"Aaand four!"

"That's five."

"Ugh... I feel like puking my guts out!"

"You're welcome to take care of that after completing this set."

"Stop being a sissy, can't you all see that the captains are already doing three-times more than we need to do?"

"Humph. It's all because of them you know! had they given us the order to separate Harmony and Night then we wouldn't have to do all this shit."

"If you can talk that long then you can do more sets! aaand nine..."

"I'm done for the day."

"Yes captain, you're free to go clean-up. Make sure you have a quick meal before you head to the garden, the young-lord specifically requested you to supervise the work there. 'try to reflect on your mistakes otherwise Shadow is going to pay you a visit somewhere deep in one of 'em nights.' he said."

"The fuck you little shit! do you really have to keep bringing that up every single time? I've been trying for months to forget all about what happened back then you know."

"Orders are orders captain, don't hate the messenger, I'm nothing but a soldier who's following the instructions of his young-Baron."

"I'm not blaming you man, it's just that... I feel like there's a whole nest of ants crawling underneath my skin whenever I remember how that sly warhorse almost kicked to my grave! sometimes the whimpering of any horse makes me feel like screaming my lungs out because of terror you know."

"Aaand set! soldiers hit the showers and report back to the barracks for further instructions," The soldier who's responsible for overseeing the punishment of the captains and soldiers who stood-by and watched while Harmony and Night had their "garden-destroying" competition clapped then signed a piece of paper and handed it to the first soldier to stand-up from the ground then turned to look towards the bald dark-skinned captain who's rubbing his forearms to remove the goosebumps away and said : "The young-lord also instructed me to say these words : 'Mental-trauma or in the commonly-known name "heart-demons" is one of the most difficult problems anyone could ever face, the most easy way to overcome it is with courage by facing it head-on! the other way is by talking it with others and unraveling it thread by thread until it's no longer tangling around the mind in uncomfortable twists... you just learn to live with it and see it in it's true size. The dumbest way to deal with it is by burying it or trying to forget it, that method only allows it to grow by feeding on the shadows because... it's born from the darkness within our hearts. Only by shining light on it can you really make it truly disappear.' Captain Qiqiang already seems very comfortable talking about it, at least to me that is." Then that soldier moved towards the other two captains Niu and Canglai who seem like a pair of zombies judging by how slow they're doing each set, their lifeless and unenthusiastic eyes already spoke volumes about how these two are unsatisfied with how things have been after the incident.

"Looks like the young-lord has taken everything to consideration already, I'm going ahead of you guys, don't take all day doing some push-ups and leave me do all the work like you've been doing all week."

Niu : "Grow some hair."

Li Canglai : "Grow some brain."

Xi Qiqiang : "You bunch of turtles could hold a damn grudge alright! I already said that I'm sorry but whatever, suit yourselves... let's go Night. This training-ground is starting to reek of the smell of jealousy... Kakakaka..."

"Woof..."

"Hey no biting! I'm not wearing any protection."

"Snort..."

"You're in an awfully bad mood today, a sumptuous meal aught ta fix it all up." 

"Damn bastard, someday I swear I'll make him swallow these words or my name isn't Niu."

"Sigh. Let him be smug all he wants, I have good news." Canglai whispered these words in the end to make sure the soldier nearby wouldn't be able to listen.

Hearing these words and seeing the secretive behavior of his partner in punishment caused the muscular young-man to become very curious and he agile like a monkey held the horizontal-bar next to him with one hand and began to transition himself from one horizontal-bar to the next until he became side by side with the older captain where they continued to do their pull-up sets, while pulling his chin above the metal-bar and maintaining that position Niu almost grunted these words faintly : "What news."

Li Canglai once again confirmed with his eyes that the bored-looking soldier isn't within hearing range and said : "Harmony and Joy must've mated yesterday, you know how my wife is a close friend with the Baroness and lady Biyu. She was supposed to meet them but it didn't happen and one of the maids said to her that they're gathered in their private-quarters having fun with their children, but it isn't true... after Harmony won that day the Baron took him and Joy to the vault and both of them was rewarded a beast-core which they ate soon afterwards. You know how I was mostly responsible for that place back in the days, some of the men from that shift told me about it in the morning when I asked if they happened to see the Baron yesterday... think about it, all the secrecy, the Baron suddenly feeding these two beast-cores. Then secluding them in the privacy of his own quarters, it all suddenly clicks together when you hear this... one of the maids who always gets spooked by Joy whenever she's back after delivering food or water to the Baroness says that she's certain that Joy was in heat a few days ago but suddenly she isn't anymore after yesterday! this usually takes her more than a week to finally go back to normal... and just like her mother Storm was before her... after consuming that beast-core the color of Joy's fur is becoming more and more of the silver-color by the day. She's turning into a low-grade demonic-beast while Harmony has clearly became one judging by how much he has changed lately, he's almost as big as Shadow and that's a big-ass warhorse already!"

