Dark Horse! Dark Horse!

[Wilderness story + all kinds of animals + totems + wild horses + wolf packs + dhole packs + the black stallion Liehuo]

On a night of the full moon, wolves howl from every direction, and a pack pours out of Windhowl Gorge like a surging tide. A towering black shadow stands proudly at the mouth of the gorge, motionless as an ice sculpture. Just as the wolves crowd out of the valley, the shadow suddenly springs into action, swift as lightning. Its long mane streams through the air like the fading afterglow of a bolt. Its four hooves beat the ground in a rapid clatter, thundering through the night. Snow sprays up in its wake and envelops it, while a long trail of white rises behind. Like a divine warrior descending from the heavens, the shadow charges straight at the wolves, sending them stumbling back in alarm...

On the Xige Wu Grassland, ferocious wild bears prowl the flower-covered slopes. Lynxes and leopards lie in wait, while dholes and wolves fight fiercely. There are enormous herds of wild horses, wild bachelor stallions, and beautiful fire phoenixes...

On the Dongge Wu Grassland, flocks of sheepdogs and herds of domestic horses also battle the wolves...

In the farming region of Gewu Mountain, Tibetan mastiffs guarding the land fight the wolves, snow leopards appear and disappear like ghosts, and contests between wolf packs play out...

And the protagonist, the black stallion Liehuo, roams freely through it all, writing a legend of kingship. He tells himself that wandering alone is his destiny, and loneliness is what he loves...

But when the fire phoenix appears once more, everything changes...