In his private area as close as it can be to the sky in the village, Zhu Feng was sprawled on his back at the platform and watching the clouds move lazily while try to calm his breathing and ignore the pain in his legs after one of the hardest attempts to do the footwork right.

It's been more than a year and half since he saw the little in size but great in might girl called Liling, his first benefactor in this life and the first person with supernatural abilities that he got to witness with his own eyes.

He tried to copy her footwork style yet failed again and again and so many times more than he can remember, yet he persevered and kept trying and finally something clicked in this particular training session.

He was rushing himself in every attempt before and wasn't giving his body the leniency to move like it should, when he calmed his eagerness for a result it just felt greatly different and his body moved without him having to think about every move before it happens.

As if his muscles and joints could remember how much force is needed behind every action and Feng felt like his body was on autopilot mode, it was amazing actually to see his body moving so fast yet his mind was very focused on other things besides steering the imaginary wheel of his body!

But Feng somehow felt like the reason for this successful result was the first sword sequence that he started learning less than a couple weeks ago.

The side-effects of the two dosages of the blood purification and the augmenting circulation pills were behind him now and Zhu Feng just ate one of the bone fortification pills yesterday, it was amazing actually for him to eat that much food while seeing his stomach still flat and not inflated like he expected. 

Feng was honestly thankful that his abdominal muscles weren't affected by the increasing appetite, he was proud of the body which he trained and could make male supermodels Back on earth feel very jealous had they saw it, his body's muscle mass were little in comparison to Niu or Xi Qiqiang and he could even be considered small next to them but his body had the best of both worlds while having the strength of a bull it still has the speed and agility of a cheetah.

Good thing was that these bone fortification pills had no effect on Feng's stamina and he could finally regain his prolonged training sessions without having to take a break to hit the restroom or to calm his heaving breath too many times, yet from the second day he gave his servants an order to send him two meal's worth of food in his training spot then to prepare him another similarly large portion when he returns from training then to increase his daily meals by two more meals on the next day when he found himself for the first time in both lives waken up by the hunger bangs in his belly!

Again his beloved citizens kept changing the trend from jokes about Feng's smell to jokes about food and such yet he like always ignored the lively crowd in the streets whenever he exited the manor, still he insisted on taking his kids out on the village streets to acquaint these adorably-silly citizens with their future lords.

Anyway, Zhu Feng had important things to do other than listening to these witty remarks.

*****

After the four wolves practically muscled their way into his pill-storage and forced Feng into giving them a share, then seeing the results after they consumed two pills each during the second week which he had to suffer pissing molten lave alone... this Baron decided to give the six remaining Vitality pills and the ten Bone-Fortification pills to his men! which ones exactly? honestly, he hasn't decided just yet. But, he can always gather the men and discuss things further with them.

Of course Zhu Feng wouldn't divulge his secrets to everyone alike be they foot-soldiers, captains, and commanders! there's a few candidates whom he thinks that he should at least hand them one pill from each type like Xi Qiqiang, Li Canglai, Niu, Ba Tusai, Fu Liwei. However, he still thinks that it'd be better to let them to decide for themselves on this matter, there's no need for him to take everything into his own hands anymore, the decision is theirs to make and Feng could concentrate on his own training... and bigger-sized meals.

"M'lord."

"At ease, where's commander Tusai?"

The two guards currently on-duty at the gates of the barracks greeted their Baron by kneeling on one knee while firm on the shaft of their spears once they saw him walk within ten meters of their position, seeing the young, blain-looking, very charismatic, extremely respectable, naturally easy-going, and down to earth Baron and current protector of the west holding into and balancing his own two little kids very carefully with all the worry in the world on his face while slowly walking next to the brown colored wolf that's currently being used as a simple means of transportation for the two toddlers... caused these two gate-guards to smile widely after seeing this scene.

Actually Zhu Feng asked his men many times before not to kneel or show over the top gestures of respect whenever they meet him but, Tusai said that they're still soldiers and soldiers need rules to restrain them otherwise the ranks would become all messy and these men would lose efficiency.

