Chapter 12: The Dangers of the Forbidden Region
The outright provocation from Squad Bloodshadow caused killing intent to surge in Graceful Raptor’s eyes. But instead of taking action, she turned to look at Sergeant Thunder.
Sergeant Thunder’s expression was the same as ever as he simply said, “Crucifix.”
Without a single word, Crucifix took the bow off his back, nocked an arrow, and shot it into the sky. It whistled as it ascended, like a reverse lightning bolt. And a moment later, it pierced right into the hawk circling overhead. Blood exploded like red flower petals, and a miserable shriek rang out as the hawk fell. A moment later, it smacked into the ground right between the two squads.
Meanwhile, one of the members of Squad Bloodshadow staggered in place, his face turning as pale as death as he coughed up a mouthful of blood. The hawk was his. But unlike Graceful Raptor’s dog, this animal was connected to him with spirit power, allowing him to control it. When it got injured, so did he.
The other Bloodshadow members glared with killing intent, but their captain gestured for them to stay in place. Getting off the dog, he ignored Graceful Raptor and looked at Sergeant Thunder.
Sergeant Thunder looked back at him with icy eyes.
The two faced off for a long moment, then both of them gave cold harrumphs.
“Let’s go,” Sergeant Thunder growled, and he led the squad forward, including Xu Qing.
To Xu Qing, the animosity between the two squads was palpable. After they were further along, he looked over his shoulder, and realized the members of Squad Bloodshadow were still waiting for Fatmountain and Horsefour. Of course, those two would never arrive.
Looking back, he followed Sergeant Thunder and the others as they left the basecamp.
Xu Qing remembered thinking the forbidden region wasn’t very far away, but it took longer to get there than he imagined. They hiked for about an hour before the black jungle appeared in front of them. The trees spread out as far as the eye could see in both directions.
It was already late in the morning, and the sun shone brightly. But the jungle appeared to be a different world altogether.
Storm clouds filled the sky above the jungle, complete with lightning bolts that fell occasionally. All-in-all, the forbidden region seemed like a mysterious and dangerous location.
Xu Qing took it all in silently as he followed Squad Thunderbolt. The squad also maintained silence. However, as they neared, Xu Qing could sense them getting tense. He felt the same.
At a certain point, he felt a strange sensation, like he’d suddenly stepped into an area of frigid coldness that sucked all the warmth out of his body. That was when he knew he was actually inside the forbidden region.
Simultaneously, all extraneous thoughts from the outside world were purged from his mind. The familiar, sinister coldness seeped into his bones, immediately reminding him of the ruined city and the blood rain.
He took a deep breath and maintained full vigilance, keeping a tight grip on his iron skewer. Just like back in the ruins.
One main difference was that the city was full of crumbling buildings, whereas this place....
Twisted trees loomed like evil ghosts. The mud beneath their feet was as rotten as the soil of the Yellow Springs. Leaves clawed toward the sky like fangs and talons. [1]
The members of Squad Thunderbolt took it all in stride.
With weapons strapped to their backs, they walked carefully along what was obviously a familiar path. Some areas seemed completely ordinary, but they avoided them. And some areas seemed very dangerous, yet they walked right through them. In this manner, they avoided numerous hazards.
Xu Qing kept pace, paying close attention to everything.
One strange thing he noticed was that Sergeant Thunder didn’t always take the lead. Sometimes Savage Ghost was in front, other times it was Graceful Raptor. They seemed to be taking turns. They moved forward steadily, and despite the occasional howl of a beast, Xu Qing felt relatively safe.
Occasionally, venomous insects would appear, whereupon Graceful Raptor would light some special incense to drive them away.
After two hours of hiking without a single word spoken between anyone, they took a break next to a muddy marsh.
Xu Qing watched as Graceful Raptor took out a medicinal powder and threw it out over the mud. Moments later, a host of venomous insects burrowed out, and though they seemed about to attack, Graceful Raptor calmly took out another type of powder and scattered it over them. The insects scattered in all directions, and a moment later, the marsh was quiet.
With that accomplished, the squad members began taking mud and smearing it on themselves.
