The Immortal Kobold

Xing Lei looked out the carriage window watching the landscape roll on by, his thoughts for a change were not focused on his cultivation but on old faces. It had only been a few years but the life of a kobold wasn't all that long apparently. While most died long before old age a couple of years was plenty of time for a hatchling to m.a.t.u.r.e and become a functioning member of the tribe, hell, usually it took a few weeks like it had been for him, but a kobold naturally born? Yeah the better part of a year most likely, and would Leaf Dancer have told the hatchling of their father?

"Hey, Lei. Copper for your thoughts?"

Xing Lei glanced over at Calissa who was relaxing on the opposite seat, her gaze on the kobold curious as he seemed to be miles away from the carriage in spirit. Xing Lei chuckled and shrugged softly, "Just remembering my homeland."

Calissa grin nearly took in her ears, "Oh our reptile lad has himself a gaggle of concubines back home? Abandoned your lovers to go adventuring did ya?"

Xing Lei frowned at the queries as they were not entirely off base, "I left behind family, yes. A friend needed my vital yang to heal a condition, when me and my mate left I could well expect that she was with offspring, though to consider her a concubine is a bit much, if anything I'd wager she or my off spring lead the tribe by now."

Calissa's grin was unwavering, "Oh why'd you give up the seat?"

Xing Lei shrugged looking out the window, "Didn't want it, my path is in the greater world, tied down to a savage tribe lead by a true dragon? No, either myself and Destorianaxe would eventually battle for supremacy or my ambition would be stifled to a wisp of a flame, doomed to age and die as any other of her brood."

Calissa chuckled settling back on the cushions and shook her head, "You're an odd fella aren't ya? Turning down lordship of an area and walking off to wander strange lands, what for? That body tempering you taught me? Sure makes me more powerful but in the end I'm still me."

Xing Lei laughed glancing over, as relaxed as Calissa was laid out he could see her inquisitive eyes trained on himself, "Body tempering is just the first step on a longer road, I seek the apex of existence, physical, spiritual and mental. Once the foundation is laid and secure then a fortress must be built on it. Once the fortress is done a crown of heaven is forged. Last, the heavens must be fought before one can become truly immortal."

The kobold rolled on, part of his words held truth but the vast majority was bullshit pulled out of his tail. What fortress? What crown? After body tempering was just spiritual cultivation, admittedly that took time but every stage expanded ones vitality, heck, just completing the first stage usually ensured you lived until two hundred. Even the weakest of cultivators would be happy with a life span crossing your own generation with your offspring's.

All while he expunged upon a fictitious path he watched the halfling woman who seemed to commit alot of his words to memory. It would seem this mission wasn't just to subjugate a reincarnate in the savage lands. Seems Calissa was tasked with excavating this new member for his methods. So Xing Lei was only too happy to feed her a line, if she proved a friend like Fleet Spear and Al.u.s.triea, he may well gift her additional body tempering formula but as for spirit cultivating... he was still unsure of even giving his mate that, let alone this new 'friend'.

Suddenly the carriage shuddered to a stop, Calissa c.o.c.ked her head curiously as Xing Lei had a look out a window, "Monstrous beast on the road." Glancing again the kobold c.o.c.ked his head, "Looks like we've found a pack of Gale Wolves."

"Gale Wolves?"

Xing Lei nodded, "Gale Wolves are a rank two beast, they have some control over elemental air so they move quicker and leap farther. Most iron weapons won't pierce their hide so best to go for the eyes or the maw."

Calissa blinked then looked out herself, as he had said, about a dozen mustardy green wolves were fanning out in front of the carriage, the driver was doing all he could to keep the horses from panicking but it was a losing battle, each wolf was about three times the size of a normal timber wolf and with a dozen of the things ready to pounce, the poor horses were lucky to have not already died of fright.

Hearing the other door being opened her head snapped around to see Xing Lei dismounting from the carriage with a casual gait, he'd pulled a mithril tipped spear from somewhere and advanced on the pack like he was dealing with puppies rather than blood thirsty hungry monstrous animals. Cursing under her breath, she grabbed her backpack from under the seat digging around for a pair of finely wrought katars, with fist blades ready she kicked open the opposite door and rushed out to help the c.o.c.ky kobold.

What she saw stopped her short. As fast as the wolves were she could barely catch sight of the off color blurs that moved around a stationary Xing Lei, two of the twelve were already bleeding out at his feet as he moved with a speed that made the wolves look like slow motion. One second he was at one end of the pack, smacking a wolf across the face and shattering its lower jaw, the next he was back the other end driving the softly glowing tip of his spear through a canine eyeball. Before the wolf even knew it had died, the spear heaved its body into the swiftly moving pack to break their lopping strides.

