It was nightfall.

Waiting on a small boulder was a young boy contemplating about the events he encountered this afternoon. 

 

What had happened was as vivid as the crescent moon above.

The Undead hound under her arm begun to thrash wildly. Its attempt to escape the young girl's lock became wilder with each failure. The growling and barking that escaped its maw were maddening. 

Only then that he noticed how much stress its neck had endured. It was not the madness of rage. It was the flailing of a inevitable death.

 

Crack!

Such a simple and pronouncing sound that communicated an astounding fact. The creature went limp as she released its remain back to mother earth.

 

One, down!

It was time for her to take care of the rest.

 

Despite still being bitten, her hand approached the beast's head on her shoulder with no sense of urgency. The dog-like beast was big. The upper left region of her torso was swallowed by its three jaws. The feeling of those pointy things poking into her nerves, the gripping pressure on the bones below, the presence of that dangerous beast as its hot and putrid breath swept down from its nostrils; how she could pay those no mind and exert strength onto her left arm to sever the life from the previous beast... it was In.Com.Pre.Hen.Si.Ble to him. How she could retain her nonchalance while her shoulder was being tortured, it was A.Li.En to him.

 

Engrossed in his own thought, the boy wasn't conscious about her thumb arriving at the beastly eyeball. What pulled him back to reality was a whining noise and the profuse flow of blood that came soon after.

The wounded creature turned and ran with its tail between its legs leaving only one, one that still intruded her wall of flesh with its tools of hunting.

 

When the boy discovered her attention had converged onto the last beast, his legs had already trembled like those of a new-born fawn. Whenever she took action, brutality followed. What she about to do next would not be any less vicious. His mind at the time was wild with its simulation, and the boy was shaken by his apprehension.

 

Unluckily for him, the girl was ignorant of his inner thought and let no time for him to quell his fear. As definite as the flow of time, she bent down and reached the last one's lower jaws.

Blood shoved each other down the clamped maw. Its sharp teeth punctured her grabbing hands. It was akin to getting your bare hands on the edge of a sword, bleeding and the burning feeling of the nerves firing up pain signals were natural. What unnatural was the girl who had willingly committed her body to such harm in such trivial manner.

 

Then the beast started acting up. Its body turned and twisted violently. Its paws clawed at her. It was not trying to attack her. It was trying to escape.

At this time,the toothful upper jaw had been lifted from her thigh. Red liquid rushed out from the wounded hands as she stabled herself against the struggling beast.

 

The boy, at the moment, was on his knees. He didn’t remember when, but his limbs had given in.

Then he caught a glimpse of her intention and that drilled fear into his being. 

He had never felt so strongly until that moment.

The boy pressed his ears tightly, anticipating the upcoming occurrence. Tears flooded out from his crumbling face like a squeezed orange.

 

Crack, crackkkk!

Through his blocking ears, it sounded like bubble popping noise. At the end of an awful shriek that rang through the forest was the beating sound of his dread-filled heart.

 

After the deed was done, she turned back. Her face was slightly concerned. The girl probably said some comfort words to him but he could hear nothing for his hands had yet to stop covering his ears. Gently pulling his hands down, she asked the trembling boy questions, questions he couldn’t remember how he had responded.

 

Her senior finished the pack at the same time, and they headed for a stream.

 

Safe and sound and much more calm, he heard the scolding of the senior brother toward his junior for the wounds. Apparently he had been paying attention to what had transpired.

Despite the severe reprimand, the girl simply replied that it was necessary to ensure their safety. For someone paid those beasts not even a breath of concern, the angry gaze of a fellow human was no issue to her. If anything she was probably thankful that he was worried for her.

 

While tending to the boy's wounds, his saviours introduced themselves. 

The boy didn’t know any Tian family so he believed the senior boy must be a genius from a non-prestige background. The young girl, however, was a different matter.

