Paths Of Life Volume 2 : Path of a Warrior

Chapter 2 : The Ao Tribe

Ao Longwei was feeling dejected. Occasional soft sighs escaped his mouth as he walked through the forest. He was careful, making as little sound as possible. Avoiding the crepitant leaves on the ground, his eyes scanned for any clue that might lead to a prey. Footsteps, broken branches, faecal dropping : he systematically searched the forest but as usual he ended up finding nothing useful.

“What rotten luck! I must have been born under ominous stars.”

Two weeks had passed since he had last caught sight of a prey. The Village Chief had tasked them with hunting down at least ten animals by the start of fall. “Only then will we consider you as a novice recruit for the hunting party.”, he had said. The announcement had brought great excitement to the youth of the tribe. The most eager of the lot had set out into the forest that day itself, in a hurry to be the first one to catch hold of prey.

However to Ao Longwei, the announcement felt like the start of a nightmare. For someone like him who had only managed to snag three animals after diligently hunting in the Redwood forest for a month, hunting ten animals before fall began seemed like a far-fetched dream.

“It's all the fault of my dogshit luck. Everyone else in the batch managed to clear the test within a week. It is almost as if they find a prey as soon as they step out of the village and here I am, just praying to spot some deer poop.”

Every day, he was filled with shame as he returned to the village empty handed. He could not bear to tell his mother that the boy who used to be at the top of his batch had now sunk to the very bottom. It felt as if all that theoretical knowledge he had accumulated under

Master Zhen was all for naught.

He sighed one more time as he gazed up at the setting Sun. Another day had come to an end without any progress being made. It was time to check up on his traps and then hurry back to the village. He had installed those traps simply as a way to reassure his worried mind. He knew that most of the creatures in Redwood forest were too smart for the simple hunters’ trap he had installed but what if there was an animal stupid enough to trigger his traps? He could not take any chances.

Making his way through a thicket of bushes, Ao Longwei’s mind wandered towards his plans for the next day. “The fall is only a few weeks away. I can’t keep on doing the same thing expecting different results. Should I venture deeper into the forest? Perhaps I should start hunting in the night.”

Lost in his thoughts and having no expectations of his traps, he did not even notice the peculiar scene that had appeared in front of him. It was only when he stood right next to the trap did he comprehend the scene before him. An audible gasp leaked out from his mouth. As he looked at the three creatures cramped together awkwardly inside the net hanging from a tree branch, his mind was filled with glee.

“A rabbit and two monkeys?! ”

“Yes! Yes! I knew it. I’m awesome. The bad luck was bound to end eventually. And to think that I did not have much faith in my traps. They were set up by a genius like me, naturally they would catch some prey.”

Master Zhen had taught him that a hunter must always maintain a calm mind and a cautious body but in that moment, he had lost all composure.

“With these three animals added to my tally, it won’t be long before I manage to catch ten. Maybe I won’t even have to wait until next year to join the hunting party.”

Just like how any half-decent hunter would, he then went up to the net standing next to it examining his newly won possessions. The rabbit was the only one he could describe as normal. The monkeys on the other hand were a bit...special.

The one with flowing golden fur and an exceptionally long tail looked to be entirely unafraid at the prospect of being caught. It gazed ever so calmly at the young hunter. The serenity in those eyes gave away an illusion of intelligence. Looking at the golden fur interspersed with black stripes, Ao Longwei tried to recall if he had ever heard of such an animal inhabiting the Redwood Forest but none came to his mind.

“It could be an exotic breed. If it is then I have hit the jackpot today, maybe I can negotiate with the Chief and make a foreign breed animal count as good as two normal ones.”

“Oh! Is the other one also an exotic breed?”

But something felt particularly odd about this one. Glossing over the dark long curly hair, the frail stick like body riddled with scars and deep sunken eyes, Ao Longwei reached a natural conclusion : What he was looking at was definitely not a monkey for there was no tail to be seen. Was it an ape then? - unlikely given the lack of fur covering his body.

“No way! Why is there a person here?”

It was surprising enough that three creatures had fallen into his trap simultaneously but for one of them to be a human? No matter how much he thought about it, he could not come up with a plausible turn of events that would lead to this type of situation.

“Hey you! What’s your name? Where are you from?”

“I’m letting you know beforehand, it does not matter if you saw them first or if you caught them first since they ended up in my net, I’ll lay claim to the monkey and the rabbit. Which tribe are you from anyway ? And more importantly why are you naked?”

Ao Longwei’s efforts to communicate completely failed. The dark haired boy did not seem to understand any of his words. He continued shouting in his own bizarre language that Ao Longwei had never heard of before.

“He can’t speak our language? How weird, I thought the entire Western Frontier used the same language.”

