Before the expedition could take its first step toward the deep gap, Lin Xiao walked down the gravel pathway toward the southern gatehouse of the safe hall.
Waiting at the boundary line, sitting regally upon a broad slab of sun-warmed granite, was Xiao Hei. In his resting form, the Celestial Eclipse Moon-Wolf King was roughly the size of a huge black mastiff. But there was nothing ordinary about the dark creature. His glossy pelt was so intensely black that morning sunlight seemed to slide off it without glow. That left only the delicate traceries of silver lunar star-pattern runes shimmering faintly along his flanks. Puffs of cool silver mist drifted from his paws whenever he shifted his weight.
As Lin Xiao approached, the great wolf’s ruby-red eyes melted with unreserved devotion. Lowering his massive head, Xiao Hei pressed his broad, wet snout squarely into Lin Xiao’s open palm. That let out a soft, affectionate whine that sounded like a contented puppy greeting its owner.
“Good morning, Xiao Hei,” Lin Xiao chuckled, sinking both hands into the thick, silky fur behind the wolf’s three-sided ears and scratching with practiced enthusiasm.
Xiao Hei leaned his substantial weight into Lin Xiao’s shins, his bushy black tail thumping against the granite slab with rhythmic, hollow thuds. For a beast that commanded a thousand shadow-wolves across the mountain ranges, nothing in the three realms compared to the bliss of a proper ear rub from his master.
