Before long, noon arrived. The sunlight outside grew stronger, but the bamboo forest remained cool.
The two found a place to rest and took out rations to replenish their strength.
After eating, they pressed deeper into the forest. About half an hour later, they suddenly stopped.
Bamboo Waves stirred softly, rustling all around them.
Xuantian focused, sharpening his Perception and listening intently.
Amid the sound of bamboo swaying in the wind, he could faintly hear something else.
He listened carefully and finally made out a few roars, so faint he could tell neither where they came from nor what made them.
Curious, he worked out the general direction and continued along the riverbank.
After another stretch, the strange sounds grew clearer.
Listening again, the two realized the sounds were not coming from ahead. They seemed to come from deep within the bamboo forest.
After a moment's thought, Xuantian followed the faint roars, striding toward them.
They went a little farther, and the sounds carried on the wind grew clearer still.
They could now tell that the deep, thunderous roars came from some kind of beast.
Judging by the depth and carrying power of its voice, the creature was probably enormous.
Beneath those roars, they also heard a low, vicious hiss.
The hiss was not especially loud, but it vibrated so rapidly that hearing it brought on a faint, unpleasant dizziness.
By now, the roars and hisses rose and fell without pause. The two could guess what lay ahead: a massive beast and another creature just as large were locked in a fight to the death, playing out the brutal law of the jungle.
As the saying went, when two beasts fought, one was bound to be hurt.
Neither sound had stopped since they first heard them. Clearly, the battle they