Living like a primitive, Fan Yue explored the rocky mountains day after day. He ranged farther, climbed higher, peered into every crevice — but found no way out. Each time, nothing but another disappointment waited for him.
And still he didn't give up.
Fan Yue made his way back to his cave, dragging the carcass of a black dog behind him. His body ached, his breathing was labored, and every step sent a stab of pain through his chest.
Then the world turned upside down.
BOOM.
An invisible force drove him into the ground. The air was knocked from his lungs, darkness flashed before his eyes. Fan Yue didn't even have time to cry out before a second strike came crashing down.
BAM.
His bones screamed as though they were about to break. He clenched his teeth, rolled across the ground, and forced himself back to his feet.
Fan Yue's eyes went wide.
Before him stood a massive skeleton. Its bones were dark, as though soaked through with ash, and its hollow eye sockets glowed with cold blue light. A suffocating aura of death radiated from it — icy, heavy, pressing down on his mind.
"What... is that?" Fan Yue exhaled, involuntarily tightening his grip on the bone sword.
The moment his eyes fell on the creature, his entire body broke into a cold sweat. Every instinct, every nerve screamed one thing.
Run.
But he had no time. The skeleton vanished.
Fan Yue snapped taut and instinctively stepped back. In the next instant a fist formed of bone swept past his face by a hair's breadth. The freezing gust sliced through the air.
"Ha—" Fan Yue exhaled sharply and leapt back, bringing the sword around.
SWISH. The strike landed squarely on the skeleton's chest. But instead of the crack of bone, there was only a dull thud. The sword bounced back, and Fan Yue's arms shook from the recoil.
"Hard..." he whispered.
Too hard.
BOOM. A blow to his chest sent him flying several meters. The ground slammed into his back.
"Kha—" Fan Yue coughed, pressing a palm to his chest.
Every breath ached. He felt it clearly — at least several ribs had cracked.
Damn... if I still had my strength, I'd deal with this thing easily.
Fan Yue understood clearly: he could not run.
And he could not win.
"What do I do?" he whispered, getting up.
The skeleton moved toward him again. And in that moment Fan Yue frowned.
Too slow.
A blow that should have crushed his head missed. The second one too.
It's... slowing down?
Fan Yue stepped to the side — and for the first time successfully dodged. The skeleton's strikes were growing heavier... and slower.
What's happening?... The thought flickered through his mind as he drove a downward strike.
This time there was a crack.
CRACK. A fracture split the skeleton's skull.
It's falling apart?!
Only now did Fan Yue notice — thin cracks were spreading across every bone of the creature's body.
His heart lurched.
Then this is my chance! He gathered the last of his strength and struck again — aimed precisely at the neck. The bones gave way.
The skeleton collapsed, crumbling into a heap of fragments.
"Haa... haa..." Fan Yue was breathing hard, barely staying on his feet.
If it had any intelligence... I'd be dead.
The death aura that had radiated from the skeleton lingered in the air for a long time after.
Fan Yue clenched his teeth, went back for the black dog's carcass, and slowly dragged it toward his shelter.
Reaching the cave, he collapsed onto the stone. His stomach was cramping with hunger, but he had no strength left to build a fire.
"I'm too weak," he said hoarsely.
He understood it clearly — today he had survived only because he had been lucky.
He closed his eyes and sank into sleep. But what he saw this time shook him and plunged him into shock.
Before him stood a scene filled with warmth and light — things he hadn't felt in so long.
A tall, strong, handsome man with black hair and slightly bronzed skin was embracing the Heavenly Crow. His face was lit with a smile full of joy.
"Fan Yue! My daughter, at last our family is together again!" His voice trembled slightly, as though even he could hardly believe it.
The Heavenly Crow pressed into him, and tears streamed down her face.
"Father... Father! I missed you so much!"
Fan Hobin gently released her, stroked her head.
"In such a short time you've grown... become as beautiful and strong as your mother."
The Heavenly Crow smiled and shifted her gaze to the woman beside him.
She seemed to belong to another world entirely — graceful, with snow-white skin, long silver hair that caught starlight as it moved, and a lunar symbol on her forehead. Her eyes were black, crystalline and clear, deep as a starlit sky.
"M... Mother..." the Heavenly Crow whispered, her voice trembling with suppressed emotion.
The woman, who had been holding herself together until that moment, wrapped her arms around her with shaking hands — as though holding the most precious treasure in existence.
"Yes... Yes. I'm here. I'm your mother."
Tears burst from the Heavenly Crow. She cried and sobbed, drinking in the warmth she had never known.
"Mother! Mother!" Her voice broke between breaths, and Lan Yue stroked her head gently.
"Yes, I'm here. I was foolish — so terribly foolish..." she whispered, holding her daughter and not letting go.
Fan Hobin stepped close and embraced them both. The scene radiated extraordinary warmth, joy, and peace. It was a reunion that Fan Yue had never been able to feel.
