Rules of Nature

Fang Shi was sitting at a large round table with thirteen others: seven Nascent soul cultivators, and six ancestral level spirit beasts. The cultivators were the five guardians of Tianbao fortress city and the two sect leaders from the Blue Moon area, but the spiritual beasts were the five from the Evernight wilds and a bear.

This bear was the reason everyone was meeting today to hold a discussion about the recent addition to the Heaven & Earth pavilion. Fang Shi sighed when he thought what had happened for everyone to come together like this. Soon after the addition of the pet shop, human guests who had played Spiritbound had purchased one of the starters and where already bonding with their new companions.

The visitors who were awakened spirit beasts on the other hand, had grown very uncomfortable with seeing beasts sold as goods despite knowing the animals in question lacked spiritual consciousness. In the new store in the north, both sides tentatively did their best to avoid causing conflict.

In the Blue Moon city area, cultivators and the few disguised spirit beasts could been seen with their new pets. Word traveled quickly, and soon all the spiritual beasts in the nearby forest also heard about the pavilion selling the young of unawakened beasts. Eventually, the spiritual beast that ruled over the forest, Xiong Tianzu, also heard about these things and he seeked out the foxes to request their assistance in investigating these rumors.

To Xiong Tianzu's surprise, several of the fox tribe members worked for the store in question, and both foxes and wolves disguised themselves as humans to enter the city for the sole purpose of purchasing goods from there.

His curiosity was heightened, so Xiong Tianzu made the uncomfortable decision to shift his human form and head towards Blue Moon city. This action alerted the sect leaders of the Profound Sword sect and Azure River sect, and they rushed to Blue Moon city to protect it.

"What are you two doing here?", Xiong Tianzu growled upon reaching the western gate of Blue Moon city.

"Irritable as always", Sect master Liang calmly replied, "May I ask why you're trying enter this city? You should know by now that your actions already appear as if you wish to attack, so naturally we're here to protect this place."

Xiong Tianzu had confidence in his own strength, but with both sect leaders here he was enough of a realist to know he couldn't escape without serious consequences.

"I'm here because of some disturbing rumors", Xiong Tianzu explained, "The wind brought me news that humans have been capturing our young, brainwashing them, and selling them to human masters."

Sect master Yun had a realization, "Old friend Xiong, I believe someone didn't report to you clearly. I doubt you'll believe us so how about this, Sect master Liang and I are willing to escort you to the store in question and you can clear any misunderstandings. Is this acceptable?"

Xiong Tianzu scratched his chest as he contemplated the offer. Even in his human form, he still undeniably looked like a bear so his actions were humorous to Sect master Yun.

"Fine, I accept", Xiong Tianzu agreed.

The three arrived at the store quickly, and the pair of sect masters guided the bear through all the different shops. Everything was fine until they entered the newly added pet store. When the forest lord saw the advertisements for the sale of baby animals, he immediately became angry. This caused the store protection to activate, and soon Xiong Tianzu found himself back outside the city walls.

"Xiong Tianzu", Sect master Liang held his hand against his head, "We warned you when we entered that the cultivator that watches the store is more powerful than us, and will deal with problem guests."

"Just because he's powerful means I have to be obedient?", Xiong Tianzu countered.

"Yes", Sect master Yun flatly answered, "This world has always been like that whether it cultivator or beast. We can only bow down to power, and it hypocritical of you to act like that when you're the strongest of the forest."

Xiong Tianzu couldn't refute her words, but he didn't want to give in so quickly, "Alright, I'm being impetuous. Still, it's uncomfortable for all spirit beasts to see others being sold, even if they're unawakened. I want to speak with this owner, and communicate with him about this issue."

"That's acceptable", Sect master Liang nodded, "We will speak with him, so plan to meet seven or eight days for today."

Xiong Tianzu felt anger rising in his mind again, "Why should I wait so long to speak with this owner?"

Sect master Yun tried her best to suppress her laughter as Sect master Liang coughed, "Since you were forcibly removed from the store, that means you are banned from visiting for seven days. Even if we led you back to the shop, you could never enter the formations that protect it."

Xiong Tianzu suddenly felt embarrassed, "Then I will return here seven days from now, I have some business to deal with in the mean time."

As the bear shifted back into his original form and made his way back into the forest, Sect master Yun was already on her Tianmu, sending a message to Fang Shi.

