She lasted until midnight.
Two and a half hours of lying in her cave staring at the entrance. Two and a half hours of telling herself the campfire was none of her business. She had more important things to do. Like leveling up. And not getting eaten.
Then she got up and walked toward the campfire.
'I am just going to look.'
'Looking is not getting involved.'
'I am a creature of the forest. I go where I want. This is my forest.'
'...It is not actually my forest yet but it will be eventually.'
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ★ NEW QUEST ★
║
║ [ Nosy Sacred Beast ]
║
║ Find out what is happening
║ at the campfire.
║
║ (System did not create this quest.
║ Host's own curiosity did.)
║
║ Reward : Dignity -10 or +15
║ depending on outcome
║
║ ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'Dignity MINUS TEN if it goes badly?'
'...I am already here. I am not turning back now.'
* * *
Night Sense made sneaking significantly easier than it would have been otherwise. The forest was dark but she could see everything clearly, every root and rock and rustling bird. She moved slow. Careful. One hoof at a time.
The campfire was about three hundred meters from her cave. As she got closer she could hear the voices more clearly, and what she heard made her slow down even further.
It was not normal camp conversation.
"...for the third time, I do not need your help."
"And for the third time, you are wrong."
"I have handled worse than a poisoned wound."
"You have handled worse when you were not already exhausted and two days from the nearest sect healer."
A pause.
"...How do you even know about the wound."
"You are favoring your left side. You have been since this morning."
Another pause. Longer this time.
"It was not the fight," he said. Quieter. "Someone knew we were coming."
Mei did not say anything to that. But the way she went still said enough.
Wang Hui crept close enough to see through the trees.
Five people around the fire. Bao, Mei, and two others from the Azure Sky group. And Wei Liang, the one she had been thinking about all day, sitting slightly apart with his back against a tree and his arms crossed.
His red outer robe was still gone. The tear in his left side she had noticed earlier was clearer now, and the bandage underneath was wrapped tight but messy. Like he had done it himself in a hurry.
Mei was crouched in front of him with the expression of someone who had been having this argument for a while and was not planning to stop.
'So that is how he got the injury.'
'He did it himself. Or tried to.'
'Classic xianxia lone wolf. Will not ask for help even when he clearly needs it.'
'One hundred percent a main character type.'
'...Someone knew we were coming.'
'That is not a small thing to say.'
'...None of my business.'
Bao, from across the fire, said, "Just let Mei look at it. She is literally a healer. That is her whole thing."
"I am aware."
"So let her do her thing."
"I do not need"
"You are being so difficult."
"I am not being difficult. I am being correct."
"Those are not the same thing!"
'Bao is kind of great actually.'
The smart one, whatever his name was, looked like he was two seconds away from just walking into the forest to avoid this conversation. Then his eyes moved.
Directly to the bush Wang Hui was hiding behind.
She went completely still.
He looked at the bush for a long moment. Then, without changing his expression at all, he looked back at Bao.
"Fine," he said. "Let her look at it."
Bao looked extremely satisfied. Mei moved over with her kit. The rest of the group relaxed slightly.
Wang Hui stayed very still behind her bush and thought about whether she had just been spotted.
'He looked right at me.'
'...But he did not say anything.'
'Maybe he did not actually see me. Maybe he was just looking in this direction.'
'Maybe I am being paranoid.'
Mei finished wrapping the wound and said something too quiet to hear. The smart one said something back. The conversation settled into something calmer, lower, the kind of talking people do when the argument is over and everyone is just tired.
Wang Hui started to ease backward.
Then she stepped on a branch.
The crack was very loud.
Every head at the campfire turned toward her bush.
'...'
'I am so bad at this.'
* * *
For a moment nobody moved.
Then Bao pointed and said, "IT IS THE SPECIAL HORSE."
'I AM NOT A HORSE.'
Several things happened at once. Bao stood up. Two of the others reached for their weapons. Mei grabbed Bao's sleeve. And the smart one, still sitting against his tree with his newly rewrapped bandage, did not move at all.
He just looked at her.
"Come out," he said.
It was not loud. It was not aggressive. It was the tone of someone who already knew she was there and had been waiting for this to happen.
