- 5 hours ago
Reborn：Bound to the Peerless White Fox
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Short filmTranscript
00:00I took my sister's white fox during the bonding rite.
00:03Your power is exceptional.
00:05This fox barely registers on the scale.
00:08Give it to your sister.
00:10In my past life, I chose the powerful white tiger.
00:14When the demon horde came, he left me to die.
00:17I was badly wounded.
00:19I begged him for the last healing elixir.
00:22He gave it to my sister instead.
00:24So this time around, I choose to let them be together.
00:27I was reborn right before the bonding ceremony.
00:31I am the most powerful one in our clan and have the right to choose first.
00:35The creatures gathered from across the land were all exceptional.
00:39But the white tiger stood above the rest.
00:42He wore a collar, never bowing to me, even in chains.
00:47Then my sister Luna came bouncing in, cradling a limp white fox.
00:52Luna had barely started her training.
00:54She could have skipped this ceremony entirely.
00:56Luna hugged the white fox and cried.
01:00Because he was dissatisfied with the fox he'd been assigned.
01:04The white tiger's heart ached for her deeply.
01:06Saying he only wanted to form a pact with Luna, the elder cleared his throat.
01:11Luna, you've barely trained.
01:14Even if the tiger chose you, you wouldn't be able to handle him.
01:18That was when I stood up and said,
01:20Elder, I appreciate your consideration.
01:24I find I'm fonder of this white fox.
01:26The white tiger clearly favors Luna, too.
01:30How about we swap instead?
01:31They pulled me aside.
01:33Clara, this tiger is far more powerful than the fox.
01:37My name is Clara Ashvale, one of the four great families of the eastern reaches.
01:42I was ten years old when the demon horde first came.
01:45My parents died holding the line.
01:48I watched it happen.
01:49If the clan elders hadn't arrived when they did,
01:52Luna and I would have died with them.
01:54After that, the elders raised us, taught us cultivation.
01:57For I possess stronger spiritual power,
02:00and them more beloved within the clan.
02:02But the tiger ignored me.
02:04I'd never been rejected before.
02:06Not once in my life.
02:08I threw everything I had at him.
02:10So I took mission.
02:11Hunted rogue demons.
02:13Came back injured almost every time.
02:16The tiger noticed nothing.
02:18He only appeared when I brought out elixirs.
02:20Took what he wanted, and walked away.
02:23I spent 20 years on him.
02:25And eventually, he took human form.
02:28Tall and striking.
02:29Yet he still refuses to speak much to me.
02:32Only coming when he needs something.
02:34I told myself it was normal.
02:36Strong creatures had pride.
02:37He'd come around eventually.
02:39Then one evening, I came home exhausted.
02:42And saw him watching my sister's profile with something like reverence.
02:46I was still reeling when an elder walked past and caught sight of them in the distance.
02:51Clara, when you go out on contracts, stop sending your sister to look after the tiger.
02:56He's clearly more attached to her now.
02:59You need to be careful.
03:02I never ask Luna to look after the tiger.
03:05She comes every time you leave.
03:07Says you asked her to.
03:08Doesn't she have her own bonded creature?
03:10That fox?
03:11It passed away in its second year.
03:13You didn't know?
03:14I hadn't known.
03:15I'd spent 20 years building someone else's happiness.
03:18I began targeting Luna.
03:20I hated her.
03:21That enraged the white tiger.
03:23He colluded with the demon.
03:25Opened our clan's protective wards from the inside.
03:28Left me to face the invasion alone.
03:31When I was badly wounded and begged him for the only healing elixir we had left, he gave
03:36it to Luna, who had a scratch.
03:39This time, I want to see how long it will take him to take human form without me.
03:44The elder was unwilling to grant the mighty white tiger to an inexperienced young woman.
03:49Yet the tiger would only bow before Luna.
03:52He sighed and ordered the ceremony begin.
03:56The ceremony startled the white fox.
03:58The white fox in my arms fainted the moment the ceremony ended.
04:02Luna completed her bond with the tiger.
04:04You and that little fox really do suit each other, Clara.
04:08Luna, if your sister hadn't yielded to you, how could you have gotten this white tiger?
04:13You should be on your knees thanking her.
04:15Oh, she's crying again.
