Damsel, save thyself

I could see my defeat in about five moves, so I surrendered with a "Tsk."

The young master I played against grinned and said, "We could play a game of Go instead?"

"You know that I am even worse at that game," I muttered. I'd like to introduce a timed version of play, but for some reason, clockwork-based timekeeping devices like I would expect for a game clock weren't common despite the fact that the technology existed and were used in pocket watches that were popular for rich mortals.

Almost no cultivator used them, though. I wasn't sure if it was just because we didn't have that much care about schedules or if it was because the mechanisms in pocket watches were delicate and like to be broken by jumping around, though.

"Another game. This time, try to make a move in ten seconds or less. This will help your snap decision-making," I said, but mainly because I was pretty good at this style of play and wanted to beat him again.

He raised an eyebrow but reset the game board, and we played again. This game went really quickly, which wasn't surprising, and I trounced him. We played a few more games like that, talking mostly in between as during the game, we were both too focused on making quick moves.

"It looks like things are improving around here in the capital," I said. While the celebrations had stopped, the optimism had continued quite a bit in daily life. There was talk that some of the armies that had been committed to the front were shifting inwards to focus more on keeping the peace for the interior of the empire.

"I'm not so sure," the young master said cautiously. Then he paused and said, "Say, let me tell you something, and you give me your opinion."

I smiled and inclined my head, "Sure. But I have minimal areas of competency, just so that you're aware." If it wasn't magic, nuclear reactors, or reading lots of books, most of which being fiction, then I wasn't sure I could provide any useful insights.

He snorted, apparently not believing me, which I thought was kind of stupid, but said, "From what I have heard, the Emperor recalled one of his most trusted generals back to the capital and gave him the mission to attack the west flank amongst the front in front of his advisors."

I looked appropriately curious as that wasn't what had allegedly happened, and he continued, "However, it wasn't until the general left the capital and opened sealed orders that he got his real mission: amassing a huge army and performing a quick strike against the enemy capital. This was successful."

"Ohhh... Something is rotten in the state of Qian," I said, stealing from the Bard, and then asked curiously, "You seem well-informed."

He coughed, blushed and said, "Well, my mother is very close to the Emperor." But then he smacked his closed fist into his open palm and said, "But, yes, exactly! It was only a handful of trusted advisors who knew of the fake orders, too. This was the first time the Emperor had given a direct order in the war, too. And guess what?"

"I guess that after the successful attack, the armies that remained along the front detected huge enemy reinforcements along the western flank," I said, amused. He wouldn't be telling me this if it wasn't something like that.

He nodded rapidly, and I spread my hands in front of me and asked, "It was wise of him, and daring too, to create this plan. But why are you mentioning it to me?"

"How would you discover who the traitor is?" he asked, gripping his fists.

I shrugged, "Instead of telling all of his advisors at once, he could have spoken to them individually and privately. Depending on how many there were, he could tell one the attack was going to be on the west, the other the east, and so forth." I remember that was a basic intelligence leak detection strategy in my past life, for example, Elon Musk used a series of one or two spaces between sentences to create a binary number that was unique to every recipient of an e-mail, which he said allegedly identified a leaking employee.

The young master shook his head, "That's a good idea, except it would depend on him telling each advisor not to discuss it with any of their peers and the advisors listening to him. From what my mom tells me, they would have absolutely discussed it amongst themselves and realised that they were each told separate objectives and the gig would be up."

I chuckled, "Then the Emperor has a lot bigger problem on his hands if the people he has running the nation for him do not obey him. Do you know what the job of an absolute monarch is, really?"

"This sounds like the kind of trick questions I got a lot growing up," he said, and this time it was my turn to snort. Growing up? You mean you're not still doing it, brat?

I shrugged, though, indicating he was kind of correct. "Yes, the answer would change depending on whose perspective we're discussing. Let's discuss the most important perspective, the one of the everyday people that live their lives under the authority of his state."

He nodded, and I continued, "Monarchs are supposed to be kind of like miniature gods, something that the average person can revere. It's a type of symbolism. Despite being real, actual people, they're less of a person and more of a story to the average person living in their nation."

The brat wasn't stupid, and he only thought about it for a second before nodding, "Yes, that comports with what I think, too. So?"