As Fang Shi read the message, he became genuinely concerned, so he approached Feng Lei Yu, the ancestral beast responsible for today.

"Elder Feng", Fang Shi said, "Can you answer for me something that was brought to my attention?"

Feng Lei Yu wasn't fond of humans still, but she still replied, "Sure."

Fang Shi narrated what had happened at the other location before finishing with, "Do you share these same thoughts?"

"Of course", Feng Lei Yu instantly responded, "I notice you don't sell other humans here, you humans call that slavery, right? Next you know, awakened spirit beast like me will be sold next to the ones you're selling now."

Fang Shi looked confused, "Do you play Spiritbound? Have you ever felt your partner in that game was your master or slave?"

The owner's question caused the hawk to think, "I do play, so I guess you have a point."

In Spiritbound the players found companions, but the relationship between the two had to be built and maintained as they fought and explored together. Mismatched partners, abusers, or neglect would cause pairs to break up, and during combat all the participants contributed equally.

"I've been asked to have a meeting with this bear lord", Fang Shi words caused Feng Lei Yu to stop thinking about the game, "Since you and most likely the others from Evernight wilds have the same concerns, I would like to invite you all to attend as well."

Before Feng Lei Yu can answer, a voice from behind interrupted, "Excuse me, but if they are to come together for a meeting, I must insist that the protectors of Tianbao must attend as well."

"I don't mind", Fang Shi looked unsurprised that their conversation was heard by others.

On the other hand, Feng Lei Yu was quite upset that Protector Mei was forcing her way into this meeting, "Fine, sure, they can come too."

The seven days had passed, and Fang Shi had entered a special meeting room set up in the virtual realm with the five protectors, two sect leaders , and six spirit beast lords.

"This is Outrageous!", Xiong Tianzu yelled when Fang Shi tried to start the meeting, "Not only are our young being taken and sold to humans, but it's this human cub that's responsible for it?"

"Lord Xiong", Fang Shi said with an eyebrow twitching, "I'm here to explain things, but if you will not even let me start the meeting without interrupting and insulting me, I will have a new bear skin rug for my floor tonight."

"How dare you threaten me…", Xiong Tianzu started to aggressively defend himself when he felt a familiar feeling of weakness appear.

"This is your last warning", Fang Shi frowned, "Do you wish to listen?"

"Fine", the bear lord relented.

"Now, I've been told that my spirit beast customers are uncomfortable with the pet store that opened recently, is that correct?", Fang Shi asked.

The six spirit beasts nodded their heads or gave some signal that this was their opinion.

"Protectors and Sect leaders, how much do you know about the lives of beasts that have not awakened a spiritual consciousness?", Fang Shi inquired.

"Too be honest, we view them the same as mortals", Protector Lei replied before adding, "That being said, the spirit beasts here also treat them the same so I'm curious about what their complaint is. The spirit beast of the wilds never seemed to have qualms with hunting, killing, and eating normal animals in the past, so I'm surprised that they raise this issue now."

"In fact, I'm fairly confident that the different tribes of spirit beasts kill each other for mates, territories, and resources", Protector Mei added with a smile.

The six beasts lord suddenly felt embarrassed because everything said was true.

"That may be, but we aren't here for that", Fang Shi interjected, "In the wilds when animals have their young, it is a common occurrence that some of them die during the process. Bird hatch their eggs, but sometimes chicks will fall from the nest or die when their siblings prevent them from eating. A litter of kittens or cubs will often have a runt who passes when its siblings prevent it from feeding, isn't that right?"

"So heartless!", Protector Shui gasped.

Fang Shi rolled his eyes, "Don't act like you're any better, protector. If a cultivator is born with weak roots, your treatment of them could be seen as the same."

Protector Shui's face didn't change after being called out, but it was evident he had poked a venerable spot.

"It's true", Jing Zhao admitted, "Lynxes, foxes, and hawks are familiar with this more than bears and deer though."

"What does that mean?", Gu Lin Wang demanded.

"Bears and deer only have one maybe two babies at a time right?", Yan Wei understood Jing Zhao's meaning, "You can focus all your resources on a few, but that's not our ways. A nest of eggs or litter of young can be as small as two or as large as eight, and it's true that when that happens not everyone of them will make it."

"What does this have to do with anything?", Xiong Tianzu tried to get things back on track.

