Kingdom Of The Weak

Two hours into this nervous entry, Remian sensed something. "Watch out! There"s something big coming from that side!"

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely!"

They gathered in a hurry, just in time to receive a giant centipede that spat acid.

"Everyone, stay back!" Wushuang leapt forward. "This one is mine!"

Remian blinked. "Uh… shouldn"t we all surround it, and…?"

"It"s just an Early Innate Qi stage monster. Wushuang wants to test out her new technique. We should just let her." Big Li shrugged.

Wushuang dodged acid and slammed her weapon into the centipede"s face. "Frost Explosion!"

There was a burst of power, and then ice fountained out from the impact. The centipede howled for a bare moment before it was frozen over, ice crystals spiking out from its face in every direction. The rest of the centipede writhed wildly, but eventually went still after a few moments.

"There! See? No problem." Big Li shrugged.

Wushuang, though, bit her lips, frowning. "Hmm. That didn"t work out the way I planned."

"It"s still pretty powerful." Big Li consoled her.

"But it took too long to die." Wushuang still wasn"t satisfied.

Nevertheless, they continued on, until the next time Remian sensed something. "Three from the left!"

This time, everyone chipped in. There were three red-eyed wolves slavering at them when they appeared, and they were duly greeted with arrows and crossbow bolts. This injured the monster trio to the point of staggering, after which, Wushuang, Big Li, and Zhao Feng put quick ends to them.

Afterwards, Big Li and Little Li stared at Remian for an uncomfortably long time.

"What?" Remian asked.

In unison, the two grinned.

That was the end of the scouting party/rear guard/main group formation. From that time onward, everyone stuck together in the same group and relied on Remian to be their lookout-post. He called out early warnings several times over the rest of the day, and three times more often the second day.

Remian began to hear voices on the third day.

At first, they were vague, like whispers, and hard to make out. But as time went by and he kept using his Psionic abilities to sense out threats in the Red Mist, he started hearing these whispers.

[h.e.l.lo? Is someone trying to communicate with me Psionically?] Remian thought those whispers sounded like a new Psionic trying to telepathically communicate for the first time, or someone too far away trying to make contact. They were like thought-transmissions trying to hazily get through.

But an hour later, when the whispers got clearer, he finally understood that they weren"t transmissions…

[I need to use the toilet…] this thought belonged to Little Li. [But Big Sister wants to rush ahead… should I really make everyone wait, or should I just hold it…? I don"t want to be a burden to Big Sister. I need to show her that I can keep up with her!]

[How pitiful is this expedition?] this was a whisper from Mu Hou. [When we get back I will organize my own expedition, and show dear Li-er how great my means and methods are! Then she will surely be impressed! That Zhao Feng is such a boor, I can"t imagine what she sees in him… If not for his background, I would have him killed for setting his eye on my Li-er!]
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But Zhao Feng was thinking, [That constant, fake smile on her face… She is hiding something. Something more than just pitting Hou and I against each other for her favor. Is there something more about this trip? Something else hiding in the Red Mist Forest that she"s not telling us about?]

Meanwhile, Big Li was thinking [Mmm. These two guys do seem reliable enough. Hou has the brains to bring more people and supplies, but I could stare at Zhao Feng"s arms all day… taking this time to get to know these two was a great idea, and profitable for me too! What shall I do with the other three? There"s an auction coming up… I should definitely bring Hou and one or two others there…]

Then there was Wushuang. [Frost Explosion used too much Qi, and it"s causing my pain in my meridians. Something"s not right. It"s like the power runs off on its own, out of my control! I have to find a way to focus it, a smaller area, but with more impact…]

One of the guards; [I"m hungry. When"s dinner?]

The other guard; [Is that a stone in my shoe?! Again? But I threw it out already, didn"t I?]

A third guard; [I hate the damp. Why did we have to come to a Mist Forest? Why couldn"t we have gone somewhere dry and where we can actually see where we"re going?!]

