Volume 2-Chapter 10

Chapter 10

~~~~Yang An Lu~~~~

Moss legs thundered across the earth, each of them an earthquake caused by a demon born in an era long gone.

My body rolled across the flat ground as instincts forged in another life made themselves felt in a way only a life and death battle could.

I didn't have seconds to think, I had fractions of a heartbeat. I didn't think, I acted and my spear cut into the leg of the Moss-Eye.

My spear parted through the moss, the creature's eyes crying with eight stolen screeches of pain.

"Yang An Lu, Yang An Lu, Yang An Lu!" The clansmen shouted over the demon's screeches

I didn't have the time to look at what I hit and I doubted it was a ligament. The demon's legs continued thundering and trying to hit me with its legs. Each of its legs were wider than my body and I knew perfectly well that them stepping on me once would end this life and so I avoided them.

I dashed to the back of the creature and took the opportunity to finally stand back on my own two feet and gripped my spear tight.

I stabbed the thing in the back as it tried to find me, but my spears did little to it, it's large moss bulk absorbing my hits and the wounds mending back together.

I needed to hit an organ to deal permanent damage to the damned thing.

The spider turned towards me and used one of its thick legs legs to create room and I was forced to jump back to avoid it.

The creature's face eyes locked into me, each of its faces locked into a death lock born out of the purest hate one can feel.

It started moving unsteadily now, and bared its bone fangs in a clear display of threat but it did not attack yet.

'Are my wounds catching up on it, or has it started getting tired?' I wondered.

I was still amazed at my new body's stamina. In my past life, the sort of stamina these strange creatures called humans possessed would have made even first tier cultivators envious.

It took me thirty years of cultivation to build up the stamina this body achieved by the time I turned twenty and now I could fight continuously for hours.

"Yang An Lu, Yang An Lu, Yang An Lu!" The clansmen continued to chant.

"If you won't go on the offensive, then I will beast!" I declared and started to attack.

My spear and body moved as one and I managed to stab the thing into its human head, my spear stabbing into its left eye-socket. I couldn't afford to dig too deeply into its flesh lest I be stuck and so I quickly backpedaled before it could stab me with its fangs, my spear leaving a bloody mess of its left eye-socket.

Red blood and some sort of green fluid poured

The thing gave an unholy demonic screech, with its eye-faces and spider maw, but I noticed something, its human face was not shouting, instead it looked like it was weeping green liquid from its good eye.

The demon charged straight towards me and I jumped to the side trying my best to avoid it.

'Do better Yang An, we died of old age last time and that is far greater an achievement than killing this thing. We will not cut our new life short, not like this!' I silently shouted to myself.

My hands started feeling heavier and I started breathing harder and deeper.

"So even this body has limits it seems." I observed.

Humans don't get tired, like the wolf-kin and according to the texts I found of the other clans we had the greatest stamina between the bear clans, the snake clans or even the Hawk-clans. I've never even heard of humans, despite my species apparently being descended from them, but for all their strangeness, they were built for conflict and war. There's no other reason why they could fight for so much longer than anything else I've ever read of.

"What?" I said numbly.

The demon was not trying to charge at me, instead it was running?

Since when did demons run?

The Moss-Eye had charged not to kill me, but to get me out of its way as it noticed a chink in the clansmen encirclement and it decided to take it to escape.

"Come back you coward!" I shouted and started chasing after it.

I needed to kill it for entry into the clan! I can't do that if it runs, because if it escaped then I'll need to hunt one again or something worse!

The clansmen stopped chanting too as the thing passed them and they immediately shouted and tried to bring it back into the circle.

The thing stopped just as it reached the end of the clearing and screeched loudly in hate.

"Outsiders!" One of the clanswomen shouted.

"Come kill the damn thing! We'll help you keep it in the clearing, but we are not interfering in your hunt besides that!" A male voice shouted.

I couldn't to see who they were the demon blocking my view, not that I would have cared even if I could. I had my chance to kill this thing now and I intended to use it.

I jumped on the things' back, my legs were not as capable of jumping as my last one, this body's only deficiency as far as I was concerned, so I didn't hit where I wanted to. Instead I hit the strange flat backside of the spider that reminded me of a wax seal and climbed it with one hand.

My other hand was busy stabbing the creature with each climb to draw its attention and away from the outsiders.

The thing shouted as it noticed me there and started thrashing wildly, but I was already on its back and it could not get me from here, which meant one thing and judging by its thrashes growing wilder, the spider knew it too.

I had the freedom to stab it as I willed and it could do nothing about it.

"Yang An Lu, Yang An Lu, Yang An Lu!" The clansmen started chanting again.

I almost fell of its back, despite my spear being planted in-between the segments composing its body, but I managed to hold on as I moved closer and closer to my destination, the back of its head.

I reached it, eventually, the spider not making it easy and then I started stabbing.

If the thing's screeches of pain and hate were mighty before, they were nothing compared to it bellows now. They sounded like the screams of the damned and it reminded me of slave armies brought low as they boiled in the attack of an elder meant to clean the chaff from the battlefield.

I cared nothing for those screams then, and I cared nothing for them now. I continued stabbing it, each stab causing its screams to weaken

Eventually it stopped screaming, but I didn't stop stabbing until I was sure it was dead. When the thing stopped twitching, only then did I stop.

I was sweating, my breaths were shallow and my arms felt like they were covered in lead as I looked down at my defeated foe.

The clansmen were chanting, but to my tired mind they felt off. It wasn't the chanting I had grown used to in the last few hours.

"Yang An Xie, Yang An Xie, Yang An Xie!" They kept repeating cheerfully.

I brought my spear up into air and with my last bit of strength shouted for the entire forest to hear.

"Victory!" Were the last words I shouted before the world grew dark and exhaustion took me.

