A Thousand Li:
The First War
A Cultivation Novel
Book 3 of A Thousand Li Series
By
Tao Wong
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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A Thousand Li: The First War
Copyright © 2020 Tao Wong. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2020. Sarah Anderson Cover Designer
Copyright © 2020 Felipe deBarros Cover Artist
ISBN: 9781989458402
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Author’s Note
About the Author
Books in A Thousand Li series
Glossary
What Happened Before
Two years ago, sixteen year old Long Wu Ying, a rice farmer in the state of Shen was conscripted into the army. Through a series of fortuitous encounters, Wu Ying gained the attention of an Elder of the Verdant Green Waters Sect and was admitted as an outer sect member, to begin his journey to immortality.
That year, he was forced to fight to keep his place in the sect where he defeated Yin Xue, the nobleman’s son of his village in the final rounds of the competition. In doing so, he became an inner sect member with the attendant benefits and training. As an inner sect member, Wu Ying has progressed in his studies, growing in strength as a Body Cultivator – the lowest stage of cultivation – and gaining a secondary occupation as a Spirit Herb Gatherer.
Wu Ying is still in the early stages of his immortal journey, but has found fast friends in the sect in Tou Hei – an ex-monk turned cultivator – and Li Yao – a female cultivator who defies her noble parents to be a martial specialist. But the drums of war beat and Wu Ying must find strength, not only in his friends but within, to survive the encroaching armies.
Chapter 1
Cold winter air, humid and barely lit by the rising sun, was expelled from Wu Ying’s mouth as he exhaled. Seated cross-legged in the central courtyard of his house in the Sect, he breathed in a slow, rhythmic manner. Chi—the energy of the world—entered his body and circulated through his still, muscular, lean form with each breath. As he drew in more chi to spiral through the twelve cleared meridians of his body, the chi pushed and strained against them, bringing with it pain and pressure. Again and again, it circulated, passing from meridians to just below his navel as it entered his lower dantian. There, the energy was packed tightly with the accumulation of the last five months’ chi, energy gathered after his return from his expedition and throughout the winter months. Each breath brought more chi, his dantian a tight ball of energy that ached with the accumulation, one that sought a release.
Holding the energy tightly, Wu Ying opened his eyes. Dark brown eyes stared outward, fixing upon his friend who sat before him. Liu Tou Hei, the ex-Buddhist monk who still wore the orange robes of his order and kept his head shaved, sat before Wu Ying, watching over him. Beside the monk, Fairy Yang was seated on a nearby table, reading a scroll and casting occasional glances at Wu Ying. Tou Hei stared at his friend placidly, offering only a single nod of reassurance.
Wu Ying shut his eyes once more, drew another deep breath, and set to it. Chi gushed from his dantian, following his meridians, rushing forward at an ever faster rate. Each breath brought another circulation among the greater and smaller meridian paths, scouring them clean of minor refuse. With all twelve regular chi meridians cleared, Wu Ying was ready. He had been ready for months to take the next step.
Another exhalation as Wu Ying focused and pushed the distractions aside. Energy thrummed through his body, beckoning him to move, to make use of it. But all this energy, this accumulation of chi, was for another reason. For the next stage. Wu Ying directed the chi at the first of the Energy Storage meridians—the Conception Meridian, ren mai[1]. Breaking through the blocked Conception Meridian and freeing it for use was the first step in the Energy Storage stage. At least for the Yellow Emperor cultivation style that he practiced. From there, the cultivator would have to open and cleanse the other seven meridians as dictated by his style.
Each breath cycled the chi, bringing the accumulated energy to bear. Each circulation wore away at the blockage, an internal blow against the vessels that made up his body. Each circulation was a punch in his chest that started from within then reversed as the energy rebounded. With each rebound, Wu Ying had to take control of the rebounding chi and redirect it to join the normal flow of chi in his meridians, even as he pushed against the blocked barrier. The amount of chi he was channeling was greater than the amount his meridians could handle, increasing the pain ever further.
His dantian was the dam that had held back the flow of chi, forced to build up to dangerous levels and threaten the flood plains of his body. Now, Wu Ying had released the flow of water—of chi—into the drainage ditches that criss-crossed the fields of his body. But the flow of water was so great that some of it gushed out, spilling into the fields where they were not meant to be, while the rest broke against the dirty jam at the drainage ditch that led to the next field. Each time the chi flowed back, it spilled and was lost, wasting Wu Ying’s months of careful husbanding. At the same time, the water damaged the fields.
Pain flowed through Wu Ying’s body, making his breath hitch and his body tense. It mattered not, for Wu Ying’s consciousness was concentrated within. At pushing and pushing at the blocked meridian. But no matter what he did, it would not give way. And in time, the gushing water subsided, the flow reduced. The impetus for his breakthrough receded. Even as his chi escaped, the pain faded, going from nerve-shattering, bone-breaking agony to the more subtle pressure of constant hurt.
A moment’s hesitation, then Wu Ying began the slow process of reacquiring what chi still flowed in his body. He dragged the overflowing energy back to his dantian, wrapped it behind the dam of his will, and reduced the flow within until it reached a manageable level. When he was done, only then did Wu Ying open his eyes.
“I failed,” Wu Ying admitted to his friend and Fairy Yang, though he knew they had sensed that already.
Tou Hei nodded placidly while Fairy Yang gave a simple curt nod before standing to leave. The most dangerous part of breaking through—or failing to break through—had passed. Though Wu Ying’s body hurt, smaller blood vessels broken, the damage—for a failed breakthrough—was minimal.