Chapter 6
Sun Shui
It was good to be back in the graces of proper civilization. The guards drilled relentlessly atop the fortress, their shifts rotating swiftly and their focus always upon the realm around them. The cultivators that had remained behind went about their duties to the clan and their cultivation, with Sun Shui joining them as soon as the last of her bandages were removed. Weeks passed by as spring deepened, with the earliest days of summer for this region of the world fast approaching. Already the heat began to intensify, as did the humidity in the air, with a low fog common across the clearing beneath the mighty walls of the fortress.
As the sun rose to its apex that day, and with the cool shade of her uncle's quarters providing the only true relief from the sun, Sun Shui sat upon the mat he had gifted her years ago. The Qi infused into its threads, sourced from one of the many Qi-infused fields of cotton and flax that the clan owned, aided in cultivation for calming one's center and ensuring a stable mind. Now, deeper into her meditation than she had been since arriving, she could feel the Qi flowing cleanly and clearly through her meridians, the old blockage somehow gone. What her uncle had seen had indeed been true, and yet she could not help but marvel at it every time she meditated.
How this had occurred, however, remained a mystery to her even with her uncle's insight. Had it been her flight from the feathered beasts, or the attack by that gigantic alligator creature providing a breakthrough she had been unable to initially detect? Had it been the healing poultices her rescuer had applied to her wounds? Or had it, perhaps, been the strange food he had served her? She had not eaten at all before that meal, for however long she'd be asleep, and had not eaten again until she'd come back to her clan's fortress.
This and more she would ponder when not tending to her cultivation. At the very least, with her meridians unblocked and her advancement no longer stalled, she need not fear for falling behind the others any longer. Just as well, for the time being, she was safe from the attentions of Zou Kang, as according to her uncle, he had returned to the mainland after the attack. Whether he had been too terrified to aid in searching for her, or only to preserve his own skin, none could say, but her uncle had also informed her Kang had been most ready to declare her lost to the wilds.
Leaving her state of meditation as her emotions began to fluctuate, she bit back a smirk that mirrored a snarl. Let the coward flee back to his house and family, declaring her lost after being amongst the first to flee danger. He and his house were servants of the coastal branch of the mighty Sun Clan, cultivators all, but still just servants. Whatever his designs on her might have been, in a short time they would no longer matter. She would grow in strength, skill and wisdom with her uncle's guidance, and that was all that mattered when it came to being a part of the mighty Sun clan.
There was a knock at her door.
"Come in."
One of the fortress servants, Ming Wu, a matronly woman with a tongue often sharper than most blades, quietly entered. "Lady Sun," she said with a proper bow. "There seems to be a commotion along the river, and several of the clan are looking to investigate with the flying ship. Your uncle has bid me to verify if you wish to go with them or not."
That was strange. Usually her uncle would allow her to find out this information for herself and then decide, as he had taught her all her life. To directly inform her of such an occurrence carried a meaning deeper than simply wishing to reacclimate her with her fellow cultivators. He intended for her to go see what this was about, and Sun Shui's thoughts immediately drifted back to her discussions on her savior's potential usefulness for their clan's ambitions.
"Very well, I shall see what this commotion you speak of entails," she said, rising from the mat. "Let us hope it is not simply more of the fauna providing a spectacle. I had enough of that on my first day here."
The thick canopy of the surrounding jungle stood in stark contrast to the wide river mouth, slowly flowing out towards the wild sea. Wide enough that the far shore blended with the horizon if standing along its banks, from high in their flying ship, Sun Shui could only gaze in wonder at the scale of what lay before her. Massive herds of creatures crowded whatever banks trailed into the water, their sandy shores home to creatures of dizzying variety and scale. The waters, as clear as they appeared nearest the shore, turned a much rougher and ruddier complexion further towards the center, with shapes too swift and alien to her eyes flitting about in its depths.
"There!" one of the other cultivators cried, pointing towards a gargantuan swell of water. From the depths emerged what the captain had told her was an abyssal sea beast, massive in bulk and with a size that dwarfed most vessels she had seen. In its elongated maw thrashed a pair of fish, each easily larger than a horse. Their angry jaws snapped futilely as the massive creature nearly bit them in half before swallowing them whole. Atop the creature's head, feet planted firmly upon the sea beast and with a large net still submerged, stood her savior. Around his torso lay a series of straps, to which were affixed a variety of tools and a length of line to the net itself. Even from here, her sharp eyes could detect the way the straps stretched and contorted against his frame as he pulled the net from the water.
The creatures bulging against their captor's net were unlike any she'd seen. Large fish with toothy maws, lengthy crab-like creatures whose claws reminded her of a scorpion's, curled shells with tentacles emerging from their ends, and countless other creatures thrashed and strained against the mighty net. As the sea beast seemed to lie there, either basking in the sun after a sizable meal or simply resting from exertion, her savior reached into the net and began to sort through his monstrous haul.
"Junior cousin," one of her fellow cultivators spoke. "That is the barbarian of which Sun Jin spoke of? The one who rescued you after the attack on the first day by those beasts?"
"Indeed, senior cousin Sun Min," Sun Shui replied. "Normally he lives a great deal further inland, though I suppose this river connects with the one that runs along what I assume to be the boundary of his home. That would explain how he was able to traverse such a distance in so short a time without his feathered beast of a mount."
"A beast master, then? He is too far for us to sense his cultivation, though he surely has a connection with the beast he rides," another cousin replied, her eyes tracking the beasts the strange man tossed aside. Sun Ling had been one of her fellow scouts, and although close in both rank and age, she was often considered the one more likely to continue to advance in her cultivation. "Were I to guess, I would assume that which he is throwing aside either tastes poorly or will not preserve well. Why else commit to such a large net when surely a smaller one would do for a single man?"
"That very well could be the case, senior cousin," Sun Shui replied. "He is not entirely without resources, given the vast tracts of pastureland filled with all sorts of animals, and though they were not yet flowering when I was there, he seems to have a great deal of orchards and fields ready for planting."
"A man who manages to accomplish all of this, barbarian he may be, by himself? Fascinating," Sun Min said, crossing her arms. "I can only wonder as to what discoveries he has unknowingly made from the plants and animals so far from the coast. The other clans tend to only harvest what they can within sight of their fortresses, given their constant need for great care with every expedition."
"Hence why we shall not be performing any such expeditions until at least the second tier of the fortress city is completed," Sun Min said. "The ships are nearly prepared to make their initial deliveries, and with them will come the elevated mortals necessary to ensure we have the resources we need to sustain our fortress between supply runs."
The Sun Clan had not come as far as it had by overlooking the talents of the peasants that served them. Whilst other clans might only occasionally elevate mortals who served them, identifying those with the proper drive and abilities was a constant task within the clan. This meant that of the many upper echelons of the Empire's clans, the Sun had a distinctively sizeable number of minor cultivators serving them, and Sun Shui knew this had served them well all these years. Mortals alone would surely perish in these lands, even if they were to stay entirely within the fortress walls, as the unknown diseases that by chance afflicted cultivators could empty entire cities of mortals in mere weeks.
It was as practical as it was rewarding. Many of the lines of servants of the Sun Clan, be they in the presence of the main line or a branch like Sun Shui's own, could trace their origin to an ancestor that had been elevated by the Sun clan of the time. Their loyalty to the Sun clan was nigh-absolute, and with such loyalty came the trust that the clan would not see them used indiscriminately as other clans might with hordes of mortals. Those that would serve as the basis for the staff and population of the fortress, be they laborers, harvesters, craftsmen and the like, would only be permitted to come to the fortress of their own volition.
Of course, a hefty increase in pay, access to cultivation methods and materials, and a guarantee of benefits for their families should they perish was a great motivator.
"Junior cousin?"
Sun Shui blinked. "Yes, senior cousin?"
Sun Min looked to her, her beauty in stark contrast to the wild land beneath them. "This barbarian, was he… civil whilst you were under his care?"
"Civil?" Sun Shui asked.
"Was he at least of an honorable mindset?"
