by Gore, A. P.
Stupid Blood Essence Body. It was behaving like a naughty child asking the wrong question in a difficult situation. If the Mother Fox wished, she could kill him without letting a single drop of blood touch the ground, and his body cultivation wanted him to devour her descendant’s blood.
It was insanity.
That was the second most stupid idea he had had in his lifetime. The first one was to come on this journey. Before left for the Alchemy Comprehension Tower, his grandfather had offered him the chance to get away from Old Martial Town with few of the Li clan’s descendants and start a new life. But Wei had wanted to save the whole clan, and now here he was, about to lose his own life.
Why did he have to boast? There were different ways to save the Li clan, and one of them was to impress the Heavenly Firmament Sect with his array knowledge. If he had stepped into that sect, he’d bet the sect leader and elders would have fought over him. With his knowledge of array carving, no one could hold a candle to him.
Yet he chose to endanger his life by coming here. Just to change his path.
What could be stupider than this?
“What the heck. I’m doing it.” Pulling the dead fox’s body from his storage ring, he placed his palm on the fox’s body and waited for his blood to devour the beast.
Nothing happened for a whole breath.
Well, wasn’t it supposed to work this way? Fei’er had told him his body had automatically devoured those two divine worms. Why wasn’t it working now? It was as if the lowly fox didn’t pique its interest.
Was that the case?
Wei’s eyes grew bloodshot as he gazed at the sprawling body of the Mother Fox lying inside the cave. The moment he looked in that dark-red eye, the calling from his blood intensified. He could even feel the Mother Fox’s heart from hundreds of feet away.
But how could he reach it and devour it. Would the Mother Fox allow it?
A voice echoed in the cave. “I can let you devour me if you agree to one of my conditions.” Wei’s heart dropped to the floor.
Chapter 53
Soul Contract
Li Wei slowly raised his head, looking in the eye that stared back at him. A tear, larger than his head, dropped from the semi-translucent pupil and formed a small puddle on the ground, reflecting the strange light coming from the eye.
Wei sensed a strange desire from it—longing, reluctance, and helplessness. Everything had mixed and formed that tear.
“Senior, what do you want?” Wei rubbed the back of his neck, wiping a thin film of sweat from his skin. The tear reminded him of the way he’d looked at Wang Zia when he was on his last breath. Her face was inches from his, and he’d stared into her eyes with the same desire.
Had he longed for her, even in his death? Was he reluctant to lose her? Or was he just helpless?
No, it was none of that. He knew what he’d felt at that moment. He’d longed for a family, regretted loving her, and wished he was stronger than he was at that time.
“Make a soul contract with my daughter, and you can devour me freely.”
Wei frowned. “Soul contract?”
“Yes, a soul contract. It’s a contract that binds your soul with a beast’s soul. Your life and the beast’s life will be tangled with each other forever.”
“Are you a Spirit Beast?” Spirit Beasts were higher forms of Ferocious Beasts. Ferocious Beasts could only reach no higher than the Heart Blood Realm, but Spirit Beasts could cultivate to higher realm, the same as humans.
“Do you know about soul contracts?”
Wei knew about soul contracts. In fact, he very well knew about them. There was a beast princess who had once pledged her love to him, and she’d wanted to form a soul contract with him, but he’d declined because of Wang Zia. For him, only one woman had mattered. Only one woman was worth loving. Only one woman was worth sacrificing his life.
How naive he’d been. If he had accepted Rual’er’s proposal, he might still be living his first life.
A soul contract was the highest level of contract a human could form with a beast. The lowest was a slave contract where a human would overpower the beast and make it their slave. Beasts tamed with a slave contract were of the lowest breed, and their only use was being cannon fodder for their master. Beasts captured in a slave contract lost their presence or mind. They only obeyed their master’s orders.
The second level of contract was called a pet contract. It was kind of a slave contract, but here the Spirit Beast had offered its own presence, and it could team up with its master to perform combined attacks. These beasts kept their memories and experience, but they had to stay with their master.
