《Surviving as a runaway cultivator》


 Tragedy hits

    ¡°Enemies are attacking! Enemies are attacking! Go to your post!¡±


    ¡°Raging tigers, go to the left! Stumbling elephants go to the right!¡±


    ¡°Protect the goods! Merchants, for a circle!¡±


    ¡­


    There is chaos in the caravan. Danger isn¡¯t something new. Everyone who traverses the wild hills is always in danger. Sometimes it is beast groups, sometimes it is bandits. As a midsized caravan those kinds of dangers are doable with little damage. But in the wild hills you never are save. The most dangerous things are beast tides and blood lusty divine beasts. There are also demonic cultivators that can make even big caravans disappear.


    This is a group of bandits. It¡¯s one of the bigger ones. But bandit groups are normally only dangerous for small caravans.


    Even though there is a lot of hectic, Lie Mo isn¡¯t panicking. He is the unofficial son of the caravan chief. Because of that he got to train under the strongest martial artist in this camp ¨C flexible bamboo. Lie Mo is confident in his skills. And no bandit group was ever dangerous to them.


    ¡°Lie Mo, what is your judgment of this situation?¡±


    ¡°They are quite bold. Even though they have a few more members they are no match to us.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be overconfident. I feel as there is something off. I feel a subtill fear coming from over there. They have some hidden card.¡±


    ¡°What is so strong that even Master fears it? A formation?¡±


    ¡°No, the formation wouldn¡¯t be so directional. It has to be a strong enemy. Perhaps even a demonic cultivator.¡±


    ¡°What! A demonic cultivator?¡±


    ¡°If that¡¯s the case then just run. Go hide in the forest and stay away from the paths.¡±


    ¡°Haven¡¯t you always said that the survival chances are slim for a single person in the forest?¡±


    ¡°Slim is better than certain death. Just be careful and don¡¯t hesitate to run.¡±


    ¡°What about you, and mom?¡±


    ¡°Forget us, everything with value makes you a target. I am strong, your mom is pretty, and she will slow you down in the forest¡­¡±


    ¡°So I should just leave her to die?¡±


    ¡°You are a martial, you will be the one to die. Especially since you have rights to a leadership position. That makes you dangerous. Now go help out over there.¡°


    Lie Mo follows his masters orders. The place he goes to is a busy part of the fight. But this place doesn¡¯t have a single strong fighter near it.


    Just as he begins to engage in battle everyone freezes. A strong aura covers the entire battlefield.


    When he turns around he sees a big fierce looking hyena. Right in the direction that flexible bamboo was pointing before. After a short break the bandits attack again. The machineries of the caravan are still stunned from the aura and they react too late. Many got wounded and they all are now in a defensive position. Lie Mo somehow got away with barely any wound. Just as he tries to engage again he hears the death cry of flexible bamboo:


    ¡°RUUUNNN!!!¡±


    Lie Mo turns around and is shocked. His master is decapitated in such a short amount of time. And the hyena is rushing over to his father. Time slows down and he sees how the hyena shreds his father in just one punch. He freezes up. Lie Mo never had such a terrifying experience in his live.


    After an indefinite amount of time he suddenly feels the fear of death. He doges the attack and just starts running. Several bandits run after him. He runs and runs. He leaves the path and goes into the forest. Deeper and deeper. After a while he looses the pursuers. But he doesn¡¯t dare to stop. He isn¡¯t even in a state of mind to stop. He runs and runs until he collapses.

 In the middle of nowhere

    Thirsty!


    Lie Mo wakes up because of his thirst. He¡¯s not only thirsty he is cold and this clothes are moist and dirty.


    After a few moments all the memories came back.


    Everyone died.


    He ran away like a coward.


    He didn¡¯t even put up a fight.


    He just let them slaughter his family and friends.


    And all he did was freeze up and run away.


    He is so pathetic.


    ¡­


    After a while Lie Mo stands up and starts searching for a water source. No matter how bad the situation, survival comes first.


    There is no water in sight. No stream, no river, no pond and no useful plant.


    The piece of forest around is full of dry old trees. They are barely two or three men high. The ground is littered with sharp white stones and a lot of fallen leaves.


    Water always flows downstream. Lie Mo starts walking downhill.


    Flexible Bamboo trained him in an efficient walking stile. Quick, silent and energy efficient. Lie Mo uses every shadow and every indent to stick out as little as possible. But he doesn¡¯t see any animal around. At least no dangerous ones. Small geckos, birds and insects are everywhere.


