As expected, the throbbing pain did not come, confirming the wolf's thoughts. The wolf began its reign of terror on the forest's weak beasts: rabbits, squirrels, ferrets, and even rats. The wolf did not increase its cultivation but instead used all the qi it gained to cultivate in the Bone-Forging Realm. Although the small beasts offered little to no energy, the wolf used all of it to strengthen its skeletal system. By the time the white wolf reached its destination, the accumulated qi from the small beasts was more than enough for it to strengthen its bones two times over.
The wolf stood in front of a cave surrounded by tall trees. For a whole day, it did not move. It remembered the good times it had in the cave with its pack, but these good memories were quickly replaced by horrifying ones. The wolf saw its pack being killed one by one with no mercy. For an entire day, it allowed itself to relive these memories. The following day, its eyes were free from all thoughts of death and vengeance; the only thought was power, for the weak have no right to seek vengeance.
The white wolf knew that it was not the epitome of righteousness. It knew that it had committed some pretty vile acts that most definitely created people and demonic beasts to whom it owed vengeance. For example, it had killed that one Huang family member without a second thought. And when it entered the forest for the first time in years, the first thing it did was murder. It then went on a rampage, killing all manner of defenseless beasts that crossed its path with no regard for their loved ones, just like the white tiger that had killed the wolf's pack. If one thought about the situation without any bias, even the First Prince of the Tinding Kingdom owed some vengeance, and if he were still alive, he would be filled with thoughts of vengeance against his murderer.
The white wolf had made up its mind not to think about these things and simply accept that the world was not perfect. Not all who are owed vengeance can take it, and those who can may not wish to. But if they did seek vengeance, the white wolf would not let itself be killed. If the weak sought vengeance from it, the white wolf was more than willing to turn them into its cultivation materials.
The white wolf entered the cave and found a black mountain cat sleeping peacefully in the center. The wolf did not hesitate. It pounced on the cat and unleashed all its power on the beast. The cat sensed the attack and jumped out of the way. Boom! The ground where the cat had been sleeping was blasted to pieces, sending rocks flying. The cat looked at the devastated ground in fear. Thankfully, its fear did not stop it from trying for the cave's exit.
Bang! The cat ran into something, causing it to stop and look at what had blocked its escape. It turned out the white wolf was already in front of it, looking at the cat with a ruthless glint in its eyes. The mountain cat was not weak. In fact, it was in the second level of the beast path, the Nascent Realm. This realm was equivalent to the ninth stage of the Mortal Realm in the human path. The white wolf was in the sixth realm of the Mortal Realm, but the fearless demonic mountain cat was a mere house cat in front of it. The cat shivered with fear, and this time, the fear was so intense that it stopped its brain from working well enough to plot an escape. Its legs gave out, and it fell to the ground. The cat was the same size as the wolf, at just six feet long. The wolf looked at the unconscious mountain cat, debating whether to absorb it or simply eat it for lunch. The wolf finally chose to just put it in the corner of the cave until it could make up its mind about the best way to use the cat.
When the cat woke up a few minutes later, it pretended to still be unconscious. For hours, it lay there with its belly exposed, trying not to twitch, even when its posture became uncomfortable. The cat was waiting for the wolf to sleep so it could make its escape. To the cat's horror, the wolf did not sleep; it just continued cultivating the entire day and night. At some point, the wolf stood up and approached the cat. It poked it with its claw, but then went back to cultivation. When the wolf was in front of the cat, it wanted to make a run for it, but it decided that its best chance was to stay put. Its heart beat so hard the cat thought it would explode.
In the morning, the wolf howled at the cat that was playing dead, making it jump up in terror. The cat and wolf looked at each other, and the cat decided to show the wolf that it was more useful alive than dead. The mountain cat walked out of the cave, communicating its intent to the wolf through the common beast language. Although low-level beasts could not talk to each other as humans do, they could communicate through small sounds, actions, and body language, and even just by looking at each other, demonic beasts would be able to understand each other. The wolf let the cat go out before it sat on the floor and waited. The cat returned a few minutes later with a half-dead panther in its mouth. The panther was also a Nascent Realm demonic beast, which surprised the wolf. The cat placed the panther before the wolf and communicated its intent to become a servant of the white wolf.