Wang Hao Yu was the youngest son of a rich family known for their cultivation skills. As the youngest, no one really had high expectations for him and his skills, but everyone treasured him. Upon seeing that he wasn’t as innately talented as his older brother, his parents were hesitant to even let him pursue cultivation. They would rather he stay inside and study literature but as much as Wang Hao Yu enjoyed literature, he enjoyed cultivation and the curiosities of it much more.

He convinced his parents in the end but they were still extra hesitant to send him out on a night hunt. Their worries ended up being warranted though, Wang Hao Yu disappeared on his very first night hunt.

The search party for him was immediately dispatched when the other cultivators lost sight of him but even as the sun rose they couldn’t find him at all. It would take a whole week until they found him and his mother and siblings were in shambles, already grieving him.

——

Wang Hao Yu wasn’t sure what the ‘creature’ that had saved him was. The only thing he could tell was that he should be afraid. The monster that it had just thrown across the forest was known for being ferocious, and while Wang Hao Yu wasn’t the strongest cultivator around, he was still very capable. It would take him quite a couple of blows to do any real damage on a monster like that though. 

That was enough reason to fear the creature that saved him. Anything that could send a monster like that one to its death with such ease should be feared. Despite that, a lot of what Wang Hao Yu felt was not fear, a lot of it was something different… Admiration? Was that the word he was looking for?

The creature stared at him for a few moments, looking down at him with no expression. Wang Hao Yu stared back, the more he looked at him the more confused he became. The creature killed the monster without a second thought but now it was just staring at him…

Wang Hao Yu didn’t want to move, but his instincts did it for him. He moved to stand, trying to gain some distance as the creature inched closer. Pain shot through his body as he attempted to move. 

He had been too full of adrenaline to realize it until then but his arms and legs were a bloody mess. When the monster had attacked him, it had dug its claws and fangs into him. His left leg was the first place it had chosen to bite, it had snuck up from behind and sunk its teeth into him. It had only spent a few seconds there, it had strategically destabilized Wang Hao Yu so that he would fall and it could bite up the rest of him. 

His right leg didn’t suffer much, it got some scratches from being the claws of the monster as it climbed on top of him but it was nothing compared to his left. His arms were where he was most injured though.

While Wang Hao Yu’s cultivation skills were lacking, that was really just in comparison to the people of his sect, mainly his brother. He was stronger than many other cultivators his age, he was just overshadowed. 

One thing about him was remarkable though. His physical abilities. He was quite strong, though he definitely didn’t look it. He and the creature had the same general body shape but while the creature’s abdomen was visibly flat and smooth like it had no real muscle, Wang Hao Yu was hiding a toned physique under his now bloodied clothes.

He was also quite durable, the monster that had attacked was probably the first to make him bleed so easily. The monsters he had fought during the normal hunts and missions he’d been on hadn’t even managed to leave a scratch on him. But Because of this, Wang Hao Yu was remarkably unprepared for injuries like these.

He had thoughtlessly used his left arm to block his face from the monster, allowing the monster to clamp its massive teeth down on his wrist. He tried to shake it off and push it off at the same time with his right hand. He didn’t succeed at all until he had gotten over the shock of the surprise attack. He managed to free his left arm but the monster grabbed his right in retaliation. But Wang Hao Yu was left-handed so he was going to just draw his sword and start his comeback. Then the creature had shown up…

And while Wang Hao Yu and the monster attacking him were both frozen in fear…the monster’s teeth did not detach from his arm for a second…In fact…Its teeth remained in Wang Hao Yu’s arm even after the monster was launched across the forest.

The pain started to catch up with Wang Hao Yu as he looked down at his legs and arms, they were a gruesome sight and the pain that came was unlike any he had ever experienced before. Wang Hao Yu barely remembered that he was supposed to be afraid of the creature in front of him. All he could feel was pain.

His blood started to gush out more rapidly as some of the teeth fell from inside his arm, he couldn’t see clearly anymore. The last thing he saw as his blurry vision faded out was the creature’s bright eyes right in front of him.

—

When Wang Hao Yu woke up again he was laying on his back, looking up at the massive moon above him. He didn’t feel as much pain as before but his body was still feeling very weak. He could just barely lift his head so he turned to look at his surroundings. He was confused by the new location.

He was lying on a giant lotus leaf. The leaf had water in it, it covered him, but not enough to make him risk drowning or anything. He raised his head slightly more and noticed that he was in the middle of a lake too.

Moving more than he had became painful and so he went back to laying down completely, closing his eyes for a few seconds as he let out a pained breath. When he opened them again he was startled by blue-green eyes looking down at him. He almost jumped but his body went completely limp, he was awake but he couldn’t feel anything at all.

The creature climbed in the lotus leaf and watched him. Wang Hao Yu followed the creature with his eyes, it had no expression as it watched him until it paused and touched his injured leg. Wang Hao Yu felt no pain but the sound he heard definitely indicated that whatever was going on with his leg was not a pretty sight. He couldn’t raise his head again to get a look at the state of his body but he could just barely see the creature touching him and some light shining near where they touched him. The creature also touched his arms but Wang Hao Yu couldn’t get a good look at that either.

He was able to see how the creature, after touching him for a few minutes, picked a lotus root from the lake and started removing the seeds. He was a little confused but the creature got all the seeds out quickly and started feeding them to him. It seemed to think that Wang Hao Yu couldn’t do anything because it also helped him move his jaw to chew.

Wang Hao Yu wasn’t sure why this creature was helping him but he didn’t have the energy to fight it so he simply let it do as it wished. 

The creature honestly started overfeeding him lotus seeds at some point but Wang Hao Yu couldn’t refuse him, luckily it eventually got the hint. It must’ve noticed that Wang Hao Yu’s consciousness was fading again. It stared for a bit but after Wang Hao Yu fell asleep, it went down into the lake and didn't return till sunrise.