Quantum Cultivation by Jace Kang (simple e reader TXT) 📕

overlooking the Kamo River, Ken picked out the dark shapes creeping along the banks. Their probable target was an unsuspecting man strolling across a Shijo Fourth Street bridge, illuminated by street lights.

Master Ryu pointed at the figure skulking at the back of their line, a walking stick in hand. “That’s their leader,” he whispered.

“How can you tell?” Siena asked.

“I can sense the power of its Core.”

“Can it sense yours?” Aya asked.

“Possibly. If it were actively scanning, yes. But it thinks humans here are no threat. We have the element of surprise on our side.”

Maybe one day, Ken could do all this, too.  As for scanning… “Did you disable the cameras?”

Aya held up a black cube with a blinking green light. “I’ve programmed this emitter to broadcast the same energy wavelengths as the Tofu-Kozo.  It should have the same effect it had on nearby cameras. I just have to be careful with it, because they’re fragile. If you see the light turn red, we need to get out of here.”

“Why don’t you do what you did before,” Siena asked, “when you retrieved the video files of the Tofu-Kozo?”

“I would have to hack the Peacekeeper data hub that controls them.  I don’t dare do that now, until I know how much damage the MoD Sentinels inflicted on my Avatar.” Licking her lips nervously, Aya looked at the emitter. “I feel safer with this.  It will work, just like it worked for the Tofu-Kozo.”

Ken looked to his master, who no doubt had a great strategy worthy of Sun Zi. “What is our plan?”

Master Ryu pointed to the leader at the back. “I will attack it and seal it off from its friends. You and Aya will take the next one in line, while Siena and Teppin handle the four in front.”

They didn’t sound like ingenious tactics from the Art of War, but Ken nodded all the same. Siena and Teppin joined in the chorus of agreement, though Aya flashed a dubious scowl.

“We’re so far away,” she said. “We’ll never reach them before they hurt the—”

With a bend in his knees, Master Ryu launched himself toward the Kappa, sailing high through the air. Ken and Aya both gawked.

“Light Foot Training,” Teppin said, breaking into a hop-run. “Every Path has it.”

With a shrug, Siena reached out and touched Ken and Aya, then spoke a word.

The world swirled around Ken. When it came back into focus, they were now on the bridge, not far from the startled man.  Four of the Kappa were climbing over the railing.

Already, Master Ryu’s plan had fallen apart.

And Ken’s head was spinning from the sudden shift. Aya, too, wobbled on her feet.

Thankfully, the Kappa looked just as shocked, freezing in place on the side of the bridge for a moment with its dull eyes round like saucers.

Then, one leaped for the man.

Aya’s knees had stopped shaking.  She moved more resolutely now, and ran to intercept the Kappa.

Ken had little time to see what happened when another Kappa dove at his legs. He spun around, avoiding the tackle, and found himself on the creature’s flank. He stepped in with the Xingyi Earth punch towards its head.

The Kappa turned at the last second, and Ken’s punch landed on its shell. Pain flared in his knuckles, but a cracking sound echoed from the carapace. It winced, and then shifted and grabbed for Ken’s extended leg.

Ken pulled his foot back, then spun and dropped his weight onto his opponent. His shoulder slammed into its side, knocking it face-first into the pavement. It let out a squeal. With a roll, Ken ended up sitting on its shell. He reached for the bowl, which had shifted to the back of its head.

It bucked up, sending Ken lurching forward into the air. The pavement drove upward to meet his face. At the last second, he shot his hands out into the ground and threw his legs in such a way that he inverted and went head over heels in a smooth motion. He rolled back up onto his feet and twirled around, just in time to avoid the Kappa’s lunge into his knees.

A quick scan of the area revealed that the man had run off the way he’d come. Siena had knocked the bowl off one Kappa’s head, leaving it a quivering mass cowering on the pavement; she was now, like Ken, avoiding the other’s attempts to take her to the ground.

And there, Aya was wrestling with the last, despite the master’s advice to avoid engaging them on the ground. Still, she was holding her own, gliding through techniques like an eel through water. Not only had she learned things well, she could already apply them to combat.

His own opponent shot in towards his right leg, but Ken spun counterclockwise and swept him aside with the brushing hands of the Xing Yi Water Form. He reached for the bowl…

And missed.

The Kappa had ducked beneath his grab and tucked into a forward roll. Slippery little eel.

This time, though, its back was to him, and Ken pursued, raining a flurry of Wing Chun punches into it. They landed first on its shell; then, as it turned around, into its side, then chest, and finally face. Each blow sent pain into his fists.

It reeled back, and with a transition into the Xingyi Metal Form, Ken slammed his punch into the Kappa’s bowl. It went flying off his head, water splashing out. It swept a hand out to catch it…

But Ken leaped into a flying kick and sent the dish clattering away.

All fight drained out of the Kappa, and it sloshed onto the ground.

Opponent vanquished, Ken took a quick look around. Siena spoke a nasty-sounding word that didn’t match her pretty mouth. The beads around her neck glowed blue, and darts of fire sprung from her