Mage's Cultivation Journey 6

If it wasn’t for my ability to command my bodily functions to near perfection — another peripheral benefit of my mage training — my heartbeat would have been exploding further with each step, reducing the distance between me and the unwelcome intruders. 

It wasn’t just that, if my bluff had been caught, I would have ended up dead. It was the fact that, all he needed was to make a half-hearted move toward me, forcing me to defend. That would reveal that I had no abilities to match their enhanced strength and speed, ruining the display I was putting on. 

“You’re lying,” Wang Bi gasped as he looked at me, but his gaze was quick to find the young man that had been hosting me for a while. My display of healing him seemed to convince him. 

That came as a surprise opportunity for me. Before intervening, I didn’t even know the kid was a martial artist, let alone an injured one. My initial plan was to put on a disguise that could convincingly look like a foreign monk, once again relying on the gossip I heard. 

The mentions of monks hadn’t been abundant, more in line with the mentions of cultivators than martial artists, but in the gossip I listened. They were apparently a bunch of righteous aesthetic vegetarians that nonetheless capable of rivaling some cultivators. Or they were a special group of cultivators. That part wasn’t clear. 

But, there had been enough commonalities in the gossip to put a halfway decent disguise. 

My ability to heal the kid’s ailment, on the other hand, came as a complete surprise. While I hadn’t realized he was a martial artist while he was tending to me, there were two reasons for it. One, the difference between their energies between passive and active states — a temporary label — was incredible. When he punched, his power burned brightly, impossible to hide from my senses. 

Also, comparing our enemies with the kid, I could see that the kid kept having less of said power in his body, likely a side effect of his ailment, preventing me from noticing it while he was tending to me. 

The phenomenon itself was wondrous. It was not remotely similar to mana, which came from the world itself, fueling the existence. Their power clearly came from their bodies, but still felt … foreign, mixed, even chaotic. It was hard to make a call. 

That was why I was able to cure the kid. With the bright presence of that power, I could sense that the energy was clogged in his body, and all that was required was a gentle tap to disperse the blockage. Too bad it just cured the symptoms. He would collapse even worse if he attempted another punch. 

All of that information went through my mind in a flash between two steps, trying to find a way to better integrate those facts into my bluff. “Mercy is the food of the soul, boy. Turn back and walk away. No one has to die today.” 

He looked hesitant. “Honorable monk, I have my mission,” Wang Bi said after a long pause, conflicted, still immobile. I could see that it wasn’t a conflict between fear and honor. No, it was a conflict between two fears, what I might potentially do, and what his leader would definitely do. 

I was afraid the latter might win out. 

That would not go. “I understand your plight, young man,” I said, once again using the same gentle tone like I was strolling through a garden and not confronting two martial artists. “You need an excuse to give to your boss, proof that the situation is bigger than you can handle. Right?” 

Wang Bi nodded instinctively, still intimidated by my presence. 

“Good,” I said, still faking gentleness while I closed in the distance, wishing that I was half as confident in my plan as I was displaying. But, I still continued. Ultimately, while the situation was risky, it wasn’t even a top hundred on the list of reckless and dangerous things I had done. 

Cautious mages who played safe didn’t gain the enmity of prestigious mage families and were exiled to interplanar battlefields. 

Still, I was betting quite a bit on Wang Bi’s reaction. I closed in the distance, and put my hand on his chest. He trembled. “Here is your excuse,” I said while my expression shifted into pure malice, just as fake as earlier gentleness. 

“No —” he gasped, reflexively trying to throw a full-powered punch. My expression shifted into a smile, this time a genuine one. It was exactly what I wanted. If he had thrown a punch without using his power, things would have turned badly for us, but my bet on my ability to read people paid off. 

Relaxing the blockage Yu Xing had been suffering was easy. Creating a similar block for Wang Bi was even easier. The hard part would have been to touch him while attacking, but his fear and caution handled that part. 

The power flew under my touch, using some kind of channel in his body. A physical channel … well, mostly. I would have loved to examine it in more detail, preferably under several wards giving me a better vision of his internal organs. Instead, I pushed my finger forward. 

A shout, filled with pain, rang in the village, and he collapsed on the ground, writhing in agony. Understandable, as the blocked energies created pressure on the power channels, causing a lot of damage. “Here’s your excuse, young man,” I said, then glanced at the last remaining one. “Take them back.” 

“As you wish, esteemed monk,” he said, but only after he threw himself on the ground, like a peasant in front of an emperor. I didn’t even acknowledge him while I turned back, and walked back to the cottage. 

“Follow me,” I said when I passed Yu Xing. He did so obediently, matching my pace, three steps behind me. He maintained the distance carefully. It likely had something to do with the local etiquette. Neither of us said anything until we arrived at the cottage, while in the background, the last remaining intruder carried the other two on his back and left the village in a hurry. 

Yu Xing started speaking only when we arrived at his cottage. “Honorable monk. This lowly one is glad that —” he started, but only to gasp in shock. A reasonable response considering I pulled off the robe in a hurry, and let out a relaxed sigh. “W-what?” 

“I’m not a monk. It was just a bluff to scare them,” I explained while I put on one of his spare shirts and pants instead. “It was the easiest way I could come up to save your life.” 

“B-but —” he started. “You healed me.” 

“Only temporarily,” I said. His disappointment was immense, like I just informed him that his whole family died. Facing the absence of my mana, I could understand his reaction. “I could probably heal you permanently as well, but I need to learn more about martial arts first.” 

“Really?” he gasped.

“Yes, but that’s for later. First, we need to leave.” 

“Leave?” 

“Well, I need to leave,” I corrected. “You’re free to stay if you wish, but I don’t recommend it. If your enemies decide to send reinforcements, it won’t end well for you.” Wasn’t that a pity? Now that I had a certain amount of trust between me and the kid, I would have loved to spend some time trying to understand martial arts, but the situation dictated otherwise. 

Even as I said that, I was creating a fictional background in my mind, ready to explain to the kid to convince him to leave with me. A small-time noble, forbidden to learn martial arts due to political reasons that were best kept secret, tried to escape from assassination, only to be saved by an ancient artifact that had been left by my ancestors. 

It was solid enough to explain the capabilities I displayed, yet vague enough to adapt to the situation, regardless of how he found me, and how long had passed since then. Depending on his questions and reactions, I could stretch that background to a dozen directions, all to hide just how much of a foreigner I truly was. 

But, all that mental preparation ended up as a waste. “What about the village?” he asked. 

“It’s safer if we leave,” I said. “We can’t protect it if we stay here, but they might stay their hands. Still, go and warn them about the risk if you want. Tell them that I’m a monk, and I took you as a guide to the mountains. You don’t know when we will return, but we will return. That way, the gang shouldn’t hurt them before they could find our path.” 

“Alright,” the kid said, nodding obediently. To my surprise, it was the end of his questions, showing more determination than I expected. He went out first, and returned five minutes later. He went to a corner, and pulled a small pouch, likely emergency funds. I watched, impressed, as he quickly gathered a small sack, merely filled to half even though he packed almost anything that carried any value. “We can go,” he declared.   

I nodded before I wrapped the blanket around me once more, wanting to give the villagers one last show before we left. Their reactions had to be honest to convince any interrogator. 

With that, we left.