"I take it that you're planning on..."

"Exactly my brother, you're quick to catch-up unlike that fool with the sesame-sized brain."

"But wouldn't his Night be already much stronger by the time our wolves grow-up?"

"Tsk. His Night was born from a normal animal as a normal beast, yes Storm was a ferocious, fearless, and a really dangerous animal but... a demonic-beast is by far more lethal. The offspring of these two are already considered demonic-beasts while being pups, why do you think Night tried to attack his half-sibling on these two occasions? the black-wolf already feels threatened by them! not to mention how that Snow was a pure-blooded demonic-beast... in the wedding festivities I talked with advisor Jianjun and he said that demonic-beast was a middle-grade demonic-beast... when it was born." Li Canglai exchanged a look with the man next to him before releasing the metal-bar and relaxing his arms and stretching his muscles to remove the burning feeling.

"Damn! doesn't that mean that Wind and Rain are the best of the best?" Niu almost screamed these words and struggled really hard to whisper them, the expression on his face gave his excitement though.

"Don't you even think about asking the young-Baron for any of them! Wind... the male of the two little wolves already belongs to the youngest-Baron Fang while Rain belongs to the youngest-Baroness Meili, you can either wait for these two to mate and ask the young kids for one of the pups, or be quick about it and ask the young-lord for permission to raise one of the young demonic-beasts after Joy delivers her first litter." The old captain shook his head and began to run around the area of training-grounds, everyday he's supposed to run one-hundred laps at a normal-pace and sprint another fifty, do about a thousand push-ups and five-hundred pull-ups, three-thousand squats and a thousand of each abdominal-routines that amounts to five thousands! Canglai and Niu could've finished this round of punishment around the time Xi Qiqiang has finished if they took things seriously but, both men are feeling annoyed since their companion managed to win the favor of the mightiest-looking wolf... well not anymore since Harmony out-grew his big-brother in size after consuming a beast-core, even Joy is a size bigger right now.

Niu ran after his friend until he caught-up and said : "Then let him be happy for now, I'm going to feed my pup the best food and personally train it to be strong, fast, and smart like its father Harmony and cunning, sly, and patient like its mother Joy."

"My thoughts exactly! let's give that Yan-born the surprise of his life and enjoy watching his expression of shock when our second-generation wolves pin their uncle to the ground right in front of him." Li Canglai cackled and seemed like he's seeing it actually happen right in front of his eyes.

"Then we should take turns bullying the hairless fuck until he begs for mercy and apologizes while on his knees!" Niu seems to have this maniacal-glint within his eyes.

Li Canglai noticed it within the eyes of his young friend and ignored it since they both share the same target and said : "Well, let us bring it to the light after this week is over-with, having to spend two weeks repeating all these routines makes me feel like I'm stuck in a period of frozen time! one more week to go."

"Yes let's do just that."

******

While Li Canglai and Niu were formulating their plans Zhu Feng was entering through the gates of the barracks with Harmony who's carrying both Zhu Fang and Zhu Meili on his back.

"Woof... woof..." The brown wolf noticed his big-brother and greeted him while feeling excitement and wagging his tail, the only reason why Harmony didn't run towards Night is because he's currently responsible for transporting the little ones of his best-friend. It's been a week since they last met and during this week the brown wolf feels like things changed... really changed... a lot!

"Whine..." Night didn't seem enthusiastic after meeting this little-brother of his, honestly he doesn't feel confident around him like he used to feel before.

The black wolf lowered his ears and practically tried to hide himself behind this new friend of his, he's strong but he's also very silly and really annoying most of the time.

"Young-lord. What brings you her-"

"Less nonsense, you still have work to do." Feng interrupted the baldy then gestured towards the back garden with his thumb while smiling dangerously then said : "Or I can always reserve you an appointment with Shadow if you want."

