Curiosity… was oftentimes a precursor to great and inevitable danger.
Once again, the disoriented and utterly exhausted An Fei had chosen to succumb to her curiosity.
Unable to calm her heart, the young girl gave into the temptation and set out to explore the cause for the scuffling sound beyond the barrier of grass and trees.
She had walked all day long and had not heard of such incidents… until now, when the sun had descended beyond the horizon.
An Fei cautiously crept behind the trees as she waded through the sea of grass towards the source of the abnormal sound, her senses prepared to urge herself to flee at the instant she determined that there was danger.
Her hands parted the dense foliage to step across with trembling limbs, her entire body attempting to minimize her presence.
As she approached, the young girl could clearly discern the source of the unnatural sound of clashing. When she finally managed to obtain a peek, An Fei couldn’t be any more happier and depressed at the same instance.
Hiss!
An enormous python engaged in a rough conflict with another animal akin to a panther with black fur. The two animals intertwined with the other using their flexible bodies and limbs, each attack striking with a dense murderous aura.
Both creatures were easily twice, perhaps even triple An Fei’s height when placed into proportion.
The mottled scales of ruby red, light blue, and a pale orchid on the python’s skin rippled as the faint rays of astral moonlight reflected onto the panther’s eyes, and the python took the opportunity to coil its body around itself, the twin fangs and tail radiating an equally powerful and deadly intent.
Roar!
The black panther snarled, balancing its weight onto its forelimbs as it crouched to minimize its striking radius. From afar, the young girl could faintly discern that the panther’s tail supported a mighty spike at its tip, gleaming with a sinister aura.
…An Fei certainly regretted satisfying her curiosity, but her desperate need to secure water triumphed over her fear within a matter of seconds.
Just beyond the two animals’ domineering presence, laid a gentle and tranquil stream of water.
The current divided a section of the Wu Ji Forest into numerous parts, and the soft gurgling of freely flowing water could be barely heard past the indomitable filter of a python’s hiss and a panther’s snarls.
“I can’t possibly just saunter over to take a drink, can I…” An Fei murmured with her body hidden behind the large tree, her head poking from the side to spectate the fight.
“No doubt, the two of them would instantly cease fighting to slaughter me the moment I – “
Ting!
An earsplitting scratch of metal striking metal disrupted the young girl’s thoughts, causing her to crouch onto the ground whilst covering her head. A fearful screech escaped her lips, and the girl couldn’t help but tremble in fear.
…fortunately, she wasn’t discovered by either of the two predators.
The panther’s claws ricocheted from the glistening scales of the python, each collision producing a scattering wave of brilliant sparks and a deafening clash of metal upon metal.
Both animals snarled at the other after each strike, uninjured, but certainly enraged beyond reason.
The panther’s tail swept from over its head towards the python’s exposed back, with two deadly claws soaring forward to serve as the vanguard.
The panther opened its mouth to release a piercing roar, two pure-white canines dripping with the intent to slaughter.
Hiss!
The python flickered its tongue in distaste, the coiled muscles rippling underneath the glistening scales. Before the young girl’s outstretched and dumbfounded eyes, the python’s body unwound as though a highly pressurized coil seeking release.
A furious sweep of the python’s tail, emboldened by the entire weight and driving momentum of its body, slammed into the panther’s waist, slapping the latter directly into the earth with a tremendous impact.
The grass and trees shivered from the concussive shockwave, and numerous leaves that had just grasped their opportunity to bloom, descended onto the ground as they were forcefully stripped of their meagre vitality.
Similarly, An Fei was flung off from the tree and forced to backpedal into the ground, a dull impact coursing through her body.
Pain!
Both the black panther and the young girl released similar expressions of pain, a muffled curse and an earsplitting yowl smashing apart the remnants of the previously tranquil atmosphere of the Wu Ji Forest.
The panther leapt back onto its paws, though an acute limp could be seen around its hindlegs.
Nonetheless, without obtaining a brief moment of respite, the black panther leapt back into the frothy battle, its tail whistling through the wind as it sought for a vulnerable region on its enemy.
