Chapter 176: The Tiger King’s Cave’s System and Path
What a bootlicker!
w.a.n.g Liang honestly hadn’t expected Jun Wen to bootlick so openly during such an occasion.
He had never seen Jun Wen do anything like that in the past either.
Is he really that happy?
The moment the thought occurred to him, he became rather unsure again.
Jun Wen didn’t bother himself with the look in w.a.n.g Liang’s eyes. Most of what he said was sincere; he had merely added some extra stuff to his words and expressed them differently, that was all.
With some verbal refinements, the same thing would sound even more pleasing to the ear, so why not?
This was something that Jun Wen had already understood a long time ago. It was just that he hadn’t done it much later on. At the same time, it was also because he hadn’t had many chances to do so either.
Now that such a good opportunity had presented itself, he naturally wouldn’t let it slip by.
A small smile formed at the corners of w.a.n.g Hu’s lips. He looked at Jun Wen with some slight gratification and said, “Even though all of you are still weak and cannot undertake responsibilities by yourselves yet, you can still contribute to the tigers, regardless. All of you did pretty well a.s.sisting the Queen in the relocation this time. This proposal is also pretty well-done.”
w.a.n.g Liang raised an eyebrow and spoke up one step ahead of Jun Wen. “You’re too kind, my lord. These are things that we should do in the first place. What should be made known to the tigers is everything that the King has done for the tigers instead.
“My lord, I suggest that we add the King’s deeds into the tigers’ rules and regulations. We must have all the tigers etch these into their minds.”
Beside him, Jun Wen’s eyebrow twitched before he immediately agreed and said, “My lord, I think so, too.”
The smile at w.a.n.g Hu’s lips widened. Then, he looked at the cowardly fox that had been standing quietly at the side the whole time.
Su Ling, who was thinking about the matter, immediately sensed his gaze. She secretly admonished herself for having such a slow reaction before she also said joyfully, “My lord, I also think so.”
“I’ll leave it to you, then,” said w.a.n.g Hu dispa.s.sionately.
“Yes, my lord,” Su Ling replied respectfully. She was the one managing education matters, so she would naturally be in charge of this.
As she thought about it, she even became rather happy. She could now think of different ways to make those tigers listen to her obediently again.
w.a.n.g Hu retracted his gaze and said steadily, “As for the proposal, I’ll announce the implementation after I make some slight changes.”
“Understood.”
w.a.n.g Liang and Jun Wen naturally agreed without raising any objections.
“Alright, all of you are dismissed,” w.a.n.g Hu said with a wave.
“I’ll take my leave.”
All the animals chorused and exited the hall.
“The proposal looks pretty good to me. Why do you need to make changes to it?” Di Baijun spoke up at this point.
To be honest, she wasn’t very interested in these matters and was just casually asking.
Although w.a.n.g Hu knew that Silly Girl was just casually asking, he nevertheless explained in detail. “Their proposal is certainly not bad, but it’s still a little too slow.”
“Slow?” Di Baijun frowned slightly. She didn’t think so.
“Excluding the two of us, while it may seem like the Tiger King’s Cave’s level of combat power is currently increasing at a rather rapid rate, relatively speaking; it’s still nowhere near satisfactory.
“It’s not even close to what the various human countries and the Lichi Continent are like.
“Now that we have large amounts of Spirit Stones at our disposal and the Lichi Continent whose spiritual energy density level has reached the eleventh stage of the Third Realm; our combat power will go through another period of rapid growth.
“With that, the Tiger King’s Cave’s level of combat power would lag behind even further. They are our foundation and the ones that will become our trusted subordinates.
“It’s time that we let go of our inhibitions and groom them without sparing any costs,” said w.a.n.g Hu slowly.
“Let go of our inhibitions? Without sparing any costs? Didn’t you say in the past that we mustn’t let the animals reap without sowing? You even said that they won’t receive any rewards if they don’t work for it,” Di Baijun said with a look of amus.e.m.e.nt in her eyes.
w.a.n.g Hu wasn’t bothered by her teasing. He chuckled and replied, “I did say that in the past, but that was when we still didn’t have enough resources.
