The Survivor's Monologue

The news truly spread on the evening three days later.

Dinner that day was a little earlier than usual.

Because several more people had arrived in the rear courtyard.

They were all veteran students who had gone out a few days earlier.

They had already treated their wounds. Some sat beneath the veranda, basking in the sun, while others rested against the walls.

Instructor He was there too.

His shoulder had been injured.

He could not raise that arm very high for the time being.

Still, he himself looked no different from usual.

He could even joke around with the hall master.

"This time, I'm afraid I'll have to rest for half a month after I get back."

The hall master said:

"Take care of your shoulder first."

"Got it."

"Don't think about secretly training."

"When have I ever been that disobedient?"

Several veteran students nearby laughed.

"Instructor He, didn't you used to say every day that even a torn muscle or broken bone couldn't delay your training?"

Instructor He shot him a glance.

"You lot have learned to use my own words against me?"

"Learned it from you."

Laughter rang out beneath the veranda.

The outer-courtyard disciples watched from a distance.

At first glance, it seemed no different from usual.

But only after drawing close could one discover that all these people were quieter than before.

Zhao Chuan had not dared to go over at first.

In the end, he could not resist.

"Senior Brother."

A veteran student looked up.

"What is it?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Ask."

Zhao Chuan scratched his head.

"This time... what exactly did you encounter?"

The man smiled.

"Mountain beasts."

Zhao Chuan froze.

"That's it?"

"What else could it be?"

"But you..."

Zhao Chuan glanced at the man's arm.

The man lowered his head and looked at it.

"Just an injury."

"I heard you went very deep into the western region."

"Who told you that?"

"Everyone's saying it."

"Then take it as true."

Zhao Chuan did not understand.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing."

The man waved his hand.

"Focus on training your own fists for now."

"If you really get the chance to go out someday, you'll naturally find out."

Zhao Chuan still wanted to ask more.

But the man had already closed his mouth.

At that moment, Instructor He suddenly spoke.

"Break it up."

Zhao Chuan was startled.

Instructor He looked toward them.

"Those who should eat, go eat. Those who should train, go train."

"Don't crowd around here."

Everyone could only disperse.

But once they had truly scattered, everyone became even more eager to know.

At dinner, the sound in the dining hall was louder than usual.

Some people deliberately spoke at the top of their voices.

As if they wanted to drown out all the other sounds.

"I heard they ran into a pack of mountain wolves this time."

"What are mountain wolves supposed to be?"

"There were dozens of them."

"Really?"

"I don't know. That's what my second uncle said, anyway."

"Isn't your second uncle a cloth merchant?"

"He knows people."

"..."

Zhao Chuan listened until his head hurt.

"Can you stop making things up?"

Someone laughed.

"What, you know what really happened?"

"Of course I don't."

"Then what gives you the right to say we're making things up?"

Zhao Chuan was instantly speechless.

Zhou Ye said from the side:

"Because every one of you is saying something different."

"How are we different?"

"You said wolves."

"He said wild boars."

"Someone just said mountain bears."

The few of them looked at one another.

Then they all laughed.

"That just means there's everything in the mountains."

Zhou Ye did not laugh.

"Or maybe it was none of those things."

The words left the table quiet for a moment.

Zhao Ming sat on the other side.

He lowered his head and ate.

After a while, he finally said:

"Whatever they were, they were all mountain beasts."

Zhou Ye looked at him.

"Mm."

Zhao Ming continued:

"No matter how ferocious they are, there's always a limit."

"The veteran students have trained for so many years."

"They were just unlucky this time."

Zhao Chuan frowned.

"Can bad luck really leave all seven of them coming back injured?"

Zhao Ming said nothing.

"Answer me."

Zhao Ming raised his head.

"What do you want me to say?"

"I'm just asking."

"Then I'll tell you."

Zhao Ming set down his chopsticks.

"Truly capable people won't become worthless because of a single mission."

Zhou Ye looked at him.

"No one said they were worthless."

"Then why are all of you wearing those faces?"

Zhao Ming's voice grew louder and louder.

"They're just injured."

"Once they recover, they'll train as usual."

"Are you saying they should stop practicing martial arts just because they suffered a few injuries?"

No one answered.

Zhao Ming himself gradually fell silent.

He picked up his bowl.

"Eat."

After saying those two words, he lowered his head and continued eating.

But it was obvious he had lost his appetite.

After dinner, Chen Mo went to the washroom to draw water.

He had just reached the vicinity of the rear courtyard when he heard people talking inside.

It was Instructor He.

And the hall master.

Their voices were low.

"Have the injuries all stabilized?"

"More or less."

"What about that place?"

Silence.

After a while, Instructor He said:

"I don't want to take newcomers in there again."

The hall master did not answer.

"They're too young."

"They don't have enough experience."

"If something really happens, they won't even know how to retreat."

The hall master said:

"That's why we had you go this time."

Instructor He sighed.

"I know."

"It's just..."

He did not finish the rest.

Chen Mo stood by the wall and did not continue listening.

He carried the bucket away.

