“Once our kin have escorted the young master back to the North Star Tundra, the clan will send an additional ten rock wolves to fight for you.”

Huh? He Yue blinked; the wording sounded oddly familiar. He leaned toward his older brother and whispered, “Is it an immortal pet contract?”

The wolves’ hearing, sharp as ever, picked up the hushed remark. Lu Xin’s ears flattened in displeasure. “There was never a mention of any immortal pet contract. We rock wolves are never pets!”

“Alright, alright.” Seeing the pack bristle, He Chunhua hurried to smooth things over. “This arrangement will do.”

Riding the momentum, Lu Xin pushed one more demand, “Also, we expect each wolf to be fed at least four kilograms of good meat a day.”

“That’s not a problem.” He Chunhua waved the complaint away. It was only board and rations. What general’s army worried over stout bellies? He took paper and brush from a nearby market cart, wrote out the compact agreement in duplicate, signed it, and held it up for the wolves to inspect.

Lu Xin called over an elder wolf to verify the terms. They checked the two short clauses carefully. Then, once they were satisfied, the elder stamped the pact with a pawprint.

And so, the contract was sealed.

With the masked rider gone from the sky, the werewolf at their feet grew calmer. The pack pressed close, rubbing heads and sniffing tails, conversing in a language the humans could not parse; the werewolf licked a few of them in turn. One wolf produced a blood-red orb and offered it to the werewolf. The werewolf ate it, then its eyes cleared, and it wagged its tail, becoming friendlier toward the pack.

Lu Xin then asked He Chunhua to recover the net. Surrounded by the wolves, the werewolf was brought down the mountain. They planned to deliver their young master beyond Shihuan before dawn, so as to put distance between him and the strange rider.

Lu Xin and another wolf, Lu Jin, stayed behind as agreed. How the clan would transport the werewolf back to the North Star Tundra was the clan’s internal affair. That was no longer their concern.

With the order restored, the Luming Garden guards took their leave and returned up the mountain.

Ke Jihai and the He Family’s carriages had been wrecked, so they simply mounted horses and rode down the mountain. The captive that He Yue had wounded was still alive. After a quick treatment, the men began to interrogate him on the spot. Whether from a lack of backbone or Ke Jihai’s harsh methods, the man soon confessed. Apparently, he and his companions had been planted by Provincial Governor Nian Zanli of Xun Province as pawns in Shihuan City. The masked man who controlled the monsters was called Mr. Dong. He was a hired killer brought in at great cost by the Minister of War.

Both Ke Jihai and He Chunhua were marked adversaries, so upon learning the two would attend the Zhu Family’s banquet, Mr. Dong had intended to wipe them out in one stroke.

“What arrogance!” Ke Jihai barked a laugh. “He actually dared to try to assassinate not just one, but two royal court officials who are under the protection of origin energy at once!”

“Mr. Dong is deadly. He’s slain many officials.”

He Chunhua cut in, “Why did you only spring out after I captured his wolf?”

The man grimaced and said, “We dared not act sooner. Mr. Dong’s pet beasts are feral and bloodthirsty. In the state that the werewolf was in, it would even turn on its master. In our group of ten, one unlucky fellow had his head bitten clean off by that giant ape a few days ago.”

Ke Jihai pressed on for more information. He inquired about the rebel remnants’ hiding places in Shihuan and their contacts, but the man’s rank meant he knew little beyond his immediate orders. He did, however, reveal the name and dwelling of his superior.

With that tidbit in hand, Ke Jihai bowed to the He Family. “Lord He, we shall meet again, either on the field of battle or in court.”

He Chunhua returned the salute. “May General Ke win victory after victory, slaying enemies in all directions!”

“Slaying enemies in all directions, indeed!” Ke Jihai guffawed, then turned to He Lingchuan with a grin. “Young man, I’m beginning to favor you. We’ll share a drink sometime.”

He Lingchuan inclined his head. “I’ll have a fine bottle waiting, General.”

Ke Jihai rode off with his prisoners, racing beneath the stars back toward the capital.

It was easy to imagine the capital roiling with turmoil again tomorrow. There was no telling how many heads would roll. Lu Xin, the wolf monster, stayed behind. The pack had tracked Dong Rui this far and picked up a great deal of intelligence along the way, so they could explain things to a few of the humans. He Lingchuan also promised meat for staying, and that settled them.

“We favor venison, but mutton will do as well,” they said. As soon as they arrived at Luming Garden, they ran into a herd of sika deer, ones so fat that they could barely run. Had they not feared alarming the humans, they would have most definitely taken them down for a sumptuous meal.

After traveling so far, the hungry wolves salivated at the mere sight of the deer. In the north, venison and mountain sheep were first-rate fare, and they were every wolf’s favorite.

“No problem. Answer our questions and we’ll see to providing you plenty of prime lamb by morning.”

Everyone’s chief concern, of course, was the masked man, Dong Rui.

“Have you ever heard of monster puppet masters?”

The He Family shook their heads.

“Is it like a beastmaster?”

“No, monster puppet masters are monster puppet masters.” Lu Xin’s voice tightened.

Beastmasters were common among the spellcasters, and their specialty was commanding beasts in battle. However, no beastmaster’s monster pet looked like any of Dong Rui’s creations.

