Chapter 3: The First Dance

After a few more hours of practicing, Jia Yuan finally gave

up and exited the cave and headed back home to try again tomorrow. After

all, he was getting hungry, and the sun was about to set. Soon, it would be too

dangerous for him to run back home, or even to stay in the cave.

After exiting the room at the back of the cave, he paused. He looked

back, and decided to cover up the entrance with a large rock, in case anyone

else happened to come across the cave.

After doing the deed, he quickly ran out of the cave into the

forest in the direction of Fire Hill Village.

After three minutes or so of running, Jia Yuan stopped abruptly, with chills running down his spine.

In front of him stood a fire lizard. Fire lizards are amongst

the most dangerous creatures living in the forest. In fact, they are so

dangerous that usually a single fire lizard spotting outside the village would

prompt three adults to pursue it together, for the lizard was too

risky to take on alone.

The common fire lizard is 3 meters long and is rises to

about 4 feet off of the ground. In addition, the fire lizard has a myriad of

other skills. Not only does the fire lizard possess quick speed, but mature

fire lizards possess their innate Song which grants them the ability to use

fire attacks with their claws, and grants particularly explosive speed to their

tail, which could brain an adult human with a single swing.

Guess I shouldn’t of

wished for a stronger creature to practice against, huh. I guess I’ll have to

see how strong I’ve gotten.

Jia Yuan quickly took the first stance of the Song. Maybe during this fight, I’ll gain an

insight into the Song.

The fire lizard charged forward.

Jia Yuan quickly shifted from the first stance into the

second stance with two movements.

With the first movement, he smashed his sword toward the

fire lizard, as one would with an axe.

With the second movement, he dodged by ducking under the lizard’s

attack and shifted the trajectory of his sword, sending it towards

the fire lizard’s stomach.

Shheeek~. The blade cut through the soft belly of the

lizard, but did not go deep enough to cause a fatal wound.

However, it WAS enough to anger the creature, who had only wanted to kill

Jia Yuan for sustenance earlier. However, now it wanted to kill Jia Yuan to

vent its anger.

It turned back towards Jia Yuan, but in the half a second

the fire lizard took to turn around, Jia Yuan had already switched to the third

stance, heavily smashing his sword towards the lizard’s head.

The sword hit, and the lizard stumbled back, stunned.

Jia Yuan finally switched to the last stance and his sword

sliced through the air at an absurd speed and sliced through the head of the

lizard, braining it effectively.

Jia Yuan stepped back and panted. Why do I feel so tired? I hardly moved, but my mental and physical

strength are both depleted.

Jia Yuan did not know, but at that time, the scroll of the

Song in the cave brightened. A ghostly image of an elderly man appeared and sighed. “It appears that a worthy candidate has finally arrived. I hope he will

take this chance and bring our Element back to the forefront of the world.

However, it seems that while he understands the “Dance,” he does not understand

the Song. It has been far too long, and I cannot wait any longer. Even if he is unable to understand it, I will make

him the right candidate.”

And with that, the ghostly elder disappeared.

Meanwhile, Jia Yuan had quickly carved out some choice parts of the

lizard, since he could bring them to his master to sell for money. He then sat

down and quickly meditated for 5 minutes to replenish his strength, and then continued on his way.

A few minutes after sunset, he reached the small house on

the edge of the village. He saw his master sleeping and placed the bag of

lizard parts at the foot of the bed. His master would be happy to see it when

he woke up.

He then shifted his eyes toward the table at the center of the shack,

and was very surprised. Not only was there a bowl of vegetable congee, but

there was also some bread, and… MEAT.

This was the first time since his master had purchased him that Jia Yuan had seen meat in the house, and it seemed that the meat was for Jia Yuan to eat.

Jia Yuan looked emotionally at the old man. “He may be my

owner and I may be his slave, but at least he treated big brother and me as

more than merchandise. If I look at it another way, by purchasing me, he saved me from a crueler master. If one day I succeed, I will come back and repay his

kindness.”

Jia Yuan quickly devoured his congee and bread, but made

sure to savor the meat. After all, he was fairly sure that he wouldn’t be able

to enjoy proper meat for a while. At the very most, he could get some wild meat

from killing bears and other creatures in the forest, but that simply couldn’t

compare to proper meat.

He then prepared to sleep on the floor.

After he drifted into a deep sleep, he began to dream. In front of

his eyes, stood an elderly man.