Hao Residence,

Jiandao.

“Useless son!”

A terrible shout reverberated through the opulent estate. Within the living room, a kneeling Hao Feng held back tears as he suffered his father’s harsh scolding. Across from the kneeling child, a middle-aged man sat on an imposing throne. The handsome man had a nicely trimmed brown beard, and sword-like eyebrows. His persona was steady and poised like a sheathed sword. But at this moment, a bit of the sword could be seen as a result of his rage.

The man, Hao Ranhui, was the general manager of Jiandao’s Soul Society branch and could be considered one of the most influential men in all of Jiandao. Hao Ranhui often couldn’t spend time with his son due to work. However, he did his best to ensure Hao Feng got the best training resources and even gifted the child a Flamebeak Eagle egg to ensure he was undefeatable in the lower stages.

Hao Ranhui bestowed all these gifts onto his son, with the singular condition that Hao Feng impresses and draw close to the Phoenix Princess. Yet, this useless son let his jealousy get the better of him and threw the best opportunity away.

First impressions often mattered the most, and Hao Ranhui, in his vast experience, knew that the Phoenix Princess most likely greatly disliked his son. He was already suffering a headache wondering how to placate the Princess, yet this stupid son had approached him with another absurd request.

“Please, Father! That stupid barbarian insulted our honor!” Hao Feng’s eyes were bloodshot. Many children had been making fun of him since the banquet, and to the proud child, there was no greater insult. He wanted to roast and burn Rao Wu to ashes. “If you let him go free, others won’t respect us anymore!”

Pa!

“Idiot!” Hao Ranhui had had enough! He could not believe he had sired such a stupid son! His wrathful glare enveloped the child who held his burning cheek. “Should I just go ahead and kill every child in the city? Huh!? Just so you never lose again? Idiot! Do you know how many people want my position in this city alone? Do you have any idea what will happen if they find out I used my position to bully a child?”

“B-but Father, the Lunzi—”

“Shut up! The Lunzi family is different from ours!” Hao Ranhui almost exploded when he heard his son mention the Lunzi Family. They were a local tyrannical family who was known to be ruthless to those who crossed their family members. “Their foundations are based on hundreds of years’ worth of backing and investments. Our backing is reliant on my position, you imbecile! If I lose my post, we are no better than those vagrant trainers. Don’t you know that this simple act of you offending the Phoenix Princess already jeopardizes my position?”

Hao Feng’s eyes widened in shock. He never realized the consequences could be this heavy. What exactly was the Phoenix Princess title, and why was it so heavily revered? Hao Feng knew better than to ask these questions. The fact that his father had not told him directly meant it wasn’t something someone at his level should know.

“F-Father, I’m sorry. I’ll do better next time.” Hao Feng bowed his head and meekly apologized. However, in his heart, he swore to shred Rao Wu to pieces.

“Hmph.” How could Hao Ranhui not see what was in his son’s heart? However, the middle-aged man let it be. He was not against Hao Feng’s ruthlessness. The world was not a kind place. Getting to the top required dirtying one’s hands with countless evils. However, he did not want his son to act stupidly and aimlessly lose his life. “Whatever you choose, be careful not to get caught. Or I will be the one to personally kill you.”

“Yes, Father.” Hao Feng beamed. His father had basically given him the green light to destroy Rao Wu. He just had to be more intelligent in his approach going forward.

Knock! Knock!

At that moment, two knocks rang out on the study’s door. Hao Ranhui frowned. The house guards had strict instructions not to disturb him when in the study except for extremely urgent matters. He told his son to rise, and then looked at the door, “What is it?”

Clack~

A guard walked into the room, and then quickly reported, “Its Young Master’s spies, Sir. They say they have extremely sensitive information to share with you.”

“Feng-er’s spies?” Hao Ranhui looked at Hao Feng, who quickly stepped forward and explained himself.

“It’s Gary and Wu Long, Father. I told them to follow and find out where Rao Wu lives.”

“Oh?” Hao Ranhui’s eyes widened, a hint of admiration in them. “So you can use your head after all. Good, good. All that education isn’t going to waste.”

Hao Feng bowed with a conflicted smile. “Thank you, father.”

Hao Ranhui nodded and then turned to the guard. “Something they can’t tell even you must be important. Bring them in.”

The guard nodded, exited the room, and then soon returned with Gary and Wu Long behind him. He then left the room and shut the soundproof door behind him.

Gary and Wu Long quickly fell to a single knee and bowed when they saw Hao Ranhui, but he waved them both to their feet, clearly not in the mood for formality.

Hao Ranhui looked at the men and asked, “What’s your report?”

Gary, the better spoken of the duo, stepped forward and narrated everything they saw while following Rao Wu, along with their suspicion of the Eternal Spring Water.

