All around Fan Zhong stretched the deep foliage of the forest rustling and bristling with the awakening life of the morning. Slowly getting his wits back his first movements were scrambling to the pack pulling his knife and staff over as well. Inside the pack sat his clan warrior robes and about a single day's worth of dried meat ration.
Along with this the pack also contained a three-meter by three-meter waterproof cloth that he vaguely remembered could be used to construct makeshift shelters. Besides this, the pack also contained a simple meal kit complete with a plate, spoon, and a pot for cooking. Finally, the remaining items consisted of a 10m coil of rope and a single piece of paper with a note from presumably his brother or father.
“The will of heaven is mysterious and unknowable. Tribulations and calamities strike at all times, survive and prove your worth! Four marks the death of the boy and five marks the birth of a man, have faith in rescue and persevere.”
Reading through the note a feeling of annoyance and dread rose within him. He had been left with a single day's worth of rations and a pittance of supplies. Yet if his interpretation of this message was correct, he would have to survive 5 whole months before rescue came! Previously Fan Zhong would give in to despair causing him to be unable to move forward and take care of himself.
Now he felt the passion to prove himself. So, they thought that this lazy young master would buckle under such trials? He would show them that his metamorphosis had been more than merely skin deep. With his now resolved firm, Fan Zhong quickly set about scouting his environment.
To begin with he marked the largest bamboo shoot near him and sat the pack next to it before covering it with some leaves. Satisfied the pack was obscured sufficiently he looked up to the rising sun and determined his cardinal directions. After that he marked a bamboo in each direction with the symbols for north, south, east, and west, making sure to keep each mark within sight of his supplies.
Observing the terrain around him Fan Zhong felt that although the dense foliage could be any number of locations within the valley the cooler temperatures inclined him to think that this place was closer to one of the mountains that bordered the valley. Since the village was located on the southern banks of the Flow Grass River logically the closer of the two mountains should be Green Mists Mountain which made up the southern border of the valley proper.
With this determination, he guessed that home was naturally north and south would lead him further towards the base of the mountain with the forest becoming wilder in that direction. Thinking of this he started to worry slightly. Although some clans and martial sects did have their lands at the base of each mountain that made up the valley they were usually heavily walled off.
The reason for this was the increasing amount of wild animals and spirit beasts one encountered as they moved into less settled areas. Normal animals, even the stronger ones like bears and mountain lions, were only truly a threat to martial artists in the Second and Third-grade realms. However, even low-tier spirit beasts could be a threat to experienced First-grade realm fighters if they were old enough. Not to mention the chances of meeting a powerful Beast King.
Shuddering Fan Zhong determined he would need to keep a low profile. The chances of encountering spirit beast were not too high and encountering groups large enough to have a Beast King were even lower however, tempting the heavens was something only fools did. Briefly, the thoughts of heading towards home crossed his mind but those were easily dismissed.
Even if he could gather the supplies to make it that far it was likely that silent observers at the First-grade realm or higher were watching to make sure he stayed within a certain area. If he got close to the edge of the trial likely an unpleasant experience of unconsciousness would be followed by once again waking inside the bounds of the trial area. With those thoughts leaving his mind Fan Zhong decided to first scout West in hopes of finding a source of water.
Along the edges of the valley, many streams ran down from the mountains to join the Flowing Grass River it was in finding one of these that he staked his hope. Every 100 paces or so he would stop to mark a tree with a slash of the hunting knife. Soon he noticed the surrounding forest rising on the horizon while the rest of the forest nearby sloped gradually downwards.
This terrain formed a natural wide ravine with the ground flattening off in small steps on the downward slope where some bamboo shoots grew. After walking for what felt like about 10 minutes, his internal clock the only thing to go off at this point, Fan Zhong noticed the sloping terrain had become clear of tall bamboo filling with low shrubs and grass. After around half an hour the ravine had sloped down enough that the forest to the south had become a sheer cliff while the northern terrain sloped sharply down making a steep hill that leveled off with the ground of the ravine.
The clifftop had a small stream that ran off it dropping to the ravine and had formed a small pond that had a medium-sized clearing around it before giving way to more bamboo forest after some way. Coming to the pond Fan Zhong tensed while ducking down in the tallest brush he could find, moving slowly towards the water. At this point, he was still in high spirits however the constant snagging of his robe on foliage and the beating sun were beginning to irritate him.
