68 Hui Se Ying in Pursuit

Hui Se Ying felt his heart stop as the Shaqi lept over the edge of the boat into the water below. The distraction of her capture had caused his master to be dreadfully pierced by their claws. The Shaqi were malevolent creatures with deeply poisonous energy that zapped the strength of those that came into contact with it.

Even so, his master fought against it with his entire being as he struggled to rescue the girl in his heart. An Ying couldn't understand it as he had been a malevolent spirit for so long that his understanding of deeper emotional things became rather simple after being rescued by their master. Lu Se Ying wouldn't get it either, their master hadn't confided in him as he had in Hui Se Ying.

Hui Se Ying understood that the girl had a tight hold on his master's heart and that he cared for her so deeply that he wouldn't think twice about his own safety to save her. So, unlike and An Ying and Lu Se Ying who immediately rushed to their master's side to aid him, Hui Se Ying quickly jumped the side of the boat in pursuit of Nastasia.

As he lept over the side, he used his energy to grab up large amounts of oxygen from the air. Once his body slipped through the surface of the water into its depths, he used the oxygen to form a bubble around his around his head.

Below the vast expanse of this body of water, of this area known as the Ice Forest Sky, was the Ice Forest itself. It was a good five to ten minutes worth of travel to the bottom. Though he was traveling fast, though he wanted to save her before they broke through to the other side, he, in no way, could overtake the Shaqi in speed.

The only thing he could do was to keep track of the distant, obscure, shadow in front of him. Hoping not to lose sight of it, falling out from the sky a distance away.

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Pacing back and forth across the cold, ice frosted, ground was a cloaked figure. His face, slightly peeking from the cowl of his cloak, was twisted into an impatient sneer. He kicked an ice frost rock, sending it sailing clear across the open ice field.

"Those incompetent, mad, freaks!" He cursed. "How long could it possibly take to snatch a person!" He kicked another rock, sending it sailing with twice the amount of force. Even so, it didn't away even an inch of the annoyance he felt.

Just because he screwed up just a little bit, allowing that guy his master hated to understand a portion of their plans, he was sent here to this wasteland of ice! From such insignificant information, it wasn't like that incompetent thief would have the ability to grasp even the tiniest hint of the beautiful machinations in his master's mind.

He felt his master was making much ado about nothing.

If he was Tongchuu, this never would have happened. It didn't matter what Tongchuu did, in their master's eyes that damned all-I-care-about-is-studying-this-or-that lunatic could do no wrong. "Damn it!" He hissed. "It's not like I- Ah!"

His mood shifted to excitement as he watched the disgusting figure of that gloomy Shaqi fall from the wavering water sky. Calculating the trajectory of the fall to deduce the landing point in but the blinking of an eye, he dashed off to carry out the task his master gave in punishment.

Footwork as light as a feather, feet tapping across iced branches, hopping over jagged ice, and swiftly setting across the rough frosted terrain, he moved with a surprising speed. Yet, even though his current quick and sure steps would grab enviable grumbling from the masses, it was only a fraction of what he capable of.

Because, honestly, why should he go all out on a mission that was given from an unjust punishment? It would be quite foolish of him if he did. Especially when his current level of effort would have him at the location of the drop when that disgusting and mad creature finally touched the ground.

As he got close enough that the Shaqi was but a foot from touching the ice, he noticed something amiss with the person slung across its shoulder. A splash of red hair, a fine feminine figure dressed in rich silks, and delicate pale flesh.

This was not that bastard thief his master wanted to catch.

It wasn't even a man!

Already annoyed to the point of murder, instead of stopping he threw a kick at that grotesque monster with all the force of his run behind it. The Shaqi was sent flying a few feet backward, the girl resting on its shoulder sailing through the air with it.

As the Shaqi hit the ground she tumbled from its body and skidded across the frosted rocks and grass. Even though the pain of smacking into hard ice and sliding across the sharp things on the ground should have been immensely painful, not a sound escaped her lips. After her body settled there wasn't a single movement made in reaction to the hurt.

Fuming, he marched right over the Shaqi on the ground and smashed his foot as hard as can be over its chest. "You useless, idiotic thing!" Each word had been enunciated with each sharp jab to the chest. "Even if you are a brainless thing with only its greed in mind, can't you tell the difference between a man and a woman!?"

After that last curse, he smashed the things head in with the back of his heel. His lips twisted with disgust over the black blood that now drenched his foot. Wiping the appendage across the ice grass with hardly any success at fully removing the garish stain, he gave up on the matter with a sense of revulsion trembling his spine.

Straightening himself as he slowly got over it, he turned toward the woman discarded on the ground. With a frighteningly twisted smile parting his face, he said. "Now, now there, who do you think you are to try and snatch my prize from me?"

While he had been dealing with that disgusting bug called Shaqi, some wandering spirit showed up to snatch away the girl. He didn't care who this spirit was nor why it was trying to take the girl, only the fact that he made the attempt mattered. If he couldn't bring the thief to his master, then he'd at least bring the girl.

It wasn't his fault that the brainless Shaqi wasn't fit for this sort of kidnapping work. In fact, using the Shaqi at all for this type of delicate thing was, in of itself, a foolish move. Not that he would ever have the courage to say as much to his master's face. Especially since his master had gone to so much trouble to forge contracts with them.

Still, he needed the girl as wordless proof.

Hui Se Ying, though he slowed, proceeded to subtly make his way to interpose himself between Nastasia and the spirit in front of him. As he did so, he attempted to distract the spirit through conversation. "Who are you and what exactly are you trying to achieve by having the Shaqi attack, my master?"

All though he had no intentions to answer the other questions asked of him, he did answer his name. Because, well, the name his master gave him was such a nice one that he couldn't help but share it when asked.

This name, it was proof that his master valued him.

"I am called Zuìdà De Máo, sometimes Velichaysheye Kop'ye, but you can call me Mao." Then, with an arrogant tilt of his lips, he boasted. "I am my master's greatest spear."