The wyvern had no idea that Hope had already vanished into the shadows. In its mind, the moment it stepped outside, it would easily track down that insignificant ant and tear him apart for disturbing its lair.

  Yet, while the beast prepared to leave, Hope had already circled back to the cave where he had left the little one. The moment he arrived, his body betrayed him—his breath came in ragged gasps, his chest heaving as though he had been drowning. A sharp, unrelenting pain tore through him, his senses overwhelmed by the relentless pulse of agony radiating from his severed arm. Blood still poured freely from the wound, soaking his clothes in crimson.

  Staggering forward, he barely managed to collapse onto the cold, unyielding ground. His vision blurred at the edges, darkness creeping in, but he gritted his teeth and forced himself to act. He couldn’t afford to lose consciousness. Not yet.

  With the last of his strength, he circulated his Qi, willing it to slow the bleeding, to steady his failing body. The danger hadn’t passed—not by a long shot.

  He had barely sat for a moment before a deafening roar shattered the silence, shaking the very forest itself. Every creature in the vicinity fled in terror, their frantic movements blending with the distant echoes of explosions. The wyvern’s fury was boundless.

  Hope’s gaze darkened as he clenched his right fist, his mind seething. ‘Flame Wyvern… just you wait. The day I kill you will come sooner or later.’ His eyes drifted down to where his left arm had once been—now, there was only emptiness. A cold fire burned within him. ‘I’ll rip off all your limbs before I end you.’ His pupils flickered with a deep, ominous purple, the raw emotion swirling inside him barely contained.

  The little one finally noticed Hope’s return. It could feel the raging storm of emotions within its companion, the weight of pain and loss pressing down on him. But it refused to let Hope suffer alone.

  Silently, it padded over, climbed onto him, and gently licked his face, as if trying to soothe his turmoil. When it saw the missing arm, a shadow of sadness crossed its features, and a quiet determination took root in its small frame.

  Hope exhaled, his fury slowly ebbing away as he reached out and ran his fingers through the little one’s fur. His voice was barely above a whisper. “I’m fine now… thank you.”

  The little one, understanding the meaning behind his words, stopped licking and simply stayed by his side, offering silent companionship.

  The cave was swallowed in darkness, not a single ray of light piercing through. But neither Hope nor the cub cared—one had just grasped the early stage of Shadow Intent, while the other was born of the shadows themselves.

  And so, in the pitch-black silence, Hope continued circulating his Qi, pushing his body to recover as quickly as possible. The night stretched on, heavy with unspoken resolve, as the wounded youth and the shadow cub prepared for the battles yet to come.

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  Outside, the world was a scene of devastation. The Flame Wyvern’s fury raged on through the night, its wrath reducing the nearby landscape to smoldering ruins. Trees turned to ash, the earth scorched black, and the very air trembled beneath its roars. It wasn’t until the first light of dawn crept over the horizon that the beast finally relented.

  Hope was fortunate—his cave lay just far enough away to escape the wyvern’s rampage. The creature hadn’t dared to stray too far, wary of the other powerful beasts that lurked within the depths of Flamedragon Mountain.

  He felt every cell in his body struggling to stem the relentless flow of blood from his severed arm. It was as if thousands of tiny ants crawled beneath his skin, a sensation that would have driven weaker minds to madness. Yet, through the searing pain and creeping numbness, Hope clung to a single thought: ‘Endure. Survive. Grow stronger.’

  A faint whisper echoed within him, a truth his body was desperately trying to teach him—something fundamental about life itself. He strained to grasp it, to immerse himself in its meaning, but the harder he reached, the further it slipped away. Like mist in the wind, it faded into nothing, leaving him to wonder if it had ever been real at all.

  Shaking his head, he pushed aside the fleeting mystery. There was no time for riddles—only action. With renewed focus, he steadied his breath and resumed meditating, forcing his Qi to mend his broken body.

  Two days passed before Hope fully recovered and the wound stopped bleeding, his Qi coursing steadily through his body once more. Yet, no amount of healing could restore what had been lost. Every time his gaze drifted to his left side, to the empty space where his arm had once been, a tide of unrelenting anger surged within him.

  ‘I need to calm down.’ He closed his eyes, steadying his breath. An arm isn’t the end of the world. ‘The Path of Eternal Flesh—at a high enough level—can restore limbs. And if that’s possible, then there must be other ways, too. He exhaled sharply. This isn’t a setback. This is a challenge. A challenge I will overcome.’

  Hope tried to hold onto the wisdom his father had often shared with him in times of failure. ‘Every setback is a lesson. Every defeat, a step toward strength.’ But no matter how many times he recited those words, he couldn’t suppress the fire burning inside him.

  It wasn’t just the loss of his arm—it was the humiliation. He had entered that cave with confidence, certain of his abilities. But he had left it broken, battered, and barely alive. The truth gnawed at him like a relentless beast. He had been weak.

  But rather than direct that rage inward, he let it fester toward the wyvern.

  His fingers tightened into a fist. “First things first. I need to become stronger.” His voice was calm, but beneath that calm lay a storm. His eyes flickered with cold determination. “This mountain and forest are teeming with beasts—I’ll use them to train. I will not leave this place until I take that wyvern’s head.”

  A promise. A declaration.

  His gaze softened as he looked down at the little one, curled up in sleep. Something about the sight eased the tension in his chest. Since meeting this panther cub, he had felt… different. Calmer. More grounded. He didn’t understand why, but there was something in its presence that soothed him, something that made him feel like he hadn’t lost everything.

  ‘I can only speak so freely with you…’ He thought, the shadow of a wry smile forming at the edges of his lips. The more he looked at the little panther, the more he felt at peace.

  As if sensing his gaze, the cub stirred, blinking up at him with sleepy, sparkly eyes.

  Hope exhaled and spoke as gently as he could. “I’m going to hunt. Stay here, or go hunt if you want, but don’t stray too far, okay?”

  The little one tilted its head, considering, before bobbing it up and down in agreement.

  Hope gave a small nod in return, then rose to his feet. Without hesitation, he stepped toward the cave’s entrance. This time, he didn’t look back.

  There was no need.

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