Baiyun told himself it was fine.

In fact, it was something he had half expected to happen from the start. Spirit beasts weren't motionless statues, after all.

If the path he took was blocked, all he needed to do was to route around it and hope no walls of rock blocked the way. And if that was truly the only way back, he could wait until the spirit beast moved out of the way.

His hands grew clammy, so he tightened his grip on the fungus fork and scythe he held in each hand. After noting the poisonous goop clinging to the farming implement, he figured it might be an effective weapon.

It was fine, he told himself again.

But he suddenly froze as an indistinct sound entered his ears. If something was close by, he would remain motionless until it passed.

The sound grew clearer and clearer until he realised it was a rustle from the ceiling. Baiyun's eyes constricted. That was the closest anything had been to him! He frantically swung his divine thread upwards.

Instantly, the thread sensed a beast falling from the ceiling towards him.

Time seemed to slow.

No, there wasn't any time to dodge! How had it gotten this close to him?

Baiyun strained himself to his limit, letting go of the fork and reaching out to shove the unknown beast away. With his other hand that held the poison-stained hand scythe, he tried to slash the beast, but was far too slow.

It crashed onto him, sending pain coursing through his body. His hand pushed the creature's head aside and he heard a long clack as its mandibles snapped shut beside his face. A chill went down his spine. If he had been a moment slower, his face would have been mangled!

He finally realised it was a massive spider, one just as big as him.

The spider seemed just as confused as him after missing its attack, so Baiyun hurriedly kicked the spider off him and rolled onto his feet in a hurry. He breathed heavily and clutched his painfully throbbing chest. He could sense a few cracks in his ribs, but thankfully the impact broke no bones.

He cursed himself, thinking he should have known better. He thought his divine sense would keep him safe by being a step ahead of qi sense, but he forgot to fully account for the basic senses!

Of course. Spirit beasts could rely on their hearing and touch as well to navigate the dark caverns. In his old world, the beasts he faced had ludicrous qi fields that could stretch for kilometres, so it was easy to forget that.

To some extent, he did realise it from the beginning, from how he extinguished light and walked in silence. But he forgot hearing could be used for more than sensing distant threats; it could also be used to directly seek prey! He finally realised the mortal world worked by a different logic.

The spider scuttered away at inhuman speeds, fleeing the range of his spirit sense in an instant. Baiyun cursed under his breath. Foul creature...

Ambush predators were cautious creatures by nature, so it did not stay to fight. It was most likely only retreating for now, and would look for another opportunity to get the jump on him.

But Baiyun sweated as he realised the bigger problem at hand.

Since the spider was not using qi sense, it meant the field of qi sense blocking his way was from a different beast. And it had certainly heard the commotion.

The field of qi suddenly expanded, its aura washing over him! The worst had come to fruition. Unable to tell what it was, Baiyun could only hold out his scythe in its direction.

He could hear the creature glide across the ground in pitch darkness, roughly 6 metres away; too far for his divine thread to sense. It did not approach, but circled him cautiously. Baiyun continued to turn and face its direction, holding out his scythe towards it. Cold sweat dripped from his face.

The desperation he worked so hard to be rid off now returned tenfold.

Think! He had to figure out a way to survive before the creature attacked.

A moment passed, and a risky thought came to mind.

He closed his eyes. With a swift motion, he reached into his bag and pulled out the helmet. In the endless darkness, a faint light peeked out of the bag, revealing the endless ocean of rock around him! It was not a bright light, but in endless darkness, it was as radiant as the sun.

"Ssssssss!"

A loud hiss of pain echoed as the creature flinched. It revealed itself as a giant snake as long as several grown men lying flat.

"!"

With his eyes still shut, Baiyun placed the helmet upon his head and charged at the creature, leaping into the air! His divine thread finally entered its effective range and gave him "sight", so he slashed his scythe towards its eyes.

The serpent swerved to the side, but the weapon still landed. With a clang, the scythe glanced off its tough scales, leaving a mere scratch and a small splotch of poison. It slithered away from him, baring its fangs threateningly and hissing.

It was still too bright to open his eyes entirely, but Baiyun squinted with his left eye and managed to look around. No other spirit beasts were in sight, but the spider was now on the ceiling, having jumped up silently.

The snake turned its back towards him, seemingly quite bothered by the light. It struck the ground with its tail and sent a small chunk of rock into the air, raising its head towards it. With a burst of qi, the earth softened and wrapped around its eyes.

The serpent approached him, its head raised as if proud of itself.

Baiyun's eyes twitched. What a stupid animal, making a blindfold just because its eyes hadn't adapted to the light yet!

He walked backwards slowly. Seeing the fungus fork he dropped from the corner of his eye, he squatted down to pick it up with his other hand.

