A Maggot Just Shy of a Million Years

Hearing the familiar voice, Xu Linjiu raised an eyebrow and called out to the two training nearby.

"I have something to take care of, so I'll be leaving for a bit. Keep training!"

"Okay, Teacher!"

"Got it, Uncle!"

Xu Linjiu got up and left, making his way to an uninhabited spot behind the mountain.

The moment he stopped walking, a familiar white figure impatiently wriggled out of Xu Linjiu's body.

"Phew~! I can finally come out and get some fresh air! So, did you miss me?"

"Tell the truth."

Xu Linjiu crossed his arms and looked at it with an ambiguous smile. "While you were asleep, my ears were much quieter."

The one before him was none other than Skydream Iceworm, who had exhausted what little strength it had three months ago to conceal Xiao Wu's soul beast aura from Tang Hao.

With a flick of his wrist, Xu Linjiu summoned the Pokédex into his palm. Information on Skydream Iceworm appeared on its screen:

[Skydream Iceworm (Named)]

[Type: Psychic, Ice]

[Level Lv.99 (Origin severely depleted)]

[Abilities: Truant, Anticipation, Telepathy]

[Moves: Ice Breath, Icy Wind, Psychic, Rest, Extrasensory, Minimize]

[Evaluation: Although it is supposedly a legendary Pokémon (doubtful), it is really far too weak.]

Strictly speaking, although Tang San was Xu Linjiu's eldest disciple, he was not the first person Xu Linjiu had formed a contract with.

His first true contract partner was the being before him—Skydream Iceworm, who would become the Douluo Continent's only million-year soul beast ten thousand years from now.

Back then, Xu Linjiu had searched the Star Dou Great Forest from top to bottom for a full half year before finally digging out Skydream Iceworm of this era.

At the time, Skydream Iceworm's cultivation had stalled at nine hundred and ninety thousand years. Though it was only one step away from a million years, without external aid, it could only wait bitterly for another ten thousand years.

It had no choice but to remain in the Star Dou Great Forest, helplessly watching like a powerless husband as the heaven-and-earth energy it had accumulated over a million years was drained by all kinds of soul beasts that came to feed on it one after another.

Then, Xu Linjiu arrived before Skydream Iceworm with his Pokédex.

By then, Skydream Iceworm had grown so weak that even the system could not trigger the corresponding legendary quest.

After a series of cordial and friendly negotiations, Skydream Iceworm finally agreed to cooperate with Xu Linjiu and took the chance to escape the Star Dou Great Forest.

"I think you're just... what was that word again? Oh, right, tsundere! You're totally tsundere. How could anyone not miss Brother Skydream?"

Skydream Iceworm raised its plump tail and heavily smacked Xu Linjiu on the head. "Looks like you and that little rabbit got along pretty well just now. What, did you make a contract with her too?"

"Not yet, but I do intend to."

Expressionless, Xu Linjiu plucked the fat maggot that had been throwing its weight around atop his head and placed it in his palm.

"Tsk, you really drag your feet."

Skydream Iceworm rolled over in his palm and lay belly-up, its tiny eyes spinning as they stared at Xu Linjiu.

"But speaking of that, I need to have a proper word with you. Do you know how much origin power I used up last time to seal that little rabbit's aura so tightly? Look at my belly—I've gotten a whole circle thinner!"

As it spoke, it even puffed out its round body, trying to squeeze out some semblance of thinness.

"Get to the point." Xu Linjiu looked at it blankly.

"The point is, I'm hungry!"

Skydream Iceworm sprang up righteously and hovered in front of Xu Linjiu, its tail tip unapologetically poking his forehead. "You brat must've saved up quite a few Exp. Candies over the past three months, right? Don't think I don't know just because I was asleep. Hurry up and take them out. Feed me up!"

Xu Linjiu looked at the fat silkworm before him in silence for two seconds. In the end, he shook his head helplessly and, with a thought, took several Exp. Candies glowing with faint golden light from the system space.

