The Urban Dao Child

Yang Dao was walking through the woods with two big golden-core beasts by his side. While the whole group followed in silence they all had no idea how to describe the scene in front. Thale asked, “Is this all really happening?”

Daina did not say anything just pinched his forearm hard. The boy wanted to scream out but his mouth was covered by Kai from the side. When the little girl let go, Thale said, “What are you doing?”

Daina said, “You felt pain?”

Thale rubbed his arm and said, “Of course I did.”

Kai said, “It is real.” in his usual muffled voice.

Thale said, “Can you people not be so cruel?” he was getting angry now. These people would always exploit his amiable temperament.

Daina pointed a finger to the front and Thale immediately calmed down. He did not know what might happen if his anger in turn made the two beasts angry. What surprised him the most was how Yang Dao was skipping between the two beasts talking like he was old friends with them.

Alisha said, “Young Master can communicate with spirit beasts easily and it seems to be an innate skill. He even made friends with the luan bird.”

Jake asked, “Where did you find a Luan bird?”

Daina replied, “Oh, it is a nascent realm beast beside Athena. Dao made friends with it and the two of them almost killed us mid-flight by a crazy stunt.”

She recited the whole scene of Yang Dao and them arriving at the test site. The people felt their throat was parched and they all gulped in a mouth ful of saliva. Suddenly, Jake said, “We are here. I should tell them.”

Thale nodded and Jake moved forward.

…

The black wolf sensed someone approaching them from behind and stopped. He turned his head back and let out a muffled growl. Jake froze in his steps and Yang Dao asked, “What happened Senior brother Jake? Are we here?”

The guy nodded. Yang Dao said, “Big brother wolf, if you and sister go inside, then the rest of your beast kin might look down on you for helping us, humans. How about you give us some fur and we will attract that five-colored boa. Then after we take away the firefly rose. We will leave and you can kill it.”

The two wolves thought and six heads nodded altogether. The black wolf walked to a tree on the side and rubbed his furry back on the truck. Some of his furs were trapped in the shallow gaps on the bark. The white wolf did not same. Yang Dao nodded collected black fur only. He said, “Senior brother Jake, you collect the white fur and keep it separate.”

Jake nodded and collected the fur, nervously under the gaze of the black wolf. Yang Dao asked the two wolves to stay at the outskirts of their territory and when they were done, they will call them over. The wolves complied with this.

Yang Dao and the rest walked ahead and the boy asked, “Five colored boas so hateful to these wolves, any special reasons? They are so cute.”

The people wanted to scold him and say that only he was abnormal enough to find these wolves cute. Thale said, “The three-headed wolf is a beast that can absorb a lot of moonlight in their beast core. The five-colored boa is bigger in size and needs a lot of moonlight essence to grow. So, they hunt these wolves. The three-headed wolf leaves alone and is a mutated beast. They are rarely found as adults.” ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​

Yang Dao nodded and said, “Should I ask them if they want to go to supremacy? I can rear them.”

Alisha said, “Young Master, we should let nature take its course.”

The boy nodded and the group arrived inside the territory of the five-colored Boa. Dwaj and the rest did not speak at all, they all stood at the back with Alisha and watched in silence. Thale and Jake hunted a pheasant and then they cleaned it. They stuffed the pheasant with essence weakening grass and stitched the black wolf fur on the body.

Jake said, “This five-colored Boa has negligible eyesight, but the nose can smell a lot. However, the smell of the spirit beast fur is ten times stronger than a normal pheasant, so it can attract the snake out. Though, who will place the bait.”

Yang Dao said, “I will do it.” with that said before anyone else can react, the dao child controlled the fire element and slightly roasted the pheasant. Then they to the area where they could see a golden glowing rose, blooming in a clearing.

The firefly rose was called as such because it emitted sparks constantly that would extinguish quickly. It looked like the whole thing was surrounded by fireflies. Yang Dao did not find the five-colored Boa anywhere. Jake said, “Do not underestimate the cunning of this beast. It lurks in the shadows, the reason you cannot see it is because of the camouflage effect.  Just toss the pheasant and wait, it will come out.”

Yang Dao nodded and tossed the pheasant at a spot between the firefly rose and the treeline. They all then hid. The dao child had used fire source energy on the meat to roast it and now they climbed the trees to hide, he secretly used the wind source energy to make the fragrance linger around the area.

He also used the earth’s energy to make it seem like the pheasant’s heart was beating. The size of the pheasant was equal to a wolf cub, and since the beast could not see the appearance it could be fooled. As Jake predicted the Boa came slithering. It did not make its way straight to the pheasant but circled it. This was to make sure that this was not a trap.

The people waited calmly and after making sure that it was not being entrapped the Boa struck the pheasant and swallowed it whole. After a few minutes, the beast moved back to its burrow. Thale said, “Now we wait for ten minutes.”

Yang Dao and the rest nodded and they waited for the said ten minutes. Jake was the most agile among them and he rushed down the tree, using his movement technique, he appeared next to the firefly rose and carefully removed it from the ground, and stored it inside a jade box.

However, things were not so smooth in life. Suddenly a strong hiss attracted his attention. Jake cursed, “Shit.”

Thale and the rest had come down the trees and found that a five-colored Boa was rushing at Jake like a flash and the size of this beast was twice that of the one who ate a pheasant.

Thale shouted, “Jake move.”

Jake reacted and circulated his movement technique. He moved back, but the beast was very quick. It was already upon him, it opened a mouth lined with sharp saw-like teeth, ready to bite Jake Suddenly a huge impact made the beast divert from its line of target.

Kai had appeared on the side and his hammer had saved Jake’s life. Yang Dao and Daina also jumped in. While Thale and Kai were preparing for a counter strike, the dao child had taken out his sword and asked in a loud voice, “You guys, where is the weakness of this guy?”

The impact from the hammer could have made a boulder turn to rubble, however, this beast was fine, just a little dizzy. This meant the scales were not for show. They were really hard. Jake replied, “Tenth scale below the neck.”

Yang Dao clicked his tongue while he rushed forward. However, his charge was disturbed by the snake tail swiping from the side. Thankfully the hindrance was taken over by Daina and Kai. Thale and Jake also jumped in. The size of the beast was two-meter thick and twenty meters long. What was even more, it was spitting fire from its mouth.

They were taking two steps back at every four steps forward. Jake said, “The fire burst is poisonous. Be careful.”

Yang Dao was getting impatient, he took a step back and retreated from the front. Dwaj saw this from the top of a tree and scoffed. He wanted to belittle the boy when he heard a tender voice say, “Senior brother Thale, move out of my attack zone.”

Yang Dao held his sword diagonally aimed at the fire-spewing snake and said, “Storm Slash.”

The next thing everyone saw was the boy’s figure appearing near the five-colored boa, standing right below it, and his sword turned into an afterimage before it was placed back inside the sheath. Then the boy retreated and the head of the five-colored boa tipped to the side before falling to the ground with a dull thud.

Everyone just stood there like a puppet unable to wrap their mind around what happened.. Their eyes were focused on the small boy who stood in front of them panting slightly.