Both Han Xi and Xu Hao make their way down the street towards their next destination, Lu Zhi’s shop. As the two of them approach, Lu Zhi notices them through the window and decides to meet them outside.

  “Honored Guardian, welcome back. Good afternoon, Xu Hao. I trust you are well?” Lu Zhi greets the two of them warmly.

  Smiling, Xu Hao replies, “Yes, good afternoon, Lu Zhi. We are both well, thank you.” Looking down at Han Xi who is standing next to him, Xu Hao continues, “Were you here earlier, Miss Han Xi?”

  Han Xi nods her head and wags her tail happily. ‘Yup! His talismans are super fun to use. I wonder why we are back here? Maybe he intends to purchase a talisman to help with my evolution?’

  Her reaction makes Xu Hao giggle a bit. “Seems you were off meeting new people this morning, Miss Han Xi. Good for you.”

  Lu Zhi gestures for them both to enter his shop so they can talk business comfortably. “Please, come into my shop and have a seat at the table.”

  All 3 of them approach and sit down at the table, Han Xi jumping on the pile of books that was still on the chair so she can see everything going on. Lu Zhi takes out a notebook and brush and rexes in his chair.

  “So, Xu Hao, Honored Guardian, what brings you here to my shop? Since Xu Hao is here with you, Honored Guardian, I presume you are here to talk business?” Lu Zhi asks, twiddling with the brush between his fingers.

  Xu Hao nods, “Yes, that is correct. Miss Han Xi is preparing to evolve tonight, and we were hoping that you could provide us with some kind of talisman to help block pain to make it less uncomfortable for Miss Han Xi. We already got a Low 1st Grade Pain Lessening Pill, but it will not be nearly enough.”

  His request causes Lu Zhi’s eyes to widen in surprise. “Our Honored Guardian is evolving tonight?! I’d be honored to assist in her advancement! Yes, I can prepare a basic Numbing Talisman for you right away. Is that all you need?”

  “For now, I think that should be plenty. She is only evolving to a savage beast. Even the resources we have now should be somewhat excessive, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared.” Xu Hao continues, “How much do I owe you for the talisman?”

  Lu Zhi puts away his notepad as he does not need it and takes out a piece of paper for the talisman. “Free, of course. I couldn't dream of charging our Honored Guardian for such an occasion.”

  “I couldn’t possibly accept this for free, Lu Zhi. Please allow me to contribute something towards it. Also, Miss Han Xi is still animal grade and won’t be able to activate a talisman on her own. Are you able to make one where it can be applied for her, or something like that?”

  Lu Zhi snickers at his request, “No need to worry, Xu Hao. Somehow, our Honored Guardian seems to be able to activate talismans on her own. She activated one of my Agility Talisman earlier, much to my shock. That being said, this talisman will be free of charge, and I am not changing my mind.”

  Carefully, he applies steady and deliberate strokes of ink onto the paper, creating the expression for a numbing talisman. Once completed, he pces the talisman in front of Xu Hao and smiles. “When is she evolving tonight? Is this going to be in private?”

  Xu Hao gratefully accepts the Numbing Talisman and pces it in his storage pouch. “It will be tonight when the moon reaches its peak in the sky, and it’ll be taking pce in the woods, north of my campground. I hope to see you there.”

  Nodding and rexing back into his chair, Lu Zhi smiles, “I’ll definitely be there, thank you for inviting me.”

  Now leaving the store, Xu Hao and Han Xi walk out the door and stand outside the shop. Han Xi jumps onto Xu Hao’s head, assuming her rightful pce on her throne. ‘I wonder if I’ll be too big to do this after I evolve? I should enjoy this while I can.’

  Both of them return to their residence, where they will spend the rest of their time rexing, and mentally preparing for tonight.

  “Lei Yue, we are back. We’ve finished making our preparations.” Xu Hao announces as he walks in the front door. Han Xi decides to jump off of his head and nds on the floor.

  The door to Lei Yue’s room opens, and she walks out into the common area. “Welcome back. Were you able to get anything useful?”

  He nods, “Yeah, we were able to get several useful things. No one was willing to let me pay, however…”

  Lei Yue sighs, “You did insist, didn’t you? With how tight money is in this vilge, I'm concerned those bastards at the Shadow Demon Sect will end up taking more of our friends' lives…”

  Nodding, he replies, “Yes, I did insist, but they were adamant on providing the pills and talisman for free.” Xu Hao walks over to the chair at the table and slumps down into it. “They said they wanted to contribute to Miss Han Xi’s evolution.”

  Deciding to join him, Lei Yue also sits down at the table, rexing in a chair. “Those stubborn people… well, hopefully we can return the favor in another way perhaps? We could always provide them with some meat Miss Han Xi hunts down.”

  Han Xi smiles and nods her head, ‘It’s the least I can do, considering those pills and the talisman sounds like it’ll be very useful.’

  ??????

  North of Snowmere Vilge, at the foot of a bck mountain, is a medium-sized sect with tall bck jagged towers that reach up towards the sky threateningly. Below them are many buildings, all built using bck colored stone, which blends in perfectly with the dark and gloomy atmosphere. Nearest the mountain, is a singur, rge building with an even more imposing appearance than the towers. The outside of the building is lit up with nterns that burn blue fmes.

