Tian wished he knew a concealment art. Theoretically, they were available. Practically, however, they weren’t much better than understanding how to shape your body along contours, how to blend your colors with the world around you, how to eliminate shine, and how to still your breathing. In other words, according to his senior brothers, they really weren’t worth it at the Earthly Person Realm. Heavenly Person Realm was another story. They could turn invisible, hide their qi, change their faces and myriad other arts.

  Tian wedged himself a little deeper into the narrow crevice that was the only hiding place he found. He wasn’t cultivating, and the rocks pressed so tight on him, he could barely breathe either. Maybe that would be enough to hide him.

  He could hear the rasp of scales sliding across the desert. It sounded like they were getting closer. Maybe it wasn’t enough. There was a dull thumping noise. Heavy, deep vibrations coming from the surface. Steady. Thump. Thump. Thump. Was it coming closer?

  There was a thrum of high pitched sound, droning like a tyrant choir of wasps. Rising up, higher, There was a hissing and more thuds, the whine and scrape and crunch of a not quite silent battle.

  The crunching went on for quite a while. The droning thinned, and eventually stopped. Tian could just about make out the sun moving across the sky. He had run for almost six hours, only stopping for a break once he reached this flat, empty stretch of desert. There was a good rock for shade, and a nice little crevice with some alarmingly orange lichen growing in it. For the wasteland, it was practically a garden spot. He managed to enjoy about six minutes of it before Counter-Jumper picked up the thud of the lizard creature, and he bolted for the crevice.

  Things the size of a small building shouldn’t be able to run faster than he could. But apparently nobody told the lizard that.

  Tian felt the walls pressing in on him. He couldn’t breathe. He was suddenly desperate to move, but he was pinned. He was crushed and the hawk’s throat was crushing him, the soft walls pressing on him, forcing him down into the belly. Down into the acid hell where the centipedes screamed and died. Where he melted, he felt his body being destroyed, his will corroded by the cold and the dark and he was trapped, trapped!

  Tian had a bad time. He wasn’t sure how long that time lasted, but the sun had set. He was covered in bruises. He was bleeding in a few places too. It was silent above him. He worked his way out of the crevice and found a battle zone. Insect corpses littered the sand, none intact. They looked like some awful combination of wasp and spider, each bigger than Tian’s hand. The lizard must have drawn them out on purpose. Tian just happened to be between the lizard and dinner. In a way he was lucky. If he had gone much further, he might have run into the wasps.

  Tian cycled his cultivation art and ate a little something. He felt utterly exhausted.

  “It happened again, Grandpa.”

  And it will happen again in the future. There are lots of ways to be wounded in combat. Some are invisible. You are going to be like everyone else, I’m afraid. Healing.

  ___________________________________________________________________________

  Most of the wasteland creatures weren’t particularly high level. Just the opposite- most were his level or lower. It’s just that there were often a lot of them, or they were attracting predators. It felt like all of them were poisonous, or venomous, or acidic, or worse. Tian was privately convinced that even the lichen was out for blood. Then sighed because of course it was. Blood was full of water and nutrients.

  Tian made it back to Forward Base Redknife days later than he thought he would. Nobody minded. The courier job really was utterly routine. Nothing would be harmed if it ran a little late, and besides, the Inner Court had ways of communicating quickly over long distances. Word had gotten back about the attack. Tian made his delivery, showered, hit his bunk and had barely waved to Senior Brother Su before he was asleep.

  “I want to see Brother Fu.” Tian had barely opened his eyes. He just lay in bed, staring up at the wooden slats of the roof and watching the enchantments of the walls shimmer and flex under the constant bombardment of Earth qi. It added a faint sheen to the night’s dark. The buildings were all protected by formations, so that the cultivators could rest and cultivate safely. It was why each base and depot was established with a storm of blood- each foothold was dreadfully expensive but indispensable.

  “He’s leading a team out in the field. There is no telling when he will be back.” Brother Su spoke softly. It looked like most people were sleeping. Had been sleeping. Tian knew his brothers well enough to know that he had woken the whole room. He sat up, bowed silently, and settled back down again. He didn’t really fall back asleep, he thought, but the morning light was shining through the window somehow, so maybe he had.

  There seemed to be a Senior Brother Fu shaped hole in the world. Tian felt himself drifting back to the shadows and hidden corners. Separating himself from humanity. This was a different kind of rock throwing, but he couldn’t understand who was throwing them, and how he was getting hit.

  He found Brother Wong staring into his breakfast. A big bowl of soy milk, some steamed buns. Simple stuff, but filling and nutritious. Tian bowed and got his own food, settling down next to the haggard old man.

  “We lost Brother Qian two days ago. Brother Feng yesterday. They stopped the bleeding in the field and provided an antidote, but the wound festered and poisoned his blood. By the time they got him back to the hospital, only constant healing potions were keeping his heart going. Then even they weren’t enough. I was there with him when he died. He was unresigned.”

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  Tian didn’t know what to say, so he did what Grandpa did for him- put his hand between Brother Wong’s shoulder blades and leaned in a little. Just letting the warmth and touch of his little hand be a comfort. Brother Wong snorted, but didn’t shoo him away.

  “Nearly lost you too, I heard.”

  “Yeah.”

  Brother Wong gave Tian a look. He quickly corrected.

  “I nearly died several times in less than seventy two hours, Senior Brother Wong.”

  “Better. I heard you were very polite over at the Depot. Brought our West Town Outer Court a lot of face. Even shared tea and conversation with a beauty in the moonlight. Tsk tsk. It’s good to be young.”

