A wolf was snoring peacefully in the cave when it suddenly opened its eyes. It has been quite angry and frustrated for the past few days. The roof near the entrance of the cave had collapsed, trapping it inside.

  Its sharp claws were ineffective against the hard rocks so it decided to dig a tunnel through the ground to escape. Day and night without food and water, it only woke up to dig continuously and slept when it body collapsed from tiredness.

  After a day of hardwork, it had only been an hour since it closed its eyes when it was woken up by a strange presence coming inside the cave. The wolf looked towards the entrance and sniffed before its mouth twisted in a snarl. A demonic beast had dared to enter his lair.

  The sound started getting louder as the invader was getting closer and closer till it arrived infront of the wolf. The first thing the wolf saw were blood red eyes shining in the dark before its complete body came into view.

  It was a seven meter long snake with the thickness of the arm of an adult man, its skin the colour of purest white. The snake flicked its tongue in the air as it sized up the wolf infront of it.

  Upon seeing the snake, the face of the wolf fell. It was hoping to devour the invader to fill its hungry stomach but it being a poisonous snake dashed its hopes. The rage simmering inside it further intensified as the wolf made a decision to take out all of its anger of the past days on the snake.

  In a bid to intimidate the snake, it howled loudly. The voice bounced off the walls and the ceiling echoing multiple times in the cave but the wolf was shocked seeing it have no effect on the snake. Its opening howl had intimidated multiple strong prey in its life so watching the snake not even blink in response made it wary. It growled as it stood on alert, its senses heightened and focused on the snake.

  ***

  Little Bai had successfully transformed and now a demonic wolf stood in its way. It couldn't see the flower the master needed so it must be deeper inside. Little Bai had hoped to avoid the wolf but it seemed like the confrontation was inevitable.

  The wolf had howled at it so it has to respond in kind. Little Bai raised it head till it was looking down on the wolf and hissed loudly with its hood flaring up. This was one of the changes that came from transformation, it didn't have a hood before.

  The wolf sharted trembling rapidly in fear as a deadly killing intent filled the cave, pressing down on its soul. All of its previous bravado had evaporated. The two large blood red spots on the white background of the hood looked like the eyes of a demon gazing at it from hell.

  If it was an open field, the wolf would've immediately ran but in this closed cave, it believed it had no chance but to stand and fight for its life. But the shaking didn't stop and it stood paralyzed allowing little Bai to make the first move.

  Little Bai lunged at it so fast that the wolf couldn't see its movements but sadly it missed, reaching just a few centimetres right of the wolf. Little Bai hurriedly retreated to avoid a counterattack but the wolf just stood there, its eyes wide open in panic.

  Since little Bai had just transformed, it wasn't used to its new bigger body. Also, it had lived its life in leisure and never seen a fight before. Little Bai attacked for a second time but missed again. This time it wasn't so lucky. The wolf swiped at it before it could get away and the claws struck its body.

  Fortunately the blow wasn't stong enough to pierce the skin. Little Bai hissed in pain. It was the first time ever it had gotten hurt. After the two failed attempts, the fear in the eyes of the wolf greatly diminished. The snake was a faster than it but so what? It was able to land a blow and now the wolf can see a path to victory.

  From them, the fight turned into a one sided bullying. The wolf attack the snake with its claws from its blind spot and rush back outside the range before the snake could turn back. Not used to this new body, little Bai was always slow in responding allowing the agile wolf to hold an advantage. Its skin was tough but the wolf persistently kept attacking, sticking to its strategy. Soon a large number of scratches had accumulated on the surface of little Bai's body.

  The wolf growled and it seemed like it was laughing at its prey. Little Bai had never felt pain like this in its entire life. Fear of death started to emerge in its heart and thoughts of running away filled its mind.

  I can't do it. I will die if this goes on longer. Let's run away. Master would forgive me if I run back.

  It was lacking in experience and against the rapid blows of the enemy, it was helpless. The wolf again vanished from its sight and attacked its tail causing little Bai hiss loudly in agony. This time a loud howl echoed in the cave as the wolf was finally successful in drawing blood.

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  The sight of its blood dripping on the floor triggered something inside it. All thoughts and emotions faded away and a sense of disgust welled inside little Bai.

  A mere wolf was able to draw my blood! Am I being toyed by something low like this?

  Unlike humans whose talent depends on their spiritual roots, bloodline determines not only the potential of demonic beasts but also their innate nature. Top grade bloodline demonic beasts have huge innate pride in themselves. Although little Bai had transformed, something was missing. Living as a pet had dulled it but after being pushed too the brink, its primal instincts finally awakened.

  In the presence of this sovereign of the oceans, you dare to show such insolence. You are a mere dog and now will die a dog's death.

