The deep stillness of midnight settled over the Grand Desolate Forest.
Down in the valley basin, the loud laughter of the harvest feast had gently softened into the calm murmurs of a sleeping village. The great roasting spit stood dark and still, its coals buried under damp ash. Along the stone pathways, the spirit-jade lanterns flickered with steady, emerald soft glow. It cast warm ribbons of light across the cedar roof edges. In the residential courtyards, fox maidens gently carried sleepy cubs wrapped in wool shawls toward their cottages, while elder bears snored softly on open porches. Their bellies round and was full of roast pork and plum wine.
At the head table beneath the Primordial Spirit Willow, Xiao Hei slowly stood up on all four paws.
The eight-foot wolf king stretched his massive spine with a slow, fluid ripple that caused his midnight coat to shimmer like dark velvet. Along his muscular flanks, the silver star-pattern runes flared with sudden, ghostly bright glare, pulsing in timed together rhythm with the sky spheres above.
In the ink-black dome of the midnight sky, the twin sky moons had reached their zenith. The larger moon, a disk of pure liquid silver, hovered directly above the northern crescent crag. At the same time, its friend, a smaller orb of rainbow-bright pearl-white, nestled close beside it. Their combined moonlight poured down through the crisp mountain air like a waterfall of frozen diamonds, washing the granite peaks in silver soft glow.
Xiao Hei turned his noble head toward the northern peaks. His deep ruby eyes sparkled with ancient, instinctual respect.
He lowered his head toward the bench, nudging Lin Xiao’s azure jelly mantle with his warm, black snout.
“Master,” Xiao Hei whispered through their telepathic soul link, his voice deep and ringing. “Come with me to the high ledge. The twin moons are lined up in true ringing symmetry. My bloodline sings to the sky.”
Lin Xiao gave an elastic, bouncy wobble. “To the high ledge at midnight? Sounds like an adventure. Let’s see the view.”
With a soft boing, Lin Xiao hopped from his silk cushion, landing squarely between the wolf king’s ears. He flattened his fluid base into a secure, wind-cutting saddle-cap. He anchored his non-Newtonian surface so that Xiao Hei could sprint at full speed without dislodging him.
SWOOSH.
Xiao Hei didn’t use the paved walking paths. He leaped from the wooden dais in a single, explosive bound. He cleared thirty feet of lawn without a sound.
Merging his physical body with the surrounding shadows through his innate Shadow Meld technique, the wolf king moved like a phantom of the night. He flowed up the steep northern cliffs, his black glass claws finding easy purchase on sheer upright granite faces. Arcs of pale-silver wind crackled softly around his paws, canceling his weight and propelling him upward through the pine canopy at terrifying speed.
In less than three minutes, they climbed three thousand feet above the valley floor, bursting through the upper layer of mist to reach the Sovereign Moon Crag.
The crag was a windswept slab of ancient, weathered granite jutting out from the highest crescent peak like the prow of an ocean vessel. High above the forest canopy, the air was razor-sharp and cold as ice. He smelled of pure ozone, mountain lichen, and high-sky starlight.
Xiao Hei bounded to the very edge of the cliff edge, halting where the cliff dropped away into two thousand feet of empty space.
Lin Xiao peered over the wolf’s brow.
The view below was breathtaking. The entire Myriad Spirit Safe hall lay spread out within the ring of crescent peaks like a hidden jewel box. Hundreds of tiny emerald lanterns outlined the stone roads, the tiered spirit rice terraces gleamed like silver mirrors under the dual moonlight. The Great Spirit Willow stood at the center like a huge dome of soft, glowing moss. Beyond the safe hall’s boundary mist, the vast, untamed expanse of the Grand Desolate Forest stretched away into the infinite blue horizon, mysterious and ancient beneath the stars.
Xiao Hei planted his four paws firmly into the granite ledge.
The night wind whipped through his thick midnight fur. It sent silver sparks of lunar electricity snapping across his mane. He closed his ruby eyes. He drew a deep, huge breath of the crisp, high-sky air into his massive chest. The pure lunar essence pouring from the twin moons seemed to funnel directly into his open spirit sea, lighting up every bone and spirit vein with blinding silver radiance.
The wolf king threw back his head.
His jaws parted, his black glass muzzle pointing straight toward the twin sky orbs.
AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
The howl that erupted from Xiao Hei’s throat was not a shriek of hungry hunger. It wasn’t a battle roar intended to terrify enemies or demand territory.
It was the Moon Howl of Contentment. The sovereign lunar hymn of an apex king who has found his home, his pack, and his eternal purpose.
