"What?!" He Shan looked superciliously at them as he said this.
"Surely, you're not all so na?ve as to think that we could have gotten part it easily had I not hit the tree with my arrow?" he mockingly.
From the looks of the trio, they had clearly entertained that thought when He Shan told them about striking the snapping willow tree first. Maybe if he didn't, the scarlet-beaked humming bird would have not made an appearance, and the willow tree would not have retaliated with one of its vines.
However, deep down they knew that was wishful thinking on their part.
"We may not know each other well, but I can tell you I'm not one to play with my life…" He Shan said as he sighed. He decided against mocking them further.
Their display during the attack had left him dissatisfied and in a sour mood. Even Zou Yi whom he had expectations for, let down his guard and almost invited disaster on himself when he ran toward his sister without assessing the situation first.
If their display was going to be like this, He Shan felt he might as well go at it alone, at least then he would only have to watch out for himself and not expend his concentration watching over the three of them.
But when he saw his axe, which was at the edge of breaking apart, his consternation eased up. It was one of the first things he got from his grandfather, and although it had long lost its use in terms of practicality, he still held onto it for sentimental purposes. It was one of his mementos of his grandfather.
I was no different than them when Grandpa took me in
"Even though the snapping willow may or may not have attacked us when we passed by, I know for sure the scarlet-beaked hummingbird would have attacked us.
It's temperamental, territorial, vindictive, insidious, and extremely bloodthirsty. Had I left the tree alone, it would have likely calculated its move before it shot out, rather than reacting like it did before. If the former had happened, one of us would have fallen to its beak, more than likely it would have been Yu Mei.
That bird is extremely calculative, it would have gone for the weaker party and worked its way up to the last person whom it classifies as a threat…"
Yu Mei shivered slightly as she heard He Shan's statement. She reflectively touched her scalp with a fearful imagination running through her mind.
She wasn't alone. Zou Liqin was right there with her when the hummingbird targeted them, as for Zou Yi, since their experience he was more wary of the bird than the tree. But with He Shan's introduction of other potential enemies all inhabiting the willow tree, he couldn't help but worry if their power scaling was similar to the hummingbird.
He Shan as if reading his mind continued,
"While we may potentially be facing five opponents, that's only if they all decide to attack, which…." He Shan hurriedly shut his mouth with his hands.
The trio reflexively looked around with wariness, expecting an attack, but when a few seconds passed with no attack, they all looked at He Shan with confused looks.
"I almost cursed us," He Shan said with a faintly trembling voice.
"Cursed us how?" asked Zou Yi.
"Haven't you all heard of the fate curse?" asked He Shan who immediately had a dumbfounded look when he saw all of them shake their heads sideways.
"But Grandpa said it was common knowledge," he muttered in perplexity.
"The fate curse is usually triggered by someone's words. If you said something is unlikely to happen, then usually it would likely happen even if it wasn't because of the words spoken.
If I didn't stop in time, I would have cursed us."
"What kind of curse is that? Isn't that just plain superstition? How could anyone believe something as silly as that?" thought Zou Yi.
He shook his head when he saw the sincerity in, He Shan's demeanor. He seemed like he believed it wholeheartedly.
"It really exists, I've seen it happen to Grandpa a million times. He would say something was unlikely and seconds later, minutes later, an hour, or even days later, the scenario he said had unlikely chances of happening, ends up happening.
We ended up in no small amounts of trouble because of it," said He Shan when he saw the looks of suspicion and disbelief from the rest.
But when he saw their still doubtful looks even after his clarification he decided to move on. They would come to know the fearsomeness of the fate curse sooner or later. He could only hope he wasn't with them when it did.
'I hope they get the worst kind. Grandpa was perfect but he had a big mouth on him, He Shan thought as he lamented his past.
"Of the five opponents, the hummingbird is the most thorny, while the willow tree is unpredictable with its attacks, you can never know its range and those vines usually hide other things in them. They might have poison, or paralyzing effects to them, but it's also the easiest to deal with since it can't move, we can escape its range as long as we move but we can't do that with that damn hummingbird eyeing us.
As for the last three, the black verdant porcupine is docile by nature, it would rarely attack unless it feels a threat to its life or to the willow tree while the remaining two; the withering weevil and grey fog tree frog are thorny opponents especially due to their abilities, they are not as vindictive as the hummingbird.
As long as we leave this area, they won't bother to pursue us. So long story short, we need to stall that bird and make a run for it. That's our only way out of here in one piece…and speak of the bastard…." He Shan's eyes narrowed on the willow covered in grey leaves.
The rest all readied themselves. Yu Mei was the only one left awkwardly standing about. She looked around to try and grab something to use as a weapon, but she immediately stopped when she remembered the experience from a few minutes ago.
Any movements, such as even bending to pick up something, could very well spell her doom, she thus decided the best thing she could do was stay put in the same posture and position.
He Shan who had spared a glance in his direction, nodded in approval.
Still a potential deadweight, but has a good head on her
"I will work on handling the bird, you two deal with the vines from the willow tree. It shouldn't be hard for you two to match its speed…" He Shan said as he pulled his bow with the three arrows already in place.
"Oh, and if you see a white flaky powder appear, run. The withering weevil has the most dangerous ability. It produces particles which if you get in contact with them, will rot your skin, and if more if it gets on you ….
Here it comes!!!"
He Shan paused his explanation and rapidly fired the three arrows on his bow.
The three arrows moved in an almost upward curve trajectory as they looked to pin the scarlet blur up ahead. The three arrows formed an almost triangle pattern.
The scarlet blur swerved to the left and the right in the time it took someone to complete a sneeze. The arrows missed their target and due to its speed, it seemed like it phased through the arrows.
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