16 Contract

Li Zhu, having found the perfect spirit beast, immediately decided to form a contract with the dog. Since he was cultivating with the Undying Beast Soul method, his contract would be slightly different, and he would gain a small portion of the beast's soul, which, in case it died, would allow him to revive it, albeit greatly weakened.

This method of forming contracts was extremely useful, since usually summoners would have to find another spirit beast if one died, and in fights deaths were very common.

Li Zhu had found this method in an ancient ruin, where he had fought through many challenges and received it as the reward. Initially he had been very disappointed, since he was not a summoner. Later, though, as he read the method, it had intrigued him, pushing him to read it all, which was why he now remembered it, even though he had lost the spirit ring containing the material copy.

Li Zhu placed his palm on the dog, while chanting a short formula, and sending his will into the Demonic Shadow Wolf.

His surroundings slowly changed, as he entered a dark land with a blood red sky. The ground was rocky with sharp spikes shooting up from the ground.

In front of him, was a massive projection of a wolf, its pitch black fur covered with red markings. The wolf looked deadly, giving off a demonic aura, yet at the same time it also seemed to not be completely solid, as though it was a shadow.

In the Undying Beast soul method, one had to enter the mental territory of the spirit beast, before trying to tame it. To actually form the contract, both parties involved needed to be willing, which usually led summoners to either sucking up to spirit beasts or threatening them.

Li Zhu communicated with his will, making his intentions clear. The wolf only grunted, though, clearly unwilling to follow someone it thought of as inferior to itself.

Left with no choice, Li Zhu's will, which had been transformed into human form when he had entered the demonic environment created by the Demonic Shadow Wolf's soul, jumped into the air, ready for a tough fight.

While he jumped in the air, his body grew to be five times larger, matching the size of the wolf, who decided to meet him halfway, pouncing towards him.

In this world, the strength of each party was determined by their soul and willpower. Anything here was possible with enough soul strength, including abilities which were only possible at higher cultivation.

Knowing this, Li Zhu decided to use some fighting techniques he had learnt during his time as crown prince. After all, in this soul world, no one could see him using these skills, so he was sure that nobody here could discover his identity.

In the air, Li Zhu's fist grew even larger than his now massive body, while he yelled, "Sword Giant's fist"

His fist gave off a sharp aura, as though it could cut through anything. This was a sword technique which was used by the Giant Clan in the north of the continent, and Li Zhu had gotten hold of it through helping them out of a crisis.

Although the technique was powerful, it required size to show its full potential, which was why Li Zhu, in his current enlarged state, had decided to use it.

He was not very familiar with the technique, yet it was still more effective than using the sword skills he used to practice, since those could kill him with his current body, which was not that of a swordsman.

The large sword fist reached the Demonic Shadow Wolf, who released its own energy, suddenly emitting a feeling of blood-lust. At that moment, its eyes turned crimson red, as it countered Li Zhu's fist with its claw.

As the two powerful forces were about to hit each other, the Demonic Shadow Wolf suddenly disappeared, leaving a shocked Li Zhu, who was still in the midst of his attack.

At that moment, he felt a sense of danger from behind him, and before he could react, a strike to his back sent him flying, with his body, which was the representation of his soul, close to dissipating.

The Demonic Shadow Wolf was behind him, having traveled through the shadows, effectively launching a sneak attack.

'This won't do... I need to bring out the royal techniques!' thought Li Zhu, realizing that if his soul died here then he and his physical body would die, which he was not willing to let happen.

The royal techniques were only passed down to main descendants of the Heavenly Dragon Empire, and they were all related to dragon transformations. The Heavenly Dragon Shield that Li Zhu had used against the assassins, for example, was a royal technique.

"Heavenly Dragon Claw!" yelled out Li Zhu, as the skin on his arms peeled off, revealing crimson red scales.

Behind Li Zhu there was the projection of a dragon, which gave off an ancient aura, almost oppressive. The dragon stood with its head held high, giving it a majestic appearance, as though it was above everyone else.

