Shadow Cover

The retrieval team did not attack immediately.

The first ring of the bronze bell merely drove away ordinary beasts. Only the second sent the Throat-Locking Wind Wolf into the Blue Rock Panther's territory. Two short chains were wrapped around the iron collar beneath the Wind Wolf's neck, each held by a guard. For every ten steps it took, the guards drove a blue spike into the ground, fixing the route of retreat into a narrow line.

Helian Yuan lay on the southern rocky ridge, studying the people first, then the panther.

The Blue Rock Panther hid above the rock face and was not driven out by the Wind Wolf. It clearly remembered the iron whistle and the powder, and changed positions as soon as it caught the scent of the Wind Wolf's collar. The retrieval team was in no hurry either. Four men carried a folded chain net out to either side, gradually closing off the stone ledges where the panther could land.

The gray-robed man stood at the rear, having already exchanged his short whistle for another.

Losing one tool had not brought his operation to a halt.

Helian Yuan did not intervene that night. He needed to watch the first round of netting through and identify the true anchor points. As the chain net spread out, three heavy chains touched down on each side. The outer two kept it taut, while the middle one was connected to a powder canister. If the magical beast struck the net, the middle chain would break open the canister and scatter numbing powder directly into its face.

When the Blue Rock Panther first lunged out, it did not hit the net. It pounced straight at the Wind Wolf from above, forcing the two guards holding its chains to retreat together. The gray-robed man blew three short blasts and one long one. The old collar on the panther's neck rattled, and its lunge veered half a foot off course. The chain net closed in, its edge brushing the panther's tail.

The panther immediately retreated west.

That was the "opening" the retrieval team had left for it. Two heavy chains lay hidden in the grass, ready to rise behind it as soon as it took another step back.

Helian Yuan saw it clearly.

What truly determined the outcome was not the net, but the two ground spikes beneath the western opening. As long as the spikes held, the panther would ultimately be forced toward the same mouth of the sack, no matter which side of the net it struck.

The retrieval team withdrew after testing it. The Blue Rock Panther had gained a chain wound across its shoulder and back, but remained uncaptured. The gray-robed man had bloody meat left on the spot, as if telling it the next round would start here as well.

Helian Yuan waited until the others had withdrawn far away before approaching the western side.

The ground spikes were as thick as a wrist and driven diagonally into a crack in the rock. Ordinary strength could not pull them out. He tried prying one with his short spear, and the shaft immediately gave a faint creak under the strain. If he used Shadow Cover, he might be able to loosen one in a single blow, but after pulling it out, his right arm would likely lose its strength for a time.

And when the next round of netting began, he would still have people to face.

Helian Yuan did not take the risk. He first poured water along the crack, then stuffed it with dry wooden wedges that would swell as they absorbed it. The temperature dropped during the night, and water seeped into the fissures as the wedges slowly forced the layers of rock apart. The spikes were still firm, but no longer locked fast to the entire rock surface.

When he was done, he withdrew farther away to train his right arm.

Shadow Cover could not rely on anger, nor could he let Tiger Shadow attach itself whenever danger arose. He broke the movement into three steps: set the shoulder first, drive the elbow forward next, and lock the wrist last.

He laid six small stones on the ground and kicked one aside with the tip of his foot after each breath, no longer relying on his vague sense of time during combat. When the first stone moved, his skin tightened. By the second, his shoulder and elbow moved in sync. At the third, his old injury began to heat up. After the fourth, his strength barely increased, but the burden on his right arm continued to mount.

The complete Tiger Shadow could be maintained for six breaths, but that did not mean Shadow Cover should be maintained for six breaths. The safe window in which he could actually complete a movement was only the first two or three brief breaths.

Tiger Shadow covered only that line of force, spreading neither to his chest nor his back, and he did not let the complete tiger form rise. Tiger Shadow covered only that line of force, spreading neither to his chest nor his back, and he did not let the complete tiger form rise.

On the first attempt, the black shadow scattered at his elbow.

On the second, the shadow passed over his shoulder too quickly, and a sharp pain immediately shot through his right arm.

