I want to tread the heavens

On the third day after his fortune arrived, before dawn, Ling Xiao was awakened by a wet sensation on his face.

"Awooo—"

As soon as he opened his eyes, Fa Cai's big amber eyes were right in front of him, its wet nose sniffing his face. When it saw that he was awake, it wagged its tail excitedly and made an urgent whimper in its throat.

Translated into language Ling Xiao could understand, it roughly means: "Hungry! Food! Quick!"

Ling Xiao rubbed his eyes and sat up. The sky outside the window was still gray. He looked at the empty old bowl in the bamboo basket at his feet—last night before going to bed, he had secretly broken up the half-eaten pancake from his dinner and put it in the bowl, and now the bottom of the bowl was as clean as if it had been licked three times.

"You're right on time." Ling Xiao smiled helplessly and reached out to rub Fa Cai's fluffy head.

Fa Cai immediately rubbed against his hand, wagging its tail even more enthusiastically.

Yue Rong was already practicing his simple body-strengthening boxing routine in the courtyard. Hearing the noise inside, he stopped and walked to the door: "Get up if you're awake. We're going to gather firewood on the back mountain today."

"Okay!" Ling Xiao quickly put on his clothes—although two of the buttons were askew. Fa Cai circled around his feet, occasionally nudging his calf with its nose, clearly urging him on.

After washing up, Ling Xiao scooped out a small half-bowl of thin porridge and poured it into Fa Cai's broken bowl. This was their breakfast ration for the day—Yue Rong gave him half of his porridge, and he then gave Fa Cai the other half.

Fa Cai buried his head in his drink and slurped it down quickly, emptying the bowl in just a few gulps. Then he looked up and stared longingly at the half-full bowl of porridge that Ling Xiao still had in his hand.

Ling Xiao pretended not to see and lowered his head to drink his own beverage. Fa Cai came closer, nuzzled his leg with its head, and made a coquettish whimper.

"That's all." Ling Xiao remained unmoved. "Uncle Rong said that you can't eat too much since your injury has just healed."

Fa Cai let out a pitiful "Aww," lay down on the ground, rested its chin on its front paws, and its eyes darted around, as if it were plotting something.

Yue Rong watched from the side without saying a word, but a barely perceptible smile flashed in his eyes.

After breakfast, Yue Rong carried a bamboo basket on his back, and Ling Xiao carried a small axe, preparing to go to the back mountain. Fa Cai immediately followed, his leg injury not yet fully healed, walking with a limp, which was quite comical as he followed behind.

"Your leg isn't healed yet, stay home," Ling Xiao said, squatting down to persuade it.

Fa Cai shook his head and clung to Ling Xiao's trouser leg, his meaning clear: he wanted to go.

Yue Rong glanced at it: "Let it follow. There are many wild animals in the mountains, and its keen sense of smell can give it early warnings."

Fa Cai immediately puffed out his chest, looking like he could help too.

The snow on the back mountain hadn't completely melted; withered branches and fallen leaves mixed with the remaining snow made the path difficult to traverse. Ling Xiao trudged along, carefully searching for burnt branches. Fa Cai followed beside him, stopping every now and then to sniff the ground or look up at the treetops.

"Click—"

Ling Xiao laboriously chopped off a dry branch as thick as his wrist. Just as he was about to bend down to pick it up, Fa Cai suddenly let out a "woof" and pounced at his feet, scratching at the ground under the dry branch with its paws.

"What's wrong?" Ling Xiao looked over curiously.

Fa Cai used its claws to pry open the withered leaves on the surface, revealing several dark brown, pigeon-egg-sized things underneath—they were "sweet potatoes," a common tuber in the old earth forests that could fill one's stomach, but tasted bitter and was usually not harvested.

"Why are you looking for this?" Ling Xiao asked, puzzled.

Fa Cai used its nose to nudge the sweet potato to Ling Xiao's feet, then looked up at him, its tail wagging gently.

Ling Xiao was stunned for a moment, then suddenly understood. This little thing was helping him find food?

He picked up a sweet potato, wiped off the dirt, and took a small bite. Sure enough, it was bitter and astringent, hard to swallow. But he still chewed it hard and swallowed it.

"Thank you." He patted Fa Cai's head. "But this doesn't taste good. Let's just go find some firewood."

Fa Cai seemed to understand but not quite, but he still obediently nodded and continued to follow him.

After walking a while longer, Fa Cai suddenly stopped, his ears perked up, and he looked warily at the bushes to his left. He made a low "woofing" sound in his throat.

Yue Rong immediately pressed down on Ling Xiao's shoulder, signaling him not to move. He then quietly crept to the bushes and parted the dead branches.

Inside lay a plump gray rabbit, its neck severed, the blood still wet. Judging from the wound, it had been killed by some wild animal, but the predator seemed to have been startled and fled before it could eat its prey.

Yue Rong examined the rabbit; its body was intact and showed no signs of poisoning. He picked up the rabbit and looked at Fa Cai: "You found it?"

