Thunder rang as rain poured from the sky atop an opulent pavilion. Beneath that roof stood a handsome young man with sharp features holding a wooden sword as four martial artists attacked him. As the attackers closed in the rain itself slowed as Wei Hua’s perception focused to take them in.

In a world that seemed to stand still around him, the young Wei lord struck out knocking aside two of his opponent’s blades with a flick of his wrist, the wooden practice sword in his hand moving with inhuman precision and control to deflect the strikes. With a sweeping motion, his blade flowed into a semi-circle swing over his back to intercept the remaining attacks. In a single blur, Wei Hua executed a circular slash in the opposite direction of his parry, striking each of his opponents in the chest hard enough to send them flying.

With his assailants sent flying a wicked grin crossed the young lord’s face and he pounced at each of the falling opponents delivering a series of slashes that marked a cross shape on each of their cheeks before the men even hit the floor. By the time that happened Wei Hua stood in the center of the pavilion his sword held to the side as he observed the rain outside. Only a single raindrop had fallen from the height of the roof to the ground during the entire exchange, if a normal person were observing and blinked they might think that Wei Hua had not moved at all.

Callous laughter rang out from the young lord as power surged out all around him, causing his now kneeling opponents to sprawl on the floor once more. Wei Hua had struggled to defeat these training instructors a mere year ago however now things were different. The others in the valley thought him mad with power, they were correct in one respect he had gained power. Ever since that fateful day his father had shown him the message left by his grandfather, the one that detailed how the old man had ascended from this pitiful valley.

His father had given up, had thought the cost too high, too risky. Wei Hua was different, he would ascend from this lowly mortal existence. This war was simply a celebration to herald his ascension. A chorus of screams and a river of blood to mark the birth of grim phoenix that would rebirth from that blood and climb to immortality. For what were lives in the face of eternity? In his gut, the young lord believed this valley was left as his birthright, resources left behind by his grandfather to pave the way for his ascension. As Wei Hua’s smile grew even more demonic he laughed one final time as he flipped a small silver coin, the one that would enable his ascent. Staring at it the coin seemed to vibrate in anticipation as well and in the darkness of his palm, it glowed an ethereal ghostly silver…

Fan Zhong awoke with a start, gasping for air. He had an awful dream, one where a ghost chased him into an endless abyss. In that chase, Fan Zhong was driven deeper and deeper into that abyss and it felt strangely familiar. The abyss seemed full of all the emotions he kept tightly locked in his heart, in that place he swore to never go. In that place the demon and that dark corner of his heart crushed him like an ant between two colliding mountains. a whisper urged him to give into the hate and darkness, seize the power they held and smash the demon to a bloody pulp! Drown in the blood of those who stood before him, make them weep and cower to know the price of defying his might!

With a start Fan Zhong quickly sat up from his bed, cold sweat pooling on his brow. What led him down such a path? Did his heart truly contain such anger and despair to fuel these dark acts? This must somehow be a lingering feeling of guilt due to his exile.

Yes that must be it, some small part of him wanted to indulge those dark emotions he felt while hearing of Fan Jia being bullied, perhaps one of the legendary heart demons was taking shape in his mind? Fan Zhong started breathing heavily as his thoughts clouded before a soft breathing caught his ear. Laying on his chest, sleeping peacefully, was Little White.

The sight of the little wolf instantly brought calm to his mind and Fan Zhong attempted to rise. After a few minutes of shuffling about Little White was left defiantly sitting on his bed as Fan Zhong dressed and headed to the mess hall to receive an earlier breakfast. On the way there the bustling sounds of crewmen about their business and the running waters around the ship helped ease his mind. After finishing his meal Fan Zhong made his way back to his room to retrieve his staff and then set out for the captain’s cabin to relieve Fan Shun and begin his guard shift. While walking his thoughts started to wander and he recounted the rest of the events from the previous day

After the initial excitement wore down Fan Zhong had introduced Little White to his team and they had been mostly amicable to the little wolf, aside from Zi Bao who thankfully kept his remarks to himself for once. The only stipulation Fan Shun had provided was that Little White needed to not interfere with his duties and anything the little animal did would be Fan Zhong’s responsibility. To him, those things were a given and with no objections to these rules, the addition of Little White to the team had been settled.

With that out of the way, Fan Shun had set a scheduled rotation for their bodyguard duties as well as team training and personal training. For Fan Shun and Su Fen, as well as any other veteran warriors, things like personal training were expected to be done during free time. However, for new warriors like Zi Bao and Fan Zhong the older team leader had been very clear that mandated personal training would be implemented into their schedule to ensure they were making progress.

