4 Hunt and Discovery

Eyes opening, Yao Guai stood up and started stretching. His joints whistled out popping and cracking noises bringing both relief and music to his ears. A pang of hunger reminded him of his goal and the boy only a little older than six years old added more branches and leaves to his clothes, enduring the discomfort. With a spear in hand, Yao Guai headed outside to look for easy prey. Something not too small but not too large either.

Passing by more trees and evading a bunch of sleeping bulls, Yao Guai noticed a lone bamboo hiding in a circle of trees. It's branches and nodes were a healthy flush of deep green, standing erect at a height of five meters or more, it hid among trees but it wasn't so good at hiding. Sticking out like a sore thumb, he walked up to it and grabbed a rock and waltzed closer with a raised arm.

Thack! Thack! Thack! He slammed the jagged rock against the bamboo. It was hard but the bamboo soon suffered damage, a hollow interior full of water revealed itself to him.

Slamming the rock on the base of the bamboo plant, it soon toppled to the ground with a snap. Yao Guai hastily looked around and hid within the bushes, minutes passed and no spirit beast came to investigate. Only then did he approach the fallen bamboo.

A white ring of light hovered above it. "As expected..." The boy nodded at the sight of the ring. Surely enough, the bamboo was a spirit beast. A ten year one according to the color of the spirit ring.

Raising the rock again, Yao Guai smashed off a fairly intact, hollow bamboo stem. The base of it was closed but the top part was wide open. Holding it, Yao Guai secured the thing to his leg by tying it using vines with the intention of fetching a mug for himself.

Continuing to search for a target, it didn't take long until a bunch of wild boars were soon found grazing in a part of the forest full of white birch trees. Their furs were white, streaks of black stripes run down those thick hides allowing for blending in to the birch region of the forest. Some had sharp ivory tusks and a menacing expression. Other ones who lacked tusks could be seen digging around or leading babies into berry bushes.

Stalking the prey, Yao Guai maintained a decent distance between him and the boars. Not far enough to lose sight, but not near enough to be within their sight. The boars were only a bit bigger than dogs and seemed to posses no remarkable special abilities whatsover. He kept on watching them for a few more hours.

Grabbing some berries, Yao Guai started making a food trail and patiently waited. A boar took notice of one of his berries and looked back at his friends, they kept on heading deeper into the birch forest. Drawn by the prospect of free food, the boar left his group and slowly, the gap between his location and his pack widened.

Yao Guai kept on extending the food trail and the boar kept on following the food aimlessly. Eating it with such a happy expression on its face. Yao Guai too was smiling, his eyes no longer saw the boar as a boar but instead, it was food, a juicy piece of meat waiting to be skewered and grilled.

After leading the boar far enough, the food trail ended near a bush and Yao Guai lay in wait. A few seconds later the boar came to eat the last bit of berries left and Yao Guai Sprang up from the bushes. Eyes sparkling with delight, he stabbed his sharpened wooden stick downwards onto the skull of the boar.

Squee! The boar squealed and was stunned. The stick had jammed into its head, piercing flesh but was managed to be halted by its thick skull, disoriented, it stumbled backwards and Yao Guai snorted. An opportunity had presented itself to him. It would be a waste if he were to not capitalize on it.

Pa! He swung his arm and swatted at the boar's skull again. The boar endured the pain but had finally recovered. It started grunting and growling. Yao Guai smirked. The boar charged at him and he ran off. Blinded by fury, it chased him down relentlessly. The only good part about the chase was that the tusks of the boar failed to close the distance between them.

The cave came into view and Yao Guai entered, quickly turning sideways and leaning his back against the wall, he waited and when the Boar entered the cave, his spear snaked forwards to stab at its side.

Squee! Taken by surprise, the boar was stunned again, it hastily turned to the side, searching for the culprit but Yao Guai was already a bit deeper into the cave. And another sharp stick was in his hand. He lunged forwards and stabbed at the boar's side again.

UroaH! The boar groaned. Two sharp sticks dug into its sides, one near the stomach and one just a little above the rib age to its left, blood slowly dripped down the sticks. The deed was done and Yao Guai retreated a bit further into the cave. He had just barely managed to see the boar thanks to the little light illuminating the distance. He stared at the boar who was sniffing the air and finally found out of his location through scent.

It stomped on the ground and prepared to charge. Yao Gua laughed at it, the boar would soon die since he had wounded it properly. And it trying to move would cause the sticks embedded onto its side to fall off and let it bleed faster to death.

Yao Guai stared at the boar and remembered his martial soul. He looked at the floating blank card he had summoned out of thin air and looked at the boar. It was still alive and it would die soon. Even if something were to happen then it would be in a controlled environment.

Yao Guai let curiosity get the better of him and he threw the card into the air at the boar. It flew like an arrow and stuck to the boar's face. A few seconds later, he felt his soul power dwindle and the boar glowed before vanishing. In its place was his martial soul.

Stunned, Yao Guai stood there for a bit until he approached the yugioh looking card which was his martial soul. Picking it up, his eyes widened at the sight of a portrait of a boar on in with two spears jabbed into its sides. A brief description read out information regarding the boar.

"Birch Hide Boar... Low intellect. 16 years worth of cultivation... Possesses sharp tusks and at full maturity, is able to uproot trees with its tusks with relative ease. Full maturity at 1000 years worth of cultivation." The more Yao Guai read, the more his expression became ugly.

This boar that he had hunted, and the boars that he saw... They were only kids? Then what about the adults? Yao Guai shuddered at the image painted by his imagination. A large boar the size of a carriage uprooting trees with its tusk. One of those would be enough to trample him a thousand times over to death.

Looking at the card that had gained a description, portrait and a white frame to its color, Yao Guai frowned for he felt a connection to the card. He focused on that connection and felt that he could "Enter" a place. He grew curious and decided that he wanted to enter.

The surroundings shifted, a forest full of birch trees greeted Yao Guai's sight and a boar that was bleeding out stared at him weakly on the ground. His mouth hung open.

He already had ideas on how his martial soul worked now. As of now, all the gobsmacked man in a child's body could say was simple.

"Holy shit I'm OP!"

Yao Guai giddly smiled to himself, ignoring the dying boar which looked at him in hate before finally kicking the bucket and falling to the ground lifeless.