Sky-Piercing Hawk
The Ghost Weep Pass lived up to its name. It was a narrow canyon carved between two towering cliffs of black granite. The wind here didn't blow; it screamed. It funneled through the cracks in the rocks, creating a sound that resembled the wailing of a thousand grieving widows.
Kaelen walked alone.
The bamboo hat shaded his eyes, and the black cloak Jiara had given him fluttered behind him like a shadow. The air was cold and damp, smelling of wet moss and old bones.
For the first time in sixteen years, Kaelen was truly outside.
He touched the chest pocket of his robe. Inside lay the Sea Demon's Map and the wooden dragon carving he had made—a twin to the one he gave Uncle Hwan.
'Are you eating properly, Uncle?' Kaelen wondered. 'Did you remember to bandage your knee?'
The Emperor Valerius had conquered galaxies, but he had never worried about whether a servant had eaten dinner. This new emotion—this persistent, nagging worry—was annoying.
But it also felt... warm. It kept the cold wind at bay.
"Help! Murder! Robbery! Someone save this poor, innocent soul!"
A loud, piercing scream shattered Kaelen's thoughts.
It came from around the bend. It wasn't a scream of terror; it sounded more like a scream of dramatic exaggeration.
Kaelen paused. His instinct was to ignore it. The world of cultivation was full of traps. A cry for help was often a lure for a knife in the back.
But then, he heard a second sound.
Screech!
It was the cry of a beast. High-pitched, defiant, and filled with pain. It was the sound of something proud refusing to break.
That sound resonated with Kaelen.
He adjusted his sword and walked around the bend.
...
In a small clearing amidst the rocks, a chaotic scene unfolded.
A group of six bandits, wearing red bandanas and leather armor, had surrounded a tipped-over carriage. The carriage was filled with jars of cheap wine and spices.
Lying on the ground, rolling around in the dirt, was a fat man.
He was round like a barrel, with a face that looked like a freshly steamed bun. He wore colorful, mismatched robes that made him look like a traveling circus tent.
"Please, Great Heroes!" the fat man wailed, clutching a bag of gold to his chest. "Don't kill me! I am just a humble merchant! Take the wine! Take the donkey! But leave my gold! My wife will skin me alive if I lose it!"
"Shut up, Fatty Bo!" the bandit leader, a scarred man with a massive hammer, shouted. "We know you stole this gold from the Iron City Casino! Hand it over!"
Kaelen watched from the shadows. 'A thief robbing a thief. Interesting.'
But Kaelen's eyes weren't on the fat man. They were locked on a steel cage sitting on top of the bandit's loot pile.
Inside the cage was a bird.
It was a Silver-Winged Hawk. It was small, barely the size of a falcon, but its feathers shimmered with metallic light. Its wing was broken, bleeding purple blood. Yet, its golden eyes were staring at the bandit leader with intense, burning hatred. It kept pecking at the steel bars, trying to break free, even though its beak was cracked.
"Stop pecking, you stupid bird!" The bandit leader kicked the cage.
The hawk tumbled, slamming against the bars, but it immediately stood up again, screeching in defiance.
Kaelen's eyes narrowed.
He saw himself in that bird. Broken, trapped, but refusing to bow.
He stepped out of the shadows.
"The noise," Kaelen said, his voice cutting through the wind like a razor. "It is disturbing my walk."
The bandits froze. The fat man stopped rolling and looked up.
"Who are you?" The bandit leader sneered, hefting his hammer. "A hero? Or another corpse?"
"I am neither," Kaelen walked forward calmly. "I am just a traveler who wants to buy that bird."
"Buy it?" The leader laughed. "This is a Thunder-Spirit Hawk chick! It's worth 500 Spirit Stones in the capital! Do you have that kind of money, boy?"
"I don't have money," Kaelen admitted. He pointed at the fat man on the ground. "But he does."
Fatty Bo blinked. "Hey! Wait a minute! Why are you volunteering my money?"
"Because," Kaelen looked at Bo, "if I save your life, your money belongs to me anyway. That is the rule of the wild."
Bo opened his mouth to argue, but then shut it. He did the math. 'Lose the gold, live. Keep the gold, die. Hmm.'
"Deal!" Bo shouted, scrambling behind a rock. "Kill them, Brother Hero! My gold is yours!"
The bandit leader roared. "Kill this arrogant brat!"
Five bandits charged. They were Body Refining Level 9. Strong for common thugs, but ants to a Spirit Ocean cultivator.
Kaelen didn't draw his sword.
He moved.
Dragon Step.
He vanished from their sight.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Three bandits flew backward, clutching their chests. Kaelen had punched them in the specific acupuncture point that stopped the flow of air to the lungs. They collapsed, gasping for breath, unable to fight.
The other two swung their sabers.