At that moment, the snake lunged at him, shooting through the air with its mouth wide open! Baiyun threw the fork towards its mouth and ducked.

"Kraaahhh!"

The snake let out a guttural cry as it choked, followed by wretched gagging sounds. It began to puke piece after piece of the fungus up, along with a bloodied fork.

Its heavy body crashed onto one of Baiyun's legs, but he managed to squirm away and got onto his feet, running away as fast as he could!

But a sudden chill struck him as a familiar rustle entered his ear; he quickly rolled to the side!

At the very next moment, the spider launched itself from the ceiling and slammed onto the snake's neck, biting viciously into it! With a horrific crackling sound, the tough scales were crushed instantly, and its fangs sunk into the snake's flesh.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"SSrragghhh!" the snake hissed in pain.

Baiyun was stunned for a moment as he got up, patting the dust off his robes. Then he laughed to himself silently. To think the spider would be "on his side"!

With a quick motion, the snake swung its head backwards and slammed the spider into the ground with all its might. A loud cracking sound rang out as the spider went motionless. The snake's wound deepened and blood dripped to the ground, but it ignored its injury and pushed the stunned spider to the side.

The serpent tilted its head and wound up its body into a coil. Then it unleashed the trapped force in a single go, sending its body into a violent whirl and smashing its tail directly onto the spider’s head with the full might of its body weight!

A loud crunch echoed through the caverns. The spider slumped to the ground, its legs spazzing out.

Bleeding profusely from its neck and dribbling from its mouth, the snake turned to give Baiyun one last hateful look. Earth rose from the ground, seeping into its wounds and stopping its bleeding as it slithered away. Wild animals were rarely willing to fight to the death after all.

As the threat slid into the darkness, Baiyun finally sighed in relief. He stashed all his clothing into his bag before running over to the spider. It was still twitching... was it still alive or an involuntary reflex? Baiyun didn't care.

Without mercy, he slashed his scythe towards its head. The blade glanced off the dented carapace, leaving only a shallow cut, but he continued to attack relentlessly. Again! Again! His hands hurt and began to blister, but he did not stop.

It was only after minutes of violence when the spider finally stopped twitching, definitely dead. Baiyun breathed heavily as he fell backwards toward the ground. His body was covered in the blue blood of the spider.

At last, it was over...

What once was the head of a spider was now a mangled mess of blue blood, a faint orb glimmering in its midst. He reached for it and ripped it out.

A beast core, covered in scratches.

It was many times more useful than the poisoned fungus, but he did not feel any joy. This excursion had been far too risky. He had baseless confidence in his divine sense and forgot a mortal world worked differently from the divine worlds above. He barely escaped with his life!

He laughed bitterly. In his past life, did he not die to impulse as well?

He had not been a fighter in his past life. Safe within the protection of a sect, his days were peaceful and free of combat. If it had been Taikong, a combat elder from his past sect, he was sure the man would have won against the spider or the snake in a direct confrontation, even with a servant's weak body. But an inexperienced alchemist like him? With a little less luck, the corpse on the ground would have been him.

Baiyun resolved himself. He did not enjoy combat, but he would have to hone his skills in this life. There wasn't an almighty sect that could keep him safe from harm in this life.

The WanLing sect was unlikely to ever accept a servant as a disciple. If anything, he was more likely to become a subject of human experimentation if they realised he could cultivate.

Baiyun took out a gourd of water from his bag and poured the liquid over his body, enduring the cold. The blue blood of the spider washed off him. It was hardly dignified, but he did not want to explain why his clothes were stained by the blood of a spirit beast. Baiyun thought to himself that he must have resembled a savage from the wilds, attacking in a frenzy while unclothed.

After shaking off the water, he put his clothes back on and left, leaving the spider's corpse behind. It was a shame, but if his bag was inspected for whatever reason, he had no way to explain the corpse.

Step after step, he continued to retrace his way in the darkness. The journey was thankfully uneventful, free from beast attacks.

Baiyun stopped about 50 metres away from the earth spirit's safe zone, beside a large pit. While still outside the barrier, he was sure few spirit beasts would venture near a dangerous spirit's "territory". He took out a pot and several pieces of firewood and attempted to light the wood with a flint.

The sound of clacking could be heard as he struck the flint repeatedly, but not a spark was made. It seemed the air was too cold to start a proper fire.

Baiyun clicked his tongue in annoyance. Shaking his head, he took out a knife and began to hack at the core instead, breaking off small fragments into the pot. He picked one of the chunks and swallowed. How undignified, he cursed.

If he had eaten the core whole, his frail body would have been poisoned to death by qi overdose. It would have been easier to absorb the qi if the core had been boiled, but he had no choice in the matter. Baiyun missed his old alchemic tools.

