The Third Step wasn’t just about granting immortality; the process of Soul Anchoring granted access to orders of magnitude more qi at a vastly increased rate of regeneration, allowing a cultivator to sustain themselves in combat for hours even as they threw out techniques left and right. I’d seen an example of it back at the Sect, as part of one of the very rare exhibitions that they put on for the Outer Sect, where any disciple who believed themselves capable were invited to land a hit on an Elder; the disciples were even encouraged to all attack at once. By the time the sun finally set on the show, all that remained were a pile of injured disciples in blood-stained grey, and one utterly untouched man in black.

  A cultivator at the Third Step stood before me, and my mind raced to figure out how I could possibly beat him. I thought, preparing myself.

  The Stag swiped his hand at me with casual ease, as though he were swatting a fly.

  I rushed backwards, hands raising up to block the hail of rock fragments as the Stag’s claws ripped through the road, splintering the cobbles and sending gravel ricocheting along my arms. Just as soon as the first swing ended I was moving again, ducking underneath the Stag’s other hand sweeping overhead to catch me, which collided with the ground and sent up another plume of rubble that scattered across my back. I ignored it as best I could, dropping low into a roll to avoid a kick that would have gone right through my chest, coming up onto my feet behind the Stag.

  “Refusing to meet my blows?”“What happened to that bravery, Gareth?”

  “Pardon me for not wanting my chest collapsed,” I hissed, bringing my fists up again, staring up at the monstrous bandit. “But somehow, I get the feeling you’re not looking for a fair fight.”

  I thought with frustration. Just like that prong the charred bandit had used earlier to signal the band of brigands, the antlers on the Stag’s head contained their own monstrous power from whatever Abomination they’d been ripped off of. At the Sect, most of these monster parts were processed into more helpful items, like potions or pills, but the crystallisation of qi towards a certain purpose sometimes made it more attractive to use the component as it was.

  And here the Stag was, using it on me. The amount of qi at his disposal was already enough to overwhelm me in a heartbeat, just like I’d seen back at the Sect. Instead, he’d seen fit to pour it into this talisman that transformed him into something even Brother Yun would have to crane his neck to look at. This wasn’t about winning to him; he’d already won in his own mind. Now, it was just about showing off his might, to prove himself better than the rogue cultivator who’d already killed some of his men.

  I thought, lowering my body and bending my knees.

  “Bait?” Isabella stepped into my view, staring at me in disbelief. “You mean the villagers?”

  I blinked at her.

  We were interrupted as the Stag laughed, the deep bass reverberating along the road. “No one impressive ever complains about fairness, Gareth. Where’s your fighting spirit?”

  “What do you mean, ” Isabella hissed, as I dove out of the way of the Stag’s bloodthirsty prongs. “How can you be bait for yourself!?”

  I thought, rolling to bleed off some momentum as I grabbed a mostly-whole chunk of stone from the ground. I watched as the Stag forced his legs against the road, carving a furrow as he slowly came to a stop. As he turned to face me once more, I hefted the stone up and pointed at the Stag with my other hand. “I don’t fight to amuse, bandit. I fight for what’s right. I fight so that every mortal can reach the Heavens!”

  “Just because an ant can climb a mountain doesn’t mean it won’t be crushed underfoot by its betters,”

  “Funny,” I returned his sneer. “I don’t see my better here.” Then, reaching deep into my spirit, I pulled upon a fraction of my qi, a full quarter-second of my reserves held at the ready. Just as I did so, I twisted my body, heaving the stone back behind my head, compressing my arms and chambering the throw.

  In the physical world, I roared, heaving the stone with all of my might, my legs twisting and rotating my whole body, my arm straightening with a burst of force, my hand moving fast enough that the rock was anchored against my palm until the very last moment.

  In the spiritual world, I didn’t even reach for the Seven Falls Stance. Instead, I compressed down my qi into a tight pearl of power, and then let it simply explode in a thunderclap of sound and light, just as the stone left my hand.

  For the briefest of moments, it felt like I was floating right alongside myself, watching the cry etched onto my face, the burning qi emanating from my hands, the rock crossing the distance in a blink towards the Stag’s head. From that position, I watched as the stone hit the bandit dead on, right on his very nose. I watched as the stone cracked, then shattered, then split.

  “Ryan!I felt a hand grab onto my shoulder, and pull me down-

  I blinked, feeling myself settle back into my body. I blinked a few more times to get rid of the black spots in my vision, then popped my ears to clear the slight ringing. The bandits around me had all flinched back at my own throw, and as they uncovered their eyes and ears they all stared between me and the Stag at the end of the road.

  “No, it didn’t,” Isabella clutched my shoulder tighter.

