A Lion Finds His Pride

Somewhere In The Great Wilds, 3rd Month of Year 100

Shīzi Dànshēng was doing his usual routine. Stalk. Hunt. Kill. Eat. Sleep. Repeat. This winter he was quite unlucky with his prey, and thus was getting somewhat desperate for food. So he went far outside the bounds of his usual "territory" in search of for food.

Now, he was after a particularly elusive elk. The fluttery creature forced him further and further into the unfamiliar forested expanse as it knew it couldn't afford to confront the lion-man. After a couple hours, the elk thought it was safe and grazed upon the wonderfully pure green grass that this forest had to offer. That was the moment the Lion Born stuck. Due to the egregious difference in strength Shīzi snapped the neck of his meal before it could even think to run away. Now, it was time for the less fun part of hunting.

Before that, Shīzi something was incredibly strange about the elk. It had no mutations whatsoever. Due to the corrupted Qi that proliferated throughout the lands, almost every animal had some mutation or other. Within the 17 years he's traveled the wilds of this world, Shīzi had never encountered an animal without any mutation. Whether it be four horns or five eyes or usually even stranger, every animal had some sort of mutation within the Wilds. That was why Shīzi was not convinced that he had stumbled upon a "normal" elk, so he proceeded to skin the carcass with his claw as he usually did and found.....nothing. No mutations in the innards either. No third lung, second heart, extra-dense muscle and bone. Nothing. He had in his hands on an uncorrupted elk.

Shīzi was indeed startled by this revelation, but knew that he still had to do what he called The Hunter's Respects. First, Shīzi hung and bled the animal. He then meticulously cracked open every bone and spread them along with the bowels across the forest grounds. While it initially may seem wasteful to do so, it was the best way to ensure that the scavengers and fungi would have the easiest time eating and composting the carrion. That left him with the meat and fur coat of the animal, which Shīzi knew he would put to good use. Even if he wasn't exactly the beast at sewing, the coat would serve as a nice attachment for his bindle or maybe a new part of his very makeshift clothing.

Now that his routine was done, Shīzi had some detective work to do. Since he wasn't narrowly focused on the hunt, Shīzi could use his senses to determine that the forest he was currently in was far different than any he had ever encountered. It wasn't just the elk that wasn't mutated, everything was purified within this forest. The trees had green leaves and brown bark instead of red, the birds sang songs and not threats of violence, the grass blew in the wind instead of acting as blades , and everything was just.....natural. Shīzi felt that everything was as it should be and then some, a feeling that there wasn't anything or anyone constantly watching him, just waiting for a lion cub to make one mistake and kill the poor soul. A feeling he had likely not felt since he was with his family. It was a feeling Shīzi didn't know he still had within his soul.

Although it seemed like an impulsive decision, Shīzi immediately decided that he would live within this forest for the foreseeable future. Once he got a taste (literally) of what the natural world should be, where he had once roamed seemed like a hellscape that no sane lion-man would ever set foot upon again. And so he did, exploring the forest with wonder and amazement of the sheer beauty an uncorrupted world was capable of.

Somewhere in the Great Wilds, 5th Month of the Year 100

It was a couple months since Shīzi wandered into the mystical forest, and he spent his time thoroughly exploring everything he could find. The only large downside to this place was that all of the prey within provided no challenge, and thus Shīzi grew quite worried that he was stifling his potential and disappointing his ancestor with his complacency. Though he still did wish to live in the forest. So Shīzi began ardently searching for a challenge instead of prey.

Shīzi eventually found himself in front of by far the tallest stone wall he had ever seen, which made the paltry fences of his village he once desperately climbed to escape death seem like anthills compared to a mountain. Though the distinct sounds he heard past the wall intrigued him infinitely more than the wall itself.

The clashing of metal. Weapons. A Fight! REAL COMBAT!

All of Shīzi's hairs stood on end in pure excitement and jubilation, and his instincts told him to get over or through that wall and join the battle at any cost. Luckily, Shīzi had honed the patient mind of a hunter long enough to restrain himself in order to gather as much information as he could using all of his senses. Then join the fight of course.

Shīzi's Hearing found: The fighters were two young adults, one man and one girl about his age on their breathing. By their breathing he could also tell neither of them were exhausted, even after the numerous clashes. They were also clashing at far greater speeds than what was seemingly possible based on the rate of the weapons hitting each other.

Shīzi's Smell and Taste found: Even with all of the clashes, the scent of metal was restrained only to the weapons. No blood was spilt, the opponents were relatively evenly matched. The scent of sweat also was there but not in great quantity, meaning that the fighters were in pitched combat yet weren't exhausted.

Shizi's Touch Found: While it wasn't entirely confirmed based on the speed of the clashes, the vibrations and air waves felt through his fur most certainly confirmed that the combatants were operating a superhuman level.

He was ready for the fight. Just as he was about to tense his leg muscles to try to leap and then climb over the wall---

"Whoo-whoo might you be?"

Now, Shīzi is an honorable and honest lion-man, so please believe his account. Regardless of what any student or master says.

Shīzi was not spooked whatsoever when Elder Yèwǎn first landed upon his shoulders. Shīzi definitely did not try to kill and eat his future master Elder Yèwǎn when he discovered this fact and wasn't stopped from doing so via a feather between his jaws. He also was not picked up in his talons by the scruff like he was a cub and dumped like a sack of potatoes in front of Tian and Yue who had stopped their duel. He also didn't chase after Elder Yèwǎn in an impotent rage and continued trying to kill and eat him. He also didn't leap after the two Disciples when they started laughing at him. He was not stopped from the attempted murder of Tian and Yue via Elder Yèwǎn shoving his head into the ground and proceeding to make a miniature nest out of his glorious mane.

What did happen that day however, was that Elder Yèwǎn gracefully welcomed Shīzi into the Open Sect.