Xi Qiqiang gawked then quickly composed himself and smirked before saying : "Oh that! well I don't think that it works anymore, maybe I should bring Night and go "talk" things out with him later instead." The former bandit leader seemed to finally find his confidence and crossed his arms.

"Then maybe I should warn you about something lest your overinflated-ego and self-esteem be your ruin and downfall, around my mount you'll be surprised to find about a few hundred followers, all of these followers of his are sexually-frustrated male warhorses because my beloved and not so frightening mount took all their mates for himself after I demanded to see some foals from his bloodline! meanwhile all the females practically adore my steed because he fulfills their needs whenever they're in the mood and their number is... one thousand. Before you mess with that hornet's nest think about this little detail : 'If you fail, could you outrun that herd?' You better think it through my old friend." Zhu Feng gave Qiqiang a look of ridicule before turning to look towards Night who's getting licked and warmly welcomed by his lovely brown brother right now and said : "Night! com'ere boy, I missed you a lot."

"Awoo!"

"Oh no you don't," Seeing the black wolf being intent on tackling him to the ground, Feng lowered his center of gravity and met Night head-on then circled his thick waist with his arms and easily lifted him up from the ground, after consuming five Bone-Fortification Pills and eating like a starved ghoul while training with extreme intensity that any Olympic gold-medalist would despair after trying that harsh and ruthless training-menu for a week let along a couple months! this young-lord has by far surpassed the two physically-strongest men among his followers and left Qiqiang and Niu behind him questioning whether or not if they're ever going to catch up, "Got you, kekeke... is that moron treating you well?"

"Grrr..."

"Is he?"

"Woof!..."

"Then you're welcome to take a chunk of his arms or a piece of his ass if he keeps annoying you too much."

"Awooo!..."

Xi Qiqiang who was having a nightmare-like mental-journey with his drifting-thoughts while being fully awake after hearing that especially petrifying-warning from his young-lord suddenly awoke after hearing this conversation between his black wolf and the Baron! 'The fuck!' The bald muscular captain thought while frowning at these two, "Cough! m'lord I have to excuse myself, this servant still has work to do." After saying these words the dark-skinned man thumped his left chest with a fist and quickly escaped, Night gave Feng a few licks of love before glancing towards his much stronger-looking little-brother with some envy in his eyes before trotting after the "idiot" and drooling while fantasizing snapping his jaws around that fool's butt to teach him a lesson and clearly demonstrate his superiority in the hierarchical-ranking of their relationship.

******

"Woof!..."

"Heh. I know, believe me sweet Harmony I know... that big-brother of yours is certainly going to "mark" Qiqiang's posterior."

"Whine..."

"Humph. Let him do it, that moron has been going too far with his poor wife in bed lately and almost broke her in two! Biyu and Lanfen are already furious with him and demand that he be whipped after what he did however, it's probably my fault... maybe I've pushing it too far with the mental-therapy in the past week. Anyway, he's not getting laid with his woman until he fixes that attitude of his and makes it up for her, my women will make sure of that."

"Snort..."

"Well... Night is going to take care of that in your place, no need to dirty 'em fangs."

"Giggle..."

"Not you Fang! my Fang needs to stay clean otherwise mommy is going to nag daddy all day about it, Meili, Meili, Meili... don't! that's nasty, hands-off the ground young-lady, up in the air... freeze right now!" Zhu Feng heard the giggling laughter of his eldest son and became distracted then noticed how his few months old daughter was about to touch the not so dirty stone ground of the barracks and his overprotective-character materialized in front of his wolf and his two gate-guards, Harmony tilted his head to the side when he noticed how his friend snatched the little one then replaced her back on his back then did the same with the other little ones and kept gently patting and straightening their clothes with meticulous-care! the gate-guards smiled once they saw their young-Baron being a typical father, "Harmony! we had an agreement, you take care of the kids while I take care of business, why did you leave my children on the floor? you could've greeted Night while they're on your back you know."

"Whine..." The brown wolf apologized while feeling hurt after hearing these words, the reason he did so is because his big-brother is someone who's easily provoked, Harmony was afraid that Night might resume their earlier challenge without care if these little ones are already on his back! the sweetest wolf was in a way... taking care of Zhu Fang and Zhu Meili before taking care of a member of his own family, a flesh and blood brother.

