The carriage track had been the only sign of human influence on the jungle. It was wild, wild in a different way than the Devil's teeth. There, Jian had felt that he was intruding into an environment that was hardly meant to sustain life at all, let alone human civilization. Here, the environment was conducive to supporting life, but humans could hardly compete.

The sheer density of plant growth, the ever present buzzing of the insects, the far off roar of larger animals, they all told the tale of a complicated web of life that had little room for humans within it. Jian made sure to stay close to Meirong. The only way that he could participate in the web of life was as prey. Much better to slip in and out unnoticed.

As the track disappeared, Meirong drew her long knife and began hacking her way through the vegetation. Jian felt a pang of guilt at freeloading off of her efforts, before reminding himself that his true value to this expedition lay in what he could see once they arrived, not in making the trip easier.

As they fell into a steady pace, Jian was able to spare some attention to look around him. Truly, each of the forbidden zones of the Empire had their own sort of imposing beauty. The Devil's Teeth had been a stark reminder of the heights of the world and his own insignificance, with their sheer imposing size and sweeping vistas untouched by human habitation. The Verdant Doom, too, was a place that showed no human influence, though here his view was more cramped.

Even without the fuzz off Meirong's technique, he would have been hard pressed to see more than ten paces away. Where the Devil's teeth offered boundless views that stretched to the horizon, here his view was obstructed on all sides by an endless variety of plant life.

Every leaf was teeming with vital energy, not to mention the insects swarming around, looking for food. Or the small animals that fed on those insects. Or the larger animals that fed on those animals. Every inch of the jungle was a battlefield for survival, where success was measured by earning enough food to live for another day.

Jian was only able to see and appreciate such things because of Meirong's efforts. His fiancee had taken the lead the moment they'd entered the jungle and had not hesitated for an instant in her work. She had picked out their path and energetically hacked apart the overhanging vines and low branches that might have impeded their travel. Not only that, it was her art that prevented their presence from coming to the attention of any of the jungle's larger inhabitants, the sort that saw humans as a tasty snack.

Jian turned his attention forward, to watch her slender figure as she chopped down yet another branch with a single swing of her oversized knife. He couldn't help but wonder, if he hadn't been stuck at a cultivating dead end for so long, would it be him up front, shielding Meirong from the dangers and inconveniences of the jungle? He knew it was arrogance that prompted such thoughts. Meirong had thoroughly exceeded everyone else of her generation, whether they suffered from cultivation roadblocks or not. Yet it was hard not to think about what might have been.

He was jarred out of his thoughts by a jeer coming down from above.

"Fresh meat! Fresh meat! Caw! Fresh meat!"

He looked up in alarm. A colorful bird was flying overhead. He saw it clearly as it passed above him, then it turned into a colorful blur as it passed outside of the reach of Meirong's technique. While it stayed out of arm's reach, it seemed to have no trouble following them. It flew in a circle more or less centered over their position, taunting all the while.

He relaxed as he recognized it from an illustration in the field guide. The bird was not a true spiritual beast that had attained human intelligence. It was a talented mimic that could imitate human speech, but it didn't understand the words. Although, that did give rise to the question of how it had spotted them and why it was shouting out a warning.

Up ahead, Meirong had come to a stop. She stared at the bird, exasperated. "My technique blocks the transmission of sound and smell and fogs the mind of anything intelligent that observes us directly. That stupid bird is too dumb to be warded off."

They could have ignored the commotion and continued pressing forward, but that didn't strike Jian as wise. Meirong's technique prevented the noises they made from radiating outward, but he suspected she couldn't do much about that noisy bird. If it kept making a racket, something more dangerous would eventually be drawn to investigate.

Meirong looked at him, chewing her lip. "I can leap through the branches to get at it. Only, you'll be vulnerable while we're separated."

"No need," Jian said, smiling at her. He drew his spiritual crossbow and took aim. "I'm not just dead weight, you know."

