II

Survival

The trial had begun with me awaking in unfamiliar scenery. What was I… My forehead stung to the touch, jolting my memories along with the thumping pain. The last thing I remembered was what happened at the guild outpost. Gen had forced his Qi into my pathways to make certain my foundation wasn’t intact. After he was done, he’d looked at me with faked remorse.

My apologies, young master, you’re registration came a little too late. We just ran out of sleeping powder. Gotta have to do this the old-fashioned way then, eh? Pardon me for being a bit rough. May the heavens- thud.

He’d knocked me out with barely any warning. Maybe I’d deserved it, but I was beginning to question the kind of people the Guild employed. I staggered to my feet, hoping to walk the dizziness off before I was attacked by beasts.

My sight swept through the surrounding forest. The flow of Qi was far more turbulent in the wild. Their strings intertwined like a melody, chasing from one place to another. Within the web, a single path stood out. Crawling on the ground like roots, the hazy red sucked the warmth out of the vicinity. It gathered the Qi, guiding it along its pathways to an unknown destination. The other streams evaded its advancements as if hiding from a predator. A good sign. Either a mystic beast had reached maturity after decades, which I doubted given the nature of the trial, or a natural spirit essence was nurturing itself.

Noticing this was the smallest of my unfair advantages. No mortal taking the trial was likely trained in the sight, and the number of former cultivators shouldn’t be too high. As for my overall plan, it was simple. I had the privilege of balance. Any true essence would work out great for me. Therefore, I’d take the best I could find, regardless of the element. If there wasn’t one, I’d have had to be satisfied with a mutant beast, but it seemed that luck was on my side. I checked for the small pouch Nysha had given me to see if it was still on me before I set out in the rough direction of the essence.

The foliage around me grew ever-restless as I headed further into the green maze of plants. I saw a bunch of swarm mice surrounding a green python with a mouthful of their kin. A red-fanged rabbit darted past me, fleeing from a pair of yin-yang ravens that burst through the trees. The common beasts waged their endless war of survival heedless of my presence. I felt a bit nostalgic. Years ago, shortly after I’d built my first foundation, my teachers had thrown me into a similar valley filled with mutant beasts.

A second of carelessness got me stepping into a noose on the ground. The green vine snapped around my ankle, pulling me into the air. Behind the bushes, a gaping maw leaped out to engulf me whole; the carnivorous plant dripping with acid-like saliva. I drew the short knife Nysha had bought me, slicing the vine that bound me. Before I fell into the hotpot, boiling over with its corroding liquid, I clung to a nearby branch. The sentient plant beast chomped down on empty air and, recognizing its failure, fled as fast as it’d come. I didn’t bother chasing after it and continued onward.

The beast-essences of plants were unattractive to most. While many could reconcile the thought of diluting their humanity to mix with a beast, stomaching the idea of turning into a walking flowerbed was too much. Scary rumors even claimed one might lose their conscious mind if one made a particularly poor choice.

My path led me into fending off the occasional ambush. Most annoying was one particular bowstring porcupine. The mutant beast kept out of sight, relentlessly stalking me as it shot the occasional needle off its hide. It kept me on my toes since I had little to offer in defense against it. For hours, it strained my nerves to keep track of its position and I was unable to close in on it. It finally got what was coming for it when the swine got scooped up by a steel-talon eagle. When I took a much-needed break, leaning against a tree, it uprooted itself to fall on top of me. I rolled out of the way just in time, cursing. Its awareness had barely developed yet, but it was already out for my blood which would have nurtured its essence.

Deciding I had enough of shadows and bloodthirsty plants, I set up camp near a river as night fell. The clearing was wide enough to prevent ambushes near me at least. I rested, studying the flow of Qi. It became harder to make out the correct direction as I got closer. Taking some flint out of my pouch, I lit up a fire after gathering some wood. During my preparations, a pair of landswimmers, easily mistaken for harmless flounders that got stranded in the dirt, attacked me. As proper tradition dictated, I’d not prematurely killed any beast so far, but I was not as merciful this time.

I removed their bones with my knife and tossed the wisp of their beast-essence into the river. Eating that without taking proper precautions could be dangerous for me. A school of fish - cannibal madlings - soon fought over it, rapidly dwindling their own numbers as the smell of blood took over their shallow reason. I grilled my meal, never stopping to feed the fire more heaps of wood to keep it alive. The heat of it barely made it over to me.

