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3.13 - The Western Wilds
🕑 Added 2024-05-11 22:00:02 +0000 UTCIt took He Yu and the others a little more than a day to reach the edge of the sect’s territory that inner disciples were normally permitted to explore. They traveled quickly, using their Third Realm speed and stamina to good effect. Despite the far denser vegetation, rougher terrain, and lack of a road, He Yu guessed that they covered a distance that would have taken them a week or more had they all been mortal.
On the way, He Yu occasionally sensed awakened beasts and even a spirit once or twice, but nothing ventured close to the group. The five of them made little effort to hide their passing, allowing their presences to expand beyond what would be considered polite within the sect proper. Even a beast or spirit of the late Third Realm would have no chance against the five of them, and the denizens of the land would all be advanced enough to know it.
When darkness began to fall over the wilderness that first late afternoon, Chen Fei called a halt. She’d found a spot that would make a good camp. It was sheltered from any wind and free of any evidence of stronger beasts. She set about clearing the area and making a cooking fire with practiced ease, and He Yu recalled her saying she’d lived most of her life away from the comforts the rest of them had grown to take for granted. With the camp bounded and protected by a formation script Chen Fei created with her family art, the Seventy-Two Blessed Symbols, they settled in for a meal.
“Did your father tell you anything more of what we might expect?” Li Heng asked, passing a jar of wine to Yan Shirong once they’d finished eating.
“He did not. Only that once we arrived in the valleys he mentioned, that I should perform some divination. He did mention I’d know the valleys in question,” he answered. “Before you ask, he did not elaborate on how.”
“What about these supposedly haunted valleys?” He Yu asked, looking to Chen Fei.
She looked troubled as she answered. “I can’t say anything too specific. Just what I told you before. People don’t tend to travel too far from my village. The stories that we have about these valleys mostly come from other villages. There’s quite a few on the western slopes of the mountains, just outside the empire, you know.”
“Before anyone asks,” Tan Xialong said after a moment, “I can’t provide much else, either. The Jade Mountains stretch far enough south that they likely meet the western reaches of the Shrouded Peaks. All I can say is that the deeper into the wilds, and the further south one goes, the more dangerous it becomes.”
It wasn’t much, but it was something. The Jade Mountains rose from the vast and inhospitable White Desert, with most settlements of the kingdom that took its name from them hugging the foothills between the two regions. The mountains themselves were notoriously dangerous and were often credited as the reason for the Jade Kingdom’s ability to reliably produce powerful cultivators despite its low population.
He Yu had always known the world outside Shulin was big. The stories had all made it out to be so. He’d first been amazed by the time it had taken him to travel from the southern forest to the Shrouded Peaks. During his first year at the sect, he’d gotten a much better idea of just how large the Dragon Empire was. Now, he was beginning to realize that the larger world encompassed even more territory beyond that.
From what he’d been able to piece together with all the descriptions, these haunted valleys they were looking for could be tucked away in an area larger than the whole of the territory given over to the Shrouded Peaks Sect. At least, according to Yan Shirong, they wouldn’t miss it once they’d found one. Hopefully, two weeks would be enough time.
They set out the next morning with the rising sun at their backs. By midday, they reached a boundary stone and as they crossed to the far side the token He Yu had received from Elder Cai briefly pulsed. They’d passed beyond and were now in the proper wilds. The mists He Yu and the others had grown used to in and around the sect were proper clouds here. The slopes and peaks above disappeared in a blanket of gray. As they moved through some of the higher passes and into the clouds, it became impossible to see more than a dozen or so feet in front of them.
The flora grew dense and took on an ancient character. The undergrowth gave way to ferns, fallen logs thick with moss, damp stones covered in lichen. Everything was damp, from the rocks to the bark of the trees to the track they followed. Gnarled roots twisted along the ground and seemed to grab at their ankles as they passed.
Below them, earth qi pulsed through the ground like a heartbeat. Wood and life were the dominant aspects by far, practically gushing from the dense forest canopy and the ground cover alike. Mountain clung to the nearby slopes, most strongly in the exposed rock facades, and the ever-present damp allowed for a good amount of water as well. It was a powerful, vibrant land, given wholly over to the flow of natural qi. It was easy to see why such a place would be dangerous.
Beasts were far more present here than they had been back within the lands more properly administered by the sect. He Yu could track them moving about with his qi sense. The Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment allowed him to more accurately pinpoint them, but they seldom came within sight. Most were of the late Second Realm, but the further west they pushed, the more Third Realm beasts came to investigate.
When they settled in for the evening, Chen Fei advised they find somewhere relatively unexposed. After some searching, they managed to find a rocky overhang that miraculously had mostly dry earth underneath it. As soon as they chose the spot, Chen Fei set up a formation barrier with her art.
“Something isn’t quite right,” she said as she finished her work. “They’re too close. Awakened beasts of their level should be able to sense our qi. They know how strong we are, but instead of frightening them off, it seems to be attracting them.”