While Li Zhu prepared to strike the Demonic Shadow Wolf, though, he noticed that the latter was crouched, with a scared look on its face.

Glancing at the dragon projection, Li Zhu realized that the Wolf was intimidated, since it was after all a spirit beast, and like all beasts, it respected bloodline. Although Demonic Shadow Wolves could grow their bloodline into something that rivaled dragons, this particular Wolf was just a cub, and it had not yet awakened its demonic bloodline.

Taking this chance to form the contract, Li Zhu walked over to the wolf, before making his intentions clear again. This time, the spirit beast did not reply, as it just stood there with an unwilling expression.

Li Zhu placed his palm on its forehead, before extracting part of its soul and combining it with his, following the Undying Beast Soul method.

As that happened, Li Zhu's surroundings changed again... he was back at Spirit Beasts peak, having succeeded in forming the contract.

Feeling a bit guilty about forcing the dog into the contract, Li Zhu promised himself that he would treat it well, doing his best to awaken its bloodline, and transforming it into a divine beast.

"First of all, you need a name" he mumbled, staring at the adorable dog, which he had just risked dying from.

"Buddy will do" stated Li Zhu, deciding that his relationship with the dog would be that of buddies.

With everything settled, Li Zhu returned to his room, happy about his first Spirit Beast. At the same time, he had an uneasy smile, realizing that if he had been in the real world, there was no way he could have used Heavenly Dragon Claw, since his cultivation was way too shallow. This would have without a doubt resulted in his death.

While Li Zhu walked, Buddy followed him, acting in every way like a mortal dog. It did not take long for him to get back to his room, since he went faster this time, eager to test his theory.

What he was going to do was feed the Red Demon Fruit, which he had gotten from the fifth floor of the tower, to Buddy, hoping that this could awaken his bloodline, at least partially.

Demonic Shadow Wolves promoted their bloodline and increased their strength through the absorption of demonic energy, which included eating items which contained such energy. There were many of these items, and the Red Demon Fruit was one, allegedly being born from the blood of a demon spilling over fruit trees, causing these demon fruit hybrids.

Noticing the blood red fruit on the bed, Buddy immediately became excited, as its tail began to swing back and forth, and its tongue stuck out.

Li Zhu quickly picked the fruit up, before throwing it to Buddy, who caught it with his jaws, and quickly started eating it.

Demon Fruits contained very violent energies, which could be deadly for human cultivators. That said, Buddy was a Demon Wolf, and couldn't be hurt by the energy in the fruit.

Buddy quickly finished the fruit, yet nothing happened. Li Zhu looked confused, since he could not understand why the demonic energy had no positive effect on it, or any effect for that matter.

After a few minutes, though, Buddy's body started to visibly grow, as its features changed from a gentle dog into a fierce wolf. Li Zhu, who had been worried just a second earlier, bitterly smiled, realizing he had just been too impatient.

Buddy's body had changed drastically and had started to emit a demonic aura, which gave Li Zhu a suffocating feeling.

With one last flash of red light, Buddy finally finished its transformation, and the aura disappeared, leaving a red-faced Li Zhu, who had struggled to hold his ground.

"Congratulations, Buddy, you just leveled up your bloodline!" happily stated Li Zhu, seeing the wolf, who was happily jumping around in the bed, excited about its breakthrough.

According to his estimates, Buddy now had the power of a sixth stage Qi gathering realm expert, which meant it would be a great help for Li Zhu in the future.

Just as Li Zhu and Buddy were celebrating together, the latter abruptly began to shrink back to its former size, as its features also shifted.

Worried, Li Zhu placed his palm on Buddy, feeling its cultivation, yet there was no difference from before: still as powerful as sixth stage Qi gathering.

"I guess you only look fierce when you are in battle form, huh" teasingly said Li Zhu, much to the annoyance of Buddy, who was looking at its own body with sadness, having just assumed its ideal appearance, only to turn back into the small, defenseless dog.

Li Zhu was amused by this, as he thought, 'Finally, my first Spirit Beast, and if I'm lucky, I'll even gain a great friend!"