I spent a long time trying to think of a punishment for Bai Ling'er, but couldn't come up with one. Not only was I unsure if I could defeat it, but its mischievous and clever appearance made me reluctant to punish it.
Besides, there was no longer a contract binding us. If I scared it away because of this, who would provide me with a Ghost Emperor-level expert in the future?
While thousand-year-old thunder-struck wood was precious, it was nothing compared to a future Ghost Emperor. The thunder-struck wood was valuable, but it was ultimately an inanimate object. Bai Ling'er, on the other hand, was alive and could grow infinitely. I believed anyone would make this trade.
"Are you sure?" Zhang Dabiao watched me struggle to come up with a punishment and asked with a half-smile, "Are you going to skin it alive?"
I looked at Zhang Dabiao with a wry smile. "Honestly, I'm a bit reluctant to punish it. If it were you, would you be able to?"
Zhang Dabiao paused, surprised that I had thrown the question back at him. After a moment of serious thought, he said, "It's not a matter of being willing or unwilling, but whether your relationship with it can continue as it is. If it can become your right-hand man in the future, let alone eating one thousand-year-old thunder-struck wood, it could eat two more. After all, thunder-struck wood is inanimate and has no room for growth, while Bai Ling'er is alive and has infinite growth potential. If it cannot be of use to you in the future, the loss would be immense. Think about it, doesn't that make sense?"
I understood Zhang Dabiao's point. Bai Ling'er's future was uncertain. It might be following me now for food or other reasons, but if it achieved its goals and left, this issue could become a thorn between Zhang Dabiao and me.
No, I had to nip this problem in the bud. I couldn't let this create a rift between us. It seemed I had to take the initiative to resolve this.
"Brother Zhang, do you know a lot about contracts?"
He nodded. "Reasonably well. Why do you ask?"
"Then tell me, if, hypothetically, I had signed a master-servant contract with Bai Ling'er and then it was broken, would we still have any connection?"
Zhang Dabiao looked at me with a hint of astonishment. "You signed a master-servant contract with Bai Ling'er? How come I didn't know?"
"I forgot why at the time. You heard me..." Then, I roughly recounted what happened after we parted ways in the semi-yin realm, especially the events at the waiting-for-death house, detailing everything except my thoughts on how I was preparing to die.
"That shouldn't be! Once a master-servant contract is signed between a human and a spirit, it cannot be broken, unless..." At this point, Zhang Dabiao's eyes lit up, as if he had a profound realization.
"Qingyun, I'll teach you a mantra. Try it and see if there are any special reactions."
Zhang Dabiao was a man of action. Without delay, he quickly wrote down a hundred-character cultivation mantra.
I read it twice and then memorized it silently twice, ensuring I wouldn't forget it. Only then did Zhang Dabiao burn the mantra.
"Alright, now you can test it by following the mantra and the route for circulating the Xuan Yang Qi that I just told you. See if there are any special reactions."
"Brother Zhang, are you teaching me martial arts cultivation techniques?"
Zhang Dabiao blinked, then slapped me and laughed, scolding, "Where are there any martial arts secret manuals in the world? You've watched too many movies, don't dream. Come on, don't ask so many questions, just try it and see if you feel anything special."
I chuckled, then sat cross-legged, assuming a posture with my five senses facing the sky. Following Zhang Dabiao's instructions, I circulated my Xuan Yang Qi. At first, there was nothing special, only that the Xuan Yang Qi seemed to circulate within my body much faster than before.
"What's the use of this? Is it to enhance my Xuan Yang Qi?"
Just as I was wondering, I suddenly felt as if a "dot" had appeared in my heart. A faint sense of connection came from that dot, making me want to explore it.
Before I could get close, the small dot vanished. When I tried to find it again, I couldn't. I opened my eyes to see Zhang Dabiao looking at me expectantly.
"How was it? Did you discover anything special or strange?"
I nodded. "I circulated according to the mantra you taught me and found a small dot with a faint connection in my sea of consciousness. Before I could see it clearly, the dot disappeared. There was nothing else special."
As soon as I finished speaking, Zhang Dabiao grabbed my shoulders excitedly. "Are you sure? Think carefully again."
My shoulders ached from Zhang Dabiao's grip. I frowned and looked at him. "What's there to be unsure about? I'm not at an age where I forget things I've just seen, am I?"
Zhang Dabiao laughed heartily and gave my shoulder a firm pat. "Brother, you're going to strike it rich this time."
"Haha..."
Looking at the overjoyed Zhang Dabiao, I rubbed my aching shoulder. "Brother Zhang, what's going on? What's so happy about?"
"Haha... I was so happy that I forgot. The contract between you and Bai Ling'er is not broken."
"Not broken?" I looked at him in confusion. "But at the time, I clearly saw Prince Wu..."
Zhang Dabiao interrupted me. "That wasn't breaking the contract at all. It should have been a re-signing of a spiritual contract."
Zhang Dabiao's words left me utterly confused, feeling as if I were lost in a fog.
"You've really confused me," I said, scratching the back of my head and looking at him in bewilderment.
Seeing that I was genuinely clueless, Zhang Dabiao began to explain the knowledge of contracts in detail.
As he spoke, I finally understood what a contract was.
Legend has it that the master-servant contract was created by an ancestor of Taoism, though their identity can no longer be verified. It was intended to subdue spirits and monsters to guard mountain gates, protect households, and the like. Later, it was discovered that forcibly subduing them shortened their lifespan, and even with the best treatment, they would commit suicide, thus defeating the original purpose of its creation.
It wasn't until later that a descendant of that ancestor, a prodigy, discovered this problem and improved upon the original. The master-servant contract, which involved forced signing, was transformed into a spiritual contract.
A spiritual contract requires the spirit's consent to be signed. Its benefit is that it can gradually change the spirit's attitude towards you until it sincerely regards you as its master. Even after the master's death, due to years of living together, the spirit would show considerable care towards the master's descendants. It was rare to hear of a spirit disappearing after its master's death.
Compared to Zhang Dabiao's excited expression, I felt somewhat dejected. Bai Ling'er was a free spirit; why should it be bound to me? It felt utterly inhumane.
Seeing my unhappy expression, Zhang Dabiao gently nudged me. "Why are you suddenly unhappy?"
"I've always believed that forcing someone to do something they don't want to do is a crime. I've never wanted to force anyone, but now I've forced it to become my pet. This is simply too much."
"Tsk!" Zhang Dabiao looked at me with disdain. "Kid, don't act like you're complaining after getting the benefits. This kind of thing is a rare opportunity. Let me tell you, if anyone found out that the Yin Ming Snake appeared in the semi-yin realm, I estimate the entire semi-yin realm would be trampled by those who desperately want to obtain it. Do you believe me?"
I couldn't refute this point, as human greed could transcend all legal and moral constraints. Therefore, I could only accept this reality and made a decision in my heart.