A Peasant’s Guide To Sorcerery 3

A Peasant’s Guide To Sorcerery 3

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Commissioned by Tomio

Wordcount: 2500

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Ying stared at the young woman she faced, before letting loose a sigh.

“Your instincts and training saved you, thief, but you and I both know that you cannot flee from what you just witnessed.” Ying spoke to the red-haired young woman before her. The lithe individual was seemingly a mere bandit, but Ying knew better as an aspirant within the Beggar’s Sect. Her clothes were well-fitted, her body well-trained, and her Qi was well-hidden, but it was there. “You wouldn’t even be able to flee from me.”

The other bandits had approached Zhang and the cart without knowing of his power, but Ying couldn’t fault them for that. She couldn’t sense his power and might unless he used it. The thief before her had only stopped because they’d locked eyes.

“What… what is that monster? How could you simply sit beside that beast?” The thief whispered. She trembled with fear. Her legs shook and she barely able to maintain a stance, even as Ying approached her with a drawn blade and stood before her. Some of her training arose and she readied herself for battle by raising her hands and making her stance firm, but Ying found not a single ounce of the will to fight in her. She could kill her in a single strike, because her spirit was utterly destroyed. “Why… why are you here!?”

The thief was hysterical and utterly defeated, but Ying took note of the fact that she didn’t lose herself to rage.

The red-haired thief was still trying to stay alive.

Ying took a breath at that. Normally, she wouldn’t even consider keeping a bandit alive. But after seeing what had become of the bandits… she did not have the stomach for any more death for the day.

“Kneel and surrender yourself to me. Promise that you will absolve yourself of all your crimes in my service, as an outer-disciple of the Beggar’s Sect.” Ying spook simply and loudly, doing her best to make sure that Zhang heard her words. She infused her hearing with Qi and took heart as she heard him shift in his seat and give a surprised hum. “Surrender, thief, and you will be spared death.”

For a brief moment, the swordwielder’s grip tightened on her blade as she feared that her gracious offer would be denied.

Nonesuch was the case.

The red-haired thief immediately fell to her knees and prostrated herself before the Beggar Sect aspirant.

“I, Chen, surrender herself to the Beggar’s Sect!” The thief, Chen, took note of Ying’s raised voice and yelled her declaration as well. Ying could feel her gaze drift from her and onto Zhang, as she searched for any sign that she would be killed anyway. The thief slackened with relief and Ying did as well, when Zhang clapped. When the well-trained thief spoke again, it was with a whisper. “Thank you for sparing me. I owe you my life.”

Ying nodded at the thief’s words, before coming to a realization that caused her to frown.

She’d just saved a thief and felt joy from it, despite her lifelong pursuit of justice.

Was something wrong with her?

That thought rested in the back of her mind, until she turned around and looked upon a dirt road, whereupon which men were eviscerated moments ago, and the memory returned to her with terrifying clarity.

She had to force herself to smile and wave back to her host as she returned to him.

No, she was still a perfectly normal human being who wished to spare others from horrors and injustice. The thief had suffered enough in seeing her companions turned into mulch, and she would serve the Beggar’s sect to absolve herself of all her other crimes in the service of the people. Zhang’s justice had done enough, and now it was her turn to exact her own in her chosen manner.

A manner with thankfully far less maddening power in play.

…

Zhang hummed happily as Ying guided the car down the road. The swordwielder held the reins at the center of the wagon’s frontmost seat, while Zhang sat at her left and Chen sat to her right. An aspirant of the Beggar’s sect, a strangely-dressed peasant, and a thief trained with Qi shared a single wagon together… and the peasant was undoubtedly the strongest amongst them.

Ying cleared her throat and interrupted Zhang’s humming.

He turned her way with a happy smile and a questioning “hm.” She had to force aside thoughts of him as a mere peasant once more, before speaking to him.

“I’d like to know what we’ll be doing in the town ahead, Lord Zhang.” Ying spoke firmly and simply. She prepared her questions and rehearsed them in her mind. It was the only way she could speak to him without stumbling on her words because of fear. “Where will be staying for the evening, who we’ll be meeting, and what we shall be doing.”

