Chapter 3 The Man On White

Swoosh!

The waters splashed as Qi paved through the shallow path of the river toward the shore, his feet propelling him forward. His whole robe was drenched and trickles of water droplets were streaming down his matted hair which was as black as coal. Reaching the shore, he ran through the forest, his feet carrying him effortlessly. He had been taught many things at the Monastery and among which was strength. Yes, strength. With it he ran tirelessly. He didn't know the forests neither did he know where he was heading, but he didn't care. He had to escape from the Mines. Maybe he would encounter a good samaritan good enough to lead him back the Monastery or any other Monastery (except of course the Western Monastery). He wouldn't want to stumble into a group of monks would had deviated from the teachings of Buddha. That would be bad for him. Very bad.

He ran till he arrived at a crossroad. He was panting heavily and had to contemplate whether to go right or left. At the end, he had to follow the right, running as fast as his legs could carry him. He soon became tired and began throttling and then he dissolved into a walk. He would have lost all his energy if he wasn't a martial artist. He had mastered the chi breathing technique which helped him absorb life energies from living things around him through breathing. His eyes soon caught something nailed to a big tree on his left. It would have been impossible not to notice the big tree even though there was a forest of trees on both sides of the road. He slowed down his pace and then stopped, arching his brows in a traditional manner.

Nailed to the tree was a rectangular piece of would which had been eaten by moths. On the wood was inscribed:

Village of taverns. Tavern village.

Don't they mean the same thing? Qi thought inwardly as he dropped his brows.

"At least I'll get help," he comforted himself after realizing he had no money for drinks. Drinks! Buddha forbid it, what was I thinking? Qi lampooned. As a monk he was not supposed to drink.

By the time he got to the village, it was noon. True to the inscription, there were many taverns built in the village. The buildings were old with vines growing along the walls, their architectures having a semblance to the Chinese. Either there was no way to renovate these archaic structures, or the people didn't care. Who would care about the looks of a building when he could have drinks inside the building?

Babels of voices disrupted the atmosphere, dissolving into a thick bomb of noise. He could see horses and wagons all around and people walking into or out of the taverns.

"Which one now?" he asked himself. Shrugging, he approached a tavern. Two guards were stationed outside the tavern like statues, each wearing a mean face as if Qi offended them. As he got near them, they crossed their spears, forming an "X" shape.

"No monks here," one of them bellowed.

Qi gulped and shrank away, retreating to another tavern. This one had no grumpy guards and Qi was relieved. This was how a tavern should be.

Inside the tavern was as dark as night, surviving only from the light of the candles arranged on the walls. He swallowed hard, conscious that people were watching. Bandits or maybe slave traders. But then the noisy chatters and clinking of mugs did not cease.

He walked towards a table and slumped into a chair. He turned his head, looking around. Then he saw a group of people at a corner. About fifteen or so-all dressed in different colours of silk clothing. He saw a small golden box propped under one of the men's chair. They were bad men, Qi could tell. Bandits or maybe bounty hunters. Slave traders do not run around with boxes hidden safely. They always had one or two slaves with them. Qi looked around for any slave but found none.

Just then, a man in his early 20s walked in. Qi's eyes trailed towards him. White leather military outfit. Probably a fighter, he thought.

Two katanas with white handles were strapped to the man's back and a sword to his left side. Definitely a fighter. The man walked towards the group of fifteen men, his blue eyes staring straight. He stopped a metre from them and said with a calm face, "Hand over that box." He was referring to the box under the chair of one of the men.

"Why should we, lost soul?" the man on the box, questioned. Grabbing the box, he placed it on his laps. He was definitely the chief.

"A bunch of bandits attacked our trade route and stole a cargo," the man on white said. "I was sent by my Elite to retrieve it."

"We are bounty hunters not bandits, Hunter. And we bought this box for a hundred thousand gold coins," the man with the box retorted. "There's no hoe we are going to give it to you."

The man on white grinned, "I won't be saying that if I were you."

"Or what? Hunters from your kingdom are gonna hunt us? Crosslands have a weak army so their stupid hunters or even shadowcasters won't be able to do anything!"

Then the man signaled to the other bounty hunters who drew out their weapons and stood up. The man on white wasn't the least bit intimidated.

Qi wanted to leave but though otherwise. He had to wait till the end of the fight. If the man on white won, he would follow him. At least he would have some security. The man didn't look bad either. What if he didn't look bad and was actually bad? What if he was hiding his bad intentions behind his looks? Forget it, Qi chose to ignore his doubtful thoughts. The man had the guts to approach a gang of bounty hunters which makes him a dare-devil.