This was also done to work the scheduling such that at least one of the older warriors would be off duty to be present during their training. After everything was said and done they had determined that for the first leg of their journey, three weeks of travel to a place known as Scale and Fin Village, Fan Shun would take the early morning shift that began from 1 A.M. to 8 A.M. Next, Fan Zhong would take the next shift starting from 7 A.M. to 2 P.M.

Zi Bao would follow with 1 P.M. to 8 P.M. and Su Fen would round out the day from 7 P.M. to 2 A.M. With this schedule they would overlap the previous guard by an hour to make sure no gaps occurred and the person who would take the next shift would cover a meal period for the person currently on duty after 4 hours of their shift. Su Fen Opted to take the early morning shift and forgo his meal period until his free time, taking on the most difficult task as the leader.

This would leave Zi Bao to cover Fan Zhong’s meal period and Su Fen to cover Zi Bao’s meal. Fan Shun would sleep during the day after his morning shift so that he could wake late into the night to assist with training and cover Su Fen’s meal. Seeing how much hassle the scheduling caused Fan Zhong had felt they were short-handed and had expressed this to Fan Shun. This caused the older warrior to admit they were indeed short-handed and normally one or two clan observers would usually be assigned to a team of their size.

However, the recent tensions with the Wei and rumors of war had caused the request for observers from the other clans and villages to be at an all-time high. In addition, this put the Fan clan’s forces on high alert as well. All of this demand for observers caused normal bodyguard missions like this to have to do without. One of the reasons Fan Shun, an elite warrior who would usually be assigned to harder duties, was here was a cause of just that.

The merchant had paid in advance for a full team before the troubles began. As the agreed-upon date neared and it became apparent the clan wouldn’t have enough observers to spare they had instead offered to send one of the clan's elite veterans to lead the guard detail. Fan Shun had not minded an easy assignment in the least and had happily accepted the task.

For someone like him, who would normally be requested for dangerous assignments, the discomfort of a little less sleep was truly no trouble at all. Having set down a rotation for the duty schedule Fan Shun outlined the details of their guard assignment. Sir Teng had commissioned the team of clan warriors to bodyguard him for the duration of this mission. At all times one of them would personally watch over him, hence the tight scheduling.

In the contract, the merchant had not only listed himself for priority protection, but he had also listed his crew. When one hired clan warriors they could specify things under three levels of protection. Life-oath, Martial-oath, and Material-oath. For items or persons listed under Life-oath, the bodyguards swore to protect them with their own lives as long as the client and those being protected remained friendly to the bodyguards, as well as not actively harming or threatening to harm the guards.

Martial-oath was for things or persons the guards swore to make the best attempt they could to protect them, putting their martial artist pride on the line. However, once they were defeated or felt they had no hope of succeeding they could choose to give up on those marked under the martial oath. There was another layer to this as a Fan clan warrior giving up on a martial oath target was admitting his defeat in the martial way and seen as a large disgrace. Most would only do this if they truly felt their lives were in danger. Finally, Material oath protection indicated an item or persons that the guards would put effort into defending and keeping safe however they wouldn’t risk major harm to do so.

Normally the clan warriors had pride in keeping all the clients' goods and people safe as a matter of principle. However the oath levels were an ironclad rule not just about the honor of the individual but the honor of the clan as a whole, those who broke the agreed upon oaths would be exiled from the clan permanently along with their immediate family. Sometimes exceptions could be made if their immediate family were particularly loyal or did something to restore their honor however it would still take decades to fully recover from such a disgrace in the eyes of the clan and many would look down on them for generations to come. When a clan warrior swore loyalty they were agreeing to uphold the rules of the clan and so they too agreed to the oaths of each assignment when they accepted them.

Each of these designations cost additional spirit stones when added to a contract and the life oaths cost considerably more than either of the others. In addition life oaths requested were personally reviewed by all the elders and voted on before being accepted. The clan may sell their services however they valued warriors highly, agreeing to have them put their lives at stake was indeed a serious matter.

Sir Teng had asked for himself as well as every member of his crew to be placed under life oath protection, while only assigning material oath protection to the goods and ship. This showed two things. One that Sir Teng was of good moral character, as he cared more about his men than the material goods on board the ship. Secondly, it showed that tensions were not only high throughout the inner parts of the valley.

Flowing arrow city, the place Sir Teng called home and did business from, was about as far away from the center of the valley as a place could be and still be considered part of the Flowing Grass Valley. In normal times even a merchant who cared for his crew wouldn’t see the need to pay such a large sum to ensure Life-oath protection as the chance of finding danger was quite low. However, with the possibility of the valley clans going to war with the Wei, these were not normal times indeed.

