This figure, now one of the Tiger Fiend Race's Fiend Elders and possessed of immense prestige, had originally been a battle beast companion Xu Kun had carefully prepared for Yang Yao and personally helped hatch.
Had Xu Kun still been alive, given his deep bond with Taowu and his desire to protect Yang Yao, Taowu would undoubtedly have remained faithfully by her side as a battle pet, becoming one of her most reliable supports.
However, Xu Kun's "fall" changed everything.
The Tiger Fiend Race could not simply stand by and watch a powerful being with the potential to become a Tiger Elder, and one of the Four Fiends at that, remain outside their clan—especially as someone else's battle pet.
After a complex struggle of interests, emotional tugging, and negotiations among the higher-ups, Yang Yao, understanding the greater good and putting the overall situation first, suppressed her reluctance and agreed to let Taowu return to the Tiger Fiend Race and acknowledge his ancestral roots.
That was how Fiend Elder Taowu came to be: a figure whose might shook the beast realms, yet who still held Yang Yao in deep respect and affection.
By the same logic, after Xu Kun's "fall," Xu Buwan and Xu Caiyi had also become key figures the Phoenix Race fought hard to claim, hoping to welcome them back to the Phoenix Wutong Sacred Land and nurture them carefully under their wings.
What the Phoenix Race valued was not merely the noble bloodlines flowing through them, bloodlines closely tied to the Phoenix Race, but also the immense fortune and future potential they represented through their connection to Xu Kun.
Only through the persistence and mediation of Yang Yao, Shen-bao, and the others, together with the wishes of the two girls themselves, had they been able to spend more