Chapter 94: Found!

Zen walked alone, following the signs of Jao Cong’s clumsy progress through the forest. The falling snow was quickly covering it up and his hobbling pace did not make his tracking any faster. He was thankful that Jao Fuu had no concept of stealth. He just now had to hope that he would find his cousin before a predator or the and its followed his obvious path. He heard rustling…

He looked to the side in time to see a fist hurtling towards him. It made contact with his cheek and floored him but even on the floor, Zen had his hands up, ready to protect himself if need be and Shibi retreated up ahead to stand between him and his attacker. His eyes widened at seeing the culprit of the attack.

“Jao Fuu?” he nearly shouted.

From behind a satisfied looking Jao Fuu, cam another boy running close behind.

“Deng Ai? What you two doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing!” Fuu answered. “Where is my brother?”

“Well… I…”

Shaonu landed behind him, her bird kicking up a strong and cold gust as it touch the ground.

“Xue Shaonu!” he said, getting to his feet.

She jumped off the wild beast and ran before him, an excited smile was on her face that was reflected on Zen’s. Shibi made his way back to Zen’s shoulder.

“And your Scorch Ape has returned!” Xue Shaonu patted Shibi’s head.

“Well, this is quite the reunion.”

Zen looked up to the leafless branches above. “Hue Yi? Is the whole academy here? Whose next, Chen Jian?”

Hue Yi leapt off the branch, causing snow to fall on Wang Zen’s face, and landed on the ground. He looked around, his shaded eyes taking the scene around him. “Where are the other two members of your party? Xue Shaonu said there were four of you.”

“Yes, Wang Zen, where is my brother?” Jao Fuu said, her voice with an obvious edge to it.

Zen involuntarily gulped. “I… I lost him.”

“What?” Fuu snapped.

Xue Shaonu rushed past Zen and held Jao FFuu back as she tried to lunge at him. Deng Ai also had to get involved, trying to calm her down as she shouted angrily at Zen.

Hue Yi stood between them, causing her to stop. “Jao Fuu, your brother is still missing and every moment we don’t look for him may be dire for him. For now, you all need to rally and stick to the objective. After that,” Hue Yi turned around, his black glasses reflecting Zen’s sad face, “you can deal with Wang Zen.”

Fuu gritted her teeth before shrugging Xue Shaonu and Deng Ai off of her. “Let me go!” she said as she freed herself from their lax hold.

Deng Ai quickly backed away, mumbling an apology while Xue wordlessly backed away.

“Wang Zen, where is Geyi Kun?” Shaonu asked.

“I don’t know.” He said. “There is no trace of her. It seems she very good at moving stealthily.”

“Then we’ll continue following Jao Cong’s trail.” Hue Yi said. “Xue Shaonue, can your beast carry you and Zen?”

“Yes, Silicy can.” She said, touching the bird’s neck.

“Good, then take Zen with you.” He commanded. “You two will search from above. The rest of us will continue following the trail down here.”

“But I…”

“Do not argue, Wang Zen.” Hue Yi said without looking at him. “I can see how awkwardly your standing. You being on the ground will only slow us down.”

Zen could not argue.

“Let’s go. Deng Ai, keep up.” Hue Yi said before sprinting forward, followed by Fuu and Deng Ai.

Zen sighed in frustration as he looked at them disappearing between the trees.

“Come, Wang Zen.” Xue Shaonu said, her voice laced with sympathy for him.

Jao Cong walked through the forest in a panic. Where once he was blindly running, now he simply walked through, hoping to get his bearings some way. He did not know where he was but he was spooked enough to keep moving. He did not want to meet any of the bandits again, considering he could not defend himself.

“I really need to get serious with my fighting techniques.” He said to himself. By all rights, the boy should be strong. He had a lot of ki, more than Zen and ki of an above average quality. However, he had no knack for learning martial arts techniques. He vowed to do better. No use in cultivating all this ki if he could not even use it to defend himself.

He stopped… he looked beneath his feet and was surprised that, under the snow and leaf covered ground was blue grass. He looked ahead and saw the snow slowly drifting down, the flakes catching the rays of the setting sun and sparkling like tiny stars before landing on the ground.

He gasped. Before him he saw a small white creature. It looked like a tiny, hornless deer. Its thin fur was almost as white as the snow that it dug up to get to the blue grass beneath. He could swear that it was slightly glowing as it grazed peacefully, blissfully unaware of the human who was watching it.

Jao Cong held his breath as he knew he was seeing something special. Of all people, he could not believe that he found and saw the Snow Ram. It was a babe but it was still majestic. He knew that they were solitary animals but he still wandered why one so young was alone. He heard the snow behind him shifting and he turned around, the site answering his earlier question. Standing before him, with angry eyes was an adult Snow Ram.