There was also a catch. If one wanted to form a pet contract with a beast, the beast’s consent was required.
The third level of contract was the most intimate contract one could form with a beast, and it was the least-used contract in the Martial Realm. A soul contract joined the human’s and beast’s souls through a strange bond, and they could feel everything the other felt. It was like opening the inner-most of one’s feeling to the other. Even husband and wife didn’t get that close. This contract didn’t restrict the beast’s movement, presence, or intelligent. In fact, in this contract a human would never be a master. Both parties would be on equal terms, and there were so many disadvantages when a beast could flip out on its master in a grim situation.
However, there were a few positive things. With their souls attached, a new world of possibilities opened for them. Combined skills, access to some traits of the beast, etc. But it restricted them too. If one died, the other would suffer a heavy backlash and might even die. Unless one wanted to marry a beast woman or a beast man, no one formed a soul contract. Yes, a high-cultivation Spirit Beast could change forms and turn into a human.
Wei wouldn’t form a soul contract with a beast. This was the most obnoxious contract—the beast might choose to leave him anytime, and if it died, what would he do? He would have no control over this beast.
“Senior, I’m sorry. I can’t form a soul contract with your daughter.”
“Jiya’er, stop eating and come forward.” The Mother Fox spoke, and a tiny fat fox came forward with a black fruit in her mouth and stared in Wei’s eyes. “Will you take a vow to remain faithful to this human?”
The little fox had brown fur all over her body. In fact, it was rare to see a fox with this much fur. At least Wei hadn’t seen one in either of his two lives. It made her look kind of cute and bubbly.
“Mother, why?” The little fox spoke in a wavering voice. “I don’t want to leave you. I want to stay near you.” She brushed her whiskers with her paws.
Wei’s frown deepened. If this fox could speak at her current level, that meant it was a Spirit Beast. Only Spirit Beasts could speak from birth.
“Jiya’er, you know my condition. I have little time left. Come close, my dear daughter, and give me a hug.” The Mother Fox shrank rapidly and turned into an adorable five-foot-long female fox. But there was something wrong with her. Weird black lines covered her body, and her life force had depleted.
She was dying.
Maybe he could kill her and devour her heart. Wouldn’t that solve all his issues!
“Human, don’t even think of attacking me. Even in my deteriorated state, I can kill you a thousand times over.” A formless pressure wrapped around him and pushed him down.
Wei’s body went numb, and he dropped to the ground. But he refused to kneel and fell flat on his face instead. He would not kneel in front of a stupid fox.
“Give me an answer. If you promise to form a soul contract with her, I’ll let you devour me and also give you this.” A shiny red fruit floated in the air and a strong vitality surged out of it, enveloping him in a soft light. After staying in that light for a moment, Wei felt his injuries improved by a little bit.
“That’s a Dantian Strengthening Fruit.” Wei gasped. In the Martial Realm, this fruit was quite rare, and he doubted anyone from the Mortal Realm even knew about t
his Earth Grade fruit. For qi cultivators, their dantian was the most important thing after the grade of their Spirit Root. One’s Spirit Root decided the capacity one’s dantian could hold. As Wei had started with a low-tier Bronze Grade Spirit Root, his dantian capacity was quite low. If he had a higher-grade Spirit Root, he would have twice or thrice the dantian capacity.
This fruit could fix it for him, and it would help him advance to the next realm too. This was the best method to break through from one realm to another, a gentle fruit one could eat at any level. Plus, its effect would be better the lower his cultivation level. This was in fact the perfect time for him to eat, as he had yet to step into the Foundation Realm. This fruit would enhance his dantian capacity at least twofold and strengthen his qi channels so he could carry twice the amount of qi he could before.
This was a tempting offer.
“Senior, why me?” Wei asked. “I’m just a low-level cultivator, and I bet you can find a stronger cultivator to help your daughter in whatever predicament she is in.”
The Mother Fox’s eyes narrowed. “How did you know my daughter is sick and needs a rare herb from outside of Black Fox Valley? Are you a spy sent by a human emperor?”
