Chaos was a ladder, and in the heart of the chaos he had sown, Lian began to climb.
The snow-white griffon, a creature of pride and immense power, was now a panicked force of nature. It thrashed through the camp, its piercing cries echoing across the plains. Wagons were overturned, goods scattered, and men—both hardened mercenaries and disciplined disciples—leaped out of its path. Master Jin-Li's shrieks of "Stop it!" were lost in the pandemonium.
The Jade Sword disciples, for all their elegance and training, were ill-equipped for this kind of problem. Their sword formations were designed for fighting other cultivators on solid ground, not for subduing a fast, powerful, and terrified flying beast. They sent arcs of Qi towards it, but the attacks were clumsy, more likely to injure the beast than to capture it. Captain Jian shouted orders, trying to coordinate them, but it was like trying to catch the wind in a net.
This was the moment Lian had created.
While everyone else was focused on the rampaging griffon, Lian moved with a purpose that was terrifyingly at odds with his simpleton persona. He was no longer the clumsy Mule. He began to run, his heavy, powerful strides devouring the ground. He was not moving with the impossible, blurring speed of his full power, but with the explosive, muscle-driven charge of a great bear. It was a speed that was believable for a creature of his size and build, yet still breathtaking to behold.
He didn't run after the griffon. He ran to intercept it. He saw the beast's panicked trajectory, its desperate flight towards the open plains, and he placed himself directly in its path.
He stood there, a lone, hulking figure, legs braced, planted in the earth like an ancient oak.
The griffon saw him. To the panicked beast, he was just one more obstacle to be trampled. It lowered its horned head and charged, its massive talons tearing up the ground.
The impact was like a thunderclap.
Instead of being thrown aside like the others, Lian met the charge. He did not use a Qi barrier or a secret technique. He used his body, the fortress he had forged in years of pain. He caught the griffon's horned head in his two massive hands, his feet digging deep trenches in the earth as he absorbed the titanic force of its momentum.
A collective, disbelieving gasp went through the onlookers who had stopped to watch the unfolding disaster. What they were seeing was impossible. A man, without armor, without Qi enhancement, was wrestling a full-grown griffon to a standstill.
The beast shrieked in rage and confusion, thrashing its powerful wings, trying to throw him off. Lian roared back, a sound that was more animal than human, a raw, primal declaration of dominance. It was a contest of pure, physical strength, and in that arena, Lian had no equal in this world.
He twisted his body, using the griffon's own momentum against it. With a final, monumental heave that made every muscle in his body scream, he lifted the front half of the massive beast from the ground and slammed it onto its side. The ground shook. The griffon lay stunned and winded, its wings tangled, its wild charge brought to an ignominious end.
Lian stood over it, his chest heaving, his body slick with sweat, playing the part of a man who had just expended every ounce of his energy in a heroic, desperate act.
Silence fell, broken only by the panting of man and beast. Then, Master Jin-Li, his face a mess of relief and avarice, waddled forward as fast as his short legs could carry him.
"You've done it! You've done it, you magnificent beast!" he cried, his eyes shining. He patted Lian's arm, a gesture that Lian had to actively resist the urge to meet with a bone-shattering blow. "Anything! Ask for anything! A bag of gold? A position as my personal guard? Name your price, wild man!"
Lian ignored the fawning merchant. He ignored the stunned looks of the Jade Sword disciples and the awestruck stares of the mercenaries. His gaze, slow and deliberate, moved past them all, settling on the back of the merchant caravan.
He lifted a heavy, dirt-caked finger and pointed directly at the cage holding the young woman.
Her own eyes, which had been watching the entire spectacle with a quiet, unreadable intensity, widened slightly as she became the focus of his attention.
Lian turned his gaze back to Master Jin-Li. He opened his mouth, and the words that came out were the carefully crafted, broken speech of a simpleton stating a simple, almost childlike desire.
"Want," he grunted. "That one." He pointed again, for emphasis. "Quiet. Not loud. Like… pet."
The request was so bizarre, so utterly at odds with the heroic feat he had just performed, that it was perfectly believable. A bag of gold, a position of power—those were the desires of a normal man. The desire for a quiet "pet" in a cage was the strange, inscrutable whim of a wild creature.
Master Jin-Li blinked, his merchant's mind quickly calculating the transaction. The woman was valuable cargo, yes, destined for a wealthy client in the north. But she was also troublesome. And his prize griffon, worth more than ten of her, was safe. The trade was more than worth it.
"The girl?" Jin-Li chuckled, a wave of relief washing over him. "Her? Of course! Take her! She's yours! A small price to pay for my beautiful creature!" He barked an order to one of his guards. "Unlock the cage! Give the 'pet' to our hero here!"
Captain Jian stepped forward, his face a thundercloud. "Master Jin-Li, this is irregular. That is a living person, not an animal to be traded."
"She is my cargo, Captain, to do with as I please," Jin-Li snapped back, his business sense overriding any other concern. "And this man is now in my debt. It is a guild matter."
Jian had no authority here. He could only watch, his eyes narrowed with deep suspicion, as a guard unlocked the cage. The woman stepped out, her head held high, her defiant gaze moving from the merchant to the disciples, and finally, to the hulking, silent giant who had just claimed her as his property.
Lian walked to her. He did not look at her as a person. He looked at her as he had the griffon—as a thing he now possessed. He gestured with his head for her to follow him back to his dark wagon at the tail of the caravan.
He had orchestrated the chaos, displayed his power under the perfect guise, and claimed his prize. He now had a new resource, a new puzzle to solve. The serpent had struck from its coils and had taken exactly what it wanted, right under the noses of the two most powerful groups on the plains. And no one was any the wiser.