Since Xie Qing lost consciousness, an hour had passed. The young man came to his senses due to a sudden burst of powerful energy within his dantian. It was both painful and exciting.


    "Hm? My cultivation has improved a bit," Xie Qing discovered, and then, opening his eyes, he raised an eyebrow: "A fox…?"


    Indeed. Before himy a fox about 45 cm (18 inches) tall. What was remarkable was that it had nine tails.


    "Hm? Strange, where did this foxe from…" Xie Qing wondered and felt a slight difort: "Why do I feel like this fox is staring at me?"


    The young man took a deep breath and exhaled, rubbed his eyes, and then looked at the fox again. He… saw annoyance in its eyes?


    "What a fu-…" he almost swore but caught himself mid-sentence: "Nine tails… hm… how strange… do foxes have nine tails?"


    This fact puzzled him, but after a few seconds, Xie Qing began to sweat when he remembered a certain legend.


    In ancient writings, there was a tale by some nameless bard about a fox with nine tails. It was neither good nor evil—it seduced men, and there were cases of mass murder by these creatures.


    On one hand, they consumed souls for sustenance; on the other hand, they cleansed the world of Negative Karma. If one were to weigh the scales, they would be neutral evil… but that didn''t mean these creatures were friendly.


    "Wait… I remember entering this room with that crazy woman…" Xie Qing said aloud and, with a slow turn of his head, like some rusty mechanism (or a plush toy slowly turning its head), he looked at the fox.


    "Hmph! Crazy woman?! How dare you address thisdy in such a rude manner?!" the fox shouted with obvious displeasure and anger.


    "Holy shit…"


    Lian Qingyi… it was her! The voice matched perfectly! Xie Qing looked at her a bit more and suddenly raised an eyebrow.


    "Hm? Why do I feel like…" he suddenly gasped. This feeling… almost the same as between him and Zhang Mei!


    "Tsk!"


    The nine-tailed fox snorted in annoyance, looking like it was ready to perform an anti-revival at any moment. Xie Qing remained silent.


    He clearly felt that he could control this fox''s life. Although this was good, but… how the hell did this happen? Even if they swore by the name of the Heavenly Emperor''s wife, Xie Qing would never believe that Lian Qingyi was the initiator.


    "I mean… just look at how she''s looking at me! Ready to tear me apart at any moment!" Xie Qing thought, addressing someone unknown.


    Several minutes passed before Xie Qing snapped out of his thoughts. He looked at Lian Qingyi in confusion and said aloud.


    "Am I that handsome?"


    "…"


    Lian Qingyi didn''t even want to answer his stupid question. She just snorted. Now her Qi was exhausted, and if it weren''t for the contract that happened at thest moment, she would have died.


    Therefore, the woman decided not to waste her time on chatter and closed her eyes, falling asleep, leaving Xie Qing in confusion.


    ***


    Five hourster. Jian He was sweating when he discovered that after so much time, the two had note out of the room.


    "Could it be… that Lady Qingyi decided to have a little fun with him before consuming him?" he thought and frowned: "How annoying. I''ve been trying to win her attention for so long, but the most I got was a fleeting nce filled with indifference.


    It turned out that this guy seriously wanted to have a rtionship with Lian Qingyi… without realizing her level of cultivation, as the woman hid it very well.


    The only reason Xie Qing knew her level of cultivation was that he had previously sensed this special energy and Qi behavior in such cases.


    "Hm…"


    To his great fortune, the door soon opened, and Lian Qingyi emerged, crossing her arms over her chest. She looked… a bit annoyed. Jian He initially wanted to run to her and greet her, but… he stopped and frowned.


    "Why is this guy still alive?!" he wondered.


    Apparently, this young man had greatly pleased Lady Lian! Jian He was filled with envy!


    "Mistress… this…" the man tried to ask Lian Qingyi something, but… he only received an annoyed nce in response.


    Like a lifeless corpse, he fell to the floor. The man''s expression was incredibly funny—filled with shock, anger, and shame.


    However, he didn''t dare to utter a sound in response, fearing he would be killed in the next second. Jian He was forced to watch the young man walk away with the beautifuldy.