He had just turned around the corner when he ran into Zhao Chuan.

"How are you here?"

"Getting water."

"I'll come too."

The two of them walked together toward the water room.

Zhao Chuan held it in for half a day before finally speaking:

"What did you hear?"

"I didn't hear anything."

"Really?"

"Really."

Zhao Chuan curled his lip.

"Your face doesn't even change when you lie."

"Then why did you ask?"

Zhao Chuan thought for a moment.

"I just feel a little uneasy."

Chen Mo looked at him.

"You're scared too?"

"Of course I'm scared."

Zhao Chuan answered quickly.

"I'm not made of iron."

"I used to think that practicing martial arts just meant fighting people."

"Lose, and you took a couple of punches."

"Win, and you were happy."

"At worst, you broke an arm or a leg."

"But this time..."

He stopped there.

"It was the first time I felt that the mountains and the martial arts hall were different."

Chen Mo gave a quiet hum.

"They are different."

Zhao Chuan asked again:

"Then do you still want to go in the future?"

Chen Mo fell silent for a moment.

"I don't know."

"You don't even know?"

"I've never been there."

Zhao Chuan thought for a moment.

"That's true."

The two of them carried the water back to the outer courtyard.

The next morning, Instructor He appeared in the outer courtyard for the first time.

He sat beneath the corridor.

His shoulder was still in a sling.

Several new students watched from a distance.

No one knew who asked first:

"Instructor He."

"Hmm?"

"What exactly did you encounter this time?"

Instructor He did not answer at once.

He looked at the youths practicing their punches in the courtyard.

Some of them still had unsteady hands and feet.

Some still had trembling legs when they stood in a stance.

Others stole glances at him while they practiced.

After a long while, he finally said:

"In the past, I also thought they were merely mountain beasts with savage tempers."

The courtyard gradually fell silent.

Instructor He lightly tapped his fingers against his knee.

"There are wolves in the mountains, wild boars, and other things as well."

"I've been into the mountains for so many years, and I've seen quite a few."

"Some are fierce."

"Some are clever."

"And some become even harder to deal with after being injured."

No one spoke.

Instructor He continued:

"So when we first entered the mountains this time, I didn't think much of it either."

"Just like before."

"First, we examined the footprints."

"Then we checked the marks on the trees."

"We looked for the direction in which they moved."

"We went all the way in without encountering anything unusual."

One youth could not help asking:

"What happened after that?"

Instructor He glanced at him.

"Later, we discovered that some of the marks were wrong."

"How were they wrong?"

"Too big?"

"No."

"Too messy?"

"Not that either."

Instructor He shook his head.

"It was the place where it had left the marks. It didn't look as though it had been walking."

The youths looked at one another.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't really put it into words."

Instructor He furrowed his brows.

"You'll understand when you enter the mountains yourselves."

"Many times, what truly makes people uncomfortable isn't seeing something."

"It's seeing it without knowing why it would act that way."

Zhao Ming stood at the back of the crowd.

The expression on his face slowly changed.

Instructor He did not look at him.

He continued:

"At the time, we thought we had merely encountered a particularly troublesome mountain beast."

"So we followed it for a while."

"What happened after that?"

"After that, it came out."

The courtyard fell utterly silent.

Even the sounds of punching from nearby stopped for several beats.

Instructor He's voice remained calm.

"My first slash missed."

"The second only grazed it."

"It took a step back."

"I thought it was afraid."

"But in the next instant, it pounced back at me."

Someone swallowed.

"How fast was it?"

Instructor He looked at him.

"Fast enough that you wouldn't have time to think."

"I only had time to raise my hand."

"And then it became like this."

He lifted his injured shoulder slightly.

Everyone looked at the arm that still could not move freely.

No one spoke.

Instructor He was silent for a moment.

"What was truly troublesome wasn't its strength."

"Nor was it how fast it ran."

"It was that it wasn't like those mountain beasts from before."

Zhao Chuan could not help asking:

"Then what was it?"

Instructor He did not answer immediately.

His gaze fell upon the wooden posts in the courtyard.

After a long while:

"In the past, I also thought they were merely mountain beasts with savage tempers."

"Only later did I learn..."

He stopped.

No one in the courtyard urged him on.

Everyone waited.

Instructor He slowly said:

"That thing... wasn't."

Chen Mo stood among the crowd.

It felt as though something had gently pressed against his heart.

Instructor He raised his eyes.

For the first time, he lowered his voice to a whisper.

"A Demon Beast."

The two words fell.

No one spoke.

Zhao Chuan stood there with his mouth hanging open.

Zhou Ye's brows drew tightly together.

Wang Lie stood ramrod straight.

The color slowly drained from Zhao Ming's face.

They had never heard this term before.

Even less had anyone imagined that Instructor He would use these two words to describe that thing.

After a moment, a youth asked in a small voice:

"Instructor He..."

Instructor He looked toward him.

"What does that mean?"

"Don't ask."

Instructor He cut him off directly.

"Knowing the name is enough for now."

"Don't go looking for it yourselves."

"And don't start thinking that just because you've heard this name, you..."