Heng Xiaowen was being chased by a really big frog that wanted to swallow him.
In the two weeks that followed the defeat of the well ghost in Li Village, Heng Xiaowen had found that there were many dangers in this world that the internet had failed to warn him about. Such as really big frogs that swallowed people.
It was dark out and Heng Xiaowen was running through the woods. He was fast and agile, and had cardiovascular health he could only dream of in his first life but it was still difficult to outpace the frog without tripping on anything or running into a tree.
He felt something wet and sticky hit his back and he stumbled.
“The tongue! Someone do something about the tongue!” he yelled, surging forward with a grunt but failing to pull himself free.
There was the whistle and thwack of an arrow finding it’s target.
Heng Xiaowen heard the frog make an angry croak and he pulled away from it again, this time managing to shake himself free. He thanked the heavens that Ling Hong was a good shot.
He wished that Ling Hong could just shoot the thing in the eye and be done with it, but they needed the to capture the stupid frog alive.
—
The morning after they left Li Village, Liqiu Hua Sect was gathered around their ceramic stove eating breakfast.
“Qiu-shidi,” Song Jiayi said. “Remind me how long it is until The Autumn Valley Immortal Youth Tournament?”
“The tournament begins in four weeks, but most arrive to the Autumn Valley several days before at least,” Qiu Jucheng replied.
Ever since Heng Xiaowen updated the Fan-Translation Matrix, he found that while his companions spoke more naturally, they also used terms he was unfamiliar with. He was doing his best to track keep track of the new forms of address.
Song Jiayi sighed. “Well, I had been hoping that the livestock thief would be a spiritual beast, but we still have time to capture some.”
“If we can’t capture any, can’t Da-shixiong enter the melee competition anyway?” Yang Jingfei asked.
Song Jiayi’s eyes flicked briefly to Heng Xiaowen. “Xiaowen is a powerful sword cultivator for his age, but the melee competition is dangerous. People have been caught using unorthodox techniques in the melee, and participants have been severely injured. As much as I want to reassert Liqiu Hua Sect in the cultivation world, it’s not worth the risk.”
Heng Xiaowen, who certainly did not feel like a powerful sword cultivator, was privately relieved.
“For now, we’ll keep traveling towards the Autumn Valley and looking for spiritual beasts. There will likely be other cultivators looking to earn their way into the tournament, but I don’t want any of you picking fights with them over trying to capture the same beast, understood?”
“Understood, Shizun,” her disciples answered.
Just as Heng Xiaowen was was about to ask the System if it could share some information about this Autumn Valley Immortal Youth Tournament he heard it chime.
[System: The Protagonist has received a mission.]
[Mission: Capture a spiritual beast alive to exchange for entry to the Autumn Valley Immortal Youth Tournament.
Time Limit: 4 weeks.
Reward: 100 points
Failure: 100 point deduction]
Thus began Liqiu Hua Sect’s hunt. In the weeks to follow, Heng Xiaowen had managed to piece together more about this Autumn Valley Immortal Youth Tournament. The tournament was a large event in which young cultivators from across the land gathered to compete over who can hunt the most spiritual beasts. Most of the competitors were disciples of prominent sects, who organized the event. Cultivators from smaller sects or those who didn’t belong to one either had to pay a fee to enter the competition, compete in a melee tournament, or provide beasts to be hunted. As Liqiu Hua Sect was both small and shabby, they had chosen the latter option.
Heng Xiaowen had also put together a better idea of what exactly a cultivator was—namely, not some type of farmer. Cultivators were people who absorbed qi—spiritual energy was his best working definition—from the world around them to gain supernatural abilities. Heng Xiaowen also quickly learned that he was very bad at this.
In the bits of downtime that Liqiu Hua Sect had between looking for spiritual beasts, traveling, eating, and sleeping, Song Jiayi guided her disciples’ cultivation. For Heng Xiaowen, this largely consisted of her telling him in increasingly exasperated tones that he was breathing wrong.
Early morning meditation? Heng Xiaowen was breathing wrong. Sword practice? Heng Xiaowen was breathing wrong. Doing crazy parkour through the forest? Heng Xiaowen was breathing wrong.
