Chapter 145 - Remember your name?

It's good that it's getting colder and that the weather is dry. I am barely leaving tracks.

Xin ate a spirit stone to compensate for his lack of natural qi regeneration, then carefully measured a small dose of water and earth element materials, consuming them some time apart — if taken too closely together, they'd conflict and stress his meridians out, but taken separately they'd nourish his core for a few days instead.

He then scouted around the area he spent the night in for a few hours, yet found nothing of value. As he started moving to the next spot, deeper into the forest, a distant sound stopped him in his tracks.

Rumble. Rumble. Such a familiar sound, yet too faint to identify!

Then came another sound, a shriek or a shout. It was hard to tell, even with heightened senses, as the forest was too dense to let the sound travel freely. Xin chose to investigate and jogged towards the location, mindful of not making much noise himself.

Ten minutes later, he arrived at a small lake, exuding a pungent smell, with beautiful crimson flowers growing around. Maiden Blood lilies? What was that sound, though? As if to answer his question, the bushes several dozen steps away from the lake produced a snuffling sound, then a groan.

A boar? Xin unsheathed his meteoric sword.

Celestial Vigil.

Sniff. He wanted to scan the bushes the sound came from, yet he was overwhelmed by a stronger sensation — this lake's water was exuding a powerful blood path aura! It's not just the Maiden Blood lilies, this whole clearing is one big blood path material spot!

Am I being lured? Cautious, Xin circled the source of the sound, then effortlessly climbed a nearby tree. A strange scene opened in front of his eyes — two giant mantises, one with its spine broken and smashed into a massive boulder, another one prone and headless. A few steps to their side, a massive boar lay on its belly, its legs splayed powerlessly. It looked gravely injured, and had a massive cut on its neck, a pool of blood underneath.

Any mortal boar would die from such a wound. Well, it's qi active, if it wasn't already evident by it being almost twice as big as any boar I've ever seen. Hm, is this a predicament, or an opportunity?

Xin couldn't help but remember the titanic boar that levelled half of Tealstone to the ground.

Feels like a century has passed since. Xin climbed off the tree, then approached the wounded creature, keeping his distance and carefully scanning his surroundings in case of an ambush. Once he made sure that he was safe, he locked his gaze with the beast's. 

What a curious creature.

Mud coloured hide, a thick black bristle to keep itself warm in winter, but also ginger eyelashes around its small, bead-like eyes. If this creature wasn't so dangerous and filthy, Xin would even call it adorable. Just one look at its tusks quickly snapped him back to reality. This is a living weapon, not a plush toy — need to stay careful.

"So, that's it? You're out of qi?" Xin circled it some more, piecing together what happened here. It seems that the boar's wound was deeper initially — it managed to heal using its innate qi powers, but it wasn't enough to turn the tide, and the animal lay dying. "Tough luck."

The creature snorted and gave Xin a hopeless look. He felt his heart get gripped in his chest. 

What's wrong with me? I've killed half a dozen boars in my life, and slaughtered twice as many pigs when the butcher was ill and I needed the money. 

The boar might have some dao shards in it, this might be my piggy bank... Hehe. Not even speaking about the organs and meat! If I manage to preserve all these, this might net fifteen spirit stones or so. Xin sighed.

The boar has a last resort attack in it, I feel this. I shouldn't underestimate it. Given how brutally it dispatched the mantises, it will crush me together with my Iron Lung dao shard if I ever take any of its hits head on.

Shit, I should have borrowed a bow from the nomads, they'd certainly give me one free of charge. Wish I had at least some ranged method…

Or do I?

Master, you don't want to kill this creature? Please explain, I thought you were a hunter, yet I also feel your compassion towards it.

"I don't know." Xin sat on the ground and spoke aloud. "Maybe I'm lonely, and this thing feels like company. Sounds stupid, but this piggy feels like a kindred soul somehow. Fuck, it's just a boar, I'm needlessly humanizing it. It's like I'm a six years old girl visiting the butcher for the first time, crying when she sees her first pig head, not a cultivator. Heh."

I think I understand. In one of your memories, you called yourself a wounded animal. Maybe that's why you pity it?

