The blackwood forest stood like a slumbering titan beneath the blue sky. From a far distance, its endless canopy rolled over the horizon likes ilk waves of dark jade with ancient , impenetrable and thick aura rolling of it edges. The sound of beastly roar occasion waved of from within the dark jungle.
Few dread to walked into the depths of this forbidden region, for generations the people of Blackscale villages told of a malevolent entity hidden within, who sucks and eat human flesh of any unfortunate and unlucky soul who fall into it layers. Whisperer of how the Blackscale overlord boa had once ruled this land, its roars load enough to shake the sky and earth open, causing weather changes from a mare hiss, it scales blacker than the night itself.
Travelers and historians said that it was the exhale of the blackwood boa, which is in the form of blowing thicket out of an industrial chimney, so dark that it affect the forest turning it into a region a pure darkness.
Dai Yaun stood at the forest's edge, his travel worn cloth sticking to his body in the cold gust blowing down on him. His steps faltered as he stared into the abyss of darkness, where winds case their movement and rustle seemed like a beacon of warning.
He had heard tales from his adopted grandpa that even the boldest hunters vanishes without traces once they stepped foot into the abyss of black forest, yet here he was, standing before the very place his food supply had run out along his way to here, without any choice of taking a detour.
There was no going back for him. The forest stretched for hundreds of li, from the foothills of blackwood forest to the stony river valleys beyond the Desolate Plains. It was a barrier of time itself.
He tightened the straps of his pack. And with that, he entered the Blackwood Forest.
The moment dai Yaun crossed beneath the towering trees, the world changed instantly.
The sun rays dimmed as though swallowed by a veil. The air grew heavy with humid and ancient aura. The forest presences pressed down upon him, as it seeping into his bones sending shivers down every inch of his body. Every step on the leaf strawn ground he make stirred faint echoes as if the earth beneath is taking note of another unfortunate soul.
Few hours walking inside the gloomy environment, dai Yaun sight adjusted to the lack of light and he was able to make out the shape and feel of his surrounding.
Thick vines hung like serpents between colossal tree trunks. Moss draped every surface in a dim emerald glow. Now and then, a low wind blow through the canopy.
Dai yaun's breath became shallow and measured afraid of staring what ever lies within the dark reaches of this forbidden ground. Though Yaun posses no cultivation his perverse physique, which is stronger and more resilient than most people's carried him with quiet steadiness as he gentle walk following the northern trail according to the direction given to him by elder Hei. The chirping of insects, faint dripping sound of water droplet and unseen movement of creatures in the bush adds a lively eeriness to the surrounding.
By noon, with which he could tell as the forest canopy thickened. Beams of light t speared through only in scattered beams. Sweat slicked his back, and fatigue weighed on his limbs, but he pressed on, afraid of becoming what was told in the history and story of the Blackscale exploits.
As he walked through the jungle dai Yaun would occasionally tap on tree trunks to avoid getting lost a habit which had become part of him from his recent life, feeling tensed due to how quiet and eerie the surrounding is, dai yuan kept his vigilance at maximum, occasionally looking around for any sign of danger.
"huh" stopping in his track, dai Yaun turned his head downward looking closely at their area beneath his foot. There He found an broken and worn out stone stale half-buried in the roots of a massive tree, but that was not the sources of his attentions as he bent down to feel the silky surface beneath his right foot which is a stark contrast to his other foot.
Running his fingers to feel what was beneath, as his hand comes into contact with what turns out to be a patch of fur from what seems like a rodent, dai yaun felt trailed from the mare thought of hunting for a game, but as his hand run across the fur and, he felt a faint shiver travel up his body, goose bumps covering half his body. The still warm and gelatinous liquid in contact with his finger tips took away any sense of joy he felt earlier, abruptly standing up dai Yaun contemplate going after the injured creature or not.
When he stepped back, the wind stirred and leaves over the broken stale rustled. For an instant, he thought he saw the outline of a dragon's shadow slithering across the mist, immense and regal, coiling around the ancient trunks. But when he blinked, it was gone.
His heart pounded, with fear but after blinking more and discovered that the phenomenon was gone dai Yaun sighed and his heart beat with awe the kind that made a man realize just how small he was beneath the heavens.
Clenching his fist, dai Yaun quickly bend down and began tracing the trails of blood faintly visible on the grass, after having a change of mind.
As the day deepened, he pressed further tracing the blood, dai Yaun wondered in amazement at how strong the vitality of the animal, he had probably walked over fifty meters now without the sight of the injured beast in his view.
The outer forest gave way to older trees so vast that even ten men could not encircle them. Their roots jutted the forest floor like sleeping dragons under the soil, and the air grew thicker with mist. He began marking his path with shallow cuts on the bark, but before long, he realized the trees seemed to shift subtly, paths twisting back toward where he had already walked.
As he stooped in confusion of the winding path, dai Yaun suddenly yanked his head forward staring closely at a well hidden cave hidden behind a gigantic root of a tree, the blood trailing leading deep into the cave the size of a baby goat.
Having tracked this unknown animal through the depth of the obsidian forest, dai yaun had followed the distinct, single-file tracks for miles, initially assuming to be a juvenile dingo based on the efficient gait on the the floor. But as the trail led deeper and past thorny thicket, he noticed a key detail, the hind tracks lacked the impression of a dew claw, and they were distinctly smaller and rounder than even a young canine's print would be.
The final confirmation came from the patch of soft mud near the cave's entrance. Here the felon must have paused, leaving a deeper, cleaner set of prints that clearly showed a five-toed fore paw print, a definitive identifier of a lagomorph, not a canine. It was then dai yaun realized he wasn't after a mundane predator, but a magical hare, from it share size.
Stepping back quietly, dai yaun moved quickly and quietly, using his axe to hack at thick, dry vines that draped from the canopy. He then wove these into a crude, strong net. Next he began digging a deep pit a few distances directly in front of the cave entrance, chopping continuously at the dark soil and roots with his axe, while occasionally using his hands to fling the soil aside. It was hard and slow work, though his stomach cries otherwise.
Once the pit was deep enough to trap the agile creature, he covered it meticulously. Using a well balanced thin, brittle branches which he placed horizontally over the hole, and then covered them in a layer of loose soil and the moss he'd scraped away earlier, perfectly camouflaged. He placed the woven vine net just in front of the trap, ready to be pulled taut.
Dai yaun then retreated behind a large, fallen log a short distance away. He reached into his pouch and pulled out a small, sharp rock, which he hurled into the dark mouth of the cave. The rock clattered inside causing a loud intrusion in the silent woods.
A pair of luminous yellow eyes instantly appeared, followed by the sound of furious scrabbling. The enchanted rabbit bolted from its lair in a flash of grey fur and crimson scale, enraged by the noise. It sprinted straight for the exit, hit the camouflaged pit trap, and plummeted down. The brittle branches snapped with a sharp crack.
As the rabbit scrambled in the deep pit, dai yaun emerged from behind the log, tugging hard on a vine he had anchored nearby securing his prey. The rabbit howled a metallic scream and shot off a blast of wind blades that harmlessly deflected off the thick net and the earthen walls of the pit.