Fan Yue's eyes snapped open. Tears were running down his face on their own. His heart hammered as though trying to break free from his chest.
"Mother... that was her..." he whispered, his voice trembling, his chest gripped by pain. He had always dreamed of seeing her — seeing his father's joy, his family — but the one they called Fan Yue was not him.
Something inside him broke. His face twisted into a terrible grimace. His hands slammed against the rocks around him again and again until blood ran from his fingers.
"That's me! That should be me! I am Fan Yue!" he screamed.
Then a short pause. Ragged breathing. His heart pounded like a hammer, and his eyes couldn't pull away from the empty darkness before him.
"Ha..." He exhaled with a low, agonized roar. "I have to take it all back... I have to do this!"
He grabbed the sword, barely managing to hold it in his bloodied hands, and burst out of the cave, throwing himself into the rocky mountains. Every movement was filled with rage, despair, and an unbreakable determination.
Even when he stumbled and fell, pain, exhaustion — all of it — ceased to matter. There was only the need to get out.
Suddenly a black dog appeared in his path — enormous, standing on its hind legs, with claws and teeth sharper than he had ever seen. It was completely different from the others.
But Fan Yue didn't think of running. He clenched his teeth, fingers burning around the bone sword's grip, and stepped forward first, attacking.
"Kill!" he shouted to himself, and the rage inside him broke free.
Damn! — but he didn't stop.
He threw himself in with his hands, grabbing the dog by the throat, trying to break its grip. The beast's teeth pierced the skin of his arm, pain shot through his shoulder — but Fan Yue only clenched his jaw harder and drove his fists into the creature's head.
The dog snarled, slammed a paw into Fan Yue's chest, and the boy flew back several meters, rolling across the rocks. His breathing became ragged, his body blazed with pain — but his eyes burned.
"I'll kill you... I'll kill you!" he shouted through the pain.
He got up, launched himself to his feet, grabbed the dog's front legs, and drove his knee into its chest. The beast howled in pain, but threw itself at him again, hammering him with paws and teeth. Every strike left bruises, cuts, and searing pain — but Fan Yue didn't give ground. He hit, bit, tore, pouring everything into it — fear, rage, despair, and every loss he had carried since childhood.
"AAAA!" His cry echoed off the rocks.
The dog lunged again, its paws like hammers driving into his shoulders and chest, but Fan Yue kept dodging, his body moving as though filled with fury itself. He grabbed the creature's head and slammed it into a rock, hearing the crack of bone.
A moment — and the dog reeled back, stunned, its roar dropping to heavy panting. Fan Yue, soaked in blood, his sword shattered, but with burning eyes, took a step forward.
"I... I will not lose!" he said through clenched teeth.
And in that moment he felt it — everything that was him — pain, anger, fear, despair — gathered into a single instant. He leapt, struck with his whole body, and the dog collapsed with a final roar.
Fan Yue dropped heavily to his knees, trembling with exhaustion and pain. Every wound stung, his heart hammered so hard it felt like it would tear free. But in his eyes burned an unshakeable fire.
"I'll survive... I'll take it all back..." he whispered, squeezing his hands into fists, blood mixing with dirt and sweat. He rose, stood straight, and even through the pain and exhaustion he felt the strength that his resolve gave him.
Fan Yue felt the rage and fury gradually subside, leaving in their wake a cold sense of satisfaction. He barely understood how he had managed to defeat the creature — but every aching muscle, every bruise and scrape reminded him: he had survived through his fury.
Without that anger — that relentless, burning rage — he could never have fought the monster.
Grabbing the carcass, he headed back toward his cave.
Hunger gripped him more tightly than exhaustion, and as he began butchering the body he stopped sharply. Inside the black dog's chest gleamed a strange grey crystal.
Fan Yue pulled it out and turned it over in his hands, studying it with puzzlement.
"What is this?... The others didn't have this. Is this one special?"
Though he could no longer sense spiritual power or see aura, the cold and lifelessness of the crystal were unmistakable — the same feeling he had once sensed from the skeleton.
Fan Yue took a slow breath.
"Where in the hell did that woman send me? She said she was sending me to the Mother Planet..."
But his mind couldn't afford to linger on it. He quickly cut open the carcass, drained the blood, and started roasting the meat over a fire. The heat seeping into his hands strangely dulled the pain, and the wounds seemed to begin closing.
"What? Even the meat and the blood are completely different." He murmured in surprise, feeling a surge of strength.
"The meat and blood must carry some kind of energy to have this kind of effect..." Without thinking about the consequences, Fan Yue drank the blood greedily and ate every last piece of the meat.
Warmth and a strange force spread through his body. His thoughts grew clearer, his exhaustion faded. He didn't even notice when sleep took him.
And again a scene appeared before his eyes.
At an enormous table sat Lan Yue, Fan Hobin, and the Heavenly Crow. Lan Yue held in her arms a small girl — a tiny child with her mother's hair and her father's eyes.