Sun Shui wasn't sure why her cousin cared. "He did not look to lay a hand upon me unless it was to care for my wounds, if that is what you wish to know."
Sun Min nodded. "Very good, cousin. I had been worried that he might have tried to take advantage of your situation, but such fears are thankfully for naught."
"A more beautiful woman might have had something to fear, cousins," Sun Ling said, her sting disguised by soft and supposedly caring words. "Surely such a man, all alone and isolated from civilized society, would have had unmet... needs."
Sun Shui did not like this line of talk, especially not of the man who had saved her. "If you must know, he appeared too engrossed in his tasks to have such impure thoughts, cousin. Dare I say, his cultivation must take a higher priority than that, given how strong he appears to be."
"If you say so," Sun Ling said, leaning slightly against the railing with a sigh. "Were it I that had been in your place, if only to find out what he has stored away, I might have accepted such advances. Those who cultivate their body to such a degree always have a… rugged charm to them, I think."
"Indeed, for he does not possess the soft body of a clan prince, sequestered away to focus on his cultivation at all costs," Sun Min said, looking down upon the man as he finished sorting through his net. "There is a certain appeal of a man who strengthens himself through toil and strife, even if he is merely a foreign barbarian."
Sun Shui remained silent, eyes narrowing as the other cultivators likewise looked down at her rescuer, whom upon resealing his net, made to give directions to the great sea beast upon which he rode. With a keening grumble that even she could hear, it turned around and began to leisurely swim upriver, other animals upon the water giving it a wide berth as it did so.
As the wild man departed, Sun Shui realized something. Save for the crew of the flying boat, all the other cultivators that she had come with… were fellow women. Be they servant cultivators, cousins of hers, or additional members of the crew, most of them seem rather focused on her rescuer as he disappeared into the distance.
Strange.Last edited: Jun 15, 2026 Like ReplyReport Reactions:Kirikllz909, Rokkag, Kingdonut and 310 othersAbramus5250May 19, 2026NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Chapter 7 New View contentAbramus5250Not too sore, are you?May 31, 2026Add bookmark#62Chapter 7
MC
I sat atop Harry as he swam upriver, content with a full belly of fish from the river's mouth and whatever of my bycatch caught his fancy. My own net, woven from the various reeds and vines I'd managed to harvest before last winter set in, bulged slightly with my haul. Were I less picky, I'd have kept more of the creatures that dwelled in that murky abyss, but I'd learned my lesson before with most of them. Some tended to taste muddy at best, others took longer to prepare than I had the time for, and a good number spoiled quite quickly after gutting and cleaning.
Whatever this strange world was, the fact it was filled with ancient forms of life continued to delight my inner child. To see and have access to plants and animals from across Earth's deep past, from the chill of the Ice Ages to the muggy forests of the Carboniferous and beyond, all the while whatever strange properties this world had imbued me with allowing me to interact with these many creatures as I saw fit… it was exhilarating.
Nowadays, at any rate. It was… difficult, in the beginning, shadowing unknowable theropods and other carnivores, scavenging what I could only when I had finally learned to recognize the coast was clear, all the while avoiding the attempts of many herbivores to destroy me on sight due to either my strange scent or appearance. Even now, years later and having somehow grown more powerful than any human could have dreamed, I still occasionally wake in a cold sweat, an echo in my stomach of that desperate hunger born from yet another failed scavenging attempt, or a close call with massive herbivores seeking to crush me into paste.
Harry seemed to sense my inner turmoil, letting a 'low' and inquisitive grumble that sent ripples across the surface of the water as we traveled further inland.
Nowadays, at any rate. It was… difficult, in the beginning, shadowing unknowable theropods and other carnivores, scavenging what I could only when I had finally learned to recognize the coast was clear, all the while avoiding the attempts of many herbivores to destroy me on sight due to either my strange scent or appearance. Even now, years later and having somehow grown more powerful than any human could have dreamed, I still occasionally wake in a cold sweat, an echo in my stomach of that desperate hunger born from yet another failed scavenging attempt, or a close call with massive herbivores seeking to crush me into paste.
Harry seemed to sense my inner turmoil, letting a 'low' and inquisitive grumble that sent ripples across the surface of the water as we traveled further inland.
"It's okay, buddy, nothing to be worried about," I muttered, patting him on the head. "Just some old memories, from before I met you."
He seemed to accept this, his attention turning back towards the river with a happier rumble from his mighty throat. For an ichthyosaur that was likely larger than my house, he was incredibly nimble and swift, though the depth of this river was certainly of help to him. He hadn't always been this bulky though, once barely larger than a pony. I'd found him as a juvenile down by the river mouth some years ago, probably lost and desperately hungry after fleeing from the shallows of the nearby bay. Whatever had driven him into the fresh water had not followed, but the poor guy had been more than willing to try and raid my net at the time, only to get stuck and nearly drown.
Setting him free and tossing the poor guy some fish had cemented in his mind, however complex or simple it may have been, that I was 'friend that gives food' and therefor was worthy of his aid and allegiance. Whatever rules he and other creatures in this world operated on, it was more than mere animal instinct. While the intelligence they possessed went deeper than I cared to explore, I was grateful I was able to bond with them as readily as I did, and how useful they had proven to my sanity and survival alike.
Trying to swim back upstream again with a net full of food was a pain in the ass, especially since any dugout canoe I had tried to make was attacked by something in the water and promptly destroyed. At least my silhouette was something anything large enough to eat me nearer my homestead had eventually learned to avoid, assuming they survived the encounter. Being able to manhandle gigantic reptiles and other beasties in the water like some Saiyan Tarzan or whatever I was had its perks.
Turning back, I saw the flying boat hovering far above the treeline. My eyes were sharper at such a distance than they had any right being, as I quickly spotted the woman I had rescued from that Deinosuchus, along with a great deal more people who looked more like her than they did me. They seemed intent on simply watching me move further upstream, making no notion of following me that I could detect.
"Strange people," I muttered, earning another inquisitive grumble from Harry. "Never seen them before either, buddy. What about you? Anything about them or that boat familiar?"
Harry's eyes seemed to squint as if deeply thinking, the black circles around his eyes bridged by a light bar across his snout. Kinda reminded me of a certain wizard teen from Britain who really should have carried a gun towards the end.
My large ichthyosaur grumbled again, and though there were no words that I could sense, I could determine his intent to a good enough degree to know he had seen such craft before. Not the people though, judging from his further grumbles, but I knew the seas were dangerous around here. Anything short of a flying ship would probably be dashed upon the rocks or reefs, or be attacked by any number of the dangerous sea life that patrolled the coastal waters.
I had no idea what may lie further out in the deep and frankly didn't care to know. As Harry moved us further upriver, I knew I had enough on my plate as it was to even think about exploring so far beyond what I already had. Granted, most of the work I had to do was my own fault, what with taking on the tasks of trying to domesticate as many useful beasties as I could for meat, leather, bones and even their manure.
In no time at all, Harry was at the large bend in the river where I'd rescued that woman. The Deinosuchus remains were long gone, scavenged by any number of creatures before something large enough had likely dragged whatever was left back into the water. I doubted it was Harry, he'd have had to nearly beach himself to do that.
"Thanks again buddy, I'll call next time I need you," I said, hopping off his head and hoisting my haul over my shoulder, the size of the net likely looking ridiculously large next to me. Harry gave what I assumed was a happy splashing of his front paddles before turning around and shooting back downstream. Wading through the shallow water, I took off into a sprint as soon as my feet his dry land, the distance to my outer perimeter dropping swiftly. With a single leap I soared up and over the great wall of stones, landing with a loud thump on the crushed rock and gravel that served as my primary road.
Within a very short time, I was back home, my haul still wriggling even as some of the more water-adapted creatures began to suffocate. Passing my fields, orchards, pastures and the like, I was quickly back at the homestead. I'd learned my lesson years ago about trying to clean my catch when time was not on my side to finish, and as such went not to my house, but to another building built into the rockier side of this exposed hill. Facing north at such an angle that it was always shaded, I'd managed to make for myself a place where it stayed cool even during the hotter times of the year, and as such was best for cleaning fish and other beasties without having to worry about quick spoilage and attracting the wrong kind of animals to my homestead.
