Forty-five minutes had passed in a blur of organized chaos.

  The two villagers finally returned, their heavy boots crashing through the undergrowth as they leaped back into the clearing, their chests heaving from the sprint.

  "We've made it back, young hero!" the stubbled man shot out, landing with a practiced stability on the soft soil.

  "Hehe! Those little piggies are in good hands now, they'll undoubtedly be well taken care of!"

  The other man appeared a moment later, just as breathless.

  "I've also asked for them to come," he managed, pointing back towards the forest.

  A moment later, a dozen more villagers emerged from the foliage, pulling sturdy wooden carts behind them, their faces a mixture of grim determination and weary gratitude.

  "Hey, you two! Why'd you have to bring others into the hunt?!"

  Ying Xia shouted, planting her fists on her hips and pointing an accusatory finger at them.

  The stubbled man just shook his head, a weary but patient smile on his face.

  "Calm down, Xia. They are here for the boars we already got. We can't just leave them to rot here while we go deeper."

  Bi Kan nodded in agreement.

  He watched as the villagers worked with a quiet efficiency, loading the heavy carcasses onto the carts.

  They would soon begin the slow, arduous process of preparing the meat for the funeral feast.

  "Alright," he said, turning his gaze back towards the deeper woods, "let's head further in…"

  He was stopped by the stubbled man, who held out a hand, a coil of thick rope in his palm.

  "Wait. I've brought ropes. If we can subdue the next ones without killing them, we can leave them tied in one spot while we explore further."

  A slow, appreciative smile formed on Bi Kan's face as he clasped his hands together.

  "Not bad! With that strategy, we won't have to keep going back and forth, nor will we risk abandoning precious meat."

  Ying Xia pouted, but nodded in agreement.

  "Hah, just talking about this meat is making me hungry… but I must persevere. The hunt is on!"

  With a renewed fire in their eyes, the two men brandished their daggers. "Yeah!"

  Two hours bled into one another.

  The small party moved like a well-oiled machine, their teamwork honed by the shared experience of the earlier battle.

  They managed to gather ten more boars, a formidable haul, though there were no more piglets this time.

  They found two separate groups of four female boars, which were relatively easy to corner and subdue, and two massive male boars, who were traversing the forest alone.

  During the second hunt, as she prepared to strike, Ying Xia once again saw a faint, shimmering luminescence emanating from the boar,

  a ghostly light that pulsed for a heartbeat before vanishing. She brushed it off, her focus entirely consumed by the thrill of the chase.

  The male boars, however, were a different challenge altogether.

  They fought back with a ferocious, territorial rage.

  "AHHH!" The second villager cried out as one of the males lowered its head, its tusks aiming to gore him.

  "Take this!"

  A pink-tailed comet of righteous fury descended from the canopy.

  Ying Xia had leaped from the highest branch of a nearby tree, her dagger held in a reverse grip. She slammed into the boar's head, the impact creating a small cloud of dust and sending the beast staggering.

  "Stop acting like a coward," she scolded the stunned villager, shaking her head as she took an exasperated breath.

  "Just face it head-on."

  "Shut up, brat!" he grumbled back, though his face was pale with relief.

  After they had subdued and tied up the last of their catch, they stood panting in the dappled sunlight.

  One of the male boars had been grievously wounded in the struggle, they would have to return soon before the meat spoiled.

  "Shouldn't we turn back? We've captured enough, I believe…"

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  the second villager sighed, scratching a fresh series of welts on his arm.

  "I'm quite tired, ya know!"

  Bi Kan let out a sigh of his own, looking back at the long trail they had forged.

  "Though I'd like to go back, Sister Ying Xia is still adamant about finding it…"

  The two men perked up, a matching pair of question marks seeming to appear over their heads.

  "Find what now?" they asked in unison.

  "The Three-Horned Boar, duh!"

  Ying Xia yelled, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

  A synchronized shiver of fear went down the men’s spines.

  "I-Isn't that a myth?!" one of them gulped.

  "I remember when I was a boy, your stinking grandpa told me that story! How he handled it! He's lying!"

  Ying Xia’s face flushed a dangerous shade of crimson. She stormed over and smacked both of them squarely on the back of their heads.

  "Useless runts…" she muttered, before rounding on them, her eyes blazing.

  "Don't you dare call him a liar! How dare you! Just because you two weren't even born when he captured that beast in his youth doesn't mean he was lying! Hmph, stupid!"

  Bi Kan chuckled, a warm and genuine sound that seemed to momentarily calm the brewing storm.

  "Even if we don't find it, Sister Ying Xia, we should head home before it gets too dark. There's no point in hunting a beast that lurks once in a blue moon."

  Ying Xia let out a frustrated sigh. "Hmph, I won't accept that. We'll definitely find it!"

  As they pressed on, the sun began its slow descent, painting the sky in hues of orange and purple.

  "Hahh, finally! We can go home!" the two men clasped their hands together in relief.

  "I bet they've finished cooking the meals! And they're just waiting for us!"

  The stubbled man laughed. "HAHA! I really hope so, I'm starving!"

  Bi Kan placed a gentle hand on Ying Xia's shoulder.

  "Maybe next time, we'll get to face it, but for now, we must turn back."

