Chapter 14: An Alchemist's Curse (Part 1)

In the dense and terrifyingly dark forest that led to Er Lan City, the entire area appeared to be pulled straight out of a horror novel. An ocean of unidentified whispers, rustles, and giggles echoed around the decent sized group disciples. The whispers involved were a mixture of male and female yet were all quiet. The Wolves could hear fragmented sentences, but as they came and went, they were able to pick up a few choice words.

"It's so dark out here." Yoshiko commented in a hushed whisper, as she kept a clenched grip on Ning Yuan's sleeve. "Who's idea was it to travel through here?!"

"Tazuna's." spoke another student from directly behind her.

The student who answered the question indirectly was named Zhong Lui. He and the four mentioned juniors, Jun Min-Seong, Wei Zhan, Ning Yuan, and An Yu, were all close friends despite the number of arguments they found themselves entering and exiting. During the six months of their originally intended stay, Tazuna and Riku saw their personalities conflict with each other yet compliment each other when they were training their martial arts.

"Leave it to the lunatic to choose the path least traveled." An Yu criticized dryly yet harshly, his voice saturated in bitter venom.

"You would've chosen the same path if it would've been left up to you!" Wei Zhan argued in defense for Tazuna's decision.

Tazuna spoke not a word to the others, as he cautiously stepped through the forest, his boots collectively stepping on the leaves and snapping tree branches. Unbeknownst to his peers aside from Riku and somewhat Yoshiko, his bionic eyes used the night vision function to navigate. But even with his night vision, Tazuna's vision had a specific limit to how far he could see. In his left hand, the Arctic Wolf clutched onto a brass compass, which was often used by cultivators by aligning itself with the magnetic field and through a sample of whatever energy the user was hoping to find.

"Tazuna-xiong. Are you doing alright?" Ning Yuan asked worriedly, as he could sense his peer's aura shifting erratically. "Would you like some assistance?"

"I'm fine." Tazuna replied after a few short second delay. "But–"

"Now what?!" An Yu asked with a bark, his brows furrowing with annoyance.

"What kinds of animals live here?"

The question stunned the disciples, who all seemed to stop in a domino effect, some accidentally bumping into each other and others apologizing for stepping on the other's boots. Riku looked at Tazuna with a rather crossed expression but stayed close by his side, in case something unsightly would suddenly appear from the darkness.

"A-Animals?" Ning Yuan asked with a stammer, suddenly feeling the shuddering emotion of regret. "What kind of animals are you referring to?"

"What other kinds are there?!" Wei Zhan asked with a huff, before feeling inclined to taunt An Yu. "I'd be free to answer the question at a drop of a hat, but I wouldn't want the females to get scared."

"We'll be fine!" Yoshiko retorted immediately, before grabbing Riku's arm and pulled him close to her. "We'll definitely be fine when we have the strongest disciple among us!"

"Thanks Yoshiko-meimei. Ack!" Zhong Lui thanked kindly with an embarrassed tone to his voice, only to be quickly shoved away when Yoshiko found out she grabbed the wrong person.

-meimei was a term used to address someone as an "older sister."

-xiong was a term used to address someone as an "older brother."

"What a foul move. Not even I can make a mistake like that!" An Yu mocked with a stifled laugh. "You'd do better clinging on to Ning Yuan."

'Is mentioning my name really the only way to settle this argument?' asked a sheepishly embarrassed Ning Yuan, who laughed and scratched his cheek.

At that very moment of Ning Yuan's subconscious asking that question, Jun Min-Seong bumped into An Yu, causing the rebellious discipline to scream loudly and latch onto Wei Zhan, who copied his actions. The two clinging onto each other and causing the other cultivating peers to laugh.

The laughter immediately caused the two frienemies to separate.

Ning Yuan looked at Jun Min-Seong and realized he never made a sound prior to him colliding. "What happened?"

"I don't know! I thought I heard something but when I went to take a step forward, my entire body just fell."

