Chapter 35: The Hunt II

  The streets of Five Fragrance Village lay cloaked in silence, the stillness of the night wrapping around it like a heavy shroud. Beneath the pitch-black sky, the serene silver glow of the moon offered a faint light, just enough to outline the narrow paths winding between wooden houses and humble huts.

  Luo Ling’s slender figure glided through the narrow streets like a shadow, seamless and soundless. The low visibility in the darkness of the night posed no obstacle to him. With the presence of inner breath in him, the world appeared as vivid and clear as it did in the daylight. Well, at least an area of five square meters around him.

  A newly promoted martial master wouldn’t normally possess such vivid night vision. At best, they could make out blurry outlines of their surroundings. But Luo Ling was different. In his previous life, he had been a master of mental force, having honed countless support skills that relied on its power.

  One such skill was named Starry Night Pupils which gave its users perfect night vision by capturing and amplifying the refracted lights usually invisible to the naked eye.

  Luo Ling had only eleven drops of mental force to his name, barely enough to deploy this skill. Even so, he could only harness a quarter of its full potential. Fortunately, its consumption of inner breath was minimal, requiring just a single drop every two hours.

  With a passive mental force regeneration rate of one drop per hour, Luo Ling could maintain this skill indefinitely without feeling drained.

  Given his current reserve and level of body refinement, a few auxiliary skills like night vision were all his inner breath could manage for now. However, to Luo Ling, that much was enough. Night vision, combined with his extra-sensory perception, already put him leagues above a ninth-level external martial artist. Not to mention, the blessings obtained from upgrading [Archery].

  Luo Ling was confident but he didn’t let it get to his head.

  No martial artist had ever reached the level of a Transcendent without experiencing their fair share of bloody battles. He had learned, through bitter experience, never to underestimate an opponent. Even a lion uses its full strength when hunting a rabbit.

  Luo Ling’s destination was his previous training location.

  When he arrived, he was greeted with a thick carpet of bushes instead of the neat clearing once filled with his makeshift training equipment. In just a few days of neglect, the shrubs had crept in, blanketing the area in a tangle of green.

  Luo Ling clenched his right fist, digging his nails into his palm before relaxing with a few deep breaths.

  Then, he hit the road without sparing the clearing a second glance.

  The vegetation in this world grew at an astonishing speed, far faster than anything Luo Ling had encountered back in Murim. In just ten days, the clearing was overrun with brushwood and creeping vines, transforming it back to the wild, untamed state in which he had first discovered it months ago.

  Luo Ling’s small yet resolute figure moved through the bush-packed ground, heading deeper into the overgrowth. After a few twists and turns, the towering walls guarding the village against the terrors of the Hundred Beast Forest came into sight.

  Once pristine and imposing, these walls had also succumbed to nature's relentless advance. Thick vines snaked across its surface, climbing upwards before vanishing over the edge to the other side. Moss clung to the stones, wrapping the once-white structure in a lush green shroud, a testament to the untamed vigor.

  Luo Ling directed all eleven drops of his inner breath to heighten his senses, scrutinizing the vines closely. Though they seemed sturdy, he needed to ensure they could safely bear his weight. His perception darted between the thick leaves and tangled stems, searching for any lurking insects that might pose a threat.

  The insects of this world were not to be underestimated. Even a centipede could take the life of a bull, and he had seen it happen more than once. He didn’t want them anywhere near him.

  Luo Ling identified a handful of grotesque insects concealed in tricky spots along the vines. Some resembled oversized centipedes, their segmented bodies wrapped around the weak branches, while others looked like hairy spiders with long, spindly legs. Regardless of their forms, he carefully noted their exact locations in his mind, ensuring to avoid those areas during his ascent.

  After making sure the bows and quivers were fastened snugly to him, Luo Ling grabbed onto a thicker vine and gave it an experimental pull. Noting their sturdiness and confirming their ability to support his weight, he began ascending.

  All eleven drops of inner breath were deployed, helping Luo Ling to pinpoint the grooves on the wall accurately he could nudge his toe in. Even though he had not mastered the body forging to its third level, the upgrades he had gotten from the first two levels gave him enough strength to support his entire weight with the toes alone.

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  With the nimbleness of a monkey, he scaled the wall and in the blink of an eye, he was on the other side.

  Luo Ling didn’t even spend that much stamina for the entire journey.

  The time he had for this personal operation was only a few hours. Before the break of dawn, he had to get back to the orphanage. Under the blanket of the night, he rushed through the winding path that led to the deeper part of the forest.

  Luo Ling had already memorized the woods around the village in vivid detail. He could draw a map from his memory alone and it’d still have an accuracy rate of over 95%.

  From the conversations he had overheard, Luo Ling learned that Li Kai had supposedly fled into the deeper section of the forest—a place considered taboo for mortals. The cloaked men had dismissed it as a dead end, deeming it too perilous to pursue further. But to Luo Ling, it was a lead. He now knew exactly where to begin his search for Li Kai.

