Nine Paths of Asura-Original Wuxia

Chapter 14- Coincidence

Outside Brackenrock City, the path was more or less straight with a few small bends that corrected themselves within a couple hundred meters. The glorious midday sun shined down upon Lineir's black hair like heaven's blessing, filling him with warmth and a renewed desire to continue on his way. As he walked, he would periodically close his eyes for a straight stretch of road, and meditate, attempting to probe the inner workings of his body.

Mei instructed him,

"When you have mastered meditation, you will be able to fully control your body. While these bone blades of your's are very strange, I'm almost one hundred percent certain that you can control them with practice. It seems to me, that when your heart gets excited, they come out, but I imagine they are merely a side effect of the undead heart inside you. They might also be related to some of the more volatile forbidden techniques I used to mold your body. Only with practice and a steady mind will you be able to fully overcome this.

Until you master control, you should avoid getting too close to people. If you become threatened, you may unconsciously attack them, whether you want to or not. Additionally, these blades of yours are very strong and contain a portion of the death Qi in your heart. Even if you catch yourself at the last moment and prevent a fatal blow, the resulting transfer of Qi will likely be poisonous. I doubt even cultivators would enjoy being nicked, let alone those who walk the path of mortals. Stay strong and quickly learn to master yourself. When you do, you will have gained a powerful weapon which you can rely on, rather than a liability!"

While Mei made this great future of control sound like an eventuality, the task was far from easy. Lineir tried to control his heart rate and look inside himself for the source of the death Qi, but the blades would often slide out randomly, and once when he tripped after having his eyes closed for too long, the resulting adrenaline rush made the blades come all the way out. He almost impaled himself on his own sickles. Regardless, Lineir was merciless on himself. After the killing of the guards, he had become fearful of what his body was capable of. Had he been in more control, perhaps there would not have been a need to kill the guards who were only following orders.

Mei insisted that he had not done anything wrong but Lineir didn't want to ever lose control like that again.

With great perserverance, after three lonely days and nights on the path, Lineir gradually lost his fear of being followed and gained a modicum of control over these strange new weapons of his. Now, at least, he was capable of sheathing and unleashing them at will. However, Mei, sensed Lineir's satisfaction and quickly took him down a notch. She yelled in his mind suddenly and unexpectedly. Shocked by the noise, Lineir lost control and the bone scythes came out once more from his elbows.

"What was that for!"

"Don't grow so satisfied with such a basic level of control! You're still a threat to anyone around you. It looks like these blades are automatically reacting to anything which is close to you. If you were near a person, even if they weren't the ones causing you danger, those blades would attack them! Only when you can stay calm under any and all pressure will you have mastered yourself and be ready to be near people again." Mei sniffed and Lineir had to rein his frustration in.

She was right.

The boy could only agree after seeing her demonstration, and resolved himself to meditate even more. As such, his progress was very slow. Even though he could walk faster than most uncultivated people now, he didn't hurry. He took his time. However, on the fourth night of walking, something unexpected happened. Travelers came on the dusty road, a small group of five people on a wagon. They hailed him from behind when their wagon got close.

"Greetings friend! Why are you walking alone? Don't you know that it is unsafe to travel without a group? There is safety in numbers and at least if you meet a group of bandits or even a magical beast, you may have a chance of surviving. Come, somebody as young as you shouldn't be traveling alone! Join us up here and enjoy a leisurely ride."