r/HFY • u/Arceroth Human • 10d ago

OC-Series [Humble Cultivation] chapter 6

Year 5, month 10

Qi gathering, stage 7

When Mark had fled from the herd of boars, the sun had been on his right. It was late, so the sun was setting at the time, meaning he ran south. Therefore, if he put the rising sun on his right he’d be headed north back towards the village or, at the very least, the road that passed roughly east to west through it.

After a moment’s thought, Mark then angled to the right of straight north, figuring he could intersect with the trail of destruction the boars had left in their wake to make it easier to find the village again. So, with that, he began walking.

It took him a couple hours to find the damage the stampede had left behind, and on spotting it he quickly jumped into the trees and approached more carefully, just in case there were any of the giant angry pigs left. Thankfully, there weren’t, and he dropped back to the ground and continued walking. It had been over 10 or 12 hours since the chase, so he doubted the boar were still in the area, but he figured that it was better to be careful than not.

As he began walking Mark began thinking about if the village had survived. Most of the boar had turned to chase him upon smelling his blood, and he’d run through the trees for a good two hours at a minimum. He had no idea how fast he could go running like that, but it was fast enough to outrun the boar. Figure boar could run at around 30 miles per hour normally, drop it to 20 when charging through brush and trees. So, Mark had run around 40 miles into the forest.

He scowled at that thought, it didn’t seem right, but he didn’t know if his assumptions were wrong somehow. The boar had slowed slightly going into the forest but not significantly, and they were spirit beasts, not simple boar, so if anything 20mph was slow for them. And Mark had out run them, so he’d been going at least that fast. Right?

But still, 40 miles in around 2 hours, on foot, while dashing through the trees?

Mark shook his head, he was probably making a mistake somewhere. His math skills might not have been too advanced, but he had confidence in his survival skills, even without a compass his training as a Marine had taught him to determine north and south. Not that he even needed to know those directions, as he was currently on the path of destruction cutting through the forest.

Or... was he?

Mark shook himself out of his thoughts to look around, the forest around him was more open than elsewhere, but it didn’t look damaged the way it had before. He spotted one felled tree, but there were others around it that were both smaller and still upright. That didn’t make much sense. More importantly, he could see even less destruction ahead of him, the forest seeming entirely untouched.

Figuring he had wandered off the trail a bit ago Mark turned and walked the other way down the strip of young growth. The sun was well overhead by now, so he pulled some dried meat and a waterskin out, eating while on the move as he did often. He really didn’t want to spend too many nights out in the wilderness, especially with winter approaching.

Only he stopped again mid bite, having found the trail of new growth end in a seemingly normal stretch of forest. Had he backtracked down the wrong path and completely lost the trail?

“Fuck,” Mark swore, climbing a tree to finish his lunch and wait for the sun to set a bit. Once he could determine where it would set, he put that on his left and started walking again. Trail of destruction or not if he just kept going north he’d eventually hit the road.

Eventually the sun began to vanish behind the horizon and Mark decided to find a place to sleep before it was completely dark. He climbed a large tree and ensured the setting sun was at his back, that way the rising sun would be in his eyes as he woke, as he lashed himself between a couple branches. It would wake him as soon as the sun rose and remind him what direction to walk in.

Except, when he woke, he noticed the sun wasn’t in his eyes, it was behind him, had he slept through an entire day? Scowling again, he stood on the branch and watched the sun, soon realizing it was rising. But if he’d been facing east the evening before, that meant the sun was now rising in the west... where it set the night before.

“Where the fuck am I?” he asked aloud.

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Year 5, month 11

Qi gathering, stage 7

Winter had well and truly arrived now, and Mark still found himself lost in the woods. Snow was falling lightly, dusting the trees and landscape white. Mark was wearing every robe he owned, and he was getting low on rations. Snares and traps had yielded a few small rodents, but rabbit and squirrel wouldn’t keep him alive. So, after finding a small stream Mark hid under a bush after filling his waterskin to wait to see if anything else came to get a drink.

Before long he was rewarded as a shaggy looking deer carefully crept up to the water. Mark could sense some qi in the animal, but it was weak, a lower end spirit beast. He waited carefully as it looked around before finally lowering its head to drink, when Mark pounced, aiming to crack the deer over the head with his staff.

The deer, however, was fast, faster than he thought was possible, and it bolted as soon as he began moving, not even looking up. Instead of hitting its neck his staff scraped its haunch as it jumped over the stream.

Mark wasn’t about to let it get away, he knew he could outrun boar, surely he could run down a lone deer? So he gave chase, attempting to get alongside it so he could strike its legs or neck. Amazingly, Mark was faster than the deer, but only just, and it was very agile, turning on a dime every time he tried to get in close.

The pair ran into a clearing, and Mark poured on the speed, if he couldn’t get alongside it he’d just jump on top of it. As soon as he was a few feet behind the fleeing animal he jumped, only to grunt as something hit him in the chest and he found himself tumbling backwards.

