NABC What Could Go Wrong
What Could Go Wrong
The museum was fun! It was late, yes, but Lily couldn’t help it— they’d simply been too enamored with all the awesome stuff in the collection. They had ancient weapons that ancient kingdoms had used the Empire of Twelve Constellations, mortal polearms and spears and swords and ever odder things still. Various statues of different gods that’d been worshiped in the area after the fall of the empire, and immortals that’d been worshipped in various denominations. There had even been an entire from the late post-imperial age, what had belonged to a cultivator who’d, according to the little plaque, had taken wealthy mortals on long-distance trips before the economics of long distance travel had changed enough to make that unfeasible…It was so She’d known a great deal of it from her education— in the Academy, in the University, both— but there was something interesting when it came to it. So much history…
To really that they lived in a city whose history stretched older than some … there was something almost about that. The sheer, awe-inspiring weight of their ageless history.
It’d been a good trip.
She waved goodbye to the receptionist at the desk, receiving a polite nod in turn as they made their way out of the museum. Avyr, at least, was looking rather peppy— she couldn’t to get back to their rooms and go to sleep…
She stepped out of the museum’s grand doors— pausing, just for a second, as the city’s cold air washed over them. At least it was rather invigorating— she didn’t feel quite so tired anymore! Avyr shot her an amused glance, and she rolled her eyes back at him. “If it weren’t so late, I’d go grab some tea and who’d be the one complaining about tiredness?”
“I can’t but think that’s unfair. Really— you know that I can’t stomach caffeine.”
“Your fault that you’re just not awesome enough.” Avyr just rolled his eyes as they passed by the pillars and— Lily paused, frowning as poked at the qi of the world around them. There was just… , she wasn’t sure what, that wasn’t quite right about the area around them. “Wait a second…” she held up a hand—
In the space of a second, their world came undone.
The , first— catching on a shield that burst alight in response to the attack, resistant enough to deflect… She couldn’t see it, but she , and it— the enormous force that lifted her off her feet and flung her five feet back against the wall the same moment that whatever-it-was slammed into the roof above them with an explosive of shattering stonework and pure, enormous . “Get down!”
Avyr— , she couldn’t help but think— barreled into her and dragged them behind one of the museum’s enormous pillars mere before a second and—
Explosive force impacted the pillar, sending spider-web cracks through the whole thing and causing the multiple-ton stone roof to shake above them. “What in the heavens’name is going on?” Her mind raced at a million miles an hour, trying to, failing to, attempting to—
“Assassins.” Avyr rumbled out, a burning in his voice. “Or something of the sort.”
“Who would be that ”
“I don’t know, and—” that was when the people trying to kill them appeared. Or well, not , but rather just… came out of where they were hiding and raced towards them. Two got out of cars that’d been parked near the street, one jumped down from where they’d been hiding on the side of a nearby building, and one from a cafe across the street. It was who they were, given that they were all wearing identical black tactical gear and carrying the sort of weapons that instantly revealed them as cultivators.
Thank they’d waited for her to leave the museum, because she’d been required to check her sword at the entrance. Gritting her teeth, she palmed a handful of talismans and placed a hand on the pommel of her sword. “Well…” she breathed in, trying to steady herself despite the sudden pit of that had opened up in the bottom of her stomach. “It’s been a while since I last got in a life and death battle.”
Then they were upon her.
Spear-holder— she decided to call them by their weapons, mostly because they all looked the same and she did have the mental bandwidth to process whatever else was happening at the moment— leapt at her, some sort of qi enhancing her lunge beyond even what was typical for cultivators. It was so —
But, she’d long since practiced against enemies far faster than her. In the space of a moment, a lot of things happened. She threw herself to the side, in that self-same moment — a furious slash upwards knocking aside the Opening cultivator’s spear and leaving her for a retaliatory strike.
Landing on the ground, she directed a wisp of qi to one of her new talismans— an almost invisible burst of metal qi shooting out in afterimage of her blade, drawing on the natural resonance between the two to cross the space between them in a breath. Her assailant had enough time to throw her eyes wide and desperately try to disrupt the formation— but it wasn’t a typical formation; she’d learnt her lesson after her battle with Banwei.
