Chapter 146 - Blood trail.

Roar! The giant bear stood up on all fours, towering over the hag's minions, its body pure power and wrath. It lunged forward with surprising speed, its massive forelegs crashing down onto one of the vine monsters. The impact flattened the creature's head and even sank its vine-legs into the ground, yet moments later, the bear itself was stabbed by a vineman flanking it, wielding a thick thorny spear emanating wood qi.

Roar! The bear retreated, snarling as a fresh wound joined the countless others marring its body. Xin's heart sank — just from a few moments observing, it was clear that the bear was exhausted and desperate, and thus prone to blunders.

Xin crouched low in the bushes, his sharp eyes scanning the battlefield. The demoness stood at the rear of her troops, her back turned to him, occupied with managing her troops. She's so close. So distracted. Still, it's almost a hundred steps run, can I make it without being noticed?

The demoness waved her hand authoritatively, pointing at the bear, and immediately, her soldiers livened up, pushing the creature away from the fallen carcasses of the vinemen it managed to slay.

What is she planning?

As if to answer Xin's question, the demoness approached a destroyed vine monster, its torso torn to shreds, yet its head miraculously intact, and unattached it in one motion. She then approached another monster, its flytrap head squashed, and replaced it with the one she just picked up!

Splash! Splash! She uncorked a flask and poured a strange red liquid over the reassembled plant monster. A few breaths later, it stood up and shambled towards the bear!

Celestial Vigil. Perception infusion. Sniff. Her elixir smells like the blood lilies from that crimson lake! I see.

Xin looked at the demoness' back once again, his hunting instincts compelling him to spring into action. If I run in a perfect line, infuse my step to be stealthier, then stab the back of her head with my new combination — she's done for!

Why am I sitting still then, here in the bushes? Is this what I felt when I saw the boar back in Tealstone? Am I pussying out again?

Like in Tealstone?

No. 

I'm scared, but it's a good kind of fear. My intuition is warning me against attacking! The demoness is circling around now, complicating the backstab. If any of the flanking vinemen see me with their peripheral vision, they'll alert her! I'll probably still manage to deliver a surprise attack, but it has to be a decisive strike — last time, even a qi infused arrow to the brain wasn't enough.

Roar! Smash! The bear flung a vine monster aside, its massive paw sending the creature flying into a nearby yellow pine. In return, another spear-thorn pierced its thigh, and it let out a pitiful groan, too weak to roar properly now.

How strong is this beast? Its durability and strength are immense, and it probably weighs like two warhorses. It seems even the hag is hesitant to engage in melee — even at rank two, her defensive methods would be quickly outmatched. She's also not shooting her ranged thorn attacks — probably because the bear's hide is qi infused, and the damage wouldn't be substantial. Has she used her mercury snake ring, at least?

Sniff. Sniff. No fumes, no qi emanations, no mercury snake anywhere in sight. The answer is no.

Shit, the bear is going to die, the opportunity is fading! Do I take it? Xin tensed his lips and kept scanning the area. He already knew the answer.

Smash. Several breaths later, the bear's body hit the ground, and it was quickly surrounded by a swarm of vinemen. Several stabs and one pitiful groan later, it was over.

"Yes. Finally…" The demoness sighed with relief. She sounded like an old granny who finally managed to bring a heavy bag from the market on a hot day, not a demon who just dispatched a giant monster. "Come, let's pack it, kids." She pointed at several different stops around the carcass.

Her plant soldiers encircled the carcass, obediently following her commands. The hag manifested and quickly ate a handful of spirit stones, replenishing her qi reserves, then raised her hand. Several thick vines emerged from the ground, wrapping around the bear's body, then connecting themselves to the vinemen. The plant monsters, now tethered like beasts of burden, prepared to haul the corpse.

"Not yet. Wait." The demoness said, then turned her head sharply, looking in Xin's direction!

His heart didn't even jump, his eyes just widened and his muscles tensed as he prepared to run.

"Let's repair your friends first, kids." She approached a few plant men left behind in the final push.

Xin exhaled silently. It's good that I didn't move. Didn't know she had this ability to repair her plantmen. Well, how would I? Both times we fought, she had to retreat. 

The demoness spent the next few minutes reattaching limbs and heads, then spraying the creatures she assembled with the red elixir. Once she was done, she stood up and stretched her bark-covered arms and legs.

"I'm too old for this. Come, kids. Let's go home."

Home? That's it, she'll lead me right into her lair! 

After saying these words, the demoness started walking straight towards Xin!

Fuck. Jade Ambush ring! 

At first, it looked like the hag was heading straight towards him, but a few breaths later, she turned her torso and veered towards a nearby animal trail, just twenty steps away from where he sat. Behind her, the plant monsters carried their heavy burden, slowly pulling the bloodied carcass along. 

What if she noticed me, and is just feigning ignorance? Should I run?

What's wrong with me? Did losing the tiger totem's primal presence make me into a coward?

That would be an easy explanation. Think, Xin. Has she noticed you?

No, she is not composed enough to pull such a move, and doesn't have any perception methods capable of detecting me from afar. It's just a coincidence that she's walking through this trail. Can I get a drop on her?