04:17Always with the tears, like she's the one who suffered.
04:20The white tiger wanted to stand up for Luna, yet he possessed no power right after bonding
04:25with her.
04:25The elders had built my residence himself, ringed with good cultivation energy.
04:31Luna had once tried to move in.
04:33He'd turned her away, citing my training as the reason.
04:36As soon as we entered the room, I began to observe the white fox.
04:40He looked different from any I had seen before, with a wisp of red fur on his head and an
04:46unusually
04:47large tail.
04:48My courtyard had a natural spring, warm with cultivation energy.
04:53I set him in it and watched him wake up instantly, floating on his back, drinking in the warmth.
04:59I laughed.
05:01Aren't you afraid I'll hurt you?
05:02The fox stared at me, then gave his small head a solemn shake.
05:07Alright, rest here and recover.
05:11You're not going anywhere.
05:13I can handle you.
05:14The next morning, something woke me wrong.
05:17I opened my eyes and saw a handsome face.
05:21Pale skin, dark lashes.
05:23He was also asleep, arms around me.
05:26He had gotten in without waking me, which meant his power was well above mine.
05:31Who are you?
05:32How did you get in here?
05:33I scrambled to the edge of the bed.
05:35He sat up slowly, noticed the clothes he was wearing, and looked faintly amused.
05:41Before I could react, he pulled me into his arms.
05:44He said,
05:45I have a name.
05:46His eyes drifting down to meet mine.
05:49It's Ash.
05:50Like he was about to kiss me any second.
05:53It turned out Ash met the elder when he was severely injured and was taken back by him.
05:58I stared at him.
05:59Please tell me whoever hurt you isn't coming here looking for revenge.
06:03We're bonded now, Master.
06:05I suggest you train hard and do your best to keep up.
06:08Ash laughed.
06:09He was genuinely useful, as it turned out.
06:13I had a fire affinity.
06:14He complemented it perfectly.
06:17He produced a cultivation manual from somewhere.
06:20Fire techniques.
06:21And good ones.
06:22Two days of work and I could already feel the difference.
06:25Every time Ash practiced cultivation with me, he took off his top.
06:30His fair skin always made me lose focus.
06:34One afternoon, Luna called my name from outside the gate.
06:37I dragged my attention away from Ash and went out.
06:41Luna stepped into the courtyard without waiting and stopped dead when she saw him.
06:46She stared him.
06:47Ash stood, dressed properly in seconds, and settled a robe around my shoulders without being asked.
06:54Who is this?
06:55Luna's gaze didn't move.
06:56You don't recognize him?
06:57The fox.
06:59From the bonding ceremony.
07:00You said yourself we were suited for each other.
07:03I think you were right.
07:04I smiled pleasantly.
07:06What do you want?
07:07We're in the middle of training.
07:11I was hoping we could raise the tiger together.
07:14I can't afford to keep up with his needs on my own.
07:16If we shared the work, what exactly makes this my problem?
07:20You're the one who gave him to me.
07:21You could have kept him.
07:22You chose not to.
07:23That means you owe me.
07:25I owe you nothing.
07:27Yeah.
07:27Half a year and every Elk Samar I had is gone.
07:30There's nothing left for my own training.
07:32I'm at the bottom ranks.
07:40Little sister, don't mistake me for a fool.
07:43I'm not funding your creature for you.
07:45If you can't afford him, bring it to the elder.
07:48Let someone else take the tiger.
07:50I'm sure he'd prefer a partner who could actually keep pace.
07:53She'd never do that.
07:54Where were we?
07:56Weeks passed.
07:57I broke through to a new cultivation stage.
08:00The Great Elder dispatched me on an assignment alongside Elder Margaret to handle a demon
08:06outbreak in the Lowlands.
08:08I handled them all before Margaret to intervene.
08:11On the way back, she suddenly laughed.
08:14Clara, you should hurry home.
08:16Your little fox is waiting for you.
08:19She vanished.
08:21I hadn't finished processing what she'd said before Ash appeared in front of me.
08:26I reached out and touched his cheek.
08:28What's wrong?
08:31Clara Ashvale, why are you trying to get rid of me?
08:36Is it something I did?
08:37Or have you found someone new?
08:40What are you talking about?
08:42Your sister came by yesterday.
