Jin Muyi:____________The Stranger and The Great Conspiracy___________
It was the greatest upheaval not just in living memory but also in Desert History.
The Blood Cannibals removed as a power of the Desert, their lands divided and portioned off to the Golden Devils and their ilk,
Old Cannibal being forced to flee the desert and into other areas to re-carve his kingdom of blood and corpses.
Forbidden lands which had only known the presence of Blood path cultivators turned to lands of treasure and fortune,
it's past threats ensuring the bounty within ripe for anyone to discover and prosper.
Amidst the chaos of the frontier, a Qi weapon soon made itself known to the World. The Six Shot Scabbard,
a artifact that allowed any Cultivator to convert and store their Qi in the form of Sword or Saber Qi and launch it any foe.
None knew it's creator, only that it could be purchased from any merchant and that all who could afford it would purchase it.
And as the Scabbards spread among the Cultivators of this Wildlands, so to did the violence and the bloodshed. For if any movement could launch a burst of Sword Qi, sometimes the only way to survive would be to shoot first at any movement...
"Help bring Law and Order to the area he says. I only need your knowledge of the area, no harm will come to you he says. No harm comes to me? MY FOOT!" Cursing out loud at the shootout he found himself in, Gu Jian let out a yelp of surprise as he felt burst after burst of Saber QI slash at the rock he was taking cover at. A quick peek only revealed his companion being in a similar situation, with the only difference being the
Stranger's actions of firing back with his own Scabbard.
And just like what he observed before, the Stranger's Scabbard launched bursts of Qi that seemed to pierce through all cover, turning the unfortunate souls behind it into a mangled mess. Gritting his teeth, Gu Jian gripped his own SixShots tightly and launched his own bursts of Sword Qi in a attempt to force the Xia Xian Raiders into cover and thus easy pickings for the
Stranger.
I knew i should have left the Stranger in prison! Curse my curiosity and my Greed!
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Gu Jian found himself puffing up with pride as he swaggered down the central street of the town and watched how everyone made way for him to pass. This was something that he would never have thought could happen to him even when he was living in a Qi Rich area like the Plains.
Who would have thought that i could reach such heights when i left the Plains to seek my fortune here? Sure i might not have struck it rich, but being a sheriff deputy of this here town isn't bad at all!
Nodding nonchalantly to the calls of "Deputy Sheriff", Gu Jian made his way to the tavern ready to execute the orders the Sheriff had given him. Pushing open the doors, Gu Jian ignored the reflexive twitches of hands darting to their waists sure in the knowledge that none would dare to fire a shot at him. The Deputy Sheriff Band on his right arm was not just a symbol of authority, it was also tied to the Town's wards and would launch swift and deadly retribution at any who dared to attack him.
"Alright, we got reports of a
Stranger riding into town and disturbing our fine tax paying merchants with his questions. Now i know most of you here scum got the good sense not to do that. So i'm gonna give it till the count of 3 to turnover the one that did that before things get ugly. One. Two. Thre-"
"I'm here Sir. i'll come quietly."
"Huh. This is the first time this actually worked and i didn't need to have a shootout. Well alright, come with me and i'll tell the Sheriff you came along quietly. You probably just spend a night or two in the cells."
*Two hours later
"So seeing as i've got the task to watch over you till you can be released, why don't you tell me why you were going around disturbing our nice merchants? Don't you know we're one of the few towns that are allowed to produced the Scabbards for sale? Why in tarnation would you ask them where the SixShots came from and if they have any ties to the Xie Xian Raiders?"
The Stranger gave a flat stare at Gu Jian from within his cell before giving a low sigh and getting up from his meditative pose while pulling out a long cigar that lit up with a small flare of Qi.
"I might as well tell you since you're going to be a target as well."
"A Targ-"
"Yes, a target. You know that the Golden Devils are the overlords of this region now? Well, while they might be busy with other affairs, they do keep an eye out on all their lands. And the sheer number of deaths and fights caused by the Scabbards have caught their attention. So, they sent ME to investigate where these Scabbards came from."
