Stunned Huo Wu

Advanced Option: Carry Huo Wu Away and Raise Her from Childhood. Reward: Knowledge of Five Thousand Medicinal Herbs + Intermediate Cooking.

PS: Important supporting characters could also bring gains to the system and condense more Experience Cards. (Author: I'll try to write fewer of these reminders in the future. Someone always gives me low ratings and says I'm padding the word count. It's too hard.) Looking at the three options that had suddenly appeared, Li Xuan frowned and asked inwardly in confusion.

System, did something go wrong? I was a chef in my previous life. Don't I qualify for Intermediate?

Ding! Notice: Your cooking has been rated Intermediate. A system error has occurred and will be corrected.

Ding! Insufficient energy. Correction failed. The next time a troublemaking option appears, the compensation reward will be increased.

As the mechanical system voice faded, Li Xuan rubbed his chin, somewhat looking forward to the next compensation reward.

Still, he had to choose a troublemaking option.

Considering that the Intermediate and Advanced rewards were the same, and that if he carried Huo Wu away, the storyline belonging to her would inevitably disappear, leaving far fewer options in the future, Li Xuan directly chose the Intermediate option.

Ding! Selection complete. Please keep it up.

Ignoring the system prompt, Li Xuan looked around and quickly spotted two small figures on the little hill ahead.

They were Huo Wu and her older brother, Huowushuang, though both currently wore blank expressions.

"Seems something interesting happened that I don't know about."

Li Xuan murmured, leading the White Wolf King toward Huo Wu and her brother.

Time rewound to several minutes earlier.

On a quiet little hill lush with greenery.

Huo Wu and her older brother Huowushuang were sitting on the hill, reading a Spirit Beast Illustrated Guide.

Huo Wu was still young then, just an adorable little girl. Even her little pepper personality was not particularly obvious yet.

At that moment, she was even listening obediently as her brother explained knowledge about spirit beasts.

"Brother, are seven-thousand-year spirit beasts really that scary? One of them even injured Aunt Xue." Huo Wu blinked her big eyes and asked curiously.

"Of course. Fortunately, that seven-thousand-year spirit beast was a Defense-type Spirit Beast, so Aunt Xue was able to escape. If it had been a seven-thousand-year Attack-type Spirit Beast instead, Aunt Xue wouldn't have made it back."

Huowushuang looked tense as he stared at the spirit beast in the illustrated guide and explained solemnly.

"It's that powerful? Then wouldn't an eight-thousand-year spirit beast be even stronger?!" Huo Wu could not help asking again.

"Of course. Look at the Spirit Beast Illustrated Guide."

Huowushuang placed the guide on the grass and pointed at a black leopard inside.

"This is an eight-thousand-year Shadow Hunting Leopard. Its attacks are incredibly fast, and it excels at stealth. It's a very formidable Assassin-type Spirit Beast. If Aunt Xue encountered it, she might be killed in a single strike."

"Killed in one strike? It's that strong!"

Huo Wu was startled, panic showing in her large red eyes.

"Of course. And that's only eight thousand years. After that come nine-thousand-year spirit beasts, and even Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Beasts."

"Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Beasts? Wouldn't they be even stronger and even scarier?"

Huo Wu clenched her little fists, her whole body growing tense, though her big eyes still sparkled with curiosity.

"Exactly. Let me find a Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Beast for you to see. This one will do."

Huowushuang flipped through the Spirit Beast Illustrated Guide and stopped at a page near the back.

"This is the White Wolf King, a Wind-type Ten Thousand Year Spirit Beast. It's extremely powerful. The Wind Blades it controls can easily slice through boulders, and it moves incredibly fast. Once it takes someone as prey, they're doomed."

Huowushuang explained as he looked at the guide.

"It's so powerful. Would it attack humans?" Huo Wu asked with her little mouth slightly open, her big eyes widened round.