08:44Said you sent her to look after me.
08:46He started to show teeth.
08:48I flicked his forehead.
08:50He recoiled, then immediately looked betrayed.
08:54You betray me first and then hit me?
08:56I'm going to say this once.
08:58I am not reconsidering anything.
09:01And I have no idea why Luna told you that.
09:03What I do know is that I never asked her to come near you.
09:08Understood?
09:13We ran into a group of younger clan members on the way.
09:16I asked why they'd turn back.
09:18Luna cleared everyone out.
09:22Let's go.
09:25You're going to lecture me about picking fights and then drag me directly into one?
09:29We found them mid-argument.
09:31Or rather, Luna was arguing.
09:33The tiger couldn't speak.
09:35He'd never broken through to human form.
09:37So he was expressing himself through sheer body language.
09:41And none of it was agreeable.
09:43What is wrong with you?
09:45I didn't force you to come here.
09:47You said this place would help you advance.
09:49I've given you every elixir I have and you still can't even talk to me.
09:54You want me to go hunting rogue demons?
09:56I just started training.
09:58You'd be sending me to die.
09:59Clara's fox has been in human form for months and you can't even answer a question.
10:04What exactly are you doing with yourself?
10:07I heard the tiger's version of a response.
10:10A low rumble.
10:12In my past life, he'd never once spoken to me with anything resembling patience.
10:18Watching him endure Luna's outburst without walking away was a strange thing.
10:25Luna, there you are.
10:28Lyra, what brings you out here?
10:30I patted Ash's arm.
10:32He gave a small, resigned sigh and crouched.
10:34He held me in his arms.
10:36Luna's gaze locked onto him and didn't move.
10:39Nothing specific.
10:41I just wanted to know why you visited my companion without my permission.
10:45Luna hadn't expected me to know so quickly.
10:47She started backpedaling.
10:49No, you misunderstood.
10:49I was looking for you.
10:53She told me I was supposed to be hers.
10:56That you'd stolen me away.
10:58She was very convincing.
11:00And what did you do?
11:01I removed her from the property.
11:04She's not strong enough to argue back, so she left fairly quickly.
11:07I stood and faced Luna directly.
11:09If I remember correctly, you didn't want the fox.
11:11He was badly hurt.
11:13If you'd taken him, he wouldn't have survived.
11:15That's not true.
11:16I would have cared for him.
11:17The tiger's crest stood fully upright.
11:20You're doing this deliberately.
11:22You're trying to cause trouble between me and the tiger.
11:26If you try this again, there will be consequences.
11:30On the way back, my mood was good.
11:33Ash was quiet, though.
11:34He wouldn't shift and carry me, even when I asked.
11:37When we reached home, he caught my arm.
11:39You and the tiger.
11:41There's something there.
11:42I didn't hide it.
11:44We have a history.
11:45It ended badly.
11:48Do you want to know?
11:50He turned, shifted into fox form, and wrapped his enormous tail around me.
11:55No!
11:56I'm better than that by every measure.
11:58And you promised me you wouldn't seek out another bonded creature.
12:02I ran my fingers through the fur at the back of his ears.
12:05I won't.
12:07I promise.
12:08Some time later, Ash decided I wasn't advancing fast enough.
12:13Get up.
12:14I refuse to share energy with someone who progresses this slowly.
12:18The Great Elder said I'm the most talented concultator of my generation.
12:22Unlike my past life, all the elixirs I earned this time went into me.
12:27Five years.
12:28I moved from the early stages into the middle tier of my cultivation rank.
12:32When I returned to the clan, the Great Elder was close to a breakthrough of his own.
12:37The younger members had grown considerably.
12:40Only one thing hadn't changed.
12:42The tiger still hadn't taken human form.
12:46We expected the tiger to elevate the entire clan.
12:49Ten years in, and he's no closer to breaking through.
12:52We sent an elder to assess him quietly.
13:00Luna had barely enough power to sustain herself, let alone a creature of the tiger's requirements.
13:06But honestly, his not breaking through was the best outcome.
13:10I wasn't strong enough to kill him, so control was the only option.
13:16I threw myself into building up the clan.
13:18I trained with the younger members daily.
13:21If something went wrong, I wanted them to be able to protect themselves.
13:25Ash gave me space for it.
