Bonds of souls

Meeting Xiao Lanhua and Chang Heng

"You're right. Many do this because they seek out powerful demons to display as a trophy and status symbol. But, you are not a trophy to be displayed. I want to protect you, take care of you, and make sure no one hurts you. Therefore, it is better to keep your real power hidden. If you ever need to escape from them, they certainly won't send powerful demon masters after you because they will mistakenly think that you only have one tail."

She is surprised by his words and when she looks at his face she realizes the seriousness of the promise of protection and care.

Furthermore, she was not seen as a trophy by him and this consideration warmed her heart, making her smile shyly.

The fox summons its nine tails and, concentrating, merges them into just one, which becomes very fluffy, but without any indication that there are nine tails and not just one.

"Ready."

Then, he gives the order and the fox feels an invisible force in her that dissipates after exerting pressure on her tail, with the young woman feeling that it would be impossible to undo the technique even if she were unconscious and then receives another order to hide her true powers, giving rise to the same sensation as before with the difference that acted on his remaining powers.

It was a scary feeling, but she knew it was the best thing to do because her true abilities and powers must be hidden.

Then, Dong Hua extends some roasted fish to her and she takes them, thanking her, and then eats voraciously, with the demon master offering more food and after arranging a large pot on metal supports, he begins to prepare some soup afterwards to get some ingredients from a kind of backpack summoned through her powers, with the young woman observing that the smoke was assimilated by a small formation in the air, thus preventing smoke from accumulating inside the cave.

"What is your name?"

"Bai Fengjiu. And yours?"

"Dong Hua. Can I call her Xiao Bai?"

He asks the end with surprise on his face because the nickname came naturally from his lips and while questioning how this nickname came about, the man remembers a little about his dreams when he was young and that this nickname reverberated inside him despite him not seeing anything beyond a fog at the same time that it evoked a great feeling of longing and desire for reunion as if you had been waiting for someone your whole life.

Fengjiu hears the affectionate nickname and blushes while controlling her heartbeat, only to remember that when she was a child in her dreams, someone always called her Xiao Bai, but she was unable to identify the origin of the voice.

Recovering from the pleasant surprise, he timidly consents, making Dong Hua smile immensely.

A few hours later, sated and with their injuries stabilized while most were healed, especially the internal injuries thanks to Ningxue Wan, they both leave the cave when he undoes the barrier.

Instinctively, Bai cowers behind him as the other demon masters approach, causing them to marvel at his beautiful appearance while the notorious demon master speaks coldly, feeling irritated that they scared her with their unnecessary presence, "She made the master-slave contract with me." He shows her wrist after making a seal, leaving them stunned.

Then, one of them recovers and says, controlling his irritation as much as possible, "You are hungry. Why did you obliterate those demons? You should have let us capture them."

"That's right."

"Why did you destroy them?"

"Yes. I wanted to capture one of them. You know how hard scorpion demons are to find."