He took aim, tracking the front of the bird's body as it flew around in circles. When it came clearly into view and he was confident in his aim, he fed a burst of energy to the spiritual crossbow. There was a sharp crack as the bolt left the barrel, then a small explosion of blood and feathers as the bolt struck home. The mangled remains of the bird fell to the ground with a thump, leaving behind a moment of blessed silence.

"What was that?" Meirong asked, pointing to the device in Jian's hands.

He smiled, buoyed by the success of his spiritual crossbow on its first field trial. "I can't spend all day cooped up in that room just not working on a statue."

"It's quite clever," she said, taking a step closer so she could take a closer look. Jian gave in to the inevitable and handed the spiritual crossbow over for her inspection.

She turned it over and then stared down the barrel. It would be hard for even a formations master to divine the nature of Jian's construction from dim glimpses into the shadowed barrel, so Jian didn't mind it. Besides, it wasn't like Meirong had anything to gain by swiping his secrets.

"It's only useful against weak targets," Jian said, "but it does make up for the fact that I can't run very well right now."

Meirong gave a nod, then handed it back. "Very well, you will be in charge of slaying any birds that trouble us for the remainder of our journey."

Though she obviously intended her remarks as friendly teasing, there was an undercurrent of something else in her voice that Jian couldn't quite place. If it were anybody else, he would have called it a note of respect. He filed it away as a mystery to be pondered over at a later date and holstered his weapon.

Meirong had turned and made to resume their trek through the jungle when the sound of something large crashing through the underbrush brought her to a halt. Jian looked towards the source of the disturbance. He couldn't see anything, which wasn't saying much since he couldn't see more than twenty paces in the thick jungle.

"Slaying this troublemaker will be my task, I think," Meirong said. She drew her sword from its scabbard and held it at a ready position.

Jian took a step back, ready to duck behind a tree should the monster come straight for him. Even with an unknown beast charging at them from the depths of the jungle, though, he found himself feeling more curiosity and excitement than fear. He had not had a chance to see Meirong fight in earnest since she had joined the Heavenly Sword Sect.

As she stood on the path, sword at the ready, her figure was more likely to prompt sighs of admiration at her beauty than any sort of intimidation at her prowess. Her sword fit with the rest of her. Slender, delicate, beautiful, and no doubt quite deadly. Jian could only dimly perceive the spiritual energy that she was using to reinforce herself and prepare for the coming battle.

It wasn't long after she drew her sword that her opponent came into view. It was a massive beast. Its shape resembled the house cats favored by many female cultivators as pets, but its sheer size dispelled any notion that it might be considered cute rather than deadly dangerous. It stood taller than meirong at the shoulder, and must have easily outweighed her a dozen times over.

It was also enraged, almost frothing at the mouth with its lust for battle. Jian would have expected an animal like this to be an ambush predator, moving silently through the jungle before launching a deadly strike at its prey. Instead, the striped monster almost seemed to want them to know that it was coming. Jian glanced back to where the body of the bird had fallen. Perhaps it had been a beloved pet.

He didn't have long to ponder the notion before the monster lunged towards Meirong. Either her sword or her cultivation level had marked her out as more of a threat than the physically larger Jian. Despite the massive disparity in size and the monster's swift movements, Jian wasn't worried. His confidence proved well founded as Meirong flowed out of the way of the monster, her movements as easy and natural as a leaf dancing in the wind.

Her sword flicked out as the monster dashed past, drawing a bloody line along its side. Jian wouldn't have thought it possible, but the monster's fury reached a higher level. It turned and instead of attacking let out a deafening roar.

The monster wasn't just making noise. There was power laced into the sound. Jian's knees locked up and his breath caught in his chest. His heart probably would have skipped a beat, if he still had it. Instead, he was forced to spare a thought to pray that his mechanical replacement could hold up against this sort of punishment.

To be able to use its energy in a long distance attack, this beast wasn't so simple.