“Now that we have a world to back us up, things will naturally have to change. Besides, I didn’t say that I’ll treat them like how humans rear livestock.
“If they want more resources, then they’ll still have to depend on themselves to obtain it.”
“How are they supposed to obtain it?” Di Baijun became even more interested.
w.a.n.g Hu’s expression turned a little more serious. He didn’t bother leaving her hanging and told her straight.
“We tigers are a species of warriors. Battle is also essential to some other animal species.
“We cannot rely solely on resources to groom the animals. Not only will it cause their ability to battle to weaken, but it may also snuff out their potential and impede their growth. After all, how can one grow without going through trials and tribulations?
“We don’t need to bother too much with the First Realm tigers. We’ve already imparted the cultivation method to them and provided them with a good environment.
“We just need to wait for them to grow and break through to the Transformation Realm.
“Only tigers that grow and develop this way will be true tigers and not tigers that the humans rear.”
Di Baijun nodded. She also thought the same way. Could the tigers that the humans rear even be considered tigers?
What a joke.
“Second Realm tigers—in other words, the ones whom we’re mainly focusing on grooming right now—won’t need to hunt for food anymore. They won’t need to think of anything else at all.
“They only have one goal—cultivating and battling.”
As w.a.n.g Hu spoke, a slight look of iciness also surfaced in his eyes.
“I intend to set an a.s.sessment. The a.s.sessment consists of ten trials and especially targets Transformation Realm animals.
“Each Transformation Realm tiger is required to pa.s.s one trial every two years and must pa.s.s the tenth trial after twenty years.
“If they cannot pa.s.s any of the trials within the stipulated time frame, then it means that they don’t have much apt.i.tude and are useless.
“I will drive them out of the Tiger King’s Cave and let them live in the tigers’ territory or in the Lichi Continent instead.”
Astonished, Di Baijun couldn’t help but frown. She said, “Drive them out of the Tiger King’s Cave? Transformation Realm cultivators are hard to come by right now.”
“They’re certainly hard to come by, but they aren’t of much use either,” w.a.n.g Hu said seriously, “It’s Third Realm cultivators that are the most important instead. There may not be a lot of tigers, but the number is still rather significant.
“There won’t be any lack of Transformation Realm animals in the future, but is having thousands or tens of thousands of Transformation Realm animals of any use?
“Not at all. They’re just cannon fodder.
“The Tiger King’s Cave should concentrate our resources on grooming more talented tigers instead.
“Our numbers are far fewer than the humans. Therefore, we should go down the path of grooming elites instead.
“During the last few days, I’ve been thinking about what kind of system and path the tigers, as well as the Tiger King’s Cave, should take next.
“We already have a world at our disposal. Now that our stage has expanded, it’s time that we consider this issue.
“Although I’m not sure about it yet, I’ve thought of something—the tigers may be tigers, but the Tiger King’s Cave may not necessarily consist of only tigers.”
His words shocked Di Baijun again. “Are you thinking of separating the tigers from the Tiger King’s Cave? You intend to rule over all the species in the world?”
She was no fool. She naturally understood what each meant.
“No—or at least, not now.” w.a.n.g Hu shook his head. “I told you, I haven’t decided what kind of system or path to take yet.
“Right now, apart from a rare few like Ling Shuang and the others, the Tiger King’s Cave comprises only tigers.
“The ones whom we’re spending our resources to groom are mainly tigers as well. Those in the Lichi Continent cannot be truly considered our subordinates either, so we don’t need to pay any attention to them. What we should do is exploit them instead.
“Therefore, this can’t be considered as ruling over other species.”
He paused momentarily before he added with a smile, “However, no matter what kind of system or path we take; be it plundering the resources of all other species in all other worlds and dedicating them all to support the tigers; or ruling over all the species in the world and forming a real dynasty with the tigers as the royal family; or any other system or path… we’ll never go wrong by having the tigers go down the path of grooming elites right now.”
