Legend of The Young Master

Chapter 144: Looking For Army

Jia, the poor attendant, timidly approached. "Young Master, forgive me, but should we be worried about facing an army of Demonics in the wild?"

Yun Ming and Baijian exchanged glances. "Our Young Jia might be overwhelmed; he's been acting a bit—let's say, 'off-balance'—lately," Yun Ming whispered.

"Maybe drunk or crazy," Baijian agreed, only half-joking.

The assembly came to an end as they mounted their horses and rode into the dense woods. Qi warriors and archers followed, some young Qi initiates eager for battle mixed in.

Now more familiar with the terrain, it did not take them long to arrive at their first designated stop. With the arrival at the designated location, some archers spread out, setting up for an ambush.

Wuyi was alert, the Statue of Harmony kept giving him feedback. Once the first batch of archers had spread out, they began moving deeper. The archers were their defense in case they had to retreat hastily and needed to buy some time.

A similar tension enveloped the group as they delved deeper, just like before when they had gone to face the flying serpent.

When they were deep enough, "Dismount," Wuyi ordered, his eyes scanning the surroundings.

He could feel the enemy. He could smell the demonic Qi of the beings. They were close. The foul smell surprised him; he wondered why he was able to smell the demonics. Was the Statue of Harmony evolving to enhance his other senses too?

Baijian stepped out and followed him.

They started climbing a steep summit. Climbing in a heavy cloak reminded Wuyi of just how little sleep he'd had since the first day he had arrived. Still, being a Qi master with the Statue of Light rejuvenating him, it was not difficult for him to scale the summit. Jia and Baijian had trouble keeping up with him.

The adepts and initiates following them were lightly armed. They ascended the hill like ghosts, at a pace that surprised Wuyi. The hill steepened as they climbed, until the very top was almost sheer, and all the warriors hauled themselves up, from tree to tree. The plan was to spread out and locate the army of demonics, if it existed.

But then there was a scream, a wicked hiss of an arrow, and a boy from Wuyi's group, no more than sixteen, roared, "For heavens!" After which there was the unmistakable sound of fighting.

An arrow, almost out of energy, got close to Wuyi too, but just before it could hit him, he vanished and then appeared in shadow at the top of a hill. The area was full of thick trees, and their branches seemed to stretch out towards him. From the top of the hill, Wuyi saw in a small, sunken area, a fire camp that was hidden by the large size of the hill, and around it, there were twelve men.

Not men... Swamplings. These beings resembled humans, yet were leaner and swifter, bearing a brown-green complexion akin to tree bark. Their eyes, shaped like almonds, gleamed with a peculiar intensity, while their teeth were sharp and pointed, reminiscent of a wolf's fangs. Wuyi had read about these creatures in the manual that the Pavilion Mistress had given him.

As Wuyi looked at the strange creatures, another arrow made its way towards him. Wuyi disappeared again; there was a screech like a bird—a noise signal. Wuyi had blown the command whistle, and a dozen Qi warriors from his group burst from the trees to the right of the swamplings around the fire and charged. The Red Daoist appeared nearby too and ran at the swamplings.

The swamplings fired some more arrows and then ran off towards the north, while Wuyi's warriors pursued them.

Jia appeared nearby Wuyi soon. "Young Master, we've found them?" Jia asked.

"No. A dozen swamplings. I have read about these creatures; they are not the army of demonics that we are looking for," said Wuyi.

He looked at the sky. Baijian came up behind him.

"Baijian? We have an hour of good light. The warriors are running down there. What should be our approach?"

Baijian shrugged.

"I don't really know all that much about fighting these Demonics," Wuyi admitted. His instinct told him it was dangerous; he would lose some warriors, but at the same time, the Statue of Knowledge was telling him to go forward. He needed to know this enemy before he could plan anything. If the enemy was too strong, he would need to plan his escape in advance.

Seeing Wuyi's concerned face, Baijian spoke. "It's the Demonics. I don't think they would be smarter than us," he said. "They shouldn't have anything like reserve warriors or an ambush." He shrugged.

Wuyi knew the decision they made now was pivotal. Caution would dictate—

He turned to Jia. "Tell the archers we left behind and the remaining archers to prepare an ambush half a league back. Also, get some good Qi warriors to guard the horses at the base of the mountains. Let Meying take control of both." Jia nodded.

"I want to come with you." spoke Jia.

Wuyi shook his head and spoke, "I can escape any time. You cannot." Jia nodded and left. Wuyi moved towards the northern side of the Summit, Baijian following. There was the sound of screams and fighting in that direction. Most probably, his Qi warriors had caught some swamplings.

Wuyi realized that he'd let the Qi warriors get too far ahead of him. The deep woods and fading light made it almost impossible to maintain communication with bird whistles.

He ran down the Summit with Baijian beside him, crashing recklessly through thickets. It was easier to go east, so he followed that direction, passing three corpses—all swamplings.

At the base of the Summit, with his breath coming in great shuddering gasps, there was a shallow stream and, on the far side, a path. And along the path—makeshift huts. There were fifty men, most of them stringing bows. Wuyi stopped. He'd made enough noise coming down the Summit to catch their attention, but with the sun at his back, they were easier for him to see than he was for them.

Baijian and a few Qi warriors who had followed him, seeing fifty demonic archers ready to shoot them down, immediately hid behind old trees.