A minute later, the demoness was about to walk past him.

"Remember, son," his father's voice echoed in his mind. "if you rush an unprepared person from fifteen steps away, you'll almost always slice their throat before they unsheathe their weapon and block. This rule also applies backwards — stay vigilant and never allow yourself to be in this position. Your bloodline is useless if it's attached to a careless head. Even the world's best martial artist is not immune to guile and cunning."

"And what about cultivators?" Young Xin asked, his curiousity mixed with confusion. The idea of a great warrior dying to a knife wielding thug felt revolting, how can life be so unfair? 

"The cultivation world is a boundless sea of investigative, attacking and defensive methods, so how can I give you a definitive answer? A good rule of thumb is to not underestimate higher realms, of course, but you should also remember that even a rank five master is still human. Take that as you will."

Thirty steps. Twenty five. At this angle of walking, she won't get closer than twenty, will this be the most optimal moment to attack? Two plant monsters were shambling in front of the hag, the rest were behind, pulling the carcass.

Twenty two. The demoness turned her head, glancing briefly at the bush where Xin crouched, then just a moment later, she looked in the opposite direction. Xin's heart jumped.

Twenty. That's it, right? I should attack!

He remained motionless.

Twenty two again! The demoness had her back to him now, but with so many plantmen behind her, it was too risky. 

The moment is gone. The demoness passed by, and Xin exhaled, irritated. He wondered if he was wise or cowardly.

It doesn't matter now. After another minute of waiting, Xin stepped out of hiding and scanned the clearing. He saw a massive centenarian downed tree, hollow inside. It seems that the bear lay dormant inside, waiting for the early spring, yet the demoness disturbed its sleep and lured out, then killed it. I see.

Did she stumble upon it during her recent roaming? Unlikely. She probably knew where it slept in advance, kept this information for the future, then gathered a new troop. Once ready, she attacked the bear with a combined might of all of her soldiers, and dispatched it by exhausting its stamina and qi reserves. An overly cautious method, befitting of an old person who survived so much. Her new thorn spear method is quite worrisome, though. Not even speaking of the blood elixir plant healing method…

Who and what hollowed that massive tree like that, though? I'll be fucked if I know.

Xin went back, then kept following the demoness' trail from a safe distance, resolute.

***

That evening, Xin approached a mixed, densely packed grove with both pine and leaf trees of different sizes. It wasn't that far from the steppe, yet it lay deep within the forest's qi-rich area. As this location was distant from both north-western and south-eastern trade routes, it was safe to assume that no Border Guard patrols would roam this area. Surrounded by little springs from all sides as a cherry on top, this looked like a perfect place for a wood path demon's lair.

Xin felt the excitement spread through his body. I'm so close! Yet her lair isn't just a place she sleeps in, but her fortress, and is bound to have traps and detection methods set up. It doesn't matter, there is no choice but to persevere. She's tired, distracted, busy — it's a perfect opportunity to sneak in. Xin carefully followed the trail left by the carcass, skulking from one bush to another to stay out of sight, his muscles aching with exhaustion. It was impossible to lose this trail, yet following it directly was quite risky. 

Twenty minutes later.

Celestial Vigil. Xin ate a spirit stone, then crept towards another dense thicket and spread its bushes.

An unexpected sight lay in front: a fruit orchard! Pear and apple trees, arranged in straight lines, their skeletal branches clawing at the bleak autumn sky. Empty flower beds, probably seeded with something that would sprout in spring. And the same deep, bloody trail, leading through deeper, towards a dense gathering of tall, ancient trees.

From within these depths emanated a strong wood and earth qi aura, yet the subtle gusts of heavenly qi refused to settle there, drifting further along towards the steppe, as if that area was cursed.

That's where her main lair is. Following the trail through the orchard would be stupid, I need another plan.

Xin flanked the orchard, circling its perimeter for nearly ten minutes until he found an angle that granted him a better approach. If his theory was correct, it would be safer to travel through the deep thickets and natural greenery, rather than walk straight into the traps that the hag set up.

Wait, what's that? Amid almost leafless greenery, Xin saw a few small white, purplish flowers hidden under a bush. Aren't those eastern bellflowers? Do they even grow in winter? Oh. This one is emanating a wood path aura. Qi active.

This might be her alarm method. If one approaches these, something happens, and it alerts the demoness. But what?

She can't jump up every time a bird or a rodent lands near these, that would be absurd! How do they work, then? Xin looked around, then saw a wild cauliflower twenty steps away, near an old rotten tree trunk. Weird. 

Wait. It's also qi active. What's the deal? She can't be just chaotically planting these non-native qi active species, right?

Xin remembered the flytrap-looking heads of the vine monsters. What if the cauliflower is also a "head"? If the bellflower detects something, the cauliflower awakens, and if it sees anything, it alerts the demoness.

For heavens' sake! That's annoying…

The question is, how far can this method reach? Well, it's twenty five steps towards the nearest flower, yet it doesn't seem awake. Let's not come any closer than this, I might have gotten lucky already. Sneaking through this place is dangerous, these alarms might be only one of the methods she used to guard the perimeter. There's an alternative, though…