A bird hung upside down from beneath a blue-leafed branch, feasting on the faintly glowing sap that trickled down the tree’s bark. It was the size of an ordinary hawk, one of the smallest demonic beasts Tsem had seen. From the qi he felt it giving off, he guessed it was low grade 1. If he tried to fight it, Tsem would stand little chance, not without qi of his own to draw on. He wasn’t here to fight it though. He was here to hunt it.

  “What do we do now?” Tsem asked. It was the fifth day he’d spent hunting with Da Kanuk. More than enough time for him to understand just how little he knew about hunting, or even just surviving in the wilderness of the frontier.

  “No.” Da Kanuk held up his hands. “This one is all yours.”

  Tsem stared at the young cultivator in shock.

  “Don’t look at me like that. Show me what you can do. You can handle it.”

  Tsem sighed, looking at the bird’s sharp talons, talons he knew could cut him to ribbons. He didn’t feel ready, but he forced himself to look at the situation. What would Kanuk look for? The first things he always mentioned were about the prey itself.

  Tsem watched the demonic beast as it ate its meal. He did his best to analyze it. He could feel the demonic qi in it. There were plenty of qi types in the world, but supposedly only two that cultivators couldn’t gather. The primordial types: demonic and divine qi. Only very particular species of beasts could gather those.

  Demonic qi didn’t come from some evil plane as Tsem had imagined when he’d first heard the term, rather, it was the embodiment of aggression, restlessness, chaos. Beasts that controlled it were, with few exceptions, incredibly vicious. They killed regular animals indiscriminately, making whole regions inhospitable to the people who lived there. In most places, they were hunted down by cultivators as soon as they appeared. That wasn’t the case in the frontier where demonic beasts were the norm, and other animals had long since been hunted to extinction.

  Tsem did his best to move past the foul qi, his attention naturally moving to its wings. They seemed to have excellent proportions, and its dark blue and brown feathers were angled in a way that suggested speed.

  It moved from branch to branch and Tsem followed it carefully. It was certainly agile, but despite it being absorbed in eating, Tsem was a little surprised it hadn’t noticed him at all. He suspected a regular hawk would have.

  He mulled things over in his head for a while. The demonic beast seemed in no hurry to finish its meal. Tsem eventually moved away, practicing the footwork Kanuk had shown him and moving as quietly as possible. A plan had started to take shape in his head, but he would need some time to set things up.

  The first thing Tsem did was gather stalks of needleroot. They were a strong, straight plant that grew only in the deepest parts of the nearby stream. He had to set his one pair of clothes aside and dive down to pull the stubborn plants up. Thankfully, it being halfway through summer, the water wasn’t too cold. It actually felt a little refreshing.

  When he felt he had enough stalks, he began tying their ends together. Tsem’s knots had never been the best, so, he spent time on each, making sure they were secure. This was going to be dangerous enough without those knots coming undone at a critical moment.

  After about an hour, Tsem had two nets sitting in front of him, though one was much bigger than the other. As a final touch, he made sure to tie heavy rocks to the edges. Then he set about tying the big net between two trees. He had to do some improvisation to make sure it was secure enough in the trees that it wouldn’t fall down from a gust of wind while not being too steady.

  The small net, Tsem took with him. If all went to plan, it would be all he needed. Well, that and his little knife.

  The demonic beast was still feasting on the tree which seemed to have no end to the blue sap that ran down it. Tsem crept as close as he dared, net at the ready, waiting for the perfect opportunity. It tested his patience. Every few minutes, the hawklike creature would move to a new branch, a thicker run of sap. With each, Tsem prepared his arms to throw, but every time there would be a branch in the way, or his prey would move a little too quickly.

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  Eventually, just as he was losing hope in his plan, the opportunity he’d been waiting for came. The demonic beast flitted through the air lazily, content after gorging itself and lulled by the sun’s warmth. Tsem heaved his net into the air and carefully watched his aim. At the last second, it noticed the net hurtling toward it and put on a shocking burst of speed.

  The net snagged on the hawk’s trailing claw. For a horrible moment, Tsem thought it would stay airborne. Its powerful mottled blue wings thrust downward with great force, and it seemed to half right itself, but the weight of the rocks was just enough. It went tumbling to the ground, the net twisting up and tangling the creature as it started panicking.

  Tsem let out a victorious cry as the net carried his prey to the ground. He couldn’t believe he’d done it; it had seemed too easy. He hadn’t even needed his backup plan. He started moving towards the downed demonic beast, reaching into his pocket for the knife to finish things. That was when he realized something. The rocks were going to bounce.

  Tsem flung himself to the side as a blue streak flashed past him. Freed from the net, the hawklike creature didn’t act like your average bird might if you threw a stone at it. No, this was a demonic beast, and it was out for blood.

  After barely missing him, it looped around a set of trees, leaning into the turn to make itself even faster. When Tsem pushed himself back to his feet again, he saw blue feathers flowing backwards, and a wide-open beak poised to tear. He rose his arms up in desperation, and claws tore furrows through his skin, digging deeply.

