Even hybrid monsters have their day

Geng Miaowan leaned close to his ear and whispered, "I certainly don't have that much power to let you out, but if you become my property, then it's naturally no problem for me to take my own people out."

Upon hearing this, Xu Ruwen's expression turned even uglier than before. He shouted, "Are you dreaming? You want me, a dignified seven-tailed fox, to be your pet!"

This was even harder for him to accept than being told to commit suicide.

“So what?” she whispered in his ear as she leaned closer, startling him into widening his eyes.

"You mean Little White..." He felt that the little white dog was unusual that day, but he never expected that it was actually Cerberus, the ancient ferocious beast that only appeared in legends.

He suddenly recalled some legends about Cerberus. Although Xiao Bai's appearance didn't quite match the legends, its ability to devour magic was exactly as described. He hadn't heard of any other animal that could devour magic, so upon reflection, he felt that Geng Miaowan's words were probably true.

"Actually, as long as you can get out, why bother with these little details? Anyway, as long as you and I don't tell anyone about the contract, no one will know," Geng Miaowan continued to persuade him. After these missions, she deeply felt her own inadequacy.

Her strength wasn't likely to improve significantly anytime soon, Xiaobai was unreliable in various ways, and although Luan Hao was powerful, he was ultimately just a spiritual being and couldn't do much. Most importantly, he wasn't always willing to take action. She had been thinking about how to solve these problems, and when she met Xu Ruwen, she suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

What she needed was a henchman... uh, a helper, just like him. Someone who was both capable and obedient. Actually, it didn't matter if he didn't listen to her, as long as he could step in for her in crucial moments.

Hearing her say that, Xu Ruwen showed a disdainful expression. "That sounds nice. In reality, it's just your pet. In the end, it will still be subject to your control and manipulation. Where will it have any freedom? What difference is there between it and me sitting in this cage!"

Geng Miaowan laughed heartily at him, as if he had told the funniest joke. He couldn't help but feel a little annoyed and asked, "What are you laughing at?"

She looked at him, her eyes shining brightly, as if there was a glint of light in them. "I'm laughing because you've lived for over a thousand years, how could you not even see through basic common sense?"

"What do you mean by that?" Xu Ruwen was even more puzzled.

"Your so-called freedom is nothing more than birds flying freely in the sky and fish swimming freely in the sea."

"Isn't this freedom?"

Geng Miaowan had long seen through Xu Ruwen's arrogant and proud nature, realizing that making him her pet and willingly obey her wouldn't be easy. So, she wasn't in a hurry and slowly began her persuasive scheme.

"You've lived for over a thousand years, yet you still don't understand that there's a rule in this world that governs all things, and your so-called freedom is also within its constraints." Seeing his still puzzled expression, she continued to explain, "I won't go into the distant past, let's just talk about yourself. If you want to improve your strength, you must diligently cultivate; this is the rule, and no one can ignore it. Yet you want to take a shortcut. You're using your special abilities to absorb the essence of others to improve yourself."

You didn't kill anyone, and you thought you'd gotten away with it undetected, that humans were helpless against you, and even ordinary cultivators were no match for you. You thought you could do whatever you wanted, that you could escape the rules that require cultivation to improve. But in the end, the guardians came after you—that's the rule too. Even if you escape, your freedom is still bound by the rules; it can only be realized if you don't break them. There is no absolute freedom in this world!

Xu Ruwen's face showed a thoughtful expression. Seeing that he was about to fall into the trap, Geng Miaowan decided to give him a final push. She said earnestly, "Let's talk about this Kuang Domain. Aside from your spiritual power being suppressed here, aren't you free? Have they restrained you, tied you up, or restricted you? As long as you don't cause trouble, you can do missions here and do whatever you want. You can even do nothing and just laze around all day without anyone caring."

"I just can't stand having my spiritual power suppressed! I've cultivated for over a thousand years, and I'm almost at the eight-tailed level, but now I'm locked up in this nonsensical place, and every thousand or eight hundred years I'll have to reincarnate again, starting all over again from scratch. How can I accept this!" Xu Ruwen said indignantly. No one would accept this situation. He couldn't understand how the demons in the Kuang Domain could endure it.

Geng Miaowan seemed completely oblivious to his anger, and asked in a calm tone, "You've gone to great lengths to get out, but what will you do once you're out?"

"Of course I'll continue my training!" The Nine-Tails is his goal. If he were forced to end his life with the Seven-Tails, he would never die in peace.

"But your cultivation is almost at its end, isn't it?" Her casual remark caused a strange expression to appear on Xu Ruwen's face. Although it was only for a moment, Geng Miaowan still caught it.

She actually guessed right! Geng Miaowan felt a surge of joy in her heart, but on the surface she only glanced at him lightly. However, that glance contained a lot, and it also carried a clear understanding.

As a fellow demon, she naturally knew that cultivation methods that involved absorbing the essence of other creatures, while potentially boosting one's cultivation level in the short term, were ultimately detrimental. This was because once a certain level was reached, further progress became extremely difficult.

Foxes are inherently proud, and Xu Ruwen, who cultivated from an ordinary fox demon to a seven-tailed fox, was even more arrogant. If he hadn't really had no other choice, why would he have resorted to this method?

Now that Geng Miaowan knew this, she naturally wouldn't let it go easily. She closed her eyelids slightly, concealing the calculation in her eyes, and said, "Even if you leave Kuangyu, so what? If you want to improve your cultivation now, you can only absorb the essence of others again. Even if the guardians let you go and stop hunting you, how much can you improve with your methods? In the end, you'll only become a soulless monster. Is this the freedom you want?"

Her words struck Xu Ruwen right where it hurt, and he jumped up like a wounded animal, "You!..."

He stared intently at her, as if that could relieve the pain in his heart.

He was stuck at the Six-Tails level for three hundred years, unable to advance any further no matter how he cultivated. In a moment of weakness, he chose to use the Soul Absorption Technique to improve his cultivation. Although he rose from the Six-Tails to the Seven-Tails in less than a hundred years, and is now close to the peak of the Seven-Tails, his mental state has been often dazed in recent years. He knows that his cultivation can only reach the Eight-Tails level at most, and it will be difficult to make any further progress after that.

Every time he thought about it, he felt extremely regretful. However, once the Spirit Absorption Technique is used, even if it is only once, it will slowly erode the user's spirit, let alone the fact that he had used it for nearly a hundred years.

Geng Miaowan smiled slightly at him, her eyes shimmering like waves. "What if I told you I had a way to undo the changes in your body caused by the spirit-absorbing technique?" (To be continued.)

The next chapter will begin a new mission, and I hope you will continue to support me.

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