With a wide brimmed bamboo hat and a veil covering her features Song Suwan saunters into the dusty old pub like she belongs. While her spiritual sense is large enough to have taken in the entire place long before she entered she nevertheless goes through the motions, a smile on her face as she acts as suspiciously unsuspicious as possible.
Leaning a bit forward and turning her entire body side to side as she looks around she makes sure to pause while looking at every single patron in turn. Behind a counter that has seen better days stands a fat bartender, his head balding and hands dutifully cleaning a mug as he glances back at her. Despite it only being a quick glance Suwan can recognize it for what it is. During that brief moment he looked at her he observed her from head to toe and now he is attempting to memorize her stature. A level of skill one would not expect from a mere bartender in a ramshackle watering hole. Of course Suwan knows the man is not just that.
In a room behind the counter stands a woman roughly the same age as the man, her hair greasy and her back bent as she stirs a pot with slop. The same slop that sits in front of one of the people drinking at the counter. Waving one hand around and shoveling spoonfuls of it down his throat with the other, the intoxicated man is loudly complaining about one thing or the other, half of what he put into his mouth being spat back out over the counter as he does.
Despite barely being noon the place is already at half capacity, several tables being occupied by people playing cards or dice while on others even less scrupulous transactions seem to be in motion. A man passing a small paper satchel to another gives her an intimidating glare when she passes by too close and several people pause their games, hands drawing closer to the inside of their cloaks until she moves past. None of them are her target however, instead, it is a singular figure sitting at a quiet seat in the corner. Suwan smiles. Because of course it is. Where else would such a suspicious figure sit after all?
A woman roughly six feet tall with a hood obscuring the top half of her face and a pipe held up to her mouth leans over the table. A black cloak hides both her figure and the folded up crossbow on her back, thick leather boots on her feet showing she’s no stranger to wandering the wilds. The most noticeable thing however is that she is a cultivator sitting amongst mere mortals. Not just any cultivator either, this woman is a bona fide Core Formation master. A realm high enough to be considered an elder or even a grand elder in any sect. Yet here she sits, within a pub so filthy many mortals let alone cultivators would avoid it.
“Is this seat taken?” Suwan asks while pulling back a chair. Two piercing amber eyes stare at her from below the hood, squinting before gesturing for her to sit. The woman’s posture had turned more guarded the moment she began to approach and Suwan can feel her spiritual sense attempting to examine her. The cultivator’s eyes widen when her attempts are stopped with little difficulty and recalls her probes immediately.
She warily observes her as Suwan raises a hand to order a drink prompting the blonde to smile behind her veil. To remain incognito she has reigned in her spiritual pressure completely and hidden her cultivation appearing as little more than a wealthy mortal. For the Core Formation master to both be blocked and still be unable to perceive any of her cultivation whatsoever must put the cloaked woman on edge. Few have the ability to do such a thing after all and who among them would come to such a dreary place? Even an artifact that could obscure one’s presence so would be coveted by the great sects. Taking a long draw of her pipe she blows the smoke out in Suwan’s direction, her qi readying to react on a hair trigger should she attack. The qi-infused smoke flows perfectly around her features, no concealment being shattered as the hooded woman was fearing. She heaves out a sigh, both happy the illusion shattering smoke did not offer the result she feared and cautious as to the stranger’s intentions.
“You’ve been looking for me.” Suwan says after the bartender puts her drink down and leaves. Picking it up and lifting her veil to take a sip she continues. “Well, here I am.”
Two amber eyes like candles in the night widen beneath the cowl as she gasps. A slight flush lights her face up even more and for a moment the world seems to fall away, only the blonde visible to her. Only when Suwan finishes downing her drink and lowers the veil once more does reality set in again. The moment she dropped her guard she could have died. Her jaw sets and she squints. Keeping her tone soft and the volume quiet she pretends nothing happened and finally addresses Suwan.
“You’ve wandered into a dangerous place, traveler. It would be wise to turn back before it is too late.”
“And who are you to tell me what to do?” Suwan asks cockily, matching the woman’s tone of voice as she does.
