The jungle was unnaturally quiet, a stark contrast to the chaotic cacophony of the Beast Tide that had ravaged the land only hours before. The air was thick with the scent of ozone and crushed vegetation.
In the small clearing where Mo Shan had vanished, his two comrades—the young Demon and the Spirit—stood guard over the unconscious body of Ling Xiao. They were restless, their predatory instincts itching for violence, yet bound by the absolute command of their leader.
"How long must we wait?" the young Demon grumbled, kicking a stone into the undergrowth. He glanced at Ling Xiao with hungry eyes. "The sun will rise soon. If we stay here, the human experts from the capital will sense our aura. He is taking too long."
The Spirit floated silently near a tree branch. "Patience. Uncle Mo has gone to contact the Council. This boy is a ticket to power. If we leave now, he will skin us alive."
Suddenly, the black jade talisman hanging at the young Demon's waist vibrated violently. A harsh, red light pulsed from it, cutting through the gloom.
The young Demon grabbed it, channeling his Qi to read the message. His expression shifted from boredom to bewilderment. "What?" he hissed, staring at the glowing runes. "A retreat order? Immediately?"
"What about the boy?" the Spirit asked, his voice echoing with a hollow resonance.
"The message says nothing about the prize," the young Demon spat, frustration evident in his voice. "It just says 'Flee. Do not look back. Absolute Priority.' It's the highest level of emergency signal."
"Did Uncle run into a Guardian?" The Spirit's form wavered, shrinking slightly in fear. "If he is retreating, we cannot stay."
The young Demon looked down at Ling Xiao one last time, in disappointment. "Lucky little worm. Next time, I will rip your throat out."
With a reluctant grunt, he crushed the talisman. "Let's go."
The two figures dissolved into shadows, shooting into the sky and disappearing toward the northern horizon, leaving the unconscious boy alone on the damp, mossy earth.
A sharp, throbbing pain in his left shoulder pulled him from the depths of darkness. Ling Xiao groaned, his eyelids fluttering open. The first thing he saw was the canopy of trees, dense and suffocating, blocking out most of the sky.
He tried to sit up, but a jolt of agony shot through his arm, forcing a sharp intake of breath through his teeth.
"Argh..."
He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to remain silent. He remembered... running. He remembered the earth shaking, the roar of the Golden-Back Ape, and the terrifying stampede of the Beast Tide. But after that?
His mind was a haze of grey fog. He remembered fleeing into the deeper woods, dodging wolves and boars, and then... nothing. It was as if a wall had been erected in his memory, blocking out the last few hours.
"I'm alive," he whispered, his voice hoarse. He took out a healing pill and swallowed it, slowly feeling his wounds regenerating.
His clothes were torn, stained with mud and dried blood. He looked around. The area was unfamiliar. The trees here were ancient, their roots twisted and gnarled, unlike anything he had seen in the outer regions.
"Where am I?" He reached into his storage ring and retrieved the map he had bought from Wang Meilin. He spread it out on his knees, trying to align the landmarks.
He looked at the position of the sun, which was just beginning to pierce through the leaves, and then at the flow of a distant stream. His heart sank.
"The topography doesn't match," he muttered, tracing a finger over the parchment. "The trees in the Outer Region are pine and oak. These... these look like Iron-Wood and Ghost Willows. I went deeper."
He used his sword as a cane, pushing himself to his feet. His legs trembled, but they held. He chose a direction that seemed to lead downhill, hoping to find a water source or a path back to the outer rim.
He walked for what felt like an hour. The forest was eerily silent, the usual chirping of insects absent, likely scared into hiding by the earlier beast tide.
Suddenly, a splash of color amidst the green and brown caught his eye.
Ling Xiao stopped, freezing instinctively. He pressed his back against a tree, his hand tightening on the hilt of his Spirit sword. He waited. One minute. Two minutes. Nothing moved.
Cautiously, he stepped forward.
Lying in a patch of ferns was a body.
It was a woman. She was face down, her limbs sprawled at unnatural angles. She wore a tight-fitting leather jacket and trousers.
Ling Xiao's breath hitched. He recognized that outfit.
He approached slowly, using the tip of his scabbard to gently turn the body over.
It was Lin Rou.
Her eyes were wide open, frozen in a mask of absolute terror. Her throat had been torn out, likely by a jagged claw, and her chest was caved in. The daggers she prized so much were missing from her waist.
Ling Xiao stared at her. Just yesterday, she had sat by the fire, eating dried meat with him. She had told him that fear kept a person alive. She had been part of the group that plotted to kill him in his sleep, yet seeing her like this... broken and discarded like trash... it brought a heavy, bitter taste to his mouth.
"You were fast," Ling Xiao whispered, looking at her motionless form. "But the jungle was faster."
He felt no satisfaction in her death, only a grim reminder of his own fragility. He knelt down, suppressing the nausea caused by the metallic smell of blood. He checked her pockets. Empty. "someone looted her," he realized. "Beasts eat flesh. They don't take coin purses."