Fan Zhong also noted that Teng Liang had commissioned this level of protection right before news of impending war was being widely circulated in public spaces. Perhaps the Deng, who ruled over Flowing Arrow City, knew more about the hostile attitude of the Wei than it seemed. Either that or ‘Sir Teng’ was more than the simple merchant he seemed to be.

With the life oath covering so many people, they had been given detailed instruction on how the guard detail was to play out. A guard needed to be with Sir Teng at all times to ensure his safety. As for the life oath on the crew, the off-duty guards were to remain vigilant and protect them as much as possible while remaining rested and fit for their guard shifts. Fan Zhong finished recounting this briefing of information as he neared Fan Shun in preparation to take over his first day of guard duty.

As he approached the door to the captain's cabin Fan Zhong studied the passageway and surroundings. Leading up to the cabin the hallway, which led to the rooms of the crew officers and his fellow team members, widened to an open area. To his right, about five paces, were the stairs that led onto the deck.

Looking to his left, the familiar narrow hallway that led to the mess hall, which had its own set of stairs to the deck, greeted Fan Zhong. Finally, directly across the open space about 10 paces away was a set of double doors which Fan Shun stood beside. Other than that the room contained a few tables and low seats that could allow around 10 people or so to use the open space as a common room of sorts.

Remembering the night before Fan Zhong had seen a few people having drinks in this room however they had cleared out early in the night. He assumed Sir Teng had expressed his opinion on the common room being noisy late into the night on more than one occasion prompting his crew to avoid being here to disturb the captain's sleep. With a final step, Fan Zhong arrived in front of Fan Shun and gave a martial bow to the older warrior.

“Senior, I hope the morning found you peacefully. This one is here to fulfill his duty so that you may get well-earned rest” Fan Zhong intoned respectfully

“Oh? You’re the arbiter of who has earned rest, Junior Brother?” Fan Shun said in a neutral voice while leveling his gaze at Fan Zhong.

“I… I wouldn’t presu…” Fan Zhong stammered quickly, feeling flustered and off-balance at the accusation.

“Hah, relax Junior Brother Zhong. If you're this tense already I doubt you’ll last through the whole shift. Thankfully the night was silent and peaceful if not a touch boring. Come, take up your post opposite me.” Fan Shun replied, a rare smile crossing his face as humor entered his voice.

Fan Zhong quickly obeyed and was soon standing on the opposite side of the double doors from Fan Shun, staff held vertically to his side.

“Good you brought your weapon at least, relax your posture a bit. Trust me your back will thank you later.” Fan Shun said as he glanced around the room, returning to his more neutral commanding tone “Will Little White be joining us this morning Junior Brother?”

When he had woken up earlier this morning Little White had been sound asleep on top of his chest, likely enjoying the warmth of being so close. Fan Zhong had to practically pry the young wolf off of him to get out of the cramped bed space. However, Little White slept through the whole process without fail.

“Most likely not, he seemed exhausted from seeing so many new people and sensations. Perhaps in the evening he will make his presence known, do watch out. I don't think I’ve ever heard of such a young water wolf so adept at cloaking itself.” Fan Zhong replied, not that he had ever heard how good water wolves could use their cloaking ability but he felt that Little White being able to turn nearly completely invisible at such a young age was slightly abnormal.

Fan Shun started for a second and then looked at Fan Zhong with an incredulous expression.

“You don’t mean… The elders didn’t tell you?” Fan Shun asked with clear shock in his voice.

“Tell me what senior?” Fan Zhong replied with a confused expression.

“I see… so a test is it? Hahaha, well I’ll just tell you this junior brother, most water wolves aren’t able to use that qi cloak of theirs until they are at least one year old. At that time they can only partly reflect light and it mostly helps when moving with dense cover. Although it varies on average, the prowess to turn completely invisible is something water wolves don’t have until at least 10 years old” Fan Shun said with a smirk on his face.

This information ripped through Fan Zhong’s mind like a lightning bolt. Instantly questions started to surface in his mind. Little White was a newborn that still needed his mother to nurse him at the time they met. Was the little wolf some sort of heavenly defying genius? Or perhaps Little White had some sort of physique that left him looking young and weaker of body but with greater control over Qi.

Possibilities whirred around in his head, perhaps his little companion was a beast king? How was that possible inside of Flowing Grass Valley? With his love for stories, Fan Zhong had read many fantastic tales and legends while growing up. He had inevitably asked his parents why the valley seemed so much less magical than some of the places in the legends.

The answer had been quite simple, it all came down to ambient qi richness. Put quite simply, Flowing Grass Valley was lacking enough Qi-rich environments to support an ecosystem of spirit animals and plants. On the upside, this made the valley safer to live in for mortals as things like legendary beasts and immortals supposedly stayed away as they would have more difficulty cultivating their legendary techniques here.