'...He knew.'
'He saw me when he looked at the bush. He absolutely saw me.'
'And he just. Waited.'
Wang Hui considered her options.
Option one: run. But running now would look guilty and also she had Night Sense and they did not, which meant she could probably get away clean, but then she would always wonder what was going on and she would not sleep for the rest of the week.
Option two: stay hidden. But the bush was not that big and she had already made a noise and everyone was staring directly at her location.
Option three: walk out like she meant to be here.
'I meant to be here.'
'I am a Sacred Beast. I go where I want.'
'This is completely intentional.'
She stepped out of the bush.
Bao made a sound like someone had just handed him a gift.
"It came back," he said. "Mei, it came back. I told you it was special."
"Bao, that is not"
"Look at its eyes. Have you ever seen eyes like that on a horse."
"It is not a horse."
"A special horse."
"BAO."
'I like Mei.'
Wang Hui walked into the firelight and sat down. Not close to any of them. Far enough to leave. But inside the circle of the light, where they could see her clearly.
She looked at the smart one.
He looked back at her.
"You were watching for a while," he said.
She did not react.
"You heard the whole thing."
She also did not react to that.
The corner of his mouth moved. Not quite a smile. More like something had confirmed a theory he had.
"My name is Wei Liang," he said. "In case you were curious."
'Wei Liang.'
'Not Xiao Hei then. I had been calling him that in my head.'
'...Wei Liang suits him better actually.'
"You do not need to tell me yours," he continued. "I know you cannot talk. But you understand me fine, do you not."
Wang Hui looked at him for a long moment.
Then she looked away. At the fire. Like she found the flames more interesting than his question.
'Cool and mysterious. Sacred Beast mode. I do not confirm or deny anything.'
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║
║ Dignity: +5 ↑
║ Total : +2
║
║ For actually pulling off
║ cool and mysterious.
║ (System is shocked.)
║
║ (⊙_⊙)
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'...Plus five.'
'I GOT PLUS FIVE.'
'Do not react. Do not react. Stay cool. Stay mysterious.'
Wei Liang watched her look at the fire. Then he leaned his head back against the tree and closed his eyes, like a man who had decided the conversation was over and was going to sleep now.
From across the fire, Bao was still staring at her with shining eyes.
"Can I pet it?" he asked.
"No," said Mei.
"What if I asked nicely?"
"Still no."
"What if"
"Bao Lingyun if you finish that sentence I will tell Senior Sister about what happened in Yunping City."
Bao closed his mouth.
'I want to know what happened in Yunping City so badly.'
'...Focus. Not relevant.'
* * *
She stayed by the fire longer than she meant to.
It was warm. That was the main reason. The nights in the forest got cold and her cave was drafty and the fire was right there. She was also curious about these people, which she would not have admitted to anyone, and the fire was a good excuse.
Bao fell asleep sitting up and had to be poked over by Mei. The other two took first watch and settled into quiet. Wei Liang slept against his tree or appeared to sleep, it was hard to tell with him.
Wang Hui sat near the fire and worked on not falling asleep herself.
'This is fine.'
'I am just warming up and then I will leave.'
'I am not getting attached to random cultivators I met two days ago.'
'That is not something I am doing.'
She must have dozed off, because the next thing she knew it was pre-dawn gray and the forest had gone very quiet.
The wrong kind of quiet.
In every xianxia novel she had read, when the forest went suddenly silent it meant something bad was close. The animals always knew first. The insects stopped. The birds stopped. Everything just.
Stopped.
'...'
'That is not a good silence.'
She was on her feet before she even thought about it. Her Night Sense was picking up something big at the edge of its range. Moving slow. Too slow for something just passing through.
It was coming toward them on purpose.
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ⚠ WARNING ⚠
║
║ Large entity approaching.
║ Grade: Uncommon.
║ Distance: ~400 meters.
║ Speed: Slow. Deliberate.
║
║ This is not the tiger from
║ yesterday.
║
║ ∑(O_O;)
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'Uncommon grade.'
'That is two grades above me.'
'That is...that is actually very bad.'
She looked at the sleeping cultivators.
