"Can you hear me?" Lu Xuan walked up to the Nine Heart Begonia and asked softly, "Can you understand what I'm saying?"
After a long silence, a voice as faint as a mosquito's drifted over. "I... I can understand. I'm not very good at... talking."
Just as I thought!
Lu Xuan understood.
Soul Beasts could understand human speech, and humans could read a Soul Beast's intentions. But most Soul Beasts under ten thousand years old could not form words.
They communicated through instincts and the thoughts those instincts conveyed.
Even with his cheat, Lu Xuan needed patience to make sense of their inner voices.
Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling, who had been absorbed in cultivation nearby, noticed the commotion and stopped. Confusion and surprise crossed their faces.
They exchanged a look, neither understanding what Lu Xuan was doing.
Speaking softly to a Nine Heart Begonia that could not talk seemed strange, to say the least.
They were curious enough to ask, but before either could speak, Lu Xuan turned back. He took Ye Lingling by the wrist and gently led her up to the Nine Heart Begonia.
Looking straight at it, Lu Xuan asked in a calm, direct voice, "I want you to become Lingling's Soul Ring. Can you sacrifice yourself willingly?"
The Nine Heart Begonia understood him perfectly.
It made no sound, and the Spirit Energy around it suddenly fell still.
But Lu Xuan caught the emotions it sent him: deep hurt and fear, mingled with resistance to its own death.
It did not want to die. It did not want to perish in a sacrifice.
Lu Xuan understood that completely.
Every living thing wanted to survive. With even a thread of hope left, who would willingly walk to their death and offer up their life?
In truth, Lu