Chapter 2

Mother's condition was deteriorating.

The silver poison had spread around her heart, each heartbeat like a tug-of-war with death. But I knew that staying in the healing caverns would only make things worse—I couldn't afford those sky-high medical fees, and the healers looked at me as if I were a troublemaker behind on medical payments.

I had to take her away.

Under cover of darkness, I transferred mother to the family's ancient sanctuary. It was an abandoned temple located on the territory's edge, an ancient stone structure with three hundred years of history. Most importantly, there was an ancient holy spring there. Though it couldn't compare to Moonlight Holy Water, combined with various herbs I had collected over the past half month to suppress silver poison, it had indeed brought obvious improvement to mother's condition.

For half a month, I had traversed almost the entire territory, searching for any herbs that might be effective against silver poison. Night blade grass, moonlight ferns, silver leaf vines... I found these rare plants one by one, making them into medicines to be taken with the holy spring water.

Mother's complexion was no longer so ashen, and the black patterns of silver poison had faded considerably. She could even stay conscious and talk with me, telling me some ancient family secrets.

However, just when I finally saw a glimmer of hope, disaster struck.

Massive mechanical roaring sounds came from the distance. More than ten heavy demolition machines were driving toward the sanctuary, followed by a team of fully armed guards.

I rushed out of the temple and blocked the path of the mechanical convoy.

"Stop! This is private territory!"

The lead construction captain poked his head out from the machine cabin, looking completely impatient: "Arthur? The leader's order is to immediately demolish this ruin and build a new arena here."

Arena. My blood began to boil.

"This is my family's sacred ground. No one has the right to—"

"Rights?" A familiar, nauseating voice came from behind the guard team.

Liam rode up slowly on his white war horse, wearing that Blazing Fire necklace worth 80,000 gold coins around his neck, sparkling in the sunlight. Behind him, a taller figure stepped down from a carriage.

Selene.

She wore the silver-patterned battle robe symbolizing her leadership position, her posture elegant and composed, as if she were merely inspecting her backyard garden.

"Dear Arthur," Liam spoke with false sympathy, "I heard you just lost your mother. What a tragedy. Selene felt you needed to emerge from the shadows, so she decided to build me a spectacular arena here. Every time you see this structure, you'll remember the meaning of contributing to the territory."

I stared intently at Selene, fists clenched tight. "This place cannot be demolished."

Selene finally glanced at me. That look was as casual as viewing roadside weeds.

"Arthur, this ruin has been abandoned for three hundred years. After your mother's death, there's even less reason to preserve it." Her tone was calm to the point of indifference. "Liam needs a training ground to improve his combat abilities. This benefits the territory."

"This place holds my family's history!"

"History?" Selene casually swept her gaze over the crumbling walls. "History exists to be surpassed. Your mother is gone. You should look forward."

Her tone carried the air of "leadership's grace"—as if allowing me to dig my mother's corpse out of the mass grave for reburial was already her greatest mercy.

"I said this place cannot be demolished!" I stepped forward, my voice beginning to tremble—not from fear, but from suppressed fury.

The guard team immediately raised their weapons. But Liam waved for them to lower them, his smile becoming playful.

"I understand your current emotions. However, if you truly have feelings for this place, I could consider a trade." His gaze fell on the wolf king bone whistle on my chest. "That bone whistle looks very ancient. It should have collector's value. If you're willing to use it as collateral, I could persuade Selene to delay the demolition plan by one month."

Selene raised an eyebrow but didn't object. She stood beside Liam with arms crossed, coldly watching everything unfold.

The Wolf King bone whistle.

It was an ancient artifact sealing the primordial wolf king bloodline within me. Once that bloodline awakened, I feared facing targeting and siege from other high-ranking werewolves in the territory. More importantly, although mother's condition had improved, she still needed continuous herbal treatment. I couldn't expose my true strength at this time.

I needed time.

"One month." I slowly removed the bone whistle from around my neck. "In one month, I'll pay the gold coins to redeem this land."

A flash of malicious light appeared in Liam's eyes. "Of course, I'll take good care of this... interesting little toy."

He reached out to receive the bone whistle. Just as he was about to grasp it firmly, he suddenly "lost his grip."

The ancient bone whistle carrying family history and sealing the primordial wolf king bloodline crashed heavily onto the hard stone pavement.

A crisp shattering sound echoed through the valley.

The bone whistle shattered into pieces, ancient runes instantly losing their luster, and the sealed power dissipated like a tide.

"Oh my, so sorry!" Liam apologized dramatically, though his eyes sparkled with triumphant malice. "My hand slipped. But even a broken antique is still an antique—it should still have... archaeological value?"

Selene stood in place without even furrowing her brow. The corner of her mouth even lifted slightly—a look of tacit approval.

The moment the seal shattered, I felt something ancient and terrifying within me awaken.

My blood began to boil, my heartbeat thundering like war drums. Bones made explosive cracking sounds as muscles rapidly expanded. My eyes changed from ordinary brown to deep dark gold—the primordial wolf king bloodline had completely awakened in this moment.

"Do you..." My voice became low and dangerous, each word like a beast's roar, "know what you've done?"

Liam was still smugly pleased: "What did I do? Just dropped some broken bone—"

Before he could finish, an invisible pressure suddenly erupted.

It was ancient power from the depths of bloodline—the absolute ruling majesty of the primordial wolf king. Even the air was distorted, surrounding vegetation swayed without wind, and stones trembled.

The composure on Selene's face finally showed its first crack. Her pupils suddenly contracted and her body uncontrollably stepped back half a pace—her wolf blood was screaming, telling her that this man she had abandoned and humiliated carried terrifying bloodline far beyond her comprehension.

Liam's smile completely froze as he collapsed to the ground. The guard warriors' weapons fell from their hands, knees weakening, bodies trembling violently.

My bones were still crackling, my body undergoing irreversible changes. More than twenty years of suppression and anger had finally found an outlet.

Just as I was about to completely lose control, a wolf howl that tore through the heavens suddenly came from the sky.

That sound was distant yet clear, as if reaching from nine heavens straight to the heart. More terrifying still, I could feel the power contained within—it was an existence of the same level as the royal blood awakening in my body. An ancient summoning—when primordial wolf king bloodline completely awakened, it would attract the sensing of equal-level beings. At this moment, some extremely terrifying colossal entity had already detected my bloodline rampage and was approaching at alarming speed.

Liam was so scared he wet himself. The guard team was ashen-faced, wanting to flee but unable to move their legs.

Selene stood frozen in place, that composed smile at the corner of her mouth having long since vanished without a trace. Her lips parted slightly as if wanting to say something, but couldn't squeeze out a single word.

The seal was broken, the royal blood awakened, and the ancient summons had sounded.

Everything that followed would completely change this territory's power structure.

Including all of Selene's pride and cold-bloodedness, which would be crushed to dust before true power.