If the town on the other side of the mountain was poor and downtrodden, I wouldn’t even know how to describe this town. Instead of houses and buildings that just needed some random upkeep and a fresh coat of paint some of these places needed entirely new walls.

  As we rode through the town, I looked around wide eyed. Aside from everything needing heavy repairs, I noticed there were a lot more people around. The people didn’t seem to do anything, though. They all just stood around the dirt roads of the town or sat against buildings, and I could feel everyone staring at me.

  I gave a gulp before I tried to shout in a whisper up to Betsy. “Hey uh, let’s keep our eyes open around here, huh?”

  Betsy looked from side to side and then nodded her enormous head in reply with a soft “Mrr.”

  I tried to find any sign of Amber and Norimoro or their wagon when I heard a female shouting from one of the last buildings in the row before we exited the town.

  “Get him David!”

  I frowned and slapped the reins against Betsy. “Come on girl, hurry.”

  Before I even finished my command, Betsy was sliding to a stop in front of what looked like a hotel. I reached back and grabbed the mallet I had sitting behind just on the bench. I figured that’d be a good spot for it, since it was the closest thing to a weapon I had. Who knew what I’d meet along the way up the mountain?

  I ran up the stairs and crashed through the closed door to find Amber and Norimoro in front of a group of rather rough looking individuals. The building looked like an average inn and tavern with some tables and chairs laid about, and then a stairwell in the back that led up to the rooms. To the inn’s credit, it looked much better on the inside than it did on the outside.

  The other thing I saw was instead of one snake that I knew as David Hisselhoff, there were about a dozen. The snakes sat in front of Amber and the Sumo representative, acting as their defense.

  “We aren’t scared of your dumb snake and we don’t care what association you’re from,” the man in the group's front of six said. He spat on the ground in between a couple of the snakes and cursed. “That fucking empire has been bleeding us dry. It’s time for us to take some of it back.”

  “Well, I don’t think you’re going to take it back from them,” I said.

  Apparently, in the commotion, no one had seemed to notice me enter and the six ruffians turned and looked at me standing in the doorway holding my mallet.

  “Oh, another of you pale-faced fucks from wherever you’re from. You can’t be the one bringing us weapons, right? If you’re with these guys,” he said and poked a thumb back at Amber and Norimoro.

  I blinked. White folks bringing them weapons? “Uh, no, but either way, it’s best you guys go.” Then I let go of my aura. One of the things Hisai had taught me was to keep it close to me. To keep my spirit contained so people and animals wouldn’t expect me as a threat or as prey. I let it go and while I didn’t seem to have an element, there was a spark in the aura that flooded the room.

  The lead man spat, seemingly unaffected by my actions except for Amber. His friends and even Norimoro seemed to struggle to stand.

  “You think that shit scares me?” He grinned a large grin and exposed his mostly toothless grin. The teeth of the man were yellow. He had short black hair and dark eyes and wore a red bandana around his sweaty, greasy hair. The bandana was sweat stained, and I imagined the rotten cheese smell that it had to smell like.

  “Um…” I wasn’t really sure how to respond to that, so I went with the first thing that came to my mind. “...yes?”

  He glared at me and I felt something press against my aura. My mouth opened, and I realized the guy was also a cultivator. He was pushing against me, but it wasn’t anywhere near as strong. Norimoro gave a loud grunt of pain and finally fell to his knees.

  “God dammit, let the man go. You wanna do this? We’ll do this, no point in getting non cultivators involved,” I said and gripped my mallet ready to strike.

  I tried to work the aura of the room to release the pressure on the older man, but I wasn’t very good at the aura control. Especially with how powerful I apparently was. The bandit was trying to push against me and honestly, it felt like a toddler trying to push me over.

  “You think I give a shit about him? I don’t,” then he sneered and Norimoro gave another grunt of pain. His eyes were closed, and he was bent down with his palms on the dirt floor that was this place’s bottom floor.

  Without thinking, I reached out and grabbed the man by his robes. “I said we’re moving,” I grunted and went to pull him outside the front door I was standing in.

  I wasn’t sure what happened, but it was something. One moment we were standing in the inn’s main room, ready to fight with a room full of people. The six bandits, Norimoro, Amber, and the innkeeper and his family, cower behind the bar counter. The next thing I felt was something more than an aura pulse through the body and leak out into the world. I don’t know what it was or how it happened, but the next thing I knew, we were standing in the street.

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  This lead bandit and I were standing in the middle of the road next to my wagon with my hand still grabbing the collar of the robe. I didn’t really realize we were outside until I heard Betsy give an angry huff so strong it kicked up the dirt from the ground and she lowered her head. I heard the clatter of the bandit’s dagger drop and his face went from anger to pure fear. His complexion went pale and his eyes were large and round.

  “Alright man, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’ll leave you alone. I promise,” he said and, in my surprise from what happened, he fought off my grip and was bowing in front of me with his forehead in the dirt.

