Life and Death

In the Chaotic Forest which was filled with a dense amount of trees, there was an opening near a lake. It was a small lake that spanned only a few kilometers.

On usual days, many small animals and even some bigger ones would come to this lake to quench their thrust. This place was always filled with all kinds of creatures. But at this moment, the surrounding looked completely empty. It was lacking the usual liveliness.

On one side of the lake, a black fox was standing there motionless. It was five to six feet in height and had a length of eleven feet. Its eyes were fixed on the human on the other side of the lake.

On the other side, a thin boy was standing there. Holding a sword with both hands. His hands weren't stable, his legs were also shaking. He looked calm on the surface but inside he was waging a war of his own...

There was complete silence and only the sound of the rustling trees could be heard with the sound of the wind that was blowing gently. The trees swayed to its rhythm and the leaves were incapable of any struggle. They traveled with the wind, which took them away to an unknown destination.

The reality was always cruel and very 'real'. No matter how much Han Feng mentally pictured about the current scenario, he never got a possible solution for his predicament.

A Level-2 magical beast was equivalent to a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator. Han Feng was anywhere but near capable of fighting a beast of this level.

When he thought of killing his first beast, he was hoping to find a Level-1 magical beast. That was also the reason why he never went too deep into the Chaotic Forest. His strength was not enough to run away from this beast, not to mention killing it.

If not for the Snow Crest, he would have never appeared this close to the danger zone. He lamented on his bad luck. He should not have followed it aimlessly. In order to catch it, he was going to lose his life.

"Today is really my unluckiest day."

"What am I supposed to do now?... Am I really not destined to be a strong cultivator?!" Han Feng despaired. He was starting to doubt his decision of becoming a cultivator. If he remained in the city, he would be safe.

It just took a glimpse of the truth for him to abandon his dreams and think of running away. Goals and dreams were never so easy to achieve... The bigger the dream, the harder it was to achieve. But not impossible. Nothing was impossible for the hardworking.

There were many thoughts constantly flashing on his mind. About his father, the mother he never knew about, and the time he spent in Red Stone city. Ever since he could remember he lived inside the secure walls of the city... far from the real monster he was facing now.

"No! This won't do. I have to live for my father... for my dreams. How can I die before completely exploring the Chaotic Forest? How can I die... I won't die! I WON'T DIE!" Han Feng repeatedly shouted in his mind. He seemed to have found a pillar of support.

The thoughts about his father gave him courage. The thoughts about future possibilities gave him hope. He was thinking about living. He wanted to live. He wanted to strip this forest of all its secrets. Never in his life was he happier to be alive.

Han Feng closely looked at the fox. He forced himself to calm down and focus on the monster in front of him.

He tried to channel all his strength and moved his gaze to the sword in his hand. The yellow blade was shining in the sun, its brilliance reflected in his eyes. It gave him a sense of security and confidence.

Han Feng took a deep breath. His legs were starting to settle from the constant shaking and his hands that were wet with sweat gripped the sword more tightly. He tried his best to remain composed and not give in to his fears.

Time seemed to stop. A fox and a boy stared at each other.

*ROAR*

The Fox suddenly roared. It was the first one to break the silence as it neared the limit of its patience. It was fed up with waiting. It just wanted to devour his prey and fill his stomach.

It slowly walked towards the lake. Its eyes were fixed on Han Feng.

"Sigh..." Han Fend took a deep breath then exhaled. He saw that the fox was walking towards him. There was a lake in between them but he knew that for the fox, this kind of distance was negligible.

He prepared himself to fight the fox both mentally and physically. He wasn't thinking about running away. He just wanted to kill the fox.

"Dammit!" Han Feng shouted in anger but held his position. He waited for the fox to approach.

The fox reached the lake and stopped for a moment.

Han Feng thought it was going to jump so he readied himself to face the incoming attack but the fox gently stepped on water and started walking on it as it was walking on solid ground.

"What the fuck!" Han Feng couldn't help but cuss. He couldn't believe what he saw.

He wouldn't be this surprised If the fox crossed the lake by a single leap. But what happened refreshed his point of view multiple times in a single go.

"Is that even the Fox of Doom that I know about?" Han Feng started to doubt life. He was confident in his knowledge about various magical beasts but this time even the knowledge he was proud of was proved wrong.

He had never heard of any beast walking on water or air. He was not to blame as his knowledge was very limited. Plus he lacked real experience.

Han Feng's brain was filled with starch and the defensive shields of his mind were beginning to shatter.

*Splash*

The sound of water snapped him out of the trance. He looked towards the lake and saw that the fox crossed the lake and stepped on the shore. Now that he looked closely, the fox looked very weak. It was very skinny. He found some confidence from its appearance and thought that maybe it wasn't as strong as he thought.

"Hey, can we just pretend that we didn't see each other... Do you understand what I am trying to say here?" Han Feng nervously talked to the fox. He didn't know whether it could understand him but he had to try.

The only thing he got in reply was a savage grin. It really scared the hell out of Han Feng.

"Hey! Don't scare me like that. We can just talk-"

Before he could speak further, the fox attacked him.

"Shit!" Han Feng made his sorry attempt to dodge the fox and quickly rolled over to the side. He got up and looked at the fox. It didn't attack again but just kept looking at Han Feng. Almost as if it was waiting for him to get up.

