{"sf1_id":997870,"sf2_id":"znJxdaQe","title":"The Cat's Stroll 17","author":"PermaFrost","words":3255,"posted_at":"2016-05-11T03:43:00.000Z","tags":["Action","Cat","Fantasy","Multiple Species","Series","martial arts"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/997870-the-cat-s-stroll-17","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/znJxdaQe","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/4a/7e/4a7ecb3c-b8f9-4435-9418-a89a24f043e0","description":"#17 of The Cat's Stroll\n\nI always forget to thank wolfy44 for his vote. Of course, dragonmaster12 and Mahcha too, and those around thirty user that seem to be following this series.\nHonestly, it feels like I've been dragging things a bit over the last sixteen chapters, but thanks for bearing with it.\nHOWEVER, I thinks things might get a speed up from now on. Well, just might, since I still tend to be wordy, but this chapter actually approaches more to the style that I want to achieve with this. What do you think? And oh yeah, there will be three chapter this week, which is quite convenient since I think these three go very well as a set. But I'm being wordy again. See ya!","content":" **Chapter 17: Spirit Herb Again**\n* * *\n\nIn the area of the Backdoor's Forest's first ring, a figure could be seen running between the ancient trees, with a few others following.\n\nThe figure at front was a male cat with orange and cream fur, donning clothes that looked to be the inner garments of a formal robe.\n\nThe ones trailing behind were a group of wolf beasts.\n\nThese wolves had dark gray fur with thin bluish streaks, similar to lighting that ran through storm clouds. They snarled with the ferocity of thunder, and kept releasing a maddened aura of bloodthirsty savageness.\n\nThe name of these wolves was Thunderlightning Grey Wolves, a rather well know and widespread species of martial beasts, though these were only at the level of ferocious beasts.\n\nAs for the cat, he was Kyu Cao.\n\nSuddenly, from the front, a gray wolf appeared and launched itself at Kyu Cao, claws readied and fangs bared to rip the cat apart.\n\nAs wolves, these beasts had an extraordinary sense for group tactics, making them truly dangerous when in packs.\n\nKyu Cao's expression did not even twitch, calmly observing the wolf's movements.\n\nAs expected from a top predator, this attack was aimed at his neck, one the most accessible of his vitals.\n\nKyu Cao didn't dodge right away.\n\nHe waited till the wolf was only a step away, and then he stopped. This stop was unbelievably perfect, as if he had suddenly been frozen in time and space.\n\nCrouching just as swiftly, he allowed the wolf to come above him. Next, with a flowing, gentle-looking movement, he put his paw against the wolf's exposed chest and borrowing from this one's own impulse he threw it away.\n\nThe gray wolf spun once in the air while flying several dozens of paces, before heavily falling with a yelp of pain.\n\nKyu Cao didn't stop idly, and he shoot forward like a fast arrow, reaching great speed with just one step.\n\nThe growls of anger increased behind him. The wolves were truly going mad, because not only they couldn't catch him, but the cat had only been playing with them for a while already.\n\nThey howled in fury, and more howls responded from the distance.\n\nHearing this, Kyu Cao knew it was time to hightail.\n\nAs if his previous movements were a joke, Kyu Cao exploded with even more speed. His speed could actually be said to be only a bit faster than the thunderlightning gray wolves', but what really pulled the distance apart, was that he seemed to never slow down.\n\nUps and downs, obstacles and difficult terrain, it was as if nothing mattered to him, giving him great advantage.\n\nUp a slope, he ran up like it was flat; facing a rock, he ran over it like a fast legged beetle sticking to the stone.\n\nEventually, he began to run over the branches of the trees in an almost unfair manner, and after some time Kyu Cao left the wolves behind.\n\nEnraged howls could be heard in the distance, but that no longer had anything to do with him.\n\n\"They were more persistent than I believed.\" Panting, Kyu Cao was releasing the accumulated heat from his body.\n\nThose wolves had been running after him for almost a third of hour, quite the workout.\n\nThese past days, Kyu Cao had spent his time, besides cultivating and practicing his martial arts, exploring the first ring of the Backdoor's Forest meanwhile finding ferocious beasts to spar with.\n\nThough he called it sparing, it would be better to say he went around bullying weak beasts.\n\nAfter his battle with the three-clawed woody grizzly that day, a sort of fighting intent had awoken within Kyu Cao.\n\nWhether curiosity or thirst for battle, he wasn't sure what it was. But he'd decided to investigate it further.\n\nJust, he couldn't simply go and challenge any martial beast he wanted. After all he, in all the definition of the word, was a complete novice when it came to fighting.