The sharp rocks inside that had served me well as knives were in my hands in a flash, and with speed and precision that would have made a machine envious, I scaled, gutted and deboned my catch in under an hour. All the waste went into a large cauldron I had made by carving a large boulder into a rough bowl shape, the contents to be later devoured by Bessie when she woke from one of her long naps. The good bits, on the other hand, went into a different container, one of the few large ceramic vessels I had made so far. Not because I couldn't find a way to fire clay, mind you, but because the salt I had gathered to preserve the fish was a bitch to find this far inland.
With my fish properly salted and layered in their cold storage, I was at least set to get back to my other chores.
The pastures were one of the easiest things I'd ever created when it came to management. Leave it to the animals to graze, drive them around after they'd churned through most of it, and then strategically burn it to promote better growth the next year. Most of the animals I tamed had come to recognize me as some kind of protector and provider, though I'm pretty sure some also knew I ate whichever one of them died from old age or if the herds were getting too large. Most seemed to think nothing of it, like some kind of circle of life, but some, well…
"Now now, don't think you're up to snuff just because it's your first season," I muttered, circling my opponent. One of the steppe bison males, just entering his prime, had gotten it into his head he was tough enough to push around some of the other livestock in the pastures whenever he felt like it. Namely, the small hadrosaurs I kept around as an amazing source of manure for my crop fields. Though similar in size, they didn't have horns like this big bastard did, and he was going to try and use that fact to his immense benefit for grazing when and where he felt like it.
His response to my words was to snort and charge me in a rumble of thundering hooves. With a grunt more of a reflex than of actual effort, I met his charge headlong, our impacts sending a small tremor that kicked up dust and made waves of the nearby grasses. For a moment, we were locked in combat, my hands resting upon his horns and holding him in place. Then, with a swift headbutt that didn't hurt me at all, I struck back, discombobulating him enough to then wrench my arms and throw him to the ground. With a swift step, I placed by foot upon his neck, holding him in place despite his larger size for a few minutes.
"You done?" I asked after his futile struggles finally ceased.
The young male's only response was to give a groaning bellow. He had gone from looking fierce to pitiful in a very short time, but he was not the first, and certainly wouldn't be the last.
I nodded, releasing my foot from his neck. "That's what I thought, mister. Don't make me get Thor here, you won't like how he keeps the peace."
Mainly by punting any animal smaller than he was, which was pretty much all of them. Hard to be the biggest, baddest bull in the pen when a Brontosaur, an absolute mountain of muscle and bone, can literally send you flying like a kickball. Or he'd knock you down and then slowly step on you until you gave up, like I'd just did, only I'd never crushed any troublemakers into a gelatinous paste before when they refused to yield.
The steppe bison bellowed some more, though greatly subdued, before taking off to rejoin more of the bison herd. If they had a language I could genuinely understand, I could only imagine the older males chastising him for trying to square up with the likes of me, and to not be so foolish in the future.
Turning back to the small group of hadrosaurs, Hippodraco if my somehow incredible memory served me right, I noticed they seemed appreciative of my efforts. They usually picked this area for nesting, as the longer grasses and flowers were a great cover for their young when they were still small enough to be threatened by airborne predators. One of the older females pressed her head against me, earning a scratch behind the back of their head, something the eldest among them seemed to enjoy.
Meandering out of the pasture, I glanced over at Bessie, who had seemed content to simply lie in the shade under some of the apple trees, their blossoms having finished falling days ago. Turning back to my other fields and orchards, I'd finally hit a point where there was little else for me to do for them. Sprouts were everywhere, the manure piles were set, and all of my buildings, tools and saddles had been successfully repaired after I'd returned that woman to her people. I finally, truly, had some time to myself, and I was itching for something a little more exciting than simply sitting in a chair and watching the sunset.
Reaching my home, I went inside to retrieve what I'd need for supper tonight. I was hankering for something fresh, preferably on a spit over a bed of hot coals.
Bessie was waiting by the door when I emerged, tools in hand and woven cloak of grasses, vines and mosses spread across my body. The stone spears across my back, combined with the harness full of knives across my chest and the stone axe on my hip, brought about a great deal of excitement. When Bessie started panting, her head bobbing and swaying slightly as I approached her, I knew she was looking forward to a hunt. Spending a good portion of winter and early spring cooped up, eating whatever I had preserved for her, was just not the same as running down something, killing and eating it.
She could have those fish guts for dessert then.
I patted her on the side of the neck before mounting onto her saddle. "Where to then, girl? Back out on the plains? Or into the woodlands?"
She turned towards the clusters of trees in the distance, nestled between the grassier high hills in isolated valleys and the occasional ravine.
"Alrighty then, let's go find us a boar, or maybe a Gastornis. My bed could use some more downy feathers."
With that, we set off.
A/N: I think I'll go back and change the MC chapter titles at some point, maybe to Caveman. I'm open to suggestions on that and more for the story. I'll also be going back and making some changes to the background and lore of the world thus mentioned at some point, but I'll try and keep it simple when I do. Like ReplyReport Reactions:Kirikllz909, Kingdonut, l---erddad---l and 289 othersAbramus5250May 31, 2026NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Chapter 8 New View contentAbramus5250Not too sore, are you?Jun 10, 2026Add bookmark#74Chapter 8
MC
We moved silently through the thick understory of the forest, the combined shade from the hills flanking the forest and the thick canopy casting the area into a deep gloom well before sunset. Bessie was the only thing quieter than the soft padding of my moccasin-covered footsteps, moving with stealth that something her size should not be capable of. We weren't just staying quiet to track down prey. Both of us knew there were always 'bigger fish', as one Jedi from long ago had put it. Unfortunate experiences, shared and singular, have forced us to always be cautious, always on the lookout for any sign of something we could not or should not confront. Be it a predator larger or more powerful than Bessie, a herd of herbivores more than capable of trampling us, or signs of a den of something we should not encroach upon, we were always alert in the areas where danger could lurk behind the vegetation.
Just as well, many of the animals of the land had come to know Bessie and I, especially the latter, were not to be messed with. Those that learned this immutable fact tended to survive, whilst those that did not tended to wind up dead and more often than not on my dinner plate. Ahead of us lay a game trail, wide enough that more than mere wild boars or similarly sized creatures were using it. Swiftly dismounting Bessie, I withdrew one of my spears, my free hand resting on the trunk of a tree as I leaned to spy around the area.
From my vantage point, I could just see a small clearing a small distance ahead, the air filled with the buzzing of insects and the calling of birds and small pterosaurs. With such noises, I doubted a large enough predator was in the area, and seeing as even Bessie wasn't triggering the fearful silence of the surrounding wildlife, we pressed on, searching for tracks or other signs of quarry.
There! In the mud of the game trail, a print. Kneeling beside it swiftly, my free hand beside it for comparison, I smiled. It was not the print of a Gastornis, regretfully, but that of one of the wild boars of the area. For a creature whose invasiveness was the stuff of legend, here it often didn't even make middle ranking for predatory creatures, residing quite cleanly near the bottom of the food chain for an animal in its size range. Were it not for their frequent and large litters of piglets, they'd have surely gone extinct in this land, even if I refrained from hunting them.
This was the case for the normal ones, at least, the most common and recognizable of the bunch. Every so often, one would grow larger than the others, usually a boar, to where it might be double in size and correspondingly tougher, meaner, and fiercer than its lesser kin. These boars were the kind only the biggest or smartest predators of the area tried to hunt.
There were many animals that seemed to follow this rule of increased size corresponding with aggression, intelligence, and even a complete change in behavior. Whatever caused it escaped me, but I pressed on with my life, rising to the challenge as needed.
