Side Story: Elder

"Woof!" "Awooo!" Several bestial calls echoed through a certain part of a lush green valley.

A pair of pitch-black baby wolves rushed out of the brush, crying and running as if their lives depended on it. They were part of the same litter that Chen Wentian rescued and raised in his sect. Since arriving at the sect, they had grown rapidly under a diet of rich spiritual beast milk until they were now as big as a medium sized dog.

The pair, one male and one female, looked at each other in fear as they continued to dash towards the mountains. Their brothers and sisters were nowhere in sight because they had already been captured by that unspeakable beast!

The smaller female tripped over a branch and tumbled to the mossy ground. Her brother turned and tried to help her, whining softly in encouragement. But her hind leg had been injured and it was now bleeding. She could only manage a slow limping gait. He tried to pull her along but it was no use…

Woosh!

The wind gusted and leaves flew as the terrifying beast finally arrived!

"Hey cuties! There you are, you two are quite fast! Aww, baby, you hurt your leg!"

The pair cowered in despair in front of their captor, not knowing when they could escape again.

---

Chen Wentian watched Jasmine fly back with the two aforementioned giant dire wolf cubs in her arms. He was happy that she had found something to occupy herself. He was also glad that Jasmine was keeping an eye on those cubs as they were growing too fast and becoming uncontrollable. They had already outgrown the caretakers hired to raise them. Their parents were powerful spiritual beasts after all and they were quite intelligent and rebellious even at a young age. They had already ruined more than a few herb farms and constantly bullied the horses and oxen around the valley.

Jasmine dumped the two into a pen she had built where the other eight were. She scolded the whole pack for a long time before feeding them some treats and leaving them be.

"Still not behaving?" Chen Wentian asked after she flew back to his side.

"Snort... it's only been a few days. They are still in their rebellious stage. And why do I have to train your dogs for you?" Jasmine said in a huff, although her wagging tails belied her true feelings.

"Haha, stop trying to deny it, you like them."

"You! It's only because you won't let me play with Momo."

Chen Wentian chose to ignore that. Of course, he couldn't let her play with his shadow fox all day! Chen Mo was the bait that reeled in the big fish. If he wanted to achieve certain goals… he had to develop Jasmine's relationship with him, not the shadow fox.

He pulled out a brand-new sect badge and handed it to Jasmine. "Here, a jasmine flower carved out of ocean diamond. From now on, you are officially an immortal elder of Ten Thousand Flower Valley."

Jasmine took it and imprinted her own spiritual energy into it before putting it away. She then stuck a finger into his chest, "First Elder!"

Chen Wentian chuckled, "Whatever. By seniority, you're my ninth disciple. If my first disciple ascends, she will be the first elder."

"So stingy!"

Jasmine complained for a while but still accepted it because they had made a deal. She would be the immortal elder of the sect and he would not refer to her as his disciple in front of others. She didn't want to bow down to any of his disciples that were five hundred years her junior and Chen Wentian was fine with that. She would be the de-facto first elder and she would only bow to his other disciples if and when they could reach the Spirit Lord Realm.

"The wolf cubs will be fine after I tame them." Jasmine said, "They'll actually be quite useful in about a year when they are fully grown. They'll be much better at protecting the perimeter of the sect compared to those weak female guards you employ."

She gave him a sideways look of accusation, "And speaking of that, there's not a single male in the valley. The herb farmers, guards, servants, even all of your disciples are all women. Is there anything you want to tell me?"

Chen Wentian tried his best to put up a poker face, "Nope, nothing."

"Really?" She peered at him.

"Cough… cough." Chen Wentian choked from nervousness. Jasmine was getting dangerously close to his secret. He couldn't let her know just yet or else she would think he was a pervert…

He quickly changed the subject and brought out a stone tablet, "Do you recognize anything on this?"

Jasmine took it and examined it closely. It was about the size of a small dinner plate and had rings of unreadable tiny runes. At the center, there was a clear circle surrounded by rough carvings of six animals; lion, eagle, snake, monkey, toad, and praying mantis.

"Heavens…" Jasmine muttered, her hands shaking, "It has a strong trace of my adopted father's smell and a bit of He Zicheng's. Where did you find this?"

"You remember the desk that I stole from He Zicheng's office? It was hidden inside in a secret compartment. It won't go into spatial bags for some reason. I assume it belonged to your adopted father originally."

"Six beasts… Three lords of Beast God Sanctum, three beast kings. What does this mean?" Jasmine asked.

He shrugged, "I don't know, but I figured you should have it."

"…" Jasmine looked lost in her thoughts.

Chen Wentian pulled her close in a one-armed hug, "Hey, cheer up. My spy in Beast God Sanctum has been hard at work replenishing the shadow anchors and I was able to overhear something interesting."

"What?"

"He Zicheng is still very, very angry that he lost his desk and this stone tablet. He trashed his office again that was just newly rebuilt. He even beat up He Xinghan in a fit of rage."

Jasmine let out a slight giggle and he saw she was back to her normal cheerful self.

"Don't worry about it, nothing they do will escape from my eyes. There's no rush. When we both get stronger, I'll help you avenge your adopted father."

Jasmine leaned her head against his chest. Words were not needed to show that she was thankful and that she trusted him. He saw her twitching furry ears and couldn't help but give it an experimental rub. He was rewarded by the sweetest moan of delight and it was like a song from heaven.