  She pouted, her lower lip trembling slightly as she stared up at him.

  "Do we really have to? I explicitly feel that we're getting close…"

  A small laugh came from Bi Kan, a sound of surprise and respect.

  "Really? If your conviction is this strong, then we'll keep going. Until the sun has fully set."

  The faces of the two men fell in perfect, comical unison.

  "UGH! We shouldn't have brought her with us!" one of them clutched his head, scratching at his scalp in frustration.

  "HNGG!"

  The journey had devolved into a slow, begrudging shuffle.

  Tired and bated breaths came in sync with the heavy, reluctant steps that latched onto the soil.

  A deep, cavernous rumble echoed from the stubbled man’s midsection, and he clutched his stomach, his teeth gritting in a silent, desperate prayer.

  I can already imagine it, he thought, his mouth beginning to drool, the crispy flavor of those boars, the wonderful, savory aroma wafting from the skin… Oh, how I want to go home!

  The other man was faring no better, his frayed nerves manifesting in a frantic nibbling of his fingernails as he clutched his head with his free hand.

  Okay, calm down, calm down… he chanted internally. I can keep going. The hunger won't drive me insane… just have to persevere…

  His glare, sharp as a skinning knife, pierced through Ying Xia’s back. This little girl… I should have known she'd prolong this journey somehow!

  A weary sigh escaped the second man's lips as he shook his head, a memory surfacing, unbidden and vivid.

  He remembered a hunt from his own youth, following his father and the indomitable Ying, Ying Xia's grandfather.

  "Haha! Come on, you young boys! When we hunt, we hunt thoroughly!"

  the bearded, laughing man had declared, his energy a force of nature.

  "We must hunt until dawn as promised, no matter what! Even if we've caught five boars already!"

  His own father had smacked Ying on the shoulder.

  "Oi, Brother Ying! We've already caught twenty! Isn't that friggin' plenty enough?! Stop tiring our boys!"

  Ying had just thrown his head back, his laughter a haphazard, booming sound that shook the very leaves.

  "GAHAHAHA! No! Like we said, we must hunt 'til dawn!" He had then twitched, smacking his own forehead.

  "You're one real bastard, Ying!" his father had grumbled back.

  A small, nostalgic smile touched the man’s lips, a flicker of admiration for the girl who had inherited her grandfather's impossible stubbornness.

  "What a stubborn girl…" he murmured, his eyes glinting with the memory of his missed youth.

  High above, a shadow detached itself from the canopy.

  "Since you're so adamant, Sister Ying Xia, I'll put in all my effort to find it," Bi Kan called down.

  "I'll be right back. You just continue your way!" the disciple ascends like a ghost in the high trees, his form vanishing as he used his heightened Qi senses to scout the path ahead, far faster than they could travel on foot.

  "Now that we're alone…" the stubbled man whispered, a wicked, conspiratorial grin spreading across his face.

  "Let's knock her out." He stifled a giggle. "Ngihihihi, then we can tell our young hero she just got tired and fell asleep! We can finally eat! Ngahaha!"

  He felt a gaze so sharp it could have skinned a rabbit land on him.

  "Oi," Ying Xia said, her voice dangerously flat. "Stop laughing and do more scouting."

  They both bowed their heads instinctively.

  "Yes, ma'am." A bead of sweat fell from their heads, the nostalgic feeling of their own chastised youths washing over them.

  "But still," the stubbled man pressed, his hunger overriding his caution, "why are you so hell-bent on this? We're all hungry! Even you can admit that!"

  As if on cue, a loud, insistent grumble erupted from Ying Xia's midsection.

  Her face flushed a brilliant crimson. Damn it, pipe down, will ya?! We're hunting here, stupid stomach…

  "So what if I'm hungry?!" she snapped, though her resolve seemed to waver as she spoke.

  "All that delicious… juicy… boar… meat… won't satiate… my… hunger… ahh…" Her mouth started drooling.

  The two men squinted their eyes in perfect, judgmental sync. "Uh-huh…"

  Ying Xia quickly looked forward, trying to regain her composure, when she felt it.

  A pressure. "Hm? Why would a gust of wind come from there? Do you guys also feel it? It's rustling the bushes…"

  The two men looked at her, then at each other, confused.

  "What do you mean?"

  Hmm? Don't they sense it..? Such disappointment. We've been in the forests for this long, surely they would have…

  Her eyes widened. It wasn't just a feeling anymore.

  It was a visible disturbance. Faint motes of light, the ambient Qi of the forest she was just beginning to perceive, were scattering like startled fish before a massive, oncoming presence.

  And the light from that presence was purer, brighter, than anything she had ever felt.

  "Wait… is this…" Her eyes glinted with a faint blue, a triumphant, almost manic smile forming on her face.

  A figure materialized from the canopy, landing silently between them.

  "Yes," Bi Kan said, his voice grim as he shoved her hard to the side. "It's Qi."

  Suddenly, a streak of pure, destructive force, a line of blurred grey and black, tore through the space where they had been standing, shredding the air and crashing into the ground behind them with a deafening impact that sent earth and splintered rock flying!

  It could be none other than the famed, Three-Horned Boar, Bi Kan thought, his own heart hammering against his ribs.

  Luckily, I made it in time.