23 Battle in the Forest: Race to the Finish Line! (2)

Only a few moments after the floor dissipated and she began to fall Yun landed on her back against the hard and bumpy stone floor of the cave she had entered earlier. Rubbing her back gingerly, she sat up and looked around at the cave. There wasn't much depth to it, and it looked like the far end opened up into a small den, just big enough for a large bear-like creature to curl up in. Shaking her head at the absurdity of what just happened, she stood and started walking away. Thinking carefully, Yun wasn't sure exactly how much time had been wasted with this adventure. She began to run forward, angling to the south and aiming to enter the flatland to arrive in the shortest time.

Running full tilt downhill, Yun didn't even notice that she had her spear in hand until she was nearly 100 meters out of the cave. At that point she put it away as she ran, vaulting over or sliding under various obstacles like fallen trees or large stones. At a few locations, rather than detour around an exceedingly large stone, she pulled out the spear in an instant and used it to vault herself over the stone thanks to its flexibility. As soon as she was flying in the air she would again put away the spear before twisting herself to land on her feet and keep running.

This continued for a while before she reached the bottom of the hill and started running straight south on the flatland, still preferring to go over or under instead of around. Every step left furrows in the ground from her claws, kicking up bits of dirt behind her. After most of a day of running Yun was starting to look around for somewhere to rest for a while when she felt a chill run down her spine. Diving forward, she rolled and twisted to a stop with her back to a huge tree and pulled out her spear. Staring her in the eyes was a frightening creature, the creature had a lithe feline frame, but scales started replacing fur near the rear haunches. The head had two sets of eyes and three sets of wicked horns pointed forward framing it, the tail swishing around had a tuft of fur on the end of it that bristled visibly with each twitch, and the paws had wicked claws that looked like they couldn't retract. This was a fearsome creature that stood six meters tall, and as it took a few steps gently its tail swiped across a tree and the bristles left long gashes wherever they collided. What a vicious body this beast had! This was a Yazi Lion! A vicious feline distantly descended from one of the Nine Sons of the Dragon, Yazi!

Yun knew there was no possibility of her defeating this huge creature in combat or speed and couldn't decide what to do. Her only advantage was that she was small and agile, and she had the possibility of being able to get under it. She doubted that with her current strength she could do any harm to the scaled areas of the beast, but she might be able to do some minor harm to the furred underbelly. While she was thinking this the Yazi Lion pounced towards her, preparing to slice her apart with a single swipe of its paw. As the paw came whistling through the air ferociously from her left she moved to the right and back as fast as she could, placing her spear vertically in a position to ensure that the claws wouldn't collide with her if she didn't get back far enough. As she continued back she saw the claws exit the tree just in front of her, slicing a huge gash in the strong wood of the tree. Looking over her shoulder to make sure she wouldn't trip on anything, Yun noticed an extraordinarily large tree with a small hole between the roots not even forty meters away. She decided this was her best chance and turned around, storing her spear and dashing madly for this last chance. Step by step she felt her pulse beating, an eternity passed before she heard the sounds of the Yazi Lion starting to chase her from behind the tree.

The distance between her and the tree slowly closed as she felt the beast come closer. Swipe! The claws came flying out from her right this time. She dropped her back and slid forwards, barely crossing under the massive paw, before she quickly started running forward again. Swish! The tail swept forwards and attempted to swat her in the back, being blocked only by her quick reaction of bringing out her spear and striking out with an overhead strike at the brush of the tail, knocking it out of sync with her path.

Again the Yazi Lion took up the chase, this time with less than half the distance to cover. Just as she felt she was safe and dove towards the hole under the tree she also felt a claw sweeping at her. Scrrrriippp! The claw gashed the root of the tree, sliding across the back of Yun's woven armor and causing heavy bruising from the impact. She quickly deepened into the space under the tree, getting as far as she could, when she began to smell a scent that was absolutely repulsive. The slash in the root of the tree was welling up with a clear liquid that smelled so horrible you couldn't even think. Eyes watering, nearing unconsciousness, Yun did her best to arrest her breathing and resist the stench. The Yazi Lion was even worse off, it began howling piteously and prowling around tens of meters away from the tree. As the sap stopped flowing the radius of the stench also stopped getting larger, but it didn't begin to recede. The lion spent a good hour prowling around before it finally growled angrily and began to walk away, whipping the trees beside it viciously with its tail brush.

Struggling to remain conscious, Yun watched as the lion left while her consciousness faded further and further.

Waking with a start, Yun sat up and nearly bashed her head into the roots of the tree she was under. She quickly noted that the smell was gone before she climbed out, got her bearings, and took off at a fast run to the south again. Her speed certainly couldn't match what she'd done before now that she had heavy bruises across her upper back, but she still managed to run at a good speed.

After a few days of travel her bruising had been healed by medicine and she was getting close to the finish line. She started to see evidence of others who had passed through here not long before and hope lit up in her eyes. She pushed her speed to the max yet again and bolted forwards for the next half day until she finally caught sight of a large gathering of cultivators, the finish line was in sight!

Upon crossing the line she was informed that there was one day to wait before the next phase would begin, so she brought out a small tent and immediately set it up to the side before climbing in and falling directly asleep.