  I blinked and looked down at him. The bandit was actually kowtowing for me. My grip loosened on the mallet and it fell to the dirt as I watched him raise and press his forehead to the dirt three times before he settled there.

  “My name is Tao Jing, and I’m the head of the ‘Hongli…” he paused for a moment and thought about what he was saying. “The Red Scarf Gang,” he said a minute later.

  I blinked and struggled to comprehend what really happened as I thought of something to say. “Man, just get out of here. Leave us alone.”

  He lifted his head and then pressed his forehead to the dirt one more time. “So it shall be done,” he said before he stood up and yelled at his group.

  The five other people looked confused, but they left the inn and stood on the porch in front of the door. Tao Jing motioned quickly and ran off, with the rest of them following close behind him. I watched them run off and stared off down the street.

  One second we were inside, the next we were just out on the street. We didn’t walk out. We just… moved. I looked over at Betsy, and she just gave me a bit of a knowing grin before she nodded her head. I narrowed my eyes on her.

  “What was that?” Amber’s voice made me look up and towards the door.

  “Be good girl. I’m going to go see what the next part of our plan is,” I said to Betsy and patted her on her head between her horns before I walked up and onto the porch.

  “I wish I knew,” I told Amber and looked at her.

  We walked inside and she told me what it looked like from her perspective.

  “I could feel a pulse of power from you and then you guys were gone,” she said.

  Norimoro stood there and eyed me with his arms crossed against his chest. “You’re more powerful than I thought, I guess.”

  I looked at him and shrugged. “Do you know-”

  But he cut off my question with a shake of his head. “I’m not a cultivator and don’t really care to learn about it.”

  I smirked and nodded. I remembered learning that the sumotori and cultivators didn’t really get along. Besides that, whatever happened at that last tournament must have still been fresh in the minds.

  “Either way, thank you. That much pressure was..” Norimoro trailed off and gave a little shiver.

  I looked down at David, who seemed to have lost his sassiness towards me, and just nodded his head.

  “Yes, thank you,” a man’s voice came from behind the bar. “Maybe those men will leave us alone for a bit. They’re always coming in here demanding we give them money for protection.”

  I snorted and shook my head, listening to the man’s story. He was a younger man with an even younger wife that stood next to him. On his hip was a child that was maybe around five. The wife didn’t look up from the ground and had her hair covering her face.

  “You’ll be staying, yes?” The innkeeper asked. He sounded hopeful, as if having me in the inn would cement his protection from the gang for a little longer.

  “I..” I trailed off and looked at Norimoro, who shook his head.

  “No, we cannot. We must get on the road. We’re almost to Lijiang, the capital. Maybe a day’s ride at our current pace,” he said and then grimaced.

  “If we can stop having more broken wheels,” he sneered at me.

  I frowned and rolled my eyes and looked over at the family. They seemed to sag even more, and I sighed and looked back at him.

  He relented and threw up his hands. “Oh fine, it’s almost dinnertime anyway and we’re ahead of schedule. We’ll stay here.”

  Just like that, the family moved towards us and were eager to lay out the red carpet for us. The wife and child pulled out chairs and scooted us over to them to sit.

  “Wait, I have Betsy…” I tried to object. I needed to make sure she was taken care of as I was being pushed into a seat.

  “Who is this Betsy?” The wife asked me and put her hand on the back of the chair and looked at me, finally letting me take her in.

  She seemed younger than I originally thought and then looked at the innkeeper. Maybe this was his daughter? I blinked and then looked between the two. No, no, he wasn’t that old. I pushed it all from my mind and shook it off. I didn’t know if this was his wife. It could have been his niece for all I knew, and I wasn’t about to ask.

  “My ox, she’s outside with my wagon,” I explained and pointed towards the door.

  “Ah, do not worry,” she said and held up a finger.

  The man had just left a backroom carrying a platter that smelled delicious. “Hai, go take care of our guests’ wagon and ox. Put them out back with the other man’s horses and cart.”

  He set the platter down in front of us and my eyes went wide and I had to stop myself from drooling. It was a whole roast duck with skin that.. Oh screw it. I drooled and even moaned softly. I heard the crunch as the man pierced the crispy skin and watched the fat ooze from the breast as he was getting ready to carve it.

  “Uh, just show her where to go. She’s a spirit beast,” I explained to the boy half heartedly as he ran from the room. I had no idea if he really even heard me. He’d figure it out, I was sure.

  Amber watched me and held back a laugh. You could see the amusement in her eyes from my reaction, though. Norimoro looked disgusted with me as he grabbed the napkin the woman handed him. She was putting napkins at all our places and laid out chopsticks and the large flat spoons you’d get at Chinese restaurants. I ignored all of it and watched him carve as his whatever she was went to go get the sides.

  “You guys came just as we were getting ready to eat. Happy to have company,” the man explained.

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