Calissa watched, dumbfounded, as the three foot reptile waded into the pact with a spinning weapon, moving completely at ease as if these creatures weren't the monsters that had haunted people's lives for the last few years. Xing Lei simply took the things in stride, with his conditioning these rank two beasts were a threat to only his companion or the coach. Between his flesh and bones, added to his skills and knowledge of similar wolves from his old life these beasts were being toyed with to death with a casual dance, he wasn't even sweating under the vicious encirclement.

The spear in his hand twisted and turned, the flexible shaft vibrating with every calculated strike as he tore not only through weak points but even managed to tear into the tough hide of one with the sharp tip. To him, mithril was likely some mid grade ore that he had lucked into finding. Even as he studied his new weapon he moved with ethereal grace and speed, the wolves were driven into a panic that made them rage which only gave Xing Lei an easier time to slay them in ones and twos.

Before too long and under the confused look of Calissa, Xing Lei alone stood amongst the bodies of twelve large wolves. One had gotten lucky to scr.a.p.e a vicious series of marks across his back, tearing open his robe and painting the lower back in his fresh blood. Yet it was like he didn't even feel it, a soft glow escaped a hand as it pressed to his c.h.e.s.t, the bloody lines on his back closing slowly. Healed, Xing Lei pulled a sharp blade from somewhere and started butchering the beasts, hide, and, claw and blood all were taken and vanished from his side under the disbelieving eyes of Calissa.

It had to be understood that the Heavenly Rose had dispatched twenty disciples to deal with five water attribute wolves that appeared to be the same power as these 'Gale Wolves', yet half that group didn't make it back, and the half that did was traumatized by how cunning and deadly these new monsters were. It did happen on occasion but half of those that did make it back had immediately signed up for service work of an indefinite time frame. Usually during every review there'd be one or two that realized they weren't up for being field agents so offered to work as service agents from that time forward.

Six of the surviving ten were terrified of the wilds forever after, even the trip to the establishment they had been assigned had to be in a closed curtain coach, so terrified of what lurked in the wilds. This wasn't the first either, over the last couple of years death tolls had risen, villages ravaged by monsters became more and more common. The stronger ones even went and built walls if they were that far out but still the call for aid to deal with rampaging monsters had grown. Yet here, today, a lone kobold stood amongst twelve beasts and murdered them to a one.

Coughing, tucking away her weapons she walked over to Xing Lei who was still harvesting and tossing the carcasses from the road, "Hey what are you up to? They're not edible you know."

Xing Lei chuckled as an empty barrel appeared beside him, hoisting the wolf carcass he made a cut in the jugular area and hoisted the body over the open top letting the steaming beast blood cascade into the container. "Not for eating, training. We still have a few weeks of travel right? No sense sitting on my tail waiting. I'll train while we travel."

"Don't you ever take a break? You said you had a mate, go get her, get laid, make baby kobolds or something."

Xing Lei laughed and shook his head, tossing the drained carcass away he move to the next, "Maybe when I start the second stage training I will, until then I'm just a slightly strong kobold, if my research was right I only have a handful of years before this body becomes infirm."

Calissa nodded with a frown, she couldn't refute that point, there was good reason races like kobolds and goblins bred like rats, they had minuscule life times. The average kobold only lived around ten to maybe fifteen years, a fraction of how long humans or halfling had, no wonder he trained like savage.

Xing Lei didn't pay her much mind, knowing he wasted an entire year cultivating his mystical aptitude had thoroughly enraged him. For a cultivator to waste what equates to on average ten years for so minuscule a gain was disgusting. He HAD to make up that lost time, so he pushed himself harder, while he maintained his schedule for the sect, now he could go full bore and train hard. Two more body ranks and he'd be ready to start cultivating his old Spirit Art. With that would bring extended life and power to train his true profession and his battle techniques.

Finishing his harvest he walked back towards the carriage, glancing briefly at Calissa, then up at the coach man, "Shall we continue?" Climbing back inside the kobold acted as if nothing big had happened yet the halfling eyed him warily, recovering his wits the driver soon had the carriage under way. Unlike before Xing Lei's mood had vastly improved, having been hauled on this mission had been tedious enough but if the Gale Wolves were any indication his wish was starting to pay off. Rank two beast blood would expedite the training from here on and in future there would be proper materials for some of his more advanced pills.

Opening a fresh barrel and mixing a rank Eight temperment solution under Calissa's gaze the kobold hopped in hissing in pain as the fresh blood began its work, however even as the activated life blood of the beast felt like an almost scalding hot bath the kobold was smiling, those twelve wolves would get him to rank eight he was sure, so in truth he was one good fight away from bodily perfection. Why would he not be grinning?