Han Yuchen gently touched its cool, smooth carapace with a finger. The little thing lightly pinched his fingertip with its claws, expressing affection—or perhaps a protest?
"From now on, you're with me." Han Yuchen grinned and said in an extremely casual, perfunctory tone, "As for your name... seeing how green you are, I'll call you Xiao Lu. Simple and easy to remember."
The little jade scorpion in his palm visibly stiffened. Then its two tiny claws began waving excitedly, and its tail hook swayed restlessly as it sent out a clear, protesting soul fluctuation. "Xiao Lu?! I am a mighty fifty-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion, the overlord of the outskirts of the Far North! And you give me such a lousy name?! At the very least, it should be something like 'Jade Dragon King' or 'Ice Crystal Emperor'!"
Yet beneath Han Yuchen's smiling but unquestionable gaze, along with the even colder gaze drifting over from Leng Yuebai beside him, the little jade scorpion... no, Xiao Lu, ultimately chickened out.
It stopped protesting resentfully, drooped its little head onto Han Yuchen's thumb as though accepting its fate, and made faint clicking sounds like grinding teeth, thereby accepting this humiliating—at least in its own view—name.
"Congratulations on subduing a powerful helper." Leng Yuebai lowered the guard she had maintained the entire time and walked over. Looking at the exquisite yet dangerous little creature in Han Yuchen's palm, her glasslike eyes remained calm as she offered a routine congratulation.
To her, subduing a soul beast was little different from picking up a stone.
"Come on, Xiao Lu. Take us to your nest." Han Yuchen tucked the still-sulking Xiao Lu into a specially made pocket lined with soft fur inside his fur coat. "That powerful aura that drew me in just now, the one sharing