    But water is more important than food.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Cultivators can go a long time without food or water. But they will burn it more quickly when they are at peak performance. And he was running several hours at peak performance.


    Without water, food, fire and shelter he will die.


    Yes, he is repeating himself. But thinking about survival distracts from the mental torment of loosing everyone.


    After a while of running the ground changes as well as the tree. The dirt is more nutrias and the trees are taller. The sharp white stones are disappearing.


    And then he finally finds a pond. A brown pond. This pond is so muddy that he wouldn¡¯t drink the water even if it is filtered and boiled.


    With the blunt side of his spear he digs into the ground a few steps away the pond.


    After about a hand deep he hits rock. The same happens at several locations.


    Because of that he leaves again to search another water source.


    The forest goes on and on. But it barely changes.


    There is no evidence of big animals. Like tracks, scratch marks on the trees, poo, holes in the ground.


    And even better, there are no beasts out here. Lie Mo can defeat a wild boar or a wolf pack. But beasts are on a different level.


    At the moment he would welcome a big animal. They have a drinkable red liquid in them. Not enough for long time survival, but enough to walk for another day.


    Slowly the sky get¡¯s darker. He walked for an entire day. All of his energy reserves are dangerously low. Forcing the body to walk further is possible. But it starts hurting the body.


    After the sky went dark he sees a indent in the lowest part of the valley. It¡¯s a dried up stream.


    Lie Mo follows that stream downhill.


    After another half an hour the ground sounds a bit different when he walks on it. Less dry.


    During the entire day the terrain was mostly flat. But suddenly the terrain makes falls down a few meters.


    At the lower end of the hill he starts digging. This time the soil is almost wet. After a while the hole is knee deep. And then it slowly starts filling up with water.


    Up streams are no dangerous soils or rotten animals. The water is clear and doesn¡¯t smell poisoned. He takes out his water filter and the cup. Filtering water is slow, but important. Not boiled water contains parasites. And getting sick is dangerous in the wilds.


    The water tastes harmless. A bit sour, but harmless. It¡¯s probably okay to drink.


    One cup after another is filled and emptied again. First for drinking and then for washing. Animals smell sweat.


    After Lie Mo quenched his thirst he climes a tree. Trees are uncomfortable beds, but they are one of the safer options.


    This night is way worse than the last one. Uncomfortable, hungry, barely any sleep, and nightmares when he sleeps. But sleep is just as important as food and water. Bad sleep means bad chances of survival. So he tries to sleep as much as possible.

 Food follows water

    As the sun rises he leaves the tree.


    After drinking he goes on a search for food.


    Anything will do. Plants, insects, small reptiles, birds and in the best case mammals.


    This forest is strange. Normally the wild hills are filled with animals. And this one has barely any of them. One of the reasons is obvious. The only vegetations are the trees. Because of that the small animals have no food. And if there are no small animals then there are also no big animals. But this kind of vegetation is really rare in the wild hills. Normally the forests are filled with animals. And half of them are dangerous.


    Why are there no ground plants?


    By now he starts turning over the few logs and stones lying around. Bugs are at least some kind of food. There aren¡¯t many rocks and logs around.


    After the sun already moved past the highest point it starts to rain a bit. But the water doesn¡¯t reach the ground. Everything is caught by the leaves.


    Some time passes and the ground is still as dry as before. Lie Mo has a handful of bugs, spiders and snails. But they have to be fried.


    Lie Mo goes back to his water hole. The fireplace is set up quickly and after a while there is a small fire burning. He took the wood from the branches of a newly fallen tree.


    This place in not a place to survive. There is water and there are few dangers. But no food means no survival. And the landscape is spooky. He never was in such a desolate forest.


    After his miserable meal he searches for bugs again. In the afternoon the loot is better. He even found a small reptile. Still way too small of a meal but anything is better than nothing.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    This time he sleeps on the ground.


    The night is slightly better. But full of nightmares.


    On the next morning he drinks as much as he can and fills everything that holds water and he is off.


    One day of walking.


    Another day of walking.


    And finally there is a change of scenery.


    He was never so happy to se a blade of grass.


    A bit further and the vegetations starts to turn normal. The distance between vegetation and no vegetation is surprisingly small. And here he starts to find traces of animals.


    Now he needs to find a water source, food and a place to rest.


    Ever drop of water is drunken and he didn¡¯t have food for days. Sleep wouldn¡¯t be a problem if not for the nightmares. He never saw an animal bigger than the reptile he caught and the occasional bird. Because of that he could just lie on the floor on a bed made out of dead leaves.