“E-Excuse me,” my head snapped in the direction of the voice coming from the shadows. I’d actually forgotten I wasn’t the only human around. “May I join you for this meal? I’ve had trouble procuring some for myself.”

“Be my guest,” I sheathed the knife behind my back and invited him with my hand.

“My thanks, brother,” the youth sighed in relief as he stepped into the light. He looked younger than me. His robe was stained in dirt and torn at parts, sprouting a dozen of threads with loose ends like weeds. His face and hands were likewise covered with mud to help him blend into his surroundings. I doubted how much it’d really help.

“I wouldn’t do that,” I told him as he was about to wash his hands in the river. The last remaining madling, now thrice its previous size, jumped out of the water with a wide open jaw. The youth flinched back, shrieking as he scurried away on all fours. The madling, missing its target, whimpered like a sorrowful puppy with a raspy throat, before it skillfully flung itself off the ground, using its tail fin to return to the river.

“T-Thank you,” the youth crawled back to the fire. He stared at his hands, convincing himself they were still attached to him before he sat down across from me.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“My parents named me Zhun,” he grabbed the remaining skewer of fish, “born to the family of Li in Danjing.”

“Brother Li,” I nodded, “you can call me Shin. Would you mind if I asked you something?”

“Of course not, Brother Shin,” he panted from a hot mouthful of fish, “ask away.”

“What made you take the trial?”

“I want to become a cultivator,” he gave me a strange glance, “why else?”

“But why do you want to be a cultivator?”

“You ask that like it isn't obvious,” Li Zhun stopped himself from taking another bite, “To become more powerful.”

“Why do you want to be powerful?”

“Why do you want to eat?” He pointed his half-eaten fish at me, “why drink? Those are strange questions you're asking.”

“You were just about to die,” I told him as a matter of fact. If survival was what he desired, he could hardly find a worse place to be in. If all of the hundred people in the trial were mortals, waking up at the same time as I had, how many would still be alive by now? Half? A quarter?

“That’s…” he chuckled nervously and mumbled, “what other choice do I have?”

“Pardon my impolite inquiries,” I shut my eyes for a bit in thought, “if I acted too familiar with you, I apologize.”

“Nothing of the kind,” he recovered with a slap on his knee, “question all you want, but I fear I may not be able to answer all of them. What about you, then, Brother Shin? Why do you want to become a cultivator if not for power?”

“That’s what I’m here to find out,” I smiled the right amount of politeness for him not to ask any further questions. I threw another batch of wood into the fire as it fought for its dwindling life again. The new wood barely smoldered.

“It’s time,” I stood up, “if you don’t mind, can you come over here for a moment?”

Li Zhun didn’t welcome my request with open arms, but he listened. The sword and knife on his hip swayed with his apprehensive steps, his hands lingering around their hilts. He got the answer to his unspoken question when the fire next to us burst up, beating twice like a heart. The flames funneled into the sky as if the heavens themselves were drinking them. My eyes followed their direction, taking careful note. I was more off than I’d thought.

“W-What just happened?” Li Zhun asked afraid, hurrying close to me.

The true essence was making its rounds and I got a better understanding of its nature. It was definitely born of the earthly realm. Evaluating it with the standards of the Falling Star Sect would place it at the bottom rung. Something to be used on disciples of a branch who would never see the inner courtyards of the main sect. That would still give them the potential to end up in the stronger half of cultivators on the continent. The essence was still nurturing itself, far from maturing into the upper echelons. That was to be expected. No one taking the trial would leave the essence alone, giving it the years it needed to grow.

The scream that disrupted the so far quiet night was shortly followed by the snarling of beasts. Li Zhun squealed, covering his mouth afterward in embarrassment. I started running in the direction where it'd come from.

“S-Shouldn’t we go the other way?” He urged me many times, but I ignored him. He stuck to me, regardless, as we fought our way past brushes and low-hanging branches until we arrived at another clearing within the woods. A pack of wolves surrounded a group of men and women. The faint moonlight glinted on the silver fur of the mutant beasts with a metallic sheen. Bladehide wolves. I pushed Li Zhun behind me.

