Nine Paths of Asura-Original Wuxia

Chapter 20-Fishing For Carp

The verdant green banks of the river were lined with many different magical beasts. These beasts oftentimes fought with each other, but would congregate into different areas based on strength. There were areas of higher level magical beasts, as well as areas of lower level ones. It was precisely one of these lower level ones which Lineir was looking for at the moment. With the sun filtering in gently through the leafy boughs, he quietly slipped about the edge of the shrubbery, avoiding open ground. While not all magical beasts were hostile to humans, the overwhelming majority of them would forsake their differences with each other to target him. Thus showing himself carelessly in the open was akin to suicide. Only a fool or a great expert walks into a group of enemies by himself. Lineir was neither.

"Mmm no, the Eight Throated Water Lilies over there are a favorite place of the legendary False Water Serpents. That area over there is teeming with Dappled Buffaloes, the herd would trample you without a second thought, besides they aren't predators. That pride of Green Speckled Lions is nice, but the odds of catching a straggler are slim, and the adults are 2nd tier magical beasts, too dangerous at your level. Keep walking, we'll find something eventually, surely there must be some pathetic area with some sick or crippled animals you can hunt!" 

Mei was ruthless in judging Lineir's strength. While some might think this would tamp down his spirit, Mei only had the best in mind. Death was but one wrong step away at any time in the wilderness. Although it would be more accurate to say Mei more or less had Lineir's best interests in mind... 

"This disciple of mine has a strong ego. Stepping on it every once in a while is also good...Quick, over there, a perfect match for you!" Lineir felt a slight tug from the sword in his hand, as if it was pulling his arm and not the other way around.

"What... the hell... is that?" Lineir said. Mei wasn't laughing, but he was pretty sure that she was holding it in, 

"That, is a Scaly Segmented One-Inch Worm. It's named this because while its total length exceeds four meters, its brain is on average about one inch long. Of course, it has several of them, located at different parts of its body, so if you fail to destroy it completely, it will regrow quite quickly. However, while it has very low attack power, and its defensive behavior can be said to be so-so as it will just sit there and wait for you, it has quite the hard carapace. Thus, killing it and harvesting the magical core inside will be very beneficial to you. Also, it technically counts as a predator! It has been known to eat those Three Horned Goats, and at least has some slight combative instincts. Despite its appearance, it will put up more than enough of a fight for someone as weak as yourself!" Mei finished describing it while chanting, 

"An animal almost at the peak of 1st tier magical beasts, truly a suitable match for my disciple."

 Lineir was very skeptical. The thing Mei had referred to was currently sticking, half out, half in, the river bank and couldn't look further from the peak of anything but weakness. Yes, it had some scales which looked kind of hard, but it was really just a six inch thick length of grey worm. At a distance, it could be mistaken for a particularly thick coil of steel cable coming out of the ground. Unable to think of any reason to be cautious, Lineir burst out from the forest and rushed it, 

"Such a thing can't possibly be very strong, Mei is definitely playing a joke on me this time." Not even bothering to use his sword, Lineir let his deadly bone scythes slide out and complained, 

"It's not even moving... does it have a death wish or is it just too stupid with all its brains spread out across its body..." Using his hard earned training, Lineir dealt a fairly concise blow about a meter down the exposed portion. His hope was that if he severed the head, at least he thought it was the head, it was really hard to tell, the thing would go down. CLANG, with a bone shaking vibration, Lineir made a great expression of pain as the bony scythes cut in about an inch, then crunched to a halt. The worm itself wasn't even shaken enough to move a centimeter.