Wei Liang was already awake. Of course he was. He was watching the tree line with the focused, still expression of someone who had heard something but not identified it yet.
The two on watch had gone tense, hands on weapons, scanning the dark.
'They cannot see it. They do not have Night Sense.'
'System says roughly four hundred meters. If it keeps coming they have maybe three minutes.'
'...This is not my problem.'
'These are random people I met yesterday. I do not know them.'
'I should leave. Right now. Quietly. It will go for them and I can run while it is distracted.'
She did not move.
'...Bao called me a special horse.'
'Twice.'
'I do not owe him anything.'
Bao was still asleep. His face in the firelight looked completely relaxed. The face of someone who just trusted things would work out fine.
'...'
'I hate this.'
Wang Hui walked to the center of the camp, stood next to the fire, and made the loudest noise she could.
It came out as something between a bark and a shriek and was not dignified in any way.
But it woke everyone up.
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║
║ Dignity: -4 ↓
║ Total : -2
║
║ That was a terrible sound.
║
║ ヽ(｀Д´)ﾉ
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'I KNOW IT WAS A TERRIBLE SOUND.'
'I WAS TRYING TO HELP.'
Everyone was on their feet. Bao had somehow drawn his sword while still half asleep. Mei had a hand seal ready. The two on watch were back to back, scanning.
Wei Liang looked at Wang Hui.
She looked at the trees to the north. Then back at him.
North. Him. North.
He got it immediately.
"North," he said, quiet and clear. "Something is coming from the north. Spread out. Do not bunch up."
"How far?" one of the others asked.
He looked at Wang Hui again.
'...He is asking me.'
'He is using me as a sensor.'
'That is actually smart. Annoying but smart.'
She held up one hoof and then pawed the ground three times.
"Three minutes," Wei Liang said. "Maybe less. Move."
The camp organized fast. These were not beginners, she could see that now. The tired junior disciples from yesterday snapped into something more serious when there was actually a threat. Formations. Hand signs. Everyone knew their position.
'Okay. They are not going to die.'
'Probably.'
'The thing outside is Uncommon grade and they are mostly Body Tempering but there are five of them and they have formations and also Wei Liang is there and he feels like more than Body Tempering.'
'They will be fine.'
'I have done my part. I woke them up. My job is done.'
She started to back away.
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ★ NEW QUEST ★
║
║ [ You Started This ]
║
║ Help the camp survive the
║ incoming threat.
║
║ Reward : Level +2, Skill Point +2,
║ Dignity +25
║
║ Failure penalty : Dignity -30
║
║ (You woke them up. That means
║ you are involved now. Sorry.)
║
║ (づ￣ ³￣)づ
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'Dignity MINUS THIRTY if I leave?!'
'THAT IS NOT FAIR.'
'I did not ASK to be involved.'
'I was just WATCHING.'
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║
║ Host woke them up.
║ Host is involved.
║
║ (¬‿¬)
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'I HATE THIS SYSTEM.'
'...Fine. FINE.'
'Dignity minus thirty would put me at negative thirty-two.'
'I refuse.'
She turned back around.
Wei Liang, who had been watching her the whole time, did not look surprised.
He just nodded once.
Like he had expected this.
Which was somehow more annoying than if he had been surprised.
'Stop reading me so well. I just met you.'
The trees to the north shook.
Something large and dark stepped into the edge of the firelight.
A bear. But bigger than any bear she had ever seen in pictures or in the forest so far. Its eyes caught the firelight and reflected it back red. The air around it had a faint shimmer that she recognized from descriptions in novels.
'Demonic energy.'
'It is a Demonic Beast.'
'An actual Demonic Beast.'
'I am level five.'
The bear looked at the camp. Looked at the cultivators. Looked at Wang Hui.
Its eyes stayed on Wang Hui.
Something shifted in its expression. It was hard to read a bear's face at the best of times, but she had the distinct impression that it had just become uncertain.
'...Why is it looking at me like that.'
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ℹ INFO ℹ
║
║ Demonic Beasts can sense Sacred
║ Aura.
║
║ Even a locked Sacred Aura
║ produces a faint trace.
║
║ To a Demonic Beast, Host smells
║ like something that could
║ absolutely ruin its day.
