Chapter 12:
The Lowliest Lifeform
When I said I wanted her to be our ally, I meant more in like, the standoffish version. She would stay in her place and we'd coordinate. I didn't expect her to decide to join our sect.
Which, what the hell? Since when had we become a sect? We were two, now three, people. I mean, I didn't really know how many you needed to create a sect, but three had to be breaking a rule.
Whatever. We had Fu Zhi on our team now… Fu Zhi. Fuzzy. Huh.
As we flew back, she shared her experiences with us.
"My spark awoke the first time the ants attempted to devour me as a small caterpillar," Fu Zhi said regally to my left as we flew over the forest. "Of course, even at my weakest I was a magnificent fighter! I dispatched my attackers and headed into the forest, training myself until I reached my divine form."
"And the moonlight stuff?" I asked.
Fu Zhi, if she had been human, would have been one of those haughty noblewomen from Anime. It was all in the way she followed up my question with a laugh that reminded me of that kind of woman.
"Hohoho! Now that is an interesting tale! You see, on the day I first left my cocoon, after months of growing, I emerged and in the moonlight, I stood. My wings unfurling as the last remnants of myself fell away and I contemplated it. A beautiful crescent moon, a sharp blade in the sky. Naught but a thin sliver. And yet, its light illuminated the world. I had never noticed its beauty before that night. I never forgot it after."
Fu Zhi's haughty voice became almost tranquil as we made the final approach to the temple. "I learned more. I learned the power of light. It travels almost instantly. You can feel the warmth of the sun the instant you enter it. It is speed unrivaled. It feeds the world around us with energy. Light is the source of so much life. And I learned to bend it with my scales. One day I wish to do more. To become light itself."
"You'd be so pretty!" Cass said cheerily.
Fu Zhi looked over at her, and I could hear the amusement in her voice. "You do not see me as pretty already?"
"I do. You're beautiful, Big Sis!"
Fu Zhi's wings closed with just a bit more force then necessary, sending her twirling off before she stabilized. She rejoined us while letting out a small keening sound. "T-Thank you, young bat girl."
"Fox girl."
Please, please correct her.
"My apologies, young fox girl."
Goddamnit.
Still. Seeing Cass and Fu Zhi interact revealed a couple of things.
Cass, even before she sparked, seemed to come with a base level of knowledge that got expanded as time went, but not exactly the wisdom to go with it. Fu Zhi was further proof of that. Spirit Beasts got tied to some kind of Akashic Record of knowledge. Fu Zhi had a bit more of a grown up vibe to her, like she had grown through adversity as well.
We landed in the courtyard a bit after, Fu Zhi looking around as she alighted to the ground. "So. This is the home of our sect?"
"For now," I flew to the peach tree and cut off three, sending them flying over to roll in front of Cass and Fu Zhi. "Sorry. It's a bit of fixer-upper."
"It will do. Do not worry. This Fu Zhi is a clever moth! I will have our sect looking regal in time!" She then took a bite of peach, moaning in pleasure before continuing. "So. You are beginning a campaign against the ants?"
"Yep. So far we have the crows on our side."
"Hmph." Fu Zhi said, unimpressed. "Zi Yi. An uncouth fighter. Were he not my better I would have killed him for his rude attempt at devouring me."
"It's a good thing neither of you died. We need as many fighters as we can get." I pointed out. "Holding onto grudges in this war is not going to help us. We need to keep reaching out to folks. Zi Yi gave me a list of other candidates, but any that you can recommend would be fine."
"Would they be joining the sect as well?" Fu Zhi asked. "I fear many wouldn't wish to join if they feel forced."
"I'll settle for them agreeing to fight alongside us."
She hummed. "...In the southern part of the forest, I have seen a sect being made by an animal. I only know it because rats attempting to challenge me came from it. That may be worth looking into."
"Another sect made by an animal?" I sighed. "Damn. Why are there so many animals in this forest that are spirit beasts?"
"Something in the water."
I chuckled. Stopped. Looked over at Fu Zhi. She looked back, moth face unblinking.
"You aren't joking."
"Joking? No, of course not. There is something in the water of the lake. You don't know?"
I looked over at Cass, who shook her head in confusion. "I guess not. Is it something I have to worry about?"
"No more than usual." Thank god. "Not for now at least."
I decided not to question that. "Well… for now, let's go meet the next candidate tomorro-" I stopped, looking out into the forest. Something was curling up into night sky in the distance. It was only visible thanks to the moonlight. A small black bit of smoke rising upwards.
Smoke in a forest with no humans.
"What is it?" Cass asked, worried.
"I… think some humans have entered the woods," I said at last, spooked beyond belief. "We should check it out."
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Bai Lang
Bai Lang couldn't believe the bounty he had found. Years of poaching animals across the lands, from the time he was nearly killed as a young man for hunting a deer in a noble's forest, had taught him to be careful of things that seemed to good to be true.
Having a belly full of warm deer meat while he was imprisoned, however, also taught him the value of a good hunt.
And this forest was proof of that. Surrounding the Lake of Living Death, it had been forbidden to all ever since the demonic incursion. No one entered on the pain of death. It was even guarded by a sect of cultivators. Weak, compared to other cultivators, but even the weakest cultivator might as well be a god compared to a simple poacher like him.
Until they were wiped out. And when he heard the news, Bai Lang saw an opportunity.
A full forest filled with Qi. Qi meant danger. It also meant wealth.
He gathered his group and entered the forest. They found so much more than they could have imagined.
Deer for their skins and meat. Monkeys for their heads and paws. Various herbs that were valued by people back in the city for reasons both medicinal and recreational.
