The next day.
...
Twenty li south of Xiongshan County, there is a place shunned by both people and ghosts called Chaotic Crow Ridge.
Simply put, this place was initially a cemetery; later, as various corpses were sent here, it turned into a mass grave. Eventually, some people didn't even bother with burial; they just wrapped the bodies in grass mats or put them in burlap sacks and threw them here, often after gang conflicts or other unspeakable incidents.
The stench of decay attracted many crows that now circle above the woods, thus the name Chaotic Crow Ridge.
Of course, crows are not the only ones attracted by the stench. The place is a mountain forest, so wild wolves and vicious dogs often come to dig up corpses and chew on them.
Noon.
A figure wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat stepped onto this land.
The figure gradually went deeper in; around and behind him in the gray wooded gaps, pairs of green eyes began to appear, and various outlines slowly emerged.
As he went further, no fewer than twenty wild wolves surrounded this figure.
The smelly saliva dripped from their fangs, falling drop by drop from the corners of their mouths.
The figure seemed completely unaware but suddenly stopped, turned his head, and looked around.
No one!
The wolf pack ceased to hide, emerging from the woods with growls, their eyes fierce as they looked at the food.
Suddenly, the food began to undress.
The food took off the straw hat and outer garments, folded them neatly, placed them into a pre-prepared bundle, and then set it down at the base of a dried moss-covered rock.
With the outer clothes removed, his fair and tender body, completely devoid of abdominal muscles, was revealed.
As he squatted, wolves seized the moment to charge.
The sound of "tap tap tap" was like a gentle drumbeat, growing faster and faster.
Dry branches snapped and crackled underfoot.
Following a lead wolf, the pack launched its attack.
Whoosh!
The leading wolf leaped, aiming for the figure's neck.
Just at that moment, a mist appeared within the wolf's eyes.
Thud.
The wolf missed its mark and landed.
It turned its head, confused, unable to believe that its sure-kill attack had missed.
Looking around, it saw across the mist, a towering young man over two meters tall, shrouded in misty patterns.
The next instant, the charging wolves sensed something, whimpering and stopping, turning swiftly to flee.
Li Xuan watched the wolves flee, feeling as if time slowed down.
The speed of these wolves seemed like slow motion to him.
Lift a leg, step down, muscles exert force, then leap...
Every detail of movement was clearly visible to him.
Fixing his gaze on the initial attacking wolf, Li Xuan suddenly dashed forward.
With that dash, a wind seemed to rise in the forest, leaves and dust billowing, floating inches and feet from the ground.
Li Xuan had already appeared behind the wolf, overlooking its spine.
At this moment, the wolf before him seemed like meat on a chopping block.
He saw the wolf sense danger, its fur bristling; saw minute wrinkles forming at its neck as it slowly attempted to turn its head, but too late; saw its forelimbs bending slowly, as if instinctively trying to roll away to evade a great threat.
Li Xuan raised a hand, clenching a fist.
In the next instant.
The fist struck down from above, like a bullet slamming into the spine from above.
Boom!
Time resumed its normal flow.
The wolf howled in agony, its spine snapped in two, and it lay paralyzed on the ground.
Li Xuan stood up, watching the terrified wolves rapidly scatter, along with the crows circling above, and let out a long breath.
'The speed is acceptable.'
'But...'
He glanced at the back of his hand, noticing it was slightly red.
The speed was extraordinary, but clearly the defensive ability was not strong, comparable to that mist leopard from before.
He found the name Mist Concealed Panther awkward, and in contemplation, naturally replaced it with the simpler Mist Leopard.
The Mist Leopard's speed wasn't inferior to his; in other words, those county soldiers, even tens against one, couldn't possibly catch it one-on-one.
Yet, the outcome was that the Mist Leopard died.
Li Xuan pondered over it, and from his martial artist's description of the fight, he had a rough idea.
'The beast was gluttonous, refusing to leave, giving the county soldiers time to encircle it.
