Chapter 12 – Whimsical Curiosity

Shen Jian was feeling oddly twitchy as he ate dinner that night. He didn’t understand why he was feeling so either.

He’d checked the entirety of the house three times and checked outside of the house two times and still he hadn’t seen or felt anything out of the ordinary.

And yet, he remained twitchy.

It was mildly irritating.

With his dinner eaten, dishes washed and his body cleaned up, Shen Jian decided to just ignore the weird feeling in his gut and go to sleep. Part of him was expecting even his sleep to be hindered by the feeling.

He wasn’t wrong.

Shen Jian woke up just an hour later, getting a very odd feeling as if something was happening. Or going to happen. He wasn’t sure which.

Sitting up on his bed, he looked out the window. The sky was darker than earlier, the world only slightly illuminated by the light from the crescent moon. A cool wind blew through the trees, ruffling the leaves gently.

He stood next to the window, watching the tree branches sway back and forth with the wind.

Until suddenly, the loose foliage all bent to one side in union. It lasted for merely a moment but his eyes still caught it.

He blinked in wonder.

It was as if a weak shockwave had just passed through the area.

He continued watching the scenery, the wind having gone to normal after a few seconds.

Then suddenly, it happened again.

This time, he saw it clearly.

A burst of wind suddenly passed through the area like a shockwave, bending all the weaker trees and plants in its direction before they all snapped back into position.

Shen Jian darted out of his room. The direction of the source of that pulse was not visible from his window so he went to one that did have a view of the source.

As he stared out the relevant window however, he finally found the reason for the recent strangeness. His strange gut feeling and the apparent shockwaves.

His amber eyes were met with flashing lights.

Far in the distance, beyond the sparse forest, the peak of the mysterious mountain was visible that night because the sky was mostly clear of clouds.

At and around the peak of the mountain, he could see lights flashing on and off again and again. They were of various colours, but most of them were orange, red and yellow with the occasional green mixed in.

He squinted his eyes. From observing further, the orange, red and the rare green lights were coming from the same source. The yellow was apparently an opposing source.

They weren’t bright enough to light up the village or anything but they were definitely eye-catching.

There was a clash of orange and yellow lights that was bigger than usual. Before his eyes, he saw the foliage in the distance bending away from the clash, the phenomenon spreading and approaching in his direction.

He braced himself as what was definitely a shockwave passed through his location. It wasn’t very damaging though, most of its force having bled out through the journey and only serving to ruffle his hair at most. The plants nearby being significantly less braced naturally swayed with the wave.

With his arm on his forehead, Shen Jian watched the spectacle in the distance wide-eyed.

There was a battle going on there.

Oh, he didn’t really know that was the case of course. He was just taking a guess.

But unless the flashing and clashing lights were a natural phenomenon, he strongly suspected that a battle between supernatural forces was taking place at the mountain peak.

“The mysterious being that’s said to live there…” He muttered in thought, remembering the various tall tales and rumours the villagers had about the mountain in the distance.

There had always been a rumour that something lived on that mountain. Something strong. Something that didn’t allow other threatening creatures to approach the mountain, the leading theory as to why the sparse forest was filled with oversized but mostly dumb beasts instead of cunning spirit beasts.

Looking at the spectacle, he wondered if one such threatening creature made a move on the being that resided on the mountain.

“A spirit beast? Or is it…” His words trailed off, his thoughts going wild.

All of a sudden, a purple light flashed into existence. Whoever was causing the red, orange and green lights perhaps weren’t expecting it because for a moment, they were thrown away and overwhelmed by the purple light.

The flashing lights continued for a while longer, nearly half an hour passing by. As he watched, the orange and red lights started to become less and less prominent, slowly being overcome by the yellow and purple lights. The green ones became completely absent.

At one point, the yellow and purple lights started to gather to form a huge ball. And then, it struck out.