It was only after the teenager finished his explanation, did the surrounding forest suddenly become abruptly lit with red fire shaped whisps. Accompanying the bizarre lights was a monsterous crack, followed by an earth trembling boom that resembled thunder. Only the decibels were much louder which caused the Wolves to cover their ears due to their high sensitivity to sounds. With a few metallic shings, the cultivating students unsheathed their swords, sabers, and longbows. As the group looked around, Tazuna made a loud call which caught everyone's attention to a large visible sound wave coming straight towards them!

"Everyone scatter! Ready your weapons!"

The Wolves were more keen on their senses than their peers who were still learning to hone in on their own senses where their eyesight was already lacking. As the group listened intently, Tazuna stretched his eyes, the cameras within them switching to surveillance and scanned their surroundings with it's adaptable radar built in. The pinging sound didn't pick up anything in particular, until the fourth sweep around, when Riku sensed it as well and immediately tackled Zhong Lui to the ground!

Before, the atmosphere was a dark and empty void, free of any hostility and bitterness. Only now, an unavoidable feeling of bloodlust swept through the cultivators, who were starting to feel a sharp electric current pass over their skin. Just as Riku's and Zhong Lui's body hit the ground however, came a ginormous mouth strike out! The quickness of the mouth had moved quicker than the peers had suspected but thanks to Tazuna's previous command, no one was injured.

As the mouth retracted from the earth, the cultivators saw this mouth was in fact an enormous five meter tall Snake, resembling the famous Titanoboa that once dominated the World millions of years ago. The size alone gave off the strongest sense of oppression. It roared aggressively, sending visible shockwaves towards the disciples, forcing them to brace themselves and cover their ears.

"What the hell is THAT?!" Yoshiko asked, as she materialized her mallet in her hands.

"A Feral." Tazuna gasped quietly, his eyes recording the stats of the Feral, his body slowly being covered in a very thin coat of white hair.

'A Feral?! What's it doing out here?!' Riku thought drastically, as he tried to come up with a possible solution, before deciding on the best option.

"Run!" Riku shouted desperately, as he could see the unfortunate image of his peers with their grotesque dead faces flashing in his own mind. "Everyone get the hell out of here!"

Most of the cultivators were so absorbed in protecting their own selves that they completely ignored Riku's plea and were violently attacking the snake. However, even with the dozens of swords, arrows, and sabers attacking the Snake's skin, not a scratch could be seen. All of their efforts only reflected back at them, sending the peers scattering once more and without order.

Those who actually bothered to listen to Riku, hurried through the forest, some looking back to see where the animal was. They scattered in various directions, before noticing a series of iron tipped arrows whizzing past their heads. Wei Zhan caught a quick glimpse of the rebellious discipline, Lan Yu, firing arrow after arrow at the Snake, all with futile results which only fueled the teenager's anger and disgust.

"It's not working!" Wei Zhan shouted with sheer annoyance, his grip tightening on his sword, as he suddenly felt the urge to attack him with aggression.

"If you'd help me instead of running like a bitch with your tail between your legs, you'd see better results!" Lan Yu shouted back, as he landed next to Wei Zhan, nearly tripping the disciple in the process.

"Move it or lose it!" Yoshiko warned, passing between the two opposing disciples, her mallet at the ready.

Despite her bubbly and energetic attitude and rather naive personality, anyone who knew her and knew of her were well acquainted with the sheer amount of raw strength she wielded when handling her enormous mallet. With a simple overhand swing, the girl slammed her weapon into the ground, creating a large fissure that nearly swallowed the disciples along with uprooting trees, and caused the Feral to fall victim to the fissures themselves.

"Done and done!" Yoshiko gloated with pride before waving her hands over head to alert Riku. "Riku! Look! I defeated the Snake!"

"Is it too late to feed it live bait?" Wei Zhan asked in a low voice, causing Ning Yuan to sigh exasperatingly.

