Hunter Who Can’t Catch His Prey
Moyun Mountains name was, perhaps, derived from the expansive land and countless tall mountains. Cultivators were avid fans of constructing their sects on mountains. The first reason for that was due to the peaceful environment for cultivation they offered. The other reason was to prohibit ordinary folks from visiting. Part of the second reason’s motivation could be attributed to the sense of superiority cultivators developed.
To the South, East and West of Moyun Mountains were oceans. Dustfallen Sect was located at its centre. Owing to the distance from the sect to the mountain, Mu Yu had never beheld the beauty of oceans. To the North of Dustfallen Sect was Myriad Mountains, the only route to the outside world and a place common folks never ventured to.
Many mountains were homes to wild beasts. Humans couldn’t hunt fiends. Fortunately, they could hunt wild beasts for sustenance.
The mountain North of Moyun Mountains was named Crouching Dragon since it resembled the shape of a crouching dragon. A renowned hunter at the foot of mountain went by the alias Beast King Bai, real name was Bai Lixing. Bai Lixing knew Crouching Dragon Mountain as well as the back of his hand, including what beasts could be found there.
Legends said that Bai Lixing once wrestled with a tiger bare handed and slew it, therefore the alias. He was rather cocky after the supposed accomplishments were associated with his name, but they said that beasts would run upon picking up his scent. Apparently, he scared off the beasts, leading to its population dropping by the day.
Hunters had relied on hunting for sustenance as far back as historic records showed. As such, there was always an abundance of wild beasts on Crouching Dragon Mountain. Recently, they showed signs of extinction. Perhaps that was suspending the information too far, but it was an undeniable fact the number of beasts there were scarce –an understatement. A hunter claimed he heard a spooky voice from the mountain at night; however, Bai Lixing never heard anything matching the description.
It was another day and another hunt for Bai Lixing. He headed in, armed with his bow, arrows and a rusty dagger. He searched high and low for ages. Sadly, he didn’t find any wild beasts. Based on the sun’s position, he determined it was close to noon.
Bai Lixing hadn’t caught any wild beasts in the last five days. While failing to slay wild beasts was tragic for a hunter, not being able to find one was humiliating. There was a risk of encountering fiends; however, he wasn’t superstitious and needed to feed himself. Hence, he elected to explore deeper into the forest, where people seldom ventured, and test his luck, though he didn’t intend to venture too deep. It would be best if there was prey. If not, so be it.
Bai Lixing inspected his equipment before he advanced into the eerily quiet depths. He cut his way through a thorny shrub one hour in, where he found a water stream with water so clear that he could see the bottom and moss growing along it. He went over to top up his water jug and washed his face.
“Man, where are they all hiding?”
Bai Lixing dried his face, then picked up his hunting blade. He scanned his surroundings. The only living things he had come across since entering were insects. He intended to head back in four hours if he didn’t catch anything due to the sun setting. Staying in a foreign part of the forest at night wasn’t fun by any account.
Bai Lixing heard a strange sound as he went to resume his exploration. He couldn’t discern if it was the wind or something stirring the water.
“Something at long last.”
Bai Lixing cautiously crept toward the sound along the path of trees. The sound came from the corner of the water stream. He grabbed onto the back of a rock and sneaked his head around the corner. He considered himself a man brave enough to remain cool when confronting tigers or lions because was confident in his skill and knowledge to adapt on the fly. For that reason, he knew he was out of his league when he saw the sight around the other side.
Bai Lixing didn’t spot a wild beast but three individuals. At first glance, he mistook them for hunters. It didn’t take long for him to realise hunters didn’t walk around as bodies of leaves, fires or blue ethereal skin. Despite having never seen anything like them, he recognised what they were, and he freaked out.
As a young boy, Bai Lixing’s father often told him stories, and he took them as such. Colourful elemental demons were supposed to be fictional things that vied to decimate humanity in stories, or so he thought.
The blue entity resembled a humanoid in water form. It wouldn’t be far-fetched for someone to think a human was trapped within. It stood in the water that came up to its knees. The water went through its knees instead of around. It sported facial features but lacked hair. Its eye shapes resembled human eyes but were crystal blue.
The green entity had bark for skin. Spuds sprouted from its joints. It had tree roots with sprinkled soil for feet. It had human eyes emitting green mist and a head made out of leaves that didn’t resemble anything Bai Lixing could compare it to.