"Crosslands also have the best hunter in the six kingdoms," the man on white continued. "And it seems you don't know me."

"Kill that idiot! He's definitely not Regent Dao," the chief ordered.

Five men attacked, thrusting their weapons forward to slash at the man. Sidestepping, he dodged the first attacked as the blade swept past his face.

Whoosh!

The second weapon came slicing through the air towards him. The same thing happened-the man dodged.

Pa!

He leaped like a cat over the other three, landing behind them.

Whoosh!

In a blur, he punched three of them at their backs.

Pa!

The impact sent their hearts crashing out through through their chests, blood splashing into the air.

Before the men even collapsed, he moved towards the other two and punched their chests.

Crack!

Their ribs broke and protruded out, rupturing their skin. They all collapsed to the ground, engulfed by their own blood.

The other nine exchanged looks and then attacked the man. It was a blood bath. Body organs came flying here and there, littering the whole tavern with blood. The man killed them all with the same technique till it was only their chief left.

The chief grinned and then dropped the box, drawing out his sword. He wasn't prepared to lose his treasure not after wasting his money to obtain it. But now all his men were dead and the possibility of not surviving the fight dawned on him. But he wouldn't give up so easily. He would teach this man that he was an experienced bounty hunter.

Both of them locked themselves in a sharp gaze, walking in circles.

By now Qi was so sure the man on white would defeat the chief of the bounty hunters.

Whoosh!

It was the sound of blade cutting through the air. It happened so fast but the man on white was vigilant. He fell down on his kneels and slid underneath the blade towards the chief. Pushing himself into the air with his kneels, he spun and threw a kick at the chief with both feet.

Pa!

The former leaped backwards, his attire fluttering to the wind.

Thud!

He landed on a table next to Qi who gulped. Qi wasn't sure he would be able to fight the bounty hunter. Even if he was able to, he knew no offensive techniques in martial arts. Since he was 3, the Abbots had being teaching him defensive techniques.

Whoosh!

Qi's train of thoughts was disrupted. All he saw was the bounty hunter's head flying off his neck, the corpse collapsing to the floor with a thud.

Surprisingly, the people at the tavern were still there throughout the commotion and they made their presence significant by bursting into an uproar of claps.

The man picked the box from the ground and turned towards Qi, "You coming?"

"Huh?" Qi was stunned. Who would take an unknown boy from the street? Well, this was a tavern.

"Then I guess you are not coming, young monk," the man said and walked out of the tavern. Qi followed, throttling to keep up till they got to a white horse.

"Thought you won't come," the man said, not smiling. Very grumpy.

"I-I don't even know you," Qi protested.

The man opened a leather bag by the side of the horse and took out a wrapped bread from it. He gave it to Qi who accepted and bit into it hungrily, savouring the sweet taste. It was the sweetest food he'd eaten, considering the circumstance.

"What's your name?"

"Qigong. But I'm called Qi. The monks wouldn't want to pronounce it in full."

"You can call me Dao."

"Dao?"

"Yes. I'm a regent of an army of hunters in Crosslands."

"The East!"

Qi knew all the six kingdoms very well as well as their locations on the map. Actually he had gotten this knowledge illegally by stealing his way into the library at the Monastery. Crosslands was located in the East.

What's wrong with this lad? Why is he excited? Dao thought.

"I'm from the Southern Monastery and would love it if you take me to the Eastern Monastery."

"I'm headed to Hao city," Dao said, "and not some Monastery."

"What!"

Qi blurted out. This man was sure mean. For some moments he lost his voice. But then he found it.

"Hao?"

"That's the capital of Crosslands. We need recruits into the army. You are a genuine article.

"I'm not joining any army. Besides I'm only versed in defensive techniques."

"What do you take hunters for? An untrained army of idiots?" Dao hopped on the horse and took the reins. Qi followed suit, hopping behind Dao and wrapping his hands around Dao.

"We are headed to the capital," Dao reminded.

"Okay," Qi gulped. He had been taken away from his parents to the Monastery at the age of 2 (so the Abbots and other senior monks said). He had been taken there against his parents' will so what was the difference following this 'hunter' (he didn't know what that was) to wherever he was going.

Dao pulled the reins and the horse neighed, galloping away from the village and leaving a trail of dust behind. They rode for hours, not taking the road but the forest.

Night was fast approaching so they stopped and came down from the horse.