“Oh, that! Well… I’ll be selling what I make for payments on my land. I have a very large patch of land, so I need to pay lots!” Zhang’s words elicited a sharp intake of breath from Chen to which Ying responded with a gentle jab at her ribs. The thief was about to ask questions that would simply waste time. Ying knew the answer would be “that’s what my father taught me to do.” “Thank you for reminding me! I need to fill up this wagon with all sorts of things to sell, Lady Ying!”

With those words, Zhang reached out for the trees nearing the road and with a gesture one uprooted itself and began to walk beside the wagon. Zhang gave it a smile and upon its branches began to grow a myriad of fruits that Ying recognized only because she’d been invited by nobility to their dining halls time and time again. They grew from the tree’s proffered branches and Zhang happily inspected each one. Those he didn’t like, he returned to the tree, which grew a mouth to consume them.

It was a pine tree that dwarfed most houses and its footsteps shook the road with every step.

Ying would’ve boggled at the sight, but she focused on keeping her other passenger calm, since Chen was shaking, quaking, and desperately trying to cease existing in Zhang’s presence. While Ying took some semblance of comfort at the knowledge that her fears were justified by another person, despite Zhang’s casual usage of his power and strength, he had treated it with such casualness that she questioned her sanity upon finding it strange. Finding another person to witness it, and be frightened by it, allowed Ying to calm down.

Yes, indeed, the young man casually manipulating nature to do everything he willed was terrifying.

“They always want their fruits to be pretty, instead of tasty. I know I should make what they want, but I can’t help but make it a little tasty, even if it’s a little ugly.” Zhang happily spoke, while the walking pine sent a branch his way, which shaped itself into a box before falling off of the tree. He began to place the fruits within, nestled in shavings of wood that the living box shed inside before perishing, while tending to the fruits he willed into existence. He noticed Ying’s stare and smiled at her, before offering her a fruit. “Here. Try this! It’s the most expensive anyone buys, and I’ve made it the tastiest it could possibly be!”

Ying’s eyes boggled and Chen choked at what they were both offered.

It was a jade apple and it sparkled beneath the sun’s rays.

Natural Qi flowed through the world and in rare, secret places it gathered and infused the land rather than slumbering, powerful beasts. In those hidden alcoves grew fruits filled with power that can be consumed by others to strengthen themselves. Apple trees in such places produced fruits whose skin took on the hue of a brilliant jade, shining like jewels, and promising those that consumed it power… if they were able to tame the natural Qi that it contained within it and make it a part of themselves.

Ying realized that whoever ordered the apples to be “pretty” instead of “tasty” asked for it to save their own lives.

The Qi within the Jade Apple that she was being offered could easily kill her. Its potency was so strong that she felt as though she was being overcome by it without even ingesting it. Chen, the lesser-practiced thief, had to circulate her Qi as to not be overcome by the Jade Apple's mere presence.  Zhang, meanwhile, was simply two Jade Apples in both hands with a smile.

Ying tried to find a way to tell him what she thought kindly, but her wish to stay alive took precedence.

“Eating that would kill me. I do not have the Qi to overcome it, Lord Zhang.” Ying’s mouth dried at her words. She was refusing a gift from a being who was incredibly beyond her. If she were to refuse a gift from a master of a Sect, she would either be killed by that master or that master’s disciples. However, the swordwielder uttered the words anyway, because she was sure that Zhang’s father wouldn’t leave such words to guide his son. She relied on a dead man’s words, who she never met, but she saw no other course of action. “Thank you for your offer, but I cannot consume and neither can Chen.”

Ying expected the slumped shoulders and sigh that came from her words, which occurred as she expected… but not the sudden widening of eyes that came upon Zhang.

“Oh, then I can just make both able to taste how tasty it is, then!”

Ying’s eyes widened at those words, as did Chen’s, and before a refusal could leave them both their consciousnesses began to fade and their bodies began to go limp.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make you both strong enough to taste these apples before we reach the town! I promise!”

With that final, enthusiastic cry, Ying’s consciousness faded away.

Her thoughts as she faded was a curse upon herself for elaborating too much and not simply refusing.

Zhang, upon being an issue, would always fix it as best as he was able.

She shouldn’t have given him such an opportunity!

