3 Becoming Prey

The next morning Ah Chun woke up before the sun had even risen in the sky. She quickly prepared herself to set off on her trip into the woods. This day she would be going deeper into the woods than she has ever been before. She had no other choice since the outer rim of the woods had already been picked clean of any wild vegetables. Her harvest of mushrooms yesterday was a lucky find. Since she was able to have such a filling meal last night something she has not had in months, Ah Chun was feeling a bit more energetic than usual. After grabbing her small knife and her grass woven basket. Ah Chun, walked out of her hut and left her courtyard to walk towards the woods.

The forest was about an hour's walk from her hut. Luckily there have been no demonic beast waves. Otherwise, her hut would be the first to be flattened since it was the closest to the forest. The closer she got to the forest the more nervous she was getting. Her mother always told her never to go too deep or she might get attacked by a demonic beast. But if she did not go in deeper she would starve to death. So Ah Chun had no other choice but to go deeper into the forest.

The forests of the Golden Fog Continent usually have a set of zones. The outer zone at the forest edge, which smaller non-demonic animals will roam. The middle zone where ranked one to ranked four demonic beasts roamed. Then the inner zone where ranked five and above demonic beast could be found. The demonic deer that Li Feng Gou's father killed yesterday during his hunt was most likely from the outer edge of the middle zone and a ranked one demonic beast. Since that is where most ranked one and ranked two demonic beasts could be found. With Li Feng Gou's father's strength, he can only fight a ranked one demonic beast at most with a team. Just to take down that one demonic deer it would have taken at least four people of at least stage one martial warrior and that was including Li Feng Gou's father. The thought of facing off with a ranked one demonic beast was terrifying to Ah Chun.

Once Ah Chun reached the forest entrance she quickly looked for a tall long branch to use to move away the underbrush to scare off any snakes that might be hiding. She made her way down her normal trail that she walked every day, which normally ended about halfway to the middle zone. Just to be sure she scanned the area very diligently. Just in case she might see some wild vegetables that she might have missed the past few days. But just like the days before she did not see anything that was edible.

Mustering up her courage Ah Chun gripped her small knife in her right hand and pushed on deeper into the forest. As she made her way through she still could not find anything that she would be able to eat. Not even a single animal could be found. No birds were chirping either. It was eerily quiet. Even though she felt something was off, the rumble in her stomach made her press on.

What Ah Chun didn't know was that there was a pair of blood-red eyes peering at her not too far from her current position. This set of eyes belonged to a Wind Chasing Tiger. A ranked five demonic beasts. The grey fur with white streaks that the Wind Chasing Tiger donned looked like wind passing through the clouds. With its stealthy footsteps, it moved closer and closer to Ah Chun.

Ah Chun stopped in her tracks as she heard some rustling not too far off to her left. She stopped to listen to make sure she was not hearing things.

"Hello?" Ah Chun asked in a trembling voice. She was already scared by how quiet it was and now that she was hearing rustling near her. Which made her even more scared.

Getting no answer and not hearing the rustling again, Ah Chun continued to move forward. She only took a few steps when she heard the rustling again. This time it was even closer than before. Just as she turned around, a massive demonic beast jumped out of the bush behind her.

"Wh- What is a Wind Chasing Tiger doing here!? They are supposed to be way further in!" Ah Chun knew about some of the demonic beasts that inhabit the forest. Her mother used to describe the beast to her. But this was a ranked five demonic beast it should be in the inner zone and not out here in the outer zone.

After a moment of surprise, Ah Chun's next reaction was to run and run she did. The only problem was that she could only run deeper into the forest since the way out was being blocked by the Wind Chasing Tiger. Wind Chasing Tigers were ranked five beasts so it had some form of intelligence and its most favorite thing to do was to hunt down its prey. It would let its prey run for a while before chasing after it. This is why it did not move nor made a sound when it saw Ah Chun run away.

Ah Chun kept running as fast as she could. She ran through underbrush and thickets that tore her clothes and scratched her flesh. But even the pain from her wounds did not stop her. She knew if she stopped for even a second it would mean her end. By this time she had already entered the middle zone. Off in the distance, she could hear the sound of other demonic beasts. A loud roar could be heard from behind her. This was the signal of the Wind Chasing Tiger letting all beast in the area know it was about to hunt its prey. Once this roar was heard all demonic beast in the area went quiet. That one roar alone was enough to send all the low-level demonic beast into hiding.

Cold sweat ran down Ah Chun's back. She knew the Wind Chasing Tiger was now chasing after her. Even though she felt like she was going to collapse at any time she kept running as fast as she could. The sky above her was also rapidly darkening as storm clouds rolled in. It was as if someone had unclogged an ancient waterfall as the rain came down in huge droplets soaking everything it landed on. The ground under Ah Chun's feet was starting to grow soft to the point that her feet were starting to stick into the ground as she ran. At some point, Ah Chun even lost one of her shoes. But even so, she still ran forward.

Ah Chun's chest was hurting her with every breath she took. Her lungs felt like they were on the verge of exploding. Her legs felt as if she was carrying heavyweights that weighed ten times that of her own body weight. Her pace gradually started to slow as she came into a clearing within the forest. It was a circular clearing with only an ancient tree standing in the middle. Ah Chun made her way to the tree. Step by step slowly dragging her way forward. She was halfway to the tree when she heard rustling coming from behind her.