“Did you commit everything to memory?” Sergeant Thunder asked Xu Qing. “All the details so far?”
Xu Qing nodded as, without any hesitation, he scooped up mud and smeared it on himself.
“We avoid any areas where the fallen leaves are piled up,” Sergeant Thunder continued. “The reason being we know the beasts avoid those parts, otherwise the leaves would be crushed.
“We follow paths where we can see animal droppings. Obviously, the animals will instinctively pick safe paths. At the very least, there won't be a lot of hazards or deadly quicksand pits.
“Savage Ghost has a very acute sense of smell. He can detect the scent of dangerous mutant beasts, allowing us to avoid them. Obviously there’s a lot for you to learn. Just remember as much as you can.”
When Savage Ghost was mentioned, Xu Qing looked over at him. The burly man looked back at him and flashed a grin.
Continuing to spread mud over himself, Sergeant Thunder continued, “Years ago, we discovered that this marsh contains the shed skin of night lizards. By smearing the mud on us, we can conceal our aura and also repel many other dangerous creatures.
“North of us is the Poisonous Dragon Pond. This forbidden region has been explored enough that we scavengers have divided it into distinct regions. One of those regions is the Poisonous Dragon Pond. But we’re not headed there today. Instead, we’ll keep going straight.”
By this point, Xu Qing was finished with the mud. At the same time, Crucifix walked past. Yesterday, Crucifix had spoken against Xu Qing’s involvement. But now he offered a bit of advice.
“Pay attention to your mutation blotches. Forbidden regions have a lot of mutagen. If you surpass your mutation limit, nobody will be able to save you.”
Xu Qing nodded, though the advice was unnecessary. He had already come to sense how strong the mutagen here was. It was weaker than it had been back in the city ruins, but he knew he had a high concentration of mutagen built up within. Even when he wasn’t practicing cultivation, just breathing was enough to cause the mutation blotches on his arm to throb.
Taking out a white bolus, he put it in his mouth and let it sit on his tongue to slowly dissolve.
Eventually, everyone was coated with mud, and they started moving again.
However, the path they followed was very different from any of the paths they’d traveled so far. They moved slowly, and everyone kept their weapons in hand and ready to use.
Xu Qing couldn’t help but study those weapons.
Savage Ghost had his steel shield and wolf tooth club. Sergeant Thunder had his fighting gauntlets. Crucifix had his bow. And Graceful Raptor carried a gleaming sawtooth dagger.
Xu Qing’s days spent following Fatmountain hadn’t come without benefit. His sharp sense of hearing had enabled him to listen in on quite a few conversations among various scavengers. And he had learned quite a bit.
For example, he knew that weapons were generally classified as being magical treasures, talisman treasures, or prized treasures.
Magical treasures were exceedingly rare and legendary items. Supposedly, all such items were polluted with mutagen of varying levels. Using such treasures would increase their mutagen levels, essentially making them nonrenewable resources. And as such, they were extremely precious. Magical treasures were also the reason living treasures came to be. Sometimes, people were raised from childhood for the express purpose of diluting the mutagen in magical treasures.
Sergeant Thunder had said as much.
After the magical treasures came the talisman treasures and the prized treasures.
Talisman treasures were also rare, but compared to magical treasures, they were easier to acquire. Prized treasures were the most common of all, and could be crafted from special materials. Because of that, even ordinary people could sometimes get them.
Xu Qing’s iron skewer was a prized treasure, and so were the weapons wielded by Squad Thunderbolt.
Time passed as Xu Qing followed the group deeper and deeper into the forbidden region. On a few occasions, they ran into small groups of mutant beasts that Savage Ghost handled by himself. A few stronger beasts were taken out by Crucifix’s bow. Graceful Raptor relied mostly on magical techniques, and could intimidate beasts into freezing in place.
Xu Qing had a taste of the action when a viper attacked the group from behind. He simply grabbed the thing and crushed it to death.
Eventually, Crucifix seemed to realize that Xu Qing wasn’t making any amateur mistakes, and the disdain in his eyes slowly began to fade. He even started teaching Xu Qing a few things.
“The forbidden region seems dangerous, Kid, but to experienced hands like us, there are basically only three things to worry about. Commit all this to memory.
