As Xu Long was staring at the tiny creature in his hand, he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

“Do you understand the importance of the oath you just took?” Old Wu asked with a stern look on his face.

Xu Long looked up at him and nodded.

“No, you do not. The spirit fox gave all that was left of herself to ensure that it is binding, she left a mark on your soul.”

Xu Long’s face went a little pale when he heard that and he quickly turned his attention to the spirit fox that now lay completely still with its eyes closed. “She’s gone?”

“The old bear pulverized nearly every organ in her body, she was not lying when she said she had already taken her last breath.” Old Wu answered as he walked up to the now lifeless spirit fox and placed his hand on her forehead, the huge spirit fox promptly disappeared before Xu Long’s eyes.

“What did you do with her?” Xu Long asked, staring at the depression in the ground covered in blood where the spirit fox once lay.

Old Wu flashed his hand showing an onyx black ring on his finger. “I stored the body, to give to your mother when we see her.” He answered as he strolled over the giant corpse that Xu Long now knew was a bear. After repeating the process, Old Wu dusted his hand, “come on Xu Long, we have tarried long enough, your mother is no doubt wondering why it is taking so long for me to fetch you.”

Xu Long nodded his head. “How do we reach the valley?”

Old Wu smiled. “You were sitting on top of the entrance when I found you.” Laughing as he saw the face Xu Long was making. “Come, let’s go.”

Once more Xu Long found himself with a hand on his shoulder, skin slightly tingling, moving through a blurred world. Even though he was expecting it this time he still had trouble discerning anything in his surroundings or even judging how long the trip took, so disorientating was the experience. His foreknowledge did help as they arrived at their apparent destination as he orientated to his new location at a much faster rate. He could see the tree that he had climbed directly in front of them and the moss covered rock he had woken up on off to the side, as he scrutinized the tree, he was once again struck by the fact that he had a good feeling about it for no apparent reason.

Turning his head to Old Wu, “why do I get a good feeling from this tree?”

“Huh…I assumed it just a coincidence, and that you climbed this tree at random, you are quite perceptive.” Old Wu studied Xu Long for a moment, running a hand through his long white beard. “Nevermind, take my hand” Old Wu said as he extended his hand to Xu Long, who took the old calloused hand without hesitation.

Old Wu moved his free hand slightly and Xu Long saw a round disc covered in lines and patterns appear in his palm, as fascinated as Xu Long was with the disc, what really drew his attention was the black ring on the hand that held the disc, he found himself imagining just what wonders could be found within. He found his daydreaming broken when Old Wu started chuckling.

“You have a long path ahead of you before you can get one of these, kid.”

Old Wu returned his attention to the tree trunk directly in front of them and he raised the disc in his hand and pressed it onto a seemingly random point on the trunk. Xu Long, who had torn his attention from the ring, was now watching wide eyed as the small disc lit up and almost instantly turned so bright as to obscure his vision, he was then subjected to the same omnidirectional squeezing that he had experienced from his jump from the waterfall. Just as quickly as he was blinded by the light, his vision returned, his hand was released, and he found himself staring at a very familiar sight.

Old Wu and Xu Long stood at the narrowest point overlooking a picturesque valley, a meandering river to their right which disappeared behind them into the mountain wall, to their left and right were craggy mountainous walls covered in sporadic vegetation, trees taking hold wherever they could find a sliver of horizontal ground, opened up slowly, widening the valley at a gradual rate. As Xu Long stood looking over the valley he realized that he had never really noticed just how much the diverse flora of the valley, and the medley of color it provided, truly added to the beauty of this place. After experiencing that ocean of green from atop the ancient tree he had to admit that it gave him an appreciation for his home.

His reverie was short lived however, as he spotted a stunningly beautiful young woman leisurely walking over to them, her distinct purple eyes focused entirely on him, those same eyes inherited from her stared back. He had so many questions for her. When she arrived in front of the two, before Xu Long could open his mouth, he found himself in her embrace. After the initial shock wore off he hugged her back with his one free hand, careful to protect the precious cargo in his other.

“I am so proud of you, my brave little man.” His mother spoke softly into his ear.

After a few moments more savoring the embrace, she relented, still crouching down to remain at his eye level, she looked up to the old man watching by the side with a smile on his face. “Thank you for fetching him Zhong, and for agreeing to my selfish request.”

“Psh” he waved her thanks away, “come now Li, you know better than that, I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” Something about his grin and his glance at Xu Long when he said that gave the young man a sinking feeling.