The orange and red light looked tiny as the two clashed. From the distance he was at, it looked like a clash between a baseball and a golf ball. The outcome seemed obvious just from appearance.

As expected, the orange and red lights started to edge backwards. It struggled vainly for a good half a minute but it was clearly losing.

Then, the smaller red and orange ball seemingly pulsed. Suddenly, the whole clash of lights exploded, briefly illuminating even the village for a fraction of a second like a colourful bolt of lightning.

Another shockwave came, this one stronger than any before. Shen Jian braced against the windowsill and as the wave passed, he thought he heard a vague thump echo through the house.

When he opened his squinted eyes wide and looked back to the mountain, he saw the orange and red ball of light flying through the sky away from the mountain, the yellow and purple staying still at the mountain.

His ears, more sensitive than any mundane human’s, vaguely heard what felt like a roar echoing from the mountain.

Soon, all the lights slowly faded away. As he watched however, he saw the red and orange lights flicker on and off a few times as the source of it flew towards the village in the sky.

Shen Jian squinted his eyes. He didn’t know if his eyes were wrong but it felt like the red and orange ball was falling instead of flying.

He hurriedly made his way to the roof. Throwing open the door, he watched in mild worry as the red and orange light grew dimmer and dimmer.

As it grew closer, he suddenly realized that the light he was seeing was actually a flame, a red and orange flame covering something.

The flames flickered more and more. Soon, it passed above the village at a high speed and fell downwards.

Right into the thick forest.

The light disappeared. The winds went back to normal, the sky was once again dark, the night once again peaceful.

Shen Jian stared in the direction the flaming entity fell. He bit his lips and hesitated for a while.

“Ah, screw it.” He cursed and rushed downstairs.

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He quickly dressed himself in his usual hunting attire, finishing with putting his sword on his hip. Additionally, he grabbed a large cloth to use as a sack, just in case he might need to touch or carry something that he couldn’t carry in his pouch.

In the dead of night, Shen Jian dashed towards the thick forest for the very first time.

He was simply too curious to let this chance go.

Shen Jian neared the edge of the thick forest and with a gulp, he carefully ventured inside, double checking to see that he was going in the direction where the light fell.

The thick forest wasn’t called so because there was less space between the trees. On the contrary, there was plenty of space between trees though noticeably less than the sparse forest.

No, the thick forest was called so because the trees themselves were strangely wider. Not only were they thicker than normal trees, but they were also taller than normal despite at first glance being the same species as the trees in the sparse forest.

“Creepy…” Shen Jian mumbled. The place just felt too ominous for him to relax for even a moment. Doubly so because he was exploring the place at night. He almost slapped himself when he realized that he forgot to bring a light source with him.

“Too late for regrets.” Shen Jian murmured as he crept forward at a steady pace, trying to keep the noises he made to a minimum, his eyes darting left, right and up.

Thankfully for his nerves, the forest wasn’t completely silent. The wind was blowing through the trees, nocturnal insects were letting out cries and he also heard the sound of water flowing nearby.

The sound of water became evident as he came across a stream a few meters in width, some moonlight falling between the leaves and onto it. It was mostly shallow so he carefully stepped into it and made his way across, shivering as the cold water chilled his legs.

Once on dry ground, he shook his legs to get some of the water off and trudged onwards, hoping he was going in the right direction.

As Shen Jian continued his trek, a heavy sensation started to fill his gut. With every step he took, his heart shook. He had to voluntarily focus on his breathing just to make sure he hadn’t unknowingly held his breath.

Under the darkness of the canopy, just as he was about to take another step…

He heard the sound of something rustling in the foliage nearby.

He froze. That wasn’t caused by the wind.

With his feet stiff on the ground and his breath low, he slowly looked around. He couldn’t see anything obviously out of place in the darkness but he instinctively knew.

He knew that he wasn’t alone.

His eyes panned back to the front and to his surprise, he found a small light in the distance ahead. The light of a flame.