The hoofprint of this boar was large, a good sign it was indeed a big one, and while I've become more than strong enough to simply wrestle one to the ground and twist its head off with my bare hands, I've had far too many close calls with those tusks of theirs to risk such an action unless I was desperate. I've seen them gouge stone when dodging one of their charges, and I don't intend to risk finding out if they can gore me too. With spear in hand, and Bessie seeming to understand our quarry's identity, given her sudden drool, we advanced further into the forest.
With our silence, I was able to observe much that would have gone silent or hidden, were our presence more known. Various small creatures, primarily mammals but with the occasional reptilian and even amphibian lineages scattering about, whether climbing trees and moving through the canopy or scurrying through the understory and in the leaf litter beneath our feet, this forest was well and truly alive. Up ahead, towards the clearing, I spied what must have been the remnants of a mud wallow, a small cloud of insects hovering above it.
Coming to the edge of the clearing, the canopy above still depriving the ground of most of the sunlight, I realized my error. This was indeed a mud wallow, but not one made with the intent of protecting against stinging insects. The mud had been churned by the boar that lay in its midst, not with water, but with the blood and guts spilling out of its side. A good portion of the carcass had been devoured, but given the beast's size, there was certainly more than enough left to keep whatever had killed it in the area or draw in other scavengers looking to take their piece of this pile of pork.
I glanced to Bessie, her expression somehow showcasing surprise and wary frustration. Knowing her, she'd be more than willing to just take a big chunk of the beast and leave with it, content with not sticking around to quarrel with whatever had killed such a large boar. I, on the other hand, knew there was more to this, and examined a touch closer, relying on my mount's senses to watch my back.
From what I could see, this giant of a boar had been taken by a single attacker. A large slash to the head, possibly piercing the cranium, before it had been directed into the mud wallow and then mauled. Whatever had attacked it had backed off, likely circling and dodging the attacks by the enraged beast, until it had collapsed from blood loss and exhaustion, but the scuffed mud around the area was too indistinct for me to follow any tracks. The killer may not have been nearby, as far as I could tell, but judging from the wounds, whatever had done this was bigger than Bessie.
"We're leaving," I muttered. I had come across many creatures in my time in this strange world, and whilst certain ones had yet to make themselves known to me, this had all the hallmarks of an Allosaurus attack. Savage hatchet-like bite, claw marks across the body, evidence of a singular predator, so that whatever had done this was easily a subadult well on its way to adulthood, and more than likely still in the area.
Bessie noiselessly stepped back from the clearing's edge, with me swiftly following. A bust of a hunt thus far, as we quickly retreated from the area. I could take on a juvenile Allosaur, maybe even a subadult, but there was no reason to risk myself so over some big boar. The day was yet young, as far as Bessie and I were concerned, and ahead, near the forest's edge, lay a large shallow plain of large shrubs and small trees, the rejuvenating remnants of a forest scoured by wildfire years before.
Out there, we may yet find luck.
The thickness of the thicket of brush and small trees, interspersed with tall grasses and the burnt remnants of tree stumps and exposed roots, hid my crouching form far better than it did Bessie's comparative bulk, and even then, she could seemingly disappear at will. Ahead of us, nestled within the small confines of an old creek bed, stood a hadrosaur bull, old enough to have strayed from the herd yet young enough that he was swifter than the older males. Yet even with the element of surprise still to be on our side, we were wary, as the strangeness of the animals of this land often meant they could endure and perform feats that would have surely killed any animal from my first life.
An adult Allosaur shrugging off a gigantic lightning strike that killed everything else for a dozen meters around it.
A Stegosaurus casually walking through bushes whose massive thorns I have used to sew clothes, scaly hide untouched by their sharp points.
A Megaloceros falling off a steep cliff and rolling to the bottom in a heap, only to rise to its hooves and simply shrug it off.
A Ninjemys getting stepped on by a hadrosaur and simply carry on foraging as if nothing happened.
I was similarly far beyond a man at this point, ranching and hunting such incredible creatures alike for what they could provide for me, and still it amazed me at times what I had grown capable of. Snapping the jaws and neck of a Deinosuchus like I was King Kong despite being so much smaller was just the tip of the very large and trauma-built iceberg that was my new life.
Still, a hadrosaur was a prized source of meat for any carnivore in the area, and a lone young bull would surely attract more than just our hungry eyes. We had to be quick about this, and with Bessie vanishing ahead, to where the bull would most likely rush in a panic, the trap was set. Moving into position, spear in hand, I took aim, and after releasing half a breath, let loose towards the beast's shoulder.
The hadrosaur reared without so much as a warning, and even as my spear flew from my hand straight and true, a shape appeared before me, crashing into the hadrosaur with enough force to send it hurtling to the ground. A titanic furred form roared as it lunged for the hadrosaur's neck, titanic jaws open wide, only for my spear to catch it in the space between the throat and spine. The gurgling howl it gave echoed through the area, blood spraying as I let loose my next spear directly into it's shoulder.
The beast lurched to the side from the force of the blow, turning it's titanic head towards me. With gargantuan teeth bared at me, the Daeodon forgot about the hadrosaur that was rising to it's feet and charged me, kicking up dirt and debris as it burst through bushes with incredible swiftness.
Rolling to the side as it lunged, it's jaws slammed shut on empty air as I kicked out mid-leap, contacting a joint of a rear leg as I let out a whistle. The sickening crunch was muffled by the hellish beast's even more hellish squealing cry as I rolled back onto my feet, going for another spear. With such an injury that should have crippled it, the Daeodon still whirled on me to run me down and tear me apart with those jaws, more enraged than hungry by this point, its eyes filled with a hate no normal animal should possess.
In an instant, Bessie burst from the nearest bushes, drawn by my whistle and the commotion alike, her mouth agape and glinting teeth dripping saliva as she chomped onto the Daeodon's head. It thrashed in her jaws, squealing at the sudden interruption, and with her arms restraining the snapping jaws, Bessie bit down.
Hard.
The Daeodon's squeals were suddenly silenced by a horrific crunch as my mount bit cleanly into the beast's skull, shattering the bone beneath her jaws and tearing apart the brain. At once, the beast went limp in her grip, and after dropping it to the ground, she looked to me, mouth wide with a carnivore's smile as blood and brain matter mixed with her saliva.
"Good girl," I said, walking up and patting her on the neck. Preening at my words, she turned to the beast and began to rip it apart, setting aside the biggest pieces she could before devouring what guts she cared to eat. Sighing at her messy antics, I scavenged whatever dried or blackened wood I could find from the old forest fire and built an impromptu spit, upon which I began roasting whatever cuts I could fit together. I had enough spices and salt in my small pack to at least season everything I was going to eat, but the rest would have to be brought back before nightfall.
The hadrosaur would live to see another day, and as the meat cooked over the fire, I sat upon a jutting rock, thinking back to the slaughtered boar in the forest proper. It had been near as large as this Daeodon, which was rare even for the exceptional boars, but the presence of an Allosaur large enough to butcher such a creature left me feeling… uneasy.
Ignoring Bessie's occasional burps amidst her feasting, I kept watch as my portion of our meal cooked. I would have to check my defenses around the perimeter when I got back and spend time shoring up any weaker portions of my walls for the next few days. I'd promised myself years ago I wouldn't lose a whole herd to an incursion by those bastards again, and I kept my promises.
A/N: I'm going to have to not introduce too many animals at once, or else I'll start to run out of good images to showcase the creatures in question. Hence why this mentioned hadrosaur was simply 'a hadrosaur' and not a specific species. Like ReplyReport Reactions:Kirikllz909, Kingdonut, l---erddad---l and 255 othersAbramus5250Jun 10, 2026NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Chapter 9 New View contentAbramus5250Not too sore, are you?Jun 14, 2026NewAdd bookmark#78Chapter 9
Sun Shui
It was a momentous day, so many weeks after her return from the wild lands outside the fortress. The next phase of building was soon to begin, but for that, the Sun Clan's ambitious project was going to need a great deal more than just cultivators. Sun Shui had spoken with her uncle on the upcoming expansion, whereupon they would be adding a second ring to the fortress, near as high as the first and substantially larger to accommodate both those set to arrive and the supplies they would subsequently need to continue supporting and expanding their scope of operations.
