Chapter 10 — I'll Make the Wolf King Pay in This Life

Chi Luc Minh’s voice remained as placid as a stagnant lake. "As for Le Hanh coming to find me, I will handle it myself. You do not need to concern yourself with it."

"But, sister—"

"Do not call me ever again."

She hung up. An Cuu Uyen poked its head out from behind her shoulder. "Did Le Hanh go looking for your younger sister?"

"Yes."

"He wants to threaten you. Through your family."

"Yes."

Chi Luc Minh slipped her phone into her pocket. "But he is ignorant of one thing."

"What is that?"

"Chi Oanh is not my weakness." Chi Luc Minh lifted her chin, gazing at the sharp outlines of distant skyscrapers. "In my past life, she was a demon demanding my soul. In this life, whether she lives or dies has nothing to do with me." The snake’s tail tightened around her shoulder.

"Then what will Le Hanh do next?"

Chi Luc Minh considered this for a moment. "He has already been weakened by thirty percent. The fragment in his body was reclaimed, leaving his strength far below what it once was. Now, the Red Moon organization has issued a warrant for his arrest." She paused. "If a wounded wolf were hunted by the entire world, what would it do?"

"Cornered, he will bite back," An Cuu Uyen remarked.

"Exactly," Chi Luc Minh nodded. "That is why we cannot wait for him to find us. We must seize the initiative."

"And how shall we do that?"

"You said there are four fragments remaining out there." Chi Luc Minh hailed a taxi. "We will recover them one by one. Once you are restored to one hundred percent—" She opened the car door and slid inside. "Le Hanh will no longer be a cornered wolf. He will be nothing more than a dead dog."

An Cuu Uyen watched the sharp profile of her face. The setting sun bled through the car window, illuminating her skin and etching a look of resolute determination onto her features.

"Chi Luc Minh."

"Hmm?"

"This god is beginning to feel that," the snake began, "selling myself for a single yuan was a massive loss."

Chi Luc Minh let out a soft laugh, offering no reply. The taxi merged into the bustling twilight traffic of Dragon City, carrying a reborn human woman and a God of All Beasts, speeding headlong toward the future.

Chapter 10: One Month Later.

The Arctic ice sheet. The temperature hovered at minus forty-two degrees. A vast, blinding expanse of white stretched to the horizon, the wind slicing like a serrated blade against any exposed scrap of skin. Chi Luc Minh, clad in a specially insulated tactical suit provided by the Red Moon, stood at the edge of the ice field. Behind her stood the elite guard—twenty beast-men with A-rank combat capabilities.

A few hundred meters in front of her, beneath the thick shelf of ice, something was moving. It was massive and sluggish, causing the very earth to tremble with every rhythmic shift. An Cuu Uyen was coiled around her neck, functioning as a living scarf. It adamantly insisted that this was the most efficient way to retain body heat, and definitely not because it was acting spoiled.

"The White Bear King," the serpent’s voice echoed in her ear. "The sovereign of the Arctic. It has lived for six thousand years. After swallowing one of my fragments, it evolved ice-elemental abilities. This entire frozen wasteland is its domain."

"How does its combat power compare?"

"Compared to your past life? It is twice as strong as Le Hanh was at his peak."

Chi Luc Minh furrowed her brows slightly.

"However, I have recovered to forty-two percent," An Cuu Uyen noted, its voice laced with confidence. "Combined with the three fragments retrieved from Le Hanh, the current pressure of the God of All Beasts is enough to force it into instinctive submission. We do not need to fight."

"No fight required?"

"The White Bear King is different from the wolf tribe," An Cuu Uyen explained. "It was among the last of the beast-kind to receive my grace before my downfall. Deep within its genes, obedience is carved. As long as I prove my identity, it will surrender the fragment voluntarily."

Chi Luc Minh nodded. "And if it refuses to hand it over?"

An Cuu Uyen’s tail tightened a fraction more around her neck. "Then we fight."

