The relatively loud torment began when they arrived at a faraway spot where they could still see the cave at one glance.

Soft, deliberately-suppressed roars that were either embarrassed and angry, cold and fierce, aggrieved… or filled with other emotions rang out every once in a while.

A good half-hour or more later, Di Baijun—whose fur had turned all gray—left relatively happily and free of anxiety. She appeared as if she had vented it out all and looked refreshed and invigorated.

Wang Hu watched her run toward the pool with a rather aggrieved look in his eyes. However, when her form vanished from sight, his look of grievance immediately disappeared. His eyes closed into slits amid an aura of cheerfulness that looked very much like he was relishing the memory.

He was just as refreshed and reinvigorated.

Not bad. This was not bad at all.

A simple life like this was exactly what he liked.

Complimenting Silly Girl every day and allowing her to slowly get used to it, thereby bringing them closer together bit by bit, and then sparring with each other every once in a while to facilitate their relationship…

On top of that, he could even watch over the two little fellows the whole time.

To the current Wang Hu, this was already enough to satisfy him.

In the twinkle of an eye, seven months had gone by since his return. It was now autumn.

Big Treasure and Little Treasure were asleep while Di Baijun had gone out hunting. Wang Hu wasn't cultivating. Instead, he was using the phone by himself and reading about the changes taking place in China and the rest of the world.

Apart from Silly Girl's and Wang Hu's size and strength, they had barely experienced any changes during these seven months in the mountains.

It was the same for the two little fellows, too. They didn't grow at all despite eating so much, and they were still the same tiny size as always.

This wasn't the case for China and the rest of the world, though. A period of seven months was enough to trigger a huge change for them.

Since he now had a way where he could keep himself in the know, Wang Hu naturally wouldn't let such an opportunity slip by… lest he became out of touch with the world.

Once every few days, he would closely observe the changes taking place in China and the rest of the world online.

'Congratulations to the Python King of Crimson Flames for reaching an agreement with China. Here's to an everlasting friendship with the Python King. We hope to always maintain friendly and amicable ties with each other.'

Before long, Wang Hu spotted this particular piece of news. He tapped on the headline and read the article in detail, upon which he secretly nodded to himself.

Not bad. Following Silly Girl, himself, and that panda; a fourth animal had finally made a breakthrough to the Transformation Realm.

This was evidently a piece of good news. It was only when entities like them grew in number that China would value them more and refrain from easily doing anything to them.

Additionally, the appearance of the fourth animal to break through to the Transformation Realm within Chinese borders very likely implied that a trend where various animals broke through to the Transformation Realm was about to come.

It was likely that there would be a surge of animals from various species breaking through to the Transformation Realm

This was because the animals that had already awakened their bloodlines and possessed exceptional aptitude within Chinese borders wouldn't be any much slower than them.

It was about time that the wave of breakthroughs started.

A quick count of the years showed that it had been almost three years since the awakening of spiritual energy. A breakthrough rate like this was likely considered extremely quick.

After all, animals were ultimately not human.

Perhaps they had their own legacies and aptitudes, but in terms of every other aspect, the humans left them in the dust.

Disregarding everything else for now, food itself was a big problem. One must know that not everyone had a dinosaur world like Wang Hu.

Three years could undoubtedly be considered extremely fast.

As for Wang Hu and Silly Girl, theirs were extraordinary circumstances.

In that panda's case though, Wang Hu couldn't quite figure out what might have happened. He could only assume that it had also experienced unusual circumstances like them.

Wang Hu, who was in a pretty good mood after reading the piece of news, went on to read the comments for a while.

"Following the Northern Tiger King, his wife, and Gungun; another Second Realm animal has finally appeared in our country!"

"The Python King of Crimson Flames looks so scary. It doesn't look as good as the Tiger King and his family. But since we've already reached an agreement, then we're friends."

