Interlude: The Cobbler and the Viper

Liu Xin fled through the woods, his robes flapping in the wind.

He heard the snap of a twig to his right and the flash of steel. Immediately, he dipped his hand into a sewn on pocket and flung out the contents, channeling a trickle of qi. The fine grained sand that he had flung hissed white hot, the cloud expanding to engulf the boy that had come bounding out from the trees.

The boy howled, the sword dropping from his hands as he clawed at his face, and Liu Xin darted in, fist already drawn back for a punch. The heated grit in the air stung his skin but didn’t burn. One hard jab, strike under the ribs, push through. When he stumbled, strike the knee. The boy toppled over, and Liu Xin fled past him.

It was a good thing that even before the Ministry had come, he had learned to fight. The rootways were a rough place; you had to be a little rough to get by. Liu Xin was more than a little rough. He bounded over a fallen log, the strength of cultivation in his legs launching him a good three meters before his feet touched the forest floor.

He’d had to get rougher in the last year after his shitty old man had caught him experimenting with Tanner Shou’s son and disowned him. Liu Xin’s tight expression curled into a scowl as he took a sharp left away from the sound of crashing feet and tearing underbrush.

Dammit! This was all because he couldn’t control his mouth. He’d heard that sluggard Hou Jin complaining about how unfair the elders were, and a comment had just slipped out.

Hou Jin had a lot of money and just as many ‘friends.’

His feet beat against the forest loam, and he felt something snatch at his ankle. Running as he was, he could only curse as he saw the rootlet that had curled around his ankle, sparking with qi. He rolled as he hit the ground, managing not to land flat on his face but only just. Brambles tore at his robe and his shoulder cracked against a tree trunk before he sprang to his feet.

They had him surrounded. He counted eight of them, including Hou Jin himself. He scanned his surroundings, noting the knives, swords, and clubs readied in their hands. One of these clowns, he could take, maybe even two or three. He hadn’t been slacking off in the elder’s lessons after all. But eight was too many. Maybe he could break to the left…

“Such a desperate little rat.” Hou Jin was red faced, his cheeks quivering with outrage and exertion, but the fatty still walked with a swagger that set Liu Xin’s teeth on edge. “Your beating is going to be so much worse now. You should have known your place and accepted your punishment.”

That earned some dark chuckles from his thugs, and Liu Xin glanced around, the rough bark of the tree at his back scraping against his robe. Hou Jin had demanded his month’s spirit stones for the insult. As if the damn silk pants needed them.

“Right, right, how foolish for this humble peasant to ignore your lordship’s kindness,” he said dryly. His eyes darted back and forth trying to determine which of the thugs would go down the easiest. He still had one more pouch of burning sand.

The fucker didn’t even acknowledge his sarcasm, merely cracking his knuckles threateningly. “Indeed. You should have known better than to cross this young lord,” he sniffed. “So give thanks for the lesson.”

Liu Xin bared his teeth. He had already hidden the stones and the pills he’d scavenged. “If Sir Piggy is so great, I don’t see why we need the audience,” he sneered.

Stars exploded in his vision, and his head cracked against the back of the tree. Liu Xin tasted blood in his mouth. Hou Jin looked down at the flecks of blood on his knuckles in disdain. Liu Xin hadn’t even managed to react.

It wasn’t fucking fair. This whining fastass had started so far ahead, and he dared complain about their lessons?

“Taking out the trash is what servants are for, fool,” Hou Jin said coldly. One of the thugs raised his club. They wouldn’t kill him, but this was going to suck all the same. It was now or never. Liu Xin’s hand dipped into his pocket and…

Facing as they were, only Liu Xin saw the strip of shadow peel away from the tree.

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Everyone heard the horrifying noise as the arm of the boy raising the club jerked to the side and fell limp at his side, dislocated and useless. His startled scream had the others wheeling. A black blur streaked across a disciple’s face, deforming his nose and sending teeth flying. A girl with a knife stabbed out at the blur, and her wrist bent backward with a hideous crack. The tallest of the thugs, a boy half again Liu Xin’s height, went down with a falsetto scream as a dainty knee drove three times into his groin, ending with a sickening pop.

“W-who dares!” Hou Jin bellowed, even as a jeweled sword appeared in his hands, the shimmer of a defensive art crackling in the air.

The blur resolved, and Liu Xin stared blankly at the slender girl standing there in the middle of the four sobbing disciples. Her robe was plain and black, only the silver lining marking her as a disciple. Her skin was unearthly pale, but for the gleaming dark scales that marked her brow, and her long hair was a lustrous black.

Her pale yellow eyes fell on him, and Liu Xin swallowed hard.