I waved my hands around and asked, "Then, why, pray tell, do I know absolutely nothing about the Emperor of the nation I am currently residing in? I don't even know what he looks like. Here, look." I closed my hand around a piece of fleece that I caused to appear in it, and with the other, made the complicated somatic gesture for Minor Illusion repeatedly. Like the Light cantrip, I could cast this spell as many times as I wanted until I exhausted myself, making it one of the most useful cantrips there was.

In this case, I created reproductions of a number of what I would categorise as propaganda posters that I had seen during the week of celebrations following the military victory. There were four different types that I saw in the common parts of the city, and they each glorified either the Imperial Army itself, the "War Council" headed by a specific politician whose name I didn't recognise, or unstated Generals—even they did not get specifically mentioned by name. None of them mentioned the Emperor once, just the state and the unnamed apparatuses and cogs of it.

It wasn't that all of the ordinary people didn't know what happened; for example, the rat kebab seller told me that the Emperor was behind the victory, but I had found that to be the exception rather than the rule, "Not one mention of the Emperor, here. If I were the Emperor, I would be the most suspicious of whoever is behind him being cloistered away from the public eye. If the average person knew who the Emperor was, what he looked like, that he was looking out for them? They'd generally support him, so long as their basic physiological needs like food, safety and sex were being met." I seemed to remember a hierarchy of needs from my past life, but I couldn't really remember who created them or what they were after the basic physiological ones that I had mentioned.

I shook my head and had a rueful expression, "But how can they even support the Emperor now? They don't even know him. It's just a title, ripe for someone to slide right in. It would be like the new Emperor was there all along, as far as the people are concerned."

If a bookmaker was taking bets on the subject, I would bet a lot of money on the traitor being whoever was behind keeping the current Emperor out of the public eye, which was likely the same person running the state for him and probably the only one mentioned by name in any of the propaganda posters that I saw, the leader of the War Council. Just calling them that was suspicious, as wouldn't the Emperor have to be on said council even if in a pro-forma way, and how could anyone claim to be the leader of a council that also had the Emperor on it?

I shrugged, amused, "Now that we've talked about this, I now fully expect that I'll wake up one day and the stupid Emperor will be deposed, but would I even know? Unless you tell me in one of our future games, I don't think so. So, let me know, okay?" Wait, were there lèse-majesté laws here? I seemed to remember that there were, and the penalty was death. Perhaps I shouldn't say "stupid Emperor."

The expression on the young master's face was of shock, and I realised that he told me his mother was close to the Emperor and frowned. I stuck my foot in it, I guess, "I'm sure you and your mother will be fine." I said, although I actually wasn't sure about that at all. It wouldn't be weird for the new guy in charge to conduct a quiet purge of the former guy in charge's supporters.

He tried to pick up one of the posters, but his hand went right through it, and I said, "Sorry, it's just a visual illusion only."

He finally closed his mouth, which had been hanging open like a fish and nodded, "These are accurate?"

I shrugged and pushed my bangs out of my eyes. I needed a trimming, even if I had noticed my hair growing in a bit slower than usual. I would take control of my skeleton-butler and perform it myself with some shears instead of going to a local salon, "I don't have a perfect memory, but I have a very good one. Especially for visual details like this. It's necessary for illusionists." When talking to people about what I specialised in, I had decided to subtly emphasise Illusion while deemphasising Necromancy, even if I actually intended to spend a little bit more time studying the latter.

I reset the board, intending to play a couple more games before our time was up, but the young master suddenly stood up. And I mean, suddenly. He just shoved himself backwards and stood up, surprising me. He glanced at me and shook his head sadly, "Sorry, chess tart. I have to cut our games short today."

I raised my eyebrows at him and considered that he might be rushing home to warn his mother, assuming he now thought the same thing I did. If so, a possible reaction might be to flee quietly. It occurred to me that this might be the last time I see him.

I stood up, and since there was no cultural equivalent of actually shaking hands nor casually touching skin to skin for the opposite sex, I did the traditional fist and palm salute that was common amongst cultivators and Martial Artists. He paused and then repeated the gesture, and I watched him leave with a complicated feeling.

