Chapter 373: Professional Healer

Er Tong quickly opened his eyes and spotted Old Wang stepping through the torn spatial barrier, holding a large chunk of lamb in his hand.

Er Tong's eyes instantly widened, drooling heavily as he lunged toward Old Wang, devouring the lamb in one gulp before circling around him excitedly. His usually drooping wolf tail wagged fiercely like a dog's, and he kept nudging Wang Feng with his head, whimpering like he'd missed him to death.

In the past, Aota treated Er Tong far better than Old Wang ever did, yet Er Tong adored Wang Feng a hundred times more than he ever liked Aota!

To Er Tong, Aota had been a detestable guy who only rode him around to show off, making him lose face in front of the she-wolves. But Wang Feng was different—during his lowest, most miserable moments, it was Wang Feng who repeatedly brought him delicious food, occasionally played with him, and helped him endure countless boring, unbearable nights!

As the saying goes, adding flowers to brocade is not as meaningful as giving coal in winter. Er Tong was absolutely Old Wang's ride-or-die fan!

Though he noticed something off about the lamb, slightly dulling its original freshness, it didn’t matter. Having something to eat was always better than nothing!

After gulping down the meat excitedly, Er Tong squinted in satisfaction and rubbed his head against Old Wang’s leg. Even after being kicked several times by Wang Feng, he kept stubbornly pressing in. Wait a second… Er Tong suddenly felt dizzy. He shook his head—was it because this long-awaited lamb had made him so damn happy he was dizzy?

"Get away! Can’t you see I’m busy?" Wang Feng snapped irritably, busy drawing a Spirit Calling Array on the ground with prepared alloy of mystic gold and silver.

It was a Soul Summoning Array, meant to call forth a battle spirit. The lamb had been spiked with Soul Elixir, but despite eating it, Er Tong showed no changes. Impatient, Old Wang decided to give it a push—better to hasten things than wait indefinitely.

Truth be told, Old Wang had tried this on Er Tong several times already, but there had been no reaction. This time, he had doubled the dose of Soul Elixir in the lamb, even going so far as to mix in half a liter of his own blood.

Old Wang resolved to make three do-or-die attempts—three all-out tries! He couldn’t keep this up forever, or he’d turn into a desiccated husk before Er Tong ever transformed.

The Spirit Calling Array on the ground stretched ten meters wide, taking him two to three hours to complete.

The increased dose of Soul Elixir clearly had some effect on Er Tong. Even after two or three hours, he was still out of it. Under Old Wang’s urging, he staggered to the center of the array.

This time, Old Wang didn’t use soul crystals. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes, fists clenched. In his mind, he already held two Heavenly Soul Pearls.

The energy produced by ordinary soul crystals was incomparable to that of the Heavenly Soul Pearls—the difference in quality was immeasurable. Since these were his last three attempts, he would use only the best.

Wang Feng pressed his soul power-charged hands onto the two nodes of the Spirit Calling Array.

*Buzz…*

Divine energy flared, and the array’s nodes erupted in light. Golden radiance followed the flow of soul power, rapidly spreading from the nodes across the entire array.

*Boom!*

Even with his eyes closed, Old Wang felt the blinding golden light. He heard Er Tong let out a startled cry from the center of the array.

Controlling the entire array, Old Wang sensed Er Tong frantically darting around, only to be blocked by the soul power barriers surrounding the nodes, trapping him in the center.

The Spirit Calling Array activated, its golden light instantly enveloping the entire Beast Peaks. Then, just as swiftly, the radiance retracted, and the once-clear sky above darkened with thick, ominous clouds.

This…

Old Wang’s heart leaped with excitement!

Such heavenly omens couldn’t be solely attributed to the array—there had to be something extraordinary at play. This time, he might just achieve a huge payoff! He immediately intensified the energy output from the Heavenly Soul Pearls.

*Rumble…*

Low, thunderous roars echoed within the clouds, and forked lightning danced through the dense, low-hanging darkness.

The entire Rose Academy was stirred. Many noticed the anomaly over the Beast Peaks—while the rest of the sky remained clear, the isolated storm clouds above the mountain looked downright eerie.

"What’s happening at the Beast Peaks?"

