The night was bright.
Su Ping sat atop a tall Elite-tier Forest Wolf, waves of spiritual fluctuations rippling outward from his body.
He opened his eyes in satisfaction, a hint of joy flashing through them.
Ordinary Eighth Rank!
After several days, his realm had finally broken through again during these periods of meditation.
Aside from Su Ping's genuinely outstanding spiritual talent, there was also the lingering effect of the Spirit-Nourishing Ancient Tea that Qin Xiaoxue had once given him to drink.
Every time Su Ping meditated, he could clearly feel the terrifying effects of that tea, as well as the benefits and boosts it continued to provide for his cultivation afterward.
Even when he hadn't been particularly diligent before, his rate of improvement had already been nothing short of heaven-defying.
And now…
These past few days could be described as the most hardworking period of Su Ping's entire life.
They were also the busiest days he had ever experienced.
Yet this kind of busyness was completely different from when he had been receiving customers before. This sort of workload not only failed to exhaust him—he actually relished it.
First of all, in terms of savings and capital, Su Ping had kept one million as daily expenses and for emergencies.
Everything else had gone into buying Forest Wolf cubs.
Now, his original team of twenty-six Forest Wolves had finally been expanded!
Excluding his own Xiao Qing, the current size of the wolf pack had reached an even fifty.
In other words, this time he had purchased a full twenty-five Forest Wolf cubs!
This could definitely be considered a major expenditure.
Bought directly via phone from the Breeder Association, each one cost roughly three to five hundred thousand—reasonable prices, essentially at cost.
However, to Su Ping, these little fellows were worth far more than any monetary value.
They represented his future foundation and companions.
At the same time, they were also new family members for the Wood Heart.
After all, Su Ping had already given up on the business of flipping Forest Wolves for resale. The profit margins were low, and he couldn't bear to sell the Forest Wolves he had personally raised.
Of course, even more important was the experience points these little fellows provided.
With a wolf pack that had effectively doubled in size, as long as each one reached the required intimacy once, he would gain around ten experience points per cub. With twenty-five of them, that was over three hundred experience points right away.
Adding in the experience gained from cultivation growth and day-to-day interaction, Su Ping estimated that the evolution of the Myriad Wood Wolf would be fully unlocked in about two more days!
Just thinking about this made Su Ping feel wide awake. Watching the wolf cubs—already learning to play with the larger Forest Wolves in the forest—he almost wished they could grow up instantly.
However, rubbing his temples, Su Ping realized that he probably really did need to hire some people.
He could never entrust the care and training of pet beasts to outsiders.
But day after day, there were still various trivial matters that needed handling.
Even so, he didn't feel entirely comfortable with hired help.
Someone like Li Shu, whose background he knew inside and out, was fine—but as for anyone else, Su Ping simply couldn't trust them.
Thinking of this, Su Ping found himself missing Qin Xiaoxue.
Over the past few days, Miss Qin had helped him quite a bit while staying here.
Aside from her, the only person he could truly trust was his own father.
It was fine not to think about it—but the more he did, the more irritated he became.
He picked up his phone and called Su Anyong.
Sure enough, whereas the call had barely gone through before, now the automated voice simply informed him that the phone was switched off, leaving Su Ping with nowhere to vent his frustration.
Just as he was thinking about this, his phone chimed with a new message.
Unfortunately, it wasn't from Su Anyong, but from someone else he had been thinking about.
[Qin Xiaoxue: I've arrived in Magic City. I only just remembered that I forgot to pay you for the breeding services. But sis won't be paying you directly—I'm mailing you something from Magic City instead. Remember this: from now on, I'm a permanent VIP over there! All future breeding services are free for me!]
Hmm?
It was rare for Miss Qin to even remember that she'd skipped out on paying. But Su Ping hadn't planned to ask her for that money anyway—and clearly, dodging payment wasn't her style.
Still, instead of transferring money, she had mailed him something?
What could she possibly have mailed that justified being so confident?
A permanent VIP?
All future breeding free of charge?
Su Ping naturally believed that Qin Xiaoxue wasn't just boasting. If she dared say something like that, she definitely had the confidence and capital to back it up.
Recalling the way this wealthy lady usually did things, Su Ping couldn't help but feel curious.
Could it be that "Natural Essence" she had mentioned before?
But thinking about it, that seemed unlikely. That was an Emperor-tier material— even with Qin Xiaoxue's background, such an item probably couldn't be mobilized so casually.
Su Ping didn't ask further. He simply replied with a short message:
[Su Ping: No problem!]
At that moment, Su Ping once again thought of what Qin Xiaoxue had previously mentioned—the evolution related to the Canopy Wolf Emperor.
Was Mu Tou's evolutionary future really Emperor-tier?
A trace of longing appeared in Su Ping's eyes.
Emperor tier…
That was the realm of true giants in Dragon Nation.
A Beast Tamer at that level could already be addressed with honor.
If Qin Xiaoxue truly succeeded in becoming a king, what pet beast would she be ennobled with? A Wolf King?
That didn't seem too likely. There were simply too many powerful Beast Tamers who specialized in wolf-type pet beasts.
The title "Wolf King" was reserved only for those who stood at the very top even among Emperor-tier wolf-type Beast Tamers.
But regardless, such an existence would already be among the very elite within Jianghai Province.
After all, anyone at the Emperor tier could have the title "Heavenly King" appended to their name.
Across the entire Jianghai Province, there probably weren't many such people.
Thinking again of her words, a glimmer of light flashed through Su Ping's eyes as he muttered softly:
"Wolf King? Beast Tamer Assessment? …Suddenly, I'm getting fired up!"
With the Myriad Spirit Codex in hand, Su Ping feared no one.
At that moment, as he gazed up at the sky, the light in his eyes shone even brighter than the stars.
Unfortunately, this rare surge of passion was interrupted by a wolf's howl!
Old Sha looked at his young master, who still hadn't moved, and urged him impatiently:
"Awoo! (Hurry… this time… catch it!)"
Determination burned in Old Sha's eyes.
Su Ping snapped back to his senses. That's right—even though he had been so busy these past couple of days that everything felt upside down, there was one fixed activity he did almost every night.
That was crossing through the forest to reach the back of his property, to the banks of the Spirit Creek River.
To this eerie riverside that grew gloomy once night fell.
Waiting for the arrival of that little paper man.
And sure enough, over these past few days, the little paper man had been unfailingly punctual, appearing every single night.
Each time it appeared, it wasted no words—immediately clashing with Old Sha, getting instantly one-shot, and then vanishing without a trace.
If Su Ping hadn't specifically ordered Old Sha not to harm it fatally, and to try to capture it alive if possible, Old Sha would have torn it apart long ago.
When had he ever suffered such stifling humiliation at the hands of a mere Ordinary-tier little paper man?
Watching Old Sha seething with frustration, Su Ping felt that, based on what he had learned about this little paper man over the past few days, it was time to change tactics.
At the very least, he needed to figure out exactly what this thing was!
After so many days, it had appeared plenty of times—but each appearance lasted only a few seconds before it vanished, never giving Su Ping a chance to activate the Eye of Truth.
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