Nodding, I put everything away and left the room, returning to the main brothel's salon. Not only could you pick out a courtesan you wanted, but they had one of the better restaurants in the city, at least those I had seen. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that a sect that focused so much on "service" would also have burgeoning immortal chefs.

I didn't make a lot with selling my talismans, barely enough to pay for the materials for the subsequent ones I made, but I did make enough to, in addition to buying a large amount of spiritual rice by the kilogram, but also eat out now and then—especially when I already got reimbursed for all of my lessons and recreation here.

I ate a nice, quiet lunch that I would probably call Sichuan pepper chicken, except the meat came from a "thunder fowl," which was a type of flightless bird resembling a giant turkey that could shoot lightning bolts out of its tail feathers. That sounded pretty dangerous, except they were extremely stupid, so they were a pretty cheap type of demonic beast to eat, as you could easily ambush them before they had a chance to zap you.

While I ate, I people watched. It wasn't wrong to say that I didn't meet the average demographic for clients to this establishment, as mostly people of the gentlemanly persuasion were here. It wasn't that they didn't have male escorts, but even they were generally for the gentlemen, too.

Mostly, when I saw other women, she would be part of a husband-wife couple seeking to spice things up in the bedroom, so I occasionally got mistaken as a courtesan when I took my meals here, especially with my exotic looks, but I tried to take it complimentary.

I thought that was what was about to happen. A man I didn't recognise stared at me for a long moment, but then, before I thought he was going to approach me, he glanced around again and left. I shrugged and just finished the tea that came with my meal in peace.

Honestly, I never liked tea before I came to this world. I was a coffee sort of guy. But I suppose it was something of an acquired taste, as I kind of enjoyed the bitterness of the green tea now. I still, though, put honey in it anyway.

I slid my tea service forward and was about to stand up when I saw something of a commotion happening downstairs. People were rushing about as though this was a speakeasy about to be raided by the revenuers.

Wait... did I ever check to see if prostitution was legal? I mean, it must be. Shit, I was too pretty to make it in jail. I needed three pillows to sleep comfortably at night, and even in my old world, I was sure that they only gave you one. Maybe none here. God knows what I would have to do to earn three. I didn't want to become the jailhouse girlfriend of Big Bertha or whoever ran the block.

I reached around, ready to cast Invisibility on myself and make a hasty escape like a number of patrons were doing. However, before I made the decision, I saw Fei Fei walk in and bark to her minions in quick, clipped orders. Oh, I guess she could take charge if she needed to, after all. Perhaps I saw her in the wrong light.

Shaking my head, I glanced at her as she looked up at me. When she recognised me, she walked over, and I started to stand up politely, but she waved me back down. "What's going on?" I asked, curious, "Some governmental raid?"

She shook her head and then paused, "No. But the First Army has put a cordon around the entire capital, with assistance from the Imperial guard cultivators. No one is entering or leaving the capital through any means. They just destroyed a flying boat owned by some fuerdai child of a rich aristocrat just now that refused the order to return to the city. That's what caused all the commotion."

I widened my eyes. I hoped very much the young master and his mother weren't on that flying boat! He could be somewhat called a rich second-generation silkpants, after all.

Whoever was behind this had decided to stop playing around. On first guess, it should be the current Emperor, shouldn't it? The First Army was specifically housed near the capital, and the commander always had to be a highly trusted relative of the Emperor. One who wasn't in line to inherit, too. Also, the Imperial Guard were cultivators that only answered to him personally.

However, perhaps the usurper had already taken control. If so, this could be the quiet or not-so-quiet purge of former loyalists. I hadn't expected it to happen this soon, though. It was like I had jinxed things by talking about this possibility with the young master.

Suddenly, I had the unusual feeling that I was being really stupid for some reason, but I couldn't quite detect why. The feeling passed when Fei Fei leaned down, and for a moment, all I could see was her impressive décolletage. What was I thinking about again? She smiled and said, "You can stay here if you want until things quiet down. There are groups of soldiers that have been seen moving about the streets with a purpose."

I then shook my head, "No, I doubt very much they're after me. I'll just head back home right away and stay there until things blow over." Besides, I was sure that such a service wouldn't be free. I'd probably have to pay for the services of a companion for days to stay here that long.