Wei chuckled. “Senior, isn’t it easy? A Heart Blood Realm beast is desperately searching for a human to make a soul contract. That means two things. You’re on the verge of death, and your daughter is sick and needs to leave this place.”
The Mother Fox didn’t reply for a few breaths and only stared in Wei’s eyes. “You have Devour Bloodline, which is mentioned in the Primordial Blood Realm of soul beasts. If you can’t help my daughter then none can help her.”
“Wait. Senior, you’re wrong. I don’t have Devour Bloodline. I practice a special body cultivation art that allows me to devour blood to replenish myself, and it might have some other benefits as well.” When he’d devoured those divine worms, he’d received a divine ability that he could access after stepping into the Houtian Realm. However, he didn’t have the cultivation method to step into the Houtian Realm yet. In the future, he would have to visit the secret realm to search for his next cultivation method.
“That’s one of the bloodline cultivation methods that originated from the Devour Bloodline Cultivation Art,” the Mother Fox said slowly. A small jade slip appeared in the air and flew toward Wei.
Wei grabbed it and sent a wisp of his qi into the jade slip.
System: Information interface detected.
Unable to access the database. Downloading summery information.
Devour Bloodline Cultivation Art
Can be practiced by a Spirit Beast containing devour bloodline. Allows it to devour two different bloodlines in every realm and integrate selected divine abilities.
Cultivation path included until the Houtian Realm.
System: Downloading initiation ritual . . .
A strange ritual of initiation appeared in Wei’s mind, and he was instantly dazed to see the similarities between the two rituals. For his body cultivation, he’d needed to lose a certain amount of blood. The Devour Bloodline Cultivation Art required a beast to sacrifice its blood, mix it with the target’s blood, then absorb it to make up for his lost blood. It also talked about Earth Constellation. The technique was different, but the gist was similar.
Could they be related to each other? But how could he analyze if they were similar or not?
Wait, didn’t he have the system? It could do many things. If it could simulate the alchemy processes, why couldn’t it simulate the next level of the Blood Essence Body Cultivation Art?
“System, can you simulate it?” he asked in his mind, not sure if the system would respond.
System: Common elements discovered between the Devour Bloodline Cultivation Art and the Blood Essence Body Cultivation Art. 68% similarity found between the two cultivation arts.
System: Simulating Blood Essence Body Cultivation Art’s next level chances. 0% . . . 1% . . . 2% . . .
System: Insufficient data to simulate the next level of the Blood Essence Body Cultivation Art. Recommended to obtain the complete set of the Devour Bloodline Cultivation Art to improve chances of simulation success.
Wei was fazed—no he was out of his mind. This opened up a completely new path for him.
Chapter 54
Soul contract
Li Wei’s fingers grasped the jade slip containing the Devour Bloodline Cultivation Art information tighter than he should have, and suddenly it was yanked out of his fingers and floated back toward the Mother Fox. The strange feeling of someone stealing his girlfriend surged through his heart, devastating him for a moment. The gloomy atmosphere became daunting, and he wanted to chase after that jade slip.
His heart palpitated, and he clenched his fingers. That was his path to the Houtian Realm. The issue had plagued his mind for a long time, but he’d had no solution. In his previous life, he had used his body cultivation to step into the Houtian Realm. Then, with the help of herbs, he’d pushed his qi cultivation forward from there. It was exhausting. Normally, only those who had a Gold Grade Spirit Root could reach the Houtian Realm in qi cultivation, and he’d had a Bronze Grade Spirit Root to start with. He’d had to spend fifty years in the Mortal Realm to reach the Houtian Realm in body cultivation. It was audacious and frustrating at times. For qi cultivation, he’d reached the Houtian Realm much later in his life. If it wasn’t for the extraordinary, fortuitous encounter he’d had in his previous life, he would have been stuck at Heart Blood Realm qi cultivation forever.
It was a miracle if he thought about it.