A somewhat grave Di Baijun fell silent. She didn’t know whether any other paths were available to them or not, but between the two available to them, the first—steadily developing the tigers without taking any risks—was the simplest and the steadiest.
On the other hand, the second was much more dangerous. It wasn’t like she didn’t understand what that represented, so how could her demeanor possibly not become grave?
As w.a.n.g Hu gazed at Silly Girl’s silent and somewhat grave countenance, he knew that he had said a little too much today.
“Haha, alright, I’m just saying it casually, Baijun. What we should focus on right now is still grooming the tigers. I’m just adding an a.s.sessment, so that it’ll motivate the tigers to cultivate more diligently and train their combat prowess, that’s all. Don’t think too deeply into it.”
w.a.n.g Hu deliberately adopted a relaxed demeanor and laughed as he spoke. To be honest, he really hadn’t thought that far yet.
He would let nature take its course and decide based on the situation.
The current Earth was a dangerous and volatile place. There was no telling what would happen the next day.
He was just doing things along the way as they came.
Additionally, they really mustn’t treat the tigers as if they were rearing livestock. Doing that was no different from crippling them. That was why he had come up with the idea of setting an a.s.sessment.
Di Baijun nodded and stopped thinking about the matter. No matter what, it was still too early to be thinking about these things right now. They were still far from reaching a stage where they had to consider these things.
At the sight, w.a.n.g Hu thought for a moment and said, “For now, let’s take our territory on Earth as the headquarters for the First Realm tigers’ growth and development and pick out talented tigers from among them.
“As for those without any talent, we’ll just let them live in the headquarters.
“Back to what I was saying, we tigers are a species of warriors. We only need to cultivate and train our battle skills, and it’ll do.
“Of course, talent in other aspects, such as pill refining or artifact crafting, would also do.
“As for things such as food and so on, we’ll let the Lichi Continent supply it for us.
“This is why I said that Old Second and Jun Wen’s proposal is still a little too slow and too conservative. We have to increase the supply of resources to the animals under the Tiger King’s Cave’s command.
“We’ll increase it according to the number of trials they pa.s.s in the a.s.sessment and add a portion of resources with each trial they pa.s.s. We’ll just let them focus on cultivating and honing their battle skills.
“I’ve also thought of where they can hone their battle skills. We’ll do it in the Lichi Continent. There are innumerable species there, as well as a large number of minor species. It’s a good place for them to fight and battle. We’ll just need to dispatch Divine Body Realm cultivators to supervise them.”
Di Baijun mused as she listened.
Then, she slowly nodded to express agreement.
Apart from the part about driving some tigers out of the Tiger King’s Cave, she thought everything else that he had mentioned sounded pretty good. It would allow the animals in the Tiger King’s Cave to raise their level of combat power at the fastest speed possible.
At the sight of Di Baijun nodding, w.a.n.g Hu smiled and said, “Alright, shall we discuss how much resources we should add for each trial in the ten trials and how strong they must be to pa.s.s the trials?”
Di Baijun was fairly interested in this, too. Both husband and wife started to have a lively discussion in the hall.
More than two hours and quite a bit of arguing later, they finally settled on a preliminary plan.
After that, with his wife in his arms, w.a.n.g Hu returned to their room to rest.
Now that his new home had been built, he naturally wanted to try it out.
The next day, w.a.n.g Hu summoned w.a.n.g Liang, w.a.n.g Shan, Jun Wen, Jun Yong, Ling Shuang, and Su Ling and told them about the a.s.sessment and other things.
The six animals were greatly astonished. All the animals under the Tiger King’s Cave’s command didn’t need to do anything other than cultivating and honing their battle skills in the future.
They were naturally agreeable to such a great idea.
As for the a.s.sessment, no one was worried apart from the cowardly fox.
They believed that they wouldn’t be eliminated.