The little girl was quietly gnawing on her finger, while the Heavenly Crow watched her with curiosity and a tenderness that spoke of genuine care.
"Fan Yue, wouldn't you like to hold your little sister?" Lan Yue asked softly.
"Oh! Can I?" the Heavenly Crow exclaimed, as though afraid of making a mistake.
Lan Yue smiled and gently passed the child into her arms.
"Of course. Fan Xue likes you."
The Heavenly Crow carefully pressed the little girl to herself, and the child laughed. Her laughter was clean and bright, like bells.
"Hee-hee-hee!"
For a moment the Heavenly Crow went still, looking at her — then smiled and held her close.
"Hello, little one. I'm your big sister, Fan Yue."
Fan Yue's eyes snapped open. His chest tightened. Tears gathered at the edges of his eyes. His gaze was clouded, his hands trembling, and inside everything burned.
"I have a little sister..." he whispered — and the wave of rage and despair came crashing back.
The rage surged through Fan Yue again, scorching him from within. He ground his teeth, and his eyes turned red, as though a fire of fury had ignited inside him.
"Mine! Me! That's where I should be!" he cried, barely holding himself together, swallowing pain and despair.
Without thinking, he burst out of the cave.
The air struck his face, and the rocks reflected what little light there was on his wounded body. Fan Yue was covered in blood, his wounds burning and aching. His clothes were nearly completely torn, leaving only rags, and fresh bite marks and scratches stood out on his skin. But in his eyes burned an unbreakable resolve.
Before him lay the carcasses of two enormous two-legged black dogs — stronger than any he had faced before. Their claws gleamed in the darkness, their teeth glinted, and the aura around them had been impossibly grim.
Barely holding the pain at bay, Fan Yue grabbed the carcasses and dragged them toward the cave. His heart pounded, every muscle ached — but he didn't stop. When he arrived, he cut them open, drained the blood, and pulled the strange grey crystals from each of their chests. This time he didn't even look at them, tossing them aside, focused entirely on what mattered most — the blood and the meat.
He began to eat — carefully at first, then hungrily, as though this food were the only way to release everything that had built up inside him. The blood and meat burned his throat, but at the same time gave him a strange warmth, dulled the pain, and seemed to heal the wounds.
Even when his stomach was full, Fan Yue didn't stop. He ate to the last scrap, drank every drop of blood, and the warmth spreading through his body merged with the exhaustion, the pain, and the rage. His wounds began slowly closing. His skin became less sensitive to cuts. His muscles gradually recovered their strength.
When the last piece of meat was gone, he finally lowered himself to the ground. His breathing was heavy, his eyes closed, and his body surrendered completely to sleep.
This time he did not see his family.
Instead he found himself in a spacious room where Lan Xuanyu, the Heavenly Crow, Yuan Huihui, Lan Mengqin, Liu Feng, and Dun Qianqiu were sitting together.
"The trip to the Elf Planet was incredibly worthwhile," Lan Xuanyu said with a smile, and happiness was clear in his voice.
Yuan Huihui lowered his head, his voice carrying a trace of sadness.
"It's a pity we have to leave so soon. I didn't even get the chance to show you the Elf Planet properly."
The Heavenly Crow gave him a light hug and said with a smile on her face.
"That's alright — just invite us during the holidays and show us everything then."
Yuan Huihui flushed and muttered in embarrassment.
"Boys and girls shouldn't hug..."
The Heavenly Crow smiled with a hint of mischief.
"Oh come on, you're a girl!"
Yuan Huihui lowered his head.
"I'm not a girl."
"Ha-ha-ha. Well, that depends on your choice," Lan Mengqin cut in, beaming with delight.
The Heavenly Crow let go of Yuan Huihui and sat down beside Lan Xuanyu, watching everyone calmly.
"It seems the whole class got incredibly lucky. Everyone except me and Xuanyu formed contracts with Spirit Beasts. Liu Feng got the Thorn Dragon, Yuan Huihui got a special Elf Dragon from the elf clan, Tang Yuge got the Yin-Yang Chaos Bird."
She shifted her gaze to the two girls and continued with exaggerated envy.
"And as for you two — I won't even start. How did you manage to form a contract with Bi Ji the Emerald Swan and Zi Ji the Abyssal Demon Dragon? Little Sister Lan Mengqin and Bai Xuxu got incredibly lucky."
Lan Mengqin smiled proudly, and Dun Qianqiu — now called Bai Xuxu — gave a slight nod in response with a gentle smile. The Heavenly Crow put her arm around Lan Xuanyu and said:
"Only the two of us got nothing."
In that moment Fan Yue's eyes snapped open.
Rage blazed in his chest again — but now it was less savage, more controlled. His heart was pounding, and his mind tried to process what he had seen. He felt the anger gradually softening, giving way to resolve.
"I'll go back... I have to take everything back..." he whispered through clenched teeth, and the fire in his eyes lit again.