    "I will avenge you, bastard!" the man thought, but in the next moment, he felt a strange coldness on his neck: "Kh…"


    Making an iprehensible sound, his head was cut off from his neck, and then his entire body exploded.


    ***


    The young man smiled. In fact, the reason for this man''s death was partially rted to him. He tried his techniques and realized that he could give orders to Lian Qingyi. In the end, she killed him herself.


    "Amazing, Lady Lian. Your skills are wonderful!" he said with a smile, behavingpletely carefree.


    "Shut up. Don''t talk to me," Lian Qingyi replied unfriendly.


    "What''s with the anger? It''s not my fault that you made a spiritual pact with me, okay? I was sleeping at the time," Xie Qing said with a hint of helplessness: "And besides, you haven''t even exined to me how this happened. Who knows, maybe I can even help you break this contract."


    "Hm! Unlikely! As soon as you break the contract, I''ll kill you!"


    "Then I won''t break the contract," the young man replied nonchntly.


    "…"


    The fox felt annoyed and didn''t say anything. Her head was already aching from all these events.


    They went up to the sixth floor, which turned out to be the control point of the entire pavilion, as well as the ce where Lian Qingyi lived.


    Snapping her fingers, Lian Qingyi summoned an evil spirit in the form of a beautiful woman with ck hair and green eyes with voluptuous forms.


    "Mistress!" the woman bowed to the floor, respectfully lowering her head.


    "Hm. Bring me some alcohol… and make it strong!"


    "As youmand!"


    The evil spirit bowed again and left for some room. The young man watched her go and was surprised.


    "Wow. Cultivation level at the first stage of Soul Integration."


    "Hm? You can sense her cultivation level?" Lian Qingyi narrowed her eyes and then concluded: "I see. Your cultivation level is significantly higher. What a strange technique, even I can''t see through it."


    "Oops…"


    Xie Qingughed cheerfully but didn''t answer her question. Lian Qingyi snorted, not wanting to pry information out of him.


    The young man looked at the woman with interest, which increasingly annoyed Lian Qingyi.


    "What do you want?"


    "Listen… can you manifest your… hm… fox traits in human form?" Xie Qing asked, looking as serious as possible.


    "…"


    Lian Qingyi didn''t know what to say. This question seemed too strange to her, but she nodded.


    "Seriously?!" the young man''s eyes sparkled, and he smiled: "Will you show me?"


    "No... ***! Bastard!"


    Despite Lian Qingyi''s refusal, suddenly her appearance changed. Behind her, nine snow-white tails were visible, and on her head were two white fox ears.


    "Wow!"


    Xie Qing eximed in admiration.


    "I''ve seen this raw strength only once before!"


    "???"


    The young man''s reaction was too strange, which even made Lian Qingyi''s annoyance begin to fade, reced by curiosity.


    "Have you never seen this before?" she asked.


    "Of course not. Although I''ve heard that some spiritual beasts can transform, they haven''t been seen for hundreds of thousands of years, let alone someone like me, who''s barely twenty," the young man replied, with sadness in his eyes.


    "…"


    Lian Qingyi didn''t pay attention to the rest, but focused on the information about his age.


    "Twenty years… considering everything, he''s at least at the Soul Integration stage. Could it be that a monster has appeared among humans?" she wondered.


    Of course, this information would forever remain between the two. At the very least, the spiritual pact forbade betrayal on the part of the spiritual beast, which led to such a situation.


    Soon, strong alcohol was brought, and Lian Qingyi began to drink like she was out of her mind. Xie Qing didn''t particrly want to drink—who knew what was in this alcohol that even a cultivator at the Transcendence stage started to get drunk?


    After a few minutes, Qingyi began to behave like a drunkard, clinging to the young man.


    "Come here, sister will teach you everything… but in return, you will give your soul, hehe…"


    Xie Qing was at a loss for words. The woman copsed onto him with her body, and her powerful arguments pressed against his face.


    It wasn''t that he was against it; on the contrary, he didn''t resist at all. It was just that the whole situation made him somewhat embarrassed.


    "I''m usually the one who takes the initiative…" he thought: "But sometimes it''s not bad to rx."


    Qingyi rubbed her hot body against him, making his little brother sing praises. The young man shook his head.