"phaaaaaaaaa... that's much better."
Our hero had just drunk his fill for the first time in weeks. He was able to because of the reservoir on the bottom floor of the pagoda. When he saw it he became overjoyed and drank straight from the reservoir. There were markings on the walls of the pagoda, shaped like an x with a simple diamond in the middle. That was the Pheasant's Tail Tribe's mark. Indeed, if Fang Hu's senses are correct, there is a stash of supplies hidden under one of these piles of rubble.
"Where did all this rubble even come from, this pagoda is perfectly intact, albeit old."
...
"Did they place it here to hide their supplies? ... No, Wo-Kong told me he ordered this resupply point set up himself. He didn't say when he did it, but these debris look to be old-old. Much more than 68 years at least. Something odd happened here..."
The thought that the tribe didn't mention the pagoda was odd. When combined with the thought of how distinct the tower was against the landscape, it became weirder that they didn't mention it. It wasn't like Hu had passed by many other towers in this place. Creeped out, Fang Hu tried to put his mind off of it. He said aloud the first thing that came to mind.
"It's great that this rubble didn't contaminate the water. It'd be awful if I got sick after all this, but that's unlikely, the tribe uses this as a water source, after all."
...
"Shit, what if they distill it?"
Our hero thought back to words he had heard time and time again in his childhood. These words were of great warning, they carried the message of what would happen if one drunk unsafe water. The hero of all our generations took these honored words and applied them towards himself, with this he finally realized the greatness of his folly. With horror, he let the words slither out of his mouth.
"Fang Hu has died of dysentery."
With much gusto, Fang Hu checked the supply cache, and was horrified when he found water. After panicking for several seconds, Fang Hu had the idea to scan the water. Using approximately the same amount of energy as when he looks for weaknesses in opponent's status', Fang Hu read the water's status.
~~~
Qi-Infused Water:
Water either generated from or infused with qi. When drunk by mortals, it is deadly, but when a cultivator meeting requirements drinks it, they find it extra refreshing. Stays fresh and clean forever, or when it's qi gets removed, whichever comes first.
Grade: Qi Gathering 1/13
~~~
'You know, that water did feel extra refreshing. Shame I almost died though. That would have sucked."
Our hero was using the age-old method of coping, denialism. In his mind, it didn't matter that he almost died, it's not important that he almost killed himself. He's sure he has some form of plot armor or something. What's it matter if he does something stupid?
!!!
A sharp feeling broke Fang Hu out of his ruminations. It was the same feeling as when he first found the tower, only much stronger. This time, he could feel what it wanted. It was a feeling of challenge, of danger, and of great reward. Our hero, as eloquent as he is, had no trouble at all in expressing his feelings about the foreign feeling.
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"What in sweet baby Jesus's bedazzled butt was that?"
Indeed.
...
Fang Hu felt that the building wanted him to enter the next floor by the set of stairs on his left and felt like he would die if he tried to enter through the stairs on his right. Fang Hu was always a person who trusted his gut, for better or worse.
~~Some time later~~
"Sheeeeeiiiit."
Our hero had passed countless death traps. Even if he could tell what would try to kill him and what wouldn't, that last trap that would have placed him into bindings and brought down a pendulum axe was enough to unnerve him. That's not even considering the hundreds of straight up cultivator-style landmines he had tiptoed around.
Over time, the intent that Fang Hu could feel had become increasingly hostile. Hu thinks the tipping point was when the intent smugly presented a series of acrobatic death traps built over pits filled with snakes. Our hero just walked through the snakes, surely this was not something the old Fang Hu could do, but he had gained an affinity with snakes. To him the average snake looked no more menacing than the average dog. When coupled with his 'understanding' power, Fang Hu has nothing to fear. Though, he still handles them with care, he'd seen C*jo.
After that, our hero has had to navigate based off of what the presence wanted to kill him, not off of what it thought would. While that may sound like a small difference, but it made a huge impact. He had almost died twice to traps that the presence didn't even want to kill him with.
Fang Hu had long wanted to turn back, but ran into a problem every time he tried. Whatever was behind that intent, it didn't care if he turned back. Indeed, it would let him go back, but in that lies the problem. If Fang Hu couldn't use the intent to judge where the traps are, he couldn't go back. Our hero had long lost count of the traps he had passed, and, even if his life depended on it, he couldn't remember them all. It is unfortunate that, in this situation, his life does depend on it.
~~Some more time later~~
"I know there has to be some cultivator hoodoo voodoo shit going on. That was the 30th floor I just passed. I'd bet my nut that there weren't many more than 10 floors on this damn tower."
Just as our hero finished bitching about how big this tower was, he reached the end of the staircase and entered the topmost layer of the pagoda. Unlike the other floors, there were no walls on this level of the pagoda. Fang Hu felt remorse. Not remorse over trying to kill him or anything, no, that'd be sane. He felt as if the originator of the intent used to love watching this field. The feeling was strong enough that he could imagine himself standing on this pagoda and looking over a field so lush that anyone calling it "wonton fields" would be laughed out of town.
Just as Fang Hu thought he might be seeing something important, he heard a large boom behind himself. Turning around he witnessed a rather large tail poking out of the ceiling. Instinctively, he scanned it.
~~~
Razorwind Great Spirit Ape
Grade: Foundation Establishment 4/13
Description: A large spirit ape that has embraced the wind element. Has been trapped for years, crazed and will attack on sight. Beware it's mighty wind attacks and great strength.
~~~
"Oh fer- GIVE ME A BREAK!"