She nodded, "You're probably right. But just be careful." She glanced back towards the door and then stomped off, seeing one of her minions not quite carrying out her will, I guessed. I stood up and took my leave, and to be safe, I cast Invisibility on myself before I left the front door of the Frolics.

The capital was quite large, but thankfully, our rental home was in the same district as a lot of the entertainment venues, like the Frolics, so I didn't have a huge walk to go home, especially as I flitted from rooftop to rooftop, stepping lightly and quickly.

I got about halfway there before I had the sudden hint of oncoming danger and just rolled to the left just before a dark shadow impacted the roof tiles where I had been stepping. I could barely see the enemy move, and if he was targeting me accurately while I was invisible, then he had to be using spiritual sense. A Foundation Establishment cultivator, in other words.

My eyes went wide; I raised my hand and snap-cast Web in the direction I saw a flicker of movement. It worked, and I saw a man briefly trapped in a large web; however, before I could even follow up, he just powered through it and was in front of me, punching me in the stomach. The last thing I noticed was bending over with all the air escaping from my lungs and him casually tapping the back of my head with a knife-hand strike.

---xxxxxx---

I groaned as I woke up. My head hurt, and I think I had some cracked ribs. But I was alive. That was good.

Okay, Mei Wen... what did Grandpa always say? Step one, take stock.

Where was I? I was in an almost European-style extra-large canopy bed, but I had just been dumped on top. Nobody had tucked me in or changed my clothes. That was good.

I was missing my sword, but that was it. My two shadows were dead or gone. I hoped they were dead, considering how hazardous they were in the wild, but the one I had left in my amulet was still alive, as was my amulet still around my neck underneath my clothes.

I felt for the presence of them through my daily casting of Chain Spirit and thought it was much more likely that they were dead. I would have been able to feel a direction, at least if they were still around unless I had been unconscious for more than eighteen hours, anyway.

The man who subdued me was also in the Foundation Establishment realm, so it was very likely he would have noticed them, especially if he was using his spiritual sense to track me while I was invisible. Sorry, uno and dos. You were good homicidal maniacs and would be missed.

A few beginner talismans that I carried in my pockets were gone, as well as the few spirit stones and mortal currency I held in my pockets, so I had been searched somewhat thoroughly, which gave me the creeps.

I was alive, but I did not really know why. I hoped very much it wasn't the first thing that came to my mind. The world I found myself in was unusual and cruel in many ways.

Sexual violence was, in many ways, fairly commonplace. My main defence against it was just to become strong. However, if that didn't work, I had an alternative, too. It was the Dragon-Phoenix Synergy Art. I had been studying this dual cultivation manual partly as a defence against that if all others failed.

There were other reasons to study it, also. It was one of the few methods beyond my normal cultivation method that detailed methods of manipulating true qi and moving it around.

A person's true qi was just regular qi after they assimilated into their physical and spiritual bodies using a cultivation method. It made all parts of you better, but it wasn't what was used when you used supernatural abilities or cast Daoist spells.

Otherwise, you would use up your hard-earned cultivation to do anything. I guessed there might be forbidden techniques that used it at a dire cost, but I didn't know any.

Assimilating qi through cultivation methods and turning it into true qi meant it was half in the physical world and half in the spiritual world. I thought of it like dark matter. It influenced qi in the real world, but they couldn't directly touch, just like the gravity of dark matter influenced regular matter, but we, being comprised of regular matter, couldn't touch it.

You could circulate your true qi, and it would attract regular qi into your body, and both would co-exist in the same space paradoxically.

It was this regular qi that you used when you used a cultivator's supernatural abilities, and it could run out. If so, you had to circulate your true qi again until you were "refilled."

You could only have as much qi as you had true qi in your cultivation base, and that was an ideal case. If your cultivation method was poor or unsuited to you, you would max out with a lot less.

For example, I had ten times as much effective qi that I could utilise when I was in second level compared to when I was using the Five Phases Method.

However, in dual cultivation, during coitus, a man and a woman would move their true qi through their partner as well, treating the two of each other as almost one entity. It was actually kind of romantic, but the idea was always to end up the same qi as when you started, not leave any of yours behind or take any of theirs.

