Pathway

Ju Feng sat down with his back to the wall of the tunnel, smiling bitterly. His mind was still ruminating on the incident which took place back at the water channels. He was certain of seeing a premonition of a death, and he was sure the death was his. Yet, there he was, still breathing. How could he explain that? Maybe, the heavens didn't want a soul to enter reincarnation on this day. Or perhaps, death was simply too busy to bother with him.

Either way, he knew he had by-passed a disastrous outcome.

He stared at his raw and dirty hands. Oh, how fast and hard he had dug in order to escape the many deadly claws. It was good that his body was strong from birth and that he grew up stronger. The energy from the magical pills and beasts that his mother had took when she was pregnant was showing on his body. Moreso, he had fortified his body with chi energy. How else could he have managed to do this?

He looked at the hole he had dug through the base of the tunnel but there was no hole there. It had disappeared.

"Uh?"

No way was that an illusion. The hole he had dug had to be right there. Actually, it was meters long hole. Alright, it was a collapsed hole and that he had the sharpness runic sword. Still, he had spent long time digging the collapsed hole and his hands would testify to this.

He placed his hand on the spot where the hole should be and his hand actually passed through the space. It was as if an illusion was protecting the entrance to the hole. As long as the hole was there, he would have a chance of leaving the mountain. Although it was only big enough for him to crawl through, it would do just fine. He wondered why the original hole was there in the first place. It would have allowed only one averagely grown man to squeeze through. Who made the hole? Seeing no way of finding the answers, he put his mind off the questions. 

After cleaning his hand, as much as he could, he decided to check his body for further sustained injuries. He was doing that, when he felt a lump through his robe. He opened his robe and dug out the lump casually. When he saw what the lump was, he sprang up in utter shock and joy.

"The Star-Tide!"

He shouted in disbelief. As he held the bead up in his hand, the broad smile on his face could dampen the brightness of the sun. Still, he found it difficult to come to terms with him holding the immortal bead. Before he was attacked by the conchi guardian, he thought he had lost it the moment he jumped up from his lotus position. And after that, he had totally forgotten about the bead. All he was thinking about was his survival. Fate was definitely on his side there. 

A heavenly treasure! Belonging to him, Ju Feng! What about that!? Even if he had no use for it at the moment or in the nearest future, it was still an extremely precious treasure. He wrapped the bead in a small parchment before keeping it in his spatial sac.

As he was putting away the bead, suddenly, he remembered the Dragon-hide talisman he was given by the old merchant at their village's market. He had prepared it beforehand, with the intention of using it at the beginning of the adventure, but had forgotten about it. So silly of him. Maybe, he would've suffered less than he did, had he used the talisman. Although he didn't even know if the talisman would work, he still put it on himself. Any little form of a potential defence was important in this place of death.

To regain expended strength, he took out some turtle meat and a jar of preserved goat milk as he revelled in the moment. Oh, how he wished he had the bloodroot medicinal pills. He would've used one and had his body restored. As he waited while relaxing, Ju Feng could hear the banging sound of battle, still ensuing on the other side of the tunnel.

After waiting for several minutes for the battles to recede to no avail, he decided to check the tunnel he was in. He kept in mind not to venture deep, but to only check his immediate vicinity. Heavens knew what other dangers could be lurking inside the tunnels. This tunnel was not the direction he had to take to where he was going. It was the first tunnel. But with the c onchi guardian and the death-eater laying in wait, he knew he had to leave the mountain altogether. While he was still thinking, he noticed that new area was totally different from the area he was in before.

He cautiously walked forward slowly. Then, all of a sudden, a thick stone wall sprang up in the passage behind him, cutting him off from the hole he had dug.

Heavens' tears! It was a tunnel trap! He must have triggered an unseen hatch or ...

Ah, the walls. They seemed covered in some sort of symbols. Ju Feng was still examining the walls, when large sections of the two sides of the passage walls, suddenly sank. And another two large passages replaced the old ones. From the appeared new passages, he could hear low screeching sounds, and a wailing noise approaching from the other end of the three passages.

"Shifting tunnel."

The nightmare of adventurers. He had tried his best to check out for any hidden tunnel traps, yet, he was caught up in a more dangerous one. Ju Feng could vaguely see the bodies of the creatures in the darkness of the passages as they got nearer.

Critters.

Much smaller than their nephilia neighbours. They were definitely mountain critters. He switched to his spiritual sight and was temporarily relieved when he saw their aura was also not as strong as their giant neighbours. Nevertheless, he was dismayed to discover a large number of them coming from the three passages. No matter how he looked at it, he knew trouble was coming. There was no other option than to face them.

From the spot he was standing, he would be at a disadvantage when fighting. He decided to shift forward, thereby, narrowing it down to two smaller directions.

He quickly brought out the silver-grey sword and prepared himself for their onslaught. Although the silver-grey sword had no core and wasn't elements affiliated, it was still an incredible sword. Back at the sect, a sword like that could have cost a lot. It was obviously forged by a master soul-forger. The sharpness runes were an added advantage. He would have to do with that and try not to die. He circled vast amount of Chi energy through his meridians and into his body, hoping the swordsmanship basics he knew would be enough. Feeling his body was getting stronger and lighter, Ju Feng went on the attack before they could totally back him to the wall.

The critters were fast, but with his swift-steps, he was faster than them. And the blade? It was more than a thing of beauty. It was cutting into the critters like threads. That was why soul-forgers were greatly revered in the cultivation's world.

Despite taking some injuries, he went on cutting them down as they kept on coming. It was actually a good way for him to practice and improve the basics of his swordsmanship. He remembered the words of his grandfather. 

"To defend one's life and others, killing would be justified if it couldn't be avoided. And would surely be justified if it concerned creatures with no awareness or sentience."

Creatures like these critters. There was no joy in killing them, but in a battle for survival, any killing would be satisfactory. And the silver-grey sword wasn't helping the situation with its power. The more he killed them, the more the strange sensation he was having. So, this is how a continous killing felt like. No wonder many demons had so much karmic sins when they couldn't stop themselves. Or wouldn't? To them, it didn't matter when their minds were already corrupt.

The easy battle continued until the nephilia critters appeared with fury, making the mountain critters withdrew back into the larger passages. But the seemingly good thing for Ju Feng? Only one could occupy the smaller passage at a time due to their sizes. One stayed at the front, ready to confront Ju Feng, while the second one stayed at the back, screeching.

The nephilia critters were much more faster than their mountain counterparts, and more or less faster than Ju Feng. How could they be so fast? They had to be magical beasts. 

More Chi energy into his body.

With the nephilia critters, he was probably on equal footing with the swift-steps. However, the longsword was not doing much damage to the critter. There was something about its strange carapace that was acting like a defensive armor. Its claws were extremely sharp too. it was attacking with so much rage that Ju Feng had to be in defensive stances most of the time. Although, he suffered many minor cuts, he managed to avoid any mortal injuries.

He knew those cuts should have resulted in serious wounds, yet, he couldn't even feel them much. Surely, the effect of the talisman was complimenting the robe he was wearing and his Chi fortified body? Maybe, he actually had a chance against the nephilia critter.