~~~~Tai Su~~~~

The atmosphere of the wolf clansmen was celebratory as they carried their latest member home.

The four of us followed respectfully behind them as they praised their sleeping clansman and were already talking about who will be the lucky woman to take him to her tent.

"Strange people." Ya Xue muttered.

Mei Lin and Da Xiu nodded at that.

"Living in this forest is bound to do that to you." I replied.

Back home, anything the size of the demon would have been brought back and cooked, but the thing was inedible to the clansmen, so they left it there to rot.

The others wanted to say more, but a glance at them warned them to be respectful, the clansmen in front of us could hear us even if they pretended to ignore us.

I saw the ears of one of the women twitch when Ya Xue called them weird and I've seen teacher's ears twitch too many times to not be extra attentive to the ears of the beast clanners. Wolves may not be foxes, but their ears are close enough in shape for them to most likely fulfill the same role.

It was strange seeing those ears a mix of gray and blonde though, I've gotten used to seeing them be a deep red or the rare ginger color.

"Should we be worried about the creature they killed? It won't spawn some thousand young from it's body and drown is in an endless tide of bodies?" I asked Ya Xue and Mei Lin.

They were the only ones with a formal education that seemed to cover demon beasts and I was curious to learn more.

"No, they aren't Swarm-Skulls, but on the bright side those things are edible unlike the Moss-Eyes." Another female voice cheerily interjected before Ya Xue could answer.

We turned towards the voice and saw that it belonged to a woman that looked to be in her forties dressed in leathers that covered most of her body except her arms. Her pale blond and ashen hair framed a severe looking face that looked made out of polished marble and made me think it was unnatural. Perhaps it was sculpted by an alchemist's medicine?

But if it was like that, why did she choose to look so old?

She had left her group and came closer to us, which it seems they've decided on a minder.

"I thought these were called Abyssal Spiders." I replied.

The woman snorted.

"That's how you humans call them, we call them what they are, not what someone that never saw one decided to name them." She answered.

She was now moving by my side, the rest of my squad falling a few steps behind us. The woman looked expectantly at me and I realized that she wished to make introductions.

It seemed she wished to show us face by using our ways of introducing ourselves, because from what I've been able to find of them, the wolf clan did not have as strict a social hierarchy and ways of enforcing it as the empire did.

"I am Tai Su, the leader of this squad, I'll let my squad introduce themselves if they wish to." I said and introduced myself.

I gave her a slight bow as a sign of respect, which was more than I needed to. I was a sect cultivator and she was a tribal foreigner allowed to live on imperial lands, I didn't need to show respect or give her face, but being polite never cost me anything and so I will continue doing it.

None of the others seemed interested to talk, which meant that I'll have to talk alone with the woman.

"I am Kim Anh Xie, the leader of this hunting party." She introduced herself and gave a shallow bow back.

"Well met Kim Anh Xie, I am sorry to ask it, but I am curious as to what your name means, it's like nothing I've ever heard before." I probed lightly.

I could hear that the words did not flow the same as Imperial, they were a different language, and so trying to try and match them with words in my language would sound more like gibberish than an actual name.

The old woman giggled at my words, which meant that names were a safe enough topic.

"Kim means gold and Anh means brilliance. My name would be translated in your language as Precious Blossom or Golden Hero I think." She answered.

"Ah, so we have a venerable hero to serve as guide then." I complimented the woman, which earned me a proper laugh.

"You have no idea how rare it is to her you imperial call me a hero, most lovestuck fools call me a golden flower or some nonsense. But let us not talk of that for now, I would like to thank you for stopping the Moss-Eye from running but not harming it more than you needed to. It was kind of you to not intervene in the Initiation." She answered, her tone light and friendly.