I was pretty sure that normal dual cultivation methods were a pre-requisite for the type of demonic cultivation that the girls in the Frolics practised, though. They modified a normal dual cultivation method to take a man's yang energy, or if he was a cultivator, his true qi, and somehow used the act of sex to purify it and turn it usable for them, as otherwise, it would be a hindrance and not a help.

If worse came to worse, and someone sexually assaulted me, then I would try to use the same principles to do the opposite, to shove my entire well of ghostly yin energy into the asshole.

Not only was that a fair bit of energy, but unlike my cultivation base, it was a renewable resource. If I depleted it, more came out after a while. I was also almost certain that such a large amount of deathly energy shoved into a man's meridians would be instantly fatal, even if they were in the early Foundation Establishment.

I had hoped to mainly use the research as a way to, perhaps, lend some of either my true qi or ghostly yin qi to the undead I raised as a way to both keep them under my leash without casting Animate Dead daily and also to increase their capabilities. I had already discovered that the bones of a cultivator produced a superior product, and they even had a hint of their speciality in life. The butler I was using used a pale imitation of the fist techniques of the man who half-beat me senseless, for example.

I would only do this, though, if I could figure out a way to get that true qi back in me in the event the skeleton died. Otherwise, it would be a waste.

It takes too long to accumulate to waste in mobs, even if it did increase their capabilities. The renewable ghostly yin qi seemed like a more likely bet, though, unless I could figure out a way to rubberband energy back to myself.

Sighing, I stopped daydreaming, opened my eyes and sat up on the bed.

I looked around the room. It wasn't huge, but it wasn't small either. It was about the size of my master bedroom back on Earth, which meant it was probably a guest or servant's room in this world, given the high quality of the furniture.

I wasn't up too long before the door swung open and the man who knocked me out stepped in. He didn't seem that concerned that I was up and moving.

I had the urge to cast Hold Person and then try to kill him in a minute, but I wasn't sure if it would work. A Foundation Establishment cultivator had to have better-saving throws, after all. If it didn't work, I would probably be dead. He also might have some entirely Qi-based offensive technique that he could use even while completely paralysed.

We'll call that plan zed for now. The man said, "You're going to answer some questions." He sighed and shook his head, committing the mortal sin of the villain, namely telling me too much, "That was the plan, anyway. Then the brat Emperor went off the deep end while I was hunting you down. Half the imperial court has been named for arrest, including the boss. So, he actually doesn't have enough time or inclination to question a random whore like he did yesterday. Your choices are to stay here quietly until things quiet down, and he makes time for you, do the same thing but chained up in the basement, or die."

I squinted and said, "I do not like dying or being chained up in basements." Definitely not if he was the one involved in the chaining, anyway.

He nodded, "That's wise of you. This room has an attached bath and restroom, and a servant will bring you food. Do not leave. Any attempt to escape will result in your immediate death."

With that, he spun around, left, and slammed the door behind him.

I realised why I had thought myself stupid earlier. I think that the young master I play chess with might be the Emperor.

If so, then our conversation and his abrupt departure must have precipitated him to realise that he had to nip his current situation in the bud with force of arms. I actually approved very much of his actions, especially because it seemed like it was the only thing that stopped me from being interrogated at the leisure of, I assume, the Chancellor.

The fact that they were currently engaged in what was likely an semi-open conflict means I was very low on the priority list. That was good. That could be what saves my life.

I was a Wizard, and I had a lot of things with me in my hammerspace. Spell components.

If they gave me enough time to prepare, then I could pull this entire place down upon their ears, higher cultivation or not.

---xxxxxx---

My first step was to hide a casting of Magic Aura to conceal the magical nature of everything in the room except me. I was pretty sure that my captor would periodically use his spiritual sense to look through the walls and verify I was still inside this room.

I had already detected formations on the outside of the door that I assumed would alert him if it was opened. It was pretty simple, but I didn't know enough about the magical system or its circuitry to feel like I could bypass it.

Any preparation I did would involve casting spells, mostly continual-type until-dispelled spells, which he might detect with his spiritual sense. I wasn't sure what that might look like from his perspective, but it might look like I was attempting to create formations in here, which I was sure wasn't allowed.

