The grass withered almost instantly, curling into black strands as the flames consumed it. He leaned closer, eyes narrowing, watching for a trace of resonance. For a fleeting moment, he thought he saw the qi shimmer… but then it sputtered out, leaving nothing behind but bitter, empty ash.
"…Failed again."
Shi Yang sighed, but before the disappointment could settle, something else pricked at his senses.
A scent.
It drifted into his nose, subtle yet insistent—not carried by wind nor soil—something richer, more alive. His pupils tightened. His body reacted before his thoughts did, his mouth filling with saliva, a strange hunger gnawing at his chest. The urge came sharply, violently.
Add it to the fire.
He froze. "What was that?" His own voice sounded strange in his ears.
Without thinking, his muscles tensed. He crouched low, power gathering in his legs. The twin elemental koi spiraled to life behind him, flames and water orbiting as his body shot forward like a spring uncoiled.
He leapt from stump to tree, from tree branch to another, his movements fluid, each bound carrying him farther, faster. The scent did not weaken—it grew sharper, stabbing straight into his spirit.
But as the leaps carried him leagues away, a troubling thought cut through his momentum. Wait… how could a smell reach me from so far? No scent, no herb, no beast should be able to capture my senses like this.
Yet the tug only grew stronger.
Finally, he burst past the last ridge of trees—and froze at what lay before him.
Nestled in a valley of jagged cliffs was a crude village. Mud huts and rough wooden stakes circled a firepit at its center. Dozens of ragged cave dwellers—primitive humans clad in animal furs—huddled together, clutching makeshift lanterns fashioned from clay jars. Within those jars glowed swarms of fireflies.
But not ordinary ones.
Spirit beasts.
The fireflies shimmered faintly with spiritual light, their wings buzzing like a song as they formed protective spheres around the lanterns.
And before the trembling villagers prowled a pack of sabertooth tigers, their fangs gleaming like curved blades in the firelight. The great beasts circled slowly, hackles raised, eyes glowing with hunger as the cave folk waved their glowing jars in desperate defense.
Shi Yang crouched low on a tree branch, watching, the scent hammering his senses harder than ever. His eyes narrowed.
"…So that's the source?"
The villagers shouted guttural cries, waving their lanterns to scatter the prowling predators—but it was only a delay. The sabertooths paced with the patience of hunters certain of their prey, their growls low and rumbling like distant thunder.
Shi Yang's gaze was fixed not on the battle, but on the jars. Each pulse of light from the fireflies sent a wave of scent rushing into his nostrils, intoxicating and maddening. His lips curved into a thin smirk.
So the world tempts me again. First the grasses, now this. It doesn't want me to refine pills in safety—it wants to drag me into the heart of chaos and see what I can pull out alive.
The elemental koi shimmered faintly at his back, restless, their tails coiling as if urging him forward. His fingers tapped against the bark, considering. The simplest path was clear—cut down the tigers, seize the jars, and test the fireflies in his flame. But the thought of stepping in so bluntly made him hesitate.
He whispered under his breath, "Do I help them… or let them break, and pluck what remains?"
The villagers' cries rose higher as one of the sabertooths lunged, swiping at the nearest man. The crude spear in his hands splintered on impact, and the man toppled into the dirt, blood already gushing from the shallowest graze. Panic surged through the camp.
Shi Yang's eyes sharpened, his body leaning forward on the branch. The hunger inside him pulsed again, demanding action. The fireflies' glow intensified, scattering the tiger back with a hiss of burned fur.
And the scent grew overwhelming.
His breath steadied. His decision was made.
Shi Yang dropped from the tree, landing soundlessly upon the earth.
The sabertooth tigers froze, their predatory instincts recoiling before something far greater. The villagers gaped in shock at the tall figure emerging from the shadows, his outline haloed by the faint shimmer of flame and water koi orbiting his form.
Shi Yang's lips curved into a faint smile. "I'll be borrowing your fireflies."
He shot forward, his hands flashing to his waist. From his loincloth he drew two rusted sabertooth daggers, hurling them in a single motion. They streaked through the air like bolts of lightning, burying themselves deep into the chest of the nearest tiger—the only one bold enough to lunge at him.
The tribesmen gasped as the beast toppled, writhing. "I'm not here for games," Shi Yang said coldly, his fingers pointing at the impaled creature. "Rust away… and die."
The tiger's roar curdled into a hideous gurgle. Its skin blackened, fur sloughed away, and flesh decayed into flakes of rust that scattered on the dirt.
Shi Yang's gaze snapped to the next. His wrists twisted, and the daggers jerked free of the corpse, spinning toward their new target. The beast leapt aside with a guttural snarl, dodging the blades before charging him head-on.
