Chapter 15- Bond of Battle

"Sell the junk, will ya?" Xin Yang tossed a thumb over his shoulder at their haul from the bandits' lair.

Ye Meng shrugged. "On it. But no promises anybody'll buy. This stuff's crap." He wandered off toward the market at the edge of camp, rucksack of worthless "treasures" slung over one shoulder.

Xin Yang watched him go, then glanced to Bai Lihua, who was scrubbing bloodstains out of her robe. (Never let it be said their lives were glamorous.) "Mind tackling the shopping? I've got a movement technique to hammer out."

"Certainly." She wrung out the robe with a decisive twist. "I've memorized the list. We'll want to stock up for the road, so don't wait on dinner."

"If I've got the trick of this thing down, might snag us some fresh meat." He settled with back against a tree and manual in hand, tapping the time-crystal to plunge into study...

...Till a tugging at his qi roused him. The girls were back, and something had Bai Lihua distressed. Really distressed. His eyes popped open to find her brows knit, and he started to ask what was wrong, but she gasped out, "Beast—coming fast!"

And with cultivation-enhanced senses, he felt the flicker of an approaching demonic presence, savage hunger clinging to it like a shroud.

So much for a quiet study session.

"Right. Positions, ladies." Xin Yang rolled smoothly to his feet, flicking the crystal back to timelessness on his wrist. "Today we see how the new movement technique handles field action..."

The beast burst from the trees—and it was a doozy, a gigantic snake with scales of pearl and cobalt and fangs like daggers. Peak Foundation Establishment, and hungry. Its charge flattened trees and shook the earth.

Xin Yang's movement technique flung him aside, a blue blur—but his punch ricocheted off the snake's muscular bulk without effect. The thing only hissed louder, enraged.

Meanwhile Ye Meng flowed in from behind for a solid blow with his ruined-technique fists, and Bai Lihua turned the snake's eyes glassy-blank with illusion to buy them an opening. They made a crack team, Xin Yang thought with fierce pride, even as a lash of the snake's tail bowled him head over heels...

Bruised and panting, the three regrouped for a joint strike as the illusion broke and the snake wheeled back around. Now they had its measure, though, and Xin Yang poured force into his Void Shattering Fists as Ye Meng flanked it and Bai Lihua bound its senses, blade flashing toward a vulnerable eye.

A desperate thrash slammed Ye Meng aside and loosed the binding illusions, but that bare distraction let Xin Yang break through scale and flesh to spill viscera in a rain of blood and guts. Triumph roared through them as their foe crashed lifeless, leaving the forest still and empty of threat.

For a long breath they simply stared, taking in the scale of the snake and the reality of victory. Then weariness hit, and they folded onto convenient rocks and the ground to recover.

"Meat feast for a week, at least," Ye Meng said at last in a satisfied near-groan.

Bai Lihua only shuddered, unable to get up.

Xin Yang stretched out with a wince of half-healed injuries, staring up at dappling leaves overhead. Quiet peace, for now—but their wandering life meant this was just a momentary reprieve. More battle and the unknown would come soon enough.

Such was the way of adventure.

….

Bellies full of a victory feast roasted over a fire, the three adventurers set off deeper into the forest as evening gathered. According to the stories, danger only thickened ahead—but so did the prospect of discovery.

"How're we feeling, team? Injuries mending?" Xin Yang asked. Getting nods, he went on, "Remember, we stick together. Don't wanna have to haul anybody out or go back short a member."

"No fear of that," Bai Lihua said staunchly. She seemed to have recovered her nerve after they ate. "So long as you don't leave illusory surprises in the path for me. My heart can only take so much."

He flashed a grin. "Can't blame me for testing my skills. But I'll go easy while we're snoopin' out this forest's secrets."

Ye Meng eyed the trees pressing close around in the fading light. "Not sure I'd call what's coming 'going easy.' But we're ready, and this is what we came for."

It was. To walk their own road, seek their fortune, grow strong enough to challenge fate itself...

This was what they'd come for. Bring it on!