Zhen Len was panting on the rock where he used to meditate. He had been feeling an uncomfortable heat coursing through every corner of his body for hours. It felt ironic… he, a soul beast with an innate affinity for fire, suffering from a heat he couldn't control.
Not even in his previous life, when he was still human, had he experienced such intense urges. Back then, a cold bath or a round of the Mysterious Heaven Skill was enough to clear his mind. But now… his consciousness was a furnace of erratic thoughts, and his body demanded something he couldn't provide.
The situation felt absurd to him. He had once been a divine blacksmith, a titled Douluo. Now he was a Fire Spirit Fox King, only 200 years old, and yet he was overwhelmed by simple biological impulses.
He was going into heat.
But it wasn't that simple. After hours of being unable to cultivate or even maintain meditation, the discomfort had become unbearable. And to make matters worse, Zhen Wu, his second younger sister, stop approaching him. The little fox, with her reddish fur and bright eyes, sniffed him curiously and then curled up beside him, purring sweetly.
Zhen Len gritted his teeth tightly.
"Zhen Wu, stop!" he growled, his voice rougher than usual.
She backed off, surprised for a moment, but soon approached again innocently, trying to rub against his side.
For a moment, Zhen Len felt the urge to use his fire claws to make her stop bothering him, but in that instant, he realized it. He had to leave immediately.
If he didn't, in one of those impulses, he might end up hurting one of his siblings unintentionally, and that was something he could never forgive himself for.
He leapt and ran silently for a while. Only when he was a kilometer away did he allow himself to breathe a little easier. His paws guided him by instinct toward the lower part of the forest. It was nighttime, but fire spirit foxes naturally had night vision. However, he and his siblings had gotten used to staying awake during the day instead of the night, which was a bit strange, since foxes usually have nocturnal hunting habits.
Soon, he reached the river, which stretched out over a great distance. Despite the flow, it still reflected some of the moonlight between the vegetation, which usually consisted of various trees and the underbrush known as silver bluegrass.
He needed to cool down, and he quickly reached the riverbank. The sound of the rushing water beckoned him. Without thinking twice, he dove in, after confirming that there was no soul beast over 10 years old nearby.
The impact of the icy water against his burning body brought immediate relief. A hiss rose where his spiritual heat clashed with the cool liquid. He submerged, swam, spun in circles.
For the first time in hours, he felt a little better, though not calm enough.
He kept swimming. The river split in two, and he took the right side, letting the current carry him. The riverbed grew deeper, the banks steeper. He swam to leave behind that suffocating heat and calm the impulse.
But the river's atmosphere began to change. The nearby fish started to disappear, even though the river grew deeper and wider. His eyes turned purple again along with the Eye of Truth, and he saw a soul beast over a thousand years old in the water.
Zhen Len stopped and quickly leapt toward one of the shores.
Moments later, a massive jaw snapped shut right where his body had just been.
It was a giant-jawed crocodile.
Zhen Len landed on a rock, soaked but alert. His fur was dripping, and his eyes burned like embers. Despite the danger, something inside him lit up. Excitement.
Finally, a way out. A way to release his frustration. A fight.
He couldn't stand being in heat any longer, especially when he had no partner to relieve it. His mood had turned irritable, aggressive… and now he had a target to unleash it on.
The crocodile, over ten meters long, had scales black as obsidian and vertical green eyes. A beast of about 2,200 years.
It roared, a deep sound that made the water's surface tremble. Its head emerged while the rest of its body remained hidden, trying to appear smaller and weaker than it was. A trap.
But Zhen Len was no fool. He could clearly see what was happening beneath the water and knew the crocodile was hunting him. He accepted the challenge with an inner smile. It would be good training, even if he was at a disadvantage. Fighting in a river, a terrain that didn't favor his fire element. Besides, even if he was close to death, he could deliver an insta-kill if something unexpected happened.
The crocodile, now close enough, lunged at Zhen Len and tried to bite and tear him apart, but Zhen Len had left behind an afterimage, so the crocodile ended up biting only air. Zhen Len, who had leapt onto the crocodile's back, began sinking his claws, now coated with a milky jade glow, then flame-devouring metal, and finally a layer of blue fire.
The crocodile, panicking, turned as fast as it could. From the pain, it began spinning like a turbine, thrashing its tail like it had gone mad. But Zhen Len had already dismounted.
To the crocodile's surprise, its prey had leapt onto the river's surface, the place where it was supposedly strongest. Ignoring the slight pain from Zhen Len's previous attack, it lunged toward the water. But to its surprise, the terrestrial soul beast, which should struggle in the water, was running on the surface in circles around it at high speed. It seemed to multiply, leaving it confused.
His paws barely touched the surface thanks to his lightness skill, leaving trails of steam in his wake. He moved like a mirage, a burning illusion multiplied by speed and his cloning technique. The crocodile, confused, struck at nothing.
Zhen Len kept his claws in their compact blue fire form, despite the enormous consumption of soul and spirit power. He knew that if he deactivated them, reactivating them would make them longer but less effective against thick hides. Now, every movement was designed for precision, not spectacle.
The crocodile roared in rage from the depths, reappearing in another section of the river. But every time it tried to bite, it only caught bubbles and reflections.
Zhen Len reactivated the Purple Demon Eye and the Eye of Truth. Everything around him slowed down. Every droplet of water, every vibration, every tiny muscular shift of the crocodile was visible to him.
And he saw his opportunity.
Just beneath one of the dorsal plates, a weak spot.
He propelled himself with force, leaving behind a trail of illusory images thanks to his Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track technique. The crocodile bit into one of the shadows, leaving itself completely exposed.
Zhen Len appeared on its back with both claws engulfed in flames. He used Controlling Crane Catching Dragon to anchor himself to the crocodile's body, which began spinning violently to shake him off. But the fox didn't let go. He struck with surgical precision, inserting his claws between the scales, causing excruciating pain without actually killing.
The crocodile's roar shook the river. Columns of water shot up as Zhen Len leapt gracefully to a nearby rock.
His breathing was ragged, his eyes still glowing purple. He stared at the crocodile, but not with hatred… more with a hint of amusement.
That only enraged it further.
Despite that, the soul beast remained still, observing. Despite the painful and precise attack, it still had enough strength to fight. But now it hesitated. Soul beasts at that level weren't intelligent in the human sense, but instinct told it that even though the fox was weaker, it couldn't beat him. He dodged every attack, and now the roles had reversed. The hunter had become the prey.
Zhen Len simply relaxed nearby, waiting for the crocodile to make another move.
He had no intention of killing it. That creature had value. Its strength, ferocity, and endurance made it a perfect punching bag.
Besides, after that exchange of blows, his body finally felt more stable. He still had certain impulses, but the intensity that had left him irritable had finally calmed enough for him to settle down with meditation again.
But what soothed him most was realizing he had found a way to calm himself temporarily. He just needed to beat something up, and repeat it whenever he went into heat again.
The sound of the water behind him indicated that the crocodile was sinking back down, retreating for now due to its injuries. Perhaps to lick its wounds or to stalk him again in the future, that grudge wouldn't be forgotten soon.
Zhen Len watched with a hint of disappointment. If he kept attacking its weak points, he would kill it. And that wasn't what he wanted.
The heat still bubbled in his chest, but now he could endure it.
"This is going to be a problem…" he murmured.
Now he was more determined than ever to increase his spiritual power, understand the heart of the fire element, and see if he could meet a charming fox to comprehend and acquire the charm attribute. Plus, he needed to find a human woman willing to spend some passionate, intense time with him, or continue increasing his spiritual power to gain better control over his own body.