Master, don't tease me, you can't handle three of them.

Zheng Hongliang lay on the ground, staring blankly at the sky.

There's no such thing as a restriction; if there were, he would have used it already.

There are too many people in the sect who don't respect him as the young sect leader, and they only refrain from openly attacking him because of his father's influence.

They'd tripped him up quite a bit before, but never to the point of killing him. This time, he was careless; he almost got what he wanted. But it seems it was close enough…

Zheng Hongliang slowly closed his eyes. "Damn father, your good-for-nothing son is going to die. Are you satisfied now?"

Just as Zheng Hongliang closed his eyes and awaited death, he suddenly felt something poking his face.

WTF?

Zheng Hongliang opened his eyes and found a handsome man in white squatting on the ground, poking his face repeatedly with a twig he had picked up. Their eyes met.

"So you're still alive," Xiao Jingshu said in surprise.

"..."

Even though I'm not far from death, why does that sound so infuriating?

"You're almost dead, so please stay away from me," Zheng Hongliang said speechlessly. He didn't believe he could encounter a powerful being to save him on his deathbed.

"Oh." Xiao Jingshu wasn't annoyed. He dropped the branch in his hand, hugged his knees, and continued to look at him. "I thought you wanted me to help you collect the body."

...Thank you so much.

Zheng Hongliang chuckled twice, then stopped talking, letting the wounds on his body continue to bleed, and his consciousness began to gradually fade.

"Why didn't you beg me to save you?" Xiao Jingshu asked curiously, looking at Zheng Hongliang who was motionless. "According to the storybook, you would beg me to save you and say something like, 'From now on, my life belongs to you.'"

Zheng Hongliang's lips twitched. "So you know it's from a storybook."

"No need. There's no point in living anyway, and my life is worthless."

He knew his physical condition; it wasn't just excessive blood loss, but also the fact that he had just detonated his cultivation and suffered multiple internal injuries. Even if he were saved, he would only be a cripple, and there was no need to incur another favor, which he couldn't repay anyway.

"You're so eager to die? Don't you want to get revenge on those people from earlier?" Xiao Jingshu pressed.

Zheng Hongliang found it increasingly strange. "Are you... trying to make me beg you to save me?"

Xiao Jingshu nodded without hesitation. "That's right, I saved you, so from now on your life is mine. You can't go west if I tell you to go east, and you can't herd ducks if I tell you to catch chickens."

Zheng Hongliang's vision blurred, but he still asked, "Why?"

"Maybe it's because I'm kind," Xiao Jingshu said, feigning profundity. He couldn't very well tell him that he couldn't bear to see anyone die in front of him. If others knew, they would think he was too kind and easy to bully; he wasn't stupid!

"..." Why does this person seem a bit off? But, with someone trying to save him before he dies, Zheng Hongliang admits that he doesn't want to die.

“Alright.” Zheng Hongliang forced himself to sit up. “By the grace of Heaven, I, Zheng Hongliang, hereby swear that I will acknowledge the person before me as my master, follow him for life, obey his every command, and never betray him.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a golden light etched itself onto Zheng Hongliang's brow. The oath was made; Heaven would watch over him, and any betrayal would result in annihilation, body and soul!

Zheng Hongliang could no longer hold on and fainted.

Xiao Jingshu's eyes widened, completely unprepared for things to develop in this direction.

What are you doing?! He was just joking, how did he actually make a vow?! How can this person be so honest!

Xiao Jingshu hurriedly took out hemostatic pills and qi-replenishing pills and gave them to Zheng Hongliang, then used her spiritual power to repair Zheng Hongliang's most fatal wounds.

After a long while, Xiao Jingshu finally pulled Zheng Hongliang back from the brink of death.

Xiao Jingshu sat blankly on the ground. Had he gone too far?

Forget it, let's leave here first. If those people come back, even though Xiao Jingshu can fight them, it would be too much trouble to protect Zheng Hongliang.

Xiao Jingshu got up, carried Zheng Hongliang on his back, and continued along the original route. The next town wasn't far; they needed to find a place in town to treat his injuries first.

When Zheng Hongliang woke up, it was already dark.

When Zheng Hongliang woke up, his mind was still blank, and he stared blankly at the ceiling.

Where is this place?

"woke up?"

A voice suddenly rang out in the room. Zheng Hongliang turned his head and saw the young man in white sitting at the table, eating a chicken leg while looking at him, with three tails gently wagging behind him.

Huh?! A tail?!

Zheng Hongliang suddenly became fully awake, and his memories slowly returned, reminding him that the person in front of him had saved him.

"I've healed all your external injuries, but your cultivation is completely gone, and your spiritual root is damaged. I'm not very good at these things, so you'll have to wait and see," Xiao Jingshu said slowly, taking a sip of tomato and egg soup.

Let's wait for Jing Shu to wake up; he should be able to figure out these things.

Zheng Hongliang felt his body, a hint of shock flashing in his eyes. He hadn't expected that all his external injuries would be completely healed in less than a day. Just who was this person? "Let me wait and see," he thought, "could he help me start cultivating again?"

In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through Zheng Hongliang's mind, but in the end he just smiled with relief. Why think so much? From the moment he saved him, his life was his.

“Master,” Zheng Hongliang called out respectfully.

"!!!" Xiao Jingshu was so shocked that he choked on a mouthful of egg soup.

"Cough! Cough cough!" Xiao Jingshu coughed wildly, waving his hand at Zheng Hongliang, who wanted to come over and pat him.

Xiao Jingshu's face turned bright red from coughing, and his fox ears twitched.

It took a long time for Xiao Jingshu to recover.

"Don't call me master, call me Jing Shu," Little Jing Shu emphasized. Calling me master felt too perverted.

Zheng Hongliang, already dressed, asked upon hearing this, "Are you Jing Shu? Jing Shu, the second disciple of Immortal Venerable Hanluo?"

Xiao Jing nodded. "It's me."

Zheng Hongliang had heard his father mention that Hanluo Immortal Venerable's second disciple possessed a top-grade mutated spiritual root—the Light Spiritual Root, which was also the spiritual root with the strongest healing ability. No wonder his injuries healed so quickly.

"Are you... a fox demon?" Zheng Hongliang looked at the fox demon features on Xiao Jingshu, hesitated for a moment, and then asked.

"No, I'm human, just with the demon core of a fox demon," Xiao Jingshu explained, and continued eating.

Xiao Jingshu had used up too much spiritual energy treating Zheng Hongliang, but he wasn't quite in control of the body yet, causing him to lose control and have his ears and tail sprout out. However, he wasn't worried about what Zheng Hongliang would do if he found out. He had sworn an oath that if Zheng Hongliang had even the slightest thought of betraying him, Heaven would destroy him completely.

"Sit down and eat together. We still have a long journey ahead tomorrow. Because of you, we've already wasted a lot of time today. We need to get up early tomorrow." Jing Shu would be angry if we wasted time.

Zheng Hongliang walked to the dining table and sat down. He paused for a moment, looking at the various kinds of chickens on the table. "Is this really not a fox?"

"Are we going back to the Cloud Burial Sect?" Zheng Hongliang thought that since he now acknowledged Jing Shu as his master, he would naturally follow wherever Jing Shu went. As for the Radiant Sun Sect... let whoever wants to go back can go back, he's not going back anyway, and he doesn't want his father anymore.

"No." Xiao Jingshu put down his chopsticks and sighed softly, "I'm not going back for now."

After playing all day, I still miss my master. I wonder if he misses me too...

Zheng Hongliang didn't ask any more questions. After quietly finishing his meal, Xiao Jingshu put away his tail and turned to leave, returning to his room.