In the darkness, the Divine Dog glared at me hatefully. Unfortunately, chained up as he was, he was unable to do anything to me. He instead decided to lay on the ground, sprawled, and manacled at the neck and the wrists or ankles of his paws. The shadow chains extended into the darkness, seemingly endless, but whenever he tried to lunge forward, they went taut and restrained him.
"Where am I?" The Divine Dog demanded, glaring at me. I shrugged, looking around curiously. Then I decided to put him out of his misery. There was no point behaving so mysteriously. The readers beyond the fourth dimension probably wanted to know too.
"This is my personal soul space," I explained. "Now that you're my contracted spirit beast, you reside in here until I summon you."
"What…?" The Divine Dog groaned and leaned back, the shadow chains rattling with every movement. He looked as if he was going to spit in anger, but thankfully he didn't. I would have kicked his ass if he did – obviously I didn't want him doing such unhygienic stuff in my personal soul space. The Divine Dog brought his emotions under control before he accepted his fate. He looked around and shook his head. "Well, it could have been worse."
Then he studied me intently. I suddenly understood what he was looking for, and somehow I was able to produce my Hou Yi bow even though we were within my personal soul space. I wasn't sure how it worked. How was I able to bring in physical objects from reality into my personal soul space? Then again, I did the exact same thing with the Divine Dog…
No, that was different. I used my blood and a spirit formation to bind the Divine Dog to me using a contract, and that was how he ended up inside here. It shouldn't apply to my Hou Yi bow. I didn't use a spirit formation or anything on it.
Well, whatever. It didn't really matter.
"You really are the current owner of that bow," the Divine Dog growled, his yellow eyes glowing in the darkness.
"Duh." I rolled my eyes. "Of course I am. Otherwise how else am I holding it in my hands? Did you think someone lent it to me, perhaps?"
"Now that you mention it, I can't rule out that option," the Divine Dog admitted, raising an eyebrow. Then he shook his head. "But it's unlikely. The way you wielded that bow…the way it emanates your spiritual qi and is now linked to you…it's undeniable that you're the current owner of it. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to unleash its power to such an extent."
"Dude, I haven't even unleashed its full power yet. As much as I hate to admit it, I barely scratched the surface." If I wasn't mistaken, I had only reached the sixth level of the Nine Suns Slaying Arrow technique. Still far from completely mastering it – I would need to achieve the ninth level to claim that I had fully mastered the technique.
"That's still impressive enough. Normally people wouldn't be able to fire off a spiritual arrow in the way you did. They probably couldn't even fire an arrow about a tenth as powerful as yours."
"Thanks for the compliment." I regarded the Divine Dog warily, wondering why he was suddenly striving to flatter me. Was he really accepting his situation and resigned to his fate, or was he plotting something in the shadows? Like, literally, considering how he was half-concealed in the shadows of my personal soul space.
My personal soul space wasn't so dark and dreary, though. This was only a small part of a much vaster personal soul space. The dungeon, so to speak. Outside this dungeon was a lush field of grass, flowers and trees, resembling a natural landscape full of rich spiritual qi and basked in bright sunlight. Blue skies and fluffy white clouds drifted overhead, but there weren't any animals in here. The only creature within my personal soul space was bounded by chains in a small dungeon, tucked away in the corner of the otherwise open expanse.
The Divine Dog could probably sense the brighter, more cheerful place beyond the dungeon he was locked up in. Did he want to escape and play around there?
For now, I decided to be cautious and keep him in here. I would reward him based on his performances, and depending on what he did and how much he obeyed me, I might even let him out into the field. But I wasn't foolish enough to trust him. Yet.
"At least there's no chain linking me to your chest." The Divine Dog was studying me again, making a face and muttering grumpily. "If I were to be stuck to someone like Bei Ming, I wouldn't know what I would do."
"Bei Ming?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow. That was not a name I was familiar with, though I could have sworn I had heard it from somewhere before. A manhua, actually. But there was no way the Divine Dog would have read a manhua. "Who?
"Uh, my former…owner, of a sort." The Divine Dog cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I was chained to him because of…Er Lang Shen or somebody."
"Er Lang Shen, huh?" That didn't surprise me. If the Divine Dog and Hou Yi existed, then why wouldn't Er Lang Shen?
"A…anyway! Go read God Eater or God Devourer for more details. Huh, some fan group translated the manhua as God Slayer. I don't know why. It's the manhua with a protagonist named Bei Ming and me, as a white dog named Xiao Tian for some reason! It also features a lot of demons, including a super muscular rabbit!"
The fuck…I knew I heard the name Bei Ming from somewhere. He really was from a bloody manhua. How the hell did the Divine Dog know about the manhua in the first place!?
"Anyway, I'll serve you loyally for now, since you're clearly the heir of Hou Yi's bow and skills." The Divine Dog prostrated himself, but I saw no sign of humility in his yellow eyes. Only cold, calculated scheming.
He was pretending to obey, but no doubt he would seize the opportunity to break free of the spirit contract the moment he saw it. I didn't blame him. I would have done the same in his situation. Who would accept a lifetime of servitude?
"Do you know what's the difference between a king and a horse?" The Divine Dog suddenly asked. I regarded him carefully, then I shrugged.
"One's on top and one's below. But if they are both the same…the horse can ursurp the king and take over. Why would a horse serve a king who's inferior?"
