"Where are you taking me.."Zhao Weng asked the bug with mild annoyance tinging his tone. Ying Huo had been leading him into the tunnel for five minutes straight and he was starting to get tired. It kept going further into the tunnel, which was narrowing until even passing was a hassle.
"Ying Huo! Ying Huo!" He called out to it but the bug kept going as if not hearing him. He could see the tunnel was opening up to a larger cave ahead but the problem was squeezing through to it. He struggled and with a final grunt, he made it through, but the crack he squeezed through happened to be a bit higher than the cave floor and he came crashing down face first.
"I'm getting tired of this constant falling!" He lamented while patting dust from his clothes and hair. He looked around himself and marvelled at the sight. Gemstones and crystals of various colours littered the walls, giving off a gentle glow that well illuminated the cave. Finally his eyes settled on the large milk white pond in the middle of the cave. The stalactites above seemed to be dripping that strange white liquid periodically.
But that wasn't what caught his eye, what was even more peculiar was that at the shore of the pond, was a little girl, looking to be around twelve years of age. "What is a child doing in the middle of Profound Forest in a secret cave?" He wondered, slight caution creeping in. The girl extended a finger out and Ying Huo gently flew and landed on it, flapping it's wings slowly.
"Hey there little girl, what's your name?" He asked as he approached slowly. The girl smiled and answered, " I don't have one, What's yours?" He could feel a slight trace of malice in her smile, one forcefully yet well concealed. He followed up with a stable tone, " This one's name is Zhao Weng. What are you doing here all alone? You are alone, right?" "I am alone. This is my home." She spoke matter-of-factly, as if living in a cave alone was most natural.
He stopped walking and slowly sat down some few meters away from her. He looked at her intently for a second before asking, " What do you mean this is your home, how did you get here in the first place? And who set up that restrictive illusion at the entrance? Was it you?" The girl paused for a bit before a simple yet melodious laughter drifted from her small mouth.
"Zhao Weng, Zhao Weng, you aren't as dumb as you seem. Let me ask you this instead, what is a filthy human doing here and how did you, with your weak strength, manage to break the Thousand Seal Illusion Array."
Zhao Weng felt an ominous aura rising to the air and he shot to his feet, jumping back thrice. "What do you mean filthy human, and what is this about an array?" He asked cautiously, already starting to remove the rabbits from his spear. She laughed again, but this time a cold aura emanated from her every second of it and at the end of it, her face went dead serious as she looked at him.
"For decades I've had to suppress my insatiable hunger, half a century I've been trapped in this foul prison, I really can't thank you enough, Zhao Weng. Not only did you free me but you also offered yourself as food. I will not waste your sacrifice!" She lunged at him suddenly and at inhuman speed, a palm extended towards his navel. He flung his spear to the side because at close quarters, it's efficacy was about as much as a match flame in a wind storm.
He swung his fist to counter but the next second he was thrown back five meters by the force behind the little palm. The little girl was unaffected by his punch and looked at him like an ant, a disdainful smile hanging on her lips. "What the hell are you!" He shouted as he went in for another attack.
He swung a haymaker towards her head and just as she blocked with her palm, he went for a knee strike which was parried gently with her other hand. He didn't relent and went for a headbutt but the girl smiled crazily and swung hers too with as much force. He staggered back with a bloody stain on his forehead and a ringing headache.
He smacked his head lightly and shook it to clear it and did a small run up into a dropkick which connected and made her take a step back, and as he fell, he maneuvered it into a sweep, but the girl jumped into the air and almost shattered his leg with a stomp had it not been for his instinctive withdrawal.
He did a backwards handspring and used the momentum on landing to propel him towards her again. This time, he forward flipped into an overhead kick which the girl blocked with her forearm and threw him back, he got up and rushed over unleashing a barrage of punches which were blocked and parried.
The girl jabbed both his biceps with two fingers and delivered three well placed palm strikes on his torso. He flew back like a broken kite but while he was still in range, he swung his foot and connected a kick across the girl's face. He crashed into a wall but on seeing the girl had taken three steps back and was looking a bit shocked, he smiled a bit in celebration of the small victory.
He dragged himself up from the wall and though his hands were numb from the two finger jabs to his biceps, he still took stance and held them up in defiance.She laughed on seeing this but there was no joy in her laughter, only suppressed rage.
