"Dad...," Ginn replied, "you know how he has been over the years. He always goes away for his training, and comes back after some few months."
As a martial artist at the golden soul level, Minteh always went into seclusion for some months to do meditation, and also cultivate his powers. Martial artist have a tendency of desiring more power and they achieve that through cultivation. When a martial artist trains hard with the physical body, they reach a time where they now train using their mind and the inner person to build inner strength.
When they achieve this, they can be able to resist attacks that can hurt them more. They more they cultivate their power, they more they become lethal in their attacks.
In cultivation, warriors graduate from one level of mastery to another. And it was through this process that Minteh attained the golden soul level.
"I know, but my heart can't rest, I don't know why. I need to make sure he is well. He might as well have been hurt," Lamech replied worriedly.
"Dad...," Ginn tried to reason with Lamech but was cut short by a hand that beaconed to her.
"Ginn, the last time we were together, he went with a zeal to avenge his niece; what if he was overpowered? He is strong but not the strongest," Lamech said solemnly.
The two sat in an emotional silence. Remembering her daughter, Ginn grieved and mourned again. "My Sonia...," she said, sniffing.
"I am sorry my daughter! I didn't mean to reawaken your pain," Lamech said, sorrowfully.
In the jungle where the fight was, Minteh regained his normal form, and set up a defense talisman of many layers, and sat down to recuperate from his injury, and also replenish his energy.
He concentrated and counted his breaths to go into a meditative state. He counted to fifty but he failed to enter into deep meditation.
He tried again but to avail. Over and over but he failed still
"How is this possible?! At this point, I would already be in the meditative state. Why am I not concentrating?," he thought aloud, puzzled. At this point, his mind was already filled with a lot of thoughts and visions about the man he had killed earlier, Chiko. The way Chiko has transformed and the figure into which he transformed gave him headache.
The very first people to inhabit Mitete were always protected by a certain creature but they didn't know that creatures like the werewolf Minteh had killed were the beings from what it protected them from. They were strong beings with a very strong and hard body, hard as a steel plate, and they fed on the spiritual energy in Mitete but consuming a martial artist that had cultivated power to some level was like hitting a jackpot to them.
The story of their existence wasn't accurately known since they used to attack sneakily and many of them that encountered them died at their claws and were consumed instantly. Now Minteh had killed one of them.
Like the creature whose spirit and power were alive in Minteh, these werewolves also lived in the bodies of men.
He chanted and chanted yet nothing happened. After a long while with trials and failures, he started getting glimpses of visions. The visions were not clear, so he had to concentrate more.
With time he one clear vision. It was about the existence of the werewolves. He saw a great hall with an auditorium, massive to accommodate thousands of people. In it was a platform and on it stood tall a werewolf who seemed pure in blood and by the look of the features on him. He was addressing men.
"My sons, the time has come," the master werewolf started talking, "for us to take what is ours and also live safely and free from the threats of our doom. For those who don't know, it is not a mythical legend; it's a truth, that once lived a being that lived in this land that pretended to protect them from us. But as it was dying, it left its spirit in the body of a martial artist who also died and the spirit has been passed on for generations. But for long, the spirit was dormant since there were no serious martial artist."
"How does that concern us?," some man interrupted.
"My son be patient and listen;" the master werewolf replied calmly, "the existence of our clan solely depends on the spiritual energy in this land. There's a power in these people and underneath this village but we can't do anything when our arch-nemesis is not dead. We can't rule over these people with our enemy alive. This first of his kind hunted us down and killed many of our own; for they took strong, forcing us into hiding. But we're many now and we can get rid of him. I know many of you martial artists following us but the spirit in you is from our clan and that makes you a target."
Some of them trembled but others picked interest in the story. "He looks like he will be a worthy challenger!," one man commented.
"Whoever kills him will be allowed to drink first from the fountain of power and also be the rightful owner of the life trifoliate," the master werewolf declared and posed, letting the words sink in.
"Aren't those mythical things?! Do they real exist?!," another man asked, curious to know and also intrigued by the mention of them.
"My son, there are many secrets that men call myths but in actual sense, they are truths!," the master werewolf replied.
"The fountain of power, will increase your internal energy and your won't need to cultivate for years to break to new levels, and the life trifoliate grants you eternity!," the master werewolf explained.
The hall erupted with excitement and the master werewolf grinned with anticipation. "But where can we find this enemy?," one man suddenly asked, cutting short the excitement. "It's simple," the master werewolf replied, "the people of that spirit call themselves the protectors of the land; so if you torment a few men in the land, he will show up as the savior and boom!!, he will be allowed yours."
Minteh saw all that and to him, they were secrets revealed, yet to them, it was a bounty with great gains with it.
"So, the life trifoliate is true and the fountain of power is not a myth also?!," Minteh muttered, questioningly, "but why haven't they touched it? Don't they know where it is found?"
"But I need to heal first and also replenish my inner strength before I look for those answers.
His pain as he tried to meditate, the pain on his thigh was too much and he couldn't concentrate well. "Let me first heal before I cultivate," he thought.
He then concentrated all his inner strength at his deep wound left behind by the claw of wolf-man he had fought. He groaned in pain by he needed that healing so much.
After a day and a half, the wound was completely healed, leaving no trace, not even a scar on him.
"It was brutally painful and deep," he said, "what's their weak spot? Because if they two of them, or even more, I would have suffered a great deal of an injury, or even something worse than just injuries." He grimaced at the thought of that.
He then stood up, and went to the nearby fruit trees and picked some to fill his hunger. He then found another spot, somewhat rocky, and set up a defense talisman. He sat cross-legged in the middle of the huge golden ball and closed his eyes.
"Even if it takes months," he muttered under his breath, before counting his breaths. He entered into a meditative state and stated cultivating his power.
Will Minteh manage to fight the whole pack? Is he strong enough? Where is the fountain of power and the life trifoliate located?