Chapter 83: I'm Not Your Subordinate

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The Crowned Snake had no worries about Tang Ailian deceiving it. It offered a bit of its soul, allowing Tang Ailian to silently recite an incantation and say "contract" with her telekinesis. The contract bound them, and then she retrieved its soul.

After establishing the contract, communication between the Crowned Snake and Tang Ailian became much easier.

"Master," the Crowned Snake sensed Tang Ailian's aura and was quite pleased. "So, you're a transcendent witch doctor. I really like that."

In the Crowned Snake's inherited memories, witch doctors were beings capable of connecting with the heavens. Moreover, witch doctors wouldn't casually sacrifice their contracted spiritual beasts. Thus, in ancient times, all spiritual beasts hoped to form a contract with a transcendent witch doctor. However, spiritual beasts that could contract with transcendent witches were all exceptional and formidable creatures.

With a spiritual snake as her companion, Tang Ailian was also delighted. She immediately gave it a Jinling Pill, saying, "From now on, I'll call you Xiao Bai. Take this Jinling Pill first, but it might be a bit painful."

"Thank you, Master. I'm not afraid of pain," Xiao Bai accepted the pill into its mouth, coiled it there, and slowly began to grow.

As it turned out, its body could change in size, but during advancement, it needed to return to its original size.

When Xiao Bai's body reached the thickness of a water bucket, it stopped growing and focused on absorbing the pill's power, commencing its advancement.

Tang Ailian checked with her psychic power and confirmed there were no dangers around. She then rushed to the nearby lake for a thorough bath, changed into fresh clothes, and returned. She noticed that all the spiritual energy around them was flowing toward Xiao Bai, who was in the process of advancing.

After advancing, Xiao Bai would be a true First-Rank spiritual beast.

However, its advancement seemed painful. Could it be due to insufficient energy? Tang Ailian collected a large mass of spiritual fluid and sent it toward Xiao Bai's mouth. Xiao Bai consumed it, and its pained expression eased as it dedicated itself to advancing.

Tang Ailian knew not to disturb Xiao Bai during its advancement, as it was the most vulnerable and could attract hostile attention. She stood guard beside it.

As a precaution, she took out the small knife-like artifact from her medicine well space and held it lightly in her hand. Over the past six months, she had frequently used telekinesis to control this small knife and had become quite proficient with it. No, it was better to say she had become proficient with telekinesis, as she didn't need to physically hold the knife—it responded to her thoughts. It was a lethal weapon, capable of striking wherever her telekinesis reached.

She thoroughly confirmed that this was indeed an artifact.

Xiao Bai's advancement caused fluctuations in spiritual power that drew the attention of animals within a hundred miles, as well as numerous greedy eyes.

A fiery fox glanced at the place where the spiritual energy had appeared and dashed towards it. It sensed that a Crowned Snake, which was originally a common fierce beast, was advancing to become a spiritual beast.

Spiritual beasts advancing to the Transcendent stage were highly attractive to other spiritual beings. Moreover, they were at their weakest during advancement, unable to use their powers. All it had to do was consume the Crowned Snake, and it would undoubtedly advance to become a spiritual beast as well.

The fiery fox thought, "Doesn't this foolish snake know it should hide in a secret place during its advancement? Right, it's just a young snake, it probably doesn't know."

However, wasn't it precisely because it was foolish that it could bring benefits to itself?

But when the fiery red fox saw a little girl helping to guard the Crowned Snake, it stopped in its tracks.

Damn, this foolish snake actually recognized a human as its master.

Although the little girl was only in the Transcendent stage and appeared to be about six or seven years old (Tang Ailian had accidentally grown taller during her advancement, making her look like a six or seven-year-old), the middle-aged man couldn't help but feel strange. Whose child had wandered in here? But then he heard Tang Ailian's words and was left dumbfounded, unable to close his open mouth.

He pointed at Tang Ailian, astonished, and asked Zhao Zixian, "Is she the expert recommended by Advisor Bai?"

Could someone please tell him that this little girl was the expert recommended by Advisor Bai?

(End of this chapter)