The fire entity hovered in the air. The only thing about it resembling humans was its silhouette and human-shaped eyes spiting flames. Its facial features somewhat resembled a human’s.
Bai Lixing’s mind and feet couldn’t communicate. His mind was overwhelmed with all the atrocities linked to elemental demons in the stories his father told them, including razing human villages, drowning them, piercing them, burying them in rubble and slitting throats. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but that was the last thing he wanted to do, anyway. Suddenly, they vanished. He perspired, panted and prayed they never noticed him.
Bai Lixing felt the ground move from his feet. He thought he escaped. By the time he wrapped his head around it, he was hanging upside down from a tree. Panic-stricken, he frantically tried to grab his legs. All of a sudden, a pair of eyes exuding green mist met with his. His heart skipped a beat…
“No! No! Help me!”
Bai Lixing’s desperate pleas echoed in the forest. If his father was correct, he was looking at a wood element demon, the type that made a hobby out of skewering humans with trees and digging all their insides out.
“The human isn’t a cultivator.” The wood demon’s voice was energetic.
Bai Lixing never expected the demon to be able to speak humanity’s language. None of the stories he was told mentioned their ability to speak, but who cared in that scenario! The very thought of having buds sprout from his orifices was nauseating.
“Kill him!” The fire demon descended. His voice was comparable to whistling winds, void of emotion, deep and raspy. His presence raised the temperature in his immediate surroundings close to scalding temperatures.
“Don’t burn the trees,” warned the tree demon, showing a hint of hostility toward the fire demon.
“Hmph,” responded the fire demon, tone ambivalent. He reduced the temperature, nonetheless.
“We can’t let humans know we are here.”
Bai Lixing couldn’t see the speaker. The voice was clear and energetic. There was only one entity it could belong to –the water demon.
“D-don’t kill me. I won’t tell anyone…” Bai Lixing desperately pleaded, more scared than he had ever been in his life.
“You want to finish him?” the wood demon asked the fire demon.
The fire demon cackled. “Wishy washy just as the rest of you wood demons are.”
The fire demon summoned a fire to his outstretched hand and magnified his output over time. After spending his entire life enjoying roast meat, Bai Lixing was about to meet his end the same way. When the fire was supposed to set him alight, it suddenly flew in another direction to everyone’s surprise.
“It’s that weird cultivator. Let’s get out of here!”
The three demons took off faster than they captured Bai Lixing. Bai Lixing crashed onto the ground with a thud.
“You shouldn’t be here. Don’t ever come here again.”
Bai Lixing’s saviour was a youth attired in an eye-catching red robe. When he helped Bai Lixing to his feet, the latter thought he was looking at the fire demon. Bai Lixing shook his head out to see the flame he supposedly saw in the youth’s eye was only an illusion.
“Ar-are you an immortal?” stuttered Bai Lixing, relieved to be alive. Bai Lixing lost his motivation to continue living as a hunter after the dreadful encounter.
“Hmph, you shouldn’t be here.”
The youth glanced at Bai Lixing out of the corner of his eyes and then took flight with Bai Lixing in tow. By no means was Bai Lixing interested in admiring any scenery. All the man wanted was to go home and cool off his head.
***
Red blood spilled across the sky and turned the moon into blotted ink. The earth was browning with those sickly matted clumps that could be fragments of what was once human. An individual resembling a rakshasa swept his gaze over the devastation. He brandished a teal sword, blade punctured and blood trickling from it. Once the holes in the blade repaired themselves, he turned his head, satisfied…
Mu Yu woke as if sleeping had become dangerous. Shortage of breath was the first sensation. His forehead took on a glossy shine, and the salty drops invaded his eyes. He peered out the window. The orb in the sky was still silver, its light still restorative.
It was the same nightmare that had plagued Mu Yu the entire time he was at Waterstream Village. He hadn’t seen it again since leaving. Previously, he thought it was a cultivator going on a massacre. He, however, realised a cultivator couldn’t possibly have been behind it after he became one. Even so, he still couldn’t comprehend what it symbolised. The sword was bizarre to say the least. The bloodshed was unbelievable.
Mu Yu shook his head. Although didn’t know what the nightmare tried to tell him, he knew he had to wake up early to train tomorrow. Thus, he rolled over and shut his eyes.
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