\n\nHe'd practiced some mundane martial movements before, but this had only consisted of going with the forms and some exercises. Kyu Cao never utilized them in an actual combat situation. He wasn't even sure if these techniques could be actually used in a true fight.\n\nSo Kyu Cao had the idea of sparing with ferocious beasts to gain some experience.\n\nThis was something that only someone like him, who at his core held a casual mindset toward martial arts, could think of.\n\nStill, the results were such, that any serious and respectable Cultivator would be truly envious, and would be forced to blame the Heavens as unfair.\n\nIt seemed that Ti Ping's evaluation had been accurate.\n\nKyu Cao had no problems to adapt himself to the movements of battle, continuously gaining insights and improving on his own. While he had started with one \"sparring partner\" at first, very quickly he moved to multiple ones.\n\nThat said, with his opponents being ferocious beast weaker than him, Kyu Cao's insights were not very profound, and it could be said that he was only getting the hang of the basics.\n\n\"Now I am... where?\"\n\nFleeing around for so long, Kyu Cao now found himself somewhere unfamiliar.\n\nThis was easy to tell, as the terrain was more jagged, with elevated rock formations and even more thriving vegetation.\n\nIf Kyu Cao didn't know already that he was at the flat top of Tiger Back Mountain, seeing this scenery he would've believed himself to be on the outer edges of another mountain chain.\n\nThere was the way he came, which he was confident he could trace back completely. But he didn't think those wolves would be so forgiving as to give up yet, so that was not an option.\n\nAccording to his estimations, he only knew that he should be somewhere between the first and second rings.\n\nAfter considering it a bit, Kyu Cao simply decided to take a long detour.\n\nIt was his first time going this far into the woods, so he didn't mind at all taking the scenic route.\n\nKyu Cao had to say, it was truly marvelous how each area of the Backdoor's Forest was like a completely different place, as if he was visiting different locations.\n\nCompared to the outer ring, with its awe inspiring thick-trunked, dense-topped trees and beautifully chaotic terrain, the deeper parts were much more unruly, with a genuine wild feeling to them.\n\nThe trees were less thick, but they stood unbelievably tall, more than double the size of those at the safe area. It was only far from the ground that their equally thin branches began to spread with incredible reach. However, these were not as numerous or as dense in foliage, creating an image of scantiness in comparison.\n\nWeeds and unknown bushes covered the ground haphazardly, and rock formations like tiny mountains were commonplace.\n\nEven the sky above seemed to be another; a layer of grey clouds lingered, seemingly intending to hinder the light of the sun permanently.\n\nOriginally, this kind of terrain was one which was difficult to traverse on, even for young Cultivators of the sixth level.\n\nBut all this didn't matter to Kyu Cao, whose Treading the Frozen World was a skill which specialized in overwhelming mobility.\n\n\"This is kind of beautiful too.\" This was Kyu Cao opinion of the scenery.\n\nHe was walking randomly, when he came across a peculiar rock formation.\n\nWhile this formation could be easily missed among the trees because of its shape, once you noticed you would realize that it is actually quite eye catching.\n\nThis was because this rock formation was shaped like a mushroom or an umbrella.\n\nIt was shaped like a pillar, supporting a wide rock platform several paces off the floor.\n\nSeeing this peculiar rock formation, Kyu Cao expression didn't change, but his tail swished merrily behind him.\n\nHe approached it, and came to stand below it. Under this cloudy sky, the shadow casted on him was darker and gloomier.\n\nKyu Cao inspected the area and studied the pillar, a bit impressed about how it could hold up the whole weight of the platform.\n\nLooking up, it was like looking at the tall ceiling of an old edifice.\n\nThough uneven, the underside of the stone was somewhat uniform and slightly convex, clean and devoid of any vegetation. It was like an archaic dome.\n\nOf course, the area below was not what would attract most people's attention. With such shape, what most would wonder would be what could be on top of the rock.\n\nAt least, this definitely applied to Kyu Cao, whose stare seemed to want to bore a hole through the stone.\n\nLooking around, there didn't seem to be any obvious method of climbing up.\n\nIt was useless to think of going up through the stone pillar, since the umbrella shape of the top simply seemed designed to block the pass from below.\n\nBut this was a forest.\n\nThere was no lack of tall trees, much taller than the rock structure in fact, to at least climb up and take a look from some distance.