The sun was rising in the east as a train of wagons pulled by oxen moved along a road with extremely unique scenery. A few miles of the road would be bitingly cold with chilling winds and snow, the next would be blisteringly warm and humid, filled with the chirping sounds of insects.
"So this is notorious forest of the four seasons huh?"
A rather handsome young man with a curious expression on his face said while observing the seemingly random changes in the weather. In his fourteen years of life he had never experienced anything as bizarre as the forest they were passing through now. The forest of the four seasons is as the name describes. The cycle of the seasons made no sense. Sometimes the changes would be in the natural order, and at other times it would be completely wrong. Winter could be followed by summer, and spring could go straight to fall.
Soon enough the drastic changes in temperature wore off any novelty he once felt of adventuring into the unknown that he had dreamt of for years. It was particularly miserable, as Yin Xiu would find himself sweating through his robe one minute and then freezing to death because of that sweat the next. As a mortal who hadn't stepped onto the path of immortality, he was subjected to the whims of the forest without a means to protect himself besides the clothes on his back.
"I'm alone now that Auntie Kang passed last month." he sighed and a firm expression appeared on his immature face. "The only option now is to join the Azure Cliff Sword sect. If I can become an immortal there's nowhere I can't go!"
"HAHA, good luck with that one brat. My brother and I tried to join the sect when we were young, and we couldn't even enter the door, let alone you a little pup still smelling like milk." One of the only two guards on the journey mocked with a voice that sounded like sandpaper scraping wood. He was a rather ugly middle-aged looking man with a perpetual scowl on his face, and a sword that looked way too short for his massive frame. He was at what was called the body refining stage. Not that Yin Xiu had any real understanding of what that meant exactly.
Yin Xiu only knew that cultivators had astonishing powers and the ability to soar into the sky, at least that's what the old village storyteller said.
'As the first cultivator I've met on my journey this guy really shattered my illusions of grandeur. Aren't cultivators supposed to be refined and elegant, with fairy maidens everywhere?' Yin Xiu thought as he smiled awkwardly and turned back around into the carriage.
"Hmph, you'll realize your worth soon enough little fool." The guard said scowling. "The two of us brothers have achieved the 2nd stage of Qi refinement at the young age of 42. The Heaven's were just blinded by our talents, and those old geezers of the Azure Cliff Sword sect really couldn't recognize what they were missing out on." He boasted with his misshapen nose pointing directly to the sky.
"I see." Yin Xiu nodded quickly, but internally 'I think this man might be a little shameless, also can he stop talking? I think I'll go crazy if he keeps going on like this. His voice is so unpleasant.' He thought as he subconsciously rubbed his buzzing ears.
"Tan De! Quit talking, and do your job!" An equally unpleasant voice reminiscent of sandpaper rubbing metal boomed from a few wagons ahead of Yin Xiu.
"Yes big brother!" Tan De glared at Yin Xiu and stalked off to continue his patrol around the edges of the convoy. While the particular individual was unpleasant, admittedly they were crucial in reaching their destination safely. The forest of the four seasons is a notorious death zone that stretches for hundreds of thousands of miles. The convoy was traversing through it, but they were only on the absolute fringe area that is routinely traveled and patrolled, so the safety is still fairly decent if you have an escort.
Time marched on slowly as Yin Xiu experienced the unique torture of vast temperature shifts at irregular intervals.
Shivering, he stared at the carriage behind him as the wheels crunched the barren ground in one of the winter sections of their route
"I can't wait to get out of this miserable place." he grumbled through his bluish tinted lips.
"Once we get through this stretch of winter we should reach an area of spring according to the map. We'll camp there tonight, and reach the end of the forest sometime tomorrow afternoon!" Came a familiar booming voice from the front of the procession almost like it had answered his complaint. With the news he just delivered, that ugly uncle became a beautiful angel to Yin Xiu quickly forgetting the unpleasant conversation they had shared earlier in the day.
