It seemed no one noticed Uruk's embarrassment. Although the Werewolf chieftain was practically falling apart inside, his mount was still chatting away with an old acquaintance. Hao Ren still remembered how he had run around like a headless chicken when he first arrived in the Dream Plane, so he felt rather close to the Wolf King he had first met here. After chatting for a while, he also figured out why the Wolf King had migrated from the grasslands to these snowy mountains in the far west. It had been a long journey, and the mountains were worlds apart from the environment where these grassland wolves had once lived. Unless necessary, a wolf pack would never casually leave its familiar surroundings.
Because the climate on the grasslands had changed.
The impact of the collapse of the Dragon Ridge Mountains had been more far-reaching than anyone had imagined. After the mountains collapsed, the humid, hot air that would originally have been forced back from the eastern side of the range was no longer blocked and blew directly into the Holy Mountain and the coastal regions around it. At the same time, ocean monsoons began driving deep into the grasslands, bringing low temperatures and salt. Many plants along the southwestern edge of the grasslands were poorly adapted to this change. As the vegetation dwindled, many herds that followed water and grass began migrating toward the Northern Empire. The wolf packs living on the grasslands were affected as well and began to migrate. Most of the grassland wolves followed their prey northward, while some continued east. The Wolf King, however, led his people in the opposite direction: straight toward the Holy Mountain. Since the Wolf King possessed intelligence beyond that of ordinary animals, he had thought it over carefully. With food already becoming