For the first 20 years of her life, Fairy Xu had hardly ever ventured more than a few Li into a forest. The Warring Crane Sect had massive gardens and outer court disciples collected anything exotic they could not grow. But for the second time in the last month, she found herself escaping through one. It was a stark reminder of how dependent she had become.
She was dependent on the sect most of her life, its resources and protection were vital to her growth, but what they wanted in repayment was more than she was willing to give. She became dependent on Huang Yun as well, his potential connections were worth some sacrifices on her part, but again, the price became too high. It made her wonder, ‘what price will the old man ask me to pay?’
As far as she was concerned, everything was a negotiation; she didn’t believe in blind loyalty. That was for people with limited ambition. Unfortunately, it was what the world demanded. It wanted submission. She built her relationship with her last master on a give and take basis, which worked well for both of them. He had information she wanted and to get it, she performed alchemy related work for him, but that was the exception.
Within her sect, the elders ruled over their disciples and her short time with Huang Yun showed his Clan had a similar structure. ‘So what would the old man want?’ She thought about it, but was unable to come to a conclusion. For now he was a lifeline and a valuable source of information, she just hoped she wasn’t escaping one tigers den only to land in another.
She was certain she could manipulate the boy if she needed, but as for the old man… that would be difficult. Nobody disliked an attractive woman, but how far they were willing to cater to someone based on looks depended a lot on age. Her fake smiles and weak posturing would probably be ineffective, their meeting at the restaurant already proved that.
The map in her hands had many details making it easy to follow, but the canyon marked on it was a little more than 200 Li from the city. On a road she could traverse the distance quickly, but the forest was dense and full of savage beasts. None were overly strong; however, leaving a trail of bodies would make tracking her exceptionally easy, especially as she was an alchemist.
She rarely fought and only knew a few basic martial techniques. For her, killing savage beasts meant fighting with poisons, which they would most likely deduce. She also had a time limit. If she did not make it to the canyon on the map before the end of the day she would be alone. Fighting savage beasts would slow her down severely, so it was best to avoid fights completely.
Although she used the excitement of the closing ceremony to slip away from the guards and activate the talisman, she did not even make it half way before having to stop for the night. Huang Yun was tied to the city-lord’s daughter now, and he most likely wanted to dual cultivate immediately after, but she could not be certain he would just give up on her.
Even if he no longer needed her for cultivation purposes she would still have value to his clan, and the very fact that she had to escape from the guards meant he still had interest in her. Her escape was both a defiance and a blemish on the guard’s records, and anyone would want to redeem themselves by correcting their mistake.
While thinking about how to handle the fallout in case he tracked her, she felt a blunt, powerful force slam into her back, which caused her to fall to the ground and slide into a rock. She was certain at least one of her wrists were broken from bracing herself and a warm feeling trickled down from her head where it hit the rock. It was the most pain she had ever felt in her life and when she turned to see what caused it, she was horrified at the goat like creature not far from her.
With a deformed head that looked like a boulder and two curled horns on the side, it almost seemed built to ram down fortresses; however, unlike normal goats, it had large canines and claws instead of split hooves. It was a monstrosity unlike anything she had ever seen before, and it blended nearly perfectly with the trees and leaves on the ground.
Thankfully, it was only at the foundation level, but it was still strong enough to injure her back to the point of making it difficult to sit up. Another reminder of how unsuited she was for travel in the woods and how lacking in martial techniques she remained. She couldn’t help to think how foolish she was as she tried to come up with a plan to defeat the creature.
She could control fire, but the range was short and most likely it was not strong enough to severely injure the beast. Her only real option was poison, but in her current state she wouldn’t be able to throw a capsule, it would need to be an attack within arm’s reach, which would subject her to the poisons effects as well, even if she had the antidote.
As she readied herself for the next attack, she removed four pellets from her ring and swallowed two of them for healing and poison resistance while holding on to two second-grade poison pellets. However, before the healing pellet reached the back of her throat, the beast leapt into the air nearly two meters and landed on her stomach, forcing her chest up from the ground. Using all of her strength, she slapped the two poison pellets onto the disgusting creature’s face, which was bearing down towards her neck.