"What's the big deal? Not everything can be solved with violence..." He was interrupted again. The fox pounced on him and opened its mouth to bite his head.

This time he didn't have the chance to avoided it, so he lifted his sword with both hands and slashed towards the fox while shouting, "Try eating this!"

The fox raised its paw to counter the sword. As soon as they collided, there were sparks everywhere. It was like a collision between two metal objects.

A huge force traveled through the sword and he had to let go of the sword. The leftover force was enough to and throw Han Feng off balance. He was blown away and hit a tree.

He slowly got up. There was blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. This time he suffered from some internal damage as well.

"haa... haa... haa... What strength! If it hit me directly I might have suffered a lot more than this." He looked at his hand which was blistered and his thumb was broken.

He looked around for his sword, luckily it was also blown away in the same direction. It was lying not far from him.

The fox again approached Han Feng. It looked at Han Feng with a dangerous glint in its eyes. Maybe Han Feng's attack made it angry.

This time it didn't attack immediately. The fox started circling him but didn't come close to him. It only watched Han Feng from afar, but the saliva that was dropping from its jaw told another story.

Before it was playing with Han Feng. It wanted to enjoy tormenting him little by little. But it didn't like it when its prey started hitting back. The sword didn't hurt the fox at all. But the damage was done to its pride.

"This won't work unless I have my sword... I have to think of something. Come on dammit, think!" Han Feng muttered.

The fox started circling with Han Feng.

Han Feng tried to move towards his sword but as soon as he took a step the fox would attack. He didn't lose hope. Little by little, he moved towards the sword. In the process, he suffered from various injuries.

Finally, he reached his sword and picked it up. His shoulder had a deep wound and blood was constantly flowing from it. His back had various claw marks and his clothes were almost shredded to pieces. They lay there in dirt and blood.

The fox became alert as it saw the sharp weapon in Han Feng's hand and stopped playing with him. It increased its intensity little by little.

As the intensity of the fox's attack increased with time Han Feng also tried counter-attacking with his sword.

Han Feng was constantly improving his ability to dodge and was trying to find the opportunity to slash at the fox a few times. He was getting better at it. He almost had an illusion that he was very strong and that he could defeat the fox!

But soon his fantasies broke.

The fox bit the sword's blade between its teeth. He tried pulling it out but the fox pushed him away with its claw. Han Feng flew almost dropped into the lake! He was laying on his back and blood started pouring out from all his wounds.

The fox looked at Han Feng with contempt. It was annoyed with playing with its prey. It wanted to put an end to this. So it bit down hard on the sword.

Han Feng was looking at the sword in the fox's mouth. As it bit harder and harder finally, the blade broke in pieces. Looking at the broken pieces of blade, Han Feng's heart also sank.

"What!" Han Feng looked at the broken sword at loss. It was a Grade-1 weapon and was enough to kill a Level-1 beast. Clearly, it wasn't enough to deal with a level-2 beast.

He finally knew what was going on.

The fox was not weak at all, but it was just toying with him and he thought he had enough strength to kill it.

"Ha Ha Ha" Han Feng started laughing. He knew that he couldn't escape. His body was seriously damaged and he didn't have anything that could save his life. If he was from a big clan he would have several life-saving measures. He didn't have any of those things.

"Is this what reality is like? Is this the truth of the world? I didn't even start my journey and it is coming to an end."

"I am unwilling! I just wanted to live in this brutal cultivation world..."

"I will not accept this! I will never accept death! You hear me?" Han Feng moved his broken body and once again stood up.

The fox was amused while it looked at Han Feng. The prey turned out to be far more interesting than it imagined.

It walked towards Han Feng with small steps. It was time to end it.

Han Feng looked at the fox without any expression. He looked tranquil. There was no despair on his face. His pitch-black eyes became sharp and grew cold by each passing second. He looked completely different than before.

He was waiting for the fox to make its move.

Soon the fox jumped at him. Its jaw was aimed at Han Feng's neck.

Han Feng's eyes glowed with a fierce light. During his fight with the Fox of Doom, he had a rough grasp of its attacking pattern. He was betting everything on this point.

Rather than dodging it this time he moved towards the fox. He was planning something only a lunatic would do.

He untied the wine gourd from his waist and slammed it towards its eyes.

The wine gourd broke as it hit the mark, and the wine spilled in the fox's eye. The fox went completely blind for a moment and started rolling on the ground.

*Roaarrrr*

Han Feng looked at the fox without any expression. He took out firestone that generated a small amount of fire. He always carried it to cook food.

He threw the firestone towards the fox.

It caused the wine to immediately catch fire.

*Roaaaarrrrrrr*

The fox became flustered as the fire directly affected its vision. It couldn't hurt it at all, but it irritated the eyes.

The Fox of Doom's anger reached its peak. It used the attack it was famous for. The curse of calamity. With it as the center, a dark sphere formed very quickly and soon expanded in all directions.

The trees and grass that were hit with it turned pale and withered.

Han Feng who was standing near the shore couldn't getaway. He was struck by the curse and fainted. The force pushed him into the lake.

The last thing he remembered before losing consciousness was looking at the black sphere.