The world seemed to shrink in on itself as Fan Zhong pushed himself to move faster up the wide sloping ramp. Inwardly he stopped even being able to hear the sounds of the wind rushing around him or the forest rustling all about. Countless stretches of underbrush and greenery flew past him as small animals were startled in his wake.

For Fan Zhong, he could only hear the increasingly loud pulsing of his heart beating madly in his ears. Every single time the noise seemed to mock him, whisper tiny doubts about all of his efforts being wasted. As his focus narrowed and he could only see the path forward all of Fan Zhong’s surroundings seemed to be deep dark that writhed with evil.

To him the world itself was turning into a dark and evil creature that was breathing down his neck, whispering of his failures and shortcomings. Every slight mark on the ground was a worry to his senses, a possible shallow grave for his faithful companion. Growing gray clouds and ominous thunder seemed to herald a truly grim failure for Fan Zhong.

In his mind, he rejected this, “curse the heavens themselves if they wanted him to give up on Little White!” Fan Zhong shouted in his mind.

If he truly allowed the little wolf to die what was all of his training for. When Wang Quiang had been in peril he had been forced to flee, to watch his friends' martial uncles die. Even then the sacrifice had not been enough, if not for his mother’s quick arrival he and his friend would have met their end that day.

Now Fan Zhong had strength, he could defend Little White with his own hands! No need to rely on some mystical last-minute savior. Suddenly as his conviction and resolve firmed the world seemed to explode with color for Fan Zhong once again allowing him to see clearly.

He had arrived at the top of the sloping ramp and looking around spotted a set of bamboo shoots that were bent out of shape. Below these bent bamboo stalks, small traces of passage remained on the ground. Normally these traces would be indistinguishable from the surrounding foliage however Fan Zhong was able to spot them.

Thinking on this brought back his first memories of months ago when he had tried to hunt with Little White. At first, his lumbering moves had frustrated the small wolf and Little White had even bitten his leg a few times when he scared prey away. Eventually, through diligent practice Fan Zhong had learned how to move while not disturbing the forest around him, certainly, he was no water wolf but he could manage something quieter than a stampede.

Once he had finally gotten a grip on moving through the forest naturally he had struggled many times to keep up with his small companion in tracking prey. To Little White, the signs of passage were bright as day even when small bits of grass were the only indication something had passed by. For Fan Zhong, the process of learning to identify such markings had been arduous and had taken him many weeks.

He first started with looking for obvious tracks like broken bush branches, trampled grass, and footprints that sunk into the ground leaving deep impressions. Many days and nights had gone past with him only being able to discern obvious tracks like this leaving him unable to discern the more subtle hints of where their quarry may have gone. Finally, after studying a small bamboo shoot that had been broken by the quick passage of a deer Fan Zhong was able to notice how the grass beyond the broken plant seemed to bend away in a discernible path.

After gleaning many hints like this over the following days his ability to spot more subtle hints inside the forest environment heightened and that week Fan Zhong finally successfully tracked to hunt a deer by spotting its trail instead of chancing upon the creature while stalking silently. That night a feast had been had by both him and his small patient companion and the memory brought much warmth to his heart. After this countless months had passed and Fan Zhong’s ability to track and discern the passage of animals in the forest had grown even further.

From investigating the bent bamboo and its surroundings he was able to follow a trail that eventually became much more obvious. Reconstructing the events from the clues at hand Fan Zhong thought he understood what might have happened. Little White had been carefully stalking through the forest as he always had without making a trace looking for small prey.

He must have thought that without the lumbering Fan Zhong around even this dangerous part of the forest was safe for his stealthy skills. This made Fan Zhong sigh in frustration, hadn’t Little White brought him here so many months ago so he knew how dangerous the area was and avoided it? How could someone not even follow their advice!

Worry growing in his heart, Fan Zhong continued to piece together what had happened to the small wolf. It seemed that unknowingly Little White had become the prey as near the top of the ramp at some point a much larger predator had begun stalking him. At first, his companion had not noticed as the enemy was being slow and methodical while Little White still viewed himself as the hunter.

After a while the larger frame of the stalker had become its own worst enemy, betraying it by snapping a branch underfoot. At this point, Little White had tried to bolt in a curving circle to get back to the ramp and rejoin with Fan Zhong. However, the opponent, having been revealed, would not let him escape so easily and so it cut the route off pushing the small wolf deeper south.

As he followed the trail Fan Zhong felt his heart dropping like a heavy stone. He had been hoping that the predator had been anything other than the menacing force that called that eerie cave home. With the trail leading closer and closer to the cliff face it was seeming certain that was not that case.

Being a spirit beast Little White was naturally stronger than normal animals and had a good chance of fighting off other predators. However, Fan Zhong felt that whatever called that den of death home was anything but ordinary. As he approached the clearing his worst fears were confirmed.

