Path Of The Dragon (A Dark Fantasy Cultivation Wuxia Xianxia Progression Series)

Chapter 107 Bloodfeather Arena

When Jie bathed, she noticed her pale skin still had an almost glowing silvery sheen to it from the treasure golem she'd consumed. Even now, she felt her body refining and processing some of the metal and growing stronger and better at cycling her qi.

After cleaning up, Jie donned a fresh set of robes, a mixture of black and red, and thought about how to open her middle dantian and what was blocking her while her friends took the time to bathe after having cultivated fully. But, once again, Jie found herself unable to make progress on the conflict within her and her thoughts turned to the coming fight as she bit down on her thumb.

"It feels so good to be clean," Pan Tian said.

Xue stretched languidly, his fur now pristine and white once again.

"This one thinks Xue agrees with you," Ithilix said, "this one was upset at first about the delay, but it's indeed nice to be clean. This one wonders how long it will last."

"Ugh that's true," Pan Tian as she brushed her hair, "No matter which way this goes, we're going to get blood all over us. Probably dirt and feathers too. Yuck."

Jie stroked her lips with a knuckle. "Maybe we should go over our strategies one more time," she said.

"Again? You've had us go over them 'one more time' three times now," Pan Tian said.

"I just want us to be prepared," Jie said.

"We are prepared," Pan Tian said, "relax, Jie. We'll be fine. What's going on with you? You're not normally so worried about a fight."

"I just don't want you guys to get hurt," Jie said.

"We'll be fine," Pan Tian assured her, "we've dealt with worse. You saved us from that Elementalist lake monster. We can handle this. You can handle this."

Jie nodded, trying to make herself believe Pan Tian. They'd gone over everything and Pan Tian was right that there was likely little to be gained by doing so again...

Yet, Jie couldn't help worrying that they'd encounter something in the coming battle that she'd fail to protect her friends from. And the fight was to the death... yet when she thought of killing, her guts twisted up into a knot that made her feel sick. What if she hesitated at a crucial moment? What if her friends died because she couldn't do what needed to be done?

"This one thinks it's best not to perspire over the small things in life," Ithilix said.

The strange turn of phrase jolted Jie out of her spiraling thoughts for a moment.

"What? Do you mean don't sweat the small stuff?" Jie asked.

Ithilix nodded.

I don't know that I'd call a fight to the death 'small things not worth sweating over', Jie thought bitterly. Though she kept her mouth shut as she didn't want to bring down their morale right before a fight.

"Exactly," said Pan Tian, "I think, right now, you just need to breathe, Jie. You'll do fine. We have faith in you and in each other. We're as prepared as we can be. Now, it's better to relax so when the time comes, we're as ready as possible. We'll go in and we'll face whatever comes together. Everything will be okay."

Jie gave her friends the best fake smile she could muster. "Of course, you're right. I just... I don't like waiting," she said with as easy a tone of voice as she could manage while her worries and the conflicting mixture of fear for her friends, guilt, and self-loathing roiled inside her.

***

There was a knock at the door and their escort opened it and peered inside.

"It's time," said the bird woman.