However, the simple act had somehow caused more harm than not, as soon the rest of the disciples from each of the Five Regions started arguing and fighting amongst themselves, making the Wolves wonder how the disciples were able to make it through the six months of training and lessons without brutally murdering each other. The Snake had long since vanished back into the forest's dark environment, leaving the students to quarrel.

"Would you all SHUT THE FUCK UP FOR TWO DAMN MINUTES!!!" Riku barked aggressively, swinging his sword, creating a powerful gust of talismans to whip through the air.

The human-shaped blank talismans stuck to the various places on the disciples bodies, and one by one they all dropped to the ground. No matter how much they tried to move, they couldn't, as if a mountain had crushed them under an invisible weight. Riku walked over to the struggling disciples and two ignited flamed sparked in his emerald eyes, which made the other tremble with intense terror.

"Is THIS a matter of forgetting that your errors are going to lead to all of us getting KILLED?! I might as well SACRIFICE each and every one of you to the Feral!"

Ning Yuan looked at Riku with terror and self loathing in his eyes, before bursting into tears. "It's all over! We're all going to die! Forgive me Mother and Father!"

"Quit your whining! If it hadn't been for Riku's harshness and my trusty mallet, you really WOULD be dead!" Yoshiko yelled with agreement, as she suddenly found herself unable to talk.

"THAT GOES DOUBLE FOR YOU!!!" Riku shrieked, before stopping when he saw Tazuna intercept him to address the other disciples.

"Wei Zhan. Do you think you can lead everyone to a high vantage point in the treetops?"

"Of course I can! Who do you take me for? Lan Yu?" Wei Zhan answered with proudness, sneering at his acknowledgement.

"Hey!" came the disgruntled shout from Lan Yu, who could do nothing but shout his frustrations.

"Release them of their hold." Tazuna commanded Riku, who was standing beside him with the same aggression he always had.

"If they refuse to cooperate with your orders, so help me I'll bring down the weight of the cosmos on you all and leave your bodies deprived of energy!" Riku warned, scaring the other disciples into submission, some even apologizing profusely.

Riku swiped his two fingers horizontally, the quick motion tearing the paper talismans in half before setting them ablaze in an instant. The others sighed with relief and some even cheered with glee. As they helped themselves to clean their clothing, Tazuna walked to Yoshiko and broke the silencing spell on her mouth with a simple touch on her forehead.

With newfound spirits, the Wolves gave each regional group a specific job with themselves in the center of the playing field. Tazuna and Riku reached within their spirit-catching bags and pulled out several large pieces of cloth. However before the Wolves could formally explain the plan, Lan Yu instinctively snatched the cloth and held it up in front of his face.

"What kind of Formation Cultivation Flag is this? It looks like something a child scribbled on!" Lan Yu criticized harshly, his voice full of disgust.

"Do you really expect this piece of garbage is going to work on a Snake?!" asked a girl, who had just as much spunk and rudeness as Lan Yu.

Riku growled, his rumbling vocal cords resonating in his throat, causing the two disciples to pout with irritation.

The Formation Cultivation Flag was an interesting and useful tool that attracted Demons, Spirits, and Reanimated Corpses into the reserved target area with the use of live bait or prey. However, depending on the amount of experience the user or users have, the greater the effect the Flag had. But because the group of disciples only had a fair amount of experience with training with them in an emergency situation, it didn't take long for Ning Yuan to eventually realize the Flags wouldn't be enough to slow the creature down let alone stop it altogether.

"Tazuna-xiong. Riku-xiong. Would there be a more useful tactic we could use alongside the Formation Cultivation Flags?"

"See?! Even Ning Yuan doesn't believe these Flags would work!" Lan Yu laughed, nearly doubling over from his own amusement.

"Actually, your comments are almost as useful as the famous Yu Clan's most precious arrows."

"What would you recommend?" Tazuna asked, completely ignoring the blunt remarks of the high class disciple, who immediately got the silence spell put on his mouth from Riku.

Ning Yuan nodded confidently before throughly explaining his plan he managed to concoct in his own head.