Chapter Forty-One: You Can Only Be Mine

After the battle ended, the spirit beasts all returned to their masters. Su Li nestled in Shen Luo’s arms, her round, bright feline eyes darting left and right, her soft and innocent demeanor bearing no resemblance at all to the little fiend she had just been. Shen Fengling and the others were long accustomed to this sight. Faced with the bewildered and conflicted expressions of the rest, a trace of disdain surfaced in their eyes. This was nothing—if they had seen her command the demon flower in battle, that would have been truly astonishing.

Thinking of the little rascal flower, everyone felt a pang of regret. If it were here, it would have feasted to its heart’s content, clearing the scene in an instant.

Ke Rongzi asked, “Where did you come in from? How did you end up ahead of us?” There was only one path here, so he was quite surprised.

Su Li lifted her eyelids, focusing intently on the conversation.

Shen Fengling briefly recounted what had happened earlier. When the others heard that there was a palace above their heads, used by the demonic cultivators specifically for human experimentation and as an altar, the group fell silent.

After a long pause, Ke Rongzi collected his thoughts and began to describe their journey. It turned out that after splitting up at the secret realm’s entrance, they had entered the third trial: the Land of Wind and Sand, where they too discovered signs of demonic cultivators. They trailed behind, inadvertently stumbling into an underground cavern. For days, they had been weaving and battling the demonic cultivators beneath the earth. Eventually, after triggering a toad-shaped mechanism, they were teleported here, reuniting with the other group.

Upon hearing this, Su Li’s expression changed dramatically, a layer of frost settling across her face. The demonic cultivators had built an underground city spanning the entire secret realm!

A deathly silence fell.

No one had imagined the demonic cultivators would be so brazen, moving back and forth right under their noses without restraint. Perhaps it was not only the secret realm; they might have already infiltrated the entire continent’s underground.

Just the thought sent chills down everyone’s spines.

Suddenly, with a thunderous roar, the entire palace trembled violently. Countless fragments of stone, large and small, rained down from the dome, striking the ground with sharp cracks. Dust billowed from all sides, surging in thick clouds.

“This place is collapsing! Run!”

“Which way do we go?”

…

The group scattered in all directions, scrambling like headless flies.

By instinct, Shen Luo pulled the green bird in front of him into his arms. The two spirit beasts clung together, wide eyes staring at each other.

Squeezed so tightly she could barely breathe, Su Li heard the green bird chuckle, “How wonderful, I get to be with Sister Tuán again.”

Unable to take it any longer, she smacked it on the head with a paw.

The green bird covered its head with a wing, tears glistening in its eyes as it asked Tiger Soul, “Brother Tiger, why is Sister Tuán angry?”

Tiger Soul glanced at Su Li’s grim face and played dead, sighing inwardly: What a big, dumb bird.

The group dashed back the way they’d come, quickly reaching the cave entrance.

Suddenly, three massive boulders, each half the height of a man, crashed downward before their eyes, tumbling into the abyss below.

Everyone gasped in horror.

Shen Fengling called out, “Everyone, get on the Thunder Roc!”

At once, the group surged forward, jostling and pushing in a rush. Somehow, someone hurt the Thunder Roc; it let out a piercing cry and abruptly rose.

In the chaos, Shen Luo felt someone shove him. He toppled off the edge, his wide eyes catching a glimpse of Mo Lin’s twisted grin.

“Shen Luo!” Gu Hongshang cried, reaching out instinctively, but lost her balance and fell as well.

In an instant, the two vanished amid the clamor.

Wind howled past their ears, stones tumbling all around—a perilous descent.

Su Li’s gaze turned sharp. “Tiger Soul, it’s your turn.”

With the order given, Tiger Soul shot forth, swiftly catching Shen Luo and Gu Hongshang on its back. A protective barrier rose around them, deflecting the falling stones as they slowly descended.

Su Li swatted the foolish bird outward.

The green bird tumbled a few times, finally landing on Tiger Soul’s neck. It chirped cheerfully, “Brother Tiger, apart from Sister Tuán and Master, I missed you too.”

Tiger Soul: Hmph, I’d love to toss this fat bird off!

Su Li found a comfortable spot once more in the boy’s arms, wholly asserting her territory. Her domineering “You can only be mine” attitude brought a rare, relaxed smile to Shen Luo’s face, and he dutifully stroked her fur, soothing the agitated beast.

Su Li purred contentedly, casting a glance at the silly bird, her resolve to force it to lose weight only strengthened.

Gu Hongshang watched this scene with a twinge of envy. She pursed her lips, wondering if she, all alone, should get a beast companion too. The next moment, as if recalling something, she pointed at Tiger Soul in shock, exclaiming, “What kind of spirit beast is that?”

It was more like a beast soul than a spirit beast!

Shen Luo replied, “It’s probably a white tiger spirit beast.”

Only then did he realize he had never asked about Tiger Soul’s origins—he only knew that when it appeared, it was already inside that stone. More curiously, one day the beast simply acknowledged him as its master. The thought seemed almost fantastical.

Still, he was certain that Tiger Soul’s obedience was all thanks to the little beast in his arms.

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but lean down and kiss its head, making the feline bristle, her eyes curving into delighted crescents.

Gu Hongshang’s expression was complicated. She found their interactions decidedly…strange? A jumble of phrases flashed through her mind: childhood sweethearts, innocent companions, bickering friends… She quickly shook off such tangled thoughts.

No one knew how long they had been sinking when, gradually, traces of battle appeared on the stone walls, growing denser the deeper they went.

At last, they reached the bottom.

A wide, dark river surged from a massive black cavern, splitting around a small island and rushing away in two directions. Atop the island stood the ruined remains of a grand palace, with four uprooted Demon Poppy Trees overturned in its corners. Unfortunately, these infant demon trees had no spirits, and their flowers had been completely washed away by the water.

Tiger Soul remarked, “The scent of snakes is everywhere. The Serpent Whip must be hidden here.”

Su Li swept her gaze over the palace, about to look away, when she sensed faint breathing. She ordered Tiger Soul, “Go and check it out.”

They rushed to the palace, and Su Li tugged Shen Luo’s sleeve, signaling him to enter.

Shen Luo turned to Gu Hongshang, “The furball seems to have found something. Do you want to come with us?”

Her earlier leap into danger had already earned his respect, and he valued her opinion.

After all that, Gu Hongshang fully trusted the feline and did not hesitate. “Yes, I’ll go with you.”

Tiger Soul then cast a spiritual barrier over the entire palace, shrank into a small ball, and followed them inside.

Outside, the earth still trembled violently, but within the barrier, all was eerily still. The group was awed by Tiger Soul’s power.

Su Li declared, “Well done!”

The green bird chimed in, “Brother Tiger, you’re amazing!”

Shen Luo raised his brows.

Gu Hongshang was left gaping in disbelief.

Taking in all their reactions, Tiger Soul wiggled its hindquarters, proud and vindicated, finally shaking off the frustration of the past days.