Fa Cai nodded and wagged its tail.

"We'll have an extra treat tonight." Yue Rong tossed the rabbit into his basket, a rare smile appearing on his face.

Ling Xiao's eyes lit up: "Get rich! You're amazing!"

Fa Cai proudly raised his head, looking very smug.

On the way back, Fa Cai limped ahead, stopping every now and then to look back and wait for Ling Xiao. The setting sun cast long shadows of the man and the wolf onto the snow-covered mountain path.

Yue Rong followed behind, watching Fa Cai's retreating figure, his doubts deepening.

The gray rabbit is timid and alert, adept at hiding, making it difficult for ordinary wild animals to catch. Even with its leg injury still healing, Fa Cai was able to spot the carcass of its prey hidden deep in the bushes...

This sense of smell, this alertness, has exceeded the range of ordinary gray mane wolf cubs.

In the afternoon, Ling Xiao sat on a small stool in the yard, opened the Three Character Classic, and began to read and recognize each character one by one. Fa Cai lay at his feet, basking in the sun, his eyes closed, but his ears were slightly twitching as he listened to Ling Xiao's reading.

"At the beginning of life, people are inherently good. Their natures are similar, but their habits are different..." Ling Xiao read very slowly, and there were some words he didn't recognize, so he had to spell them out repeatedly.

When the text read "If not taught, nature will change," Fa Cai suddenly opened his eyes, raised his head, and nudged the word "teach" on the page with his nose.

"Hmm?" Ling Xiao looked down at it. "This character is pronounced 'jiao,' the 'jiao' in 'teaching.'"

Fa Cai stared at the character for a few seconds, then stretched out its front paw and began to scribble crookedly on the muddy ground. Its paws were inconvenient, and the characters it drew looked like scribbles, but Ling Xiao, upon closer inspection, could vaguely make out the outline of the character "教" (jiao, meaning "teach").

"You...you're learning to write?" Ling Xiao was stunned.

Fa Cai looked up at him, his amber eyes full of seriousness, and then nodded.

Ling Xiao's heart pounded. He remembered Uncle Rong saying that some spirit beasts develop intelligence early and can understand human nature, but it had only been three days, and Fa Cai could already imitate writing?

"What about this one?" Ling Xiao pointed to the next word, "sex."

Fa Cai stared at it for a while, then scratched at the mud. This time it was even more crooked, but you could still barely make out that it was "sex".

Ling Xiao took a deep breath, suppressing his shock. He looked into the house—Yue Rong was wiping the broken knife, seemingly unaware of the commotion in the yard.

"Get rich," Ling Xiao lowered his voice and whispered in Fa Cai's ear, "You can't let anyone know that you can read, understand? Uncle Rong said we should keep our talents hidden."

Fa Cai tilted his head, seemingly not quite understanding what "concealing one's talents" meant, but seeing Ling Xiao's serious expression, he nodded vigorously.

"Come on, I'll teach you something new." Ling Xiao became interested and pointed to the character "善" (shàn). "This is pronounced 'shàn,' the 'shàn' of 'kindness.'"

Fa Cai approached, its nose almost touching the pages of the book, and studied it intently for a while before stretching out its paws and scratching at the mud. This time, it did a better job than the previous two.

Ling Xiao taught it the four characters "good," "evil," "far," and "near," and Fa Cai actually remembered their outlines. Although he wrote them crookedly, he could imitate them every time.

"You little rascal, are you some kind of spirit?" Ling Xiao couldn't help but rub its head.

Fa Cai comfortably squinted his eyes and rubbed his hand against Fa Cai's.

"It's not about making money," Ling Xiao said seriously, his smile fading. "These skills really can't be shown to outsiders. Uncle Rong said that being too conspicuous in the Guo family will cause trouble."

He seemed to understand the meaning of "getting rich" but nodded nonetheless.

The extraordinary nature of his wealth could not be completely concealed in the end.

That evening, Ling Xiao took Fa Cai to the well to fetch water. Fa Cai's leg injury had almost healed, and he was running and jumping as usual. He excitedly circled around Ling Xiao, occasionally catching his shadow, amusing himself.

This scene was witnessed by Guo Dahai, who happened to be passing by.

He stood at the corner of the courtyard wall, squinting as he stared at Fa Cai for a long time. A typical gray-maned wolf cub would need at least half a month to recover from a broken bone, but this little guy was only a few days old and could already run and jump?

And that look in his eyes… Guo Dahai always felt that there was a kind of intelligence in those amber eyes that didn't belong to a wild beast. Especially when Fa Cai inadvertently glanced in the direction where he was hiding, that instant alertness and scrutiny made Guo Dahai's heart skip a beat.

"Hey, Haiye, what are you looking at?" His trusted aide Guo Si came over and followed his gaze. "Hey, isn't that the lame wolf cub that Ling Xiao picked up? It looks quite spirited now."