Backed into the center of the clearing Little White stood growling at an enormous bear. Thunder crackled in the sky as the bear roared at the small wolf, its grisly visage giving off a malicious feeling. Truly the bear was enormous akin to the large furry black boulder given form.

Across its face ran a scar that caused the bear's left eye to be full white with no color, obviously blinded in that eye from some past wound. With the furious bellow of the bear, the air shook and Fan Zhong could see its maw of sharp teeth accompanying the looming pressure the mere presence of the thing brought. Deep inside of himself a deep sense of primal fear arose, the fear of death loomed over Fan Zhong’s head like an executioner's blade.

Images of the yawning abyss of death overtaking him played through Fan Zhong’s mind, of his hesitation when he had fought Little White’s mom. He could see it now the mountainous paws of the creatures batting him into a bloody pulp, that gaping maw tearing his flesh apart to consume him. Inside of it all the insignificance of his existence laughed at him in that image as Fan Zhong viewed his death, the drowning feeling of the universe continuing forward as it cared so little about his end.

Once again the sky crackled with lightning and thunder which broke Fan Zhong from his trance in time to see the bear charging at him. With no time to react, he yelled in horror bringing his staff up in a feeble attempt to ward off the creature. With a bark that split the air of the clearing, Little White dove into the side of the bear’s face, fearing no death to fight for Fan Zhong.

Lowly a soft whistle could be heard from the little wolf's claws as they swiped and dug a horizontal line across the ugly creature's face before it deftly raised a paw and swatted Fan Zhong’s small companion out of the air. An instant later Little white was skittering on that ground with a hollow wet meaty sound resounding in the clearing from the impact. From the crumpled little wolf only a soft whimpering could be heard amid struggling attempts to draw breath.

Fan Zhong’s mind snapped out of his stupor as if heavenly lightning had struck him. In a rush, the air moved around him as his body moved without his input, faster and more sure than any movements he had ever made. His movement technique started gathering momentum as he ran, one step turned into five steps before passing his previous limit gathering 10 steps of momentum in a single charge.

Shooting like a comet towards this monstrous creature Fan Zhong saw red as his staff spun about his arms in great wheeling circles further gathering momentum into his growing speed. During training Fan Cheng had told him that further mastery would allow all movements to gather momentum into his steps and strikes; however, Fan Zhong had never been able to shift the momentum of anything other than his steps. Now, spurned by anger and an instinct to protect his newfound friend, his training coalesced, turning his charge into a mad dash that pushed the limits of what his body could handle.

Fan Zhong’s passage caused the air to move around him, parting the low grass in his way and setting the foliage at the edge of the clearing rattling. Dark shadows flitted about in those bushes and shoots but he had no time to think of that, this creature had hurt Little White and it would pay for that. With a thundering crack the lower end of his staff connected with the bottom of the bear’s jaw sending a shockwave of air in all directions.

As Fan Zhong had approached the bear had charged to meet him head-on and tried to bite down on his shoulder as he came in. Using his training Fan Zhong had shifted all of his momentum into a shifting palm technique with the top of his staff to slide to the side of the bite and then used his remaining saved force to ram an earth origin palm technique in the bottom of his weapon sending it into the creature. The momentum of this strike sent the bear reeling, its twisted visage curling up into a snarl of pain.

Fan Zhong grimaced as his opponent was pushed to the side a few meters, recoil from the strike was resounding through his body causing immense pain. That charge had contained more force than anything Fan Zhong had ever consciously done, outside of the palm strike he had delivered during his Dao resonance, and the strain it had put on him was none too easy to ignore. Currently, the vibrations of impact were traveling throughout his body and it felt as if his staff had connected with a solid fortress wall.

With an effort of will, he composed himself and set his weapon into his void gate stance staring down the creature that was turning to come down on him once again. Instantly the bear lunged forward, swapping in a horizontal arc. Fan Zhong reacted quickly using the leading end of his staff to connect a shifting palm to the outside of the creature's meaty paw using his footwork to retreat and create distance.

This proved to be a mistake as almost too late he realized that the bear had been faking its attack on him. With an expression that looked as akin to a malicious grin as the bear’s gnarled face could manage, it quickly withdrew that attack and turned, aiming to dash at the downed Little White and finish him off. Quickly Fan Zhong raised his staff so that one end rested on his palm pushing it forward like a spear from the back in a simple origin palm strike.

As the other end of his staff neared the bear Fan Zhong felt something was off. His opponent seemed to have slowed its charge towards Little White. Sure enough, moments, before he could connect the horrible creature, turned like a blur of black lightning swatting his weapon out of mid-air and snapping its jaws at his head.

