In the video, Xie Zhinian looked startled and flustered, his eyes filled with astonishment. “What did you say? This is your contract beast? Ah-Hao, do you know what you are doing? How could you… Didn’t you agree to contract an ice tiger? How…”
Xie Zhinian was at a loss for words several times.
What was done was done. Saying things that sounded like blame now would only make the person involved regret it even more.
Lu Hao explained about the contract. “It is already my contract beast now. Zhinian, no matter what, it and I are now one.”
“Then what about the future? What are you going to do from now on?” Xie Zhinian ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “The battlefield doesn’t care about strength; it only distinguishes between enemies and allies. You definitely won’t be able to keep this little guy by your side in the future.”
Fang Jing quietly listened to his designated servant chat with his friend. With his excellent comprehension skills, he quickly understood the situation.
So, this guy named Zhinian was looking down on him, thinking he would hold his servant back?
What a joke.
Although he was acting like a slacker, he was the treasure of his sect. Back in the battle between the human and demon races, his master and the sect leader had begged him with tears in their eyes not to sleep anymore and asked him to step in. When he made his move, those demons had been scared out of their wits.
Don’t let the fact that heavenly tribulations had forced his soul out of his body and brought him here fool you, nor the fact that he was currently such a chimera that he didn’t even know what kind of creature he was. His soul was still a soul from the cultivation world, and his natal sword was still right in his sea of consciousness.
When the precious sword came out, who would dare contend with him?
Right now, he simply wasn’t making a move. Once he really did, other contract beasts would just be food on his plate.
Unaware of what his contract beast was thinking, Lu Hao didn’t want to talk anymore about what had already happened, and instead asked, “What about you? Have you contracted a beast yet? You have to return to the Capital Star in half a month.”
“Not yet.” At this, Xie Zhinian drooped his head despondently. “The traces of the fire foxes are too hard to find. Over the past half month, I have turned several mountains upside down and still have not found a single trace. On the contrary…”
On the contrary, he had accidentally strayed into the territory of other contract beasts and ended up carrying a fair number of injuries. He wasn’t sure if he would still be able to form a contract if he actually encountered a fire fox in his current condition.
Thinking of this, Xie Zhinian couldn’t help feeling somewhat depressed.
In past years, not every student who came to Fire Cloud Star to contract a beast managed to succeed; some came full of enthusiasm and returned completely disappointed.
Although he brought his family elders’ contract beast to help, since he hadn’t encountered a fire fox, the beast he brought could only fight alongside him and share the firepower, but couldn’t offer much other help.
Lu Hao knitted his brows. “What about Lin Shen and the others?”
Speaking of Lin Shen, that guy had it much worse. “He already found a herd of triangular rhinoceroses, but they are social animals, so he didn’t dare to strike rashly and can only wait for an opportunity to see if there is a stray one. If he doesn’t target a stray, the rhino herd will fly into a rage, and he won’t even know where to run.”
“As for Pei Sui that guy,” Xie Zhinian laughed uncharitably, “he found a fire lion, except this fire lion’s grade is too high. The contract beast he brought took to its heels the moment it saw the lion, and he was chased all over the forest by the fire lion by himself.”
“Chirp…”
Fang Jing couldn’t help laughing out loud.
How utterly useless. Wasn’t it just one fire lion and a herd of triangular rhinoceroses? They couldn’t even handle that. What did they usually eat?
“Have you found any traces of the ice tiger you are looking for?”
“Not yet. It has been raining all day, so the tracks left by the ice tiger have all been washed away.”
“You do not need to rush, you…” Xie Zhinian wanted to say that since he already had a contract beast anyway, catching an ice tiger would be a pleasant surprise, and if he couldn’t catch one, it wouldn’t matter.
But mentioning Lu Hao’s contract beast made Xie Zhinian feel that saying anything was worse than saying nothing at all.
After hanging up the call with Xie Zhinian, Lu Hao fiddled with a ring on his wrist for a moment before turning his gaze to Fang Jing, who had been clinging to his chest and staring at him eagerly.