Although the physical exertion of moving through the forest was minor compared to the training he had endured, the stress of being alone with no support was weighing heavily on his mind. With this added stress each snag of his robes on a branch and each clump of dirt that clung to him was amplified making him feel filthy and miserable. When he was about 10 meters from the edge of the pond a low growl pierced the air.
In the corner of his eye Fan Zhong could see the rustling of the foliage and soon it revealed the body of a medium-sized wolf. At first, the wolf was barely perceptible, almost transparent. As it approached the body of the creature became more clear revealing a wolf whose fur shimmered in the light, still partially transparent.
Instantly fear crept into Fan Zhong’s belly as he remembered the creature, a water wolf. Water wolves were among the lowest level spirit beasts that roamed the valley and usually roamed in packs. Even being a weak spirit beast its strength was said to be equal to a third-grade martial artist, in this case at least as strong as Fan Zhong himself. In his studies, Fan Zhong had learned water wolves mainly hunted using their ability to manipulate a cloak of water Qi around them to shift light making them transparent and hard to see.
At the moment he felt there was little time to think about such things as he sensed the muscles tensing on the creature's body. With a rush of air, the wolf was on him in an instant and only his training in the clan mental techniques saved his life. As his senses had predicted to him the wolf lunged forward for a bite to his left leg.
Fan Zhong attempted to use a preemptive shifting palm with his offhand on his staff, aiming for the side of the beast's head. However midway through the biting lunge, the wolf shifted its attack bringing one of its clawed paws up to swipe at his side while lowering its head to duck his counter. Fan Zhong watched with horror as the claw ripped into his side and batted him 10m away into the clearing beside the pond.
Pain flooded his mind, more intense and powerful than any he had received while training with his brother. At once a realization came to him, this was a real fight with his life on the line not a drill or training exercise. This creature was hungry and he was its prey, if he continued in this way all that awaited was a trip to the beast's stomach.
The fear that had been thrashing inside of him broke loose and Fan Zhong did not even spare a glance back at the wolf before running with all his might. He had only gotten a dozen paces when his mind screamed at him to move and he threw himself left, landing on his knees. Dust and dirt kicked up in a cloud as it covered his body briefly obscuring his vision. A crashing sound brought him back to reality as he looked up to find the wolf had skidded past him, jaws clamping down where his back shoulder had just been.
Unable to stop the momentum of such a powerful charge the wolf had ended up a few meters ahead of him blocking the path. Coldness seemed to seep into Fan Zhong’s side as blood dripped from the wound. With it came clarity as he calmed himself.
Now able to think more he immediately understood how much of an idiot he had been. What were the last few months of practicing movement techniques for if he was not going to use them? Surely he was not Fan Cheng’s match, moving like the wind. However, he knew from experience that with a few steps that utilized the Momentum of Shifting Earth his movement could be 10-20% faster than normal, perhaps fast enough to escape his current predicament.
With a firm plan Fan Zhong assumed the void gate stance with his staff and started circling the wolf with a circular step akin to the shifting palm. Presenting his weapon at the creature in a threatening manner while in stance seemed to make it warry and he bought enough time to take three of the shifting palm stance steps while building his momentum. Taking his fourth step Fan Zhong feinted as if he was going to deliver a rising earth origin palm technique from his right side and then swept his momentum outward away from the creature.
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Following this, his next step carried him past the wolf who had dodged to his left to avoid the blow. Now firmly with the momentum of five steps, Fan Zhong pushed himself in earnest to maximize his speed back the way he had come. Every step caused him to wince as his side screamed in pain. After 10 steps another snapping sound rang out from mere centimeters away causing his hair to stand on end. Rapidly he took three more steps and shifted his momentum towards the cliff face blocking the southern edge of the ravine.
Facing the looming wall he sprinted full speed at it with another three steps taking him within five meters of the wall. With all of his might Fan Zhong pushed off with his legs and jumped, sending all the force and momentum he had gathered in his movement technique into the ground to attempt to leap onto the cliff that loomed five meters high. Body met rock and as the crushing pain of crashing into the cliff face rushed through his body Fan Zhong inwardly smiled as his hands held onto the edge of the clifftop.