To be fair, County Captain Ma as bait was truly meritorious.
But from another angle, it also suggests that this beast, while having some hunting instincts, wasn't as intelligent as I thought.'
'Furthermore, the beast could indeed be injured by swords and spears.
When it ran toward me, it was at the end of its strength, but even so, there was no one present whose speed could match it.
It was too fast...
Fortunately, I was wearing the inner armor my mother gave me. Fortunately, Wei Yao protected me with her life. Fortunately, the beast's claw didn't strike the back of my head.
If anything had gone wrong, I would probably be buried by now.'
Li Xuan recalled the scene at that moment, still feeling a lingering fear and a tingling scalp.
As he thought about it, he suddenly looked at the cloud patterns around his body.
The air fell silent...
'Right.'
'The power of the fog leopard is now mine.'
'Today, I came to Chaotic Crow Ridge to test my strength and... to train my courage!!'
Li Xuan thought of his performance at that time. Back then, he was completely like the "coward" in a storyteller's tale, a person who didn't know how to strike even with a knife in hand. Such people, when described by storytellers, always got jeered and laughed at by the audience.
Unexpectedly, he had become that kind of coward.
He took a deep breath, his blood boiling, the fire of impotent rage from that moment flaring up now. As he exhaled, a cold, frost-like white mist rose vigorously.
This white mist was filled with magic power, seeming to have a natural fog-generating function. In the winter-buried woods, it acted as a fuse, slowly causing the mist to rise.
In the next instant, Li Xuan started to run.
This time, the wild wolves were in trouble.
A whirlwind-like figure was seen weaving through the trees. The figure was surrounded by flowing white mist, leaving behind trails of white vapors wherever it went. That was the mist flowing from Li Xuan's mouth, capable of triggering fog in the natural environment.
Boom!
Bang!
Bang!
Punches rained down, and the wolves' screams echoed.
In the midst of this, other beasts curious enough to approach felt an aura of terror and quickly fled.
Black crows happily watched from the treetops, waiting to feast on the meat.
In the eyes of these crows, they were just here for the leftovers, so they didn't conflict with the fearsome hunters, often staying close to large fierce beasts.
At this moment, to them, Li Xuan was undoubtedly a large fierce beast.
Swish!
Li Xuan suddenly appeared, grabbed a wolf by the neck, lifted it high, and smashed its throat with a punch.
Crack!
Throat shattered.
Bang!
The wolf was again tossed and smashed to the ground.
Li Xuan then vanished once more.
Their speed was too slow; no matter what they did, it was all in slow motion to Li Xuan.
Li Xuan struck out in a fury.
He showed no mercy.
Every strike ensured the wolves that coveted him and wanted to eat him would either die miserably or be severely crippled.
...
After a long time...
And a long time later...
"Caw!"
"Caw caw caw!"
Amidst the cacophony of cawing, the mist churned.
In the mist, a tall and terrifying figure bent down to pick up a bundle by an old tree, dusted it off, and then walked away, quickly disappearing into the pale distance.
From above, crows happily landed, hopping and jumping among the flesh, their claws stained red, relishing this feast of death.
...
By evening.
Li Xuan arrived at a horse shop on the outskirts of the city to the south.
Wearing a bamboo hat, the shop clerk couldn't recognize him and just thought he was a traveler of the martial world.
The clerk, carrying a feed bag, was feeding horses. Seeing Li Xuan approach, he smiled and said, "Sir, you're back."
Li Xuan flicked some copper coins to him, retrieved his stored, unremarkably mottled horse, mounted it, and headed north into the city.
His knuckles were red, some areas swollen and engorged with blood.
The fog leopard had claws, but he... did not.
So, he needed a weapon.
A weapon is a man's claw.
He also needed a cultivation technique.
A cultivation technique is a man's method of killing.
This trip to the foothills of Red Flower Mountain took him for a spin at the gates of hell. He was truly startled into action.