“The first is that in the depths of the forbidden region, you’re likely to run into mutant beasts you’ve never seen before. But that rarely happens on the periphery, which is where we normally operate. If it happens, it can be very dangerous. We know how to deal with the mutant beasts we’re familiar with. However, the forbidden region is huge, and there are all types of beasts inside with all sorts of powers. A lapse in concentration can be deadly.
“The second thing is the Singing.” A look of fear suddenly appeared on Crucifix’s face. “People say that you can sometimes hear a type of music inside the forbidden region. If you hear that Singing, you’re almost certainly going to die. I’ve never heard it myself. In fact, nobody in our squad has except for Sergeant Thunder.”
Xu Qing looked at Sergeant Thunder. The old man didn’t say anything, but as he looked out into the jungle, mixed emotions could be seen in his eyes.
“I’ll explain the third danger,” Graceful Raptor said, smiling at Xu Qing, “which also happens to be the most common. And that’s the Fog of Confusion. When it appears, you can hardly see a thing, and it’s easy to get lost. It usually sticks around for an extended period of time, and if you lose your way inside, you won’t make it out easily. And if that happens, mutagen will build up inside you, which, in turn, means you’re on the way to dying.
“There are two ways to deal with the Fog of Confusion. The first is to dispel it with fire. The second is to have someone born with psychic powers, or someone who's worked hard to cultivate them. Using fire is treating the symptoms but not the root cause. It will clear a small area of the fog. However, this is a gruish fog, and you can’t keep a fire going forever in it. Eventually, when the fire goes out, the fog will return. In terms of people with psychic powers, our basecamp only sees one such person every few decades. And they don’t stay around long. They usually leave quickly to develop their powers elsewhere.”
Savage Ghost, who was taking the lead, looked over his shoulder and said, “There’s a fourth danger. And that’s other scavengers. Especially if they set up an ambush.”
Graceful Raptor was about to say something in response, when Sergeant Thunder’s expression flickered as he looked off into the jungle.
“Quiet!” he said.
Crucifix immediately nocked an arrow to his bow. Graceful Raptor looked around with flashing eyes, and Savage Ghost’s muscles rippled. As for Xu Qing, he felt his hair standing on end, as though something incredibly dangerous were nearby.
Moments later, scattered bits of cold, sinister light could be seen out in the dark jungle.
Eyes.
Numerous eyes staring at them. As the eyes grew more distinct, they saw black, scaly skin. Huge wolves were approaching, each one as large as an ox.
At a glance, Xu Qing could see dozens of them, and there seemed no end to them. Maybe there were even hundreds. Every single wolf radiated spirit power fluctuations of the second level. All of the squad members looked worried.
“It’s a pack of black-scaled wolves!”
“They normally roam in areas deeper in the forbidden region. What are they doing out here?”
Crucifix looked around through narrowed eyes, and Graceful Raptor’s face looked wan. To them, a single black-scaled wolf wouldn't be anything to worry about. But dealing with a large number like this was going to be difficult.
Of even greater significance was the fact that the mutagen here was strong. Once they started running low on spirit power, and were forced to absorb spirit power from the surroundings, things would get dangerous. In the heat of battle, there wouldn’t be time to extrude the mutagen from the spirit power, which meant that their own corruption would increase rapidly.
Xu Qing found himself gasping for breath as the pressure exuded by the wolves weighed down on him.
“Everybody withdraw,” Sergeant Thunder said. “I’ll hold them here.”
He started walking forward, spirit power fluctuations rolling off of him that surpassed Crucifix’s by double.
The wolves stopped walking and glared at Sergeant Thunder.
1. ”Yellow Springs” is one of many poetic Chinese terms for hell or the underworld ☜
Deathblade's Thoughts
"Gruish" is an invented word that I'm using as the adjective form of "grue." The Chinese word is a relatively common word that simply means "bizarre" or "strange." However, as we have already seen, it's being used in the story to describe a specific kind of monstrous being. When used as an adjective, it usually is supposed to connect to the monster, and I want to maintain that connection. Thus, I'll translate it as "gruish" when it makes sense.