"Your mission, responsibility, and first priority are these two... always these two! in a situation where there's a choice between fight or flight always choose flight, flee as if your tail is on fire."

"Woof!..."

"Good, good, good. Now when there's..." The two gate-guards watched their young-lord walk towards commander Ba Tusai's office while teaching his wolf tactics and teasing the cheek of his young daughter.

"Sigh. Baron Feng makes me feel sorry about my children, I really didn't give them the attention they deserve back in the days and neglected their mother as well."

"Old Peng. Don't be sad, certainly there's still time to fix some things from the past, you just need to make the effort for it."

*****

"Impossible! you're going too far by asking us to donate all that money, we're merchants not nobles."

"Sigh. Commander Tusai, we really are helpless on this matter... having well-paved roads certainly is going to make our lives much easier and our journeys between cities a lot easier however, we're already paying our tax to the kingdom plus the extra coins whenever we use the trade-roads. Don't you think it's unfair to demand more from us even before you gave us any service?"

"Indeed."

"Gentlemen. Please calm-down, you're already given more than a single "service" for free, the market which most of you have been wantonly exchanging for less and selling away for more than two-times what you paid for is one "service" for free, being exempted from tax for more than a year and six months within our territories is another "service" for free, enjoying the luxurious lifestyle that doesn't exist anywhere else in this kingdom and the surrounding countries in-exchange for discounted-prices is yet another "service" for free! now that we offer you this opportunity to become our partners and contribute in our next project in-exchange for many special-benefits you... ask for more? do you all think our Baron and Lord-Protector of the West is someone who's easy to bully and take advantage of?"

"Certai-"

"Let me be clear on this point right here right now," Before one of the fat merchants got to even answer the rhetorical-question that he asked earlier, commander Ba Tusai cut the man off with his words then circled the men and women across the round-table in his office with his eyes before sharply before resuming his words and saying : "Before Baron Feng frowns that market outside would be flattened to the ground, once the promise my young-lord made after young-lady Meili was born is over then tax within the entire western-territories would be administered on everyone according to his wishes or... you all are more than welcome to enrich the coffers of the royal-crown by using the well-protected trade-roads! however, once our network of trade-roads are established every single one of you would be treated like anybody else, you'll receive no preferential-treatment, no discounts, no profits, no chance to pay less tax after contributing to the kingdom, no warm welcome within the territories of the Baron... nothing." The short commander leaned back on his seat and waited in silence after finishing these words and simply looked at the different faces with an emotionless expression as if the skin on his cheekbones has turned into stone.

"This..." Some middle-aged woman tried to speak however, Ba Tusai raised his hand to stop her as well.

The short commander said while making a waving and dismissive-gesture with his hand by pointing towards the door of his office then said : "You're welcome to take your time and think this matter through first, Baron Feng understands your troubles already, it isn't that we're in a hurry because we need help it's because... our generous Lord-Protector is a man of vision! he requested that we include citizens from the western-territories in this project to encourage unity between the subjects underneath the reigning-crown and improve social, financial, cultural, and civil relations between us to push the wheel of civilization forward into a better future. Doing everything by ourselves might slow us down slightly but, at least that way we wouldn't have to worry about anyone that happens to have second thoughts in the middle of the journey."

"Then please excuse this old one commander Tusai."

"Commander..."

When these men and women began to leave his office commander Ba Tusai was in a daze-like state where the words from these two-faced merchants seemed to come from very, very far away.

*****

"Heh. You really, really look like you need a break my dear friend. I've been standing here for a few minutes yet your thoughts are still within that imaginary world of yours, were you fantasizing about something perverted? come-on tell me! I promise that I won't tell your wife."

"Now you've said somethin that makes me feel really, really, really worried about what to tell and what to never tell to you. Young-Lord, is it really necessary for us to pull these merchants? with the gold coins that we have in the treasury right now we're more than capable of finishing these roads way before the deadline, the tax our Villa would be required to pay every year would be much less than we could earn from these roads and from the citizens in our Villa, they're making way more than they need to spend every year anyway!"

