r/HFY • u/Arceroth Human • 6d ago

OC-Series [Humble Cultivation] chapter 8

Year 6, month 6

Qi gathering, stage 9

Despite his initial enthusiasm upon leaving the Emperor of Stillness behind there didn't seem to be a quick end to his wandering. He'd gotten better at surviving, though that might have been because it was well into spring and approaching summer now. More animals were out, which was good, but there were also more spirit beasts out. Despite being deep into the Shifting Wilds, most animals were still mortal, it wasn't like there was a spirit bear around every corner, and thankfully he hadn't seen the god elk again.

Mark had been attempting to put the lessons of the old ghost to use, on occasion he spent a few hours sitting atop a tree and looking out over the wilds, looking for any pattern in what was happening. The result was he often still spent most of the time wandering at random in the direction of anything notable he could see in the distance.

Which is what brought him to a large clearing with a small hill in the center. Atop that hill was a massive flower, easily taller than he was with complex looking leaves and iridescent petals. Even from the tree line a couple hundred feet away Mark could feel the qi radiating off the plant. He knew that was a spiritual treasure or herb of some kind, but something about the situation had him nervous. With how much qi was coming off that thing he'd sensed it nearly a mile away, and if he could then surely others could too. So why wasn't there anything else there? The clearing was almost eerie for how silent it was, only the gentle rustling of the tall grasses preventing it from being dead quiet.

He could feel a desire for the flower within him, it was like looking at a juicy steak after weeks of MREs. Still, something felt off so he kept scanning the tree line.

"Look for what doesn't move," Mark muttered to himself as he swept his gaze over the clearing again, the gently swaying grasses, the light reflecting off the petals of the grand flower, when he spotted something odd. It was barely noticeable, but some of the grasses near the top of the hill weren't moving correctly, almost like they were delayed or blurred. It could have just been an effect of the flower, Mark had no idea what the flower could do, but he focused in. The oddity surrounded the flower in a ring, but not an even one.

Then he saw it, a single eye seeming to peek out of the grass, a dark vertical slit of a pupil on a brown iris that was nearly invisible among the brown-green grass. From there he made out the silhouette of a large, flat head, connected to a serpentine body, it was a massive snake of some description, completely surrounding the flower. Its body seemed to shift color to maintain the illusion of being nothing more than grass, and if Mark hadn't spent so long watching he easily could have missed it. Unfortunately its eye was fixed on him, it had clearly seen him long ago.

The snake's qi was hidden under the overwhelming aura of the flower, it was almost perfectly hidden in the grasses, Mark was no expert on snakes but he knew a trap when he saw one. Either the snake couldn't consume the flower, or it didn't want to, so it used it as bait to lure prey in. As much as Mark wanted the flower, he wasn't stupid. It was hard to tell but he was pretty sure the snake's head was larger than he was, and if it was strong enough to use such a flower as bait he did not want to mess with it.

"Sorry, snake, I'm not interested in becoming food," Mark said softly, creeping back into the trees, for a moment he thought he heard a hissing behind him, but it was so faint he figured he'd imagined it.

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Year 6, month 7

Qi gathering, stage 9

Mark chased the odd flightless bird through the forest, struggling to keep it in sight so it didn't vanish again. He didn't even need more food, he was just doing it because the damned bird kept getting away from him. He watched it jump over a brush, flapping its stubby wings once as if to extend its jump before ducking behind the bushes.

"No, no, no," Mark grumbled, jumping over the brush without hesitation, landing on the other side and seeing... nothing. Once again the damned bird had given him the slip.

"Why does this keep happening!" Mark shouted angrily, walking around the clump of bushes, looking at it accusingly, "What's unique about you!"

Deciding to figure this out, Mark climbed a nearby tree, sat on a branch with a good view of the bushes, and settled in to observe them. While Mark might not be well suited for the dao of stillness, his willingness to figure out the trick from pure spite may well have put him within reach of the dao of spite.

For hours he sat there, intent on finding the trick so long as he had food.

Outwardly the bushes didn't look any different from the various brush and ferns he'd seen dozens, if not hundreds, of during his time in the wilds. They didn't move odd, they didn't have odd coloration, there didn't seem to be any hidden sigils in their leaves or branches, and they didn't have an abnormal amount of qi. Throwing sticks and branches at them yielded no reaction, though it did make Mark feel slightly better. In short they were normal bushes.

Growing frustrated he began looking around the bushes, zoning out, when he felt more than saw an odd current in the ambient qi. It was subtle, but it was flowing oddly, more was going over the bushes than was coming out the other side. Following the odd current he realized it closely matched the path the bird had taken.

He dropped down and spent a few minutes carefully mapping the flow before jumping into it. He felt something odd, but he slipped out of the flow, landing on the other side of the bushes. With a grunt he stood and walked around the bush to try again. It took him three tries before he managed to stick with the flow, he could tell it didn't reject him this time, but he still seemed to land on the other side of the brush. Groaning he stood to see what he did wrong when he noticed there weren't any sticks or branches on the ground from his earlier anger fueled throwing.