"In his office, there's a meeting with some merchants from the market outside the Villa."

"The greedy ones?"

"They all look the same to me m'lord! rotund and jiggly with the same clanking music of coins dancing in their pockets."

"Heh... seems like you got them all figured-out."

"The secret is in the eyes m'lord, being shifty and all."

"That they do my man... that they do."

Zhu Feng patted the guard on the shoulder with one hand before quickly returning to his mission of carefully watching over his children on-top of Harmony's back.

The sweetest of all wolves is very different right now compared to two months ago when he swallowed the Blood-Purification and the Augmented-Circulation Pills! Harmony by all means is different both in size and in the type of aura his body naturally exudes all around him, unlike Night who could spread fear and dread into the hearts of those around him after a single glance, or Joy who could frighten everybody in the Villa by suddenly jumping them after practically appearing out of nowhere before disappearing like a ghost! and Thunder who could sense anybody from amazing distances or track them and keep on being their blindsides without being discovered for very, very prolonged distances and timing... Harmony of all his siblings was the only one to share a similar type of feel with their young-lord.

Both naturally and effortlessly have this ability of attracting others towards them, even if they're not doing or saying anything they just... unintentionally cause those around them to somewhat lower their guard and somehow follow after them in the end, Wind and Rain practically adore this brown wolf and began to follow after him everywhere he goes! one week ago an incident happened that caused every single person in the manor to stare wide-eyed from shock.

A brotherly confrontation!

******

Night spotted Wind and Rain tussling together in a secluded garden with his timid little-brother, the big boy has always known that his half-siblings are living nearby in the same den but, since their two-legged friend has warned him about going anywhere close to bully them and how they never crossed his path before and remained within their "territory of banishment" the black wolf never broke the rules by intentionally going where their scent is located however, his little-brother has been playing with the little pups and Night could tell from their scent on him.

Now that they dared to do the foolish act of waltzing outside to play, then the fierce wolf needs to vent some of this frustration after losing a loving mother by teaching these mutts a lesson!

Harmony took a step back in the beginning because this could be a chance where his big-brother gets acquainted with these two cute and adorable little ones, he thought that Night would rough them a bit before having enough since there's no challenge at all to his mighty big-brother if he bullied these weak pups... his big-brother is the strongest that has been a fact for all three of them younger-siblings.

******

The ignorant little variant wolves thought it was an introduction but they got swatted-away before they could get a whiff of the black giant's scent and thought : so it's a game of toss! game-on, we're so gonna run circles around your gigantic black feet until you see circles. Afterwards, we're gonna climb all-over your dizzy body and nibble on your tail until you surrender in defeat.

Then they got pinned-down where each little pup found itself held on its back between a pair of sharp claws and staring upwards at a slightly raised third claw that slowly moved downwards, for the first time in their short life Wind and Rain felt panic, dread, and helpless.

Yowling and squealing for mercy didn't change anything and their half-sibling kept glaring at them from above with the same pair of apathetic eyes, these cruel eyes were the eyes of someone who hates them and they don't even know why! they just met but this giant wants to bully them because he's stronger.

"Whine..."

"Grrr..."

Their sweet friend tried to pacify the angry giant but he threatened him to back-off or they're going to fight, this friend of theirs always takes care of them and plays with them... he keeps warning them of leaving their territory because there's danger outside but they didn't listen and left to explore then got found-out by him in this place, they didn't listen to him and kept playing until this bully arrived and now they're in trouble!

Their kind friend seems to be in trouble because of them, however... he didn't back-off like he was told and accepted the challenge! the giant that was about to bully them did seem like he lost interest in them and pushed them aside before turning to face their sweet friend.

******

"M'lord... the wolves are fighting! Night and Harmony, they're at the manor's back garden. The men are afraid to get in-between them, especially after what happened before when Storm almost tore-off the arm of deputy Xing."

"Huh!... When did he?"

