— The Emperor’s Imperial Record, Entry No.21 —

  *Bang Bang Bang* I knocked on the door to Big Randy’s smithy. After talking with Yao Po for so long, the sun was already out.

  The rays of sunlight were harsh against my skin. I didn’t know why, but they seemed to be harsher on my wounds and where Yao Po used the potion. I looked at my right hand, marveling. ‘Was this really the power of a cultivator?’

  If I had gotten this sort of wound back in my village, they'd have cut off my hand. Maybe I’d even be dead.

  I looked at my chest. There was a scar, a long, nasty, one running down from my it to my navel—right through it.

  But I was alive, and that was enough for now.

  I wanted to see if Big Randy had any business for me, or if I could flesh out our business dealings more. With such heavy injuries, I wouldn’t be hunting for a while, so I wanted to focus on making enough money to start my trade caravan.

  Big Randy wasn’t there when I went to his workshop, it was his wife. I almost wish I hadn't met her. The second she saw me, she pounced on me.

  ‘Maybe I should have covered up my wounds?’ She gasped. “Khan, what happened to you?”

  Now I had to go through and explain what happened. I told her, and the more I spoke, the angrier she got. I could tell that if I were her child. She wouldn't hesitate to give me a good thrashing.

  By the time I was done. She looked at me with a mix of pity and anger. “Why would you do this, Khan?”

  I didn't know what to say. Was I supposed to apologize? Say sorry? I wasn’t. I barely knew this woman. She didn't even know me. She couldn't be able to care about me.

  That wasn’t possible.

  I didn't have to explain myself to her. But I kept my face cool. Calm. I realized she was doing this out of a sense of love for someone she viewed as a young child. I put my hand around her arm and tried to guide us more inward to the workshop.

  Closer to wherever Big Randy was, because at this point. If his wife were anything like Big Randy. Then he would probably also chew me out.

  She quickly noticed that I wasn't too interested in getting a verbal beating for my decisions. I was a spirit beast killer now. Even if I died today, I could say I've done something in my life.

  Michelle huffed off, signaling for me to follow her. She led me through a narrow hallway, past rooms that smelled of sawdust and molten metal, then, suddenly, the scent shifted. Something floral, musky. We stepped into a part of the workshop I’d never seen. After telling me to sit, she left to call him.

  It was saturated with red wallpaper and gold linings, the couches barely rose off the ground, and they were long and made of some type of softened leather. The incense sticks in the room made it smell like the place was for a higher caliber of man.

  I had never been here before. I think they were starting to respect me more.

  While waiting, I sank deep into my thoughts, ‘Maybe if I planned this right, I could be talking to cultivators. Maybe one day. I'd be able to buy a cultivation manual. Or have them teach me how to cultivate. It was only a matter of money, right? I'd make sure to get that in droves.’

  Not long after I sat on one of the long, leather chairs, the man whom I had met last time walked in.

  Igor. I hadn't ever heard of a name like that before. He was fat. Genuinely fat, the way kings and nobles sometimes were.

  He said one thing, then sat down, “Ronny’ll be here shortly.”

  And true to his word, Big Randy was over here in a minute.

  He almost barged in, “Aaah, Khan,” he held his arms out like he was coming in for a hug. What brings you here? Azul tells me he’s already received the beavers you promised me. Michelle will be very happy during winter– What happened to your arm?”

  For the first time, Igor noticed my arm, which I had hidden behind my back, so I didn’t get any more lectures, they were starting to get annoying.

  “I told you, don’t you remember? I was hunting?”

  “You told me you were hunting beavers, lad.” He sat down next to me on the couch. “Is that why Michelle was in such a foul mood?”

  He took out a long pipe with a small brass basin at the end and lit a fire underneath it. “Beavers don’t give out wounds like that. I’ve dealt with enough hunters and trappers to know that.”

  Igor popped in as well, “That looks like the wound of something attuned with qi.”

  Big Randy turned silent and then stared at the wound some more, coming to the same conclusion. “Young man, did you run out of sense?”

  This was really starting to get old. I had half a mind to rebut him but it wasn't as if he was wrong, I had done something stupid, but it was my decision to make. Why were all these people so concerned?

  It's not like it would have affected them. I made sure to at least provide the beaver's Big Randy had asked for before hunting the beast.

  He was about to give me another tongue lashing, but then stopped, “I’m not one of your parents, kid, but if you do something like that, especially when you have deals with other people, you don't go trying to kill yourself, ok?”

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I agreed, “Don’t worry, I made sure to give Azul your beavers first, you were number one on the list of orders I chose to fulfill.”

  He lowered his face to his hands, “That's not what I meant, kid, it's—”

  Something in my face made him pause. He decided not to finish the thought.

  – 玄 –

  **Back then, I hadn’t realized how standoffish and cold I could sometimes be. I thought I could solve all my problems by putting them on my back and shouting harder.**

  – 玄 –

  “Alright, you're not here for no reason, what do you want?”

  I lifted my arm out, “As you can see, I'm unable to hunt, most likely for the next few weeks. I was wondering if you could run me over the deal we are doing, maybe I could figure out a way to do more or make more money.”

  He sighed, “Fine,”

  Then looked up at Igor, “You mind telling the boy?”

  “You trust him enough?”

