Drunken Lotus: Fated With The Rogue Hidden Dragon

It was times like these that really made Fan Hui Zhong look at Fan Zhu Xia like she was still a little girl despite her age and it wasn"t entirely because she wasn"t acting her age but it was more of how she expressed her feelings, especially when she cries.

When Fan Zhu Xia fully lets go of her control over her emotions and actually lets herself cry, the way she does it isn"t like how most peoply her age cry. Whenever Fan Hui Zhong sees or even just hears her crying like that, it was as if he was listening to a child crying.

Maybe it was because she went through an extremely traumatic event at such a young age that when she cries, it was especially heartwrenching to hear and extremely hard to watch.

She just exuded a desolate sadness and vulnerability, as if her innocence was broken and destroyed in just a blink of the eye and in a way, that was exactly how it happened.

The very first time she cried like that changed the whole way Fan Hui Zhong looked at her.

It wasn"t because he was judging her but it made him look at Fan Zhu Xia in a whole new perspective.

The first time she cried like that was when she finally opened up and told him what had happened to her that caused her to be swept away by the raging waters and end up by the riverbank where he found her.

Everything he heard and saw that day really just made Fan Hui Zhong want to take in and just protect that broken young girl with a body covered in bruises, looking black and blue all over with tears overflowing in her big pale blue eyes that looked so haunted and empty.

The way Zhu Xia looked back then had always plagued him and Hui Zhong swore to himself that no matter what happens, he will do whatever it takes to keep that haunted look away. That he will do everything that he could to keep the life and vitality that slowly blossomed within the young girl"s uniquely colored ice blue eyes.

Time pa.s.sed and slowly, Fan Hui Zhong started to look and treat Zhu Xia as he would his own daughter. He didn"t even notice that his previously reclusive and stringent behavior slowly changed into a somewhat gentler yet definitely fatherly demeanor towards the young girl.

A lot of people in the small town located near the borders of Thunder Vale Country had even noticed the change in his behavior and even his brother, Hui Liang said the same thing when they had talked after dinner last night and that was saying something since his brother was there and witnessed how badly he spiralled down to rock-bottom when his wife, Yue Wan suffered a complication during childbirth and died along with their newborn son.

Hui Zhong was so lost back then, just a sh.e.l.l of who he was which was why he decided to retire and leave despite of so many people trying to convince him of otherwise.

He was in such a dark place back then that there were times where he just wanted to join his beloved wife and deceased son in the afterlife that drove him to the brink of insanity at times. It was what made him venture into the Abyss Valley Mountain Range.

From the moment he left the capital, Fan Hui Zhong knew that he was being followed by numerous people sent by different individuals and he could vaguely sense how many they were and where they were at. Their presence was what motivated him to go deeper and deeper into the dark forest despite the perilous nature of that mountain range until finally they lost his trail and he was finally alone.

He knew that most of those who followed him was sent by people who cared about his well-being but he was in a bad place both mentally and emotionally at that time and all he wanted was solitude and time away from everything and everyone he knew.

What he should have expected was that his decision to isolate himself deep within the Abyss Valley Mountain Range can be extremely fatal!

Fan Hui Zhong spend months alone there and during the middle of his fifth month, he encountered one of the rarely seen yet extremely ferocious demonic spirit beast while traversing through the dark foliage. An Onyx Shadow Panther. Despite it"s seemingly simple name, true to it, this demonic spirit beast can seamlessly blend into the darkness and if it was experienced and powerful enough, can even dissipate into a shadow-like form that is practically impossible to see.

Fan Hui Zhong was lucky enough that despite of his state of mind, his senses and instincts were still as sharp as ever. He was able to faintly sense the incoming danger right at the last minute which was what enabled him to dodge the Onyx Shadow Panther that just suddenly appeared from behind him, like a phantom materializing between the shade casted by the tall trees while bringing out one of his most prized weapons that he ever made, a long and heavy halberd made out of black steel.

His heart almost stopped right then and there from the mere shock of seeing one of the rarest and most reclusive spirit beasts right there in front of him, staring intensely at him.

It"s big wide eyes with ruby red irises and slitted pupils staring at him with a dangerous glint. It"s vivid gaze directly contrasting with it"s dark, almost smokey black body that seemed to fade in and out of the shadows as it slowly circled around him, moving so silently that it hardly made a sound.

At that moment, Fan Hui Zhong knew that if he wasn"t able to escape from there in time, then the place where he was standing eould surely be his final resting place.

Adrenaline pumped in his veins and his attention wholle focused on the huge shadowy panther stalking around him. His gaze never left it"s form and neither made a sound.

