Aimless Ascension

Gale acted quickly, sparing as much Qi as he could in case something developed unexpectedly. Although he hadn't even used his trump cards, which could've solved the problem within seconds, it would drain him a lot as well.

Gale liked to be ready for anything unexpected. He planned to have more than half of his reserve of Qi after being done with the bandits.

The bandits had no solution to deal with his mobility. Their arrows were either neutralised by Qi Shields, or Gale just dodged, releasing his third fate-locks in small releases.

True, he could shove aside anything in his path with Wind Qi, but that would cost a lot of Qi. Gale wouldn't be against it if he had full access to his Qi. But he couldn't do anything about it, could he? Thus, he had to put his gold constitution to work.

The sword helped remarkably, actually. It was not really anything fancy. Gale barely put together a bunch of scripts and good steel into making it. Yet none of the bandits could stop it.

It's not the sword, but the wielder, his master had told him. Gale scoffed inwardly. He could only move unfettered because this was a backwater town.

The second iron ranker fell to his blade, blood smearing in the air, leaving only three stray copper rankers.

Gale released Stormsong and flew towards one. He shoved his knee into the copper ranker's gut, shattering all his defence, but it didn't end there. Gale picked up the bloke in the air and tossed him at another bandit next to him.

"Ahhh," the last of the bandits screamed, dropping his bow, frozen on his spot.

"Run," Gale told him with a predatory smile, pulling an arrow and bow from the ground.

The bandit didn't wait for Gale to aim at him. He bolted with all his might into the darkness.

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Gale's eyes narrowed, and he aimed at the running man. On second thought, he didn't shoot the poor bandit, but turned the arrowhead in the other direction towards where Shi Jun and the other iron ranker fought. Gale shot.

The Qi-infused arrow sprang into motion and struck straight into the legs of the last iron-ranked bandit who was fighting Shi Jun. A flash of pain and disorientation took over the bandit boss as he couldn't stop or dodge the incoming hammer that was coming at his ribs.

The sledgehammer hit with a loud thud, shattering all the bone and Qi defence in the way, shoving the bandit in the air.

Shi Jun gasped and turned to look at Gale and all the bodies on the ground. His eyes seemed to hold many questions, but queasy to ask.

"I guess that took care of everything," Gale said.

Gale dropped the bow and put his palms into his pocket. Moving in front of the bandit boss, Gale stooped, examining how much damage the bandit had taken. The bandit would obviously die if left like this. An iron body sure was magical, but wasn't that miraculous. The bandit still had a few questions to answer, though it looked like Gale wouldn't get them anytime soon.

The bandit groaned, squirming on the ground. The arrow was still stuck to his leg, his mouth bloody, hyperventilating. It seemed the hammer didn't just shatter his ribcage. Gale put his palm on his chest to see if his situation was salvable or not.

Luckily, it seemed the master crafter had shown some mercy, or he was simply incapable of the feat, being a man of creation. An Iron ranker's heart was more resilient than any normal person, but it was still troublesome when it punctured.

Gale was about to proceed with the basic treatment, but something on the back caught his attention.

"Stop!" yelled someone from the back where Gale left Vale with the driver.

Gale turned to find the same boy that ran away had come back with all the little resolve he had. He was currently holding Vale and the driver hostage at swordpoint.

"Leave them alone," the boy screamed, threatening with the sword, "or I'll kill them."

Vale was looking at the boy with puppy eyes. Everyone else would presumably think the dog was scared, but the truth was completely different. Vale was disappointed with the boy.

"Boy," Gale played along, standing up, "have you ever killed anyone before?"

"They are the infamous Flamewolf gang," Shi Jun added as he came forward. His hammer was ready for a swing at any mistake. "Looting, robbing, plundering, murdering, arsoning honest people's house and business, or defiling mortal women, nothing is below them."

A frown crawled up in Gale's brows. Did he mistake to show them mercy? Anyone of such crimes deserves to die in the standard of this world's regulation.

And to his standard too, after everything he worked for.

Nobody would even lift an eye if he killed them all here, but that's not Gale. Not anymore.

Over the last six years, the number of people he had to kill were in thousands, a may of them for even less offence than these bandits.

Before deciding to start a new life, Gale had decided he would stay away from killing if he could. He knew he couldn't go back to the old days, where his only struggle had been keeping a good grade in school.

'Now I know how stupid that promise to myself was.'

Well, it's not like he had taken a soul oath. It was more like a newyear resolution--he had failed to keep them most of the time.

His whole life was shrouded in mistakes, yet he never failed to make new ones.

Unconsciously, Gale looked at Vale, who gave him sad puppy eyes, though they didn't lack determination.

It was so easy to lose the way, Gale thought.

"We have never committed such a heinous act," the boy said, his voice quivering.

And with that reply, Gale found out the weakness of the boy bandit. He was terribly naïve to be a bandit.

"What? You never robbed people? Murder them for their wealth?"

"We have never defiled mortals," the boy added furiously.

"I guess that pardons every other crime your gang committed," Gale snorted. His posture changed from the stout fighter to the easygoing one.

"The martial world is ruled by the strong," the boy said firmly. "Either you devour the others, or get devoured by them."

"By that rule, I should've killed you all," Gale added simply. He wasn't really trying to win the argument or catch his attention to save Vale and the driver. To be fair, Vale hardly needed to be saved. The Guardian Dog wasn't a killer, but he could act against threats promptly.

"Perhaps you should have, but you didn't," the boy said. "It is your weakness, your failure, to follow through with your actions that put you in this circumstance. Now let them go, or I'll kill them both. I'll only count to five."

Gale shook his head in disappointment and whistled for Vale to do his thing, though it came as a sneeze.

"Five," the boy counted. "Four . . . Thr--"

"Rawr!" A white figure lurched from behind the boy bandit and rammed against him, flinging him away before the boy could even yelp.

And with that everything was taken care of. Almost.

"What should we do about them?"

The Master Crafter, who was rigid the whole time, sighed in relief. "People tend to take mercy as a weakness," he mumbled idly, "a mortal failing. Let's take them to the enforcers, they have plenty of crimes in their names that needed addressing."

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Quite a number of typos have been fixed, though there were still some, I failed to notice. Feel free to point it out if you find one.