Feeling a bit heartened, he looked around again, still seeing nothing, and decided to proceed.

Step by step, he moved towards the flame. Getting closer and closer. The feeling of being watched didn’t go away, staying steadily constant through his trek. He tried his best to not let it bother him.

Finally, he stepped into a clearing. With the grass and foliage burning and a scorched hole in the canopy above, the source of all the recent disturbance laid in the centre of the clearing.

As he stepped around the few fires burning on the ground, he moved closer and finally got a good look.

It was a woman.

Wearing a damaged red dress with golden accents, the woman laying face down on the ground had long black hair reaching her waist, spread out over her back and the ground haphazardly. He couldn’t see her face as it was turned away from him.

He knew just from the aura around her that she was a cultivator.

Shen Jian hesitated to move closer. With her beaten and bruised look and with her clothes slightly singed and torn at places, she was the very picture of a person at their weakest.

But she was still a cultivator. And he had seen one too many movies in his past life where the supposedly unconscious person suddenly and reflexively attacked anyone who came near or tried to touch them.

He hesitated a moment longer before he approached a bit closer. About two feet away from the woman, Shen Jian parted his lips shakily. “Madam? Are you awake?” He asked weakly.

To no surprise, there was no response.

He cursed his weak voice, too pressured by the atmosphere of the place and the situation he was in. Before he tried again, he looked closely at her torso to see if she was breathing.

In the dim light of the fires around them, he could see her back moving up and down slowly.

With that confirmation, he tried again. “Excuse me, madam. Are you…?” He trailed off, not even knowing what to say. What was he supposed to even do in this situation? Ask her if she’s awake? She obviously wasn’t. Ask her if she’s alright? Again, she obviously wasn’t.

Against his better judgment, he approached the woman and knelt beside her. He shakily reached out his hand towards her shoulder, half expecting her to suddenly grab his hand.

But she didn’t. He laid a hand on her shoulder and was briefly distracted by the quality of the fabric of her dress. It was stupidly soft and smooth.

Driving away his errant thoughts, he shook her shoulder, trying to wake her up. “Madam. Wake up. It’s not safe here.”

He continued to shake her for a few seconds and soon he was rewarded with a groan.

Heartened, he shook her again lightly. “Please wake up. It’s not safe here. We need to move.”

However before he could do anything else, a growl resounded in the clearing.

Shen Jian froze, his blood turning to ice.

His head turned mechanically and at the edge of the clearing, he could see a set of large yellow eyes, peering at him.

His hands shook. His whole body shook. He absently nudged the woman again. “Madam?”

There was no reply from the woman. She hadn’t woken up.

The eyes at the edge of the clearing neared and the head of a leopard slowly came into view under the dim moonlight.

He could feel an invisible aura weighing on his shoulders. In the darkness of the thick forest, he felt oddly shackled by its mere presence.

Shen Jian stared at what he could only guess to be a spirit beast eyeing him from the distance.

“… Nope.” He weakly declared.

Without any regard for potential sleep attacks, he flipped the woman over to her back, hooked his hands under her knees and her back and got to his feet, lifting her in his arms.

He was so frazzled by the situation that he didn’t even look at her face.

With nary a glance to the predator stalking him, Shen Jian turned around and bolted back in the direction he came from.

Maybe the beast was startled by his speed not matching his clear lack of cultivation because its heavy aura stuttered for a moment. It was enough for him to pick up the pace and sprint through the brush.

He was lucky that the clearing he found the woman in was relatively close to the edge of the forest. Otherwise, there was no way he could navigate his way through it in the darkness of the night.

The aura of the spirit beast returned to his shoulders and his speed slightly decreased. Looking back, he could see the leopard darting from bush to bush and getting closer.

“Damn it, damn it. Come on…” He muttered in part fear and part frustration as he ran with all his might.

He heard the sound of wood being chipped behind him. Taking a brief glance behind, he saw the leopard climbing a tree with ease and stalking onto a branch. It jumped from one branch to another as it came nearer and nearer to him.

