Chapter 19: Accidentally Became the Boss

Su Tan knew that calmness did not mean the White Wolf wasn't angry or didn't want revenge. On the contrary, he could sense the relentless, do-or-die determination burning in its chest. This was hatred taken to the extreme—a mindset that had already accepted a battle where only one of them would survive. Therefore, there was no need to express it through superfluous, irrelevant threats.

"Sigh..." Su Tan shook his head. Competition in this world was just that fierce. One second you were a member of the Royal Race, and the next you might become a prisoner, or even lose your life. The animal kingdom was cruel. No, not just the animal kingdom—competition in the human world was equally cruel! Su Tan didn't know how to express his thoughts.

"Once I was safe, I searched for a place to stay in the nearby forest," the wolf continued. "Later, my injuries flared up. My head became foggy, and I felt like I was going to die. I vaguely smelled a comforting life force radiating in the air... Following the direction in a daze, I ended up here. You know the rest."

The rest was not hard to understand. Su Tan realized that the overflowing life force from when he healed the flowers and plants in his courtyard must have attracted this little guy. Its appearance wasn't a coincidental stumble into the courtyard; it was purposeful and logical.

"Then what about your cultivation?" Su Tan asked.

He could sense that this little guy wasn't some ordinary runt, but a terrifying creature. Judging by the imposing aura it displayed when taking its giant form, its cultivation was likely quite high. It had only been beaten back to its original form—that of a little puppy—because its origin had been damaged. As for the exact level of its original cultivation, Su Tan had no idea. In truth, he only had a vague impression of this world's cultivation realms.

"My current cultivation... I'm not entirely sure, but it's definitely far weaker than my peak. Because my origin was damaged, my cultivation regressed quite a bit," the little guy explained, instantly puffing up with confidence. "But rest assured, as long as I can still fight, not a single person in your Celestial Fragrance Empire is my match! That includes the so-called number one expert of Celestial Fragrance residing in the imperial palace!"

It accidentally caught a glimpse of Su Tan and noticed that he looked rather excited, as if he had just found a treasure. What was with that expression?

Su Tan was indeed excited; he hadn't expected this little guy to be so powerful. When he first arrived in this world, he had been worried about accidentally offending someone and being killed by a passing cultivator, so he hadn't dared to act recklessly. Now, he had unintentionally gained a super bodyguard. What did this mean? With it around, his life in Celestial Fragrance would at least be guaranteed, and he might even reap numerous other benefits. How great was that? It was like winning a multi-million-dollar jackpot! How could he not be excited?

Seeing Su Tan's expression, the little guy immediately warned, "Stop daydreaming! Didn't I tell you I'm still on the run? Furthermore, we're in human-controlled territory. Demon Beasts and humans have never been on friendly terms, and there are major problems with my body... I can't be too high-profile. If I attract the attention of the entities at the very top of the human pyramid, things will end badly!"

The little puppy was also afraid that Su Tan's ego would inflate to the point where he'd order it to annihilate the Celestial Fragrance Emperor so he could take the throne himself.

"So... put away those thoughts of making me conquer Celestial Fragrance so you can be king!" the little wolf-dog added.

Su Tan was speechless. He did want the Little White Wolf to guarantee his safety, but... becoming the Celestial Fragrance Emperor was something he had never considered. Su Tan liked power and money as much as anyone, but he knew his own limits. Being an emperor wasn't a capability everyone possessed, and he, Su Tan, was simply not emperor material. Nor had he ever truly wanted to be one.

Others might want to become the emperor for the harem, power, and wealth, but Su Tan often looked at things from a different perspective. Where others only saw benefits, he also saw the responsibilities. This was perhaps due to his different upbringing and his past experience as a low-level department manager. Others only saw that he had the power to boss people around, but they didn't see the burden he carried to ensure those people could make a living... right up until he collapsed from exhaustion. Of course, that was all in the past; there was no use dwelling on it.