At that time Zhu Feng was on his "Sky platform" and training in solitude after spending six weeks getting used to the suffering from either the hunger or puking-phases which follows whenever the young-Baron consumes a Bone-Fortification Pill, Feng was mentally preparing himself for what comes next on the Pill-menu.

Vitality Pill is the one creation that should greatly boost his achievements in the first movement-sequence of the Howling-Wind sword-art and Lili's footwork, now there's this "gasping guard" that suddenly interrupted Feng before leaning forward to support the weight of his upper-body on his knees, clearly this man has ran without stopping from the manor and climbed all the way as quickly as possible while wearing his armor and holding his spear on hand and slinging his kite-shield on his back side-arm still on his side with the small dagger and all... despite all that this man seems slightly exhausted and not yet at the breaking-point.

But this is not the time where Feng pats himself on the back while admiring the good job that he did in properly taking care of his men, his beast-companions are at each other's throat!

When the guard raised his head to look towards his young-Baron who didn't say anything to answer him after he shouted his report, the man discovered that Zhu Feng is already a few dozens of meters behind him and descending the mountain while gaining in speed, if it weren't because he's currently in an elevated position which gives him a good view then this guard wouldn't be able to clearly estimate the speed of his Lord-Protector or even follow his location.

******

"Whoa!"

"What's gotten into our young-Baron?"

"I dunno, he did seem in quite a hurry though."

"He really is quick on his feet."

"That indeed, I never would've thought that someone could run so fast."

"You lot oughta wipe these looks off your faces, he isn't only fast. The young-Lord is extremely agile too, he's through running this crowded main-street of our Villa without disturbing any pedestrians at all. Doing so requires very quick reflexes and a pair of good eyes, at such high speed the slightest mistake when taking an action or any disturbance that slows your reaction would mean crashing head-first into whatever obstacle that comes in your way."

"I'm so glad that I'm having my meal at the highest floor of this Hui-restaurant, this view is worth every benny paid... not to mention the delicious food."

*******

"Halt!"

"It's me."

"Lord Feng? why's he in such a hurry?"

"Old Si just left a bit earlier and did seem in quite a hurry too, maybe there's something going inside the manor."

Feng shouted at the gate-guards of his manor and all of them retreated into their position while he bolted sprinting into the manor without slowing down.

******

"Growl..."

"Howl..."

two bodies bigger than normally fully-mature warhorse were entangled in a heap of black and brown fur and making a mess of this back garden by unearthing patches of grass and decimating whatever flora or fauna that comes in-between them during this battle for supremacy within the wolfpack!

"Shit! go back... they're coming this way."

"Idjuts! don't bother making shield-wall, you'll be just sent flying with a single swipe if you're lucky or become mangled like old Xing."

"Take the pups somewhere far away from here, we can't risk an accident happening to any of them."

"Look... the captains, they aren't retreating!"

"You must be a new recruit aint'cha."

"So what if I am? I passed the tests same as you."

That young-looking soldier puffed-out his chest with pride and retorted after sensing the ridicule in the tone of voice that his senior used to ask.

"Well it's no wonder that you're feeling that proud in yourself after joining the ranks of the young-lord, the captains however, they're just a different type of breed is all."

"I keep hearing rumors about them receiving special training personally from the Baron lately."

"Wrong yet not so wrong. It's no secret that captains does spar with young-master Zhu, heck even I have tested myself against him a few times before and even won once... however, captain Qiqiang, Niu, and Canglai experienced it much, much more."

"They say that if it wasn't because captain Liwei and commander Tusai's restrictive responsibilities and huge amount of duty, then they would've been included in all these events with the young-Lord. Unfortunately captain Liwei is always busy taking care of the Baron and his family's safety, while commander Tusai is buried with work everyday despite being allocated more than twenty assistants to aid him with everything."

"Yea... our Zhu house is growing and our responsibilities are accumulating."

"Smack... smack, smack... ouch!..."