Finally, with the last burst of exertion Fan Zhong pulled himself up and rolled his body over the cliff edge breathing heavily. Below he could hear the snarls and whines of the water wolf as it attempted to reach him. Slowly and painfully Fan Zhong dragged himself to his feet while clutching at the wound on his side.
It took him an hour to reach his pack, lying low and skulking through the brush the whole way. By the time he arrived dirt and grime caked his once pristine robe while scarlet stained the makeshift bandages he had cut from the hem of his robe with the hunting knife. Every pore of his body ached while stinging bug bites seemed to cover anywhere that dirt didn’t.
Slumping down next to the bamboo shoot his pack rested under Fan Zhong closed his eyes and emptied his mind, trying to take stock of his situation. He knew that spirit beasts weren’t uncommon within the more wild portions of the valley’s forests. Lone spirit beasts were normally not an issue as they stayed isolated in their territories and rarely hunted humans maliciously.
Indeed ‘spirit beasts’ were usually the offspring of natural animals that had lived in Qi-rich environments for a long time. In environments with heavier amounts of natural treasures, spirit beasts would eventually form the entire ecosystem and begin interbreeding leading to rumors of exotic animals that defied normal logic. However, the Flowing Grass Valley was not known to be such a place, except in the waters of the Flowing Grass River.
The River was naturally rich in Qi and was home to a diverse number of spirit fish however the mountains that made up the valley were considered low in natural Qi and therefore the forests were a mix of sparse amounts of spirit beats and normal animals. Spirit beasts themselves only became dangerous as individuals if they lived for thousands or tens of thousands of years, as they naturally cultivated the power of heaven and earth in their bodies. Legends spoke of sentient spirit beast races such as the true dragons however Fan Zhong had never met such an intelligent beast and knew of no one who had.
To his knowledge, the valley only gathered to exterminate spirit beasts when there was a large number of them that were forming a community. In an environment like the valley, even communities of weak spirit beasts could quickly overpower the local environment and starve the other animals of resources. This would lead to a failure of the ecosystem as well as causing the spirit beast community, at this point now numbering in the hundreds if not thousands from being unchallenged as predators, to seek out expansions and inevitably clash with human settlements.
These attacks were known as ‘Beast Waves’ and the few that were recorded in the clan histories spoke of bloody conflicts being common while fear gripped the hearts of all. It was not uncommon for small or even mid-sized villages and clans to go missing overnight, destroyed as a Beast Wave swept over. Even this however was not the largest concern from a Beast Wave as once communities of spirit beasts reached this size they started birthing Beast Kings.
So-called ‘Beast Kings’ were more like subspecies of the spirit beasts than normal members of their races and were exceptionally more powerful than their kin. While a normal spirit beast cultivated strength through age Beast Kings were normally 10 to 100 times stronger than a spirit beast of the same age who wasn’t a Beast King. These variants start to be born from members of spirit beast communities after their population grows so large and become natural leaders that act as fierce generals who the lesser spirit beasts are inclined to obey by their nature.
Worst yet Beast King’s grew stronger as the community got larger. According to the records they were broken into Hundred Beast King, for communities with 100 or more creatures. These were usually two to three times as strong as a normal beast.
Next came the Thousand Beast Kings that were birthed in communities of 1,000 or more spirit beasts. At this level, Beast Kings were around 10 times more powerful than their kin. Finally came the Myriad Beast Kings who were only born in communities of 10,000 or more spirit beasts! Within these large swarms of creatures, these Beast Kings boasted 100x the strength of their kin.
It was said that in the legends there existed a higher level of Beast Kings known as Beast Emperors whose strength decimated entire regions and were thousands of times stronger than the normal members of their race. However, the records did not indicate how large a community would have to be to birth a beast emperor.
All of this was not even considering the power spirit beasts gained with age. It was said that if a spirit beast had been at its mature strength for 100 years they would have accumulated enough strength to be twice as strong as normal adults of the same species. At 1,000 years they would again undergo another change becoming 10 times the strength of that. Rumor had it that 10,000-year-old spirit beasts would be 100 times stronger than even 1,000-year-old beasts and could even take human form.
Considering this Fan Zhong could not even comprehend how strong older Beast kings were. It was no wonder all of the larger clans in the valley organized punitive forces whenever they heard of a gathering community of spirit beasts. This however did not include small packs of them and as far as he knew the water wolves generally tended to hunt in such small packs. They had become naturally predisposed to avoid large gatherings over centuries of purges from the valley clans. Truly the heavens must have been watching out for him since the water wolf had been alone.