"Is a spiritual beast evolving?" "Impossible! Most of the Beastmaster Hall’s disciples have left. There can’t be more than ten spiritual beasts left there!"

"Probably someone testing a rune array over there?"

"Most likely! Ugh, nearly all of Temple’s beastmasters are gone, and the Beast Mountain is almost empty. Might as well use all this empty space for rune array experiments..."

People gaped at the sky in shock, speculating, though more voices carried tones of self-mockery.

Evolution wasn’t just about getting stronger—it was a transformation of both body and soul, from one creature into another!

Such occurrences were rare and utterly beyond human reach, something that couldn't be forced through sheer numbers.

Even top-tier beastmasters could train soul beasts, but none could induce evolution. Not just at Temple—humans simply didn’t possess such capability. Only nature, bloodlines, or the gods could trigger evolution!

Compared to the idea of soul beast evolution, Temple’s students were way more likely to think it was just an experiment with some rune array.

Yet in the school office, Hawkland, clutching a medicine bowl, shot to his feet, his gaze burning toward the direction of the dark clouds. Miles away in a small wooden cabin, Thunder Dragon also paused mid-move in his unfinished game. They locked eyes, disbelief flashing between them. As rune masters, they knew exactly what was happening—a high-level rune array had triggered a reaction from the laws of heaven and earth!

Who the hell could mess with the laws???

Meanwhile, Old Wang—unbeknownst to them—was drenched in sweat, his trembling fists clenched weakly.

Unlike passively absorbing the energy emitted by the Heavenly Soul Pearls, this time he was actively drawing power from them and channeling it into the summoning array—an exhausting task.

The soul power he pulled out was raw and brutal, coursing through Old Wang’s meridians like blades, leaving excruciating pain in its wake.

If not for the crazy sky show, Old Wang might have abandoned this self-damaging method outright. But now, he had no choice but to endure. His wrecked meridians could recover later, but Er Tong’s awakening might only have this one chance! If he gave up or failed, the backlash from such a massive summoning array could cripple Er Tong entirely.

Just a little longer!

Old Wang clenched his jaw and hung on for dear life—but at that very moment, the summoning array’s absorption of the Heavenly Soul Pearls suddenly stopped. The swirling clouds suddenly locked in place, like time had stopped.

The next second, a storm of lightning churned and swelled within the clouds, absorbing all the dark energy. In mere seconds, it condensed into a blinding white sphere of light.

BOOM!

The energy of the thunder pool in the sky instantly concentrated, transforming into a colossal bolt of lightning that struck down mercilessly at Er Tong in the summoning array.

BOOM!

The blast rocked the ground, and the entire Beast Mountain seemed to tremble. The summoning array erupted with overwhelming energy, not only flinging Old Wang aside but also shattering the spatial barrier set up within hundreds of meters. Fragments of space scattered like broken glass.

Old Wang was hurled over a hundred meters away, landing hard on a distant hill. His ass felt like it’d been split clean in half from the impact, pain twisting his face, but his eyes immediately darted nervously toward Er Tong in the ruins of the summoning array. Limping, he struggled to his feet.

The summoning array was gone—just charred dirt left. The massive rune array was completely obliterated, the ground flattened by half a meter from the lightning strike.

RAAAAWR! RAAAAWR!

From the depths of the Beast Mountain, furious roars erupted. Most of the remaining soul beasts were those raised by the beastmasters—about five or six residing deeper in the mountain, far stronger than Er Tong had ever been. They had long surpassed the tiger level, reaching ghost level, the undisputed kings of this domain. This was their territory, and now, someone had dared disturb their peace, provoking their wrath as they bellowed warnings at the intruder.

The ghost-level soul beasts’ crushing presence rolled out from the mountain’s heart, their terrifying roars echoing across Temple, sending chills down everyone’s spines.

But the next moment, all roars ceased. The suffocating pressure vanished instantly, dissipating like the smoke slowly clearing from the hollow. Every soul beast on the mountain—whether tiger-level or ghost-level, whether from the outer slopes or the deepest reaches—dropped flat, shaking in terror.

Everything went dead silent. Old Wang’s eyes remained fixed on the leveled hollow.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

He gulped, eyes bugging out. Through the smoke, something familiar pulsed—and he heard the powerful heartbeat of something mighty.