Their qi met one another, screeching against one another in a harsh explosion of contesting will— and her assailants qi probably would have won, even, after only a second or two.
Unfortunately for her, a second or two was something she didn’t .
The tiny blade of metal qi continued forward unabated, slipping past her enemy’s qi, shattering a weak talisman that was wholly insufficient against it, and— with a spray of blood it sliced into her chest and . The black-cloaked cultivator stared at her for a short second, wide-eyes, chest popped like an overripe melon… before she crumpled to the ground, .
Heavens above, she’d just killed someone. She’d just someone—
The enormous of another gunshot crashing against her shield and flinging her like a particularly animated ragdoll against the side of the museum dragged her back to reality. People were screaming. Avyr was locked in battle with two other cultivators, a third one was making his way towards her, more cautiously, and there was a , probably with the same sort of ridiculously enormous gun Ruqian had, sitting on the roof in that direction.
For a second, her mind raced through a dozen possibilities— desperately trying not to think of the woman lying dead at her feet— before settling on a grim realization. The . If they didn’t get rid of the sniper, then they were . “Avyr!” The cat’s ears perked up, but he was too busy dodging around two cultivators with swords to do more than that— “catch!” Dragging a finger through the blood on the ground, she traced a symbol over a symbol on one of her shield talismans and— “keep him busy for a moment”
Threw it.
It fluttered through the air for a second, so utterly compared to the furious battle going on around them. Yet— after a brief second, curling in on itself as fire consumed its from from he runes out—
It burst.
Her attacker— clearly surprised as he was— still managed to drive a spike of qi into the formation, disrupting its effect and causing it to fail into so much qi. Except it was just so much qi. She’d pumped it full before she threw it, and the moment it was disrupted it outwards, a wave of force catching him and sending him tumbling over to where Avyr and the others were still fighting.
It didn’t him, per say— Opening cultivators were made of tougher stuff— but it put a little distance between them.
It also put him right in Avyr’s path.
Even so many feet away, she could the sudden heat as Avyr drew on the full depth of his cultivation, blazing like a sun— cupped from the sky and dropped to earth in the form of a cat. The ground beneath him hissed and sizzled— or maybe that was the flesh of his enemies— and all three of his attackers reeled back.
He didn’t. A paw caught one across the face, and the as their plastic mask melted in with their skin was sickening. But she couldn’t think about that. Not yet. while there was still a battle going—
The problem? She didn’t know where the sniper was other than .
The solution? Remove that general direction.
She shoved her talismans into her pocket and pulled out something far, worse. It was heavy in her hand, despite how light it was— nobody had suspected a thing when she’d taken it into the depths of the museum, even if it was and far more deadly than her blade.
She held it in front of her, ducked behind a pillar, and whispered— a prayer, maybe, or an abortive wish for luck, or , and activated her spiritual implement.
Immediately, all the qi around them funneled down toward her, drawn inwards along the lines she’d set— by her qi commanded, slowly germinating into something . The seed of vast destruction, growing by the moment, , in its own way, a terrible pressure on the world around them. It didn’t feel like the technique of an Opening cultivator. It didn’t even feel like the technique of a cultivator, as it gathered more and more qi until it in the immaterial.
Their attackers— not stupid as they were— tried to get over to her, and Avyr equally desperately tried to hold them back. She didn’t have the attention to spare on that battle, though— it was all she could do to hope that he had things in hand… or, paw, as it were— and focus on her attack.
A rifle-shot cracked into the pillar behind her, cracking it. She wasn’t sure how much further it could hold on.
Seconds left. For what, for she didn’t know. She wasn’t sure if it was to know.
A moment.
A soulless, infinite moment, trapped—
Frozen.
To to more than react, to more than just , as her spiritual implement trembled from the strain and the whole world seemed to collapse inwards around her, singing in that choral language of runework and —
A decision.
The decision.
It was so easy, ultimately. Just… step out, point with one hand where the sniper was firing at them from, and—
Release.
The light was . All the silence, all the held-breath, touch of — it all burst in that one moment as a beam of sheer lanced out from in front of her, incinerating the roofs where it hit and bursting into a furious conflagration. She had the presence of mind left to swipe the beam to the side, making that wherever the sniper was, they were .
