The burned forest lay ahead, its blackened trees standing like silent sentinels under the pale sky. Lee's friends gathered at the edge — a small group bound by curiosity and trust, unaware of the true storm that simmered beneath their leader's calm gaze.
Lee's breath was steady, his mind sharp. He could feel the thick pulse of lingering spirits — restless, angry, twisted by fire and death. This was Hei Bai's domain, the bear spirit he sought to understand and one day absorb.
As they stepped deeper into the forest, the air grew heavy, charged with tension. A low growl echoed, and shadows flickered among the charred trunks. Lee's heart beat not with fear but with calculated anticipation.
He focused, drawing on the fear aura that the bear spirit wielded — a primal force that unsettled the living. He exhaled slowly, projecting that invisible pressure outward. The underbrush trembled. A fox darted away, yelping in panic.
His friends blinked, startled. "How did you do that?" one whispered.
Lee only smiled faintly. "It's about presence. Energy. The world listens when you speak its language."
They pressed forward to the nearby village, scarred but alive. Here, Lee began the true lessons — studying the ways of spirits and chi, mastering the rituals that bound them, learning from old scrolls salvaged from ruined homes, and from the elders who whispered of spirits past.
Every day, he practiced drawing energy — his own, the ambient life around him, the faint essence left by wandering spirits. He learned how to create small seals, simple binding rituals. He experimented with obsidian shards, testing their power to attract or trap spirits.
But most of all, he learned patience.
"Absorbing Hei Bai's power," he thought, "is only the beginning. I will need to grow, to take smaller spirits first, build strength, learn their weaknesses. This fear aura will be my key."
At night, under the ghostly light of the moon, Lee meditated. His mind wandered to distant places — the Spirit World, the face-stealing spirit, the twin dragons, the moon spirit. Each represented power, knowledge, potential.
The Avatar's presence loomed in the back of his mind. The world's balance rested on that fragile boy in the iceberg. Lee knew their paths would cross. But not yet.
For now, he was forging his own destiny — piece by piece, spirit by spirit, until he could stand as something beyond legend.
And with every step, Ashen Hellflame grew stronger.