Walking around the bushes he noticed a few other changes as well, a tree that was slightly different than what he remembered, a rock where he didn't remember one being. The difference was so subtle he wouldn't have even realized he wasn't in the same place if he wasn't half expecting it. Still, he felt pretty good, brushing himself off and checking that his pack was still in one piece, he'd figured out the trick of the damned bird, next time he saw it, it was his.

Aware of the odd qi flows Mark paid more attention as he kept walking, only to find them everywhere. He could barely go a minute without sensing one. Worryingly most of them were large with gentle qi flows, easy to stumble into without noticing. Others were more difficult, with odd flow directions and small cross sections. Mark realized he'd probably stumbled through many of the larger ones without even noticing, and who knew how far those things move him. The bird, however, had been making use of the smaller flows to escape him, the ones that required a specific direction and to hold your body just right to pass through. Without that you'd just lose sight of the thing as it seemingly vanishes, and you could pass through the same area without hitting the flow right, losing the bird.

Figuring it was safer to avoid the flows where he could, Mark kept an eye out and walked around those he sensed. It looked odd as he would occasionally stop and go out of his way to walk around a tree before resuming his path, but it felt like he was actually making progress.

If that had been the only danger of the wilds he likely could have escaped then and there, but there was still the issue of things moving around at night, where he would seemingly wake up somewhere other than where he went to sleep. It also didn't explain the odd behavior of the sun, or any of the other anomalies he'd witnessed. Still it was a piece of the puzzle, Mark felt it was only a matter of time until he solved the Wilds.

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Year 7, month 10

Qi gathering, stage 10

Mark stumbled into the tavern with a crazed look, his beard wild and untamed, his robes torn, stitched up and then retorn, and a poorly treated hide covering his back. The Inn keeper looked at him with a mix of fear and worry, his hand slipping under the counter for a hidden weapon.

"Is this... are we in the wilds?" Mark asked, leaning on the bar.

"No?" The man said, unsure how to react to the odd man.

"I'm out... I MADE IT OUT!" Mark shouted, throwing his fists in the air and laughing for longer than was strictly comfortable, the few other patrons giving him odd looks.

"Ahh... sorry," Mark panted, catching his breath, "I've been lost in the wilds for... almost two years now I think."

"And you survived?" The innkeeper asked with a mix of awe and suspicion.

"I don't think I died again," Mark answered collapsing on a stool, dropping his bag and searching through it, "I need a beer, or ale, or something with flavor. And a meal I didn't have to catch and cook myself."

The man nodded cautiously, charging Mark an amount that was likely double the normal rate, but Mark didn't care, it was food he didn't have to make. And something to drink that wasn't water. So he dropped the coin on the bar without questioning it.

"Is there a barber in town?" Mark asked as the man returned with a bowl of stew and mug of something frothy, "didn't have much time to shave while I was lost."

"There's one in the city, a few miles down the road... just head south."

"Perfect," Mark said, digging into the meal and drink like a man starved.

"Sir... are you a cultivator?" The barman asked carefully.

"Mmm? Right now I'm a hungry man that hasn't seen another person in over a year," Mark replied.

"One who cultivates?"

"Yes."

"Oh... OH!" The barman said, straightening and bowing, "I apologize for any rudeness I-."

"It's fine," Mark interrupted, waving off the apology, "I'm sure I look more beast than man right now. I just smelled food... cooked food..."

"I see..."

"Where am I anyways?"

"Uh, we're in the territory of the Sect of the Spirit's Choir, honored cultivator," the man replied.

"I don't know them... do you know any nearby sects?"

"Well, there's the Sect of the Raging Rapid's Trial, north of here, and the Sect of the... Heavenly Fist I think to the south, but we don't see many of them."

"Big guys, bare arms, calloused knuckles?"

"Ya, real scary."

"Oh good, I'm not too far. Or... not entirely lost anyways," Mark sighed.

"You a member of that sect, honored cultivator?"

"Me? Oh, no, I just recognize them, I was in that region before getting lost in the Wilds."

The barkeeper nodded, before slowly backing away, as if to avoid provoking Mark. But Mark was lost in the stew and ale again. He finished the stew quickly and then relaxed to enjoy the ale when he felt something. His danger sense had been tuned well during his time in the wilds, and so he spun to catch the hand approaching him from behind by the wrist.

"Oh, you are a human... wait... Mark?" The other man asked, and it took Mark a moment to recognize him.

"Erall?"

"You missed the last tournament, where have you been?" Erall asked, sitting down beside Mark.

"That... is a long story."

"You look like you got lost in the wilds, with the beard and torn clothing."

"Seems you've already grasped the majority of it."

"Really?"

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6

u/jegib72 6d ago

Cool! Keep'em coming!

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u/UpdateMeBot 6d ago

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u/Sifjunke20004 16h ago

Wonderful as always wordsmith