‘So, I’ve landed in the ancient ruins.’

Tianlan looked around the dimly lit environment he had been transported to. It was comprised of what looked like a city long forgotten by the world. Spirit beasts had taken over the streets and had made themselves at home in the ancient buildings. The entire place was built on a hill, and at the top, one could see the dilapidated remains of a once-mighty castle. Circling that castle was a swarm of bird-like spirit beasts which moved by the hundreds, presenting a good opportunity for the brave to seek points and for the foolish to seek death.

‘If I’m here, then…’ He looked around for a particular landmark. ‘That way.’

Tianlan ignored all of the roaming beasts and headed to his first destination. He had long since planned his route, and his first point of action was to collect the bags of holding left by those who didn’t make it. They would be valuable tools for his coming operations.

He made his way past the ancient ruins and crossed the boundary to another environment which he quickly ran through, entering a third, where he waited for an environment shift.

When the shift came, he found himself in the mists of a snowstorm. This wasn’t a natural occurrence. It was the product of Storm Cloud Levi and the technology that had gone behind it.

‘It really is quite impressive.’

He decided he would see if he could learn how they had done it. The ability to dynamically alter weather conditions would prove beneficial to the sect he and his siblings were planning to establish.

‘Anyway.’

He trudged through the knee-high snow and made his way up the mountain, heading for a very specific location.

***

‘A few more of these and I may be able to make a breakthrough.’

Shiva rummaged through the bag of holding she had just obtained and extracted the beast cores therein. Unlike most others in the trial, she had the ability to consume the beast cores of high-level spirit beasts, all the way up the equivalent to the ninth layer of the transcendent realm in terms of human cultivation. Ordinarily, the chaotic energy within the beast cores would harm one’s body, but for Shiva, they merely acted as nourishment.

Fortunately for her, the poor fellow she had just killed had a decent number of beast cores in the transcendent realm. They wouldn’t be enough for her to make a breakthrough, but every little helped. She gulped them down one by one then sat down to focus on absorbing their energy, but it wasn’t long before she heard sounds in the distance. The sounds of someone, or something, moving through the snow.

Her ears perked up and she stood, preparing to deal with whoever it was.

It was difficult for one to see through the snow, but it was a different matter for Shiva. She boasted keen eyesight and her motion-tracking capabilities were some of the best within her realm —only the birds of the sky could compete with her in that regard— so when she focused her vision on the shadowy figure, she could see two cool blue lights swaying rhythmically, their tails forming horizontal figure eights in the sky.

Shiva was used to the cold, but staring into those lights brought a whole new meaning to the word. It was as if the snowstorm she had already been in was but a spring breeze compared to this feeling. The feeling that there was nothing she could hide, and that there was nowhere she could go to escape the chilling stare of those eyes.

Before she knew it, her legs were shaking and she had started to retreat slowly. This brought her great shame as she had always prided herself on her fearlessness, but she couldn’t even bother with that at the moment. She realised that her movements and even her thoughts had grown sluggish, allowing that blurry figure to come closer and closer until it was only metres in front of her.

“St… St… St…”

She couldn’t get the words out. Something was inhibiting her ability to speak. She couldn’t even beg for mercy, for all the good that would do her.

The time had come for her to experience what it was like to be the prey. Those were her thoughts as she watched the figure come to a stop.

“Stay away!”

She somehow managed to regain her freedom and was finally able to retreat a small distance away. There, she eyed the fellow she had been trying to avert her gaze from. Those cool blue lights weren’t shining as brightly anymore and he didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking her.

“You won’t be needing these, right?” He asked as he pointed to a pile of black bags.

“N-No.”

Shiva looked on in astonishment as the boy retrieved the empty bags of holding then looked back at her.

“Is this all you’ve got?”

She didn’t answer. Her expression changed multiple times before she caught a particular scent due to the changing winds. Her eyes opened wide and the way she looked at the boy changed completely.

***

Tianlan watched as the white wolf prostrated itself before him.

“Your Grace,” it said.

“Uh… What?”

“Forgive this one for not noticing sooner, Your Grace.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I may be overstepping my bounds, Your Grace, but your Beast Language is too regal to blend in with us commoners. And you haven’t completely masked your scent. I am able to tell that you are a mighty and noble canine tribesman.”

Shiva trembled with excitement. She had no idea why a spirit beast who was powerful enough to take on a human form would appear in the lower continent, but meeting him was a tremendous opportunity. If she could ingratiate herself on him, there was no telling what kind of future she would have.

Tianlan blanked out for a moment before explaining it to her.

“I’m not a spirit beast.”

“I’m afraid I am incapable of comprehending your humour, Your Grace.”

“It’s no joke. I’m a human.”

“But…”

“I learnt Beast Language from my sister, I speak the version she does. As for my scent, that’s probably hers as well. I… I haven’t changed my clothes in a few days.”

“Your sister?”

Shiva looked at Tianlan, clearly confused.

“Ah. More accurately, she’s my sister-in-law.”

“Do you mean to tell me that a beast tribe and human tribe are to be united?”

