Bai Mei Li began to silently condense Qi as she formed hand seals. The surroundings began to heat up as her fire Qi was unleashed. The Yin Shu abruptly found itself surround in a wall of fire. It gave a roar and then leaped up intending to use a tree not far away to Spring off of so that it could escape the fire and get its bearings.
But she was waiting for it to do that. As it touched the tree ready to bounce off it and out of the dangerous fire Bai Mei Li was around ready for it having already leapt into the air, her fire sword already manifested. She swung down in a wide arch infused with scorching hot fire Qi.
The force of the blow knocked the Yin Shu back into the awaiting circle of fire.
"Let's make this as quick as possible." Bai Mei Li said to herself. She didn't want this fight to last too long. She was using fire in the woods after all. She didn't want to harm the environment in more than necessary. The previous owner had favored her ice attribute more than the other because she felt that her ice attribute was stronger. Bai Mei Li felt that she should be more balanced. She didn't know when she might need it. It was better for her use both attributes equally.
The unexpected attack caused the Yin Shu to fall with a thud, but it righted itself almost immediately. Her attack didn't appear to have caused much damage. It bared it's fangs and tusks at her as she landed within the ring as well. The beast was in a full outrage, and without hesitation it charged at her.
Using a movement technique she dodged to the side and then swung her sword down again. For such a large animal it was surprisingly nibble. It shifted its body quickly out of the way then used its tail to whip at her.
She brought her sword down to block the lash and was forced back several paces. The sword was shaking and her wrist and went a little numb from the impact of the strike. She realized that she hadn't adjusted the sword correctly to block the hit.
Although she had the pervious owns memories, she herself didn't hold the same battle instincts. She knew what she was supposed to do, but she need to translate that into action. For her it just wasn't second nature yet. Battle instincts formed with time and experience. She just didn't have it yet.
It raised on its hind legs and swiped at her with its claws in several quick motions.
Bei Mai Li's right foot moved back, and she planted it firmly as she used her sword to the perry and block the frenzied attack.
The Yin Shu then used its tail to you wrap around her leg… it yanked her, and she immediately lost her balance. With a cry of alarm, she found herself being lifted into the air and slammed back down on the ground. The Yin Chu flexed the muscles in its tail with the obvious intention to once again pick her up and slam her back on the ground, but she grabbed hold of the tail in sliced through it with the fire blade in her other hand.
The hide of the Yin Shu was just too hard and thick. Though she'd cut pretty deep the tail was still intact. Luckily it had been enough to make the beast release her.
She fell to the ground once more, rolled to her side then pushed on her hands and then got back to her it. She didn't take so much as a moment to catch her breath. Instead she ran towards the animal, her sword hanging low behind her and held in both hands.
She swung up with all the strength she had. The impact threw the spirit beast backwards on its back where it slid halfway out of the fire wall.
Panting heavily, she kept moving. With its torso still in the fire it was desperately trying to right itself. She jumped out of the fire and landed near its head; with quick movements she conjured a rope of ice around its neck that trapped it in place within the flames where it would slowly burn to death.
She was gasping in ragged breaths as she leaned against a nearby tree and slid down. She touched her side she'd been slammed onto the ground, and it hurt terribly. Breathing hurt so much and the panting wasn't helping, but she could barely get air in, and she felt so out of breath.
Though she really wanted to close her eyes for a moment to collect herself she didn't dare take her eyes off of the Yin Shu. It was still struggling with in the flames.
She took out a recovery pill from out of her ring and quickly swallowed it. With the help of the pill breathing became a bit easier, she was grateful for that at least. Healing would take a bit longer but that was okay. She'd done what she'd come out here to do.
She completed her mission faster than she'd thought she would. She'd supposed she'd gotten a bit lucky. Reflecting on the battle it was extremely clumsy. Any number of things could of happened and resulted in her death. She truly was lucky.
Still it was a victory, and she'd take it.
It took about a hour for the beast to die. Her flames had done a good job and she'd managed to keep good control over them so that forest area around them wasn't damaged much.
When the Yin Shu haven't moved for a while, she got up and walked over to it. Her ribs were still hurting but it was within a tolerable level now. When she was close enough, she dispelled the flames and nudged it with her foot. By now the ice around its neck had melted, it was good and dead.
She took out a blade from her ring and infused it with her Qi than cut into its chest and retrieved its core. This was good cultivating material, then she kept both the core and the body into her ring. The body would be proof that she'd completed her task.