\n\nKyu Cao walked to the base of the closest tree, suddenly feeling a familiarity with the situation.\n\nBut instead of climbing using his paws, he broke into an instantaneous run.\n\nHe ran up the tree's trunk, as if it didn't matter that it was a vertical surface.\n\nLike this, it only took him a moment to reach a branch and climb up on it.\n\nThese branches didn't seem too reliable, so Kyu Cao remained sticking to the trunk where it was the most firm. Then, he turned toward the top of the rock formation.\n\nHe was at the lowermost branch, but this was already higher than the mushroom pillar. When Kyu Cao sight landed on its top, he was a bit taken aback.\n\nThe basic appearance of the rock's top was just as how he imagined it, a slightly curved surface. However, it was bare; not even a blade of grass seemed to be growing there.\n\nThe stone there was, much like the rest of it, mostly uniform yet somewhat uneven. The best way to describe it would be to compare it to a figurine which had been roughly carved, the clumsy cuts from the knife visible everywhere.\n\nKyu Cao thought it a bit, and decided to take a closer look.\n\nThe branch he was standing on wasn't very thick, but it wouldn't snap with only a bit of weight. It also stretched far, reaching a dozen or so paces away from the mushroom rock.\n\nThis was enough.\n\nFinished preparing, Kyu Cao ran again, this time over the branch.\n\nLuckily for him, it wasn't dense with foliage, making it easier for him to traverse it.\n\nHe ran quite steadfastly, the flexible branch seemed to not even shake from his heavy steps.\n\nEven when he reached the thinner, more far off part it, the branch only drooped slightly and gently, as if a weight was being carefully being placed on its end. But even this only lasted for the brief moment it took Kyu Cao to jump from the branch to the rock formation.\n\nThough not very graceful, he landed safely on top of the rock mushroom's cap.\n\nThe stone was cold under Kyu Cao's footpads, with a surprisingly smooth feeling to it.\n\nNow here, he began to do a close inspection.\n\nThis circular area was not bigger than twenty paces from extreme to extreme, not too big but not too small. From this close, Kyu Cao could see that the seemingly carving cuts weren't really smooth, and they were indeed natural.\n\nHowever, the stone really gave a clean and polished feeling on his pads, without a speck of dirt or dust. Actually, not even the fallen leaves from the surrounding trees littered the cap's surface.\n\nLooking up, the branches from some trees did hang over, but the rock platform could be described as spotless, truly curious.\n\nKyu Cao's attention was pulled to the surrounding trees, and looking long enough he began to get the feeling that the branches seemed to form a wide dome shape over the rock formation.\n\nBecause various branches still trespassed into the inside area, it was not perfect and hard to notice, but someone imaginative and willing enough would see it.\n\nCuriosity picked, Kyu Cao followed each branch, mentally constructing an image.\n\nIt was here that he noticed another thing.\n\nHe noticed that there was a line of moss on the trees surrounding the rock.\n\nWhile moss on a tree was nothing new, Kyu Cao discovered that this streak of moss was located on a high part of the trunk. But what was truly peculiar was that on each tree, it began at the same height, and all patches of moss grew facing the same direction, toward the rock formation's.\n\nThat's to say, if connected, the moss on the trees would form a ring hanging over it.\n\nKyu Cao was intrigued by this, so he came down from the platform to go and have a look.\n\nA level four Earthly Warrior would already be starting to develop a resilient body.\n\nBut when Kyu Cao landed, he still felt his legs tremble and go numb with a prickling tingle, requiring a moment to recuperate.\n\nHe then climbed one of the trees in the same manner as before, reaching the place where the moss grew without many problems.\n\nInstantly, a smell of heavy rain tickled his nose.\n\nKyu Cao stared at the dark, jade green moss intently, noticing that the smell came from it.\n\nHe got close and sniffed it, finding the scent truly refreshing. The moss did carry the moldy and damp smell of stagnating water, but rather the humidity and freshness of the cool air before a storm.\n\nKyu Cao thought it for a moment, before he began to collect it.\n\nSuch peculiarly fragrant moss, maybe it could be a medicinal plant that he didn't know about, so he gathered it just in case.\n\nNow that he thought about it, since the day he formally became a Personage Apothecary he hadn't gone again to the infirmary, since that was also the day he'd come across the Seven Deep Hells Frozen Record and had began cultivating.\n\nMaybe he should show his face once, to let Old Che know that he was fine.\n\n\"Eh? This...\"\n\nAs he was collecting the moss, Kyu Cao suddenly felt a tingle on the skin of his pawpads, which like an electric current quickly climbed up his arm.