Chapter 324: Reversed Master-Servant Relationship
Jiang Li had long noticed something off about the master-servant contracts in the Lingxi World. At the time, he wasn’t sure, but after observing how humans in this world raised their contract beasts, he confirmed the truth behind these contracts.
Humans were indeed signing master-servant contracts with their beasts—but it was the beast who was the master, and the Beastmaster who was the servant.
This was also why he let Xia Chao sign the contract with him.
Xia Chao was his servant.
The reason humans could sense spiritual energy was indeed tied to the master-servant contract. But the process wasn’t how people imagined—some close bond improving their perception.
The truth was, as a contract beast with high potential, the beast would grant part of its perception ability to the servant Beastmaster.
Jiang Li could erase his contract with Xia Chao, but he wasn’t sure if he’d still be able to do so once Xia Chao signed a contract with Qingchong.
Even if he was his servant, he had to be cautious.
…
“Qingchong has a lot of potential. You can sign a contract with it,” Jiang Li suggested.
“Potential?” Xia Chao had never heard it phrased that way. At most, Qingchong might mutate into a one-star Big Flapping Moth—how was that considered high potential?
“I’ve told you before, your world is called Lingxi World. I come from the Nine Provinces World. And above our shared world, there exists the Immortal Realm.”
“Immortal Realm? I think I’ve heard of it,” Xia Chao recalled a certain legend from the corner of his mind.
“They say that long, long ago, in an untraceable era, someone broke through their limits and cultivated a contract beast to eight stars. Man and beast ascended together to the Immortal Realm. That legend is true?”
The star ranking of contract beasts corresponded to the cultivation stages.
One star equaled the Qi Refining stage, two stars the Foundation Establishment stage, three stars the Core Formation stage… six stars the Integration stage, seven stars the Tribulation Crossing stage, and eight stars the Earth Immortal stage.
“Whether the legend in your world is true or not, I don’t know. But the Immortal Realm does exist.”
If the legend were real, the Lingxi World still had plenty of potential.
“In the Immortal Realm, there’s a kind of beast called a dragon. They’re incredibly vigorous and have left descendants throughout the heavens and myriad worlds. This Qingchong of yours is no exception. Its ancestor must’ve had relations with an Immortal-level True Dragon.”
Jiang Li casually used spiritual energy to conjure a mighty True Dragon—gleaming golden scales rippled with brilliance, its body sleek and elegant, round dragon eyes radiating majesty and dominance, making one instinctively want to bow.
Xia Chao couldn’t imagine how such a being could’ve mated with Qingchong’s ancestors.
Jiang Li couldn’t imagine it either.
“If we really trace it back, most demonic beasts have some dragon blood in their ancestry.”
“This Qingchong also carries True Dragon blood, but it’s very faint and hard to awaken.”
“Then doesn’t that mean it’s hard for it to evolve?” Xia Chao asked, puzzled.
“With me around, even if it didn’t have True Dragon blood, I could still help it evolve into a dragon,” Jiang Li said confidently.
“So that means Qingchong’s potential isn’t low?”
“When you talk about potential, you probably mean the bloodline ceiling. If that’s the measure, Qingchong’s potential is six stars.”
Even a demonic beast couldn’t force its way to seven stars—the Tribulation Crossing stage—on bloodline alone.
“It’s not just Qingchong. You’ve got quite a bit of potential too. You have a single wood spiritual root.” In the Lingxi World, people didn’t look at spiritual roots, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have them.
Everyone had a spiritual root. That was a fact.
In truth, humans in Lingxi World didn’t summon contract beasts purely by luck. The stronger a Beastmaster’s cultivation talent, the higher the potential of the beast they summoned—they were directly linked.
Previously, Qiu Shi had summoned a Bonewing White Tiger. That meant he had decent talent too—he had dual spiritual roots.
“Spiritual root? Wood element?” Xia Chao had never heard of those terms, so Jiang Li explained basic cultivation knowledge to him.
Xia Chao had never considered that humans could grow strong without relying on contract beasts.
“Then can I become as strong as you, Brother Jiang?”
Jiang Li patted his shoulder. “Having a dream is a good thing.”
Xia Chao wasn’t sure if Jiang Li was encouraging him or mocking him.
“Don’t use your world’s contract. I’ll teach you a new kind of beast-taming contract.”
Jiang Li intended to teach him the Beast Taming Sect’s contract method.
In the Nine Provinces, the Beast Taming Sect was a prestigious powerhouse. The sect didn’t just have several Integration Stage cultivators—it also had beast kings at the same level. With human-beast cooperation, few at the same level could match them.
After all, it was a two-on-one fight.
Xia Chao didn’t fully understand, and Jiang Li didn’t explain much. There were still many unresolved issues about the master-servant contract.
The roles of Beastmaster and beast had been flipped. Who caused that? Was there an Outer Realm Demon manipulating things behind the scenes?
If an Outer Realm Demon was involved, what was its goal in using the contract to destroy humanity? From what Jiang Li had seen, humans were merely helping beasts cultivate—they weren’t threatening anyone.
Humans claimed to control their beasts to fight monsters, but given the flipped roles, Jiang Li felt it was more like internal beast warfare.
Xia Chao, as a servant, naturally trusted Jiang Li. Whatever Jiang Li told him to do, he did.
Xia Chao quickly learned the Beast Taming Sect’s contract and also picked up the cultivation method Jiang Li taught him—Evergreen Technique, which improved defense, regeneration, and other life-saving abilities more than combat power.
Jiang Li didn’t bother having him study the Spiritual Energy Diagram first and then custom-build a method. Since Xia Chao wanted to be a Beastmaster and liked fighting alongside contract beasts, he just gave him the Evergreen Technique directly.
“And this one—Dragon-Tiger Arhat Strength—give it a try too.” Jiang Li handed over a reward from the system after defeating Jiang Yixing.
Of course, it was a modified version—several times stronger than the original.
Xia Chao cupped Qingchong in his hands and signed the new beast-taming contract with it.
Unlike the one with Jiang Li, this contract felt different. Afterward, Xia Chao felt a bloodline connection with Qingchong and even thought he could understand what it was saying.
“Hu… huuungry…”
Xia Chao thought he was hallucinating. He’d never heard of anyone who could understand their contract beast.
“It’s not a hallucination. That’s the wonder of the Beast Taming Sect’s contract.”
Qingchong hadn’t developed intelligence yet, so it could only express simple needs.
“I remember Qingchong eats leaves. I’ll go buy some.” Xia Chao gritted his teeth. Things raised with spiritual energy—like food for contract beasts—were pricey but could raise the beast’s level.
Jiang Li just bought some spiritual leaf plants from the system, ground up some pills into powder, and fed it to Qingchong, awakening a trace of its True Dragon blood.
Qingchong’s skin turned leaf-green and vibrant with life. It officially became a one-star contract beast.
“Your first task now is to face Qingchong—and try not to lose too badly.”
“Go, Little Qing! Defeat him!” Jiang Li cheered enthusiastically, directing Qingchong to attack Xia Chao.
Right now, Qingchong was at the Qi Refining stage, while Xia Chao hadn’t even drawn spiritual energy into his body—he was just a mortal.
As Qingchong charged at him fiercely, Xia Chao scrambled back, shouting, “Hey, hey, hey! Whose contract beast are you anyway?”