"Relax, I have no interest in that position. All I care about is whether you can guarantee my safety within the Celestial Fragrance Empire!" Su Tan spread his hands.

"Just? Just that?" The Little White Wolf looked at Su Tan in disbelief. Were there actually people who didn't like power, harems, and wealth?

"If it's just that... As long as we don't cause a huge commotion, like annihilating Celestial Fragrance, I can guarantee you can roam unopposed through this empire. You won't be threatened by any family, any faction, or anyone—including the Celestial Fragrance royal family!" The White Wolf was extremely confident about this.

"Well then, your cultivation is quite decent!" Su Tan appraised upon hearing this.

Hearing the White Wolf's words put Su Tan completely at ease. He knew the White Wolf was definitely holding back somewhat. For instance, the caveat about not causing a huge commotion or annihilating Celestial Fragrance... In reality, even if it truly intended to destroy the empire, it probably wouldn't be an issue. But to keep Su Tan from getting a big head, it had listed all sorts of reasons why it couldn't act rashly. If it hadn't set restrictions and Su Tan happened to be a power-hungry person, it might really bring about a catastrophe in the end.

But Su Tan wasn't that kind of person. He had zero interest in destroying Celestial Fragrance. There was no need for it. To do so without rhyme or reason—Su Tan wasn't that psychotic.

"COUGH!" The White Wolf nearly choked on blood in exasperation.

That was what he called "quite decent"??? Did he know what it meant for one person to rival an entire country? That was heaven-defying!

"I definitely can't fight frequently right now," the wolf warned. "Every time I take action, I suffer massive repercussions. If things go wrong, I could drop dead on the spot. So... if you want me to protect you better, you need to hurry up and cure my injuries!"

What the White Wolf said was the truth. It was heavily injured.

"Don't worry, I definitely won't slack off on this. But it can't be rushed. It's not that I don't want to speed things up, but there's a daily limit to the amount of life force you can absorb. There's nothing I can do about it!" Su Tan said helplessly.

The White Wolf was also aware of this detail. Being anxious was useless; it could only take things slowly. In fact, it felt that the situation was already pretty good. Damaging one's origin was fundamentally a terminal illness for any cultivator or Demon Beast. It could not be resolved without a special Emperor's Dao. Fortunately, it was lucky enough to meet Su Tan.

Who would have thought that an ordinary human would possess the ability to heal origin injuries? No matter how it thought about it, it couldn't make sense of it. It would never know that Su Tan possessed a system, nor would it ever know that he had accidentally equipped an Extreme Armor Fragment that could restore life force.

"There's actually a question I really want to ask you," the Little White Wolf hesitated for a long while before finally speaking up.

"Oh?"

"Just now, when I mentioned my origins, the Demon Emperor Forest, and my royal bloodline, your reaction was completely plain and ordinary. Yet, why did your expression change the moment I brought up my cultivation? Could it be that compared to the Demon Emperor Forest and a royal bloodline, you're more interested in trivial strength?" the Little White Wolf asked.

Su Tan felt slightly embarrassed.

COUGH COUGH.

Was that place really that badass? It had to be... Otherwise, why would the Little White Wolf have that kind of expression?

"Of course I was shocked, I just didn't show it..." Su Tan feigned a confident look and squared his shoulders.

The Demon Emperor Forest? What place was that? Su Tan had absolutely no clue, so what was there to be shocked about! As for the royal bloodline... Su Tan had assumed it just meant being the pup of some Wolf King from a random wolf pack in the wilderness. Even if its cultivation was a bit higher, there were so many wolf packs in the world, and every pack had its own royal bloodline. It wasn't rare. He knew absolutely nothing about all this... How could he possibly be shocked?

But cultivation was a different story. Hearing that it could sweep through Celestial Fragrance unchallenged! Just let that sink in... let it really sink in! How badass was that!

However... that was his previous mindset. Now, hearing the White Wolf King reiterate the Demon Emperor Forest, even a fool would know that it was definitely no ordinary place.