  These unknown pursuers were outsiders, unfamiliar with the forest's intricacies that the local hunters knew by heart. They were likely unaware of the buffer zone near the border separating the inner and outer periphery—an area where dangers were almost non-existent. Had they known, they might not have abandoned their search so hastily.

  But Luo Ling knew. He was also aware of the small caves some hunters had dug up at the nook of thick trees.

  Perhaps because the night was still young, he didn’t encounter any nocturnal animals on his way. His toes pushed against the ground, propelling his body along the winding path in the woods.

  Luo Ling had not yet started on lightness techniques and couldn’t tread over falling leaves or walk on water like the experts of advanced agility techniques. However, this limitation did not deter him. By applying the same principles to solid ground, he was able to significantly boost his running speed, moving with an efficiency that belied his small frame.

  If it was during the daytime, Luo Ling’s small figure would have appeared as nothing more than a black blur appearing and disappearing among the dense trees.

  In the blink of an eye, he was at the border that separated the outer periphery and inner circle. Concentrating all his inner breath into a straight line, he observed. Noting no strange presence, not even that of small insects, his confidence swelled.

  Although his actions were usually limited to the safer sections in the outer periphery, it didn’t mean he had never been to this strange section of the forest. He had visited this so-called buffer zone more than once.

  Restraining his mental force, and surrounding himself with his extra perception senses, he took his first step.

  Luo Ling didn’t rush in recklessly. The inner part of the Hundred Beast Forest had beasts twice the size of that semi-demonized tiger he met and was strong enough to uproot several trees with just a swing of their paws.

  He had encountered one such beast once. And despite it being so far away, his instincts screamed at him to vacate the place and run as far as possible.

  After that day, Luo Ling obediently limited his range of activities within the outer periphery and didn’t overestimate himself. That day, he realized that past achievements meant nothing in the face of his current state and it was better to let go of this hubris before it took his life.

  Although he was being careful, Luo Ling still ran quite fast. He only had a few hours to track down and finish Li Kai off.

  -~X~-

  The first burrow was built quite close to the border, only a few steps in. Obviously, Li Kai would not be there. But Luo Ling checked it nonetheless.

  The next burrow was located a little deeper.

  These dug-ins were built by hollowing out trees that grew in tricky places, usually nestled between two other trees. It would not be easy for a massive beast to easily discover these burrows.

  The clock ticked away and hours passed while he searched. Luo Ling still had not found Li Kai. Furrowing his brows, he once again concentrated his mental force into a straight line and swept his surroundings, covering more distance this way.

  Yet Li Kai could not be found.

  Luo Ling frowned and thoughts about giving up emerged. He didn’t have much time left. Besides, this inner section was not exactly a safe place.

  Then, he spent a few more minutes searching which was proven to be a fruitless endeavor in the end. That man had not occupied any of the burrows he knew.

  Luo Ling clicked his tongue in disappointment, and just when he was about to give up and call it a night, a certain object came to his mind.

  Rummaging into the hidden pocket in his hunting gear’s shirt, he took out rectangular yellowed paper clutched between his index and middle fingers.

  The tracking talisman.

  Back then, Li Hong gave him two talismans as a token of friendship. He had only used the masking talisman and this, the tracking talisman, remained unused.

  Now was the time to use it.

  To activate the tracking function of the talisman, something had to be given as a sample. Luo Ling brought a knife he had confiscated from Li Kai. Then, he wrapped the paper around its blade portion before making a small rip at a corner of the parchment.

  After that, nothing seemed to happen. The paper was still wrapped around the tool. However, under his inner breath’s observation, a different world was unfolding.

  Bright yellow light spots flickered to life from the parchment, resembling fireflies darting erratically in the dark. Under the enhanced clarity granted by his inner breath, Luo Ling discerned that these were not mere spots of light but minuscule characters, intricately shaped and brimming with energy. Each character seemed alive, pulsating faintly as though imbued with a will of its own.

  A string of the glowing characters merged into a flowing chain, snaking its way through the air before splitting into two. One chain coiled tightly around Luo Ling’s hand; the knife it held gleamed faintly under its light. The other segment detached, condensing into a small orb that hovered effortlessly, pulsing with a soft, rhythmic glow.

  Then, the ball began to move. Luo Ling knew what to do now, and that was to follow the ball. Yet, he couldn’t help but narrow his eyes in surprise when the ball, instead of going deeper into the forest, drifted in the opposite direction.

  Li Kai was not in the inner section of the forest, but somewhere outside.

  Luo Ling felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He hastily followed after the light ball as it guided him out of the inner periphery, and brought him closer to the road that connected the village to the town.

  As he had expected, Li Kai had plans of his own and already left the inner periphery.

  The ball swam closer and closer to the village’s main entrance. Through his inner breath-assisted vision, Luo Ling discerned a silhouette emerging in the distance, faint but unmistakable, its movements subtle yet deliberate against the backdrop of the quiet night.

  He recognized that broad back. It was none other than Li Kai.