Finding a cub

Shui was walking through the forest, trying to find a place described in Carlos' journal. Though he knew that the situation was dire, rather than hole up somewhere he decided to follow his initial plan. With his current disguise, even if he slapped someone with the same cultivation as him, they would likely think it was a ghost, therefore, he wasn't too scared that he would be discovered. However, as he continued venturing in the ancestral lands, the desire to hide somewhere grew stronger.

With a normal set of eyes, the ancestral lands was a scenic view. However, Shui saw the place as a dreary wasteland. He was used to nature energy being close to transparent, but the energy in the ancestral lands was so faint it was almost invisible to him. All of the nature energy was concentrated in two areas; the ground and the mountain peak. This was most likely the reason why evolved beasts found it difficult to cultivate in this place, even humans did. Due to the fact that the nature energy was concentrated in the ground, there were good items that could be found that made this place worth coming to besides the chance to meet the progenitor. However, once he saw the mountain peak, that was dyed in a sinister yellow glow, Shui grew more confident that there was something odd about this progenitor.

Shui caught a whiff of iron once he entered the forest. Since reaching two-star saint body, not only his constitution, but also his senses became more sensitive so even without going there he knew that human blood was recently spilt. Going to the place would give him more information, but it could also be a trap so he stayed away.

"Looks like I'm not the only target." Shui released a sigh.

Though there were life-threatening dangers in this place, there were none that could kill someone in the first level in the Soul Realm without a struggle. No, that wasn't completely correct. There was one danger that could do this. A human.

Once he realised that he wasn't the only target, Shui came up with two hypotheses. One, an outside influence was trying to kill all, if not most of them and two, one or more of the three clans were trying to kill future threats. He preferred the second guess since it would be less trouble, but in short-term both were equally terrible.

"I guess that's enough depression for now."

Shui shook his head and recalled the location he was trying to find. Honestly, he only knew the general area and would have to do some searching once he got there. As he continued through the forest, Shui found three evolved beasts fighting. Two were a pair of rapid monkeys, while the other was a wolf cub with dark blue fur, shiny green scales on its back and a white horn on its forehead.

'Isn't that...'

When he first saw the cub Shui thought of an evolved beast that matched its characteristics, but it was too surprising for him to be sure from one look. However after seeing the wolf cub shoot through one of the rapid monkeys in an instant, and then crush the neck of the other with its jaws, he became sure.

'It's a scaled woruse!'

Scaled woruses were evolved beasts with the potential to be great beasts just by reaching adulthood. These creatures were the direct descendants of Divine Wolfkings, which were the favoured hunting dogs of gods from the Age of Gods. If they were spotted anywhere in the Alterna Kingdom it wouldn't be strange if there was a war to possess them. In other words, if an outsider was behind the dangerous situation he was in, a great calamity might reach the three clans. When his thoughts reached this point, Shui stared at the scaled woruse while trying to figure out what he should do.

He thought he would be able to watch it without a care in the world, but suddenly the beast shot towards him. It was definitely surprising but not enough for him to get frightened. Shui easily caught the scaled woruse in his hand and looked at it. If he had been struck by it, then even with his body cultivation he would be seriously injured without a doubt. And considering that it could find him in his concealed state its senses had to be overpowered.

'As long as it doesn't get caught off guard there should be no problem.'

But just in case, Shui took out a 'Hide' talisman and placed it on the back of the scaled woruse before letting it go. Once it reached the ground, it tried to look at the talisman he placed on it but it was in vain. All the beast could tell was that its own aura had became harder to detect. When he saw the caution in the scaled woruse's eyes go down, Shui went away. Besides helping it hide its aura, he didn't do anything else. Only those with extensive knowledge of evolved beasts would be able to tell how special this beast was so the chances of such an outsider being here was low. Besides, he was more likely to encounter the outsider than it.

Shui was going away, but the scaled woruse was following him. It couldn't hide from him so he noticed it right away. When he stopped and looked at it, the scaled woruse looked back at him as if to ask, 'What's the problem?'.

Special evolved beasts like it could be communicated with, but Shui doubted it was going to listen to him. He sighed and then picked up the pace, and yet even when he was moving faster than the red tiger he once fought, it was still close behind him.

'I sure got a troublesome one on my tail.'

Since it didn't seem like it was going to stop, Shui gave up on shaking it off. The sun couldn't be seen in the ancestral lands, but the sky was coloured the same so Shui could tell when evening came.

'I guess I should set up camp.'

Shui found a good spot and took out the tent components from his satchel. The tent had been inscribed with 'Hide' and 'Protect', but he still wouldn't be able to get a good night's sleep since he knew that there were assassins in the ancestral lands.

Shui knew how to set up the tent, but due to his size it was difficult to do it with just his limbs. Once he barely managed to set it up with martial intent, he got a fire working and prepared to cook dinner. Lilia had given him a quick cooking course to prepare for this trip. After all, rather than put those foul things known as rations in his mouth, proper food was obviously better.

It would be dangerous to roast meat in a forest of evolved beasts, but by placing a 'Confuse' talisman on each tree around them, it would difficult for anything to approach. Doing this created a psuedo array that made reaching them like getting through a maze. Shui had only recently looked up arrays so this was the best he could do. Luckily, the main difference between between arrays and inscriptions was just that the power of arrays was stronger and the fact that arrays were harder to transport.

The beast by his side was looking at the juicy meat with drool dripping from its mouth. Shui was naturally reluctant to share with it, but once it leaned its head on his leg and looked up at him with its big eyes, he felt himself falter.

'For a creature that was more closely related to snakes than dogs it sure knows how to beg for food.'

Shui eventually gave in and looked defeated as it ate the piece of meat he gave it until even the bone was in its stomach. Once they were both finished eating, Shui extinguished the fire and made a circle of 'Alarm' talismans around the tent. Even though he knew he couldn't sleep deeply, he had no experience so he thought it would be best to have alternative measures in place. As Shui, now without his mask, lied on the bed sheet that was under him, the scaled woruse jumped onto his chest and went to sleep. Not too long ago it was wary of him, but after one meal they were best friends. If it wasn't for the threat of assassins, the sight of the beast on his chest woud have brought a smile to his face.

'I hope nothing goes wrong and I can find that cave tomorrow.'

At the end of the first day, only 11 remained out of the original 15.

The ground and the mountain peak are special. A description of the scaled woruse is given. The scaled woruse follows him.