Chapter 9
As he followed the faded path, Wuji continued to scan his surroundings with his spiritual sense, watching the red dots continue to get closer. Breathing hard, he increased his pace but realized that even if he ran his fastest, they would still eventually catch up.
"Sh*t," he cursed under his breath, blurs of green passing by him as he ran. Scanning the looming trees and shrubs, Wuji felt like there was no way out of this verdurous maze.
"What?!"
Wuji quickly came to a halt, his heart racing as his eyebrows furrowed in thought. Looking at his spiritual radar, all of the dots had suddenly stopped chasing him- he couldn't sense any hostile enemies nearby. Feeling rather apprehensive, Wuji cautiously walked through the meadow, quieting his footsteps until they were nothing more but a whisper.
"ROAR!"
Freezing dead in his tracks, Wuji's eyes were wide, staring at a huge, ferocious tiger. Its fur was stained a menacing purple, its face bloodthirsty, the sharp fangs threatening to tear anyone into pieces. Staying still, Wuji held his breath, trying not to make a single sound.
"Auntie, auntie! I found one!"
Startled and horrified by the loud voice, Wuji looked on as a small, red-haired child came into view. He relaxed his tense muscles as he realized that the tiger hadn't noticed him. However, he was concerned for the small child, the target of the tiger's deadly gaze.
The scarlet-haired boy continued to nonchantly run towards the dangerous beast, giggling along the way.
"Hehee, let's play!"
Wuji's neck shivered as he stared at the boy, getting closer to the tiger, as if he didn't notice the bare, sharp fangs. He wanted to call out but he decided against it; it wasn't like he could do anything against the tiger, and it might worsen the situation. Wuji silently prayed for the boy, hoping that his aunt would come soon.
"Aaron! Wait! Don't go near that Lightning Streaked Tiger you'll-"
The voice made Wuji sigh in relief, but he quickly tensed up again as he saw the little boy ignore his aunt's warning, continuing to run towards the tiger and putting his delicate fingers onto its cheeks, ever so dangerously close to the menacing, drool-covered fangs. And then the boy was eaten alive by the tiger...
At least, that's what went on in Wuji's mind. But reality was something else entirely: Once the boy's hand made contact with the tiger, a shockwave boomed out, filling Wuji's ears with a ringing noise. The tiger was slammed onto the floor, moaning in agony, a firm imprint of a small hand on its cheek. It no longer had the same malicious presence as before; its sorry state made it rather pitiable.
His eyes popping out of their sockets and his mouth gaping wide, Wuji heard the aunt chide the boy: "-hurt it. I told you, Aaron... This is the 36th wild beast you've tried to make friends with and look what happened to all of them..."
The child's previously excited face turned into a watery droop.
"I'm... sniff*... sorry, aunty Evelynn. The tiger was smiling so much so I thought it wanted me to pet it..."
Hearing the child's comment, the tiger seemed to moan in pain and Wuji fell faint on the floor. They both thought, 'how can you mistake it for smiling?!' As Wuji's body softly touched the grass, it made a crisp and nearly silent sound.
"Who's there?" The aunt's ears perked up as she turned in his direction.
Crap! He had been careless... Well, the aunt seemed like a sensible person and although they were rather unusual, they didn't seem like bad people.
Coming out of the underbrush, Wuji sheepishly smiled, his forehead slick with sweat.
"Hello...I'm kind of lost."
"Oh, another human! Wait, your soul imprint... it can't be, are you one of the fabled immortals?"
"Immortals?"
"Yes, the gods told us that there would be many, many immortals coming to our world. And that we should assist them in adjusting to life in our world."
"Ah, yes. I just arrived here." Wuji sighed, his racing heart beginning to calm down. The two were labeled on his spiritual map as green dots after all, they were likely not hostile and they hadn't attacked him at first glance. And judging from what she said, they were probably friendly NPCs. Wuji was frightened by how lifelike they were; they were just like real people!
"I'm surprised you're out here then. It's very dangerous for you immortals to be in these woods. There are many monsters lurking by."
Wuji's eye twitched as he stared at the fallen tiger, its eyes closed and breathing to a still in an attempt to play dead. There were indeed monsters in the area, but... Wuji didn't think it was the beasts that were the monsters. His gaze turned to the boy, staring at the boy's ocean blue eyes and the freckles that lightly dusted his face. The boy averted his gaze, looking away as his lips slightly quivered.
"Ah, that's Aaron, my cousin. He's a little shy, but he is a very kind child... He just doesn't know how to control his strength sometimes," Evelynn explained, shaking her head in embarrassment.
The tiger cried out in injustice after hearing her. Teach your younger generation to control their strength! This was animal cruelty...
"Um, Mr. I'm glad to meet you. Um..." The boys hands were fidgeting as he bit his lips. For some reason, his innocent appearance reminded Wuji of a certain person- god* ...
Ridding himself of those thoughts, Wuji shook his head, smiling as he replied: "I'm glad to meet you too, Aaron."
The boy shyly smiled at Wuji's friendly air.
"Can we shake hands?"
"Uh, I don't think I'm ready for that." Wuji began to sweat profusely. He really did not want to end up like that tiger. He could've sworn he saw a smile creep up on its deadpan face.
"You.. you don't want to shake my hand?" The boy began to tear up.
"No, no... It's just uh... where I come from you see, we don't like to shake hands because we don't want to give each other germs." Wuji explained nervously.
"Oh... what are germs Mr.?" the boy inquired, his curiosity piqued as he wiped away his tears.
"Well, they're these little things that scientists discovered that ... you know what, I can't really explain exactly what they are, but I'm sure they're nothing to worry about since you're so strong."
"Ok," the boy giggled, his face blushing. The boy suddenly jumped up, his eyes wide in horror.
"Aunty, I just remembered, I have to meet grandmother today! She's going to be so mad at me!!" The boy frantically ran off into the woods, waving behind him.
"Bye Aunty, bye Mr!"
Evelynn fondly smiled as she watched Aaron's small silhouette run off into the distance. Turning to Wuji, she said:
"Thank you, ... oh that reminds me, what is your name?"
"It's Wang Wuji- but you can just call me Wuji."
"All right, thanks again Wuji. Aaron's a good child but he's always been quiet and shy since his mother and father disappeared. He had no parents to guide him, and now he can't properly control his strength... and he always wants to make friends with the beasts since it's difficult for him to talk to others."
Wuji was surprised at the child's backstory, an emphatic feeling blossoming in his heart. He had also faced a similar situation, his parents had disappeared into thin air when he was a young child. All he had were fuzzy memories of them.
Smiling softly, he replied:
"It was no problem, he seems to be a very nice kid."
The tiger on the floor opened its eye at Wuji's comment, as if it was saying, what about me? Wuji awkwardly smiled as he mouthed sorry to the tiger.
"Well then, would you like to go visit our village Wuji?"
"Your village?"
"Yes, we'd be glad to have a visitor. The Village of Legends doesn't really get them nowadays..." Evelynn sadly smiled, her eyes reminiscent of a time long past.
Wuji's mind clicked as he gazed in shock. So they were from the village! The system announced in his head:
Quest Received:
γ Follow Evelynn to the [Village of Legends] γ