Chapter 4

She buried her head against me again.

Despite being a head taller than I was, she insisted on sleeping with her head on my chest.

“Your energy nourishes me better this way.”

I glanced at the little bed beside mine. I was about to say that a little distance wouldn’t matter; my energy could reach every corner of the room.

She caught my glance and immediately bristled.

“You dare tell me to sleep there? I’m not some low-grade beast! Who are you trying to insult with that thing?”

What was wrong with it?

The padding was so thick and soft I wanted to curl up there myself.

And she was complaining.

She grabbed a lock of hair hanging over my chest.

“Mo Jinghong, you don’t want to keep me anymore, do you? If you don’t, say so! We’ll dissolve the Heart-Bond Contract right now!”

I shut my eyes helplessly.

“Don’t talk nonsense. Dissolving it would seriously injure both our souls. Besides, we only just formed it. Why would we dissolve it?”

“You don’t want me!”

“When did I say that?”

“Then why shove me into that insulting dog bed?”

“It isn’t a dog bed.”

“I don’t care!”

“All right, all right. You can sleep on the bed. I’ll sleep in the dog bed.”

“If you don’t want me, just say it!”

“Now what?”

“How can my owner sleep in a dog bed? You’re still insulting me! You keep finding ways to humiliate me!”

I rolled my eyes, then sensibly collapsed in a “faint.”

I still had no idea what kind of beast she was.

But I had learned one thing very thoroughly.

She was difficult to keep.

Extremely difficult.

09

In my three previous lives, my beasts had been cold toward me as well as ungrateful. They behaved like lofty princes, while I was a humble servant groveling at their feet, arranging their meals and beds.

Yin Hai was completely different.

She wanted to cling to me every moment of every day.

No matter how much of my energy she swallowed, she never had enough.

To keep her fed, I cultivated harder than in any previous life.

I had no choice. One day without cultivating, and she could drain me dry.

Sometimes, she suddenly took such a powerful mouthful that everything spun. I would be walking down a road and simply faint.

When I regained consciousness, I was in her arms.

She pouted. “Mo Jinghong, you’re useless. I told you I ate a lot. Why won’t you cultivate more energy for me?”

I stared at her without expression.

“If you gave me four hours’ rest each day, you wouldn’t need to say any of that.”

“Four hours? No, no! Far too long. One hour.”

“What? Starving me for an hour isn’t enough? How much longer do you want to leave me hungry?”

“Can I find you something else to eat?”

“You think I only eat your energy? I eat other things too. They just aren’t as filling.”

“I’m overwhelmed by the honor.”

“Enough sarcasm. You’re lucky you formed a Heart-Bond Contract with me. Otherwise, if you thought your measly bit of energy could fill me up, you’d be dreaming.”

* * *

Somehow, I finally secured one hour a day to myself.

I cultivated every moment I could.

To make it more efficient, I chose the water dungeon.

The water there wasn’t ordinary water. It was Weak Water, which corroded flesh, bones, meridians—even the soul.

Resisting it greatly increased cultivation speed. I had discovered that little trick by chance in my previous lives.

Yin Hai really did give me exactly one hour.

Not an instant more.

As soon as time was up, she kicked the dungeon door open and strode in. Ignoring the Weak Water entirely, she jumped into the pool and came straight to me.

“Time’s up, Mo Jinghong. I want to eat.”

She caught me in her arms, pressed her face into the hollow of my neck, and drew out my energy with the force of a storm.

My legs went weak.

“Could you at least let me get out first…?” I moaned.

She scooped me up and lightly leaped out of the pool.

That heavy Weak Water could drag countless souls into endless suffering, never allowing them to escape. To Yin Hai, it was as insubstantial as a cloud. It couldn’t hold her at all.

On the bank, she ignored our dripping clothes and kept drinking.

I could only give in.

“It’s only been an hour. Are you really that hungry?”

“Obviously. We formed a Heart-Bond Contract, didn’t we? From now on, only your energy can satisfy me, and I’m much hungrier.”

“What did you eat before?”

“Everything.”

“Why were you barely alive at the back of the line on selection day?”

“I was hungry. Too hungry to move. Your Beast-Taming Sect’s people caught me at random to make up the numbers.”

“If you eat everything, how could you be starving?”

“I just was.”

After an hour apart, she was ravenous. Soon she had brought me to the brink of exhaustion.

“Slow down. Don’t drain me to death!”

She knew she couldn’t take any more energy.

But she was still desperately hungry.

So she sank her teeth into my neck.

“Maybe I could eat a little piece of you instead. What do you think, Mo Jinghong?”

“Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Don’t do anything foolish.”

“But I’m hungry. I’m so hungry!”

Her violet eyes turned blood-red.

I stared in alarm. “Why are you this hungry?”

“I don’t know! One hour without your energy, and I’m going mad!”

She tugged at her white hair. “No, Mo Jinghong, I can’t let you stay away that long. It’s too dangerous. Find another way to cultivate!”

No one had warned me she would be this difficult to keep.

10

With the Black Dragon, I spent every day worrying about his injury.

With the Azure Phoenix, I spent every day earning money for beautiful clothes.

With the White Qilin, I spent every day hunting opportunities to help him advance.

Now, with Yin Hai, I spent every day finding ways to cultivate enough to fill her stomach.

Well… perhaps that counted as a mutual relationship.

Unfortunately, my cultivation couldn’t keep up with her appetite.

She had become hungry enough to start gnawing on me.

“Yin Hai, gently! Don’t actually bite a piece off!”

“I’m hungry!”

“You eat all day. How can you still be hungry? Let me go cultivate. I’ll make lots more energy for you!”

“You’re not leaving me!”

She pinned me against her.

I needed a solution.

At this rate, sooner or later she would swallow me alive.

11

From the memories of my three previous lives, I knew the Lingtai Secret Realm would open soon.

I hurried there with Yin Hai.

We were still a little late.

The entrance was already packed with disciples from every sect, waiting to seek their opportunities within.

“It’s full of delicious things,” I told her. “Eat as much as you like. Go ahead and feast.”

She gave me a sidelong look.

“Really?”

“Really.”

“What if I eat it all? Will they attack me?”