Chapter 3

Chapter 3 — Beast Blood
Following her collapse, the memories she hadn't yet digested once again bombarded her.
She was foreign to this world and dynasty.
Shenzhou Continent; a land where martial arts was revered.
The continent was divided up into three major powers: Zhou Dynasty, Long Xu Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Ann. The three countries were spread in a triangular layout with Beast Forest occupying the middle.1So.. something like this.
Beast Forest was, unsurprisingly, infested with magical beasts, and even a martial pract.i.tioner would find it a dangerous place.
She, Yun Wu, was the youngest daughter of a concubine from Zhou Dynasty's General Manor, known to the population as the sickly good-for-nothing Ninth Miss.
In Shenzhou Continent, every child would take an innate test on the first full moon subsequent to their birth. Her result had been a zero; a congenital good-for-nothing. Moreover, her body was weaker than the average person's. This was especially true when she was one year old, during the time her birth mother wordlessly vanished, leaving the young Yun Wu to be abandoned in a hut within General Manor's back mountain and forced to fend for herself.
Even under the mistreatment of the other concubines, her sisters, and the servants, she had managed to stay alive for 15 years.
Yun Wu didn't know why she acquired all of the memories dating back to the original body owner's birth, but she marked down every single instance of desolate humiliation from being bullied.
Right. Since she, Wu Feng, became Yun Wu, she would help the original Yun Wu pay back each and every episode of humiliation she'd suffered.
~
Three days later
Yun Wu finished drinking the last mouthful of beast blood before rising from the body of a red-striped tiger. The inside of her mouth was stained with the nauseating taste of blood, but the warmth that began to permeate her body evoked from her a bloodthirsty smirk.
Magical beast blood, as it turned out, actually had great nourishing effects.
Spending the past three days in the forest, she had encountered a vast variety of magical beasts. She was already very calm when faced with the oddly colored animals, because this life gave her no time to be astonished or to slowly adapt.
All she knew, was that if she wished to live, she must become stronger, stronger, and stronger again….
For three days, every magical beast that neared the bottom of the cliff was killed by her, and she would then drink their blood.
Her battered body was healing little by little, albeit very slowly.
As for that elderly voice she'd heard, it came from the necklace she'd been wearing since birth. The necklace turned out to be a sacred relic left behind by a sorcerous clan, and she had awakened the spirit inside of the necklace.
However, the spirit told her that because her current body was already technically dead, there was no way for him to establish a contract with her. He only told her about drinking magical beast blood and digesting sage gra.s.s to prevent her body from decomposing, and afterwards, the necklace never moved again.
Beast blood?
She drank three days of beast blood, and her slit tendons had then mysteriously grown back.
Sage gra.s.s?
As the "G.o.dly doctor" of a 21st century a.s.sa.s.sin's organization, although she hadn't tasted every existing herb in the world, she was nonetheless very much well-versed in pharmacology and herbal medicine.
She'd searched the nearby vicinity for days, yet she still wasn't able to find any sage gra.s.s. That meant she would have to browse deeper into the forest.
It was a full moon. The forest's beasts seemed to be restless and eager to stir trouble.
Yun Wu concealed her breathing. As she lurked through the forest, her speed stayed consistent until a rank two Striped Leopard blocked her way.
Her silhouette flashed. Once she was pressed against a large tree, she released a handmade feldspar weapon smeared with poisonous herb extract. Coated with moonlight, the feldspar flew in the direction of the resting leopard and sunk into its head.
Sneak attacks were an a.s.sa.s.sin's specialty.
The leopard's roar cut through the forest sky, finally shattering the forest's eerie silence. The leopard swiped at its head, and blood gushed out when the feldspar was dislodged.
By then, Yun Wu's pet.i.te body had already stealthily slipped away. Underneath the cover of night, she noiselessly eluded the areas ridden by beasts and charged straight into the depths of the forest.
Deep inside the forest was a remote lake. Its surface sparkled and shone with the reflection of a round moon, beautiful and uncanny. An a.s.sortment of plants encircled the lake.
Seeing the plants all around, Yun Wu's pursed lips slowly curved into a predatory smile. She picked out a few high-quality medical herbs to chew on and simultaneously gathered some herbs that would reduce inflammation and help with suppuration2 Suppuration is when a wound festers and pus comes out..
Beast blood could nourish and repair one's meridians but did nothing for external wounds. Her mangled wounds were starting to suppurate and become inflamed, giving off the foul smell of festering flesh.
Engulfed in moonlight, Yun Wu took off her tattered, barely adequate clothes and stepped bare into the deep lake. When the ice-cold lake water came in contact with her wounds, it brought her a succession of sharp, spasmodic pain, but she showed no hesitation. With her pale hands, she washed away the crushed rock fragments that were stuck in her flesh and slowly reduced the amount of decayed flesh on her body.
Beads of cold sweat slid down her forehead, but she did not utter a sound, nor did her eyebrows furrow. Only her breathing became heavier.
The lake water around her was eventually dyed blood-red.
When Yun Wu got out of the water, the wounds on her body were dripping with fresh blood. Yet she turned a blind eye, sat down by the lakeside, and took the readied anti-inflammatory herbs into her mouth. She chewed on them and applied the saliva-covered herbs onto her wounds.
VIN: Would you guys say she’s cold, unfeeling? I feel like she’s just plain savage. The actual chapter t.i.tle is “Drinking Beast Blood” but I thought it’d take away some of the impact, so I left it at “Beast Blood”~