For a moment, his heart was filled with anticipation.
"They're all... good people."
"Hm?" Du Yu felt a blur before his eyes as the little Burning Sun girl quietly appeared, sitting on his stomach and looking at him with a serious expression.
The little girl's duck sit was textbook perfect; though she was sitting on Du Yu, the Little Fen Yang was still an incorporeal image, without even the slightest bit of weight.
Du Yu was curious in his heart: "Why do you say that?"
"I'm amazing!" Little Fen Yang raised her head a bit, looking proud. "I can sense their hearts—just like yours—they're good people."
Du Yu was surprised. So Little Fen Yang had such an ability? So, it's because of that rare Pure Fire Attribute plus my "good person card" that you traveled half of Great Xia, and eventually chose me?
The question is... am I really a good person?
"Ying?" The languid Little Fire Fox suddenly perked up. She looked at Little Fen Yang with curiosity, struggling to crawl out from Du Yu's palm.
The sight of the Little Fire Fox dragging its big tail, wobbling toward its target, always gave off an air of undaunted determination despite its apparent frailty...
Tsk tsk~
No matter the size, as long as it's a pretty girl, you're good?
Come to think of it, this Little Fire Fox is female too. Why does she love cuddling up to other girls so much?
"Heehee~" Little Fen Yang watched the silly-cute Little Fire Fox, stretched out her little hand, and gently patted its head.
But unfortunately, that little hand was a phantom—Little Fire Fox didn't feel the caress at all.
"By the way, Little Fen Yang, are you in your cub form too?" Du Yu asked curiously.
"Mm." Little Fen Yang nodded. "The big tree... hit me. It hurt a lot. My Demon Soul was almost... torn apart. I turned into fire... and started over..."
Just as I thought, rebirth through fire!
Du Yu perked right up, and Little Fen Yang had even mentioned a term: Demon Soul.
The world had clear power level divisions for Demon Beasts—from low to high: 1 Mortal Level, 2 Earth Level, 3 Heavenly Level, 4 Spirit Level, 5 Demon General Level, 6 Demon Emperor Level, 7 Demon Saint Level.
The Fourth Level—Spirit Level—is the Phase Change Stage. Upon reaching this, Demon Beasts can cultivate a Demon Soul.
Demon Soul is no small thing!
You could even call it a Demon Beast's second life.
Even if a Demon Beast dies, as long as its Demon Soul remains, give it enough time and help, and it can rebuild its body!
Though remaking a body is incredibly difficult, and even if successful, the Demon Beast's lifespan is greatly reduced, at least it counts as having lived on.
Du Yu knew clearly, Little Fen Yang couldn't possibly be just Spirit Demon Level. Based on her ability to blanket the eastern Great Xia with a rain of thousand paper cranes, she was most likely at Seventh Level—Demon Saint level!
Maybe even higher!
Just earlier, the moment Du Yu got home, he'd searched for information about Little Fen Yang on his phone. Unfortunately, he didn't find any concrete data on the "Burning Sun Golden Crow."
Online there were only legendary tales about the Golden Crow Race, which weren't much help to Du Yu.
What frustrated him even more was the chaos of internet theories about the Thousand Paper Cranes storm—he couldn't find any accounts of a Golden Crow fighting a big tree, or any heavenly anomaly caused by such a clash.
Du Yu even specifically searched for info on the Kunlun Mountain Range—Twin Ancient Trees, hoping to get lucky, but he found nothing.
Thinking of this, Du Yu sat up. "Little Fen Yang, why did you fight with the big tree? Where is that tree now?"
At his words, Little Fen Yang bowed her head and played with her fingers. "For... forgot."
Du Yu raised his eyebrows slightly, unsure if Little Fen Yang had truly forgotten, or if she just didn't want to say.
After organizing his words, he quietly asked, "You're really fluent in the Great Xia Language—where did you learn it? Do you have any human friends? Or were you the Demon Pet of some powerful figure of the Human Race?"
With just that one sentence, Little Fen Yang's cherubic face suddenly fell; her figure vanished, and she melted into Du Yu's body.
Du Yu's heart clenched. Did he just trigger something?
After hesitating a moment, he called softly within his mind: "Did I say something wrong? I'm sorry, Little Fen Yang."
Sincere as he was, he still got no response.
Du Yu hesitated, then tried to change the subject: "You said earlier that we signed a contract—you're the one who contracted me, right? After all, I don't even know how to forge a contract yet."
Still, silence.
Du Yu was patient, his voice gentle. "What's the difference between a Pet Contractor and a Pet Contract? Tell me about it. The stronger I get, the better I can use my body to nourish your growth—don't you think?"
"No difference." Little Fen Yang finally replied, her voice faint. "I just… want to find a home."
No difference?
Du Yu frowned lightly but didn't want to push—after all, Little Fen Yang had just thrown a little tantrum and ignored him.
Pet Contract with a human doesn't mean a master-servant relationship; the two sides are equal in the contract. So by logic, it should go both ways, right?
Du Yu really wanted to know just what kind of being Little Fen Yang was. And who was her last Demon Tamer, anyway?
Like Demon Beasts, Demon Tamers also have clear rank divisions.
From low to high: 1 Demon Tamer Prentice, 2 Demon Tamer Journeyman, 3 Demon Tamer, 4 Great Demon Tamer, 5 Demon Taming General, 6 Demon Taming Emperor, 7 Demon Taming Saint.
If Little Fen Yang really had a human companion, that person would have to be a top-tier Demon Tamer.
In the Great Xia Realm, the number of Saint Demon Tamers can be counted on two hands. Could Little Fen Yang be linked to them?
If, in just the last two days, any Great Xia Saint Demon Tamer had perished, then maybe that was her companion! After all, if her previous Demon Tamer hadn't died, Little Fen Yang would have no reason to find a new home.
The more Du Yu thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. He picked up his phone to search again, but if such news did exist, it was probably classified—not something ordinary people would ever know.
As he continued to search every nook and cranny of the internet, a voice rang out once more in his mind: "She can change color, you know~"
"What?"
"Little Fire Fox, newborn. Her spirit hasn't fully faded; there's still... a chance."
Du Yu put down his phone and asked softly, "Turn heterochromatic? What should I do?"
"Don't worry, I'll help you." Little Fen Yang's figure suddenly appeared, floating before Du Yu's face—her gaze meeting his, bright and intense. "This time, I'll try my very best."
Du Yu didn't know what it meant, but what happened next made his heart tremble ever so slightly!
Before this conversation, Little Fen Yang's sunset-tinted eyes had always been so beautiful—
Pure, radiant.
Yet now, her eyes were filled with sorrow.
He saw her stretch out a phantom little hand, her fingertip gently touching Du Yu's bright eyes.
Through this all-too-familiar Eye of Burning Sun, she seemed to be mourning someone... or maybe, this was a silent farewell...