“Eternal Spring Water, you say?” A strange light shone in Hao Ranhui’s light after hearing their report. Unlike the low-level spies, he was sure that they witnessed Eternal Spring Water. That was because he had seen Rao Taylor use that rare resource like water on numerous occasions.

In fact, the secret of the Eternal Spring was one of the significant reasons the various powers moved against Rao Taylor . Unfortunately, the young man proved too headstrong, choosing to die rather than submit the Eternal Spring’s location. Hao Ranhui recalled that RaoTaylor’s wife had been taken captive, but it seemed even she did not reveal the Eternal Spring’s location.

Could this finally be the lead they had been looking for?

Hao Ranhui hid his inner excitement and faced the spies. “So, where did he go? Do you know?”

Gary shook his head. “They entered Steelback Territory. We did not dare follow as the information was too important to lose.”

“Too important to lose?” Hao Ranhui sneered. “Is it not standard that one person continues tracking while the other returns with the report?” Hao Ranhui knew these spies just did not want to risk their lives more than necessary. However, he could not blame them. These were small-time spies hired by his son. They did not get paid enough to justify risking their lives.

Hao Ranhui could not blame his son. He was the one who instructed Hao Feng to grow his own communication network from scratch. With his son’s funds, the best Hao Feng could hire were Spirit Students. Spirit Students would never venture into Steelback territory unless the pay was exorbitantly high.

“My apologies, sir.” Gary sneered in his heart, but openly bowed and formally apologized. He did not bother giving excuses because both parties knew the real reason neither of them stayed behind.

“Whatever. If what you said is true, then the child is certainly not human.” Hao Ranhui tapped on the table as he began running countless simulations in his mind. “No human child can take a Phase Two Steelback Ape’s Stone Toss to the chest without armor. It’s far more likely that he’s a beastman hybrid.” Hao Ranhui looked at Hao Feng, who, understanding his father’s prompt, jumped, and excitedly yelled.

“Yes! He must be a hybrid. If so, his attack against me could likely relate to the Violet Fang group.” Hao Feng’s eyes grew sinister as he continued, “He disguised as a human and infiltrated Jiandao to sow discord and commit murder. Hmph. Even if we don’t kill him, we must bring him in for questioning. If our suspicions are wrong, we will apologize and provide adequate compensation for his troubles.”

Hao Ranhui’s gaze flashed with pride. Indeed, the apple did not fall too far from the tree. This way, they could investigate Rao Wu openly without offending any parties. He immediately summoned his guards, and then gave an order, “If this Rao Wu child lives in the jungle, then people have definitely seen him. Go gather news from hunters and trainers. Once we know where he frequents, we can narrow down his location. However, make it as discreet as possible. If you are caught, just tell them we are investigating possible ties to Violet Fang.”

“Yes, sir!”

While the guards ran out of the building to carry out his orders, Hao Ranhui turned to look at Wu Long and Gary. “In two days, you’ll both be rewarded with general-rank monsters. For now, tell me everything you can about this Rao Wu character.”

“Rraff!”

Elsewhere, Rao Wu and Twilight wore grave expressions as they listened to Midnight’s report.

“*sob* *sob* I’m sorry.” Rao Wu choked on his tears as he repeatedly apologized. If he knew he was being followed, he would never have trained outside. Humans would certainly attack once they found out about the Eternal Spring’s location. He had single-handedly put the entire tribe in danger.

“Rraff!” Twilight was having none of it! Rao Wu did not have to apologize. Expecting the little boy to notice men trained in tracking arts was beyond unfair. It was a miracle they had kept the Eternal Spring secret this long. The secret was always bound to get out.

“Rruwu~” Surprisingly, the usually stalwart Midnight bent down and licked Rao Wu’s tears. She made it clear that she didn’t blame him. If anything, it was her fault for not giving her clone instructions for the worst-case scenario. “Rraff!” Before Rao Wu could protest, she shut him down and then insisted they began looking for solutions.

“Ruwu~” Twilight comforted both of them. Since the humans did not follow Rao Wu all the way, they still had at least a few months before they tracked Rao Wu to the Dusklight Wolves. In that case, all they could do was train like mad during these few months to gain as much strength as possible.

“Ruwu~” Midnight suggested opening the Eternal Spring to the other Dusklight Wolves. After all, Midnight and Twilight had both hit bottlenecks. The chances of either of them advancing to the next level were low. However, they could raise the collective strength of their tribe if they fought and healed nonstop over the next few months.

“Rraff!” Twilight decided to go even higher. Rather than just the Dusklight Wolves, he suggested opening the Eternal Spring to the entire jungle. If they were the only ones defending, they would certainly lose to the human forces. However, if the jungle defended this great source as one, then they just might stand a chance.