“Stay here,” I drew his sword without waiting for his consent, running towards the fight under the cover of the shadows. The first wolf noticed my approach early, switching its attention. I didn’t expect its aggressive lunge towards me, baring its fangs sharper than the blade in my hand. I guided my sword with precision, ramming it deep into one of its eyes. The wolf whined, thrashing its claws at my body with its dying breath, but to no avail. As it teetered to the ground, the next pair was already pouncing onto me as one.

My sword sparked against the fur on its head as the wolf evaded my thrust. When I jumped backward, a third trapped me from behind. Its teeth sunk deep into my ankle, hamstringing me. I hissed out to find release from the blinding pain, ramming the tip of my sword down into its eye. Its maw slackened with a whimper, but the shackle of its bite remained steadfast even beyond death.

I kicked out to keep off one of the wolves, but it dodged me and burrowed its fangs into my leg. I took the pain with a grunt and grit teeth, killing the wolf the same way as the rest. The last one pounced into my chest, toppling me to the ground where my sword dropped out of my hand. I struggled to push against its maw that reached out to mangle my throat. Its fangs drew closer, blood-drenched saliva dripping down onto my chest. I prepared to draw on my sealed core when the wolf let out an unexpected wail. Its strength disappeared as it dropped dead on top of me.

I heaved it off to find a knife stuck at the back of its neck, carefully slid between its iron fur. A man stood above me, his robe torn, bloodied, and shredded, revealing a claw wound on his chest.

“Are you alright, brother?” He offered me his hand.

“Thank you,” I moaned to my feet with his help. My hand slid under my robe, taking out one of the five pills Nysha had given me to help my injuries. I hadn’t expected to be needing one so soon, but it allowed for some recklessness without too many repercussions. Still, I’d have to rest for an hour, at least, and wait for my wounds to close.

“What did you do?” I asked him before anything else and he seemed to understand.

“We killed an injured loneblade wolf,” he shook his head regretfully. Three men and one woman lay dead around us, their windpipes torn apart. “Or so we thought. We realized our mistake too late. Before we knew it, an entire pack of wolves surrounded us.”

Bladehides, unlike their similar-looking rival loneblade wolves, not only hunted in groups but also carried a strong bond. The beasts were known for their unforgiving rancor against those harming their fellow pack members.

“There’s nothing we can do,” I heard someone say as we walked past the mauled bodies to where the survivors had gathered around. Their faces were pale and relieved, relishing in the feeling of survival and using it as a cushion to forget the bloodshed around them, whereas I’d long dulled to the sight. I’d been witness to the trials of many who’d called my presence an honor to their dying breath. What now disturbed me more than any bloodied remains ever could was that I remembered, how I'd watched some of them die utterly uncaring as they stared at me with content eyes.

“No, don’t say it!” Another cried out. “Stop bleeding! Please stop, I beg of you, heavens, make it stop!” He screamed at the blood-drenched robe he pressed against the stomach area of the wounded man lying on the ground. The heavens have no ears, the guilt-ridden faces of the rest were unable to watch on any longer.

“I can’t express my gratitude in mere words, brother,” the man who’d helped me bowed, tearing his eyes away from the tragedy. The others noticed me and likewise offered me their sincere gratefulness. “Without your help, we would have met certain death tonight,” his gaze swept over the fallen bodies, his words barely making it over the single man wailing.

“I only did…” what I thought was right, I almost uttered. “It was nothing,” I said instead, looking down at the injured man. “Give him this,” a pill lay in my open hand, “it will slow down the bleeding. If you decide to withdraw from the trial now, he might still make it.”

My actions earned me a few disbelieving gazes. The crying man raised his face, looking at the pill with a blank stare. “Hurry,” I said, and he grabbed it from my hand, fumbling over it before he put the pill into the mouth of the injured person. It dissolved into a liquid that seeped into the inside of his mouth. Moments later, the bleeding stopped. He was far from healed, the wound had bled for too long, but it gave him a fighting chance. The bystanders gasped amazed as the wounded man moaned with a trace of his consciousness returning.

“Thank you!” The man bawled his eyes out as he kowtowed to me on the ground. “Thank you, benefactor, for saving him! He is my brother by blood, I owe you my life for his!”

“As I said,” I looked at anything but his lowered head, “it was nothing. You can thank me another day after he makes it.”