  Across from me, the Stag’s expression hadn’t changed at all. With a clawed hand he reached up to his face, and pulled out a single sliver of stone, the barest edge of it lined in a drop of blood. The Stag inspected it for a moment, before dropping it to the ground and returning his gaze to me. “Disappointing.”

  I hid a smile. Then, I turned tail and sprinted for it, Isabella following me as I jumped right through the mass of shocked bandits, ignoring their cries and dodging through the outreached hands of the few who’d kept their senses. I burst out the back of the crowd, almost tripping over my own feet and barely catching myself in time to skitter around the corner of another cottage and sprinting down an alley between the buildings, briefly glancing back to see who followed.

  I was treated to the sight of the house losing its entire chimney, mortar dust and brick fragments as the Stag caught its edge to slow himself to a halt, sending an annoyed glare in my direction. At about his waist height a few of the more eager brigands appeared, ready to chase me, but had to jump to the side as their boss snarled down at them. With a frustrated grunt he began pulling himself down the side path, forcing cobbled walls to bow outwards to make way for his monstrous form.

  I started running backwards to keep an eye on my pursuer, making sure not to avoid the raised step that led into Old Jane’s house. The raised step caught my heel and I tripped backwards, getting my hands behind my head just in time to prevent my skull from cracking on the paving stones, and otherwise taking the hit as best I could as my back slammed into the ground. I watched the Stag shake his beast-like head with a dismissive chuckle, claws scraping against the walls as the bandit savoured his victory.

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  “Ryan!” Isabella appeared above my head, reaching to grab my arm. “Come on, get up!”

  I stare up at Isabella’s face, doing my very best to keep a sharp grin off my face.

  “What- the second-” Isabella lifted her head, looking off to the distance, then squinted at me. “You sure?”

  With that, I looked away from Isabella and began scrambling back to my feet, lifting myself up and over the step like a crab as I scuttled backwards, ever so slightly slower than the Stag’s own stomps.

  “So careless, Gareth,” “And for what? Abandoning these villagers that you’d fought so hard to defend for just a few seconds more? All that talk of reaching the Heavens, and you’re scurrying about in the dirt like a rat.”

  “So, what am I, a rat or an ant?” I scurried faster, pushing off the ground and getting my feet underneath me as I tilted my head to have a better view of an alley I knew better than the back of my hand. “If you’re going to insult me, then at least keep it consistent!”

  The Stag snorted in annoyance, and before I could even realise it he’d caught up, a hoofed leg hitting me in the chest. For a moment I was utterly, blissfully aware of just how well my plan was working; he hadn’t even bothered to infuse any extra qi into the blow, just depending on the base nature of the strength granted by his transformation. Instead of killing me on the spot, he only broke a rib, and instead of painting me onto the walls of the houses across, he simply knocked me out of the alley and onto the road beyond.

  “Your pedantry will win you nothing and lose you your tongue.” “What a waste of time. Say your last words before I cripple you.”

  I coughed, holding up a finger as I slowly rolled forward. “I’ve got a few, actually. Just one moment,” I glanced down the road, back towards Griff’s, as my other hand reached inside my pocket.

  The Stag clicked his tongue. “My amusement with your pathetic fumbling is exhausted. Very well, Gareth-”

  Ignoring the pain, I leapt to my feet, and threw the retrieved contents of my pocket at the Stag’s face. “”

  The Stag tilted his head to the side just as a hand reached out, a few loose specks flying by even as the main item of interest was snatched out of the air. The both of us stared at each other for a moment.

  “Bread?” “What’s your-”

  Even as the clicks and snaps sounded, the Stag was already spinning around, claws up and at the ready, snatching the first pincher right out of the air by its neck. That didn’t help him with the second, or the third, or the fourth and fifth that dropped down upon him, their disgusting beaks swallowing up his free hand, tongues working through the gaps in his fingers to retrieve the baked prize within. For once, the low-pitched pulse of the Stag’s qi was replaced by a piercing whine of utter disgust as the Stag was beset on all sides by my most favourite birds in the entire world.

  To my side, Isabella tossed another half-eaten loaf to the side and flicked her hand free of bird spit. “What now!?”

  I rolled to my feet, ignoring the pain in my chest as I reached deeper, taking a hold of my soul and pushing it into the Seven Falls Stance. Qi ignited through my veins as my own technique filled my body, and I jumped forward off a single foot towards the Stag.

