Lurensity (2)

Only after one fifth of an incense stick(1) was burned was she able to merge a sliver of her consciousness with that sliver of spiritual power. She then sent it into the Snow Wolf's soul through her hand on it's head, which had now become cold from the cold temperature of the cave. She felt the mixture slowly and smoothly going into the Snow Wolf's soul and settle in a region of it. Only then did she open her eyes and withdrew her hand.

"Are you feeling okay? Can you feel the bond? This is my first time so I don't know how it's supposed to be or feel like. Do you feel weird anywhere?" Shen Tianyu asked the Snow Wolf worriedly.

[I feel fine. I can feel the bond.](2) A husky voice sounded in her mind.

Shen Tianyu's eyes widened. "Did you just speak to me? In my head?"

Before the Snow Wolf responded, Rong Jian explained for her. "There's a sliver of your consciousness in it's soul. With this bond, you two will be able to communicate with your souls without having to speak aloud."

'Just like telepathy. wow.' Shen Tianyu thought to herself in amazement.

[Telepathy? What's that?] The husky voice sounded in her mind again.

Shen Tianyu discovered early a problem with this soul communication. "Rong Jian, will it be able to hear my thoughts all the time? Or can I shut off my thoughts?"

"I think... to block off your thoughts, you have to create some kind of wall between the two consciousness. Sorry, I don't have a contract beast so I'm not too familiar with the details. You'll have to figure that out on your own." Rong Jian responded apologetically. His wifey was finally relying on him a little but he wasn't of much help, this gave a subtle blow to Rong Jian's self-confidence.

Shen Tianyu merely nodded, her back to Rong Jian, not seeing his expression. "I guess I'll have to practice then."

The Snow Wolf also didn't bother to mention it. Since he was ostracized and living in seclusion for so long in addition to his unfavorable impression of humans, he was not very knowledgeable when it it comes ot human interactions and relations.

"By the way, are you a male or female? I think you should have a name, rather than being called Snow Wolf all the time. I mean, that's a species name after all and it would be confusing if I called that out when we ever encounter another Snow Wolf or something like that. Judging from your voice though, you sound like a male?"

The Snow wolf nodded as it replied through soul communication. [I am male.]

"Then let's name you..." Shen Tianyu furrowed her brow and crossed her arms, trying to come up with a good name for her new contract beast. "...let's go with... Xue Lang(3)!"

Rong Jian coughed up a mouthful of blood right at the entrance to the cave. The Snow Wolf made an exasperated expression. Smelling the blood from the entrance, Shen Tianyu looked at Rong Jian worriedly. "Rong Jian? What's wrong? Did you get poisoned by the dark energy outside?"

She got up and started walking toward him. Ronh Jian wiped his mouth and put his other hand up to stop her from coming over. "No, no, it's fine. I'm fine. It's just, uh, some old bad blood. No need to worry."

Shen Tianyu stopped where she was but continued to gaze at him worriedly. "Are you sure?" After seeing him nod repeatedly, she finally let it go. "Ok then. If you say so."

She then turned back to Xue Lang with a smile. "Heheh, aren't I smart? You're Snow Wolf so, your name is Xue Lang." She explained.

[...Can I take back being this stupid girl's contract beast?] Xuye Lang thought. However, both the Master and beast have yet to learn how to blokc off their thoughts from each other so this thought of Xue Lang's floated into Shen Tianyu's soul.

"Hey! What do you mean take back?! No take backs! And what's wrong with the name anyways?! It's plenty better than Xiao Qiu or Pingpong!" Shen Tianyu retorted, indignant.

Hearing the other name choices, Xue Lang was somewhat glad he didn't end up with one of those name. Otherwise, he would have rammed his head into the wall of the cave and died. Xue Lang felt and intense gaze on him and turned to the entrance of the cave. There stood Rong Jian, biting his handkerchief, that was gripped in both of his hands.

'How dare a mere Snow Wolf get ahead of me?! Wifey still only calls me by my full name and hasn't given me a nickname yet! How dare it be called Xue Lang?! If it wasn't her contract beast now, I'd rip it to shreds!' Rong Jian thought as he chewed on his handkerchief and glared at Xue Lang with murderous rage.

A sweat drop rolled down the back of Xue Lang's head. [...Is this human... trying to court it's Master?]

"Hm? Yeah." Shen Tianyu answered absentmindedly. There were only to humans here and Shen Tianyu could guess who Xue Lang was referring to just by which direction it faced. "Anyways! Back to business! The Ice Crystal!" Shen Tianyu urgd, seemingly oblivious to Rong Jian's plight. She had the Snow Wolf tell her about the Ice Crystal, dropping her playful personality and putting on a serious face. When Xue Lang told her about the part where he couldn't break through the ice, she had him lead her to the spot.

"Even a demonic beast with the abilities of a Meridians level Middle Stage cultivator couldn't break through it... I really want to take some ice to experiment with... Has the Ice Crystal gained some kind of sentience after a thousand years? Is the ice around it akin to the shields cultivators summon up in battle? Is the ice in a consistent sphere around it? Or is is in a weird shape? Does the ice outside the sphere solidify and become part of it after a period of time? If so, how long does that take? A few decades, a few centuries? Judging by the size of the circle of ice of a hand's width around the ice here, one can estimate it takes a century at the very least, assuming it has been in the cave since it's existence came into being..." Shen Tianyu mumbled to herself as she took a jade bottle from her space through her magic pouch. She knocked on the ice before pouring the liquid inside the jade bottle onto the ice.