I was walking toward Big Randy's place. After talking with Yao Po for so long, it was already morning—the sun was out.
The rays of sunlight were harsh against my skin. I don't know what but it seemed to be harsher on my wounds and where Yao Po used the potion.
I looked at my right hand. Marveling. Was this really the power of a cultivator?
If I had gotten this sort of wound back in my village, they'd have cut off my hand. I'd probably even be dead.
I looked at my chest. There was a scar, a long one, nasty, running down from my chest to my navel—right through it.
I was alive. But now I. I still had to go on. I was going to try and see if Big Randy had any business for me or could iron out our business dealings.
For the past few weeks, I'd been focused on the beavers, but now. My mind was clear.
Especially since I couldn't hunt for the next few weeks.
I didn't meet Big Randy when I went to his workshop. I met his wife. I almost wish I didn't. The second she saw me, she pounced on me.
Maybe I should have covered up my wounds. She sighed. She gasped. "Khan, what happened to you?"
Now I had to go through and explain the whole story. I told her, and the more I spoke, the angrier she got. I could tell that if I was her child. She wouldn't hesitate to give me a good thrashing.
By the time I was done. She looked at me with a mix of pity. And anger. "Why would you do this Khan? How?"
I didn't know what to say. Sorry? I wasn't. I barely knew this woman. She didn't even know me. She couldn't be able to care about me.
I didn't have to explain myself to her. But. I kept my face cool, and calm. I realized. She was doing this out of a sense of love for someone she viewed as a child, as a very young person.
I tried to guide us more inward to the workshop.
Trying to get us to Big Randy, because at this point. If his wife was anything like Big Randy. Then he would probably also chew me out.
She quickly noticed that. I wasn't too interested in getting a verbal beat down for my decisions. I didn't want another lecture. I wasn't sorry — and she could tell."
I was a spirit beast killer now. Even if I died today, I could say I've done something in my life.
She huffed off. Signaling for me to follow her. We were in a different part of the workshop this time. A place where Big Randy and his associates could talk business and other important things.
Maybe if I planned this right, I could be talking to cultivators. Maybe one day. I'd be able to buy a cultivation manual. Or have them teach me how to cultivate. It was only a matter of money, right? I'd make sure I got that. In droves.
She led me through a narrow hallway, past rooms that smelled of sawdust and molten metal — until the scent shifted. Something floral, musky. We stepped into a part of the workshop I'd never seen. Then she left to call him.
It was small, sectioned off like it was meant for only a few select people.
I waited in the small, dimly lit room his wife had led me into, it was saturated with red wallpaper and gold linings, the couches barely off the ground, long and made of some type of softened leather, the incense sticks in the room made it smell like the place was for a higher caliber of man.
I had never been here before. I think they were starting to respect me more. Hold me with more value.
Not long after I sat on one of the long, leather chairs, the man that I had met last time walked in. Igor. Weird name. I hadn't ever heard of it before. He was fat. Genuinely fat, the way kings and nobles drowned in excess. Not fat enough to leave you disgusted, but just enough to know they indulged themselves often
He said one thing then sat down, "Ronny'll be here in a minute." True to his word, Big Randy was over here in a minute
He almost barged in, "Aaah, Khan," he held his arms out like he was coming in for a hug, what brings you here? Azul tells me he's already received the beavers you promised me. Michelle will be very happy during winter– What happened to your arm?"
For the first time, Igor noticed my arm, I had hidden it behind my back, so I didn't get any more lectures, they were starting to get annoying.
"I told you remember? I was hunting?"
"You told me you were hunting beavers lad," he sat down next to me on the couch, "that's why Michelle was in such a mood? Beavers don't give out wounds like that. I've dealt with enough hunters and trappers to know that."
Igor popped in as well, "That looks like the wound of something attuned with qi."
Big Randy turned silent, stared at the wound some more, and then came to the same conclusion. "Young man, did you run out of sense?"
This was really starting to get old. I had half a mind to rebut him but, it wasn't like he was wrong, I had done something stupid but it was my decision to make. Why were all these people so concerned?
It's not like it would have affected them. I made sure to at least provide the beavers Big Randy asked for before hunting the beast.
He was about to give me another tongue lashing, but then stopped, "I'm not one of your parents, kid, but if you do something like that especially when you have deals with other people you don't go trying to kill yourself, ok?"
I agreed but, "Don't worry I made sure to give Azul your beavers first, you were up there on the list of orders I chose to fulfill."
He lowered his face to his hands, "That's what this is about kid, its—"
Something in my face made him pause. He decided not to finish the thought.
**Back then I didn't realize how standoffish and detached I could be. I thought I had figured people out**
"Alright, you're not here for no reason, what do you want?"
I lifted my arm out, "As you can see, I'm unable to hunt, most likely for the next few weeks, I was wondering if you could run me over the deal we are doing, maybe I could figure out a way to do more or make more money."
He sighed, "fine,"
He looked up at Igor, "You mind telling the boy?"
"You trust him enough?"
