Chapter 364

Ghosts of the Mine (X)

Haah.

I guess that the stitch is up, eh? Oh well. Seeing as they didn't attack us immediately, or even questioned us as we moved onward (only commenting that the carcasses were so damaged they were rendered unusable), it should be fine. Maybe they'll imagine we have some huge backing and that crossing us would be a foolish little thing?

... yeah. Let's hope so.

The road slowly grew narrower and narrower as we made our way up, and the attacks of Demonic Beasts grew more frequent. At first it was just wolf-like things, but before long there were boars, and there were bears, and snakes, and even hawks and falcons, too.

The kids took turns fighting, and as they saw Dai Xiu and Wan Lan not hold back... the trend just continued.

"I--I'll go!" While they were arguing over who would step forward to face a boar the size of a car, someone who kept quiet sputtered out the words: Xing Feng.

We all kind of collectively whipped our heads toward him in wonder, startling him; despite being older than Light, I actually treated him as the youngest. He was still fairly timid and soft-spoken and had never once fought before, not even sparring against others. Though he's shown that he has fairly decent comprehension, I always chalked most of it up to the fact that I've been using Enlightenment on him persistently.

To have him step forward and volunteer to fight...

I mean, I don't think he can win--despite his best efforts, he's still 'only' at the tenth stage of Qi Condensation, whereas the boar was actually in the early stages of the Spirit Manifestation Realm.

"E-eh, Junior Brother, you want to fight?"

"Maybe we should wait for a weaker beast to come?"

"Hm. That boar is too much for little Feng."

"N-no! I want to fight!" he protested, his fingers curled up into fists.

"... maybe we can let him? If we just stay ready to jump in..."

"Hm. Master must have taught him some special technique to make him so confident." Eh? What? What are you talking about, Long Tao!

"Ooh, that must be it! Is that true, little Feng?"

"Y-yes..." Hey, kiddo. What have I ever taught you?! "Master has been teaching me tactics all this while!"

"Ooh, Master truly is wise!"

"If that's the case, then there should be no problem."

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"Go and fight without fear, Junior Brother! We'll protect you!"

"..."

No, wait just a goddamn second. When have I ever taught you 'tactics'? Looking at his confident face, I for a moment doubted myself and considered that I just forgot I taught him... but no, wait, does he mean chess?!!

... oh my God.

Before I could even voice the thought, he was already some ways away, holding the small sword and facing the charging boar fearlessly.

I immediately stepped up, ready to jump to his shadow and shield him if need be, but I still wanted to see just what 'tactics' I 'taught' him; I did teach him the Shadow Steps, so he should be fine in theory, but... well, this was his first fight!

The boar's charge kicked up dust and debris, shaking the ground so much that his tiny figure swayed slightly. However, just before the beast reached him, he used Shadow Steps to slither to its side and attack at the same time, going for the hind legs; the cut was shallow--after all, the difference in realms was massive--but it did draw blood.

Feng spun in place and jumped to the back of the beast that stopped the charge, trying to nick the other rear leg; however, the boar read him and kicked backwards with both its feet, forcing the boy to use Shadow Steps yet again to dodge to the side. He attacked immediately, inflicting a set of shallow wounds to the front legs before immediately backing away.

The beast roared, Qi spilling out from its hide and kicking up a storm of debris around it; it turned toward Xing Feng and charged again. The latter couldn't use Shadow Steps again as he simply didn't have enough Qi--instead, he cleverly backed further toward the treeline, waiting until the last moment to kick off and leap over the charge, causing the beast to rush into a set of trees and demolish them.

Though it didn't really hurt the boar, it did tie it up for a few moments that Xing Feng used to inflict several dozen more shallow wounds on its legs. By the time it untangled itself from the demolished trees, it was actually limping; it was also at that moment that something rather peculiar happened.

The boar turned around and started running away.

"A-ah!" Xing Feng exclaimed. "It's running away!" He chased after it, but there was no way he was going to catch a fleeing Spirit Manifestation Realm beast.

None of us stepped in, me partly because I found it funny how desperately he was chasing it and partly to teach a lesson that the battle's never won until it's won. In the end, he gave up and came back as though a wet dog; his head was hung low, his eyes were on the verge of spilling a river, and he didn't dare look up, probably thinking we were disappointed in him.

For the most part, though, everyone was fighting their inner demon, trying not to burst into laughter. Thankfully, we endured.

"Master..." he mumbled.

"Do you know what you did wrong?" I asked.

"... yes."

"Good. You've fought well."

"R-really?!" He finally looked up, eyes widening.

"Really," I nodded, patting his head gently. "You identified the way you could win against an opponent much stronger than you, and you executed it almost perfectly." He really did.

... I'm envious. No, seriously--this ten-year-old kid who's never fought before somehow has better battle instincts than me. Me.

Just how depressing is that shit?

Hah, whatever. Just remember, Jake, you're a Master and not a protagonist.

"I--I'll work even harder!" He clenched his fist. "And will never let them escape again!" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

I stealthily glanced over at the woman, and sure enough, her jaw was slightly unhinged; I mean, yeah, I get it. A kid that just barely started cultivating chased away a Spirit Manifestation Realm beast, among all the other shit she's seen the past day. It's a miracle she isn't cutting my skull open to see what's in my brain. I'll take looking at me like I'm a ghost any time of the year.

We continued the climb relatively uninterrupted as the day wound down to a close and the night fell. Unlike yesterday, we didn't manage to reach the far end of the curve of the path as there were simply far too many beasts interrupting us. Instead, we set up camp at the first slight flat we came across, pitching the tent amidst a set of boulders that provided natural protection.

Just as Long Tao started preparing for the dinner, I saw the woman walking over, the look in her eyes rather... strange.

... oh boy.

I have a bad feeling about this.