Master Chin stood in front of the mass of masked brigands, hands formed into fists at his side. It was clear the past week had seen several things change for the would-be bandit; his tattered clothes hung a fair bit shorter on his frame than I remembered, and the tears in the cloth and scars on his skin told me that he’d only met more troubles after he’d departed from Shepherd’s Cross. He’d even abandoned his sandals entirely, with the arches of his feet thickly wrapped in what could only have been the tail of his robes.

  The part of me that worked under Doctor Lei shuddered at the sight. The rest of me was returning Chin’s snarl with one of my own. “Chin. I thought I’d given you enough of a warning?”

  Chin narrowed his eyes. “Warnin’ for what, boy? You told me that you were on the run from the Sev’n Falls Sect. You may as well have said you’re worth your weight in jade.” The sleazy bandit swept his arm around him. “For honest businessmen like us, that sounds like a better deal than hasslin’ a sandwich dealer.”

  “So you think you hand me in to the Seven Falls Sect?” I laughed. “The last time we fought I sent you running with holes in your pockets and your feet. What makes you think you’re going to have a better chance this time?”

  “Bragging about ambushing me when I was hardly ready? Perhaps you’re more suited for that mask than you think,” Chin retorted. “Or is a boy from up the Fault not able to handle a fair fight?”

  “Ambushing-” I cut myself off, and glanced once more around the bandits, their focus bouncing back and forth between me and the scumbag in their midst. “I see. You made up some story that you were hit by me in an ambush, hence your absolutely pathetic state of being. You justified it by saying that I was clearly an ex-disciple, and that with- what was it, forty?- with forty of you you’d be able to overwhelm me and earn yourself a fat payday. Did I get that right?”

  I slowly pulled the wolf skull off and tossed it into the road between us, putting on the face of an imperious Elder as the bone skittered and rolled in front of Chin’s wrapped feet. “It’s thirty now. Perhaps I should thank that flaming corpse in the building behind me for bringing you all here. Can you imagine the hassle if I had to chase each one of you down to kill you?”

  I have an opportunity here. I stared out over the crowd that had begun to turn their attention towards Chin, looks of doubt and and a low murmuring beginning to rise amongst the assorted brigands. That greasy bastard didn’t tell them the full story, and now it’s biting him in the ass. I’ve killed or incapacitated ten of them; who’s to say that I couldn’t do it to the rest?

  “Careful, Ryan,” Isabella muttered. “Someone here feels strong.”

  How strong? I tried my best to find them, but couldn’t spot the outlier; I couldn’t directly sense their cultivation, not without someone using a technique, but if they were anything like the ones I’d already fought then I’d have a decent enough chance. Even if they were stronger than Chin, I just need to knock them down, and the rest will fall. I felt the pretense at confidence settle a bit more naturally on my face as I turned back to Chin.

  Chin scoffed, but his eyes didn’t leave me for a second. “You’re bluffin’. You would have done it already.”

  I drew on my inner Isabella and raised an eyebrow. “So sure, Chin?”

  “You boast about crushin’ me, you claim you have our measure, and yet you hav’n’t taken one move. Either you can’t-” Chin reached out to a nearby hostage, grabbing them by the neck and pushing them to their knees in front of him. “-or you won’t.”

  I glanced down at Rhys, the best angler in our home, who alongside my dad had taught me how to fish, and looked back at Chin. “You think threatening some villagers gives you power over me?”

  “Don’ think I didn’ see you twitch there,” Chin sneered, tightening his grip on Rhys’ neck. “You’re from this place, aren’t you? Oi, oi, fisherman-” Chin leaned down, slapping Rhys’ face lightly. “What’s this damn boy’s name, huh?”

  Rhys swallowed, staring up between me and the cultivator holding him. “He’s just a passerby. Lifted some logs for us for room and board. Whatever you cultivators want, it’s none of our business.”

  “It’s his business, actually,” Chin explained, pushing Rhys’ head down to the ground and setting his foot atop it. “Y’see, I had a good thing going in Shepherd’s Cross, three days from here. And the boy here decided to get involved and ruin that for me, just for the sake of the shittiest fucking kebabs I’ve ever had the displeasure of eating. So I know he’s a softheart, and I know that crushing your skull into a fine paste is just the sort of thing that’d motivate him. So, why don’t we try again? What is his fuckin’ name?”

  Chin didn’t even look down as he began to put more weight on Rhys’ head, his gaze stabbing at me. “C’mon, boy. What’s it gonna be?”

  “Alright. I’ll make you a promise, Chin,” I said. “I’m worth more to you alive than dead, right?”

  A lopsided smile formed on Chin’s face. “Ready to negotiate your surrender?”