\n\nThis feeling was one of abundant Qi and energy, joyfully stirring his Spiritual Veins.\n\nThis was a feeling that he'd felt only once, but that had been actually not long ago.\n\n\"Spirit herb?\"\n\nCarefully probing with the tips of his pads, he managed to outline a small delimited patch of moss, not bigger that his central pawpad. It was this rather small portion that emitted that feeling of abundant Qi.\n\nKyu Cao had no more doubts, this was certainly a feeling equal to the Devilish Catnip, that of a spirit herb.\n\nThis patch of moss looked no different from the one around it, but to the touch, it actually felt thicker and denser, with certain plumpness. Kyu Cao quickly realized that it was because the moss was not only a thin layer on the bark, but rather, it had grown inward into the wood, probably caving a small hole.\n\n\"This is lightning Qi.\"\n\nThe feeling of the Qi was especially energetic and invigorating, with certain sharpness and an indomitableness to it. It also caused a tingling, lightly numbing feeling on his pads, quite ticklish.\n\nKyu Cao removed and collected first the rest of the moss, leaving only the part that could be called the spirit herb.\n\nThen he began to consider how to collect it.\n\nObviously, if he didn't recognize this moss before, then now it had become even more unfamiliar.\n\nHow to harvest the spirit herb without damaging it, he didn't know the exact method. Thus, he decided to go for the generic one of scooping the whole area where the plant grew on.\n\nOnly, digging the ground might be somewhat easy. But a chunk of the middle of a tree's trunk, not so much, especially if you didn't have any tools or even a weapon.\n\n\"... I cannot do the same as before.\"\n\nThis time, he decided that couldn't leave and go for materials and think of returning later, just like the time at the cliff.\n\nEven if this place was much more far off and the spirit herb quite inconspicuous, nothing guaranteed that he would find it here once he returned.\n\nKyu Cao didn't believe he was being paranoid.\n\nIt was just, that luck truly seemed to favor the decisive ones. He didn't want to become someone who constantly lost opportunities because of comparatively trifling issues.\n\nHe would have to think of a solution here.\n\n\"Maybe that?\" Kyu Cao mumbled to himself.\n\nHe raised a paw, and stared at it for a moment. Then, with a flex of his muscles, he brought out his claws.\n\nHe concentrated on them.\n\nShortly, these acquired a glossy finish.\n\nIt wasn't moist-like, but rather it looked as if a fine layer of tiny ice crystals had covered not only his claws, but part of his fingers as well. This snow dust-like sheen made his fur look especially beautiful and ethereal.\n\nWith a glint of decisiveness in his eyes, Kyu Cao scrapped the area around the moss patch with his claws.\n\nLike cutting soft tofu, the hard wood easily came off as if peeling an apple. But these peels were not too thin, and still somewhat durable, signaling that for them to be produced this easily his claws' sharpness was no joke.\n\nSeeing this, confidence burst inside Kyu Cao and he put more earnestness in his work.\n\nLuckily, the patch of moss was not big, neither too deep, so it only took some time before he managed to scoop out the entire chunk.\n\nA small, joyous smile couldn't help but sprout on Kyu Cao's muzzle.\n\nRather than thinking of the preciousness of this spirit herb, or the benefits it could bring to him, what Kyu Cao was the most satisfied about was the accomplishment of having gotten it.\n\nIt felt like he won.\n\nHe then remembered the other patches of moss on the other trees.\n\nStoring the chunk of wood in his extra space ring, he quickly ran over the branches to the next tree and began to feel it around.\n\nAt the end, from the twelve trees around the rock formation where the moss grew, three of them had a spirit herb moss.\n\nKyu Cao felt his luck was pretty good today.\n\nOf course, for a mere level four Earthly Warrior to find three stalks of spirit herb, if others knew, a mere word like good wouldn't cut it, and with red eyes they would call it simply abnormal.\n\n\"Grrrrrr!'\n\nKyu Cao was already on the ground, concentrating on examining one of the moss patches, when a threatening growl suddenly broke the atmosphere.\n* * *\n\n_By the way, I committed an error in an earlier chapter about the alignment of wood. It is actually Yang --quite surprising, personally--... or so say a lot of pages. Anyways, I will stick with this new setting since I already made an excuse found a reasonable explanation. No need to go back though, it's a minor change in terms of editing._\n\n  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"The Cat's Stroll","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/995553-the-cat-s-stroll-16.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/998722-the-cat-s-stroll-18.json"}}