Skydream Iceworm's eyes lit up instantly. Before Xu Linjiu could even hand them over, it launched itself forward and swallowed one candy in a single gulp.

Then came the second, then the third. A faint golden halo spread across its entire body.

"Mmm, that feels good!"

Skydream Iceworm let out a satisfied burp and flopped back into Xu Linjiu's palm. Its round body radiated a warm sheen, visibly growing another size larger than before.

"That's more like it. I work for you, and you pay me. That's only natural—fair and reasonable."

Xu Linjiu stared at Skydream Iceworm's status panel on the Pokédex. Its experience bar rose bit by bit before finally stopping just a sliver away from full.

"How much more?"

"Just a tiny bit."

Skydream Iceworm sensed its own condition as well. It rolled over and patted its belly contentedly. "Feed me one more next time, and I should be able to reach the threshold of a million years."

"Do you still remember the agreement we made back then?"

"Of course!"

Skydream Iceworm floated up from Xu Linjiu's palm and hovered in midair, its tiny eyes quietly watching the human who had formed a contract with it.

"I, Skydream, keep my word. If I said I'd sacrifice myself to become your soul ring, then I'll definitely do it."

Its tone was unusually serious, devoid of its usual joking manner and carrying instead a trace of calm relief.

"Besides, even if I don't sacrifice myself, this body of mine won't last much longer under these damned laws of heaven and earth. Rather than vanish into ashes when the time comes, I might as well become your soul ring. At least then there's still a glimmer of hope."

"If you really manage to reach that point someday, maybe I can ride your coattails and live another life."

At that, it returned to its usual flippant self and poked Xu Linjiu's forehead with its tail tip. "So you'd better make something of yourself, brat. Don't waste all my cultivation. If you can't even become a Titled Douluo, I won't let you off even as a ghost."

"Enough!"

Xu Linjiu raised a hand and flicked away the noisy fat silkworm hovering before him. Then he summoned the Pokédex again and opened the system inventory.

After a brief hesitation, Xu Linjiu tapped the Pokédex screen. A fist-sized, mountain-shaped piece of ice, entirely azure blue, appeared in his hand.

The instant the ice appeared, an oppressive chill swept through the area. Even the blades of grass beneath his feet gradually began to frost over.

Feeling the cold, Skydream Iceworm, which had been flicked away, shuddered and immediately flew back in front of Xu Linjiu.

Skydream Iceworm circled the ice several times, then leaned close and licked it twice with its tongue.

"Mmm~, this is the feeling. It's almost like those top-grade ice jades I swallowed back then. Why did you take this treasure out again? What, have you finally come around and decided to give it to Brother Skydream?"

"Mm, that's right."

"I knew it. You only took it out to tempt me... What, you agreed?!"

Xu Linjiu weighed the blue chunk of ice in his hand, then tossed it to the still-stunned Skydream Iceworm.

Struck by the ice, Skydream Iceworm snapped out of its daze. Its body rapidly expanded, returning to its original seven-meter-long form, and it opened its mouth to swallow the ice whole.

This chunk of ice was the Never-Melt Ice, an item from the Pokémon World that the system had awarded Xu Linjiu upon completing the quest after he first formed a contract with Skydream Iceworm.

When he had first obtained the Never-Melt Ice, Skydream Iceworm had clamored that it was extremely similar to the ice jades it had once devoured and wanted to swallow it to raise its cultivation.

However, a single Never-Melt Ice was not enough to directly raise Skydream Iceworm's cultivation by ten thousand years, so Xu Linjiu had decisively refused its request.

As for the Never-Melt Ice, Xu Linjiu had originally planned to keep it and use it as a medium to form a contract with Shui Bing'er of Heavenly Water Academy. After all, there was no second person capable of driving Tang San, whose body had been forged into a golden form through ice and fire, into a desperate situation.

But now, it seemed more appropriate to first convert the resources in his hands into strength.

Besides, as an all-female academy, Heavenly Water Academy was simply too difficult for him, a male teacher, to enter.