"Humph, humph, humph... just do your job right and trust in the Baron you bunch of morons, didn't you hear about what he did already? he created the ZhuQing material which general Lian used to cripple the white dogs of the Bai empire by annihilating three of their western-armies and forcing them to retreat back into the mountain-pass of the white mountain! commander Tusai and fifteen of our captains are already wearing the same material you blockheads, now you understand why they aren't retreating. Tsk, I bet they can already separate the two wolves if they want because no harm would come to them but, they must be waiting for the young-lord to arrive while carefully watching them wrestle in-order to intervene if things got dangerous."

Finally someone from the old seventh company who was satisfied with his position as a deputy finally decided to teach these "fence-sitters" a lesson after having enough of their nonsense, the middle-aged man smacked heads and kicked butts wantonly without hesitation or care then drilled some sense of belonging into these young'uns before enlightening them about the truth of this situation while feeling sorry for the gardeners who previously took care of this garden!

******

"Night is a real piece of work, tsk... if only he would accept me!"

"Heh. Big-brother Qiqiang is acting like a virgin-maiden who's experiencing her first love, kekeke..."

"Shut-up Niu, nobody will mistake you for a mute when you keep your silence!"

"Oh no! big-brother is being scary, big-brother Canglai help me."

Two muscular giants standing nearby the hot-zone where Night and Harmony very "gently" snapped and clawed at one another while twirling in the dirt or whenever they managed to regain their footing to stand up and try once again to overcome and pin the opponent.

"You two better focus or it could become really too late for regret before you know it, if one of these two happened to afflict the other one with some dangerous wound then young-master would really become furious... we all know how much he adores them."

Finally Li Canglai warned them of lowering their guard while inwardly sighing after noticing that despite seemingly being serious in this fight, both wolves never went after the vitals of their opponent and kept wrestling while aiming to pin one another to the ground! however, this captain didn't allow himself to relax or trust in the instincts of these quasi demonic beasts.

"Tsk, big-brother Canglai is so serious all the time it's no fun at all! cheer-up a little, there's three of us captains here after all and many more of our men to give us support"

The tall, short-haired, and very muscular man who spoke winked towards the serious middle-aged veteran, unlike himself and Xi Qiqiang who was an active bandit and leader of a group this captain Li Canglai is an example of an uptight rule-bound soldier thorough and thorough! meanwhile this Niu used to be a mercenary, he's someone who's used to being free and unrestricted by unnecessary rules during his work, mainly his job would consist of either protecting some merchant or merchandise or procuring some sort of object, item, or material from somewhere.

Which means that unless the actions being made by his companions during the mission are going to endanger the mission itself or his own life, Niu wouldn't care at all about the why, where, and when some "skirmish" is going to happen.

Among the three captains in this location he's the youngest and he's possibly going to become the strongest in the future however, this young-man who's just a few years older than Zhu Feng was really surprised by how narrow-minded he has been all his life after meeting and interacting with the young-Baron!

Niu's circumstances since a tender age has always been on the rough-side of things, being an orphan who's said to hail-from the region of snake-mountains slightly beyond the desert region between both Shi and Mu kingdoms, Niu was accustomed to the nomadic and harsh life in that area like anybody who lives there, only to toughen-up some more after a few back and forth journeys between the two kingdoms while accompanying trade merchants or whenever there's a rare and lucrative mission when someone requests a guide to the outer-area of beast mountains.

Until a certain incident happened in Sand city approximately about eleven years ago and for some reason Niu almost got implicated by the city-lord who unreasonably demanded for the whole merchant caravan that he happened to be working in it as a pathfinder to be confiscated, and its crew to be imprisoned.

nine years of age and quick to react while being more than lucky at that time, little Niu slipped through the southern-gate of the city and escaped only to hear the news about a couple weeks later, the same city-lord Gui Nianzu along with his entire family just... vanished into thin air!

Being curious about this whole incident and being furious after not getting paid despite scouting the way for the caravan through the freaking desert, Niu retracted his steps back into Sand city and sniffed-around for news about what the fuck was that all about? then he settled in the city after landing a job at the stables that once belonged to the city-lord, little Niu specifically chose that job at that time because he was after that city-lord who disappeared for no apparent reason at all, even if he was assassinated somehow... what about his family that vanished with him? just like any resident of Sand city during that time, Niu wanted to know.