Turbid air sent the scent of rotten meat and decay into Fan Zhong’s face as razor-sharp teeth rushed towards him. As his weapon attempted to tumble from his grasp from the force of the counter he used the momentum to contact-juggle it into a spin, sending the side of the staff into the bear’s jaw. This barely knocked the hulking brute off course and allowed Fan Zhong to keep hold of his weapon as a junk of flesh was ripped from his shoulder instead of his neck before a huge paw sent him sprawling on the ground.

Pain seared through his body like nothing he had ever imagined, it felt like the hottest fire Fan Zhong had ever felt was running like liquid through his shoulder. The world spun in his vision as the concussive force of his body colliding with a sturdy bamboo shoot wracked him once more. Deep cracking noises resounded through the clearing as Fan Zhong’s body broke through the underbrush.

Each breath came as a wheeze for him as he coughed up several mouthfuls of blood. Attempting to move his arms caused him to scream in pain, as much as he could with so little air in his lungs. As he struggled desperately to move it seemed as if the world moved in slow motion. Leaves that were falling seemed to barely move and the grass that was so vigorously swaying in the wind of the brewing storm moments before were now still.

Deep within himself, Fan Zhong tried desperately to lull himself into the familiar emptiness of the void gate stance, to draw some semblance of calm back to his mind. Meanwhile, all of his fears manifested, whispering of his failures while laughing at him. All of his training was for nothing, a good-for-nothing young master who had wasted his life.

They showed him images of his clan members wounded and bleeding, the blood pooled into the ground to grow spirit stones. Next came a ghostly image of himself wearing an image of malice and spite, picking the fruits of his loved ones grown in blood and sweat. In this vision, the ghost version of Fan Zhong kept spending these spirit stones again and again even going so far as to whip his relatives to wring them dry for more benefits.

This was not him, it could never be him! Fan Zhong rejected these ideas vehemently, he was lazy and true but no monster like this! A small part of him whispered that this was already him, that everyone who had ever laughed at his laziness already saw him this way, that it truly would've been better had he never been born. Gritting his teeth he admitted it, yes he had been going down this path.

To deny this part of himself would be to deny part of his existence, he could no more deny these actions than refute himself. As all things were part of the Eternal Dao all of Fan Zhong was a part of his life, how could someone reject their own life? Doing so would be like cutting off an arm or leg simply to prove that arm or leg were not your own.

No, these feelings and desires were every bit as much a part of Fan Zhong as his burning love for his friends and family. What was important was to understand how this part of him had shaped him and how he would move forward with his convictions. He had accepted these things as a part of him, this is why he had kowtowed so vehemently to his parents.

The mistakes of his past could not be changed, only Fan Zhong’s new steeled resolve to be a better person after being forged through these slights to his honor and his family. Through an effort of will, he stopped his screaming, suppressed his pain, sanding up. At that moment the bear felt the first sign of fear it had during the entire exchange, it now no longer knew who was the prey and who was the hunter.

Looking over at the bear it no longer seemed to want to finish off Little white, it stared menacingly at him bearing cruel fangs. Observing the creature he realized that it was bleeding profusely from one side of its face and was leaning on his strong side, taking weight off the side Fan Zhong had repeatedly struck with his weapon. Gathering his courage Fan Zhong turned his shouts of pain into a warcry as he saluted his opponent with his weapon before charging forward.

This time he did not charge forward recklessly and approached with three steps of momentum. For a brief moment, the bear circled him as he counter-circled in the opposite direction. When thunder next cracked in the sky both of them attacked. Fan Zhong continued forward gathering his momentum to four steps as he curved his approach preempting his shifting palm technique.

Meanwhile, the boulder of a bear coming down on him attempted no subtlety or grace; it simply rushed him to throw a mountain of weight in an attempt to grind Fan Zhong into dust. All of his saved momentum went into a shifting palm that brought Fan Zhong to the weak side of the bear as he slammed a weakened heaven-origin palm strike down on its shoulder. Now that his blow was weakened, lacking the momentum of his steps pushed into it, the staff strike connected with a dull thud and bounced off slightly signaling that not much damage had been done.

Undeterred Fan Zhong spun his staff on the outside of his arm and along his elbow up into the air. With this movement, he raised his outer leg and delivered a resounding heaven receiving palm with a kick that drove the hard as steel weapon down on the same spot the first blow had landed. Blood sprayed into the air as the pained roar of the bear resounded in the clearing.

Quickly the opponent encountered attempting to throw its weight sideways. However, the bear required a moment to shift its momentum since it was already moving in another direction. As his opponent started pushing sideways Fan Zhong delivered an earth receiving palm technique, slamming both palms into either side of the bear’s weak side front leg, causing it to lose balance. Meanwhile, his knee drove up into the area between the creature's neck and leg using its own charge to add further force to his blow.