The ice suddenly shattered. A colossal white shadow erupted from beneath the frozen surface, sending shards of ice spraying into the sky like shrapnel. The White Bear King stood revealed. Its size rivaled a three-story building. Beneath its snowy fur, mountains of muscle rippled, and each heavy step left cracks half a meter deep in the frozen ground.

Two eyes, icy blue and piercing, locked onto Chi Luc Minh. No—they were locked onto the serpent around her neck.

The beast halted. Its massive frame came to a standstill fifty meters away, its heavy, ragged breaths crystallizing into a mist of ice in the frigid air. An Cuu Uyen rose from Chi Luc Minh’s neck, unleashing the pressure of the God of All Beasts. This was not the light display used at the auction house; this was its full power. A God of All Beasts at forty-two percent capacity, facing a six-thousand-year-old White Bear King.

Between heaven and earth, it was as if someone had hit a pause button. The wind ceased to howl. The snow hung suspended in the air.

The White Bear King’s massive body began to tremble. The ferocity in its icy blue eyes was being replaced by something far more primal: awe. It realized what this was. This pressure—an irresistible, undeniable force emanating from the very depths of its bloodline—could only belong to one entity.

The White Bear King slowly bowed its head, which was larger than a car. Its front legs buckled, and it knelt. The ice cracked loudly under its immense weight. A deep, guttural rumble emanated from its throat, sounding like an echo from the Earth’s mantle. It was not a growl of threat, but a sign of submission.

An Cuu Uyen’s vertical, golden pupils looked down at the cowering beast. "The fragment."

It spoke only two words. The White Bear King shivered violently. Then, it opened its maw. A golden sphere of light rose from the depths of its throat, suspended in the air for a moment before drifting slowly toward An Cuu Uyen.

The fragment merged into the serpent’s body. Golden runes pulsed with renewed brilliance. An Cuu Uyen’s size did not change—it now had total control over its form—but Chi Luc Minh felt the heat radiating from the coils around her neck increase.

"Fifty-one percent," An Cuu Uyen stated. More than halfway there.

The White Bear King buried its head even deeper, pressing its entire body against the ice. Chi Luc Minh stepped forward. She stood before the colossal creature and looked up.

"White Bear King," she said.

The giant creature’s blue eyes swiveled toward her.

"From today on, the Arctic ice sheet is under the jurisdiction of the Red Moon," Chi Luc Minh’s voice carried clearly on the wind. "You will guard this territory diligently. If there are intruders, report them before you take action."

A low, rumbling groan vibrated from the Bear King’s throat, as if to say, "Understood."

Chi Luc Minh turned and walked toward the waiting helicopter. The wind and snow began to fall once more. Behind her, the massive silhouette of the White Bear King sank back into the ice. The guard beast-men watched Chi Luc Minh’s retreating back, then glanced at each other. This human woman—only twenty-four years old. A month ago, she was living in a thirty-square-meter rented room. Now, she was commanding the God of All Beasts, subduing the White Bear King, and running the Red Moon empire. What kind of world was this?

Inside the helicopter, Chi Luc Minh leaned back into her seat and closed her eyes. An Cuu Uyen slithered from her neck and coiled itself onto her lap.

"Are you tired?" it asked.

"A little."

"Sleep for a while. The next stop is a long way off."

"Where is the next station?"

"The Deep Sea of the East. The Sea Clan," the snake’s voice dropped lower. "That fragment is quite troublesome. The Sea Clan is not as well-behaved as the White Bear King."

"How are they not well-behaved?"

"They… tend to hold grudges." An Cuu Uyen’s tail curled in an unnatural way. "Thirty thousand years ago, I might have… accidentally… eaten their ancestors."

Chi Luc Minh opened one eye to look at it. "You ate their ancestors?"

"Back then, I didn't quite distinguish between pets and subordinates," the serpent’s voice grew quieter. "I apologized, of course."

"And they still hold a grudge even after you apologized?"

"My way of apologizing was to grant them a coral palace." The tip of An Cuu Uyen’s tail tapped lightly against her knee. "But that palace… I accidentally blew it up later."

"…Why?"

"There were cockroaches inside."

Chi Luc Minh squeezed her eyes shut. The God of All Beasts, indeed.