Thud. A singed yellow paw flopped out, then a head, then the rest of it...

This was a rather ugly mangy dog, its fur so dirty it was clumped into tufts, as trashy as they come. The look in its eyes was no longer as pure and curious as Er Tong's used to be, but instead lazily half-lidded, like a world-weary old-timer.

It completely ignored the angry roars from the depths of Beast Mountain, leisurely glancing around instead. When its gaze landed on the gobsmacked Old Wang, its pupils slightly contracted—clearly recognizing him—then immediately showed utter contempt.

This was...

Yi Tiao?!

Old Wang's jaw nearly hit the ground.

He had only wanted to awaken Er Tong's will, never expecting to summon 'Yi Tiao' instead! What the fuck, did soul beasts start dimension-hopping now?

Though unbelievable, that scruffy appearance, that familiar little look in its eyes—holy shit...

Old Wang burst into laughter, ignoring his aching ass, and rushed forward to give it a thorough manhandling. Wang Feng hadn't held much hope—though the soul was still the Insect God species, he never thought he could actually summon it.

Yi Tiao looked visibly disgusted. Though ugly in a different way, it was still the same old shit.

Head pats? Yi Tiao hated those the most. Being so dashing and handsome, there was no way it would let just anyone touch its head!

Grrr! Grrr!

Yi Tiao bared its teeth, letting out displeased growls. A terrifying aura quietly spread, scaring the soul beasts deep in the mountain nearly to incontinence! Its eyes locked onto Old Wang's hand as if ready to bite at any moment—but before it could.

SMACK!

Old Wang slapped it right on the nose, leaving Yi Tiao stunned and dazed, its mind flashing back to some familiar scenes.

"Cut the act! Who do you think you're fooling? Show me some affection, or I’ll pluck all your fur out!" Old Wang grinned menacingly. "I'll rename you Baldy if you keep this up!"

Faced with the threat, it took Yi Tiao a good seven or eight seconds to snap out of it. It looked indignant, stubbornly raising its head in defiance, but didn’t dare bare its teeth. Enduring with patience and maintaining its pride, after half a minute of Old Wang’s manhandling, the haughty Yi Tiao finally drooped its head.

Once, it too had been a dashing, spirited, handsome Beast God—until it met Wang Feng, its destined nemesis... No choice. Soul bonds couldn’t be resisted.

Feeling Yi Tiao’s arrogance rapidly deflate under his rough treatment, Old Wang was satisfied.

Goddammit, his ride-or-die was finally here! So what if it was the Eight Holy Sanctuaries? Even if he wiped out all 108 of them, it still wouldn’t be enough to warm Yi Tiao up!

Just as he was thinking this, the lazy Yi Tiao suddenly shuddered. Old Wang could sense its aura rapidly weakening, as if withdrawing, sinking back into the depths of its soul. Then, Yi Tiao’s consciousness began to scatter at an alarming speed.

"Oh fuck no!" Old Wang panicked. Was this just a fleeting glimpse?

POOF!

In just a few seconds, Yi Tiao’s will had completely dissipated.

Its appearance didn’t fully revert—still covered in dirty, rope-like clumps of fur—but the color shifted from the previous scorched yellow back to the silver of the Snow Wolf King.

Er Tong blinked its innocent, pure eyes, gaping at the equally stunned Old Wang.

That's it?!

His Soul Elixir and summoning array just went to waste?

Unwilling to accept it, Old Wang patted Er Tong’s head, the Insect God species scanning intensely, his senses spreading and delving deeper... Thankfully.

Er Tong had returned to its former self, but deep within its soul, Old Wang could still sense Yi Tiao’s presence.

Yi Tiao’s situation was similar to his own—maybe even worse. The Snow Wolf King’s body couldn’t fully contain its power, so it would mostly remain dormant. Still needed some serious TLC from him. Old Wang patted his chest in relief. Wait—!

He suddenly froze, realizing something very important—didn't this mean he would have to keep being Er Tong's walking blood bank indefinitely???

Holy shit!!

Old Wang looked at his scar-covered wrist, utterly helpless.

He never dreamed that one day, he would become a professional blood donor.