“I noticed the same,” Tan Xiaoling said. She was seated under the overhang with her back to stone and her eyes fixed on the vegetation outside Chen Fei’s barrier formation.
Several smaller beasts—all of the late Second Realm—had gathered outside the shimmering characters. He Yu was thankful that Chen Fei’s art didn’t rely on physical characters. He wasn’t sure the formation would last the night otherwise.
At least she could maintain it while she cultivated. By now, all of them were past the point where they needed to sleep with any regularity. A few hours every several days, or a full night once a week, was enough to keep them going. If need be, they could rely on meditation and cycling their cultivation base to go for longer, but that became more taxing the longer they went. At least it would be easy enough to arrange shifts so that everyone could get rest if necessary.
By morning, more than two dozen beasts of different kinds had gathered around the edges of the formation. A troop of monkeys with red fur, each carrying crude makeshift weapons milled about on the rocks to one side of their encampment. On the opposite side, a pack of wild dogs with ice crystals in the place of teeth and claws and rime coating their ears sat on their haunches. Beyond, a boar with a golden stripe along its back snuffled around in the undergrowth. Still more beasts lurked beyond, remaining out of sight.
Li Heng stepped up beside He Yu to join him looking out over the assembled beasts. “They should be fighting one another. The monkeys, the dogs. That boar shouldn’t be tolerating any of them.”
“I’d been thinking the same thing,” He Yu said.
He’d always known that monkeys were particularly intelligent, even among awakened beasts. But the way they all simply sat there, observing the camp was disconcerting. He didn’t allow himself to think overlong about the pack of dogs doing the same thing only a few yards away. Li Heng was right. The gathered beasts, at least the ones he could see, ought to be at each others’ throats.
“There’s a golden tiger in the brush beyond,” Tan Xiaoling said as she joined He Yu and Li Heng. “I’d recognize its qi anywhere.”
She’d shared the name of her primary cultivation and body enforcement art—the Golden Tiger Cultivation Law—with the rest of them since the tournament. It was the primary reason she was so physically powerful, even by the standards of the Body Refining stage. The spirit beast it was named for, the golden tiger, was similarly powerful for its advancement. Golden tigers were aggressive, vicious fighters, known for being particularly unrelenting. It was a fitting beast to inspire an art for someone like Tan Xiaoling to cultivate.
“There’s five of us,” He Yu said. “We should be able to handle all that, right?”
“The tiger is late third realm and the boar is middle stage.” Tan Xiaoling pointed to the largest of the rime-covered dogs. “That’s the pack leader. Low Third Realm. All the rest are Second Realm. Same with the troop of monkeys.”
“They might not attack,” Chen Fei said, joining the rest along with Yan Shirong. “They haven’t attacked the barrier. They haven’t even tried to step over it as far as I can tell.”
“Even so,” Yan Shirong said, “that they’re all just sitting there watching us is unsettling.”
“What if we sent one of your constructs out to see what they did?” He Yu asked.
“It wouldn’t be able to pass the barrier,” Yan Shirong answered.
“Well, we can’t stay here and wait for them to leave,” He Yu said. “We’ve got two weeks, and I don’t want to spend them huddling under a rock.”
Tan Xiaoling nodded. “Nor do I.”
“Proof if anyone needed it to see how far you’ve come, little brother,” Li Heng said with a grin.
“I’m going to drop the barrier in a moment,” Chen Fei said.
They all readied themselves for the possible fight.
The barrier fell, and nothing happened.
The monkeys and dogs stayed where they were, watching. The boar hardly noticed either. If anything, that seemed to make the atmosphere of the whole thing even more unsettling. The five cultivators looked at one another in silence.
“This is too weird,” He Yu said.
“No point in standing still. Let’s get moving,” Tan Xiaoling said.
The moment she took a step forward, one of the monkeys shrieked and the whole gathering erupted into utter chaos. Half the monkeys rushed the cultivators, and the rest attacked the dogs. From just inside the denser undergrowth, the boar looked up, grunted once, and charged.
A volley of daggers cut silver streaks through the morning light as Yan Shirong responded to the monkeys attacking Tan Xiaoling. She hardly needed the help, as she killed them as quickly as the rime-dogs tore apart the three that had attacked their pack. The boar charged into the dogs, barreling straight through them and into a gleaming barrier that Chen Fei manifested.
Two of the dogs tore into the boar’s haunches, leaving frozen wounds with their bites. Li Heng and He Yu each dispatched a smaller dog, while Yan Shirong bound their leader in shadow. As Tan Xiaoling moved to finish it off, a deafening roar rolled over them all like thunder.
From within the forest, emerged the golden tiger. It was as tall as He Yu at the shoulder, and its head was as large across as his outstretched arms. Its fur was colored like a regular tiger’s if a bit more yellow than he’d expected. Its eyes, however, were clearly where it had gotten its name from. They were like two pools of molten gold, with slitted pupils that gleamed with intelligence.
As the tiger padded forward, the rest of the beasts scattered.
