Hunt

Shasi hurriedly moved in between the Wind Willows, usually Wind Flowers would grow on the roots of Wind Willows. He currently had only a small handful of flowers stored on a brown leather bag.

He and Yao Guang had reached the Wind Willow forest together, but eventually decided to split up to not get into each other's ways

"Damn! That Yao Guang must already be ahead of me, he certainly went to the better part of the forest... If only I found a Willow Tree with big enough roots...". Shasi lamented and squinted his eyes trying to look around, but the harsh winds hitting his eyes prevented him from doing it effectively. This was another reason as to why people didn't like picking Wind Flowers, their just too troublesome to get, the cold, the winds, even potential Mortal Beasts, people would usually send lowly servants to do such errands.

"There!". Shasi vaguely saw some green dots on the root of a Wind Willow and exclaimed on the inside. He was quick to approach it and pluck off one Wind Flower. "Wind flowers indeed... Green petals and green bole, Good, goo-".

"Crack!". The crisp sound of a branch being stepped on, entered his ears.

"What was that? There shouldn't be any beasts in these parts of the mountain... Strange, should've been the wind". Shasi murmured as he examined the surround area the best he could, but couldn't find anything.

Shasi was a bit alarmed but eventually shrugged his shoulders and decided to go back to picking Wind Flowers, but just as he turned around, he immediately froze! Two tall figures with wolf legs and fangs stared him down from less than one feet away.

Shasi was shocked, he couldn't even move properly due to the shock, one of the wolf-like men stretched his hand and touched Shasi on the shoulder. "Come, we won't harm you if you cooperate". He said with a deep voice, their Rank 2 Gu Master Aura quickly spread out, much to Shasi's dismaying .

Shasi had never left Ju Feng mountain, so his understanding of Demonic Path Gu Masters was a bit shallow, it had came solely through books, but he knew those individuals would kill without any remorse whatsoever, the life of a mere Rank 1 Initial Stage Gu Master was probably equal to nothing to them, besides, if they were after any sort of ransom by wanting capturing him, they'd be in for a disappointment, since his father was more likely to thank them, than paying anything, they Clan would also not care that much, ever more so if they had already made a loss by paying for Yao Guang's ransom.

Shasi shrewdly considered the circumstances in his mind... On the outside a few seconds passed by, enough to make the Demonic Gu Masters impatient. "Just move already brat!". He exclaimed and pulled Shasi's shoulder.

"Screw it!". Shasi clenched his jaw and rotated his arm to break the Wolf-like man's grip, he followed by lifting his left palm and shooting two Frost Arrows in succession toward the pair of Demonic Gu Masters, the impact was so strong, that he even fell on his butt.

Not wanting to waste any time to see if he had hit his targets, after shooting the two arrows, he rapidly got up and ran for his life, his Primeval Essence was depleted and he couldn't go up the mountain since his kidnappers were blocking that path.

"Fuck! We're should I g-". His thoughts were interrupted by a fist sized purple ball of poison that hit a tree right beside his head! The tree trunk was instantly corroded by the poison, a few drops sprayed in him, corroding parts of his clothes, making several holes on it.

His eyes widened in shock, in times like these, one wrong move could cost his life. Shasi instantly decided to change directions and run down the mountain, he had previously thought about circling his foes and trying to go back up the mountain but this was clearly not going to cut it.

The tree trunk fell between him and his pursuers, thus giving Shasi some breathing room. His breathing was rough, his expression pale and his appearance was a mess, he had never been so close to death before, being beat up by his brothers was mere child's play when compared to this.

Shasi realized his body wouldn't be able to hold on much longer, Even if he was a Gu Master, his body would still tire out at some point, plus, those guys seemed like they had some Transformation Path methods that can give them the speed of wolves. He decided to change strategies and laid on a Wind Willow trying his best to make himself undetectable, he even pulled the collar part of his shirt over his mouth, to cover the sound of his panting.

Shasi closed his eyes, it wouldn't be easy to get out of this situation alive... Considering by how much he ran down, even Mortal Beasts could show up and easily kill him.

He could only hope for a miracle at this point...

Hope!

Hope!

Hope!

He strangely began recalling a part from the History of Ren Zu, he rarely read these types of histories as he thought of them as too fanciful, but at that moment. He vaguely saw meaning in one of it's chapters.

When fighting the beasts called predicaments, neither Strength Gu nor Wisdom Gu alone would suffice, at some point they would eventually not be enough in their own! To beat the predicament beasts, Ren Zu relied on Hope Gu!

And unlike the other two Gu, Hope Gu asked solely for his heart! To ask for one's heart... To never stop believing! If one gave up on oneself, then who in their right mind would believe him.

That was Shasi's interpretation of this part of the tales of Ren Zu and from that moment he'd carry those values until the day the died, he would live by them!

If one day he lost faith in himself, he would no longer be called Ju Shasi!

Shasi got out of his trance as the sound of human steps entered His ears, was this it? Was it over for him? No matter what he couldn't lose hope, he wouldn't, He refused!

"There you are! Tch! Little bastard that puny arrow of yours pierced my good knee! So I'll cut off your legs as punishment, only then my heart will be at ease once again!" The Wolf-like Gu Master said maniacally as the fingers of his left hand extended and hardened, turning into sharp knives.

With his other hand, he picked Shasi up by the hair, his eyes were still closed, but one single word continuously echoed in his mind.

Hope!

Hope!

Hope!

Just as the Demonic Gu Master motioned his arm to cut him up, Shasi's eyes widened, in his right hand, he held a sharp rock which he used to hit his attacker on the head! The Gu Master released Shasi out of shock but still managed swing his knife fingers which superficially cut Shasi on the back, making him fall down.

Shasi still hadn't lost his will, he got up and ran again as far as he could! his back ached like never felt before pain, but the pain oddly turned into a relaxing sensation as his mind became blurry... those claws were poisoned! Even though it hadn't deeply penetrated him, it was still enough to make him fall unconscious!

Shasi wobbled around dizzily.

One step to the right, one step to the left and one step back, he was trying his best to keep himself standing, but after that strange sequence of steps, something seemed to have been triggered, a herbal fragrance entered Shasi's nose, blinding bright lights came from the ground.

Suddenly! The earth he previously stepped on was gone! He fell on a deep hole and vanished!

"Where is he!? I don't see him!" One of the Wolf-like men asked the other.

"That damn insolent boy! Next time I see him, he's dead! I still can't believe we lost him, a mere ant, if word were to spread...".

Both men desperately began trying to figure out a solution, they didn't want their reputation to be stained by no being able to capture a mere Rank 1 Initial Stage Gu master.

"I have an idea! we tell Gu Dao we killed him when he reacted, you show him your wounded leg and say he caught us by surprise!".

"The real target is the Clan Head's kid right? Gu Dao probably won't mind too much, plus I've scratched that brat with my poison, he is likely already dead anyways". The knife handed Gu Master transformed his hand back to normal and smiled evilly while speaking.

Both Gu Masters nodded at each other and sprinted towards their meeting point hoping the other party had been successful in subduing Yao Guang, otherwise their mission would end up in a failure, and only the heavens knew how their leader would deal with them.