Journey to the East 28

“Goooooing up!”

A tattered skeletal warrior, clad in rusted plate dented and cracked inward screamed into the air flipping end over end with the force of the throw. Below, Gu Xiulan’s arm whipped upward, leading its arc as a bead of molten qi bloomed at the tip of her outstretched fingers. Wind whipped away from it as it compressed down to a tiny, blinding dot, screaming past her ears.

And then the Lance of solar radiance erupted with a booming crack of sundered air, lancing out to strike the flung ashwalker dead center, piercing it though. Light erupted from every crevice in broken armor and ancient bone, consuming and purifying the corrupted ash. The shadow of it drifted away on the next breeze.

And Gu Xiulan’s steed galloped on, circling the shrinking, crumbling formation of the dead. Zheng Nan’s appreciative laughter echoed under the thunderous crash of his staff breaking apart bone and metal, and Gu Xiulan allowed herself a smirk, as her other hand swept out the helix spear of white flame clutched in it brushing aside the spears that sought to stop her charge like matchsticks. Refeng’s hooves thundered over the sand as she breached the last line of the dead’s rearguard with her ten best riders at her back, bringing the banner fluttering on her back into the view of the settlement walls.

Even over the din of battle around its walls, the ragged cheer that rose up from the defenders could be heard.

And the stones and gravel shook with the march of the army that followed behind them.

Shouting a command her riders wheels, curving toward the thin flank on the left of the enemies siegeworks. Zheng Nan landed beside her with a crash, legs blurring as remained at speed with her horse.

And there, battle was again joined. It was a good day.

***

The rush of cantering Refeng through the opening gates of a freed settlement, to the roar of sound that was the relief of its citizenry and garrison never grew old, Gu Xiulan found, no matter how many times it was repeated.

It was like a bellows applied to the roaring flame in her dantian, sending the flames burning ever hotter and higher, her cultivation had soared in these last months, she was nearly in the fifth stage of the green realm and not far behind it in body. This was glory, the birthright of the descendants of the phoenix. Trampled foes and adoring subjects, high on the relief that their heroes had come.

She rode at the lead of the force, the banner bearer with the commander of the army, one of her uncles, and his retinue just behind. This was to be one of the last settlements freed, the center of a barony on the furthest southeastern edge of the Gu’s lands. Their ducal guests had gone on toward Xiangmen to make their contact with the Duchess of the Emerald Seas…

And she had ridden forth with Zheng Nan, to smite the dead that still dared profane her family’s lands and people.

She listened with half an ear as the baron of this place clasped his fists before his chest and bowed almost to the ground, his long beard sweeping the dusty cobbles as he gave his profuse thanks for their aid. Gratifying, but her thoughts wandered toward the future, with this the scourge was reduced back to normal levels, at least here so far from the Grave itself. She had heard the news, and felt the stirring wrath of Sovereigns painting the sky in the south yet, but that was far from here.

What now then? Father would be maintaining more intense patrols of course. Perhaps she might be put in charge of those? Her outriders had proven their mettle many times over, and the prestige of the unit was on the rise. Perhaps a larger command…

She felt a little discontent at the idea though. It was important work, but…. More administrative than martial.

“Be not afraid, loyal servant of our Gu Clan. His lordship understands that your people have suffered and your garrison will take time to recover. I, Gu Jianyu, will protect these lands while our physicians bring your men back to fighting shape. And on the morrow, our riders, led by his lordships daughter shall perform a final sweep of your hinterlands before returning before returning to Pheonixhome to make your disposition known.

Well, Gu Xiulan thought that answered the question in the immediate term. She ignored the churning feeling in her stomach.

***

She found herself sitting atop the rooftop of the guesthouse she had been assigned when all was said and done, another knight of festivities. Another night of being both congratulated and scrutinized by the noble sons and daughters who had taken refuge in, or called this place home.

She had earned herself quite a reputation by now it seemed. The Scourging Spear, Lady Thunderbolt, The Blue Wind. They were all very silly, and frankly she felt a bit condescended too when her elders used them. It was all very… smarmy…

But genuine, for the mortals. Riding through the town, she had seen a little girl brandishing a broom, pretending to be her.

Strange how small things could be so gratifying, and large ones so insincere.

Gu Xiulan exhaled a stream of blue sparks and released her spirit, Linhuo from her dantian. The flame fairy formed between her outstretched hands a bloom of fire. She had grown, from a little spark to a slender figure half a meter tall, a feminine shape of flickering flame wreathed around bones of crackling lightning, with branching wings of the same. After her detonation on the battlefield, the spirit had been reduced to a silent presence in the back of her mind for a very long time, and in truth she had begun to wonder if she would ever awaken again.

“Hello sister! The party was very good tonight, wasn’t it?” She chirped cheerfully.

“It was acceptable,” Gu Xiulan sniffed. “Here, I acquired some higher quality incense for you.”

She flicked her fingers, summoning the sticks to her palm. In truth, the fairy had taken far more from that battlefield than she had anticipated. When she flared back to wakefulness, it was with the qi of a third grade spirit.

“Oooooo! Gimme gimme,” The fairy said excitedly, grabbing up the first of the sticks in her dainty hands, letting out an ecstatic sigh as richly scented smoke begun to stream upward. “But….. you seem kinda sad, why?”

“Hm, I don’t know. Perhaps because all of the young men here are cowards,” Gu Xiulan snorted.

Honestly, she could understand the second realms, those were mere boys, but a peer, a man, should be able to look her in the eye and compliment her beauty without stammering. Zheng Nan obviously didn’t count, the man was practically a courtesan. “Just because I am beyond them does not mean they should be afraid to at least look.”

She was not sulking.

Linhuo made a buzzing crackle that was like a hum as she fed the incense stick slowly into her core. “Hm, I think you shouldn’t worry about losers, yup! Sister has gotten really strong! And like super pretty too! Your hair is so nice, and your skin is really smooth, and your eyes are like the blaze of the sun!”

“Yes, I’m glad you’ve been listening to poetry,” Gu Xiulan snorted, tossing her hair. It did look good at such length, and when tied up it helped secure her helmet, though even with her cultivation she needed conditioners to keep its shine with everything she was doing.

She hadn’t neglected herself, turned herself into some kind of barbaric thug woman. She was still feminine and slender, though she had noticed a certain lean hardness in her limbs that had not been there before.

“Buuut, I don’t really think that's the main thing, nope. You’re worried about something else,” Linhuo said gravely.

“...I still have no idea what to say to Mother.”

She had been away from home on the campaign trail with her father for so long now, it was… easy to talk to him now, she had grown and learned so much under his tutelage.

But Mother had not even sent a letter out. In the early part of the campaign, she understood, but…

“Do you think she’s the same?” Linhuo wondered.

“Of course not. Mother does not suffer such frailties of the mind,” Gu Xiulan said. Mother chose words or silence the way she chose between her spear, her lash, and her rays. They were her armaments, and she was a master of them. If she was silent, that was deliberate.

And it made her want to curl up like a scolded child despite all her pride.

“...I will not apologize,” Gu Xiulan whispered. “That is my line.”

She wanted to speak with Mother again, to repair things… but not if it meant that.

She had to hope she could win that battle too.