A single mature water wolf had almost taken his life, if the whole pack was present he would have certainly perished. Although would his trial observers allow him to die? This was supposedly a clan trial so surely someone would be watching him. However, he had not seen anyone coming to save him from the wolf and he felt getting into a mindset that relied on such a rescue was not a likely way to survive this trial. In the worst case, he would be exiled from the clan for such behavior. In the best case, he would most likely have to repeat the trial after more training.
Thinking of such things made him sigh deeply and after another moment's thought, he slowly removed the dried meat from his pack, biting into a piece of it. As he prepared to continue his meal Fan Zhong heard a low growl coming from the west and raised his eyes to see the water wolf glowering at him. Putting away the meat he composed himself and raised his staff into the void gate stance.
At this point, he was tired of running, tired and in pain. This would end one way or another and he was resolute in ending this encounter victorious. While crawling back to camp he had realized how hard it was to put theory into full motion when death faced you.
If that exchange with the wolf had happened in a training yard he easily would have acted and followed up with a counter yet in a real fight his thoughts had frozen making the decision-making process delayed. Through experience, he now understood how hard actively choosing to fight and think was when the adrenaline was screaming through his body.
Steeling himself, Fan Zhong leveled his gaze at the wolf; his thoughts had taken mere moments and the staff in his hands had just come into stance as their gazes met. To his surprise, Fan Zhong heard a low whimper behind the wolf's growl and quickly the wolf slumped to the ground. Now that the wolf had fully let down its water Qi cloak he was able to see the lacerations and wounds all over its body.
The wolf had not been at full strength when they had fought and approaching he noticed a small wolf cub that had been hiding behind the beast. Fiercely the cub barked at him, standing resolute in the path between him what he now presumed was its mother. Quickly pushing past the cub he placed a hand behind its neck and held it at arm's length as tiny claws and teeth scratched at his skin only making small marks.
Examining the adult wolf he was able to tell it was truly dead, having used the last of its energy to find him here. Looking at the ribs the wolf had obviously been starved and was most likely chasing him as a last-ditch effort to feed itself and the cub. As his gaze fell to the small wolf still struggling in his grasp Fan Zhong felt a stabbing sense of guilt and pity.
This beast was just a child and had never had the chance to do anything in life. Did it not deserve a chance to prove its worth, just like he had? With this thought, Fan Zhong dragged the struggling cub with him to his pack and set it down in front of him while taking out one of the dried strips of meat. Cautiously he laid the meat down on top of its packing paper in front of the small wolf and gestured for it to eat.
At first, the water wolf cub bared its teeth at him while turning so transparent it was all but invisible save for an open mouth of sharp stubby teeth. After a few minutes of Fan Zhong motionlessly staring at it, the small creature seemed to lose its sense of animosity. Quickly it fell onto the meat with a voracious hunger obviously having not eaten in a while. While the cub ate Fan Zhong used his staff to dig out a small hole in the ground and carefully moved the mother water wolf’s corpse into the shallow grave. Atop the earth of the grave, he used his staff to write the character for ‘loyalty’ the best he could into the dirt, channeling all his calligraphy skills into it.
If he had to be honest it was not his best work however he lacked the proper tools to help with the job. By the time he was finished the small cub had climbed into his pack and dug into the rest of his meat, thoroughly exhausting all of his rations. At this point, he was too tired to be angry and simply laughed sitting down next to the pack.
To his surprise the cub climbed out of the pack and curled up in his lap, nuzzling his stomach as it yawned and was quickly asleep. Examining the small animal Fan Zhong felt that the pure white of the wolf's coat was truly beautiful, it was a shame the water wolf kept its Qi cloak on all the time hiding such a magnificent color.
“Hmph, you show promise little brother. I shall name you ‘Little White’ after that magnificence you hold inside, hidden from others. You have big shoes to fill, rest easy. Tomorrow we have much to do.” Fan Zhong spoke softly while gently patting Promise’s head.
Like this, the first day of Fan Zhong’s warrior trial ended. In his hands, as he slept something appeared that would have astonished him. Atop the head of Little White sat a misty almost transparent crown…