The sound was amazing. It rang not as a harsh animal cry. But as a deep, echoing bell struck in an ancient mountaintop temple. The sonic wave, infused with the gravity weight of a Tier-4 Beast Sovereign and the soothing purity of lunar qi, rolled outward in nested rings of shimmering silver light.
It swept down the granite faces, echoed across forty jagged mountain ridges. Then it rang through the deep pine gorges for fifty li in every direction.
Wherever the silver wave passed, the harsh, tense silence of the wild night was replaced by deep, sacred calm.
Down in the valley, the sleeping cubs didn’t startle or whimper. They curled deeper into their blankets with soft, contented sighs, protected by the voice of their guardian. Along the boundary ridges, thirty patrol wolves paused atop their watchposts. They lifted their muzzles to answer their king with a ringing, low-pitched chorus that wove together into a loud mix of canine devotion.
Out in the deep, untamed wilderness beyond the safe hall, hungry shadow cats and poisonous vipers slithered back into their dens, bowing their heads in instinctual submission to the kind monarch who ruled the crescent peaks.
Lin Xiao sat quietly between the wolf’s ears. He felt the huge sonic shakes thrumming through his own fluid body. His internal core harmonized with the hum, producing a series of gentle, sapphire ripples that mirrored the silver waves rolling across the sky.
A sweet-sounding, crystal-clear chime rang within his mind:
“Phenomenological scan complete,” the Dao Spirit reported smoothly. “The subject’s emotional deep ring of total security and loyalty has catalyzed a twelve percent old family bloodline purification. The lunar howl has steadied sky leylines across twenty-five square miles, reducing demonic beast mutation risks to negligible levels.”
He’s just happy, Dao Spirit, Lin Xiao replied softly in his mind. No need to make it sound like a physics paper. A dog who knows he is loved will howl at the moon with all his heart.
The last echoes of the great howl faded into the mountain breezes.
Xiao Hei lowered his massive head, his breathing deep and even, silver mist drifting lazily from his nostrils. He turned his neck, gently pressing his velvet snout against Lin Xiao’s squishy blue side. That let out a soft, warm whimper that belonged not to a terrifying beast sovereign, but to a loyal, grateful friend.
“Master,” Xiao Hei whispered through their telepathic circuit, his thoughts brimming with iron-hard devotion. “Two months ago, I was trapped in a rusted iron snare, bleeding into the dirt, waiting for poachers to slit my throat for my pelt. I had never tasted fresh water that didn’t smell of mud, nor known a night where I didn’t fear the cold.”
The wolf king gently nudged the blue slime, his ruby eyes soft and glowing.
“You healed my broken leg with spring dew. You fed me warm turnip stew when I was starving. You gave me a name that shook the heavens. You built a safe hall where my pack can live in honor. My life, my fangs, and my bloodline belong to you, Lord Xiao. As long as the twin moons shine in the sky, no harm shall ever touch your realm.”
Lin Xiao felt a warm, deep glow spread through his azure core.
He extended two fluid pseudopods, wrapping them affectionately around the wolf king’s velvet snout and scratching firmly behind his ears in the exact spot Xiao Hei loved best.
“You’re a good boy, Xiao Hei,” Lin Xiao said softly, his voice full of warmth. “The best dog in the three realms. Now stop being so dramatic—we still have half a roast boar waiting in the kitchen. It’s too cold up here for a midnight nap.”
Xiao Hei let out a happy, muffled huff, gave Lin Xiao’s blue mantle a huge, wet slurp with his broad pink tongue. Then he turned back toward the winding trail leading down into the valley.
Bounding effortlessly from boulder to boulder, the wolf king carried his azure master down through the cedar switchbacks. Lin Xiao clung comfortably to the wolf’s thick fur. He felt the steady, rhythmic thrum of Xiao Hei’s heart beating against his own non-Newtonian body. In his past mortal existence, Lin Xiao had lived a solitary life in a cramped city apartment. He was surrounded by concrete walls, glowing computer monitors, and silent convenience-store dinners. He had never owned a dog, never planted a seed, and never known the weight of five hundred lives trusting him to keep the hearth fires burning.
Yet here, dropping beneath the silver light of twin moons with the mountain wind singing through the pine needles, Lin Xiao felt anchored in a way he had never known before. He wasn’t just a transmigrated soul adrift in a strange xianxia cosmos. He had a home, a loyal pack. A family that looked up to him not because of violent conquest or heavenly decrees, but because he gave them warm stew, clean water, and a place to rest in peace.
They reached the edge of the residential courtyards. Then, Xiao Hei slowed to a quiet, velvet-pawed walk. They carried Lin Xiao toward the warm porch where fresh tea was waiting.