"Thank you for your blessings." Senior Brother Ouyang let out a long sigh.
"As long as you understand. I was worried you wouldn't be able to accept it."
"But this road is destined to be rugged."
"Even Sect Master Xu can't see a future."
Lin Jing asked, "Why do you say that?"
"Humans and beasts are destined never to bear fruit together." Senior Brother Ouyang shook his head.
You even want to bear fruit?
"Unless the other party belongs to the Demon Race, rather than being a Demon Beast!" Senior Brother Ouyang said earnestly.
"The Demon Race?"
"Yes, the Demon Race."
"In the age of the Immortal Palace, a hundred races stood side by side on the Heavenly Origin Continent. Humans and the Demon Race were both part of the Heavenly Origin Continent."
"Once beasts cultivated to a certain realm, they could take human form. As time passed, there were more and more humanoid Demon Beasts, and the Demon Race was born. They were primarily human in form, retaining varying degrees of beastly features, and became an entirely new race."
"Most importantly, members of the Demon Race could have children with humans. Those children were called half-demons."
"At the end of the Immortal Palace's age, countless races joined the Immortal Alliance, formed by the four great sects, in resisting the Immortal Palace's tyranny. During that period, the hundred races suffered devastating losses."
"The Demon Race bore the brunt of it. The Immortal Palace used immortal arts to rewrite the rules of the Heavenly Origin Continent. Demon Beasts could no longer take human form, and the Demon Race vanished."
"If the Demon Race still existed, perhaps Hong'er could cultivate toward becoming one of them. What a pity. What a pity." Senior Brother Ouyang truly felt it was a pity.
Lin Jing was speechless.
These things... weren't recorded in the Brief History either.
"Sect Master Xu has been searching for a way to bring the Demon Race back. If I become his disciple, I imagine I'll spend my entire life searching for a way to let Demon Beasts evolve into members of the Demon Race too."
Hearing the love stories of the current sect master and Senior Brother Ouyang moved Lin Jing deeply.
"You'll definitely succeed."
"Squeak." The Pineleaf Squirrel nodded too. It didn't understand, but that didn't stop it from joining in.
"All right, let's hurry on our way," Senior Brother Ouyang said. He had gotten so caught up in talking that he had forgotten their actual business.
They traveled in silence.
Once they picked up the pace, Senior Brother Ouyang soon found traces of the Tiger Demon's demonic aura using Spirit Eye.
Spirit Eye was a spell that Inner Gate disciples could cultivate. It allowed them to observe various special energies with the naked eye and was exceptionally effective against enemies that couldn't conceal their tracks.
At that moment, the lucky creature that had devoured a spiritual plant was dozing beneath a tree. It still needed sleep to digest the excessive spiritual energy inside its body.
Precisely because its current condition was fairly stable and it hadn't descended the mountain, the Beast Taming Sect had time to send disciples to train rather than execute it outright.
"Hong'er." Senior Brother Ouyang and Lin Jing were still some distance from the sleeping Tiger Demon. At his call, the red jade pendant he wore immediately flashed with crimson light. Then, amid a cloud of red mist, a crimson fox spirit appeared beside them.
"A spatial treasure for beast taming?" Lin Jing's eyes lit up.
"Squeak?" The Pineleaf Squirrel's eyes positively shone.
"Yes." Senior Brother Ouyang smiled. "Because the sect master favors me, and because I'm a special disciple, I received a Life-Bound Spatial Treasure ahead of time..."
"It's easy to refine. Even someone in the Qi Refinement Realm can do it. But the materials used to craft it are incredibly expensive, far beyond those for Storage Bags and Storage Rings, which can't hold living things. Without Spirit Stones from their elders, most cultivators in the Foundation Establishment Realm would struggle to afford one."
"Wooo~~~" After emerging, the fox spirit named Hong'er ignored Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel and immediately nuzzled Senior Brother Ouyang affectionately, making him shudder.
"Then, Senior Brother, how are you planning to subdue this Tiger Demon?" Lin Jing asked.
"Listen carefully. I'll only teach you once!" Senior Brother Ouyang reached out to stroke the fox spirit's head, then said, "If you want to subdue a wild Demon Beast, first, you must be stronger than it!"
"Only after surpassing it in strength should you consider anything else. Never try to persuade a Demon Beast stronger than yourself. Otherwise, there's only one ending: becoming its dung!"
"Second, if you want to earn its recognition, being stronger than it isn't enough. That's only the foundation."
"You must defeat it in the field it excels at most, while showing that you share something in common. Only then will it wholeheartedly acknowledge you as its boss!"
"For example, if you want to subdue a bird demon skilled at flying, you'd best utterly overwhelm it with your mastery of flight."
"Only then will these Demon Beasts with limited intelligence instinctively worship you as 'one of their own,' rather than see you as 'a powerful outsider.'"
"This is very important. Just like you might be willing to marry a fairy in the Foundation Establishment Realm, but you'd never want to marry a female monkey in the Foundation Establishment Realm."
"Once you've achieved all that, whether you use threats or temptations afterward, you'll get twice the results for half the effort, and you can reduce its hostility."
As he spoke, he walked toward the Tiger Demon.
The fox spirit Hong'er followed close behind. Though she was a fox, she showed no fear whatsoever of the Tiger Demon ahead.
"Thank you for the lesson." Watching his retreating figure, Lin Jing nodded.
Essentially, it meant treating yourself as a Demon Beast and defeating your opponent in its specialty, using a beast's methods. This would maximize its recognition and submission.
Rather than... using human methods.
Was this the crystallized wisdom of the Beast Taming Sect's predecessors?
In moments, Senior Brother Ouyang had already gone far ahead.
As they approached, the Tiger Demon at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer abruptly opened its eyes.
It slowly rose, straightening its long, powerful body and opening its great, blood-red maw. Its eyes shone like bright lamps, gleaming amber, and it unleashed a heavens-shaking roar. In an instant, the mountain forest trembled and fallen leaves flew. Birds and beasts within several thousand meters shook uncontrollably in terror.
Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel were startled too, but they forced themselves to stay calm and watched to see how Senior Brother Ouyang intended to subdue this Tiger Demon.
Next, Senior Brother Ouyang took a tiger-skin coat from his Storage Bag and draped it over himself. Then he dropped to all fours, imitating a beast's posture, and bared an even fiercer expression at the Tiger Demon. "They say tigers are beasts of utmost yang, their bodies radiating oppressive yang energy, the bane of ghosts and spirits. I'll show you whose yang energy is stronger!"
As he spoke, he released the yang energy of his primordial yang body, mingling it with the fluctuations of his true qi at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, and used the beast-taming technique: Submission Art.
"ROAR!!!!" Senior Brother Ouyang exuded a tiger's fierce might, his voice deep and thunderous.
In the blink of an eye, his yang energy and the waves of sound drowned out the real tiger's roar. It was as though a hurricane swept past the Tiger Demon. As fallen leaves flew backward, its gaze instantly cleared, and it looked just like a big cat.
Lin Jing: ???
"Squeak?"
Wait, after all that talk, you're just wearing a tiger-skin coat and using your primordial yang body to out-roar it?
When it was over, the Tiger Demon seemed to have lost any intention of attacking, while the fox spirit gazed adoringly at her "Beast Tamer."
This left Lin Jing even more bewildered about what this fox spirit saw in Senior Brother Ouyang. But looking at it from a nonhuman perspective, perhaps he understood something after all. Truly, a talented man and a beautiful woman.
Before you continue