v6c37: The Master of the Forest

He Who Sweeps The Forest Floor Of Snow and Opens The Way—or Forest Sweeper, as his name was often shortened to—could not help the smile upon his face as he listened with rapt attention to the sword shaped like a human before him.

“Bi De comes from the side, his body alight with Qi. The bastard lifts a finger to bat him away. The finger should suffice—he is in the Imperial Realm. But it is not enough! A finger. Then two, then his whole hand is forced,” Shen Yu narrated, his voice bold and firm as he continued his tale of what happened during his battle. Shen Yu had previously detailed some of the battle in the warning he had sent to Forest Sweeper.

His kin were arranged in a circle, their eyes shining with admiration. The rooster stood tall on the antlers of Forest Sweeper’s apprentice. The mood in this clearing was almost… celebratory. There was food and drink, enough even for their titanic bulk, and his kin were clearly enjoying themselves. It had been a long while since such happiness had entered this solemn place, but it was right—the Great Enemy had been dealt a great blow. All the Ancestors deserved to hear of this triumph, and the demonic Qi within the giant black crystal impaled upon his antlers deserved to hear of their failures.

He felt the hatred and loathing of the sealed demons, writhing against their frozen prison.

‘And then?’ Forest Sweeper bellowed eagerly. He tipped up the massive mug, feeling warmth spread down deep into his chest. He had spent so long frozen he barely remembered warmth, but this seeped deep into him. Not the ice-melting power of a fire-aspected pill, but something different. Cleaner. A small bit of warmth for a weary soldier on guard, to keep him going through the cold and long night, with a final light kick of Qi to make it taste all the better and invigorate the body.

Shen Yu took a drink of his own, then grinned.

“It was but a hand, but it is enough. A moment of distraction, and that is all I required. A Demonic cultivator of the Imperial Realm had his head removed from his shoulders, and his very soul split into dregs!”

Forest Sweeper threw his head back and laughed. The rest of his kin let out their own bellows and jeers, making a wondrous mockery of the Great Enemy.

‘Holding all the advantages, yet still they were trampled under foot!’ Steps That Circle The North shouted.

‘Unworthy of our Ancestor’s prison!’ He With a Beard of Icicles and Frost declared.

‘How many years has the Great Enemy tried? And still, they’re defeated at every turn!’ She That Calls The Aurora taunted.

The ice crystal impaled upon Forest Sweeper’s antlers shuddered, so minutely it was only felt by him. He felt its prisoners’ rage and humiliation as they cursed their own kin for their failures, and whispered that if they were freed, they would visit a thousand tortures upon those that could not release them. Their impotent rage brought Forest Sweeper true joy; they smashed against the ice, trying to move, and when that failed, such was their agitation and humiliation that the separate consciousnesses within started to bite and tear at each other.

For a moment, the burden upon him was not so heavy.

‘Wonderful! Wonderful!’ Forest Sweeper declared, ‘Little friend Bi De, I raise a toast to you! Your strides may be small, but they surely shake the earth!’

The rooster bowed, polite as always. Forest Sweeper quite liked the little creature, and both of his masters. Especially the one that made this wonderful food and drink! And the syrup!

‘The little friend is a true hero!’ Steps That Circle The North rumbled, nodding in respect. He was in the Second Stage of the Earth Realm, yet he had only respect in his eyes for the Spiritual Realm rooster.

“And I am not the only one,” Bi De demurred. “Without my comrades…. and without Spooks especially, we would have been lost.”

That got the attention of the Thunderhooves. His apprentice blushed.

‘The Young Master saw battle? And a name already?’

‘So young, and already dealing blows to the Great Enemy!’

‘The Young Master’s antlers are a crown; Master Forest Sweeper’s eye for his successor was unparalleled.’

“It’s true! Yun Ren, show them!” the woman with a streak of green in her hair demanded.

“You got it!” the fox-man said, bringing out his recording crystal. It chimed, a frozen hallway appearing, projected onto the trunk of a nearby titanic tree. The corpses of near a hundred demons were piled high on the floor. The image changed and showed the fox-man and Forest Sweeper’s apprentice—both ragged and covered in wounds, supporting each other. Ri Zu was tending to both their wounds, her hands glowing with green light. “Without our boy we would have been rice husks!”

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‘Tell us! Tell us of your battle, Young Master!’ came the clamour. Spooks looked uncomfortable at the attention and gave Yun Ren a glare, butting him lightly with his antlers. The human stuck out his tongue and laughed.

Forest Sweeper looked on with a smile, and listened well to the tale of his apprentice. Spooks. It was a fine name for the youngling, and he was going to be the future Forest Sweeper… but he needed something with a bit more gravitas.

He Who Instills Fear in the Wicked?

That had potential.

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The merrymaking continued, and the Ancestors were most pleased by the tales of their enemy’s defeat.

But such things could not last forever. The young ones were turned loose into the forest to collect every kind of seed and nut they desired, to take back to their Master. His kin served as their steeds, for they knew of the secret places where to find such things, from the basest mortal plants to the treasures of cultivation within the forest.

He could hear through his avatar their laughter and cheer, and their speculations on how what they collected would taste later, a most amusing pastime.

It was only with half an ear he listened, however, because now it was time for business.

‘And who would come into my forest, Shen Yu?’ he asked.

“Both my Emperor and my Sworn Brother wish to treat with you,” the sword intoned, his face serious. “It is, however, just a request. If you desire not their presence, then I shall not tell them where to find you.”