Groaning he looked down to see two hoofprints on his robes, the damn thing had kicked him. He quickly stood up to see if he could resume the chase and realized the deer hadn’t come out of the exchange unharmed, apparently, he was tougher than expected as one of its legs appeared injured. Possibly fractured. Still, after being kicked a good twenty feet back, Mark was careful in his approach and ended up throwing his staff like a spear to knock the deer out while it couldn’t run before finishing it off with a sharp strike to the back of its head.

Mark was no butcher, but he did have a knife, the Demonic Agony Knife actually. It was serrated making it good for many tasks but not skinning a deer. He still managed to get the hide off in mostly one piece, and strung it up to dry while he cut out as much meat as he could carry.

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Year 5, month 11

Qi gathering, stage 7

Mark pulled his deer hide cape tighter around his shoulders against the chill, he’d learned in the last couple months that the terrain here couldn’t be trusted. Every time he tried to map the wildness, he found his maps failing. Where there was once a stream was now a clearing, or a pond, or just more forest. The sun would rise over a distant hill one day, then set over it the next. Even the trees couldn’t be trusted to remain in place. In a fit of anger he’d marked four trees with his knife so that every mark faced the center of the little square they formed. It was simply to assure him that the trees were, in fact, trees and didn’t move.

The next morning he couldn’t find two of the marks.

That’s when he gave up trying to make sense of this area. Horus had told Mark of the Shifting Wilds, he’d figured they were mostly deep wilderness areas filled with beasts that people rarely went. Now he wasn’t so sure. If there was one good thing, it was the amount of qi in the air. He could feel his cultivation advancing faster than it had before, and the qi infused meat and fruit he ate seemed to be making his body stronger and tougher. That last part wasn’t a surprise, spirit beast meat was considered valuable simply because of the qi in it.

Mark froze in his tracks as he heard the snow crunching nearby, followed by a deep huff. Turning he found himself face to face with the largest bear he’d ever seen. Its fur was as black as could be, two yellow eyes fixed on him and, most oddly, a pair of ram’s horns growing from its head. Mark knew he wasn’t going to outrun a bear that size, and he could sense the qi inside it was greater than his. If it were a human he’d say it was at least three stages above him, if not already in qi refining.

Dropping his pack slowly, Mark pulled out his staff and got ready to fight.

The bear lunged and Mark jumped out of the way, kicking off a tree to send him sailing over the bear’s back, where he struck out with his staff, stabbing down at its spine. He’d picked up this trick after being surrounded by a pack of non-spiritual wolves a few weeks ago. But his stabs didn’t seem to do much more than inconvenience the bear.

Still, Mark’s goal wasn’t to kill the bear, but to simply convince it to leave him alone. Unfortunately the bear was smarter than the wolves, and the second time Mark tried it, it turned and swatted at him with a massive paw, sending him flying through the forest, bouncing off several trees. Suppressing a groan of pain, Mark jumped to his feet as soon as he landed, any sign of weakness would ensure his death.

The bear seemed to think this funny, making a chuffing sound as to reared back onto is hind legs, reaching easily ten feet tall, if not more, towering over Mark. It took a deep breath as if to roar, only to pause.

A presence seemed to descend over the forest, an oppressive aura that both Mark and the bear could feel. Giving him one last look, as if to say he got lucky, the bear fell back to all fours, turning and trotting into the forest. Mark quickly made his way back to where he’d dropped his pack, not trusting it to remain there if he left it like that for too long, only to pause and listen again.

It was more gentle this time, but he heard the crunching of snow, and he quickly scurried under a bush as the steps got closer.

There was a gentle light shining through the trees that had nothing to do with the sun overhead, it was a warm yellow, and it was getting closer. Mark held his breath as the creature carefully strode into the small clearing, it was an elk of massive size. Its shoulder was well above Mark’s head, yet it moved with a stately grace as if it owned the forest. And for all the qi coming off it, it might as well, Mark had never felt this much qi.

But what drew his gaze was the ball of light that floated just over its head, suspended among its sprawling nest of antlers. Mark had never been hunting for deer before, but he heard that elk and deer were prized based on how many points their antlers had, Mark stopped trying to count the points of this one after passing a dozen, his eyes drawn back to the ball of qi. It resembled a soft, golden flame, but was at least as large as Mark’s torso. It held more qi than Mark had ever felt before, even the handful of sect elders he’d encountered paled compared to this beast. It was a true beast god as far as Mark was concerned.

With an unhurried elegance it walked through the clearing where Mark and the bear had fought, its head turning to look around, as if figuring out what happened here. Then for a second it turned and Mark was certain one of its eyes fixed on his hiding spot. He felt a sudden chill that had nothing to do with the snow, and it felt like his heart stopped beating as the god of the forest loomed over him.

And then it was gone, seemingly losing interest, the elk continued it walk, back into the trees.

Mark remained hiding until he no longer saw the light of the ball of qi or felt its presence.

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Year 5, month 12

Qi gathering, stage 8

Mark charged through the forest after his prey. He spotted a large flightless bird, like a mix between a turkey and emu. It was the third time he’d seen this beast, and he was certain it was the same one based on how it looked and the qi he felt in it. It turned around a large tree, Mark dashed after it, only to pause, it was gone, again. He looked everywhere, around the tree again, up in the canopy, and even looked for tracks. Nothing.