"We noticed that it looked like an important ritual. I would assume that the reincarnator passed it?" I asked and pressed on the reason why we were here.

She nodded her head, not surprised in the slightest we knew they newest tribe member was a reincarnator.

"Yes, we'll have to teach him our language until he's fully a part of our people and allowed to marry, but he's part of the clan now, which means we're honor bound to defend him." She explained.

I could have taken it as a threat, the tone she used was not threatening, but it was undeniably a warning at the very least. My smile did not waver at all as I spoke next.

"Good thing that the man is not a criminal then. From what I was told he was not born in the empire, so he has broken no law by becoming a cultivator without authorization. As he has been compliant to our customs and laws, and is now a part of a foreign allied clan in good standing, this means that so is he." I replied.

Her smile turned a fraction bigger.

"I am glad to hear it, I would be happier to hear why you are here then. We were expecting to meet a bureaucrat in a year once we returned to Tay Vo village, not four sect cultivators." She replied.

That wasn't a demand at least, or I would have had to start being less polite. I couldn't just answer her question, as it would put me as the one being questioned as opposed to the one doing the questioning.

"Tay Vo?" I asked instead.

It was a subtle warning to tone down her boldness, which she seemed to take to heart, judging from her subtle change in tone as she turned a bit more deferential.

"It means Western Plum Tree village. I never understood the imperial's strange stubbornness in not giving names to things, but we do name settlements, especially those that are important to us." She answered.

I nodded at her words, I understand exactly where she was coming from.

In my past life, the little straight patches of dirt in the village would have been given a name each, same for any puddle of water that lasts for a few years and many large rocks. In the Empire of Blazing Sun settlements just go unnamed and nobody seems to care about it.

I understood why, but it was still strange when thinking of how my past life did things.

"Strange custom, but I can see where you are coming from. I will inform the village of the fact you gave them a name though. Names hold a special meaning in Imperial culture and giving someone a name is a sign of closeness." I replied.

She raised an eyebrow at me as if asking me if I was serious.

"Should I expect more like Yang An Xie to try and join the clan?" She asked expectantly.

It was my turn to chuckle, and I gave her a suggestive look, that suggested what the answer to that question was. It took her moments to realize what my look implied and the woman cussed in her own language when she realized the implications of it.

It wasn't a no or a yes, not quite. She was merely asking the wrong question.

Giving someone or something a name or nickname was an act of love. Villages giving each other temporary or unofficial names was an open invitation for their young to 'mingle'.

Official names that exist on paper are given to important places and it is considered a great honor for a settlement to receive a name, and a bit uncouth to just take a name for yourself unless you've done something to earn it.

The Xie tribe has essentially declared their intent to have their next generations mingle with each nameless village they named, and all that needed to happen for them to be swamped by propositions for marriage, or some fun from single men and women, was for me to inform someone of this.

"I don't suppose I can convince you to not share the fact we named imperial villages? It's hard enough to prevent pregnancies without the humans also being eager to start courting our traders and hunters." She asked, her eyes begging me to say yes.

I suppose I could be merciful on the poor woman.

"I am here to ask the reincarnator of his past life. This is our first mission without elder Shen Xifeng overseeing us, as she deemed it a safe enough thing for us to do without her present. I suppose I could learn to be more accepting of local customs if you were willing to teach me some of them." I offered kindly.

The way her shoulders slumped in relief was a sight to see.

"Yes, I would be more than happy to teach you some of our customs, also Shen Xifeng? According to my grandfather that was the name of one of the women that were there for the negotiations on our right to settle the Abyssal Forest, is this woman one of her descendants? Do you know anything about what came of her?"

I shook my head, no I had no clue about this other woman, but I am pretty sure the two are one and the same.

"I don't know, we have been cultivators for less than a year and I don't know master's genealogy or past missions. Elder Shen Xifeng is the personal disciple of sect master Fu Jian and a Third Tier Cultivator, so it is possible she was there, but I honestly have no clue." I answered.

That made her hair fizzle and she stopped for a few seconds. The rest of us stopped two steps after her as we all looked at her to give us a reason for the stop.

She looked incredibly conflicted, was there something I said?

"Fu Jian is the name of the man that was our most vocal advocate to allow us to settle the forest. We even built him a statue and continue to carry it with us ever since we started taming the forest." She explained softly.

That sounded… nice? I don't see why this made her react like this.

Oh wait, I remembered something important from master's lessons. The Xie are migratory, if they build something that is not a tent or a tool and carry it with them, then that something is important. The only reason they would make and carry a statue with them is if it was holy.

"That explains why master Shen Xifeng knew so much about your people then." I replied simply and pretended I didn't know what that meant.

If I pretend I don't know what her words mean, then I hopefully won't have to deal with them. Being linked to something people venerated never ended well and hopefully the woman will keep it to herself.