"You're overthinking it," Guo Dahai said coldly. "Go check if there's any sign of wolf activity in the back mountain recently, especially... if any mother wolves have been looking for their cubs."

Guo Si was taken aback: "You mean...?"

"Grey mane wolves are pack animals. If a mother wolf loses her cubs, she can't just leave them alone." A cold glint flashed in Guo Dahai's eyes. "If there are no traces of wolves in the back mountains, then the origin of this little thing becomes interesting."

"Yes, I'll check tomorrow," Guo Si quickly replied.

Guo Dahai glanced at Fa Cai one more time before turning to leave. As he reached the corner, he turned back and met Fa Cai's gaze.

Eyes facing each other.

Fa Cai tilted his head, his eyes clear and innocent, as if he were just curious.

Guo Dahai's heart skipped a beat; that feeling of being scrutinized returned. He snorted coldly and turned to leave.

As Fa Cai watched his figure disappear, he let out a very low "woof" sound and rubbed his head against Ling Xiao's calf.

Ling Xiao bent down and touched it: "What's wrong?"

Fa Cai shook his head, but just clung tightly to his legs.

Late at night, Ling Xiao was awakened by a series of urgent scratching sounds at the door.

"Awooo! Awooo!"

It was the sound of making money, urgent and sharp.

Ling Xiao instantly snapped out of it, rolled out of bed, and opened the door. Fa Cai immediately rushed in, grabbed his trouser leg, and dragged him out the door, letting out a frustrated growl.

"What's wrong?" Ling Xiao followed it into the courtyard.

Fa Cai raised its head, baring its teeth and growling at the southeastern sky. Ling Xiao looked in that direction and saw a faint, almost invisible, dark red streak of light in the depths of the night sky, flashing by and disappearing behind the clouds.

If you don't look closely, you might think it's an illusion.

But Ling Xiao's heart sank suddenly. The color and aura of that flowing light made the jade pendant around his neck feel faintly hot.

It's demonic energy!

Although faint and distant, it was definitely demonic energy! Moreover, it was somewhat similar to the scent of the dregs of demonic medicine he had smelled in the storeroom!

"Uncle Rong!" Ling Xiao rushed back into the house and woke Yue Rong.

After hearing the description, Yue Rong's expression turned grave. He walked into the courtyard, gazed southeast, and remained silent for a long time.

"Uncle Rong, that's..."

"The demons are active near the Old Lands," Yue Rong said slowly. "That streak of light should be the aftershock of some kind of communication or reconnaissance spell. They are still far away, but their direction... is definitely towards the Old Lands."

Ling Xiao clenched his fist: "They've found us?"

"Not necessarily." Yue Rong shook his head. "The spiritual energy in the old land is thin and the location is remote, so it's not very valuable to the demons. They're mostly here to 'find someone.' The fact that the aftershocks of that spell were so obvious means they're in a hurry, or... very certain that their target is in this area."

He looked at Ling Xiao, his gaze profound: "It seems that Guo Dahai's deal with them has reached a crucial stage. The Demon Clan may have obtained some concrete clues and has begun to narrow down the scope."

Ling Xiao felt a chill rise from the soles of his feet and instantly spread throughout his body. Although he knew the demons were the enemy, the oppressive feeling when they actually appeared at the edge of his vision was still suffocating.

"Then we..."

"Proceed according to plan." Yue Rong interrupted him, his voice steady and carrying a strange soothing power. "What's coming will come. Fear is useless. All we can do is become stronger and better prepared before they find us."

He patted Ling Xiao on the shoulder: "Go to sleep. Starting tomorrow, the training will be doubled."

Ling Xiao nodded emphatically and turned to go back into the house. But lying in bed, he couldn't fall asleep for a long time. The dark red light and Uncle Rong's solemn gaze kept replaying in his mind.

Outside the window, Fa Cai gently jumped onto the bed, curled up beside him on the pillow, pressed his warm body against him, and made a comforting "snoring" sound in his throat.

Ling Xiao reached out and stroked its fluffy head, his unease subsiding slightly.

Yes, what's the use of being afraid? We'll deal with whatever comes our way. With Uncle Rong and Fa Cai around, he's not alone.

and……

He gripped the jade pendant around his neck, a sharp glint in his eyes that seemed out of place for his age.

The demons are looking for him, the one his parents protected with their lives. He can't let his parents down, and he can't let Uncle Rong and Fa Cai be in danger.

He wants to become stronger.

So strong that he can protect those he wants to protect, so strong that he can face any enemy, so strong that... he can uncover the whole truth with his own hands.

The night was deep and all was quiet.

But deep in the wilderness southeast of the Old Land, several figures shrouded in black robes were chanting obscure incantations around a makeshift altar. In the center of the altar, a palm-sized bone mirror floated in the air, its surface reflecting the blurred outline of the Old Land, with a few faint silver lights flickering erratically.

The leader, a man in black robes, raised his withered hand, pointing to a point of silver light, his voice hoarse:

"I've found you... Child of the Fallen Star..."