Shi Yang met it with his fist, blazing koi spiraling down his arm. "Blazing Koi Impact!"
Flames erupted as his punch shattered its skull. Fire and bone burst in every direction, the stench of scorched flesh filling the air. Without pause, he flicked his wrists again. "Rust! Rust! Rust!"
The daggers spun wildly, splitting apart, moving like extensions of his will. They tore into the pack with vicious precision.
Whimpers. Howls. The air filled with the sound of death.
Some beasts fell instantly, but others grew wary, their eyes flashing with primal terror. They turned to flee.
Shi Yang sneered. "Not on my watch."
He slammed both palms into the earth. The ground quaked violently. Villagers staggered back in awe as roots split through the soil, writhing like serpents. They ripped through stone, tore trees from their roots, and lashed out into the forest with devastating force.
"ROAR!" A tiger bellowed—only to be caught mid-leap by a coiling root. It strangled the beast mercilessly, tightening until bones cracked. The tiger's body convulsed, choking on its own blood—before a dagger plunged into its open maw, silencing it forever.
One by one, the predators fell, their roars dwindling into gurgles and silence. The ground was painted with their corpses, the stench of rust, fire, and blood mingling in the night air.
Shi Yang stood tall amidst the carnage, his expression devoid of pity. The final tiger fell limp, and he rose slowly, pulling his daggers free.
The cave dwellers looked upon him with wide, trembling eyes. Then, as if some unspoken signal passed through them, their voices rose in unison:
"Hero! Hero! Hero!"
The chant echoed across the valley, their crude voices trembling with awe. To them, he was no longer a man, but a god of war who had descended to save them.
Shi Yang let out a low chuckle, sheathing his blades as the chorus rang in his ears. "A hero… to a band of tribesmen?"
The koi spiraled around him, water and flame entwining. Then the one made of water left its companion, swimming into his frame. His body shimmered with scales, a tail curling at his back, horns glinting faintly in the lantern glow. He called back his daggers with a flick of his wrist, their edges dripping with blood and rust.
His smile sharpened. "I'm no hero. I'm a wanderer—drawn to misfortune… and a scent that drives me mad."
He stepped toward the trembling villagers, every motion coiling with quiet menace. The air grew heavy, suffocating.
"Now then," Shi Yang said softly, his voice cutting like a blade, "if I asked you to hand over all your lanterns… what would you do?"
The villagers fell to their knees as one, their crude lanterns trembling in their hands. Their chants of "hero" turned into groveling cries, voices breaking with desperation.
"Lord! Great Lord! Spare us!"
"Please—do not take them all! Without the jars, we are nothing but prey!"
"Mercy, oh great one!"
The older men, their backs bent with age and their skin creased like dried bark, pressed their foreheads into the dirt. One of them lifted his voice, quivering but resolute.
"Great One," the elder croaked, his clay jar glowing faintly at his side. "If you desire the lanterns, we shall give them to you. But if you take them all, we will not last a night. Take half. Take half, we beg you… and when three moons have passed, when the night-dancing bugs breed again, we will gift you more. All that you ask, we shall provide."
Shi Yang stood amidst their supplication, the scales along his arms catching the light of the fireflies. His smile spread, slow and sharp.
"Half," he repeated, his tone thoughtful. "And more every three moons."
The villagers pressed their faces deeper into the dirt, whispering prayers to a god they didn't even know they had worshipped until now.
Shi Yang's gaze swept across them, lingering on their quivering shoulders, their trembling jars, their hollow faces. "But…" His voice cut through the silence, low and dangerous. "What incentive do I have to believe you won't run? What keeps you from fleeing into the dark the moment I turn my back?"
The words froze the villagers. None dared to answer. Their silence was broken only by the rustling of the roots he had summoned, still twitching in the soil like coiled serpents waiting to strike.
Shi Yang chuckled, then raised his hand lazily, his finger pointing into the crowd. The villagers stiffened as his gaze locked onto a figure among them—a girl, barely having just come of age, her hair tangled but her features still delicate beneath the grime of the wild. She clutched her jar to her chest, her wide eyes staring back at him, caught between terror and disbelief.
"That one," Shi Yang said, his tone leaving no room for question. "She'll do."
The villagers gasped. Some wept, others pressed their foreheads even harder into the dirt, as though their blood might buy her reprieve. The girl's mother let out a strangled sob but did not move, held back by the weight of her people's silence.
The elder trembled, lowering his forehead until it scraped against stone. "As you command, Great One. She is yours."
Shi Yang smiled, satisfied. "Good. Then we have an agreement."
The koi shimmered brighter around him, their flames licking the shadows, their waters pulsing like veins of a river. He strode forward without hesitation, his hand reaching toward the trembling girl, the villagers' submission ringing in his ears like the sweetest offering.