The sudden switch in behavior from the
Stranger caught Gu Jian by surprise. When he had first bought him in from the Tavern, the man sounded like a weak scholar who was driven by curiosity about the Scabbards, but now the man sounded like raspy steel. A Hard man to who death and destruction was nothing new. A impression not helped by the smoke puffing out from his cigar, the smell sending his head reeling with the fumes. That more then anything lend weight to his claim of being from the Golden Devils.
"I..I don't understand? What do you mean a target? And if you are dispatched by the Golden Devils, why not inform the Mayor and the Sheriff of your status? There's no way they can deny the Golden Devils the knowledge on how to make the Scabbards??"
"Don't be naive. There is no way such a well-designed Qi artifact can be made here. This region is heavy with blood Qi which contaminates anything produced here with it. Yet, the SixShots are pristine, the arrays within carved in a region where Qi is everywhere. In the desert, this arrays won't last more then a year or two before degrading into uselessness. They're being smuggled here from the Plains for sale, Why is the question that needs answering.
Who do you think i made myself so obvious? The masterminds behind this cannot let me leave with my questions, it'll draw scrutiny on them. They have to silence me and what better way then to stage it as a prison breakout gone wrong with the tragic death of the Deputy Sheriff Gu Jian as the finishing touch?"
The cold matter-of-fact manner the
Stranger described what would happen while gesturing with his lit cigar sent shivers down Gu Jian's spine. It all sounded incredibly, terribly likely and would explain why tonight of all nights he was the only one guarding the prison instead of the usual night watch of three.
"What...What should i do? If what you say is right, i'm dead no matter what. They'll silence me!"
"The way i see it, you got two choices. One, you flee now and change your name. Leave the frontier and go back to the plains and live a nice quiet life if the war in there doesn't consume you. Two, if you help me out, i'll put in a good word with the Golden Devils and you might get a greater position depending on how much you help me."
"Wait wait wait. Won't I be riding into danger if you're confronting this conspiracy head-on? That's just another way to seek death!"
"Oh relax. I don't need you in a fight. I just need your knowledge of the area to help bring Law and Order to the frontier, no harm will come to you."
The low expectations the
Stranger had for him sent a surge of relief through Gu Jian's body. That didn't sound so hard, if the
Stranger succeeded the least he would get would be his current position. If the Stranger failed, he could still ride out of Town and head towards the Plains. It was the best of both worlds really!
"I can do that! What do you need me to do?"
"Alright then. First thing would be to get me one of the spare SixShots lying around. Preferably one that is small enough to conceal. The plan would be to pretend to not to know anything and let them in. Shoot them the moment i do, they won't target you till they finish with me. Or don't. I can handle them on my own. Regardless of what you choose, It'll probably be best if you position yourself somewhere where there is cover. "
*Many Hours lat- Okay, it's just some time at Night.
The sound of footsteps woke Gu Jian from his doze. Throwing a quick, panicked glance at the
Stranger sleeping in his cell, Gu Jian mustered his nerve and all his acting skill and strode out to meet them.
" Halt! Who comes to the Jail? This is the middle of the night!"
"Ah! Deputy Sheriff Gu Jian! We come from the Mayor, there's some questions we need to ask our
Guest. Here are orders to let us pass." Withdrawing a scroll from a hidden pocket, the leader of the group of cloaked men handed it over with a light toss before brushing past him with his posse as Gu Jian scrambled to catch the scroll.
Dashing behind the group, Gu Jian gripped his personalized Scabbard tightly with his right hand while his left hand positioned itself just above the hilt of the shortsword he kept on his left. Yet even that simple act was enough to warn the group, for in a almost simultaneous motion the Cloaked Men turned towards him with hands lifting SixShots out of the encompassing cloak.
Panicking at the sudden mortal danger, Gu Jian hastily triggered his SixShot, sending Six bursts of sword Qi towards the hearts of the Cloaked Men, striking them before they could do the same to him. However, to his horror instead of the Sword Qi stabbing their hearts and killing them, it instead dissipated upon meeting their cloaks allowing them to continue drawing their SixShots in smooth unhurried fashion.
Ah, it makes sense that they have ways to protect themselves from the weapons they sell..I guess this is it for me..LIKE HELL!