The fourth guard; [When I get back, I"m going to visit my dear Jasmine again… heheheh…]

One of the baggage carriers; [This place is so scary! Please, don"t let me die, I don"t want to die, I don"t wanna die…]

The other baggage carrier; [I not stupid! Master always scold me stupid, but I not stupid! I can count! One… two… three… uh… five…?]

The others were fussing around with the supplies and were thinking about their task at hand.

[So… I can hear thoughts now? I can read minds, even when they"re not trying to send their thoughts to me?!] Remian paused.

After a few more minutes of increasingly louder whispers, Remian suddenly heard one that involved himself.

[I"ll have that Lem Yan fellow killed first, and deal with Zhao Feng when a good chance arrives. Otherwise, I"ll have to rely on the Black Hand a.s.sa.s.sins to handle Zhao Feng.] Mu Hou thought darkly. [n.o.body else can touch my Li-er! I won"t have it! I won"t let any other guy get close to her!]

Mu Hou wanted to kill him. Remian narrowed his eyes towards the back of the bulkiest chap in the whole group.

With his focus, all the other whispers faded away, while Mu Hou"s thoughts became clearer and louder. [I"ll just mention it to my guards. They"ll handle it somehow. I"ll tell them to be discreet. Maybe they"ll even do it quietly, this time. But even if they didn"t, what does it matter? He"s a n.o.body. I just don"t like the way Big Li talks about him as if he was in any way special. How could his one freak ability compare to my knowledge and wealth?! He must die.]

Great. Now what? Remian scratched his head. Should he tell somebody? Ask for help? Run off on his own?

Could he even survive out there on his own? Being able to sense threats was great, but what if he couldn"t avoid them? How was he to survive without supplies or anyone to watch his back?

No, going off on his own right now was not a good idea. Not in a place like this, with no map or any way to tell where he was or where he was going. He didn"t even know how Big Li and the others navigated their way around here. Until he could figure out the secret, going off on his own was crazy.

So… who should he tell?

Big Li? She was just as likely to kill him herself and gain some favor with Hou, especially with that auction coming up.

Little Li? She might kill him just for the sake of her sister"s possible-rich-new-boyfriend.

Zhao Feng? Even more likely to kill "Lem Yan" for being another guy close to Big Li.

Which left only… Xue Wushuang.

How to approach her? Remian thought about it, thought about the person Wushuang was, and how someone with nothing to offer like himself could possibly gain her protection…

So it was that as dinner was cooking that evening, Remian went over to approach Xue Wushuang.

"My lady warrior, I had a thought about your Frost Explosion technique." Remian said in a low voice.

"Oh?" Wushuang had to lean toward him to hear him, he spoke so softly.

"When you tried to compress your Qi and then trigger it to burst out, you had to force it to burst. This is an adaptation of the Fireburst technique used by the Crimson Swordsman, is it not?"

Wushuang stared. "H-how did you know?!"

Of course he knew. She"d been thinking about it all day.

"But, fire and ice are fundamentally different!" Remian argued, almost in a whisper. "Fire"s nature is to consume! It is its way to change form and grow to devour! But ice is not like that! Ice is solid, steady, and seeks to hold firm when it is strong! How can you hope to strengthen ice and still make it explode? This is why using your Frost Explosion technique is a battle with your own Qi!"

"That"s right!" Wushuang realized. "That"s it! Then how… how can I get it to work?"

"You can"t. Not like that." Remian shook his head. "Your best bet is… to do the opposite!"

"The opposite?" Wushuang"s face fell. "There are already a hundred different freezing and immobilizing type ice techniques. I want something that can do lots of damage very quickly."

"Then, my lady warrior, have you perhaps considered… an implosion instead of an explosion?"

"A what…?"

"Ice strengthens by compression… by going inwards on itself." Remian said, and then left a pause heavy with meaning.

Wushuang"s eyes widened. "I see! I must try it!"

"What are you two whispering about?" Big Li asked, suddenly coming over.

"Nothing!" Remian and Wushuang said in exactly the same way, at exactly the same time.