“Wow, how can you repay kindness with hostility?”
‘Take him home?’
Never mind that her place was inconvenient; just based on his identity as a Qingqiu Fox, if the Xuantian Sect found out, Yun Fuzhao wouldn’t even know how she died.
Yun Fuzhao shook her head.
“No, absolutely not.
You’re a burden.”
The fox lowered his eyes, his long, thick lashes casting a faint shadow.
He slowly reached out and tugged on the hem of Yun Fuzhao’s robes without a word.
The white fox ears on his head drooped, and he lowered his gaze meekly, looking just like an abandoned little animal.
Yun Fuzhao: “…”
‘Don’t even try that with me.
I killed fish at RT-Mart for ten years; my heart is as cold as my blade.’
Yun Fuzhao grabbed the fabric and mercilessly yanked her hem free from his grasp.
The soft fabric was left with a crease.
Seeing she was determined to leave, Qi Huai hurriedly shouted, “I’m willing to form a contract with you!”
The round-faced youth hanging upside down in the tree completely lost his composure.
“You damn fox!
No matter what I said just now, you refused to contract with me!
Why is it okay for her?
I’m the Young Master of the Ten Thousand Beasts Valley!
If you became my Contracted Beast, think of all the benefits you’d get!”
‘This is a member of the Fox Clan, not just some spirit beast.
What’s more, he’s from the Qingqiu Fox Clan, which produced an Ascension Great Power.’
‘Becoming someone’s Contracted Beast…
no matter how you look at it, that’s a humiliation, isn’t it?’
Yun Fuzhao didn’t get it.
‘He’s a Young Master of the Fox Clan, a noble identity.
Is he really willing to stoop so low?’
As if sensing her doubt, Qi Huai lifted his head, his eyes filled with a broken expression.
“I was cast out.
My aptitude is too poor…
they all look down on me…”
‘Sounds like he’s reading from the same script as me.’
[Yun Family Team 1 Ren Chen Sheng: Just take him in.
It’s one more free laborer.]
[Ren Chen Sheng has gifted: Ninth Grade Concealing Pill x1, 5,000 Cultivation Points]
Yun Fuzhao coughed, already used to eating her own words.
“Alright, fine.
You’ve put it that way.
How could I refuse?”
Yun Fuzhao extended her hand.
“Come on.
Let’s go home.”
The silver-haired beauty tilted his face up to look at her, his gaze focused and devoted, the moisture not yet gone from his golden eyes.
Yun Fuzhao’s breath caught in her throat unexpectedly.
‘Such beauty is a curse.
A total curse.’
An hour later, she brought Qi Huai back to the Wuya Sword Sect.
“Eat this.” Yun Fuzhao took out the Concealment Pill Ren Chen Sheng had gifted her.
“It can hide your true form.
To others, you’ll look no different from a farmer’s puppy.”
A Demon Clan identity was just too conspicuous, and Yun Fuzhao had no desire to get burned.
Qi Huai took the glittering golden elixir.
He first held it to his nose and sniffed, and only after confirming there was nothing strange about it did he open his mouth and swallow it.
The moment the Concealment Pill went down, the young man who had been a head taller than her instantly transformed into a small, white-furred fox that barely reached her calf.
Yun Fuzhao grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and lifted him up.
The fox’s tail instinctively curled to cover its belly.
He was a little angry.
“What are you doing!”
The little fox flailed its limbs in exasperation, a clear show of its displeasure.
Its sharp claws nearly scratched her arm.
“You’ve got quite a temper.”
“…”
Yun Fuzhao walked toward her residence, still carrying the little fox by the scruff.
Song Ying was already back.
Seeing the stray pup in her hand, she asked, puzzled, “Senior Sister Yun, where did you find this puppy?”
Hearing himself called that, the fox’s fur bristled, and its short limbs began to struggle.
Yun Fuzhao answered vaguely, “I found it at the foot of the mountain.