“Hungry?”
Lu Hao naturally asked the question.
“Chirp.”
Yes.
He was hungry the moment he woke up. After all, sleeping was also a very energy-consuming activity.
Lu Hao chuckled softly and rubbed Fang Jing’s head. “How about you eat a couple of wild fruits to pad your stomach first? You ate quite a bit of fish fillet today, and on the way back from fishing this afternoon, I caught a long-toothed beast. I also dried some firewood, so I will make a fire and roast some meat for you later.”
“Chirp?” Fang Jing pointed a claw at the live-streaming orb not far away outside the cave and asked Lu Hao what that thing was.
Fang Jing had noticed this gadget ever since he contracted with his servant, but finding that it had no malicious intent, he hadn’t bothered with it. Just now, however, his servant had clearly glanced at the orb a few times.
This made Fang Jing rather unhappy.
His servant belonged to him alone!
“Are you asking about that round ball?”
“Chirp.”
“That is a live-streaming orb. It is…”
Lu Hao rattled off a long explanation, once again ignoring whether his contract beast could understand him or not.
He only knew that as long as it asked, he would tell it everything he knew, leaving nothing out.
Lu Hao didn’t feel like he was being foolish for explaining these things to a pet beast. He had a hunch that it could understand—even if not entirely, it should at least grasp individual words.
That was enough. You taught it slowly, just like teaching a child how to speak; if you spoke enough in front of them and they heard it often enough, the child would understand.
“Chirp?”
You do not like it?
Anyway, Fang Jing didn’t much care for it. Aside from eating, relieving itself, and sleeping, this gadget broadcasted every single movement of him and his servant to so many people in all directions, which made Fang Jing, hailing from the cultivation world, feel extremely uncomfortable.
“What is wrong?”
“Chirp?”
Can I smash it?
Lu Hao didn’t know what Fang Jing’s string of chirps meant this time, but he found out very quickly.
The live-streaming orb was suddenly seized by a giant wide-mouthed beast that flew out of nowhere, bit down on it, and swallowed it whole. Without giving Lu Hao a chance to react, the giant wide-mouthed beast flapped its wings and flew off as if rushing to be reincarnated, not daring to linger for even a second.
“Chirp chirp…”
Seeing that the live-streaming orb was gone, Fang Jing was happy. He tore into the meat in big bites, chewing it up along with the bones he had bitten off and swallowing it all down.
The crunching sound of bones being chewed was particularly piercing and clear amidst the crackling sparks.
Lu Hao looked over and tapped Fang Jing on the forehead. “Yuanyuan, why are you even eating the bones? Be careful you do not chip your teeth.”
“Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp.”
They will not break, look.
Fang Jing opened his mouth wide, meaning for Lu Hao to check his teeth. His biting force right now was top-notch; those little bones were like eggshells in his mouth, shattering with a gentle bite.
Lu Hao lowered his head and inspected Fang Jing’s teeth, pressing the tip of his index finger against Fang Jing’s sharp canine teeth. “Yuanyuan, your teeth are so small, as small as a cat’s. Do not eat the bones; if you chip your teeth, it will affect your eating meat in the future.”
“Chirp?”
Is it really that terrifying?
Fang Jing had never experienced the misfortune of missing teeth. When he was losing his baby teeth as a child, his master would simply stuff elixirs into his mouth, and his teeth would grow back in no time.
Therefore, he didn’t know if missing a few teeth would really affect his eating speed.
Lu Hao actually understood the confusion in Fang Jing’s eyes. “It is true, look.”
With that, Lu Hao opened his optical computer, searched for two video clips to play, and scooped Fang Jing up with one hand to place him between his crossed legs. “Yuanyuan, look, this is the human toddler stage, and this part is the elderly stage for seniors. The former are changing teeth, the latter are losing teeth. Did you see them eating? Look, missing teeth affects their eating. So, I am not teasing you; just be a good boy and eat the meat. I can afford to feed you.”
