After bidding their farewell to them. Both of them left the mansion.

Before they went to the east gate to start their journey, they went to visit the market district first.

Zhen Lun wanted to get a horse, allows to arrive at the capital city faster.

He never rides one before but it shouldn't be too hard right?

...

"Master, You don't know how to ride a horse?" Xiao Xue looked at Zhen Lun weirdly.

"I never have a chance to, It's my first time." Zhen Lun was struggling to ride a horse. The horse doesn't want to be ridden, in the end, it was strangled to almost dead even the owner didn't dare to borrow him a horse.

"Master Zhen, If you really want to train horse-riding you need to go somewhere else." The merchant was begging him. He was afraid that all of his horses would die of fear.

This is the most flourish merchant in this city, If he couldn't find a good horse in this shop how could he find in other shops. "I'm really sorry but do you have a stronger horse?" Zhen Lun asked.

These horses are pretty strong compared to normal horses, they're all mythical beast but they're not enough for him.

"...Now that you mention it, we do have one that probably suits you. It's not a horse but It can be mounted." The owner recalled there was one that they kept in underground storage. "Please follow me."

"If you could tame him, I would let you take him but if not I'm afraid I can't help you anymore." The owner doesn't really mind Zhen Lun to try. If Zhen Lun could bring him out from the underground he would be happy.

They were then brought to the underground to see the 'mount' that they are talking about. "We have been raising him since it was a cub but he's not leaving this place no matter what. It was depressed since my grandfather died of saving him."

"How strong is he?"

"If I'm not wrong he's at transcendent mortal realm though I'm not so sure what stage he is at right now. He still continues to grow despite he has done nothing. He's a mythical beast after all."

"Here we are. That is the one I'm talking about." The merchant pointed to the beast. It's a horned wolf. It can be seen that the beast formerly has a horn on its head but it was broken.

[Horned Grey-Wolf] (Level 0) [Status: Injured (Unhealed Injury)]

HP: 2520/4320 MP: 82/82

STR: 421 VIT: 216

AGI: 521 LUK: 72

INT: 687 QI: 482

Skill:

Mythical Beast: Intermediate Darkness-Bloodline Lvl 2, Darkness Domain Lvl 7, Shadow Prison Lvl 5, Gaze of Fear Lvl 3

Demonic Beast: Lowly Demonic-Bloodline Lvl 5, Lowly Mana Core Lvl 3

"He's at the second stage of transcendent mortal and was about to break through to the third stage." With the system help, he could easily measure his strength and see his skills.

After he consumed the book that he received from Elder Fei, he managed to break through while he was sleeping. Otherwise, he would have a hard time dealing with the horned beast.

Above-Average Mortal (Level 26)

HP: 3740/3740 MP: 10680/6680

STR: 645 VIT: 187 Qi: 445

AGI: 526 LUK: 77

INT: 534 MAG: 86

Skill:

Martial Artists: Fiery Palm Lvl 1, Shadow Clone Lvl 10, Water Sword Technique Lvl 10, Wind Run Lvl 1, Destructive Stomp Lvl 1, Cultivation Technique (Tier-2) Lvl 3, Mortal Realm Lvl Max, Transcendent Mortal Realm Lvl 3

Classless: Physical Abilities (Tier-2) Lvl 10, High Willpower Lvl 5, Tenacity Lvl 1, Mana Manipulation Lvl 7, Mana Sword Lvl 10, Fire Mastery Lvl 8, Earth Mastery Lvl 8, Water Mastery Lvl 7, Wind Mastery Lvl 7, Mana Shield Lvl 10, Double Slash Lvl 10, Recover Lvl 7

Title: Pure Bone (+20 VIT), Pure Meridians System (+40% Efficiency)

"Why is he injured?" Zhen Lun asked.

"You knew his injury?" The merchant was shocked. "Is Master Zhen a beast tamer or a physician? If Master Zhen can cure him, this lowly one will forever in your debt."

The reason he suspected Zhen Lun as physician or beast tamer was because he could see that the horned wolf is suffering from internal injuries. It's not something that you can perceive with your eyes. Since he could notice it from a single glance, he was either a master physician or beast tamer.

"He got injured when trying to save my grandfather but in the end, my grandfather still died. Please save him!" The merchant pleaded.

His injuries were from twenty years ago. It happened when they're strolling in the forest.

-----

"Grandpa! Don't venture too deep, it's dangerous!" The young man called out.

"Come here! Look who I found. It's a wolf cub." The old man yelled cheerfully.

The old man found a frightened wolf cub running away from something. He quickly picked him up and assured that everything will be fine. As an animal lover, he knows how to calm him down.

The young man quickly rushed over to his grandfather. '...What animal did he pick up again.'

His grandfather was an animal lover, he would always go to stroll into the forest to see what kind of beast can be brought back.