  “So here’s my promise,” I continued, rolling my shoulders back and cracking my knuckles as I smiled at Chin. “If that man dies, then you die. And maybe I also get killed in the aftermath while the rest of these parasites jump me, but that’s none of my concern, is it? I’ll finish the job I should’ve finished at Shepherd’s Cross, and you’ll never see a single yuan of whatever bounty the Seven Falls Sect has put on my head. So maybe you should get your foot back on the ground before something unfortunate happens to you.”

  Chin’s smile slowly faded as I spoke. “You won’ get close.”

  “I hardly needed to last time. Are you feeling luckier now?”

  The attention of the bandits bounced back and forth between the two of us, but my own focus was entirely on Chin, waiting for the con artist to flinch. Chin’s own face was carved from stone, clearly expecting the same from me. I watched as his foot began to press down on Rhys’ neck, only to relent as my hand twitched ever so slightly behind my back.

  When it comes down to who’s the better charlatan, you’ve already lost. I thought, holding back a smile. For three years I lied to the world that I could reach the Heavens. What hope do you have?

  Chin spat down onto Rhys’ face, and slowly stepped off of him. “Let them go,” he snarled. “It’s not worth it. He’d die jus’ for the pleasure of spitting blood in our face.”

  The bandits holding hostages glanced between each other, before pushing the fishermen to the ground in front of them, stepping backwards as they did. Rhys wiped his face and crawled over to the others, getting them onto their feet and slowly coaxing them to the side, warily watching both the bandits as they retreated, once again leaving the space between Chin and I clear.

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  It worked. I suffocated any sense of joy and relief, holding my emotions down underneath an apathetic surface. Chin’s a coward. He’s not going to risk himself, and now he’s kneecapped his own strength in front of the bandits.

  “You know we can grab them again if we need to,” Chin threatened weakly, trying to take back control. “An’ you know that’ll only happen if you do something stupid.”

  I chuckled. “Sage advice, Chin. Perhaps you should take it yourself?” I smiled at one of the bandits towards the front. “To be honest, I’m not quite sure what you’re hoping to accomplish here. You can’t win in a fight against me, and you certainly don’t have the excess of power to bring me to the Sect alive. Not without catastrophic losses.”

  Chin gritted his teeth. “You’re stallin’, boy. Do you think someone’s coming to save you?”

  I spread my hands out. “I’d like to make an alternative offer. One that sees everyone here walk away alive, and one that sees you walk away richer.” From the corner of my eye, I saw Isabella shoot me a worried look. In front of me, I watched as the bandits slowly turned towards Chin. I smiled at the bandit with all my teeth. Well?

  The bandit glanced quickly at the others on either side of him, before grunting. “Business, then. What could you offer us?”

  “The Seven Falls Sect isn’t going to put a bounty on my head without sending someone after me,” I explained, gesturing up the river in the direction of the Burial Fault. “What happens when you all drag me a bare few miles from here, and come face to face with them? How many words do you think you’re going to get out before they just rip me from your grasp without so much as a by-your-leave?” I cup my hands, leaving just enough space through my hands for the metaphorical coin to pour through. “There goes that bounty, hmm?”

  “Say your piece already,” Chin spat. “What’s your plan?”

  “You tell them where I’m going,” I said plainly. “Which is following this river down to the Big Sea. It’s going to take me weeks to get there if I’m lucky. You can’t collect my head, but you can get paid for the privilege of making the Sect do the hard work.”

  “You want me to jus’ let you go?” Chin’s jaw dropped. “Do you think me a fool?”

  “Not at all,” I lied. “You know that only a few of you will survive fighting me. What worth does gold have to the dead? At least this way, you know you can walk away with silver.”

  The second the bandits began to murmur to one another, I knew that I’d convinced them. It wasn’t just a matter of reason; all of them had the vain hope that they’d be one of the few that would still be alive at the end of whatever fight we had. But none of them were sure enough, and the glances they exchanged were just as much weighing each other up as they were coming to agreement.

  Because now it’s not me against thirty bandits, it’s them versus twenty nine bandits and me, I mentally smiled, keeping my eyes locked on the only other person who could see what I was doing. It’s my win once again, Master Chin. But there’s no shame in coming second.

  Chin slowly, begrudgingly gave me a nod-

  “Enough of this.”

  For how quietly the words were spoken, the faint mutters and sounds of the crowd of bandits cut off immediately. My eyes turned towards the middle of the crowd, where an antlered bandit stood. He strode forward, the other bandits melting away from in front of him, as he came to consider Chin.

  “This was your plan, Yan Chin?” The antler-wearing man asked the other bandit quietly. “To reveal your incompetence, to cede your every advantage, to make an utter fool of yourself?”