I wasn't entirely sure if Magic Aura could hide all traces of Qi from spiritual sense, but I had used it before to do so from regular human senses, so I was hopeful. Even if it just dampened it, it would hopefully be enough. The spells I was going to be using were subtle, anyway.

I managed to cast it as an ongoing ritual on the small little nightstand next to the bed, and after that, I just waited. The rest of my preparations would take a fairly good amount of time, and I needed to know the servant's schedule first.

A couple of hours later, a servant girl opened the door, presented me with a tray of plain food, and told me that she would return in the morning with my breakfast and take the previous day's dinner tray. I just nodded and set it aside.

I still had quite a bit of meat in my hammerspace, so I would eat that first on the chance that this was drugged.

I then got to work, pulling handfuls of diamond dust out of my hammerspace. The third level was when spells really got useful, and this included a number of spells that players almost never used.

One of them was Glyph of Warding. You could use this spell to do either one of two things—explode or cast another spell. The triggering element could be as simple as someone approaching the glyph, or as complicated as triggering when a certain word is said, or even an action is taken, so long as it was a visible action.

It was almost as broad as the triggering conditions for the Magic Mouth spell, and I already thought it would be possible to make a computer using thousands of casts of that illusion spell.

The main reason players never used this spell was because this was the traditional way to guard a location as a Wizard, and players in a campaign were notorious wandering murderhobos who never stayed in one place for long. Also, it costs resources for every casting—two hundred gold pieces worth of diamond dust, which were used up.

It was like Arcane Lock, Dream, Mirage Arcana or Simulacrum. They were the consummate Game Master spells that players hardly ever used. Well, Simulacrum could be useful to a murder hobo, I supposed.

As for Glyph, I wouldn't be using the default option of explosions. Explosions were good, but explosions in this room were not. I might be able to hide in the bathroom, but even then, I thought repeated castings would tend to bring the mansion down on my head. I knew I said that was what I was going to do, but I wasn't being literal.

I got to work. I wouldn't be sleeping tonight. I'd use a casting of Catnap to get a small rest, but I had no idea when I would be remembered, so the more I got accomplished, the better.

---xxxxxx---

It had been two and a half days, and I was starting to think that I might have been forgotten. Perhaps my chess companion had already helped this chess tart out by executing the guy who took me prisoner?

Or not. The door was slammed open, bouncing off the wall in a way that would lose you your security deposit if you rented this place, and two men entered. One was the guy who had kidnapped me, and the other was a slightly pudgy middle-aged man in elaborate court robes. He was a cultivator, but despite his age, he only seemed to be in the eighth level of Qi gathering.

From the way the stronger guy showed deference to the weaker, this must be his boss. The pudgy man growled, "Just who is this whore, anyway? The brat has been looking for her for the past day. Bitch, you're coming with us." The last was directed to me, I assumed. I casually got off the bed but made no effort to move towards them. I felt nice that the young master was searching for me, but how did he know I was even missing? Xiao Li, maybe? If Xiao Li went to find me at the Frolics, then I hope Fei Fei didn't eat him.

"He's getting close, but he's young and sentimental. We can use her as a hostage?" the Foundation Establishment cultivator queried. I didn't think he was as sentimental as they hoped. Although I appreciated the fact that the young master was searching for me, I didn't put out any hope that he'd let this existential threat leave the cordon he created for him just for me. The brat seemed sharper than that. Still, the fact that they were talking about hostages meant their positions wasn't tenable long-term.

The cultivator then motioned to me to come to them. I ignored him again. I definitely couldn't leave this room voluntarily. I hadn't set up a manual trigger for the spells.

He growled, took several steps over to me and backhanded me in the face, causing me to slump down and see stars. I didn't try to dodge at all because the triggering condition for all of the Glyphs of Warding that I had cast over the past two days involved the same triggering event—someone assaulting me.

Instantly, three glyphs cast Bestow Curse on the cultivator. You couldn't double up with multiple curses, or I would have used it ten times, but I wanted to ensure that it was given the best chance to go through in case he resisted it once or twice.

