Behold—the wraith

Soon I discovered that Lin Chu wasn't in his office, or in the command room—he was on the walls. Maybe even fighting.

I went to the walls, and as soon as I got there, I had to activate a Clear Sphere technique. A moment later, an arrow hit it and bounced away.

At least, the bombardment with rocks had stopped…

Around me, the Lin clan soldiers were hiding behind a partially destroyed parapet, shooting at the enemy below. The Tao clan soldiers hid behind wooden shields, shooting up at us from their own crossbows, some of which were large, mounted versions.

Both sides were clearly doing this more to exhaust the opponent than hoping to kill enough people for it to matter.

Ignoring the arrows and our crossbowmen, I went looking out for Lin Chu's distinct Qi amid soldiers and lesser cultivators. Fortunately, being mostly a cloud of mist, my wraith was almost invisible in the bright daylight, so it went unnoticed by most people.

I found Lin Chu standing near a wall, glaring at the enemy camp.

"Greetings, Master! I have come to present to you the fruits of my hard work."

Lin Chu turned, freezing me with his glare for a moment, before he noticed the wraith. His eyes widened in shock.

"What is this, Disciple?" He turned toward me fully and approached the wraith. "It can't be… Even though I hoped that something like this would happen, that doesn't mean it is actually possible! A new type of summoned undead—with Water Qi, too…"

Lin Chu suddenly stepped back from the wraith, recovering his cold, impassive aura.

"Disciple Ru, this is an admirable accomplishment. But no matter how admirable, it doesn't actually mean this undead is useful. How good is it in a fight?"

"Master, I was hoping you will help me to find out, for I can only guess."

"I will. What's it called?"

"A wraith. I also named it Blank, and so far, it remembers it. Blank, wave a hand."

"Yes, master." The wraith waved one of its mist-appendages.

"Alright. Bring the wraith to the training ground in two hours, and I will arrange everything else."

***

Two hours later, on the training ground, Blank faced a trio of men with their hands tied up in front of them.

Lin Chu and I stood to the side, next to a middle-aged officer. The officer gestured at the tied-up men.

"Vice-General, these soldiers are a shame on the name of the Lin clan! Each of them is a criminal without a future, just like you like them. Their crimes are," he pointed at the heads as he listed them, "thievery from the Lin clan's food stores during siege, also thievery, and rape of a daughter of noble blood. They were all kept under lock until you needed some expendables, as per your orders, Vice-General."

Lin Chu nodded and turned to the criminals.

"You will be given weapons, with which you will fight my disciple's wraith. If you win, your punishment will be replaced with fifteen strikes of a whip."

The officer threw three swords next to the criminals and cut them free of their ropes with a knife. The criminals immediately picked the weapons up and stood in a triangle, eying me, the wraith, and each other uneasily.

"Cheer up, mates. This is a good offer, no matter how I look at it," the rapist said, grinning. "Even if we lose, we will surely die quicker than the poor sods Vice-General and his disciple torture to death. And my soul surely will rest well in the afterlife after tasting the divine peaches, heh-heh…"

One of the thieves spat on the ground. "Shut up, cod. I'm going to live."

I frowned at both of them and turned to Blank.

"Kill these three people. No one else!"

"Yes, master. Kill."

The wraith charged at the three soldiers. They gasped, but they were all battle-hardened veterans. Even shocked, they still reflexively defended themselves with their swords.

The rapist slashed at the wraith as it approached, cutting it in half. I watched tensely as the two halves of its body hovered in the air for a moment. The Qi that animated the wraith was still there, but if the sword strike broke its cohesion…

The wraith pulled itself together, and I let out a breath of relief.

In the next moment, the wraith reached out and grabbed the soldier's face. The man screamed, but the sound soon cut off. The wraith kept holding him, even as two other soldiers tried to cut him into pieces.

Two seconds later, the first soldier stopped convulsing and fell to the ground, and the wraith charged at another. It didn't dodge attacks, but the slashes of swords only slowed it down.

It seemed, though, that the wraith wasn't entirely invulnerable. Every time a sword hit, the wraith's Qi became dimmer. I concluded that if a wraith was hit enough times, it won't have enough "charged" Qi to create Death and Water energies that held it together.

Which meant that it would die. Or, since the wraith was undead, disappear.

But three soldiers couldn't do enough damage to kill it. In four more seconds, the wraith hovered over three bodies, frozen forever in strange poses with grimaces of pain and terror on their faces. Frozen literally—there was a thin, rapidly melting layer of rime on their skin.

The officer who brought them there laughed.

"What a beast! And here I thought these scums will be off too easily. Vice-General, Master Ru Yujin, I will pray to the Venerated Divine Dragon to thank you for the victory you are doubtlessly about to bring to the Lin clan!"

The wraith turned to the officer, then to me. "Kill, master?"

The man's laughter cut off.

"No killing, Blank. Master, what do you think?"

Lin Chu stared at the undead for a moment.

"Teach me how to create the wraiths. We will need to make many, many more of them."