And spirit beasts. They avoided those, most of the time. But one of Bai Lang's crew, a little man who had been kicked out of a sect, had an eye for them. He could find the weak ones, the ones that wouldn't be a threat, that either had just sparked or were about to.
Spirit Beast cores had immense value. Even weak ones.
In a clearing they had cut down just south of the forest, Bai Lang sat on a log and looked around at his bounty. A fire blazed merrily in the center of their camp, illuminating everything for him as it sent the crisp smell of burning pine into the air.
To one side were the wagons. One was stacked high with deer carcasses. They had gone a bit overboard. There were a few deer out there now, rotting useless in the fields with their skins removed, but they would get them a pretty bit of coin when they went back to the city. Another wagon held some less sought after but still valuable skins, wolves, monkeys, even some small rats.
But the prize was the last wagon. A full set of different herbs, sure, but the cores were held in a small chest. From a fox, a turtle, a few insects, lizards, frogs.
This forest was a bounty beyond explanation. Why were there so many spirit beasts? Who cared!? Bai Lang was going to be rich. Enough to visit the whore houses and gambling dens and maybe pay a debt back if he wanted… probably after the whore houses and gambling dens.
He looked around at his men. The other four men were doing a variety of things while Bai Lang rested. One, a thickly built man by the name of Fang Shilong, was playing on a small Pipa, his fingers moving nimbly across the strings. Another man, a strange man from the west named Sancho, was cutting up the body of a small monkey, opening up its guts and tossing them aside to save the fur. The third man (Bai Lang genuinely didn't know his name) was restringing his bow.
The last man, however, drew Bai Lang's interest. The one who was perhaps going to end up making them the most money. None of them knew his real name. They nicknamed him 'Slick' thanks to tall and thin build. He said he was a former wanna-be cultivator but had been driven out of his sect and left to fend for himself. If he had been a cultivator, he was an amazingly weak one. He wasn't on the team for his martial skill, but his keen senses.
Right then, Slick was looking out into the woods, his lips pursing as his eyes narrowed at the treeline. He had been whittling a stick, but it was now held almost limply in his fingers, his focus on the forest beyond him.
"Slick?"
"Hmm?" Slick's head snapped over to Bai Lang. "What?"
"You okay?" Bai Lang asked.
Slick's mouth twisted into a frown, his eyes going back to the treeline. "Don't know, boss. Feels like something is out there, but it's on the edge of my range. It's weird."
"Another spirit beast?" Bai Lang asked.
"No, I don't think so. Maybe. I don't know." Slick relaxed a moment later. "Ah. It's gone. Must have been nothing."
"Just the wind," one of the other men joked, chuckling.
Bai Lang smiled, but still glanced at the treeline. Huh. Well, it didn't matter. They'd be out of there soon enough.
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Xiaobo
I looked into the distance with my senses, feeling that strange sensation of being watched flicker away from me at last. I looked at Cass and Fu Zhi.
The three of us were high up in a tree, about three miles away from the temple, just in view of the encampment below. Fu Zhi and Cass were worrying me though.
Both were quiet as possible, looking at the encampment with an odd intensity. No. Not the encampment. The humans.
"What's wrong?" I hopped over to them, landing in between the two winged ladies.
"M-Master, it's just, those are, I mean-"
"Humans," Fu Zhi hissed out.
"And the significance of that would be…" I said leadingly.
Fu Zhi hissed. "Humans are monsters. They turn beautiful places into disgusting hot stone, their fights destroy entire countries, and they smell."
"Yeah, but what is the real issue," I asked. "Humans aren't the only creatures that suck."
"They're scary," Cass whispered. She was looking down at the camp. Despite the slight tremor in her voice, I noticed she was staring at the man playing an instrument that looked like a guitar or violin type of thing. "They're scary."
She repeated it with absolute certainty. Spark-borne intellect in action? Fu Zhi nodded in agreement.
"In my long life of five years, one of the most powerful things I have seen has been a great snake over a mile long winding its way through a mountain of iron as though it was the ocean. It was a creature of beauty and grace, strength that showed me the heights I would one day reach." Fu Zhi's voice soured. "The most powerful creature I ever saw was the cultivator who killed him with a blade made of bone, and the army of humans working with him. A beautiful and graceful spirit beast who had reached heights I had only imagined until then, killed by a human and torn apart by dozens of them for his spirit core."
Fu Zhi's antenna waved about as she continued. "Like the ants. They won with numbers, coordination, and tore apart their prey. That is what they are. Bigger ants." Fu Zhi's wings fluttered in agitation. "Humans are vicious, powerful, and smart. They are not worth dealing with. We should leave."
Cass showed spark knowledge, then Fu Zhi showed the wisdom that came with time. Both screamed 'humans bad.' Which, hey. Almost every asshole I'd ever met was human. Not an unfair take. Also, that sword made of bone sounded metal as hell.
"Okay. Well let's get rid of some mysticism here." I said. "Humanity has some advantages over the rest of… us." Still not used to that. "But they also have some serious weaknesses. Even the strongest ones. And they have the biggest weakness all intelligent beings have."
"What would that be?" Despite her usual haughty tone, I could hear a bit of intrigue in Fu Zhi's voice. Cass, on the other hand, seemed to calm down almost immediately. She really had way too much faith in me.
"The one drawback of intelligence, is that you are smart enough to be fooled." I watched the guy playing an instrument, then looked over at Cass, who was humming along to the music he played. "Cass. I have an idea. And I need you for it."
"Mmm?" She looked over, confusion on her adorable face.
That's right. Time to put my student's cuteness to work.
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