Then, less than a tenth of a second later, the second set of slightly delayed glyphs cast Blindness, Deafness, Ray of Enfeeblement, Mind Whip, Hold Person, and Slow. The latter was cast with me on the exclusionary list, as it was an AoE. The initial curse was designed to cripple his ability to withstand the follow-on debuffs, ideally reducing what amounted to his spell saving throw.

Then, another tenth of a second after that, glyphs that I had concealed in paper pasted to the ceiling cast five instances of Ray of Sickness, upcast to the third level, five instances of Magic Missile, also upcasted to the third level, five casts of Mind Whip, and finally five instances of Toll the Dead. I couldn't upcast the cantrip and make it any more powerful, but I was going for a variety of damage types here, with poison, force, psionic and necrotic.

I picked things that I was sure most normal humans wouldn't be immune to, even if they were in a higher cultivation realm than I was.

It was a cacophony of noise and blinding lights as rays of sick green energy smashed into the man's head, followed by twenty-five glowing red darts riddling him like a machine gun and a series of rapid gongs.

The debuffs were insurance to give me time to deal with him after this series of spells, and while I thought all of the debuffs landed, I honestly would never know because the guy was dead as a doornail before I finished falling down.

That was obvious when I opened my eyes, and I just let the momentum of the dead man's slap carry me forward into a roll, and I jumped to my feet.

The pudgy Chancellor's first instinct was to flee, despite being significantly higher cultivation than me, so I fired off a snap casting of Eldritch Blast, with two lances of force striking out. One hit him, and the other hit in the direction he was trying to go, namely the door.

He was also under the effect of Slow while I was not, so he was moving even slower than I was capable of even when he moved at his max speed. However, that changed when he pulled out a talisman, slapped it against himself and began running as fast as the Flash.

Well, no. Not the Flash, but maybe a generic third-rate speedster. He was already outside the door by the time I growled and cast Misty Step, appearing in front of him, out in the hallway.

Colliding with me was very painful, and he threw a punch into my side at the same time. He might have been taught martial arts a long time ago, but it was clear that he was rusty. It hurt, but he should have been able to break my ribs and rupture my kidneys with a good punch at his level.

I grabbed his hand and started casting Vampiric Touch, seeing him start to slowly dehydrate right in front of me, just like the last guy. God, I loved this spell!

His eyes went wide, and before he was completely pruned, he shoved me off and turned to continue running down the hallway. He wasn't trying to fight at all, which I thought was insane. His super speed was gone, too, so I hit him with a Hold Person as he attempted to make his escape.

Watching him freeze in position, although he seemed to be fighting it, gave me a lot of cheer. I grinned, got to my feet and with a sickly green glow to my left hand, called for another, and I hoped, final Vampiric Touch while saying, "Hey, fatboy. Where are you going?"

I might make a quip as I approached him, but I wasn't one to gloat as that would just prolong things and possibly open an avenue for him to escape or turn the tables, so I just grabbed him by the back of his neck and let the full course of Vampiric Touch do its job. It was enough, and the dead pruned man slumped over on the floor with a thud.

Normally, I would probably sit here and pant from the conclusion of a successful battle as the adrenaline wore off, but I was fired up! I'd been on random drug tests since I was eighteen, so I never got to experiment with anything, not even with devil's lettuce, but Merildwen had taken some stimulant-type potions before, and this felt a lot like that, so I made a note not to get addicted to draining men's lives with my magic.

I pulled out my athame and secured the soul of the big guy as well as the other cultivator in the bedroom and then searched them both. Each of them had a spatial pouch, which was a serious score!

"Whoo!" I yelled and did a continuous series of celebratory cartwheels down the hallway until I got into the main room of the small villa, and I started to get dizzy.

It was at this time that the front door exploded in a series of splinters as several dangerous men and women in uniforms almost flew into the building, looking like a cultivator SWAT team. They all were at least as strong as the guy who kidnapped me, so they kind of had me dead to rights, so I just held up my hands in surrender.

I didn't particularly like experiencing such things again, especially so soon after I justifiably murdered the last people who captured me. Still, the uniforms were Imperial colours, which was a good sign.

A better sign was both the young master as well as Xiao Li entered the room after the area was secured. Xiao Li was carrying my cat Crow, who was pointing a paw in my direction.

I blinked several times and suddenly realised that I was the damsel being rescued.