'Just have to suffer through a little more it seems.' Yin Xiu thought with a little more life quickly returning to his eyes. In the distance he could vaguely see the colors of green leaves peeking through the frost covered trees nearby with a slight floral scent drifting through the wind.
'I wish this damn ox moved just a little faster, we're so close!' Yin Xiu was already picturing his tent and the warm embrace his blanket would provide him soon. His delusions were abruptly stopped when an azure colored blur flashed past the convoy at an incredible speed.
"A disciple of the Azure Cliff Sword sect?" The guard muttered bewildered as he watched the figure recede into the distance.
Yin Xiu's eyes widened in disbelief, that speed was incredible. That was much more in line with his initial thoughts on cultivation. Awe filled his heart, but it was quickly replaced by solemnity.
"Somethings wrong! All wagons pick up the pace as fast as possible!" The guard yelled again and looked behind the convoy with a stiff expression.
A faint trembling under the wagon attracted Yin Xiu's attention as he looked back the same way as the guard.
"There's no way the ground is truly shaking right?" he mumbled in pure disbelief as he turned to look at the state of the other passengers in the carriage. Faint flickers of fear and unease could be seen in the depths of their eyes as they whispered to each other nervously. He quickly realized things were not going to go the way he planned when he first left the village.
'What could possibly do this?' Yin Xiu tensed as he felt as if there was a huge stone settling into the pit of his stomach. As the trembling grew stronger the convoy started moving as fast as it possibly could. The livestock intuitively reacting with primal fear as some ran hard enough that froth started forming in their mouths. Yin Xiu looked back and saw a hulking white mass coming from behind at a terrifying speed. The faint tremors coming from each passive paw striking the earth.
"Bear! Move fast we'll kill it quickly!" One of the guards said as he stood tremblingly as he watched the hulking monster barreling down upon him. As the bear got close enough the guard lowered himself into a stance with his smallish sword angled as if he would slash the bear horizontally while a grayish energy slowly materialized around him. He harrumphed "No dirty beast has ever survived my signature gray stone style swordsmanship!" he yelled with false bravado. No one knew if this was true, but they all fervently hoped that it would be the case this time.
He swung the blade in an extremely forceful fashion which released a wave of Qi that seemed minuscule in comparison to the behemoth. The bear barely slowed down for a second while it swatted the technique straight into the dirt. A look of pure disbelief flashed on his mediocre face before the guard was grabbed by its massive paws and ripped apart as easily as a piece of paper.
Time seemed to slow down in Yin Xiu's shellshocked gaze as he saw the scarlet blood coloring the air of this dreary landscape. In his head he made a quick count of the number of wagons between himself and this hulking tower of death and realized that the three wagons between him and the beast wouldn't last for very long. Yin Xiu's body reacted quicker than he had could even process, as he leapt from his position down to the frost covered ground. Bolting as fast as he could to the right of the trail.
"Please, I'm just one straggler ignore me!" He fervently wished that the nightmarish creature wouldn't focus on the stringy looking teenager who was sprinting as quickly as possible away from the scene of disaster. As he rushed headlong into the rapidly darkening forest that one wish was the only thought running through his mind. Yin Xiu had never truly feared for his life before this, and the experience of completely devoting himself to the idea of survival and the terror that coursed through his body was the most eye-opening experience he'd ever had.
Eventually, the blood curdling screams and shouts had disappeared for a long time. Exhaustion clouded his thoughts, as the tension in his body was replaced with a bone aching soreness and the inability to run even a single step. Yin Xiu's breathing was ragged as he coughed and spit the iron taste out of his mouth.
"I have to hide somewhere or I'll end up passing out in the open." He furtively glanced around himself as he prevented the black dots in his vision from consuming his worn out mind.
Then a hole at the base of a massive tree caught his attention as he stumbled his way towards it. He slithered his worn out body into the hole while pulling over a fallen branch to obscure his hiding place, and quickly succumbing to the darkness.
Unbeknownst to Yin Xiu, this forest was the beginning to his immortal path.