"Alright, I'll admit it, I'm afraid of snakes. The sight of the Python King makes me break out all over in goosebumps. I like the Northern Tiger King and his family more."

"Same here. But I must say that the Python King is also very bad-ass. It must be a good 40-odd meters long, right?"

"I wonder who's more impressive in a fight, the Tiger King or the Python King."

"Are you joking? Verification complete—even though the Python King is impressive, it's no match for the Tiger King at all, alright?"

…

It was evident that the online comments were also deliberately guided. The final outcome was that, even though people weren't as receptive of the Python King as they were of Wang Hu and his family, they had nevertheless accepted it.

Wang Hu picked a few comments that he liked and read them for a while before he went on to browse through other news.

Half an hour later, when he saw that there wasn't much to glean from the news anymore, Wang Hu switched off the cell phone and got ready to cultivate.

Seven months of hard work had put him at a shoulder height of roughly 5.8 meters and a body length of roughly 10.2 meters. The Blood Qi throughout Wang Hu had also increased accordingly. Once activated at full power, he became so macho and forceful that it was as though he had become a hot burning boiler.

A cultivation speed like that was evidently extremely quick. It had even overtaken the current Silly Girl.

Unfortunately, his current cultivation speed had already become static. It wasn't possible to increase it any further.

According to the explanation provided by Silly Girl, although the spiritual energy density level was still increasing, it was more like an ongoing accumulation process. Thus, it hadn't yet reached a level high enough for Third Realm experts to emerge.

Therefore, it was impossible for him to make use of the spiritual energy density level to further boost his cultivation speed.

As for when the spiritual energy density level would reach a point high enough for Third Realm experts to emerge, Silly Girl didn't provide an answer.

Wang Hu reckoned that she didn't know either… and that she had acted as if she was disdained to even tell him, only because she didn't want to embarrass herself.

Roughly an hour later, Silly Girl returned with food supplies for the whole family.

A shoulder height of roughly 5.68 meters and a body length of roughly 9.97 meters—this was Silly Girl's current size.

At the sight of her returning, Wang Hu immediately stopped cultivating and went forward to her.

Roar~!

He said gently, "Thanks for the hard work, Baijun."

Di Baijun rolled her eyes, her disdain awfully obvious.

Roar~!

"Where are Big Treasure and Little Treasure?"

Roar~!

"They're still asleep."

Wang Hu continued to reply to her in a gentle tone. As the saying went, 'Heaven rewards the faithful'. As long as one worked at something hard enough, little strokes could take down even great oaks.

His diligence didn't go to waste. After chipping away at it with great patience day after day over the last seven months, he had already significantly broken through the limit to Silly Girl's tolerance.

For example, rather than telling him to straight-up scram, Silly Girl had only rolled her eyes and given him a disdainful look when he said 'thanks for the hard work' in such a gentle tone just now.

Di Baijun entered the cave after she put down the food.

A short while later, the two little fellows skipped out of the cave.

Awooo, awooo~!

"It's mealtime! Big Treasure wants to eat!"

Wang Hu and the two little fellows began to wolf down the food while Di Baijun cultivated nearby—she had already eaten her fill when she was hunting.

After they were done eating, Wang Hu switched on the cell phone and played cartoons for the two little fellows as per usual.

By now, after they watched Cardcaptor Sakura so many times that they had already lost count, Big Treasure had spurred Little Treasure to finally have a change of show so they were now watching The Legend of Nezha1 instead.

After settling down the two little fellows, Wang Hu ran over to the cultivating Silly Girl as usual.

Di Baijun focused on her cultivation, using only a bit of her peripheral vision to take note of the direction that they were in.

Upon noticing the jerk jogging over, she immediately looked away. She let out a snort inwardly and even raised her chin a little, making her look even haughtier and more domineering.

Roar~!

"Baijun, you're so pretty."

Wang Hu complimented her as usual. He sounded sincere, simple, and honest as if he was speaking the sincerest words from the bottom of his heart.