    Finally there is a water source. It¡¯s a small stream. Actually it¡¯s the same stream he is following since way up the valley. But this time it isn¡¯t dried up.


    After filling up all the water reserves again he goes on the hunt. The first thing he catches is a frog. A bit later he finds a turtle.


    With this His first meal should be settled.


    Water, food, a fire for cocking and a save but spooky place to sleep.


    Now it¡¯s time to think about the future.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if someone of the caravan survived or where they even are. So no going back there.¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°I have no clue in which direction I should go to find civilization. Small villages won¡¯t give me entry. And the next bigger one is several weeks along the road. I probably won¡¯t survive that on my own.¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°And somehow I have a bad feeling of this desolate forest. I better spend as little time in there as possible. But it is a save space until I have set up something more permanent.¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°The best approach is to set up camp here and get to know what dangers are out here. And when I mastered this region, I will go to the next one, until I find a suitable civilization again.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s start with a hut. A fortified hut. And I also need to find out what the biggest dangers are of this region. So far everything seems harmless. But I don¡¯t believe it is. Nature is never harmless. And I need to find out why the desolate forest is desolate. I didn¡¯t find anything that looked dangerous or repelling. There is just a strange lack of food and vegetation. Nature doesn¡¯t produce monocultures. But here is one.¡±

 In search for a shelter

    After the meal is finished Lie Mo starts exploring the surrounding area. He is in a wide valley. The stream in the middle there are no signs of beasts. But there are plenty of animals, just not enough for beasts to appear.


    Lio Mo found several traces of different wolf packs. And he also found traces of bears. Further down the stream is a tiny lake.


    Next to the lake is a hill with a cliff right at the border of the lake. The hill is about three times the size of the surrounding trees. And the cliff goes a bit more than half way up there. The safest place for his shelter would probably be somewhere at that cliff. It would at least be save against most of what nature has to offer. But every human who expects someone here would start to search there. And every human who can travel out here is dangerous.


    The sky turns dark and he ends up sleeping in the desolate forest again. Several days pass by exploring the surrounding.


    The surrounding is safe. Surprisingly safe. There really is no beast or human traces anywhere.


    Lie Mo climbed the tallest hill in the surrounding and didn¡¯t see anything besides forests and hills.


    He didn¡¯t just climb the tallest hill. He climbed every hill. Most of the valley is pretty flat, but the hills on the side have quite a bit of exposed cliffs on there. At one place the hills are full of stone peaks and ravines. This terrain there is really difficult to move on.


    And he tries to explore every cliff to find a hidden place. One that is hard to find and easy to defend.


    After searching most of that hillside he finds the perfect place. The path from the stream to the cliff is relatively short and with no noteworthy obstacles. Then he has to climb up a steep hill. To the right side is a difficult but possible rock to climb on. The path is basically completer invisible from this point onwards. There is a tear in the rock where barely a person fits through. And one misstep later the person falls down into a deep hole. A exactly three curves later there is a latch about one armlength higher than a person can reach. With a good jump it is doable to grab up there and pull yourself up. And there is a platform hidden from all sides. Only the sky is open.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The platform is big enough for a small house, and a garden. The only problem is that there is no soil and no building materials. But there are two indents with water in it. The one in the back is deeper and the one in the front is wider.


    ¡°This place is perfect. Now there are only two questions. How do I bring building materials up here and what happens when I have an accident.¡±


    ¡°I need an outpost and hidden stashes for when something happens. This fortress can be build up over time.¡±


    In the end he chooses an outpost on top of a small hill. It is hidden between the bushes.


    After finishing his outpost he starts building the shelter in his fortress. It is big enough for a bed, a table, and all his newly made tools. And right next to the shelter he builds a storage for food and wood.


    By now he has hunted several deer and boars. And with their leather he build bags for food, water and soil.


    His hunter and gatherer method is optimized to be invisible. He never takes the same path twice. And he doesn¡¯t leaves behind half a tree. He also never digs for dirt at the same place twice. Because of that even skilled passerby¡¯s shouldn¡¯t notice his presence.


    There is only one thing that isn¡¯t hidden. He caught a pair of bunnys and created a small den for them. And the location of this den is slightly hidden in the desolated forest. He feeds them so that they never starve. He also put down dirt and grass as a floor for their den.


    So far the grass with the dirt form outside looks healthy and the grass in the original desolate forest dirt looks slightly dry. The bunny¡¯s are healthy as well.


    Apparently the soil of the desolated forest isn¡¯t too healthy for plants but everything else seems fine.