Chương 32: Jianghu
As Ma Sa made his way towards the Northwest unmolested by beast or bandit, Bu Du Teng's sweaty oversized nose twitched hypnotically from side to side as he tried to stifle an itch that had been growing on him since he realized that Ma Sa hadn't shown up at the workshop that day. It was normal for him to only appear in the morning every other day but he usually showed up in the workshop most afternoons. His senses were tingling irrationally and telling him that something was going on.
"Hey, Gao Hui! Have you seen the successor today?"
Gao Hui looked at the creepy 'Muhu!' kid at the next workbench and wondered why he'd be looking for the Forgemaster's successor. Normally Bu Du Teng would avoid coming into contact with the boy as much as possible. Gao Hui was usually to involved in his work to notice Ma Sa coming and going anyway so he simply shook his head and admonished:
"You need to concentrate on your work, kid. You've gotten sloppy this last while. Don't think you can keep your bench here if you keep churning out those shitty pieces!"
With that, Gao Hui resumed his work and forgot about the weird kid next to him.
Bu Du Teng was fuming! He'd only asked a simple question and this jerk next to him thought it was an invitation for a life lesson?? Once he became the successor he'd throw Gao Hui out on the streets! After he managed to simmer down by beating the shit out of the steel billet until it became cold, he regained a little clarity. He couldn't explain why but there was definitely something up with Ma Sa's absence today. Maybe he should investigate?? No, no maybe about it. The itch told him that he definitely had to investigate!
A few hours later, Bu Du Teng had his suspicions confirmed by his ever more reluctant network of friends. Ma Sa had taken a mission from the Contributions Hall and had headed out to the Jianghu! Bu Du Teng couldn't help but bless his handsome and distinctive nose for alerting him! He hastily grabbed a brush and some writing paper. This time he couldn't fail!
"Muhu!-"
Ermm... Let's try that again...
"MUHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
*****************
Bu Lei hurriedly pried himself away from Schluupi's slimy embrace as he read the letter he had just received for the second time. With his naked body glistening with slime in the lamp light he ran to the tent's opening and roared, "SHITTY FOX! GET THE FUCK OVER HERE! NOW!"
A reticent fox emerged from the brush a few moments later and looked warily at its slime covered pervert master.
"Do you remember the scent of that kid from two years ago??"
How could the fox forget the man cub that had brought it such misery by surviving? The fox recalled that scent every night as it went to sleep hoping to dream about ripping its owners limbs off. It nodded its head in answer to the question.
"Good! That brat is out here again. Find him, kill him, and you can have your tails back!"
Its tails! Oh, how it had dreamed of having all nine of them reunited once more! This man-cub was dead meat!
Bu Lei wanted to leave right away but traveling the Jianghu at night was a foolish decision and a fast track to the afterlife. He was worried that the trail may get cold by the time they reached the Southern gate of Tianzhu. They were currently to the West of the city and would have a long chase if the boy had gone East. Dismissing the fox for the night, he decided that they would leave at first light. For now, he'd go back to bed, his darling Schluupi must be getting lonely!
*******************
Ma Sa had read that traveling the Jianghu at night was dangerous but he'd not seen anything at all on his journey today. Aside from kinetic vision, he also had other sensory perks that would enable him to grasp a very clear idea of his surroundings. Throughout his travels he'd caught slight whiffs of bandit sweat a few times and some unpleasant animal musk as well. The bandits seemingly weren't of the child murdering persuasion and backed off. The animals were all common, weak creatures without cores that would pose no threat to him even if they did dare show themselves. Boring!! Last time he'd only been in the Jianghu for a couple of seconds before a Bijuudama nearly ended him. He was honestly rather disappointed. He decided to continue navigating by his HUD compass throughout the night. Maybe something exciting would happen??
********************
The skinny, malnourished, one-tailed fox curled up in its hole, habitually licking its freshest stump. Once it was satisfied that it was clean it closed its eyes and began its nightly ritual. It recalled that day when it all went wrong. The man-cub emerged from the tunnel and it had shot a casual blast at it. Expecting the man-cub to be dead like everything else that had ever taken its attack, the nine-tails gave itself a mental pat on the head for a job well done. It was shocked when the man-cub emerged from the crater with its clothes in tatters. More than just surviving, the man-cub could still run! It ran toward the nine-tails at surprising speed. Then, annoyed by the man-cub's attachment to life, it charged up a serious blast with all nine of its tails. It released it and the man-cub was no more! It returned to its master and was praised as the best fox ever! The master started feeding it amazingly juicy meat and kicked the shitty snail out of the camp! Ahhhhh... What could have, and should have, been...
Instead of the glory of success and the adulation of its master, the semi-starved fox lay in its cold hole, eight tails down and exposed to the elements. It shivered in the chilly night breeze. Its nose twitched, then it twitched again. This scent... The scent of the man-cub that should have died. The fox always went to sleep recalling this smell but for some reason, tonight, it seemed even stronger. It put it down to anticipation over tomorrow's hunt. Tomorrow it would have the chance to redeem its former glory!