"Truly my strength has yet to return, otherwise how else would a weak human even dream of touching the body of a Rank 4 creature. No matter, I'll just have to use more strength. You're resistance is futile, but it's been a while since I fought. It's making me excited, you're making me very excited, Zhao Weng!!!" She shouted followed by a strange guttural screech and suddenly, two appendages, identical to spider legs emerged from her back. Except these ones were not ordinary and resembled sickles, sharp and deadly.
She smiled condescendingly and released some of her aura. An almost choking killing intent radiated out of her body. This was not any ordinary killing intent, such unfiltered hatred and rage couldn't be achieved from killing animals and beasts, this aura was built on the corpses of one hundred strong cultivators.
"Rank 4?!! How the hell am I supposed to fight such a monster? Judging from her previous words though, it seems her strength may have been drained by this prison she is speaking of. Maybe I have a chance of making it out of here alive.." he thought as he ran and grabbed the spear on the ground. He shook off the numbness and brandished the spear as he looked at the monster, fear hidden but still present in his eyes. "Heh heh, now the real fun begins!"
He ran up and did an arc slash with the spear raising it from the ground aiming to slash through her side to her neck but the right appendage moved to block. The spear connected but all it did was remove some hair and leave a small dent on it. He kept up momentum and stabbed with the upraised spear towards her eye but he was parried by the other one. He took advantage of the parry force to rewind his arm way back and do a horizontal slash at her torso.
The girl moved both appendages to block and stopped his spear entirely, with a smug grin on her face. Unbeknownst to her, that all served as distraction as his leg swung full force at her side making her bend and stagger a bit. He smiled slyly, celebrating his small victory with a stylish wave of his spear and a short guffaw. The girl remained as she was immediately after he kicked her, her face dark and showing a coldness that could scare a god.
Suddenly a small, emotionless chuckle escaped her lips as she rose her gaze to his, making him flinch back in fear. Crazy! Her expression could only be described as such. "I will tear you limb from limb, you filthy human!!" She shouted as two more appendages sprouted from her side, beneath her arms. These carried her little body into the air as the other two swung madly. The ones below moved her strangely, but extremely swiftly as the other ones behind aimed to lob his head off.
He hurriedly rolled to the side to avoid the pincer to his neck. He ran towards her thrusting his spear at her stomach but one parried and the other slashed at his navel. He pushed himself away but now he had a huge gaping slash across his robe showing his skin. He grabbed the scruff of it and took it off in one motion, leaving his upper body bare. He grabbed the spear with fervor, remembering a spear technique his father once taught him, the Traceless Form.
Though he despised his father, he was not going to deny his power and spearmanship. Even recognised by neighbouring clans and sects as the Spear Of The North, his prowess was unmatched. Training under him, even the most basic spear technique was exquisite, and he was currently using one.
He swung his spear rapidly,in the most confusing manner, striking at the most unpredictable times, had she not had four appendages to use as shields, she would have been very injured, but the appendages took the brunt of the damage. He was slowly pushing her back but the fatigue accompanied by the technique was massive, his hands were tiring, and at a fast pace. His movements were slowly becoming readable, she was adapting and matching him. He decided to bet it all on one final attack on seeing this.
He pushed her back with a thrust of the spear's rear end and leapt high in the air, with the momentum of the entire charge and barrage from before, he swung the spear down, aiming to cleave her in half. The wind split and a faint howl could be heard as he swung.
The girl lowered herself, ceasing the use of the two lower appendages to lift herself up, and moved them to block the spear, not by bearing it's force, but by grabbing his forearms. She then used the sharp appendages and lightly planted them in the earth before pulling herself back, and while Zhao Weng was descending from having his momentum reversed on him, she launched herself and connected a fierce double stomp on his core.
Zhao Weng spat out two mouthfuls of blood, but his bloodshot eyes oozed unwillingness and he grabbed and pulled the two appendages gripping his forearms towards himself as he fell, and put his feet to her chest and reversed her momentum into a monkey flip which, like an arrow released from a bow, shot her into the opposite wall at astonishing speed, leaving a medium sized depression on it.
Zhao Weng rolled back and grabbed his spear before hurling it with all his strength at her, collapsing to the ground in the process, the adrenaline rush ending. Sadly his aim was not as impressive as the force he put into it and the spear ended up sticking through her shoulder. She let out an otherworldly screech and the four appendages turned sharp and tore apart the spear. She yanked out the sharp rock spearhead stuck through her shoulder and painfully staggered to a dark part of the cave, leaving a trail of black blood in the process.