Kaelen caught the blades. Not with his hands, but with two fingers each.
Cling.
His fingers, reinforced by the Golden Spirit Ocean, were harder than steel.
"Your blades are dull," Kaelen whispered.
Snap.
He broke the blades with a twist of his fingers. Then, he kicked out twice. The bandits were sent flying into the canyon walls.
Only the Leader remained. He stood shaking, holding his massive hammer. "You... You are a Cultivator! Why is a Cultivator walking in this trash heap?"
"To pick up something you dropped," Kaelen said.
He walked past the Leader toward the cage. He completely ignored the man with the hammer.
It was the ultimate insult.
"Die!" The Leader swung the hammer at Kaelen's exposed back.
"Watch out!" Bo screamed from behind the rock.
Kaelen didn't turn. He simply extended his hand backward, palm open.
BOOM!
The massive iron hammer hit Kaelen's palm and stopped dead. The shockwave blew the dust away, but Kaelen's feet didn't move an inch.
"You have strength," Kaelen said, looking at the bird in the cage. "But you lack focus."
Currents of Black Dragon Qi surged from Kaelen's hand into the hammer, then into the Leader's arm.
"Argh!" The Leader screamed as his arm went numb, frozen by the abyssal energy. He dropped the hammer and fell to his knees, terrified.
Kaelen picked up the cage. He looked at the Thunder-Spirit Hawk.
The bird stopped screeching. It looked at Kaelen. It sensed something. It didn't sense a human. It sensed a Predator. A Dragon.
The bird lowered its head—not in submission, but in recognition.
Kaelen broke the lock with a pinch. He opened the door.
"You are free," Kaelen said. "Fly away."
The fat man, Bo, waddled out from behind the rock. "Are you crazy? That bird is worth a fortune! You just let 500 stones fly away?"
Kaelen watched. The hawk hopped out. It flapped its wings, but the broken wing failed. It fell to the ground.
It looked at Kaelen, then chirped softly. It limped over to Kaelen's boot and sat there, looking up at him.
"It seems," Kaelen smiled faintly, "it doesn't want to go."
He crouched down and gently channeled his Golden Qi into the bird's wing. The bone began to knit together.
"If you stay," Kaelen whispered to the bird, "you will face storms. You will face monsters. You might die."
The hawk chirped again, pecking Kaelen's finger gently. It was a pact.
"Fine. I will call you Rai (Thunder)."
Kaelen placed the bird on his shoulder. Rai settled in, looking like a silver epaulet on Kaelen's black robe.
"Ahem," Bo cleared his throat, holding his money bag tight. "That was... amazing! Truly majestic! I am Bo, the greatest merchant... err, traveler... in the region."
Bo looked at the bandits groaning on the ground. He quickly ran over and started looting them. He took their wallets, their boots, even their bandanas.
"Waste not, want not!" Bo grilled.
Kaelen watched him. This fat man was greedy, cowardly, and loud. Everything Kaelen disliked.
But Kaelen also saw something else. Bo's eyes were constantly darting around, checking the wind, checking the exits. He had survived the pass alone. He knew the way.
"You know the way to the Endless Sea?" Kaelen asked.
"Like the back of my hand!" Bo slapped his chest. "But it's dangerous. You need a guide. Someone trustworthy. Someone... like me!"
Bo grinned, showing a gold tooth. "You saved me. I owe you. I will take you to the coast for free! well, maybe for a small fee... for food."
Kaelen looked at Bo, then at Rai on his shoulder.
A broken bird and a cowardly thief.
What a strange team for a God Emperor.
"Lead the way, Fatty," Kaelen said, walking forward. "But if you try to steal from me... Rai will eat your eyes."
Rai screeched in agreement.
Bo laughed nervously, clutching his neck. "You have a dark sense of humor, Boss! I like it! To the Endless Sea we go!"
As they walked deeper into the canyon, Kaelen felt the solitude lifting. The road was still long, and the destination was still dangerous. But the silence was now filled with Bo's chatter and Rai's chirps.
And in the pocket of the Bandit Leader, which Bo had looted and secretly handed to Kaelen, lay a strange Black Iron Token with the symbol of a skull.
It wasn't just a bandit trinket. It was an entry pass to the Underground Black Market of the coast.
Opportunities were opening up.
"Tell me, Bo," Kaelen asked as the mist swallowed them. "Why were those bandits chasing you? A casino robbery is a lie."
Bo stopped smiling. He looked at Kaelen, his face suddenly serious.
"You have sharp eyes, Boss," Bo whispered. "I stole something from the City Lord. Something that proves the City Lord is working with the Eclipse."
Kaelen stopped.
The Eclipse again.
Fate was a spiderweb, and Kaelen was pulling on the main thread.
"Keep walking, Bo," Kaelen said, his grip on his sword tightening. "Tell me everything."