Hours passed as his soul carefully refined qi from the fragments. The will of the spider within the core fought back, but it was quickly subdued by his soul, entering a dormant state.

Slowly, his cultivation level rose.

The first breakthrough happened. 2nd level of qi gathering!

Baiyun suppressed his emotions and continued to absorb the rest of the qi. Finally, with the last of the core fragments, he reached the 3rd level of qi gathering.

At last...

His face practically blue, he retched, vomiting out the remains of the core into the chasm beside him. Then he let out a ghastly burp of blackened qi.

Urgh. He felt nauseous. He felt so queasy, he barely felt the joy of breaking through. The sheer amount of impure qi within rendered most of the core useless, and he had to focus his soul to prevent his stomach from absorbing it.

Baiyun had a moment of doubt. Risking his life for just this, was the journey down here even worth it? Why did he get so far ahead of himself for just entering the 1st level of Qi Gathering?

He cleaned up his tools with water before returning to the barrier.

Suddenly, an external force suddenly peered into his bag. Baiyun sweated a little, but it seemed he was in the clear. Phew...

He didn't know what time it was, but he spent the rest of the day gathering mushrooms with the other servants as a cover.

Only a few hours of work remained. Before long, he followed the servants as they returned to the surface.

Ah. Baiyun stared towards the night sky in silence. Pitch black like the caverns beneath, yet infinitely more beautiful.

"Baiyun!" the voice of the light spirit snapped him out of his trance.

It seemed she had been waiting outside. Baiyun waved to her unenthusiastically.

"Hah... you look so glum! Why did you decide to go there anyway if it was going to make you so miserable?" she patted him on the shoulder. "Come, some proper food should cheer you up!"

Baiyun nodded, following her to the servants' canteen.

...

The sect spirits did not have names, but some had taken the liberty to name themselves. The earth spirit, who dubbed himself Earthquake, was one of the few.

He took great amusement in naming the other spirits ridiculous names that contrasted his mighty name. Truly, the majesty of the name "Earthquake" was hard to rival! Though naturally, he did not tell anyone what he had named them in secret.

Speaking of which, yesterday, a little spirit he dubbed "Shine" approached. Shine was annoyingly shiny as usual, rambling something about keeping a servant named "Bai Yu" or something safe. What a ridiculous request. Who would get attached to a short lived servant when they would die within a measly hundred years?

Earthquake shooed off Shine with a few affirmations, not wanting to be bothered. He spent the rest of the night and day resting.

Hm. It seemed it was time.

Earthquake watched in boredom as the servants of the sect arrived. Immediately, he could tell who "Bai Yu" was. A young boy with a miner's helmet and a coat, not luxuries most servants had. Even if he had fallen asleep, he would be able to figure out this was the human Shine favoured.

The human, contrary to Shine's bragging, did not get to work immediately.

Instead, he walked aimlessly, further and further away from the work. Hah. Earthquake nodded. Running all the way down here to get a chance to fool around and rest! In the end, even a hard worker would get tired. Earthquake did not mind and was merely amused.

Wait...

That boy was walking further and further away!

What in the world? Earthquake watched as "Bai Yu" left his barrier, now out of sight. The spirit shook his head.

To think Shine had gotten attached to a suicidal servant of all things. It made sense now, why he wanted to come to this miserable cave.

Earthquake hesitated for a moment but steeled himself, deciding not to interfere. Shine was far too naive and would need to learn nothing good would come from attachment to those with short lives. If "Bai Yu'' had died decades later, how much more would it hurt for Shine?

Hours passed.

Something re-entered its barrier.

It was "Bai Yu''! Earthquake was stunned.

The servant looked fatigued, but was otherwise unharmed. Most jarring however was how he left the barrier without the helmet, marching into pitch darkness; even upon his return, he did not put it back on! Did he lose it somehow?

Earthquake took a quick peek into the boy's bag, seeing the hat was still there. It was clear the servant deprived himself of sight intentionally.

The spirit could not help but get increasingly curious.

He waited impatiently until the servants finally left, their work done.

Earthquake dispelled his barrier and flew into the darkness. He could see faint footsteps "Bai Yu" had left in the dust, leading somewhere. He thought the boy must have been lounging near the outside of the barrier to have returned safely, but this was clearly not the case.

This boy… he had ventured way further than he expected!

Spirit beasts fled in terror as they felt the presence of the spirit. He came across the corpse of an Assassin Jumping Spider, its flesh nibbled away by cave rats. But Earthquake could tell its body was mangled not by beasts, but by repeated attacks from a curved blade.

This servant ventured out in pitch darkness, survived an encounter with an Assassin Spider, killed it and returned unscathed?

"Bai Yu".

How interesting.

Earthquake would remember this name.