Fan Hui Zhong tightened his grip on his favorite weapon which he had ironically named Dancing Shadow because of how it looked and how he handled it the first time he used it. The long halberd was taller than him by almost one whole head and it was made out of Black Gold Steel which was a combination of ordinary gold, steel and powdered dianite rock which was the hardest substance there is and could only be harvested by sc.r.a.ping off small amounts of it which resulted in it"s crushed, state which he just further refined to be as fine as powder. Together, he smelted all three and combined all of it to form his long black halberd that glinted beautifully as if there were little stars in it"s dark body due to the dianite.

When he first used it, it was during the unexpected beast wave and at that time, the halberd looked like it was dancing through the air looking like a fleeting shadow as he expertly swung it against the stampeding spirit beasts, cutting them down one by one. It was how it got it"s name and now ironically he was about to use it against Onyx Shadow Panther.

Thump... Thump... Thump...

Three seconds pa.s.sed before the Onyx Shadow Panther just dissipate into black smoke and blended into the shadows when he suddenly felt impending danger from his right which made him instinctively swing his halberd.

Despite not seeing anything, something heavy and solid hit his weapon, stopping it"s swing mid-way and right there before his eyes, the Onyx Shadow Panther slowly materialized with a furious roar as blood from it"s left shoulder dripped down to the bladed tip of his halberd.

Just as it roared, it"s actions became frenzied and it once again lunged at him, no longer even bothering to hide itself in the shadows and just throwing itself into a savage a.s.sault which left Fan Hui Zhong no choice left but to continue to defend.

Their frenzied fight lasted throughout the day and the night as they moved through the forest simultaneously while the other spirit beasts wisely avoiding them which made Fan Hui Zhong internally sigh with relief.

The only thing was that despite his stamina, even he grew increasingly tired with his continues defense. He knew that with the growing amount of injuries he received from the Onyx Shadow Panther, that of their fight goes on then he would inevitably lose with his fast-draining strength and his bleeding wounds.

Fighting to hold on, Fan Hui Zhong waited for the Onyx Shadow Panther to show an opening and when he finally saw it slowing down it"s attacks due to fatigue, he put every last bit of his strength and suddenly dashed forward and swung his long halberd across the panther"s chest and belly while pus.h.i.+ng it away with all his might which made it fall a few feet away from him.

Panting, he saw the Onyx Shadow Panther sprawled on the ground, growling weakly and trying to get up with it"s ruby red eyes fixed warily at him but still not showing fear, just awareness that it knows that it"s life depends on Fan Hui Zhong"s decision.

Returning it"s watchful gaze, instead of going over and finis.h.i.+ng it off, Fan Hui Zhong stared at it for a full minute before slowly nodding his head toward"s it"s direction and backing away before disappearing into the forest and leaving the critically injured Onyx Shadow Panther on it"s own.

Fan Hui Zhong respected the Onyx Shadow Panther"s strength and the fact that it was able to push him back and definitely hold it"s ground against him when so many other spirit beasts couldn"t.

During this encounter though, despite not getting fatally wounded, Fan Hui Zhong discovered that the Onyx Shadow Panther was actually venomous, although not in a fatal way. He only found out after he had woken up in a small cabin where an old man had tended to him after she found him where he lost consciousness after stumbling his way out of the forest, looking disheveled and heavily wounded.

The old man had treated his wounds and advised him to go have a doctor check it out since he found slightly venomous substance as he was cleaning Fan Hui Zhong"s wounds.

Heeding the man"s advise, Fan Hui Zhong sought out the nearest doctor which was located in the town where he decided to settle. From what the doctor told him, the venom isn"t fatal but what it does is that it slowly ate away at your spiritual qi and if continously exposed to it, could result in him becoming a waste.

Unfortunately for Fan Hui Zhong at the time, no one had a way to remove the venom that was already in his bloodstream and he could only wait for the inevitable. It was one of the reasons why he chose to stay in that small far away village near Thunder Vale"s borders. With him slowly losing his cultivation and weakening, he knew that he would only be a liability if he went back.

The only reason he did so now was because his new daughter, Fan Zhu Xia had slowly treated him and was able to halt the decline of his spiritual qi and actually help him slowly build it up again. Now they only lacked a couple of rare medicinal herbs to fully cure him which was why he decided to return to the capital where they hoped that they would have a higher chance of finding them.

What Fan Hui Zhong did not expect was everyone"s reactions to his arrival, especially with the misunderstanding between him and his daughter.

It definitely put him on a sombre and pensive mood, so much so that he didn"t even notice that Fan Zhu Xia who he though was still sleeping in his lap was already awake and staring at him quietly.

s.h.i.+fting slightly, Fan Zhu Xia spoke softly, slightly startling Fan Hui Zhong when she asked a question.

"Father, can we go out and look around the city?"