She’d just killed another person. Probably more than one, if the way the blaze billowed up into the air in cloying smoke and leaping flames was any indication. And— in the middle of their terrible conflict, she couldn’t even dredge up enough remaining emotional bandwidth to .
Someone was sobbing in the distance. People were pouring out of the burning buildings, and sirens were wailing in the air, and— she grabbed her sword and put it all out of mind, and leapt once more into the fray.
One of the sword-wielders, holding a jian, met her before she could group up with Avyr. Probably for the best, given that she didn’t have the same resistance to his burning yang qi as he did but— still, the way he battered her blade out of the way and effortlessly and just progressively her entire assault rankled. He shoved his sword in the cracks of her technique and , the qi empowered blade and advanced realm giving him the strength to openings even when she’d there were none.
One slice drew a line of burning, familiar pain along her arm. Another, across her leg. Her skittered back, burning up shield talismans to give herself just a to breathe— then getting thrown right back into the thick of it. She couldn’t . She couldn’t win. All she could do was keep fighting.
Slowly, her bag of more esoteric tricks dwindled. The ethereal chains— the same sort she’d once used to bind Guandong so long ago— failed against the shroud of qi he’d pulled up to block them. A wall of flames was dispersed with a slash. A rain of tiny water-bolts, condensed out of the air and sent scattering towards him was deflected by a talisman of his own and then shattered with a pulse of qi.
It was a losing battle, she realized at last. She could Avyr’s hisses of pain, each time they managed to strike him, could the way they pushed forward all the more furiously each time either of them tried anything.
“Why…” she gasped for breath, throwing up two shield talismans to give her a second to breathe— “why don’t you run? You can’t possibly think that you’ll win.”
The man across from her cocked his head, striding forward still— as ash flowed down from heaven, swept in with the winter-cold breeze and cloying thick against their tongues. Strong enough to . “We live and die for the clan. So long as you are disposed of, we have fulfilled our purpose—”
She barely blocked a sudden strike, battle rejoined. Of he’d use her distraction to strike. He was too smart not to. Her sword arm felt numb. Her felt numb.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
She wondered, not for the first time, but — if this is where they’d die.
She wished…
A careened into them, pushing them all to the ground with a sudden burst of pressure. An . How could there be Half-hysterically she cycled what little remained of her qi in counterpoint to domineering force— a specific counter, mustering just enough to push herself off the ground and catch sight of the woman standing at the top of the museum’s steps.
What felt like a few moments but was probably a minute or more later, a second, older man landed beside her, dressed in the robes of an outer sect disciple. “Xianyue, I didn’t expect for you to call me here of all days. I was about to enter closed door cultivation.”
“I’m glad you didn’t.” The woman— Xianyue, she assumed, walked forward, each step only redoubling the pressure she exuded until it was all she could do to not deflate to the ground like a burst balloon. She knelt in front of her, and no matter how much she tried to muster her qi and do , her body refused.
It was .
“Hm.” Her hand reached out, brushing away the hair that had fallen in front of her face. For a brief second, their eyes met— hers and the woman’s crystal blue gaze— before Xianyue flinched back. “You’re just a kid. What here?”
“At… atta…” she heaved for breath— and then all of a sudden, the pressure was gone. The others around them were still pressed flat to the ground, but was freed. Still, she knew better than to push her luck in front of such auspicious cultivators. “Attacked. We were attacked.” Bowing low to the woman— more kowtowing, really, given she hadn’t gotten up off the ground, she quickly recounted what’d happened. She’d… when she’d gotten to the part about the spiritual implement, and Lily’d half thought she’d die right there and then, but in the end she’d just demanded she turn over the weapon. She even let her keep her sword.
Some of the others were… not so lucky.
One of their attackers tried to do… — Lily wasn’t sure exactly what, but the moment he twitched against the oppressive force pressing against him scarlet-red threads burst from the outer disciple, dragging him forcefully up into the air and , physically wrenching something out. “None of that.” He glared at all of them, his gaze— despite not actually them like the councillor’s— almost impossibly . “You can do . You nothing.” More threads spooled out of him, wrapping the pillars and buttressing the cracked ceiling, until he looked like some small at the center of the entanglement. “Now… why would you attack her?”