Letting out a indescribable scream of rage and terror, Gu Jian launched himself at the Cloaked Men. His left hand drawing out his shortsword and moving in half-remembered moves as he cut and slash at them with wild abandon while his right hand hastily channeled Qi into his SixShots
His wild rush caught the group off-guard and their first bursts of Qi left nothing more but glancing slashes. Their attempts at firing their second bursts while negated by Gu Jian's use of their comrade as a human shield, his cloak dissipating their bursts just as well as they did his. This revelation that it was the cloak that protected them gave Gu Jian inspiration as he cut at their cloaks with his shortsword and fired his SixShot into the rents it created, the short range allowing the Sword Qi to not only pierce through their bodies but to also bounce within the confines of the cloak and cutting them to shreds.
Panting slightly from his berserk rush, Gu Jian looked up from the two Cloaked Men he managed to kill and found himself confronted with the sight of the remaining five pointing their SixShots at him well out of melee range. Knowing that he could take no more with him but determined to try, Gu Jian mustered his Qi for one more dash when a brief flare of Qi blazed before the Five drop dead with holes the size of a melon through their chests.
Looking up once again from the dead, Gu Jian found himself confronted by the sight of the Stranger puffing away at his cigar with one hand holding the SixShot via it's grip and the other placed flat on the Sixshot's Qi Reservoir. The man appeared to have not only let himself out but who had also somehow from his
strange stance fired bursts of Qi from his SixShot rapidly enough that none of the Cloaked Men could react while being strong enough to pierce through their defenses like a blade through paper.
"Thanks for that, i thought i was a gonner."
"No need. Like i said, i can take them. Though i am pleasantly surprised at what you did. It might have been from self-preservation, but you did take down two of them. Now, let's see who our mysterious men are..."
As the Stranger pulled down the hoods of the corpses with his Cigar leaving a reeking stench that lingered heavily in the air, Gu Jian found to his surprise that he did in fact recognize the dead men.
"These all are members of the Xia Xian Raiders! We have bounty posters of them! What are they doing here? The reports have the Xia Xian Raiders operating far away from the town!"
"The Xia Xian Raiders?"
"Yes, don't you know of them? They were one of the first cultivators to start using the SixShots. Rumours had it that they managed to knock off one of the first merchants who sold the weapons and they used em to raid towns across the Frontier! Hell, the way they used the SixShots to take down most cultivators before they could react was one of the reasons the weapons sold...so...well."
"Ah, it appears this is the connection we were looking for. Show how devastating the SixShots are in a fight and drive people to buy them for fear of it being used on them. Yes, this does give off the feel of a Jingshen Scheme, though they shouldn't have the expertise to craft something like the Scabbards in such wide numbers. The cost of such a enterprise is beyond what they would be willing to pay..."
Gu Jian found himself rooted with fear. The casual way the
Stranger was throwing out "Jingshen" and the knowledge of their modus operandi told him that this was without a doubt something that could affect the geopolitics of the desert and that he was in something way over his head.
"So erm since you figured out what's going on, i guess you no longer need me? I'll just go then! Good luck with stopping them sir!"
"Just a minute. I would admit that i did not expect things to scale up to something on this level, but do you honestly believe that the Jingshen will let you live? Your only hope now is to stick with me and hope i succeed. Now, is there any area in town that is forbidden to everyone but the Mayor?"
Slumping with realization at the horrible truth of the
Stranger's words, Gu Jian found himself replying to the
Stranger's question in a dead tone.
"Yes.. There's an area behind the Mayor's house that none of us are allowed to go near, the mayor claimed it for us as his own personal cultivation training spot..."
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Reaching the area revealed why the Xia Xian Raiders had choose to silence the Stranger on that very night, for Gu Jian was confronted by the sight of a large airship unloading crates of what was likely to be SixShots by both the Xia Xian Raiders and people who he recognized as working for the Merchants who claimed to be producing the SixShots.
Even from the distance he was watching, Gu Jian was able to recognize the Mayor with his Top hat talking to Twin-Burst Xiong, the leader of the Xia Xian Raiders. His grasp of shock at the horrible truth was apparently heard, for like a hound sniffing a hare, crates were dropped and SixShots were being fired at him, leading to his current situation of being trapped in a shootout against the Xia Xian Raiders.
