Freedom smelled of pine needles, damp earth, and… fear. Xi Ran stumbled through the dense undergrowth, tripping over roots, gasping for the cold night air. Each breath seared his lungs, every movement echoed with pain in his bruised knuckles and shoulders scraped raw on stone. His **Early Flesh Bone** physique, tempered by the Stone Sack, screamed under the strain. He was hollow. Hollow from hunger, utterly exhausted, but instinct drove him forward. *Away from the walls. Away from them.*
He didn't know how much time had passed since his escape. Hours? Midnight was long gone; the forest had sunk into a deep, ringing silence broken only by his rasping breath and the rustle of leaves underfoot. *They are searching.* The thought stabbed sharper than the thorns snagging his clothes. Guards. Lin Feng. Everyone. His head was worth its weight in gold. Or the weight of his strange ability.
***Sight!*** didn't manifest. No flashes, no impulses. The ability that had saved him in the Sack was silent now, seemingly exhausted. Xi Ran relied only on hearing, sight, smell, and the chilling fear. He walked upstream along a creek, trying not to leave tracks on the soft earth near the water. *Water. Need to drink.* He collapsed to his knees at the shallows, greedily scooping up a handful. Cold, clean. It washed away some of the grime and blood from his face but didn't fill the gnawing void in his stomach. *Food. Find food.*
He remembered the swamps of Misty Shoal. Mushrooms. Roots. There, he knew what was edible. Here… the forest was alien. Dark. Hostile. *Or did it just seem that way?* He listened. A rustle to the right! Xi Ran froze, heart pounding. Beast? Human? Nothing. Just wind? Or not?
He moved on, cautiously, pressing close to tree trunks. His eyes scanned for anything familiar. Berries? None edible. Nuts? Trees too tall, cones empty. Despair began to claw at his throat. *Weakening.* His legs buckled. He needed shelter. To rest for even an hour. Otherwise, he'd fall and not get up.
Ahead, on a hillside, he made out a jumble of boulders. Between them – a black slit. **A cave?** Or just a fissure? Risk it or go on? His strength was ebbing. He crawled closer, peered inside. Dark, smelled of dampness and… earth. Not beast. For now. Wide enough to squeeze into.
Xi Ran forced himself into the gap. The space was cramped but dry. Stones shielded him from the wind. He collapsed onto the ground, back against cold stone, trembling violently. *Safe. For now.* But not for long. Come dawn, the search would intensify. He needed to move at first light. *But where? Home?* Misty Shoal was far. Through sect lands. Impossible. *Find a village?* Risk running into a patrol or an informer.
He closed his eyes, trying to gather his thoughts. *Survive now. Home later.* Priorities: Food. Shelter for the day. A path skirting the sect. Thoughts tangled with fatigue. *Father…* Had he improved? Had that resin lasted? Pain gripped his heart tighter than hunger. He had to reach him. At any cost.
A sudden **low growl** sounded right at the fissure entrance. Xi Ran pressed himself into the stone, holding his breath. In the darkness near the entrance, two **green dots** glowed. Eyes. A low, dense body outlined itself against the slightly less dark sky. **A forest wolf.** Hungry. Alone? Or not?
The beast stepped cautiously inside, sniffing the air, scenting prey. Human. Easy prey. Xi Ran smelled it – wild, predatory. Fear locked his limbs. *Run?* He wouldn't make it. *Fight?* He had almost no strength. The wolf wasn't large, but its teeth were sharp knives. **Early Flesh Bone** against a hungry predator. The odds…
***Sight!*** Activated! Not a flash. An **impulse.** Sharp as a stab. Not *where* the wolf's weakness was, but *what to do*: *Stone! Right! Strike!*
Xi Ran's hand shot instinctively to the indicated spot. Fingers found a heavy, jagged rock. The wolf, sensing movement, lunged! A snarl, a flash of fangs in the dark!
**SNARL!**
Xi Ran threw the stone without aiming, with all his might, where the impulse pushed – not at the head, but **at the front left paw** of the leaping beast!
**THUD!** A dull impact. The crack of bone? The wolf yelped in unexpected pain, tumbled sideways, whimpering. It tried to rise, but the broken leg buckled. The beast growled, but its eyes held fear and confusion now. The prey had fought back. Hurt it.
Xi Ran didn't wait. He grabbed a second stone, larger. Raised it overhead. His eyes, adapted to the dark, burned with fury. *Don't come closer.* He took a step towards the wounded animal. The wolf backed away, limping, holding the broken paw, growling defensively now, not offensively. Xi Ran threw the stone! Missed. But it was enough. The wolf turned and, hobbling, shot out of the fissure, vanishing into the night.
Xi Ran sank to his knees, shaking from adrenaline. His heart hammered wildly. Pain in his hand from the throw, weakness in his legs. But he was alive. *Survived again.* Thanks to *that*. He looked at the stone that had broken the wolf's leg. Thanks to the precise, unthinking throw guided by the impulse.
Dawn began to dilute the eastern sky's blackness. Staying in the fissure became dangerous. He peered out. The forest was waking. Birdsong. Cleaner air. And… **smoke.** A thin wisp of grey smoke rose above the trees a couple of *li* away. **A village?** Or a forester's hut?
Hope flared. Food. Possibly help. Or a deadly trap. The risk was immense. But staying here, weakening from hunger – that was certain death too. *Need to check.* Carefully.
He crawled out of the shelter, stretched, feeling every muscle. The exhaustion hadn't left. Hunger twisted his stomach. But he was alive. And he had a chance. Small as a dying ember in ash, but a chance. He stepped towards the smoke, trying to move silently as a shadow, ready at any moment to hear the saving, icy whisper inside again: ***Sight!***