  Inside the building, down a secret pathway, is a rge room with a walkway down the center of it that leads straight towards the back. There, is an imposing desk elevated on a ptform with a rge, throne-like chair behind it. On that chair, is the patriarch of the Shadow Demon Sect.

  The doors of the chamber swing open and a mysterious man clothed in concealing bck robes approaches the desk, stopping just before the ptform and kneels.

  “Patriarch, I have news to report.” The man dressed in bck robes reports.

  The patriarch is a tall, muscur man who appears to be middle-aged and has somewhat of a beard. He is also wearing bck colored robes with intricate designs made of red lines all throughout the article of clothing. Unlike the robes of the one in front of him, his robes are not designed for subtlety or secrecy; rather, to impose a sense of strength and importance.

  He sighs with a slightly annoyed expression, looking down at his outer disciple. “Proceed.”

  “Last night, there was smoke coming from the center of Snowmere vilge. I went to investigate and found that there was no one present at the front gate guarding the vilge.” The outer disciple reports confidently.

  The patriarch runs his fingers through his beard for a moment, thinking. “So what of it? Did you investigate further? You best not be bothering me for something trivial like this.”

  The outer disciple's confidence staggers for a moment at the patriarch's abrasive tone. “Of course, I did look into the matter further. Apparently, they were celebrating having a new guardian beast protecting the town. I find it difficult to believe that a mere beast from this forest could pose an issue for us, but I thought it's best to inform you nonetheless.”

  Taking a few moments to think about the implications of this news, he then asks, “Do you know what kind of beast they have elected to make their guardian beast?”

  Shaking his head, the outer disciple responds, “No, my apologies Patriarch, I am unsure what kind of beast their guardian is. I can assure you, regardless of what it is, it poses no threat to us or our dealings.”

  In a firm, commanding tone, the patriarch replies, “You dare bring me incomplete information? Were you too scared to continue collecting information from the vilge while you were there and just immediately left?”

  Trembling somewhat, the outer disciple responds, “N-no Patriarch, I just thou-.”

  “You thought what? You thought they wouldn't pose a threat to us out of sheer overconfidence?” he replies in an even firmer tone, cutting off the disciple's words.

  Hesitating, the disciple responds, “Well I-.”

  Cutting the disciple off once again, he commands, “Do not ever bring me incomplete information like this again. In a few days, when we go to collect their ‘taxes’; be sure to return with more complete information. I will decide what we are doing only then. If you fail to bring me this information, I’ll have your soul power a mp near the sect’s front gates.”

  “U-understood Patriarch!” The outer disciple stands up and cups his hands towards the patriarch, and quickly makes his exit out of the chamber.

  ??????

  The remainder of the day was spent mostly lounging around while Xu Hao and Lei Yue talked about how the evolution would go, as well as other casual topics.Han Xi is ying on her bed in the corner of the room, patiently waiting for the opportunity to leave.

  [The host should pn on leaving the house in a few minutes in order to make it to the evolution location on time.]

  Her eyes shoot wide open and sparkle with excitement as she jumps to her feet and runs up to Xu Hao, pawing at his leg.

  Noticing this, Xu Hao looks down and giggles, “Oh, is it that time already? Lei Yue, are you ready to go?” he says as he stands up from his chair.

  Lei Yue stands up, pushing the chair away from the table, and stands next to Xu Hao. “Yes, let's get going.”

  Han Xi in fluid succession jumps onto the chair and then onto Xu Hao’s head, assuming her rightful pce on her throne. Meanwhile, Xu Hao quickly grabs 2 nterns from the room next to his and lights them, so they have a source of light towards the evolution grounds. Handing one of them to Lei Yue, they both walk out of the house into the night.

  It was noticeably dark outside tonight, maybe even more so than normal. The streets were lit up with the inscribed nterns, however, when they got to the forest, it was nearly completely pitch bck, very little moonlight illuminating their surroundings.

  “It’s a good thing we brought nterns, huh?” Xu Hao says somewhat proudly.

  Lei Yue rolls her eyes, “You say that as if you did something extraordinary. Anyone with enough common sense would have grabbed these before going into the forest at night.”

  Feeling somewhat wronged, Xu Hao replies in a dejected tone, “You know, you could have said thank you.”

  After, both of them snicker a bit at the ridiculousness of their conversation as they see a bright light in the distance, around where there is a break in the trees and where the direwolf was defeated. As they approach, they can hear everyone in the vilge talking, gathered around yet another rge bonfire.

  Han Xi looks at the scene in front of her, completely dumbfounded. ‘I know he said he was going to tell everyone in the vilge about this… but isn't this a bit overkill? When did he even have the time to build this bonfire?! It's massive!’

  Noticing them approaching, Elder Fu approaches them and welcomes them enthusiastically. “Hello! Welcome, Honored Guardian! We have gathered here tonight to watch and celebrate your evolution! I trust you have prepared well?”

  Recovering from the scene in front of her, Han Xi wags her tail enthusiastically and nods her head. ‘I am so ready to do this! Not to mention, I have an audience appropriate for such an important event~. Though, I can't help but feel a public evolution for a beast in human territory goes against at least several cultivation tropes. The heavens aren't watching, are they?’

  AnDwHaT5