"You know what's funny? If I had a crossbow, this creature would already be dead. It's like all humans have a scale in their soul, and certain things tip them towards a different side. If this boar wasn't lootable, I'd probably throw it a blood healing pill and leave. Yet now, since there is a small risk in killing it, we're stuck in this limbo, and I'm all introspective and shit… Life is strange."

I see. Master, I am conflicted, what's the righteous thing to do here? The boar is an invasive animal, and it brings roughly as much harm as it brings good to the forest, so this line of thinking is hard to use.

"For some reason, I'm thinking about what Wu Lei asked me again. Am I someone who wants to change the world, or goes along with the flow?"

I'm not sure, how does this relate?

"Not sure either, but it popped up by itself. Means it's relevant. The creature is fading as we speak, it won't live long."

Yet it's dangerous to stay here, you aren't the only one who heard this battle. Whatever you choose, we should hurry.

"Fuck." Xin felt a dam in his soul burst, yet somehow, it wasn't painful. "It's not about the boar, is it?" He circled the creature, and it lazily followed him with its gaze, struggling to lift its head and placing it on the ground again. 

Well, If I kill it, it will take hours to butcher properly. I won't be able to preserve all the organs, either… And the dao shards, I likely won't be compatible with them, so they won't help me fight the demoness. Right?

"Xin, what does your name mean?" Erdeni once asked.

Fuck this. Pulling a blood restoration pill and a blood stoppage powder from his pack, Xin crushed them into a strip of jerky and tossed it at the boar's snout.

"Screw this, you win. Happy?" Embarrassed, Xin disappeared behind the trees.

***

A day later.

Trampled grass, a few drops of deer blood. Xin followed the trail towards an entrance to a mud filled bog, where the soil was wet and there'd be more tracks. It was cold, but the soil wasn't fully frozen just yet.

He approached an area the deer was likely retreating towards, then searched for tracks. There they are. 

Another pack of wolves. A single deer's hoof tracks. That's it?

Another hour wasted. No point looking for the deer carcass, it wasn't the hag that chased it.

Xin had hoped that he found the demoness' hunting grounds, and that he'd find the signs of the demoness or her vinemen, yet this wasn't the case. Just as he suspected.

Xin sighed and took a sip of wine, then reached into his bag of holding and pulled out some utensils. He filled a metal bowl with water, cracked a small ember root, then mixed it in. Within moments, the water boiled. Can't afford to make a campfire in this forest. 

Xin pulled out his plant reinvigoration dao shard and attuned to it, unattuning from his snakevine shard, then gathered a bunch of dry materials in his palm.

Echinacea. Monk's melissa. Good. Common lingzhi. Well, it's a mushroom, but should work anyway.

Plant Reinvigoration. The dry materials were brought to life, and Xin immediately threw them into the bowl. He mixed this concoction for a few minutes, then sat on a plaid laid out on an old tree trunk and started sipping, a pleasant warmth spreading through his body.

That's quite a strong mix. Mortal materials, but still quite useful. Can't afford to get sick, and need to warm myself up. Now that I think of it, I should investigate the bog anyway, it looks like a perfect location for an…

Roar! Xin heard a mighty cry in the distance. Even with his senses uninfused, he knew it belonged to a bear! And it's not that far, just several minutes of running from here! He gulped the remnants of the elixir, tossed his tools into his bag of holding, creating a mess inside, then sprung into action.

Xin sprinted as he pierced the forest, monotonous lines of yellow pines flashing in front of him, yet halfway towards the source of the sound, he slowed up, infused his boots with wood qi and skulked slower.

Roar! Smash! Smash! The only voice Xin heard was that of a bear groaning. Given that it's been a few minutes since he started moving, it was clear that the fight was rather prolonged. 

No voices other than the bear… Means that the enemy is quiet, might be some giant insects, but might also be the vinemen?

Celestial Vigil. His heart racing, Xin approached a bush thicket, gently spread it and looked into the clearing it led to. 

Just fifty steps away, a tall humanoid figure stood — none other than the Moss Bush Demoness herself, clad in her bark suit! Her arms covered in thorns, she stood idle behind a dozen vinemen, all assaulting a giant bear, one and a half Xin's heights when on its fours, its fur covered in deep cuts and soaked in blood.

Is this my chance?