Chapter 18: White Wolf's Origin

Su Tan understood.

This little puppy didn't want to die! Not wanting to die was a good thing. It proved that this creature could be of use to him. He had been worried that the little puppy would be too fiercely stubborn and just end its own life right away, not giving him a single chance. As long as it didn't die and could be used by him, what did a mere minor injury matter?

"Deal!" Su Tan smiled, perfectly willing to make a trade. He held out his hand, gesturing for a high-five.

In front of him, the White Wolf King looked at Su Tan in confusion, not understanding the meaning behind the gesture. After a moment of hesitation... it tentatively raised a paw and slowly pressed it against Su Tan's palm.

Su Tan felt something furry, the size of a millstone, press against his palm.

SMACK! Their hands met.

The White Wolf froze for a moment. It stared at the human in front of it and asked in confusion, "Is this... is this what it means to reach an agreement?"

"That's right. A high-five means we've reached an agreement. You can also call it a pact!" Su Tan replied. "Rest assured, my word is my bond. If I promise something, I will absolutely see it through!"

The White Wolf quietly observed the human in front of it. He wasn't very old—definitely no older than a hundred... no... probably not even thirty. He might only be around twenty years old. To be honest, it had met highly respected humans before, but those people either felt sanctimonious or had sweet words but wicked hearts. They definitely weren't the type to keep their promises. Yet this human's words... made it feel secure. It was as if anything that came out of his mouth was more effective than the most binding blood oath. The White Wolf didn't know where this trust came from, but it could clearly feel it.

POOF!

Just as the puppy was lost in its thoughts, a flash of white light appeared. Its body twisted in waves, and in less than a second, it reverted back to its tiny form.

The White Wolf was speechless.

Su Tan also felt the sudden disappearance of the pressure around him.

"This damn injury... Although it's gotten a bit better, it's still a massive problem. I can't maintain my battle form for long!" the White Wolf said. Its voice was soft and milky. It sounded just like the yips of a newborn puppy.

Su Tan couldn't see the changes in the White Wolf, but he could tell what had happened just by listening. Sensing the White Wolf's location, he walked over, crouched down, and scooped up the little puppy.

"Changed back?"

"Yip..." While speaking, it surprisingly let out the occasional baby-like whine.

Su Tan could feel the little puppy instinctively trying to resist and push his hands away. But immediately after... it suppressed its urge to fight back, allowing itself to be held. Since the day it was born, it had never been carried around by any human like a tiny pet—except by the human right in front of it. In truth, the White Wolf was quite displeased.

"Don't move! I won't hurt you," Su Tan said.

The White Wolf rolled its eyes at Su Tan and fell silent. Of course, Su Tan couldn't see this.

If you wanted a pet to get used to you quickly, you had to find ways to get close to it. Petting it, hand-feeding it, playing with it, giving it a bath—any of those would work. This was something a Beast Tamer from his previous life on Earth had told him. Su Tan thought it was a pretty good method. No matter the creature, they all needed companionship.

Su Tan cradled it in his arms. "I want to know more about you. Let's have a good chat."

Carrying the Little White Wolf, he took a few steps...

Its previously silent and stiff body—which felt akin to a young maiden sacrificing herself to a creepy older man—suddenly started squirming.

"What is it now?"

"You... in front of you... there's something... you're going to trip..." the little puppy warned.

"An obstacle?"

"Yes, a stool!" The little puppy nodded frantically.

Su Tan shuffled his feet forward and, sure enough, bumped into an overturned stool. He thought for a moment and said, "I know the layout of this room by heart. There was never a stool here before. Tell me... did you make a mess of the things in the room?"

"Uh..." Knowing it was in the wrong, the little puppy actually shrank its tiny body, which Su Tan could clearly feel. "I... I didn't mean to. When I transformed just now, I messed up a few things."

This little guy... Su Tan shook his head helplessly.

"Does that mean, aside from knocking over the stool, you've messed up other things as well?"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" After shrinking, whether the little puppy was deliberately acting cute or was just naturally adorable, it gave off a helpless vibe. The timid way it acted after making a mistake was incredibly endearing.

Su Tan unconsciously patted the little guy's head. "Forget it. I won't punish you this time. But later, you have to put everything back the way it was. Remember, from now on, you are not allowed to make a mess of anything in this room. Do you understand?"

Su Tan placed the overturned stool back by the table. The moment he touched the stool, he knew exactly where it belonged in the room.

"Okay..." the little puppy didn't refuse, nor was it particularly dissatisfied. After all, it was the one who had made the mess.

CREAK.

Su Tan closed the door.

He arranged the items on the table, including the meal he had been eating earlier. He hadn't finished it. The village chief had delivered more food than usual today; it was probably an extra-large portion. It was still hot.

"Do you want to eat?"

"No need, I have my own rations!" The Wolf King waved its little paw in refusal.

"Are you sure you don't want any?"

"I don't eat stuff with no nutritional value."

No nutritional value! Su Tan shrugged. These were some of his favorite dishes, and there was even meat in them. How could it say they had no nutritional value? Perhaps as a Demon Beast, it had its own pride when it came to its diet. Su Tan couldn't be bothered to argue with it. He couldn't spoil it. If it didn't want to eat, so be it. He would see if it still refused to eat once it got hungry.

"Alright then. Go tidy things up."

The little puppy nodded its tiny head and leapt out of Su Tan's embrace.

CLANG CLATTER...

It began cleaning up the room it had messed up. Su Tan paused for a moment but decided to leave it be, busying himself with clearing the table. Once the bowls and chopsticks were cleared away, the little guy had also just finished restoring the room to its original state.

"Come here," Su Tan summoned.

The little guy's highly anthropomorphic expression was quite something. It curled its lips and reluctantly crawled back into Su Tan's arms. Su Tan patted its little head and nodded in satisfaction.

You had to make the pet understand who the master was and who the pet was. Only by establishing clear roles and status could you properly tame it. This was also something a Beast Tamer from his past life had told him. He had once wanted to raise a dog, so he had specifically sought advice from that Beast Tamer.

To think that someone would use dog-training methods to train a Demon King... If other Beast Tamers found out, their jaws would drop! Su Tan couldn't help it. When it came to Beast Taming, this meager amount of experience was all he had. What else could he do? Call it "Daddy" to get it to listen to him?

"Now, we can have a proper talk," Su Tan said. "Where are you from? What's your background? What's your exact cultivation level? And why did you show up in Chen Family Village, right in my courtyard?"

He needed to know these things about his own pet.

"This..." Seeing Su Tan get straight to the point without beating around the bush, the little guy didn't know how to answer. It didn't really want to expose its identity.

"Not willing to say? We still have a deal, so I need to understand your situation! Deal aside, I am your master. You don't have to hide anything from me."

After hesitating for a long time, the White Wolf finally made up its mind and said,

"Alright, since that's the case, I won't hide it anymore. I come from the Demon Emperor Forest and possess the bloodline of the Royal Race. Because other members of the Royal Race rebelled and killed my parents, I fled. After hiding and running for my life, I ended up in human territory!

"Once I entered human territory, my enemies didn't dare act recklessly. Plus, my origin was collapsing, so that guy probably thought I was dead for sure and couldn't be bothered with me anymore. That's how I managed to escape their pursuit!"

The little puppy's words were very calm. There were no furious roars, nor were there any vows of vengeance. It was extremely calm, as if... it were narrating an ordinary event that had nothing to do with it.

This made Su Tan look at it in a new light.