Immediately the poison exploded into a small cloud that stung both her eyes and throat, as she was unable to hold her breath once the creature landed on her. The beast squealed so loud it deafened her momentarily and snorted a wad of saliva and mucous onto her face before jumping back several meters.
Fairy Xu wiped her mouth using her sleeve and took an antidote and healing pellet then removed two more poison pellets from her ring. Even if the beast was weak, there was no telling how effective the poison would be as it only breathed in a small amount. Thankfully, the creature slowly fell to the ground and stopped moving.
Laying her head on the ground while trying to maintain a high level of awareness, she waited for the healing pellets take effect. She felt the injuries to her body slowly mending, but a fourth level-healing pellet from her master would take at least an hour to work enough to walk. Unfortunately, even if she had more she would not be at full strength for several days, perhaps a week, time she did not have.
The pain left her eyes watery and the thought of trying her best to rush through the woods injured was terrifying, but she had little choice. Missing out on a potential wealth of knowledge was difficult to swallow, but becoming a slave to the Huang Clan was unacceptable, she would need to persevere.
***
The sun was setting on the horizon when she made it to the canyon and the pain in her back was still unbearable. She encountered two more Savage Beasts along the way and was unable to avoid either of them. Thankfully, they were not as stealthy as the goat creature, and though throwing pellets was painful, she was able to ward them off from a distance as she traveled as quickly as possible.
The climb down into the canyon was difficult and left her delicate hands with small cuts and bumps filling with liquid, she was in the worst shape of her life. It never crossed her mind how hard a loose cultivator had it, and just one day made her realize how spoiled she had been by enjoying the safety of a sect.
There was manipulation and a form of politics to wade through, but she never felt as though she was in danger of losing her life. If it wasn’t for the limit of information, becoming a cultivation partner was not looking so bad anymore. For now though, she cast the needless thoughts free from her mind and began searching for a place to stay.
The canyon was not large, but it was wide and smooth enough to make finding cover difficult, however, along the cliff edges there were piles of rocks that afforded some amount of shelter. It came with the threat of dying from a rockslide, but it was better than being exposed.
As she made her way through the canyon, she spotted what looked like a crevice between two large boulders she could easily fit in, and cautiously walked towards it. The canyon was eerily quiet, and after checking to make sure there was nothing living inside, she got on her hands and knees, slowly crawling in.
“Humph, walking through a little bit of woods left you in this state, and you smell terrible as well. What have you been doing all your life?” She recognized the voice immediately and she nearly collapsed once she heard it. ‘Indeed, what have I been doing throughout my life?’ she thought.
“I’ve made it as you said. Do you not plan to help the savior of your family as you promised?” she replied in a somewhat sweet voice while turning to face the old man. She was hardly in the mood for banter, but she did not want to sound defeated.
“You did make it in time, though just barely, and you hardly have that fairy like look to you anymore,” the old man chuckled. “But the filth can be washed, the injuries not so much. I bet you’ve taking plenty of pellets, yet you’re barely managing to crawl. Just another example of how worthless alchemy is.”
The old man let out a stream of obscenities, the likes of which she had never heard before, and did not stop until his face looked like it was going to explode. However, the moment he finished weaving his tapestry of curses, he took a snow-white pellet from his ring – brighter than any pellet she had ever seen – and handed it to her.
After explaining it was a healing pill, she placed the pellet on her tongue and it filled her with a warmth unlike anything she ever felt. It raced through her body and rapidly healed her as if her struggles through the forest never happened. The boy, who for some reason looked more injured than she was, had a concerned look on his face, but he did not move to help.
She looked like a mess, but she hardly cared to keep up appearances. The pellet was enough evidence that the old man had more to offer than her previous master had, and confirmed she made the right choice. But as she fought against the fatigue and stared into the old man’s eyes, only one thought crossed her mind, ‘Could she afford the price the old man would charge?’
