The next day began with Yun Jieshi performing his regular exercises by the stump. At this point, he felt as though pulling the bone bow's string was barely helping him train his muscles any more than before. His body had adapted quickly to the stress and his strength had increased significantly. His endurance was still lagging, but time would resolve that. It also helped that Yun Jieshi now enjoyed this workout. He was always motivated to continue past his limit.
Qui Tian didn't stop him after she found out that this was what he did after she left the cabin in the morning. That served as even more motivation for the little monkey to persevere.
Only after committing to ninety sets of the makeshift cable row exercises over ten minutes did Yun Jieshi start to feel the slightest pangs of pain in his delts, biceps, and hamstring muscles.
An hour later, while he was still at it, the hag came out of the cabin with his ruan and arrows, ready for the hunt. And indeed, they needed a lot more meat for the coming days.
But of course, they needed to make a pit stop at the garden. By the time they arrived, the little monkey was still feeling the burn in his muscles. The black-stalked flowers turned their attention to them as usual, but Yun Jieshi didn't shudder as vibrantly as before. He was safe with Qui Tian here and above all else…
'It's not that deep.'
On their way to find more prey in familiar and unfamiliar parts of the world on the other side of the Great Gap, they found themselves faced with the field of bamboo again. This time, Qui Tian urged them to go through it; Yun Jieshi imagined she was feeling adventurous.
To his dismay, the little monkey found that the little foxes from yesterday were following them again. There were four of them this time. Their little black eyes showed no emotion nor teased any of their intentions. It was creepy.
Even as they weaved through the bamboo stalks and shoots, their vision continued to be pinned on the duo.
'How are they so quiet?' Yun Jieshi thought. 'It's like they don't even exist. If it weren't for those little paw prints they leave behind… I'd really think they were ghosts.'
Yet another silver fox appeared as they went deeper into the bamboo field. Who had called him to the party?
Predictably, Yun Jieshi ran into more than an extra fox as they went. They spotted rabbits of varying colors. One of them dashed back into its burrow at the sight of them instead of playing a tune. None of them did, in fact.
The discount Sage frowned.
"What does it mean when they don't play their flutes? Is it bad luck?" he asked Qui Tian.
The hag shook her head. According to the little monkey's current extensive knowledge of Qui Tian's mannerisms, this particular shake of the head meant she didn't know the answer.
In this one instance, Yun Jieshi wished she'd just refused to answer. Her not knowing was rather scary.
"Why do they play the flutes?" Yun Jieshi asked.
"…Scared."
The little monkey got the meaning instantly, even though it was quite bizarre. The rabbits played flutes when they were scared?
What remained of his natural human tendencies debated over what this meant for the rabbits as prey for other organisms in this world. Seeing them was apparently good luck, so it followed that attacking them would incite bad luck, right?
Whatever the case, Yun Jieshi decided to spare them the anxiety. He sidled away from them every chance he got.
There wasn't much to the bamboo field. Soon, Yun Jieshi and the hag were out on the course toward their destination again. The foxes continued to follow after them, innocent curiosity shimmering in their eyes.
They almost seemed to listen to some of the conversations the duo engaged in too. It was tolerable after a while. Yun Jieshi only wished he could pat them. He had tried again to approach them, deftly, and while mustering the sweetest of intent. But in every case, the foxes flitted out of existence and appeared elsewhere.
The little monkey could only sigh.
As he and the hag were skilfully skipping over the stones to the second marsh Yun Jieshi had seen since coming here, the hag asked him a rather strange question.
"What… important…?" she said and pointed at him.
"What's important to… me?" the little monkey jabbed at his chest. When the hag nodded, Yun Jieshi contemplated.
What was the most important thing to him?
He found it a little sad that the answer My father, wouldn't be the most honest one he could give. He loved his father, but as it were, they were worlds apart now and Yun Jieshi had different goals now.
He had something more important to him than his father now.
"I think the most important thing for me now is… to find why I am here – why it had to be me," he said to Qui Tian.
And indeed, that was it for Yun Jieshi. It might have seemed like a simple statement, bland and uninspired, but it carried a lot of the controversies and questions that battled within his mind every day.
Perhaps how he lived his life and how it affected both his father, Yun Muyang, and his Li Chyou would be answered simply through him finding how exactly he arrived in the Lower Southern Plateau.
Qui Tian gave a nod but said nothing.
"What about you?" Yun Jieshi asked her. A part of him didn't expect an answer but to his surprise…
"Memory," the hag said, pointing at her head.
Quite predictably, Qui Tian didn't elaborate and seemed satisfied to leave Yun Jieshi pondering over she meant by memory. It was even a wonder as to what had inspired her to ask the question about what he deemed most important to him anyway.
Surely, it wasn't that dreaded marsh they had just crossed.
'Hold on. Memory. Is she talking about the urn?' Yun Jieshi thought, his eyes widening. That was the only thing that would make sense.
Qui Tian's voice came from that urn of hers, reminding her of something – some memory she wanted to keep close to her.
But what could that memory be about?
Well, Yun Jieshi deduced that it likely had to do with three things: Da Ya, the monster, or the beautiful cloak Qui Tian had nailed on the wall of their cabin.
'Maybe it's all three,' Yun Jieshi thought.
A screech that tore through the air nabbed his attention right then, and he looked to the sky.
'Come on! Another one?' he thought, exasperated.
A great bird, bigger than the one from yesterday, but not by much, was rising over the canopies of trees in the distance. Its feathers were a pretty royal blue, its beak dark and crooked. It must have been a Greater Blight Wind Pheasant indeed.
It was still hovering in place while looking around, as though trying to locate nearby prey.
"Well, I'm not in the mood for fighting that thing at close range. Besides, this is probably the best time to try this out," Yun Jieshi said and he looked around. Soon, he spotted a sturdy, frozen tree stump and beamed. "I'll handle this." He spoke as if Qui Tian had offered to help with the pheasant.
Taking one of his arrows from her, Yun Jieshi hurried with his bow to the stump and wound it around the frozen thing. The stump was taller than him by at least a meter and a half, which made what the little monkey hoped to do a lot easier.
Pressing his little feet on the stump and drawing the bowstring, Yun Jieshi nocked his arrow and pulled while aiming for the pheasant. It was rising higher and higher and had yet to spot them. The falling snow acted as cover.
Qui Tian watched the little monkey curiously.
His draw of the string was practiced and effortless, but his attempt to aim was amateurish at best. It would serve, however.
Yun Jieshi had all the faith in his arrow. It was after all:
A bone arrow soaked in the blood of an enlightened Qilin.
Gritting his teeth, Yun Jieshi pulled and pulled until he could pull no more. He wouldn't take any chances. His special eyes helped him guestimate if his aim was true; it seemed to be.
Only when Yun Jieshi's hands were beginning to tremble did he loosen the arrow and fall on his back into the snow.
The string slapped the ice-laced tree stump harshly, and a loud slap rang across the frozen scape.
The pheasant heard it and turned in the direction of the noise.
…But by then, an arrow had already blown through its shoulder and whizzed through into the sky.
The creature plummeted with a screech.
Yun Jieshi glowed.
"I really did it!" he cried.
He retrieved his bow from around the stump and urged Qui Tian:
"Come on! Let's go finish it off!"
And indeed, that was the goal. However… something curious awaited ahead of him, something beyond the felled prey.