13:27He knew what I was doing.
13:28One evening, I came home exhausted, and he was waiting for me.
13:33He picked me up, threw me over his shoulder, and started walking.
13:38You look terrible.
13:39I'm taking you to see something entertaining.
13:42His idea of entertainment was crouching at the edge of the back valley and listening to
13:47Luna and the tiger fight.
13:49The tiger couldn't speak, so the entire argument was one-sided.
13:53Don't look at me like that.
13:55I didn't force you to bond with me.
13:57You came to me.
13:58You told me to wait.
14:00You told me once you took human form, we'd leave together.
14:04You're the one who picked the fight with Clara at the ceremony.
14:11And now what?
14:12You're stuck, I'm stuck.
14:14And it's all your fault, you useless.
14:17So they'd known each other before.
14:18The tiger had come to Luna deliberately.
14:21He'd made her promises.
14:23But that still didn't explain why they'd opened the wards.
14:26Why involved the demon horde at all?
14:29Unless they'd already been working with the demons.
14:32The one that killed my parents.
14:34My parents, who were also Luna's parents.
14:38How could she?
14:39I needed to find out.
14:41And when I did, there would be a reckoning.
14:44Back at the residence, I was working through what I needed to investigate
14:48when a visitor appeared at the gate.
14:50The tiger.
14:51He was staring at Ash, who was soaking in the spring and determinedly ignoring him.
14:57What do you want?
14:58Shouldn't you be with Luna?
14:59Ash emerged from the water and immediately positioned himself between us.
15:04Master, you promised.
15:07No, no other bonded creatures.
15:09Don't even talk to him.
15:10I just want to know why he's here.
15:12That's all.
15:13He's regretting his choices, obviously.
15:16He chose a dead end, and he knows it.
15:19I started to look at the tiger.
15:22The gate was empty.
15:23This life, I'd kept my distance.
15:26I hadn't interfered with him.
15:28If the tiger genuinely wanted a different bond,
15:31the elders would have been glad to help.
15:33There was no reason to come to me specifically.
15:36Unless the tiger had also been reborn.
15:39I didn't say anything to Ash.
15:41I went straight to the clan's protective wards.
15:45Intact.
15:45I breathed.
15:47Then I looked at the ground near the barrier edge.
15:50White tiger fur.
15:51A handful of strands.
15:53He'd been here.
15:55He hadn't broken through.
15:56His power wasn't there yet.
15:58But he knew what was sealed here.
16:01He knew my parents had died here.
16:03I'd told him that myself, in my last life.
16:06I had to watch him.
16:08Carefully.
16:09All the time.
16:10The gossip started circulating through the clan not long after.
16:14Luna and the tiger were fighting constantly.
16:17He refused her commands.
16:19Ignored her in training sessions.
16:23Made her look incompetent in front of the whole yard.
16:27And every time I appeared, he drifted toward me.
16:31Elder Margaret found the entire situation delightful.
16:34Her owl sat on her shoulder.
16:36You know what this reminds me of?
16:37Every story where someone realizes too late what they had.
16:41Freezes the other person out.
16:42Spends the rest of it chasing after her.
16:44She said it directly in front of Ash.
16:46He moved.
16:47I caught him before he could do anything irreversible.
16:49Margaret clutched her owl and said.
16:51Oh my.
16:51I could have a conversation with Luna.
16:53Offer her a different creature.
16:54Something she can actually sustain.
16:55Transfer the tiger formally.
16:57Quietly.
16:57Please.
16:58No more.
16:59No.
16:59I'm not touching the clan council over this.
17:01Besides, I have Ash.
17:02That's enough.
17:03Margaret looked genuinely mournful.
17:05A bonded creature in open conflict with its partner is a problem for all of us.
17:08And Luna hasn't advanced in ten years.
17:10The elders have been discussing a field assignment.
17:13Practical training away from the clan for a year or two.
17:15I understood what she wasn't saying.
17:17They'd given up on the tiger as a resource.
17:20Ash's presence had changed the calculations.
17:22What we accomplished together had raised the bar considerably.
17:26If Luna left with the tiger, I had time.
17:29Time to reinforce the wars.
17:35In the clan hall, Luna cried.
17:38She accused me.
17:39You killed him.
