Zi Yan

The afternoon sun filters through layers of leaves, casting dappled light across the forest.

A petite figure in purple, dressed in ill-fitting Inner Academy attire, was idly kicking at the pebbles beneath her feet. Her face, which looked no more than twelve or thirteen years old, was etched with obvious displeasure.

"How strange!" Zi Yan muttered, kicking a half-person-high rock from the roadside. "Where have all those big guys gone? I can't find a trace of them! And when I finally run into them, they don't even come to fight."

She sullenly looked around the excessively quiet forest, her little fists clenched tightly.

Since some time ago, the high-level magical beasts that roamed the mountains and forests surrounding the Inner Academy have vanished without a trace, along with the various rare spiritual objects and medicinal herbs they guarded.

"All the hidden treasures are gone too—" Zi Yan plopped down on the soft mossy ground in frustration, resting her chin on her hands, her pink lips pouting, and her purple eyes filled with sullenness.

She swayed her legs irritably. "Do I have to sneak back to the medicine storeroom to get it again? That coffin-faced guy is going to nag me endlessly, it's so annoying!"

Thinking of Great Elder Su Qian as he scolded her, Zi Yan temporarily suppressed her urge to immediately go back and "ravage" the medicine warehouse. Reluctantly, she stood up, intending to try her luck again.

"Ah-!!! No spiritual objects, no Magic Core, not even a decent medicinal herb! When will I ever grow up?!"

Zi Yan shouted at the empty forest as if venting her frustration, startling several forest birds into flight. She rubbed her empty belly, feeling even hungrier.

The sun lazily moved halfway across the sky, and judging from the position of the tree shadows, quite some time had passed.

Zi Yan's patience was completely exhausted, her face fell, and she decided to give up on this "poor mountain" and head back home, her destination being the Inner Academy's medicinal herb warehouse!

However, just as she was about to leave this mountain forest that had utterly disappointed her, a subtle yet incredibly familiar fluctuation, like an invisible feather, gently brushed against her senses.

"Huh?" Zi Yan suddenly stopped in her tracks, her small nose twitched slightly, and her purple eyes lit up instantly.

She carefully followed the faint ripples and reached out.

In the seemingly ordinary forest clearing ahead, the air appeared to be extremely slightly distorted.

"A spatial barrier?" Zi Yan's eyes brightened, sparkling with excitement, and an expectant smile unconsciously appeared on her lips.

"Ha! There must be something good hidden inside!" With her straightforward thinking, she believed that where there's treasure, there's protection! Conversely, where there's protection, there must be treasure.

Without any hesitation, or even a tentative thought, Zi Yan, like a cannonball, lowered her head and crashed headlong into the perceived barrier!

That invisible spatial barrier seemed to vanish the moment she collided with it, allowing her body to pass through without any hindrance!

Inside the barrier was the valley where Huo Yuhao had previously conducted his "Soul Fusion Experiment".

After seeing off Heavenly Fire Venerable and his Divine Sense Clone, Huo Yuhao did not leave immediately.

At this moment, he was squatting on the ground, his brows slightly furrowed, and a faint light swirling around his fingertips as he slowly erased the remaining traces of the Hun Mo Array on the ground.

After a moment's thought, he used his fingertips to trace a magic circle on the ground, drawing one that he was most familiar with.

"Harmony—the perfect harmony between soul and body—where exactly does it fall short?"

Huo Yuhao was completely focused, his hand movements flowing smoothly, while simultaneously conducting several Simulation and deductions in his mental world, trying to find a way to solve the problem of Heavenly Fire Venerable.

On the tip of his hair, the Guardian Mirror idly spun around, its surface reflecting the new magic circle on the ground. It asked with some curiosity, "What kind of magic circle have you drawn this time?"

Just as Huo Yuhao was about to be distracted to answer his question, an extremely subtle sensation instantly appeared in his perception.

"Who?!" Alarm bells rang in Huo Yuhao's mind, and his divine sense swept out instantly.

When his divine sense detected the purple-haired little girl in the Inner Academy uniform with a longing look on her face, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.

"How did she get in?!"

When setting up the spatial barrier, Huo Yuhao had already confirmed that only he and Heavenly Fire Venerable were inside.

Although his spatial barrier was just casually set up, it was more than enough to stop ordinary Dou Zong!

And this little girl, who looked no more than eleven or twelve years old, inexplicably appeared inside the barrier.

Moreover, Huo Yuhao had no feeling that his spatial barrier had ever touched the girl.

Just as Huo Yuhao was filled with surprise and doubt, Zi Yan, who was inside the barrier, was perhaps very hungry. She keenly noticed that the center of the magic array that Huo Yuhao was drawing was emitting a special energy fluctuation!

"Delicious!" Zi Yan's purple eyes lit up instantly, her hunger overriding all reason!

She didn't even see anyone else beside the magic circle, and like an arrow released from a bow, she rushed straight into the magic circle.

"Don't come any closer!" Huo Yuhao's expression changed drastically, and he subconsciously mobilized his spatial power, trying to stop her directly.

However, an unbelievable scene unfolded again!

The spatial power that Huo Yuhao had gathered silently vanished the moment it touched the silver-purple aura surrounding Zi Yan.

It's dissolved! It couldn't form any effective barrier at all!

If the power of space couldn't stop her, Huo Yuhao would still have the resources to mobilize other forces to halt her progress.

However-

The instant Zi Yan's body touched Huo Yuhao's spatial power.

Her body vanished from the real world and instantly teleported in front of Huo Yuhao, one foot precisely stepping onto the edge of the newly drawn magic circle!

Buzz-!!!

At that moment, all the runes in the magic circle on the ground suddenly burst forth with dazzling golden light!

These rays of light, as if alive, instantly transformed into countless streams of light, some surging towards Zi Yan, while others Entanglement Huo Yuhao!

"Uh, there's no food!" Zi Yan's mood instantly plummeted.

"You're about to become food!" Huo Yuhao retorted irritably.

Then, before Zi Yan's soul left her body, Huo Yuhao's divine sense forcefully cut into the core node of the magic array's operation and forcibly modified several key runes!

Buzz-!!!

Another muffled hum rang out, and the golden light emanating from the magic circle flickered violently a few times before fading rapidly, turning into a peaceful white light. The power of soul stripping vanished abruptly.

Huo Yuhao modified the Soul Spirit Contract Formation into Equal Contract.

Zi Yan felt a sudden lightness wash over her. She blinked, and only then did she belatedly notice the serious-looking person beside her.

"Hey! Who are you?" Zi Yan tilted her head and asked curiously, as if she wasn't the one who had almost had her soul extracted just now.

Huo Yuhao had no time to pay attention to her.

At this moment, all his attention was focused on the temporarily altered magic array beneath his feet. His divine sense, like the finest net, closely monitored the flow of every bit of energy, ensuring that this thing he had forcibly modified would not produce any unexpected side effects.

Unlike the Soul Spirit Array, the Equal Contract can only be used to establish a partnership between humans and magical beasts, sharing a portion of their power and life connection.

However, such contracts are invalid between humans and do not produce any backlash.