Qi's buttocks ached and he felt he would need to stand up to relieve it. Then his stomach growled nosily. He was mildly embarrassed when Dao tossed a loaf of rye bread at him. He caught it and devoured it like a hungry wolf he was.

Sigh...Dao brought out the box and inspected it. There were mystical markings on the surface of the box, signs Dao didn't need an interpreter to understand.

"A mystical item lies within the box," Dao said to the curious Qi.

"What item?" Qi asked. He had seen a number of artefacts at the Monastery. There were the Golden men which were statues. These statues had supernatural powers and can only be brought to life by the Master. He had witnessed one of these statues slaughter a whole army of monsters which had attacked the Monastery at night.

"The Elite would know."

"What's Elite? What's hunter?"

Qi couldn't bear it anymore. He had been complaining about not knowing what hunters were and now the word, 'Elite' had been added to the mystery. The terms he knew were related to Buddhism. Terms like Bodhisattva, Arhat and Buddha.

"An elite is the geo-political head of a kingdom just like the spiritual head of the Monastery is the Master."

"Well, the overall leader is called the Grand Master. Each Monastery has a Master but we all have a Grand Master!"

"Are we talking about the Monastery or Crosslands?"

"Crosslands."

"Hunters are lethal fighters in all six kingdoms. Your know their ranks when you join."

By then Dao had made a camp fire. Qi lay down, staring into the sky. Dao looked at him thoughtfully and sighed.

Just then, the atmosphere became unnaturally cold. Qi sat up and looked at Dao who drew out his katanas. They both felt a presence. Their sixth sense was warning them of danger.

Dao's eyes trailed through the forest. It was as if he was looking at something beyond the physical realm.

Puff!

A puff of red smoke appeared and cleared, revealing four people dressed in red ninja outfits. Shadowcasters.

"Deathlands shadowcasters," Dao told Qi. The latter swallowed hard and moved away to a safe distance. He didn't want to be killed by the shadowcasters even if the possibilities were low.

The shadowcasters drew out their katanas and ran towards Dao, their feet making no noise. It was after a while that Qi notice that they were literally running in air! They spun horizontally, stretching their katanas forward. They then moved away from each other, increasing the gap separating them. Qi was shocked how they could control their own direction while spinning.

Dao smiled and immediately a puff of smoke engulfed and cleared to reveal four Daos, the three being clones.

Whoosh!

Each of them swivelled their katanas, their wrists moving like oiled ball bearings, giving more speed to their hands. This movement amplified the speed at which the katanas were been spun, making them blurry fans to the eyes.

Shink!

The spinning shadowcasters' katanas clashed with Dao's and his clones, producing blue ripples.

Dao and his three clones let their chi surge out of their bodies into the katanas. Controlling it, they sent this chi into the shadowcasters.

Bam!

The chi caused internal ruptures in the shadowcasters, causing an implosion which caused their internal organs to burst into smithereens like balloons. The corpses collapsed like empty sacks,dead.

"How did you do that?" Qi was astonished. He watched as the clones vanished.

"Do what?" Dao sheathed his katanas, feigning ignorance to the question.

"How did you explode them like that just like the blood bath at the Tavern village?" Remembering how Dao had taken out those fifteen bounty hunters, Qi's stomach burned, out of fear ajd marvel. This hunter, Dao was definitely a very skilled fighter. Skilled? Powerful is the right word! Something told him that Dao could even take on the Abbots by himself, but that was a probability.

"That is a technique I studied long ago. It is called 'Fist of Flesh and Blood' also known as 'Dead Fist'. With this technique you can displace people's organs as well as rupture them. You can cause your opponent to explode from the inside. Bones and organs will shatter, turning into pulp, ribs will move out of their locations and so forth."

"How?"

Qi wanted to know that technique. With that, he would be a very powerful monk already.

"By transferring you chi into your opponent and using it to control his internal organs. You are a monk, it should be easier for you. I've seen your Abbots do that."

Even the Abbot did that...Qi sighed, remembering the Abbot who had escorted he and Lung. Sighing again, he answered Dao.

"If I knew any offensive technique."

"Then I will train you myself."

Qi arched his brows, "You?"

"I have an army of hunters answering to me."

"How many?"

"Five hundred thousand, excluding huntlets."

"..."

That's too much! Qi was astounded. If a single army was that much, how would the whole military be? What the population of the whole kingdom be? What was a huntlet?

Before he could ask another question, Dao said, "Huntlets are young hunters in training or recruits. You are a huntlet, the lowest rank."