Even Jun Wen, who thought the most and the furthest, didn’t say anything.
After that, w.a.n.g Hu also told them about the corresponding amount of resources that would be supplied, which astonished the six animals again. Joy then followed shortly.
Those that pa.s.sed the first trial would receive one ton of purified Transformation Realm meat and an unlimited amount of First Realm meat every month.
Those that subsequently pa.s.sed the second trial all the way to the ninth trial would respectively receive two, five, ten, fifteen, twenty-five, fifty, seventy, and one hundred tons of meat.
As for those that pa.s.sed the tenth trial, not only would they receive 100 tons of purified meat per month, but they would also receive 2.5 kilograms’ worth of Spirit Stones.
Additionally, different duties would also receive a corresponding amount of remuneration.
There was no way anyone would say that a supply of such an amount of resources wasn’t generous. It astonished even w.a.n.g Liang and the others.
At the sight of how astonished they were, w.a.n.g Hu smiled.
These might seem like a lot, but relative to an entire world—especially a world with hundreds of Divine Body Realm cultivators like the Lichi Continent; it was nothing.
Putting aside everything else, just a Transformation Realm cultivator’s flesh alone already weighed at least a few tons.
Even if there wasn’t enough on land in the Lichi Continent, there was a lot in the ocean.
With so many Divine Body Realm cultivators and species in the Lichi Continent, each species would only need to dispatch a few. Given the Tiger King’s Cave’s current size, there was no pressure on the various species in the Lichi Continent at all.
Now, this was exactly a reflection of the benefits of conquering a world. It was far beyond what he had received in the first batch of rewards.
The Lichi Continent would have to continuously serve him and the Tiger King’s Cave and supply them with all sorts of resources from now on.
After waiting for a few seconds, w.a.n.g Hu spoke again… this time about how there were also many other job cla.s.ses apart from battling, such as artifact crafting, pill refinement, and so on. Those in these job cla.s.ses didn’t need to take the a.s.sessment.
After he was done, he said with a wave, “Alright, you can announce this to the others. However, the various duties—such as patrolling, sentry duty, and so on—must also be properly taken care of.
“w.a.n.g Liang, Jun Wen. I’ll leave the two of you to come up with a concrete plan.”
There was nothing wrong with letting the tigers do nothing but cultivate and hone their battle skills. However, certain duties—such as law enforcement, patrolling, sentry duty, etc.—were still necessary.
These mustn’t be canceled.
“Understood,” replied the six animals.
Then, apart from Su Ling, all of them left the hall.
“My lord~” Upon seeing that the other animals were all gone, Su Ling’s voice turned pitiful.
w.a.n.g Hu’s eyelid twitched. It had been a very long time since the cowardly fox behaved like that.
Her sudden change in behavior made him instinctively cast a glance at the depths of the Tiger King’s Cave.
Then, his expression became stern, and he said imposingly, “What is it?”
“I—” Su Ling, who was intending to wheedle, immediately chickened out when w.a.n.g Hu’s imposing gaze landed on her. She said obediently and submissively, “My lord, can I be exempted from the a.s.sessment?”
“No.” w.a.n.g Hu wasn’t surprised by her request. The cowardly fox’s reluctance to battle was only natural.
“But I can’t pa.s.s it.” A panicked Su Ling, who sounded as though she was about to cry, said.
“You unambitious fellow. How can you say that you can’t pa.s.s when you haven’t even tried?” w.a.n.g Hu glared at her mildly and said dryly.
“My lord, I really can’t pa.s.s it,” replied an aggrieved Su Ling who sounded even more like she wanted to cry now.
“What is it that you can’t pa.s.s?”
Suddenly, a cold, haughty, and vaguely bossy voice traveled over to them.
At once, w.a.n.g Hu’s back straightened even more.
Su Ling also instantly reined in her aggrieved expression that was close to tears and said respectfully, “Greetings, my Queen.”
Di Baijun walked out of the cave at the side with a cold and haughty aura around her.