"Haha! Got you!"

With one swift movement, I finally catch one of the ghosts that have been slinking around for the last couple hours. It tries struggling like all the rest, but just like the rest, it does no good. After I crush the ghost, I stop feeling that creepy sensation, indicating that the rest of the ghosts probably fled.

"Well then, that's that, I guess."

So far, there haven't been any ghost attacks like the one before, but a few of them do show up every once in a while. I figure if I don't scare them away, they'll probably gang up like they did yesterday, so I wait until they get too comfortable so that I can get one or two, after which the rest always disperse.

I look sideways, "Hey Mama, how are you feeling?"

Still no response. She's undoubtedly alive, I can see her breathing and everything, but she still seems to be meditating for some reason.

'I hope nothing really bad wrong...'

I would really rather not move her if possible, but this place is just too dangerous. After scanning the area once more, I grab onto her clothes and continue dragging her through the dead forest.

"Gah, Mama, why are you so fast?!"

Even after a full day of travel, I have yet to see a single living tree. Finally, I decide it's about time to settle down for a while. After all, I'm sure Mama would appreciate a rest.

I tip her back upright and start rubbing as much of the dirt and debris as I can off of her. I don't wind up doing a very good job, though, as she still looks like a mess.

"Mamaaa... why won't you wake uuup..."

After sitting down beside her, I start scanning the area with my soul. Honestly, I didn't really expect to see anything, but I very quickly notice a human wearing white armor not too far from us. I immediately stand back up and stare at them. It takes several more seconds, but they eventually notice us as well, and our eyes meet.

'Early Qi Manipulation, looks like. This guy's not weak.'

After a while, the man starts slowly walking toward us. I start scanning him and his surroundings with my soul, but can't find anything out of the ordinary. Still, there's no way I'd trust some random cultivator, so I walk between him and Mama and glare at him.

The man holds his hands up, "Whoa, easy there. Is that your owner? Wait, can you even understand me?" a vigilant look suddenly appears on his face.

I nod my head.

He sighs and lowers his hands, "Is something wrong with your owner? If you'll let me take her back to the outpost, maybe we could do something to help her."

I shake my head.

He squints his eyes, "Cautious little thing, aren't you? There's no need to worry, really. I just want to help."

Suddenly, I notice a silhouette out of the corner of my eye. I turn my head right, just in time to see a man releasing a bolt from a crossbow. I take a step backward, but immediately after, I feel a sharp pain in my side. I look left, and find a woman with a now empty crossbow, grinning at me.

I open my jaws, releasing a small beam from my mouth, which pierces her shoulder. At the same time, I scan the area with my soul and notice a bolt coming toward me from another direction. I immediately realize that if I were to dodge it, the bolt would hit Mama, who's behind me.

I will for the shield necklace to activate, causing qi to flow out from the marble in my chest. But nothing happens. As a last resort, I try making a small soul barrier, but I just don't have enough time.

Thk!

I can hear the bolt hitting bone as it pierces my shoulder. I notice another bolt flying at me, coming from the man to the right. I try moving out of the way, but wind up stumbling to the ground. I feel the bolt whiz over my back, disturbing my hair but missing anything underneath.

"Hey, that's enough. If you hit it too many times, it'll die."

I look up and see the Early Qi Manipulation man who, somewhat contrary to his words, is pointing a loaded crossbow directly at me. The first thing I do is try to use my beam attack, but I find that I'm unable to channel qi properly.

The man laughs, "Are you feeling it now?"

I wrack my brain, trying to think of a way out, but I come up with nothing. Finally, I back up until I'm beside Mama and start glaring at the three people.

I notice the woman start to walk toward me with a scary expression, when the Early Qi Manipulation man interrupts her, "Be careful. The beast may still have some fight left in it."

She continues walking, "Doesn't matter."

As she nears, I try jumping at her, but find that most of the strength has been sapped from my body. I'm barely even able to reach her feet, one of which she kicks forward as soon as I land, sending me tumbling painfully backward. As I land, I decide to close my eyes and stay still, pretending to be unconscious, but still keeping track of her with my soul. She continues walking closer, and just as I'm about to jump up and attack her, I feel an impact on my side, knocking me even farther away from Mama.

I decide to keep up the act, though, allowing her to punt me over and over again. In the end, she winds up kicking me nearly a dozen times before she seems to be satisfied. As she walks over to me and bends down, reaching her hand toward my neck, I open my eyes.

'Now!'

I jerk my head sideways, grasping her wrist between my teeth.

"Ah!"

She recoils, lifting me off the ground. After her initial reaction, though, she calms down, holding her arm out in front of her with me dangling off of it. She then reaches her arm down to her side, grasping a dagger and pulling it from its sheath.

The Early Qi Manipulation man takes a step forward, "Hey, don't kill it! The more-"

The woman interrupts him, "I know! It just needs to be alive, right?"

Right after she finishes talking, the woman raises her dagger and starts waving it around in front of my face while smiling wickedly. All I can do in response is glare at her and try to bite down harder.

The woman releases a light laugh, one completely unbefitting of her facial expression, "Won't you please let go?"

She then slashes the dagger across my face. The pain causes me to release my hold, as I fall back down to the ground.

"Thank you." she mutters.

I resist shouting out with all my might, since I don't want to give her the satisfaction of a response, even if she can't hear it.

There's an immense pain running across my face, especially around my eyes. I try opening my eyelids, but that only winds up amplifying the pain, so I give up.

'Stupid... why did I have to antagonize her? All just to satisfy my pride, why am I always so stupid...'

I start berating myself, though after thinking about it, I have no doubt that I'd do the same thing over again if given the chance.

'Heh, guess I really am stupid.'

I sense the woman bending down again, once more reaching toward my neck. I don't resist this time as she grabs my necklaces and pulls them up over my head.

"Tch, this one's broken. Should have taken these first before kicking it around."

She takes the shield necklace, which has a crack running through the pendant, something that I'm only just now noticing.

'Well then, that would explain why it didn't work earlier...'

I sigh and sit upright, completely at the mercy of these thugs. The Early Qi Manipulation man picks up the shield necklace off of the ground before walking over to where I am. He then reaches toward me, putting something around my neck that starts tightening itself, though not quite enough to choke me. After that, he attaches the end of a chain to it. I'm not sure if it's just my imagination or not, but as soon as he puts the thing around my neck, I start feeling even weaker than I already did.

I hear an unfamiliar voice, "Come on, did you have to go that far? What if the thing dies before we can get it back?"

The woman laughs, "I couldn't help it, the vicious beast attacked me. Didn't you see?"

I hear a huff, before the Early Qi Manipulation man cuts in, "Alright you two, break it up. We got a pretty good haul this time. If I'm not mistaken, that beast should have the light attribute. I'm sure we'll get quite the reward for it. Let's get them back to the outpost before another squad happens upon us and wants a cut of that reward, yeah?"

He walks over to Mama, placing a similar collar around her neck as the one around my own, after first removing her necklaces. He then attaches a chain to it and begins dragging her across the ground.

The woman snickers as she grabs my chain, "Wow, she not even flinching. She must be really messed up inside."

The woman gives the chain a tug, causing me to topple forward. I try standing up, but as soon as I do, she tugs the chain again, causing me to lose my balance once more. The situation continues as she pulls me along, knocking me over once in a while by jerking the chain.