Zhu Feng nodded then took a seat near his loyal-commander and munched on a piece of fruit while listening to his worries before saying : "We can, we can go a step further and hire protection to ensure their safety during these journey or deploy our own men at a much lower cost! however, we should never do so. Do you know why?" Ba Tusai shook his head then took a cup of water to quench his thirst, "Because the only thing these guys would really do everything within their power and stop at nothing to protect is their wealth, you shouldn't underestimate their connections because they're citizens without any noble rank, any of them could buy their way into nobility practically effortlessly all the way to the title of Duke if they're willing or capable of paying the steep price for it! having them contribute even if it's a little each means that we already have them in our "honeytrap" and of course we wouldn't let them leave our grasp afterwards, right now they're like a fly that could smell the sweet scent of profit that our project could make but, they're a group of people who're cautious by nature that likes risk-free yet high-gain deals. That's why we need to give them a quick "taste" of what we have to offer while denying them the chance to dip their fingers into our honeypot!"

"How would we do that?"

"Rock-city."

"Young-Baron... do you mean!"

"Exactly. That location has always been the first direction of our plans anyway, right now the production of our farms is more than sufficient to supply the requirement of every single family that lives within the Villa and the requirements from the various food-stores plus the outer-market, we need to expand our market anyway. Us flooding the not so profitable market when it comes to food-business in Rock-city would send a message and warning to these greedy-merchants, a message that says : 'We're right here, we can pull the rug from underneath of your feet in a heartbeat if you think you're safe.' by doing so we would practically force them into dividing into two divisions instead of uniting against us and forcing us to compromise and accept their demands, since we're closer two the three major-cities of the west, since we don't have to pay ourselves tax, since we don't have to pay ourselves for the protection, since we're well-equipped and capable of protecting ourselves outside the kingdom if we wish to trade with three more kingdoms, then... we're more than a threat to their businesses and could deal all of them a crippling-blow if we wish to do so. Not to mention that we're not only restricted to deal with food-businesses, we could deal in clothing or even armaments if we wish to do so since old Da Donghai is already a grandmaster-blacksmith, having him recruit some of the talented ones within the craft-school would be an effortless thing since he's already an instructor there! that institute in itself is earning us a lot of profit despite the huge amount we allocate into upgrading the facilities and the services there, we're just keeping a low profile until we're strong enough to protect ourselves without relying on the help of others or depending on our rank or backing." Zhu Feng explained his viewpoint to his right-hand-man and Ba Tusai kept nodding his head while the smile on his face grew wider after knowing that their situation isn't complicated anymore and that there's a way out from this without overcomplicated their situation.

"Heh. Young-Lord. I'm really ashamed of myself, being a worry-wart and all that."

"That's why I don't have to worry about a thing my man, you worry for the two of us."

"Humph. My life is getting shorter from all this trouble you know."

"Well... I'm here today to make it up for you, come my good brother. Allow me to let you meet someone who's around your size, kekeke..."

Zhu Feng got up and left the office in a hurry once he noticed the well-mannered and levelheaded commander frown after hearing his young-Baron making fun of his short stature.

"Whoa! the youngest-Baron is paying this subject his first office visit, I hope this isn't some sort of inspection in disguise. Upsi-daisy... whoops... youngest-lord can fly!"

"Giggle..."

"Whine..."

"Hey... Harmony is worried that you might drop the boy."

"And you aren't?" Ba Tusai raised an eyebrow while revealing a devil-like smirk on his face.

"Heh. I can leave and let you work it through with Harmony by yourself if you want." Feng crossed his arms and shrugged.

"Don't! he's an adorable one but let's not test the limits of his patience. By the way he's grown so much lately, what on earth have you been feeding this brown wolf? my wife says that Joy isn't that far behind him."

"Some midnight snacks."

"Tsk..."

*****

"Aaand set! captains you're free to go clean-up and report to commander Tusai, we're done here for today." The bored-soldier scratched something on the paper then left after saluting them.

"Meet you there in twenty minutes or so."

"Alright, I still need to grab a few things for my wife from the market before that... need anything?"

"No I'm fine, just need to wash-up and refresh myself... that sweet maid of mine takes care of everything."

"Nailed her yet?"

"No. She's still playing hard to get, whenever she's at my quarters she's either with Joy or worse..." Niu frowned while gritting his teeth.

"Who's that? it can't be Night, he's been with that moron practically all the time this past week." Li Canglai smiled when he noticed how his young friend and colleague frowning so deeply.

"Bloody hell! that fucker is the worst of them all, why does it have to be freaking Thunder? why?"