Shen Jian grit his teeth and willed himself to run faster. At the rate he was going, he was going to get caught. He had no wish to die again so soon.

He leaped over a fallen tree and his eyes suddenly caught sight of the stream he had passed earlier. Hoping it would slow down the beast, he rushed towards it hastily, the sound of tree branches rustling from the beast’s weight approaching closer than ever.

He didn’t look back. Shoring up his will, he took a running dash towards the water.

At the same time, the leopard pounced towards him from the tree above, its claws and fangs gleaming.

Neither of them noticed the eyes of the woman slowly open.

The first thing that entered her eyes was the face of a handsome young man, his amber eyes filled with fear yet looking determined as he moved. She could feel his hands on her back and knew that he was carrying her.

The next thing she noticed was the open maw of a leopard spirit beast approaching closer and closer to the neck of the boy, the claws on its extended limbs a mere few feet away from him.

The woman took it all in within a fraction of a second. Then one of her sandaled feet twitched slightly.

Just as Shen Jian entered the water and was partly blinded by the splash of water, a jet of dull flame shot out from the woman’s foot and pierced through the shoulder of the airborne beast.

The beast fell to the ground behind him in pain, roaring in agony.

Shen Jian felt a brief burst of heat from his side and back but he ignored it. He ignored even the roar of the beast behind him and waded through the water at top speed, aided by the sudden dip in the aura weighing him down.

Barely a few seconds passed before he jumped out of the water and ramped his speed back up, focusing on nothing but running away from the imminent danger.

The woman in his arms kept looking at his face for a while longer, seeing him become calmer and happier as the trees around them became lesser and the sky became more visible as they left the forest entirely.

She watched as he looked behind to see if the beast was still following them, his face breaking out into a happy smile when he saw the coast was clear.

She could feel the way his frantic heartbeat slowed as he sighed in relief.

She watched it all in a daze before she slowly closed her eyes and her mind rested.

Shen Jian looked down just in time and was dazed as he caught a fleeting glance of her blue eyes before they closed. Then he was dazed by just how beautiful she was.

Mentally slapping himself, he looked around to orient himself before he moved towards his home, stealing a peek at the woman’s face every now and then.

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With the woman resting on his late parents’ bed, Shen Jian sat on a chair beside it with his face in his hands and trying not to groan.

It was only now after all the action was over and he’d had a few hours of sleep in his own room that he realized how stupid his actions last night were.

Never mind the fact that he ventured into a place where spirit beasts roam, he had a more pressing problem.

Simply said, what if the woman resting peacefully in his house right now turned out be evil? After all, there were always plenty of evil people with a pretty face.

He absently stole a glance at her.

A very pretty face.

And she was still a teenager. Yet she was beautiful enough that he mistook her as a grown woman last night. Just looking at her was enough to make him blush.

Shaking his head and slapping his cheeks lightly, Shen Jian stood and decided to make breakfast. Hopefully, the girl would be awake by the time he was done.

In his heart, he was hoping she would be a decent person and not an arrogant or evil person.

Sometime later, he climbed the stairs with a tray filled with various foods in his hands.

“Maybe she’s awake now.” He mumbled. He had heard the sound of a bed creaking earlier so perhaps she had finally woken up.

He stopped himself from just walking inside the room she was in and instead shifted his tray to hold it with one hand and used the other to knock on the door. “Madam? May I come in?”

He waited but there was no reply. He knocked again just to be safe.

Still not hearing any reply, Shen Jian slowly opened the door.

He caught sight of the woman leaning on the headboard and reflexively opened his mouth with a smile. “Hello madam. Glad to see you awake-”

He was interrupted by a loud click of her tongue.

Shen Jian stiffened, his soft words broken mid-sentence.

His eyes finally caught hers… and her blue eyes were looking at him with scorn and disgust.

The smile on his face slowly slipped away.