Midnight was hesitant. Unlike Twilight, she lived her entire life in the jungle. As a result, she was used to the habit of keeping good things between one’s tribe. Twilight, however, had seen how humans became stronger by joining forces with other tribes. As a result, he could proffer such a radical solution.

“I agree with Uncle Twilight,” Rao Wu tentatively said. Faced with Midnight’s stare, he swallowed and continued, “In the city, someone told me I can’t kill a boy because there were so many people he was allied to. That kind of strength in numbers. I don’t think we have that with just our tribe. But I think we can do it if we work with the other monster tribes.”

“Ruwu~” What if a monster tribe got greedy and tried to eliminate them? Midnight knew that soul monsters were opportunistic creatures. There was no guarantee they would hold their end of the bargain.

“Rraff!” Twilight snorted and sat up straight. Even though he was poisoned, there was a reason he was considered Rao Taylor’s strongest soul monster. Twilight was confident that he could crush any dissenting monster tribes. Plus, though most people didn’t realize yet, Rao Taylor's soul monsters had secretly taken over most of their respective monster tribes in the jungle.

Like Twilight, they decided to remain in this mid-rank region, delaying their chances of breaking through to ensure Rao Wu had a safe and stable foundation. When Rao Wu turned ten and left the forest, they would consider their debts to Rao Taylor repaid, and then scatter to the different ends of the earth.

“That much?” Rao Wu’s heart warmed, and tears once again rose to his eyes. He never knew that his father’s soul pets had watched over him for so long. Five, potentially eight years, was not small in the life of a soul pet. Most of those soul monsters who remained had probably missed the best chance to breakthrough, and would undoubtedly need ten times the effort when they finally resumed trying.

Just what kind of trainer was his father, that all these soul monsters remained loyal and caring, even after his death? And how exactly did he die?

Unfortunately, Twilight’s answer remained the same as always. “Ruwu~” I’ll tell you when you’re ten years old. When you’re old enough to go live your own life.

Rao Wu, knowing his Uncle Twilight would not budge, shifted gears, and asked, “So, should I go speak to them individually?”

“Rraff!” Twilight firmly rejected that idea. He would be the one to speak to the soul monster tribes.

Rao Wu, instead, had a separate task.

“Me? What task?”

“Rraff!” Twilight pointed at the lake. Rao Wu’s job was to begin the test as soon as possible. Once Rao Wu was gone, Twilight would start the long process of convincing the different tribes.

“But I want to stay and fi—”

“Rraff!” Twilight’s terrifying bark shut Rao Wu up. The child had never seen his Uncle so angry. Twilight severely instructed Rao Wu to begin his training. The child was useless in a fight as he was. If Rao Wu really wanted to help, then he had to return stronger.

Twilight had a clear plan. They would stall until Rao Wu could enter the elite class in Soul Academy. Once he did, Rao Wu would be assigned a personal mentor. Rao Wu, could then, through the mentor, apply for the Eternal Spring to become a Protected Zone.

“Protected Zone?”

Twilight explained. Protected Zones were areas cordoned off by human authorities. Hunters and Trainers were banned from hunting or stealing soul monsters, plants, or other resources. Protected Zones were issued to protect endangered species or unique, finite resources.

If the Eternal Spring became a Protected Zone, the soul monsters would sign a peace treaty with the humans, allowing them to take a portion of the Spring every month.

Twilight had seen Rao Taylor make similar pacts with soul monsters across the continent. He was confident he could convince the other soul monsters in this territory. However, for this to succeed, they needed humans who were willing to carry out this pact.

With the identity of an elite student of Soul Academy, Rao Wu could certainly rally the academy to ‘act on the side of righteousness’ and agree to such a pact. Once Soul Academy came on board, the City Lord would most likely follow.

“Rraff.” Midnight scolded Twilight. Though the latter made it sound easy, the path was filled with endless risks. If even one component failed, not only would they lose the Eternal Spring, but the Dusklight Wolves might once again face the fate of being wiped out. This time for good.

“Alright, I understand.” Rao Wu’s eyes filled with determination. “I will definitely complete the test and return stronger. Then I’ll pass that stupid Soul Academy exam.”

“Ruwu~” Twilight let out an approving howl and then tapped his paw on Rao Wu’s chest, conveying the thought, ‘Good Luck. We’ll be waiting.’

Rao Wu nodded. Then, without wasting any more time, the child took out a clump of Diver’s Heart and then softly chewed it. He then quickly hugged Twilight and Midnight and then jumped into the lake before the latter could react.

Midnight, still stunned by the sudden hug, stared at the lake. Eventually, her eyes watered, and she let out a low howl. ‘Come back safe… my sons.’