Chapter 11: The Breathing Cave

Chapter 11: The Breathing Cave

Paike reached down and checked the unconscious disciple at his feet for any valuables. If they had started the fight and gotten caught taking the spoils of victory, the elders wouldn’t have been happy. But since they were the wronged party, Paike figured they were entitled to fair compensation for the trouble. It was just how the world worked.

Finding nothing, he resisted the urge to give a light kick to his opponent in the ribs. The lackey had nothing on him besides the robes and clothes. Despite wanting to take something more on the principle of the thing, he wasn’t about to strip his opponent naked or anything.

Clearly, these attackers had made sure nothing valuable was on them before deciding to ambush. He had grown up on tales from his siblings and cousins about the spoils won in epic battles between immortal cultivators. This wasn’t at that level yet, but they always took something; it taught a lesson. Not bringing anything in fear of loss? That was just bad form, and he spat on the ground next to the opponent.

“Nothing,” he told Liming as she stood watch over the other defeated opponents. She looked back at him with disgust on her face.

“Really? Cowards,” she said. A quick check of the others showed they had no jewelry, belt pouches, or anything along those lines. Not even a single weapon among them.

After clearly vocalizing what they thought of the Ren clan’s honor, the two siblings continued down the path, doing their best to appear unbothered, except to keep a more careful watch on their surroundings.

Once they were out of earshot, Paike and Liming both slowed down. Paike doubled over, putting his hands on his knees. He breathed heavily while Liming wiped the sweat from her brow.

“That was a good fight,” Liming panted.

“It went okay,” Paike said as he stood up after catching his breath. “Though we need to work on our teamwork a bit.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, taking the time to work her hair back up into a braid after combing out a few twigs that got caught from the scuffle. The two shared a grin. “But it was fun, though, right?” Liming said. “I can’t wait to tell Chuhan about this. Our first actual fight!”

“I’m sure she’ll love to hear of your victory,” Paike said with full sincerity. “Of course. It was close, though.”

Liming lifted a shoulder. “Yeah, but that’s why we’re here, right? To get these sorts of experiences. Real fights.” She said with a surprisingly savage grin.

Paike sighed softly. “Yeah, I suppose we are.”

He, of course, had plenty of real fights, but they were not something Liming had really experienced. His own troubles with the local sect were something he kept to himself.

“How are you doing on qi?” He asked his sister.

She grimaced before her mask of the refined and proper young lady cultivator slipped back into place. “Low. Finishing off Ren Shu really burned through a lot. I gotta get more efficient at using it to power my blows. How about you, brother?”

Paike checked and was pleasantly surprised that he hadn’t made much of a dent in his reserves. “Pretty good, actually.”

One of the benefits of slow-moving qi was that it took forever for him to spend it. He could probably burn through at his maximum rate for hours before he completely ran out. When the wanderer reached a rough patch, they only needed to remember that beyond the dark willows lies a village, he supposed.

“Being significantly stronger certainly helps,” he said, at Liming’s jealous look. “I need to burn through less qi if my martial techniques do more of the heavy lifting.”

“I guess that’s right. You do have significantly more training on them,” Liming mused. “I will not neglect my own training.” She stated with conviction.