Legacy World 3.7 Predator and Prey

Upon reaching the mountains, she easily noticed the difference between exploring the mountains and the forest. Naturally, the animals that lived on the mountains were different from those in the forest. It was also much easier to run into animals or people living here.

/The original soul could cross successfully? She must have learnt to be really stealthy from all the errands she ran for FenFang, by the time she was tasked to cross the mountain./ BaiXue commented with a slightly impressed tone.

Although it might have been a problem for the original soul, it proved to be no problem for BaiXue, thanks to her speed and BaoBao's surveillance. She avoided any encounters with people or real animals and scaled the mountain easily while inspecting it. When she found nothing, she started to lure animals away from their territories to inspect those areas too. She laid baits, hunted them for food, or knocked them out.

Another two months passed. 

BaiXue had already inspected most of the three mountains. The only parts left untouched were its peaks and the basilisk cave. She even scoured the villages of the three mountains.

/After all this time, still nothing. I have no choice. It's time to visit the Basilisk cave./ 

[But you're not strong enough to fight it yet!] BaoBao worried.

/I don't have to fight it. I'll just lure the person like I do to any other animal./

This basilisk was a real person who killed people and strong animals for nourishment, so she knew that she could not use the normal weaker animals as bait. It would show no interest in chasing after it. Since there was no one else to use, BaiXue acted as the bait that she needed. 

She loitered around some distance away from the cave as if in search of something. She had a bow in hand and acted completely like a typical villager, who lived in the mountains, who was merely out hunting for food. She pretended to carefully track the cougar that she had intentionally chased into this direction.

The basilisk shapeshifter caught sight of BaiXue and thought to herself that a foolish but delicious meal had presented itself to her. She quietly tailed BaiXue while keeping to the shadows, ready to transform and eat her when the time was right.

She did not suspect in the least that it was a trap because no villagers knew where her cave was located. She had always hunted all over the three mountains for that very purpose.

Once BaiXue went around a corner into an isolated area, the basilisk shapeshifter changed form, and slithered there. However, there was no sign of BaiXue. Confused, she looked all over, and saw the cougar sprinting off in the distance. She cursed under her breath, thinking that the person was a lousy hunter who had alerted the cougar and now needed to chase after it. So, she followed the cougar too.

Unbeknownst to the basilisk, BaoBao had dutifully kept BaiXue updated about her movements. As soon as BaiXue turned the corner, she alerted the cougar by shooting an arrow at it. She then threw her bow and arrows over the cliff, before transforming into a rabbit and dashing off at full speed. Just like that, she reached the entrance of the basilisk cave in no time.

The bumpy walls extended into the ominous dark. The frigid cold seeped out and caused her fur to bristle a little, even though there was hardly any breeze. She took a deep breath, then stepped forward, with her hands on the rough chilly walls. She pried, tugged, and moved any rock and stone that she could.

The only conclusion she arrived at in the end, was that this cave used to be larger. She could not go further only because it had caved in. However, there were several small holes between fallen rocks that were large enough for her to squeeze through in her tiny rabbit form. So, she did, but she quickly found out that it was only a narrow path leading to a dead end.

She was now squeezing through the last hole in the cave. Her tiny paws tapped around as she hastily inched her way forward. Her long thin whiskers twitched as it brushed against the rocks. The rocks pressed against her body uncomfortably. It was the most claustrophobic and tight one thus far. 

The more she went on, the more promising it was. It was the longest she had gone without meeting a dead end. She had to make several turns. The uneven ground beneath her trailed up and down too. Finally, it opened up wider. It was still as dark as ever, but she could somehow tell that she was in a large empty space from how different the silence sounded. Was it the air movement? The air was not as clear and crisp as the outside, but did not stink like an abandoned musty old place.

[Oh! I can help!] BaoBao happily offered.

He appeared in the middle of the room. His sparkly skin glowed and lit up a small area around him.

"Okay... So now you've gained another use, a glow stick. Thanks, BaoBao!" BaiXue teased him.

BaoBao puffed his cheeks. "How horrible..."

Seeing how high he was floating, the area must be high enough for her to transform back into a human. So, she did. It was chillier without her coat of fur, but it was much easier to feel around in her human form.

BaiXue ruffled BaoBao's hair upon reaching him. "Let's explore now. I hope we find something here..."

BaoBao stayed close to the floor so that she could see where she was walking. Suddenly, he came face to face with a skull. "AHH!!!" He screamed in shock and fright.