"Then I'll explain", Fang Shi took the cue, "When a young animal is left behind to die, my puppets are sent to retrieve it but only for the young of normal animals. If spiritual beasts abandon their young, I make no attempt to rescue it."

"Why not?", Tie E gave Fang Shi a hard look.

"Normal animals do the best they can to raise their young", Fang Shi said, "But because they lack spiritual consciousness or intelligence, they don't understand that disadvantaged children could still grow up successfully. For instance, you might even have seen this before Miss Feng. A predatory bird like a hawk could have four eggs, but the advantage will go to the egg that hatches first."

Feng Lei Yu could only purse her lips in response, "Yes that true."

"Once that first egg hatches, the parents will immediately begin to hunt", Fang Shi continued the lecture, "This means the other eggs will lose the warmth of their mothers body as she provides food for the first chick. It also stimulates them to hatch as well because if they don't, the first chick will quickly grow in size and they will be unable to compete for food. This becomes deadly for the last chick to hatch as it will not have the strength to compete against multiple larger siblings. It would almost be better for it to die inside the egg because once it hatches, not only will it starve wasting its energy trying to secure food, but it will become the target of the siblings. There is a very high chance that the smallest chick will be attacked by the larger ones, or pushed out of the nest by a larger sibling."

The room was quiet at Fang Shi explanation before he started talking again, "So, I save them. The senior has puppets that find young animals in this situation, and has them rescued. We bring them back, and raise them with the intention of being bound to a partner. I don't take or kidnap animals, I save them."

"So why don't you do the same for spirit beast?", Protector Xu asked in confusion.

"My master says it's because it's much rarer for spirit beast to behave the same way", Fang Shi told them, "As a cultivator gains more control over their body as their realm grows, the same can be said for spirit beast who have higher attainments in body cultivation. A spirt beast who becomes a mother is more intelligent than a normal beast so it can control the number of young she wishes to have, and can make sure to provide for them all. If a cub of a spirit beast is left to die, it was by choice and not by instinct. Since the young of spirit beast are already awakened, they can't be bound to cultivators without using painful rituals. If you notice in Spiritbound, all creatures that can become companions are normal animals and only demonic cultivators or devils enslave spirit beast through rituals."

"You're stating that the methods used by beast taming families and sects are demonic in nature?", Protector Lei stared at Fang Shi.

"Obviously, you're forcible imprinting a part of your soul onto an intelligent beings", Fang Shi retorted, "That doesn't seem wrong to you or is it because a spirit beast is the target that you never questioned it before?"

"What happens to those who aren't sold?", Yan Wei inquired.

"All the animals we rescue are raised in a manner so that if they grow up and are never picked as a partner, we release them back into the wilderness", Fang Shi reported, "They are still able to function normally in the wild, whether it's hunting or finding a mate. It might be better to show you so please stand for a moment."

Fang Shi stood up and everyone else did the same as they wondered what was about to happen. With a few hand signs, the room melted away and the group found themselves floating above plains. They watched as a pack of juvenile wolves stalked a herd of deer before they started a coordinated attack against their prey.

"They can't see or detect us here in anyways", Fang Shi said, "When a guest wishes to buy an animal, the same artifact that is used to detect their spiritual roots is also used to determine which animals matches them the best. Only those that match the closest are recommended, and customers are informed that we monitor the health of the animal for a year after purchase. Any guest found neglecting their responsibility will be banned from the store."

The environment shifted once again, and everyone found themselves returned to the previous meeting room.

"Do you have anymore questions or concerns?", Fang Shi felt that everyone should be satisfied with his presentation.

"Will you purchase young animals?", Feng Lei Yu asked.

"No", Fang Shi replied, "It's one thing to purchase the materials that I do, but I feel that if I purchase young animals, others will go out with the intention of stealing or kidnapping them. That's why I'll ask all the leaders here to pass that on to your people. I'll remind them if they try to come here with that intention, but it'll be helpful if it came from you all as well. Did I settle your worries for now, Lord Xiong?"

"For now, but I'll be visiting often", Xiong Tianzu snorted, "Who knows how long you'll keep this act up for."

"I'll ask the city lord to create a gate close to my store just for you", Fang Shi smiled.

This caused the two sect leaders to do their best to stifle their laughter, but Xiong Tianzu ignored them.

"So, can I get a beast recommended for me?", he asked.