Cultivating As A Side Character

I turned around, and there was a small boy standing not five yards behind me. Must not have had etiquette lessons yet, or something. "I'm sorry little one, I'm not the sort to play games with children. Or are you lost, do you need me to help find your parents?"

There was something off about the way the boy smiled. In that moment, my brain went into overdrive realizing what else was wrong with this picture…and there was a lot. This was the first time I'd found so much as an alley to duck down without at least three other people nearby, and right before I'd heard his voice, I could have swore I was alone. I hadn't heard their footsteps or detected anything else about their presence. And now that I was getting a good look at them, I couldn't sense any aura from them at all. By now, I could sense the faint aura of mortals when they were this close. But here, the lack of even a spark of aura hung in the air like an emptiness where substance should have been.

"There's danger coming, Wandering Arrow. Be careful."

In the next moment, it was as though they'd never been there. I had to literally make effort to fix the memory of their face and what they said just seconds ago in my mind to convince myself that it had really happened. One thing was for sure; I was no longer in any mood to explore. I hastily returned to where the caravan was gathered. Elder Du was surprised a little at my return. "Disciple Xu? Are you unwell?"

"A little, elder. I think I should be fine with rest, and perhaps a little sleep."

They nodded. "There is an inn not far from this gate station, where the merchants in charge of the caravan's goods are staying, a short distance that way. You may rest there for today."

I thought about having a little food there as well, but when I first went in, I spotted one of the Inner Court disciples, chatting up some woman from the look of it. I decided I'd spend as little time in the front room as possible. I caught the eye of the man behind the counter and walked close enough to them to say quietly for him to hear, "I need to rest."

He handed me a room key and told me the number. I couldn't focus on the Blossom Ray Thrust technique, so I cultivated for a little while. Ultimately, I was bothered enough that that didn't last, so I really did rest.

Hours later, there was a knock on the door. It was well into the night, so it couldn't have been a call to assemble, so I ignored it at first. When the knock repeated, I groaned and opened the door to Li Han with a genuinely worried expression on his face. "I heard you were feeling unwell, did something happen?"

I took a deep breath. Maybe it's for the best. I should probably tell somebody or I'm just going to keep losing my mind. "Promise me you won't breathe a word of this to anyone else, senior brother."

"Eh???"

I gestured for him to come in, and shut the door behind him. "I'm not physically ill or something, but listen." I told him about the strange boy, and his mysterious warning.

"That's definitely strange," said Li Han, looking thoughtful, "the heavens have many strange and mysterious things, of course, but not much I've ever heard of could explain this. Elder Du is very no-nonsense, too, I think you're right that he wouldn't take this seriously. Besides, if whatever danger comes is enough to threaten him, the rest of us won't stand much of a chance."

"Yeah, and strangely enough, the warning of danger isn't the part that bothers me the most."

"Hoh?"

"The child called me by a name that I'd left behind. A nickname, from the Academy. What I really can't explain is how they could have known about it. That's what really has me spooked."

"Even so, we should definitely have our guards up from here on."

"Agreed."

The caravan continued on as before for two more days. I'd studied the technique scroll for a few hours when there was seemingly a sudden change in the air. When I looked up, it was pretty clear why—Elder Du was hurrying to where the disciples were gathered, a thunderous look on his face. "Everyone take up positions to defend the caravan! Over two dozen auras are approaching fast from the wilderness! I sense seven Spirit Rank auras! Inner Court disciples, to me! We intercept them at once!"

I faced the direction the Elder indicated, watching for them to approach as the Spirit Rank Inner Court disciples and the elders sped to meet the strongest of the enemies. The cover of darkness didn't mean too much at our levels, but as they came into view, I saw that whoever they were, they were wearing dark cloaks that seemed to obscure them more than was normal. Despite this, I got off half a dozen shots before I had to stop to get ready for the melee clash, and at least a majority of them hit. Most of those they hit fell and didn't get back up, too—this was the first time I'd used Spirit Arrows at their full power, fired from the Lamentation Bow, since the strange incident where about a dozen hits had brought down a magical beast a rank above my own.

Unfortunately, I'd drawn attention to myself with those early kills, and now more of them decided to go after me over the others. I fended off attacks from multiple angles, four of them coming at me at once. They seemed to be a few stages higher than me, but the way they wielded swords or in one case a spear was downright crude. Even avoiding their power attack techniques was perfectly possible, though if I got careless and got hit, I'd surely be in real trouble.

Li Han was fighting a single assailant not far from me. As I continued to prevent my attackers from getting the upper hand, I realized I had hit that one with an arrow and they'd kept going. Probably they were a 9th Realm cultivator—they'd tried to get revenge on me for the hit, but Li Han had blocked them.

I fought frantically for a while more, and turned the tide against two of them when two other Outer Disciples, having finished off their own attackers, ambushed the other two. I took advantage of the surprise to land a Repelling Sword Strike on one of them, which threw them off so badly I was able to follow up and run them through. The other one tried to use a power attack technique on me from behind, and I barely managed to turn and get my sword in the way. The force of the blow shot pain through my arm and knocked me a few yards away. They advanced, keeping me on the defensive for now, but they overconfidently tried another power attack. I dodged and struck back, striking their arm to force them to drop their spear, then finished them off.