Old Sha did not stop Su Ping from entering the potion workshop.
Before leaving, Su An'yong had already told it that from now on, everything at the Heart of Wood Pet Beast Breeding Base would be decided by this young master.
The old wolf, who had watched Su Ping grow up, was practically an elder who doted on him the most.
The potion workshop could be said to be the cleanest place in the entire estate. The walls, floors, and ceiling were all a pristine white, spotless to an extreme.
The only downside was the sharp disinfectant smell in the air, which made Su Ping frown slightly—and the Xiao Qing perched on his shoulder tugging at his collar sneezed several times in a row, clearly irritated by the scent.
Rubbing the somewhat uncomfortable Xiao Qing, Su Ping finally placed it into his Beast-Taming Space.
Within the Beast-Taming Space, a Beast Tamer's mental power constantly soothed their Pet Beasts, keeping them in a comfortable state while accelerating energy recovery and wound healing.
Xiao Qing was still far too young.
Handling the instruments—devices he had seen and studied at school but never personally operated—Su Ping moved with ease as he opened the cold storage room.
Sure enough, although his father was unreliable, he had indeed attempted to brew the Heart of Wood potion many times over the years. There were still quite a few materials left in cold storage.
That made things much easier.
Su Ping's eyes lit up. Then, under Old Sha's baffled gaze, he hurriedly ran out of the potion workshop, patted the giant wolf, and asked,
"Old Sha, over by the Lingxi River behind the base—there's Wolfsmoke Grass growing there, right?"
Old Sha nodded.
The next moment, it watched its young master break into a jog, heading straight toward the Lingxi River behind the base.
Old Sha did not dare overthink it and chased after him.
This little ancestor had just come back and was already making wolves worry nonstop.
Wolfsmoke Grass?
That stuff smelled even worse than the wolf droppings left behind by those little brats in the forest, didn't it?
Old Sha was much faster than Su Ping.
Although when Su Ping had been studying in Linzhou City, perhaps due to having lived two lifetimes, he had been the undisputed top student in meditation classes.
After awakening his Beast-Taming Space and talent, he had already reached Ordinary Rank, Stage 4 as a Beast Tamer.
Still, compared to Old Sha—now a Commander-tier existence—his speed was nowhere near enough.
Seeing Old Sha catch up, Su Ping naturally grabbed onto the wolf's mane and smoothly vaulted onto its back.
Their breeding base was massive. Crossing the entire area to reach the banks of the Lingxi River still took some distance.
"Ao—!"
With the little master it had raised now riding on its back once more, Old Sha grew visibly excited, letting out a resounding howl.
In the suburban outskirts, that sudden wolf howl was piercingly loud.
As if sensing the wolf king's call, waves of howls rose in response from the vast forest within the base, echoing back and forth.
Although this was the outskirts of the city, the Heart of Wood Pet Beast Breeding Base occupied an enormous area—and there were, naturally, other people nearby.
Not far from the base stood another equally massive estate.
Above its main gate hung a huge signboard:
"Yuntian Pet Beast Battle Resort."
Compared to the Heart of Wood breeding base, this resort's environment was vastly superior.
Beautiful gardens were clearly and carefully arranged, meticulously landscaped.
Within the estate stood rows of small villas, along with an eight-story building towering at the center.
On the top floor of that central building, in a vast living room formed by merging two levels, a slender, graceful figure stood by the window.
She was a woman who appeared to be around thirty years old. Dressed in ordinary home attire, yet it could not conceal the lethal allure and charm of a woman at her prime.
At this moment, however, her brows were slightly furrowed as she looked into the distance, clearly displeased.
The piercing wolf howl allowed her gaze to pierce the distance, looking down from above at the Lingxi River flowing dozens of li away, the Heart of Wood breeding base hidden behind dense forest—
And the figure riding a wolf toward the riverbank.
The woman finally spoke,
"So that's the small boss of that breeding base? Our little landlord?"
A short distance behind her stood a man, wearing an extremely cautious and deferential expression.
If Su Ping had been present, he would have recognized him at once. This man was the so-called big spender who had rented a huge stretch of land from his family.
It was precisely this person who had built this—what both Su Ping and his father considered somewhat ridiculous—Pet Beast training ground and resort.
Yet now, facing the woman standing before the window, the man did not dare even steal a glance at her shapely silhouette, let alone step closer.
At her question, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and replied,
"Yes, Chairwoman."
The woman turned and glanced at him.
"It's been two years. The matter I assigned you back then hasn't made any progress at all. How do you still have the face to stand in front of me?"
Faced with her rebuke, the man did not dare defend himself in the slightest, only lowering his head even further.
Seeing her subordinate's spineless appearance, the woman did not press the issue. After a pause, she said,
"Enough. You said Su An'yong has temporarily left Linzhou City. Right now, the Heart of Wood breeding base—and that large tract of land we're leasing—are all under that kid's authority, correct?"
"That should be the case. Old Su… Su An'yong said he went to Beihan City in the north. He definitely won't be back anytime soon. Household matters are all handled by Su Ping now."
The woman nodded in satisfaction. A faint smile curved her striking red lips.
"In that case, our battle arena has been short on Ordinary- and Elite-tier wolf and hound-type training beasts lately, hasn't it?
"In a short while, the graduating students from Linzhou's schools will have trained their Pet Beasts for some time and will want real combat practice. By then, low-tier training beasts definitely won't be enough.
"These next few days, find some time to invite that kid over. Have a talk with him about cooperating—leasing the Forest Wolves from his base."
"Yes, I understand, Chairwoman."
"You may go."
After giving the order casually, the woman ignored her subordinate's departure.
She understood quite well that her subordinate was probably very curious—
Why would Yuntian Group, one of the top conglomerates in Jianghai Province, care so much about a piece of land in the outskirts of Linzhou City that wasn't particularly eye-catching?
True, the area was large, and after changes in Linzhou's urban planning, it was no longer too far from the city center.
But that alone shouldn't warrant such personal attention from her as chairwoman.
As the door closed, the vast living room was left with only the woman standing by the window, gazing at the distant Lingxi River, lost in thought.
In the silent room, only her soft murmur echoed:
"I wonder whether the Imperial Astronomical Bureau has received the news yet… whether they've sent anyone.
"We need to speed things up.
"How exciting. I really wonder—what kind of senior's secret realm will eventually emerge here…"