With this, though those lofty existences took their tales of grandness with them to far away immortal paradises Fan Zhong had only ever read about. Considering all of this one had to know that a beast king being born in the valley was exceedingly rare. Almost all such births had heralded the clans uniting to form beast extermination squads to kill the young beast king and thin the number of spirit beasts. On the rare occasion this did not happen, records spoke of the river running red with blood and hordes of beasts running rampant.

Ultimately at the last time such a thing happened the baron of the Twisting Territories Lesser Region had to resort to requesting imperial intervention. An imperial army then descended from the heart of the royal court of the Xing Empire shaking the heavens in the earth as they retook the valley in the name of humanity. Truly Fan Zhong could not comprehend the chances of the only beast king born in the valley for hundreds of years happening to stumble across his path while both young, weak, and in need of protection!

If this were truly the case then he felt heaven worked in mysterious ways indeed. Regardless, Fan Zhong viewed Little White first and foremost as his companion. Whether he was a genius spirit beast, an old monster secretly hiding deep secrets or the lost king of the valley’s water wolves none of that mattered more than the experiences they had shared!

“Senior, do you know why Little white is so talented at his age then? Perhaps there is something I missed with my lack of knowledge on spirit beasts, is he simply very old yet appearing young or truly some lineage of beast king?” Fan Zhong decided to ask Fan Shun’s opinion on the matter as the council of his elders had always helped in situations like this.

“Hmm, it seems that information is not mine to give. Ask Elder Wuying or your elder brother when we return. Now to the matter of this morning's shift, Sir Teng has informed me that he should be rousing in around an hour. Since it's your first day I will accompany you both to take the morning meal and then onto the deck. Once there Sir Teng will be amongst the crew and Su Fen should be about so at that point we will part ways. Report to me at six this afternoon for training, we will participate in light teamwork drills and sparing before Su Fen takes his meal. This will keep you up until around 9 in the afternoon, do you think that leaves enough time for adequate rest?” Fan Shun asked him.

“Hmm, that seems agreeable senior, thank you for taking the extra time to guide me. If any of this causes problems for you please let me know, father may be strict but I hardly think he or elder brother would want me to be given extra consideration on their behalves” Fan Zhong replied amicably, a hint of irritation and indignation seeping into his voice.

“Hahahaha, you should be more thankful when you do receive such things, Junior Brother Zhong. Regardless of the reason, it is rare enough in this world for people to be so kind, I say this not to imply you should rely on the kindness of others or as an assault on your character. Simply remember that in life you will have plenty of opportunities to experience the indifference of others, if I can’t offer my nephew a bit of my time then that's a failure of my own and not yours. In any case, keep watch for a moment. Nature has been calling me since before you arrived and keeping her waiting might prove disastrous for us both” Fan Shun laughed and replied in a jovial manner, a conspiratorial grin crossing his lips before he departed in the direction of the restrooms.

Fan Zhong barely stopped his jaw from dropping to the floor at the rather crass remark from the usually stoic older warrior and attempted to settle into his spot by the door to Teng Liang’s room. Soon Fan Shun returned and they fell into a silent vigil guarding the merchant captain's room. The hour seemed to pass quickly and in what seemed like no time at all a sleepy Sir Teng made his way out of the doors the two had been guarding so vigilantly.

Unlike the normal boisterous tone and atmosphere that usually pervaded the air around the man this morning, Teng Liang seemed more subdued. Obviously, the normal charisma he exuded took an effort to keep up and this being so early after he woke the portly merchant had inadequate time to prepare his social armor. They exchanged greeting nods as the sleepy man bad his way towards the mess hall with half-lidded eyes as he started towards the mess hall while stroking his long thin beard.

Fan Zhong fell in step behind him just as Fan Shun had been instructing him to do during the hour they had stood watching while Sir Teng still slept. By contrast, the older warrior walked beside Sir Teng as an equal, seeming happy to strike up a casual conversation now that his shift was officially over. As such time passed and the older men had breakfast while Fan Zhong stood guard, he had taken his breakfast earlier before reporting to Fan Shun so that he could stay alert while his charge ate. Finally, as the group of three were heading up the stairs to go onto the deck a shout rang out

“Captain, mirage wave inbound!” A sailor yelled down the passage from the deck right as Teng Liang and Fan Shun were taking the last steps up the stairs.

Fan Zhong had no idea what a mirage wave was, but he could hear multiple shouts and the sound of Fan Shun drawing his short sword. One thing was clear, they were under attack.