It looked so pitiful I just had to bring it back.”
“Senior Sister Yun, you can’t always be this soft-hearted…” Song Ying said, pulling a large chicken drumstick from her storage bag.
“At this rate, our place will turn into a stray animal shelter.”
At first, the little fox maintained his dignity, determined not to eat anything from this undiscerning woman who had called him a “puppy.”
But he hadn’t eaten since being captured and thrown into the Treasure Pavilion.
The chicken drumstick in front of him was so fragrant and tender that his stomach let out a loud RUMBLE.
Qi Huai’s dignity lasted for all of one minute before he opened his gaping maw and devoured the chicken drumstick in a single gulp.
Song Ying marveled, “How long has this puppy been starving?
It didn’t even chew.”
Yun Fuzhao put the fox on the floor and turned to find Jiao Yu.
The creature was coiled on her pillow, head held high, watching the fox with a wary expression.
“He’s your little brother from now on.” Yun Fuzhao patted Jiao Yu’s cool, scaly head in satisfaction.
‘Now I’m the proud owner of both a snake and a dog.’
Seeing the fox eat with such relish, Jiao Yu’s tail began to slap against the pillow, making a series of THWAP, THWAP sounds.
Competition for favor among spirit pets was perfectly normal.
After all, any Cultivator with the means would raise several.
Jiao Yu’s reaction was a clear sign of its displeasure at Qi Huai’s arrival.
Yun Fuzhao tossed a Sixth-Rank Beast Core in its direction.
Faster than a bolt of lightning, Jiao Yu snapped its jaws and GULPED the Beast Core down.
It squinted its red eyes in satisfaction.
It stopped glaring daggers at Qi Huai.
‘Anyway, Master still loves me best.’
After a busy day, Yun Fuzhao took a quick bath and collapsed into bed.
‘So much happened today, I’m dead tired.
When will I ever get to live that lay-flat-and-let-it-all-rot lifestyle…?’
Meanwhile, outside her room, a dark figure melted into the night.
Just as he neared the wooden door, he sensed an additional presence breathing within.
She wasn’t alone in the room tonight.
Yu Ze went no further.
“Who are you?”
Qi Huai was perched lazily on a tree branch, his large, fluffy tail dangling behind him.
All traces of his previous broken, fragile demeanor were gone.
His golden pupils had become slits as he sized up Yu Ze with great interest.
Yu Ze’s lips pressed into a thin line.
Not wanting to engage, he turned to leave.
Qi Huai said languidly, “You’re from the Demon Clan?”
The atmosphere instantly grew taut, heavy as unstirrable mud.
Yu Ze pushed off the ground, his body shooting toward Qi Huai like an arrow loosed from a bow.
Qi Huai barely managed to dodge.
The movement sent a wave of bone-deep pain through him, and his face paled.
His Cultivation hadn’t recovered yet; he wouldn’t gain anything from fighting this lunatic.
Qi Huai gave a lazy laugh.
“Are you sure you want to fight me?
Aren’t you afraid of waking her?”
The man, who had been radiating killing intent just a moment ago, froze as if struck by an immobilization technique and ceased his attack.
Qi Huai had only been bluffing, but he hadn’t expected to be right.
‘So this guy is here for Yun Fuzhao.’
Thinking of that woman, Qi Huai felt a strange mix of emotions.
He didn’t know why she had saved him or what her motives were, but those from Qingqiu always repay their debts.
That was why he was willing to swallow his pride and become her Contracted Beast.
In any case, once his power recovered, this contract array wouldn’t be able to restrain him.
“You.”
Yu Ze spoke his first word of the night.
His emotions flared, his pitch-black eyes locked onto Qi Huai, and his entire being screamed a single message: Stay away from her.
The smile on Qi Huai’s lips widened.
“She’s my master now.
You want me to stay away from her…”
“Sorry, but I can’t do that.”