Are you really trying to cultivate immortality? Something feels off.

Just enough to survive, I'll eat a couple of bites.

The little lion cub can't eat meat yet, and its teeth haven't fully grown in. It can only rely on the lion to slowly transfer spiritual energy to it.

Well, I escaped a disaster; I didn't get to eat such awful food.

Knowing that his parents had returned, the little lion circled around triumphantly, sometimes biting Xie's still-awake hand, sometimes stepping on his leg.

Xie Weixing rolled his eyes wildly.

I should have just strangled it.

As darkness fell, the lion lulled the cubs to sleep.

Going to bed early and waking up early is good for your health.

"What's your name?"

As he tidied up the pile of firewood, he replied, "Xie Weixing."

"Xie Weixing, I want to make a deal with you."

"You should return the money for Shennong Herbs to me first."

Azure Lion: ...

"What I offer will be a thousand times more valuable than your herb."

Xie Weixing didn't even pause: "I saved your life. If you dare to repay kindness with enmity and give the child to me to raise, I'll die right here."

The lion chuckled angrily: "You wish!"

"Oh," Xie Weixing said, having already decided to rest here for a few days. "Go ahead and tell me."

"Besides forming a contract, there is another, more profound way for spirit beasts and humans to connect: soul resonance."

"To form a contract, all a spirit beast needs to do is nod, regardless of whether it is truly willing. But for a soul resonance, the spirit beast must completely accept the human before it from the depths of its heart. This is something that cannot be forced."

"You're planning to resonate with my soul?" Xie Weixing felt a slurred mouth after saying that, as if he were in a deep, emotional dialogue segment of some pyramid scheme, and felt inexplicably ashamed.

"Yes. Soul resonance can not only give you a spirit beast, but it can even change your human bloodline, allowing you to cultivate faster like other races."

"What about this little guy?" Xie Weixing pointed to the lion cub curled up in a semi-circle, already purring softly. "You're not going to keep him?"

The little one is still so young, it will be much better for him to live with his mother.

Anyway, if it were him, he wouldn't want to leave his mother.

"I was seriously injured and only survived thanks to your herbs. With my current cultivation level, I am not strong enough to stay in Qingmu Mountain for a while," said Cangshi. "But there are too many people and beasts who covet my child. I can hide, but my child needs to grow up."

"so?"

"Our souls resonate," it spoke, "on the condition that I take the child with me until it grows up."

The lion stared intently at the boy before it, awaiting his reply.

[Dad, good deeds are rewarded. Your daughter will kneel before Buddha and offer you three sticks of incense, okay? You must become stronger. Today, I had a great time watching a Nascent Soul cultivator beat someone up, you know that?]

[This replay has to be engraved on my tombstone when I die, and it will loop whenever someone comes. Your fighting scene, Awakening Emperor, was so cool it made me feel so helpless.]

Are you all fans of the daughter character...? Am I the only one who wants to be his mom? So cute, don't you feel it...?

[All-in-one PCs need no explanation]

[Mitou. I'm still a woman, at least have some self-protection towards me, wake up.]

[The tears of spirit beasts are still too spicy for our Awakening Emperor as a side dish.]

"It's possible, it's possible..." Xie Weixing replied hesitantly.

The lion's eyes lit up.

"Uh... But now I'm homeless," his lips twitched, "I hope my child won't starve. Isn't it a bit much for me to be homeless and have to take a single mother with me?"

The lion, having reached its limit, declared: "We lions have no gender!"

"Oh, it's a girl."

"?"

Suppressing the urge to slap him to death, Cang Shi gritted his teeth and asked, "Didn't you come with those two young men? Don't you belong to a sect?"

"I did not join the Feng Hua Sect."

Why?

Xie Weixing couldn't very well say that he was afraid of running into the main characters.

"Look, none of them have come looking for me yet," he said, shrugging. "That means..."

Before he could finish speaking...

A loud shout pierced the night.

"Xie—not—awake—"

"Are we going back to the sect for a meal?"

The little lion was so frightened that it sprang up and ran back to the old lion's arms in a panic. A moment later, it revealed its little eyes.

Xie Weixing trembled, thinking that a vengeful ghost had come to claim his life, and looked out of the cave in shock.

The lights were so bright it was like daytime.

The lion looked at him with a smile: "It seems that my child and I won't starve to death now."

Xie Weixing said expressionlessly, "Why are you telling lame jokes at a time like this?"

*

Feng Jilan held the incantation spell in his hand, his expression speechless.

With the Tai Xu Realm's Loud Voice Technique, no creature in the entire Qing Mu Mountain will be able to sleep tonight.

"Tsk, Xiao Tan," Shen Chunri said, taking a sip of water after leaving Feng Jilan's side, his eyes filled with worry. "Do you think our search is really going to be of any use? Could Xie Weixing have already been eaten...?"

Tan Suiting stood on a tree branch, his gaze sweeping downwards, his face expressionless: "He won't die."

How did you know?

Tan Suiting paused for a moment, then looked up: "Because he came back to save us. If he dies, we'll both be buried with him."

Shen Chunri was shocked: "Are your dragons really this loyal?!"

"Um."

"Am I going to die too?!"

Tan Suiting looked at her and nodded seriously.

The outer disciples' team returned to report.

"Sect Leader, we have not found any trace of the Azure Lion."

Shen Chunri, scrambling down the stairs, pushed aside the other disciples, shouting, "I'll go find it... Get out of the way! I'll go find it myself!"

After scaring the little snake, His Highness the Crown Prince felt a little better.

Feng Jilan glanced at him sideways and said calmly, "Your injuries require rest. Go back; your teacher is here."

"No," Tan Suiting shook his head.

"If we can't find him, he might not still be alive," Feng Jilan said.

Tan Suiting froze, gritted her teeth, glared at him, and turned to leave.

Feng Jilan stood still: ?

Is he now in the wrong?

Traitorous disciple! What future does the Feng Hua Sect have?!

Suddenly, a surge of spiritual energy erupted.

This is... a spirit beast bond.

Feng Jilan's eyes narrowed, and he quickly locked onto the target.

The group rushed into the cave, only to find Xie Weixing holding a fluffy little dumpling in his arms.

"What are you doing here?!" Shen Chunri breathed a huge sigh of relief, squatting on the ground like a hoodlum. "It's good that you're alive, it's good that you're alive..."

Tan Suiting stared at him intently from behind, without uttering a word, but her eyes trembled slightly.

Feng Jilan looked around and asked seriously, "You've formed a spirit beast bond with someone?"

"Ah." Xie Weixing nodded, "It's the Azure Lion that the Flower Goddess Sect is looking for."

He showed the cub in his arms: "This is its baby."

Shen Chunri almost fainted again before she could catch her breath, her mouth agape in shock.

What kind of luck is this?

When Tan Suiting saw the fluffy baby in his arms, his heart suddenly softened.

He pressed his chest without making a sound, realizing that something was off about him.

Feng Jilan was silent for a moment: "Let's go back to the sect first."

He turned halfway, then stopped and turned his face to the side.

"By the way, let's talk about your unauthorized trip down the mountain."