The resulting exchange sent a lightning bolt of pain down his leg making his left leg hard to move afterward. Fan Zhong had no time for this pain as his assault continued. Two cracks rang out as a combination of earth origin palm and all things birth from the origin palm rang were delivered through opposite ends of Fan Zhong’s staff in consecutive strikes. Each blow rang true precisely timed to connect as the bear started to move.

Each time it was startled and its attack interrupted by these blows that continued drilling into the wound on the grizzly visage of this mountain of muscle and malice. Although it seemed like each hit was as harmful as a mosquito bite, each one caused immense pain and stunned the bear. It was like an infant repeatedly trying to reach for a pile of sweets only to be swatted on the head at the slightest movement. This continued as the rain started to pour, three shifting palms carried the momentum into a heaven-origin palm. Next, a mortal receiving palm was delivered with a mid-level kick to the side of the bear's face as Fan Zhong received the momentum of an attempted bite from the beast, redirecting it into his kick.

Blood started to ooze from the orifices of the bear and it turned into an even more terrifying demon as it looked as if it cried tears of blood. The heavens weep and a demon crying blood hounded for his soul, Fan Zhong laughed at the sky like a mad man pushing all of his emotions into the strikes. If life would keep putting him in scenarios that asked him to act like the heroes of old, who was he to question the will of heaven?

Again and again, his staff fell, the beast never seeming to waver no matter how injured it seemed. As the fight continued Fan Zhong’s stamina waxed and little by little his mortal body showed its limits. The first time he slipped up in his shifting palm technique by targeting slightly off from the balance point of the bear's paw strike, the edge of the blow clipped his side and gouged out a bloody wound. From this wound blood soaked his martial robe constantly soaking into the once cloth and making it ever so slightly heavier, amplifying the pain ever so much.

Next, he used a receiving palm technique but the bear was ready, it had not put as much force into the lunging bite as he had thought, allowing the follow-up shove of its shoulder to catch him in the sternum and knocking the wind from Fan Zhong's lungs. Another mouthful of blood he spat up after this blow, at this point his mind registered branches breaking in the distance behind the drowning sound of rain but his vision swam so much he paid no mind to them. He figured at this point blood loss was slowing his thoughts, forcing him to try harder and harder to focus on the fight.

Eyes bloodshot and robe in tatters, Fan Zhong stood resolutely on his back straight and stood forward in the void gate stance. At that moment his eyes shine golden for just a moment, he knew deep inside that if his father saw him his pride would be overflowing. With his wounded leg and a broken arm, he stood resolute, unable to advance to attack anymore but unwilling to give.

The bear circled for only a brief instant before charging forth and whipping a gigantic paw towards his head with the momentum to crush Fan Zhong’s face into pulp. At this moment the most unexpected thing saved his life. Like a bolt of heavenly lighting out of some immortal tribulation, Little White Collided into the side of the bear’s face with all the force the small cub could manage.

Sharp claws dug into damaged skin and the tiny jaws of Little White dug into the blinded eye of the bear drawing angry red lines of blood that sprayed forth from the beast. With much struggling the beast finally swatted Little White off its face with a sweeping paw strike. At this exact moment Fan Zhong appeared to the weakened side of the bear staff spinning at unbelievable speed, momentum carried to 5 steps. With all of the energy left in his body, he rotated the staff in his hand like a drill as he placed one end on his palm and thrust it forward like a spear.

All things birth from the origin palm carried the staff directly into the grisly creature’s face directly drilling a small crater of fresh blood and brain matter furry boulder. Blood splattered everywhere and an expression of pure shock was left on the remaining portion of the bear's head. Seemingly carried by a malicious will upon death it lunged forward with both paws looking to bury Fan Zhong with its weight. The air seemed to explode as a blurring dark shadow reduced the remains of the creature's head into pulp stopping its momentum in its track.

From within a low crater of dust and earth, Fan Zhong saw a familiar figure. There sat Fan Wuying, master realm warrior of the fan clan and grandfather to Fan Yong.

“Nephew Zhong, you choose worthy prey. Honor to your battle” Fan Wuying spoke in a quiet yet respectful tone even bowing to Fan Zhong during the exchange.

“This junior has much to learn from Elder Wuying however many thanks are due for your praise” Fan Zhong returned the bow slowly and stood.

The smile on his face was unassailable, he finally could stand proud in after a fight, albeit with some difficulty, without the sudden fade to black. With that thought his wounded leg buckled underneath Fan Zhong causing him to sprawl on the floor. Copious laughter flooded around from the troop of arriving observers and warriors and he felt nothing but warm affection fill his heart.