In his own words, they would need to aid in recouping the expenses already invested into this project by not merely scouring the land with fire as they had done so in the first place, but would have to harvest as much of the local area as they could before raising the walls and elevating the newest ring into the districts it would develop. Trees, fibrous plants, even particularly large or beautiful stones were to be gathered and brought up into the fortress stronghold to aid in construction, and perhaps along the way, some of these highly Qi-infused materials could be found to contain new or useful benefits for those engaging in cultivation. The entire point of this operation was not to colonize this landmass, as many others had tried and failed to do, but to create an outpost through which untold treasures and new cultivation materials might be harvested.
To accomplish this, an entire fleet of flying ships were to arrive by midday, some substantially larger than the one she was boarding to greet them. More than a few of these massive vessels had been converted from bulk cargo ships into mobile workshops, meant to produce the building materials needed for the second level's infrastructure. Others carried with them a small horde of elevated servants, primarily craftsmen and the like, to ensure a smooth operation, as the need for working hands was even greater than the need for supplies. However, due to the size of these flying ships and the need to not break everything within their holds, they had been forced to fly slower than her own, necessitating a guide that would see them slowly brought to the fortress, rather than blindly trying to find it and possibly run into danger along the way.
Sun Shui could feel the anticipation and excitement in the air, mirroring her innermost thoughts as her ship sailed out and over the edge of the wild land's shores. They flew past the rocky shoals and scattered isolated islands along its coastline, until even the deeper reefs disappeared and the dark waters of the abyss greeted them. Out here, with only the waves and the clouds to see, they waited patiently, slowly circling high above the ocean. Time dragged on, the morning growing closer to midday as they tended to whatever duties were needed onboard, but to someone whose cultivation could extend their lives into centuries, it was worth little to fret over.
Sun Shui spent most of her time revisiting the past, specifically of her time since arriving to these lands. The images of the terrifying beasts that had pursued her no longer spiked her anxiety, as the knowledge that such beasts seemed to avoid her rescuer's lands granted her comfort in that a strong cultivator was more than a match for such terrors. Her own stories, now written into a ledger, had returned to the mainland with the last courier ship, a small and fast vessel that flew higher than most clouds and carried with it just enough storage for messages and other administrative works.
After some time had passed and an herbal tea was served, one whose leaves had been sufficiently infused with Qi the moment of their plucking, she heard a voice cry out. Turning swiftly without spilling her tea, the sharp-eyed scout called of spotting sails upon the horizon, from the direction of their homeland and the Empire. Following the man's gesture, Sun Shui's sharp eyes quickly spotted the ships as well, floating above the waves at a much lower altitude than she had expected.
"That is most unusual," a familiar voice said.
"Yes, captain?" Sun Shui asked, immediately recognizing the gruff tone.
"They should be flying higher than that. Our messages indicated as such that the oceans of this land are not to be trifled with. Whomever dictated the slowest ship be so laden as to overcome a portion of their flying ability is either a traitor or incompetent in the extreme. Such foolishness dictates the other ships must too fly as low, in order to render assistance if needed and for additional protection."
Yet the ships approached them, laden and low in the air, the banners of the Sun Clan flapping proudly in the stiff breeze above the waves. Beneath them, Sun Shui could see the various shapes of the denizens of these oceans flitting about in a cacophony of colors, her sharp eyes tracing their dizzying movements. Sharks, smaller abyssal sea beasts, dolphins, shrimp-like beasts swimming about, squid-like beasts with curled shells larger than palatial gongs, large sea turtles and countless others, all following along beneath the fleet. Did the contrast of shade make it suddenly easier to spot prey? Or did it offer a respite from the sun, when seeking the same in deeper waters might mean greater danger?
The captain of her ship conversed with the other from across the gap, his tone curt as explanation was given for their low altitude. Sun Shui heard only platitudes, excuses and talk of setbacks, all to make the meeting time so that their ships might reach the safety of the fortress before nightfall. Indeed, were it not for her uncle's position within the clan, the men sailing these vessels might have expected a great deal of punishment to await them, should their arrival be interrupted. Abusing such generosity of her uncle, however, would soon resolve into anyone foolish enough to do so courting more than mere punishments.
They might be left outside the fortress at sunset.
A familiar face appeared on the lead ship, turning Sun Shui's stomach. Zou Kang, alongside many others from the servant clans of the Sun clan, stood on the ship's main deck, looking out over the sides. Hiding her face out of instinct, rather than genuine fear, Sun Shui resumed her gaze upon the denizens of the seas beneath them, likely the only one to have done so, given the exchange of greetings between the crews and passengers.
Only… there was nothing beneath them but the waves. The sharks, dolphins, sea turtles, shelled squids, abyssal sea beasts… they were all gone.
Something wasn't right.
Sun Shui did not have enough time to cry out before dark shapes appeared from the water, leaping up and into the air with a terrifying speed. No, not simply speed, for their flippers continued to propel them through the air, jaws larger than people opening with massive gapes. Vicious toothy grins, short necks, and eyes that seemed to be crafted by demons stared up at her, the heads of said creatures nearly a quarter of their total length. As a pack of maws, these sea beasts latched onto one of the wider vessels, the sudden addition of so much weight destabilizing the craft's enchantments and beginning a descent towards the sea.
All at once, shock and fear spread amongst the fleet. The few crew aboard the deck of the attacked ship, more of a barge than anything, fled up and onto the lowering ropes of the nearest friendly ship, scrambling with all their enhanced speed and might to the safety of their fellows. Sun Shui saw more than one crewman make a leap to safety, or to grab onto the end of a long rope, only to be snatched by the jaws of one of the creatures erupting from the water, disappearing in a mist of blood and viscera as their devourer fell back to the ocean below.
"That it our primary provisions vessel!" she heard the other captain cry, even as the other vessels, his own amongst them, rose higher into the sky. "We must endeavor to save it-,"
A massive eruption of water followed a colossal pair of jaws, teeth longer than Sun Shui's arms flashing in the midday sun as a titanic form of the other sea beasts latched onto the falling vessel. It was enormous, larger than any creature she'd yet seen, and with the grace of a falling whale, it dragged the flying barge down and into the water. On contact, the vessel detonated like the fire lances she had seen the border guards utilize, the food, animals and remaining cultivators trapped within erupting and spilling out into the waters.
It was a horror to see them then swarmed by the smaller sea beasts, the waters churning red with the blood and guts of everything aboard that ship. One large section of the ship still afloat somehow, saw a pair of men struggle to bring aboard as many oxen as they could, waving frantically up to the fleet.
Them, their oxen, and the entire section of the ship disappeared as the gargantuan sea beast's jaws opened beneath them, sucking them into its maw before it closed with an almighty crash. The churning waters far below them, in a matter of moments, seemed to clear, the dark shapes within disappearing back into the depths as the last of their prey were dragged down with them, leaving little in their wake save for splinters and sodden remains of floating trails of rice.
Sun Shui stared in stunned silence, as did near the entirety of the fleet.
Sun Jin did not pace when he was anxious. He did not fret with his sleeves, he did not overindulge with food or drink, and he most certainly did not utter the kind of curse words that would make hardened sailors clap in appreciation. Yet here he was, sitting at the head of the great table of the feasting hall, the gathered heads of this expedition waiting for him to speak, a look on his face giving Sun Shui a great feeling of fear in the pit of her stomach.
Uncertainty.
Her uncle was never uncertain.
Sun Shui felt her breath hitch when her uncle finally decided to speak.
"This is a situation… most dire," he said. "With so many new arrivals, what we currently have stocked will be unlikely to feed us all, even if properly rationed. The ships will be unlikely to return quick enough with enough supplies to see us through not only our nutritional needs, but likewise our cultivation needs as well."