...
Or not... The scent was getting stronger! Surely it couldn't be so lucky to have its prey delivered to it in the night?? Its eyes snapped open as its body went into full alert. It sniffed the air a few more times. There was no mistake! The hunt was starting early! Time to go!
********************
Ma Sa was starting to drift to sleep as he walked. The excitement he had been waiting for was nowhere to be found. He had traveled West for a while and then decided to turn Northwards. He had marked the Ye clan encampment with a map marker so that he could see it on his HUD compass. He just traveled in as straight a line as he could manage, only having to divert for a couple of wider, fast-moving streams. He could actually have just jumped over them but he wanted to experience the authentic trials of traversing the wilderness Bear Grylls style.
Suddenly his senses picked up a beast entering into his range. It seemed to be stalking him, albeit rather clumsily. Finally! Something is happening! Ma Sa continued onward nonchalantly, acting as if he had no idea of the beast's presence. He was trying to bait an ambush. The beast quietly moved off to the side of his path and waited for him to pass.
With a snarl, the beast emerged from the bushes like lightning and attempted to hamstring Ma Sa. It was a pretty good ambush by Ma Sa's rating but nothing he needed to worry about. The Qi fluctuations from the beast seemed somewhat frail and Ma Sa thought it was probably only driven to attack by hunger. He dodged the attack by a narrow margin and wrapped a Qi thread around the beast's neck. The threat was neutralized although the dog(?) beast didn't know it yet. It whirled around and once again tried to take a chunk out of Ma Sa. The poor thing was pitifully skinny. Ma Sa could feel its bones through his Qi threads. He decided to put an end to this and manipulated the Qi thread to pull the beast's head to the ground.
"Hey, easy there! You're awfully skinny there big guy. You want something to eat??"
Ma Sa produced six medium-rare filet mignon steaks from his inventory and threw them before the snapping maw of the incapacitated doggo. It was obviously affected by the delicious smell but continued snapping its jaws while staring at Ma Sa. Hmmm... Wasn't this guy hungry?? Ma Sa decided to grab a lantern from his inventory to see what was up with the beast.
"Eh? Kurama? It's you! What happened to you big guy? What happened to those cute tails of yours? Aww you poor thing! Life's been really rough on you!"
He released his Qi thread and went to pat Kurama. He was met with Kurama's sizable teeth clamping down on his arm. It continued to try and grind its teeth into him even as Ma Sa laughed and stroked its ears with his other hand. Ma Sa had made sure to pick a good body art to train over the last couple of years and his Qi infused flesh was ridiculously tough.
"Hey there buddy. Ease up on the biting, will ya? You'll hurt your teeth... Alright then... A little longer and then you gotta eat your steak. Its getting cold!"
Kurama thought that it was having some sort of sick nightmare where it was powerless to harm its nemesis no matter what it did. Its jaws hurt and the ache of fatigue crept upon it quickly due to its malnutrition. Damn it! If it had its tails this guy would get blown to dust! But... Why was the man-cub being so nice to it. It could understand its words and it was definitely being friendly. It even brought out the most delicious smelling meat it had ever smelled! What was it doing??
Ma Sa couldn't help but smile at the lantern-lit fox gnawing on his arm with that cute confused look in its eyes. He decided that enough was enough for now and gently pried its jaws off himself.
"Alright, I got ya buddy. You're a good hunter! You caught me! Now, eat those steaks before you starve. You look so skinny! Go on, eat up!"
He grabbed a steak and waved it in front of the fox's nose while it looked adorably conflicted. Finally it conceded and practically inhaled the steak.
"Woah there, Kurama! Chew it or else you'll choke!"
Kurama couldn't help itself. The meat was just so tender and amazing! The man-cub seemed to be calling it Kurama? What was that about? It looked at the man-cub questioningly for a second after it had finished the steaks.
"Still hungry, Kurama? Here you go!"
Ma Sa produced another six steaks and a massive brisket which caused the fox to salivate with delight. He chuckled to himself as the fox greedily gulped down bite after bite.
A short while later, a young boy and a pot-bellied fox sat facing each other in the deep woods of the Jianghu.
"Hey, Kurama? What happened to you? All the other beasts out here are weak so you should be able to hunt them just fine. Why are you so skinny? Did someone stop you from eating? Where are your beautiful tails? Did someone chop them off?"
Ma Sa felt his heart break as he saw the fox nod its head at his questions. He was mad! Hunting animals for resources was alright in his book but this was just needless cruelty! Anger smoldered in his eyes and the temperature surrounding him dropped rapidly.
"Who did it?"
Ma Sa's voice remained calm as his minds worked overtime to control his emotions.
"Can you take me to them?"
The fox, now fearful of Ma Sa's sudden change, hesitated for a moment before nodding. This man-cub was strong. It could feel it instinctively. It was also angry. Maybe the man-cub was strong enough and angry enough to kill its master? Kurama could only hope.
"Let's go, Kurama! Someone is getting their ass kicked!"
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