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He was also doing most of the other parts wrong, but the breathing seemed to be the his most consistent issue.
He was trying his best, he really was, but following Song Jiayi’s instructions was difficult when he didn’t understand half of the terms she was using. He really needed to catch this beast and buy the glossary.
—
Heng Xiaowen’s training progress was further slowed by having to dedicate most of his time to beast hunting. And, the most time intensive part of beast hunting was not hunting the actual beasts, but finding a beast to hunt in the first place. Song Jiayi’s primary method of sourcing information seemed to be chatting up any middle-aged lady they came across while traveling.
The first two leads on spiritual beasts that Liqiu Hua Sect got were both busts. The first was a rumor that a tiger had broken into a family’s home while they were away and taken up residence. It demanded tribute from the locals or it would start eating children. This turned out to be true, but by the time Liqiu Hua Sect arrived, another group of cultivators had already laid claim to the case. The second lead turned out to be a completely non-spiritual pack of wild boars.
Wild boars were a force to be reckoned with in it of themselves. This was a lesson Heng Xiaowen took to heart.
Things finally began to go Liqiu Hua Sect’s way when they heard that several fishermen had gone missing in a certain lake.
The lake in question was called Lianfang Lake. It was relatively small and placid, and Liqiu Hua Sect had been lucky to arrive at the cusp of autumn, when the lotus flowers that grew in abundance in the shallows were in full bloom. The sight was so lovely it was easy to forget that just the other day someone had spent an afternoon fishing amongst those flowers and never came home.
The disappearances had started a few months ago, and four people in total had gone missing. All were locals who had grown up swimming, fishing, and picking lotus pods in Lianfang Lake. None of their bodies had been found, only their empty boats, a few stray pairs of shoes, and a bamboo hat.
The villagers living around the lake were all troubled. It was a small community, and four disappearances had everyone shaken. Everyone had become increasingly afraid of going in the lake, only compounding their anxiety, as most of the locals relied on the lotus they cultivated in Lianfang Lake for their livelihoods. No one wanted a fifth disappearance, but with harvest season fast approaching they were running out of options.
By the time Liqiu Hua Sect arrived to Lianfang Lake, only two weeks remained before the tournament began. Song Jiayi offered their services at what she claimed to be a steep discount and what Heng Xiaowen was quickly learning was her normal policy of “pay what you can.”
Time was limited. The plan that they hatched was simple. In the forest near the shore of the lake, Song Jiayi and Qiu Jucheng would draw an array that would trap anything that stepped inside it. When dusk fell, Heng Xiaowen would wade through the shallows to lure whatever was hiding there out and lead it back to the array with the other disciples.
This was, of course, how Heng Xiaowen ended up being chased by the really big frog that wanted to swallow him.
His feet thudded against the ground as he tore through the forest, swatting branches aside and hopping over fallen logs.
Ling Hong’s arrow had bought him an extra moment. He had gotten a little turned around in the dark, but he was almost there.
“Come on, Mr. Frog!” he hollered. “Come and get me!”
Heng Xiaowen ducked under a low hanging bough and got a face full of spiderweb. “Yeghk!” He scrubbed hastily at his face, trying not to lose momentum or his footing.
He felt a rush of air over his back and a shadow passed over his head; the frog had landed in front of him.
Heng Xiaowen didn’t even have time to swear before an enormous tongue wrapped around his waist and he was pulled head first into the mouth of the frog.
For a short time there was nothing but hot, slimy, darkness and violent, desperate thrashing.
Then, something gripped his ankle and yanked, pulling him writhing and sputtering back into the cool night air.
Several people were shouting at once.
“Da-shixiong!” That sounded like Lu Xiuying.
“Oh, come on! We almost had it!” That must be Ling Hong.
“Hey! What are you doing? Are you trying to die? The frog was ours!” Yang Jingfei, without a doubt.
A fourth voice—smooth, deep, and unfamiliar—joined the mix. “Are you hurt?”
