Murim Recurve

Re'Kha ran without stopping, making feints at every turn, noticing the scouts stagger every time before reacting accordingly, changing their routes. The four scouts slowly spread in four directions, steadily reducing the distance upon every turn she took.

Just their positions pressured her, for every scout possessed as much Qi reserves as her, if not more. Moreover, the leader possessed enough reserve to overturn the situation easily. If they fought head-on, Re'Kha didn't have any guarantee of emerging victorious.

Since she knew the layout of the settlement and understood its mechanism, she tried to make the scouts turn when they were in front of the entrances to the houses. That way, the duration they stayed before the entrance would be greater than when they just passed by.

It wouldn't affect them much, but it wasn't as if their noses were completely blocked, for they still needed to breathe. And, to complement their strenuous running activity, their air intake had to be higher or they would soon lose all strength in their bodies. 

So, the scent of the Kalhas wouldn't be completely filtered out, slowly but surely affecting them. This was the point she made use of. The scouts too realised this point, but they had no other choice. After all, if they didn't react to her changes on time, then the encirclement they had made would be wasted.

They only had four people, and to trap a person in such a large settlement wasn't an easy feat. So, they had to be alert, move, and change directions as swiftly as possible. On seeing potential prey flashing by their entrances one after another and escape, the Kalhas were slowly irritated.

They began to store their strength, attacking the moment a scout moved before their entrance. They emitted a dense scent that the rain couldn't wash away instantly. Moreover, they maintained it continuously, making the streets dangerous. One after another, all the houses emitted the scent.

It would take at least 5-10 breaths in time before the rain could completely wash away their effects. On noticing a lot of blank spaces mix into the water near the entrances of the houses and spread until covering the entire path, Re'Kha smiled, for her plan had been achieved.

She was blind, but to avoid falling under the control of the Kalhas, the scouts had blocked all their senses, so they too could be considered blind. As it was raining, she couldn't use her Wind Qi perception. So, both the parties relied on their Water Qi perception to proceed.

Both were vulnerable to the Kalhas, but Re'Kha had the cloth banner to rely on for survival. So, she wished to exploit this advantage to the maximum. The streets were slowly filled with the scent of the Kalhas, endangering the scouts.

With every step they took, their nerves trembled. An urge sprouted within them, and that was to dig out their eyes. At the moment, it wasn't powerful enough to control them, so the scouts resisted through sheer willpower. Thanks to the rain, they could endure it for a while.

But, the actions of Re'Kha put them in a passive spot, making them take turns when in front of a house's entrance. Even if they tried to be smart about it and cross the entrance, Re'Kha wouldn't change direction, proceeding differently.

They were reacting based on her movements while she too was reacting based on theirs. It was a contest of reflex and judgement between both parties. It was a game of chess, they had to anticipate the movements and plans of the other party and move accordingly to suit their agenda.

At present, the scouts were slowly, but surely converging upon Re'Kha. In the centre of the settlement, every house was individually placed. But beyond that, the houses were placed as clusters of either four or six, with paths spanning along their sides.

In a large settlement like theirs, this meant they had a lot of paths to traverse upon. Moreover, they formed a maze of sorts, creating endless combinations for one to traverse upon. It was a strenuous mental effort while physically taxing themselves.

Re'Kha had already lost feeling in her legs, only running thanks to adrenaline. She knew that the moment she stopped, her muscles would relax, rendering her immobile for a fair duration. So, she had no other choice but to press forth.

Re'Kha was running towards the east, behaving as if she was planning to escape. So, most of the chase happened in the eastern region of the settlement. One of the four scouts had first arrived at the eastern gate before closing in on Re'Kha accordingly.

The breach in the walls was on the western side, so they didn't have to worry about guarding a second entrance/exit. The scout constantly moved about, keeping his back against the eastern gate, firming his position. This way, Re'Kha would be unable to exit the settlement and it was only a matter of time before she tired out. Every scout had more than enough confidence in outrunning her.

After turning around a corner, it was a straight path, spanning the length of four houses attached to one another. So, if he didn't wish to make an opening in the encirclement, he had to cross it swiftly and close in on Re'Kha further.

The scout had travelled halfway in the straight path when something heavy slammed into him, flattening him to the ground. His Water Qi perception was unable to sense anything approaching from the air, hence failing to dodge the attack. The rain also prevented him from making out the source of the sound. The shadow of the Pakou flew past his corpse that had been blasted into smithereens.

The leader abruptly stopped his run, sliding over the floor as he reduced his momentum. The rain made it slippery, a reason they hadn't been able to corner Re'Kha swiftly. It was hard making sharp turns, for their momentum always caused them to slip, so they had to take that into account before sliding to make the necessary turns. If it was dry ground, they would have long captured her. 

"W-What was that?" The leader was flustered, for the power behind the attack was beyond what he had witnessed in his service as a scout. It was frightening, for in his Water Qi perception, in the place the scout near the eastern gate had been killed, there emerged a massive pool of Water Qi.

The Water Qi was dense to the extent he could easily make out the texture of the floor and even the dirt the water carried with it.