None of them responded, and the man’s expression grew . “Well, then. Take them away— I have no time for something so utterly . They’ll either talk, or…” the councilor just nodded, stepping forward to grab the three meant-to-be assassins remaining. Finally, at last, the deserted them entirely— and though they were already laying on the floor, Lily couldn’t but collapse to the ground again in relief. To not bear the weight of the world…
It was only then that she realized just how she was, in more ways than one. Her vision blurred; all her senses collapsed to this fuzzy, inchoate for a long second as she just… breathed. So tired. She was .
Distantly, she felt someone nudging at her cheek. Distantly, someone called her name. She blinked her eyes open, not really other than the red-crossed ceiling above her and… large eyes, all too close, the face of her favorite big cat. She couldn't help it— the way he hovered over her so concernedly, wide in her vision… she giggled, heaving a breath then wrinkling her nose at the smell. “You need a bath.”
Avyr huffed in amusement, which… gross. She weakly pushed him away— and given that she couldn’t muster at the amount of force needed to do that sort of thing, she was pretty sure he’d gotten the message.
For a long moment they just sat together— still under the careful observation of the councillor standing off to the side, and the police waiting far enough away that they weren’t at risk of any cultivator’s tricks, or… but she couldn’t bring herself to care. In the distance, thunder crackled above them, and a pattering of rain began to fall— her gaze catching on a vast ring, symbols whose meaning eluded her swimming through the clouds and calling down the rain. Some small mercy, for those who lived under the aegis of the Bloody Saffron Sect… she’d heard about it, before, but never it.
She’d done that.
The thought settled against her like a heavy stone, in her chest. How many had she killed, in saving herself? The answer was probably , and… she hadn’t even been able to withstand the attacks of the others, when it came down to it. She’d had to wait until she was saved by another, stronger cultivator.
One part of her mind told her that she shouldn’t be ashamed for failing to defend against a full hit-team of cultivators above her rank— when she’d not even gotten any education in the arts of cultivation, even! That they hadn’t been immediately killed like she was pretty sure their assailants had for was already an accomplishment in and of itself. She that, logically. She just couldn’t that.
Mingtian had somehow defended against a cultivator as a mortal, with the entirety of his collateral damage being a big hole in the library. He hadn’t even damaged any of the , that was how in control he’d been. Having gone through her own battle, having seen… around her, the devastation from their small combat, she couldn’t help but realize how impressive that truly was.
It was funny, that even when she surpassed him, she’d yet to realize just how deep the marvel of his expertise truly went. She could kinda see what Zhihu saw in him…
She tried to imagine winning a fight against the , and shivered in echoes of terror. No, that wouldn’t be happening for a time…
The rain came to them, only intensifying— a patter of drops swept up by the downpour’s sudden wind and sent scattering underneath their scant overhang. The councillor shielded herself with the faintest wisp of nearly-invisible qi, leaving them to get soaked… but she didn’t mind.
That was fine. The water, running down her face, almost — she turned her face up to heaven, and let those crystal rivulets soak into her, so blessedly, so with the passing of ash.
“You two.” She stiffened slightly, turning to the councillor as she finished subduing the enemy cultivators. It was a… gruesome sight, both in her energy vision and without; to see what she’d done to their chests, their that horrible hemorrhaging of their dantians… She shivered beneath that gaze. “Do you understand what you’ve done?”
Both of them kept quiet, not quite willing to speak, lest they land themselves in deeper trouble than they already were. The thought of having that done to …
“I’m not going to break your cultivation base.” She sighed, a little more exasperated this time. “I swear… how did you even that? You’re a shedding cultivator, no?”
“We’re… we’re both students at the University of East Saffron?”