“Chirp!!”
Fang Jing swore he was just too happy.
No matter how long his servant’s words would stay fresh, hearing them still made Fang Jing happy—at least his servant cared about him.
In most cases, being cared about was something that brought a sense of pleasure.
Fang Jing was no exception.
He was very happy. Even though his soul was human, sometimes his body would still be driven by the instincts of a beast.
Take right now, for instance. When he wanted to show affection to his servant, his body moved a step faster than his brain, making a very subconscious gesture.
Fang Jing was small in size, but he wasn’t lacking in strength. He twisted his head, wanting to rub against his handsome and kind-hearted servant with his head.
In his subconsciousness, this was an action that expressed fondness and affection.
Huh?
Lu Hao was horrified!
Where is Yuanyuan rubbing?
Is a man’s sensitive spot something that can be rubbed casually?
Even a beloved pet shouldn’t do that!
Overwhelmed by a sense of shame, Lu Hao moved with unprecedented speed and scooped Fang Jing up. “Yuanyuan, is your butt itching?”
Of all places not to rub, why did it have to rub…
Lu Hao thought that perhaps his Yuanyuan was truly too young. Of course, maybe this had nothing to do with age, but rather the difference in mindset brought about by belonging to different biological species.
Perhaps his Yuanyuan had no idea at all that a man’s sensitive spot couldn’t be touched. He had to teach the little guy well; otherwise, if he went and rubbed other people like that in the future, it would sound terrible!
“Yuanyuan, you are not allowed to rub other people’s places like that in the future, including mine, understand?”
Lu Hao spoke with utmost seriousness.
Of course, however serious his words were now, how sweet things would turn out in the future.
“Chirp!”
Only after being scooped up did Fang Jing realize what he had just done, and he felt a bit awkward too. If he couldn’t rub, he wouldn’t rub; he wasn’t a snake demon in heat anyway.
He had just done it by accident. They were both males, did he have to make such a big fuss?
Fang Jing used his brain for a rare moment, and upon second thought, he realized: well, come to think of it, a big fuss was actually justified.
Men could form dao companion bonds with men too, you know.
He had seen a few such couples back in the cultivation world, and besides, he had heard that some cauldron-slaves were also men, meaning you couldn’t just touch anyone of the same sex casually.
Oh dear, so what he just did was…
The more Fang Jing thought about it, the more embarrassed he became.
Did he just practically sexually assault his servant?
Fang Jing stared at Lu Hao for a good while. Whether it was his imagination or an illusion, Lu Hao actually noticed that his little white ball of fluff was burning hot.
For the next two days, Lu Hao followed the trail left by the ice tiger all the way out of the forest.
Outside the forest was a vast expanse of flat land, where a third-year military academy student happened to be resting not far away.
When the two sides met, they exchanged brief pleasantries before parting ways to rest.
This was a patch of green grassland blooming with all kinds of wild flowers. Colorful butterflies fluttered gracefully, appearing and disappearing, rising and falling among the flowers in a scene of absolute peace.
“Go on.” Lu Hao figured that the little fellow in his arms hadn’t had a chance to frolic in a long time and was already getting impatient.
Lu Hao bent down, loosened his grip, and the little white ball leaped out, diving straight into the sea of flowers and vanishing from sight.
Lu Hao wasn’t worried that the little fellow would get into trouble. With LuHuan’s contract beast around, wild animals and even other contract beasts in the vicinity wouldn’t dare to come and pick a fight.
After clearing a patch of open ground and setting up the tent, Lu Hao finally had some spare time. He sat cross-legged amidst a patch of flowers, picking and choosing from a neatly sorted pile of wild blossoms.
“Yuanyuan!”
Lu Hao called out, then stood up and looked around.
Soon, a rustling sound arose.
Listening to locate the sound, Lu Hao turned in a specific direction and flawlessly caught the white ball leaping towards him.
“Chirp.”
Servant, I am back!