Seasons passed and one year of time went by, news finally arrived.

Gui Nianzu appeared, not in Sand city, not anywhere in the southern parts of Shi kingdom, not anywhere in Shi kingdom.

Former city-lord of Sand city appeared in the royal court of Bai empire and was personally rewarded with the noble rank of count after his meritorious deeds during many years of sabotaging and stressing the trade-relationship between the Shi and Mu kingdoms! the emperor commended Nianzu's excellent tactics and foresight in hoodwinking the entirety of the Shi kingdom and bringing his whole family safe and sound with him without suffering a single loss, however... Gui Nianzu simply laughed and mentioned how he left the investigators from the Shi kingdom a bastard son back in Sand city and how it all depends-on whether or not they're "capable" of finding him.

Ten years old Niu just gritted his teeth after hearing these news and wished if he would find that bastard and tear him to pieces just so that he may vent some of his frustrations, it felt like he was fooled along-with all these so-called royalty and investigators... fooled and robbed of his payment after a month of treading the scorching sand of desert, now it seems like there isn't going to be any chance for him to get any kind of revenge on the city-lord or anyone from his family after what he did.

Honestly, even Niu himself doesn't know what the hell was he thinking at that time!

But he was just a little impulsive child without any kind of supervision who doesn't have anything else to do with his life.

Returning to the stable while intent on collecting his items and leaving this damnable city after discovering that his ultimate plan just failed and that he probably wasted a year working in this place as a stable-boy, good thing that he managed to save some money while unloading almost all of his duty on other stable-boys mostly his main-target would be the quiet brat who's four years younger than him.

That little shit always kept to himself and old Shan who managed the stables did seem like he's giving the bugger some "preferential treatment" for some weird reason, there he found the six years old kid crying while being dragged by that old Shan towards some secluded corner, little Niu curiously followed while expertly disguising himself from the eyes of the old man.

"Young-master... your lord father... Bai empire..."

Little-Niu couldn't hear the whole conversation despite straining his ears and knew that he had to move closer if he wants to hear more however, doing so would make him easily discoverable by old Shan especially when this area of the stable doesn't have any obstacles for him to use as cover.

"No! my mother lived her whole life and died in this city, I'm not going to leave just because of him... so what if I am his son, I'm just a bast-"

"Shhh! silly child lower you voice, do you want both of us to be sent to the gallows?"

"Uncle Shan we're safe here, nobody knows about my identity except for you anyway."

'Not anymore. Gui Nianzu oh Gui Nianzu... you shouldn't have messed with this Niu, nobody is allowed to snatch my payment, net even the city-lord himself. Unfortunately that bastard's father probably doesn't even give a rat's ass about him at all. However, blood is blood and revenge has to be served. You caused me to lose a few coins first, now I'm going to make you lose a son... even if he's just a bastard.'

Little-Niu thought while sneaking a peek at the little shit and the middle-aged man from behind his cover, right now he was certain that he just found his target. As for why he made this boy and his father his targets to begin-with? well... the bastard's father dared to do something which caused little-Niu to lose some coins and that was more than enough for him to waste more than a year of his life practically doing nothing or investigating the whole thing.

"Sigh. Alright little-Lei, remember to keep quiet about this whole matter. Never, ever tell anyone about who your father is, the whole city hates his guts."

"I hate him just as much."

"You and me both, you and me both kid. He got us all in this mess despite being safe outside the kingdom for no reason."

Old Shan ruffled the kid's hair and muttered these words while leaving the boy behind him, little-Niu watched bastard Lei spit and stomp on the ground as if he's standing on the face of some mortal enemy.

Seeing old Shan leaving the stables to have some fun like usual during this time everyday, according to Niu's investigations mostly that man would be in some brothel drinking and suffocating himself with some sweaty pair of tits.

After waiting for a few minutes little-Niu appeared in front of that bastard with a very unusual smile on his face.