“What a bummer though, my tally just down from six to five. There is no way the chief will agree to count this boy as one of the prey. But… catching a human is so much more difficult than catching an animal. Ideally, just like the exotic monkey, I should get bonus points for this boy.”

Ao Longwei was infamous in the village for such outrageous mental gymnastics. Despite his mother's best efforts to fix his personality, his ability to make absurd arguments that were favorable to him never disappeared.

“Regardless, no one will believe me if I just tell him that something like this happened. I’ll have to take this kid to the village.”

With those thoughts, Ao Longwei turned around with a huge smile on his face. He was trying to look as friendly as possible so that he could easily make this fellow follow him to the village. If only he could see his own smile in a mirror, he would know how creepy it was. The boy in the net also did not seem to appreciate it, shouting undecipherable words at him ever so slightly louder. Unwavered by the response, Ao Longwei only smiled wider with his teeth on full display.

“Mother always says, a friendship begins with a smile.”

His thoughts were pure but his face looked anything but innocent. Removing a knife from the sheath hanging off his belt, he approached the net. He planned to free the boy from the trap and then lure him to the village using food as a bait. Unfortunately for him , his captive was not planning to comply easily.

The sharp edge of the knife cut through the net in a single motion. The net tore open dropping its captives harshly on the ground. As soon as the boy regained his freedom, he grabbed onto the monkey and the rabbit and dashed away deeper into the forest leaving behind a baffled Ao Longwei.

Staring at the back of the frail young man, his fair skin disrupted by the scars on his body ,only one thought resonated in Ao Longwei’s mind.

“What the hell is wrong with that guy?”

...............................

“What the hell is wrong with that guy?”

Zhang Gui’s thoughts were in disarray as he ran with all the strength that he could muster. Holding the rabbit with his right hand and Bo with his left, he ran in a straight line far away from that crazy lunatic.

Zhang Gui had spent the last two hours struggling to find a comfortable position inside the cramped net. A trap created for a single small critter could not possibly hold a human easily. Bo, who was being grumpy, seemed to be blaming him for activating the trip wire. To top it off, the grumbling of their stomachs grew ever louder. The hunger was close to being unbearable. Which is why he was relieved when he suddenly saw a stranger wading through the thicket of bushes. But that relief quickly turned to disappointment when the stranger did nothing to help him despite seeing him stuck inside the net. Instead he seemed to be celebrating some sort of success by himself, jumping up and down and shaking his fists around.

It quickly became clear that neither of them could understand what the other was trying to say. Zhang Gui’s disappointment only deepened, he could curse and curse some more but if the target could not understand his words...what would be the point of cursing? Of course that did not stop him from trying.

But the cursing seemed to have the opposite effect- The stranger ended up smiling. The more Zhang Gui yelled, the more the stranger smiled. That ghastly smile was enough to induce shivering.

“Seriously what the hell is wrong with that guy?”

The stranger’s clothes seemed to be fashioned out of animal skins. A sheath could be seen hanging from his waist. Looking at his tanned brown skin and relatively muscular body, Zhang Gui was certain, “This must be the hunter who set up this stupid trap.”

The closer the hunter got to the net, the more nervous Zhang Gui got. His nervousness hit its peak when he saw the hunter gripping the wooden handle jutting out of the sheath, ready to draw the blade.

“Is he going to kill me? Why? Will I just die after having just so much to escape Hell? Wait! If I die, I’ll probably be sent back to Diyu and this time I will undoubtedly be tortured to death.”

He could almost imagine standing before Minister Wei again receiving his punishment when the hunter slashed the knife at him - or more accurately at the net. Seeing that he was yet to be harmed, he instinctively bolted, almost forgetting to grab Bo and the rabbit.

He had expected the crazy hunter to pursue him but he could not hear any movement behind him. Turning back, all he could see were the luscious trees swaying in the wind, with no sign of the lunatic to be found. The tranquility only made him more anxious.

"Perhaps he gave up on us?", as this thought provided him some comfort, a sharp whistling tone originated right above him. Bo tried to warn him but it was already too late. A pebble came flying by squarely hitting Zhang Gui’s head. Small in size but great in velocity, the pebble caused a jolt to spread through his body. His weak body could not withstand the impact and following the trend established in Diyu….Zhang Gui fainted.

As Bo traced the trajectory of the pebble, his eyes eventually landed on the highest branch of the tree next to them. Squatting on top of that branch, playing with pebbles in his hands, was Ao Longwei - the crazy lunatic hunter. He jumped down from the branch, gracefully landing next to them.

“Why did you run away from me? I was just trying to befriend you. Anyways, I can’t possibly just give up on my prey that easily, now can I?”

“Come on now young boy it is time to go back home. Back to the Ao Tribe.”