"You watched Bleach too, I see." The Divine Dog sighed and shook his head, half exasperated. Probably because I took away his chance to show off with the awesome Bleach quotes. "I don't have to explain too much then. But here's a fair word of warning. I'll be watching you…and when I see the chance to take over, I will not hesitate. So watch your back and try not to get yourself killed."
"I will." I did a mock salute, and then I turned around to walk out of the dungeon. Looking up at the bright sunlight and clear blue skies, interspersed with a few white clouds, I breathed in the fresh air – which was an illusion, of course – and looked over the plain of grass, flowers and trees. Closing my eyes, I whispered something under my breath.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back in reality. Lan Bei Er stared at me, concerned.
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah. Was just meditating and checking on my new contracted spirit beast."
My wife exhaled in relief. "So how is he?"
"Compliant…for now." I smiled wryly. "I can't let my guard down around him, or he'll break free. But I'll be looking to unleash him in the near future, to test him on enemies."
What was the use of having a contracted spirit beast if I couldn't use him or didn't use him, after all?
I lay back in my seat and looked around me. We were currently inside the heavenly carriage. The chauffeur was right outside, taking charge of the Kirin. Hong Yao Yao, Chi Yan and He Shan Jie shared the transport with us, following us back to the imperial capital.
After the defeat of the Divine Dog, we returned to West Gate City and reported his demise to the soldiers there. They were skeptical, but they sent out a scouting party to confirm. The scouts returned excitedly, reporting that the Divine Dog was indeed gone and that Mount Sunset had been cleared of spirit beasts.
The authorities of West Gate City wanted to celebrate and reward us, but by then we had already departed the city, having left on the heavenly carriage and returning to the Imperial capitali without any delay. They probably regretted doubting us, and would most probably be sending couriers after us to thank us for our services or some bullshit like that.
That was fine. It wasn't as if I did it so that they could thank us. Besides, the royal family intended to reward us anyway.
"Whoa!"
Even before we landed outside the imperial capital, I could see from above – through the windows of the heavenly carriage – that the royal family had already prepared a delegation to welcome us. News traveled fast, apparently. They already knew of our deeds.
The heavenly carriage set down and we alighted, only to be swarmed by the officials and a few familiar faces.
"You did it!" Huang Qian Jin shouted, rushing over and cheering. "I knew you could do it, brother Ye! You did it!"
"Impressive." Not far away, Hui Ying was nodding in approval.
"I only did my duty," I replied. Then I nodded to my friends. "And I didn't do it alone. Without the help of my friends and my wife, I would never have succeeded."
"You did most of the work, brother Hei," He Shan Jie pointed out. I shook my head.
"That's not true."
"Dude, you were the one who defeated the Divine Dog," Chi Yan said. I shook my head again.
"I couldn't have done it without your help. If even one of you were missing, I think the outcome would have been very different."
"As modest as ever." Hong Yao Yao giggled. "However, I do appreciate your sentiments. And you are right. This was a group effort, not an individual one."
"Yes!" Huang Qian Jin stepped forward, trying to bring our attention back to him. "My father the Emperor wishes to reward all of you! I mean it! He's not trying to single out anyone over the other. He thinks all of you are equally deserving of thanks. So, if you could, please follow me back to the imperial palace. We have everything prepared for you, even a celebratory feast! And of course the rewards. We already have them ready, and we can hand them over to you at any time. All the spirit stones and taels, as well as whatever techniques or elixirs or treasure weapons and artifacts and equipment that you want. You have your pick."
"I think I'll just settle for the spirit stones and taels," I muttered and glanced at Lan Bei Er. "What about you, wife?"
"I don't really have anything I want, so I'll probably just do the same as you."
"You two should be more ambitious." Hong Yao Yao chuckled and shook her head. "You can choose whatever you want! This is a great opportunity! Don't be so reserved!"
Honestly, it wasn't about not being reserved, but there really wasn't anything we wanted. But I supposed there was no harm looking into the imperial treasury, so I followed Huang Qian Jin for now. The city guards checked us out, then allowed us in. Even though we were technically heroes, they were still being careful. Good to see the city guards maintaining a high level of security.
On our way back, we spotted Huang Wan Hai and her entourage waiting for us inside the city. As usual, she was holding her spear and dressed in armor, as was her Valkyrie-themed private army. All of them were armed with spears or guan dao, and several of them were holding the reins of horses, taking up a cavalry formation while patiently waiting for us. At their head was Huang Wan Hai, who played the part of commander resplendently. She approached us, acknowledging her brother with a nod, and then turning to us.
"Congratulations, and well done." She bowed her head. "On behalf of my father the Emperor and the citizens of Huang Kingdom, I would like to express my gratitude to you all for slaying the spirit beast of Mount Sunset and bringing peace to West Gate City. The residents there no longer have to fear the monster that has been assailing them for a long time now."
"I didn't actually slay the spirit beast," I admitted. Huang Wan Hai raised an eyebrow, and I quickly explained. "I bound him to a soul contract, so he's now my spirit beast."
"That's even better." Huang Wan Hai grinned. "With a spirit beast of such strength now under your charge and at our disposal, we might be able to better face our enemies."
"Enemies?" There was something about the way she said it that drew my attention. Huang Wan Hai nodded and lowered her voice.
"There has been movements north of our kingdom, stirring especially in the territories belonging to the demonic sects," she said in a whisper. "I can't confirm anything yet, but intelligence says that they are most likely aiming to invade our Huang Kingdom sometime in the new future."