None at the table had anything to say to that. To sharply interrupt cultivation with the sudden loss of Qi-rich foods was a gamble few were willing to take. Without rhyme or reason, sometimes cultivators gained from such a fast, whilst others noticed no difference in the progress of their cultivation. However, a substantial portion of those to experience such a failure in access to Qi-rich foods would inevitably find their growth stunted, malformed, and in the most extreme of cases, crippled entirely. The resilience of one's innermost root was impossible to determine until one underwent such a fast, and none who were rising with the Sun clan's fortunes wished to test themselves in such a manner outside of a setting where the means to counteract such effects was readily available.
"There must be an alternative to attempt," one of the more distant members of the Sun clan said. Sun Bao was an older man, older than his cousin Sun Jin, and whilst experienced in cultivation, had deigned to allow her uncle to assume responsibility of this mission despite his seniority. "What of hunting the beasts of this land? Surely, with such an abundance of Qi running through the very air, they must be of exceptional quality, more than enough to both nourish our bodies and enhance our cultivation alike."
"Indeed, senior cousin, but our issues lie not with their abundance, but our ignorance of this land," Sun Jin said, hands clasped behind his back. "We are strangers in a strange land, and with that comes a woeful lack of understanding, an inevitability that we had hoped would be overcome with time and patience whilst we had the supplies to do so. We know of the plants and animals of these lands, but only those around our fortress, and know little and less of those further into the interior. Even then, what we do know is very limited, nowhere near enough to comfortably supply ourselves at a moment's notice. How are we to know what plants or creatures are safe to eat, or how to safely prepare them? In what ways might we most effectively harvest enough of them to offset our lack of further supplies until the supply ships return with more provisions? How are we to successfully harvest such plants and hunt such beasts when predators we have already suffered against lurk in the underbrush and the dark of night, waiting for us to expose ourselves to their hunger? Simply clearing the land for this first portion of the fortress cost us more cultivators than the last skirmish with the Tao clan in the War for the Seven Heavenly Rivers."
It was a tale Sun Shui had heard many times growing up. Generations before her grandparent's time, it was a war between middling clans that had seen their own overshadow those that had formerly been superior to them, and with that victory had come a bitter feud with the Tao clan ever since.
"What alternative do we have, other than to hunt the creatures around us?" Sun Bao asked. "It is courting the death of our cultivation to simply hope for the supply ships to return with enough provisions before we begin to starve."
"Whilst true, honored nephew, there is more to our options than rationing and blindly hunting whatever we may find," another said, drawing more gazes. Sun Shui had not expected Sun Lian to have come to the fortress so early, as she had not been expected to arrive until the third ring of the fortress was to be completed. An even older cultivator than Sun Bao who yet retained the vigor and youth of a woman in her prime, her expertise lay more in diplomacy between clans, foreigners and whatever guilds of craftsmen cultivators settled in the cities under the Sun clan's domain. "There is another, isn't there, honorable great-niece?"
The silver-haired woman's amber eyes fell on Sun Shui, who felt the gazes of the others fall upon her as well. "The foreign wild man?" she asked. What would her rescuer have to do with this?
"For a foreign barbarian, he is undoubtedly the most knowledgeable person on this continent that we know of," Sun Lian said. "Should any know what plants and animals are safe to eat, or how best to harvest and hunt them, let alone prepare them to avoid spoilage, it would be that foreigner."
"We need no assistance from that outsider, the honor of the Sun clan demands we solve our own problems this far from our lands," Sun Bao said. "Relying on others to solve our problems has never been our way, not since our founder's days in the first Emperor's glorious Army of Unity."
"He seemed to know what he was doing when, as I have heard, he rode that abyssal sea beast through the river and harvested an untold number of creatures, ones that none of us have seen before," the older woman replied. "Far be it from me to doubt the veracity of the reports of the numerous cultivators witnessing him sort through the creatures, as surely such actions indicate he knows which are best to eat, and which are best to simply release? If only I had been here to see it for myself…"
Sun Shui didn't have time to decipher the almost longing tone the older cultivator used before Sun Bao scoffed. "Who is to say he would not lead us to ruin, through deceit, incompetence or ignorance alike? We and he are nothing alike, no matter how little we know of him, and he is only but one man, a cultivator yes, but only one. We have our own hunters, let us use them to supplement our needs, rather than rely on a single barbarian."
Sun Shui couldn't form the words to counter such an opinion before a good number of those at the table voiced similar mindsets. Some agreed with Sun Bao on the honor of the Sun clan, others on her rescuer's unknown origins and more than one citing the man's inability to speak the Imperial tongue as a suitable reason to refuse his help. Among them was Zhao Kang, whose gaze Sun Shui refused to meet, and his voice was amongst the loudest supporters of Sun Bao's refusal based upon the Sun clan's honor. Sun Lian's own cadre of supporters, Sun Shui silently among them, voiced cautious favor towards seeking out the wild man, though with the platitude of at least attempting their own hunts and harvests before looking to him as a means of aid.
Sun Jin, his thoughtful expression otherwise inscrutable, declared they would only seek out Sun Shui's savior after they saw to their own attempts at hunting. Surely there were creatures of sufficient size in these humid jungles that would serve as a basis for feeding them, he argued, and with such a momentous decision settled, those at the table dispersed. Whether returning to their quarters in the fortress or upon the ships, preparing to set out for a hunt, or disseminating Sun Jin's decision, Sun Shui could not say.
"Honorable great-niece, a moment of your time, if you will," Sun Lian said, having remained seated whilst the room had emptied. Even Sun Jin, his decision wearing on him, had cited the need to rest before he would see off the hunters, and had left the two of them alone.
"Yes, honorable elder?" Sun Shui asked.
"This wild man of yours, were he to be able to converse with us, do you believe he would be willing to help us?" the older woman asked. "Whilst there are surely things we can learn from one another, and likely trade as well, did he strike you as the type of man to refuse a request of assistance from those that needed it?"
Sun Shui was silent for a few moments, wracking her brain for a suitable answer to a question she had never considered. "He is… was, when I was with him, seemingly quite determined what whatever task he set his mind to, honorable elder," she said. "Were it to be I who spoke with him, somehow, our shared history, though minor, might allow for a greater exchange than were he to speak with a stranger. It would be much more believable to him for I to request aid, I should think, as he provided aid for me without complaint or apparent desire for recompense."
"I see, a likely admirable quality, one that may benefit us without being exploitive," Sun Lian said, a thoughtful expression crossing her features. "I shall need to consult the contents of my personal storage ring to see if I yet have the necessary pills, but if what you say is true, we may yet have an avenue of salvation still open to us, should the hunts prove unsatisfactory for our needs. We shall have tea together when they depart, for I have more I must ask of you."
A/N: next chapter is ready but I need to tidy some things up in some earlier chapters and add some more reference images. WIll probably have the next one out within a few days. If I'm making any significant mistakes when it comes to cultivation and its tropes, please let me know, I'm basically diving into this blind just from reading other SI cultivation stories on here. Like ReplyReport Reactions:Kirikllz909, Kingdonut, l---erddad---l and 254 othersAbramus5250Jun 14, 2026NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Chapter 10 New View contentAbramus5250Not too sore, are you?Jun 15, 2026NewAdd bookmark#95Chapter 10
Sun Shui
The hunters gathered by midafternoon, not an hour after her uncle had declared such an expedition was to be mounted. From atop the fortress they descended upon the ship, departing with whatever supplies and weapons they would need to not only track and kill their quarry, but also to aid in quickly loading it into the flying ship. From there they scattered in every direction, disappearing into the treeline in groups of three and four, representing nearly every hunter they had on hand. Her cousin Sun Ling had volunteered to lead the largest group, all of them admittedly her junior in cultivation, but with her at their head, Sun Shui and the others felt they would assuredly find the quarry they were seeking.
From high in the fortress manor, looking out over the vast expanse of the surrounding treetop landscape, Sun Shui sat in contemplative silence, her great-aunt Sun Lian accepted a tray of tea from Ming Wu, who bowed and left without another word. Were it possible for the pair of them to do so, they might have subsisted off the drink rather than send out hunters, but such a feat was rare for a cultivator as far as Sun Shui knew, and the Sun clan had no such members in the fortress at this time.