17:39Then, in front of every elder, she made her counter offer.
17:42Clara wants the tiger so badly she can have him.
17:44I won't fight her.
17:46But if she takes him, she gives me Ash.
17:48A mixed Lindage fox for a pureblood tiger.
17:51Honestly, Clara comes out ahead.
17:52The great elder shut it down before anyone else could speak.
17:56Who?
17:56Luna.
17:57Focus on your own creature.
17:59Stop coming up with ideas like that.
18:00I heard this from Ash, who had apparently been listening from outside the hall.
18:04While the elders dealt with Luna, I was in the creature registry with the keeper, looking into a disappearance.
18:09Three creatures had vanished overnight.
18:12Two small rabbits, a young deer.
18:14The keeper was beside himself.
18:15I checked the seals myself before I left.
18:18Any disturbance at all, and I'd have felt it.
18:21There was nothing.
18:21Not a demon.
18:22No trace of that kind of energy.
18:24I looked around.
18:25The registry was carved into the cliffside, warded stone on all sides.
18:29The only way in or out used the clan seal.
18:32To remove three creatures cleanly, whoever did it knew this place intimately, or had always been inside.
18:38Don't go to the big fox.
18:40You don't eat moving.
18:40Big brother fox is perfectly safe.
18:42Can creatures turn on each other?
18:43They have consciousness.
18:44They would never do something so barbaric.
18:45Don't listen to her.
18:46She was just being strange.
18:47People do terrible things when they want to advance.
18:51Creatures aren't different.
18:53There's a method.
18:54Old and dark.
18:56Not talked about.
18:57Where one creature absorbs the power of another.
19:00Want to know how it works?
19:02The fastest shortcut was this.
19:04Take the core of another creature.
19:06Consume it.
19:06The higher the cultivation of the creature you took from, the greater the gain.
19:10Ash had nearly been killed by exactly this method, years ago, before we met.
19:15Once it works, it will come back for more.
19:20We staked out the registry that night.
19:22Nothing.
19:23Quiet all the way to dawn.
19:24I reassured the keeper.
19:26Don't worry.
19:29And headed out.
19:30And immediately ran into a young clan member sprinting toward me.
19:33Guardian!
19:34Something happened at the residences!
19:35What's wrong?
19:37Ash!
19:39Ash shifted form and moved.
19:42When we landed, I knew from the sound.
19:45One of the younger students, a girl who'd bonded at her first ceremony, was sitting on the ground in her
19:50courtyard, holding what remained of her rabbit.
19:53Elder Margaret was already there.
19:55She caught my eye and gave a small, grim nod.
20:00You guess was right.
20:01Your guess was right.
20:02The core was taken.
20:02Clean, precise, one strike.
20:04She didn't feel it happen.
20:06The bond broke and that's when she knew.
20:10Without thinking, I turned and looked for the tiger.
20:13He was standing near the edge of the crowd, perfectly still.
20:17Don't stare.
20:18It's him.
20:19You're sure?
20:20I've seen this method used before.
20:21His signature reads the same.
20:23I went to the great elder and told him everything.
20:25Don't move yet.
20:26You need proof.
20:27Catch him in the act.
20:28Behind him, his courtyard had descended into complete chaos.
20:32All of them trying to interrogate Ash about his parents' bloodlines.
20:37I keep them close.
20:38Your firehound just destroyed the garden path.
20:41You could clean it up for your elder.
20:44No.
20:45Still, with subtle pressure, I got the senior elders watching the tiger more carefully.
20:51Weeks passed.
20:52No more disappearances.
20:54But two weeks later, the girl who had lost her rabbit still hadn't recovered.
20:59She stopped coming to training.
21:02Ate less.
21:03Barely spoke.
21:03The other students let it drift into rumor and then into story.
21:08Ashes sat with me every day.
21:10Then, one night, something moved past my window.
21:14Floating on the water's surface was a single white tiger feather.
21:18I reached through the bond and found him.
21:20I arrived at the ward boundary and walked straight into a shockwave.
21:25Ash and the tiger were already fighting.
21:28No preamble.
21:29Fully committed.
21:30He moved through the trees in pale clothing, fast and fluid, redirecting Ash's attacks with the ease of someone who'd
21:37been preparing for exactly this fight.