On the third, he did not thrust his spear. He merely pushed a stone slab half a person's height slowly out of place. The slab had moved only a finger's breadth when Tiger Shadow began to fade.

Helian Yuan stopped at once.

Partial Shadow Attachment did not grant him an extra six breaths. It shared the same period of control as the complete Tiger Shadow, and the more concentrated its coverage, the more directly his body bore the burden. If he placed all six breaths on his right arm, he feared he would no longer be able to grip a weapon after the second.

What he needed was not more time.

It was accuracy down to half a breath.

For the next two days, Helian Yuan stopped following the gray-robed man and repeated the same movement from different angles. He lifted stones with his spear, struck wood with the back of his blade, and pushed over dead stumps barehanded. Each time, he let Tiger Shadow appear for only an instant, withdrawing it as soon as the movement was complete.

There was still a price. A dark bruise appeared over the old injury on his right arm, and at night he was slow to clench his fist. But by the third day, he could make Tiger Shadow cling to his right arm without letting the complete tiger form rise behind him.

That meant that even if an opponent saw his unusual strength, they might not be able to see where Tiger Shadow came from.

On the afternoon of the third day, the retrieval team entered the area again.

This time, they had two more crossbowmen, and barbs had been wrapped around the edge of the chain net. The Throat-Locking Wind Wolf was visibly exhausted, white foam at its mouth, but it still followed the fixed route under the iron whistle's command.

Without waiting for the Blue Rock Panther to appear, Helian Yuan first threw an old piece of cloth bearing the scent of panther blood from the south. The Wind Wolf caught the scent and veered south. The guards holding its chains immediately corrected it, causing the western opening to rise half a foot earlier than planned.

The Blue Rock Panther pounced down from the north.

The chain net closed, the iron whistle sounded, and the panther's head turned in midair. It was still forced west, but because the opening had risen early, its forepaw landed on a barb at the edge of the net. Blood sprayed. Instead of retreating, it slammed madly toward the front.

For the first time, the retrieval team's judgment proved wrong.

The gray-robed man shouted, "Press down the middle chain!"

The powder canister was about to break open.

Helian Yuan charged down from the rocky ridge, aiming not for the people or the panther, but for the first ground spike on the western side. He gripped the short spear with both hands and drove its tip into the crack the wooden wedge had forced open.

Shoulder set.

Elbow forward.

Wrist locked.

Tiger Shadow flickered just once along the outside of his right arm.

"Up!"

The ground spike did not come all the way out, but it levered upward along with a loose fragment of rock. The heavy chain securing the opening abruptly lost its support on one side, and the entire net tilted inward. When the canister broke, the numbing powder did not cover the Blue Rock Panther's face. Instead, the flipping net slapped it toward two guards.

The people immediately broke into a chorus of coughing.

Helian Yuan's right arm lost its strength at that same moment. The short spear slipped from his hand. He reached for it with his left and barely managed to catch the butt.

The Blue Rock Panther tore free of the barbs and pounced at the nearest person.

The gray-robed man saw Helian Yuan beside the ground spike, and he also saw the black shadow that had just dispersed from the edge of his right arm.

"It's you."

Those words did not mean he recognized a name.

He had finally combined the people behind the blank token, the iron whistle, the fake Seven, and the torn net into a single target.

Dragging the spear in his left hand, Helian Yuan turned and charged toward the narrow gully he had chosen in advance. His right arm hung at his side, pain jolting through it from his shoulder with every step. He had completed Partial Shadow Attachment, but had also exposed his most obvious weakness to the gray-robed man.

Behind him, the Throat-Locking Wind Wolf did not give chase.

The iron collar beneath its neck had become tangled in the tilted net, and the Blue Rock Panther was dragging it toward the rock face.

The retrieval team's first net had caught entirely the wrong target.

At the end of the narrow gully, Helian Yuan used his left hand to tie the short spear back onto his back. His right hand was still numb. He left a semicircular mark on the rock face that only he could recognize, recording how long Shadow Cover had actually taken effect and how long his arm had lost its strength. If victory left him with nothing but the impression that his strength had increased, he would overestimate himself next time. Only by counting every moment of lost sensation as well would it become a usable ability.