Crack.
The sound of a dry branch snapping echoed from the dense brush to his left.
Ling Xiao moved instantly. Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, he rolled behind the thick trunk of a massive ancient tree, blending into the shadows. He held his breath, channeling the little Qi he had left to suppress his presence.
Voices drifted toward him.
"I told you the trap was too far to the east."
"Shut up and dig. The tracks are fresh. The stampede pushed a lot of high-tier beasts out of their nests. If we catch an Iron-Hide Rhino, the horn alone will pay for the trip."
Ling Xiao's eyes narrowed. He knew those voices. He peered carefully around the bark.
About thirty meters away, in a small clearing, two men were working. One was a bulky giant of a man, wielding a shovel like a toy. The other was a lean man with short hair, holding a saber that glowed with a faint white light. Lone Bear and Chen Wei. They were alive. battered, covered in scratches and grime, but alive.
"A pity about the girl," Chen Wei said, wiping sweat from his forehead. He didn't sound sad; he sounded annoyed, like someone who had lost a tool. "She had the best eyes for scouting."
"She was weak," Lone Bear grunted, tossing a pile of dirt aside. "She panicked when the ape roared. Got separated. I found her body a mile back. Took her loot. At least she didn't die for nothing."
"And the kid?" Chen Wei asked, looking around the perimeter. "Do you think he survived?"
"The 'Young Master'?" Lone Bear laughed, a cruel, ugly sound. "Don't be stupid. He had a broken arm and no experience. He's probably wolf shit by now. A shame about that sword, though. And the gold."
"Maybe we should circle back and look for his corpse?" Chen Wei suggested, greed flickering in his eyes. "If the beasts didn't eat the metal, his ring might still be there."
"Focus on the trap!" Lone Bear snapped. "We put the last of the Spirit-Root powder here. An Iron-Hide Rhino was spotted heading this way. We kill it, take the horn, and leave. I'm done with this cursed forest."
Ling Xiao watched them. They were digging a pit trap, similar to the one they had made for the boars, but deeper and lined with sharpened wooden stakes.
They were directly in his path. To get around them without making noise in this dry underbrush would be difficult. If he retreated, he risked running into the beasts they were hunting. If he stayed...
He was at the 2-star Qi Refinement Stage. Lone Bear was a 2-star Conscious Stage cultivator, and Chen Wei was a 1-star Conscious Stage cultivator.
In a head-on fight, he would die in seconds.
"I am not a warrior yet," Ling Xiao thought, his mind racing with a clarity he hadn't possessed a day ago. "I am prey. And prey must be silent."
He watched as Chen Wei sprinkled the grey powder on the leaves covering the pit. The wind carried the scent—sweet and cloying. "That should do it," Chen Wei said, stepping back. "Now we wait in the blind."
The two men moved toward a cluster of bushes directly opposite Ling Xiao's hiding spot. They were setting up an ambush point.
Ling Xiao realized with a start that he was trapped. He was behind the tree, the pit was in the middle, and the mercenaries were on the other side. If the beast came, it would come from the direction Ling Xiao was currently facing.
He was standing in the kill zone.
"Just my luck," he thought bitterly.
He couldn't move. If he stepped out now, Lone Bear would see him. They would kill him instantly for his sword and ring, finishing the job they started last night.
He had to wait. He had to wait for the beast to arrive, trigger the trap, and create enough chaos for him to slip away.
He slowed his breathing, becoming as still as a stone. General Leo's training echoed in his mind. 'When you cannot be the mountain, be the wind. Invisible. Intangible.'
Minutes dragged by. The forest remained silent, but the tension in the air was palpable.
Then, the ground trembled.
Thump. Thump.
It wasn't the chaotic rumble of a stampede. It was the rhythmic, heavy tread of a single, massive creature.
Lone Bear and Chen Wei tensed in their hiding spot, weapons ready. Lone Bear grinned, anticipating the kill.
Ling Xiao didn't grin. He felt the vibration traveling up through his boots. The creature was close. Very close. And it was coming from behind him.
He slowly turned his head.
Through the gaps in the foliage, he saw a massive grey shape moving through the trees. It was indeed an Iron-Hide Rhino, a beast with skin as tough as steel plates and a horn the length of a spear. It sniffed the air, drawn by the Spirit-Root powder.
But there was a problem.
The Rhino wasn't walking blindly toward the pit. It had paused, its massive head swinging low, sniffing the ground right where Ling Xiao had walked moments ago.
It smelled him.
Ling Xiao's heart hammered against his ribs. The beast let out a low, rumbling growl, its eyes locking onto the tree Ling Xiao was hiding behind.
Across the clearing, Chen Wei frowned. "Why did it stop?"
"It smells something else," Lone Bear whispered, his grip tightening on his mace. "Something is behind that tree."
Ling Xiao was caught between a monster and two murderers.
He looked at the Rhino, then at the trap, then at the mercenaries. A desperate plan formed in his mind.