Heng Xiaowen sat up and made a futile attempt to wipe the frog slime out of his eyes, but just ended up smearing the slime that was on his hands across his face.
He heard a rustle of fabric and a dry cloth was pressed into his hand. “Thanks,” he croaked, mopping his face down.
[System: (10) bonus points have been awarded.]
Odd. Heng Xiaowen would have to ask the System about how bonus points worked later.
Opening his eyes, the scene came into focus slowly as he blinked the film of mucus away. There was a young man crouching in front of him, seemingly cloaked in starlight.
[System: The ‘Character List’ has been updated.]
[System: ‘Tao Ruzhu’ has been added to the ‘Character List’.]
Heng Xiaowen looked around. Behind him, the giant frog lay dead. His juniors had emerged from the woods looking frustrated.
“Hey! I was asking you a question!” Yang Jingfei continued.
Tao Ruzhu ignored her. “Can you stand?” he asked, extending a hand.
Heng Xiaowen took it and was helped gently to his feet. “Yeah, thanks, again.”
Tao Ruzhu nodded, letting go of his hand and stepping back.
On second glance, Tao Ruzhu was not cloaked in actual starlight. He was instead wearing layer upon layer of delicate silvery blue fabric with subtle patterns of stars that shifted in the light.
Heng Xiaowen recognized him. He was the pastel blue guy that dykes4zhuguangli thought was boring.
The appearence of a handsome young man naturally summoned Lu Xiuying who rushed up beside him. “Tao Ruzhu! It’s really you!”
Tao Ruzhu gave a small nod. His face was relatively expressionless and he wasn’t making much eye contact with either of them.
“Thank you so much for saving my shixiong,” Lu Xiuying gushed. She had her hands pressed over her chest and was leaning forward, looking up at Tao Ruzhu through her eyelashes. “Xiuying is truly indebted to you. If there’s anything at all that I could do to express my gratitude…”
“Not necessary.”
Lu Xiuying sighed. “What they say is true, Tao Ruzhu is truly the most noble and chivalrous of our generation.”
Heng Xiaowen heard a muffled shout and turned to see that Ling Hong had climbed onto Yang Jingfei’s back and clamped his hands around her mouth. He was aggressively whispering, “Stop biting me! Stop biting me!”
Heng Xiaowen smiled apologetically at Tao Ruzhu.
Between Heng Xiaowen being covered in frog mucus, Lu Xiuying’s inept seductions, and Yang Jingfei and Ling Hong’s wrestling, the disciples of Liqiu Hua Sect were a sorry sight.
It was at this moment that Song Jiayi and Qiu Jucheng arrived to the scene.
“What’s going on?” Song Jiayi asked, taking in the chaos. Her attention caught on Tao Ruzhu and she blinked, her brow furrowing. “Tao Ruzhu, you’re here.”
He bowed politely. “Greetings to Sect Leader Song.”
Song Jiayi looked down at the dead frog, poked Heng Xiaowen, rubbing the slime between her fingers, and then looked back up to Tao Ruzhu, frowning. “I take it that I should be thanking you for rescuing my disciple.”
“Not necessary.”
“Well, you have my gratitude anyway,” she said. “Did you come alone or is your master here as well?”
Before Tao Ruzhu could reply, a new voice called out from behind them. “Sect Leader Song.”
They all turned to see a pair of figures dressed in the same shimmering fabrics as Tao Ruzhu drifting weightlessly towards them.
The one who had spoke, presumably, was a strikingly tall and willowy woman. Heng Xiaowen estimated that she had to stand at least six feet. At her side was a petite girl that looked almost like a porcelain doll, with large eyes and a round face. Put together with Tao Ruzhu, they all seemed otherworldly.
Standing across from them, Heng Xiaowen better understood what people meant when they told Liqiu Hua Sect that they looked more like vagabonds than cultivators.
[System: The ‘Character List’ has been updated.]
[System: ‘Liu Wanyin’ and ‘Shu Yanlin’ have been added to the ‘Character List’.]
Song Jiayi smiled humorlessly. “Weifeng-zun, it’s been some time.”