When did that happen?
Pang Mountain was the node of the largest Leyline in the lower reaches of the Huai River. The spirits and strange creatures born there were naturally endowed with spirituality.
When was I born?
I could no longer remember. I only remembered that it had been a long, long time ago.
As a tiger cub, I had not been born powerful. I needed a long time to grow into a fearsome tiger that could dominate a region. Until then, I had needed my mother's protection to survive.
That was the law of survival, a law established ever since a species came into being. The price of future strength was that young tigers were exceedingly frail. Heaven had always been fair. Though it might be biased when it came to individuals, it was fair to the whole.
But Mother died. I did not know how she had died. I only knew that she had died, leaving behind me, only a few months old.
I only remembered that it had not rained that day. It was merely overcast, with no sunlight in sight. I tried to curl up in Mother's embrace and wake her, but I failed. I fell asleep, and other strange creatures gathered around Mother's corpse and me.
But I did not die. Just as I was about to be eaten by something else, someone saved me.
That person... I could no longer remember his appearance clearly, but I still remembered his name. It was Zi Ye.
He did not mind that I was an inhuman tiger. He kept me by his side and raised me.
I could not say what role he had played in my life. Perhaps a friend? Perhaps something like a father?
In truth, a name I used later could encompass it all.