  Gravity lost its grasp of me, and I crossed the distance in a moment. Even as I leapt, an orange eye began to widen, claws loosening around the neck of the pincher, but my other foot had already landed against his neck, and my hands reached for his antlers. The Seven Falls roared as I braced myself, fingers digging in where the bone met the Stag’s skull, and I . Bone shattered with a vicious crack as I ripped one antler off, and the Stag screamed in pain as the flow of his own qi backfired, fur and flesh curdling before my eyes.

  I grabbed the antler with both hands, and drove it through the Stag’s eye, his screams redoubling as I shoved the antler deeper and deeper-

  A half-melted claw caught me across the body, and I felt my entire right side turn into a bruise as I was sent flying away. With the very last dregs of the Stance I got my hands and feet underneath me before I crashed into the road, grunting as the shock of the cobbles wasn’t fully absorbed. Only once my backwards slide finally stopped did mortality resume and the weight of the world settled fully back on my limbs, dragging me down to the ground. Out of breath and out of qi, I watched as the weave of the Stag’s transformation unravelled in a cloud of blood and velvet. When it finally faded, all that was left was the short bandit leader’s body lying on the ground, an antler erupting out the back of his head.

  My lungs heaved, broken and bruised ribs screaming their reluctance as I forced a breath down my throat. My fingers scrabbled along the road, and with a painful gasp I slowly tried to push myself onto my feet-

  “Here, come on.” A hand wrapped under my arm and Isabella slowly lifted me up until I was standing. “That was too close. And you’re out of qi now, aren’t you? We need to get you out of here, or- no, you’d want to sit on his body and look like you didn’t break a sweat, right?”

  I chuckled and shook my head. I looked over at Stag’s body, watching as blood began to run outwards from his head, forming rivulets between the stones. Around him, the pinchers began to gather. I blinked. .

  My breath began to come heavier.

  “Ryan? Are you okay?”

  The pain faded. Isabella’s voice faded into a faint ring in the very background. The rest of the world became a blur. I took the screams of my body and shoved them into a small box, and pushed the emptiness of my soul to the furthest corners of my mind. I stumbled slightly as I leaned down to grab a loose stone, gripping it tightly as I continued on. Pinchers snapped and backed off, and I paid them no mind at all as I ran.

  Closer to Stag’s body. Closer to the man with an antler through his head, to the bandit whose blood was pouring forth from the vicious wound I’d dealt, to the cultivator

  The Stag surged to his feet, and caught my hand above my head. He squeezed, and the rock fell to the ground.

  One orange eye stared at me, burning with rage. “You fucking ”

  The Stag squeezed more, and I felt the bones in my wrist begin to grind. Blood dripped from the antler. “I had my doubts there for a moment, that Chin was lying about you and the Sect. I thought that no disciple would ever be so pathetic. Lesson learnt, I suppose. Even the basest carp can swim up a waterfall.”

  The Stag’s hand continued to tighten. I felt something snap. The pain returned in full force. “And a disciple with such power? No wonder the Sect wants you back. But all they’re going to get is ash.”

  In the corner of my eye, I watched as Death appeared with scythe in hand, teeth bared furiously as she swung the hungry blade right through the bandit.

  The Stag didn’t blink. “I’m going to incinerate this village, make charcoal from the bones of your friends and family, and only then will you get the privilege to burn with them. Until then, you will-”

  “Excuse me.”

  The Stag paused for a moment, before slowly turning his orange eye behind him. I craned my own head to look over his shoulder at the figure even smaller than the bandit. There in the middle of the road a shrivelled old man stood, his eyes staring dully at the two of us. “Excuse me,” he said again, shifting an old leather bag off his shoulder. “Important Sect business. Please move.”

  Through the pain, I did my best to inspect the old man, and found myself confused.

  “The ” The Stag growled, tossing me right behind him. I clutched my broken wrist against my chest as I watched the Third Step cultivator fully turn to confront the old man. “After what your disciple has done to me, you think I’ll just ? No. I’m going to take my pound of flesh. I don’t care if you want him alive, because he’s already .”

  “Excuse me,” the old man said. “Important Sect business. It is best if you move aside now.”

  The Stag moved forward, pressing the antler embedded in his own face against the old man’s forehead.

  The old man reached out, pressing a single hand against the Stag.

  To my spiritual senses, I watched as more qi than I’d ever seen before erupt forth, as if an entire mountain had formed before my very eyes.

  The old man reached towards his chest, brushing off the blood from his fingertips. He stepped forward over a pile of flesh and gristle, ignoring the loose flaming giblets that licked at the edges of his bare feet. A few steps later, the old man came to another stop.

  I sat frozen with my wrist held against my chest, staring at the bloodied splinters of an antler in front of me, before I slowly lifted my head upwards. The old man matched my gaze, empty eyes looking through me. “Excuse me,” he said.