"He's reckless and drunk on his youth but he seems at the very least to keep his word"
Igor and Randy exchanged a look.
Igor accepted, then stood, "Alright, then we shall make a promise– a blood tie." He pulled out a wooden bowl, I don't know from where, then took out a knife and nicked himself, making sure the blood dropped into the bowl, before passing them to Big Randy.
He did the same and then passed it to me
Igor spoke, "Swear by the skies and repeat after me, countless eyes, a thousand hearing ears, witness, and punish any oath breaker: I promise to keep any and everything said in the confines of this room secret till it is unable to be kept at risk of death or widespread enough that it will not matter."
I repeated after him and then did the nicking thing with the knife, I wasn't too comfortable with harming myself again after the spirit beast but it seemed really important to them.
They each raised their arms over the bowl, then I copied them.
Then Igor said, "Skies, bear witness."
All of a sudden the room turned dark, something pressed down on us, it wasn't physical, it wasn't air—something older. Something watching. My eyes burned, and I wanted to kneel and beg for my life or run or crawl I didn't know, I just felt like I was at the mercy of a being greater than I.
The same happened to Big Randy and Igor, but they handled it better.
It lasted for an instant and then I could breathe again, we were all on the floor, gasping.
"What was that?"
"The skies"
"It's real?"
Big Randy raised an eyebrow in confusion, "You wanted to become a cultivator and you didn't know?
"I thought the Skies were fake, just something bored wives gossiped about and used to scare children… is that what cultivators fight against? What keeps them from becoming immortal"
Igor sat back on the couch, his breath heavy, "We don't know, cultivators hate and fear it, and we mortals either think of it as a fable or try to avoid it as much as possible. From what you just experienced you should be able to tell that it's nothing to play with.
I nodded.
Big Randy stated "Good. We aren't just buying up iron, we're trying to make steel."
Steel? I had heard of that, it was some sort of new cutting-edge material, some mortal, on the far side of the continent had discovered it while working near a volcano–massive things that shot up fire and brimstone.
But I didn't think it was important enough to get cultivators involved. "But I didn't think iron—or steel was that important. Why do cultivators care so much?"
Big Randy spoke up again, "I told you before, that cultivators do not only work with resources infused with qi. That's too expensive. Especially for a low-ranking sect like the Awoken Moon—"
Igor growled, "Be careful, those moon people have eyes everywhere."
Big Randy brushed him off, "Yes, yes," then he looked at me. "Cultivators suffer from a scarcity problem, qi is hard to come by. It's everywhere, but in small amounts, that's why they build their sect and whatnot over those ley lines."
"What are ley lines?"
"You really know nothing huh? For cultivators to cultivate, they must have an abundance of qi, and the more of them there are, the more qi they need. So what do they do? They find natural formations in the earth, places where qi is naturally stronger, and larger in quantity, then they monopolize it. Those bastards fight for qi the way men fight for gold."
"Ronny!!"
Big Randy raised his hands up as if to say, I surrender.
"Think Khan, you're a hunter, you've experienced life and death situations. Why does someone stock up on materials like iron and steel, source it as discreetly as possible, under threat of death to maintain secrecy?"
I had never encountered this situation before, but I had seen enough things that were similar, coyotes, crouching, masking their scent, waiting for the perfect opportunity.
"They're preparing for a fight."
He clapped his hands in glee "Yes, now you are getting it my boy, but why fight? What would make cultivators move to such degrees? It's not like they care about gold and silver do they?"
I thought about what he just said, cultivators, qi, men fighting–dying for gold. "They found some more qi?"
"Aaha, there you have it my boy! But not just any qi, this isn't some hidden cave or underwater spring filled with qi– that would run out too fast. They need something self-sustaining, self rejuvenating–"
"A ley line"
Igor nodded his head and murmured something about birds and men dying for similar things.
"So they are gearing to go conquer a ley line? But do ley lines have natural protectors? Are they guarded by," I whispered, "the skies?."
Igor chuckled, "You don't have to whisper, we aren't in their sight." What did that mean, but Big Randy went on, "No, they don't have natural protectors,.... In a way, cultivators like qi, they need it. Especially if they want to keep their long lives, but it's not only humans that can become cultivators."
"Spirit beasts," I exclaimed.
"Yes, they'll have to fight against spirit beasts— plural, the type that has monopolized and sectioned out the ley line for what is likely been a few decades,"
I nodded my head in understanding, "But if its just spirit beasts surely they diont have to use so much iron? Steel? Doesnt the sect have powerful cultivators?"
"Yes but, the awoken moon sect isn't the only one aware of the ley line. Remember what I told you? Men die for gold and cultivators die for qi. That's the same thing here,"
"But if they are going to have a battle, what about us, we surely wouldn't survive it. How long do we have"
"Calm down, we wouldn't be so confid—-" All of a sudden I could hear shouting, it was a loud gruff voice followed by the sound of things breaking, the sounds of crashing wood, and screaming voices.
The supervisor barged in, "You think you could hide from me, thief?"
Oh no!