  Chin didn’t say a word. But as he stared at the shorter man in front of him, I recognised the stock-stiff posture of Chin, the slight tremble in his hands and lips, for what it was. Fear, deeper than anything I’d ever elicited, even against the panic I’d wrought with the mention of the Seven Falls Sect.

  Without another word, Chin took a step back to join the ranks, and the shorter bandit turned towards me. His face was unmemorable, skin marred by pox scars and a large nose, with the only standout feature being hazel-coloured eyes that verged on orange. He wore layers of wolf furs over simple hide armor, and the antlers on his head rose high above his head, the bone branching out into a few asymmetric points. The tines of the antlers were only barely taller than I was, and staring down at the fellow, for the briefest of moments I felt almost amused.

  “That’s the one. He’s stronger than you, stronger than even Gareth,” Isabella hissed.

  What? Gareth’s at the peak of the Second- Once again, I looked him over, trying to find the hint of this bandit’s strength. It was only when I began to feel a technique unfurl from the bandit, a lake of qi that could overwhelm the puddle I had, that I realised just how sorely I had misstepped. They’ve reached the Third Step. Soul Anchoring.

  “You’re a tricky one,” the true leader of the bandits observed, slowly pacing towards me. “In any other circumstance, I’d simply believe that Chin had been deceived again about your past with the Sect, but you genuinely appear to be worried about it. What’s your name, disciple?”

  I narrowed my eyes at the antlered bandit, slowly taking a step back to keep my distance. “Gareth. And I’m no disciple.”

  “Just Gareth, then. I am Stag of the Bloody Woods,” he declared. I felt the antlered bandit stare at me, burning eyes cutting deep into my soul. “Allow me to put your situation into words. You are on the run from the Seven Falls Sect. If you’ve truly accomplished something that has the Elders of that Sect agitated, then you know that they’ll flatten villages and strip the land to the bedrock to find you. Anything that we can do to you or your loved ones is a triviality in the face of their overwhelming cruelty. If you care at all for these mortals, then you know what you must do.

  “You will bow your head and surrender. We will shackle and chain you, and drag you to the foot of the Fault and sell you back to the Seven Falls Sect. Or,” Stag withdrew a sharp and jagged knife with a horned hilt from his belt, “I break you, here and now, and I collect what pieces of you remain.”

  The world took a deep breath. Stag waited for me, knife at the ready, his other hand loose and free. The rest of the bandits had all begun to lean forward in anticipation. Beyond the confrontation, where the fishermen had retreated, I could feel the desperate gazes of my friends and family. I wanted to turn to them and shout for them to get away, to leave me to it, but I couldn’t drag my eyes away from the Third Step cultivator across from me.

  Isabella’s hand tightened on my shoulder. “Ryan. Can you run for it? Or pretend to be dead?”

  Seven Falls Stance might give me a headstart, but that just means I’ll die tired. And they’d just carry away my corpse if I took an early hit. As impossible as it seems…I need to try to win this. I glanced to the side, towards Isabella. I’ll need your help. Like that fight against Boluo. Just be ready.

  Isabella nodded, and I focused back on Stag. I reached inside for the small pool of qi within, the two and a half seconds of a hope of victory waiting and ready within me. It’ll be enough, but I need to wait for the right moment.

  “For some reason,” I exhaled, “I feel like surrendering will hardly be as easy as that.”

  “You did kill ten of my men,” Stag replied calmly. “Some damage in transit is to be expected.”

  “Then you should know that breaking me isn’t going to be easy either,” I slowly lifted my hands up and adjusted my feet, squaring up. “The Sect’s tried its level best to kill me, and I just keep getting back up.”

  Stag laughed and shook his head, the antlers waving through the air. “What arrogance! You may not wear the robes, but you have the attitude, Gareth.”

  Orange eyes blazed, and the building technique whirled into ferocity around Stag, the vortex of qi rushing inwards to the bandit in an explosion of light and ruby-red fire. I flinched away, fingers blocking out the searing light and heat that washed over the road. In the distance, I could hear the cries of villagers, and the cheers and jeers of the bandits beyond. As the light slowly began to fade, cinders bouncing along the road’s surface and extinguishing themselves, did I slowly drop my arm and look.

  Stag stood tall above me, the furs and leathers reduced into a thin layer of fur over rippling muscle. His hands had transformed into long claws, their edge just as jagged as his knife had been. Over that body of gruesome strength, a mutated human’s head leered down, sharp antlers strung with bloody velvet crowning Stag’s face.

  “Hold onto that confidence, Gareth,” the Stag spoke. “So you can die with it clutched in your hands.”