When he was at younger days, during that time Xin Hai City was still a small village. He would always bring a bear or tiger back to his home. He would then scolded by his parents.

Now that he is old, he can no longer hunt like when he is still young but even though he was old, he still loves animals.

Roar!

A roar came from a horned wolf, it was a demonized beast. It appeared out of nowhere and swipes its claws toward him

"Grandfather! Watch out!" The young man warned but it was too late.

Holding the wolf cub on his hand, since there was no time to react. He was forced to sacrifice his hand to defend the horned wolf attack.

"It's demonized! The work of demon again!" The old man was furious. He instantly noticed that the beast went berserk, Judging from its eyes there was no hope for it to be saved anymore.

What made him more furious was that it was the wolf cub's mother. The horned wolf appearance was similar to the wolf cub that he is holding. Not only because of that, but he also can smell the same scent from the cub. He has been a beast tamer for a long time. Even though he's old, his skill would stay the same.

"Quick! Take him away! This old man doesn't have a long life to live. At least I don't want the cub to see her mother dies by my hand." The old man handed the cub over to the young man.

"What are you talking about! Your life is in danger!"

"That cub was demonized too but he still regained his sanity. it's not something that you see every day." Even while his life was on the line, he still admires the cub.

Roar!

The horned wolf was enraged, it was preparing her next attack. It started off by using her domain making the entire area shrouded with her darkness.

"Quick Run!" The old man kept pressuring the young man to escape. He then rushed forward confronting the horned wolf alone.

Using his martial spirit, He transformed himself into a golem. His body became rock solid and tougher but it's not entirely tough enough to withstand the horned wolf attack.

'If only she wasn't demonized, she would be able to kill me easily.' The old man was disappointed.

'When she's in a frenzied state, The only thing she does was swinging her claws mindlessly.' The old man was enraged and sad at the same time.

The Darkness Domain that she activated was merely part of her instinct.

While his grandfather is battling out with the horned wolf, the young man has long run out of the darkness domain.

Unexpectedly the wolf cub escaped out from his hand. For some reason, It ran back inside the darkness domain.

The young man wanted to chase the wolf cub but he's too fast and he was also blinded by the darkness domain.

Escaping out of the domain was easy as he just needs to walk in a straight route and he'll eventually got out but to find his grandfather in the darkness, that was hard.

It wasn't a simple darkness domain, not only it cut off your sense of sight, but your sense of direction was also disturbed.

As for the wolf cub, he has darkness affinity. He wouldn't get lost in the darkness domain. He should be able to find his way on his own.

The wolf cub is quite intelligent despite its age. He wasn't going to abandon the old man that tried to save him. Judging from their physical abilities, he knew that the old man cannot beat his mom.

At this moment, the horned wolf and the old man was on a stalemate but due to his old age, his transformation cannot remain for long.

'Tch, I can only hold out this much. at least your son is safe.' The old man smiled even though he was at death's door.

As the claw about to hit him, a small figure appeared in front of him and protected him from the attack even though he doesn't need it.

The cub sacrificed his horn to protect the old man. It was also got injured severely as he was thrown to the ground due to the force.

The old man was confused to see the wolf cub actually went back here.

Seeing the wolf cub getting injured, he was truly enraged now. With the last strand of his strength, he quickly finishes off the horned wolf, sacrificing everything he got. Though he managed to stop the horned wolf, he himself was ultimately dead meat.

He prepared to die anyway.

Fwoosh*

The transformation of his was finally undone. The injury he accumulated from the fight appeared on his real body. The blood started to gush out from his horrible injury.

He regretted. He truly didn't expect the wolf cub actually came to protect him.

Pant*

Pant*

"Grandpa!" The young man has finally found them. The darkness was gone and he could finally find them with the light back.

Even though he was dying, the old man still scolded his grandson. "You idiot! Why did you let him go back?"

"Quick! Get him healed!"

Looking at his grandfather condition, he knew that there was no chance at all saving him, understanding his grandfather intention. He quickly rushed over to the wolf cub, picking him up and rushed back to the village to get his injury treated as soon as possible.

He didn't want to leave his grandfather there alone but there was no choice this was his grandfather.

As his grandson, he felt utterly helpless. It was all his fault for not having strength at all If only he didn't slack at training. He really regretted it this time. He cried all the way back as he ran as fast as he can back to his village.

The wolf cub was saved but his the injury wasn't healed completely.

-----

"I'll try but I'm not sure if it will work." He has an idea, he could try feeding him health potion from his shop menu.

"Thank you, Master Zhen. Please approach him carefully." The merchant opened the gate that kept the wolf inside. To be honest, the cage is actually just for decorations. If the horned wolf wanted to escape he could do it without any problem. These steel bars can't stop him at all.

"Un, I'll be fine." Zhen Lun confidently said. He then slowly approached the horned wolf.

Growl...

