28 - Surviving

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

(Matthew 6:14)

*****

Baiyun stood, her presence hidden from her prey.

This was her hunt of the day, her hunger had grown in her search for food. She had come across many Rank 2 beasts that were quite chubby, like the Mountain Sabertooth, but she avoided them for obvious reasons.

Baiyun was not a damage dealer, her offensive power was only comparable to early foundation establishment. She mainly dealt with poison. Jialiang was her attacker while she distracted the beasts. Her twin daggers were also not that powerful, not enough to take out a strong beast.

So, Baiyun while avoiding the many dangerous beast found her now prey, an early rank 2 Stork.

Her prey was a 5 foot tall Stork with massive beak and grey feathers. silently standing near a bush as it swallowed a small beast whole. The chomping sound it made as it are was similar to a knife hitting a wooden board, loud and sharp.

She observed her prey, hidden from its perception. Observing its moments, calculating the right method to kill it efficiently. The stork moved slowly, taking moments before it even took another step. It would also made a gurgling noise similar to guns being fired which frightened Baiyun the first time.

But from Baiyuns observation, the lazy bird doesn't seem that dangerous, yet she didn't attack it.

Even as her stomach protested in hunger, Baiyun observed her prey for few more minutes. 

After making sure she was ready, Baiyun dropped to the ground and used the bushes to avoid the birds gaze. She was extra careful to not leak her bloodlust, she couldn't risk her prey escaping. She crawled to its back, her red dagger in her hand. She waited for a moment before she got up to jump the bird.

*woop*

The stork looked straight at Baiyun, stopping her in place. The bird then opened it mouth and roared, a roar similar to a lions. Baiyun eyes narrowed as her body froze in fear. The bird then gurgled like a machine gun before turning and walking away, slowly. Baiyun stood still, frozen by the shear audacity of the bird.

The Stork walked away waving its butt at Baiyun, not caring for itself, behaving unlike any beast found in the Great Demon Forest.

Baiyun, who finally recovered, threw her dagger at the stork. The dagger struck true, ending the Stork in one move. The Stork didn't even react to the attack, its lifeless body falling to the ground. Baiyun didn't rush to the corpse, suspicious about her easy kill.

However, after a moment of nothing, Baiyun walked to the stork and pulled it into her pocket ring, muttering.

"What a weird bird? How did it even survived here?"

That question will never be answered. but my readers let me tell you. Nature has its ways to balance things out and that bird was not one of them. That lazy bird is what you know as Shoebill Stork. A bird with wingspan of 7 feet and walks on land, a lazy bird with the ability to chop the heads of its enemies. One of nature mistakes? No, but its lazy to the point it is going extinct.

Baiyun then retraced her steps. She had found a safe place to rest but she couldn't use it forever. She stopped at another safe point where she had found no beast and took out the Stork. She then skinned it and threw away those that she didn't need it.

She was doing it here because she couldn't risk any predator being attracted to her due to the smell of blood. She then cut the meat into strips and rolled them around her dagger and pushed Qi into the dagger. She controlled the flames so they don't burn the meat strips. She did that as she circled the area. After cooking all the meat she had, she placed them and walked back to the abyssal edge.

She was tracing back to exit the abyssal edge. She didn't know who long the abyssal edge was due to its other end going to the center of the forest. And from her analysis of the beasts ranking, she was still at the outer edge of the Great Demon Forest.

So she walked, in the direction of the Sun's rise. She was following it to find the Tree bridge so she could cross and follow the path back to the competition venue. She knew for a fact that the competition should have ended by now, but the cultivators won't leave for the next few day and Heirs would begin their search due to her and Jialiang's absence.

Two royal heirs going missing during the competition would attract too much attention and the palace would respond with full sincerity, even if only on the surface. She couldn't be found by the search party, as she would be gambling her life. She knew no one to trust and Jialiang was not by her side to assist her.

Baiyun walked for hours, following the abyssal maw from where she had marked her climb. But to her surprise and wonder the tree was not found even when the sky turned dark. She had calculated it to be near as they were not thrown that far. and from the direction the sun rose, she was moving in the right direction.

But was she? maybe she should have searched the other direction.

