The morning sun rose in the east, further intensifying the already rising temperature.
A gentle breeze rustled through the trees, bringing a rare moment of coolness on this summer morning.
Su Ping sat in the wicker rocking chair Su An Yong often used, with a slightly larger Xiao Qing still cradled in his arms, excitedly observing everything before him.
Before Su Ping, a magnificent scene unfolded.
Beyond the treeline, in the shadows cast by the canopies, and along the manor's path, various sizes of forest wolves appeared.
Like well-behaved domestic dogs, they squatted on the ground, their emerald eyes fixed intently on Su Ping.
Roughly, there were over twenty of them.
Among them, seven adult forest wolves had reached the Advanced-level or above.
One of them had reached Advanced-level Nine, making it the highest-level forest wolf in the base apart from Old Sha.
The remaining less than twenty were all Common-level, mostly young wolves still growing.
However, currently, in the Heart of Wood Yu Beast Training Base, these young wolves were the most valuable.
Because generally, those who came to buy Yu Beasts would purchase young ones to train as their first Yu Beast.
Common Beastmasters who had just undergone Awakening could not contract Advanced-level forest wolves.
And Beastmasters who had already undergone a Breakthrough to become Advanced Beastmasters generally wouldn't buy adult forest wolves with limited potential.
Therefore, these seven Advanced-level forest wolves largely served as breeding wolves.
In front of these wolf packs, Old Sha watched Su Ping with a cautious and wary expression.
Clearly, from his wary gaze, he was still thinking about Su Ping's attempt to poison him yesterday.
Sure enough, after he had gathered all the forest wolves, Su Ping took out the bottle of dark green liquid.
Su Ping slowly turned and looked at Old Sha.
"Old Sha!"
The latter shivered, then looked at Su Ping with an incredibly resentful gaze.
However, in the end, Old Sha did not turn and run away as he had yesterday.
Wolf packs had their rules.
Old Sha possessed the ability of a wolf king, commanding these wolves, and his attitude determined the wolf pack's attitude towards Su Ping.
Since Su An Yong had entrusted the Heart of Wood Base to Su Ping, Old Sha had to set an example, making Su Pingthe 'King' whom these young ones would obey.
Therefore, at this moment, even if his young master was about to harm him, Old Sha would not retreat.
However, when Su Ping genuinely pulled out the vessel filled with the dark green liquid from his embrace, Old Sha's body still trembled slightly.
Then, under the curious gaze of all the forest wolves, he walked forward, his limbs trembling slightly.
Seeing Old Sha's pleading gaze, Su Pingfelt a bit speechless. Was it really that serious?
If it weren't for Xiao Qing being too young, and him needing to observe the medicinal properties on other forest wolves first, it wouldn't be so troublesome, would it?
Su Ping stroked the stiff fur on Old Sha's lowered head and then softly said,
"Old Sha, you have to trust me! This is for your own good."
Old Sha glanced at Su Ping, then at the potion which, though cooled, still retained some of yesterday's scent after being uncorked. Old Sha looked back at Su Ping.
His emerald eyes clearly conveyed: "I don't believe a word you say!"
But in the end, he still nodded.
Old Sha was, after all, nearly two generations older than this young master. He possessed wisdom no less than a human's, and naturally knew what his young master was actually doing.
Making magic potions, of course.
When Su An Yong was young, he had tried it a few times, and Old Sha had even consumed them, but the results were...
And the young master, who had just graduated, now suddenly taking over the Heart of Wood, naturally harbored ambitions to try out his own ideas.
So, after a night of deep thought, Old Sha knew that even if he were poisoned to death, he had to protect his young master's pride and not let him be like that unreliable Su An Yong, who just gave up, completely wasting the old man's painstaking efforts!
"Awoo..."
And so, Old Sha directly closed his eyes, and a mournful, desolate howl escaped him.
Tears were almost welling up in his eyes.
His expression was one of self-sacrificing righteousness, as if he were a pet forced to die, causing black lines to appear on Su Ping's forehead as he had already poured out the magic potion.
He simply stopped talking nonsense, looked at Old Sha, who had his eyes closed and mouth wide open, waiting to be 'fed' by his young master.
He directly poured the dark green, turtle jelly-like magic potion of the Heart of Wood into Old Sha's mouth.
Old Sha's extended, steaming tongue then directly swallowed it down his throat, not even properly savoring the taste, much like Zhu Bajie eating a ginseng fruit.
Old Sha opened his eyes, looked at the empty magic potion bottle, then at his young master, who was staring at him expectantly.
His eyes suddenly lost their light, as if the world had instantly turned gray.
He then came to Su Ping's side and whined softly.
Although it was in wolf language, Su Ping could roughly understand some of its meaning:
"Inherit the Heart of Wood Yu Beast Training Base well."
"Be sure to make the cultivation of forest wolves bigger and stronger!"
"Don't let down grandpa's painstaking efforts and trust."
"Develop an even more powerful evolution path for the forest wolves!"
And,
"Work hard to become an even more amazing Beastmaster, you brat! ! ! !"
...
It was as if he was delivering his last words.
Or like a dying elder, imparting his final earnest advice to his junior.
For a moment, outside the sun-drenched forest, the atmosphere became incredibly tragic.
Even the other wolf packs, squatting not far away, watching this scene in confusion, let out mournful howls.
As if bidding farewell to their wolf king, their elder.
This scene, if Su Ping hadn't known what was going on, he could have easily been affected by the atmosphere.
But what the hell was going on?
He was feeding a magic potion, not poison!
Fortunately, Su Ping didn't have to wait too long. Suddenly, Old Sha's extremely calm, almost resigned-to-death expression abruptly changed.
His previously low whimper suddenly stopped.
Su Ping's expression also became incredibly serious, watching Old Sha's reaction.
At this instant, tiny specks of emerald light appeared on Old Sha's originally grayish-green fur, as if he was instantly enveloped by a faint, verdant glow.
Outside the entire forest, the air seemed to become incredibly clear. Simultaneously, in the nearby forest and beneath Old Sha's feet, tree branches broke through the soil and grew at a visible speed.
At the same time, a faint Aura fluctuation emanated.
Making Su Ping's eyes widen instantly.
The wolf pack behind him reacted even more strongly, their legs trembling, directly prostrating themselves on the ground, not daring to look directly at their wolf king's Aura in the slightest.
This process only lasted for a minute.
The next moment, all the previous anomalies vanished, replaced by an extremely clear, high-pitched wolf howl filled with indescribable joy!