As Zhen Lun walked in, The wolf stared intensely toward him. He has already started his attack.

From Zhen Lun perspective, due to the gaze of fear. He sees an enormous wolf that is baring his sharp teeth toward him but sadly it doesn't work.

His father or Elder Ye is way scarier than this. This trick will work on a normal person but not him. He kept his calm composure and continue to approach him.

Seeing that his gaze of fear wasn't working, he resorted to his shadow prison. The shadows around the wolf dispersed to all directions.

Shua!

It wrapped around his wrist, leg, body, and neck, trying to prevent him to come closer but to no avail, Zhen Lun easily broke off the entanglement.

The wolf started to get nervous as Zhen Lun slowly approached him.

Five meters...

Three meters...

One meter...

As he was closed enough, He grabbed out his Health Potion out of his inventory menu.

Since the wolf was still afraid of him, he was can't help but was forced to be rough with him. At this point, he no longer approached him slowly.

Activating wind run his speed was increased. With his superior agility, he went and grab the wolf's head.

He then forcefully, opened his mouth with both of his hand. Since his hand was occupied trying to hold his mouth, he was forced to use his mouth to break the potion, letting the red liquid flows down inside the wolf's mouth.

As he finished, feeding the wolf a potion, he quickly backed off.

Using his system he peered into the horned wolf again.

[Horned Wolf] (Level 0)

HP: 3580/4320 MP: 82/82

STR: 621 VIT: 216

AGI: 721 LUK: 72

INT: 687 QI: 482

Skill:

Mythical Beast: Intermediate Darkness-Bloodline Lvl 2, Darkness Domain Lvl 7, Shadow Prison Lvl 5, Gaze of Fear Lvl 3

Demonic Beast: Lowly Demonic-Bloodline Lvl 5, Lowly Mana Core Lvl 3

'It works!' The injured status was gone and it restored 1000 HP of his too, it seems to be slowly regenerate his health back.

He regained his former stats back. His current strength actually became comparable to his.

Currently, the horned wolf was confused. He was trying to get used with his current body. He was actually healed by the mysterious liquid.

Even though he can't speak, he still understood what happened. That man was trying to cure his injuries.

Most of the mythical beast does not have good relationships with human, they always feel prideful and won't serve human but this horned wolf is different. He has full trust toward the humans. He was saved and raised by a human. He was never mistreated by them before.

Therefore, he immediately trusted Zhen Lun without hesitation. He stood in front of Zhen Lun and kneeled down with his head down. It the sign of submission, allowing the person to contract with him.

Zhen Lun understood the horned wolf intention. Since he healed his injuries he must have been grateful toward him.

"Can I?" Zhen Lun asked the owner. Once he sealed the contract there's no turning back. The beast will become his and his only.

"Of course, since he wanted to follow you. I don't mind at all. Keeping him down here wasn't a good idea too. Besides, I can't contract with him since I'm only at Qi Gathering Realm." Mythical Beast that reached Transcendent Mortal realm can only contract with a human that reached Transcendent Mortal Realm and vice-versa.

Using the sword Zhen Xin gave him, he made a tiny injury on his finger and drip the blood on the wolf's forehead. With this, the blood contract was sealed. The beast cannot betray his master nor could he undo the seal. When his master die he will also die with his master.

Since the wolf has found a new master, he happily left the underground without being told to.

The merchant was very grateful that he was healed. He didn't let his grandfather down anymore. The wolf cub has finally grown up and was following the person that he admired.

Zhen Lun also thanked him, if he didn't let him tame the horned wolf, they would've forced to travel by foot. He wanted to pay some gold but the merchant rejected it.

"He is not for sale and never for sale. If I receive your gold, it would be seen as I've sold him to you. My grandfather will be disappointed in me." The owner said in a suppressed tone. "I believe that my grandfather is more than willing, letting him follow you."

"I understand, I will take good care of him. Before that could you let me pay my respect to your grandfather?" Hearing the story, he is truly a man worthy of his respect.

"Please follow me." The owner leads them to upstairs, where the ashes of his grandfather were kept, it's not just his corpse but the horned wolf corpse as well.

Back then when he got back to the forest to bury his grandfather body. He was speechless when he saw their body.

His grandfather dragged himself over to the horned wolf, there are tears could be seen from both of them, His grandfather actually went over to comfort her. Both of them died tragically, It was all because of the demon.

"That's why we decided to burn their corpse together." The owner became depressed as he recalled the horrible scene.

Zhen Lun has finished paying his respect to his grandfather. He then returned to downstairs where his horned wolf and Xiao Xue was at.

"Does he has a name?" Zhen Lun asked the owner.

"I think he would be much more happy if you name him yourself." The owner replied. 'Well, we formerly called him blacky.' It's a commonly used name.

"Since you have black furs and has darkness affinity, We'll call you Blacky!"

'...' The owner decided to stay quiet.