Langyue (1)
Before long, they disappeared from sight.
Only after Fanxin's ship had completely vanished from sight did the golden giant wolf look away. Looking at the last few dozen members of its pack, it shouted, "That young man has taken the Tower of Vicious Wolves away. Presumably, it won't come after us again. We're safe now. From this moment on, we must start growing our pack and make our Wolf Clan strong as quickly as possible. Otherwise, others will come and bully us. Understood?"
"Understood," the few dozen wolves answered in unison.
"Mm, good. This island was ours to begin with, but now humans occupy it. However, we're not strong enough to take it back from them yet. So we can only endure it for the time being. Starting now, we'll live in the forest for a while. Once the Wolf Clan has grown strong, we'll migrate," the golden giant wolf said with a nod.
"Yes, but Wolf King, humans have lived here for countless years. I'm afraid getting them to leave won't be easy. What do you think we should do when the time comes?" a silver-gray giant wolf asked, nodding.
Although this place had originally belonged to them, humans had also lived here for so long that they had grown attached to it. If the wolves wanted to take it back, war was inevitable. So many of their pack had already died, and they truly didn't want to see any more of them die. The thought left the silver-gray wolf deeply conflicted.
"We'll talk about that when the time comes. Of course, it would be best if the humans were willing to live alongside us. If they try to drive us out, we'll have no choice but to drive them away," the golden giant wolf said after a moment's thought.
It hadn't chosen the most extreme approach because it knew humans were no simple opponents either. There were powerful humans among them, and if the wolves angered those humans, they would be the ones to suffer in the end.
So, after thinking it over, it decided to coexist peacefully with the humans, so neither side would harm the other's interests.
Of course, if the humans refused and insisted on claiming the entire island for themselves, the wolves would make no compromises either. They were native creatures of this place, and they couldn't easily give up their homeland.
"Mm, that's good too." The silver-gray giant wolf agreed that it made sense and didn't object.
"But no matter what, we must make ourselves stronger. Only when you have great strength will humans negotiate with you. If you're weak, humans won't give a damn about you. They might even kill you," the golden giant wolf said.
"Naturally. Back then, our ancestors possessed great strength, so the Wolf Clan became the master of this island. All the other creatures had to treat us with the utmost respect, and humans were no exception," the silver-gray giant wolf said.
"Mm, all right. Take the pack back to the secret chamber first. Once you're back, send Langyue to me. Tell Langyue I have something to discuss," the golden giant wolf said.
The silver-gray giant wolf nodded and immediately led the pack back to the underground chamber.
Once there, it told the wolves to attend to their own business while it went to look for Langyue.
Langyue was the little wolf who had guided Fanxin earlier, a descendant of the previous Wolf King. The previous Wolf King hadn't been spared, however, and had been killed by those vicious wolves. But because Langyue carried the Wolf King's bloodline, the pack held Langyue in high regard. Even the current Wolf King valued Langyue greatly.
If anything happened to the golden Wolf King, the little wolf Langyue could immediately inherit the position. A pack with a Wolf King possessed strength that no disorganized pack could match.
The silver-gray giant wolf searched everywhere, scouring the entire chamber, but found no trace of the little wolf Langyue. It immediately grew anxious.
It searched again, but still found no trace of Langyue. Not daring to delay any longer, the silver-gray giant wolf immediately left the chamber and went to the shore to find the golden Wolf King. It had to report this so the king could prepare.
Upon reaching the shore, the silver-gray giant wolf told the golden giant wolf what it had found.
"Are you sure you searched the entire chamber?" the golden giant wolf asked.
"Yes, I searched every part of it, but there was no trace of Langyue. I don't know where Langyue went," the silver-gray giant wolf replied with a nod.
"Mm, Langyue rarely goes out and devotes all that time to cultivation. Because of that, Langyue even gained some of the Tower of Vicious Wolves' abilities. Even when Langyue does go out, we're told beforehand. This time is far too unusual. Where could Langyue have gone?" The golden Wolf King felt a headache coming on. Langyue was still young, but once grown, Langyue would be a true Wolf King, possibly even stronger than the current one.
With one more expert in a pack, its chances of survival were higher, and it was less likely to be wiped out by another tribe. If Langyue were around, their Wolf Clan would grow stronger and stronger. But now there was no word of Langyue, and that worried the king deeply.
"Wolf King, could Langyue have secretly followed that young man?" the silver-gray giant wolf asked after thinking for a moment.
"Oh? Why do you think that?" the golden giant wolf asked in puzzlement.
"Because I once heard Langyue say that the goal was to become the strongest wolf and make every living creature understand how formidable wolves are. Staying here, Langyue could never become the strongest wolf in the world. There's only a chance of that by venturing out. If that's what Langyue was after, I think Langyue may have secretly boarded that young man's ship and gone off to explore the world with him," the silver-gray giant wolf said.
"Really? If that's the case, it's certainly possible."
The golden giant wolf froze for a moment, then said, "Sigh, it seems Langyue's ambitions are greater than ours. So be it. Let Langyue go. If Langyue becomes the strongest wolf and returns, our Wolf Clan will grow even stronger as a result."
"Mm, but aren't you worried Langyue might die? I've heard it's extremely dangerous out there," the silver-gray giant wolf asked.
"Life and death are matters of fate, and wealth and honor are decreed by heaven. This is the path Langyue chose, and Langyue will strive for it and take care to stay alive. We don't need to worry about that."
The golden giant wolf gazed out at the endless sea and said, "Come on, it's time we worked hard too. Langyue is so young and already striving to fulfill a dream. We old fellows can't fall behind."
"Hehe, that's true. In that case, let's go," the silver-gray giant wolf said.
After another glance at the sea, the golden giant wolf hesitated no longer. Together with the silver-gray giant wolf, it left the shore and went to the underground chamber.