21:40Near the ward boundary, Luna sat perfectly still.
21:43When I got close enough to see her clearly, my stomach dropped.
21:47Luna was dead.
21:48I hadn't even processed it before the sky began to darken.
21:52The ward closed.
21:53Harm your bonded partner.
21:55And the consequence falls from the sky.
21:58You ran this exact plan in another life.
22:01You used everyone here as scaffolding and then kicked it out.
22:04And now this life you had the chance to choose differently and instead you took her core.
22:08The sky is watching.
22:10It ends today.
22:12Almost.
22:13One more step.
22:15He was breaking the ward seal behind his back.
22:18The creatures sealed in the valley felt the loosening.
22:21Thunder gathered directly above him.
22:23The great elder arrived in a flash of light from the peak.
22:27Clara!
22:27Hold the creatures back.
22:28I'll reseal from outside.
22:30Clara!
22:31You can't stop this.
22:33Come die with me!
22:35I'll do better by you this time!
22:37In my past life, I had died in this exact valley.
22:41Alone.
22:41Then a hand closed on my shoulder.
22:44It is Ash.
22:45You want to take her down with you?
22:48You'd have to go through me first.
22:50You're nobody.
22:51This time, I wasn't alone.
22:53In my past life, I'd never had a real partner.
22:56Just me and whatever I could manage alone.
22:58Now I understood the difference.
23:00Ash pushed forward and I covered it.
23:02I never checked over his shoulder.
23:03I never asked him to slow down.
23:05A hundred exchanges and the tiger's composure was cracking.
23:09He couldn't find a way past Ash.
23:11He couldn't land a hit on me.
23:12He broke.
23:13This isn't right.
23:14You're supposed to die!
23:16We're supposed to go back together!
23:19Goodbye.
23:20I raised one hand and pointed at the sky.
23:22The lightning came down like a column dropped from the sky itself.
23:28He would not be coming back.
23:30The tiger was gone.
23:32He would not be coming back.
23:35The tiger was dealt with.
23:37The harder problem remained.
23:39The creatures sealed in the valley were old and powerful.
23:43They couldn't be killed cleanly.
23:45Only re-contained.
23:47And the oldest among them,
23:48the one they called the Abyss Serpent,
23:51had been dormant for a century.
23:54Sealed originally by the previous great elder,
23:56who had given his life to do it.
23:59Ash had been leaning against a tree.
24:01Expression of someone waiting for his reward.
24:04When he went still,
24:06he stared into the dark between the trees.
24:08What's in there?
24:11What's in there?
24:12The Abyss Serpent.
24:14Wait here.
24:15I need to go in.
24:16Something shifted in his expression.
24:19Something I hadn't seen from him before.
24:21He started moving.
24:23I caught his hand.
24:24It's not safe.
24:26I know.
24:27Clara!
24:28He tried carefully to explain the situation to me.
24:31Last life.
24:32I died in this valley.
24:35I watched the tiger take Luna and leave.
24:37I was alone when it happened.
24:39I'm not leaving you behind.
24:41We went in together.
24:43Behind us...
24:44Who just walked into the sealed valley?
24:46Elder, that's your student.
24:48My student is extraordinary.
24:51The valley was wrong the moment we crossed the boundary.
24:54Eyes in the dark.
24:55Dozens of them.
24:56They didn't move.
24:57Some instinct in them recognized Ash.
24:59Ash, he'd shifted to his true form.
25:02Large enough now that I rode at the back of his neck.
25:04I asked him before.
25:06What are you looking for?
25:07The Abyss Serpent.
25:09Tell me why.
25:10My mother is in there.
25:11I had always assumed Ash was the product of some unusual crossing of bloodlines.
25:16He'd never corrected me.
25:17Now I found out.
25:19He did have fox blood.
25:20But his mother was the Abyss Serpent.
25:23One of the creatures from the oldest records.
25:25Vast in form.
25:27Ancient in power.
25:28Her cultivation predating the current era by centuries.
25:32She hadn't always been this.
25:34Two hundred years ago, someone had used the dark method on the creature she'd loved.
25:38Consumed his core.
25:40She hadn't recovered.
25:41I reached up and put my hand against the side of Ash's head.
25:44I had nothing to say.
25:46I have nothing to say.
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