“My name? I will not give it up so easily but I suppose I admire your courage for trying. As such, you may call me Mu.”
“Yeah, nah.”
“Excuse me?”
“Already know someone called Mu, pick a different one.”
“T- then Zan.” The flustered woman sputters, her composure breaking instantly at Suwan’s words.
“Tenzan it is.”
“That’s not… Well nevermind that, you do not seem to intend to follow my advice. Tell me, traveler, what brings you here?”
“Why, I'm hunting cults of course.” Suwan replies cheerily while gesturing for another drink. Turning her head to look at the suspicious barkeep she adds a bit more quietly. “And what do ya know, seems like I’m in the right place.”
“Shh!’ Tenzan hisses. “I have been investigating this village for many moons, do not ruin my plans.”
“Hoo, they’ve got something that can threaten you?”
“With cults like this…” Tenzan replies, a sudden intensity in her voice. “...one can never be sure.”
“So there is a cult here after all.”
“Geh!”
“Well, I already knew that though.”
Tenzan’s eye twitches, already completely done with the woman in front of her. Even so she knows it would be a loss to simply leave. After all, she can’t help but believe the person in front of her isn’t anyone simple. Seeing the man behind the counter make a signal with his hand while glancing their way and one of the patrons pretend to pay and leave the bar Tenzan makes a decision.
“Let us talk elsewhere. Meet me by the red bean tree near the eastern road at dawn.”
Lowering her hood further to ensure she remains unidentified Tenzan places several coins down on the counter and leaves the building. Suwan on the other hand crosses her legs on the table and smirks. Thinking that it’d be far too boring to leave without seeing what they’ve got planned, she downs her second drink in one go and immediately calls for another. Before long she completely forgets about the meeting and joins in on their games instead.
“Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug! Woooooooo!!!” The crowd lets out a loud cheer when Suwan drops the empty mug onto the floor next to several dozen others of its kind. A hint of a cocky smile is visible on her face as the veil drops to cover it once more. The man sitting opposite her raises his mug with shaky arms, only getting halfway through it before letting out a loud burp and falling backwards with a crash. Suwan stands up and raises her fist to the sky eliciting another round of cheers. The sound of birdsong breaks her out of her reverie as her next opponent takes a seat and the light invading through a crack in the shutters reminds her of the rising sun.
“Welp, I better scram, places to be, places to be.” Seeing several of the men seem to sober up and tense Suwan nearly chuckles. She looks back while casually walking towards the exit and flicks a coin at the barkeep. “Ah right, next round’s on me! Farewell ya lousy drunks!” She waves her hand while heading to the door.
The commotion of everyone scrambling to get their next mug quite literally buys her enough time to get out unscathed. She whistles a tune while making her way towards the red bean tree, a quick burst of flame ridding her of all the smells that might’ve stuck to her from the bar.
“Yo, were you waiting for long?” Suwan casually greets Tenzan once she arrives. The woman glares at her.
“For over an hour, yes. Since dawn in fact, as we had agreed upon yesterday.”
“Well shucks, sorry about that. Got a bit caught up in things but hey, look on the bright side.”
“And that would be?”
“I found us some evidence. In fact, it’s some pretty irrefutable proof.”
“Ah, but have you found us or have we found you?” A voice resounds, seeming to come from all around at once. With one smooth move Tenzan reaches behind her and unfolds her crossbow, its arms snapping into place with a loud click. Her amber eyes scan the surroundings even as qi gathers within the bulky loader she slides into place on top of her weapon.
An ominous qi floats into the area like mist, dark and tainted. It wafts up in thin curls before crashing down like waves, robbing those within it of their spiritual senses. From the surroundings nearly two dozen men appear, having used the cover of the malicious qi they’ve managed to avoid even the sharp senses of the amber-eyed huntress. Suwan snorts beneath her veil. If only they knew what kind of fish they reeled in this time. After all, it was quite troublesome to walk slow enough that they wouldn’t lose track of her, she even showed up late because of it.
“Get behind me, stranger! I’ll handle this.” Tenzan shouts while stepping in front of Suwan. The blonde replies leisurely.