"It's fine. Powerful spirit beasts like that usually roam the Star Dou Great Forest. They won't appear in our area, so don't worry," Huowushuang reassured her.

"That's good, that's good. Still, this White Wolf King is pretty cute. I really wish I had a pet like it."

Huo Wu looked at the White Wolf King in the illustrated guide and spoke expectantly.

"Don't even think about it. That's impossible," Huowushuang said, crushing her hopes.

"Why?" Huo Wu asked.

"The White Wolf King is a Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Beast. It's vicious and bloodthirsty. How could it possibly become someone's pet? It would probably kill anyone it saw. If it couldn't defeat a Spirit Master, it would rather die in battle than be tamed."

Huowushuang explained confidently, wearing the air of someone holding court.

"I see."

Huo Wu nodded her little head, gaining a deeper understanding of spirit beasts.

"It's good that you understand. What matters most for us now is studying hard and improving our strength so that we can become powerful Spirit Masters in the future."

After speaking, Huowushuang looked toward the dense forest below the hill because he had noticed the tall grass at the edge of the woods swaying.

"Huh? Why is there a little boy walking out of the forest? Wild beasts often appear in there. Kids these days are really too bold."

"Where? Where?"

Hearing this, Huo Wu looked over curiously and quickly saw a little boy emerging from the forest, a boy even younger than her.

At first, she merely watched him curiously. But soon, she saw a white wolf over two meters tall walk out behind him.

The instant she saw the wolf, Huo Wu wanted to shout a warning for the little boy to run. But Huowushuang immediately stopped her.

"Don't shout. Absolutely don't shout, or we're dead for sure," Huowushuang said fearfully.

"Wh-why? We can call for help and have people nearby come save us. Otherwise, that little boy is doomed," Huo Wu said reluctantly.

"It's useless. Look carefully at that white wolf, then look at the picture in this guide." Huowushuang handed her the illustrated guide.

"What am I looking at this for?"

Huo Wu looked at the guide in confusion. The next second, her big eyes widened, and she hurriedly looked back at the two-meter-tall white wolf below.

"Th-this... could that be the Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Beast, the White Wolf King?" Huo Wu asked in terror, her red eyes filled with disbelief.

"Yes, it's exactly that. It's an incredibly vicious and powerful spirit beast."

"Brother, didn't you say the White Wolf King wouldn't appear in this area? Why is it here?"

"I don't know either. Just don't shout."

"But... but that little boy will be bitten to death."

"There's nothing we can do. We're only Beginner Spirit Master students. How could we possibly defeat such a powerful spirit beast? Even if Aunt Xue came, she'd only be throwing her life away."

"But..."

Huo Wu still could not bear it. She did not want to see an innocent little boy bitten to death, so she looked once more at the boy below the hill.

But the next second, her eyes widened.

"Huo Wu, what's wrong?"

Huowushuang was puzzled. He turned to look below as well, and the next second, his eyes widened too.

Because—

Under their watchful gazes—

The little boy was kicking the Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Beast White Wolf King. He even seemed angry, kicking the White Wolf King several times in a row.

Yet what left them unable to believe their eyes was that the White Wolf King not only failed to get angry, but instead drooped its ears with a wronged expression.

Such a scene.

Such an image.

Left Huo Wu and Huowushuang rooted to the spot in utter stupor, unable to recover for a long while.

Not long afterward.

Huo Wu turned her head and looked at Huowushuang suspiciously.

"Brother, didn't you say the White Wolf King was vicious and bloodthirsty? Why is it fine when that little boy kicks it?"

"I-I don't know either. My head is all muddled right now. It feels like I've been hit by a heavy hammer," Huowushuang said blankly.

"Brother, I think you should eat walnuts."

"Why?"

"Walnuts are good for your brain!"

Huowushuang: "..."

Please leave comments, please suggest candidates for the female lead, please send monthly tickets. All right, that's it. The author is going to sleep.