Although it was perhaps more accurate to say that they were trapped in a shootout against the
Stranger. Even as Gu Jian watched, the
Stranger calmly fired another burst of Qi that blew a hole in yet another raider while puffing away at his cigar causing the rest to once again seek out deeper cover that could perhaps block his
Strange piercing bursts.
" ENOUGH OF THIS. MOVE ASIDE, I'll HANDLE THEM."
Gu Jian watched with horror as with that shout Twin-Burst Xiong joined the fray. Wielding blade and Scabbard, Twin-Burst sent burst after burst of Saber Qi at them, the asynchronizion of his bursts ensuring that they landed in a uninterrupted fashion. Looking once more at the
Stranger in the vain hopes that he would do something, Gu Jian found him puffing heavily sending smoke billowing to the skies while muttering something as he watched Twin-Burst Xiong with a eagle-like gaze.
"Hmm, I see, I see. Let's get this joke of a fight over with." So saying, the Stranger leapt out from his cover and started strolling towards Twin-Burst with his hands in their
strange stance while the smoke from his cigar billowed around him rendering him into a hazy looking figure. Once again to Gu Jian's surprise, the stance the
Stranger took somehow allowed him to fire his SixShot quick enough to intersect the multiple bursts of Saber Qi that would have hit him as he made his way across.
"Come now! Let us put a stop to this! I can sense traces of Saber Palace Arts in your Saber Qi. Why not stop pretending to be a mere bandit and fight like the Saber Palace Cultivator you are? The real question is if this is a plot by both Saber Palace and the Jingshen or if the Jingshen managed to buy the loyalty of a Saber Palace Cultivator? Which is it
Twin-Burst?"
The words the Stranger yelled out brought the fight to a standstill, in unison everyone looked away from the smoking hazy figure and towards Twin-Burst Xiong who eerily stopped giving off an aura of a uncouth barbarian, instead a strange refined one seem to radiate forth.
"Ah, Golden Devil... Why did you have to say that? Now i have to start from scratch after killing you..." The moment the last of these chilling words left his lips, a whirlwind of Saber Qi blazed forth slashing everyone within to shreds. A Fate that would have also befallen Gu Jian if it wasn't for a sudden rapid burst of Qi from the
Stranger's SixShot which blast the Saber Qi apart.
"Oh? you saved him. No matter, i'll kill him once you're dead. There's no way you can take me down Golden Devil. My cultivation is above yours and my blade is the partner to all the Scabbards, with it i can draw upon all the Qi stored within them and used them at will."
*cough. "Surrender and i'll"
*cough. "ensure your death is quick."
*cough. "Please don't"
*cough. "though,"
*cough. *cough. *cough. " i love to"
*cough. "pit my"
*cough. *cough. " Saber techniques"
*cough. "against the famed Golden"
*cough. *cough. *cough. *cough. "Armor of the De
-Hukp."
Gu Jian couldn't help but wince as he watch the Saber Palace Cultivator collapsed on his knees and gave up his attempts to finish his speech. In fact, judging from how his weapons lay abandoned on the ground while his hands gripped his own throat as they blaze a brilliant white with Qi, he was burning through all his Qi in an attempt to destroy whatever was choking him.
A minute then ten passed before the kneeling Saber Palace Cultivator dropped flat on his face before one last shudder. Turning his attention away from the most slow and gruesome death he had ever seen, Gu Jian found himself watching as the
Stranger walked towards the corpse while waving away at a Qilin in a distance.
"Excellent work Qing Yun. Looks like i didn't need your aid after all. That's another one of the Great Bandits down though i wasn't expecting to encounter one here! Head back to our Inn first, i see if we can salvage anything from this mess that can be used by the Clan to claim reparations!"
Gathering his nerve, Gu Jian got up from where he laid prone and walked to towards the
Stranger who's cigar was now strangely unlit as he mustered his courage to ask a very important question.
"Sir Golden Devil? Erm how did he die if it's not to much trouble to ask?"
"Oh him? He choked to death from the spores of the Cursed Mushrooms. They absorb Qi, so all he did was hasten the growth. But i believed that what you meant was how did i get the spores in him. Well, I'm not smoking a cigar and that wasn't smoke."
