When the wolf and cat finished their brutal fight, it was clear that they were evenly matched. Neither could defeat the other. The wolf was shocked by the cat's rapid growth, but that was nothing compared to the cat's sheer disbelief. The feline could sense that the wolf's cultivation was merely at the sixth stage of the Mortal Realm. Such a milestone was supposedly impossible, since the wolf was a demonic beast, not a human. How could a demonic beast walk the human path of cultivation? To make matters more bizarre, the energy circulating in the wolf's body was raw world qi, not the diluted origin qi humans used.
The cat pondered the anomaly for a moment before releasing the tension in its body, indicating that it was no longer interested in continuing the fight. The wolf followed suit, giving up the clash. Both were covered in blood, their bodies in terrible shape. The cat communicated that it was no longer a servant, and the wolf had no choice but to accept the new dynamic.
Trouble arose when neither beast wanted to cede the den to the other. Although the den was not in the best location, it was highly secure, hard to find, and avoided by most apex predators. The two almost resumed their battle before the cat proposed sharing the territory. The wolf was about to refuse, but he remembered he was at his absolute physical limit; if the cat chose to fight again, he would most likely lose. The wolf agreed to cohabit on the condition that the cat help expand the den, and once finished, leave the wolf entirely undisturbed during his cultivation.
The two beasts spent the next two weeks licking their wounds, each trying to heal faster to avoid being ambushed by the other while vulnerable. Fortunately, they recovered at almost the exact same time, preventing further conflict. They immediately began expanding the den, carving into the solid rock with their sharp claws. The den became almost ten times larger than before, split into two distinct chambers.
On the final day of the excavation, the floor suddenly cracked and gave way entirely, sending both beasts plunging into a massive chasm that had appeared beneath them. They fell into a deep pond of water at the bottom of the hole. Fortunately, the water was deep enough to cushion their fall, and neither sustained injuries. When they swam to the surface, they realized a massive, hidden cavern stretched out beneath the mountain. Next to the pond of clear blue water stood a tiny, grass-thatched house with a small blue wooden door.
While still in the water, the white wolf noticed this was no ordinary pool. The water contained an incredibly high concentration of pure world qi. The wolf immediately circulated his cultivation technique, and to his joy, massive quantities of world qi flooded his body, rapidly advancing his power. A small whirlpool formed around the wolf, alerting the black cat, which had been focusing on the hut and had initially missed the energy in the water.
The cat quickly activated a technique of its own, sucking in the world qi at almost the same speed. In fierce competition, the wolf circulated his technique to its absolute limit, absorbing even more world qi and creating a whirlpool far greater than the cat's. At this point, the cat gave up the competition, pretending not to have noticed the disparity.
The two cultivated fiercely. Soon, the black cat broke through to the third realm of beast cultivation, the Purification Realm, which was equivalent to the peak of the human Origin Realm. In this stage, beasts purified their gathered qi as much as possible in preparation for the Xiantian Realm. When the cat broke through, it felt invincible. A bloated sense of power made it grin with evil intent as it eyed the wolf.
At that exact moment, the white wolf also broke through, reaching the seventh stage of the human path: the Skin Refinement stage. With this surge in the wolf's power, the black cat lost some of its confidence, but it soon regained its dark thoughts of launching an attack. However, just as it prepared to strike, the wolf broke through yet again, achieving the eighth stage of human cultivation: Sense Organ Refinement.
When the cat saw this, its violent thoughts settled down. It knew that the wolf, at this stage, possessed more than enough power to match its own cultivation. The cat was deeply puzzled by how the wolf was able to break through twice in a matter of minutes.
The two cultivated for two weeks nonstop until the world qi in the pond was completely exhausted, leaving only normal water behind. By the end of the session, the wolf was already on the verge of breaking through a third time to reach the ninth stage, the Brain Refinement stage.
The two climbed out of the pond, tension thick in the air as each beast secretly wanted to attack the other in hopes of securing a powerful, if untrustworthy, servant. They walked warily toward the hut. When they reached the threshold, the wolf pushed the blue door open, and the two entered side by side, neither willing to let the other gain an advantage by stepping inside first.