Mingxi Forest was located halfway up Huai’an Peak, some distance from the residences at the summit.
It was a forest rich in spiritual energy. A small river flowed through the woods and wound its way down the mountain.
Zhu Mingyan followed the path toward Mingxi Forest.
It seemed that her actions at the confinement room, together with her master’s warning, had already produced results.
Along the way, she met seven or eight disciples who had come to Huai’an Peak on errands.
Every one of them respectfully greeted her.
“Senior Sister Zhu.”
Zhu Mingyan secretly sneered.
This was still far from enough.
Si Huizhou had said that the person who sent her to the confinement room was Du Wenqing.
Although Du Wenqing had always been hostile toward her, the more important fact was that he was a disciple of Vice Sect Master Yu Chunqiao.
Everyone in the sect knew that Yu Chunqiao and Sect Master Li Xiushan had a terrible relationship.
The incident involving her master in her previous life might have had something to do with Yu Chunqiao.
Even the outer disciple who later framed her for theft might have been connected to that master-and-disciple pair.
But with her current position and strength, she could barely compete with Du Wenqing, let alone Yu Chunqiao.
Quietly, she made a vow.
She needed to become stronger.
She needed more influence and authority.
Filled with determination, Zhu Mingyan arrived at the place where the black dog was being kept.
From a distance, she saw a wet black figure standing by the river, shaking its head.
A moment later, it suddenly barked wildly at empty air as if it had seen a ghost.
Zhu Mingyan could only shake her head.
This stupid dog really wasn’t very smart.
As soon as it noticed her approaching, the black dog instinctively started running toward her.
Then it seemed to remember something.
Its body froze.
The next second, it slipped and fell face-first into the river.
Watching the dog roll and struggle in the water while splashing mud everywhere, Zhu Mingyan did not know whether to laugh or get angry.
She reached out with one hand and pulled the dog from the water.
Pointing at its nose, she laughed.
“Do you really like this river that much?”
“Why do you keep jumping into it?”
Looking at the soaking-wet dog, she suddenly remembered the day it had tried to bite her neck.
Immediately, she felt a little desire for revenge.
“I just realized something.”
“I haven’t given you a name yet.”
“Since you love lying around in the river so much, I’ll call you Fuchuan.”
(“Fu” means to lie down, and “Chuan” means river.)
After saying that, she ignored whether the dog liked the name or not and kept calling it:
“Fuchuan! Fuchuan!”
The black dog’s intelligence was still undeveloped.
It had only recently begun to understand humans and had no idea what those words meant.
It only knew that Zhu Mingyan kept repeating the same sounds over and over.
Annoyed, it barked impatiently and pretended it was about to bite her.
Zhu Mingyan’s eyebrows immediately shot upward.
Without thinking, she summoned a beast-binding rope filled with spiritual energy and prepared to strike it.
But when she saw the dog’s eager expression, she stopped herself just in time.
That was close.
She had almost forgotten this dog was a masochist.
To deal with this creature, she needed a different approach.
After thinking for a moment, she deliberately ignored it.
Turning her back, she put on a cold expression and refused to look at it.
Sure enough, before long, a fluffy black figure came over and began licking her arm in an attempt to please her.
Zhu Mingyan ignored it.
Only after making it suffer for a while did she slowly summon a small flame in her palm.
There was something else she wanted to test.
Did Fuchuan only like her natal spiritual flame?
Or did it like all kinds of fire?
Palm flames required very little spiritual energy.
They were easy to control and carried no risk of losing control.
Training a spirit beast was a long process.
If palm flames worked, she would not need to risk using her dangerous spiritual flame every time.
Holding the flame in her hand, she carefully watched Fuchuan’s reaction.
The moment Fuchuan saw the fire, it became excited.
With one sweep of its tongue, it swallowed the palm flame whole.
But a palm flame was not a spiritual flame.
Once extinguished, it was gone.
Fuchuan immediately looked at her hand with disappointment and resentment.
Its tail wagged anxiously.
So that was it.
Palm flames only lasted a short time.
To Fuchuan, they were probably just snacks.
Her natal spiritual flame, however, was powerful and overwhelming.
That was probably the real feast.
Understanding this, Zhu Mingyan created several more palm flames and began training Fuchuan to perform simple combat actions according to her commands.
The process was not easy.
After careful examination, she found no beast-taming contract mark on Fuchuan’s body.
This meant it was an untamed spirit beast.
Such beasts fought according to instinct.
Their only goals were defeating enemies and protecting themselves.
They had no concept of protecting a master.
Trained spirit beasts were different.
Most beast tamers were not physically powerful.
They deliberately taught their spirit beasts to protect them.
This was useful in battle and also helped prevent dangerous beasts from harming their own masters.
Fuchuan belonged to the most dangerous category.
Several times, it became angry because the palm flames were not enough to satisfy it.
It even pounced on Zhu Mingyan and pinned her to the ground.
Then it anxiously sniffed all over her body, as if it could smell the spiritual flame beneath her skin.
Yet, for some reason, it never repeated what it had done that day.
It never again tried to bite her throat.
Because of that, although Zhu Mingyan found it troublesome, she was secretly pleased with its progress.
…
As the sun slowly set, Zhu Mingyan decided to rest.
She and Fuchuan sat together beside the river.
For a while, neither made a sound.
After all the running and jumping forced upon it through a mix of threats and rewards, Fuchuan was now lying lazily on the ground.
The orange-red light of sunset passed through the layers of leaves in Mingxi Forest.
The scattered sunlight landed on its smooth black fur, making it shine like golden silk.
As she watched, Zhu Mingyan suddenly thought of Sunwheel.
She had always been careless when naming things.
That was true for Sunwheel as well.
Sunwheel had been a proud and magnificent mutated fire lion.
Its fluffy white mane made it look majestic and intimidating.
It loved lying in the sun during the brightest part of the day.
Once, Zhu Mingyan had used spirit communication to ask why.
The answer had left her speechless.
Because the sunlight made him look more handsome.
Even now, the memory was ridiculous.
Back then, she had only recently reached the Foundation Establishment stage.
She was barely ten years old and couldn’t think of a good name.
His round mane surrounded his face like a giant wheel.
Since he loved sunlight, she casually named him Sunwheel.
To her surprise, the lion loved the name.
He thought it praised his brilliance and compared him to the sun and moon.
Later, Zhu Mingyan accidentally revealed the real reason behind the name.
Sunwheel sulked for two full days before finally forgiving her.
Thinking of those memories, Zhu Mingyan couldn’t help laughing.
She wondered how Sunwheel was doing now.
Had he also been given a chance to be reborn?
If he had…
She hoped he would find a better master.
Someone other than her.
Looking at Fuchuan beside her, she saw that the last rays of sunlight had disappeared beyond the horizon.
His fur was completely black.
Only his golden eyes remained half-open as he stared blankly into the distance.
Suddenly, Zhu Mingyan laughed at herself.
Her earlier thought had been absurd.
Fuchuan and Sunwheel were nothing alike.
Not even a little.
As she sat there lost in thought, something white drifted into her field of vision.
She focused her eyes.
A small paper figure fluttered through the air toward her.
It was a communication paper doll used within the sect.