The
Stranger's answer filled Gu Jian with horror as memories of him smelling the distinct stench of the
Stranger's "cigar" sprang into his head. His horrified expression appeared to be all the
Stranger needed because he gave a snort before reassuring Gu JIan.
"Oh relax. What i used on you was a hallucinogenic to make you more willing to help me. Though i barely needed it with how weak willed you are. Now help me search the bodies. you can keep anything of value you find from the corpses. But do remember do turn over anything else to me. Are we clear?"
"YES SIR!"
"Good. Now for a reward. You did provide sufficient help to me... I'll give you two choices once more. One, is to take my token and enlist in a legion as a auxiliary and gradually earn the chance to become a Golden Devil. Two, take my token and claim ownership of a small town for your line. Regardless of which you choose, you can claim a sword forged by our smiths as a weapon and i'll include a note that it's Scabbard will be configured like a SixShots expect it'll be one where the partner blade will be the accompanying sword.
"SIR! Thank you very much for your generosity! Quick question if you don't mind? How did you configure that normal SixShots i gave to you to launch such piercing bursts? In fact, what was the
Strange Stance you took? Could i ask for the same to be done in the note?"
"Fool. Did you not hear what the Saber Palace Cultivator said? It was all a trap to provide him with a reservoir of Qi to used. I burned the arrays out the moment you handed it over to me. The Qi within is my understanding of Spear Qi, i used the SixShots to store a reservoir of Spear Qi that i comprehended, that's why it was so much stronger and able to pierce armor.
Spear Qi Pierces. Work on your Sword and your understanding of Sword Qi if you want to do the same.
That Stance of mine should be obvious to someone who has been using the SixShot as much as you have. I used one hand to aim while my other hand was flat on the Qi reservoir of the SixShot, it allowed me to prepare the next burst of Qi just as the first burst left the mouth of the Scabbard. Such forced replenishing shortens the life of the SixShot. This one will be useless by tomorrow.
Oh. I guess you do have a third option. The Arrays involved in the SixShots aren't hard to comprehend. You can trade my token for aid in understanding them from the Clan and start producing them for sale. SixShots aren't a bad backup weapon for Qi condensation cultivators and maybe the less martially inclined Foundation Establishment cultivators."
With the fall of the Xia Xian Raiders, the spread of the Six Shot Scabbard began to slow.
Rumors of stored Qi disappearing mid-fight spread rapidly, yet Cultivators will find a way.
It wasn't long before customized Six Shot Scabbards started to be sold by Artificers,
ones that like other artifacts only responded to the Qi signature that bound them.
That soon lead to the discovery that the bursts of Qi fired by the SixShots need not be specific,
in fact the bursts would be stronger if they were instead based on the user's Dao.
It meant that as long as one cultivates, the SixShots would work to deadly effect.
And when all Cultivators carried such a artifact? Well banditry found itself turning to a more cerebral trade,
where knowing who you're targeting mattered more then raw numbers, where firing a burst of Qi could lead to everyone dropping dead,
and the words "He Twitched at me" were the epitaph of more then one grave....
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(4197 Words)
Like i mentioned in the Discord, this is purely inspired from adding a Six Shooter to my Xianxia Western. And then it branched out into a conspiracy of smuggling on a grand-scale to destabilize the region. I am of course hoping that Bone Buzzard and Twin-Burst Xiong make it as 2 of the Great Bandits. I actually have the idea for one more, but need some time to see if it's possible to write it out.
Interesting trivial, Xia Xian is a translitration of Xia Jian which means Despicable, so they're really the Despicable Raiders. Gu Jian means Ancient Sword but yet he found with basically a bowie knife and a Six Shooter.
If anyone is interested in using Gu Jian for a GS, please go ahead!
@Humbaba for the threadmark, thanks! Please let me know if this still has that Western Feel! I tried my best to maintain the same atmosphere
EDIT: In the end, i decided to add in the cigar idea and basically poisoning the enemy to death via suffocation instead. That felt more Demonic compared to the previous "loud" ambush. Also made it so that the smoke was making Gu Jian more susceptible based on feedback from Humbaba.
Also got inspired to introduce my attempt at a Xianxia version of Fanning
