Spring Winds
Chapter 68: Stampede (2)

"And after that, Senior Sister seems to treat me like any other person. An utterly perfect stranger.

I want to ask Senior Sister what I did wrong, but she won't even talk to me."

Aiyah, just thinking about this makes me even more confused. Maybe I should keep apologizing to Senior Sister to get some hint of where I went wrong.

"Hmm," Shao Xiu Lan hummed as she pursed her lips and tapped her chin. "Well, it could be about that incident from a few days ago, as you mentioned.

Any girl would feel offended by that…"— Shao Xiu Lan mumbled before she covered her mouth —"well, maybe except me..."

Wah? (･_･;?

"Huh, what did you say? I don't think I got that last part."

"Hahaha, nothing, nothing," Shao Xiu Lan laughed as she patted my back awkwardly. "Haha, we're lagging; we should catch up with the rest!"

Uh, okay? (._.)?

Looking ahead, I could see that the rest was indeed leaving us behind.

Aiyah, why are we going so fast, ah?

And, my question still didn't get solved. If what Xiao Lan said is true, then maybe I should try apologizing again?

Maybe let her touch my chest? Tit for tat? (´A` )

Aiyah, I don't know. _(:_」∠)_

I suppose I'll have to think about this later.

---

"As we're approaching the spirit beast nest, we must make sure to remain as silent as possible and disturb them from their slumber.

Although they are currently in hibernation, there's no telling when they will suddenly walk up," Bu Xiu He said as he spread out the large map before us on a rock.

"Our best mode of transport from here is through this small pass that," he ran his finger over a small winding trail that haphazardly crossed directly through the beast's nest. "Is an ancient river bed that has since dried up, therefore leaving behind a slight depression between the nest."

Squinting my eyes at the map, I couldn't help but be a bit skeptical of this plan.

We're supposed to get through there with no trouble?

"This auntie has a question."

"Yes, Martial Aunt Jing Ran?"

"How is it safe to just swagger through the beast's nest? I thought the point was to avoid them?"

"Ah, good question, Martial Aunt Jing Ran," the young man smiled. "Ideally, we've hoped that we wouldn't need to take this route, however due to some miscalculations of the terrain as well as outdated records, it's impossible for us to go around the nest in a timely manner.

In other words, this is the quickest and fastest way to get where we need to get to; which we all know is Yong Yuan He Mountain."

Fair enough, but we're basically screwed if something goes wrong.

Sigh, how fun. _(:_」∠)_

"But, can't we just fly on our swords right through the nest instead of taking this dangerous route," someone asked from the back.

"Well, we would've been able to do so, if some of us hadn't gotten hurt in the way here. Some of us still need to tend to the wounded," a disciple interjected, causing Shao Xiu Lan to bow her head.

Hey, that was uncalled for! Σ（・□・;）

"Well, there's nothing that we could do," I cut in. "Danger is everywhere at every corner. It would serve us no good to be relaxed.

So," I looked at Bu Xiu He to continue. "Since flying is off the table, what other methods could be used?"

"Well the method that Martial Aunt Jing Hua and I decided on is a buddy system. Groups of two to four disciples will cross the path at a time to the end of the path. Which," he tapped at a crudely darkened cave mouth on the yellowing paper, " would bring us right at the entrance of our mountain."

An entrance? How could a mountain have an entrance? !?(･_･;?

As if sensing my confusion, or perhaps just the general puzzled looks on the others, Senior Sister stepped in.

"The Tomb of Parting is where we want to go."

The Tomb of Parting?

Isn't it kind of ominous to name a cave? (＜_＜)

"According to old records from Yun Cai Peak's library, there's a secret path way system through the cave that brings us to the top."

"Yes," Bu Xiu He nodded as he took over. "If we manage to reach this cave by dawn, we would significantly cut down on the time needed to complete this mission to get out of this jungle.

Therefore, I recommend that we all get some rest to get ready to pass through the nest."

---

Silently waiting in the dark, we waited for the signal to move across from the group before us. As we were the last group of disciples to cross, we anxiously awaited for our turn to reunite with the others.

"Martial Aunt…," one disciple whispered to me in a low murmur, "how is it out there?"

Peeking through the bushes, I could see the massive bodies of the radiant spiritual beast as they slumbered out in the open or shallow caves.

Their thunderous snores sent vibrations through the ground, which would make one freeze for fear of the slightest movement alerting the grand guardians.

Ah, this is going to be a challenge.

How are we supposed to do this by dawn?

"...no signal, yet…"

Looking to the east, the first peek of light blue starts to paint the sky; however, the first beams of morning light have yet to appear.

Come on, come on, give us the signal already!

Don't you see that dawn is approaching? One of those massive beasts are going to wake up hungry, and though I personally don't see us as delicious, they might.

"...martial aunt…," one disciple tugged at my sleeve with a hint of excitement and anxiousness. "Look…!"

Sure enough, at the end of the path, the blinking signal shone in the dark.

"Alright," turning to my small group of disciples, I did a brief head count as to not leave anyone behind. "Remember, slow and steady. We don't want to risk alerting the beasts from their slumber."

"Ehm," my group nodded their heads in understanding as we slowly approached the path.

Carefully placing my foot down, I made sure to walk from heel to toe to avoid making too much sound and possibly.

The rest followed suit as we walked along the riverbed path like a trail of ants making our way to the end.

As we neared, I could barely see the rest through the twilight, anxiously waiting for us to finish our walk.

But of course, one could only stretch their luck so far.

"Oof!" I heard a loud thud behind me in the back, followed by a shrieking scream.

Damn, I never knew that boys could scream so loud. (# o_o)

Turning around, I saw the disciple in the far back on the ground as he desperately tried to escape something from behind him.

"What is it," I hissed through my teeth, wearily of the movement from the beasts above. At this rate, we could become breakfast in an instant.

No need to wait till dawn.

"M-martial Aunt! L-look!" Shaking like a leaf, the disciple pointed to a huge f*cking spider that straddled what looked like a milky white skull.

Oh hell no!＼`•̀益•́´／

We're not going down because of a bug.

Before it could leap upon the poor boy, I rushed over there and kicked that spider away as far as possible.

Picking the boy up by his collar, I quickly brushed him off and checked for any bites. Luckily, I found none on the surface level from what I could see.

Unfortunately, it looks like I need to work on my aim, as said spider seemingly landed on the face of a slumbering beast before biting it.

Instantly, the raging monster snapping its eyes open in fury as it shook its massive head to free itself from the spider's bite.

Once it did so, its bulging eyes scanned the area from which it landed on us.

Sh*t. (o_o;;)

"What are you standing around for! Run!"

Dropping all former procedures, I made sure that they received a decent lead while I handled the beast, and the other's grabbed the disciples to safety.

Meanwhile, the beast before me let out a throaty growl, promptly arousing the others from their deep slumber.

In the darkness, hundreds of pairs of glowing eyes appeared around me.

Oh, you've got to be kidding me! ヽ(;▽;)ノ