Baiyun wasn't dejected. She walked to the forest near her for a place to sleep for the night. She had also seen that no beast approached the Abyssal maw, but the place was too open for her to rest here. Baiyun searched for until the sky fully turned darkened, but she found no place.

She then decided that she would just climb a tree and sleep there. She found a good tree and moved up. She then sat on a sturdy branch and propped her and made sure she wouldn't fall. She then closed her eyes.

*Hiss*

Baiyun's eyes snapped open as her hand move at lightning speed, catching the viper just few inches away from her face, its venom dripping from its fangs. Baiyun moved her head suddenly, avoiding the spray of venom. The venom splashing against the bark, wet her hair.

Baiyun tightened her hand and stabbed the snake it the head. She then cut its head off before putting its body into her ring. She then dissected the head and removed the snake gland. The gland still had some venom that she could used and the gland itself can be used for alchemy.

Baiyun didn't clean the poison on her head and slept with it on her hair.

The smell of venom would keep some lower beast from trying to eat her and would keep the bug types away. Baiyun then closed her eyes, entering a meditative state but she was still alert to her surrounding.

She then controlled her breath into a rhythmic pattern, channeling her Qi around her body, attracting the Qi from the air. She cycled her Qi many times before a qualitative untamed Qi came under control. She did this through the night, never fully sleeping as to not get caught surprised.

The moon drifted to the horizon and the sun peaked on the other. Baiyun woke up exactly at it and got moving before the beast of the day started waking. She again approached the abyssal maw and walked toward the other direction, This time a bit more skeptical and suspicious.

Baiyun had observed the Abyssal maw when she first came face to face, but this forest seemed different.

She crossed her marking and even went further, but she found no tree nor bridge. She also noticed that the forest was strangely getting less alive. She was cautious and kept near the maw, never going into the forest.

She couldn't point out why, but something at the back of her head said that something was not right. She followed the path and walked until the sky began to turn dark. She stopped her wander and retreated back. She didn't want to find a place to sleep in a forest that gave her the goosebumps.

Baiyun turned and took a step forward.

'Leaving?' A voice spoke like an echo in the darkness.

Baiyun froze in instinctual fear, her body trembling like a leaf to the wind as a cold whisper washed over her. Baiyun felt her mind cloud and her sense collapse.

But the voice cared not for her as its voice moved in a haunting tone, 'Mortal, long not seen.'

Baiyun moved her eyes, trying to locate her hunter, but the image she saw only frightened her. The dark forest seemed alive as the crawling shadows reached their claws at her. The winds howled in the abyssal maw, adding to the eerie. The eyes of the heaven looked sad and horrifying as they looked down at her. The whispers spoke in mournful tongue as they surrounded her in a cold embrace.

*Gulp*

Baiyun swallowed loudly, her back wet with cold sweats.

'Precious,'

A black fog, and a sticky sensation. Baiyun saw the eyes of her predator. Two slitted eyes, glowed like lilac flames amides the shadow. The eyes move around, each independent.

'Delicacy yet useful.'

Baiyun felt her mind cloud with each words. Her instincts screamed horror as the unknown grasped her heart. Her lost all strength, making her fall through the darkness. Her mind struggled as it questioned.

'Wat...dou..wnt?'

The words strangled among Baiyun's gritted teeth. Her eyes clouding as darkness overwhelmed her.

'Bait,' The voice answered with a sadistic joy, its ethical tongue licking Baiyun's neck.

Baiyun felt a stink, an itch so burning that she wanted to tear her skin off. A burn so painful as if an acid was poured on her skin, yet Baiyun could not command her body. However, her mind clear and dulled with pain.

'Wt?' She questioned.

'Ahh,' It groaned in pleasure, 'Prey fights death, amusing.'

Baiyun felt the fog shift as the twin flames floated to her front, looking straight into her soul. The lilac flames pushed near her, revealing rows of sharp teeth bloody and gross. Baiyun wanted to run, her mind commanded her body.

'You will do,' The Nether beast muttered, 'You will suffice.'

The black fog surrounding Baiyun, its tendrils digging into her skin. Her mind sunk into the murky depth. She held no power in this situation, for she was grossly outmatched. The beast gave no way for Baiyun to escape, she had fallen in its trap the minute she crossed its territory.