"Get to the fucking point." - Xie Taowei's lips were dry, and he breathed heavily.

"Master, Lei was confused and inexperienced, and acted in good faith. Some people here almost soiled themselves, while Lei was showing his martial spirit, even if he miscalculated. But I think there is something missing from the picture."

"Fuck this." - Xie Taowei pulled out a flask and almost dried it all in one big gulp. "I don't remember telling you to deliver an hour long monologue. Get this over with."

"Yes, master. See, as an alchemist, I think Lei transported this technique to you, inadvertently, at least a part of it. So you might have not been yourself when you punished him, your mind artificially irritated. I humbly ask you to keep the Molten Heart ban, but revert his fine. Please."

"Master, this sounds reasonable, please consider this." - Tu Qiang suddenly intervened. 

"And you, too, Tu Qiang? Fine, I'll revert the fine, but I'll throw some dirty work at him. Kid needs to build up discipline. And you two, are you fags? If I ever catch you two sucking each other's cocks, I'll bury you alive in two breaths, or make both of you into eunuchs. Got it?"

"Yes..." - Xin and Lei were disgusted, and exchanged confused glances, as if saying "The fuck is wrong with him?".