“He scarcely appears in Yuan; you know little of him. He captures powerful monsters by any means, then subjects them to cruel, unfathomable modifications. He refines their spirits, turning them into puppets and binding them to his will to slaughter others.” Lu Xin explained with patient detail, probably because the prospect of meat made him want to be thorough. “From what I know, he’s struck in at least seven states. High officials, commoners, and even many famous spellcasters have been killed by him.”

“That fiendish ape was the son of the Left Guard General of Beijia. He had only been fifteen when Dong Rui snatched him. For over a decade, Beijia has hunted Dong Rui for vengeance, but the man is hyper-vigilant. At the slightest hint of danger, he slips away.”

“So that ape isn’t even thirty?” He Yue said in astonishment. “Monsters usually live long lives and advance slowly in cultivation. From its strength and size, it looks like it’s three or four hundred years old.”

“That’s Dong Rui’s doing. They say he once bragged, when drunk, that, while fleeing enemies, he fell into an ancient immortal’s cave abode and learned methods of beast-refining and beast-control. He then developed the techniques further, blending traits from many monsters to create abominations like the ape. He can even force a creature’s cultivation to explode forward by hundreds of years. However, the price is unbearable. The altered monsters lose reason, become violent and wildly unstable, often going mad. Whatever method Dong Rui uses, it somehow forces his puppets to obey.”

“How many puppets does Dong Rui have?”

“Usually three,” Lu Xin said after thinking. “With our young master returned, he’s down to two. But as for whether Dong Rui has other puppets elsewhere, no one knows.”

“The captive claimed Dong Rui was hired by Dong Haoming.”

Lu Xin shook his head. “Money alone won’t hire him. Only rare materials can sway him.”

He Lingchuan then asked, “During the earlier fight, the ape was clearly being suppressed by General Ke’s origin energy. How was it suddenly able to even transform into a stronger form?”

Lu Xin admitted he did not know. “By rights, the ape shouldn’t have been able to have taken on that form. No one knows exactly what tampering Dong Rui did during the modification. Our young master, too, developed strange changes.”

Monsters rarely take human shape unless their natural form was close, such as apes. That Lu Ze had been twisted into something resembling a werewolf shocked even the Rock Wolf Clan.

“As far as we know, several states have put bounties on Dong Rui—dead or alive. Of course, live capture yields a richer reward.”

He Lingchuan smiled. “His modified puppets can stand up to origin energy, that’s a secret everyone would want to uncover.”

It was a deep mystery, and with a high bounty on Dong Rui’s head, he still ran rampant and at large.

“Dong Rui was forced to retreat with nothing to show for it. Two of his three monster puppets were wounded, and he even lost one completely. He will surely be looking for you for revenge.”

He Lingchuan bared his teeth at the wolf monster with a grin. “What you and we? From now on, we’re on the same road.”

At last, they descended the mountain.

The He Family returned to the inn and first saw to Madame Ying. The medicine ape Ling Guang stepped forward of his own accord to tend to He Lingchuan’s wounds, and only then did the father and sons withdraw behind closed doors to talk.

He Lingchuan had been itching to ask the entire time, “Tell me about immortal pet contracts.” He had heard of such contracts before, but had never looked into them.

He Yue smiled. “Remember Uncle Hao’s sparrow hawk monster, Little Gray? He made a contract with it.”

He Lingchuan found it odd. “Strange, I’ve never kept a monster myself.” He was increasingly convinced that the original owner’s swagger around Heishui City was mostly for show, only ever having enough coin to posture in front of ordinary villagers.

“Heishui City hardly has anyone who keeps monster pets,” He Yue went on. Out in the countryside, monsters were more dangerous than humans. “But you’ll have the chance to do so soon enough. If you want to work with a wolf, a formal contract has to be made. Still, the rock wolves will probably be choosing their own partners, so it’s not exactly certain whether you’ll be able to have one as your pet or not.”

Whether it was a beastmaster or an ordinary cultivator who was planning to raise a monster, the prerequisite was an immortal pet contract. This was not a modern invention but a legacy from the ancient immortals. The immortals had subdued mighty monsters and beasts and then used contracts to bind and control them. Though the immortals gradually faded from the world, the method survived.

Over time, many variations of the immortal pet contract developed. Dong Rui’s method for controlling his puppets hewed closer to the original, where the master held authority over the pet. The Rock-Wolf Clan’s “alliance,” by contrast, was a weakened variant. In this agreement, there would be no hierarchy; humans and beasts stand as equals, and they preserve only the contract’s most essential rule: partners cannot harm one another, and under certain conditions can share incoming damage.

For example, their version of the contract stipulates that if partners remain within approximately 35 meters of one another, either the human or the wolf may trigger a “shared fortune and calamity” effect, which transfers half the damage to the partner. This effect lasted for twenty breaths upon first taking damage.

He Chunhua had also heard that the rock wolves’ most well-known gift was their endurance. If a contract partner shares the same space with them, they will usually be able to share that trait. After all, a wolf pack could run for over half a day chasing prey.

“So endurance just means good physical stamina?” He Lingchuan rubbed his hands together, eyes bright. “That sounds great! Can it be used anytime?”

For example…?