…

Ying took a bite of the Jade Apple. The Jade Appel’s outer skin, though as bright and beautiful as its jewel namesake, dissipated into the tongue. Its white flesh was sweet and tangy to the taste, with such a deluge of juice within that it a single chew felt like an entire sip of water. The Qi that flowed within her in a single bite was equal to a year of meditation and training in perfect conditions. However, instead of killing her, it flowed into her and she subsumed it as it came with perfect ease.

She accepted it, but luxuriated as the thief beside her stared at her empty hands, because Chen had attempted to eat it as quickly as possible to attain a quick, but understandable demise.

“I should be writhing in pain as my entrails become undone within me.” Chen sat on the wagon’s front seat, while Zhang amicably spoke with the guards of the town’s entrance. They bore no signs of knowing him, threatened him, and even insulted him, while Zhang just nodded, smiled, and waited to be let in. Ying simply sat on the wagon and did her best to accept the thrumming power within her body that had been present since she’d awoken. “Why am I not writhing in pain while my entrails are becoming undone within me?”

Ying recalled how Zhang had checked on her arm, repressed the memory, and just shook her head.

“You would do better not knowing.” Ying smiled at the thief, vaguely wishing that she did not know how it was possible herself, before finishing the Jade Apple. A single bite should’ve brought her to her breaking point, where she could’ve only been saved by a perfect location prepared for meditation and focus, as well as a master who could help guide her Qi and the Jade Apple’s until it was under her control. Yet, the Jade Apple’s energies felt only refreshing to her now, much like regular apple instead of one that was truly mighty. “Do you know this town?”

Chen stared at Ying, her mouth opening and closing with desire to inquire more, before closing shut.

Ying nodded in approval at the thief’s quick-wittedness.

“It is the town of Fei, ruled by the Fei-yen family. It has grown prosperous over the last half-decade through exports of luxuries found in the frontiers. Those luxuries are most likely the works of that th—Lord Zhang.” Chen spoke while Ying nodded and did her utmost to drive away the wish of her body to run, leap, and test its strength. The swordweilder felt reborn and that scared her immensely, because in the brief moments where she lay unconscious, she could’ve been gifted with an immortal body. “We’re entering a place where his allies are. If we had any hope of escaping him, it is now gone.”

“That ought to be the case, but see how the guards treat him.” Ying’s mentioning of the guard’s ill treatment of Zhang drew Chen’s attention and astonishment. The scarlet-haired thief couldn’t believe that the strangely-dressed peasant was being so ill-treated. “I do believe that he’s keeping his identity secret, otherwise these guards would be bereft of their heads for their treatment of him.”

Chen slowly nodded at Ying’s words, while eyeing how Ying fetched her blade from the back of the wagon. The thief managed to muster the courage to speak, while Ying made her way to the town’s gate surrounded by a wall.

“May I ask what your relation is with Lord Zhang are, Lady Ying?”

“Oh. I simply owe him my life.”

“Oh.”

Ying offered the thief a smile, before taking a breath, and feeling content.

The chase that began with the deaths of her friends, the sudden meeting with Zhang and his powers, and the event with the bandits becoming mince had shaken her. But now they were on familiar territory. A town with corrupt officials with her at its door, while she witnessed its guards harassing a poor peasant. Zhang, of course, was anything but a mere peasant. However, he was acting the part and holding back according to custom, thus Ying was able to act comfortably and step between her savior and the threatening guards.

For a moment, the men wielding tailed spears in black-lacquered armor bristled at her presence, until their armor sagged off their bodies and their spears turned into segments of metal and wood at their feet. Mere weeks ago, she’d have only cut through their spears, but from the moment she took her sword from its scabbard, she knew that she could do more… but with the same amount of ease as before.

Ying worried about herself and the power she now had, especially since she’d been exposed to power beyond mortal minds, but she put those thoughts aside and presented her Sect’s seal upon her sword’s scabbard.

“My name is Ying. I am an aspirant of the Beggar’s Sect.” Ying spoke with finality, as the guards trembled before her, and as Zhang beamed at her and clapped with gusto. She set aside the odd sensation within her chest at his approval, before continuing. “This man saved my life. To threaten him is to threaten me. You have been warned… now let us pass.”

It was pleasant to find something normal after all the strangeness that occurred.

She hoped that it would continue.