The part where she told him her name was the most vivid to him. If the Dong in her family name was truly from Dong clan, then she was a descendant of general Dong Zhuo. Dong Zhuo is a powerful martial artist many eras ago who brought fear to the enemies of the empire with his martial arts, “Tyrant Blade”. That would explain how she could deal with the hounds so nonchalantly. Practitioners of the “Tyrant Blade” were said to be fear itself.

 

Upon her turn of treatment, the boy volunteered to help getting rid of the yin qi from the Undead Hound’s fangs, stating his experience with yin qi. That enthusiasm was promptly rejected by her senior.

 

He appreciated the other boy's good will but that was it.

 

<Such a weird guy. Wounds like that need to be treated immediately.>

 

When all were accounted for, they inquired his reason for coming here alone, and the boy gave them a story they could buy.

 

The three parted ways later with the young boy returning to the outskirts as part of the lie of “going home”.

 

Now it was evening.

 

True be told, he was here because this was the place he must be at every night. It seemed the other party wouldn’t be here for some more time.

 

Recalling the events of today, he felt extremely lucky. It was not about him being saved although he did feel grateful. What he feel lucky about was... because he was behind her when she was dealing with the beasts. Thanks to that, he was spare most of the gore. Most importantly, he wasn’t able to see her face.

Despite having an inkling of her expression, he thankful he didn’t witness it. 

It was because that would confirm the existence of something far more dreadful than anything he had ever experienced.

If he had seen it, he wish it would be her showing a stern look or showing anger or pain or maybe even joy like that pervert in his clan when he got a good kill.

<Just don’t be like what I assume.>

 

If he had seen her destroying those creatures with an emotionless face, with no hesitation, he didn’t know how he could calm himself. 

 

She was no mere human. She was a god, a brutal god that dispatched what she deemed unfit in a manner no different from stepping on sand. 

 

It was the possibility that there existed someone with so little care for life that frightened him.

 

In front of such host of carnage, he would be no different from a scared puppy pissing itself...

 

...and he did wet his pants.

 

“Greeting young lord. You are early today.”

 

Just as usual without any presence, they have arrived, his watchers.

 

“Now, young lord.” The leader stretched out his hand.

 

He put the stones into older man's palms. They were six mid-size qi stones from the hounds he and Yun An killed. She insisted that the boy took them and he could not find a way to reject her. Moreover, he needed these.

 

“Hmm. Last night, you were in rough shape but I see that you have overcome the hurdle.”

 

This was his training. Everyday he must kill demon beasts and bring them ten qi stones. The Tuskless boar was the safest to hunt, but getting even one of them was difficult. Most of their power as a demon beast was poured into ensuring their survival. Hence, their skin was greatly reinforced while their self-reservation instinct taught them to run away at any inkling of danger. Each of those creatures also only gives a qi stone. Hunting those boars was truly a waste of time and energy. He could aim for the younger ones but young Tuskless boars give even smaller stones that are worth half a stone. The stone of an Undead Hound on the other hand is worth four normal stones. The first few days, he had hunted exclusively those boars and ran into deficits. That was why he had to pay six mid-size this time.

 

“Then it is settled. Do you have extra stones, young lord? You could use a medicine.”

This was the reason why he needed to pay back the debt. Only when he no longer owed them anything could he trade for food or medicine.

 

“No. I will take food. Everything this stone is worth for.” He threw over a stone from a lucky kill early today.

 

“Very well.” He cocked his head.

 

The boy checked the head-size bag received from the guy in the back. Jerky and other dried food. A raw mid-size stone can be sold for four hundred big coins, and this amount was all he got. He couldn’t complain. After all, this training was supposed to push him to the limit.

 

“Young lord.” The leader called. His eyes were smiling. “I see a strong determination in your eyes. Did something good happen?”

 

Despite being his watchers, their order wasn’t to observe his every move. They were not going to protect him anyway. Their order was simply to check on his progress. If he dies because he couldn’t fight off the beasts or because he couldn’t avoid stronger cultivators, then he is just trash.

 

“None of your business!”

 

“Indeed. You just need to stay alive and get stronger.”