"Enjoy it slowly, it will help calm your Qi flow after the day we've had," Sun Lian said, the kettle perfectly pouring a serving for them on its own after receiving a burst of Qi from the older woman. Such enchantments, combined with certain scripts etched into the teaware, were common in the repertoire of the greater clans, but rare outside of cultivation households in general. "We will need level heads to prepare for the inevitability of failure from the hunters."
"You truly believe there is so little faith to be had in them?" Sun Shui asked. "Sun Ling leads one of the groups herself, and she is among our most capable of scouts." The less said of how 'more' capable Ling had always been considered over her, the better.
"I do not doubt their skills, nor the strengths of their cultivation, but merely in the fact that the odds have been stacked against them so greatly by the unknown. Will some return with game in hand? Undoubtedly, the Sun clan does not suffer from ineffective hunters that cannot catch even a rabbit or other small game. Will some return empty-handed? Again, most certainly, as the land and its creatures are so unfamiliar to us, to where they may not even be such things as rabbits." The older woman paused, sipping her tea. "As to whether some will not return at all… what do you think, honorable great-niece? You have seen the wilds of this land more than any of us, as unfortunate as the circumstances were, and the hunters must keep in mind the approximate distance they will venture, regardless of their success, before needing to turn back in order to return before nightfall."
Sun Shui pondered this, the tea indeed soothing the conflict within her heart and meridians alike at the thought of what she had gone through. "There are… beasts, honorable elder, dwelling in these lands, ones that I barely escaped from. As to their abundance, I cannot say, but their feats of endurance, their intelligence, the savagery of their methods of attack and the strengths they possess… they are a foe we can never afford to underestimate. Surely Sun Ling and the other hunters have read the reports, mine included, on these feathered beasts, and taken suitable precautions?"
"Indeed I should hope so, which might have been why they are moving in groups, though whether they shall stick together or separate to cover further ground remains to be seen," Sun Lian said. "Your initial reports have captured my interest, and I must admit I read them more than once on our journey to this strange land. For the homestead of this wild man, what more can you tell me of the beasts he has in his pastures? Or of the crops of his fields? His orchards?"
"The fields were not yet planted whilst I was there, and the trees were still flowering. There is honestly little more to recall compared to what I have already written, as my uncle bid me to write everything I could possibly think of at the time. The ox-like beasts, those that resembled tortoises, mightier deer than I have ever seen, and that gigantic snakelike dragon who shook the very ground when it moved were what drew my eyes the most. They were all so strange to me, so different, and yet they were not of demonic origin, as some seemed to have thought, as they seemed entirely in order with the world we've found ourselves in."
"They all sound fascinating, especially when you mentioned there were likely even more such strange creatures further out into his vast pastures. I should very much like to see these plants and animals for myself, wild or domesticated," the older cultivator said. "Especially this mount of his, like that of a bear and a dragon matched with those strange flightless birds from beyond the steppe to the Empire's west. I believe they were called ostriches? I've not seen one since my time in the Emperor's menagerie in the capital as a little girl."
"You have been to the Imperial City?"
Sun Lian chuckled softly. "A few times over the years, but I've been all over the Empire in my time. Becoming a powerful cultivator and managing to accrue a good number of years in your life tends to result in greater responsibilities, as well as the ability to travel. From the great star forts of the western mountains to the great forests of the frozen north, and south past the teeming jungle rivers to the great balmy islands of a million little seaside kingdoms, all sending tribute to the Empire and its coffers. The latter was where I met my third husband, a bronzed god-king whose cultivation was strong enough to warrant such a union. Last I checked, our great-grandchildren still rule that kingdom, but I've not heard from them in years."
"You've been married thrice, honorable elder?"
The older woman smiled. "The path to Mount Tai often leaves little time for many things in life, junior great-niece, though those of us fortunate enough to find time to have a family are often more rewarded for it. I have had three families in my time, to three different men I tolerated, hated, or liked, giving all of them children of varying talents. In time, for one reason or another, my husbands died and I continued with my cultivation, leaving my descendants to live their own lives in cultivation or as mortals." She paused, as if struck by a thought. "I did not have any of my husbands killed, if you must know, I simply have outlived them through my cultivation."
Sun Shui had not been thinking of such things but was relieved to hear that.
"What of you?" the older woman continued. "Have there been any marriage offers discussed with your honorable uncle you feel free to share?"
"There have been… offers, in the past, but the blockage of my meridians and the halting of my cultivation's progress saw an end to those discussions," Sun Shui said. "Now that such blockages are gone, and I am able to advance once more, I am certain my uncle will receive new offers in the future." That most of the offers had come from either low vassals or servant clans was not something she wished to say.
"I see," Sun Lian said. "It is just a shame that you could not have ensnared that wild man with your charms, due to the differences in language. I am certain he would have been more than willing to share with our clan his knowledge and resources freely had he a nice Sun girl to warm his bed and bear him children."
Sun Shui looked away, incensed by her elder's words and unable to hide the blush creeping up her neck. "Honorable e-elder, he made no n-notion of the sort when I was in his care! He was polite, if a touch distracted by all his tasks around the homestead, and even if we could have spoken, such an offer would b-be improper, obscene even, f-for a guest to ask of their host and rescuer."
The clan elder shrugged, her silvery hair shining in the light of the descending sun. "We all must serve the clan in our own ways, junior great-niece. I have spread the bloodline of the Sun clan to two separate clans of the Empire, tying us by blood and affording us good allies should we need them, and to a now-powerful island kingdom in the south, whose tribute by right flows now more to our own coffers than that of the Imperial Palace, all the while continuing my cultivation. Other clans have intermingled with the forest dwellers to the icy north, the isolated mountain strongholds of the west, the great riders of the steppes, and even the distant princes of the desert oases farther west still. All marriages or intermingling of bloodlines are done to further the causes and power of the Sun clan, and always shall be, until the heavens reunite with the mortal realm." She paused once more, a twinkle in her eye as she glanced down at her robes. "Do you perhaps think this wild man would like an older woman?"
Sun Shui could not tell if her elder was purposefully flustering her, or was seriously considering such a course of action, and her blush was threatening to reach her face. "Until he can s-speak our language, or one of us his own, I haven't the f-faintest idea, honorable elder."
"Then it is a most fortuitous thing that I have in my possession just what may allow us to enlist his aid, should our hunters be met with failure or worse," Sun Lian, reaching into her robes and retrieving a small glass bottle. Within lay a single pill, the streaked color of several different varieties of poppy and brimming with all manner of Qi.
"Honorable elder, what is that?"
"A most rare pill I aided in developing with the alchemists back in our center of power, honorable great-niece, after reading your report. A fusion of two different pills for both cultivation and practical use, created beneath a new moon and whilst the Qi was in perfect harmony. When combining the process of both a Spiritual Parrot Speaking pill and a Wise Sage Moongrass pill, the results are extraordinary."
"That being, honorable elder?"
Sun Lian smiled, proud of whatever this achievement was. "Whomsoever consumes this pill and speaks with another, should their language be unknown to the one ingesting the pill, will be able to contextually learn and understand most of the foreign language within an hour. The Immortal Sage Speaking pill is perhaps the most expensive pill I have yet to aid in creating, with its cost comparable to the entirety of the ship I arrived on."
Sun Shui blinked in shock at this. Of the five rankings of creation when it came to items of cultivation, Immortal was second only to Celestial, the greatest of them all, and even seeing an Immortal item for one still well on her path to cultivating was simply unheard of. Just as stunning was the cost, as while her branch of the Sun clan was positioned along the coast, and with one of the Empire's mighty rivers running through the center of their territory, they naturally had a need for ships. After all, any clan worth their bloodline in the Empire had flying ships of their own, usually for the transport of passengers faster than carriages or walking could afford. The Sun clan's unique combination of location and strength thus required of them entire fleets of flying vessels, and even then, these were neither inexpensive to craft nor cheap to maintain. To think a single pill might be the same cost as one of these grand vessels…
"So then why not consume this pill yourself, should we meet with my rescuer?" Sun Shui asked. "Surely I am not a worthy receiver of such an incredibly rare and newly created tool of cultivation."