“Eh, they’re just small fry. I can handle them.”
“Do not be fooled. These are no mere mortals.” The demon hunter warns and raises her repeating crossbow to look through the sight on top of the loader. Suwan resists the urge to retort ‘Duh!’ and instead takes a step back, contemplating whether she should withdraw her blade from where it’s stored in her spatial ring or simply enjoy the show. One choice seems far more amusing than the other.
“Then I shall leave them to you, oh brave hunter.”
Skin cracks, bone breaks and limbs twist as the stumbling drunks seem to transform. Their eyes widen in fear and pain as lucidity returns to them for the briefest moment before it is replaced by a different consciousness. Their hands split and form into long, jagged pincers while bits of their graying skin seem to curl and stretch into twisted mockeries of snail shells. Their torsos bulge and eyes extend into stalks, their bodies beginning to tilt forward as the weight becomes too much for their legs to bear. With a sickening squelch their ribs split into spider-like limbs and sprout thick black hair, the gleaming tips at their ends digging deep into the ground. Tenzan clicks her tongue.
“Tsk, Hermits. That’s troublesome. Stranger, do not let them surround you!”
The moment she finishes her sentence Tenzan leaps into the fray. Firing a bolt from her crossbow she watches it glance off her target’s shell encrusted skin. Suwan takes a closer look when she fires the second one. After the failure of the first the hunter imbues the next with her qi and not just regular qi, no, one with her level of experience uses her True Qi for this. The shot strikes true, piercing through the toughened exterior but getting stuck halfway through. Dodging a wide swing the huntress lines her bow up again and channels far more qi into both her bolt and crossbow this time. It launches with an audible bang. Suwan slows her perception to observe it, enhancing her spiritual sense to inspect it from every angle.
The shaft is carved out of spiritual wood, its texture hinting at having been soaked in some fluid over a long duration. Its head gleams silver under the rising sun, the fletching at its back comprised of white rooster feathers that whistle in the wind. The entire bolt has a formation carved into it, the lines tying the three disparate elements together into one whole and fortifying it to allow a cultivator of the Core Formation realm to channel their True Qi into it. The bolt hits exactly where Tenzan intended and pierces through the target, a screech echoing out as the being seems to collapse in on itself.
As beings of another world the qi of this one holds less sway over them, were any cultivators of lesser strength to attempt the same their blows would glance off much like the first arrow did. Only the qi created by a cultivator in one’s own core can properly begin to affect a demon and even then, the effect is lessened. In fact, Suwan considers while drawing her blade and resting it on her shoulder, the only reason this shot was lethal is the sheer amount of True Qi put into it. Stealthily inspecting Tenzan she notes that nearly a sixth of the woman’s reserve went into it.
Some simple math easily shows the folly of that method. Suwan raises a hand to her mouth to stifle a yawn as she looks on. Still, she has to commend the woman’s bravery. Despite the situation being hopeless not once has she let any of her foes approach the one she’s protecting. It is as brave as it is foolish and before long the blonde tires of the idiocy on display. When a blow sends the panting huntress flying back Suwan catches her with a hand on her back. Momentum causes the woman’s hood to fly back revealing short black hair and a very flustered expression on the wide-eyed warrior’s face. Sliding her hand to Tenzan’s shoulder and pulling her tight into her embrace Suwan lifts her hat and gives her a winsome smile.
“Good show, leave the rest to me m’kay?” She winks and raises her sword. With a wide swing she unleashes an inferno of golden flames, the soulfire consuming all in its path both body and soul. Nodding in approval she confirms her work before turning back to the stunned huntress still clutched tightly to her side.
“W- who are you?” Tenzan breathes in abject wonder.
“Me?” The blonde replies casually while resting her blade back on her shoulder. “I’m Song Suwan.”
The wind blows at their back as she stares meaningfully into the distance, a pale dot slowly getting smaller and smaller near the horizon.
“Uhm, Tenzan?”
“Y-yes?”
“I think their boss is pulling a runner.”
Thanks for the chapters and cheers on a new arc.
Thank you for reading!