║
║ (•ω•)
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'...I smell scary to it?'
'Even though I am level five and my grade is Poor?'
'Even though I just hid under a tree root last night?'
The bear took one step forward. Stopped. Looked at Wang Hui again.
Wang Hui looked back at the bear.
She had no idea what she was doing. But she was at net negative two Dignity and she could not afford to lose thirty more so she stood up straight and stared at this bear like she was not a level five Poor grade Qilin who had failed to catch fish on the first try yesterday.
She stared at it like she was bigger than she looked.
Like she had seen worse things than this bear.
Like she was not scared at all.
The bear made a low sound.
Took one more step.
Stopped again.
'...Is it working.'
'I think it is working.'
'DO NOT THINK ABOUT IT KEEP STARING.'
Thirty seconds passed.
The bear looked at the cultivators. Looked at Wang Hui. Looked at the forest behind it.
Then it turned around and walked back into the trees.
The forest was silent for a long moment.
Then Bao said, in a very small voice, "...Did the special horse just stare down a Demonic Beast."
"It is not a horse," Mei said. Her voice was very quiet too.
"I know," Bao said. "I know it is not a horse."
A pause.
"What is it?"
Nobody answered.
Wang Hui sat down next to the fire. Her legs had been shaking for the last twenty seconds and she had been ignoring it, but now that it was over she let herself sit down.
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ★ QUEST COMPLETE ★
║
║ [ You Started This ]
║
║ Reward : Level +2, Skill Point +2,
║ Dignity +25
║ Total : +23
║
║ ★ LEVEL UP ★
║ Wang Hui is now Level 7!
║
║ \(^▽^)/
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'Level seven.'
'Dignity plus twenty-five.'
'...Okay.'
'Okay that was actually not bad.'
'I stared down a Demonic Beast.'
'Me. Wang Hui. Who died from a charger.'
'Stared down a Demonic Bear.'
'...Do not get cocky. It was the Sacred Aura trace. Not me.'
'...It was still me a little bit.'
Wei Liang sat back down against his tree. He looked at her for a long moment.
Then he said, very calmly, "You are going to be very troublesome, are you not."
Wang Hui looked at him.
She looked away.
She looked back at the fire.
'...Yes.'
'Probably yes.'
From across the fire, Bao was staring at her with an expression that had moved past impressed and into something approaching reverent.
"I am going to call you Lucky," he announced.
'You are absolutely not.'
"Because you brought us luck tonight."
'That is a terrible name.'
'I am Wang Hui.'
'I am a Qilin.'
'I have a dignity score and it is currently positive for the first time since I was born and you are NOT calling me Lucky.'
"Lucky," Bao said again, like he was trying it out. Nodding slowly. Satisfied.
╔══════════════════════════════════════╗
║
║ Dignity: -2 ↓
║ Total : +21
║
║ For not correcting him.
║ (Host could have walked away.)
║
║ ≖‿≖
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
'I CANNOT CORRECT HIM. I CANNOT TALK.'
'THIS IS NOT FAIR.'
Wei Liang, without opening his eyes, said, "Go to sleep, Bao."
"But"
"Sleep."
Bao lay down. Within two minutes he was asleep again. Wang Hui was genuinely impressed. She had not slept that fast since she was in university.
She stayed by the fire.
Wei Liang did not tell her to leave.
She did not leave.
The forest settled back into its normal nighttime sounds, the insects starting up again one by one, the birds shifting in their trees. The fire crackled low.
It was almost peaceful.
'I am not going to make a habit of this.'
'I will level up to ten, evolve, and then I will be powerful enough to go wherever I want.'
'I do not need to follow random cultivators around.'
'I am just staying for the warmth.'
'That is all.'
Wei Liang said, quietly, to the fire more than to her, "Thank you."
Wang Hui looked at him.
He did not look back. Just sat there with his eyes half open, watching the flames.
She looked away.
'...You are welcome.'
'Not that I am going to make a habit of this.'
'I am absolutely not making a habit of this.'
Dawn was still two hours away.
She stayed until it came.
End of Chapter 3
[ Dignity: +21 ] [ Level: 7 ] [ New name (unwanted): Lucky ]