  He heard Da Kanuk call out, but not even he would be fast enough to save Tsem. The same overwhelming feeling of terror that had turned him into a shivering mess in the pool of mud only a few days before rose within him. It wasn’t bravery that kept Tsem from collapsing this time, it was his backup plan.

  That second net sitting only a few dozen paces away was his anchor. Every time they hunted together, Kanuk insisted they setup a fallback option. This was when it needed to come into play.

  Tsem did his best to dodge or hamper the beast as he ran towards his net. Talons seemed to reach for him from every side. On one pass, he managed to fall into a roll, fully evading its dive, but it caught him as he got his feet under him, tearing into his shoulder—though thankfully not too deeply. On the next pass, he threw an elbow at the bird, but it just slipped past, deftly plunging its beak into his back.

  By the time Tsem neared his net, he was sporting a dozen wounds. He turned to face his attacker, tracking it with his eyes as best as its speed allowed. Its own eyes met his gaze, furiously challenging him, promising death. It moved towards his neck with fury.

  Tsem took in a shallow breath, preparing to dive away. At the last second, he realized he wouldn’t make it in time, and even if he did, it would circle around before running into his net. It wouldn’t work. There was just one thing Tsem could try now. He set his injured arms in front of him again.

  His opponent swept towards him, cawing out a mighty qi-infused challenge that made him want to cover his ears. Tsem stood his ground the best he could. He moved his hands, twisting them in an attempt to grab the thing. It didn’t work; the beast was too fast. It plunged its talons in again, just below his wrists.

  That’s fine. Tsem told himself. Right now, it’s trapped. Tsem flung himself backward, demonic beast still attached to his arm with its talons. His net crashed over them both and Tsem drew his small knife. The creature tried to leap away, its instincts to put distance between them, and make use of its overwhelming speed again, but the net kept it close. Tsem plunged at it knife first.

  Tsem would have liked to say he had the advantage, but even with nowhere to move, the small bird managed to put up an incredible fight. With blows that left bruises, it knocked his arms aside again and again with its wings. He held onto the knife with strength of will, and eventually, he caught it off guard with a knee to its head. In that moment, he plunged the knife down, stabbing it, using all his strength to push the blade past the internal qi it burned to resist him. Eventually, blessedly, it stopped moving.

  Da Kanuk lifted the net a moment later, letting Tsem out and checking his wounds over. “Well, you’ll live.” Kanuk eventually commented sounding more than a little guilty.

  Tsem grimaced. He hurt everywhere, but looking down at the demonic beast he felt a surge of achievement. It hadn’t been clean, it hadn’t been painless, but he’d hunted a demonic beast on his own. “I did it.”

  “You certainly did.” Kanuk said with a low laugh, putting an arm around his neck. “We need to get you to a healer though. I’ll take you back to my clan, its just half a day’s walk down the stream.”

  “No.” The word came out of Tsem’s mouth before he realized what he was saying. He looked up at Kanuk half-expecting the cultivator to be angered by the refusal. With a shake of his shoulders, he moved away, bowing down instinctively, hoping not to look too defiant. Kanuk didn’t look mad though, just confused. Tsem decided to press his luck. “I don’t want to stay like this.” He gestured down at himself. “You said I have something to prove.”

  Kanuk nodded. “And you proved it. You hunted a Ghalri Raptor on your own, without qi, without any cultivation at all.”

  “No.” Tsem wasn’t entirely sure what he was feeling, at least not enough to put things into words. He was proud of what he’d done. Fighting demonic beasts was a job for cultivators. Half of the stories his parents had told him had involved heroes facing off against the qi-using monsters.

  Da Kanuk didn’t seem to have the same confusion. He gave Tsem a respecting nod, reaching into his pack. He pulled out what looked like a decorative vial. “Lifetender pills. They’re of a low quality, so, they don’t really do anything for me anymore, at least nothing that my cultivation can’t. They may just keep you alive though. They’ll help your body heal and fight off infections.”

  Tsem took the vial, bowing as he did. “I have no idea how to thank you…”

  “And take this too.” Tsem felt a piece of parchment pressed into his hands. “It’s a basic hunting manual. You’ll find most of the demonic beasts present on the lowest layer of mount Ghalri.” Kanuk held up his hands to fend off a protest. “We give those manuals to every hunter connected to our clan.”

  Tsem looked at the cultivator in front of him, swallowing a lump in his throat. Nobody had ever given him pills made by an alchemist, even low-quality ones. He was sure the knowledge in that manual would be invaluable too.

  Da Kanuk caught the look and thumped Tsem on the chest with a closed fist. “If you want to pay me back, stay alive.” He grinned. “If you can’t find whatever you’re looking for in the wilderness, come visit my city. It might be a little rustic compared to those you’re used to on the northern continent, but I like it well enough.”

  Tsem laughed despite himself. “I barely ever set foot outside my village before I came here. If I go to your city, it’ll be the first one I ever see.”

  The pair split up in opposite directions. Kanuk traveled downstream back to his city, and Tsem walked upstream, deeper into the mountain’s shadow.