Chapter 8

Stench of the Red

Though Leo’s aspirations and dreams were quite massive, he couldn’t exactly make them a reality just yet. As such, he first repaired the broken-down mud huts. Baby steps, after all, were still better than no steps at all. Re-gathering all the materials for four huts took most of the day, especially as he had to go out further than ever before.

By the time he was done, the night had come--and there was only one more day left between him and the boar, and he was not an inch closer to solving that problem.

Stirring the flames and making the stew absentmindedly, he thought on all the possible scenarios. He hardly had a frame of reference as to how strong a Foundation Establishment beast was. In fact, his frame of reference for strength, in general, was all sorts of strange. He’d beaten a peak Qi Condensation boar while being only in the first Stage himself, though there were some caveats there. There were no other cultivators around that could tell him, and system was about as helpful as an umbrella during a hurricane.

He still, ultimately, believed that his best chance was setting up the spike traps and hoping that the animals help him if it truly came to that.

As soon as he returned to the hut and laid down on top of the straw bed, he passed out, tired to the bone. He dreamed of the days before the forest--where he’d spend weekends sailing his yacht, then using a jet to travel to the other side of the world just to eat at a specific restaurant, and he still felt the temptation.

It was hard, after all, to give up a life of everything, where he had the world at his fingertips, for a life of nothing, where he had to struggle every day, and where the word luxury meant having an ordinary-looking robe to cover himself up with.

He woke up to something rough sanding down his cheeks--the first thing he saw was the pair of panthers licking him, prompting him to smile. When they saw him wake up, the two animals exchanged looks and sauntered out, leaving him in slight pain.

Sitting up, he felt rather lethargic and tired still; his muscles were sore, his head was a bit heavy and muddy, but he knew he couldn’t simply stay in bed. Leaving the hut, he stretched and bathed in the rays of sun; due to the storm and all, there wasn’t nearly as much shade around, but Leo preferred it that way. He was the type to suffer the consequences of the sun with reckless abandon, and he put a lot of faith in the Cultivation to shield him from sunburns.

Following a quick dip in the pond, he finally managed to wake himself up enough to get down to business. There were no new quests handed out by any of the animals, but he wanted to do a bit of research--namely, map out a five mile radius around the pond in all directions, plucking and picking and foraging and sourcing and pulling and--well, thereabout, mostly.

As always, he was not alone.

There was the owl perched on his left shoulder, the monkey on the right one, the multi-colored python wrapped around his left arm, a tiny, plum-sized bat hanging upside down from the collar of his robes, as well as the pair of panthers following him around, occasionally nestling against his legs and occasionally sprinting elsewhere, out of sight.

He first focused southward. Naturally, he couldn’t exactly measure five miles in any meaningful capacity, but ‘eyeing’ it would be enough for now. Hanging several gourds of water by his waist and tossing a makeshift pouch full of fruits over his shoulder, he departed.

Past the immediate area, the iron-grip stalks of grass overwhelmed all other flora save for the trees. Strangely, however, despite them resisting if he pressed with his hands, they bent as though of their own will as he stepped over them.

It was nearly five minutes of walk later that they gave way to some other forms of life--nubs of colorless flowers, for the starters, with strange, caped mushrooms soon appearing at the roots of the trees, climbing up like habitats of some invisible animals further south.

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The terrain was largely flat, occasionally rising and dipping, but never at a particularly steep angle, or for long. Within fifteen minutes, the blades of grass dipped in the background and a far more colorful scenery exploded.

Fruits began to hang low from the tall trees, and flowers began to bud in wonderful colors, and strange birds started to sing strange songs. He threaded gently over every leaf and every root, doing his best to avoid upsetting the pristine, untouched scenery. There was no doubt in his mind that seemingly this entire forest had remained untouched by man--it was alive.