  “Is it?” Tian asked.

  “It is. May the heavens have mercy, it is. Our bodies don’t age the way mortal bodies do, but our minds sure get old. Everything becomes painful, or irritating, or exhausting.” Brother Wong shrugged his shoulders and waved Tian to his food. “Sounds like the courier mission will be your regular job?”

  “I think so.”

  Wong nodded. “Don’t count on it lasting for too long. The front lines are getting pressed hard. You can expect to be on more combat patrols in the future. Maybe some raids too.”

  “I’ll try to be prepared. Brother Wong, what’s the point of the patrols? It seems like we run into more wild animals than evil cultivators, and they aren’t a threat to the base.”

  “Unless they are captured and commanded by heretics, at which point they become a big problem, as I think you know. But no, that’s not actually the reason. The reason is that patrolling is a way to exert control over a patch of dirt. If we are there, the heretics have to avoid it or fight us for it. And since they are strongest in ambush, anything that pulls the heretics into the light is a win for us.”

  Tian tried to eat his bun, but couldn’t. “Bait. The whole Outer Court is bait.”

  “No, it’s not that bad. Remember, our main force is the Inner Court, and the same is true for the Heretics- their Heavenly Person cultivators are the true backbone of their forces. We are more like Go pieces, shaping the board with our presence. Or… you don’t play Go. Hmm. Remember the acupuncture needles you asked about?”

  “Yes, Brother Wong. You said they were too advanced for me.”

  “You need a much deeper accumulation of knowledge and skills before you go playing with them, believe me. To say nothing of the vital energy or qi you need to properly use them. I barely qualify on the basics. The principle is simple- qi that is stagnant loses its vitality and creates sickness. Qi must circulate to be healthy. A properly treated and administered needle in the exact right place can clear blockages and let the qi flow. Or block it entirely.”

  Tian laughed silently as he drank his soy milk. “The commanders are trying to heal the heretical cultivators out of existence?”

  “In a manner of speaking.” Brother Wong half smiled. “Did you know that campaign strategy and battlefield tactics also follow the principles of yin and yang, conform to the five elements and the heavenly cycles, moving in accordance with nature to overcome all obstacles? They do. It’s all related. Nothing is just one thing.” Brother Wong pushed back his stool and tidied his bowls. “You are looking good, Junior. It seems you had a fortuitous encounter.”

  “I… was able to make a deadly one a blessing, Senior Brother.”

  “That’s usually how it goes. You survive them based on your accumulation before the crisis. It’s why we drill you so hard about everything. We can’t know exactly what you will need, but we have some damn good guesses.” Brother Wang turned and looked at Tian as he stood in the door.

  “Stay safe, Junior. Your courier job is a favor from the Mission Hall and I can’t interfere, but once they pull you off, ask to be posted in the hospital. I should be able to manage that for you at least.”

  Tian visited the Quartermaster at the forward base and by means of immense wheedling and a box of candy, secured replacements for his damaged equipment. The protective suit hadn’t appreciated his thrashing about in a narrow crevice at all, and needed considerably more mending than Tian could manage. Resupplied and fed, he went back to sleep, waking only for meals. Soon, his time was up and it was back into the wasteland.

  The run back to the Depot was much less dangerous this time. There was a definite lack of murderous giant centipedes for one thing. He was getting better at cycling between Advent of Spring, Light Body, Heavy Hands and Counter-Jumper for another. He had the strong suspicion that as he mastered Light Body and Counter-Jumper, he would be able to run them together. It would be draining on his vital energy, but the benefits were unquestionable.

  Advent of Spring was simply too all-pervading to allow for practicing other arts at the same time. Moving about? Yes. Fighting? Perhaps if he didn’t use Snake Head, Vine Body. But not using another art. The flow of vital energy conflicted and would lead to damage to his meridians.

  Of course, less dangerous was still dangerous. It seems the passage of the centipedes left waste behind them. Waste that was happily eaten by lesser insects which now swarmed over, drawing birds and other predators. No matter what, there was no such thing as ‘safe’ in the Wasteland.

  An only somewhat ragged Tian jogged into Depot Number Four. He found Quartermaster Wu, who declined his invitation for more tea, but promised to join him next time. He stopped by the crafters, and his rope dart would be ready in a week. And that was that. Tian ate until he thought he would be sick, slept in, ate another big meal, and set off across the waste once more.

  Back and forth, back and forth. On the fourth visit to Depot Number Four, he was called to the crafting quarters by Senior Sister Li.

  The desk clerk was the same inoffensive brother from the Outer Court as last time. Tian wondered whose relative he was, to be stationed working a reception desk in a supply depot. Tian was feeling above average salty at this point. His so-called reward posting involved hard physical exercise and constant risk of death. Meanwhile, this gentleman cultivator tried to hide a bottle of chilled fruit juice under the desk when Tian walked in.

  Tian had only drunk chilled fruit juice a couple of times back in the temple. He would have bet a month’s worth of military merits that there wasn’t any chilled fruit juice in the whole Wasteland. And yet this paragon had a whole bottle.

  Wherever he was, whatever he was doing, Tian was certain that Brother Fu didn’t have any chilled fruit juice.

  “Why do I sense killing intent?” Senior Sister Li walked in with a puzzled expression. “Oh, it’s Junior Brother Tian. Ready to see what I made you?”

  “I am eager to try it out, Senior Sister.”