She didn't wait any longer and quickly returned to the tell the village chief that she'd taken care of the Yin Shu. It apparently traveled pretty far from its nest to hunt. They weren't worried about anymore attacks for them moment.
Bai Mei Li accepted their thanks as well as the bit of food they gave her to show their application and then started back to sanctuary.
It was already getting late, and she did not want to be caught out too late in night within the woods.
Though she moved quickly her mind was still going back over her battle. She was trying to understand what she'd done wrong… or rather what moves were unnecessary. What she could have done better. What she could have done that would have prevented her injury.
She was fairly satisfied with the way she'd reacted when she'd been injured. She hadn't allowed it to slow her down, she'd still been able to quickly strike back, but she understood that had she of been paying attention to the tail it would have never been able to sneak an attack on her.
She'd been so focused on trying to block all of those rapid attacks, that she'd stopped paying attention to the battlefield as a whole.
How could she not have understood how dangerous that was? Another Yin Shu or another animal could of snuck up on on her.
Was the this the 'battle instinct' that she knew that she was missing?
She was pretty sure that this was it. She would need to take on more missions. She needed to practice.
Hadn't she decided to take on the identity of Bai Mei Li in this would. That meant that she would also be taking on her enemies. The previous owner had been extremely arrogant, and she had a disturbingly low evaluation of human life.
Who knew when a slighted enemy would attack. And a human would have far better tactics then these low-level spirit beasts would have.
The situation could become very dangerous very quickly.
So, missions… she had to take on missions and spar. She would need to find a few sparring partners so that she could get use to attacking another human.
She was, after all, from the modern world. Attacking people was against the law where she came from. It didn't feel natural at all to go around attacking people.
'Is there really no way back? Did I really die? I might just be in the hospital right now…' she thought to herself. She really didn't want to be here in this savage place. She had zero desire to harm other people, and the idea that she had to continually fight spirit beasts didn't appeal to her either.
Suddenly a strange scent stopped her in her tracks and put a halt to her musings. She glanced around trying to figure out what it was and where it was coming from. She lifted her head a bit and sniffed, then looked in the direction that it was coming from.
She started to move in that direction but paused. She looked up to the sky. The sun was already going down. She still had a few hours to go before she made it back to the sanctuary.
She hesitated for a moment before her curiosity got the better of her and she headed in the direction of the smell. She would just take a peek then continue on her way. If the smell was so strong that meant that it couldn't be that far it away. It should only take her a few moments. It was something good she would just grab it and go. It smelled so… particular.
She walked in the direction of the smell for few minutes and found a small river. It was coming out the mouth of a cave and flowing downhill. The smell was coming from in the cave.
With a soft sigh she hesitated again.
It couldn't be a good idea to go into a dark cave… in an unknown forest… She glanced up and looked at the sky again to see the sun sliding down behind the tree as a visible. She looked at the cave again. That smell was even stronger now. It smelled… she she wasn't sure what it smelled like actually she just knew that it smelled enticing?
No that wasn't the right word. It didn't. Smell 'good' per-say. It just seemed to catch her attention in a way she couldn't seem to ignore.
She'd already taken a few more steps toward the cave before she realized it. She stopped herself and just looked at the cave for a moment. Was this one of those opportunities that you would read about in a Wuxia novel? Maybe she could really find something good.
She made her decision. She didn't have to commit to anything. She could just peek inside and see what was doing on. If it felt dangerous then she could just run away. She wouldn't waste too much time here. It was getting late after all.
It only took a moment for her to make her way to the cave. It was unnaturally dark. She frowned then slowly walked inside.
With a startled cry of alarm, she felt a force pull her through. It was like she was traveling through a a marshmallow. The area around her felt very thick yet empty. There was nothing there. Nothing to touch. She was pulled through quickly. She frantically looked around for enemies, but she didn't see anything.
Afraid, with hands outstretched she immediately tried to walk back through. She made it out without any problems.
She hesitated again for a moment and then went back in.
Once she was through, she took a few tentative steps into the cave. She stretched out her sense trying to sense anything as it was too dark to really see anything. She took out a small night pear. The pear wasn't very big, but it provided a good source of light in the near darkness of the cave.
She moved carefully though the cave. As far as she see there was nothing there. The cave was completely empty. Except for that smell. She followed it, thinking that it was perhaps a special kind of plant that could help her with her cultivation.
It wasn't too long before she stopped a bit of light ahead. The river was still going through the cave and she was following it. She thought perhaps the light was the opening at the other end of the cave.
Still she moved carefully and kept a eye out for any movement.
When she finally made it to the light she was stunned at was she found.