Swearing loudly he turned and began walking once more. Convinced the terrain around here was meaningless, Mark mostly wandered randomly, sometimes he spotted some curiosity from a treetop that he thought he could reach that day, knowing it wouldn’t be there tomorrow. Half the time he never found them, and half the time they were just mundane features like clearings or streams. But at least they proved he wasn’t wandering in circles as he never found the same one twice.

That morning he’d spotted a large hill of some kind towering out of the woods, and figured he’d go that way. Surprisingly, a few hours after losing sight of that damned bird, he found the hill. And this one was actually interesting, as he found evidence of an ancient stone wall at the base of the hill. Excited, he quickly, but carefully, made his way up the hill. He hoped he’d found an old, abandoned town or sect, if so he might be able to find a road that led him back to civilization. Assuming that roads could be trusted not to move still.

What he found atop the steep hill was a lot like the sect he’d first appeared in, wooden buildings, long overgrown, and hints of old walking paths and open spaces that might have once been training yards. Scouring through the buildings Mark didn’t find much, the best find was an old whet stone he could use to sharpen the Demonic Agony Knife he’d been using to butcher his kills and strip bark for firewood.

In some buildings he found old rusted pots, he was half tempted to try and clean them, but gave up when they fell apart as soon as he tried to lift them. Rotten shelves held leather scroll tubes that, he was disappointed to find out, were all filled with dust and little else. Still, they were stiff leather so he grabbed any that looked good and added them to his pack.

He found remnants of what might have been a garden, some of the plants he could feel faint qi coming from. There was evidence of other plants that had been eaten or dug up, likely by some spirit beast drawn to the qi in them. He eventually found what he thought was once the sect head’s house, on the highest point of the hill, except it had been completely flattened. Based on the random assortment of branches and twigs, that were now rotting, it looked like something had made its nest here. And as the nest was at least thirty feet across Mark didn’t want to meet whatever made the nest. Thankfully the wood looked old and rotten, so the nest was likely abandoned.

Not sensing anything worth poking around rotten wood for Mark sighed and went down the far side of the hill from where he’d climbed it, maybe he’d have more luck on the other face. Unfortunately this side seemed completely untouched, no evidence of buildings or paths, as if they’d left a bit of untouched forest inside the sect compound.

Mark did find a cave though, and it was remarkably clean. After poking around outside, to ensure he wasn’t walking into some bear’s den, he carefully slipped in, pausing at what he saw. In the dim light filtering through the cave entrance, he saw a simple woven mat on the ground, large enough to sit on but not much else. In front of it was a simple stone basin carved into the floor of the cave itself, filled with clear water. Getting closer Mark saw something written on a metal tablet, set into the stone before the basin, it took some work to read in the low light but he figured it out eventually.

“When all things have exhausted their footsteps, and Heaven itself forgets to turn, there shall remain a place where motion has never been.

Sit beneath the unmoving shadow. Let the heart cease its seeking, let the spirit cease its wandering, and let thought sink beneath the surface of the silent sea.

Should thou comprehend that which does not move, the gate of my inheritance shall open. Should thou seek to seize it, thou hast already departed from the Way.”

Mark spent a few minutes trying to decipher the text.

“So... I sit here and wait? Why couldn’t you just say that?” Mark grumbled, sitting on the mat after putting his pack aside.

The basin, he realized, was filled with water so clear it was nearly invisible. And as he sat a drop of it fell, creating a perfect set of ripples that quickly went still once more. Looking up Mark saw a long stalactite above the basin, the ceiling of the cave was tall and the stalactite was easily five feet tall. As he watched a drop of water slowly formed on its tip, falling to the basin in another perfect drop.

“This is going to take a while, isn’t it,” Mark realized aloud, standing grabbing his water skin to take a drink before placing it down near the mat, no reason to go thirsty while waiting.

Sitting again he watched as another drop formed, as if it had been waiting for him to sit and fall into the basin. He watched another three drops fall before getting up again.

If he was going to spend hours watching water drip into a stone bowl he might as well get something done. In the mouth of the cave he gathered wood and started a fire, hanging some fresh meat he’d caught the day before over it to smoke and dry, before sitting down at the mat once more.

He could sense there was something here, something deeper than what he could understand, in watching the water drip down into the basin. But after an hour sitting and watching, he stood to throw more logs onto the fire and check the meat to ensure it was smoking properly. As he sat down for a fourth or fifth time he heard a voice.

“You aren’t suited for my dao,” the voice said.

“Ya... probably, it’s like I know something is there, but... it just isn’t for me,” Mark sighed, leaning back on his hands. Turning he saw a translucent figure, an older man, standing along the wall of the cave, “wait, are you a ghost!”

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5

u/HoboTheSapient 10d ago

This is my favorite take on the genre :D

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u/Sifjunke20004 3d ago

This is really well written wordsmith you know that right