The python’s scales were indeed durable and mighty in their defenses, for the panther’s claws, even after being fully extended and curled with the full momentum of its body, could only scatter sparks over the trembling grass.
The panther’s tail was less effective than its claws and canines; the python merely rippled its muscles underneath the scales, the spike at the tip serving absolutely no advantage.
However, An Fei could faintly discern that the panther had little intention of attempting on piercing through the seemingly impervious scales of the python, instead aiming towards blunting the latter to death.
The razor-sharp claws gleamed underneath the impartial moonlight, but only the black paws bulging with powerful muscles made contact with the python’s body.
Shaa!
The python slithered backwards in pain, its tongue madly sweeping the air in panic. From its exterior, it had taken little to no damage from the panther’s onslaught, but its interior was in complete disarray.
Internal wounds and bleeding erupted in numerous regions of its body, and a few of its poisonous glands had been ruptured from the concussive blows. The black panther appeared to only sport an acute limp, but its heart had been stabbed by one of its broken ribs.
Roar!
“Please end quickly, please end quickly,” the young girl murmured whist pressing her back against the tree’s back.
“Die together or flee from this place, so I can quickly get my water, ah!”
Fortunate or perhaps unfortunate, An Fei had coincidently turned her head back towards the brawling of the two animals, only to see a spectacular scene.
Two energized screams of murder and death rang in her ears, and the world exploded into color before her eyes.
A dense teal radiance erupted from the mottled scales of the python, and its exposed fangs revealed two piercing glints of a purifying scarlet and putrefying green.
The rippling of its muscles increased in intensity, and the earth vibrated in response to the trembling of its tail.
The black panther’s tail erupted into a brilliant scorching fire that enveloped the mighty spike at the tip.
As the panther snarled towards its foe, its exposed canines and claws blazed with scarlet light.
The atmosphere instantly boiled and raved underneath the pressure emanating from the two animals bodies; from her position behind the tree, An Fei could clearly feel her body become leaden and much, much heavier than before.
Moving her limbs seemed impossible under the mysterious and horrifying pressure.
The young girl could only stare in abject horror as the atmosphere coiled around her body, pinning her in her current position.
Her body could only sway by the gentle breeze of the night, and the explosive winds generated by the two animals’ display of spiritual essence.
The python swung its tail in a full moon, the teal radiance forming the dreadful blade of a reaper’s scythe as it surged towards the panther’s life.
The panther gouged the earth with its claws, the tail jerking forward with an impossible momentum and velocity as it plunged towards the python’s crown.
A scythe reaping the millions of lives under its rust-covered blade clashed headlong with a mighty spear that had pierced through hundreds of empires.
The teal radiance reaped the lives of many with indifference and methodism, and the spear exploding with flames tore through hundreds of barriers to reap a single life.
An immense shockwave tore through the vicinity, only to be followed by a massive tsunami of blistering fire that expanded outwards in every direction. An Fei could only watch as her body was flung into the air by the teal ring of light.
“Ah!”
The disk of flames tore through the sea of grass and trees as though cutting through a ball of putty, broken weeds and trees incinerated into dust upon entering an intimate embrace with the scorching flames and invincible heat.
The young girl prayed that she would remain suspended in the air until the ring had fully left her aside, so that she wouldn’t be incinerated to ashes.
Helplessly thrown into the air as though she were a rice paddy, and next was to descend onto the ground…
An Fei wasn’t even granted the opportunity to think or move a muscle as her body collided onto the ash-bathed ground, her body forming a considerably deep indent into the soft basted earth.
The tremendous impact blasted all of the air from her lungs in a powerful strike, leaving the young girl incapable of uttering anything other than a muted groan.
…she couldn’t help but thank Wei Xuan for the linen coat, for it had saved her life from harm once again, and perhaps many times more in the future…
As An Fei lay dazed and incapacitated in the manmade human-sized crater, the sounds of battle continued to progressively become embroiled within a primal chaos and savage anger.
Shockwaves of teal light flashing above her head scythed the unfortunate grasses and trees within the vicinity without any mercy, and the tsunamis of flames enveloped the earth with a blistering heat, charring the ashes of the cremated.