The councillor raised an eyebrow. “Even the cat?” Then, before Lily could answer that, she just nodded. “That makes sense, I suppose, not like there’d be a whole lot of other reasons for one of his ilk to be spending time with you…” muttered, trailing off until she was speaking under her breath and pacing the length of the scarred and pitted battlefield. “You’re both capable cultivators. capable cultivators… though, as members of the elite cohort, that tracks. people don’t get that noble offer. Still… you’re facing multiple charges of wanton destruction, at least one charge of manslaughter,” something in her trembled at that— “and two charges of first degree murder, though I’m sure those’ll be dropped due to aggravated assault with superior cultivation charges if you have even the barest of competent lawyers—”
The ever-more depressing thought that they’d have to deal with the criminal system of East Saffron was— thankfully— interrupted by a shifting of the winds, faint pressure, swirling around them and tugging at the councillor’s cloak as a familiar figure dropped from the sky. Grabbing her sword out from beneath her in one smooth moment and not even bothering to sheathe it as she strode forward, utterly the councillor as she knelt down beside them—
Lily blinked, not quite sure if she was seeing things correctly. “Zhihu?”
“Are you alright?” There was a there, an almost thing that she’d not expected from the woman. Maybe from Qinfu, or Mingtian, but… Zhihu had always struck her as more of the stern type, barring what she got like when fighting— or around Mingtian, she supposed. “I came as fast as I could; you’ll have to forgive me, now that I’m no longer the disciple for the 32nd Precinct, I’ve only the slightest idea of what’s going on there, much less…” she shook her head, smiling wryly for a moment.
“Honorable inner sect disciple. I wasn’t expecting one of your austere stature to come to this… simple, matter.” The councillor stared at Zhihu, eyes hard— but Zhihu was well equipped to stare back, just as stonily.
The newly-promoted inner disciple stood, pulling two wax-sealed bamboo tubes out of her bag and tossing one to each of them. “Healing pills. They should suffice for most of your injuries, though— Avyr, you might want to have that rib fracture looked at by a dedicated professional for your kind.” He’d been She hadn’t even— before she could even think about it much beyond absentmindedly eating her pill, she was interrupted by the confrontation between the two powerful cultivators…
Or, well, in all honesty it wasn’t a confrontation in the slightest. More just Zhihu staring there and looking intimidating while the councillor tried her very best to salvage whatever scraps of authority remained. Perhaps it might have been a different story if Zhihu had been any less determined to keep them out of her clutches, any less … if she hadn’t been an inner disciple of the sect, with all the authorities vested within that, then maybe the councillor could have told her to stand down. After all, ostensibly, their positions were similar— in that vague sort of political way— to that of an outer disciple.
An inner disciple, though, was beyond them, and they clearly knew it. Though it must have rankled, they still backed down, politely withdrawing their aura back into themselves. That seemed to surprise Zhihu somewhat, who— after a second, almost pulled the faint killing intent they’d been exuding back themselves. Lily couldn’t help but think that perhaps Zhihu’s reaction had not been entirely intentional…
“What will you do with them?” Xianyue’s voice, so steady, so through the building tension. “I can’t simply let them . You know that, honorable inner disciple. It is my job to uphold the rule of law in my precinct, even in the face of the overwhelming.”
Zhihu snorted. “Well, that makes you better than of the councillors I’ve known. I can’t let them be dragged into a show— and don’t tell me that you think this .” The councillor grimaced, but nodded. “Half a year in the criminal system would be just as damning to them as if the attack had .” Then, softer, “I am that both of them have what it takes to make it into the Bloody Saffron Sect as outer disciples this year. You saw it, didn’t you? How they fought back against multiple enemies above their cultivation level? That’s not talent we can afford to waste. Not with the specter of what hovers above us.”
“I hate that you’re being so reasonable. Fine. I suppose I could lessen their sentence, though Juban will be upset that he couldn’t even mete out punishment to the ones who started the fire.”
“Let him mete out punishment on the attackers, for all I care, but I will stand between heaven and earth for these.” It was… touching. Almost profoundly so.
“Very well…” and so, they began negotiating. It dragged on, and on, and after a short while she stopped paying attention to it. Really, it was just two stubborn people refusing to budge on their points. Zhihu refused to accept anything but them going free without further complication, and Xianyue at least wanted them to stand trial, sham as it might be…
The stalemate was broken not by either of them, but— rather— by the arrival of someone that Lily had been expecting to butt in. As arrogantly as ever, Guxi climbed the stairs, giving not a single iota of regard to the various officers that were trying to prevent her from going anywhere.