“Is it that strange?”

“It’s incomprehensible.”

“Why?”

Shiva frowned. It was a question that needed no answer, yet it had been asked.

“My tribe were slaughtered by humans and every year our numbers decrease. I watched as my mother and father were slain in cold blood. Now it’s just me and my elder brother. You can hear similar stories from all of us bound in this place. So, it’s kill or be killed. Honestly speaking, if I weren’t afraid of you and you didn’t have that scent on you, I would have already fought you to the death. In fact, just knowing that you’re a filthy human stirs up a desire in me to tear you to shreds.”

“… At least you’re honest.”

“Some say to a fault.”

“You know, though. You can hear similar stories from humans too. Some people have had their parents killed by spirit beasts who attacked them unprovoked.”

“I am aware. Those people grow up hating spirit beasts and kill the loved ones of young spirit beasts, who then grow up hating humans, perpetuating the cycle. Look all around us. The seeds of hatred are being planted left and right. We can all see it, but no one can stop it. The fool who tries will die a swift death, only adding fuel to the fire.”

“Not necessarily.”

“How so?”

“Well. Aren’t we standing here having a peaceful conversation right now?”

“That’s only because…”

“It’s because I’m strong enough that you won’t attack me. That, in combination with the fact that I don’t share the hatred for you that you do for me, is what allows both of us to walk away unharmed.”

“But hatred isn’t the only reason we kill each other. Devouring humans is beneficial to spirit beasts, and humans seem to have use for our bodies as well. Especially our cores. The only reason I can see for you not killing me is that my body wouldn’t serve you any use.”

“Not quite. My brother would be disappointed in me if I killed for such frivolous reasons. And have you forgotten that my sister-in-law is a spirit beast?”

“That's a unique circumstance, and I still can’t wrap my head around it. Either way, I’ll still kill the next human I see, and when you run into a beast who isn’t afraid of you, one of you will die. That’s just the way things are. This conversation won’t make any difference. No one will ever know it happened.”

Shiva’s last sentence caused Tianlan to tie some things together.

“To think it was like that.”

“Hm?”

“There aren’t many examples of humans and spirit beasts coexisting as equals. But what if-”

——|——

“Wait a minute, Tianlan. Are you saying…”

“Mm. Assuming the Heavens want to create a more peaceful world, then I think they might have set things up between you —well, the other Hei— and Mei in an attempt to form some kind of mutual understanding between humans and spirit beasts. Perhaps you’re supposed to be an example of humans and spirit beasts coexisting peacefully. That’s why the two of you are soulmates.”

“So, it’s a political marriage… I always did wonder why the Heavens would force people to feel things like that. You may be on to something, Tianlan.”

“…”

“What wrong?”

“Nothing…”

“Come on. You can’t fool me.”

“It’s just that, if that’s the way soulmates work, then maybe I don’t have one. I was looking forward to meeting her, you know?”

“You want one? You want to have your feelings manipulated by the Heavens?”

“Maybe that’s the way you see it, but, to find a girl who was born on the same day as me, who, even before we met each other, it had been decided that our union would make the world a more peaceful place, to be walking down the street one day, only to be struck with the realisation that I had found the person who was meant for me. I don’t know. It sounds kind of nice.”

“I mean... When you put it that way, it does sound kind of nice. My dad often said that he knew my mother was the one the moment he first saw her.”

“He’s lucky.”

“Really lucky. I would be satisfied with someone who’s even half as great as my mother.”

“Sigh… Anyway, should I get back to the story?”

“Not yet. I just thought of something. There may be some hope for you yet.”

“Hm?”

“If that’s the way soulmates work, then there's still a chance you could have one. There’s another group with which a feud exists. Demons.”

“Demons? How would being with a demonic cultivator make any improvement in the world? They’ll always be reviled by pretty much everyone.”

“I’m not talking about demonic cultivators. I’m talking real demons. Forest spirits.”

“I’ve heard of demons. Like trees who grow eyes and stuff. But forest spirits?”

“Yeah. It’s knowledge I stumbled upon a little while ago. I haven’t verified the truth of it yet, so take it with a grain of salt, but it turns out that, like spirit beasts, once a spiritual plant reaches a certain level of cultivation, it’ll be able to assume human form. Long story short, humans did the plant king Azroth dirty and now he hates our guts and has vowed to exterminate us.”

“So, you think one of those forest spirits may be my soulmate?”

“It’s possible. Maybe Azroth has a daughter or something.”

“… Perhaps it would be best if we didn’t run into that guy.”

“Yeah, that’s not how it works, Tianlan. Both of us have heard his name now. If he’s real, we’re going to meet him one way or another. It’s almost guaranteed. It’s in volume two of Rules to Live By. Here, I made a copy for you.”

“Gee, thanks… How did you know what I wanted?”

“Joke all you want, Tianlan, but that book will save you a lot of trouble.”

“You may be right about that. The first one has been surprisingly useful.”

“Alright, enough distractions. Let’s get back to the story.”

“Okay. So, I was talking to Shiva, the snow wolf…”