In response, Di Baijun snorted coldly to express her dissatisfaction and disdain.

Roar~!

"Get lost."

A low roar rang out.

Wang Hu nodded and said no more.

Roar~!

"In that case, I'll go to the side and cultivate. Call me if anything comes up."

As he spoke, he then walked to the side while looking back every few steps before he also started to cultivate.

Di Baijun rolled her eyes again and raised her chin even higher before she began to focus completely on her cultivation.

As Wang Hu cultivated, he also began to ponder over something important. The second stage's results had been pretty good during the last seven months. Was it time to activate the third stage?

He had already been thinking about this a couple of days ago. It was just that… how should he go about the third stage?

He hadn't decided how he should approach this most important question yet.

He didn't come up with anything even after pondering over it for a while. Thus, he decided that he would think about it again after some time instead. In any case, it wasn't like the second stage had already become completely ineffective.

His guess was that Silly Girl had probably already gotten accustomed to, as well as become somewhat fond of hearing the compliments that he paid her daily without fail.

A few days later…

It seemed like another peaceful day. After filling their stomachs, Wang Hu and Di Baijun continued to cultivate while the two little fellows watched cartoons.

Suddenly, Di Baijun's expression stilled while in the midst of cultivating, and she stopped cultivating altogether. The look in her eyes changed a little, and her gaze shifted to the direction of the south.

Wang Hu, who had unintentionally noticed her actions, didn't think too deeply into it. He also didn't let go of such a good opportunity and jogged over.

Roar~!

"What's wrong, Baijun?"

Di Baijun didn't answer him right away. She closed her eyes for a few seconds before she finally answered.

Roar~!

"A world passage has probably manifested about 50 to 100 kilometers away in that direction. The other world's spiritual energy density level is higher than what it is on Earth now."

Shocked, Wang Hu looked to the south.

Roar~!

He couldn't help but ask, "You could tell even from this distance away, Baijun?"

Di Baijun didn't reply. As she became stronger, the amazing functions that the remaining bit of soul origin she could utilize had also increased. On top of that, it had also become more powerful.

A collision occurred whenever a world passage that connected two different worlds formed.

The stronger the worlds, the bigger the commotion resulting from the collision would be.

Ordinary beings weren't able to sense them at all, but there was no way it would go past her.

A distance of 50 to 100 kilometers just so happened to still be within her detection range.

These things were too complex so she didn't want to explain it to the jerk at all.

Wang Hu didn't mind either… when Di Baijun didn't provide any explanation. Suddenly, something occurred to him, and he broke into a frown.

Roar~!

"Baijun, the area 50 to 100 kilometers away from here in that direction seems to be a Chinese county city!"

Di Baijun didn't take his words to heart. What her mind was currently on was—what kind of world was that? Would it be of any help to them—no, to her, Big Treasure, and Little Treasure?

Roar~!

"Did you detect anything else, Baijun?" asked Wang Hu rather gravely after a moment's thought.

Di Baijun rolled her eyes at the jerk. She had only sensed it just now because of the huge commotion resulting from the formation of a world passage after two worlds collided with each other. Now that the commotion was over, how would she know anything like that?

Wang Hu immediately understood when he saw the expression on her face.

Roar~!

After a moment's thought, he said, "Let's go and take a look at the cell phone."

He ran straight toward the cell phone as he spoke. Di Baijun's brows drew together for a while before she followed after him.

Without paying much heed to the two little fellows, Wang Hu turned off the cartoon and began to surf the Internet. He even opened a few of the most popular livestreaming apps to search for information.

A few minutes later, his eyes lit up. He had really found information on a livestream with a rapidly increasing number of views.

It was exactly Hu County that was 50 to 100 kilometers away from here.

The look in Wang Hu's and Di Baijun's eyes became even graver when they took a good look at the livestream.

A Chinese cartoon about Nezha, a Chinese mythological figure and child warrior deity