Luna looked at the skull calmly. It was resting on the legs of a skeleton that laid on a gold chair. She wanted to check it out but BaoBao was too freaked out to move or open his eyes. Instead of forcing him to move on, she picked him up and man-handled him like she would do to a real glow stick.

The gold chair was really a throne. After the confirmation, she walked past it to inspect the wall behind. There was a drawing of a huge dragon with various unrecognisable creatures below it. Besides the familiar creatures that existed in legends, myths, and folktales, there were others that looked like random chimeras. Although they each looked mutated, they looked equally huge and majestic.  

She followed the wall and found even more paintings.

The next painting was of the same dragon fighting the same phoenix, while all the other creatures watched on.

The next one was of a dragon, phoenix, and pegasus fighting. Again, all the other creatures watched on. 

As she progressed on, there was an addition of one or more creatures in the fight. When she reached the end, it was the whole world at war. Every being was fighting some other being. She finally realised that this could very well be a recording of the world's history, except that she had seen the paintings backwards in chronology.

BaiXue began to have a hunch. "BaoBao, I think I've found a way to be strong in this world."

BaoBao opened his eyes in surprise and elation but was greeted with the horrific sight of a gruesome and fierce painting. "BaiXue!! Must you do this to me?!" He wailed. He had been distracting himself by talking a bunch of gibberish in his head.

"Oops. Forgive me." She turned BaoBao around to face her instead.

After he calmed down, he asked her, "So, how do you become strong?"

"I may have misunderstood this world's energy. Mystical power. That was one of the clues. Perhaps the energy was never meant to be stored and used in the way I thought."

"Then what else can you do with it?"

"These paintings are a crucial clue. The dragon is obviously referring to the one on the throne. That's a human skeleton. In other words, that dragon in the paintings is likely a shapeshifter. It is likely that all other creatures in these paintings are shapeshifters too."

BaoBao cocked his head, still not understanding.

"Although they're all humans, there is not a single picture of a human on the walls. Here is the crucial question, why is this so?"

BaoBao could not follow her train of thought and shook his head cluelessly.

"It is likely because they identified themselves really strongly with the animal they transform into. Painting what they look like as their beastial form, is akin to painting themselves. In other words, they may even cultivate in their beastial form! The third clue, mystical form! It's something I have not thought of doing!"

BaoBao's eyes widened in understanding, then he looked down again. "What about the final clue? Chosen at birth? Does this mean you cannot be strong?"

"I believe those weird chimera creatures are indicative of something. I just can't figure that part out yet. Anyway, I'm still going to try to cultivate in my animal form and see what happens. We'll take things from there on."

"AH!" BaoBao's sudden exclamation caused her to jump out of her skin. 

"The basilisk is coming back! She's coming back and she doesn't look happy! We have to leave!"

BaiXue quickly retraced her steps, bent down and found the hole that she crawled out from, then changed into her rabbit form to crawl through as fast as she could. However, just as she exited the hole, BaoBao exclaimed.

[No good! She's here!]

/I'll just run past her!/ BaiXue decided without wasting a single moment. The cave was at the end of a pathway. There was no way to avoid contact with the basilisk woman even if BaiXue tried. So, speed was everything here.

The woman was at the entrance of the cave when she saw a fluffy white rabbit fly past her. BaiXue's current speed would have made her unidentifiable to an untrained eye, but the basilisk's eyesight was keen, especially after years of fighting. 

Immediately recognising the fluffy rabbit as a person, she recalled the person that seemed to disappear into thin air earlier. The possibility of having been tricked threw her into a rage. 

She transformed into a basilisk and jumped at BaiXue with her jaws wide open, ready to swallow BaiXue whole. Her one leap was so strong that it instantly caught up with BaiXue. Her needle sharp fangs glinted in the sunlight and plunged down.

A splat and a loud cry of pain rang throughout the area. Blood splattered everywhere.

BaiXue stopped dead in her tracks out of shock and surprise, at the sudden interference from a third unknown party. The moment she stopped skidding, she looked back. The person who appeared out of nowhere squashed the basilisk's long body with every step he took towards her. Each step earned him an agonising cry. Life gradually seeped out of the basilisk. 

His cruel actions, coupled with the icy storm in his black obsidian eyes that seemed to burrow into her soul, made BaiXue's heart pound in true terror for the first time. Yet, she could not bring herself to move. It was as if his gaze pinned her to the ground.