Returning her focus to her son, smiling at him, “I know you have questions, but I believe we have a more pressing matter to attend to.” Looking down at the tiny ball of fur resting in her son's upturned palm. “Now, why don’t you tell me how you came to be in possession of a near death baby spirit fox from the Frozen North.”

“Old Wu said you could save her.”

“Did he now?” Turning her head towards Old Wu with a raised eyebrow.

Old Wu merely smiled as he waived his hand, then two giant beast corpses materialized on the ground next to the trio.

“If I had to guess I would say the mother was fleeing with her daughter with great abandon and accidently stumbled into that curmudgeonly old bear's territory.”

For the first time in Xu Long’s life he saw a look of shock on his mother’s face. “She actually killed Old Yong?”

“Not only that, when we arrived she was still holding on to the last thread of her life and reinforcing the ward keeping the child alive.”

Xu Long was still staring at his mother’s face, not quite over what he had just witnessed when he saw her look over at the corpse of the spirit fox scrutinizing it carefully. “She was no simple spirit fox” she finally declared.

“There is something else you need to know, your son swore a soul oath to her before she passed.”

“WHAT!”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Xu Long froze as the sky of the valley instantly turned to night, you could be forgiven for thinking that it was the real night sky, but for one rather ominous difference, the stars were all a deep foreboding red. His mother was staring daggers at Old Wu who had his hands up. “Calm down Li” he said with his usual composed manner of speech, though Xu Long could swear he saw a drop of sweat trickle down his brow. “Ask him what he swore.”

His mother took a breath, and as she did the ominous red color seemed to drain from the stars in the sky. It was still night though when she turned her gaze to her son with a more serious expression than he had ever seen on her face before. “Long’er what exactly did you swear to the fox?”

Xu Long could tell that this was serious, though he could not for the life of him work out why. “I swore that I would never treat her daughter as anything less than my equal, it is not a big deal Mother...”

“You have no idea how big of a deal a soul oath is, Long'er! Especially one overseen by someone as powerful as that fox!” The stars regaining a fraction of the red that had seeped out of them just a moment ago as his mother interrupted him.

He couldn’t help smiling a little watching his unflappable mother lose her cool for the first time in his life, but when he saw her squint her eyes at him in response he decided he better not play around anymore. “I obviously know that Mother, though I am getting the impression of just how serious it is.” He started glancing at the night sky that had materialized out of nowhere. “I meant that the contents of the oath are not a big deal…because I would have done that anyway.”

As she looked at the young face of her son adorned with that confident and mischievous smile, her face went blank for a moment, then she closed her eyes massaging between them with her forefinger and thumb, sighed and mumbled something under her breath. Xu Long couldn’t be sure but he was pretty sure he heard the words “just like him.”

By the time she had finished massaging the bridge of her nose the sky had returned to a bright and sunny early afternoon. “Very well, if she grows up to be anything like her mother she will certainly be worth the resources that will be required to save her.”

Xu Long frowned a bit at his mother’s attitude but ignored it and asked “what is wrong with her?”

“Don’t give me that look Long’er, saving her will take at least three years of effort and cost me at minimum a year of accumulation.” Now it was Xu Long’s turn to be shocked, “that long?”

“When Wu Zhong called Old Yong over there curmudgeonly he was being quite generous, he was a malicious and vindictive old thing and his qi reflected that. That qi is now flooded throughout this child's body and has permeated deeply, the only reason she lives is because of the quite frankly spectacular ward woven by her mother.”

Xu Long was at a loss as he listened to his mother talking, he hated not understanding what was going on and that apparently showed on his face as his mother looked at him that way that mother’s do with love and understanding.

She walked up to the two beast corpses and moved them into her own ring which Xu Long had always seen her wearing but now took on a much greater significance. “Come, follow me Long’er, we will talk on the way to the spirit fox’s new home for the next few years.”

Realizing that his mother had noticed him pouting Xu Long dipped his head in embarrassment and walked alongside her as she made her way deeper into the valley.

“I’m sure by now you are suspecting that the waterfall and your brief adventure outside the valley was a test of sorts.” She paused and looked at her son to see him return the look and give a small nod. So she continued, “whilst that is indeed the case, it is only a part of the truth.” Returning her gaze forward while she let that sink in. “The true test was to determine what direction your education would take and if you were ready. It was a blank slate, you were given total freedom, within the valley of course, and the test would mold itself based on your actions and desires. So, for instance, if you desired knowledge above all, and you passed whatever test was deemed appropriate, you may have found yourself in a section of my library.”