  Flaring its hood open, little Bai rose up again and glared down at the wolf. How could it let its head be below a dog. The wolf was about to make its next attack when it suddenly froze in its tracks. Its instincts were warning it that something had changed and it should stay away from the snake. But the wolf refused to back down. It had smelled the blood of the prey and it could never leave it like that.

  With a low growl, taking advantage of its agility the wolf vanished from little Bai's sight as it dove right into the snake's blind spot like before. Little Bai quickly turned around and saw no sign of the wolf. It looked around and flicked it's tongue but the wolf was nowhere to be seen as if it had vanished into thin air.

  Unknown to little Bai, the wolf had jumped high in the air and was coming down from above with full force. The wolf had prepared for a killing blow. This time it would smash the head of the snake, killing it instantly. Falling freely in the air, the wolf thrust out its paw, ready to concentrate its whole weight in a single attack. But just a second before it could hit, little Bai slightly leaned back to look above and then their eyes met.

  There wasn't any time for the snake to dodge and it could never withstand this full force blow, that was what the wolf was thinking when suddenly little Bai opened its mouth and a large stream of water erupted from it, pushing the wolf away. The pressure was so intense that not only it negated the blow, it aslo pushed a 100 kilo wolf at high speeds till it crashed into a 12 m high ceiling.

  The wolf hit its head hard and then it fell down on its back from the top with a loud noise. It howled in pain but this time little Bai was ready. It quickly coiled around the wolf laying on the floor before constricting tightly. Little Bai was squeezing so hard that it's ribs had started to creak.

  Howling loudly in pain, the wolf tried to get back on its feet. The force constricting it turned up a notch higher but it endured it somehow and stood up. It was going to rush at the wall and smash the snake to get free when little Bai made its checkmate. It crawled upwards and bit the wolf on the neck, injecting large quantities of poison in its veins.

  The poison paralyzed the wolf and it fell back down as both its strength and will gave out. With the poison killing from inside and the snake suffocating it from outside, its struggles were futile and the wolf gave a final loud howl before dying in agony.

  After making sure it was dead, little Bai looked down on the corpse, its blood red eyes shining in triumph. The wolf was its first kill. It took a second to savour the victory before crawling inside the cave. It had to find the flower, its master was waiting.

  ***

  "Hahahaha! Who do you think you are to demand answers from me?"

  Ling Jihua was laughing in ridicule while Ling Yun looked at him with a cold expression.

  "But since I have a feeling that we will never meet again, I will humour this request. So what do you want to know, you trash?"

  Ling Yun remained unfazed in the face of the insults hurled at him. "Why did you poison father?"

  Jihua's laughter stopped immediately and killing intent shone in his eyes. Ling Yun had a feeling since he found out that his father was poisoned and seeing Jihua here all but confirmed it.

  "That's some wild accusations you are making. Do you have any-"

  Not wanting to hear him spew further bullshit, Ling Yun interrupted him. "Are you going to tell me or not? Looks like I will have to make you spit out the answer. I'm disappointed Jihua, it seems like you are brave enough to kill but not to confess."

  "You trash, you dare to-" Jihua stopped mid sentence before laughing loudly. "Hahahaha! Still trying to bluff infront of me. Atleast I must commend this. You know this is the reason I poisoned your father. It was all your fault."

  Ling Yun's fists tightly clenched at the last line but he remained silent allowing Jihua to speak further. "Because you spread fake rumours of becoming an alchemist, I got paranoid and thought you were coming back to take the position of young master from me. Even though he is a worthless drunk, your father is still the patriarch of the clan even if it is just in name only. So I decided to kill him so that my father can become the patriarch, that even when you return, your father wouldn't be present to back your claim.

  "How foolish I was, believing for a single moment that trash like you can achieve anything. I won't ask what you are doing in this forest but now that uncle is going to die soon, you should him. You had already abandoned him once but this young master is giving you a chance to be filial son so serve him well in the afterlife."

  Not interested in seeing his response, Jihua readied his spear and rushed forward, ready to pierce straight through Ling Yun's chest. Ling Yun didn't even try to dodge. He just stood still looking at him with his blue eyes containing a tempest within them. Jihua just lightly smirked, Haha he must've been scared enough to pee his pants.

  But when it was just a feet between them, a black arrow materialised and hit him right in chest. It didn't even pierce his clothes but Jihua instantly collapsed on the ground, his eyes rolled back as he cried in pain.

  "You were not foolish Jihua. I never had a single thought of becoming the young master of Ling clan again but it is true that I am an alchemist, that I have become someone far beyond you. So you weren't foolish, just unlucky enough to believe in the wrong rumour Jihua."