After greeting Mei Ying and the others, Lin Nuo impatiently entered the pearl of myriad beasts.
It was a grey and limitless space, without land, sky, rivers, lakes or seas. Lin Nuo's first sensation was one of chaos, disorder, of beginnings, as well as of infinity and vastness.
Nothing existed there, and yet everything was present. He remained in that silent void, closed his eyes, and felt the dense elemental power enveloping his body.
After a long time, Lin Nuo opened his eyes with a flash of understanding. At that moment, he understood how his Spirit should be cultivated.
Outside, Xiao Wu's beautiful eyes stared intently at the spot where Lin Nuo had disappeared, saying, "Mom, little Lin will be alright, won't she?"
"He should... be alright, right?" Mei Ying said with some uncertainty. "After all, that's his nature; I wouldn't hurt him under any circumstances."
"I hope so..." Xiao Wu whispered to herself, the two rabbit ears on her head drooping slightly, revealing her inner unease.
The two people and the two beasts waited another moment before Lin Nuo finally emerged from the pearl of myriad beasts.
Er Ming let out two low, impatient grunts, and Lin Nuo unconsciously said, "It feels great; the elemental power here is very abundant..."
Mid-sentence, Lin Nuo stopped abruptly. Although Er Ming was a Hundred Thousand-Year-Old Soul Beast, he couldn't speak human language. Normally, when the person and the beast communicated, Xiao Wu served as a translator, but now he could actually understand the meaning of Er Ming's grunts.
Er Ming was also surprised, because when Lin Nuo's words reached his ears, they were also in the language of beasts.
The person and the beast stared at each other, both stunned for a moment.
At that moment, Da Ming, who was at the Lake of Life, suddenly spoke: "Xiao Nuo, it seems your Spirit still has many abilities waiting to be discovered."
Lin Nuo snapped back to reality, smiled, and nodded to Da Ming. "Yes, that's exactly it."
Then he looked at Er Ming and Xiao Wu, winking as he said, "How about it? Do you two want to be my first contract partners?"
Mei Ying hesitated, saying, "Xiao Wu has already transformed. Is that... is that possible?"
"Don't worry, Mother..." Lin Nuo said with complete confidence. "Although Xiao Wu has transformed, her essence is still that of a Spirit Beast. She will only be able to completely detach herself from her beastly body when she reaches level 80 of the Spirit Douluo."
He paused, looked at Mei Ying and Xiao Wu with a smile, and continued, "Not only that, but as long as you sign a partnership contract with me, the aura of your Spirit Beasts can be concealed. Even if a God appears, he won't be able to see it."
Hearing this, Mei Ying's eyes lit up, and even Xiao Wu's gleamed.
Although Mei Ying was a transformed Spirit Beast, she had not reached the level of a Great Beast. Her strength had only reached level 65 of the Spirit Emperor Rank. Over the years, in order to come into contact with humans and improve her cultivation, she intentionally concealed her strength and cultivated in an ordinary human village for a period.
As for Xiao Wu, there was no need to mention her. If Lin Nuo hadn't appeared here, she probably would have had to risk going to cultivate in the outside world.
This was a special rule of the Douluo Continent: after a Spirit Beast transformed, it needed to come into contact with humans for its cultivation to continue progressing; otherwise, it would stagnate completely.
Moreover, Mei Ying was a Soft-Boned Demon Rabbit who had reached adulthood; after the transformation, she appeared to be twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old.
As for Xiao Wu, her actual age was only a few hundred years, and she had not yet reached adulthood. Therefore, after the transformation, she looked like a small loli.
Regarding cultivation, does it correlate with actual age? Not necessarily... at least according to what Lin Nuo had learned in recent years, it wasn't quite like that. He had seen a Ten Thousand-Year-Old Spirit Beast that was only a thousand years old as a cub, and this situation was not uncommon among Spirit Beasts.
Xiao Wu's father was a 150,000-year-old Great Beast, a Soft-Bone Demon Rabbit, and Mei Ying was a Hundred Thousand-Year-Old Soft-Bone Demon Rabbit. Both were emperors among the rabbits, with noble lineages. Combined, Xiao Wu's talent was top-tier, even among Hundred Thousand-Year-Old Soul Beasts.
It's true that humans value talent, but Spirit Beasts value bloodlines even more. Only with a powerful bloodline is it possible to firmly subdue others. Otherwise, why would the Azure Bull Python and the Giant Monkey Titan call Xiao Wu "Sister"? In part, because they liked her.
But don't think that all Spirit Beasts are "romantic fools"; they also care about bloodline talent. Spirit Beasts without bloodline talent can only end up as food.
Furthermore, if the growth cycle of the Spirit Beasts were truly that long, they would have been extinct long ago. As for ten thousand years later, that happened because the grumpy old men at Shrek Academy weren't acting like humans; they all possessed a full set of Spirit Bones, and high-quality ones at that. Combined with the inaction, or even indulgence, of a certain God-King Tang, the "Pure and Noble," they essentially drained the essence of the Spirit Beast World.
Regarding Xiao Wu, who was frequently criticized, after being resurrected by the 'Pure and Noble', she regained a human body in one go thanks to the incredible medicinal effects of the Red of Longing and the Blood Dragon Ginseng. It can be said that, from that moment on, she ceased to be a Spirit Beast.
Later, she came to be mockingly called "Tool Bunny" by the general public... and why not? Since she was a Tool Bunny, how could she have the right to think for herself? Since she was a Tool Bunny, how could she have the right to express herself? Since she was a Tool Bunny, wouldn't it be better to just be her sheath in peace?
Therefore, compared to Xiao Wu, Ah Yin was the one who truly betrayed the Spirit Beasts. I heard she even evolved later. Bah... stepping on the corpses of countless relatives out of love, abandoning her class position out of love, allowing her son to massacre Spirit Beasts out of love, while she herself passively accepted all the benefits it brought her.
Of course, in the eyes of some young gentlemen and ladies of exceptional refinement, this was a touching love story.
But Lin Nuo had arrived in a real world of flesh and blood. In his view, that kind of love was deformed, like a rose watered with fresh blood; it blossomed with unparalleled beauty, but could not hide the piles of white bones and the shrill laments buried deep in the earth.
Returning to the main text, seeing the expressions on the mother and daughter's faces, Lin Nuo's seductive voice rang out again: "How about it? Want to try?"
"Okay, okay! I can finally go to the Human World to play. I always hear Mom talking about things in the Human World; this time, I have to have lots of fun!"
Xiao Wu jumped to Lin Nuo's side, grabbed his arm, and asked, "What do I need to do?"
"I only need to take you to the pearl of myriad beasts; no ceremony is necessary." Lin Nuo stroked Xiao Wu's head, his eyes filled with affection.
"Hmm..." Xiao Wu felt the warmth of the palm on his head, his beautiful eyes narrowing in pleasure. "Then let's go now."
However, Lin Nuo didn't move. Instead, he turned to look at Mei Ying, who was nearby, asking for her opinion.
"Go if you want. It's not like you'd hurt Xiao Wu, is it?" Mei Ying cast a playful, disapproving glance at Lin Nuo and added, "Take me too. If we go to the Human World, I can take care of you two, little ones."
"Right." Lin Nuo nodded and then turned his gaze to Er Ming.
Er Ming didn't answer, but looked at Da Ming.
After seeing him nod, Er Ming let out two low, satisfied growls at Lin Nuo.
After the three people and the beast disappeared, Da Ming frowned thoughtfully and returned to the Lake of Life, disappearing after submerging for a while...