But he didn’t have to suffer the same fate in this life. The Blood Essence Body was a superior cultivation art, and his advancement speed had been fantastic. In less than a month since reincarnating he had jumped from layer one of the Refinement Realm to the Foundation Realm. Of course, he’d had to spend gallons of precious blood from his body, but he’d reached the Foundation Realm way faster than in his previous life.
However, he lacked a way to reach the Houtian Realm, and his only solution was floating away from him.
Of course, he hadn’t found the exact cultivation method to break into the Houtian Realm in that jade slip, but he had a chance to obtain it with the help of the system. Simulation was only a sub-module, and the main module—ah-ha what was that? Analysis and Prediction. Yes, those two modules were still locked. Maybe after he unlocked those modules, he would have a greater chance of deducing a way to step into the Houtian Realm.
“Okay.” Wei took a long breath, letting his tense muscles relax. “Senior, I’ll agree to your condition if you let me borrow the complete method of cultivation.”
The Mother Fox stared into his eyes for what felt like an eternity. Wei’s palms became sweaty, and his heart jumped inside his ribcage.
“That won’t do. This is a sacred technique handed to me by the spirit lord, and I can’t give it to you.”
“Senior, I’ll have to decline your offer politely if we can’t make a deal here.”
“Aren’t you afraid of death?”
“Senior, if I don’t get that cultivation art, I might not survive anyway. I don’t know what your daughter needs, but it won’t be in the Mortal Realm, and if I have to ascend to the Martial Realm, I need that cultivation art.”
The Mother Fox remained calm and turned her head to look at her small, cute daughter.
“Mother, you can’t. It’s a filthy human.” She gulped the black fruit she’d been holding in her mouth, and then another fruit appeared out of nowhere, and she gulped it too. “You didn’t even let me take a single look at the jade slip, and now you’re giving it to a stranger. A human, at that. You can’t trust him.” She conjured another fruit and gulped it down. “And if I leave you, where will I get these Grounded Redberry Fruits?”
Wei frowned. If he formed a bond with that female fox, she would be getting a good spanking on her cute fat butt. Yes, the little fox had a butt—calling it an ass would be an insult to her cute butt.
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br /> The Mother Fox shook her head and looked back at Wei. “I can let you read it for an hour. How much you remember is up to you.”
Wei smirked inwardly but covered his face with a disapproving expression. “Senior, if I want to deduce something, I need at least half a day.” One hour should be more than enough for the system to store all the information.
“Three hours maximum.”
“Deal.” Wei sighed dejectedly.
“Form the soul contract, and then the things I promised will be yours.”
Wei wanted to ask the Mother Fox for a vow of heaven and earth, but he didn’t. If the Mother Fox reneged on her promise, he could use the little Jiya to threaten her. And if the Mother Fox wanted to kill him, she would have done it by now.
“Wei Lin, what’s going on?” Sun Nuan stepped forward and asked. Her ears had stopped bleeding, and she had cleaned herself up, but there was still a hint of blood behind her earlobes. She looked attractive even in her vulnerable condition.
“Human girl, take a vow of heaven and earth to pledge servitude to this human. Otherwise, you’ll have to die.” The Fox Mother put formless pressure on Sun Nuan. Although Wei didn’t face it, he could feel it bearing down on Sun Nuan as she kneeled on the ground, bleeding from her mouth.
Chapter 55
Child of Destiny
A tremor passed through Sun Nuan’s heart when the scary beast’s words fell on her ears. Why the heck did this beast want her to become a slave to Wei Lin?
Had she gone mad?
Sun Nuan tried to fight back against the pressure applied by the beast, but she couldn’t even lift her knee an inch. This beast was well beyond her strength, so she couldn’t resist at all. In fact, even her father wouldn’t be a match for this beast. This beast might be close to the legendary Houtian Realm.
Helplessness stabbed in her gut. She was powerless against an entity like this. She was a tiny ant that couldn’t go against the sky. In fact, she never could in her whole lifetime. Being a member of the royal family meant she could not reach the Houtian Realm, ever. She would die a mediocre death.