As Xu Long was walking alongside his mother, mulling over what she was telling him, his mind got stuck on two words his mother just used. “May have?”

Smiling at him with a touch of pride, she answered “that’s correct, the direction the test takes is entirely decided by the taker, my only power over it was to stop it.” After letting that sink in for a beat she continued, “so in light of this, what do you make of your test?”

A look of contemplation adorning his face, Xu Long thought back to what he had experienced and his motivations over the last year. ‘It is obviously not as simple as “I wanted to see what was outside the valley”, the example Mother used was “a thirst for knowledge”, and that was clearly part of my motivation. However, I wasn’t content to just acquire it from some books, I wanted something more, I wanted to experience...’ Then it hit him and he blurted out his answer. “Freedom, I didn’t just want to know what was outside the valley, I wanted to see it for myself.”

Nodding with a slight smile still on her face “and the trials that you had to overcome?”

“Perseverance and bravery?” Xu Long questioned, feeling that his answer was somewhat correct but also lacking.

“Will.” Staring into her son's eyes as if she was determined to emphasize the importance of what she was about to say. “There is only a single requirement to walk the path you desire, as I am sure you have surmised from seeing just how dangerous some of the places outside the valley can be, you need the power to do so. And no matter the path you walk to obtain that power, you require the will to always take that next step. Whether in the face of pain, monotony, those that seek to hinder your path, threats to your life or a myriad of other hindrances and challenges.”

“Although you didn’t realize explicitly that you were choosing a path to walk down, you would do well not to ignore what your heart chose. That being said, I will not force you to walk it, should you turn back you will always have my love and protection.”

That last line left a sour taste in Xu Long’s mouth and judging by the small smirk he saw on his mothers face she knew he would react that way.

They continued to walk in silence for a time as Xu Long thought about everything his mother had told him, when he was awoken from his silent contemplation by his mother, “we’re here, Long’er.” He looked up to see that they were standing in the middle of a perfectly symmetrical garden, the path they had arrived on meeting three others in the center.

“Your garden?” Xu Long asked as he surveyed his surroundings, the garden was ringed by an octagonal path about forty meters around and besides the paths that converged in the center from the four cardinal points the rest of the octagon was taken up by four ponds, not that you could tell they were ponds, covered as the were by hundreds of identical dark violet lotus blossoms with glowing tiny white dots all over their petals. Xu Long had never spent a lot of time here as his mother had impressed upon just how important it was to her.

“This is the heart of the valley, and also the focal point of your mother’s greatest achievement to date, present company excluded of course” a small cheekily smile adorned her face as she waved her hand over the very center of the octagon and materialized a moderately sized jade bowl, she then looked at Xu Long and motioned towards the bowl. “Place our patient in the bowl Long’er.”

Xu Long walked up to the bowl and gently placed his charge within.

“Now, I am going to be indisposed for the next few days while I set up the treatment for our little fox here, so before I get started I shall explain to you what your coming education will entail given the path you have chosen and your subsequent passing of the trial.”

That got Xu Long’s attention as he ripped his attention from the spirit fox in the bowl and focused intently on his mother.

Smiling, she continued, “for the next few years your time will be divided between two areas of study, the first will be knowledge, I will teach you everything you need to know, and then I will teach you more.” Xu Long did not like the smile that his mother was wearing when she said that last bit… “The second will be martial, Wu Zhong will not only teach you how to fight, he will introduce you to a broad selection of weapons, so that when you decide on your focus it will be an informed decision.”

“I know that you have only known Wu Zhong for all of an hour, but believe me when I tell you that I trust him implicitly, and that you can too. So the next few days while I am indisposed will be the perfect opportunity for you to get to know each other, wouldn’t you say so Zhong?”

Xu Long’s head snapped to the direction that his mother was looking only to see Old Wu standing on the path behind him bending over and examining one of his mother’s lotus blossoms.

“These are extraordinary Li, you have really outdone yourself this time.” He stared at them for a few seconds more before righting himself and looking towards Xu Long with a grin on his face. “I’m sure we will be the best of friends by the time you are done Li.”

Xu Long suddenly had a sinking feeling in his stomach as he remembered Old Wu, that same grin on his face, saying he “wouldn’t miss this for the world” not that long ago. Just what had he got himself into by jumping off that waterfall…