After fleeing Star Valley, Tu Hu led the small group of only a few dozen remaining members onto a long road of migration.
They searched for a place where the fire of civilization could be rekindled.
The smoke from their homeland turned into ash and snow settling on their shoulders, while the familiar fertile fields were replaced by boundless desolation.
During that long journey, they crossed the Linfeng Mountains and endured icy currents that slashed across their bodies like blades.
On the steep ice cliffs, Tu Hu had punched a path through the rock, allowing the clan to continue forward.
They crossed the Golden Prairie. Beneath the seemingly peaceful sea of grass lurked deadly quicksand and packs of predators, yet it was Tu Hu who fought desperately to save them, allowing the clan to survive several brushes with death.
Along the way, they trudged through the Weeping Desert, where the temperature difference between day and night was immense and there was no water anywhere nearby.
Tu Hu taught them to squeeze the water of life from drought-resistant plants.
That brutal journey was also a furnace.
The youths who had once hidden beneath their parents' wings now had to grip their weapons and face the glowing eyes in the darkness during their night watches.
Death and growth silently alternated within that tiny group.
It was also the first time they had truly understood the vastness and danger of the world.
At the edge of the Golden Prairie, they witnessed the Winged Beast Clan's aerial city-state. Those intelligent beings with wings growing from their backs rode the air currents and cast intimidating gazes upon the travelers below.
While crossing a deep canyon, they encountered the Crystal Eye Clan, which lived underground. Those creatures could shake the mountain walls with their bodies alone,