“Councillor Zhang.” She nodded to Xianyue, “and inner disciple Ohm. We are graced by your august presence.” Both of them grimaced, which— Lily couldn’t help but find amusing, given that, ostensibly, she was the ally of at least of them. “I see that there’s been a… situation.”
“You know full well what the situation is, Qin. I don’t need to spell it out for you when you’re the one who designed it in the first place.”
Guxi shrugged, the lightest hint of a smile brushing across her face. “I suppose that every horse had a good mile in it somewhere. Not that I expected it of , of all people, but so it goes—”
“you insult me every time we meet?”
“I’m sorry that you’re so easily insultable.” Xianyue just sighed, and for a moment, Lily couldn’t help but empathise with the woman. It seemed like weren’t the only ones who had to deal with the councillor’s antics. “I did notice, however, that you were at an impasse. A stupid impasse, but clearly I should have expected as much from a stupid woman. Not you of course, inner disciple, your prudence and intelligence is as ever a credit to your organization.” Xianyue’s mouth opened for a moment at the sheer Guxi had in sucking up to Zhihu, and it was all Lily could do to restrain a chuckle. “I may have a solution.”
“What makes you think that I’ll listen to you have to say?”
“The same thing that made you listen the last… oh, I forget how many times.” Guxi smiled, and it was a nice smile. Not a cruel smile, either, but rather… there was a definite in it. “They’re .”
Xianyue sighed long-sufferingly. “Fine, then, I’ll hear you out. For the sake of the inner disciple.”
“Remand them to my custody.”
“Are you ” A burst of pressure washed out from the councillor, only to be stopped by sheer force of will and dragged back before it could reach Zhihu. Xianyue gulped. “Do you have any idea what you’re asking for?”
“Yes, obviously. It makes sense, doesn’t it? You want the illusion that you’re a wise and just ruler—”
“I a wise and just ruler, unlike here. Qin.”
Ignoring that, Guxi just continued talking on— “and I want the disciples from my Precinct to not have to deal with your foolish idea of justice. Just remand them to me, and get to say that they were processed by the legal system in my Precinct, and if it just so happens that I didn’t press any charges at all, then… well, you can wave it off. You already hate me, so it's not like anyone will take it seriously.”
“You… you…” Xianyue . Actually growled. “Fine. But only because it’s a good idea.” A force picked them up and them at Guxi, causing the wounds not yet healed by the pills to twinge painfully. “Get out of my sight, Qin, and I don’t want to see you again.”
“If you hold to your end of the deal, I won’t pester you for two months.”
Xianyue’s countenance suddenly transformed into something brighter. “Well! In that case…”
Guxi just chuckled and walked away.
………
Sat in a— rather fancy— car, driving back to the 32nd Precinct with Guxi Zhihu… at peace— it felt surreal. Even though the had been peaceful other than the one incident… she couldn’t help but wait for the other shoe to drop. “Are you helping us?”
Guxi glanced up from some document or another, clearly amused. “Of course I am.”
“You’re not going to…”
“Xinshi made a compelling argument.” She took the interruption for the clue it was, and just… shut up and listened. “Personally, I dislike you and your arrogance, and Mingtian’s lackadaisical attitude towards anything of importance— though not as much as Yuxan dislikes him, I can assure you— but you are, also, the greatest single asset this precinct has.”
“You don’t us.”
“don’t have you,” she smiled— “but the precinct does. You came back here for winter break, didn’t you? It says something about your character, that…” and, Lily had to admit, it true. It wasn’t like she planned on just… forgetting about the 32nd Precinct once she got into the sect. She wasn’t sure if she’d be to forget. “Xinshi argued that it only made sense to keep you in our favor.” It made sense, in a cruelly political sort of way, and…
She wasn’t sure how she liked that.
The car was silent, for a long moment, the only sound the quiet rumble of the engine and the road beneath them.
It was who asked the next question— quietly. Almost a whisper. “Is… will it always be like this?”
“…cultivation, the path of cultivation— the sect, the world, the …” Zhihu spoke in return, slow— “is a path of . This small world of ours loves to bleed… but, you already knew that, didn’t you.”
Avyr dipped his head in some unnamed grief, and… pit in her stomach, hanging heavy—
Lily understood.