"A good question with a simple answer. He already knows you and has a history with you, as briefly as it might have been, and that gives you a currency of trust between the two of you I would otherwise be unable to spend. Besides, your innocence and junior nature in the clan afford you a greater degree of leeway, in that there are not as many expectations thrust upon you as there would otherwise be," Sun Lian said. "In essence, you are less likely to be seen in an untrustworthy or suspicious light, young one, and for a woman like to me to spring up from nowhere and suddenly be able to speak his language, with no prior contact? Even a barbarian like him would find that odd, and we can ill afford to exchange with one another under the clouds of mistrust. That," the elder added, a slight tinge forming on her cheeks, "and you are less likely than I am to ask too personal of questions."
Sun Shui was getting a good idea of what kind of personal questions her elder might ask as the sun reached the horizon. With the growing shadows, she looked out to see the day fading, when a horn sounded from upon the walls. Rising to their feet, she swiftly followed Elder Lian, wishing to see which hunting party had returned and praying for their success and safe return in equal measure.
The first hunters to return did so with bags and stringers filled with all manner of smaller creatures. Strange flying beasts, neither bat nor bird, whilst others brought in collections of fish, froglike creatures and sacks full of small beasts like those on the mainland. Another group brought in a pair of large flightless birds, each taller than a man and heavily muscled. Their large clawed feet and massive beaks were intimidating, but their combined quantities of Qi-rich meat would feed many that night.
The last group of hunters to return did so with wounds and wild eyes, terrified of the beasts they had tried to hunt or had instead attempted to hunt them. Those that still could speak mentioned enraged millipedes larger than a man, the size of stingers on scorpions longer than a man's arm, fleet-footed feathered beasts that Sun Shui knew to be the same that had pursued her, and something worse, lurking in the trees, able to snatch one of said feathered beasts right before their eyes before devouring it.
The sun dipped below the horizon, with the last group of hunters having yet to return. Sun Jin ordered sentries to keep an eye out for anyone making their way into the clearing, the cloudless sky and glow from both torches and a partial moon giving enough light for cultivators to readily see in the dark. The hope that the hunters were simply late from hauling back large game, or had gotten turned around, grew fainter and fainter as the night drew in, and darkness settled completely over the land.
When the sun rose the next day, only one hunter stumbled back into the clearing. Sun Ling, delirious, missing an arm at the elbow, and near comatose with fright.
She was immediately retrieved and her wounds were tended to, so that the healers may prevent infection of either her body or her Qi, as such terrible wounds could occasionally inflict. Waking unexpectedly from her sedated sleep after only a few hours, Sun Ling nearly had come to blows with the nearby attendants before realizing she was safe once more. Once she was calm enough, aided by tea and Sun Lian keeping her grounded, Sun Shui could only listen as her cousin explained how she had survived the night. After an attack by a large creature she had been unable to see, which had cost her the lower half of her arm, she had wedged herself into the hollow of a tree, high above the ground. By then, the others had been scattered by that same large creature moving amongst the tree trunks with a silence and speed that should not have been feasible. Were it not for her cultivation and the training that allowed for control over her own body, she would have bled out in that crevice long before sunrise.
Sun Shui knew that the loss of an arm was not the end of a cultivator's path, but without the proper facilities and supplies of the mainland, she would have to do without her arm for some time. Her normally jovial and playful spirit had been crushed by the time Sun Shui visited her, the scout wishing she had gone to the homestead instead of into that dark jungle. Many of those she had lost under her command were servants of the Sun clan, men and women she had grown up with and often cultivated alongside. That so many were gone, so swiftly, was a devastating blow to her inner state.
As for the others… those hunters never reappeared. The jungle had swallowed them whole, with nothing to show for it, and just like that, they were down even more cultivators. A small silver lining meant whatever foods they did have would be able to last them just a touch longer, but the Sun clan would not have grown to where it was now by sacrificing so many for so little of a comparable return and calling it acceptable, nor would they insist on doubling down on the same strategy that had clearly failed to work.
The very same day of Sun Ling's return, the remaining hunters departed again, in larger groups this time. Most of what they had brought back the night before had been edible, but some had fallen sick from the froglike creatures, so they were to be avoided. This group of hunters, departing that morning whilst Sun Ling lay asleep, had returned by midday with less food to show for their efforts than the first time, and well over half of the cultivators among them were now injured. To send out the injured again was folly at best, and the remainder would not be enough to hunt for them, even if they somehow began to find large enough beasts to slay. Some of the larger beasts, terrifying plate-backed creatures with enormous swords upon the ends of their tails, had horribly injured half of the hunters by themselves, their aggression astoundingly high for humans that were so much smaller than them.
At such rates of loss and injuries, they would run out of hunters before they began to starve, accelerating the trouble they had found themselves in, as even with the losses allowing for the food to last longer, the injured were now of no use to anyone, themselves included, and yet they would not be left to starve for their failures. Not even Sun Bao, who had come up with the idea, seemed ready to punish them by cutting their food, arguing they had done their duty to the best of their abilities, and that the land itself was a greater threat than anything they'd dealt with thus far.
Two days later, come the break of dawn, Sun Jin gathered them all once more, from those that had survived the hunt to those whose skills could come in use, or in Sun Ling's case, had recovered enough to leave the infirmary. A heavier weight had settled on them all, and with a single glance to Sun Bao, who remained silent after his support of the injured, they discussed their options. They had lost equipment, skilled hunters, and cultivators in total, and had barely gathered enough food over two trips to feed them all for the past four days. They still had their reserves, yes, but would still run out of food well before the supply ships could return, even if they made excellent time loading and setting sail.
"We go to the wild man, and seek his aid," Sun Jin said, his tone severe and his words final. "We are to take as many who can still hunt with us as we can, and with luck, may find our salvation at his homestead. Honorable niece, you are to be our voice with elder Sun Lian, given your shared history and her experience with diplomacy. Our hopes now lie on the two of you reaching out to him."
Sun Shui silently bowed with Sun Lian by her side, accepting this decision and burden, all for the sake of the Sun clan. Come midday, with what few supplies they could spare loaded onto their ship, and enough personal effects for those crammed onto the ship, they set to the skies, distant clouds appearing on the horizon as they ventured towards the interior. Towards, as best as Sun Shui could recall, where the wild man dwelled, and where their salvation might yet lay.
A/N: if I get too into the weeds with every chapter, this story will never get out properly. This is one of the failings of my continuation of other stories, where I try to make more of it than I need to. Hence why sometimes things might seem to move at a brisker pace than needed, but at the same time, we're not here to read soap operas and deep philosophical discussions on the nature of cultivation, we're here to see cultivators get humbled by a wild landmass teeming with Qi-infused and cracked out prehistoric life and a wild man unga bunga-ing his way through cultivation and his new life.
I'm not sure when I'll do image references for characters yet. Eventually I will, but I'd have to find what I'm looking for, and would prefer that over AI generating it at the drop of a hat instead.Last edited: Jun 15, 2026 Like ReplyReport Reactions:Rokkag, Kirikllz909, Kingdonut and 267 othersAbramus5250Jun 15, 2026NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Chapter 11 New View contentAbramus5250Not too sore, are you?Jun 19, 2026NewAdd bookmark#113Chapter 11
MC
I finished stacking the last section of firewood along the underside of my home's overhang, the southern exposure low enough that it would be well and dried before winter came. The pile for the cooking logs was already done as well, with a good supply stored away in the house for when I needed it. Wiping the sweat from my brow, my ears picked up the lightest rumbles of thunder in the distance, and given how the wind suddenly changed direction, I knew a summer storm was on its way. I'd already had a few this year, but this one might prove to be a rougher one, given I could already smell the incoming rain.
Turning to Bessie, who was content to watch me stack wood without helping, she followed the sound of the distant thunder, and immediately I noticed her body tense. Bessie didn't like thunderstorms, not only because of the inherent risk they could pose, but because of the trauma she'd suffered during our first