  Big Randy ripped a glance at me, then spoke, “He’s reckless and drunk on his youth, but he seems at the very least able to keep his word.”

  Igor and Randy exchanged a look.

  Igor stood, “Alright, then we shall make a promise– a blood tie.” He pulled out a wooden bowl, I don't know from where, then took out a knife and nicked himself, making sure the blood dropped into the bowl, before passing the items to Big Randy.

  He did the same and then passed it to me.

  Igor spoke, “Swear by the Skies and repeat after me, countless eyes, a thousand hearing ears, witness, and punish any oath breaker: I promise to keep any and everything said in the confines of this room secret till it is unable to be kept at risk of death or it is widespread enough that it will not matter.”

  I repeated after him and then did the nicking thing with the knife. I wasn’t too comfortable with harming myself again after the spirit beast, but it seemed really important to them.

  They each raised their arms over the bowl, and then I copied them.

  After this, Igor said, “Skies, bear witness.”

  All of a sudden, the room turned dark, something pressed down on us, it wasn’t physical, it wasn’t air, and it felt like something ancient.

  Something watching.

  My eyes burned, and I wanted to kneel and beg for my life or run or crawl, I didn't know, I just felt like I was at the mercy of a being greater than I.

  The same happened to Big Randy and Igor, but they handled it better.

  All this happened in less than an instant, and then I could breathe again. We were all on the floor, gasping.

  “What was that?”

  “The Skies”

  “It's real?”

  Big Randy raised an eyebrow in confusion, “You wanted to become a cultivator, and you didn't know?

  “I thought the Skies were fake, just something bored wives gossiped about and used to scare children… is that what cultivators fight against? What keeps them from becoming immortal?”

  Igor sat back on the couch, his breath heavy, “We don’t know, cultivators hate and fear it, and we mortals either think of it as a fable or try to avoid it as much as possible. From what you just experienced, you should be able to tell that it's nothing to play with.

  I nodded.

  Big Randy stated, “Good. We aren’t just buying up iron, we’re trying to make steel.”

  Steel? I had heard of that, it was some sort of new cutting-edge material, some mortal, on the far side of the continent, had discovered it while working near a volcano–massive things that shot up fire and brimstone.

  But I didn't think it was important enough to get cultivators involved. “But I didn't think iron—or steel was that important. Why do cultivators care so much?”

  Big Randy spoke up again, “I told you before that cultivators do not only work with resources infused with qi. That's too expensive. Especially for a low-ranking sect like the Awoken Moon—”

  Igor growled, “Be careful, those moon people have eyes everywhere.”

  Big Randy brushed him off, “Yes, yes,” then he looked at me. “Cultivators suffer from a scarcity problem, qi is hard to come by. It's everywhere, but in small amounts, that's why they build their sect and whatnot over those ley lines.”

  “Ley lines?”

  “You really know nothing, huh, kid? For cultivators to cultivate, they must have an abundance of qi, and the more of them there are, the more qi they need. So what do they do? They find natural formations in the earth, places where qi is naturally stronger and larger in quantity, and then they monopolize it. Those bastards fight for qi the way men fight for gold.”

  “Ronny!!”

  Big Randy raised his hands up as if to say, I surrender.

  “Think Khan, you're a hunter, you've experienced life and death situations. Why does someone stock up on materials like iron and steel, source it as discreetly as possible, under threat of death to maintain secrecy?”

  I had never encountered this situation before, but I had seen enough things that were similar, coyotes, crouching, masking their scent, waiting for the perfect opportunity.

  “They’re preparing for a fight.”

  He clapped his hands in glee, “Yes, now you are getting it, my boy, but why fight? What would make cultivators move to such degrees? It's not like they care about gold and silver, do they?”

  I thought about what he just said, cultivators, qi, men fighting–dying for gold. “They found some more qi?”

  “Aaha, there you have it, my boy! But not just any qi, this isn't some hidden cave or underwater spring filled with qi– that would run out too fast. They need something self-sustaining, self-rejuvenating–”

  “The ley line?”

  Igor nodded his head and murmured something about birds and men dying for similar things.

  “So they are gearing to go conquer a ley line? But do ley lines have natural protectors? Are they guarded by,” I whispered, “The Skies?”

  Igor chuckled, “You don't have to whisper, we aren't in their sight.”

  ‘What did that mean?’ but Big Randy went on, “No, they don't have natural protectors,.... In a way, cultivators don’t like qi, they need it. Especially if they want to keep their long lives, but it's not only humans that can become cultivators.”

  “Spirit beasts,” I exclaimed.

  “Yes, they'll have to fight against spirit beasts— plural, the type that has monopolized and sectioned out the ley line for what has likely been a few decades,”

  I nodded my head in understanding. “But if it's just spirit beasts, surely they don't have to use so much iron?” I coughed to correct myself, “Steel? Doesn't the sect have powerful cultivators?”

  “Yes, but the Awoken Moon sect isn't the only one aware of the ley line. Remember what I told you? Men die for gold, and cultivators die for qi. That’s the same thing here,”

  “But if they are going to have a battle, what about us? We surely wouldn't survive it. How long do we have?”

  “Calm down, we wouldn’t be so confid—” All of a sudden, I could hear shouting, it was a loud, gruff voice followed by the sound of things breaking, crashing wood, and screaming voices.

  The field overseer barged in, “You think you could hide from me, thief?”