Feeling a bit parched, he stopped at an intersection of three different types of trees, taking a sip of water from the gourd. The owl suddenly hooted, startling him; a moment later, a slightly lower-pitched hoot ‘replied’ and, with the sounds of the flapping wings, a red-feathered owl descended from between the branches above.

In all honesty, it scared the crap out of Leo--to call it an owl was a bit of a disservice as it was genuinely six times the size of the one perched on his shoulder. Its feathers, red like blood, were like a foreboding song, but it did not attack. Rather, it landed on the nearby tree and hooted with the owl white owl on his shoulder. It was a rather spirited conversation from what Leo gathered--well, he had no way of knowing it, but they sure did hoot a lot. For several minutes, in fact.

It was a bit too terrifying, the potential that these animals could talk, just in a language he would never understand. They could be talking behind his back, after all, and nobody liked that.

Ultimately, the red owl flew away--dropping a single red feather. Leo ignored it, thinking it was just the feather’s time, but the beak budging into his cheek and the flapping wings pointing to it convinced him to catch it. It was slightly warm to touch, as soft as anything he’d touched in his life, and it smelled... beautifully. It was an explosion of scents and they all seemed to race to make him feel good.

Leo smiled and tucked it into his robe, continuing onward.

Both panthers left and scattered about, perhaps visiting old friends like the owl just did, but Leo wasn’t worried.

“Hm?” amidst the scents he couldn’t resist, he picked up on something else--something seemingly rotten and dark. His friends did, too, but they didn’t seem particularly worried; in fact, the monkey extended one of his arms and pointed toward the direction, and Leo followed.

Some thirty seconds later, he found the source--it was a rather horrid scene that would have likely had him running were it not for the system. Two people lay flat next to each other, bloody from head to toe. People? No, they were kids, Leo recognized, perhaps fifteen or sixteen years old at most.

He crouched by their side--if he hadn’t chanced upon them, that would have been it, but now that he had... there was no way he could just ignore it. Even if it was to simply bury them, it was the least he could do. Luckily, he didn’t immediately start digging out a hole, as a closer look caused him to jolt back--both were still breathing!

It was barely discernible, but it was there. Braving forth, Leo extended his arm and pressed his fingers against their necks, checking for the pulse. It took a bit of stumbling around, but he eventually hit the right spot and felt it--beneath his fingers, the skin moved and bulged ever so faintly.

“They’re alive,” he mumbled, panicking. He didn’t have any herbs around--no, more importantly, he wasn’t a doctor! Wrapping up a wound for an animal or two? Okay, he wasn’t a moron--he could do that. But treating kids that were clearly on the brink of dying? He may as well try and figure out nuclear fusion, right here and now.

And yet, he couldn’t exactly leave them there and pretend otherwise.

“Alright, alright. We’ve seen TV shows, before. We’ve even watched those fancy doctors react to them. Uhm... none of it helps, though!” weeping inwardly a bit, he first cleared the surrounding area by digging out the grass and the flowers, and then separated them a bit.

One was a boy seemingly and the other a girl, but considering their appearances, they weren’t related. Perhaps they were star-crossed lovers who ran away from home because their rivaling families wouldn’t bless their love?! Aww--aww nothing!

A curious glance at their states revealed that they were ridden with holes that were still bleeding. Leo was very much inspired to stop that bleeding, but there were simply too many holes!

“Goddammit, maybe one of these fruits has healing properties?!” he took out two gourds from the waist and squeezed a bit of every fruit that he’d brought with him into the water, swirling it around after the fact.

With an apparition that was the ticking clock hanging, he hurriedly reached out and lifted the girl up into the seated position. The jostle must have caused some further damage because she began to bleed even more profusely. Panicking, he effectively shoved the gourd’s opening into her mouth, angled her head up, and poured it through her throat, lying her down gently after and doing the same for the boy.

After that, he simply sat by their side and silently prayed--whether it worked or not, he had to stay. Two panthers also appeared and curled up on his lap, seemingly waiting alongside everyone else with bated breaths for the world to decide the fate of these two young children.