Chapter 14: Fang Xun.
When they entered the Cloud Wilderness it mattered little which path they took. Every five years, the Qi at the center of the Cloud Wilderness would surge and roil, throwing everything within the Cloud Wilderness into turmoil and confusion.
The herbs, treasures, and Demonic beasts from all over the Cloud Wilderness would find themselves thrown to all corners of the Cloud Wilderness. When this surge had just passed would be the moment where one could get the greatest harvest from entering the Cloud wilderness, but it was also the time where the Cloud Wilderness would be at it's most dangerous.
Since everything had been thrown around at random, it was impossible to know what one would encounter. If one's luck was bad, they could even stumble upon Primordial or even Desolate beasts that were making their way back towards the center of the Cloud Wilderness. All form of maps and other things that had been prepared beforehand would also become obsolete, you would have to learn everything anew.
The last time the Cloud Wilderness surged was a little over half a year ago, just before Yao Min and the others arrived at the Cloud Wilderness. It was common to send new people to the Cloud Wilderness after every surge. This was not because it would be easier for people who hadn't spent a long time in the Cloud Wilderness to adapt to the new Cloud Wilderness, it was simply because the mortality rate of the teams that ventured into the Cloud wilderness after a surge was over 90%.
The last team of disciples that foraged the Cloud Wilderness before Yao Min had entered the Cloud Wilderness right after the surge, that was the last time they were ever heard from again. A month after they entered the Cloud Wilderness their Soul Jades all cracked at the same time, signifying that they had all died.
A Soul Jade was used by even the smallest of clans, it was a type of jade that could store souls. A disciple would put a small piece of their soul into the jade, once the person died, the jade would crack and turn to dust, letting the holder of the jade know that the person had died.
Yao Jun and the others slowly advanced into the Cloud Wilderness, it had only been a short half year since the last surge, so large parts of the area that was their territory had yet to be explored. Since large parts were unexplored, they had decided to travel slowly and double check everything that they came across, lest they accidentally walk past something valuable.
“Little Lord, this is called a Ghost Vine, it only shows itself once the morning mist has set in and then camouflages itself once the morning mist leaves. The best way to spot it is to check around large damp trees and check if there are any suspicious dry spots. Ghost Vines are excellent for curing most poisons.”
As they were walking, Yao Qin and Peng Shi took the chance to impart more of their experiences onto Yao Jun, giving him more actual experience by showing him the herbs they were talking about and supplementing the information from the encyclopedias with some of their own experiences.
“You must never forget, Little Lord, if you encounter a Demonic beast like the Three-Headed Snake or the Twin Tiger, before you make any rash moves, you must identify which of the heads is the main head. You can identify the main head by looking at the eyes, the eyes of the main head will always shine brighter and contain more intelligence than the other heads. This is the head you must attack, the rest of the heads play a nearly negligible part.”
Yao Xiang joined hands with Peng Dong and Peng Yan to impart their knowledge about fighting and Demonic beasts to Yao Jun. If they encountered a beast and Yao Jun did not know how to fight it properly, leading to deaths, that would be a great shame.
After Peng Shi asked Yao Jun how he wrote his name, he made a joke that since his name was Jun, he must be a little lord. Ever since then, they had only called him Little Lord or Little Brother.
They had already spent two days traveling deeper into the Cloud Wilderness, but they had yet to meet and Demonic beasts, only stumbling upon some herbs and smaller treasured plants. All the herbs and plants were taken by the Peng clan, it was their turn to gather the herbs, so Yao Min and the others could only grumble and murmur in jealousy.
Yao Min and Peng Yi spent most of their time checking the surrounding area, scouting ahead of the rest of the group to find the best path to go. Yao Jun, on the other hand, spent most of his time with the other people from the group, listening to their lessons or occasionally sparring with them, he also started helping Yao Xiang with the cooking, slowly absorbing all his knowledge.
It was during the afternoon of the third day that they stumbled upon something new, other people. Yao Min and Peng Yi had spotted a small group of people traveling through the Cloud Wilderness, and after making sure that they were not Demons or people from other areas, they invited them back to the camp.
“Thank you for inviting us, I'm Fang Xun and these are my body guards, Zeng Tai, Zeng Hong, and Zeng Ping.”
The leader of this group introduced herself and the people she was traveling with. The leader was a girl who looked like she was no older than 20, clad intight-fittingg leather armor painted white, she had long brown hair and small dimples at the corner of her mouth. She had an enchanting face that seemed like it belonged on a temptress, but there was a heroic aura exuded from her entire body that made her seem like a great general.
Her three body guards were tall and burly with completely shaved heads. Their bodies bulged with muscles and they had rough features. They looked more like bears than they did humans, but they all wore a silly, honest smile that made it hard to fear them.
“Fang Xun? You are the city lord's niece?” Yao Min spoke as he looked the girl up and down, he had long heard about the city lord's niece. A proud daughter of heaven as proficient in fighting as she was beautiful, she was the pride of the entire Golden Moon Town and could do whatever she wanted. When she turned 19 she had left Golden Moon Town and came to the Cloud Wilderness to temper herself, a model child.
“Indeed, it is nice to meet you all.” Fang Xun gave a small nod and a small bow as a greeting.
“I'm Yao Min, the leader of the Yao group, that's Yao Xiang, Yao Qin, and Yao Jun, also from the Yao group. Those guys are people from the Peng group, led by Peng Yi, behind him are Peng Dong, Peng Shi, and Peng Yan. The pleasure is all ours.”
Yao Min respectfully returned the greeting and introduced the others, facing this famous girl, even he could only sigh in awe as he experienced her heroic and elegant demeanor.
“Are you traveling deeper into the Cloud Wilderness?” Fang Xun gave a small nod to everyone she was introduced to before turning back to Yao Min.
“Indeed, we are scouting out some of the areas we have not explored yet to see what the last surge brought with it.” Yao Min gave an affirmative nod.
“I see, do you mind if we join you? We are looking for a young Mist Eagle and have seen some signs that it is in this part of the Cloud Wilderness, we would like to get rid of it before it becomes a problem.” Fang Xun spoke with a solemn face, signifying exactly how big of a mission this was.
“Tch, so it was a Mist Eagle, no wonder we got so many strange reports lately. I say we should help them Brother Min, as long as there is a Mist Eagle in the area, it's going to be hard to find anything good.” Peng Yi spoke to Yao Min and the others with a voice transmission, a skill where one could wrap their voice with Qi and transmit it to others. As long as there was not someone around that completely eclipsed you in strength, it was impossible for others to hear what was said.
“I agree, a Mist Eagle is too large a threat, if it gets to grow and awaken its bloodline, it could maybe even threaten our Golden Cloud Town.” Yao Min responded with a grim face, a fully grown and awakened Mist Eagle was not something they would be able to handle, so they had to kill it early.
A Mist Eagle was a type of psychic eagle that could confuse people, making them hear voices and see things that were not there. A stronger Mist Eagle could even use it's psychic powers through it's eyes to see through everything, discerning peoples greatest fears and even see through their bodies.
The Mist Eagle also had a faint bloodline in it, it was the descendant of the Illusory Roc, a Desolate beast that legends say could fade in and out of existence and use it's illusions to confuse even the gods themselves.
“Very well, this Mist Eagle is too large a threat to leave alone, we will aid you in this quest to kill it.” Yao Min and Peng Yi turned to Fang Xun and spoke with solemn faces, a Mist Eagle really was too large a threat.
“Really? You will even help us? Thank you so much.” Fang Xun's face lit up with a smile and she gave a deep bow as she spoke with a dignified voice.
(Jun is chinese for King 君 )